Makiya

25. Do mages age?

“Ah, come on! It’s not like we are naked!” Rang ranted.

They were all wearing their bathrobes, but Galera hardly fit it so his top was undressed, revealing his powerfully built body.

“You’re too old to be saying such things, lady!” Galera quickly blabbered.

“Actually, I’m not that old!” Dea’n’ha quickly stated.

“She doesn’t seem to be old, to be honest!” Andrey turned his head at Galera after looking at Dea’n’ha first, then in a high voice pointed out “She looks at her twenties at most!”

Sudden laughter filled the room. “You don’t know how sorcery works, do you, young mage?” Galera asked, hardly recovering from his laughter.

“Andrey is quite new to being a mage. Actually, he hardly is one at this point. He just has the gift. And has lots of it, in fact!” Dea’n’ha pointed out, trying to protect him.

“He obviously doesn’t even know that mages don’t age…” the topless man said between his laughter.

Rang laughing just as hard his face resembling that of an idiot.

“You don’t age?!” Andrey asked as he quickly turned towards the sorceress with a big dose of surprise in his voice.

“We do age. It’s just that due to the constant recovery and huge spiritual energy, our bodies get preserved longer.” She explained.

“Even I know that mages always appear to be young and if you see an old looking one, then he is really, REALLY!!! OLD!” Galera explained in his idiot behavior.

“You know, Galera, you might be a lot more famous with ladies if you weren’t acting like an idiot. Not like I haven’t told this to you before…” the sorceress told him.

“Wait. This means… I won’t age?!!?!?!” WHAT!?” Andrey suddenly realized and jumped from his chair in surprise.

Looked from the side this evening was quite the spectacle. Everybody was amazed so many times and everyone jumped from their chairs just too many times.

“Seriously!?” the boy continued as he looked at his hands and cherished that they are at least in good shape and it’ll be okay if they stayed like that for long.

“Well, you will age over time, but fundamentally we mages live longer than other people. Remember when I told you about seeing common people’s spiritual energy? It is so little yet they live for an average of seventy years. Imagine what it would be like with a huge mana pool like yours!” Dea’n’ha noted.

“Wait!!! This is too much. I’m practically immortal!?” Andrey jaw-dropped and almost felt like fainting.

“Hahaha, calm your horses, god-boy!” Galera laughed once more “Most of you mages die due to your own mistakes. I mean, I hate to break it to you, but all those big-pompous-fancy-mancy-strong-minded-educated-trying-to-go-beyond-what-they-can mages usually self destruct or die in a similar manner.” he rapped.

Andrey looked at him with a bit of fright realizing that he will probably kill himself in some attempt at cutting a tree again or something.

“Nice job spooking the rookie!” Dea’n’ha yelled with her beautiful voice which even though she was breaking her calmness still sounded as great as an angel. “Don’t worry, Andrey. You have those blades in your hands right now. Were they normal blades, you would be able to kill yourself then as well, right?” she explained calmly, removing the slight bit of annoyance from her face and turning it into a gentle sight to the eye.

So I am holding the gun, but it depends on me whether I point it at myself and pull the trigger. Well, at least I can’t kill myself with my own weapon, neither can anyone else. It’s a nice balance mechanism, now that I think about it. I should really try to keep my cool more. Maybe this could help me control my mana better and not overreact leading to my self-implosion.

“Ah, so many new things today…” Andrey sighed and sat down on his chair leaning backward, regaining his natural cool and calm self.

“This guy sure knows how to control himself” Galera thought. “Too bad...” he said silently without anybody even noticing.

Dea’n’ha’s tattoos spread to her fingertips on her left arm and her eyes slightly glowed blue. She patted Andrey’s head leading to his confused face, though she quickly explained “Andrey, I believe we should all have some rest. Rang, you too. Tomorrow we’re staying at your place.”

“Whaaat?!” Rang quickly reacted in question.

“Yes. I know you have a nice house with a few spots on the floor left for one-day-crashers like us. We will be coming there, stay the night, and then we’ll leave early morning. Don’t worry, we won’t disturb you for too long.”

“What, you’re his babysitter?” Galera asked in his calm deep voice.

“Not exactly, but I am his teacher in the arts of magic.” Dea’n’ha explained.

