Witch Waves

Meet Jayden

Jayden closed the door to his suite after him and he heard it lock by itself. There were other guys exiting their rooms. Wow, I am really out of the palace! He stretched like the thought seemed to be relieving. Well, it kind of was for him. He headed out of the dormitory. He opted for the stairs because he would like to walk alone for a bit. His roommates had gone on ahead to the cafeteria.

Jayden Anderson was the first child and son of King Justin and Queen Bella of the great Kingdom of Lavenia. He had four younger ones: Jennifer of twelve years and the triplets, Jonas, Jason and Jasmine, of six years. Jayden had come from a lovely family that was always bubbling with laughter but between he and his parents, there was an underlying fear that haunted them everyday.

Before he was born, a prophecy had emerged from the Lavenia Seers Coven that a great witcher would be born into the Royal family and his magic well would wield terrific powers that would bring the world to his feet. It had caused a great steer in the Kingdom. It had even got attention from Paxisia. Many people had spoken against the royal family. Some people had decried the prophecy as propaganda. His parents who had just married and ascended the throne were put under a lot of pressure but they lived through it.

However when he was born, a rebel group of witches, Talon announced themselves in the Kingdom. There was a lot of agitation from that moment. They stayed in hiding and struck the regions in no coordinated manner. The militia had worked hard to suppress them for some years. Soon the kingdom was at peace again. People soon forgot about Talon but not his parents. His parents were overprotective of him. His father was even more stuff with him. Apart from the normal royal regulations, new ones were effected because of him. A separate home was built for him in the palace and it was heavily guarded. Only a few workers were allowed in his home. Apart from the human security, his mother always raised a magic barrier around the home at 6pm, making it impenetrable from within and out, and invisible to the outside. He never ate or drank anything without a taster. His bath water was always tested before he got into the bath pool. He could literally go nowhere. His parents came to visit him, they spent the night at times. They too understood it was lonely for him but they had to take great care concerning him.

One day when he was six, Jayden's father, King Justin decided to take him camping. They had gone to Red Waterfalls at the outskirts of the Capitol City. It started out as his best day in the world, until Talon made their move again. This time, they were coming for him and the King. There were hundreds and hundreds of rebel witches pursuing them, the royal guard was outnumbered. His father, who had been retreating with him on a stallion, had looked back and watched his trusted guards fall by the brutal hands of the rebel witches and his father had pulled the horse to a stop.

In such great anger that Jayden had never seen before, his father came down and did something that was against the law at that time. It was the law in Lavenia that criminals should not be killed without a hearing by the royal council, so they needed to be captured and put in prison. But that day, King Justin was against losing the lives of faithful men to rebels that rose up for no just cause.

King Justin made a water bubble and threw him, Jayden into it and the wind carried him gently above the ground. Then he watched his father draw on the energy of the sun and everywhere became so dark. Nobody could see anything and before any of the rebel witches could cast any spell, the King lit up. He glowed so brightly but this was not to flaunt beauty, it was a weapon. The glow of the king increased in such a wild intensity that it burned every rebel witch from their eyes till they were burnt bones on the ground. His father had used soul magic to connect with every royal knight and shaded them temporarily. Jayden himself had been able to watch it all from a vantage point from the treetop where the bubble had sat, and for days after, the white light lingered in his sight.

When they had returned to the palace, a new law was enacted that a criminal could be killed on the spot if caught in lethal action. After that incident, even Jayden did not desire to open his window, he did not want step out of his home. But it quickly wore off when he met Tyler Reed, the son of his governor, Lady Reed. Opposed to how he'd been before, only focused on his education with Lady Reed, his pregnant mother was always delighted to see him running and laughing about. His mother had feared he would grow up emotionally crippled by the Talon incident but Jayden bounced back. But that did not mean he did not relive the whole thing in his dreams.

Now he was at Dalphia. Jayden's parents had left it up to him if he wanted to show himself to everyone. It would be easy to conceal his identity here at Dalphia because every thing was a matter of first name. The suits, jerseys and lockers all bore the first name. He chose to come and discover who "Jayden" really is without the crown and the prophecy tied to him. His parents and the Reeds had been in support, although his father had taken aside and given him stern warnings. He and Tyler had been more excited when they got their access cards and saw they were roommates. They had resumed yesterday, that was Saturday. Their other roommate resumed this morning and coincidentally it was the prince of Paxisia. It was so funny to them that the two princes were roommates, but they did not reveal to Prince Frederic that Jayden was a prince from Lavenia. Prince Frederic was a really cool person, he preferred to be called Ricky though. They were all getting along well. And Dayne came this evening. It turned out Dayne and Ricky knew each other too. The four of them just really clicked together.

Jayden smiled to himself as he now stood outside the cafeteria. "Dalphia, here I come." He grinned.

"Yo, Jayden."

Jayden saw Ricky waving at him at the entrance and he walked up to him. "What's good?"

