A wave of agony washed over Thomas as his eyes opened. "Ugh," He moaned out as the pain consumed him. 

"Oh hey, you're awake again. We really need to get your magic under control man. You pass out too much, it's almost embarrassing." Alex replied without moving from the window he was staring through.

Thomas's eye twitched in annoyance as he tried to sit up. "Well excuse me, I didn't ask to be gifted with magic. I was totally fine being Thomas the grunt with cybernetic eye implants." 

"I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings." Alex replied, his eyes flicking from the window to Thomas. "I was just saying, you are passing out when your emotions take over which means you need to get them under control before you can use your magic."

"Oh because my magic is such a gift." Thomas growled, pain pulsing in his back. 

A little sigh escaped Alex's lips before he started towards the bed. "You have no idea how special that magic really is, do you?" 

"No, all I know is it makes me feel like trash when I wake up." Thomas groaned as Alex sat down on the bed beside him. 

"Well then let me show you just how important your magic is." said Alex as he reached into his pocket and reviled an ancient looking piece of paper. "Do you know what this is?" Thomas shrugged his shoulders, "It's the spell you used to kill me. That bolt of light that burst from your sword. Can you read the syllables on this page for me? Or really count how many there are on it?" Thomas began counting them, scanning over the page. "Now while you do that I need to get out the rune to focus my power."

"There are almost eighty syllables on this page." Thomas replied looking back from the page to a small rock in Alex's hand. "What are you doing?"

"You need to see just how special you are." Was all he said before he began speaking the words from the page. A minute or so passed before Alex finishes speaking and he then squeezes on the small rock in his hand. Suddenly a burst of light burst from his fingers and crackled in his palm. "This is the spell for the bolt of light you used to kill me. You didn't even think before the spell shot to life and came flying towards me."

A weak grin broke through as Thomas watched Alex move the small bolt of light in his hand in a small circular motion. "If that's the same bolt of light as the one before, then why is it so small? Mine was much bigger than that thing!" 

"This is the normal size of the spell. It was designed to break through armor and damage vital spots. The size grows as the power of the caster does. I've been practicing this spell for hundreds of years, so I could try and defend myself against the Cantorian's. You didn't even think, and the bolt of light you made was twenty times bigger. Imagine how powerful the caster would have to be just to think and have the spell come to life. Now scale it up to the magnitude of where you had it." Alex paused and looked at Thomas with an expectant face. 

"So you're saying I have a lot of magic then?" Thomas questioned, trying to push through the pain that was pulsing in his head.

"That's an understatement, but yes that's one way to say it. You have inhuman levels of magic Thomas. There have only been two people before you that have had those kinds of magic levels. The last one ended the magic wars of three-thousand that lasted for a few hundred years. She used her powers to stop the war by dividing the land fairly. Instead of having the eight major lands fighting over the polls she forced the lands to crash into each other forming two massive continents, then cut through the polls, moving them to each side so that both sides would have them. She didn't know the repercussions of her magic though. When the icecaps melted most of the world was flooded. Only about twenty percent of the land that was usable survived."

Thomas looked at Alex in surprise. "You're saying she flooded 80% of the land with her magic alone?" Alex nodded his head with a somber expression. "If I have so much magic, then how come I can't feel it like you said when we were on the hill?" He asked with a curious glance at the window. 

"You didn't awaken your magic until you touched the enchantment on the armor. Until then you had just been suppressing it without knowledge. But now that you have encountered magic, your natural power is beginning to manifest. It's only going to get more powerful from here. If you don't get a hold it now..." Alex fell silent for a moment, his eyes flicking to the window. "Then you might not wake up from your next magic outburst."

Shivers went down Thomas's spine as he processed this information. "So you're saying if I don't get my powers under control I'll die?" Alex nodded his head with a grimace. "Why do I have to have this magic? Can't I get rid of it or something?"

