《Modern World Mages》


 Chapter-1

    *knock knock knock*


    I''m awakened by the three knocks on my home door. Slowly opening my eyes, I look at the digital clock on my table and it shows that it still six o''clock in the morning. Meaning that it must be very important or someone is just being an idiot or an asshole.


    *Knock knock knock*


    I hear the three knock once again and so, decide to get up, to go check out who is waking me up so early. I let out a small groan as I lift my upper body up and then move my feet of the bed. My feet touch the hard wood floor and immediately I feel how cold it is, making me want to go back to bed. But I have no time, as I hear the three knocks once again.


    I let out a sigh and push myself of the bed and onto my feet. With slow and heavy steps, almost dragging my feet, I start to walk towards the bedroom door and on the way there, I grab a pair of shorts from the ground with my toes and throw it up in the air, from where I catch it. I then proceed to put them on while walking through the corridor.


    And again, I hear the doorbell being ringed three times.


    "I''m coming. I''m coming. Stop ringing the bloody bell already."I say in a louder voice, which isn''t quite yelling. Don''t want to wake up Nat now.


    With the last step, I am in front of my door, which I open, to see the person who dared to wake me up. I see a man in his mid-thirties with light brown short, a pair of dim green eyes. His face was pretty average looking with a small scar on his cheek. He didn''t have a beard and was shaved completely cleaned.


    "Hi Azarath. You fi-."I cut him off immediately, by closing the door and locking it. I seriously don''t want to ever deal with him or the organization again. It only brings trouble to me and even to Nat now. I start to walk away, leaving him there, hoping that he leaves.


    "Ooiii. Come on let me in."he yells and bangs on the door"It''s about Shadows."


    Shadows.....For fuck sake.


    I groan and then let out a sigh, before turning around and opening the door. I look at him between the ten centimeter gap between the door and it''s frame. Looking at him, I tell him"Ten minutes. You have ten minutes."


    "Thats all I need."he says in a happier voice, which makes me sigh.


    I open the door completely now and step out of the way to let him in. He steps in and is about to start walking further, only to be stopped by me, when I slam my hand against the wall, blocking his way.


    "No shoes."I say and then walk away to the kitchen.


    There, I open my fridge and grab a can of energy drink. I push the door close and open the can the same time, when he gets here.


    "Sit down and talk."I tell him and take a bigger sip from the can. He does what I told him and sits down on the kitchen chair. He then puts his brown briefcase onto the table and opens it''s two locks.


    "For the past months, we have received more reports about Shadows appearing around the world. The last three months average has been fifty two sightings"he tells me and I immediately reply"Thats nothing special."


    "Fifty two sightings a day and the number is growing."he adds to my comment.


    "Okay. Thats bad."I say to him and continue"But why should I care about it. I retired. I have a normal life now."


    "I know. Even If you don''t work, we still have to monitor you."he continues"So we know all about you average eighteen year old school life and the relationship with your girlfriend Natasha. Who by the way is quite a catch. Even for such a tattooed man like you."


    "So I can''t have any privacy. Oh great."I say sarcastically after hearing him. As for the tattoos he referred, aren''t actually tattoos but markings. Tattoo is more of the slang for it and the correct term is mark. But as for the ''Tattoos'', I have plenty of the on my body. On the palms of my hands, I have a pentagram with an overlapping design and with runes written between the tips of it. It''s surrounded by a thin line. Around my sleeves, I have one hundred runes written starting near my hand and then coiling around my entire arm up to my shoulder, where it ends. A little above my ankles, I have a row of runes written around the ankle and from there, two crossing lines go up my leg while going around my leg, until the two lines touch together on the side of my waist, from where the turn into a one line and go behind my back, from where the overlap each other once and connect to my runes on my shoulders. All of them are symmetrically drawn on both sides of my body, but the runes Are different on the right and left side. As for the colours, it''s black on the right side and white on the left side. And where the lines meet the runes, the white line fades into a black and the black fades into black. So there is a little gray too. All of them were designed and drawn by me when I still used them. But now, I don''t use them and like with a tattoo, which can be removed, I am stuck with them. I don''t hate it or something like that because it was my choice and I accepted them back then. So now, I have to live with that choice.


    "As for "tattoos."I air-quote the word "tattoos" and keep talking"She doesn''t care. She herself is inked too....but move on. You have eight minutes left."


    I take a sip and stare at him.


    "Yes. To put it simply, I want you back."he says in a serious voice and looks straight into my eyes.


    "Hahaha."I laugh a little and then answer"No."


    "Azarath. You were one of the best and now we need you. Please come back."he pleads towards me, but I don''t care.


    "There are other mages with Black or White System. So you don''t need me."I tell him and finish the can. I then crush it and throw it away into the trashcan."If that is all, leave. You know where the door is."Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Azarath. We need you. The World of Magic needs you."he tells me, as I walk away and I reply"The World of Magic can go fuck itself. It has taken too much for me and given me so little back. Also.... don''t call me that ever again. It''s Kane. Got it?"


    The man, seeing that he couldn''t get him, gets up and leaves the kitchen. He walks up to the door, where he puts on his shoes and ties them, before getting back onto his feet and touching the door handle. He looks back one last time, to see an empty hallway, before opening the door, leaving the house.


    Now that I am back in my room, I sit down on the edge of the bed and look at the clock on the table. My eyes then move to the callender, showing that today is monday, which means school.


    As I sit there, I feel a pair of slender arms wrap around my chest, with long legs following it and a head placed on my left shoulder.


    "What''s wrong?"is asked by a clear female voice with a slight russian accent in it. Obviously, I know that voice, as it belongs to Natasha, my half- head to look into her crystal blue eyes with my black and really light gray eyes that seems to be almost white.


