ã€ŠSavehavenã€‹


 Chapter 1: Authority (Part 1)

    The sun spilt fainting light as it moved towards the horizon, painting cloudless sky in hues of crimson and orange. What once might have been walls of a residential building were now only sporadic obstacles in the way of sunlight, casting thin shadows, which slowly crept outwards across the desolate ground filled with smaller remains of human civilization buried underneath it. A labyrinth of directions in the past, this place was brought down to an endlessly wide road, charred walls with blasted off chunks splitting it into adjacent tracks.

    A winged creature encased in metal armour soared through the sky in the distance. Diving closer to the ground in a swinging motion, it spewed clouds of fire that engulfed everything in its way, erasing what little reminded of human presence in this place as metal and even stone slowly melted away.

    Somewhere farther, where a foot could still land without being set ablaze, a human clad in a full set of red armour hid behind a corner within a maze of walls that one could call intact amidst the scenery of devastation. With a long rifle held upright against his body, he was breathing slowly inside the helmet, as if not to let the breath obstruct his auditory senses. The weapon had claimed one life already as witnessed by the body that lay beside him, and he was waiting for the silence to be broken to let it claim another.

    At last, a crack of rubble crushing to dust beneath another human¡¯s foot triggered a chain of predetermined motions: his head and then his body turned to the left in an unbroken sequence bringing him into a kneeling position as he aimed from behind the corner. A pull of a trigger released a projectile, which left a blazing trail in its path and a gaping hole in black armour, its wearer staggering and falling to the ground. Without a delay, the shooter returned to the previous position, as if given inertia by a recoil.

    Assuming an upright stance, he got ready to make a break for the next spot until another foe could trace him through the gunshot sound, but ¡°until¡± came earlier than expected with a series of rapid steps followed by a swing. A sharp edge appeared from behind the corner outpacing the emergence of its wielder, another man clad in black, slicing through the rifle and slamming the shooter into a wall with an axe blade sinking into his chest.

    The axe wielder¡¯s fate, however, is the same: as he pulled the axe back, gushing blood filling a wide cavity left behind, a dozen shells hit him in sequence. Not as strong as the one that killed his comrade, they still hit hard, one after another, peeling off chunks of armour, until a few of them met the flesh through the openings. Three red figures on the other side of the corridor then withdrew their rifles and promptly relocated elsewhere.

    The blood-stained pattern repeated sporadically throughout the battlefield until but one troop from the black side remained standing. With the screeching sound of a blade rubbing against metal armour, one of them pulled his sword from a fallen enemy and followed three others.

    The troop took a corridor transitioning into a semi-open space, one wall still running ahead of them to their left. The right-most member noted another figure synchronously emerging opposite to them, and he was not from their ranks. His noticing the troop came but a second later, a second too late.

    His hand reached for a grenade on his waist and threw it towards the troop in one swift motion, but it to exploded in front of him hit by a foe¡¯s shell. Two other men beside the one who made the shot lined up next to him, one other accelerating in a dash to close the distance with the rest.

    Ready to release a volley that would ensure a kill, they had their opportunity taken away as a bardiche tore through the smoke left behind by an explosion, whistling through the air on its way towards the shooter in the middle. He got hit and nailed to a wall with a loud thud. The next moment two shots followed the bardiche, hitting the two men to the left and right of him. There was no penetration: shells detonated on an impact. Not enough to do any damage, but their purpose wasn¡¯t to kill but to stagger.

    They regained their balance when the red figure had already shortened the distance, black veil partly enveloping his shape as it transitioned into trails stretching from the smoke cloud, as two side arms hit the ground behind him. His hand grabbed the bardiche, yanking it from the wall and fatally slashing two men in a single swing, drawing a blood-painted crescent moon.

    As he released the grip on the weapon, his body continued the spin until he stopped facing the direction of the fourth foe, only a trooper spraying blood from his neck wound standing between them. Both simultaneously took a sidestep in opposite directions, one in front of his dying comrade, sending the sword in a horizontal strike aimed at the opponent¡¯s core, the other shielding behind the trooper¡¯s back. Using the trooper¡¯s body as a cover, he grabbed his two side arms, pointing them to the enemy¡¯s face from below the trooper¡¯s armpits. The blade hit both, the man in red and the trooper, at the ribs as two shells hit the striker in response: one breaking his helmet, the second delivering a killing blow.

    The man in red let go of both the trooper and his guns, his arms dropping down, just like the bodies of the two enemies in front of him. With the sword stuck in its armour, the trooper¡¯s body fell, revealing a crack in the survivor¡¯s armour. The wound leaked blood that flown invisibly down the red lacquer, yet he remained standing, as if not even feeling the pain.

    Among the pile of bodies, a presence attracted his attention. He turned his head towards the presence¡¯s direction. The presence looked at him and he stared back. His eyes could not be seen behind the helmet, but his glare burned through it. The longer he stared, the more his glare absorbed the presence. The surroundings faded, until¡­

    ¡°Ouch!¡±

    The Magister woke up with a pulsing pain in his forehead, hitting his head against a wooden arm of a carriage seat.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Watch it, will you?¡±

    A woman¡¯s voice rang sharp and loud as she shouted at a coachman, punching a vulnerable mind in the state of transition from the dreamland to the reality though sensitive eardrums.

    ¡°My apologies, m¡¯lady. The sun ahead makes it hard to see.¡±

    Instinctively rubbing his forehead, the Magister opened his eyes. He fell asleep with a book on his chest, which slid and fell to the floor as he lifted his body to assume a sitting position, but he didn¡¯t bother picking it as the aching spot on his head bothered him much more.

    Squinted eyes gradually rendered the image of a black-haired woman in a beige shirt sitting on the opposite side of the carriage. Her hands were resting on a brown brief bag and a black jacket, complimentary to her full skirt of the same colour and texture, in her lap.

    ¡°Hane?¡±

    ¡°You recognize me. That means you didn¡¯t hit your head too hard.¡±

    She reached into the bag and held out a metal flask, water audibly splashing inside. Taking the flask, he lifted the dark-grey hair hanging down his forehead and pressed it against the swelling, letting the cool touch of metal douse the burning sensation.

    ¡°You have quite an ability to sleep soundly in such a tight space. Not to mention the sound of hooves.¡±

    ¡°My, yes! I had such a vivid dream. There were these metal beasts flying and burning everything. Everything was in ruins and then there were¡­ knights? But they were wielding rifles and pistols that were shooting fire and exploding. They were fighting in such intense¡ª¡±

    Hane¡¯s eyebrows slowly came together as he talked, discouraging the Magister from continuing.

    ¡°You might be reading too many futuristic novels.¡±

    She picked up the book on the floor, inspecting the title that read ¡°Crimson Days¡±. By itself, the title wouldn¡¯t have said much, unlike the subtitle, ¡°Based on prophecies of Vanguard witches¡±, which made one of Hane¡¯s eyebrows rise higher with every word she read.

    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t read them much. I simply grabbed the first thing that caught my attention at a bookshop to read on the road. Somehow, they didn¡¯t have history books. Which reminds me, did you know that¡ª¡±

    Hane lifted her eyes from the book. Her cold look suggested she was not interested in a lecture on history either.

    ¡°¡­anyway, how long till we arrive?¡±

    ¡°Half an hour, more or less. We could have been already there had we taken a railway.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ technically, we could¡¯ve. But railroads are quite expensive, and being notified about an assignment two months into an academic year didn¡¯t give me an opportunity to purchase a ticket in advance, and they don¡¯t provide discounts for¡ª¡±

    ¡°You do realize that the railway is cheaper than taking a carriage?¡±

    ¡°Wait, really?¡±

    This could have passed as a joke had they not been riding in a carriage already.

    ¡°Just for how long have you been living in a cellar?¡±

    ¡°Well, living in my home¡ª¡±

    Before he could finish, both got distracted by a sudden sound and turned their heads to look outside. A thunderclap. At first, it appeared to them as though it had been rampaging somewhere in the distance, but then they caught a glimpse of an electric discharge not far away.

    Hane¡¯s eyes jumped around, trying to pinpoint the source.

    ¡°Lightning? I don¡¯t see any thunderclouds.¡±

    ¡°And I haven¡¯t seen one arching above the ground either.¡±

    ¡°Witches, most probably.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound like that¡¯s something routine.¡±

    ¡°Not routine, but neither something to be surprised by. They wouldn¡¯t have a Disciplinary Committee at academies if it were not common.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡±

    Something was brewing within his mind as signified by him rubbing his chin and looking in Hane¡¯s direction, but not at her, rather through her.

    Hane turned her attention away from the window and focused back on the Magister.

    ¡°Back to what we¡ª¡±

    ¡°Coach! Please stop the carriage!¡±

    Hane only let out a sigh. Somehow, she had a gut feeling the Magister would exhibit an exemplary line of behaviour¡­

    ¡°You want to intervene, do you not?¡±

    ¡°But of course! What reason could there be not to?¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t listen to you.¡±

    ¡°Of course they will. I¡¯m a Magister, after all, and they are academy students. I might¡¯ve not taken office yet, but factually I am one.¡±

    ¡­but not to an extent where he would believe the world worked by the book, like he did. Which also might have been the reason he used to pronounce the word ¡°Magister¡± in a historically accurate way with ¡°g¡± as in ¡°garden¡±.

