I sat in my hospital bed, one hand absentmindedly coming up to stroke the stitches on my cheek. I could tell it would scar, even if the doctors weren't brave enough to tell me. I clenched my eyes shut, but I couldn't hold back the tears of pain and humiliation.
*What do I do?*
I'd always tried to keep to myself. I was poor, I wore glasses, I wasn't that strong, and I was really good at math. I was perfect bully material, so I always worked on flying beneath everyone's radar, and it served me well. Except for one boy. Brendan Blair would always pick on me. It was usually cruel teasing or "accidental" roughhousing on the playground, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. But one day he went too far. Brendan stole my notebook of mathematics equations and tore it to pieces. When the teacher came to investigate, he had the gall to act like it was an accident. It was too much. I leapt upon him and tore into him in a berserk frenzy. I should have known that I would be the one to be reprimanded, but I didn't really care at the moment.
If only I had known the extent of my reprimand.
I was walking home when I was pulled into an alley by someone. Before I could react they already had me gagged. I couldn't tell for sure with the poor lighting, but one of them looked a bit like an older Brendan. He and three others dragged me away as I tried to escape. They took there turns beating me, kicking and punching without end. By the time they stopped, I was a bruised, bleeding wreck on the filthy floor of the alley. The gag had fallen out sometime during, but the wind was knocked out of my lungs, and I could do nothing but try and gasp for air.
I saw the one that looked like Brendan start approaching in the corner of my vision. He lifted me up by the collar, a six inch hunting knife in his hands. "Now, you fucking piece of shit, time for you to learn a lesson." My eyes went wide with horror as he brought the knife up and put it in my mouth, still trying to fill my lungs. He laughed at my expression. "Aw. Scared? Here, let's put a smile on that face." The knife tore through my cheek, and I found my voice.
I screamed. I screamed for all I was worth, even as it ripped my mouth open further. The pain was unbearable, indescribable. But then, a small piece of luck fell my way.
"What the fuck's going on here!? HEY! YOU!!!"
"Shit, run!"
I fell to the ground, unable to move even as someone ran towards us. My vision went black, and all I could tell was the taste of my own blood in my mouth. Hot, salty, and...something else.
Something different.
***
I had nothing to do while I was hospitalized. Nothing to do but mull over what happened. Even as the horror of the incident made me shiver, I pondered over what felt so strange about my blood. When I was sure no one was around, I bit the inside of my other cheek. Immediately the feeling came back. ...Math?
Time after time I tasted my blood, until by the time I was released from the hospital, I no longer needed the blood; It was my natural thinking pattern. At times I thought I was crazy. Nothing I said to try to explain it made any sense to my parents. But it felt right. A multi folded Nth dimensional composition composed of 8 points of reference. Utilizing those reference points allowed travel through extra dimensional space of any object to the last 3 coordinates on a 'normal' 3 dimensional home plane.
I neglected all else, holing my self up in my room and burning through many notebooks and pencils. Finally, I reached the moment of truth. Recognizing the catalyst, I wrote out the reference points of a bird, with a little wiggle room, and my bed as the home coordinates, all in my blood. I felt a little like I was dying, but then, with a small shimmer, a large raven appeared on my bed, and cawed. I was stupefied. ...The possibilities. After a minute, however, the bird disappeared. My brow furrowed. This required more thorough looking into.
I continued my research and studying of the variables, but on the second day, a man came to our home. He looked like some kind of schoolmaster, with short brown hair and eyes like chips of ice. He asked to speak with my parents about my future academics.
"We've had our eyes on little Ancell for some time, Mr. and Mrs. MacNeil. His math skills are astounding. We thought about allowing some time before proposing an offer, but after...what happened, I'm sure you agree that a change of schools would be for the best. We at St. Aberforth's are prepared to offer Ancell a full ride 9 year scholarship, including tertiary education."
"Well, I think we should talk with him about this, but I think it's an excellent idea. Margaret?"
"Yes, me too."
"Actually, I would love to talk with him about it in private. Perhaps you could call him in from the corner he's hiding behind?"
I was a bit shamefaced about being found out, but when I came in and my parents left, my mind was quickly on other things.
His eyes quickly narrowed, and his entire countenance changed. "Ah, yes. I thought it was you that it came from. Now I'm sure."
"What, sir?"
"The magic! The magic, you fool!"
"...magic."
The middle aged man glared at me. "Are you a simpleton? Yes, magic! You have been identified as having potential, no matter how pathetically low. And now it is my job to bring you in. You are hereby 'invited' to the Scholomance, a prestigious school of magic. You may accept, in which case I take you. You may decline, in which case I take you anyway. Now choose."
I quickly looked over to my parents. They seemed fuzzy, distorted, and they weren't moving. "Foolish boy. I've removed us from their time stream. They cannot help you."
I had to make a decision. The man was clearly telling the truth, and he was far more powerful than me physically; obviously even more so with this 'magic'. After some deliberation, I came to a decision.
"I accept, on two conditions. You come back to pick me up in three days. And before you go, teach me the basics of magic."
He glared at me. I looked back, trying not to flinch. After several minutes of deadlock, he smirked. "Stubborn boy. Fine. You get the bare bones. What you need to understand, is mana, and mitigation..."
***
I walked down the alley, slowly falling into deeper and deeper shadows. As I thought, this place was where they gathered, 'hanging out'. They were all there, including *him*. They hadn't even noticed me yet.
I withdrew a small pen knife and cut my thumb, drawing a circle two feet in diameter on the side of a building. "From the expanse of the multiverse-"
They noticed me now. "Who the fuck is that?"
"Air calls spirit. 8.33938." I said, drawing from the top of the circle down to the bottom left. "Water calls mind. 19.09256." Bottom left to mid right.
"Hey, it's the dumb fuck who beat up your brother, Cormag."
"Fire calls heart. 2.49725." mid right to mid left. "Earth calls body! 4.82394!" mid left to lower right.
"Ha! Guess he didn't learn his lesson and came back for more. Get him, Cecil." The one on his right pulled a knife and started walking toward me.
"Aether is the conduit! 18.32903!" Lower right to top. "And my blood is the horn that calls you forth! 0, 0, 1! TENEBROUS!" I placed my thumb in the center of the pentacle.
With a shimmer, a man appeared, dressed in black plate armor. His platinum blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his green snake eyes shone from his pale skin. He saw the boy approaching with the knife, and almost contemptuously drew his sword and took off the offending hand. The boy backpedaled, holding his stump and screaming.
Tenebrous looked to me with a sneer. "What, this them? What do you want?"
I was gasping, having spent all my mana to summon him. Even as I was queasy from the loss of power and the sight of the gore, I strengthened my resolve with the memory of what happened. "Still...7...more hands."
The sneer turned into a sick grin. "Ah. Gotchya."
As I watched the carnage unfold, I couldn't help but smirk. The smirk on the right hand matched the sheen of the scar on the left.
No one would ever bully me again.