Chapter 15: Magicians

~~ Delta - Oct/02 - (Earth - April/2095) ~~

After dinner, Lee called everyone to the Ceremonial Room.

Everyone was wondering what was going on. They had all been surprised by the number of people Lee had invited to dinner.

“The following people can you step up to this table please from this end, as I call your name: Ariel, Tyson, Janta, Yantell, Larina, Ray, Leyland, Ivan, Iran, Wendy and Sasha.”

Lee walked to the start of the next table. “For this table: Debora, Nick, Sung, Jamie, Bard, Tammy, Titan, Jim, Roslyn, Oliver and Piper.”

She then walked to the third table. “For this table: Magda, Jennie, Goran, Nyoni, Bray, Andre’, Erving, June, Prince Indi, Sandra, Dave, Trish and Diesel.”

I wish the following people to stand over here, “Brad, Hador, Snorre, Yves, Alec, Kim, Justin and Gemma.”

Lee walked back to the podium. “Sean and I have been hunting.” She smiled at the crowd of onlookers and the people standing nervously at the tables.

“We have picked you people as our first groups of trainees for our Magicians School.” There were gasps all around the room.

“We decided to call it the Magicians School as you are not all wizards yet. Table one is Rookies, table two is Shields and table three is our new Mages.”

“If you are not ready to accept this responsibility as it is a responsibility, you may step away from the tables and we with think none the worse of you. You can go away and think about it and try again later if you wish.”

Titan stepped forward. “My Lady, I don’t understand why am I standing at this table? I’m not special, I’m just a gardener?” he said.

“Titan, if someone tried to hurt me or Helen or Sean, what would you do?” Lee asked him gently.

“Protect you,” he said simply.

“Yes, you would Titan. That is why you are special. It is why the boxes have chosen you as a shield. I don’t do the picking, they do. If I suggest a name, a box glows, or it doesn’t. Sometimes I find a box glowing and have to go find the recipient, it’s just that simple.”

The candidates all looked at each other and the shapes hidden under the cloths. Lee could see that several of her candidates were trying to work out why the boxes thought they were special.

Many of the new arrivals in the room didn’t know the differences between the many boxes. So, Lee went on to explain the differences and the responsibilities they each entailed.

Yantell realised hers was the lesser of the three boxes. She looked at her sisters then over at Brad. He smiled at her gently. She looked at his brother and sister in the fourth group. They were way higher on the ladder, but Brad didn’t seem to care that his was a rookie’s box. She looked back at him, and he smiled.

A lesser box didn’t mean you couldn’t earn a higher box. She looked at Alec and smiled at him too. She still had a bit of work to do to get a better box she decided. Her jealousy of her sister still needed work to start with, she realised. The fact it was her own shortcomings and accepting that she couldn’t be Nyoni was her real problem.

She now understood that she had to find who she was. Having Brad in her life just might help her be a better person. He seemed to see something special in her, and the fact that the magical box had picked her gave her a lot of hope that she could learn to love herself too.

“So now it’s decision time. If you have decided not to accept at this time, please step away from the tables.”

The candidates all looked nervously at each other, but no one moved. Lee clicked her fingers, and the covers disappeared. “Please place your hands on the box and say ‘open’,” said Lee.

The on-looks all smiled as they watched the candidates place their hands on the box in front of them, some with hesitancy and some with confidences. They all sighed when the box in fount of them opened. There were a lot of sighs of relief and excitement from the crowd of onlookers as well.

Lee walked around to the rookies’ table. She explained the items and got them to put them on. She then moved onto the shields, explained the differences in their items and got them to put them on. She moved onto the last group. For each mage, she explained the significance of their type of box, the kind of mage they were and had all of them put on their bling.

She then walked up to the front again and addressed the crowd. “My friends, I would like to introduce the newest members of our growing community and your fellow magicians.” She waited until the clapping died down.

“One thing I’d like to make clear to the new members and to remind the old. We have been given a unique opportunity to guard the welfare of all the races, of the One People.”

“We are the servants. The people are not here for our benefit, we are here for theirs. We have agreed to serve the greater good for all. The boxes have selected us because they believe we each have the qualities to serve and uphold the beliefs of our society.”

“That we care enough for others that we will put their welfare, before our own wants, but not before our needs. Please don’t forget this. If you do, you know what will happen. I’ve read that every person stripped of their box either died of madness or killed themselves.”

“If you decide that you can no longer bear or uphold the responsibilities of a magician, you can relinquish the box. I believe I can offer a device to help, but you can never hold it or another box again if you do. You will also find your magical abilities blocked.”