    ¡°Have you ever seen a criminal stop on a demand of a policeman?¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t criminals.¡±

    ¡°No, before anything, they are children. And¡­ a picture is worth a thousand words, so I won¡¯t stop you.¡±

    With the carriage coming to a full stop, the Magister opened the door to step outside, showing a confident smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope I have a way with children then.¡±

 Chapter 1: Authority (Part 2)

    Electric discharges were bouncing confined within three long metal rods connected by small metal bridges in a triangular spiral formation, like a cage designed to contain a violent force of nature building inside. With a finger releasing a trigger, this energy lunged forward forming intertwined lightning arches.

    As if hitting an invisible barrier, they then continued their way, bending around their target, a girl in an elegant blue dress with golden edging, its upper part following the lines of her gentle physique. Her grey hair, almost white at the roots and dull emerald at the tips, with three thin braids hanging along the left temple, seemed to be undisturbed by occasional blows of wind.

    Here, in the middle of a pedestrian roadworks, where puddles carpeted the dismantled part after a recent rainfall, she stood extending her arm with an open palm facing her opponents: three girls several meters away from her.

    All three wore light-blue uniforms with white edging, though each attire was slightly different. The one in the front had a long below-knee coat with open quarters revealing an above-knee plain skirt. The colour of the uniform was contrasted by her long carrot-orange hair done in a ponytail and dark-red eyes, both expressive of her emotional state. A rifle-like contraption in her hands still had residual energy sparking between the rods of a cage-like barrel after the last attack. A girl in the back to her left wore a similar uniform, but with trousers instead of a skirt, her dark-hair with marine lustre were flowing down her back all the way to the shoulder blades except for a single lock hanging between dull-green eyes. The third member with wavy bronze-brown hair slightly below her shoulders and deep black eyes looked the most distinguished due to unfastened hip-length coat revealing a black skin-tight undershirt.

    Despite the three girls obviously being on the same side, only the one in the front appeared aggressive. Still, the grey-haired girl could not hide some nervousness.

    ¡°How long do you think you can stay defensive?¡±

    The fiery-haired girl¡¯s voice expressed irritation by her opponent¡¯s behaviour.

    How does she deflect my invocations so easily? No, she¡¯s not deflecting them. It¡¯s like they¡ª

    Her chain of thought was interrupted by the girl to her left.

    ¡°Aeri, calm down!¡±

    ¡°I told you already, don¡¯t try to stop me!¡±

    Whilst the two girls were arguing, the third one stood with her arms folded above two metal-encased tubes forming a cross over her abdomen as they connected from a waist-bag on her back to a sword-like and a shield-like contraptions on the belt holding her trousers. Despite her body language making her seem relaxed, her eyes cautiously observed both her fellow witches and their opponent.

    The grey-haired girl hesitantly made a few steps back, which was immediately noticed by the hot-blooded witch.

    ¡°I¡¯m not done with you!¡±

    She pointed the weapon at the girl again and pressed down on the trigger, building up another charge. Seeing how her direct attacks had no effect, she scanned over her, looking for anything that could expose the opponent¡¯s weakness. Her eyes eventually stopped at the girl¡¯s feet, one of which was soaking in a puddle.

    If I can¡¯t hit her directly¡­If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    With a slight incline, she pointed her weapon at the ground where the puddle stretched outside the supposedly shielded area around her opponent and released the trigger. A discharge hit the water and found its way to the target.

    The girl¡¯s body convulsed momentarily with a following fall to her knees. She started breathing heavily bowing to the ground, but just for a few seconds. As she raised the head, her facial expression morphed from composed to uncontained anger as her green-tinted grey irises dimmed to blackness, revealing glowing patterns: one in the form of an octagon with enigmatic symbols on the inside and the other being an octagram with similar symbols between the points.

    The black-eyed girl tensed momentarily, her hands instinctively reaching the opposite sides of her waist to grab the weapons.

    ¡°Finally taking it seriously, huh?¡±

    From the hot-headed girl¡¯s bag emerged a strange contraption: two long metal pieces held together by an invisible force detached as electric discharges started dancing back and forth between them, forming distinct patterns that looked like some kind of symbols. A feeling of fatigue washing over her with increasing intensity, forcing her to kneel and hyperventilate.

    Her friend on the right was experiencing similar sensation, having a half-visible spherical object surrounded by an iridescent mist appear floating beside her. It then expanded into two hemispheres revealing a telescopic tube connecting them as a thin sheet of ice formed beneath it. Same with the dark-haired girl, who had a large glass plate with glowing writings within appear in a similar manner.

    The girl in the dress rose, extending her hand towards the group again. Faint trails of light started stretching from the objects beside the assailants in an uneven path towards the girl¡¯s open palm where they converged, forming a rapidly growing ball of violent energy. It was swirling like an iridescent cloud of fire accompanied by lightning discharges within.

    ¡°Is this¡­ what you did to¡­¡±

    The girl in the front had a hard time speaking with her heavy breath getting in the way. She tried to process what was happening and how to fight it, but any chain of thought she tried to build would fall apart under the pressure of building fatigue. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t have to come up with anything due to an unexpected intervention.

    ¡°What is going on here?!¡±

    The Magister¡¯s voice rang loud and clear, and the question was meant not to be answered but to announce his presence and attract attention before someone could get badly hurt. Unfortunately, it was his getting the attention that would cause the events to go awry.

    As the grey-haired girl got distracted, her eyes losing the glow and returning to normal, she lost the control over the accumulated energy. The blazing ball thrusted towards the group, but the orange-haired girl¡¯s focus was shifted away for her to see the imminent threat. Her peripheral sight was hit by the incoming light to warn her of the danger when it was already too late.

    ¡°Aeri! Look out!¡±

    The dark-haired girl forcefully pushed her friend away from the path of the energy ball, but in doing so she placed herself in her stead. The other girl jumped in front of her, bringing the hand with a shield-like contraption up. As if following the motion, a wall of spiky ice appeared in front of her but to no avail: just as the bright light pierced through the crystalline matter, the swirling ball melted through the wall as if it hadn¡¯t been there. It then passed both girls, engulfing them in agonizing flames, as it continued its way before disappearing in a burst a dozen meters away.

    ¡°Sumi! Minali!¡±

    Both the surviving girl and the Magister rushed to the victims. The Magister lifted one of them from the ground, holding the badly burnt body of the dark-haired girl who was struggling to breathe in pain.

    This sight left Hane paralyzed with shock. Not only her. The culprit, the one responsible for inflicting these injuries, seemed to be in even more shocked state, staring blankly at the site of the incident.

    ¡°Hane! Flares!¡±

    Hane snapped out hearing the Magister¡¯s call and rushed back to the carriage. About a minute later, a clap shook the air followed by a bright red flare soaring upwards with a whistle leaving a red trail of smoke in its path, and a second later, a blue flare followed.

    It didn¡¯t take long for help to arrive, but by that time, both girls had already drawn their last breaths.

 Chapter 1: Authority (Part 3)

    The outside was blindingly bright, illuminated by the sun high at zenith. This brightness radiated from every object the sunlight touched, bouncing even into enclosed spaces through the smallest gaps.

    Here, in this room, where tall windows went all the way from the floor to the ceiling, it was as bright on the inside as it was outside. A marble desk next to the windows was hard to look at where it was white and hot to the touch where black veins run, except the spots where three shadows stretched across it.

    The grey-haired girl turned her head to the right, looking at the two vacant seats by the desk.

    My Magister did not even show up. That means it¡¯s decided then. They are going to seal it. No, given who I am, they will most probably burn it.

    She then turned to look across the room where Aeri, the sole survivor of the incident, sat, her gaze glued to her opponent with burning hatred. Their eyes met for a second making it uncomfortable for her and forcing to look away.

    It is probably for the best. It is the third time this has happened.

    She tried to justify the impending verdict, but even her inner voice did not sound convincing enough. Her fists clenched down by her dress as she tried to contain her anger.

    No. Even if I hurt them, it wasn¡¯t my fault. Why can they¡ª

    Her thoughts got interrupted by a squeaking sound of the room doors opening. Catching his breath, the Magister almost fell over the doorstep.

    ¡°You sure took your time, Magister.¡±

    A disgruntled fair-haired man in his thirties with a short haircut and noticeable stubble covering a good portion of his face all the way to the temples was the first to break the verbal silence. The expression on his face and his pose, with the head leaning on the closed palm of his hand, conveyed a mood between boredom and irritation. Of the three desks arranged in a rectangular formation, he sat by the central one beside three other people.

    A younger man with long black hair to his right looked apathetic: there were no signs that would convey his displeasure of being in this room, rather simple lack of emotional engagement. Same as his neighbour he was clad in a strict suit with a white shirt under a grey turncoat.

