Chapter 9

Wands and Magic Bullets

Vyrion woke up filled with excitement. He woke every morning thankful he was lucky enough to get one of the dorm rooms that didn’t require sharing. He’d been going to the Caster school for a little over a month now, going to his classes, learning and relearning facts about Casters, Wands, the history of the world, and more. Today was special though. Today was the day that each Caster-in-training was allowed a chance to earn their own wand. He’d been looking forward to this day since Miss Allison had mentioned it to the class in his second week of being at the school. He had spent every day working hard to catch up with the rest of his class, to make sure he would not miss the important event coming up. The entire class had erupted in a burst of energy and he knew he wasn’t the only one excited for this day. Still, there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that kept him feeling anxious.

“In two weeks you will all have a chance to acquire your own personalized Wand.” That was when the class immediately reacted with hope and eagerness, but Miss Ren continued on, undeterred by her students. “Of course you will only be allowed to use them at the appropriate times until you’re qualified as a Caster. And all of this is only if you can prove yourselves. Until you’re granted the full status of Caster, your Wands will be kept safe by the school whenever you are not required to use them.”

A groan escaped his lips as he remembered those last words she had spoken. She had left it at that, denying any question from the disheartened students, purposely leaving all the students to wonder what it would require to prove themselves.

Other students had been constantly talking about it since the announcement. Rumors had been spread throughout the years. Mentions of having to fight an IMP, of having to craft the Wand yourself, of having to battle one another and only the last one being allowed to have a Wand. Each rumor seemed more ridiculous than the last, but there was no way of confirming anything, since none of the teachers would confirm or deny any story that had been spread about it.

Pushing the uneasy feeling in his gut down as far as he could, he finished dressing in his uniform and stepped out of his room and into the halls of the school building. The casual reassuring words Valda had given him were true. By the end of his first week here, Vyrion was able to find his way around the school with ease. The once maze-like halls and swirling staircases felt normal to him now as he found his way to the designated classroom without any real thought.

Opening the doors to the classroom he was met by a burning heat that he wasn’t prepared for. The blazing temperature stung his eyes as he took a moment to adjust. It took a couple attempts before he was able to blink away the stinging in his eyes, allowing him to see only a few of his fellow classmates had already arrived. He gave a little wave to the Gremrick sisters who he had befriended and spent most lunches with now and nodded to Solias who had helped him a few times with assignments in the past month.

There were multiple computers and monitors within the massive room, but Vyrion’s eyes then fell on the large machine that was in the center of the room, the source of all the heat. It was a mass of steel and iron with magical crystals in cylinders protruding from it all over, going from floor to ceiling and filling a large portion of the room with its immense size. The fact such a large machine was giving off no sound made him feel uneasy. Standing next to it was a very thin, frail looking man that stood only an inch or so taller than Vyrion himself. His hair was black, speckled with gray spots taking root and he used a cane to keep himself sturdy as he stood in front of the classroom, eyeing the group of students through thin glass frames.

“So you’re the first of Miss Allison’s class to come to me today?” He gave a grunt and shook his head. “Only three months into the school year. Fine. Let’s see what you all can do then.”

Solias raised his hand, speaking up. “Sir? What do you mean? Miss Ren didn’t tell us what to-”

“My name is Doctor Harle Flaire and today you’ll be trying, and failing, to prove yourselves as Casters.” The pale man spoke over Solias as though he didn’t even hear him. “You all want to use Wands, so this is your chance. You get to prove you have the right to use a real Wand by showing me that you’re capable of doing something as simple as making a magical bullet.

The class stayed silent and the man gave a condescending smirk as he looked at each of them. “Oh, come now, I’m sure one of you fine children can at least make one, can’t you? What about one of you girls? Or you, the...Infurnal tiger. Can you do it?” There was a brief hesitation in his words but he continued on before anyone could speak up. “Well, today you each are fortunate enough to have the chance to impress me. One chance.”

He took a few steps back and pressed a button on a console attached to the other side of the large machine. The machine stayed silent but the crystals began to glow yellow and red and blue and purple and other colors began to run through the veins of the machine. After a couple minutes in silence the large machine produced a single bullet, followed by another and another until there was exactly one for every student. 

“This will be your first magical bullet. If you succeed.” He waved his hand in the air in an exaggerated manner. “And if you succeed, you get your very own Wand! Now get to work.”

His final words showed his lack of faith in the students and how tired he was of dealing with the casters in training. The students looked between one another, Fashryn, the more vocal of her class, spoke up for the rest of her classmates. 

“Sir? Is this a single person attempt? Can we work in pairs or as a whole group?” Her words were met by a new uncaring wave of the old man’s hand.

Taking that as permission Tasha grabbed her sister by the hand and led her to the side to a small workbench where she revealed the two bullets she had grabbed for the both of them. Solias wasted no time in huddling over to the other side of the room with Ressio and their own bullets. Vyrion stood there a moment as he took another look at the bullet that had been produced. It looked different from the normal bullets he had seen in the past. Similar to an original bullet, but this one had what seemed to be an alternate casing to it. The material felt different to him, but he couldn’t quite figure it out.

“Hey, Gale, get over here and help us out!” Tasha called him over from the corner where she and her sister were working on theirs.

Happy to not be on his own in this matter, he joined them after snatching up his own bullet and they sat together and began to discuss what they had learned in class.

“Miss Allison wouldn’t have sent us here without preparing us first.” Fashryn started. “We know that we have to use our own magical energy to infuse our bullet.”

“Right, but aren’t we supposed to actually put a spell in the bullet, not just our energy?” Questioned Tasha.