"Let's go in together. We saved you a seat." Ricky pushed the glass door open and they went in together.

"Thanks." Jayden glanced about the cafeteria. It was a really large space. There was a long food counter but no one was there. There were doors on the opposite side behind the stage. There were a set of purple rectangular tables and gold chairs on the far right. Jayden figured the purple were for the staff as the people seated looked a bit older. He saw his aunt, Lady Josie Anderson. She was his father's youngest sibling. He knew she was a staff but he had never asked what she taught. In the center were blue circle tables with gold chairs attached to them where the students sat. He saw a stage set up at the the opposite entrance.

"Where's our table?" Jayden asked Ricky.

Ricky pointed to the right. "Over there, come with me." Jayden followed Ricky amidst the many students. He noticed everyone was staring at Ricky, he could hear some whisper, "That's the Prince of Paxisia", "He's hot". A girl literally squealed in delight as Ricky's hand brushed her shoulder as he passed. He saw Ricky let out frustrated air. He's probably dealt with this all his life, Jayden thought.

Finally they got to their table. Jayden was happy to see Kelila seated there too, but before he could say anything, the caramel skinned girl spoke. "You're totally Prince Frederic." The girl was in utter surprise. Ricky just smiled at her as he took his seat. "Call me Ricky." An awkward silence hung at their table before the girl recollected herself . "Oh...oh sorry, I'm Star."

Jayden took the empty seat beside Dayne. "Hey Lila." Kelila gave him the bombastic side eye and Jayden just grinned at her.

Dayne nudged him gently. "It's Kelila."

"I know." Then Jayden looked back at Kelila. She was struggling to hide her annoyance with him, and there was something in him that liked it. Dayne chuckled beside him.

Tyler laughed too to loosen up the air at their table. "Okay let's just do intros. When you stepped out, Ricky, we saw Kelila and her roommates and they joined us. So hi, I'm Tyler."

The brunette on his left seemed glad she finally got a chance to speak. "Good evening, everyone. My name is Madelyn Russell from Lavenia. But you can call me Maddie. I am nineteen years. I am the first daughter of the Lavenian Minister of Justice." She said proudly before she caught herself. "Omigosh, I said too much already." She chuckled.

Jayden thought so too.

Star was next. "I am Star." She said gently as she pulled her dark curls from her face. Jayden liked her gentle vibe.

"I'm Kelila." Kelila emphasized the first syllable of her name.

Ricky laughed. "Was it only me that heard a little "I hope you heard that, Jayden" beneath her words?"

Everyone apart from Kelila laughed at the table. "Definitely." Maddie laughed louder than everyone else.

"But really, I'd love to be called by my name and not two-third of it." Kelila said when they quietened. She was not angry, she just disliked it.

"Hmm, I feel you." Jayden smiled back. Although he was determined not to stop, he loved that she could communicate her dislike clearly without spoiling the mood.

A girl with short black hair walked up to the their table and touched the empty seat beside Kelila. "Hi, I'm Raine. Nice to meet y'all." She flashed them all a curt smile. "Is this seat taken?"

"Nope." Kelila smiled back. Jayden observed her and found her smile beautiful, the way her green eyes sparkled.

"I'm Ricky." Ricky continued the introduction.

Jayden was the next. "Let me give a quick re-run for Raine. That's Tyler, Maddie, Star, Kelila, Ricky." He said, pointing at each one as he called their names. He noticed Kelila smile when he didn't shorten her name. "And I'm Jayden."

"Dayne." Dayne said curtly. Dayne was definitely the most reserved among them all, but it was not in an odd manner.

"Welcome to Dalphia!" A loud scary voice boomed in the whole cafeteria and every eye turned to the stage. An older lady laughed as she ascended the stage, she was the one who had spoken. She had a little microphone mouthpiece connected. "The sound effect was just to get your attention." She had a very refined accent. "Good evening, everyone. I am Lady Natasha Montgomery and I am the headmistress of this great school." She used her hands to gesticulate as she spoke. "You can call me Headmistress Natasha. Well, you should have been told we do just first names here. No real reason, just tradition." She laughed again.

"Okay, so you are all welcome to Dalphia School of Magic. I know someone is like "but we ain't got no magic". Well, that is not true. There is a great well of magic inside each one of you that could stretch to the depth of the sea, and reach the height of the heavens. It could raze down a farm and it could give life to the greens. It could bring light to the darkest valley, it could raise us for flight like the eagles. And it could bind the body, mind and spirit together as one." Her words were captivating. It resonated deeply with them. "I am talking about the six divisions of magic." With her hands, Headmistress Natasha made little symbols of the divisions of magic.

"Sea and sky magic." On one hand she carried a fat water drop and from the other hand she released lightning bolts.

"Fire magic." There was fire instantly sitting on her two outstretched palms and she was not scared at all.

"Earth Magic." She suddenly cupped her hands together in such a motherly style and soil appeared in her hands and after few seconds, a single leaf sprouted and then another and then flowers followed quickly, till in her hands was a handful of laurel flowers.