    To the left of the fair-haired man was another one. He looked a bit younger due to shoulder-length, wavy, marigold hair and his face being smooth free of growth except for a triangular soul patch under his lips. He stood out from the rest with his preference in clothing, wearing a green silk jacket over a light-blue shirt. The upcoming hearing seemed to be of little interest to him as well, but unlike the disgruntled man, he preferred to fill his waiting time with use by reading a book, not tearing his eyes away from it even when the Magister appeared.

    To the left of him sat a short-haired blonde woman in glasses and black cardigan over a white dress, who only let out a sigh seeing her neighbour¡¯s lack of involvement.

    Even without introductions, which seemed to be of little relevance to them, their postures and behaviour were indicative of their roles: the two in the middle being Magistern from other academies, and two others serving as their aides.

    ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry. I¡¯m not acquainted with the layout of the academy just yet, so I¡¯ve got lost searching for the Hearings Room.¡±

    ¡°Not acquainted with the layout?¡±

    As the disgruntled man expressed his confusion, a white-haired man, sitting one seat away from Aeri, stepped in to clarify as he rose from his place.

    ¡°My apologies, I should have mentioned it. This is Magister Rensin. He has just taken his assignment yesterday. And since both Magister Manshik and his aide fell ill today, Magister Rensin has been tasked to take his place in this hearing with me landing assistance to him. I am Administrator Chusuran¡¯s aide, Eraban, by the way.¡±

    As the Magister took his place next to the hot-tempered witch he had been tasked to represent, he greeted Eraban with a handshake.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. It won¡¯t take long anyway since there is not much to discuss.¡±

    The fair-haired man straightened as he was about to begin the procedure when the Magister got ahead of him.

    ¡°That I am not sure about.¡±

    ¡°Not sure about what exactly?¡±

    ¡°How fast we will be able to carry out the hearing.¡±

    ¡°Please elaborate.¡±

    He now was attentively staring at the Magister with a new emotion read on his face: concern.

    ¡°Well, you see, I am not sure if it was lost as the documents were handed to me or my colleague had symptoms that prevented him from completing it, but the Statement of Innocence appears to be missing. So I¡¯ll have to conduct an interview session with my ward to prepare one now, though I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯ll suffice, unless you agree to reschedule the hearing, of course.¡±

    ¡°The Statement of Innocence is not missing. Your ward is not the accused, the aspiring witch from the Sorceress Academy is.¡±

    He felt a bit of relief dismissing the Magister¡¯s concern, though one concern got just replaced by another. The fact that one party was defined as accused, not even referred to as a defendant, instantly raised a flag. Yet the Magister chose to ignore this, listening to his inner voice that was telling him there had to be a misunderstanding.

    ¡°Disregarding this¡­¡±

    Unintentionally, he commented on his own thoughts.

    ¡°I understand how the¡­¡±

    He briefly flipped a few pages in a stack of papers before him, looking for something.

    ¡°¡­how Orena is seen as an offender, but her actions were clearly an act of self-defence.¡±

    Orena snapped out of her self-absorbed state, focusing her attention on the Magister, unable to comprehend his agenda. Meanwhile, too focused on her adversary, the Magister¡¯s remark did not reach the ears of Aeri, until she noticed something catching Orena¡¯s attention and followed her gaze to the Magister, wondering what she had missed.

    ¡°Magister, let us follow the formal procedure. Could you, please, read the Case of Accusation?¡±

    The Magister¡¯s state of alert continued to rise, but he complied with the request, wanting to familiarize himself with the content of the Case as much as the fair-haired man, as he had not been given time to do it. He took a sheet of paper from the stack and began to read it.

    ¡°On behalf of the aspiring witch Aeri Uilounyuk, the Magistertum of the Academy of the Vanguard Coven hereby presents an accusation against the aspiring witch of the Academy of the Sorceress League, Orena Eltonska.

    On 04.06.157 U.C., Orena Eltonska assaulted¡ª¡±

    His tone rose as he finished reading the word, followed by a brief pause, which his mind needed to process the contradiction between the words on the paper and his telling of the events that had occurred.

    ¡°¡­three aspiring witches, the members of the Kol of Omniscience of the Academy of the Vanguard Coven, inflicting fatal injuries on two of them, namely Minali Angohanyuk and Sumi Senko.

    Witnesses claim Orena used a kind of powerful invocation that was clearly meant to kill her opponents.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    As the Magister continued reading, his tone changed from conveying scepticism to unconcealed disbelief.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the actions of Aeri¡¯s kol-mate Minali, who pushed her out of the way, Aeri would have suffered the same fate.

    Based on this, the Magistertum of the Academy of the Vanguard Coven formally accuses Orena Eltonska of the first degree assault on aspiring witches of the Academy of the Vanguard Coven.¡±

    The Magister then skimmed through the document once more, even flipping it over to inspect the empty other side.

    ¡°That is it?¡±

    ¡°Obviously, there is nothing more to it. With this, I will pass the verdict to the covens to decide upon a sentence.¡±

    Hearing the words ¡°verdict¡± and ¡°sentence¡± instantly sent Orena spiralling into despair. She had been ready to accept it the moment she had stepped into the room, but hearing the Magister mention self-defence had given her hope, false hope, which had softened her mental defences before the blow, making it all the more painful.

    As everyone was about to rise from their seats, the Magister interrupted their motions with a question.

    ¡°What verdict?¡±

    ¡°The ¡®guilty¡¯ verdict, obviously. Orena is guilty of the first degree assault on aspiring witches of the Vanguard Academy, just as stated in the Case. Or do you want to hear the announcement of the verdict with all the formalities?¡±

    ¡°What about the Statement of Innocence?¡±

    ¡°Have we not clarified this already? Your ward does not require one.¡±

    ¡°I am not talking about Aeri. I am talking about Orena. We haven¡¯t heard her Statement of Innocence.¡±

    As the Magister looked at the girl, he just now realized that there was even no one at her side.

    ¡°And whilst we are at it, where is a Magister from the Sorceress Academy who is supposed to represent her?¡±

    Now Aeri also fixated on the Magister, confused by his attempt at defending Orena. Meanwhile, aide Eraban gave the Magister a subtle tug at his hand, drawing his attention and whispering silently.

    ¡°Magister, your ward is right there beside you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m aware of that.¡±

    After giving Eraban a short reply, he looked back at the fair-haired man in the anticipation of his response.

    ¡°Obviously, none is needed. And since there is no Statement of Innocence, it effectively means that the accused is guilty.¡±

    The man then attempted to stand up again, as if ignoring the Magister¡¯s concerns.

    ¡°No. What that means is that there is a violation of the Chapter II, Section 1, Article 2, Clause 1 of the Magistern Code of Conduct, which ties with it the invocation of the Chapter IV, Article 1.¡±

    Tension continued building up in the room. Even the man in the shiny jacket whose eyes had been jumping between the lines of the book a moment ago now had them glued to the Magister, even if sceptically, not expecting him to go out of line. The fair-haired man, meanwhile, struggled to hide his irritation.

    ¡°Please remind me.¡±

    ¡°Chapter II, Section 1, Article 2 states: ¡®A Magister is responsible for representing an aspiring witch from an academy of his assignment in case of her being accused of having an involvement in an inter-academy conflict of any scale.¡¯

    Clause 1 of the article states that regardless of the circumstances, a Magister must prepare a Statement of Innocence on behalf of an aspiring witch he represents. And if you are referring to the Article 1 of Chapter IV, it empowers me to file a complaint against another Magister in case of misconduct.¡±

    Heaving heard this, the man only raised a brow. He then turned his head to his aide to the right.

    Without a word spoken, the aide pulled up a bag and took out a thick book. After flipping over some pages, he gave the open book on the desk a push towards the disgruntled man, who had a quick look at a paragraph where the aide¡¯s finger pointed.

    ¡°That is not what is says.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The Magister quickly reached into the bag on the floor beside him to pull out his Code. It was much slimmer than the counterpart, and respectively, it took him less time to find the lines in question.

    Seeing the stark difference between the Magister¡¯s reference material and his own prompted a comment from the fair-haired man.

    ¡°Obviously, you have been provided with an outdated copy of the Code.¡±

    Having been given a signal from his superior, who tossed his head towards the Magister, the black-haired man walked up to him and handed the open book.

    After examining the respective text, which covered a completely different topic, the Magister started meticulously looking through the other pages. To his surprise, the wording, the structure, and the content made it look like a completely different book. Something felt off. His search then shifted towards the first page of the book and then the last.

    As his opponent observed the Magister, impatience found more cracks to seep through as indicated by his fingers tapping on the desk, each tap louder than the last, until he could take it no longer.

    ¡°Can we help you find what you are looking for?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ if you could, please, point me to the page where I can find the seals of the covens, that would be much appreciated.¡±

    ¡°There are none.¡±

    His reply came in a very matter-of-factly manner, as if it was something insignificant.

    ¡°Then it has no binding power upon any party. Not the Magistertum, nor the covens. In essence, it is worthless.¡±

    As if subconsciously matching the tone of his counterpart, the Magister¡¯s reply came just as dry.