"Get rid of it?" Alex replied with a bitter laugh. "Magic isn't like a piece of rotten fruit you can just throw away. That power is flowing in your blood, in the very cells of your creation. There is no way to get rid of magic Thomas. You might be able to find a way to suppress it, but you would never truly be able to get rid of it. Besides, you have been chosen by the magegod! You have a destiny now, and an important one at that."

"Destiny?" Thomas scoffed in disgust, his eyes flicking back to Alex. "Destiny is a joke old people tell young people to make them do their bidding and push their own ambitions forward. I'll pass on destiny and take something a little less vague thank you."

"You think it's that simple Thomas?" Alex replied with a vicious scowl. "You can't just bury your head in the sand and pretend you don't have a job to do. That's going to get us both killed, and I have no desire to spend my last life with a coward-"

"You know who had a destiny? My parents, they were slaughtered like common animals! Destiny is a joke Alex, and if you believe that then you're more a fool than they were!" A solid smack rang through the room, and Thomas felt pain burning on his cheek. 

"How dare you!" Alex spat out in disgust. "From what you told me it sounds like your parents were hero's, and you treat them with such disrespect! That's low," Thomas stood up and started for the door.

Thomas forced his legs from the bed, standing up shakily before starting after him. "You have no right to judge me Alex! I had a perfect life before I heard about that stupid book. I was a special agent, gifted with implants! Only nine other soldiers have implants like me! I was trained to be the best, and I followed orders. I did what I was supposed to. You have no right to say I'm a coward! Do you-"

Do you know why you have those implants?" Alex asked, cutting him off suddenly. "Those implants are interesting alright, but not for the reason you think! Flara agents have been running the military for so long it's a shock to me they don't start hanging their flags around town!" He paused for a second as if he were deciding something. Nodding his head, he looked back over at Thomas. "You were built to be spare parts Thomas! You and the nine others were going to be replacement host bodies if one of the Cantorians was killed!"

Glaring at Alex with disbelief, Thomas stood there with disgust. "How could you say that? The ten of us were the top of our class! They called us the best of our generation. Why would we be spare parts for the enemy?"

"Because the Flara owns the government!" Alex screamed in frustration as he threw his hands into the air. "All you are to them is a replacement part. Those eye implants you boast about mean you are going to the one who was sending those messages through our brains yesterday! He has the ability to see vast distances, and can use his magic to affect the waves around him. Seeing into people's minds is childs play to him. Sending messages to those brains is even easier! Your career in the government that you have been following so blindly was to be a bucket of spare parts! When your captain found out about the Flara corruption, he became expendable, and so did you by affiliation! They still had the other back up!"

Standing there silently, Thomas contemplated Alex's words with the level headed sense of calm that has kept him alive on many missions before. When he spoke next, it was with a calm unyielding tone. "How could we be spare parts? More importantly, why would the Flara send us to their outposts to kill their people? That makes no sense."

"You think you have been killing people from the Flara? That's rich, you've been duped again Thomas!" Alex replied with a bitter laugh. "They have been marking people as Flara on this continent and using them as targets! In reality you have been killing off militia that have been trying to rise up and shake off the yolk of the Flara oppression!  They have been called spies right? Or undercover agents? You have been murdering those who have been trying to stop the Flara your whole life! Have you ever come to this continent to fight those who haven't been undercover?"

Thomas fell silent at the prospect, soon his hands began to shake. "No..." He mumbled to himself, "No, that can't be true. They were all Flara agents. They have been trying to infiltrate our nation!" 

"They weren't Thomas," Alex said in a low tone. "They were freedom fighters, and you have been slaughtering them."

"No, that can't be true!" Thomas cried back, his mind beginning to race as he tried to justify himself. "They couldn't have been rebels. There is no way this wouldn't get out! How would they be able to stop all the press?"

