An Offer (1)

"AHHHH!" Marls groan, his eyes shuts open.

His face is in between two cold big hands on his cheek, holding his head, tender but firm. After regaining his conscience, he looks towards the person that holds his hand. In front of him is person with short wavy jet black hair that seems neglected, his eyes' black and depressed, staring right into Marls' heart. Marls blushes, he tries to shake him off, not realizing his hand is on a shackle until the sound of a chains clanging stops him.

"He is awake." The man says, looking at a person behind Marls. He gently takes his hands off

Marls' head, while he glances at Marls for a sharp second before he retreats to his corner, sitting with his hands folded, elbow on his knees. Marls looks at him odd.

"Thankyou Mr. Aiden." A familiar voice appears.

Aiden nods.

"Professor Hitchson? Where am I?" Marls asks.

"We're in er.. constraining room." Prof. Hitch replies.

Constraining room.. "Prison?"

Prof. Hitchson sighs. "Yes Marls.. I apologize to tell you that."

Marls looks around for a second. For a prison, this place is not as bad as he thought. It's a bit dusty, but he thought a prison in this kind of setting would be something like those he knew in fiction, neglected and smelly. Here, it's just a bit dusty.

"No.. It's fine. This place actually looks better than the house I have."

"Oh don't say that." Prof. Hitch unlocks the chains binding Marls.

Marls is reminded by a dream he had before.

"What was that.." he whispers.

"Had a dream?" Prof. Hitchson asks.

"Y-yeah. A bad dream in fact.."

"That is unfortunate to hear.. but to answer your question, that thing you experienced is not a dream."

So that's an Illusion?

"It is a high-level illusion."

"He has resistance." A melancholic voice comes from the man.

"Resistance? That noticeable..?" Prof. Hitchson says surprised.

"Yes. That noticeable. He is potent, but dull."

Marls looks towards Prof. Hitchson. His eyes seems to wander around the floor, his mind is occupied.

"You feel it."

Marls looks towards the man.

"Me?"

"You. A portion of the illusion skips. You didn't notice?"

Marls tries recalling, oddly, it is as clear as day. He did felt an event is skipped when he was under the influence.

"A blatant sign of resistance. You don't even command that to happen, it's spontaneous."

"Wait, who are you?"

"He is one of the head teacher of the School of Illusion, Mr. Aiden." Prof. Hitchson replies.

"The head teacher??" Marls says surprised.

"Yes, and there are probably more than 7 others waiting on another room." Prof. Hitchson says, he walks in front of Marls and hops to his lap, standing in front of him. He put both his hand on Marls' shoulders, while his eye look straight to Marls eyes.

"Listen to me, Mr. Marls. Most of us vote for you to be given a chance, although there are those who don't."

His eyebrow frowns of fret.

"We believe you can do it. But you still need to prove that you are able." He grabs marls shoulder firmer.

"Able to what..?"

"To change. We believe you can change, we hope you can change, ensuring a better future."

Prof. Hitchson sighs. He can feel Marls' heart rate is rising through the palm of his hands.

"I know this won't be easy." Prof. Hitchson says.

"But we can guide you. Since we believe in you, we want you to believe in us too." He pats marls on his shoulder.

"Well.. some of us believe in you."

Marls takes his time to respond.

"No going back?" He asks

"To your life on earth, unfortunately, we can't allow that to happen."

He ponders. Prof. Hitchson jumps off of him, landing on the floor with his two feet. He wags his suit and looks back at Marls.

"Shall we wait?" Aiden whispers.

"Yes, let's give him some time. I will wait outside." Prof Hitch whispers back.

Aiden nods, and he continues sitting on the corner.

The door closes. Silence ensues. It goes on for a while, and the tension in the air works its way up.

"So everything I saw. It was you?" Marls asks him.

"Yes. But I did not arrange it."

"Aren't you the one who cast it on me?"

"I am."

"Yet you have no control?"

"The illusion you saw, it was constructed from your conscience. Similar to a dream, except it feels more solid, real."

"And you saw what I experienced?"

Aiden sits silent for a second.

"Unfortunately."

"Everything?"

"A glimpse of it, towards the end."

Marls looks down. He tightens his fist. Aiden looks at him from afar. He takes a deep breath, and then release. The sound of silence follows.

After some minutes, Marls stands up.

"I'm ready." He says, confidently.

Aiden looks at him, his face is cold, he looks at him and Marls looks back. After seeing him, he stands up.

Marls walks towards the exit, accompanied by Aiden. He pats Marls on the back.

"You have my respect." Aiden says.

Marls looks at Aiden. His eyes focused. "Thank you."

Both of them opens the door out.

***

Prof. Hitchson sits on a bench just near the entrance to the prison room. He takes his wand, and then stretches it out, forming a staff. Both his palm rests on the upper tip of the staff, while he is pushing it down with his weight.

His face looks down towards the ground, feeling a bit distressed by the situation.

The only hope?

He is curious.

If an alleged future tyrant becomes our only hope, what lies far beyon-

"Whats up?"