    "Kane. You know you can''t lie to me. I can see through you."she says and I can feel her hands moving up towards my chest.


    "I''m not lying Nat. I just rather not think about it."I tell her and put my right hand on her beautiful face.


    "I understand. If you ever want to talk about it, you can tell me."she says and puts her hand on my face. We look deep into each others eyes, as our faces close in on each other. With each second, our lips get closer, before they touch each other and this leads into a deep and passionate kiss. We invade each others mouth with our tongues, before we take our lips away from each other.


    Her eyes move to the clock on the table and says"Damn. It''s already six twenty." She gets off the bed and onto her feet. She looks back at me and says"You stay and think what ever is on your mind. I''m gonna go take a shower and you take one after."


    "Yeah okay."I answer back to her and she smiles, before walking away. As she walks away, I watch her back and the dragon tattoo covering her beautiful back. The dragon is a Japanese dragon and is made with black ink. Stepping out of the room, she turns right and I lose sight of her after that.


    "Huuh."I let out a sigh and drop my back on the bed, while holding my hands over my face. Slowly, I move my hands down my face and groan again. I have been doing it too many times already today. I then start to stare at the white stone ceiling and push my black hair mixed with white away from my eyes and hold it down on top of my head with my hand.


    Mark and the organization wants me back after I made it very clear, that I never want to use magic ever again. But it seems, they still didn''t understand and are desperate enough to come to me. I have no interest in their business anymore, so why should I even care. They have dozens of other strong mages, who can deal what ever is thrown at them. But nooo....they send Mark here to get me back to be a mage and pull me away from the normal life. It took me one and an half years to built this life up and I''m not gonna throw it away now. I''m happy with it.


    As I continue to lay on the bed and be in my thoughts, I feel my body being shaken a little. This snaps me out of my thoughts and look at Natasha, who is standing in front of me with her arms on my side.


    "It''s your turn to take a shower now."she tells me and then goes over to the drawer and takes out her underwear. She slowly starts to put them on, knowing that I am watching. She pulls her pair of black panties up her smooth legs, while swaying her hips. She pulls them up completely and then proceeds to put on her black bra, with which she doesn''t take her time.


    "Aren''t you going?"she asks me and turns around to look at me. "I guess I should."I reply to her and take off my shorts, before going to the bathroom. I leave the room, walk through the hallway and get to the door, which I slide open a d then close behind me, once I am inside. I walk straight to the shower and turn on the cold water, to calm my mind.


    I put my hands against the wall and just let the water flow down onto my body. As the water flows down my body, I get a flashback about a woman. Her eyes are dark as night and her blond hair bright as the day. Her face was incredibly beautiful which would make any girl jealous. Her smile was the most pure and beautiful thing I had ever seen.


    "Now now Az. You need to focus"she tells my younger self"You won''t learn anything If you try to rush things. If you want to lea-."


    I cut off the flashback/memory, before it could progress any further, by slamming my head at the wall. It hurts like hell but it works. When I look down onto my feet and see red water, mixed with my blood. I look up and see the bloodstain on the wall. I touch my forehead and then look at my hand, to see blood on it.


    "Fuck."I mutter and then immediately starting my attempt to wash of the blood from the wall. Luckily, it is fresh blood, so it comes of easily from the stone tile. Next up, I wash the wound the wound and hold my hand over it, while with my free hand, I turn off the shower and step out of the shower. I walk over the mirror and look at myself, while leaning on the sink with my free hand. I pull my hair back to look at the wound closely.


    "Shit."I mutter and look at the small cut on my forehead and see, how it is slowly healing itself, by using the little Arcane energy, I still have left in my body.


    Once again today, I let out a groan and then pull all of my hair back, to splash my face with water. As the water drops move down my body, I stare at the mirror and look at the state of my body.


    My skin tone is beige currently, but it used to be a lot paler in the past. My body built is a muscular one, with low fat and dense muscles. On my right shoulder, I have a bite mark scar which I received on a fight, a punch of small cut wounds all over my body and a long one on my right palm, under the black pentagram.


    I let out a sigh and splash my face with a water once again. I then dry it with a towel and leave the bathroom, naked. I go to the bedroom, where I put on my clothes: a pair of blue jeans, a pair of black socks, a regular white t-shirt and a hea hoodie, which I leave unzipped for now. Walking over to the table, I grab my smartphone and my black leather wallet, which I put into my jean pockets. I start moving towards the door and on the way there, I grab my back bag, before leaving the room.


    Walking towards the kitchen, I hear Natasha making coffee in the kitchen, so I walk there and drip my bag near the doorway. Seeing her doing something on the counter, I try to sneak up on her, but my plan fail, when she says, without turning her head around"Don''t even try Kane. We won''t do it in the kitchen. Bedroom and shower only."


    "You''re no fun."I say and move next to her. I lean against the counter with my back and look at her. She looks at me and says"I can be fun If I want to, but it isn''t fun cleaning up the mess you can make, when we are fun together."


    "Okay. You have point here."I tell her my opinion and she just smiles towards me. She moves away from the counter and to the table, where she puts the cereal. Mine are regular and she has banana slices in hers, as she likes it so. I too, walk over to the table and sit down onto the chair and pull myself under the table.


    And so, we quietly eat our breakfast and once it is done, she puts the bowls into the sink, promising to wash them tonight.


    "Well I have some time, but you don''t."she tells me and I reply"I guess so. Have to go to school."


    I get up and walk over to the outside door, where I put on my black sneakers and zip my hoodie. I take my black leather jacket and leave it open. I check if I have everything with me and then I notice one thing missing.


