The Academy Of Space And Time

Where I meet somebody and it's hate at first sight

Jeff peered out the window. "Well, if that doesn't complicate things," he muttered.

"What is it?" Risa asked, and then almost yelled. 

I saw it the same moment she did. It was an animal, and not a stray dog as I thought at first. It was kind of cute, sure, like a little brown wolf, but seeing a jackal out on the streets in East Sussex is not usually a good sign.

"It's magical," Jeff warned me. "It's not a real animal. More like a creature of black magic. Only Set can do that."

"So, I suppose that staying very still and paying no attention to it isn't gonna work," I said.

Jeff shook his head. "You might not be used to this, but I am. If I don't go out and attack it, I know the headmaster won't be proud of how I acted."

When Jeff lept into the street, you might think the idiotic thing to do was follow after him. But I couldn't help my reflexes sometimes. I barely knew the guy, and he wasn't even the nicest around, but I couldn't just let him fend for himself. Besides, both he and Risa had said it --- I was very strong. If, for once, I could understand how to use my power over the air, then perhaps I'd be a great asset.

Risa followed me, too, and used her powers to wrap the jackal into a whirlwind of sand. I decided to add to it, and it turned into a little hurricane. The animal yelped, and I had to remind myself not to feel any kind of pity for it. Jeff hadn't done anything yet, taken by surprise that we wanted to help, but he raised an eyebrow my way, as if to say he expected me to do worse.

With his own powers, he helped my whirlwind. He used the Mudras, the correct hand movements, to move the air. I mostly went with my gut, and I realised this was one of the reasons my magic wasn't controlled. I'd thought of it before, but you cannot find a book of Mudras at the Jubilee Library.

"Just pay attention that the jackal doesn't bite you," Jeff warned Risa and I.

"Why? Have you met one of those before?" I asked. The idea that dark creatures could sometimes attack people in the Aether Realm didn't exactly thrill me.

"No, but... it's hard to explain. When there are creatures like this particular jackal, who are not real animals, they are usually messengers of a god, or here to do their bidding. I imagine that his bite is going to be deadly, or poisoned."

"Great," I muttered. "Just great."

My adrenaline was sky high. My body felt ready to welcome a fight. But my skills were too lacking, and I really didn't want to put at risk Jeff or Risa. Especially because after a little while, the animal thrashed around and the sand that was whirling around him disappeared.

I looked at Risa. "Can you do that again?"

"I'm trying!" she replied. Jeff, in the meantime, was using the air to create a little hurricane, but he was right. The jackal was not like any usual animal. It seemed to be able to contrast his powers, and weaken us.

"I have a question about the basic spells," I said, even though I knew Jeff didn't want to be interrupted. "Is there one for, like, wounding or fighting?"

Jeff turned around to look at me, and lost concentration. He didn't seem to care. "Of course not! Those are basic, everyday spells and we are not very warlike people. The universal spell for wounding people... it's black magic."

I almost replied that he shouldn't have looked so shock, because we really needed a spell such as that right now. But I didn't. Instead, I let him go back to doing his thing.

Unluckily, his thing wasn't enough. I tried to help him, but the jackal just walked through the whirlwind. It started making its way towards Risa.