Reborn in Teluria

Kizane was the first person out of the school doors - which was not unusual on a Wednesday evening - and ran towards the portals at the edge of the road. The portals were, from the outside, the sole indicator that this was not a normal school - well, not normal when compared with the schools humans go to. They were also the most beautiful thing about the school. Staring into the portal was like staring into a nebula, it’s different shades of dark purple swirling around each other like velvet clouds, and it was easy to imagine the clouds wrapping around your shoulders to form the world’s most comfortable blanket.

Kizane’s schools was a Nirlana school, and was designed to blend in with the rest of the neighbourhood (the portals had a perception filter, and so did not need to be hidden), even the inside looks like a normal school. But what sets this school apart is what goes on inside the school - magic! Well, the humans would call it magic. Almost everything appears supernatural to these humans. 

To Kizane, these powers were ordinary, too ordinary, and he did not understand why they had to blend in with humans and stay hidden when other species travelled to other worlds to practice their powers. He knew the answer, at least he knew what his parents would have said, but he did not understand it.

On reaching the portal, Kizane stepped in, twirled 360 degrees, and his body appeared to very quickly shrink down before disappearing, like an old television whose screen would shrink into the centre, rather than switching off all at once. A few seconds afterwards, a stream of children made their way into the portals, each shrinking and disappearing. But none of them would be teleporting to the same location as Kizane. None would dare teleport to the same location as Kizane.

He was teleporting to a Telurian after-school community club. If he were human, he would be saying that this is where the real magic happens. In fact, there were times when he felt like saying that anyway as, while he knew it was not supernatural, he was so in awe of the sight around him that it seemed… Well, out of this world.

The sky was a strong orange - not the cosy orange of a sunrise, but a bright orange which radiated energy which made it impossible not to feel invigorated. This was probably a good thing, as everything moved so quickly, you barely had time to register a person’s facial features by the time they had left. And the airspace was no exception, with wispy trails of different colours travelling in different directions, which Kizane knew to be the Telurians’ mode of fast-travel. He had heard rumours that the different colours of the trails reflect each person’s nature, and wondered what colour his own trail would be.

Before he could decide what trail he thought he would have, or what trail he would like to have, he heard the Jespa’s calls for students to make their way into the building. The jespa consisted of only a round head, on which it had a perfectly curved smile and round, beady eyes, and a tail about half the size of its head which ran directly downwards from the head. It was perfectly white, except for a streak of light blue down the side of its tail, which is probably what the stories of Jespas being the servants of angels is based on.

Kizane smiled and nodded to the Jespa as he ran past, which nodded back and, without moving its mouth, replied “we are glad to see you again” in a high-pitched, almost robotic, voice, and its tail had flashes of blue as it spoke. The wonder of it only made him even more excited to get through the doors and, as he made his way into the classroom, he placed his rucksack onto a dark blue square which formed into a metal chest around his rucksack. He took his place on a plastic bench, which formed a seat onto his body for optimal comfort.

“Hey, you came back!”, said Tolane, a slim, short kid with greasy black hair which flopped onto one side of his face and almost hid his face when his head slumped down towards the desk. Right now, however, his face was fully visible, and his back was almost straight as he sat down beside Kizane.

“Of course! How could I not? The powers Professor Ezra showed us were so cool, I can’t wait to learn how to do it!”

“Well, don’t tell anyone, but when I got home my Dad showed me some powers. Look”, Tolane whispered, and between his hands he formed swirls of black and red which curled around each other as though fighting for the same spot, but he gasped and quickly put it out by clasping his hands together as Professor Ezra entered the room. Tolane returned to his sunken pose, with his head sunk into his raised shoulders, and his eyes gazing down guiltily at the desk.

“Well, well, well”, said Professor Ezra, walking slowly towards the front of the class with his hands clasped together. His hair was long and shot off into different directions, and, while his face looked friendly and youthful, his gaze was intense and scrutinising, as though always looking for clues on a person’s face. “Looks like we have a natural in the room!”, he added as a perfectly white smile filled his face and his arms opened up as though inviting the room for an embrace.

