Wake the Ancient

“Have you heard? They say the Ancient Mage is whispering because they are running out of Magic Born to fuel it,” a poorly hushed voice whispered mischievously from just beyond the bookshelf. Elle paused her sweeping, intrigued.

“Oh hush it,” another voice answered incredulously, foregoing the feigned secrecy. “The Ancient Mage is a myth! There is no one inside the Battery, just pure mana. Besides, if there really was an Ancient Mage, we’d just throw in Magic Borns from around the castle.”

Elle’s grip on her broom tightened. Being a Magic Born Elle had spent her short 15 years enduring all kinds of rude and hateful behavior, even inside the castle walls that were supposed to protect them in return for their servitude. She could feel her heart begin to race at the thought that she might be thrown into the Battery on a whim. Faintly, she could hear a new voice, a new whisper.

“Let me out…” Elle felt her hair stand on end. Taking a deep breath Elle calmed herself, convincing herself it was just a paranoid thought.

“Let me out!” The voice shouted, forcing Elle to throw her broom with a yelp. Cackling followed as two heads appeared around the bookshelf; Elle knew the faces of the Royal Sisters well.

“Aw, did we scare you? Too bad you didn’t set the bookshelf on fire!” the younger of the two sisters, Elsa, sneered.

“Yeah, then we could have just taken you to Daddy and had a few days of fuel for the Battery!” The second, and eldest, Arnista joined in. 

“You aren’t funny,” Elle knew better than to talk back to them and vividly remembered what happened the last time she fought back, but still her tongue moved. Her voice felt almost forgein to herself, not hearing it often as she was not permitted to speak to those who lived inside the castle. “You are just nasty and mean.”

The sisters recoiled as if they had been physically struck then looked at each other. Without another word they bunched their ruffled dresses off the floor and stalked out. Knowing she needed to make herself scarce Elle gathered her broom and rushed out to the garden where her little home was located.  

The area just past the garden, but still within the castle walls, was affectionately called Magic Land. Frazzled, and with her mind very focused on the imaginings of what was going to happen to her the next time she saw a member of the Royal Staff, she missed a friendly wave from an elder Magic Born as she rushed into her little hut. Elle paced a full circle around her small, sparsely furnished living space before a soft knocking nearly scared the life from her.

“C-Come in!” She called, ignoring her body’s desperate urge to flee. The familiar older face of the Magic Born leader, Rutger, appeared. 

“Elle? Are you alright? Did something happen?” Rutger asked in a steady rapid fire. 

“No! I mean, not really!” Elle shook her head then took a deep breath that did little to slow the stream that followed. “I was in the library and overheard some of the Royals talking about the Ancient Mage and the Battery and a mage shortage and then they decided to scare me so I spoke to them and-”

“You spoke to them?”

“I insulted them!” Elle cried, tears bubbling up. “They were so cruel. They said it was a shame I didn’t accidently use magic so they could just feed me to the Battery… I called them nasty…”

Rutger was silent for several moments, his eyes moving over Elle’s face with his mouth pulled into a taut line; Elle knew he was disappointed. Finally, he sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“I know we teach you not to speak to the Royals, under any circumstance, but I also understand your reaction. It isn’t easy to hear your life joked about. Those treaties are in place so as long as we serve the king, do not use magic, and do not leave the castle we are allowed to exist here safely,” Rutger kept his voice low, soothing.

“But… but why can’t we use magic if we were born to?” The question came out of Elle before she could stop herself and she saw Rutger flinch. 

“Because we can’t, Elle. It wouldn’t be safe,” Rutger tried to sound firm. Elle frowned.

“Says who? Haven’t you ever wanted to try? They… they say outside the city… some of them folk don’t care if-“

“Elle, you need to stop!” There was no more trying to be gentle, she had pushed too far. “I know you are upset which is why I am going to ignore that outburst, but you need to be careful. Some Magic Borns aren’t so forgiving just because we are in the same situation. What you are suggesting is treason.”

Elle nodded, eyes cast to the floor. She felt Rutger grab her shoulder again, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I know you are scared. Just try to lay low and this will all blow over.”

Elle wished dearly that would be true but a faint whispering, begging to be let out, promised to make it impossible. She woke the next day tired. All through the night she was startled awake as if someone had whispered in her ear but each time found herself to be alone. 

When she went to the chore board and found she was on library duty again she tried desperately to get someone to trade with her but it was as if everyone already knew what was coming for her. In a last ditch attempt to hide Elle began her cleaning in the very back corner of the library, though it wasn’t long before she was discovered. The harsh clicking of high heels reached Elle long before the girl’s harsh voice telling her exactly who she'd be dealing with.

“There she is! There is the little Mage that called us names!” It was the eldest daughter again, half hidden behind the thin form of the advisor.

“Miss Elle, correct?” The advisor didn’t turn his head from his notes but instead peered at her over his thin square glasses. Elle felt her heart sink to her feet when he used her name. Turning her brown eyes up she met his unreadable grey gaze for only a moment before returning her attention to the bristles of her broom. “… care to tell me what happened?”

“She-“

“Miss Arnista, please. I heard your story all last night and all this morning as well. I’d like to hear from Miss Elle.”

Elle was stunned; he wanted to hear from her? “I… I was cleaning when they scared me.”

“They scared you?”

“They pretended to be the Ancient Mage whispering to me… then they screamed.”

“Arnista?”

“B…But! It was funny!” The girl tried to defend but Elle snapped.

