The Academy’s Rejected Mage

Vazaroth, The Demon God

Kai’s POV

For a moment, nothing happens. I stare at Ryder, still holding a piece of my necklace. Then my breathing starts to change. My chest starts to tighten and the noise around me starts fading slowly.

The arena stretches out in a strange way, like the world is bending. I look back at Ryder. He suddenly looks farther now. Then almost immediately, closer. Then farther again. Then closer one more time.

A voice whispers inside my head. “There you are. You’ve been hiding from me for too long.” Vazaroth. My blood runs cold. “No.” I hold my head. “Leave me alone.”

His wicked laugh fills my head. “Wrong answer. ” I squeeze my eyes shut. “Go away.” His voice becomes clearer. “Go kill him. Go kill him now.”

My eyes snap open. His voice continues to whisper in my ear. “He did this. He pissed you off. He came at you first. He looked for your trouble. Show them who you are, Kai. Show them you are not to be messed with. Show them you have the greatest power of all. Go. Suck his life essence and take back what is yours.”

I stare sharply at Ryder who is now taking a nervous step backward. “Kai?” He whispers. “What the hell, man?”

I point at him. “You bastard! I told you not to touch it?” my voice comes out in a distorted form. “Give it back.”

His hand trembles as he throws a necklace towards me. But the fucker wasn’t fast enough. Not for me. My lips curve distortedly and I rush forward super fast.

“Get away from me!” Ryder screams. I don’t. Instead, my hand shoots forward and void energy bursts from my palm. Black threads rush across the ground and wrap around his legs.

His eyes widen. “Wha—What is this?!” I pull, his body jerks forward. And most importantly, his magic comes with him. I can feel it coursing through my veins.

He screams at the top of his lungs. “S—Stop! Plea—se, stop.” He begs like his life depends on it. It does. But I don’t stop. I wont stop. I don’t want to stop. This is too good. It feels too amazing.

“There you go, boy. That is exactly how it’s done. Suck it till he has nothing left,” Vazaroth continues to whisper in my ear. I should hate him. I should push him away.

But I’m too intoxicated with Ryder’s power to focus on anything else. I pull harder and more magic tears out of him in thick streams until his knees hit the ground.

“Please! Please Kai. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have bothered you. Please,” he cries. What’s the point? He should maintain his dignity because he’s going to die either way.

Vazaroth laughs again. “Yes.”

Ryder’s skin begins to pale. His magic is disappearing and I’m feeling more reckless. I pull harder to get that one final essence. The very last one before his life turns to dust in my hands.

One more—

“Ahhhhh!” A familiar voice cuts through everything. I turn and see Aelia. A huge monster has broken through the containment barrier, its claws tear into the ground as it charges straight toward her.

She screams again, stumbling backward. The other students all scatter around, shocked by its size.

The monster opens its jaws. I look at Ryder beneath my hands. Then back at her, contemplating.

Vazaroth speaks again. “You’re so close. Finish him.” The monster gets closer, very ready to pounce on her. For one second, I’m three years old again, drinking blood, dancing at the screams of my terrified nanny.

I remember her hands trying to hold mine even though they were coated with her blood. To beg me to stop. I didn’t. Not when my mother screamed. Not when my father begged. Instead, I put in more energy, drawing her essence until she ceased to exist.

That was the beginning. With people of course. And I haven’t been able to get rid of that face. Not in the next fourteen years of my life that followed.

“Do it, Kai.”

No. Not again. I release the boy and the void tears away from him. He collapses and I turn toward Aelia. Right as the monster is about to jump on her, “move!”

I jump into the air, throwing my hand forward. The void explodes once, sucking magical essence from the monster. Black energy pours from it and rushes into my palm. It cries and its body jerks violently as he tries to fight it. But who can fight me? Who can fight Vazaroth?

The more it tries to fight it, the more I pull. It starts breaking apart, dust falling from its body until there is nothing left.

Vazaroth cooes inside me excitedly. “Attaboy. Now go back to that one and finish him.” I look at Ryder. He’s still lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

“He… swallowed it,” One of the students whispers,

Another voice answers. “That wasn’t normal magic.”

“I thought he had no magic.”

“What kind of magic is that?”

One of the teachers stares at me like he’s looking at something he hasn’t seen for a long time. “That magic… he’s an F-class mage.” His face loses color. “It’s impossible.”

I look down at my hands. The void energy is still crawling faintly through my fingers. The same power everyone laughed at me for not having. The same power that made my parents lock me away. The same power I’ve spent my entire life trying to control.

I wasn’t powerless. I was only restraining myself for these fuckers that never gave me a moment of peace. But now everyone knows. And I hear the shock in their voice. I smell the fear from their essence. What I don’t hear is another idiot laughing.

Aelia stands in a corner, watching me. I give her a wicked smirk I know will make her spine crawl. I know she probably has a lot to say…or ask, but that is not my problem.

I look around and see that everyone is still staring. Then I see him. Orin. He’s standing near the edge of the arena. He looks shocked but not necessarily scared. Instead, he’s furious. Interesting.

A strange little part of me wakes up; that childish part that likes getting people angry. An evil grin tugs at the corners of my lips.

I look back at Aelia, then at Orin as an idea finalizes. I release a small pulse of energy that causes a breeze to sweep through the arena.

It covers Aelia’s hair across her face. As she tries to remove it, she loses her balance. That's where I come in.

“Whoa—.” I catch her around the waist just in time. She grabs my shoulder, pulling back up until our faces are suddenly inches apart.

She freezes. So does everyone else. I look directly at Orin, watching as his jaw tightens. For the first time since I entered this academy, I smile excitedly. Maybe being a monster isn’t so bad. I get to take my enemy’s woman.