    "You forgot this."she says and hands me a my back bag, which I take from her hand and put it over my right shoulder, while holding onto the strap.


    She gives me a quick kiss and says"If you get an A on todays test, we can have fun. So I hope you studied, Kane-san."


    "I studied, Ryuu-sensei."I tell her and she then gives me an another kiss on the cheek."Good boy."


    "Bye."


    "Goodbye."


    We say out goodbyes and I leave the house to go to school, leaving my girlfriend and my Japanese language teacher behind, as she has to be in school for the second period.


    Yep...I''m dating my teacher.

 Chapter-2

    As I walk on the sidewalk and listening to music, I put on my gloves, which I forgot to put on back at home. I pull the pair of black fingerless leather gloves onto my hands to hide my pentagrams. I personally wouldn''t wear the gloves, but the school basically makes me wear them If I want to attend. The reason had something to do with religious people and the pentagrams. I don''t know. I didn''t pay any attention what the headmaster was telling me. Maybe I should start concentrating in school other then Japanese class....But I already know most of what they teach, so I really don''t have to do it....I guess it sounds good, but doesn''t work for me. I only pay attention in Japanese class because of Natasha and not because I want to learn the language. I already learned it years ago. School is even more boring If you know everything they teach you there already.


    As I continue walking on the sidewalk on this cloudy November morning, I suddenly feel a very familiar, but yet strange presents. So when I fell it, I stopped of the middle of the sidewalk and looked around the area, but sew nothing out of the ordinary.


    "Could it be?"I ask myself, but them immediately assure myself"No no. They don''t appear this time of the month. Must have been my imagination."


    I shake my head a few times, before continuing walking towards my school. If I were to waste any more time wondering about things I sense, I would be late and then have to hear it from Natasha.


    After ten minutes walking on the mostly empty streets, I reach the busy one, where dozens of young men and women are walking with their school bags on their back or in their hands. All of them having the same destination: school. Everyone uses this road because it directly leads to the gates of school. Walking speed on this road is mostly the same for everyone, as most of them are pretty tired and so, they move slowly towards the place that made them wake up so early in the morning. And it doesn''t really help that today is Monday too. No one likes Mondays.


    So once I have walked for another few minutes, I reached my school. The building is four stories tall, made out of stone and painted yellow and blue. This highschool here is called one of the best in the country for its high test scores and pretty amazing results in competition. A lot of people want to be accepted into this school, but only few are and I was obviously one of them. I had no trouble fitting in, because my entire life between the ages of six to sixteen was made up so I could blend in. I really can''t write into my CV that I was a mage for ten years. Thats why I made up a fake backstory and put myself into this school.


    "Huuh."I let out a sigh and enter the school. From there, I go straight towards my math class. Math as a first lesson on a Monday is the biggest shit that this school has done to my class. No one likes it, but the school doesn''t care and so, from the start If the year, we have been attending this class with most of the class being half asleep and trying their hardest to understand what ever the fuck the teacher is trying to teach them. As for me, I really don''t care about it. My math grades have always been good, so no need to worry.


    Once I have reached the class, I walk between the table and reach my seat at the back. I drop my bag onto the floor, pull out my chair and sit down on it. Then I take out my book, notebook and my pen, which I put at the corner of the table made out of wood. Now, because I have nothing else to do, I look out of the window to pass time. Out of the window, I see students walking towards the school, cars driving on the roads and tall trees decorating the little plot of natural ground. As my eyes move up I see the tall and old apartment buildings in the distance.


    My eyes suddenly stop when I notice a small glint of light on the roof of one of the apartment buildings. This makes me curious, so I squint my eyes to see better. At start, it''s pretty foggy, but slowly, I start to see who it is.


    "Fucking Glyr."I mutter and then show the middle finger of my right hands towards him, showing that I have noticed him and not happy about it. I hold it for a few seconds, before the glint disappears and I see his figure disappearing. So this means that his mission was to stay out of sight and now that i had noticed him, he had failed it


    "Why are you flipping off the trees so early in the morning?"


    "Reasons."I reply back to her, as she sits down next to me and I turn to look at her. She has blond hair with light blue tips. Her eyes are hazel coloured and on a smaller scale. Her face is above average, but easily pretty with make up.


    "Thats your answer for everything. Why''s that?"she replies, while taking out her things.


    "Reasons."I answer, just to annoy her.


    "Of fucking course. Reasons like always"she replies. Then out of nowhere, she mutters"Shit."


    "What did you forget now?"I ask her, because always when I hear mutter that word, she forgot something.


    "My homework."she says and then turns to me"Please show me yours."


    "Nope."I immediately reply to her. "I''ll buy you lunch."she adds.


    Without replying, I just pass her the notebook, which she immediately opens and intense copying of homework following it. The sound of the pen writing on the paper could be heard clearly, as she kept writing all of lines of numbers and symbols in a black tint. And few seconds before the class starts, she finishes and pushes my notebook back to me.


    "Thanks."she says and puts the pen away back to her pencil case.


    Few seconds later, the bell rings, marking the start of the first lesson of the day. But because the teacher isn''t currently here, the class is loud with everyone talking to each other.


    "So what did you too during the weekend?"she asks me, while looking at me with her pair of hazel coloured eyes.


    "Stuff with my girlfriend. You?"I reply back to her and then ask her too.


    "Same"she answers"I did stuff with my girlfriend too."


    "Which one?"I ask her, because they switch so often for her and usually the other girl breaks up with her, because Jane here can''t focus only on one girl. She always has at least three girls and record being seven at one time. She falls in love fast and falls out of love the same way: fast.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Erica."she answers and then closing on me a little, she asks"So when will I meet with your girlfriend."


