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

looks, obviously he hadn't heard of any of these Venators either.

“Enough gossip, we’ve got Air element?” Brooke took Jed's spoon away mid-mouthful.

“Hey, I 'avn't finished my food yet, woman.”

“Should've got up earlier then,” Brooke replied, pulling Jed and Evan to their feet.

*

The rest of the day was much like any other for Brooke. After lunch she, Emi and Evan headed for Extended Sorcery, whilst Jed went to Earth element with Zeke and Xavier.

As they entered Dragonrock, Brooke noticed Emillia plucking a vial of bright blue liquid from her pocket and gulping it down.

“Aaah, I needed that. Shouldn’t have wasted my sorcery messing around with Elijah.”

“What was it?” Brooke asked.

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“Sorcery potion, gives you a boost if you’re drained,” said Emi, “drinking more than one a day has dangerous side-effects though. The Masters only give them out along with health potions for missions.”

“Health potions?” Evan exclaimed.

“Yeah, for Realmers who don’t have healing magic and get wounded. They’re hard to make and our rank aren’t supposed to use them, so don’t tell Elijah.” Emillia grinned. “He’s a right goody-two-shoes.”

For Extended Sorcery, the orcish Master Balzabar had them partner up and take turns conjuring balls of acid. Both Brooke and Evan succeeded in dissolving their rocks, whilst the Silcorn cousins ended up hitting each other and had to have Balzabar rush to heal them before the acid ate away at their skin.

After that, Brooke and Evan split up as he had Fire training and she, Healing.

Brooke set off down the corridors with Emillia as they talked about their lives before Veneseron. Unlike most Venators, Emillia wasn't taken from Earth, but a world named Sarume.

“My sister's had a few missions on Earth and she said Sarume was similar, except for a few differences.”

“Like what?” Brooke asked.

Emil ia explained how all poor people on Sarume were slaves to the rich.

“My sister and I were the slaves,” she said, her eyes downcast. “That's why I'm so happy we were found and taken here.”

“That's terrible.” Brooke hugged Emillia tight.

“It's okay,” Emi’s voice was muffled by Brooke's shoulder. “I'm an ass-kicking demon hunter now.”

“You know you can talk to me anytime, right?”

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“Of course,” Emil ia headed down a flight of steps. “I'l see you in the Banquet chamber for dinner.”

It was late afternoon and many other Venators had finished for the day.

Brooke was walking down a deserted passageway when movement caught her eye. She saw two shadows in a secluded corner who appeared to be interlocked. Brooke first thought one of the figures was attacking the other, she moved to see what was happening. Seconds later she gasped in embarrassment.

Two Venators were fiercely intertwined, one of them pinning the other against the wall as they kissed furiously. They stopped and turned as Brooke gasped.

She discerned the silky, ash-blonde hair of Lok and the silver-gold of Lyella.

Brooke’s cheeks flushed as she stammered an apology but Lyella wasn’t embarrassed at all.

“I’ll catch you later,” she said to Lok, removing an unruly strand of hair from his eyes.

“Okay babe,” he answered with one of his cheeky grins, watching her as she strutted away. As Lyella turned the corner she shot Brooke a venomous look, filled with more hatred than those before, if that was possible.

“Are you stalking me?” Lok’s eyes twinkled.

“I could say the same about you,” she said.

Lok merely looked at her, grinning.

“So, Lyella's your girlfriend? She acts like she owns you.”

“Lyella? Hmm, yeah you could say that,” he shrugged. “I think it’s just a bit of fun to be honest. Oh, and no one owns me.”

“And do you have fun with many of the female Venators here?”

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“Naturally. Why, are you in need of some fun yourself, Brooke?” His chocolate brown eyes flickered up and down her body.

Brooke started back up the hallway, “No thanks.”

Lok’s playful laughter followed her down the corridor.

*

After deciding to grab a quick shower before dinner, Brooke redressed and left for the Banquet chamber. On the second-floor landing however, she saw Lyella and her gang at the bottom of the stairs. Arianna Silcorn stood beside Lyella, whimpering as the blonde clenched a fistful of her hair.

Lyella flung Arianna to the ground whilst her gang giggled like goblins. Arianna scurried to her feet and ran away, sobbing.

Molten rage rose in Brooke's stomach.

“Hey! You think you're cool huh, making other girls cry? You think that's something to be proud of?”

“Just something to pass the time whilst we were waiting for you,” Lyella snapped.

Lyella strode up the stairs towards her. “Too many times you've made moves on my man.”

“You need an army to back you up,” Brooke observed, glaring at the three girls converging around her.

Brooke edged away, until the stair banister blocked her exit. She was surrounded on all sides.

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“I'm not your everyday bitch. There's a reason the other Venators fear me and it's not because I'll mock their fashion sense or any of that inconsequential crap. Now, you’ll do as I say, or I'll ruin you. You can't beat me, so just accept it.”

“No, you're not your everyday bitch, you're the most pathetic one I've ever met,”

she replied.

Lyella's face blanched.

