Chapter 3: Bullies

Even though Trip thought it was strange that Alex wasn’t around, he did not pay much attention to it, Alex did have a life after all; he probably went off to play with friends or to study.

Trip exited the library at 6:50, as he needed a bit of time to make it to the cafeteria. On his way however, he heard a bunch of voices come from one of the dark corners of the school. Wearhearst was a very good school, which had almost no bullying, but there were still some corners where the teachers did not look. These corners were where the bullies would emotionally and physically abuse their victims. Originally Trip would have ignored the sounds, but then he heard a familiar voice.

“Get away from me!” Alex shouted

Trip leaned his head and peaked into the corner, to see Alex being pushed against the wall by three bullies who seemed to be around the age of 10. There was a pudgy bully who was quite tall, he was clearly the leader.

“Why should we leave? You need to be punished!” The pudgy bully said while laughing

“Why do I need to be punished?” Alex asked with noticeable fear in his voice

Hearing this, the pudgy bully got annoyed, as if the answer was painfully obvious.

“Because of your father, you idiot. Do you have any idea how many people that bastard screwed over!? My parents are living in poverty because of him!” pudgy bully shouted with clear emotion behind his voice

“I hate my father as well! PLEASE! Please let me go!” Alex pleaded, with a tear in his eye.

“Are you stupid!? Your father got the easy way out. He just got to die and now he has no worries or troubles in life anymore, but what about the people he extorted? How are they living now? My parents are living in poverty; they had to sacrifice so much for me. How could I feel at ease while your family is still rich and living well? You must be punished for your father’s crimes!” The pudgy bully said, raising his fist and signalling the other bullies to get ready to beat up Alex.

At this point Trip seemed conflicted. He would clearly bring trouble to himself if he went to help Alex, but Alex wasn’t at fault here. Trip thought about how Alex had actually helped him understand some of the things that the teacher said which was rather confusing. Trip realised that he owed Alex, and that leaving him here for the bullies would be a horrible act of injustice.

“STOP!” Trip said. It did not seem very convincing, as Trip’s childlike voice made it seem rather like a panicked shriek instead of a strong confident command.

The bullies turned their heads in the direction of Trip and started to laugh. The bullies were clearly at least 2 years older than the two of them and seeing a little kid try to act strong in front of them was hilarious.

“Piss off, kid. Or do you want to get hurt as well?” One of the sidekick bullies said

“No I shall not piss off.” Trip said, crossing his arms and standing boldly in front of the bullies “Either you let him go now and I’ll leave you alone or you can try to keep him and get beat up!”

The bullies were shocked for a moment and then the pudgy bully turned to Trip “What? Do you actually think you can beat us? Are you stupid? I’m in a bad mood already, and it doesn’t look like you’re going to leave, so…” He looked Trip in the eyes with the intensity of a murderer and continued “It looks like you will have to be taught a lesson as well.”

The bullies all looked directly at Trip as they inched forward towards him. While Trips face looked calm and undeterred his mind was in disarray. There was no way that he could take on the bullies physically, it would be easy if he used water magic, but if he used water magic then they would know that he could use water magic, which would ruin his secret. Trip didn’t mind if Alex saw, as he could probably keep Alex quiet about it, but the bullies seeing it was a definite no.

Alex seemed to notice Trip was in a bad place and realised he had to do something. He thought about what he could do and realised that the best thing he could do would be to distract the bullies so that Trip could run away. Setting his plan into motion, Alex hit the bully leader on the head. It wasn’t hard enough to do anything to him, but for a bit all the bullies turned towards him. Alex looked at Trip pleadingly, and he quickly reacted by sending 3 water bullets to hit the bullies, causing Alex to gasp at him in amazement and admiration.

The bullies fell to the ground almost instantly. After further inspection it seemed they were all knocked out. Trip looked at the name tag the pudgy bully was wearing ‘Damian Tofea’ and memorised it, just in case he were to meet him again. Trip quickly grabbed Alex and dragged him to the forest.

“We need to talk.” Trip said

“Th-Thank you so much for… saving me” Alex said panting like a wild dog. It was clear he wasn’t used to any sort of physical exercise.

Trip waited until Alex recovered from the short sprint to the forest

“So… you can use water magic at the age of 8…” Alex said in disbelief

“Yeah.” he said realising that there was no need to hide anything anymore, as he continued to explain “Ever since I was 4 I was already teaching myself to gain control over Hyuru. At 6 I had mastered Hyuru and started to teach myself elementary level water magic. And at age 8 I had mastered that. At this point I actually need books to teach myself intermediate level magic, but I can’t find them anywhere, so I am just trying to learn all the things I see here and to improve my stamina.”

