Emotionless (The Emotionless Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cursed.

  Life Being Banished.

  Absence.

  The Bunny Is Evil.

  Down the Rabbit Hole.

  Sorcerer City.

  Boots.

  A Mages Guardians War.

  Love Cures All.

  I Found the Boots.

  Unlikely Friends.

  Beautiful.

  Fire in His Bones.

  Double D’s.

  Decided.

  Cold Conversation.

  Jealousy.

  Butterfly Kiss.

  Family Bonding.

  Hold Me Tightly.

  Watched.

  Lowborn Mutts.

  City Skylights.

  Hopper Day!

  Late Night Sneak Out.

  Vindictive Ties.

  Valeria The Last.

  Beautiful Creatures.

  Lawliet’s POV.

  Emotionless.

  The Emotionless Book One.

  Cursed.

  How to Summon A Guardian.

  The title says it all.

  Ever so delicately, my fingertips touched the velvet fabric of the engraved title of the book. Dust parted when my fingers drew down the cover and to the lower corner of the book.

  This book has been forever locked in the library, bound by magical chains, untouched for years. After countless times trying to figure out how to break the spell that my parents bound the book in, my counter-spell finally worked. The chains shattered into figments of sparkling dust, and before anyone could find out I was down there, I was back in my bedroom with the book within my grasp.

  The book was massive but delicate. Every page that I turned felt like silk slipping through pinched fingertips. Some pages that I turned and chapters that I passed were in languages I have not learnt yet, nor probably would. Every section was dedicated after a Guardian called in that category. For example, there was a chapter devoted to fluffy, adorable bunnies, like Hopper.

  Even knowing the words to summon one was the same, each summoned Guardian has an entirely different type of personality to be expressed. It also depends on how strong a mage is that summons a specific Guardian. The weaker the mage, the less likely they will gain a powerful Guardian.

  Years of watching Hopper and learning the secrets to becoming a modest, noble Highborn Mage and Heir to the Frost family, it was my calling to summon the best of the summoned creatures. Not an ordinary adorable, fluffy bunny, like Hopper. My parents would never allow that. It would have to be taller, or more prominent, but most definitely it would have to be stronger. Now, I could summon a viper, yet, it has become apparent that some mages that have summoned reptiles become evil over time. Snakes were the worst. However, I do not wish to think ill of everyone that summons a reptile. I am not like my parents. It is not the Guardian that makes them evil, the mage would have been immoral all along.

  I flipped the page and strayed on Guardian Knights. They were the nobles. The ones my parents are pressuring me to summon. What would be better for a Highborn Mage and heir to the Frost family bloodline than to summon a Guardian Knight? They were tall, elegant, durable and very loyal. A Guardian Knight would defend me until his body was beaten and broken. He would lay his sword at my feet and listen to every order, even if it was slowly killing him. A wonderous fit for a Highborn. He would be the perfect slave.

  I decided to move past that page. Further and further I went, the darker and crueller the Guardians became: Trolls, golems, mermaids, sirens, angels, dead Mages, dragons.

  Dragons have always allured me. I recalled many years ago, and in one of my many history lessons, my teacher taught us about dragons and how it was outstandingly impossible to summon one. Only the strongest mage known in the world can summon a full-grown dragon. However, when they are still hatchlings, ripe at the age of eighteen, a promising mage may have the ability to summon one. It was then that I knew that I always wanted to summon a Dragon Guardian.

  My name is Eileen Frost, and I will be heir to the Frost family. I am a Highborn Mage that is destined to be powerful, influential, but lenient. I am the face of the new world and have earned nothing but respect to other Highborn Mages of different families as well as Lowborn Mages. I will summon a Dragon Guardian, and I will be summoning one right now.

  Dragging the book before me, I flicked across a few pages, skipping many steps, but I didn’t have enough time. I only had this opportunity to summon before my parents find out the book is gone and know where it went.

