Friends among enemies

Brayden was on high alert. Not only had the church taken notice of his dark type aura, but they now knew he also held the ability of the Light aura as well. The sages had not made a scene of the discovery and had let things progress as they normally would to the point that he was shown to his room which he was sure wouldn’t last. He should have known better than to enter the room and inspect its contents, for as soon as he did, the door was quickly closed followed by the faint sound of the lock. ‘Idiot’ he scolded himself as he made his way to the bed. He paid little attention to it as he still held onto the plan of finding a way to escape. On the desk opposite the bed he found a few books and a small ream of parchment meant for students to use for studying. He made his way to the desk and discovered that one of the books was dedicated to the separate aura types. He picked up the book and began flipping through it since he figured he was likely to be in here for a while. It talked about all the basic aura types; The elemental auras were fire, water, earth and air. The conflicting auras were nature and venom while the balance auras were dark and light. Finally, the cosmic auras were celestial and phantom. It briefly talked about balanced aura users, those who had both auras (or opposing elemental auras like fire and water) of a single aura type, like himself, which were rare.

Brayden was deep into the book when he heard the lock on his door release and turned in time to see one of the head sages enter his room, only to have the door closed quickly behind him. Brayden turned away from his uninvited guest and stared into the book once more.

“Brayden is your name, correct?” Brayden ignored the question and continued to stare into the book, no longer reading it. “I know what you must be thinking young lad. It must be intimidating being locked into your room upon arrival, given your dark type aura. I would like to assure you though that we do this with all incoming students. Not fully understanding the control each of you has over your auras is a bit concerning for us all in the beginning.” Not quite sure if he should trust him or not, Brayden made the decision to play along for now to see what may or may not be in store for him later.

“What are we going to do from here?” Brayden asked.

“Since it is not quite time for lunch yet, we are organizing our incoming students by aura types to do a quick tour of the church and its facilities so that you may feel a little more at home.”

“Are there other students with my aura typing?”

“As it turns out, you are not only the only Dark aura user new to the school, but also the only Light aura user, so you and I will be taking the tour on our own.” Brayden shoved down his doubt as he figured nothing bad was likely to happen to him in the middle of the day in a crowded church, so he got up out of his chair and followed the sage out into the hallway as they began their one on one tour. Brayden found himself admiring the intricate stained glass windows scattered throughout the church as the sage went on about the history of each part of the church and its significance to the mission of the church. The sage even introduced himself as Mr. Grendeer and was turning out to be less stiff and more approachable than the other sages.

“So why are you the one stuck showing me around the church?” Brayden asked as they passed another classroom.

“I just so happen to be one of the few Light aura users among the sages, and to be honest, I choose to mentor you in your initial days here.”

“Mentor?”

“Yes. All sages have to spend time mentoring the young and we tend to stick with students of the same aura. Truth be told, I’m behind the other sages in mentoring because we get so few Light aura users here, and how could I pass up the chance to mentor a balanced aura user.” Brayden didn’t know what to think of this new information, and as it turned out it didn’t get much of a chance to do so anyways.

“And here we are, back at the mess hall. Looks like lunch is being served as we speak. After you are finished with lunch, you will all have some time out in the garden and training area to explore as you so choose followed by an orientation and supper. I will see you again this evening to help you prepare for tomorrow. Now, go get yourself some food before it’s all gone.” With that, Mr. Grendeer continued down the hall and Brayden found himself hungrier than he had previously thought.

The rest of the day went as Mr. Grendeer said it would and Brayden found himself back in this locked room, still thumbing through the book he started this morning. Like before, Mr. Grendeer made his way through his locked door to deliver him more news, but unlike before he was carrying a sizable bag with him.

“Good evening Brayden, I hope this afternoon's activities found you well.”

“They did. What is it you have with you?”

“Well, we usually bring our incoming students items we believe will help you with your studies and your overall comfort during your stay with us. I however do not bring such items. Brayden was a bit concerned with where this was going as Mr. Grendeer started emptying out the contents of the bag onto the bed.

“We don’t have much time so listen carefully. You are in grave danger here, I won't go into exactly why, but it is best that you disappear. I hope you were paying attention during our tour as I picked our route specifically so that you could find your way out. Light this candle as soon as I leave, and leave using this key as soon as it goes out. It should last for about three hours.” Brayden had so many questions going through his mind but Mr. Grendeer didn’t give him a chance to ask.

“I’ve included a letter explaining most of what you need to know in this bag. I know this sounds crazy, but you have to believe me.” Mr. Grendeer stood up from the bed and headed to the door.

“It pains me to have to dump all this on you, and trust that I truly care about your well being when I say I hope to not see you in the morning.” he said before leaving and locking the door.