Chapter 2

Fae screamed into the air so loud it would have made a banshee proud of her. She was kneeling on the floor as blue waves of energy pulsed from her tiny figure.

Her mentor just sat and watched carefully, arms crossed and silently casting a spell to avoid being fried by the energy.

“Calm down,” he barked as she let out a particularly ear-splitting scream.

“Calm down!?” She roared at him, falling flat and failing to drag herself towards him, “I’m a friggin’ human generator! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!”

“Every apprentice goes through this process,” he replied just loud enough to be heard, “It will soon pass.”

She gritted her teeth in pain and stayed as still as she could. This didn’t help much however, as she shook vigorously for a few minutes before the blue energy slowed down and eventually stopped.

She pulled herself up and let out a small laugh, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

***

Fae awoke in her bed, still in her apprentice robes and with the the blanket wrapped comfortably around her. She was grateful for this, as it was in the middle of Winter, and if she had been any less covered in layers she would have frozen to death.

The door to the room creaked open and in stepped her mentor, who she had came to nickname ‘Cuts’ over the months she’d spent with him, as he had no real name and he had quite a few injuries from his battles, one being obviously noticeable against the pale skin on his cheek.

She had been his apprentice for nearly thirteen months, and she had loved every moment of it. She had been taught a multitude of spells, from levitation to drawing water from the air, seen far away places she would never have been able to go to otherwise, and once even petted a unicorn (who then turned to ram her down after taking this as a sign of violence).

“You scream loud,” he said, still standing in the doorway and as emotionless as ever, holding a up of tea in his right hand while his left was kept within his robe out of sight.

“Thanks,” Fae replied, smirking, “T next time I feel my skin burning off I’ll try to not wake up the neighbours.”

Cuts smiled faintly and told her to come and get her breakfast, before leaving the room quietly and closing the door.

Fae enjoyed the times that Cuts smiled, a rare occasion that had to be enjoyed in the moment to be fully understood – the only other time she’d seen him smile was at the incident with the unicorn.

She stretched and hopped out of the bed, raising her right arm into the air and whispering the first words she’d learnt as a student.

“Arces pras.”

A cry from the kitchen indicated it had worked, as the door to her room split apart and mended itself in the second it took for her wand to fly through it. She caught it within her raised hand and giggled silently. She had left it underneath the kettle (don’t ask), and at that moment she had called it to herself it seemed Cuts was preparing more tea.

You can figure out the rest.

“You stupid little girl!” Cuts screamed at her as she came into the kitchen just in time to see him removing the burns off of himself with his wand.

“I didn’t mean to,” Fae replied, trying her hardest to hold back a laugh.

“Yes, well… no harm done,” he muttered, healing the last of his wounds and nodding his head over to the table, where a delicious breakfast lay awaiting her.

She sat and ate – scrambled eggs and strips of ham covering her plate. Cuts glared at Fae for a few minutes before leaving the room.

“Clean up after yourself,” he said before disappearing around the corner of the door frame.

She grunted and continued scoffing the food into her mouth like a spade through sand. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep, but it must have been longer than she’d ever slept before – she wasn’t the kind of person who ate very much.

After she was done she took her plate to sink and washed it, along with the others. This was a downside to being a mere apprentice – you weren’t allowed to use magic to help you with your chores, or you’d be punished with no food for a day. Well, that seemed to be the downside whenever being with Cuts, anyway.

***

The spinning grid began to slow down to a halt and the Gods stared on in wonder, as the figure began to become more and more visible every second.

It was a robe. A robe that appeared to have something holding it in position, as if someone was wearing it, and yet it was by itself, floating upon the landscape.

“So it’s true,” Bill muttered, stunned by the timing of the Rogue.

“I wonder why it’s-?” the God of Curiosity began.

“This isn’t the time for any more of your horrendously off-topic questions!” Bill interrupted, “A single Rogue can be trouble – and you know that! We have got to sort this out as soon as possible. You know what happened last time.”

“But what if we’re wrong? What if they’re harmless, what if they haven’t even discovered their powers yet?”

“We’ll carry on as if they did,” the God of Strength shouted, quite rudely, “Eliminate any chances!”

They all muttered approval, some of them hesitating, and they knew that the time had come, just as the God of Divination had predicted.

The time had come for war.