  Pencil in hands, I glimpsed at the design to summon a Dragon Guardian and then back to the blank page before me. I made sure the surface was flat and smooth. There needs to be no bumps or lines that could ruin this. I had to draw this correctly.

  I flexed and un-flexed my fingers. They were shaking from anticipation.

  Breathe, Eileen. In and out. Don’t screw this up or else your parents will believe you are too incompetent to summon a Guardian at this age. They will make you wait until you’re Eighteen. You don’t want that, do you?

  “No,” I whispered to myself. “I don’t want that.”

  Determined, my grip tightened, and the shakes dispersed right before my pencil touched the paper. Breathing in and out, I looked back and forth from book to paper, making sure the precision and sizing of the loops, curves, dots and weaving lines were exactly like the book. Everything needed to be perfect. Everything was becoming perfect. I could feel the power, as the grey led glowed a vibrant blue, the power of a mage leaked out of my white veins that pulsed to life as I concentrated.

  After the design was complete, I had to draw the activation circle and then the Guardian, summoning circle, that brings the Guardian to me after I say the magic words known to any mage.

  Without releasing my grip off of the page, the flick I made, at the tip, I drew a circle around the design I made. I made sure that every outer layer of a design touched the circle, to keep the magic flowing, or else it will turn into a dead rune.

  Once the activation circle joint together, I breathed a little air of laughter. My heart was pounding profusely loud within my chest that I began to think that my ribs might break.

  Now for the summoning circle that has to be a centimetre apart from the activation circle.

  I released my grip on the paper, and the rune was a perfect, vibrant and bright blue. That was what I wanted. If it was more faded in colour, I knew the rune might break upon summoning the Guardian. This was perfect, meaning I had a high success rate of summoning a dragon.

  Pencil back down on the paper, when I started to draw the circle, static zapped up my arm. It was electrifying. Sparks began to fly on the tip of the pencil the more I drew. The outer ring glowed a perfect red in colour, and blood from my white veins flowed through it, as it secured the connection between Guardian and I. Slowly and carefully my hand moved, inches away from activating the summoning circle. I could taste the power on the tip of my tongue. It tasted like bitter ash and charcoal.

  “Eileen, are you ready?”

  Father’s voice from outside of my bedroom alerted me. Surprised, my hand jolted and a jagged, horrid line sliced through the activation circle and ruined my perfect summoning rune.

  An exasperated sigh and groan escaped parched lips when I looked at the ruined drawing I nearly accomplished. If only I had more time, I could have finished the rune and then summoned when I got home from the graduation ceremony.

  Father tapped on the door while he opened it. Caught slightly off guard, I scrunched the paper up and threw it in the waste bin beside me. I then went to swivel in my chair when I remembered the Guardian book. Quickly, I placed my study books atop of it and then turned
to see my father step through the door and into my room.

  Dark brown hair was gelled back and dark eyes sought out my room before they settled onto me. My father was dressed formally in a grey suit and black tie with one gold and silver cufflink. He has dressed accordingly while I was still in my silk underdress that goes underneath the dress that Mother wants me to wear tonight.

  “Eileen, we are leaving in five. You best get ready before your mother sees you still like that.”

  “Okay,” I replied blankly.

  He went to step outside of the bedroom when he hesitated and looked around once more. “Why is there smoke covering your room? Were you designing a rune?”

  “Fireworks,” I lied. “I wanted to design fireworks for Silas tonight… for his graduation.”

  “My daughter.” Father smiled adoringly. “Your magic isn’t strong enough to create extravagant fireworks. Besides, I heard the Headmage has already got that field covered. You just need to get dressed and brush your hair.”

  “Okay,” I responded blankly once again.

  Once the door closed, I sighed, stood from my desk and walked across the soft white carpet until I was at my wall mirror. I took hold of the clothes hanger that was on the mirror, and took the dress off and then pressed it against my body. It sparkled like glistening ice in sunlight and gave a new meaning to the Frost family name.

