Keepers Of The Occult (NaNoWriMo 2024) Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Union Of Magus

Read chapter 4 of Keepers Of The Occult (NaNoWriMo 2024) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Hazel didn’t stop staring at the retreating Komyo, who vanished behind an invisible veil after he walked back into the tent. A strange sense of affinity tugged within her, although she could not pinpoint how exactly she found him familiar. “Who was that guy?” Liam asked. “Ain’t got a Scooby Doo, bruv.” Chester shrugged. “Never seen him before. He looks Asian, though; probably an ambassador from the Japanese branch.” An awkward silence fell on the trio as they looked at each other, finally taking in how strange this whole night had been. “Thanks for that earlier, by the way,” Chester mumbled to Hazel. “I’m sorry you had to see all that.” “Wait, Tomoko!” Hazel exclaimed without warning. “She was here earlier, but must’ve gotten lost in the forest when she ran off. We need to find her now!” The two boys blinked in confusion. A yellow glow lit up in Liam’s irises as he looked around the forest. “Hazel, there isn’t anyone else within two hundred metres of this forest.” Liam blinked as the glow disappeared from his eyes. “What? She was right here! I brought her here! Where did she go?” “Oh god. You’re on acid, aren’t you?” Chester groaned in exasperation. “Look. Even if Tomoko was here, she no longer is.” Liam was trying his best to placate the increasingly hysterical girl. “She’s probably somewhere safe now. C’mon, we’ll get you home—” Hazel backed away. “No. Not before you two tell me what is going on,” she blurted. “How did you do all of that? What are you wearing? Are you secretly wizards? Magic is real?” Liam waved his hands as wispy traces of smoke trailed behind his fingers. He continued twirling his wrist in a circular motion, and the smoke gathered as it began to take form. Hazel watched in awe. The boy snapped his fingers decisively, and a cloud materialised in front of them. “Fine. Hop on.” Liam gestured to his cloud. “Where do you live? We’ll take the scenic route back. That’ll give us plenty of time to talk.” ~ ~ ~ It was a windy night, even more so at five kilometres above the ground. And yet Hazel felt almost no sense of motion, other than the slight rumbling of the magic cloud somehow solid enough to support the weight of three people. It felt more like the world was moving past her instead. All she could see around herself was the twilight darkness, and all she saw below was an endless sea of clouds. She would’ve fainted from the fantastical nature of it all, if she hadn’t already watched two of her classmates literally use magic in front of her. “I suppose I’ll start from the beginning,” Liam spoke without warning, making Hazel flinch slightly. “Yes. You were right, in a way. We are ‘wizards’, in the sense that we can wield magic.” He paused, as though to let Hazel take in the information. She simply stared at him, silently urging him to continue. “The supernatural world has always existed alongside the natural world,” the boy continued. “They are divided like so because each world draws from a different form of energy. While the natural world works on physical, concrete energy, the supernatural world works on more fluid supernatural energy. That is what we call magic.” “ ‘We’ as in ‘Magus ’,” Chester added. “A long time ago, some bloke found out that a certain group of humans had an affinity for supernatural energy. As such, he learnt how to harness it and sought out others who had the potential to wield it as well. They banded together and formed a secret society known as the ‘Union of Magus’.” “The supernatural world was running rampant and slaughtering humans back then,” Liam said. “Thus, the Union decided that the Magus should use their powers to protect the natural world and maintain the balance between the two worlds. A hidden war broke out for decades until the Union finally emerged victorious.” Hazel’s eyes widened. “So you and Chester…” Chester nodded. “As generations passed, it was discovered that there is a genetic component to this ability.” An uncomfortable expression crossed his face. “The Magus abil