A Darker Shade of Sorcery - - (leveled readers .txt) 📗

whispered back, smirking.

They exited the chamber, into a passageway whose walls dripped with rivulets of green droplets. The corridor possessed various living statues of water creatures, such as Nixies and Nagas. As they passed the statue of a Naga, it hissed at Evan, whilst the

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pretty Nixie statue leaned forward and blew a kiss Jed's way. Jed's grin lasted the rest of the day.

The entryways to other chambers were similarly enchanted to reflect the training they led to. The corridor walls to the fire element cavern were constantly alight with fake fire, and the walls leading to the Archives were lined with books that flew and nested like birds, quoting passages of their text instead of bird calls.

Mistress Aqenna's appearance didn't rank high on the odd scale either, not compared to their other Masters. The Extended Sorcery Master was an Orc, but unlike Urkzal he was old and wizened, with flowing white hair and beard that stretched down to his shins.

Then there was the Master of Curse Breaking, who was actually quite irritating. As they'd sat down for their first session, Master Elorian proceeded to patronise them all whilst boasting about his own exploits.

“Now today, children, we're going to disarm the curse placed on this armour. I myself wore this armour when battling the demon army of Ke'ra'lu, where I slew countless minions single-handedly. You, of course, could never hope to achieve such a feat. But still, I shall help you anyway I can.”

Annoyingly, Elorian could back up his arrogance as he showed them all how to break curses very effectively.

Elorian was half fae, his silky black hair imbued with a greenish tinge and his eyelashes white as snow. Evan guessed over half the Masters weren't human here.

Next, it was time for Evan’s first Creature-Study session. This chamber resembled a mini-zoo with cages and water tanks either side of the room, filled with an assortment of bizarre beings. To Evan’s amazement, the Master was an android named D-7.

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D-7 wore a top-hat, mechanical glasses and his eyes were like car lights. He had synthetic blond hair underneath his top-hat and wore a black trench coat. It was very peculiar.

“Creature-Study comprises of everything, from dissecting dead creatures to studying them in their natural habitats, to drawing them.” D-7 spoke in a preposterously-posh British accent. “You will learn about all creatures and types of demon here. We will start with: Minotaurs, snake-men, clones…”

The list went on and on. Barely a minute into it everyone stared at D-7, open-mouthed. All the creatures he mentioned just couldn’t be real. Some Evan recognised from myths and legend. Others he'd never heard of.

“Weird man, freaking weird,” Jed muttered as they left an hour later.

Their last session of the day was Archives. The class named after the room it took place in. The Archives were perhaps the biggest chamber in the Fortress. Rows upon rows of ancient books filled the room like a labyrinth.

The cat-whiskered Gettelung was the instructor. After greeting them all affectionately, he settled down at one of the tables and gestured for them to do the same.

Jed and Evan sat at a table with Xavier Ichles and Izekiel Irk. As everyone took their seats, pens and notebooks materialised before them. The books were encased in red vellum, with their individual names etched on the front in gold lettering.

“Cool,” Xavier said, flicking through the pages.

“Welcome to your first of many sessions dealing with Realming.” Gettelung said.

“First things first, a brief explanation on sorcery itself is in order.”

Evan leaned forward eagerly.

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“Sorcery for us Realmers is like a cell-phone, it needs recharging. Magic cannot be used continuously, it eventually depletes, and you’ll be powerless whilst you wait for it to come back. You will be able to tell when your sorcery is fading by the immense fatigue that overcomes you. When a Venator is completely drained, they sometimes faint, or in very rare cases, die. But as you grow stronger, you’ll be able to use more sorcery and it will replenish itself quicker. With training and practice, your magic will grow stronger naturally.”

“Aww, we have to train loads to get stronger,” groaned Jed.

“What were you expecting?” Evan asked.

“To wake up one day and discover I have the power to crush mountains. Oh, and make girls fall in love with me,” said Jed.

“The main reason we use weapons and armour on missions,” said Gettelung, “is in case we run out of magic. Of course, it differs for each Venator. How long it takes you to burn out and then recharge depends on your individual power.”

“I bet I could recharge my sorcery quicker than anyone else in history,” Jed whispered with a grin.

“Now,” said Gettelung. “Soon, you'll be assigned missions throughout the multiple worlds. Please begin noting down my words in your books, for future reference.”

Evan complied, grabbing his pen.

Gettelung continued, “It’s my job to teach you how to survive in the many realms.

I shall instruct you on the other demon hunter establishments and-”

“Our Fortress isn’t the only one?” Emillia asked.

“Certainly not,” said Gettelung. “There are several Realmer strongholds, and they’re all a tad different to one another. Veneseron realm is the closest to Earth, that's why most of you are human. On other worlds, the Realmers are quite unlike what we

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have here. We're the only ones who call ourselves Venators, the other hunters are collectively known as Realmers.”

“Will we visit the other strongholds?” asked Nena.

“Some of them,” Gettelung replied mysteriously. “I’m proud to say Veneseron is the largest stronghold and was the first one created, founded by our Grand Master Vanderain five thousand years ago. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. As I was saying, I’ll also instruct you on how to travel between the worlds.”

