______Another experiment in Chem. Lab today… Things are pretty boring in this sleepy little town, but that's how it always is. The experiment, oh joy, is to see how long it takes to boil salt water down to salt only. Oh the excitement of science… I bet my lab does something weird like boiling down to nothing rather than salt. I could have the smartest guy in the schoolwork as my Lab partner, and the experiment would still defy whatever law we're supposed to be testing. That's just how my luck runs, Science and I don't get along. All my teachers say its just faulty equipment; personally, I'm thinking it's related to me spending way too much time studying magic. Not that I can do any spells yet, but maybe if you read enough of those books some of whatever allows the laws of science to be bent rubs off.

______Oops, forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kody "disaster-waiting-to-happen" Whitman, a junior in a private high school in the good ole' US of A. That's right, idiotic, straight out of Sailor Moon, uniforms for me. It's not so bad, I suppose. I'm about medium height and medium build, with long blue-green dyed hair, and brown eyes. My mom ran off when I was six, so it's just my dad and I at home, and my big brother Lesley is at college upstate. I'm considered a freak at my school, mostly because my regular clothes are hand-me-downs from my dad and college-aged brother that I've altered slightly. Of course it doesn't help that I'm one of maybe five pagans in this entire blasted school, and two of that five are the crystal waving hippie sort who really are just looking for an excuse to get high.

______My science partner today is Jessica. Jessica is an extremely tall bleached blonde with green eyes, and a very dark tan. She's a major prep, and has somehow gotten the idea in her bubble brain that she and I are buddies. We must keep in mind that Jessica is very tall so the air is thin where her head is, and she wears very tight clothes, this does not help the oxygen supply to her brain. But there is no way in the nine gates that she and I will be friends anytime this century. Mental note: I must stop being polite to idiots. Jessica pulls on the plastic safety goggles that are probably coated in every dangerous chemical available in this lab, big surprise, but there's no way I'm about to do that.

______The Bunsen burner heats up the water with aggravating slowness and I lean against the wall trying to block out whatever who's-dating-whom dribble that Jessica is going on about. Suddenly, I feel a huge surge of magic coming from the South. I turn to look out the window, only to find nothing is out of the ordinary.

______ "Anyway, I told Bryan, 'Bryan, you should…' Kodes[1]? You ok? You look a bit paler than usual." Jessica said and put her hand to my forehead to check for a fever.

______I push her hand away in frustration "Yeah, I'm fine. I just sot of zoned out." Crap, I thought I could at least detect magic decently. Nothing's going on out there. The surge seemed so solidly there, I thought there would be some visible trace. Especially since there seemed to be destruction linked to it. Worrying wasn't getting me anywhere though, I'd have to talk to Krysta later on; she's the experienced Wiccan.

______The magic surged again; this time a large crash like thunder followed it. It couldn't be thunder though; there wasn't a cloud in sight. I turned quickly to the window hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever caused the noise.

______"Scared of thunder Kodes?" Jessica asked in her mocking voice.

______I refrained from turned and throttling her, and replied calmly, "For one, that can't be thunder, there's no clouds. Second, it's Kody not Kodes or whatever other ridiculous nickname you've come up with."

______Jessica looked out the window as the booming noise came a second time, and was followed by another and another, silencing the entire classroom as the noise got louder and closer with each crash. Finally, a gigantic humanoid robot came into view running through the town. A couple of things hit me real fast. The magic surges were that what powered that huge robot, and it was about to barrel into the school.

______I turned to the bewildered class and yelled, "We need to evacuate now!"

______The room stayed silent for a moment, moving to bewildered noises and then to screams as my fellow students came to the same realization as I had. The class flooded out the door, downstairs, and outside. As I ran out, I pulled the fire alarm to evacuate everyone. Outside, I stood near the front of the panicked students that had gathered in the courtyard. We all watched helplessly in dumbfounded fear as it came closer. One foot came crashing through the Chem. Lab and the math class below. To my horror, I realized that the other was about to come down on the crowd.

______Gods please let this shield spell work! "Ancient stones standing tall, a castle's impenetrable wall, forever will you be standing here, protecting us from what we most fear!"

______The second foot came down and stopped on an invisible roof several feet above the tallest student. The creature took a moment to look down at the crowd of terrified humans it had nearly demolished and took a step back onto uninhabited ground. Three similar machines came down behind the first, and it turned to fight.

______ "Shit!" I started running towards the battle. My chemistry teacher grabbed me by the arm to pull me back. I pulled away with a strength and suddenness that surprised even me.

______"What are you doing?!" Mrs. Smith's voice wavered with the strain of having screamed a few moments earlier.

______"Those things are going to destroy everything if they fight here! I'm going to stop them." I turned and continued my headlong run for the fight, stopping a few feet short of the first robot. This doesn't work and I'm gonna be a pancake… But… I would've been one eventually anyways. "Northern reaches of the world, icy fury of nature unfurled, come unto my call, come, trap them all!"

