Free Message Bearer (The Auran Chronicles Book 1) by M. S. Dobing

flitting between bed sits, couches and hostels ever since.’
    The Magister shook her
head, her mouth open in what he was sure was fake dismay. When she spoke again
it did nothing to change his opinion. ‘You poor, poor child. No one should have
to live such an existence, especially one as rare as you.’
    ‘What can I say, I’m not
exactly unique. There are plenty of others like me.’
    Those grey eyes glinted. ‘No,
there are not plenty of others like you. You are Latent. Weak, perhaps, but
Latent nonetheless. I don’t know how you slipped through the cracks but you
will not do so again. You are a child of Danu, and for that fact at least, you
will remain with us.’
    ‘What, you mean you want
me to stay?’ He searched across the faces of the group, unsure how this was playing
out.
    ‘Not want , that
implies you have a choice in the matter,’ the Magister said. ‘You will stay.
Latent magi found outside of the Families are rare, most likely the result of
some bastard siring many years past but still, you are precious and are to be taken
in by the Magistry so that you may develop to your full potential.’
    ‘I’m sorry, this is
losing me,’ he said. ‘A magi?’
    ‘The magi, of which I am
one,’ the Magister began, ‘are rare Latents who command the ability to change
the Consensus.’
    Lore Keeper read his
blank expression perfectly. His tanned face broke into a warm smile as he burst
out laughing.
    ‘Magister Kenan, you are
bamboozling the poor boy,’ he said. He motioned for Seb to sit in an empty
armchair near the fire.
    ‘This concept is key,
Seb. Understand this true, fundamental fact, and the rest is just built upon
those foundations,’ he said.
    Seb nodded. He shut down
the rest of his mind, the part that was churning through hundreds of questions
a second.
    ‘The world in which you
live. This universe, this Shard. All Shards. They are simply energy, manifested
in separate forms. You see a chair, or a star. They are vastly different at a
macroscopic level, but deep down, at the bottom level, they are all made of the
same stuff.’
    ‘Star-stuff?’ he said,
the word coming from somewhere he couldn’t quite remember.
    ‘Exactly! Exactly that!’
Lore Keeper Brun said. ‘Now, our senses. What we see, hear and touch. What we
smell and taste. These are just instruments translating that energy into a form
that our minds can understand. Reality is literally what we experience via these
senses.’
    ‘Okay,’ he said, the word
being drawn out into a drawl. His jaw was dropping, and perhaps some drool was
seeping out too. He slammed his mouth shut, hoping that he didn’t look too much
like a complete buffoon.
    ‘Keep with me now. You
will learn more of this, much more, but for now you need to understand the one
truth.’
    ‘I’m listening.’
    ‘Imagine if there existed
a way to interact with the energy that underpinned reality. Imagine that
certain races had harnessed this power and could use it for their own gains.’
    Seb frowned. ‘What, you’re
saying that you can change reality?’
    The Magister nodded. ‘It’s
simplifying it a great deal, but in summary, yes. All Latents are aware of this
energy, the Weave, as it’s called, at some level, but only the magi have
studied it to such a degree that they can actually use and harness its power.’
    Seb sat back, the large
chair nearly swallowing him whole.
    ‘Wow, just wow.’ A
tiredness had hit him like a hammer. He tried to blink away the fatigue, his
eyelids leaden.
    ‘I think that’s probably enough
for today, don’t you think?’ Brun said, putting his mug down on the table. Seb
liked him already.
    ‘Wait, what about Sarah?
What about what she did to me?’
    The Magister rose. ‘Come
here, child. Let me see.’
    He stood and edged
forwards. An urge churned in his gut, telling him to run, to get out of there
whilst he still had his faculties. Yet something deep down, either his own
curiosity or his need to belong, compelled him