  The dress flowed down to the tips of my feet and swayed like a gentle wave rippling in the water. My golden-brown hair was in a braid tied into a bun, low on the back of my head. Silver eyes pierced me from the mirror, and stared back at me, pure and innocent.

  “Is she ready?” Mother asked from outside of the door. “We are going to be late for Silas’s graduation. We don’t have all night.”

  “Daughter?” Father questioned.

  Opening the bedroom door, I stepped out into the hallway where my parents were waiting for me. Father smiled the slightest while my mother stared blankly at me and gave nothing away.

  “Who did your hair?” Mother asked.

  “I did. I didn’t want to use magic.”

  I didn’t want to tell her the reason I don’t want to was that that rune drained me slightly. At this moment, I didn’t have the mental capacity to create anything more than paper aeroplanes.

  Mother narrowed silver eyes and flicked her finger forward and her white veins illuminated. I felt my hair tug the slightest and the straggly pieces I couldn’t get to stick, smoothed back. After she lowered her hand, I touched my hair and noticed the braid was positioned higher in its bun.

  “Done. We need to go.”

  “What about the boys?” Father asked.

  “Mason, Donte and Nixon are in the basement creating a potion to humiliate their older brother at his graduation. Do you really want them to come?”

  “No.” Father sighed. “Alright, let’s go. We don’t want to be tardy.”

  “Good. Now, be a dear, Mason, and tell Elijah to watch over those boys and keep them from leaving the house.” Father nodded and walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.

  “Follow me, Eileen.”

  Behind Mother, we went down the hallway, through the living room and to the front door. It was bitingly cold outside, and this dress did no justice nor gave me a sense of warmth in the dead of winter. The end of the year, Christmas time, usually, for Ordinary Humans, was a different type of celebration for mages.

  While Ordinary-Humans have beautiful twinkling coloured green, blue and red lights that made the city or town they lived in shine brightly and tall decorated Christmas trees and jingling, festive music to fill one’s ears, for us mages, we have something called A Mages War.

  Once a year, Eighteen-year-old teenagers from all over the world fight alongside their Guardian. Whoever is the last one standing gets granted a simple wish. Nothing too overpowering, obviously, or else the world would have been in ruins from people asking for immortality. A simple wish, but one that people are willing to fight over for.

  Our home was positioned in the central plaza of Sorcerer City. In the centre of the square and above the water fountain was a holographic video recording of A Mages War. The last two remainings were fighting it out someplace in the darkened sky. Flames erupted, and it set a gleam and my heart to lurch as I watched the beastly dragon engulf the sky in orange flames. It was mesmerising.

  “They are growing near Sorcerer City. I hope it doesn’t cause a distraction for the year twelve graduation.” Mother pursed her lips and shook her head disapprovingly. “Eileen, follow.”

  Lowering my eyes away from the holographic screen, I stared ahead at the water fountain and then followed behind my mother. While we walked, she told me the rules, like she always does whenever I appear in public: I am never allowed to express myself in general, always wear a mask, don’t smile, don’t give a hint of myself away while I am in public. All my life, I have known only to smile or laugh or cry when I am at home. I am unable to show any form of weakness that could be exploited by other Highborn families.

  Snow crunched under slippers with every step that I took. The wind chilled clear skin. Pricks of hair rose and goose-bumps formed along my arms at the sudden drop of temperature the more we walked.

  Inside of the central part of Sorcerer City, everyone was well known. The most popular stores were near our home, and the people dressed much more extravagantly than the mages that lived on destination road. That was the place that we were heading to. However, before we could get there, I was forced to stare ahead, knowing I was being looked at and knowing that mages looked at me like I was an object. A brilliant and shiny rune to exploit, and that was precisely what it felt like.

