Darkmancer Chapter 10

I rose my hands to the sky as the crowd cheered, the teachers, those awake looked on in dread, form my hands a filament rose the thickness of my arm, it travelled up and struck the quartzite central column, the crystal began to turn into Ebon’stone. The energy barrier that it produced dissipated, without the crystal to charge it. As I continued to pump energy into the column the earth began to shake and there was cracking noises deafening even the joyous roars of the crowd. The School began to rise from the earth, its outer wall was the edge of the rising stone block. Almost one and a half miles of granite rose from the ground, making the school look like a tower, before the stone separated, and the pillar of stone began to rise into the sky, raising almost 1500 metres into the air. The cool fresh air could be felt. Still I continued to pump energy into the colour, the rocks of the school and the granite became saturated in the power, and the levitation became bound to the stone as a permanent effect. The stone changed from simple granite into Lev’stone. Inside the granite of the school, veins of Ebon’stone laced the entire structure, making the change complete. I cut of the power and returned my attention to my people.

Tom stood by my side, he ordered several people to rip out everything from the Headmasters house in the fields. A group of 10 mages walked off out of the hall, out towards the field. 
Nocturna came to the stage and walked up to me.
“What do you want me to do with these creatures?” referring to the teachers
“Place them in one of the courtyards and I will send a transmuter, to turn them into stone statues.”

The roots sunk back into the soil dragging the teachers with them. The ground healed, as the magickal roots sunk into the soil. I turned to see Tom walking through the seated crowd, he selected people and they moved and began collecting the shards of the glass, carrying them to under the windows, another young mage picked up hundreds of shards and telekinetically placed them back in the window frame and another used his transmutation power to reform them back into the window frame. Many were sat watching me. 

“My, Children your presence is enjoyed but no longer completely necessary, we can repair this damage. So please go back to your rooms and if we need you, Tom or Propaganda will come and request your help.”

The pupils began to leave and go to do whatever they intended on doing, for the time I had to much work to worry about them. I needed to find people who could run the administrative side of the fortress. People who could create rotas for the people that were in the school, the gardens needed to be tended, the food in the kitchen prepared as well as a thousand and one other jobs done. Tom however, seemed to be in his element, he was working hard grabbing and ordering people around. I walked out into the courtyard to find Nocturna with a young mage only around 6 transmuting the teachers into statues. Lucifer, who no longer needed to be invisible flew around and laughed at the statues.

Nocturna turned to me
“Is this ok? I thought I would do this myself, to save you a job, after all you must be very busy.”
“Yes my dear it is perfect, I couldn’t have done better myself. However, I need to borrow 5 of your nymphs. I need to turn them into a winged beast, like a dragon to allow us to collect the required material, as well as defend us if we need to.”
“I have already called them they will be here in a matter of seconds”
True to their queen’s word, Nocturna's with in three seconds, five of her children grew from the ground. I ordered them to follow me, we walked back through the hall, where the action had died down and Tom had left, we walked through to the main fields on the other side of the hall.
When out in the fields I walked to a big open area, calling one of the nymphs before me, a smaller younger nymph walked forward. I allowed a dark filament to leave from my body; snaking and curling until lit came in contact with the sapling nymph. It touched and I felt the nymph’s organic life as well as its dark energy coursing through its sap. I began to change it at the atomic level. From the body, branches and leaves shot out, twisting and wrapping around each other until they formed the shape I had in my mind. It had grown much larger, falling onto all fours; its claws were now talons, its back legs, big and thick, filled with powerful thick branches. Its head turned reptilian, its mouth turning into a snout, its eyes going round to the side of its head, the sockets rose slightly from the head, much like a snakes. Its mouth split down the muzzle, with wicked wooden fangs been clear to see. From its rear end a long powerful tail grew and tapered as it got further form the body. From the shoulders large branches grew, splitting creating skeletal wings, but without a covering it could never fly. With the new shape I forced the plant side to assert itself, leaves sprouted from all over the branches, filling all gaps and covering the new creature with leaves that looked similar to the scales of a dragon, the wings sprouted and leaves like a raven feathers sprouted, mimicking the wing of a giant bird. With the changes complete I disconnected the dark filament and looked back at my new beast. A large dragon, not of bone and flesh but of leaf and branch, the other nymphs looked in awe of their sibling and its new life, not as a Night’Nymph but as a Drake’wood that would be the name of these new creatures. Lucifer clapped at my work then went over and flew around touching the new beast. I released four new filaments and changed the other nymphs into four new Drake’wood beasts; I turned two into males and left three as the original and the other 2 as females, so that the species could grow more naturally. Like all my creatures they were bound to me, but they were also individuals and could live their own lives.

“Now my young ones, go enjoy the freedom of the wing, fly make your nest on the island in the middle of the lake, there you shall find all the space you need, if I need you I will call you. Now fly”
For the first time, the new beasts took to the wing, and like I had created them were graceful and fast, masters of the air, no beast, natural or otherwise could match them in speed and agility in the air. I walked back to what had been the headmasters office, I found Tom inside.

“Making yourself at home, are we?”
“Nope, I’m getting the administration going, I’m going through the lists of pupils in this office and trying to create a rota”
“A rota?”
“Yeah I'm trading in some of the classes for certain people and instead they will have duties to do, like work in the kitchen or work on the grounds, things like that.”
“Oh, so what does that mean then?”
“Well Saturdays will now be a working school day, otherwise the pupils will not be taught the same level as they would normally. There’s one major problem though, we don’t have any teachers.”
“I can create Golems from the statues to each the subjects, but with a Darkmancy twist, would that make it much easier. The grounds men could be made into golems as well. The same for all the members of staff”
“How long would it take?”
“A matter of minutes for each person so about 2 hours all together”
“Then do it. That would mean that the duties would be minimal”

“No, Tom keep the duties, new areas of the school can be opened, with all the space we have available. New jobs and duties will be made, like Drake’wood riders, who need to be trained, as well as guards and I intend on setting up a council, so that the people can be heard. This school is no longer just a school, it is a small city”
“I will set up a few small tasks to begin with, add duties into their schedules, most will gain extra free periods until the school can set up the duties.”
“Tom, there is one thing, I need the conference room to be always free, it is going to be the council chamber”
“Of course that’s no problem, but what of the council who will be on it?”

“I’m going to get the representatives that I want, I will be the head, but each age group will have a member, as well as the head of the guard, Chief Drake Rider, the heads of each of the houses and several other positions. Today the first meeting will be held, you will also have a position, but you have to much important work to be present, however, I want you at my side in future meetings”
I opened the cabinet and took out the tome with all pupils and their records in. I walked out of the office leaving Tom to his work and headed to the conference room.