Page 25 of Rebirth Of Order
“To eat, of course. Unless there’s somewhere designated for getting food. Like a dining hall, perhaps.” Ishrug off my embarrassingly dense moment. “I mean duh, we’re at an Academy. Where’s it located?”
Angie explodes into laughter, shaking her head, and a nervous sensation stutters my heart. She’s acting cult-ish.
“We don’t have use for, nor require, food. In fact, some fays have yet to encounter food or even know what it’s like to eat. That’s a mortal thing.”
“What do you meany’alldon’t eat? Tell me I’m not being initiated into a cult. Oh my God, this is a cult, isn’t it? Y’all are trying to harvest my organs.” Nervousness skyrockets into a full-blown panic, and my steps retract towards the entrance.
“A cult? Now you’re being silly. We don’t have those here.” Angie grins, which isn’t helping her case. “Okay, we do, but not here. No cults at Rebirth.” My hand reaches for the knob, and unsubtly, I begin twisting it. “Wait, let me explain why we don’t eat,” she pleads. “Magic requires our body to sustain itself. After the incantation you used earlier, have you felt the urge for food? Are you hungry now?” She raises a questionable brow, and by now, I’m halfway out the door.
Taking a moment and pondering, I realize Angie is right. I haven’t eaten since yesterday, so I should be hungry, yet I’m not. “No, I’m not feeling an urge to eat.” I’m still lingering half in and half out of the door.
“Good, now come back in, silly. I’m not planning on harvesting your organs. And if at some point you do get hungry, use the incantation from earlier.”
She makes a good point. Why wait until later when they could’ve done it already. “What incantation?” Stepping back in and shutting the door, I continue wrapping my brain around how no one here eats.
“Absentis. Meaning, gone. This incantation removes all physical requirements of your body, allowing our realm’s energy and magic to replenish it…” She trails off, then throws her arms up. “Or something like that. I don’t know how it all works, but you get it.”
“Wait, this spell thingy can wipe away hunger for good? No more figuring out what to eat or spending money on food? Just wake and go?”
“Incantation, and yes, it’s one attribute, though it’s a little more complicated,” she giggles.
“Fuck it, I’m sold. What’s the thing again? Absents?” Shaking out my arms, I prepare to have another go at it.
“Absentis. Wave a hand over your abdomen while saying the word.”
“Got it. Absentis,” I shout, and a strange glow ripples around my stomach. Tickling, akin to two butterflies fighting over the same space, fills my insides.
“No need to yell it,” she chides, folding her arms. “How do you feel?”
I smile. “Holy shit, Angie. I didn’t understand when we first did it, but now…” Raising my hands towards my head, I mime my mind exploding. “You’ve cured world hunger,” I chuckle.
“If you’re stimulated now, wait until you realize time here moves much slower than in the mortal realm. Now that’s exciting, right? More time to do things.” Her grin lifts her cheeks, and my hands drop along with this supposed stimulation.
“Excuse me, what now?” It’s one thing after another with this place.
“We’ll discuss it another time. For now, how about you get familiar with your room, and I’ll call you later and check in.”
“Shit, my phone was destroyed fighting the gloom. Thinking about it, everything, including my bank cards and ID, were destroyed. Is there a way for me to go back? Maybe stop by a bank and my place.” Realization kicks me in the ass even more. “Fuck, my apartment. I’ll get evicted if I don’t pay rent.” Hysteria embraces me with open arms, and Angie raises a palm, ceasing this spiral I’ve found myself in.
To hell with elongated days, I won’t have a place to return to.
A white sigil appears over my polished coffee table, glowing brightly before disappearing and leaving a phone in its place.
“There. Now you have a new one with my number saved. We can manage a way for you to receive other necessities after the Awakening.”
Like always, my self-diagnosed ADHD kicks in, and I’m amazed by yet another display of magic instead of worrying about my problems at hand. “You can create anything using a sigil? How do I learn that?”
Being honest with myself, I know the time for questioning anything pertaining to magic being real is long since over. After my ordeal with, not one, not two, but three shadow gloom creatures, I believe everything pertaining to magic is real. And I’m in desperate need to learn any and everything–starting with this.
“Not create, summon. Only genies have such abilities.” She giggles as if I’m being irrational.
“Imagine if I’m a genie. I’d be throwing out wishes left and right.” I attempt to find humor in this unknown world.
“Right? Males would form lines, waiting for a chance to thrust into you. Everyone knows the quickest way to get a genie to grant your wishes is to make them orgasm.” She looks off yet again, smirking and fantasizing, I’m sure, and my jaw hangs open. How is this something everyone knows? “Anyway, it’s not your ordinary, mortal phone. I mean it is, but it isn’t. Just look through it and see for yourself. I’ll hit you later,” she says, flicking her wrist and summoning a sigil beneath her.
“One last thing…” Moving on from the idea of being a genie as I shudder from an uncontrollable urge of disgust, I realize if we are in different realms, such rumors never made it to Earth. “Does it mean I have powers since I can perform the Absentis incantation?”
Angie places a well-manicured hand beneath her chin whilst pondering. Scanning me up and down, she says, “We’ll find out soon enough. Until then, I’ll prepare you the best I can.” She disappears along with her sigil.