"Because they own the world Thomas. They can do whatever they want. They have been in control of this continent since the splitting of the Magegod. They just recently started reaching into your homeland, slowly buying out businesses and gathering followers. In a hundred years or so, they will become unstoppable. The Flara will have control of every major industry, and then they will strike. Their leaders will claim godhood for their own, and those who deny them will be executed. They will live like kings, forcing everybody who has magic to either work for them or die. Those without magic will be killed immediately, and without remorse. They will rule the world with an iron grip, and use their power to crush any who try and oppose them."

"But why..." Thomas questioned as he thought of such a horrible world coming to pass. "Why would they kill so many?"

"It's in their nature." Alex replied, his frantic voice starting to return to normal. "They wanted to control the world, and when the Magegod stopped them the first time, they changed their tactics. They began spreading rumors that he was too powerful to be kept alive. He could become evil, and his vast power could destroy the planet in the blink of an eye. Once they managed to get support, they sent an assassin to try and kill the Magegod." He paused for a moment, sadness echoing around him. Then after defending himself, the Magegod was blamed for the death of the assassin that the Flara claimed was a lesion between them and the Magegod in the name of peace. The people believed them, and soon they called for the death of the Magegod. Seeing the Flara's true intentions, the Magegod split himself into ten parts. His five senses, and the five tears that he shed during his separation. Each sense was given a name and an adviser to protect and guide them against dark intentions." 

"They became the Cantorians didn't they?" Thomas wondered aloud, 

"That's right, and after spending so much time on earth, their moral sense became skewed. The war, the needless bloodshed, the hatred. Soon enough, the very people they were warned to protect the world from became their masters." Alex replied with a sigh. "Those who stand against the Flara are killed, it doesn't matter who they are."

A sudden pounding at the door startles the both of them. "You have a lot of nerve coming back here after killing our friend Thomas!" A voice cried out from the other side of the door.

"Who did you kill?" Alex asked in a hushed tone, looking to Thomas confused.

"I don't know? I didn't kill anybody in this town." Thomas responded in the same low tone.

"Barry didn't deserve to die! He gave you shelter and you killed him! How could you kill such a nice guy?" The leader yelled pounding on the door again.

Thomas looked at the door in confusion. "I didn't kill Barry, Sarthon did." 

"Then we have to fight..." Alex replied with a sigh as he reached for his blade. "They have been corrupted by the Flara, and will not listen to reason."

"How do you know? If we explain it was Sarthon who killed Barry they might leave!" Thomas countered looking at him with surprise. 

"You know that won't work. They have been manipulated in the same way we were on the way here. There is no escape for them. We need to get out of here."

"I didn't kill Barry!" Thomas shouted towards the door as the pounding grew louder. "He protected me when the Cantorian known as Sarthon came!"  

"Liar!" A few voices behind the door shouted in disgust. "Lord Sarthon would never kill Barry, Lord Sarthon protects us from psychopaths like you!"

"There is no point Thomas." Alex replied bitterly, "They have been corrupted, and there is no way to convince them otherwise."

"I'm not killing those people out there!" Thomas shot back, "They're innocent, we can just escape! They might hate us, but at least that way they live!"  

"No, they're dead regardless of what we do." Alex explained in frustration. "The question is do we die before them, or do the Cantorian's kill them for failing their mission to kill us?"

"We just want Thomas, whoever you are. We will let you go if you give us Thomas." The mob leader called into the room as the pounding on the door got louder. "If you refuse, we will have no choice but to kill you as well!"

Thomas looked at the door, then back to Alex. "We can't kill them, and we can't let them kill us. Can't we just knock them out?" 

"I'm sorry Thomas. There is no other way, these people are already dead. It's better we make their deaths painless. I think we both know Lord Sarthon won't be so forgiving if they come back alive without us."

Grief forced Thomas silent. He stood there listening as the pounding on the door continued. Then he heard the windows shatter.

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Well I got another one done! I hope you all enjoyed it! The book is drawing to an end! I have only two more chapters left in this first book! I look forward to finishing it! Please let me know what you think of it! I appreciate the comments, and votes on my stories! :) Have a fantastic day everybody!

-Asted!