“I warned you, you ugly Glarqing whore,” Lyella snarled.

Brooke ground her teeth together. “Back off.”

Lyella's hand snaked out and snatched her hair, yanking her head down hard.

“Kick her ass, Ly,” Lyella's witches screeched in unison.

Lyella pulled back a fist but Brooke seized a handful of Lyella's hair in turn and shot upwards, head-butting her in the face.

Lyella staggered back, a look of utter surprise on her face as blood squirted from her nose.

Surprise morphed into fury and Lyella flew at her like a hell-cat, throwing Brooke to the floor where they rolled, clawing at each other. Brooke managed to pin Lyella underneath her and wasted no time smacking her across the mouth.

Brooke paused, about to call an end to it when Lyella punched her straight back.

She rolled off Lyella, seizing the banister to pull herself up.

“That's enough,” Brooke said as Lyella stood up.

“No it isn't!”

Lyella launched herself at Brooke, this time ramming her into the banister railing.

Before Brooke knew what was happening Lyella had seized the front of her shirt and purposefully threw her over the banister.

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As Brooke fell fifteen feet through the air she flung out her arm instinctively to break her fall. She felt the bone break instead, snapping in half at the elbow with an almighty crack.

Blinding pain like never before assailed her. She felt her body go into shock and cried out in agony.

Suddenly, she felt a hand at her elbow and the sensation of healing enveloped her, taking away the immense pain with a cold tingling.

She looked up to see Lok crouching over her, for once no playful glint in his eyes.

“You're helping her. What about me?” Lyella screeched.

“It was four against one,” Lok snapped back.

He lifted Brooke to her feet gently. “C'mon.”

“Where are you going?” Lyella raced down the stairs, “we're supposed to be going to the Elfpunk Emporium tonight, baby.”

Lok laughed hollowly. “You think I'm going to a nightclub with you now. Get away from me.”

Brooke saw tears burst from Lyella's eyes, leaking mascara everywhere. She screeched like a demon as Lok led Brooke away.

*

Minutes later, Lok set her down on a bench in one of the courtyards. Silently he laid a hand on her cheek and healed a scratch Brooke hadn't even noticed.

“Thank you,” she rasped, “I don't think Lyella would've stopped at breaking my arm.”

“You don't need to thank me,” Lok replied. “Lyella’s just got…issues.”

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He finished his healing and stepped back.

“Why are you with someone like her? Did you know she was that vicious? Not to mention crazy.”

Lok didn't answer. Instead he gazed at her intently.

“We all have our problems, Brooke,” Lok leaned forward and cupped her cheek tenderly, “but I admit, sometimes I wish I was with a girl like you.”

Her breath hitched as her heartbeat skyrocketed.

What do I say? How do I reply to that?

But then Lok spoke on. “I'll deal with Lyella, she won’t attack you again.”

Brooke wanted to talk more, but Lok was already walking off, his expression uncharacteristically grim.

*

After a long day training, Evan finally got to his bedroom to rest. His sorcery felt close to being depleted and his body weak. As he lay on his bed he felt his magic slowly recharge. The side-effects of using fire element had left his skin cold to the touch, but as his sorcery recharged Evan felt heat return, spreading gradually up through his arms and into his chest.

For the first few weeks of magic training, Evan felt drained of all power for hours, but now he found it was restoring itself faster. He couldn’t wait to move up the ranks, learn newer, more powerful magic, and visit other worlds. Maybe then he'd be able to handle these demons, if they were still after him, which they probably weren’t. Ever since the attack in his room he convinced himself daily that the demons must have given up trying to capture him. They must have. Either that, or they realised they were

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hunting the wrong person. He was just like any other Venator. Maybe the demons weren’t actually looking for him at all. He hoped so anyway.

Evan was broken out of his reverie by a knock at the door. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Cera on the other side, he’d forgotten they were meeting so soon. His insides instantly started squirming.

“Hey, Mashok,” she said brightly.

“H-hey.”

“So, you ready?”

“Um…yeah,” he said, stepping into the corridor.

“I thought we could go for a walk,” Cera suggested.

“Oh, cool.”

He sounded awkward and he knew it. Cera appeared not to notice, or pretended she didn’t anyway as she led him down the hallways through the castle.

A few Venators passed them as they wandered, and a couple of brownies had broken in. They scuttled past, laughing mischievously as they looked for something to steal. Evan was fascinated when they walked past one Venator speaking to a hologram. He’d heard that when Realmers were on long missions they sometimes got to talk to their friends in hologram form.

Soon they were outside and walking beneath a grim sky which had started to spit raindrops. The water felt pleasant and refreshing on Evan’s skin as he watched Venators training.

Tyrell, as ever, was busy educating Novices in weaponry. Evan thought Tyrell was probably the best swordsman Veneseron had. Urkzal was training a large group of Indian Venators and Evan spotted Sintian amidst a cluster of Realmers who looked as

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shifty as him. Luckily Sintian didn't see them, he was staring at his own hand as he conjured then extinguished small blue flames, then repeated the process.

Several other creatures were