  Mages inclined their heads, smiled, waved, and even a fair few took a couple pictures of my Mother and me. Mages in the inner-city part are by far much more engrossed when they notice a famous and influential family about and around. It has always been the most daunting experience I had to live with every time I walk out the door to go to school. Every time my parents wanted me to go shopping with them, or go to a big social event where other mages were dressed to impress. Whenever I left the house, I was someone else entirely. I was someone much more detached. My feelings and thoughts were never to be expressed. In my mind, I felt emotionless and withdrawn. A piece of me leaves as soon as I step foot outside of my home.

  Outside of the inner-city, where mages thrive on power and deception, we finally made our way to Destination Road. I never enjoyed being on Destination Road. When I was little, I always strayed further than I wanted to on Destination Road. Because it was such a steep road, whenever I stepped on it, I never made it to the destination I needed to go. I can recall a fair few times my parents had to find me for I walked off the path they wanted to go because I thought of another place I wanted to go, or my mind wandered. Usually, they would spot me in the rune tunnel after I realised that all I thought about at the time was runes that I wanted to draw.

  Lately, whenever I walk up these stairs that appear before I step, it takes me to wherever my parents wanted to go. I rarely think of anything more. I can’t remember the last time that I thought about drawing runes, or what I wanted to do whenever I left my home.

  The homes on Destination Road were more slanted and tilted in away. Joint as one, they all looked like they were resting on one another. Pointed roofs were the only part that distinctively made the homes look like they were separated individually. Twinkling blue and green lights floated in the air, representing street lights. They illuminated the place with a dull throb and shun light on the yellow bricks that rolled up over the snow to pave the way towards Mage Academy.

  Nearing the end of Destination Road, the homes began to part, and the pathway opened up into a large, paved area. In the centre of the covered area was a crystallised water fountain. Jagged pieces of icicles dripped down and were frozen along the arms of the sculpture of a man that raised his staff up towards the sky. Pearly silver gems as eyes. He was designed flawlessly. I stared up at the statue of
my grandfather. I could feel my face slacken for a passing second, as my features softened.

  “Eileen.” My father called my name from behind me.

  Not that overly surprised, I looked back at my Father that finally joined us. Unlike Mother and I, that had freshly fallen snow on our hairs and shoulders, Father looked as if he used a crystal to teleport to us much faster. I assume that only meant Donte and Nixon were diabolical once again.

  The bells then called when my father gently placed his hand on my back and pushed me delicately towards the stairs.

  There were a thousand stairs to walk up. At the bottom of the stairs and on either side, two towering crystals that throbbed a hot-pink colour stood proud and tall. The first step of the stairs had squished snow and footprints in them, the rest looked untouched, and there was a reason as to why. Going up the first step, when I took the next step up, I landed on flat ground. When I looked back, I stared down the thousand flight of stairs and to where the pink crystals sparkled like stars in the sky. Slowly, I blinked and then glanced up at the other two crystals that were on either side of the flight of stairs up the top.

  The doors to Mage Academy were wide open. Engrave doors that throbbed a blue colour were pressed on either side, and a long red velvet trail rug flowed down the brick floor of the hallway. Blue and green lights bobbed up and down and floated through and around Mage Academy. From inside and just at the main entrance, there were a lot of Mages in groups, and they talked amongst one another.

  When I stepped inside, I felt this surge of power. The ice-cold flakes of snow that rested on my shoulders and hair peeled off like dead skin and vanished as soon I was inside of the large doors. Any trails of mud, dirt or snow tracks would end at the entrance as well.

  Warmth slowly started to envelop me. My fingertips tingled at the warm sensation as my blood began to circulate once again. I clenched and unclenched them so that the movement wouldn’t be so stiff when I would have to shake people’s hands.

  “We are going into the main hall, that is where Silas’s graduation would be at,” Mother announced. “I heard that after graduation, there will be drinks and food in the cafeteria to celebrate. There will be a lot of superior mages in there, Eileen. Make sure you make an impression so that you can be accepted into Mage Academy just like your older brother.”