Gettelung procured an instrument Evan recognised as the tool Tarensen had used to create the portal to Veneseron.

“This is a Rambrace. Once activated, it will summon a portal.”

Evan stared, fascinated by the seemingly unremarkable object that resembled a long piece of red metal.

“Of course,” Gettelung proceeded, “Rambraces aren’t the only means of travel, like the chamber right here full of thousands of portals used for missions. We also have the chamber of globes, which we use to find you. The globes track down those that have used magic, or have it inside of them, with a red dot flashing in their location. A person's magic is usually triggered as they go through puberty.”

“What, so you tracked me down because a red dot appeared in New York?” Tristan asked.

“Yes,” said Gettelung. “But the globe would've tracked you to within a one-mile radius, so we know exactly where to send Venators to fetch you. Right, then,”

Gettelung clapped his hands. “On to the present. Let’s start with basics. Who knows about the different classes of sorcery?”

“There’s three,” Xavier said proudly. “Caustic, Serene and Phantom.”

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“Just so.” Gettelung nodded. “Caustic Venators are those strongest in fire, shock, energy or earth sorcery.”

“That’s me,” Evan said aloud.

“Me too,” Jed cried, “…I think.”

“Indeed,” said Gettelung, “Now, the Serene are those strongest in healing, water element, summoning and anatomy.”

“I’m a Serene Venator then,” said a girl from across the room. Evan thought her name might’ve been Brooke or something.

“Lastly,” said Gettelung, “are Phantom type, those most skilled in Illusion, curse-breaking, air and anatomy magic. Certain magic types are best suited for certain missions. We need Caustic Realmers for an attack force in battle missions, for example. Whereas Serenes are best suited for healing, reinforcement and interrogation missions. Finally, Phantoms are best for undercover missions, or when we need to rescue a prisoner or steal an item that’s landed in the wrong hands.”

“Aww, I can’t wait until I learn how to turn invisible.” Xavier whooped.

Gettelung continued, “There’s no correlation as to why Venators are a certain class. Gender has no bearing. An aggressive personality doesn’t mean you’ll be Caustic, and a calm one doesn’t mean you’re a Serene. No Venator is bound by their class. You may be able to heal as well as use fire magic for example, or vice versa.

And every Realmer has types of sorcery they cannot do.”

“Yeah,” Jed whispered. “I’d be a terrible Serene, dude.”

After Gettelung’s lecture it was time for dinner.

There were various places to get food around the Fortress, but the Banquet chamber in Castle-coterie was the biggest.

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Like many rooms in Veneseron, the chamber reflected a historical period of Earth.

It resembled a Viking mead hall, with Venator improvements. Mammoth fur rugs and garish demon skins lined the floor and a total of four roaring fires danced in their hearths, each a different coloured inferno. The walls themselves were embellished with trophies and weapons. White stone benches filled the hall, whilst longer stone tables sat around the outskirts, laden with piles of food, placed there by Novices and Sniglog’s team of chefs.

There were mountains of sandwiches and platters of roast meats glazed with honey or sprinkled with fruit, alongside pitchers of liquids in all colours and mounds of pastries, cakes, and more chocolate than he'd ever seen.

Evan saw food and drink he couldn’t fathom, like orc oranges, which were dark green and tasted of orange, lime and something he couldn't identify. There were roast kraken tentacles, pixie pies, glasses of valkyrie venom, (which apparently was delicious and not poisonous to humans,) and a Banshee banana which shrieked when Jed picked it up and wouldn’t stop until he peeled off its silver skin.

He and Jed filled their plates, before settling at a bench in the corner of the chamber. Too late, Evan noticed Sintian on a bench nearby. Sintian stared at them murderously. He obviously hadn't forgotten their first meeting. Abruptly, he strode from the room, his blue cloak billowing behind him.

“He’s got problems, that boy,” Jed remarked casually, before stuffing his face.

As they left the banquet, Jed proposed they head to a recreational room he'd heard about. There were so many places inside the castles, let alone the city, they hadn’t explored.

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“Apparently someone of any rank can hang out in this place, and it’s supposed to have real comfy sofas too. A Mid-Realmer told me there’s a dozen rec rooms in every castle,” Jed said.

They walked out onto a courtyard situated behind Titantower, but stopped when they realised who was waiting for them.

Sintian leaned against the archway, blocking their exit, arms crossed and smiling at their approach. High above him two gruesome statues leered. There were many gargoyles around Veneseron, but only a few could talk. The last gargoyle Evan met had called him a loser. Fortunately, the gargoyle above Sintian was silent. His neighbour was a mechanical golem with a rifle built into its left arm and what looked like a bazooka on the right. Evan recognised the gun from weaponry training, a Spellzooka.

Jed’s temper flared. “What are you doing? Get out of our way.”

Sintian ignored him, his eyes glittering with malice.

“Do you know what I love about this place?” He gestured all around him, “it’s so vast, so many secret places, that the Masters can't always catch you getting up to no