    ¡°Watch your tongue, Magister. By saying the document which defines the essence of the Magistertum is worthless you are insulting the Magistertum itself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m merely appealing to facts. The use of euphemisms won¡¯t change the fact that without the seals this book¡¯s value is equal to a set of recommendations.¡±

    ¡°This is ridiculous. I won¡¯t sit here listening to a newcomer trample on the very foundation of the Magistertum. You presented your case, your role here is done. I am passing the decision to the covens.¡±

    The other Magister next to him and three aides in the room could definitely understand what the two were on about. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the girls, who were watching two adults pass a ball to each other, each throw becoming more forceful than the last, their eyes glued to the next player holding the ball.

    ¡°Do this, and it will be two complaints leaving my office. We¡¯ll see if my copy of the Code is outdated!¡±

    ¡°The accusation is presented! The defence is absent! The verdict is made!¡±

    ¡°Then I overrule your ¡®verdict¡¯. Chapter IV, Article 2! I am taking Orena¡¯s case into my personal care!¡±

    By this point, neither was holding back any longer: they were just screaming at each other.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do any of that and you would not dare!¡±

    The fair-haired man slammed his hands on the desk as he shot upwards, tumbling over his chair, his face showing not only bright emotion but colour as well.

    ¡°Try me!¡±

    The Magister rose from his chair in a similar manner. Both were frowning with intimidating look, their eyes interlocked. Everyone was speechless, except for the third Magister whose face was speaking for himself, shining bright red as he tried to contain the laughter. As for the girls, their widened eyes served as the best evidence of their astonishment. Even Aeri forgot about her animosity towards Orena for the time being.

    ¡°Everybody, please, calm down.¡±

    Eraban stood up as well, trying to get attention, smiling as best as he could in such circumstances and stirring the air with his hands.

    ¡°There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding. I suggest we reschedule the hearing.¡±

    The fair-haired man responded non-verbally, giving Eraban a frowned look as his eyes jumped to the Magister and back, with a nod given to him in response.

    After everyone but the Magister and Eraban left, the Magister dropped, falling back into his chair, his arms hanging down to the sides. Despite the confidence he had demonstrated, that did put him through quite a stress. With his head thrown back, he let out a long exhausted breath.

    ¡°You definitely know how to make an unforgettable first impression, Magister.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡±

    As Eraban got up and walked to the door, he stopped and turned his head back for a second.

    ¡°I must say, that was quite a display of professional diligence. I can only recall one other Magister who was just as diligent. From the Sorceress Academy, ironically. Too bad he is no longer¡­ there.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a shame.¡±

    Still recuperating mentally, the Magister responded reflexively, with the message Eraban was trying to convey going over his head.

    It took several minutes after Eraban had left until the Magister finally came to his senses. As he got up and walked out of the room, an unexpected encounter occurred. Orena was standing there in a corridor, looking down, as if she was avoiding her eyes meet the Magister¡¯s. She finally managed to overcome a feeling of embarrassment, just enough to look at him for a second and say one phrase.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Without waiting for a reply, she turned her eyes away from the Magister and passes him by.

    After several seconds of contemplation, his reply came when she could no longer hear it.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ welcome.¡±

    <hr>

 Chapter 2: Defiance (Part 1)

    A stack of folders landed from Hane¡¯s hands onto the Magister¡¯s desk with a clap, expelling air from underneath it and into his face. His eyes stopped their run along the lines of a document. Eyes closed, he let the air course into his nostrils and out of the mouth. Bracing himself, he opened his eyes.

    ¡°Please tell me that is the last of it.¡±

    ¡°That is the last of it.¡±

    Another puff of air escaped his lungs, which felt like it carried the weariness he had accumulated throughout the day with it.

    ¡°¡­for today.¡±

    He turned to give her a disapproving look as she walked to her desk, only for it to be met with a smirk.

    The next half an hour went by in silence, disturbed only by the occasional rustling of paper.

    The Magister¡¯s concentration was broken by a clanking sound resonating from a floor clock as it stroke twelve, followed by a ringing that filled the corridors outside. This sound was perceived as a signal for his body to relax.

    With a screeching sound of a chair scratching the floor, the Magister approached a table by a window. On top of it, a metal self-boiling kettle flashed with blinding radiance as soon as he pulled up a curtain.

    A long match scratched the surface of a box and ignited a piece of charcoal in a chamber at the bottom of the boiler. The scent of burning wood filled the air around the table as it escaped through small openings into the window.

    As the last drop of tea fell into a cup, the Magister popped open a box, the sound of which acted as a trigger, distracting Hane from her work. Her face expressed a high degree of distaste as she observed the Magister pour two spoons of sugar into the cup.

    ¡°If you want to clean the drains, there are better solutions.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so judgemental about other people¡¯s tastes.¡±

    ¡°Taste is what you are killing by mixing this abhorrent substance with tea.¡±

    ¡°I add it only to black tea. It just adds some substance to it.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you drink anything other than black tea, and¡­¡±

    As she observed the Magister return to his desk and start unwrapping a sandwich covered in paper, her expression changed from distaste to pitying concern.

    ¡°¡­you would not need substance in your tea were you eating properly.¡±

    ¡°I know what it looks like, but I just can¡¯t digest food in large quantities. It causes a feeling of heaviness in my stomach.¡±

    After several bites, a quick glance at the clock, which showed a quarter past twelve, prompted him to stuff the remaining chunk of the sandwich into his mouth, washing it down with tea.

    Straightening up, his fingers intertwined, he fixed his eyes on the door.

    Five minutes later, he was still waiting, yet a doubt that he would see anyone walk in started poking his cheek. Five minutes more and the doubt was looking him straight in the eyes, demanding attention.

    ¡°Hane, you did relay invitation to Aeri, right?¡±

    His aide only frowned in response, seeing this as an insult to her professional duties.

    ¡°I know, I know. It just bothers me that she didn¡¯t show up on time.¡±

    ¡°If at all.¡±

    ¡°I can only imagine what she must be going though. A counselling session must be the least of her concerns right now.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the reason.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    Hane, in her usual manner, responded non-verbally, frowning a little and raising a brow.

    ¡°Come now, I know you have some¡­ prejudice towards aspiring witches, but even you couldn¡¯t possibly believe they¡¯re all unruly.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Oh, no. Definitely not her. You¡¯ve witnessed it first-hand.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know the whole picture. I am sure that was just a misunderstanding.¡±

    After giving his chin a few rubs, immersed deep in his thoughts, his eyes jumped to a metal bookcase in a corner of the room.

    ¡°Maybe it was wrong to arrange a session so soon after the incident and in a formal manner. Maybe I should try another approach.¡±

    His eyes fixed on the bookcase, he walked up to it and skimmed his fingers over folders tightly stacked on metal shelves. From the sixth shelve down to the fourth and then a sharp turn going across until his hand stopped at the ¡°K¡± section. The search there yielded only confusion, making him go over each folder one by one from the very beginning. His confusion became only stronger when he found his object of search, a folder labelled ¡°Kol of Omniscience¡±, in the ¡°O¡± section. Comparing it against the other folders both provided an answer and brought up a new one, as the label had ¡°kol¡± in it before the actual name, not after.

    Inside he found four smaller folders, each bearing the name of a kol¡¯s member.

    So there are four of them in their kol. I wonder how the other girl is doing. Probably should check on her later.

    He pulled the one with Aeri¡¯s name and inspected the line that listed her address.

    She lives at the dormitories. This complicates things. Don¡¯t think Magistern visit dormitories often.

    Whilst inspecting the main page, a few pages peeping behind it drew his attention.

    ¡°Oh, there is her extended reference. I bet she¡ª¡±

    The very first line read how she had started a fight even prior to being enrolled, on the day she had gone to submit papers to the academy.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    The next one hadn¡¯t taken long, having occurred during her first month after admission.

    ¡°Ooohhh¡­¡±

    The list just went on.

    ¡°Correct. I admit it. She might be a bit emotional and impulsive. Might require some more work than I expected.¡±

    ¡°I envy your confidence believing you can fix what those before you could not.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which¡­¡±

    He skipped past the records covering her prominent life at the academy to the page that reflected the counselling sessions conducted in the aftermath of each incident. To his disappointment, they turned out to be less than informative, each reading ¡°Counselling session conducted following incident that had occurred on¡­¡±. The only variables that would change from line to line were the name of the Magister who conducted a session and the corresponding date.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t put much effort into making these records.¡±

    This left him with some things to think over as well as half-an-hour of time on his hands due to an unexpected cancellation of the session. Although it should have been spent tending to the documents, the stack of papers on his desk would start draining his sanity the moment it entered his line of sight. Taking a break to restore his mental strength seemed like a more appealing use of the time.

    His legs carried him to the most suitable place to have a rest: the inner square. For the most part, it represented a large open space on the second floor of the academy, surrounded by walls on three sides, whilst the farthest side transitioned into veranda. The floor was paved with six-sided stone tiles, blue with clusters of white, as if imitating the sky. Along the perimeter a corridor ran, its roof supported by pillars on the inside. Four passages connected the corners of the square with a small fountain-crowned garden at the centre.

