Our Mirrored World

Chapter Nineteen - Fail

“So? Where did the bug go?” Zarina curiously asked while gazing at her ballpen that hadn't moved from its place.

“The bug disappeared here, that ballpen was still there right?” Luther massaged his chin before taking out another bug.

“Transfer,” Luther chanted casually so a light blinked and the bug was still there. He immediately gazed at the other side where Zarina was gazing at the table where the ballpen disappeared.

“My ballpen is gone, Luther,” Zarina looked bothered since that ballpen was expensive and she regretted it.

“Is it important? I don't think we could be able to bring it back,” Luther scratched the back of his head, but Zarina just shrugged.

“Alright, let’s try one more time!” Luther was in high spirits as Zarina put another thing of hers on her table.

They tried so many times and they lost numerous things, time, and bugs, “Ahh! Why isn’t it working?” Luther frustratedly complained.

Zarina just sighed disappointedly, “I’m just glad that we didn’t try it on ourselves first,” She commented coldly.

Who knows what space her things have reached? Probably somewhere between life and death, Zarina shook her absurd thought, but it is possible. She thought.

“I don’t understand, I reviewed this and those spells should’ve had work,” Luther whispered while gazing at the jar that’s almost running out of bugs.

“Maybe we should just rest for a while and think this through again, after all, we’ve been doing that for hours and you must be exhausted,” Zarina suggested, so Luther furrowed his eyebrows before gazing at his time on his wall clock.

“We’ve been doing that for hours?” Luther wondered and he felt like they just have been doing that for minutes because he failed to gain results at his experiments.

They were both silent for a moment as they sighed in unison, “I’ll try again, I promise,” Luther clenched his fists, he hates it when doesn’t always succeed at first. Especially about his experiments about looking for his mentor.

Zarina gazed at him while shaking her head, “No rush Luther, it’s not like I badly want to go there immediately,” 

Luther placed his hands on his head before chuckling, “Y-Yeah, I know, it’s just that, I don’t like failing at my experiments, it’s the only thing I’m good at and yet I’m still failing on it,”

Zarina almost scoffed at what he just said, “What? So you mean to say, you can’t fail at something you're good at?” 

“Yes, of course, you shouldn’t fail at that because you're good at it!” Luther almost exclaimed, so Zarina glared at him.

“You can always succeed and fail at something you’re good at, you’re not always the best at anything, people tend to make mistakes to learn from it,” Zarina almost clenched her fists.

Luther was caught off guard at what Zarina just said, “Plus, I don’t believe that you're someone that’s only good at experimenting, where’s the title that you always gloat about?” She curiously asked.

He didn’t know why he remembered his mentor after hearing those words from Zarina, “You reminded me so much of him,” Luther bitterly smiled before using his power of levitation to sit in the air.

“What? What do you mean? Who did I remind you of?” Zarina’s eyebrows were furrowed and Luther didn’t know why he found it quite adorable.

“My mentor, he’s a very special person of mine that I know and lost,” Luther commented while remembering those times that they were together when he was just getting good at magic.

Zarina gazed at Luther and she could notice the longingness that he had among his sky blue eyes, she knew for sure that mentor was someone special to him.

“Is he your father?” Zarina curiously asked as she grabbed a chair to sit right in front of her bathroom.

Luther shook his head, “No, but he was a father figure to me,” He sincerely said while playing with his wand.

“What do you mean you lost him? Did he die or something?” Zarina confusingly asked, so Luther chuckled while shaking his head.

“I don’t know, just one day after I came back from the academy of wizards, he disappeared and never came back,” Luther’s expression became solemn and Zarina noticed that.

“Hm, maybe he got lost or something? How old is he?” Zarina curiously asked then shook her head, “Never mind, don’t answer that question,” 

She then remembered Luther being a hundred years old although he looks the same age as she was, who knows how old his mentor was?

“No, he wouldn’t, he was the greatest wizard of all time and that position was passed unto me after I proved it to everyone that no one could have that title aside from me or my mentor,” Luther firmly said, so Zarina just slowly nodded at him.

It’s the first time she saw Luther being sensitive about a topic that they were talking about, “He must be really special to you,” 

“He is and I’m doing everything I can to find him,” Luther bitterly smiled at her, “He’s the reason why I’m also doing everything I can to excel at everything,”

“I see,” Zarina then nodded at him, “What was he like?” She curiously asked as Luther gazed at her intently.

“You really want to know what he was?” Luther raised his eyebrows, so Zarina furrowed her eyebrows at him.

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to,” She coldly replied, so Luther just chuckled while raising his hands.

“Alright, alright, I think he acts just like you,” Luther chuckled remembering how cold his master was towards him.

“He’s cold and ruthless, but you’ll feel that he cares about your kind of vibe, he only wants what’s best for you,” Luther gazed at his home, it’s where both he and his mentor lived before.

“I was an orphan, my parents left me alone in the house and as a child, I didn’t know why I got kicked out of there, it’s probably because they couldn’t pay the rent anymore,” Luther informed, so Zarina wondered for a moment.

