Inevitably, images of luminous symbols, shimmering energies, and blood appeared in front of Alex’s inner eye. "But you won."
"We, you are a part of them." She nodded. "The mystic Wall was created at the very last moment."
"Shouldn’t the other wizards be happy about it? Doesn’t it mean they can continue to work in secret?"
Jen let the image of the protective crystals disappear. Together, they strolled along the gallery. "The wall could only be created because the wizards had a powerful artifact at their disposal. We call it the onyx Cube. After the mystic Wall was formed, the essence in the onyx cube had been depleted, so the wall now runs off all our sigils."
"I see. This weakens all the wizards, both the protectors and the enemies of the mystic Wall."
She nodded, her brow raised, as if she hadn't expected such a logical thought from him. "That’s pretty accurate. It’s a bit like someone removing smells, dimming music, and turning the environment into black and white. It must have been really bad. We only know our power as it is. But those who had already awoken at that time suffered. Those were hard times …" She led him up a winding spiral staircase. "So you’ve been given the base line. You are a wizard and the knowledge will come gradually. And disappear again. So you need to enhance it and apply it in order to strengthen it."
"Back to school, then."
"Something like that. You can draw magical symbols in the air with your finger or the essence wand. For complex spells, additional magical words must be linked to the symbol, also in some cases to trigger the spell. You also have to speak them at just the right moment. Not as easy as you might think. You will get your essence wand in a few days."
She pulled him aside as another wizard hurried by.
"You can also use the essence wand to create magic in materials. It’s like an extension of your sigil and almost indestructible. It’s also handy against bladed weapons. When fighting against other wizards, it’s also used … for duels."
"Duels? Really? Now that’s exciting."
She cracked a grin. "Magic has its good sides, too. But one thing you should know: every spell comes with a price. Usually it’s just essence removed from your sigil. It can take quite a while to regenerate. Sometimes, though… We’ll come back to that later."
They entered the tower room.
"May I introduce Alexander Kent, who’s just been awoken." Jen gestured toward him with both hands.
In front of him, bent over a table and now looking up, stood a slender woman in her mid-twenties. Her skin was brown, her hair long and black. "Hi, I’m Clara, Clara Ashwell," she said, introducing herself.
He gave her a friendly nod.
There were two guys sitting on a couch. One of them wore his dark blond hair with the side cut short. His face was angular and masculine. Since he was holding hands with the other guy next to him, it was easy to see that they were a couple. "Hi, I’m Kevin."
"And I’m Max." He was a little shorter, with narrow facial features and medium-length brown hair that was slightly ruffled.
Taken aback, Alex realized there was a carbon copy of Kevin.
Twins, he realized.
"Chris." Brother number two wore a muscle shirt and a tattoo that reached up to the shoulder blade on his right upper arm. He looked Alex up and down, as if he wanted to gauge whether he might be a rival. "Hi."
Chris nodded silently.
"Normally, Chloe would be here, too. But she’s out and about," Clara explained.
"Well, now that’s settled: Alex was examined by the council. He has an amber aura and he’ll be getting a new essence wand. Force estimate says upper third. Not a jumper."
"Shit," Kevin said, annoyed. "That would have been handy."
"There just aren’t enough to go around," Jen said. "We are a team here. Apart from Max, he only visits us quite often."
Kevin and Max grinned.
"Sure." Alex laughed.
"Then let’s show you around…"
"One sec," Clara interrupted. "I found something we need to discuss immediately. It’s about Mark."
"Your predecessor," Jen said.
"The one who died?"
"You are the heir to his power, yes," Kevin said.
"How did it happen?"
"That’s what this is about," Clara said.
Before her on the table lay several densely-written pages of paper, books, and an elongated, ornate wand. She picked up the latter and made it disappear in her pocket. "I used a distillation spell to go through Mark’s notes. I wanted to look for important information before they got archived."
"And?" Jen asked. The tension in the room increased dramatically.
"He’s been in mortal danger six times in the past five weeks. I checked it. Apparently the thing in England was just the tip of the iceberg."
"Someone wanted to kill him?" Max asked, horrified. "But why?"
"Good question," Clara said. "Unfortunately, he didn’t know. He only suspected something after the third attack and wanted to tell us and the council. But too much happened."
Alex winced as Jen reached for one of the books. It flew across the room. At the same time, she shouted, "Damned idiot! He could still be alive! Why didn’t he open his mouth? Always wanting to take care of things himself!"
"Jen." Kevin stepped to her and hugged her close. "We’ll find out who’s responsible, okay?"
"Of course," she replied. "Still, he was an idiot."
"Yes, he was."
She lightly jabbed his side. "You, too. Just to be clear."
"Thanks." Kevin grinned.
Both of them laughed.
"So what are we going to do?" Chris asked. "We don’t know what's up with this folio or why the guardians aren't registered in the parchment. And now it turns out that Mark was specifically targeted by the shadow losers. Why?"
"Let’s not forget him," Max said, pointing at Alex. "How could the parasite know so quickly where the newly awoken wizard was? They almost had him."
"To add to all that," Jen said to Alex, "when I arrived, the parasite that wanted to kill you had already been taken care of. Apparently, someone was protecting you."
Alex looked from one to the other and could barely follow. He was being pummeled with chunks of information from every direction.
"I’ll speak with Joan," Jen said. "Now."
With that, she stormed out.
The others were soon involved in a heated discussion about what all this might mean.
Silently Alex snuck out of the room.
8. Behind the Veil
Leonardo stared thoughtfully at the stone tables. All but one were empty. When the manor house outside of London had exploded, all the guardians stationed there had been incinerated. Except one. A protective amulet had hung around his neck and it had saved him from the magic fire.
He paged through the little notebook that he had bound in leather himself. There was a hook on the back so he could attach it to his belt. He'd spent most of the night pouring over the old manuscripts he had annotated in dense script over the years. Although he was fascinated by modern technology, computers, smartphones, iPads, etc., he preferred paper.