    Cool breeze swirling around, the resonating sound of running water, and lively casual chatting of academy students walking around had positive effect on his mind. He quickly forgot why he had come here or rather what had run away from. That is until he noticed the reason he had spare time in the first place: Aeri.

    Standoffish, unlike everyone else, it seemed she had come here for the same reason the Magister had: to escape from her troubles. She stood there leaning against a pillar, her arms folded, blankly staring at a spot on the floor. By the looks of it, this place didn¡¯t appear to have the same refreshing effect on her. Her mind being elsewhere, she didn¡¯t even notice the Magister approach her.

    ¡°Aeri?¡±

    Lifting her head, she turned to look in his direction, her stare still blank. The more her eyes focused on him, the more visibly discontent she became.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you.¡±

    Her addressing the Magister felt as if he had been someone or even something annoying.

    ¡°We were supposed to have a counselling session right now.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we were, so what?¡±

    ¡°So that means you were expected to show up.¡±

    ¡°I have nothing to discuss with you, traitor.¡±

    ¡°Mind your language, young lady. And I don¡¯t recall doing anything to deserve this title.¡±

    ¡°Then you have very short memory. But I don¡¯t. I damn well remember how you sided with that Sorceress witch.¡±

    ¡°It appears you have a misconception of both the hearings process and¡ª¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    She bent down to pick up her weapon, tossing its belt over the shoulder, before showing her back to the Magister.

    ¡°Aeri, you can¡¯t just leave. This is a serious matter.¡±

    ¡°Watch me. Tch! Can¡¯t even have a moment of rest. What an ass¡­¡±

    She continued marching towards the exit, leaving a trail of grumpy noises behind.

    ¡°It seems I will have to try a different approach after all.¡±

 Chapter 2: Defiance (Part 2)

    The day was coming to an end. For the students, at least, but not for the Magister. His desk was still visually skewed with much more documents on the left¡ªthe ¡°in¡± side¡ªthan the finished stack on the opposite side.

    After finishing another folder, he took his time pulling the next from the top, as if each word in it had been adding to the weight.

    The door handles moved, and so did his eyes. They jumped to the doors just as Aeri stormed in. She slammed her hands onto the desk, her furious eyes conveying the message before she opened her mouth.

    ¡°What in the coven¡¯s name do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±

    ¡°Oh, my saviour!¡±

    ¡°W-what?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing.¡±

    He cleared his throat, coughing a few times, and put one hand onto another, as if he had been trying to make some kind of impression.

    ¡°I am simply following standard procedures for a case like this. For a case like yours.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any idea what a letter from the coven means? Do you know what trouble it can get me into?¡±

    ¡°Very much so. Up to the point of expulsion in case of non-compliance. It wouldn¡¯t be as effective without consequences.¡±

    In the background, Hane came in, closing the doors. As she walked to her desk, the Magister looked at her, giving a nod.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what is it that you want with me. But you want to have a counselling session? Fine. I acknowledge my mistake. I was wrong. It will never happen again. There. Bye, old man.¡±

    The Magister had barely enough time to inhale, ready to address her ¡®confession¡¯, yet the air left his lungs in a sigh, following a loud slam of the doors.

    He closed his eyes, taking another deep breath.

    ¡°Hane, send the message to the coven, please. This time for real.¡±

    He opened his eyes, seeing Aeri again, who appeared before him faster than the doors hit the walls.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    A silent gesture invited her to take a seat at the opposite side of the desk.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The words came through gritted teeth, her lips barely moving, as if had taken her both mental and physical effort to utter each word.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Now then. Let¡¯s start with your interpretation of the events that occurred that day.¡±

    ¡°She attacked us.¡±

    ¡°Correct. If I understand correctly, a sorceress attacked you when you and your friends, as any students after a day of studies, lost your way to the dorms of your academy and accidentally ended up on the Sorceress Academy grounds. Did I get that right?¡±

    ¡°I¡ª It was¡ª We were there for a reason.¡±

    ¡°The reason being¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡ª That¡ª We needed¡ª¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh. Yes. I see. Please continue. I think I¡¯m starting to see the picture.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s eye started visibly twitching.

    ¡°Fine, yes, you got me. I attacked her. But she provoked me, she was the one who started it all.¡±

    ¡°It looks like we¡¯re making progress. So how exactly did she provoke you?¡±

    This question made her frown. She got angrier, but not without reason, it seemed. It was like he hit a nerve or triggered unpleasant memories.

    ¡°She assaulted my friend, and she ended up in recovery. Harin is still unconscious.¡±

    Recalling going through the kol¡¯s folder earlier, it became apparent why the fourth member had not been at the site of the incident.

    ¡°Why? Did something happen between them?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know and I don¡¯t care. You don¡¯t ask why somebody hits you, you hit them back.¡±

    ¡°Do you at least have any ideas? Anything that could have led to this?¡±

    ¡°I have never seen her before. And I doubt Harin has. We have no business with Sorceress witches. Did not have. Until now.¡±

    ¡°So you don¡¯t even know her? Then how do you know she was the one who attacked first?¡±

    ¡°Are you deaf? Were you even listening to what I was saying? My friend is in recovery and she is unharmed.¡±

    ¡°There could have been a misunderstanding.¡±

    ¡°Misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding leads to someone ending up in recovery?¡±

    ¡°For instance, one in which three witches assault a sorceress on an assumption that she assaulted their friend, which results in tragic consequences.¡±

    Aeri hit the desk with her fist, sending a vibration across the wooden surface.

    ¡°Do you think this is funny? Can you even imagine what it is like to succumb to mortal wounds? All of my friends are in recovery and unconscious, and I don¡¯t know when or¡ª¡±

    A word was on the tip of her tongue, one she was reluctant to utter, but it was apparent what kind of doubt was gnawing at her.

    ¡°¡­when they are going to wake up.¡±

    ¡°Under no circumstances would I ever consider something like this to be funny. And the only reason we are having this conversation is to prevent something like this from ever happening again.¡±

    Hearing this cooled down her temper. Not because of what the Magister said, but rather how, simply changing his tone a bit. Up until now, she had been baring her fangs at him, believing he would not even snarl, but this was enough for her to catch a glimpse of his own teeth, and they were surely sharp.

    ¡°Take some time to think this over. We will continue this conversation another time.¡±

    The opportunity was taken without hesitation with only wind left in the wake of the angry girl¡¯s hasty parting.

    The Magister¡¯s gaze fell back to the desk, where a folder still hung from the top of a stack. He had expected this session to take some burden off this mind, not add to it.

 Chapter 2: Defiance (Part 3)

    Aeri¡¯s weapon landed on the wooden floor as she dropped on her bed. Submerged in silence, there was one sound she kept hearing still, that of the Magister¡¯s voice repeating one word: ¡°misunderstanding¡±. Staring at the ceiling, she tried to clear her mind, yet the more thoughts she purged, the louder the Magister¡¯s voice echoed inside.

    She then tried to occupy her mind instead, first by reading a book, then maintaining her weapon, and even reluctantly tending to studies after barely having had any break from her lessons. Alas, the making herself busy didn¡¯t work either. Nothing could take her mind off that discussion.

    A thought of cleaning her room momentarily slid off its squeaky-clean surface. Accidentally, this thought triggered an image of her friends¡¯ living space, Sumi and Harin. A room that had been missing its tenants for a few days would hardly need cleaning, but there was nothing else she could think of to distract her, even if temporarily.

    As she approached a door on the opposite side of the hallway, her hand froze for a second on its way to a keyhole. For a second she was hit by a lingering echo of emotions of frustration and anger she had felt the last time she¡¯d been here. The news of Harin¡¯s accident engulfed her in flames of fury, which took efforts of Sumi and Minali to quell.

    Taking a deep breath, she inserted the key and turned it inside. As a handle went down, she cautiously looking to both sides and made several more turns in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. With the last turn, a thud on the opposite side of the door could be heard, as if something small fell to the floor.

    Stepping inside, she picked up a walnut-size metal cylinder, identical in size and shape to the indentation on the inner side of the door lock.

    The room itself was almost mirrored inside: a bed in one corner, a wardrobe in the other, and a study desk between them. Only a dining table under a window was shared by both halves. A typical sight for a students¡¯ dorm room.

    What wasn¡¯t typical, however, is the distribution of their belongings. Sumi¡¯s side was in relative order: books orderly stacked on the desk, shoes arranged on a rack, and only one suitcase peeking from under her bed. Harin¡¯s part of the space was nothing but a mess: the desk was littered with tools, wardrobe doors were held open by boxes of mechanical components protruding from it, and the bed was supported a pyramid of suitcases.

    Both girls¡¯ weapons rested on their desks. Unlike Sumi¡¯s, which required a stand to fit on the limited surface, Harin¡¯s, despite being bulky, easily fit there. White with golden elements, it had three rods, similar to Aeri¡¯s, protruding from a much larger main body. The rods were inside a series of rings pierced by two thinner rods. With such size, it was supposed to be held at the top with a grip closer to the back and a handle down the middle. The handle was larger in size than a feminine hand needed it to be, serving as a compartment for a belt that flown from underneath into a pile of folds to the side of the body.