“…” Alex was speechless for a few seconds and then said “Why aren’t you a world renowned genius and in an intermediate magic school?”

“That is what I wanted to talk to you about.” Trip said calmly “I don’t want fame, I just want strength. I just want to keep this a secret and improve by myself until I can find my parents.”

“So, I imagine you don’t want me to tell anyone.” Alex said, realising the situation at hand

“Of course I can’t force you, but I do know a technique even more powerful than Water Bullet” Trip said with a hint of threat in his voice

Alex shuddered at the thought of it and kept silent for a while. Until his eyes brightened up

“I have a proposal!” Alex said

“A proposal?” Trip asked

“It’s like this. I really want a friend, and maybe a bodyguard. You fill both those needs.” Alex said

“Well, what’s in it for me then?” Trip asked

“Even though my father is dead, my family is still very rich and will have no problem giving me some intermediate level magic books during one of the vacations.” Alex said with a proud smile on his face

The moment Trip heard the words intermediate level magic books his eyes started to sparkle.

“Agreed! On one condition. Can you include books on light magic in the deal? Preferably elementary level ones.” Trip said with much excitement

Alex was shocked for a while. ‘Does he want light magic books, because he is interested? Or because he can use light magic?’ Alex did not know much about light magic, but he heard from his grandfather that it was terrifyingly powerful, and could only be subdued by the power of darkness. Luckily no one had ever had an affinity higher than the intermediate level for light magic. Alex could only shudder at the thought of a light mage with a high level affinity.

After pondering for a few seconds he said “I don’t know how many light magic books there are, but I can guarantee that I will get them all for you!” Alex said confidently.

“Really? This is great!” Trip exclaimed with clear excitement on his face.

Trip had probably never been this excited. He saw Alex as a decent guy as well, so he had no problem being his friend. In actuality it was almost like a cheat for him. He basically got free books to develop his strength. Whereas for Alex it was also almost a cheat, he got a bodyguard and a friend for just a couple of books. In every sense it was the perfect deal for either party

The boys headed back to the dorms. Trip was slightly disappointed that he did not get any training done today, but that disappointment quickly dissipated when he thought of all the books he would gain from the deal he had struck today.

One thing bothered Trip though. What exactly did Alex’s father do? He decided to question Alex about it directly.

“Hey Alex. I was wondering, but what did your father do?”

Alex turned pale for a second, but then he sighed and said “I guess I can’t hide this from you, the whole country knows after all. My full name is Alex Oyak and my father was called Richard Oyak. One year ago files were released to the public which contained evidence that my father extorted hundreds of families. I never really knew my father, as I was raised by the maids and my grandfather, but I met him several times and he really scared me. He had a look in his eye that pretty much showed how he would do anything to get what he wants. I hate my father. Because of him my family is the most hated family in Riplin, even though it was only my father that worthy of such hatred.” Alex had tears in his eyes towards the end “They, publicly executed my mother, and they would have executed me too if it wasn’t for my grandfather having a good relationship with the king.”

Trip looked shocked for a while. Trip did not understand many emotions very well, but after hearing Alex talk he felt a deep pain in his heart. Trip thought back to his own parents. ‘Could they be dead as well?’ He thought.

Nothing more was spoken between them until they reached the dorm, where they exchanged their goodbyes and left to their respective rooms.

Trip looked at the moon; it was only 10:30. He walked into his room and started reading a book about ice. It was one of the highest level books in the library, so naturally Trip was intrigued by it.

‘When one tries to create ice, one must condense water. The particles that make up water are fairly loose and move around slightly, this makes it the optimum state to control as a beginner mage. When one is an intermediate level water mage then one of the main problems one might have is that water magic is not meant for offensive purposes. This statement is true until a mage can learn how to control ice. Ice is sharp and very deadly, and can be considered the method for a water mage to become powerful and match the other mages in offensive prowess.

One can learn to make ice by condensing the particles that make up normal water. One has to push the particles together until they can almost no longer move. Once the water has been condensed like this it will turn into ice. Unfortunately, using ice is very tiring, as it is harder to control and it requires many more water particles for the same volume.’

Trip read this passage and was shocked. He always hated that water had such limited offensive prowess, but with ice this could be changed completely. If one could freely control ice then one would have nearly limitless attacking power.

From this day Trip had learned many important things. One being that he not only has to improve his stamina, but also his body.

He would not have been able to fight those bullies if he did not use water. He understood he had to get stronger. Trip also realised that ice was the way forward offensively and defensively. At least that is what he would point his attention towards, until the intermediate level books came.