“Why don’t you come up to the room and show us how you did it?” he said to Tolane, whose head had now risen back up from his shoulders. Tolane turned to look at Kizane as though searching for an answer to a silent question, and turned back to the professor, before slowly getting up from his seat. His legs dragged along the floor slightly as he made his way to the front of the class.

Tolane looked across the classroom, looking at every one of his classmates but seeing only a blur. He gave a hard blink before focussing his stare down at his hands and showing the class how he had performed this spell. The rest of the class stared in awe, and took turns in recreating the spell.

Each person’s spell had its own colours, there were swirls of blue and green, white and light-blue, pink and purple, but each one was just as marvellous as the others, and students gazed down adoringly at their own swirl. And then it was Kizane’s turn.

He felt the energy pulse through his body and his heart beat felt like it was now audible to the entire room. His gaze pierced into his hands, which were now above each other ready to create the swirls. This was the moment that he would find out what his colours were. He put all the energy into his hands and… nothing. He looked at his hands as though trying to find what was wrong with them, and tried again, but to no avail.

“Don’t worry, it’ll come to you. You’ll just have to keep practising”, said Tolane, placing a hand on his shoulder. Kizane did not respond, and continued to stare down at his hands wondering how they could betray him like this. He had given them the opportunity to make some of the most wonderful powers, Telurian powers, and they let him down. He returned to his seat and watched the rest of his class playing around with their newfound power, creating larger balls of energy, and firing practice shots at a practice bag at the end of the room.

“So, that concludes our second lesson, and the first using your newfound powers! You have all done very well, I shouldn’t have any problems teaching this class full of naturals. We will soon get into the more advanced stuff. But for now, you can all go home feeling extra proud of yourselves, and I will see you all here next week”, Professor Ezra concluded, as the class all rose to their feet towards the chests holding their rucksacks. “Oh, Kizane, can I see you for a second?”, he added.

Kizane walked towards Professor Ezra, his hands in his pockets and eyes towards the ground.

“Sir, I can do it, I swear! I just need time, my parents don’t allow me to practice at ho-” said Kizane.

“I know you’re a Nirlanan, Kizane”, interrupted Professor Ezra.

“A… a… what?”

“I have been teaching for thirty years now. You think you’re the first Nirlanan to sneak into this world? Granted, there haven’t been many, but you are not the first.”

“Ok, fine. But I swear I can do this. I just need time, but I will work harder than anyone else, I swear”

“It’s alright Kizane. I know you can do it. I have only seen it once before, but it is possible”

“Wait… A Nirlanan used Telurian powers? Why does no one know about this?”

“It was fifteen years ago. I taught him and he grasped the powers quite quickly. But I never saw him again. Whether his parents found out, or whether he felt that he had betrayed his parents, I will never know. But yes, it has happened before.” Kizane felt excitement fill his body. While he had already been passionate about learning Telurian powers, he’d had doubts about whether it was even possible, but those doubts were now washed away. It was possible!

“There is just one condition. Nirlanan powers are based on defence. Telurian powers are based on attack. While it would be of great benefit to be able to master both, you must commit yourself to one or the other. You cannot switch between the two powers when you feel like it. Yes, you can learn Telurian powers, but you must commit to Telurian powers and you can never return to Nirlanan powers”.

Kizane looked down at his hands. This was all he had ever wanted, and he felt wronged that his parents wouldn’t even let him explore the Telurian world. But this? This was the point of no return. He knew if he took this step, he would be letting his family down and could never undo it. But he felt the power flow through him, and knew that he could never turn away from this opportunity.

“Ok. I’m in”, he said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and hovered one hand above the other. As he breathed out, he opened his eyes and glared down at his hands, and leapt with excitement as he saw a green and orange swirl form between his hands.

“I did it! I did it!”, he shouted while jumping about the room with his fists clenched, and he punched the air with satisfaction.

“Huh. How strange”, said Professor Ezra.