    Aeri crouched to the side of Harin¡¯s desk, her hand reaching for the back, when something cracked outside the window, followed by a sound reminiscent of a gasp. It didn¡¯t seem to be her imagination, which compelled her to check.

    Hanging over the windowsill, she looked down from the fourth floor of the dormitory. There didn¡¯t appear to be anything broken down there, neither was there anyone walking outside.

    Aeri was about to brush it off when a light blow of wind brought strands of green hair to her face. They belonged to a light-grey-eyed girl in white trousers and a short coat standing on a ledge to the right of the window. A notepad on a string around her neck rustled in the wind. Her face was almost blue as she was holding her breath. In response to Aeri¡¯s annoyed gaze she cheerfully smiled.

    ¡°E-he-he. You might be wondering how I ended up here. If you let me come in, I will gladly explain!¡±

    As she stepped in through the window, Aeri was there eagerly awaiting her ¡°explanation¡±, her arms folded and toes tapping the floor.

    ¡°So, um, the lock on my door broke and I happened to be locked inside my room. And, um, I had no choice but to get outside through a window so that I could get in through someone else¡¯s room.¡±

    ¡°From your room on the third floor of the dormitory.¡±

    ¡°E-he¡­ he¡­¡±

    Her unnaturally cheerful expression dissolved as her facial muscles relaxed.

    ¡°Fine, fine. You caught me.¡±

    Neither did she try to imitate a cheerful tone at this point.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to fight me, right? Hey, I¡¯m unarmed.¡±

    Without a word, Aeri walked to the door and opened it for the unwelcome guest, much to her surprise.

    ¡°Oh, that is unexpected. Glad to see you act as a civilized¡ª¡±

    Before her foot stepped outside, a kick to her butt gave her a sudden acceleration. She took a dive into the hallway, landing with her aching butt up.

    ¡°Next time I catch you, I will have my boot so deep up your butt, you¡¯ll end up in recovery!¡±

    Aeri ended her warning by loudly slamming the door.

    Having gotten rid of a failed intruder, she returned to where she had been before the distraction. Her fingers flipped a switch at the back of the desk, and something fell to the floor again, this time from underneath it.

    From a drawer she took a fountain pen as her other hand reached under the wooden surface. The moment her fingertip touched a pattern drawn there, the desk ignited along the perimeter, shooting up glowing walls of light that formed a rectangular barrier. The walls were not solid, having holes of various size float in all directions like bubbles. Moving out of synch, they would form larger holes when colliding before breaking apart a few seconds after.

    Catching a moment when a large opening formed, Aeri put her hands through it to make a stroke on another pattern, under Harin¡¯s weapon. The barrier faded and disappeared in a moment.

    A push of a button to the side of the weapon¡¯s handle caused an internal response, pulling the belt inside the handle¡¯s hollow space. At the same time, a trigger at the top of the grip activated on its own as the rings around the rods in the front started rapidly spinning.

    ¡°What the¡ª Oh, shite!¡±

    The device charged up in a second, giving Aeri no time to react. Luckily, she was not in its way.

    With a thunderous clap, yellow lightning appeared. It followed in one zig-zag line, getting thicker and making sharper turns the further it went. In a moment, it turned into clouds of fire, the explosive expansion shattering the frame of the window, which was luckily open.

    Watching the flames jump onto flammable surfaces, Aeri tried to think how to put the fire off in confusion.

    ¡°Are you mad?¡±

    A girl burst in just a few moments later and disappeared just as fast before Aeri could respond. She promptly returned with a device in her hands. Pointing a wide canon-like barrel at the sources of fire, she doused them with powerful water blasts. They were no less destructive than the fires, shattering wood and even making cracks in stone wherever they landed. At least the destruction wouldn¡¯t spread.

    ¡°Are you an idiot using a contraption in your roo¡ª This isn¡¯t even your room! Just what were you doing?!¡±

    ¡°I¡ª I¡ª was just cleaning Harin and Sumi¡¯s room. I barely touched Harin¡¯s machina and it fired.¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t you have safeguards? You first-years will lay ruin to the academy one day. Anyway, good luck explaining this to the Magisters.¡±

    The girl tossed her weapon over the shoulder and walked out, leaving soaked and shocked Aeri to contemplate a few things: how had this happened and the cost of repairs.

    Meanwhile, on his way home, the Magister gazed at the sky in the distance where a strange explosion had occurred just a few moments ago.

    Am I supposed to get used to this?

    His muscles started pushing his body forward, but he froze again short of making two steps.

    There was a beautiful woman a few meters in front of him. Strands of golden hair aligned perfectly flowing from under the hood of a green cape worn over a blue dress. A shade partially covering her face couldn¡¯t hide the glimmer of her expressive green eyes.

    Despite her gorgeous appearance, her cold expression and unsettling silence made it hard to admire.

    ¡°Um, hel¡ª¡±

    ¡°Magister, please, resign.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°You are not suited for your job.¡±

    ¡°What? What do you mean? Who are you?¡±

    ¡°My identity is not important. What is important is that your behaviour is out of line, raising serious concerns.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take him long to figure out what she was referring to. There had been but one incident that would match the description. However, even though the Magister had not been aligned with his colleagues, it would hardly justify such a request.

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t resign?¡±

    ¡°At the very least, you will lose your job.¡±

    ¡°I lose my job one way or the other. So I can only assume you mean there could be other consequences if I don¡¯t step down.¡±

    ¡°There might, but don¡¯t have to be. If you do so willingly, there are people who will help you find a suitable position elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°And the girls?¡±

    ¡°Her case will be reviewed thanks to your efforts.¡±

    ¡°¡®Her¡¯, not ¡®their¡¯. And you haven¡¯t even clarified which girls I was referring to. But it doesn¡¯t matter, does it? You had the answer prepared beforehand.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°I have misspoken. It was obvious to whom you were referring.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you did. This conversation will not get us anywhere if you keep hiding your agenda.¡±

    There was a subtle change in her expression, barely noticeable, but she had enough control over herself to make sure it was just for a split second.

    ¡°You are perceptive, and not for your own good.¡±

    She took a pause, choosing her next words.

    ¡°Her sentence is already decided. She will be expelled and her grimoire¡ª sealed.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like that little pause you¡¯ve just made.¡±

    Another change in her expression, this time more noticeable and taking a little more time to control.

    ¡°There is a high probability that her grimoire will be burned.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means but I definitely don¡¯t like how that sounds.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t as bad as it sounds. No actual harm will come to her. She will simply not be able to be a witch anymore. Not a big loss, since it wasn¡¯t her dream to begin with. Her motivation for becoming a witch was a result of a pure coincidence.¡±

    It might have been accidental, but she spilt valuable piece of information. To know students¡¯ motives for studying witchcraft meant having access to their profiles, a privilege granted only to Magistern and their aides. However, no Magister would be aware of an actual sentence passed on a student, not to mention the witch-exclusive specifics of resulting punishments. She could be an envoy sent by a coven, yet her body language, the way that she spoke, and the look in her eyes creating this aura of intimidation told him she wouldn¡¯t be someone to simply run errands. This left only one possible option.

    ¡°You¡¯re a coven witch. What did this child ever do to you?¡±

    What little confusion that had been in his voice was now displaced by a mixture of disappointment, disbelief, and disdain. He could not comprehend how such a powerful entity would use their power to harm an innocent girl.

    The woman frowned. She did not try to hide her dissatisfaction any longer.

    ¡°Magister, it isn¡¯t wise to say such things out loud. You never know if a witch keeps her identity hidden.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question.¡±

    The intimidation attempt failed completely: there was no room left in his soul for fear.

    ¡°She is believed to be the revenant. A very knowledgeable witch and an extremely dangerous individual.¡±

    ¡°A revenant? Like returned¡ª¡±

    ¡°From the dead.¡±

    Accidents were not rare at witch academies, not excluding ones resulting in lethal outcomes. It would have been much less appealing to become a witch compared to other paths of education if it had implied chances of dying in the process. And yet, she clearly did not mean the process of revival and recovery, like the one Aeri¡¯s friends had been subjected to.

    ¡°Is such a thing even¡ª Wait, believed? You¡¯re not even sure she is the revenant.¡±

    ¡°This conclusion is based on specific evidence. You have witnessed her abilities in person. They are out of the ordinary for a student, not to mention the similarity to De¡ª¡±

    She stopped herself abruptly, catching herself on a thought she was about to reveal yet more information.

    ¡°This is as much as you need to know. You don¡¯t need more to make the right decision.¡±

    Silence befell. The Magister looked away for a second, his mind skimming over the bits and pieces of information the woman had fed him.

    ¡°Does she like witchcraft?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Orena. Does she actually like witchcraft?¡±

    This question was unexpected, enough to shatter her intimidating image with confusion.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°So her profile doesn¡¯t say that. What about her friends? Has she got friends at the academy?¡±

    ¡°Given the rumours surrounding her, this is highly unlikely, though not impossible. What does it¡ª¡±

    ¡°So her profile doesn¡¯t mention that either. What about her hobbies?¡±

    ¡°What are you getting at?¡±

    Her voice became more aggressive as she regained her composure, her tone reflecting irritation caused by her inability to get into his mind.