"Hooop!" Prof. Hitchson startles.

The girl bursts out laughing, her hands holding her stomach.

"Hoop? AHAHAHAH"

Prof. Hitchson retreats to his seat, he looks down embarrassed. The girl wipes her tears off his eyes while she calms down.

"I'm sorry, couldn't hold the laugh!" The girl says.

The girl was close to Professor Hitch's right ear, but now she is standing in front of him. She is not tall but not too short, although thin, it is noticeable that her arm feels heavy like a rock. She has a quite messy and short wavy orange hair, with a cute ponytail on the left. Almost every part of her attire has some sort of pocket, her coat, her shirt, her pants, even her gloves.

"Beatrix, how is the seer?" Prof. Hitchson asks.

"Oh right! She has woken up."

"Thank you for the information Mrs. Beatrix, I may need to hurry now-" The moment he hears her answer, Prof. Hitchson gets up. His staff twists back to a stick and he swiftly goes towards the direction Beatrix came from.

Beatrix sits there and sees how Prof. Hitch's feet hops through the hallway.

"At least ask me 'how are you?' .." She says disappointed.

"Ah Mrs. Beatrix!"

Beatrix looks back towards Prof. Hitch, his head popping out from behind a wall. "..yes?"

"Please look out for Mr. Aiden and Mr. Marls. Thank you!" He quickly disappears.

"You're welcome!" She says, back to her pouting.

Silence ensues. Slowly but surely the sound of a ticking clock is becoming more prominent. Beatrix sits there waiting. The silence is slowly becoming deafening to her, adding to the annoyance every ticking second.

This is driving me insane..!!

She couldn't last 30 seconds without doing anything.

Suddenly, she could hear some muffled voices coming from the room. Her legs that couldn't stop swinging now suddenly stops. She is provided with an opportunity. To hear or not to hear, the temptation is very near. Sweat slowly comes out from the sweat gland, flowing down through her cheek and finally drops down as a droplet.

She finally decides to lean her body closer to the door, attaching her ear to its surface. She could hear the voices clearer, and..

"Mr. Aiden, what are you- mmf..!" Marls voice mumbles, and then the sound of a thud, as if someone falls to the floor, ensues.

Beatrix gulps, she becomes neck deep into this.

"This is not right.."

"I know, Marls. And stop calling me Mr. Aiden. Aiden is fine.."

Is it what I think it is..?

She smiles, her face blushes red like a steamy shell of a red crab.

PANG!

The door has opened. Marls and Aiden is standing in front of her.

Beatrix is frozen in her pose, her face still red, and the instant she hears that familiar sound, she realized what has happened.

"Err.. who is she?" Marls asks.

"An eavesdropper." Mr. Aiden answers.

Beatrix turns to Aiden, she smiles, and then she grins.

"Where is Professor Hitchson?"

"He is back with the others" she says smiling, her face is tense, trying to hold a pressure in her heart.

She stands up and whispers to Aiden.

"Whatever you saw in that thing don't you ever tell anybody. Okay?" Still smiling.

"You hate the world to know how disgusting you are?" Aiden replies, in the most monotone way possible.

"Just kindly shut up about it" She whispers, before backing out. Aiden knows she is doing her usual attempt to give him a threat, but he couldn't be bothered. He has nothing to lose after all.

Marls looks at the two.

"Is she your student, Mr. Aiden?"

Aiden looks at Marls. His eye seems to imply something to him, but he doesn't know what.

On the side though, Marls could sense the air around her is getting warmer.

"Beatrix!" Aiden yells, which startles her.

Did Aiden just yelled? Beatrix thought.

"I won't deal with your shenanigans this time Beatrix. As a head teacher you should've understood the gravity of the current situation." Aiden speaks fast, compact, and firmly.

Beatrix stands in silence.

She's a Headteacher..? Marls thought.

"Mr. Marls, please follow me. You too, Beatrix."

Aiden and Marls walks forward, while Beatrix follows behind. The walk is silent, and it feels long. Marls' not sure if the room is that far or is it because of the event before.

"I am sorry Mr. Marls." Aiden whispers.

"Y-yeah. It's fine."

They arrive. Aiden opens the door, the room is quite big, a carpet on the floor almost covers the entire floor. In front of the entrance is a set of couch, the head teachers are sitting there. On the right side of the room is a big bed. Opposite to where the door is facing is where the windows are arranged. The windows extrudes outward, leaving this space where people can put medicines or flowers there. On the bed is the seer, laying down. She has woken up, but one of the head teachers is still healing her, since what seems like a hand of the teacher is on the seer's eye.

The head teachers turns towards the entrance. Marls can sense the amount of pressure hits him with those stares.

"Is that Mr. Marls?" The seer asks.

"Yes it is, this time." Leya answers.

Leya is standing, leaning to the wall. She carefully observes Marls.

"Mr. Marls, come here." Prof. Hitch orders.

Marls sit on the empty chair next to Prof. Hitch.

