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Griever: Chapter One

Griever: Chapter One

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Chapter OneThat evening, Shaeda fell asleep at her cold stone desk in her third floor room at Elandir Magic Academy. She drifted off to sleep in the midst of wordlessly reciting the three phases of the incantation for radiance that everyone knew would be a part of the next morning’s first year examination. She had planned for so much more review after that, but her mind and body were fighting her, and eventually, exhaustion won.Last night, she’d stayed out late with Migael and Talie, attempting and again failing the advanced summoning spells that none of them had ever managed to get just right.Sarina and Bain never had any trouble with their summoning. Of course, they were older, and more experienced. Shaeda knew for a fact that Bain had been in real magic duels on school grounds, and that he’d gotten away with it because he was powerful enough to intimidate the school staff, even if he didn’t realize that he had that effect on people.Migael desperately wanted to impress Bain. It had been Migael who’d insisted that if they could pull off a summon, they’d show Bain that they were powerful and interesting enough to join his secret, after-class battle ring, which Shaeda had to admit would be a wonderful, exciting opportunity to demonstrate what she and her friends were really made of.It would also be an excellent opportunity to get thrown out of school, but she decided she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.Of course, they hadn’t managed it. They’d tried for hours, but no roaming, realmless elementals had answered their demanding, increasingly desperate calls.Eventually, Talie had accidentally summoned a nearby dog who had howled madly until they’d thrown themselves into a ditch to hide from its bared fangs. None of them had been willing to use a combat spell against an innocent animal … or maybe, none of them had been sure enough of their magic to try it.Maybe both of those things had been true.They’d dragged themselves back to their bunks just in time to grab an hour of sleep before the morning bell tolled, and all through lessons that day, Shaeda had barely managed to keep her eyes open. Now, as merciful sleep came for her at last, he decided to stop fighting it. Even she knew when she’d been soundly beaten by the forces of nature and the pathetic truth of being merely human.She dreamed of somewhere she was sure she’d never seen before; a single room, suffused in gentle light, with soft silks in shades of lavender and cream adorning the walls, and a carpet of eggshell white weave on the floor. It was the farthest cry imaginable from the austere, black walls of the Academy, built of wood from the Weeping Forest and silver stone from the bottom of the Everbourne Sea. At the Academy, the winds somehow never stopped blowing and darkness descended long before dinnertime.Shaeda adored it there, and being anywhere else so suddenly, even in the midst of a dream, was unsettling.At the far end of the silken dream room stood a handsome man with stark white hair and cobalt blue eyes, dressed in a rich, velvet doublet. He could have been anywhere from thirty to seventy; something about his face kept changing in such a way that Shaeda couldn’t get a good idea of his age, or even of the expression he was wearing.All around him, there were ghosts; gossamer shades of men and women whose faces, like his, seemed unwilling to settle into one solid form or set of features. They stood completely still, arms at their sides and robes unruffled, and they stared all at once, at Shaeda.For some reason, the stares didn’t worry her. In fact, they helped her feel more at peace in this strange place. She felt that she knew these ghosts.No; she knew these people. She’d somehow always known them.“Ah,” said the blue-eyed man, and his voice was tenor; strong, but sweet. “Welcome back, Shaeda. So, we begin again.”Shaeda nodded. She didn’t exactly understand what the man meant, but she knew - no, she felt - that she would, soon enough. This time, she had everything under control. This time, she’d get it all right.This time?“I am the Arbiter,” said the ageless man, “, and I am here to guide you through The Game. It is I who will judge the ultimate outcome of your decisions, and I who will determine the winner of this final round. While every choice within the Game is yours, any significant infractions or disregard of the rules will cost you dearly, and may cause you or your companions to come to grief. Do you understand?”It was only when the Arbiter said that word, grief, that Shaeda felt the full weight of sorrow sink into her soul. Her heart was suddenly heavy, laden, struggling with the force of a loss so terrible and true that for a moment it felt like her whole being was screaming. The pain was unbearable, and yet she’d always borne it.She always would. There was nothing clearer to her than that, even if she couldn’t find her way back towards understanding why, or how. The ...
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