Headmistress Natasha smiled. "Light Magic." All the lights went out and after some seconds, there were little light balls sitting on every table in the cafeteria.

"Whoa!" The students stared at the light balls in wonder.

"And lastly, Soul Magic." The light balls increased in size and it changed to a purple light. In the midst of the purple light ball was projected a brain and heart together.

"Whoa!" The students exclaimed again.

It all disappeared and the normal cafeteria lights returned. "These are the six divisions of magic. And tonight, your magic wells will be unlocked. You will find yourself automatically flow into one of these divisions. Some of you know which division you would probably fall into as you would have heard and seen from your parents. Some of you are just new to this witch business. Nevertheless, after tonight you would all be the witchers and witches of this great Dalphia!" With that, she hoisted up the school flag on a pole that stood on the stage. It had the colors of Lavenia and Paxisia arranged diagonally, royal blue and purple respectively with a golden stallion in its center. The students cheered.

"By tomorrow afternoon, you would begin to see magic in yourselves. It would be weird." She chuckled. "There's gonna be so many awkward and hilarious moments tomorrow. Stay tuned!" Now the staff laughed with her. "It would be fun. But no worries, it is just to help us to know which witch or witcher you primarily are. We would all be on ground and alert to help if anything were to go wrong. Speaking of "on ground", I would love to call on the noble and valiant Major General Andell. He is one of the most gallant knights I know. He led the legion that eventually wiped out the Minx Witches in Paxisia. He is..." A fair man with dark hair that seemed to be in early forties walked up to Headmistress Natasha and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop talking. But she continued anyway. "He is a humble man, he does not like me singing his praises. Everyone, I give you my ever capable assistant Headmaster and the Head of the Tactics Department here at Dalphia, Sir Sebastian." There was a loud applause in the room.

He took the mic on the podium. "Thank you all. But! Forget all she said at first, right here I am Sir Sebastian. Like she said, you meet me in the Tactics department. Tomorrow morning would be my tryouts so we meet at the Arena. It starts at 9. I hate lateness. The late ones would be up for detention. Sir Earl would explain to you all what detention entails and trust me already, you won't like it. So tomorrow come ready to show me what you're made of. Keep in mind that this is for your classification in the tactical department." He clapped his hands and the doors behind the stage were opened. Waiters and waitresses walked in food trays on trolleys. "The food you will be served tonight has been prepared with adequate potions of the Releaser. The Releaser is the potion we put into you that unlocks your magic well. When you were born, it was the Binder that your parents gave you. Tonight we give you the opposite." The waiters served the students the food. "Make sure to eat your food. Finish all that is in the plate before you. It is not too much and not too small. It is just the right amount you need to give energy to the body while the potion works. Now you will be listening to the contents of the Handbook and presentations from the different departments. Pay rapt attention as you eat. Bon appétit." With that, Sir Sebastian walked off the stage and Sir Earl came up.

Jayden looked at the food in the plate before him and then he looked at Tyler. Tyler smiled at him to encourage him. Jayden did not know what was stopping him. When Tyler saw he wouldn't eat, he turned to the waitress at their table. "Good evening, miss. Please can you tell us what is before us?"

The waitress smiled. "This is creamy chicken marsala. You have got boneless chicken, mushroom, marsala wine and heavy cream to go along with spaghetti or what some call angel's hair."

"Thank you, miss." Tyler smiled and glanced at Jayden before he resumed eating.

Jayden did not have his taster here. He looked at the others. They were eating already. He had better joined in before anyone noticed him. He took a forkful of spaghetti and put it in his mouth. He chewed for a bit. Wow, this is good. He looked at Tyler, he seemed to be enjoying it too.

Raine dropped her fork and leaned into her chair. "Kelila, Star and Ricky, I just have to say this. I don't like your hairs." She looked at the three of them. "No offense intended."

Everyone stopped, no one had expected that sort of thing. Kelila and Star looked at each other and back at Raine. "None taken." They said together and burst out laughing.

Ricky laughed too. "You hate curls?" He too had curly blonde hair that was lovely to look at. Jayden wondered about Raine's perspective.

"Yes, it's a lot of work!" Raine explained in an exaggerated tone.

"Tell me about it." Kelila said. Jayden thought she was adorable.

"Wash times are the worst times for me." Star said.

Raine shook her head. "Believe me, it ain't so bad for you. I've got two heads like that back at home. I had to get my sisters ready for school every morning throughout my days in high school."

"Oh now we get you. That must've been hell." Tyler said. Jayden noticed he was already halfway through his plate.

"Hell yeah." Raine picked up her fork and hoisted it in the air. "But I'm free now, I'm at Dalphia now. I'm scared though, that I'd return to find my mom's shaved their heads, 'cause she ain't got no time."

Now everyone cracked up.

Jayden looked around the table as the laughter went on. He was sure that he was about to begin an amazing ride at Dalphia.