    "You have, you just don''t know who she is exactly."I answer back to her. Can''t really say that I am dating a teacher, because if word that/of me and Nat are dating got out, a shitstorm would follow it pretty quickly. Nat would probably get fired and never be a teacher again and I would be probably kicked out of the school too. I really don''t care about what I would receive, but I don''t want to ruin it for her.


    "Hmmmmm."she looks at me with a suspicious case and then she declares"I will find out who she is before you decide to tell me."


    "Good luck with that."I tell her and the same moment, the teacher walks into the glass.


    "Good morning Class. Please take out your notebooks so i can check them."she says while walking in front of the class, towards her table, where she puts down her beg and looks at the class. She then starts going to seat-to-seat to check everyone''s homework.


    "Kane. Done like always."she says while looking at mine and then looking at Janes, she says"Jane. Copied from Kane like always."


    "No. I did it myself."Jane replies back to her.


    "Jane... Don''t lie to yourself."the teacher says and then moves on. She can''t mark her for having homework undone, because she had it done, even If it is copied.


    "How did she know?"she asks me and I, with a small grin, reply"Only I use this formula do solve these kinds of calculation. The rest use what the teacher taught them, including you, Jane."


    "Huh...So use what others use then. Maybe then I won''t get caught."she tells me.


    "Maybe do it yourself."I tell, to which she shakes her head and replies"Don''t have time. Too busy."


    "Whatever you say."I tell her and after I say that, she goes quiet, because the teacher started to teach the class. I look at her drawing equations on the black board and as she does that, the more bored I get as the time passes.


    Finally, the bell rings, ending the lesson. All of the students immediately pack their things up, get up and then leave through the white door.


    "What''s next?"Jane asks me, as we leave the class."I have Japanese and you, Spanish."


    "Okay then. Adios."


    "Jaane."


    We say our goodbyes and go to our classes.


    A minute later, I''m sitting on my seat in the class and wait for the lesson to begin. My place is in the back, like in most of the classes, as i feel too uncomfortable to sit at the front. And from this seat, I can see without much trouble what everyone does. I see few of the boys preparing their cheating methods: pictures on phones, words written down on small pieces of paper and all of the other now classical ways. I myself don''t cheat out of respect for the teachers. This was beaten into me by Her.


    "So did you study?"a boy asks while sitting down in front of me.


    "<Obviously had to. I want to keep my grades up unlike certain someone. *Cough* you *cough*.>"


    "Aah screw you."he says in English, while I said in Japanese, which meant he understood only few of the words.


    "So I take it that you didn''t study. Again."


    "What do you mean again. I study."this reply makes me chuckle a little and then I reply"Sure. Whatever you say."


    "Aah fuck you and your smarts."he says and turns around towards his table.


    "I just studied a lot as a child."I tell him, while turning my head towards the window. This time when I look outside, I see a woman standing, just standing there and looking at me with her dead fish like eyes. She doesn''t move an inch while staring at me and for some reason, I don''t look away. So naturally, our eyes met and the out of the sudden, her figure turned into a three meter shadowy human like thing for a split second, before turning back to the woman form and the disappearing.


    A fucking Stalker..this time of the day and a female form too. What the actual fuck...Did i just see that, or did Mark somehow influence me too see the World of Magic again and now, the two worlds are in stir in my head....No no no. Kane. Don''t fucking go there....You have Natasha now and right now, you Are going to take the test, which you have to get an A, so you could do her. Yes. Focus on that and not the other shit.


    "<Good Morning>"Natasha says in Japanese, when entering the class and like always, she wears pretty casual clothes. Jeans, sneakers, hoodie and a shirt. This is her preferred style and because of this schools kinda easy going dress code, she doesn''t have to dress into a formal outfit. Good school with a very "we don''t care what you wear as long as it isn''t revealing" kinda attitude.


    "<Good Morning Teacher>"the class says back.


    Natasha puts her thins on the shelf behind her chair and then says"Okay. You have Five minutes to revise and then, we shall start the test."


    Immediately, everyone starts to go over the things they remember the least and I decided to just go over it once more, just in case. Never can be too well prepared.


    "I think I did pretty good."Oliver says, while we are leaving the class forty minutes later, after the test ended.


    "You said the last time and then you got an F...-."


    "Don''t be a smartass, Kane Bloodsword."he tries to mock me with my name, but it doesn''t turn out well, and realising it, he mutters"Actually...it sounds kinda badass."


    "And here''s the second thing you failed today."I say.


    "I haven''t failed the test yet."he snaps back.


    "Okay okay. I''m just fucking with you."I say, while walking towards the English class and when we get there, we go to our separate classes. His class is nr 205 and mine nr 204. Me and Oliver go to different class and we are in the same class only during Japanese class, other times in different. So most of the time, I''m hanging out with Jane in class, except during Japanese/Spanish classes, when we are in separated classes. The reason she chose Spanish is because she grew up in Spain and only came here when it was time to go to high school and she got into this one.


    Hours pass and it is finally time for Lunch, which means, there is a line of forty or so students of my year in a line to but their food. Those who aren''t standing here, are already at their table and eating what ever they brought from home.


    "The usual?"Jane asks me and I answer with a nod.


    "Thats good. My wallet couldn''t handel much more."she says and we then move few steps forward.


    "So when will you cut your hair?"she asks me, while looking at me over her shoulder.


    "Someday. When will you stop bleaching and dyeing your hair?" i ask her back and receive the reply i gave her "Someday."


    We once again take a few steps and this time, it our turn to order finally.


    "Okay. One lasagna and a Hawaii pizza slice."she orders from the staff, who says"That''ll be 4.65."