“Wizards pay rent?” She confusingly asked, so Luther tilted his head for a moment while gazing at her intently.

“Rent? Is that related to bills that you were talking about that you needed to pay?” Luther asked while summoning a scroll that’s filled with his list of payments.

“Yes, like that, I work to pay for those,” Zarina coldly informed, so Luther finally understood what she meant.

“So humans have this too huh? So it’s called bills there, we call it fines here or tribute,” Luther explained, so Zarina just shook her head.

“It’s the same thing! The word was just different!” Zarina rolled her eyes, so he just chuckled at her reactions.

“Chillax! I didn’t know, I'm still learning about humans, okay? And you will help me about that matter,” He playfully winked, so she just sighed.

“And we also have to pay fines here, we don’t own anything unless we work and pay for it,” Luther explained, so she was confused for a moment.

“Can’t wizards just make their own houses or something?” Zarina raised her eyebrows, so Luther just nodded.

“Yes, we can make our own houses, but of course we have to pay for the land,” Luther casually informed, so Zarina thought it made sense.

“So right um, I lived my life stealing from other wizards and creatures to survive while eating one bread a day, sometimes scraps from the garbage,” Luther shared, so Zarina’s eyes widened.

“Then he suddenly spoke to me and brought me to his home to take good care of me, that’s where I found out that magic is truly something else,” Luther commented while smiling so brightly.

“He must be so nice to keep someone as rowdy as you,” Zarina tried to ease the solemn tension that was forming in the air, so Luther just chuckled.

“He was so kind, I could never forget how he changed me, so I'm doing everything I can to bring him back,” Luther looked dedicated, so Zarina secretly smiled.

She admires people that strive hard to reach their goals and dreams, “Also crying makes him mad, and don’t ever wake him up before his alarm,” Luther laughed out loud.

“I wish you luck on finding him, he’ll be so proud of you if you did,” Zarina crossed her arms against her chest, it was the first time someone opened up to her and she doesn’t understand why she feels giddy about it.

“Yeah thanks,” Luther happily beamed as silence surrounded them for a moment, “Thank you, Zarina,”

Zarina furrowed her eyebrows at what he just said, “For what? I didn’t do anything for you,” She claimed.

Luther just chuckled while shaking his head, “For listening to me Zarina, that’s what friends do, right?”

“Listen to each other’s stories? I read that here in the human book my mentor wrote,” Luther claimed while summoning the book that contains information about humans.

“M-Maybe? I don’t consider you as my friend though...yet,” Zarina firmly said while coughing.

“Oh come on human! You can’t be that cold!” Luther complained.

“Just how did your mentor know about humans and write information about them?” Zarina curiously asked, so Luther wondered about it for a moment.

“You’re right, it is odd for him to have this kind of information,” Luther checked the book and just shrugged, “Well that only means that he’s still a great wizard for him to be knowledgeable about that!”

Zarina just shook her head at what this wizard was saying, “It’s just weird that some of it truly explains the humanity of humans, is he psychic?” 

“No, he’s not, we are wizards!” Luther exclaimed frustratedly, so Zarina wanted to laugh because she thought he was pissing him off.

“Alright, wizard, whatever you say,” Zarina commented as they gazed at each other’s eyes intently.

“Ahem, so um, should we start practicing again? Though I still need to study why isn't my spells working on some living things, it worked to you before even if it’s for a while,” Luther massaged his chin while summoning a lot of books on his front.

“You should study first before we practice again, we can just try again later and I will make dinner,” Zarina coldly stated before leaving the bathroom.

Luther just raised his head after he noticed that Zarina was gone, he smiled secretly at what they both just talked about a while ago. 

He never told anyone about it except for Wayne, which is his familiar, so it means so much to him that they both talked about his mentor.

***

“Achoo!” Barnus Dy Taylor sneezed for the nth time and this time his wife was getting worried about him.

“Why do you keep on sneezing Barnus darling?” Jane placed a cup of coffee on her husband's table while he’s reviewing some notes about the strange incident 21 years ago that the media reported in the newspaper.

“I don’t know, maybe someone’s talking about me?” Barnus playfully smirked, so his wife just shook her head at him.

“I’m the only one who thinks of you Barnus, don’t assume things too much or you’ll get hurt,” Jane coldly replied, so he stopped reading the newspaper for a moment.

“That’s mean! Our daughter is probably thinking about me! I wouldn’t let you see the new album and scrapbook I'm planning to order for our daughter!” Barnus threatened.

Jane stopped pacing towards their kitchen before glaring at her husband, “I’m way ahead of you because I had ordered an album and scrapbook a week ago and it’s going to arrive today,” She rolled her eyes as Barnus couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“I can’t believe you decided this without me!” Barnus complained as they started arguing with each other.

“I’m calling our daughter for your behavior about this!” Barnus added as he took out his phone and gazed at her daughter’s number.

“You can’t do that! You love your daughter too much that you’ll cry if she answers your call!” Jane firmly claimed as Barnus shakingly held his phone.

“I can do this!” He nervously exclaimed and started dialing, shakingly, the number of her beloved daughter.

To be continued…