"Forgive me for what I did back at the hall, Mr. Marls. It was my fault to not be able to control myself. But there is something important for you to hear."

"I believe you have already known that there is no turning back anymore."Marls nods.

"So we're here to give you an offer."

Marls head tilts.

"What about the prophecy? What happened back in the hall?" He asks.

"Do not worry about it. We have decided on what to do. But if you wish to know more, I am sure Professor Hitchson will be happy to explain." The seer turns left and nod, trying to look at Prof. Hitchson.

"Hng." He nods.

"Is that fine?"

"yes."

"Thank you very much. The offer we're giving to you are these; You have two choices to consider. Although you cannot come back to your world, you are given a chance to live a new life in the kingdom. You are allowed to create or find opportunities for the betterment of your livelihood. Essentially, you will start just as where you were back in your world, except you are under a different jurisdiction, with moderate level of surveillance."

"But the other choice is you would attend the academy and choose a school of your choice. Your livelihood would be subsidized by the kingdom and the academy, with a condition that you would work at our institution and the kingdom for a certain amount of years."

Marls stood in silence. He is trying to think about what will the future be.

My life finally brings me back to this point..

Marls sighs.

"Don't worry, Mr. Marls. We do not expect you to have your answer right now."

"It is already a very hard day for you to go through all of this in such a short amount of time. And to be honest, I am impressed by how well you have been managing everything through."

Marls smiles. "It's nothing, Professor Hitchson probably plays a major role for that.. I think."

Prof. Hitchson turns towards Marls and bows his head, smiling.

"I am honored, thank you." He says. Marls replies with a thumbs up.

The seer chuckles.

"Now I am very optimistic of the future of the kingdom." She says.

"I am sure they are on the right hands after I'm gone."

"Your eyes should be fixed by now, madame."

The head teacher removes her hand. The seer's eyes are still shut, and then she slowly opens her eyes.

Her eye is back normal.

"Try to look around."

"Wooah.."

"My eye never feels so fresh before..!"

The head teacher smiles.

"I am thankful!" She says.

"No, thank you!" The seer smiles.

She raises her body and is now sitting on the bed, laying her back against the wall behind her.

She turns her head facing Marls.

"I really hope you would accept our offer at studying in our academy. You have a very high potential to be a great sorcerer one day, but I wouldn't enforce my beliefs on you. You are free to choose."

"Err.. okay" he says.

"Oh, and one last thing. For tonight, you would probably live in a place not so far from the academy. It should have been prepared by the time you arrive."

The seer takes another one closer look at Marls face.

"You are interesting, Mr. Marls. Unordinary. I would like to see who you would become, one day. Considering if I'm still alive, or course."

She looks at him for a while, before she nods and takes a deep breath.

"That should be everything! Now I would kindly requests you to depart, as I would like to have another private conversation with the head teachers."

"Oh, right.." he stands up, and bows down, which the seer replies with a gentle nod.

He slides his feet away from the bed and proceeds to walk towards the entrance, which next to it, is the red haired lady, still watching every movement.

Is she the reason I feel so much pressure this whole time..?

Marls opens the door, he takes a peek around for a short time, and then he swiftly leaves.

The seer turns her head towards the head teachers, who are sitting on the couch.

"Your doubts are still reasonable, but I want you to believe in me. He is not yet a hardened clay. We can shape him to be a beautiful pot, which one day hosts beautiful flowers."

Leya sighs. She looks at the seer.

"You are very soft, madame."

"Or perhaps you are very strict!" The seer replies.

Leya does not react. The seer sighs.

"Still. If there is any sign that shows ill intent from him, no mercy would be given." Leya continues.

"But make sure you do not fall into misunderstandings."

"I will not." Leya answers.

"Although he could be a powerful threat, he could be a powerful ally." One of the head teachers says.

He turns towards the seer.

"And I am sure that he could have a change of heart." He gently nods.

Leya looks at him, her sharp eyes observing minute details about his behavior.

"You're sweating too much." Leya says.

"Perhaps a room filled with more than 8 people makes me sweat." He answers.

"Hmph!" Leya huffs.

"My point is this. I want you to at least give him a chance. My vision already proves him that he is a huge benefit to our kingdom."

"I won't let my guard down." Leya answers.

The seer closes her eye, taking a deep breath. She had hoped a different answer, but since it is Leya, it will be hard to soften her a little bit. The seer just doesn't want a bad relation to sprout between the academy and Marls. After all, she doesn't want to give reasons for Marls to turn against the kingdom and the academy.

"If that is all, I would like to leave. You seem to need some more rest." She looks at the seer and bows down. The seer looks at her and gently nods, which prompts Leya to open the door and leave.

"Alright then. It is concluded. We should also go back to our duties before it's late." One of the head teacher says. They bow down before each one of them queue for exit.

"Remember to explain the plan to the king." The seer says.

"We will."

Aiden and Prof. Hitchson leave last. They look at the seer and bow down. The seer smiles and nods in return.

With that, the head teachers left the room. The seer sits there in silence. Looking outside, the sky is painted orange while the sun is about to set.