literature

Otherworlde: Introduction to Blood Magic- August

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It seemed like forever since Astrae had finally made it to Otherworlde, a mysterious academy for beings all over that were classified as paranormal in one way or another, but in reality, it had only been a day. When she had first heard of the strange school when she had been feeding on a rat in an alleyway from two ominous figures passing by, she knew she had to find this place, and fast. For while it had been two years since she had been turned into a vampire against her will, she still had absolutely no clue just how to master her powers, or even what her powers were, and that scared her to no end.

When she had made the long trek up here, she had no idea what to expect, besides what the two figures had mentioned of that it housed various supernatural creatures, but she had hoped with all of her body, she’d say soul but she didn’t even know if she still possessed that, that she would be accepted. So when she had submitted her application, and had actually gotten in almost immediately, she was jumping with more joy than she had since that terrible night when she had been walking home from the bookstore.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Astrae managed to clear her head just in time for her foot to catch on the leg of a table, causing her to lose her balance. She managed to regain her footing before she would have fallen on her face, but looking up, she saw that she had attracted the attention of the other students in the class. They all eyed her with some measure of concern, but before any of them could ask if she was all right, she quickly hurried off to an empty seat in the corner. She had never been able to make friends when she was human, mostly due to the fact that she spent the majority of her time with her nose buried in a book, and as such, she didn’t even know where to start making acquaintance at this paranormal school with people she had no clue even exactly what they were never mind, who they were.

Realizing she had been trapped in her own mind again and thus had missed the start of class, Astrae felt a quick burst of panic when she heard the teacher already speaking. She felt her eyes widen almost comically though when she realized that she was actually going to be working closely with blood magic in this class. When she had been mortal, she had always loved mythology, and as such, she had learned a lot about blood magic along the way, and had also been fascinated by it.

When the professor asked if anyone needed a new Hemosanguinite bloodstone, she was forced to tentatively raise her hand, almost in shame since this was after all, her first class, making it so she had obviously received a bloodstone like the rest of the class seemingly had last class. With the teacher smiling at her kindly, he handed her one as he continued on with the directions.

As she listened attentively, Astrae realized that she had to pick just exactly what she wanted her bloodstone to focus on. She knew she didn’t really want to use it as a magical storage or a spell amplifier, but she was seriously debating using it for either offensive or defensive purposes. While she knew that it was peculiar to be stuck between those two options, she felt in her heart that either one of those would be the best suited for her, the problem was, she just didn’t know which one to pick.

She barely heard the rest of the lesson; something that was severely unlike her, considering her past nicknames consisted of ‘teacher’s pet’, ‘brownnoser’, ‘know-it-all’, etc. , but from what she did hear, it mostly entailed of discussions of a tournament or something. Sighing, she supposed it was another thing she would have to learn as being new, since she had absolutely no clue what people were competing for or what it was over.

Once the professor dismissed them all though, she quickly gathered up her stuff, and hurried out the door, determined to find the library in this place so she could hopefully find more information on this blood magic. She saw a couple of the students trying to catch her eye and waive her over, but she turned her head away. Astrae knew that if her blood could rush to her face in embarrassment, it would in this instant, but she guessed it was just one of the many things that had changed the night she had been attacked. While she knew that she definitely should make friends, since she didn’t know the circumstances of them being here after all and they actually could be nice, but almost 14 years of being given the cold-shoulder by her peers had left its mark on her, making it hard for her to accept the fact that some people may actually want to be her friend.

Looking over herself as she sped away to the library, she saw the all to familiar black mini-dress, loose purple tie, fishnet stockings, and dark boots pulled all the way up to her thighs. She knew she looked like the stereotypical vampire with her gothic appearance, midnight black hair, deathly pale skin, and not to mention her blood-red eyes. With a heavy heart, she entered the library wondering why anyone would want to be friends with someone who obviously was so dark.

The minute she entered the library though, her whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, she was back in her old element, being surrounded by books and all sorts of information, and she felt the most at home here than in the past 2 years. She immediately headed to the section that supposedly contained books on the various types of magics. Strolling through the isle, she indeed saw various books with the title relating to blood magic in one way or another.

Grabbing as many books as she could carry, she head back to a free table to begin her research. It took her a couple of books to learn how one of the key things to remember in using blood magic is that while blood is one of the most powerful things you can use in either spells or rituals, it had to be her own blood. When she read that, she remembered back to what her teacher had said after he had handed her the bloodstone that was now crammed in her bag, that it didn’t really matter what type of creature they were, but rather that they had to look at their blood itself to determine what type of magic they were best suited for.

Astrae knew then that books weren’t going to get her anywhere with this type of assignment, she had to focus on her blood and her personality to rightly determine what type of blood magic her stone should contain.

While her first instinct was to say that she was better off making her stone focus on offensive magic, not only because she was a vampire, and as such, she viewed herself as a dark creature, but also because she desperately wanted to use the stone to aid her in tracking down her attackers and enacting her revenge on them. She even had almost decided that as her focus, when she subconsciously raised her hand and felt the ever-present locket around her throat.

The silver locket had been given her a long time ago by her mother when she had first explained to Astrae the meaning of her name. Astrae had just been entering 4th grade, making her 9 years of age, and she had come home from school sobbing because the other students had torn up the book she had been reading at recess. It had taken her two months to save up her allowance to buy that book with her money, and what had made it worse, was that it was a book on mythology, something she had only just started getting into, but had already come deeply engrossed in.

When her mother had calmed her down enough for her to explain what was wrong, she looked straight into Astrae’s miserable sea-green eyes, the color they used to be before she turned, and told her that one day, those kids would have their comeuppance for picking on her. Her mother went on to explain that she too had always been fascinated by mythology, especially Greek, and as such, when she was born, she spent hours laboring over mythology books to try to decide her name.

Finally, her mother had told her, I was just about to give up on using mythology books to find a name, when I came across the perfect one for you. Astrae. The goddess of innocence, purity, and justice. As such, her mother continued on, I knew the moment I saw it, that that was the name for you, and that one day, you would draw upon your namesake to guide you. My dear Astrae, she had said, those bullies will get their just-desserts through the world’s hand, not yours, don’t corrupt your beautiful innocence.

When Astrae snapped herself out of her memories, she realized that there never had been a choice of what to use her stone for. It didn’t matter that her mother and the rest of her family were miles away, where they couldn’t ever possibly know what she was doing. Astrae knew that even if her mother wasn’t watching to make sure she stayed on the right path, her namesake still was. As such, Astrae severely doubted that the goddess of innocence and justice would want her to use her newfound talents for destructive purposes. Although, Astrae ponded to herself, smirking, she doubted the goddess would have any objection of me using my stone for defensive purposes.

So as Astrae was putting her books away, she wondered if maybe her getting bitten was the work of the goddess after all. A way for her not only to make friends but also to live in the world she had always admired, and not to mention for her to embrace her newfound abilities. While she may not fully accept them yet, and she definitely still wanted revenge on her attackers, she supposed that maybe while she was here, she really could make friends, maybe even while they were working over her defensive charms on her bloodstone and whatever charm they chose.
This is the assignment for August describing Astrae's decision concerning her bloodstone and what type of magic she feels her core connects to.
Word count: 1767 words
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