Book 2: Chapter 8

Both Ekraq and his wife had been gutted, their intestines and organs spilling out onto the yellow wooden floor. Their face showed frozen signs of struggle and resentment.

Cyil had not seen such a horrific scene in person before and he blanched, his face losing its rosy coloring. Without any idea of what to do in this situation, Cyil lightly pulled the door shut and walked downstairs to find the innkeeper.

Cyil spoke to the innkeeper in a rough voice, a ploy to cover up his shaken and confused psyche. When the innkeeper heard what Cyil reported, horror welled up in his face. He was not afraid of a murder happening in his inn but was afraid of having displeased the mage in front of him. Although the innkeeper thought it was Cyil, himself, who had killed those people and was now placing the blame on him, the innkeeper kept quiet and began to profusely apologize for not noticing those bodies sooner.

The attitude of the innkeeper shocked Cyil, but he soon realized the reason behind the innkeeper’s appalling act.

“Enough,” Cyil said when the innkeeper showed no sign of stopping until he had appeased Cyil. The innkeeper now began to express his unending thanks to which Cyil cut him short, saying: “I have another question, where are my belongings?”

This question stumped the innkeeper for a second, then, he quickly answered, “I. No, a cleaning lady took it from you room by accident. Of course, I scolded her harshly and was just planning to return it to your room. Please, please wait while I fetch it immediately.”

Cyil frowned at the words, giving the innkeeper a questioning look. The innkeeper spared no words and blasted to the storeroom of the inn, went to his hidden chest, and retrieved Cyil’s belongings; he even threw in 3 gold coins of his own just to appease the volatile mage.

As the innkeeper returned and handed Cyil his belongings, Cyil quickly checked to make sure everything was in there. He was most worried about his school badge and uniform, but the innkeeper thought Cyil was checking his money and could only wait nervously on the side.

When Cyil nodded and left the inn, the innkeeper let out a breath and his tense shoulders drooped. The customers that had witnessed the exchange, began to whisper under their breath but the innkeeper ignored all those thoughts and walked up to Cyil’s room. When he saw Ekraq and his wife’s gruesome death he threw up right on the spot. “What an animal that mage is!” the innkeeper cursed Cyil in his heart, wishing Cyil had died and stayed dead.

Cyil didn’t know about the innkeeper’s thoughts and was only thinking about his next move. He didn’t want to be distracted by the deaths and forcibly suppressed them. He walked along the roads in silence, with people giving him a wide breath.

Cyil followed the roads until it lead back to his house. He returned home sooner than he thought. Knocking on the door, Cyil found that it was unlocked. Cyil pushed the door open and walked inside of the empty house. He could tell that Helather had only recently left because of the heat coming from the warm coals in the fireplace.

Cyil sat at the dining table and decided to rummage through Mahoj’s memories once more. He went over every memory that was there. The pieces of memories combined to form a fuzzy outline of who Mahoj was. The memories Mahoj had of his parents added to a paltry amount and this made Cyil think about his own memories. He thought about which memories would be his most important and impactful ones. He hoped his mother would be in there. Maybe his dad, too, from when he was young. And his friends should be part of his memories, too. Grandpa Baccaus for sure, and grandma Kara also.

These were the people that made him who he was and helped to shape him. Cyil smiled as he remembered all of them. Then he thought if Helather and Henri would have a part in shaping him, too. Would it be okay for them to continue thinking I am their son, when I am an imposter? Cyil thought about it and looked at his two unfamiliar hands. Cyil stared at them for a long while then looked around the house once more. Suddenly, Cyil got up from his chair, took off the clothes Helather had prepared for him and changed into his school uniform, a light blue pants complementing a white shirt underneath a light blue jacket with white trims.

Cyil counted out the remainder of his, or Mahoj’s, money and left them on the table. There was a total of 231 gold coins, 45 silver coins and 3 copper coins. Cyil had arranged for the coins to say two words: “I remember.” Looking at the money that could last Helather and Henri for a two lifetimes, tears welled up in Cyil’s eyes.

“I wanted to stay longer and treat both of you as I would my parents because Mahoj had failed to do so, but I am sorry. In the short time that I spent with you two, I felt too comfortable and was too happy... I am afraid I may forget you two are not really my parents. I also don’t wish for you two to spend your valuable love on an imposter.”

