Chapter 1

I admired the old book for a while, now that it was on the floor I felt an urge to grab it and check it out. However most of the pages were empty, some of the papers seemed to be torn, the only written thing that was there said

Focus, for one to hold such a book one needs to focus, for one to hold such power one needs to be in the balance, for one to seek more knowledge, one must give blood

Perhaps it needs more of my blood.

I looked at my open wound and squeezed another drop, yet nothing changed. I probably need to understand the hidden meaning behind those words.

To focus means to concentrate, something that I need to do to unravel its mysteries. However, what does it mean to be in balance?

I need to go to the ministry to find out about this magic; perhaps they might have an idea. After all, they are the ones to verify the legitimacy of such rare finds. Also, I am quite late for my job.

A job I hope to never go back to, once their council approves of this book.

Once inside the city and after having checked up on little Joseph's health from Gunther, I moved to my manager’s home to take a leave of absence. I needed to notify him before I go to the council else I get yelled at again.

Once I walked into the old building that hosted the ‘administration’ of our network of sweepers I heard loud yelling inside.

“I told you before that I was going to be present at the Ling house flame ceremony next week, WHERE IS THE MONEY THAT YOU PROMISED ME!” said the voice of a middle-aged woman

“B-but dear, I have yet to be paid, the government is holding off on giving me the money I owe them this month, wait a couple of days dear, and I will have the money for your dress okay?”

“You better have it by then, else I will be sure to tell father about your treatment to me. Look at Divina her husband is getting her all she ever wants and more, and I have to come here to this disgusting place filled with dirty children and scum every time I need something from you. I should have never married you in the first place…” said the woman as she stormed out of the building.

I heard her grumbling something about wasting her youth on some failure, who was probably the manager. But I didn’t care to overstep my boundaries, especially after having a look at her. She was old, probably between forty and fifty years of age, she was…round, for the lack of a more fitting word, and had a black dress with a hat to match that made her look like an old witch. Something I needed to keep to myself as insulting her will be the same as insulting the manager, something that one like me with an unstable job should never do.

“fat old hag using her father’s pressure on me, in truth I should have never married that old bitch. I only took her for her dad’s wealth, and now the old bastard refuses to die, and I suffered long to gain whatever little fortune he has left right now…” said the manager grumbling under his breath.

Something that I should not have been able to hear due to the distance but I still heard it … strange.

“Is someone there?” said the manager

“Yes, boss, it’s me, Basara.”

“What do you want little shit. Don’t you see am busy?”

‘busy bad mouthing your wife, I can see that.’

“I know you are occupied sir but I came here to ask you for a leave of absence, I need to go to the ministry to get a check up on my new magic.”

“New magic? Did you turn fourteen? Congratz brat, but still no, you didn’t even arrive in time for your work. And now you want to take a leave of absence? You must think me a fool; you just want to get the day off and squeeze me for money like that bitch, go back to the street, and by the way, for having been absent, you will only get half your salary.”

“But sir, not validating the new magic in time will get me in trouble, I don’t want to end up with a bad record on the council.”

“That is not my problem, get out of here and go back to work!”

‘damn bastard, I need to get a better job…too bad no one is willing to hire an orphan… God damn it..’

I walked out of the old place and went to my designated spot whereas I feared was an enormous pile of junk and mess.

I began by gathering all the bottles of liquor, broken glass and some of the torn pieces of paper here and there.

Today is going to be a long day.

It took me three hours to get just the first part done. By now the noon bell rang, and it was time for me to get my lunch break, so I took the chance to hurry up to the council and validate my magic.

Once before the building, I saw its greatness, it was made with marble and stone. Supported by enormous pillars of white marble and had several strange words on the entrance.

It was written in the Victorian language, something that only the nobles are eligible to read and have the time to learn.

I walked inside after having verified my humanity by validating my entry using the Blood Orb.

I searched for the magic office where the procedure is done and my magic needed to be recorded.

There was an old woman inside. She looked bored and not interested in saying hello back to me after being the first to greet her.

“Mam, I turned fourteen yesterday, and I wanted to validate my magic, what should I do?”

“You came of age yesterday huh? What is your name?”

“Basara.”

“Basara what?” she said

“Just Basara, I don’t have a family name.”

“An orphan… Do you have any papers? Something to verify your age? A birthday certificate, or the certificate of the orphanage that took you in.”

“Yes I do,” I said as I gave her paper that was handed to me by the orphanage, normally it should have been impossible to verify my age as I was found when I was an infant, yet thanks to magic age can be easily tracked.

Once given to her the papers she said

“Show me then your magic.”

“Euh…I can’t.”

“Are you trying to make a fool out of me little kid?” she said

“No mam, but here,” I said as I gave her the book.

“What is this?” she said

“I don’t know Mam, but this is something I found when I woke up today, and it floated, I also was able to ‘focus’ for a moment and was able to hear and see much better. It is probably a grimoire of spells.”

“a grimoire? Interesting let me have a look.

She said and began turning the pages

A moment later she said

“Nothing is written here lad, are you sure you are not trying to mock me?”

“No mam, can’t you see these strange symbols? I said pointing at the words inside the book.

“there is nothing written here kid, keep this up, and I will call the security.”

Is it possible that only I can see what is written?

“That is strange; It said that I needed to give blood to know more it should probably work if I do so.”

“Blood?” said the woman now her eyes were opened.

“Yes, Blood, once I did some words were written, and I even was able to focus…” yet before I could finish my sentence, the woman pointed her open palm towards me and spoke the words.

“Infernal bind!”

Two thorny veins rose from the ground and tried to wrap around me, yet they grew a bit too slow and with but reflex I jumped backward.

