Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Awakening the beast

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to feel after stepping into the portal, but he wasn’t expecting to instantly appear in a large courtyard. It was as if he’d just stepped into it normally – the portal could have been an illusion.

Then his stomach twisted into a knot. The pancakes he’d had that morning decided it was their time to reemerge into the world. Damien staggered and put a hand over his mouth. Luckily, the feeling passed as quickly as it had come.

The other students didn't find the teleportation much easier than Damien did. Reena was dry heaving and Nolan looked like he’d just been punched in the gut. The nameless girl's lips were pressed together and her face was pale. The only one who hadn't been affected was Dross.

The courtyard was completely empty aside from a single ornate brazier upon a pillar in the center of the room. It was almost as tall as Dorian and made of a strange black and gold rock that he’d never seen.

Cracks spiderwebbed through floor, originating at the brazier. Some of them were as wide as a foot, but the majority were almost invisible.

“You’ve all claimed to have a companion, so we won’t be attending any summonings. However, I do need to know who the Mage that officiated your summon was for school records. Do we have any volunteers to go first?”

“I’ll go,” Mark offered with a shrug. Dorian noted that the boy’s hand was still resting on the pommel of his sword, which he had sheathed at his side. “I was helped by Mage Red.”

“Interesting,” Dross said, his eyebrow twitching upwards. “I was unaware he assisted in summoning companions for students.”

“He made an exception for me,” Mark said unapologetically. “What do I have to do?”

“Straight to the point. Good. Go to the brazier and place your hands upon the bowl. Then channel energy into it as if you were powering a rune. I don’t care if you already know magic from your companion. You will not use it. The brazier can detect the powers of your companion. If you fail to follow my instructions, you will be removed.”

Mark shrugged. He strode up to the brazier and placed his hands on the sides of the bowl. He closed his eyes and his grip tightened on the bowl. A moment later, a wisp of smoke rose up from the brazier.

It was followed by a brown hued flame. Mark flinched back but didn’t let go of the bowl as the fire grew, quickly growing past his height and continuing into the air until there was a pillar nearly twice his height.

The flames remained within the edges of the brazier, not reaching out for an instant. They were nearly a perfect pillar. It flickered and hissed, but didn’t move further.

“That is sufficient,” Dross said. “Release the brazier.”

Mark let go and strode back to the group.

“How did I do?”

“You did,” Dross said. “Who’s next?”

It was about at this point that Damien realized a little panic was probably appropriate. Nolan volunteered to go next, casting a smug glance in Damien’s direction before striding over to the brazier.

Damien paid him no attention. Time was up, and he had no plans of failing the tests before he even got to a mage college.

He crushed the fear and worry building up in his heart. Then he closed his eyes and sent out the tendril of his thoughts. He immidiately felt Henry’s presence.

It was impossible to miss the creature. Damien could barely cast magic without running into the intrusive presence of his companion. Henry was like a huge bear in the middle of his mental space. For lack of a better term, Damien had been creeping around the monster, trying to make as little magical noise as possible to avoid waking it up.

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This time was different. He sent a tiny push of energy in Henry’s direction - the equivalent of flicking his companion on the forehead. There was no response. Damien was vaguely aware of the pillar of gray flames that erupted from the brazier in front of Nolan. It was significantly taller than Marks’.

Damien ignored it, squeezing his eyes shut and steadying his breathing. He prodded Henry again, harder this time. Then he slapped his companion with a blast of energy. Henry’s mental eye snapped open.

A wave of energy launched through Damien’s body. He drew in a choking gasp and staggered. Something steadied him before he could fall, but the young man didn’t have time to wonder what it had been.

“You dare awake me? I told you to let me sleep!” Henry thundered. The eldritch creature’s thousand voices carried no magic, but they felt glistening blades.

“You can’t sleep anymore!” Damien hissed as quietly as he could. “It’s been four years! I’m about to take the test to get into a mage college. I’ll fail it if my summon isn’t there!”

The voice echoing throughout his head vanished and the pain went with it.

“Ah,” Henry said. “I suppose that would be problematic. You need to get into that school to get stronger so we can destroy the world, after all.”

Damien didn’t bother gracing that with a response.

“Stop worrying,” Henry said. “I can hear your thoughts now, you know. It was part of the deal when we swapped souls. And by the Light, boy. How can you think like this? Your mind is a disgusting mess of worthless information and fear.”

Damien didn’t respond again. The less he spoke to himself, the less likely it would be that someone would think he’d gone insane. Besides, if Henry could hear his thoughts…

“More like I have a general estimate of what you’re thinking,” Henry corrected. “Not super exact. Just… relax, would you? I’ve spent the last four years improving my form so that it would be less likely to make all your little mortal friends shred their souls to bits when they saw me.”

This is an incredibly important event for me, and you’re being flippant about it. Do you understand how vital it is that we do well?

“We’ll be fine. I promise,” Henry said. “Do you really think something like this is going to be difficult? I could shatter that little bowl with a glance if I wanted to. However, I suggest you release the girl that stopped you from falling over. I think she’s starting to get weirded out.”

Damien snapped back to the real world. He was leaning heavily on the dark haired girl’s shoulder and breathing heavily. Damien yanked his hand back as his cheeks flushed bright red.

“I’m so sorry,” he stammered.

“It’s okay,” she replied with an inkling of a bemused grin. “I thought you’d fainted from the stress of watching Nolan do so well on the test.”

The pillar of grey fire was nearly three times Nolan’s height. Damien grunted and turned away from him.

“He’s a dick, but I don’t care how well he does. I don’t know what his problem is.”

“Nolan is part of a powerful noble house,” the girl said with a disapproving frown. “He is dangerous. You were not wise to make an enemy of him.”

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