    ¡°I am merely pointing out the fact that you have drawn a conclusion about the girl based on a single line in her profile. And you even have the audacity to claim you know what she might or might not be dreaming of. This is hypocrisy in its purest form. If you make such a crude mistake at such a simple task as profiling someone, what are the chances¡ª how many mistakes could you have made identifying her as this ¡®revenant¡¯?¡±

    Feeling how emotions were taking over, the Magister took a breath, slowly bringing them under control. The pause was seen as an opportunity by the mysterious woman, but as she opened her mouth, the Magister reignited the furnace of his train of thought.

    ¡°Has it ever occurred to you that she could have been framed? I don¡¯t know anything about witchcraft, but what if someone made it look like she is the revenant? What if the real revenant is already within your ranks? This is a rudimentary tactic: throw a decoy at someone and wait until they drop their guard down. What if she wants exactly that? And as soon as you get rid of the poor girl, she makes her move when you least expect it?¡±

    ¡°This is absurd. How would¡ª¡±

    She heard his words but did not listen to them. It almost worked, but the barrage of questions was too much for her mental shield to block, and one of them successfully made it through.

    Come to think of it. They were quite swift in making the decision. It is not the first time she reappeared, so there should have been similar cases, yet there were none. It is possible this case is unique. However, the rumours of the girl being a revenant originated not in the coven but among the aspiring witches. And they spread fast. Too fast. How could students possibly know about Devaura? It is possible one or two of them are descendants of her victims, but they must hold a heavy grudge against her in order to spread rumours with such persistence. Regardless, there is a factor of time intervals. She should not have appeared in another four years, unless¡ª

    Lost in the ocean of thought, she realised her dive had taken her too deep. Swimming closer to the surface, she remembered who had thrown her there in the first place.

    ¡°Wait, how would you know any of this?¡±

    ¡°Obviously, I do not. I have simply thrown the first wild idea that has come to my mind. But it appears it was enough to make you doubt your conclusion.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I admit. There are factors to consider. However, this won¡¯t be enough to sway the others as long as there is the smallest chance she is the revenant.¡±

    The Magister took another pause. It was clear he had exhausted all possible arguments, making any further debate pointless.

    ¡°No. As a Magister, I have a responsibility to aspiring witches. There is no one else to stand for them. Respective provisions of the Code are there for a reason.¡±

    Given how she had approached the Magister with a sole purpose in mind, it was only logical to expect her attitude to deteriorate, and he was ready for that. What he wasn¡¯t ready for is to see a smile appear on her face. And not a malicious one, but seemingly friendly.

    ¡°I am happy to hear that.¡±

    She approached him, extending her hand.

    And I am very sorry for you.

    Though somewhat alerted by this drastic change of heart, the Magister nevertheless responded in kind.

    ¡°My name is Yumi. I am¡ª¡±

    The moment their hands touched, the Magister felt his hand squeezed with force. Her feminine muscles couldn¡¯t cause any pain, and it did not seem to be her intent. Something was wrong. It became clear when she clenched at the cloth near her heart, eyes widening, her face an expression of shock.

    Her hand slipped from the grip as it lost the strength. The Magister caught her as she was about to fall. He then came to the ground, pulled down by the weight of her limp body, taking her in his arms.

    ¡°Hey. Hey! What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The only response was a barely audible wheeze. Fingers wrapped around her wrist failed to feel one crucial sensation. He pressed his head against her chest. Nothing. He then brought an ear close to her mouth. Nothing again.

    It was late evening, and the road was devoid of people. No one in sight to seek help.

    The Magister pulled a flare gun from his bag, pointing it at the sky. As his finger pressed on a trigger, instead of a clap the gun only clanked. Repeated attempts to fire a flare did not produce any result.

    ¡°Curses! Why now of all times?¡±

    The gun quickly found its way into bushes on the side of the road as he threw it away, angry and confused.

    What¡­ just happened? Did my heart stop? I can¡¯t breathe. Am I¡­ dying? So they finally decided to dispose of me. Even if I am brought for revival¡­ no, this must be taken into account¡­ this is the end for me one way or another.

    Her darkening vision was rendering the Magister, who was slamming his head with his palm. His lips were moving, producing sounds that degraded from words to muffled noise as her consciousness drifted away.

    Ironic¡­ the man I came here to dispose of¡­ is worried over me¡­ dying¡­

    ¡°Think. Think!¡±

    His mind erected an image of the academy building. The Magister walked out of the front gate, going through a large public space, taking a turn into a square, passing through it, and into the spot he was currently in. A trail of footprints traced their way back to the last person he had seen.

    It¡¯s been no less than fifteen minutes. Even if I run, taking into account the time needed to find help and the return journey, it¡¯ll be half an hour at best. By that time, it will be too late.

    He was taken out of thought by a rustling sound, but it was only a newspaper carried around by the wind.

    ¡°Newspaper¡­¡±

    It triggered something inside his mind. Something familiar, something important. He tried to focus on it, but his focus was broken when the woman¡¯s head fell to the side as her body lost the last bit of strength.

    As the Magister released her from his embrace, placing on the ground and turning her head up, something finally clicked.

    Head. Newspaper. Article. Resuscitation.

    Another image appeared in his head. This time he was reading a paper at home. In it, there was a peculiar article about a fight between a surgeon and his colleagues. The article caught the Magister¡¯s attention because they fought in a literal sense. After several successful resuscitations by applying ¡°bellows-like rhythmic pressure¡± to chest, the ¡°perpetrator¡± had insisted this method be taught to the public. His opponents had objected, saying it could potentially cause damage if done carelessly or applied to fragile individuals. The article went further into the exchange of arguments which escalated into exchange of blows. Luckily, the author had focused on the details of the resuscitation process as well.

    The Magister took off his shirt, folded it, and placed under the woman¡¯s shoulders.

    Raise arms to expand the chest. Then cross the arms over the chest to apply compression, twice per second.

    After repeating this cycle a few times, he checked her breath, yet her lungs remained still. One minute, two minutes, there was still no response, but he didn¡¯t give up. After four minutes, her warm breath finally touched his skin as he leant closer to her.

    Now that she could breathe on her own, he lifted her and took to the nearest bench.

    ¡°Uh¡­ what¡­¡±

    Her vision was blurry, the senses were dull, and the whole body felt numb as she woke up to the Magister¡¯s gentle shake.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡±

    ¡°Y¡­ yes. Who¡­ Where am I?¡±

    ¡°We were talking a moment ago, and then you fainted. Your heart stopped. Listen, I¡¯m going to get help, but I need you to stay awake. Can you stay awake?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little dizzy, but I will manage.¡±

    He looked closely at her for a few seconds, just to make sure she would not start drifting away.

    ¡°Good. I will be here soon.¡±

    Watching the half-naked man leave in haste as he put on a dirty shirt, fragments of memories started slowly coming back to her.

    I was supposed to talk to someone¡­ that Magister. It must have been him just now. But how? I talked to him, and then¡­

    She tried to trace the events that had led to her ending up in this state, but it was all blank.

    Did he say my heart stopped? How?

    For the next ten minutes, nothing came up.

    As she regained control over her limbs, she stood up, and, though wobbly, started walking.

    Arriving almost twice as late as he had expected to, her absence left the Magister in a state of confusion and with much explanation to be given to the people he had brought along.

    <hr>

 Chapter 3: Understanding (Part 1)

    Did something happen between them? Aeri frowned as this phrase rang in her head.

    Then how do you know she was the one who attacked first? Her fists clenched.

    There could have been a misunderstanding. She started gritting her teeth.

    ¡­misunderstanding¡­ This word kept echoing in her head as her teeth felt more pressure and nails started sinking into the skin of her palms.

    ¡°Misunderstanding my ass!¡±

    As she shouted, her fist slammed the desk she sat at, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room, which took her a few seconds to realise.

    Before she could make an apology, a remark came her way.

    ¡°Aeri¡­¡±

    A woman with a book in her hand stood by a chalkboard. Wearing a white-edged short black jacket and a skirt, her light-rose hair was a bright spot with a black chalkboard behind. She sighed before continuing.

    ¡°¡­we understand you are going through a difficult time. But, please, address your emotional problem. There are people you can talk to if you need help.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, teacher. You¡¯re right¡­¡±

    The teacher exhaled in a relief as she brought the hand with the book up and was about to resume the lesson when Aeri got up from her place and marched towards the classroom door.

    ¡°I do need to talk to someone to address this problem.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡ª¡±

    Her words bounced off the door, reaching it the moment it shut.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean right now.¡±

    She sighed yet again.