    "Here." Jane says and puts the five euro bill on the counter and receives the change alongside with the food she ordered. She takes her pizza and I, my lasagna and we move on. On the way to our table, we grab a glass of juice, which is free, and we walk to our table, where Oliver is sitting, eating his moms pie.


    "You''re going to get fat if you keep eating like that."I say and sit down on the chair, with Jane sitting next to me.


    "Aah shut up Kane."Oliver says across the table and keeps eating.


    "Two more lessons and then we get to go home."Jane says and then stretches her arms, before starting to eat.


    "You two yes."I sat"I have to stay and fix that fucking hole."


    "You mean the hole in the third floors wall?"Olivier asks me.


    "Yep."I answer back.


    "Why tho?"he asks me.


    "Because Kane here supposedly threw Jack into the wall when they got into a fight. Jack was put into the hospital with a few broken bones and concussion."


    "Why haven''t I heard of that?"Oliver asks.


    "Because it happened last Friday after school and you were home that day. It also happened after school, so only a few know about this."Jane explains and when Oliver turns his head towards me, to get a confirmation, I just nod, while chewing my food.


    "Okay. I rather not ask how you did it, as I would get a stupid and an unclear answer like always."


    We all then let out a small laugh and keep enjoying the lunch.


    Four hours later,


    I finished covering the hole in the wall and currently, I was coming out of the school workshop, where I left the tools I used. As i walk in the quiet corridor of the mostly empty school, I look at the time, to see it''s nearly five. As I walk, I feel the nature calling, so I go to the mens room. This place smells horrible like always.


    I stand in front of the urinal and then suddenly, I feel a familiar presence.


    "A Shadow in the school....Nope doesn''t concern me."I mutter and finish my business.


    "Doesn''t concern me at ~all. Not my job anymore. Let someone else deal with it."I say and then, I hear a female scream.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    "Natasha."I mutter her name and rush out of the place.

 Chapter-3

    "Shit shit shit shit shit fucking shit fuck."


    I curse out loud while dashing up the set of stone stairs of this school. It just had to happen on the top floor, while I was on the ground floor.


    "Fuck I need to hurry."I mutter, before reaching the top floor. I stop to look around, while taking heavy breaths.


    "GET AWAY!!"


    I hear Natasha screams coming from the right, so I immediately start to run towards that direction. Running through the hallway, I hear footsteps coming towards me and judging by the loudness, they belong to Natasha. So I quicken my pace even more and when I reach a turning point, I grab the corner of the wall with my fingers digging into the wall. Thanks to this, I take the corner without losing much momentum.


    The moment the turn is taken, I see Natasha running away from a dark and tall figure chasing after her. The figure is about two and half meters tall with slender body, which is covered with worn out black armor. In its arm, he holds a longsword wich blade is being covered with black aura.


    "Kane!"she yells out my name, when she notices me running towards her.


    "Damn."I mutter. I don''t have enough energy to use Silent Casting, so I must recite the entire line to cast a spell to minimize energy usage.


    "[Oh great wind of the world, grant me your great power, and allow me to use...]"as I recite the spell, I leave the last part out for a few seconds, as i am not close enough.


    Natasha and I approach each other and instead of me catching her in a clich¨¦ way, I go past her and finish the spell.


    "[Push]"I finish the chant and hold out my right hand, on where a black magic circle appears in front of my palm. In the circle, there is a pentagram with a smaller upside-down one inside of that and around the circle was decorated with runes.


    The next moment, a powerful gust of wind blows out of my hand and at the figure in front of me. This was powerful enough to sent him flying away and crash into the wall at the end of the corridor. Now that i have i small window i grab the shocked Natasha and run. Behind me, I can hear it getting up, which means I have twenty seconds before i have to face him. But first I need to get Natasha out of here.


    So when I turn the corner, I put her down on the floor and grab her head.


    "Kane. What is that thing. What did you do. Wh-what the fuck is going on."she starts to panic, so I cover her mouth with my hands to quiet her.


    "Listen to me Nat. You have to get out of here Now! I will explain it all to you later. Now run out of school. You will just get in the way. Now go!"I tell her and take my hand off her mouth.


    Turning around, I feel her grabbing my jacket and saying"Kane. Be safe!"


    She says and runs away like I told her, without being a dumb clich¨¦ girl in shows. I look at her leave and then walk to face the Shadow Hunter. I turn the corner and look at it, standing at the end of the corridor, holding his sword.


    "[Oh Great Darkness that covers this world, grant me your power, and let me forge a Blade]"I finish chanting and use up the last of the Arcane Energy in my body, meaning I can''t cast any other spells during this fight.


    As for the spell, the same black magic circle appears over my palm, while darkness gathers over it. The moment the circle disappears, I grab the darkness in my hand and immediately, a black sword starts to form in my hand.


    "Lets go, you bastard."I say and take a stance with my black sword.


    "A-za-rath."he says with a ghastly voice and then aims the tip of the sword towards me."You will die."


    "A speaking Shadow Hunter. That''s first."I say and without waiting any longer, I dash at him with him doing the same. We swing our swords at each other with an intent to kill, but that doesn''t happen. Instead, our blades clash with a loud clank and sound of cracking metal following it.


    "Shit."I mutter, as I look at my cracked blade, with the Shadow Hunters blade stuck in mine.


    "You-re a-re mi-ne."he says in his usual voice and starts forcing his blade onto me. Knowing that my strength may hold but my blade won''t, I kick it in its knee. The sound of bones cracking and a knee being bend back follows it. The next moment, I jump away from it and open my right hand, making the cracked blade disappear.