______I shot my hands straight out in front of me, and the wind from the north suddenly picked up with a terrible howling that rattled the debris of the destroyed classrooms and was bitingly cold. A layer of ice built up over the machines, stopping them in their tracks. The wind stopped and I dropped my hands to my sides, looking at the machines. The coldness still bit at my skin and stiffened my clothes, but I had stopped it. All the time spent studying books and memorizing rhymes, symbols, energy currents, and motions had paid off; the magic had come to me at last. The energy that had led me to run out here slowly sapped away, as it did, people who knew me came running forward to see if I was alright.

______Just before the first person reached me, I sank to my knees, and my entire body slumped over. I had no energy to so much as stand.

______I vaguely recognized someone was speaking when a panic-shaken voice asked, "Kody? Kody, are you alright?"

______I didn't even attempt to reply; everything around me seemed muffled and far away.

______Mrs. Smith's voice registered somewhere nearby, whispering, "Oh, Mother Mary and Jesus… She's frozen."

______Blast… My own spell must've…I have to get up… Try to move…

______I pressed both hands against the earth and tried to push myself up.

______A warming spell… That would help… I know I read one somewhere…

______Each muscle complained as I tried to move and I looked at the thin layer of frost covering my hands and shirtsleeves.

______How did it go?

______A strong pair of arms, clad in green, reached down.

______Who's this? None of the uniforms for the school include green…

______One hand wrapped around each forearm and slowly and carefully lifted me to my feet, radiating warmth through my entire body. The frost fell away in small flakes from my clothes and skin.

______What is this? Who could possibly?

______Once I was solidly on my feet, I looked up to meet the eyes of my helper, and found a pupil-less set of sky blue pools staring back into my own eyes.

______ "Are you alright now?" His voice was laced with power and magic, and I recognized the feel of it immediately.

______You. You were the one piloting that thing. It was your magic powering it. It was you I felt coming here. You nearly killed everyone…

______I immediately pulled away from him, putting a couple of feet of distance between us.

______He looked at me, his strange eyes full of hurt. "I will not harm you. Are you the one who froze the Gafi[2]?"

______ "Is that what you call those, those things?" I asked, trying to avoid the question.

______ "Yes," He was calm and patient, clearly knowing the answer to his question. "My Gafu and I were ambushed, and so I fled here, where I was stopped."

______Hoo-boy. I've done it now. This guy, whoever he is, is a blasted lot more powerful than me or anyone else I know. And I not only almost got him killed, but I busted his machine too. I'm so dead… "I - I - - Someone had to protect these people."

______ "You are quite powerful." His eyes brightened somewhat and the corners of his lips moved up slightly in the beginnings of a smile. "It took a great amount of power for me to escape the ice."

______ "T-thank you." I can't believe I'm stuttering like a blithering idiot… He's a real Mancer[3]. I guess I am too now, but it doesn't feel like it. What is it supposed to feel like anyways? Figures I can't even finish a sentence right now. "I-i-i'm honored to meet y-you." As long as you don't end up killing me…

______ "I am called Thgin." His eyes seemed to grow darker and his voice grew disturbingly formal; I could suddenly feel the eyes of everyone in the crowd on us, confused and frightened. "And your name?"

______Great. I must've been standing here for five minutes just staring at him. But, should I give him my name? There are all those stories about giving someone your true name gives them power over you. Can I risk them being true? "Kodes. I-i-i'm Kodes." No I can't. I hope this works out okay…

______He smiled with a formal darkness seeming to mask his face and nodded at me, sending chills down my spine. "Not your true name, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Again. I assure you, I am not a threat"

______I'm in so far over my head; I'm never going to see daylight again… "Yeah… Then why did you come here, with those things?" Might as well ask, I'm dead meat anyways if he decides I am. Even if I wasn't so drained, he knows what he's doing, I don't.

______ "That is not the sort of thing to be discussed before such a large group." He said calmly from behind that dark mask.

______ "Oh. Okay…" Don't I just feel so intelligent some days... I am the Master of conversation.

______He stepped forward so that there was barely an inch of air separating us. I could've looked up into his eyes, but I was afraid of what I would see there and just looked straight ahead, every muscle tense. I should run. If I had any sense I would run. I wouldn't get far though. What am I supposed to do?

______ "Perhaps another place, later today would be more appropriate." He whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

______So that's why he came so close. He's giving me a chance to get answers later. "Alright. This afternoon, at my home okay?" That should work. Dad's away on a business trip and Lesley won't be home for three days yet.

______ "I shall see you then." His voice had softened again, but at this range, he seemed to pulse with magic power. It was frightening. He took three steps back and seemed to disappear into a ripple of air.

1 Kodes - pronounced "codes", a nickname for the main character, Kody.
2 Gafi - The big mecha introduced in this chapter, Gafu is singular, Gafi is the plural. You'll learn more later. ^_^
3 Mancer - the term I'll be using for a magic user in this story. It means wizard, sorcerer, witch, etc.

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