The veins collapsed on each other while I managed to escape the cage

“What the hell are you doing.”

“Security! We have a breach!” cried the woman as I heard footsteps of several men coming in.

“You wretched fiend, how did you manage to get here!” she said as she summoned more veins to try and catch me

“What the hell woman! Am just trying to ask for help why are you doing this!”

“Shut up you wretched monster,” she said as more veins popped in existence, trying to catch me.”

I dodged several of them while one grew from behind me and tried to stab me in the back.

However, the book that was still on the woman’s desk floated and opened itself sucking all the veins inside it.

Huh?

What Is Happening?

Once I thought of the word “Numb mind.” Said a man that appeared out of nowhere.

The world turned dark as I fell unable to control myself.

What the fuck is going on?

…

“Yes, he should be up in a few.” Said someone

Once I woke I saw that I was strapped on a table unable to move.

“what are you doing to me, where am I? set me free!”

“Shut it up,” said a man.

“Mute!” another one said, and I was unable to speak no matter how much I tried.

I tried to struggle but couldn’t the more I did, the feebler I felt.

“So what Is the verdict?” said one of the men

I was unable to identify any of them due to the intense light that was aimed at my face.

“We still can’t know, blood admission hadn’t changed it, perhaps blood consumption.”

Theys aid and a vial of blood were forced into my mouth.

It tasted like metal, it was disgusting and made me want to gag.

“Nothing… Strange, we need further inspection. have it enter a comatose state we need more time and more research.”

I fell unconscious once again.

…

“What are you?” asked a man I woke up, this time in a different room but I was still strapped down to a chair.

The man looked to be about thirty years of age, had a well-trimmed beard he was handsome, but clearly meaning business as his serious looks were intimidating.

Two other men were behind him, they were magic police, and I have seen them many times in this city. They are responsible for the incidents revolving around ‘Them.’

“What do you mean? I am Basara, a human just like you!”

“Why did yous ay a human just like me? why didn’t you think of yourself being an accused criminal?”

“It is simple, the two magic police behind you, and the blood ministration your guys gave me…”

“So you seem to understand your situation.”

“Yes, it is probably because I mentioned blood to the lady at the ministry of magic…”

“Indeed, However, we found nothing

“And you will find nothing! I have been able to go through the gate of the city for more than two years, I am a normal human, what you do to me is nothing but cruelty over no valid reasons but having said that I used magic that relied on a blood drop. What kind of logic is that?”

“Interesting, you look smarter than your age young lad, to be able to understand your situation from mere hints, no matter. You should know that I can’t let you go until we verify your humanity now.”

“Haven’t you done enough? The tests the questioning and all? Shouldn't that be enough, I know nothing about any blood magic or being one of ‘Them’”

“But we don’t care, it’s the fact that you are an orphan that is keeping you here. If you had valid parents, then you could have been set free after validating the humanity of you and your parents. But as you see, your case is rather peculiar, and you won’t get out until we have a validation of your humanity.

“Then what, Am I just going to stay here?”

“Yes, don’t worry I will keep you company.”

“That is no comforting…” I said

“Don’t worry until you are proven one of them you are safe.”

He seems fixed on pinning the corruption on me.

“So, Basara, what are you doing for a living? I mean I checked up on your records, and it seems that you ran away from the orphanage that was taking you in.”

“Ran away? More like kicked out, the government stops paying for anyone that is over the age of 12, and I was deemed unworthy my value, so they chased me out… I am working as a sweeper for Ludik cleaning syndicate.”

“Hmm, Very well, now can you tell me about this?” he said as he had my book in his hand.”

“that is something I know not the origin of. So the only information I can give you is what I have, I found it when I woke up. And I think it is a grimoire. It gave me some sort of ability to focus that works on its own, I have no control over it. Also, I saw it suck in that old lady’s magic when she tried to kill me with it…”

“Kill you with it? that was just a binding spell, anyway I looked through the book and found nothing in it.”

“That is what that lady said, she can’t see the words, it's probably that only I can.”

“What do you see then?” asked the man

“I need my hands-free for that… I said”

“Untie him,” he said to the two guards

“But sir…”

“Just do it, even if he tries to run he will be taken down before he can manage.”

“Alright sir,” said the same guard and set me free.

Having a feel of my hands, I scratched them a bit due to an irresistible itch that was growing.

I opened the book and told him

“Here it says Focus, for one to hold such a book one needs to focus, for one to hold such power one needs to be in the balance, for one to seek more knowledge, one must give blood…”

“I can’t seem to understand the meaning behind those words…But if you are telling the truth then this book asked you for an offering of blood… I can’t seem to think of any magic, but blood magic that requires such a medium and you know the punishment for that is death” said the man

“I know, but that is if the ritual includes taking lives or anything to cause harm to others, either directly or indirectly with curses, hexes, and anything of relation.”

“You seem to know these things, tell me did you ever attend school?”

“Never, but I read a lot.”

“Very interesting to find one such as you interested in reading.”

“I rarely find anything else to do…so I read as a hobby.”

“That is a good hobby to have,” said the man “you seem to be telling the truth, but we ill still have to wait for the results from the lab.”

“there seems to be something else in the book…something new something I haven’t seen before” I said

“What is it?” said the man intrigued by the discovery

“it is strange, this time it is not readable not even for me…”

“Well, that is a shame then…I will let you rest here for a while next time we meet will be to decide your fate whatever it may be.” He said and walked out of the room, leaving me alone and thankfully with my hands untied. He still took the book with him…

I went to the ministry just to learn about my magic and try to have a better chance with my life… how did things end up like this?