    "You ac-tual-ly ma-na-ged to hurt me. The sto-ries a-re t-rue."it says in its ghastly voice. What happens next, surprises me: his knee heals back to place, without leaving any sign of being broken.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Oh great."I mutter and take a few steps back. I''m out of Arcane Energy and the Hunter just healed itself. This means I have to get his sword to kill him. Shadows greatest weakness has always been their weapon. But ho-


    "Oh shit."I yell, while nearly dodging the blade by sidestepping, making the blade hit the ground. I immediately follow the dodge with a powerful punch in its lowered head, dislocating it''s jaw and cracking it a little. Then following it with a few quick punches in the ribs and assuming from the cracking sounds, breaking them. I try to get a few more hits, but I fail at it as I am thrown across the hallway.


    "Fuck."I mutter and then crash into the metal door, bending it. Luckily, I land on my feet and recover myself pretty quickly. Okay. Hunters like to thrust while charging and behind me use a metal door. That''ll work.


    "Come at me asshole!"I yell and without wait, he dashes at me with the tip of the sword pointing at me. He closes at me pretty quickly and the moment before he could thrust the blade into my chest, I dodge it, making it pierce through the door pretty easily.


    Taking advantage of this situation, I quickly punch his wrist and break his bones. Then, I shoulder bash him in the chest, pushing him away and making him let go of his sword. Now, that I have removed him from his weapon, I take hold of it. Immediately, an immense wave of pain hits me, while I feel the sword trying to corrupt me, but with little effort on it''s part.


    Now, I pull the sword out of the door and start walking towards the downed Shadow, who tries to get back on his feet. With each step I take, I get closer to it, while dragging the blade behind me and leaving a thin path doing so.


    "You actually dared to hurt someone I love."I said and swing the sword towards him, cutting of it''s right arm. I look at the separated arm and how it starts to turn into a black smoke, slowly fading into the air.


    "This is for targeting her."I say and swing the blade again, slicing it''s other hand off. Like the last time, he took it without making a sound. His hand fades away again and I say"This is for scaring her."


    "And this, will be forcing me back to this life."I say and swing the sword at him.


    "You wi-ll suf-fer, so-n of-"he can''t finish his sentence, before the sword slices his body in half, completely killing him off. I already knew what he wanted to say and so, I didn''t care enough to finish listening to him.


    I take a deep breath and then decide to look around the place. Most of the damages here were done by this sword and the other by me. For others, this could be considering a clean job. But for me, it is a complete mess of a job and which now, needs to be cleaned up. And to do that, I take out my phone from my pocket and dial a number.


    "The National Library speaking. How may I help you?"


    "Do you have Rain Walker''s "The Amazing Cleaner"?"


    "Yes we do have it? Where do you wish it to be delivered."


    "The xxxx Highschool, fourth floor."


    "It shall be done. Goodbye Sir."


    "Bye."


    The call ends and I put the phone away. The clean up crew has been called and now it''s my time to get out of here. But before I go, I need to Force Regenerate my Arcane Energy. So, I grab the sword with my right hand and start drawing the Energy from it. Immediately, the veins on the right side of my body turn black because of the swords corruption. I myself, just grit my teeth from the painful experience and feel, how my body is being filled with Arcane Energy


    "Aah fuck."I mutter and then letting go of the sword, which itself slowly fades away into a black smoke, meaning I sucked it dry.


    "And now, time for Natasha."I tell myself and leave the messy scene.


    Outside of the school, I see Natasha waiting there and the moment I step out, she immediately runs to me. She jumps into my arms and hugs me tightly, while rubbing her head against my chest.


    "Kane. You''re safe."she says and looks up to me with her beautiful eyes.


    "Of course I am. It''s me we are talking about."


    "That''s why I was worried."she comments and then asks"What was that thing and how did you launch it so far?"


    "Lets go home first and I will tell you there. There is much you need to know."


    "I see. Lets go then."she says and we walk away from the school side-by-side.


    At home, I told her to sit down on the couch in the living room, while I stand in front of her. I see her looking at me with eyes that say; I want to know already.


    I seriously hoped that this day doesn''t come, but it came and now, the truth has to come out. I take a deep breath and say"Natasha...I''m a mage."


    .


    .


    .


    .


    "Huh?"is all I get out of her mouth.


    "You know. The person who can use magic. Like Gandalf, Harry Potter and so on and on."


    "I know what a mage is."she snaps back, thinking, that I''m thinking her to be stupid.


    "It''s just hard to understand exactly...like what the fuck?"


    "Its easier to show you."I tell her and raise my left hand. This time, without reciting the entire line, I instead cast it silently. So, without a word, a white magic circle appears over my open palm and a white ball of fire starts to form above it in seconds.


    When the white fireball is ready, I present it to Natasha, who looks at it with a confused and slightly scared look.


    "T-that is real fire?"she asks with a confused voice from me and I answer her"Yes. This was created by using and energy, only mages can harness. Like me."


    "Hehehe. So magic is actually real."she mutters, while letting out a few small laughs in between, while thinking


    "So what was that black thing attacking me?"she asks him after a few minutes in deep thoughts.


    "That was a Shadow. Shadows themselves are a corrupt race from another world that want to take over this one."


    "Natasha?!"I call out her name, while crouching in front of her. She had stayed silent for a long time now and this made me worry.


    "Natasha."I call out her name once again and caress her cheek. As I slide my hand down her cheek, she grabs it with both of her hands and looks at it. She then takes off my glove and looks at the black pentagram on my palm.


    "What''s the story behind this?"she asks, while looking at the pentagram.


    "This helps to cast spells better."I hell her, while looking at her.


    "And all of those runes and other things have some kind of magical reason? Am I right?"she asks me.


    "Yes. All of them were meant to help me control magic better while strengthening it."I explain to her.


    "I see. I guess this is better."she says something unexpected.