I feel like she is explaining a lot to them. Shouldn’t we be more discrete? Or maybe it’s just that they have known each other for a while and she trusts them? Now that I think about it, they all knew each other, also it was obvious that they knew their good sides, but their flaws too. They make jokes that would insult a normal person, but they don’t get hurt. Yeah, they definitely know each other for a while and we can trust them. She... can trust them. I’m not sure. Sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming the dream and I just have to wake up. Will I ever wake up? This reality is mind-blowing me. And there I am, an apprentice mage with a large power to harness. Not to mention that I just received word that I am probably going to outlive everyone I know. My schoolmates and friends, the people I met in this world. Seriously…

While Andrey had been thinking all this, the others were apparently still in some conflict and were messing around. Dea’n’ha was truthfully trying to make everybody discretely go to their rooms because Andrey needed rest. 

A tap on his shoulder from the big muscleman moved the young man’s locked into nothingness eyes. “Nice meeting you, Andrey! Have a good rest!” Galera said as he was already walking out. His smile truthfully gave out the feeling that a new friend was made there in that room.

Rang suddenly making a frown and disappointedly walked slowly out of the room saying a slow “bbyyyyeeee”.

“Why was Galera wearing a pink bathrobe?!” Dea’n’ha suddenly asked Andrey.

“How am I supposed to know?” surprised by the question the young man replied.

“Okay, I tried to have them all leave because you should quicky get rest. Sleep is very important for concentration. And you need a lot of it. You might be good at chess, but that’s not anywhere near enough, as you already noticed.”

“Yes. Thanks. They tried pranking me, but I decided to have them stay and try to socialize. Otherwise, I’d be dead asleep, believe me!”

“Umm… Okay. I’ll be going now. Have some good sleep!” she said with her heartwarming voice.

“I indeed will.” Andrey replied.

He closed the door behind her and turned around to see his bed. Ahh… It was so beautifully and well made before that Rang turned it into this mess. Well, whatever. I don’t really care about such things, why am I even bringing this up before me.

After throwing the bathrobe away he jumped in his bed, realizing that besides the bathrobe he doesn’t actually have any clothes. Anita had taken them for research purposes. I hope she returns them to me before Dea’n’ha and Rang are prepared for departure. So much adventure, so little rest…

At that moment Andrey closed his eyes and felt like a moment of ecstasy. The bed felt so comfortable it’s like he was floating in the sky, laying on a cloud. Such a beautiful, recovering, refreshing, and calming sensation. The material was so gentle that it made him cuddle into it, but he didn’t have the strength for that. As he was falling asleep he could hear some voices talking. A deep manly voice and the other a female gentle one. Must be Galera and Dea’n’ha talking…

“Darkness” … “Light”…

An echoing voice filled the black void.

“Why do you even bother thinking about it?”

“It is just a primitive way to choose your actions…”

“...focus your steps…”

“That’s wrong, my poor, myself…”

Maniacal laughter echoed along with these words.

“In the end, what truly matters…”

The echo suddenly stopped and just the low voice right up-close was heard“...is the result.”.

Andrey looked around and immediately recognized the world he had fallen into.

“My, oh, my… do I ever get some rest?” Andrey asked with a sigh.

“Aren’t you resting now?” his voice replied to him. He looked above to where the voice was heard from. Instead of the sky, there was water right above and on that water, his own image was walking on top of it.

“Andrey, right? Can you tell me why we meet yet again?” the boy asked.

“Yeah… I guess I’m THAT… but…”

“What is it?”

“Black is very stylish, don’t you think?”

“I love black, honestly.”

“Love…”

“Do you know love?”

“In the world of morals, there is good and there is bad. Good is usually… the more difficult, and not just that, but also - the more boring way about deeds.”

“Where are you getting?”

“I’m getting to… call me Black. It’s not nearly as original as the name Makiya, but how about this, call me Black Makiya.” the copycat exclaimed.

“Black. As in the opposite of white?” Andrey asked.

“The opposite of good. The opposite of boring. And mostly, the opposite…”

Black suddenly appeared behind Andrey and stabbed him with the Makiya blade through the chest, closed in on him, and whispered in his ear

“...of you.”