Visits to the beach always made him feel alive like nothing else ever could. He stood at the end of the road, looking out to the sea. Taking in the vastness, breathing it all in. The beach reminded him of his childhood and the hundreds of trips he had made with his parents. He reminisced about all the sandcastles made, all the sea shells collected…
“Snap out of it. You have some work to do.” He thought, as he shook himself out of his reverie.
He reached inside his coat and his hands closed around his dagger. One look to the left, one to the right. There was nobody watching. Silently, he took out his weapon and dove it into the road. Almost as if by magic, the road parted into two. With his legs on either side of the depression that had formed, he uttered a mantra under his breath “Sag chki sbijlay. Bhad fuji aourlai”. Taking one last look around to make sure that he was alone, he jumped into the dark crevice.
“Gilifo.” With that spell, his dagger turned into a flashlight. He shone the torch ahead of him and saw nothing but an endless tunnel. An eerie noise echoed around him. It sounded like the wail of a mad woman.
“I’m the one that’s mad enough to walk right into danger.” He thought, as he started towards the source of the noise. He moved timidly, unsure of what he was stepping on. The feeble light provided by the dagger-flashlight was just enough for him to make his way forward. Now and again, something crunched underneath his feet. Whether they were dry leaves, insects, or bones, he didn’t know. He suppressed a shudder and pushed that thought away from his mind.
Twenty minutes into his trip, he heard something slithering behind him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he was creepily aware of his own heartbeat. Ssssssssssss. There it was again. He took a deep breath of courage and turned around to find out what was making that noise.
Matthew Fadesik, or Matt, as his friends called him, had just got home from basketball practice when his reflection in the mirror spoke to him. At first, he thought he was losing his mind. Then, he realized that he was an Akhije — a gifted child. He’d always known that he was adopted, but never in his wildest dreams did it occur to him that his birth parents weren’t human. They were part of an ancient tribe called the Akhijanil. A massive epidemic had killed them all, except for the infants.
These infants had been found by the Government and put up for adoption. Matt’s parents, childless after ten years in marriage, decided to adopt him the minute they saw his sky-blue eyes and adorable dimples. Growing up, he was never any trouble. He studied hard, got perfect grades, and displayed astounding athletic abilities.
His fifteenth birthday was the day his reflection had spoken to him from the mirror. The reflection claimed to have a name. It demanded that Matt call it Flikha. Flikha, it explained, was an ancient term for Guru, or Master. It wasn’t really a person; it was the soul of a wise tree that had somehow escaped the epidemic by taking refuge in the mirrors of the world.
When it realized that all the adult Akhijanil had been wiped out of the planet, it had assumed the responsibility of educating the future Akhijen (the infants that had been left behind).
The Flikha told Matt about his parentage. Matt soon found out that being an Akhije gave him magical abilities. This discovery led to practice sessions where the Flikha patiently taught Matt about the concepts in Magic. He was taught some basic spells — a few offensive ones but mostly defensive ones.
One year into this informal training session, the Flikha had told Matt to find himself a worthy dagger. This search led to a great many adventures and mishaps, but eventually, Matt found for himself a dagger that listened to him, understood his thoughts, and responded the way he wanted it to.
It was the Flikha who had woken Matt up in the middle of the night and told him to find the source of that sound. At first, Matt didn’t understand what noise the Flikha was talking about. He concentrated on blocking out his other senses, but he still couldn’t hear the wails. That was when he remembered to Aolid himself.
Aoliding was a slightly painful technique that helped Matt’s mind go to the Aolida . The Aolida was a mental space that helped Akhijanil use their superhuman abilities. Reaching the Aolida meant that Matt could see, hear, and smell a thousand times better than humans. Matt went in to the Aolidaand heard the screeching wails of the mad woman. Following the instructions of his Flikha, he set out to find the source of that noise.
Matt was confused. He didn’t know if the least dangerous course of action was to turn around and face the Ssssssssss noise or ignore it. He sighed, wishing for the hundredth time that he could lead a normal life. Other people his age were either asleep right now, or preparing for the big math test. He, on the other hand, was chasing some creepy sound, possibly to his own death.
Ssssssssssssss. The slithering started again, and it sounded like it was closer this time. He couldn’t ignore it any longer. He turned around, gripping his dagger harder than ever –
…and he saw nothing. Nothing to tell him what had been making the Sssssssssnoise. He blinked in confusion. He was positive that he hadn’t imagined that sound. Something had been following him, something that slithered along the surface.
He retraced his steps, trying to find something, anything. Just as he was about to give up, he heard it again. Closer this time, much closer. It was almost as if it was near his ear. His heart stopped. It was near his ear! He stood still, trying to fight away his panic attack. That’s when it bit him.
“AAAH!” He clutched his ear and collapsed to the ground.
“Ooompf.” He grunted, as something punched his stomach.
He doubled over in pain, wondering why he had set out on this crazy mission. Something stung — and he realized in horror that his toe was being eaten away.
With the last bit of his strength, he slashed out at his attacker. His dagger made contact with something and he heard a gasp of pain. This snapped him out of his shocked state of mind. He remembered a spell; the Flikha had told him to use it only in an ‘absolute emergency’. Getting attacked by who-knew-what in the middle of who-knew-where qualified as an ‘absolute emergency’.
“BLARUJA!” He screamed out, and a ball of blue light emerged from his dagger. He fell to the ground — this spell had sapped the last of his energy. The blue ball raced ahead to his attacker and dove itself right into his attacker’s heart. The attacker screamed out in pain and disappeared.
Matt held his head with both of his hands; he had a throbbing headache. “Hello, Matthew.” A voice called out to him.
“Who are you? Show yourself.” He replied.
“Don’t you recognize me? I’ve been training you for over a year now.”
“M…Master?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand. What is happening? What was that thing that tried to kill me? Where am I and what are you doing here?”
“You ask so many questions, young man. Worry not. You shall have them all answered eventually. For now, just come along. I want you to meet someone.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what is happening.”
“Alright. You, Matthew, just passed the first test. As a reward, you will get to meet other Akhijen. You and the others are part of a small team I’m putting together. It’s time for your training to start. It’s time for you all to discover your full potential. One year from now, we are going to wage a war. This war will put the Akhijanil back where they belong.”
“And where do we belong?”
“We belong at the top of the food chain. You see, Matthew, Humans are like a cockroach infestation. They are lousy creatures that don’t deserve to live. We are going to wipe them out with one master-stroke and rule the earth like we used to.”
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