“Wait. What’s strange?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Probably just a coincidence, but I have only ever seen those colours once, and it was that Nirlanan student I taught fifteen years ago... Anyway, I have kept you long enough. I don’t want you getting questioned for getting home late!”. Kizane collected his rucksack, ran outside, and disappeared into the portal home.

He flashed out of another portal and ran towards his front door. Only, his house wasn’t there. He was indoors in a large hall, and he looked around trying to figure out where he was until he saw the school flag hanging high up on the wall. He was in the school gymnasium, but how had he ended up here?

“Kizane, nice of you to join me”, said the school Principal, Gizon, in his deep and booming, but welcoming voice.

“Oh, sir! I’m sorry, I don’t know how I got here. I meant to teleport home”.

“No, no, don’t worry. It is not by accident that you are here.”

“What… what do you mean, sir?”

“Where were you teleporting from, Kizane?”

“I was teleporting from the front of the school, sir. I was out with some frie-”

“Kizane. You know you shouldn’t lie”, said the principal, lowering his head to stare through the top of his glasses.

“No, I was, I swear!”, replied Kizane.

“Ok, I believe you. I don’t have any reason to doubt you. You are our best student, afterall! You’ll be mastering Nirlanan magic in no time. Hey, why don’t you show me what you can do”. Gizon’s gaze was now blank but serious, and his hands were placed firmly on his hips.

“I’m quite tired, it was a busy day at school”

“Well, you must be able to do one. Come on Kizane, there is no need to be shy”

Kizane wiped the sweat off his hands onto his trousers, and gazed down onto his palms. He moved his feet into a half-lunge and lifted his hands in front of his face to perform a shield spell, but nothing happened.

“I think I’m too tired to perform spells, sir”

“Hmm, that’s odd. Although, not quite as odd as your friends apparently being in Teluria”, said Gizon, his eyes now filled with fury. Kizane felt the colour drain from his face, and the blood drain from his legs, and he felt that the Principal must have doubled in size.

“You know why we blend in, Kizane. You know the dangers to our people if someone were to blow our cover. And yet you went ahead anyway, you selfishly put all of us, your own classmates, your own family, at risk”

“But sir. What is the point of safety if we all have to live normal lives? Isn’t the prospect of what is out there worth the risk?”

“Huh. The Telurian blood in you is stronger than I thought”.

“What?... I...”

“Yes, Kizane. Your father is half-Telurian. But he knew better, he chose to blend in like the rest of us, because he knew it was for the best. If only you knew that too, but you have gone too far. I’m afraid we can’t have you running around and putting us in danger”. Gizon turned on a portal in the corner and took steps towards Kizane. This portal, however, did not look or swirl like a nebula. This portal was dark, but not just dark, it gave off a nothingness, like the point past the portal did not actually exist, and it filled Kizane with dread.

Kizane turned his head away from the portal and fired a ball of energy at Gizon who blocked the shot away. This only angered Gizon who now charged at Kizane, grabbed the cuffs of his shirt, and pinned him to the wall.

“You see what a danger people like you are? Your first thought was not safety, but to attack. You could have been so much better, but you just couldn’t help yourself!”, Gizon screamed, sending small pellets of spittle across Kizane’s face.

“And now I have no choice”, said Gizon resignedly, carrying Kizane towards the portal. Kizane struggled, but it was no use, Gizon was much stronger and his grip was tight. Gizon swung his arm back to launch Kizane into the portal, when he was hit by a rainbow-coloured beam, which knocked him across the room and Kizane dropped to the ground.

Kizane looked up to see a cloak cover him as he spun round and was teleported to another room. Kizane had never experienced this form of teleportation, and so felt weak when he tried to get to his feet.

“Don’t get up. You’ll need to rest”. It was Professor Ezra, who lowered down with a glass of water. “I got a bad feeling when you left, I knew something was wrong”.

“Thank you”, said Kizane weakly.

“Don’t thank me yet. He won’t follow us here, but he won’t give up on getting you, either. Or me. We need to get you ready. Kizane,” he said, lowering his head to meet Kizane’s gaze, “I’m going to need you to give your all in our training. Your life depends on it”.

“Yes… Yes, I’m ready. I can do this”.