“I’ve also tightened the spells on the rookies and mage boxes. If you contemplate doing harm to an innocent, your diadem will get hot and tighten. So, I suggest you readjust your thinking if this happens. They are more tolerant of honest mistakes than the wizard’s boxes.”

Lee looked at the sober faces in front of her. She was laying it on a bit thick, but she felt it was important to remind them of their place.

“Now on that note, I’m probably going to upset some of you magicians and wizards.” She grinned at the perplexed faces. “You are all going back to school,” she said.

She smiled at the groans. “Gary, Bentley, Andy, Grayson, Wii and their families have worked very hard to get your school up and running. Check your Mads for your schedules.”

“We realise you all have other responsibilities and have tried to accommodate them. But to school, you must go. And even worse...” She waited for a moment, “I’m one of your principle teachers, you lucky little cherubs.”

She had to laugh when Justin said, “Thank the faeries Gods for that small mercy.” She was surprised that the other people who all knew her better, actually thought that this was a good thing too.

“Now that I’ve delivered the bad news, go have some fun,” Lee finished and stepped down from the podium. She went over to congratulate the new members to their fraternity.

Justin went to congratulate his brother and sisters and their loved ones. Diesel was still in shock, “Bloody hell, Justin, what does a Rock Mage do?”

“Find rocks?” Justin said. This cracked his family up.

“Sorry Diesel, But I think she said your main ability was Ore Mage, mate. You will find that you can sniff out or sense where ore deposits are.”

“Just as Kim and I could do with gems, although we can find ores now too. With your geology background, you will find you can determine the differences in the rocks that the ore is in better, as well.”

“You will probably also find you can do a lot more like manipulating the metals and rocks. You will probably come in handy as a compound builder; we will have to try you out when we build the next one.”

Diesel grinned, “Well that could be handy. This means I can direct people where the ores are, so they don’t dig all over the place, right?”

“Yes Diesel, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’d like to see your skills used for,” Lee said as she joined them.

Diesel grinned at Lee, “So you’re going to help teach me? That’s so rad.”

Lee smiled at him; he really was a likeable young man.

“Mate,” Justin said. “She is one mean teacher. She makes you do all these weird experiments. She works you until you have been drained of your energy and have to go gorge yourself on Erving’s food until you’re full to bursting.”

“Oh, Justin, why did you have to mention eating Erving’s food,” Tyson groaned.

Diesel looked at him in alarm, “What’s wrong with Erving’s food?”

Tyson then looked at Diesel and grinned, “He is one of the best cooks in two solar systems, and Lee just made him a mage, we are all going to end up rolling away from the table.”

Lee had to laugh with the rest of them, “Hey, the box said it belonged to him, so I had to give it to him.”

Erving came up to them and patted Tyson on the shoulder, “Well, it looks like I have to double my food orders now since Lee gave you your box, my boy.”

He then said to Diesel, “This young man can eat a reptii by himself. I’ll work out where he puts it all one day.”

“You’re the guy who left us those great recipes,” Diesel said.

Erving smiled, “Yes, I had a lot of fun working on the recipes, my young food taster here can tell you which he considered the best.”

“Erving, you and I both know there is no best. If you cooked it, it’s best eaten,” Tyson told him. The rest had to laugh and agree totally with Tyson’s assessment.

Erving grinned and rubbed his hands together then looked slyly at Tyson, “I’ve been trying to perfect my apple strudel. I was wondering if you know of anyone who might like to taste-test it for me?”

“Damn, you drive a hard bargain, Erving. With ice-cream or custard?” Tyson came back.

“Since when do you care?” Erving retorted.

Tyson grinned back, “True, lead the way, I’ll make this sacrifice for the One People.”

Erving laughed, “I did happen to make some vanilla, honey and Macadamia nut ice-cream, freshly whipped cream and hot cinnamon-dusted egg custard.”

“Bugger me, Erving, you spoil me,” Tyson said as he linked arms with Erving and happily followed him to the dining area.

They soon had the rest of them joining them when the words, ‘Erving’s apple strudel’ and ‘dessert’ wafted around the room. When Erving said food, the wizards came running.

Diesel was amused. Even Andre, whom he was told was also a chef loved eating Erving’s food. Justin told his new family members that when the two chiefs got together, no one was able to walk away from the table empty.

The new people from Kazan Island were also amused by the wizard’s love of Erving’s food, and they couldn’t blame them as they too had enjoyed his dinner.

They were also surprised by how easily the people they had been introduced to accept that they were shapeshifters as if they were no different to a Giant or a Pix. The wizards they had come to believe would accept them, but the other guests who were mostly human had responded similarly to the wizards.