“We have to inscribe the spell onto the bullet.” Vyrion said, half listening and half lost in thought while still focusing on the bullet in his fingers. He didn’t even notice the curious look the two sisters gave him before he continued. “I don’t really get how we’re supposed to go about doing it, but it’s what we need to do.”

His thoughts wandered back to the White Room, a full week of working and trying to get his magic under control. He was still having trouble at that point, getting angrier with every passing attempt as he felt trapped and lost all at once. He hadn’t been expecting a surprise visit from Chelsea that day, figuring he had seen the last of her. She had come to give him an update about everything going on outside the White Room. That his family’s business was going to the government if everything went according to plan and he was qualified to go to the Caster Academy. She hadn’t expected his annoyed reaction but seemed quite understanding when he explained all the troubles he was having trouble with his magic. That was when she had mentioned it.

“Well, it’s not like how they show Casters on the vids. Not all Casters are great at casting spells. Hell, not many are even good at it. That’s why magic bullets and Wands are so great for us. We can prepare them ahead of time, inscribing spells onto bullets when we have down time. We do that, infuse them with a little bit of our energy, and then they’re ready to be used when we need them at a moment’s notice.”

Vyrion hadn’t forgotten that conversation, or any conversation that had happened during his stay in that place. He had hated it there, but the conversations helped to break through the boredom and frustration he faced every day and he had learned some things of use and it helped to lead him to where he was standing now with his classmates. This was the chance he was looking for. The chance to show some extra knowledge he had acquired and to prove he was meant to be a Caster all along.

“I think we need to etch it into the casing then, right?” Tasha spoke up after thinking about the information Vyrion had shared. “Like, spells are still spells like in the old days, right? Those old spells needed you to chant or do an incantation, so wouldn’t it make sense we do that for these?”

Vyrion and Fasha looked between one another and then to Tasha. Without much more to go off of, and knowing their time was limited, the three of them came to an agreement to work around that theory.

Thoughts of his magic ran through his mind as Vyrion began to slowly etch words and symbols into the casing of the bullet. He was remembering the last week of his stay in the White Room, when they tested him a final time and he was able to succeed. Focusing the energy in his body, controlling it as it ran through his veins, and finally shooting out a small dark orb of energy at the dummy confronting him. The magical energy had moved slowly, too slowly for Vyrion’s liking and it made him worry it would fizzle out before reaching the target. The spell surprised him as it connected with the target. The small orb became the center of the full effect of the spell as a black and gray mixture of magical energy began to spread out from it. The material caught within the small expanse of magic began to break and fold into itself under the weight of the increased gravity caused by the spell.

The time within the searing hot classroom flew by and at the end of it all, with sweat running down their faces, each of the trio had managed to successfully inscribe their spells onto their bullet. Or so they each hoped as Doctor Flaire had each of them hand over their bullets to him. Making note of which bullet belonged to which student, he set them to the side.

“Sir? How are you-”

“Now, I’m going to use each of these bullets with this Wand.” This time it was Ressio that he interrupted as he brandished an odd looking Wand; nothing like the others the students had seen before in their classes or even on the vids. Continuing to speak, he answered the question they were all eager to ask as he saw their eyes focused on the Wand in his hand. “This is a special-made Wand created by me. It allows one to use any Caster bullet, though it does require the requisite amount of energy.”

Taking one of the bullets in hand, he held it up between two fingers, turning it around slowly, letting the class see it was Ressio’s bullet as he inspected it. A grunt escaped his lips as he loaded the Wand with the bullet and attempted to fire it without a care. The Wand acted as though it was charging up to release the energy of the bullet, but immediately fizzled out. “Wasn’t expecting much anyway.” The man mumbled just loud enough for the students to hear him. “Next one!”

He repeated the process with Solias’ bullet and there was a noticeable change in his demeanor as a thin beam of purple energy shot out and into the nearby wall. “My my, it seems we have a genius here.” His words were harsh and condescending. “At least this one actually fired. I suppose that’s a pass.”

Following suit he picked up the next bullet and Vyrion saw it was his. Holding his breath, the young Caster-in-training watched closely as the man attempted to fire the gun. A spark of energy brought the Wand to life and the energy shot out again. Unlike his first successful attempt in the White Room, the dark gray mass of energy flew much faster, slamming into the wall and leaving a few cracks.

“Weak, but still a success since the magic was still intact and launched properly.” The doctor said in an exasperated tone as he moved on to the last two bullets, the bullets belonging to the Gremrick sisters.

They both grinned and even cheered as the Wand successfully shot out their respective elements. Fashryn’s bullet released a familiar but much smaller snaking wave of flames, and Tasha’s bullet released a twin wave made of water.

Dr. Flaire begrudgingly rewarded each of the students, telling them they earned their Wands. All of them except for Ressio though, as his bullet had turned out to be a dud.

The tiger Infurnal folded his arms in front of him, glaring in anger at his failure as Solias tried to apologize and reassure him.

“I’m sorry man. I really thought we did everything right for yours and for mine. I don’t know what went wrong there, but I’ll help you out so you can get yours in the next test, okay?” Vyrion overheard and knew the older boy was the type to keep his promises. Solias was the kind of kid he’d seen before in his other school. The kind that would mentor and assist anyone who needed aid. The type that would stand up for the little guy, the underdog, the Infurnals.

Vyrion watched as Ressio just shrugged it off and without saying anything back to his classmates he left, muttering something under his breath with a determined look on his face and Solias chasing after him.

Next Chapter: A Break From Learning