“Even if it was, whisperin’ outside my hut all night wasn’t!” Both the advisor and Arnista were quiet.

“You heard whispering last night? In your hut?” The advisor changed the subject just as he changed the page in his book. “Was it a male voice or female? Singular or multiple?” He spoke quickly making it hard for Elle to keep up or think of how she should respond, so she simply answered honestly.

“B… Both? Sometimes one man, sometimes a bunch of voices.”

“What did it say?”

“Um…”

“What did the voice say, Elle?”

“Just… what they were sayin’. ‘Let me out’ and all…”

“Come with me,” the advisor grabbed Elle’s arm even before he spoke and pulled her along. Elle’s first instinct was to apologize.

“I’m sorry! Please let me go! I won’t cause any more trouble! I promise!” She begged, everything in her screaming that she needed to get away. In spite of her struggling Elle’s legs went along willingly, as if enchanted. She felt like they walked forever until they made it to a room Elle had been lucky enough to never enter before; the throne room. The Throne was a cursed item rendering all those bearing the Mark of the Magic Born on their shoulder unable to speak. The king raised his head, interrupting his scolding of the Magic Borns who had missed a single smudge while polishing his throne.

“Cirrus? What is going on?” Elle had expected the rather rotund monarch to have a booming, angry voice, but his voice held little more than curiosity. The scolded Borns took the chance to scamper away.

“This girl can hear the Mage,” the advisor, Cirrus, answered immediately. Something about the way he spoke was different, sneaky. “It is pleading for its release.”

The king shifted, frowning darkly at Elle. She could see the shift in his eyes. He was no longer looking at a young girl, he was looking at a problem.

“Take care of her,” he said calmly, waving a hand dismissively. “And anyone else who heard about it as well.”

“Your eldest daughter is also aware of this.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Send her to me.”

Cirrus nodded, turning to lead Elle along he flagged a passing castle guard to pass along the mission to bring the king his daughter. As they left the influence of the throne Elle felt her voice return and she took a deep breath, ready to beg, when Cirrus stopped her.

“Don’t,” it was a single word command but it brought with it a weight Elle knew was not Natural. 

He pulled her along before stopping in front of a seemingly random tapestry depicting little more than a stone hallway. Elle watched him cast a glance both ways down the hall before raising a gloved hand to touch the hanging fabric. As his fingers grazed the fibers she could feel a cold rush and the hallway it had lifelessly portrayed sprang into existence. Together they stepped forward, the entrance stitching closed behind them just in time for Elle to hear some of the guards shouting.

“We don’t have long,” she heard Cirrus mutter under his breath. “And we won’t get another chance to get you out of here.”

Of course, Elle had no idea what he was talking about but felt her heart leap at the thought of escaping. The further they walked down the mysterious hall the darker and colder it became until Elle could see their breath puff in front of them. Finally, she could see a tall archway in the distance with an ominous blue light flickering so brightly it made Elle’s head hurt.

The instant they stepped over the threshold Elle felt as if her body had been submerged in water and she saw it; the Battery. Little more than a massive metal sphere at first glance she was surprised it held such an oppressive air. Elle turned to ask Cirrus what was going on when she saw him wave his hand, stones pulling themselves from the wall to block the entrance.

“I don’t have time to explain, I just… need to apologize. To you, to your mother, and… to him. There is someone inside but he only wakes when we add another mage for fuel,” Cirrus explained, gesturing to the Battery. Elle felt her panic return, eyes wide she stepped away from him but Cirrus quickly continued. “I promise you I am not going to put you inside. I am going to add myself. You… you need to escape with him. Understood?”

Elle didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Cirrus took a step towards her, she took a step back. 

“Please, I need you to give me your word you are going to escape.”

“Why… are you doing this? Why are you helping me? Why is this happening now?” Elle demanded. She could hear pounding on the stone wall Cirrus had constructed.

“Because I have messed up a lot in my very long life. I let them lock away a friend and turn him into a living battery. I let others like me suffer while I lived a life of luxury. And I… I let your mother take the blame for your powers when… when they came from me. I cannot let them take you as well,” the raw emotion in Cirrus’ voice hit Elle like a hammer and she was silent. 

“.... I promise,” she relented.

“Thank you,” was the last thing he said to her before he began to scale the bars acting as a ladder up the side of the Battery. When he got to the top he turned the hatch and Elle felt a terrible energy begin to spill out as he opened it. Giving Elle one last glance he opened his mouth to speak but was sucked violently into the gaping maw of the Battery and everything went dark, silent.

For minutes the darkness stretched on until Elle heard the wailing of wind then the horrid sound of bending metal forced her to open her eyes. She saw the sphere of the Battery melt, a glowing figure standing in the center of the chaos. Half expecting it to be Cirrus, Elle staggered to her feet and stepped closer. The figure turned to her and the glowing disappeared, condensing into a feline shape near his feet revealing the Mage was indeed a man. He was a tall man, tanned skin with thick dark curls that framed his face; Elle noted he wore square glasses and had sharp grey eyes.

“Are you…?” He spoke, mouth moving oddly as if the words were forgein. He did not get to finish his question, however, as the pounding from the soldiers began to break through. Remembering her promise Elle grabbed the mage’s hand.

“We need to get out of here!” She told him, pulling him towards a small back exit that had appeared as the Battery dissolved. Together they ran, able to see a light in the distance. She had never been outside the castle walls before and wondered what they might see together.