    "Better how?"I ask her.


    "I thought you were some kind of cultists, who sacrifices to their dark lord. But being a mage seems more reasonable...but all of this...is still.."


    "Confusing? I know."I tell her and then proceed to pull her into a hug. She hugs me back and says"No matter what Kane. I will still love. I don''t care what you are."


    "Thank you, Natasha."

 Chapter-4

    It''s nine o''clock in the evening and I am sitting on the edge of my bed in the bedroom. Behind me, Natasha is sleeping off the exhaustion she received today. As for me, I look at her and swipe her hair off her beautiful face. Her face shows signs of dissatisfaction and so, I give her her teddy bear which she, while sleeping, grabs and immediately starts hugging it tightly. Then I see how her face changes for better and I smile, before I get up from the bed and quietly leave the room.


    I turn left in the corridor and walk over to a locked door. I then proceed to unlock the door by placing my hand on it and pouring in my energy, unlocking the magic lock on the door. Pushing down the handle, I push the door open and enter the room. The moment when the door is completely open, I see a small room with a chest in the middle of the room. The chest is made out of wood and decorated by runes written in gold.


    Slowly and quietly closing the door behind me and then walk over to the chest. I stand in front of it and hesitate for a few seconds, before I put my hands on the top edges and open it.


    "I thought I could leave, but I guess once you become a mage, you will be one until death."


    After looking at the contents of the chest, I close it by slamming it shut. Then, I turn around and use a shortened chant to save my Arcane Energy.


    "[Gate]"I chant and in front of my eyes, a black circle appears, into which I step in. The moment I do that, the circle disappears in the room and the next moment, I appear in a different room. The room seems to be a conference room and currently there are dozen or so people in there.


    "Freeze asshole!"is said by a female voice next to me and the next moment, a gun is pressed against my temple.


    "Eeh..what is going on?"one of them asks and then, all of them turn to look at us. They all look at me with faces full of surprise and fear.


    "Oh shit."one of the mutters and the other immune orders"Elane. Lower your gun!"


    "Why should I. He just appeared here through the Gate."she says and presses the barrel Even harder against my skull.


    "Elane. Lower that fucking gun now If you Ever want to use that arm again. Because your pointing you gun at Azarath."the man tells her and immediately, I feel the gun being moved away from my head. Now that I don''t have a gun aimed at me, I turn to look at her and see a sixteen or so year old girl with a pretty face. Her eyes are silver and so is her shoulder length hair. She is about 1,8m tall and has a trained figure.


    Now that I had admired her beauty, I turned to the people and went straight to the point"Where the fuck is Mark?"


    "Fourth floor. At the Gym."one of them says.


    "Thanks."I reply and leave the room through the door this time.


    "You''re just gonna let him walk away?!"I hear one they call Elane yell behind the wall.


    "Even if wanted to stop him, we can''t. He is...was a bloody X rank. Go try to stop him without ending in the ICU."


    I couldn''t hear what they said next, as I moved away because I didn''t care enough to wait and hear what they were going to say about me next. I had other things to do. Like finding Mark. And to do that, I take the steps to the fourth floor and walk through the hallway towards the gym.


    In the gym, I see him bench pressing hundred kilograms. Not caring about his training, I walk over to him and once there, I stand in front of his head, while looking down on him.


    "Me coming to you means the situation is bad."Mark says and puts the weight back. He then lifts himself up and continues"You coming to me, means that the situation is very bad."


    "It is."I tell him.


    "Bad enough for you to return?"


    "Yes."


    "I see."he mutters and then tells me"Lets talk about what made you come back. But not here, in the sauna."


    "I seriously don''t have time for that."I tell him.


    "Well then make some time, because i guess you haven''t looked yourself in the mirror. You look like shit and you really need to relax."he says and leaves. I sigh and follow him.


    Fifteen minutes later, both of us sit in the sauna, naked and sweating.


    "So this is what happened."he mutters.


    "So now you see why I came back. Did you know about it?"I ask him.


    "Yes."he says.


    "Then why the fuck didn''t you tell me about it?"


    "Because you threw me out first."he snaps back.


    "Well maybe I wouldn''t had If you had started with Shadows changing their habits and now, Shadows, who shouldn''t be able to even make a sound, can suddenly speak."I snap back.


    "If you put it this way, you do make a point."he says, after understanding his error.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Shadow habits where the only thing that gave us an advantage, but now, those advantages seem to be useles. A Hunter attacking during the day, while the moon is young and even targeting a woman. All three of these things, Hunter has never broken. But now it has and it could speak now too. This raises a question: Why?"


    "I wish I''d knew Az-...Kane. But I have no idea why? And so, we must find out why this is happening."


    "Well there is no other way to do that now."I comment.


    "It seems so."


    Time passes and both of us are still sweating here.


    "Have you contacted my sisters Phantom?"Mark asks me suddenly after a long silence.


    "No and I don''t plan to."I reply to her.


    "Afraid to open the old wounds?"


    "Yes."I answer with a serious tone.


    "You know I''m not mad at you for what you did. You did wh-"he stops, when he hears a sound of wood breaking inside of the hot room. I see him staring at my hand and sees, how my fingers are digging into the wood.


    "Lets change topics."he says, understanding the hint. "Now that you have decided to return, you need to arm yourself."


    "I guess so. My sword lost it''s power after the blade was broken and my gun became useless after it was bent."


    "Okay. So after we are done here, we can go to the Writer."Mark says.


    The door to the sauna is suddenly opened and a man in his mid twenties enters. He sits down next to me and looks at me with a face, like he recognized me, but isn''t that sure. He then puts his hand on my forehead and pushes my hair up.