Cyil said this to his heart and left the house, whose coals were now cold. His emotions were in a flux and he was sure he wasn’t thinking clearly but he knew he could not get too close with Helather and Henri. Their love was too strong and too contagious and Cyil was afraid he might never want to leave Mahoj’s body. Cyil didn’t know when he would return to his original body and when he did, everyone who knew and loved Mahoj would be sad. They would be even more sad and mortified if they found out Mahoj had been possessed by someone else all along. This is why Cyil decided to leave and why he solemnly swore to keep his distance from people for as long as he was Mahoj. He would only focus on getting stronger and returning to his original body.

Cyil’s goal now was to retrieve Baccaus’ spatial ring then head off to train in Noxiams Academy. He knew no one really liked him at Noxiams and he would face bullying again, but he had to go there to learn more magic spells and hide under the protection of the academy. He had a rank 6 spatial magical equipment that Baccaus had given him, after all! Even the headmaster at Noxaims wasn’t luxurious enough to have any rank 6 magical equipments.

Cyil walked through town, attracting more attention than he wanted with his flashy school uniform. Luckily, no one dared follow him as he exited the town and made his way towards the cemetery. Cyil kept his eyes and ears strained to the max to make sure no one was following him. He made his way to cemetery and up the hill to the oak tree. Sweeping the ground, Cyil frowned because he didn’t see the rhombus stone anywhere. Cyil hoped it disintegrated or something and could only give up after a while.

Cyil then went to Arina’s grave and saw that the hole he had made two nights before had already been covered up by someone. Cyil sighed, thinking back to Ekraq and his wife’s mutilated bodies and left without saying anything.

Cyil wandered around the grassy plains that led to the forest then took a roundabout way to the ring once he had enter the forest. By now, Cyil was sure no one was following him and he quickly found the same spot where he had placed the ring.

Cyil reached through the crevice and felt around. When all he found was empty dirt, Cyil pulled his hand back and peered into the crevice. What Cyil saw, or didn’t see, made him curse. The ring was gone!

Cyil got up and frantically searched the other tree root holes and crevices but they were also empty. He then gathered himself to stare at his surroundings.

“This is definitely the place,” Cyil thought. To be absolutely certain he was in the right place, he traced his steps back to where he had heard the voices and back to where the ring should have been. Cyil didn’t know where the ring could have gone. Could it be an animal, or person, or perhaps, the crystal Cyil that had gotten to the ring?

Cyil began to worry. The ring was the only thing of Baccaus’ he had and its value was more than just resources and wealth; the ring was a gift.

Cyil stomped around the tree roots and scoured every inch of the forest floor, slowly moving outwards. This was all Cyil could do because if someone or something had really taken the ring then he could only curse his own stupidity.

Cyil’s search radius now covered a whole 300 yards squared. This included the ground, trees, up in the trees, everything and anything. He had spent the whole day looking for the ring but failed to find it. Instead, what greeted him was the dark sky seeping overhead.

Soon, it was going to be too dark to continue looking so Cyil made a painful choice and decided to give up on his search. Cyil had already guessed that the ring was taken after the first hour of searching but his stubbornness made him keep up with his search. Alas, Cyil’s stubbornness did not pay off but wasted even more time.

Cyil didn’t bother wiping his dirty uniform and began to head towards the Noxiams Academy. He decided to save some time by cutting through part of the forest then head out to find an inn-

“Crap,” Cyil slapped his head. In his hasty exit, Cyil had left all of his money with Helather and Henri, not leaving any for food or housing for his travels back to Noxiams.

At Noxiams they didn’t care much for gold or silver coins, but instead valued elemental crystals. Elemental crystals was also the form of currency used at Noxiams Academy and for the rest of the mage society, at large. Coins had no use at Noxiams so Cyil didn’t bring any but now he regretted not taking at least 1 gold coin.

“It’s okay,” Cyil calmed himself and said aloud with a smile, “I always have wanted to sleep under the stars.”

With that declaration Cyil dashed off towards Noxiams Academy, using Mahoj’s hazy memories as a guide to travel through woods that neither he nor Mahoj had ever traversed.

…

As Cyil dashed off, a figure that had long unkempt hair and clear gray eyes appeared from the shadows, looking towards where Cyil had gone. Then the figure began to speak.

“So that’s the body he has chosen. A mage, that’s fortunate.”

“He told me not to give him the ring as it would make his journey too easy.”

“Of course, I will have to follow him.”

“Fine.”

After what appeared to be a self spoken dialogue, the figure simply vanished into thin air.