    "Azarath. It really is you."he says and tries to come in for a hug, but I stop him by putting my hand on his face.


    "Paul. Don''t. Just don''t."I say and push his head back. After pulling my hand back, Paul looks at himself and the mutters"Oh right."before starting to talk


    "So Azarath. You finally decided to come back. Ooo how I waited for this day?"


    "Why would you want me to come back."


    "My job will get easier again with you around."he says shamelessly.


    "Yep. Makes sense."I just mutter.


    First to leave is Mark, who pushes himself up and exits the Sauna. But before he exits, I see his back, covered entirely with red runes.


    "When did Mark Rune himself?"I ask Paul, who thinks for a few seconds, before answering"I think it was after Elizabeth died."


    "I see."I reply and get up myself too.


    Putting my hand on the door handle, I am about to use it, but stop, when Paul says"Azarath.... Never mind."


    Ten minutes later, me and Mark have dressed up and have reached the Writer. The Writer is the person who creates and upgrades our gear here. The Writer knows every known rune and spell there is, as he has to use them to improve our skill. In the Library, his job is the most important for the Field Mages. Especially for Combat Mages, who use weapon.


    "Ooh. Who do my eyes see.... isn''t it Azarath."a man in his fifties says immediately, when he spots us entering his room.


    "Hi, C."I greet him back.


    "So what can I help you with?"he asks us, while leaning forward with his hands on the table that separated us.


    "I need a set of new equipment."I answer him.


    "What happened to old one?"he asks me.


    "Broken beyond repair."I answer him.


    "Okay."he replies and then asks"Do what exactly do you want. The usual?"


    "Yes."I answer him.


    "Okay. Give me a few hours."he says and starts to work on my equipment immediately. As he work on that, me and Mark left the workshop to go to crystal room. Reason to go to there is to forcefully recharge my Arcane Energy in my body, because it would take too long for me to let it passively flow into my body. The progress would be even slower then usual, as I had blocked the way for the Energy to enter my body.


    We walk through the hallway and soon reach the Crystal room, into which I entered alone. The entire room itself is completely black with the glowing crystals of different colours being the only light source. Clockwise, the crystal colours are: black, red, brown, white, blue and green.


    I myself first walk over to the white crystal and put my hand on it. Immediately I start to feel how my body is being flooded with Arcane Energy. But unlike with the recharge using the sword today, this one doesn''t hurt at all and this doesn''t have nothing to do with the magic System.


    After feeling my White System recharged, I walk over to the black crystal and repeat the process.


    "All charged up?"Mark asks me immediately after I exit the room.


    "Yeah...it feels weird again to have so much energy in my body."I comment.


    "Well you''ll get used to it."he assures.


    "That I know."


    Because we had time to kill, we just sat down at the cafeteria and started to catch up.


    "Say Kane...do you know who exactly your new lover is?"Mark asks me while both of us are enjoying our late dinner.


    "Yes. Both the teacher and the other thing. I still had access to the Database after I left."


    "And you''re fine with it?"he asks.


    "Obviously. She ain''t one and neither am I. Thats why we get along so well."


    "Thats good to hear then."


    "And what about you? Anything new?"this time, I asked.


    "Actually there is. My wife finally gave birth to our beautiful son, who we named Jason."


    "Well congratulations then. Finally a father."I say, feeling happy for him.


    "Thank you."he replies to me.


    A few hours later, I am back at the workshop alone, as Mark had other things to do.


    *Slice*


    A flash of a blade could be seen go through the steel rod. Few seconds later, the top part of it started to slide down, until it hit the floor.


    "Like you can see, it can cut through ten centimeters of titanium without any trouble or damage."The Writer explains."Thanks to nano technology, I was able to create the first nano-blade. A blade that can cut through almost anything. And thanks to Magical enhancement, it won''t break any time soon."


    "Love it. And like always, the retractable feature is good."I say and retract the blade back entirely back to the handle.


    "Now."he walks over to another table, picks something up and then walks back"For your firearm, it''s the usual upgraded m1911. This one is called Mark X. You have the usual extended mag with 15 .45ACP rounds, tactical grip, night sides, laser sight and flashlight and the muzzle break. And the of course, the jet black finish."


    "Great like always."I say, while observing the gun.


    "Thank you very much, C."I thank him, before leaving the room.


    "Until next time."he says his goodbyes too and goes back to his work.


    Now that I am finished here for the today, I finally decide to go back home. So I open the Gate in front of me and step through it. I step out of the Gate next and appear in the room, from where I left before. I open the chest once again and quickly put away my equipment into there. This takes only a few minutes and after that, I close the chest.


    I leave the room and put away my jacket. I then walk towards my bedroom with quiet steps, while taking off my hoodie and the shirt. I get my shirt off the same time I enter my room. Here, I take off the rest of my clothes and but them away, before sitting on the edge of the bed, naked.


    I look at Natasha and then say"You don''t have to pretend that you are sleeping."


    Hearing me, she opens her eyes and looks at me.


    "Where did you go? It was lonely here."She asks me with a sad voice.


    "I had stuff to do and I didn''t have time to push it later."I tell her.


    "Mage stuff?"she asks me and I answer"Mage stuff."


    I then lay next to her on the bed and pull her close to me.


    "Natasha. You don''t have to worry about me. Nothing is going to happen to me."I tell her.


    "I love you too much not to worry, Kane."she follows me sentence with a romantic line.


    "I love you too, Nat."I tell her my feelings too.


    Then, our eyes start to naturally draw towards each other. We stare into each others eyes and then, she says"Remember the promise I made yesterday morning?"


    "Yeah."I say.


    "Well you got an A, so you know."she says


    "I know what?"I ask her and grab her butt.


    "We can fuck."