    ¡°What a troublesome girl.¡±

    ****

    Orena took a sip from a mildly warm cup of tea, sitting alone under a shaded bar desk. A bartender with long bowing moustache and a beard was carefully polishing a glass in his hands. He briefly looked at Orena, noticing a drop of sweat appear on her forehead.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been coming here in hot weather ever since I opened the spot last year, young lady. I have always wondered why you favour tea over cold drinks, unlike most other people, even more so as a sorceress. If I may ask, of course.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ yes. Naturally, as a sorceress, I can freely control the flow of air to cool myself. That is what my peers usually do. But they often catch cold because of that, so I deal with the heat the usual way. And I find herbal tea much more refreshing than any cool drink.¡±

    ¡°I see. You are very clever for your young age.¡±

    He gave her a cheerful smile, which hit her unexpectedly along with the compliment, causing confusion as she thought how to respond.

    ¡°My apologies. I didn¡¯t mean to embarrass you.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine.¡±

    Though she said that, being engaged in a conversation all of a sudden left her in an awkward spot. She didn¡¯t know whether to say something or to end it right there. The answer came from the academy¡¯s tower bells, which signalled that there were only ten minutes left of the afternoon break.

    ¡°I must excuse myself. Thank you, as always.¡±

    A cup landed on a plate with a quiet ring as she stood up from a seat and gently bowed before taking a leave.

    She waited for a tram to run down the street before crossing it. Just as she reached the other side, a feeling hit her as if somebody had been watching her. She looked all around finding no eyes drawn to her and continued her way.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    As Orena was about to enter an alley, the same feeling hit her again, but this time there was even no one around.

    Through the alley she entered into a yard enclosed within two-storeyed houses. With every step she took down the stone-paved trail, she felt the uneasiness grow. As she neared the exit, the feeling climaxed. Orena instinctively turned around, extending her hand.

    Her guts did not deceive her: on the other side of the trail, near the entrance, stood her unwanted acquaintance, Aeri. For a few seconds, she was silent and motionless, yet when she opened her mouth, her speech reached Orena as a distorted, indiscernible echo. Seeing no response from Orena, she became visibly angrier, saying something again, now in a scream.

    Something was off about her. She looked hostile, but her stance didn¡¯t imply she intended to attack. Even her weapon freely hung from her shoulder behind her back.

    Cautiously, Orena lowered her hand, observing how her opponent would react. With no action following, she finally spoke.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    First came a little confusion, succeeded by an angry response.

    ¡°Are you mocking me? Was anything I have said not clear?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear you because of the barrier.¡±

    ¡°Why did you assault my friend?¡±

    ¡°What are you playing here? It was you who assaulted me.¡±

    ¡°I am not talking about us three. Harin. Short girl, orange hair, blue eyes, same uniform.¡±

    It took her some time to piece the picture together. She could not recall anyone like that, but hearing Aeri saying ¡®assault¡¯ helped her mind in restoring the image. The events that had transpired that day had been a blur, but now it started coming back.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°The answer is the same: she attacked me.¡±

    ¡°Liar!¡±

    Aeri saw this outburst causing Orena to tense. Despite the surge of emotions, she found it in her to overcome them. She had not come here to fight, but to have answers.

    ¡°Harin would never attack unprovoked. And there is no thing that can provoke her.¡±

    ¡°She might have been upset over me destroying her arcane contraption.¡±

    ¡°What? What nonsense are you spewing? She doesn¡¯t wield anything besides Chimera. And how exactly would you destroy it?¡±

    ¡°Not her own contraption. Something that supposedly belonged to her family. It exploded when I attempted to dismantle it.¡±

    ¡°Her family? What are you even talking about? How would you even have it?¡±

    ¡°I found it.¡±

    ¡°Found it? You want me to believe you just found an arcane contraption lying around?¡±

    Orena fell silent. What she was about to say might trigger Aeri, but she had already engaged in this conversation, so there was no turning back.

    ¡°I overheard a conversation between two students of your academy. They were discussing something about legacy works. They had¡ª they didn¡¯t know where it was exactly, only some pointers. But I recognized the place by description. So I followed and found a contraption there before they found the place.¡±

    ¡°Before they found the place? So you actually met them there?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And they just let you go even though you supposedly had a piece of heritage work.¡±

    ¡°They did.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s eyes narrowed as her brows formed a crease, making her face render a high degree of a doubt.

    ¡°Suppose it is what you say. What does this story have to do with Harin?¡±

    ¡°She approached me a day after and asked me if I had found a contraption. She said that it belonged to her family. I told her that it was destroyed and that must have provoked her.¡±

    ¡°This is horseshite. She would never attack anyone over such a trivial thing. Not Harin. The dead will rise before she attacks anyone.¡±

    A blurry image of the girl emerged in Orena¡¯s mind. Whatever fragments of that encounter she could recall would produce an image of a harmless girl. But even with her memory being riddled with blanks of what had followed that meeting, there were a few clear pictures, and one of them showed Harin attacking her.

    ¡°That was what I thought and let my guard down.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe your memory isn¡¯t that good.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe you don¡¯t know your friend as well as you think.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s face became one expression of anger. Even more hateful than the day she had clashed with Orena. It felt as if she would explode any second.

    Orena slowly raised her left arm, while her right hand reaching for the opposite wrist. It looked as if she was getting ready to engage, but instead she unbuttoned a sleeve and pulled it up, showing her bare arm to Aeri.

    Aeri¡¯s anger got displaced by confusion as she saw a red line cross Orena¡¯s hand with a pink area surrounding it in stark contrast with her light skin. There could be no mistaking it: this was a mark left behind by Harin¡¯s invocation.

    ¡°Do I need to show the rest?¡±

    Her confusion would not last long. She frowned again, getting angrier with each second. Yet when it seemed as if she was near the boiling point, making Orena assume a defensive stance, Aeri just turned around and hastily parted, leaving confusion to her opponent.

 Chapter 3: Understanding (Part 2)

    ¡°She lied.¡±

    In her usual manner, Aeri appeared before the Magister storming inside in a fury and slamming onto his desk.

    ¡°Uh? What? Who lied?¡±

    ¡°That Sorceress witch. She lied.¡±

    It felt as if uttering each word had come with great effort, where she forced herself to squeeze them through teeth.

    ¡°Lied about what?¡±

    ¡°She said that Harin attacked her.¡±

    The Magister tried to piece together what little information he had received. His mind was pushing him towards the obvious conclusion that she had talked to Orena, but it was hard to accept given her earlier behaviour. Though something was different this time around: her anger looked like a mask, one meant to hide the lack of confidence.

    ¡°Wait, you actually talked to her?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Isn¡¯t it what you wanted me to do?¡±

    ¡°But of course! Glad you figured it out.¡±

    He quickly wiped the puzzled expression, but his efforts were thwarted by Hane¡¯s chuckle.

    ¡°You did not?¡±

    ¡°Well, it was inevitable to resolve the conflict, but I certainly did not expect it to happen so soon. Anyway, back to the topic. I assume you firmly believe Harin did not attack her.¡±

    ¡°No. I know that. She would not ever attack anyone.¡±

    ¡°Correct. I understand she is your friend. But let¡¯s for a moment¡ª¡±

    ¡°This has nothing to do with us being friends. Go out there and ask anyone about Harin. You know what they will say? ¡®Oh, that weirdo.¡¯ She is always out there offering help and giving advice to other students.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive me, but I fail to understand what¡¯s so weird about that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know where you¡¯ve ended up, do you? This is Vanguard Academy. Words like ¡®friendship¡¯, ¡®help¡¯, and ¡®cooperation¡¯ exist only within a kol.¡±

    ¡°Assuming this to be true, let¡¯s assume she, I mean Orena, did attack first. How do you imagine this could have unfolded?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen it already. She must have used this eldritch invocation¡­¡±

    Aeri looked away as her mind tried to imagine the scene.

    ¡°So¡­ she must have initiated the invocation, but then Harin triggered an invocation in response¡­ it wouldn¡¯t have taken her much physical effort to pull the trigger, even exhausted. Yes, this is what must have happened.¡±

    ¡°So Harin did¡­¡±

    Conscious of Aeri¡¯s defensive position over Harin, the Magister would choose his next words with caution. At the moment, the relation between them was that of a fish and a fisher: a careless move might undo all the progress.

    ¡°¡­respond offensively.¡±

    ¡°As much as I hate to admit it, there is no other explanation for the scars on her body.¡±

    ¡°Right. Now let¡¯s take a step back. What could have led to this?¡±

    ¡°She said Harin approached her because she had found a contraption that belonged to Harin¡¯s family¡­¡±

    Her hand on the chin, Aeri now started measuring the floor in front of the Magister¡¯s desk with her feet.

    ¡°She must have become aggressive and¡­¡±

    In the process of imagining this scene, she revisited the memories of her clash with Orena and the most recent encounter. In both cases, she had instantly gone into defence and wouldn¡¯t have retaliated even after multiple attacks.

    ¡°No, the only possible scenario¡­ she must have used a simpler non-lethal invocation, after which Harin triggered hers, and then¡­¡±

    Even this scenario did not seem convincing. Harin would not have retaliated unless her life had been in danger, and Orena did not seem like the type to provoke someone, much less to attack.

    Aeri frowned, as if admitting defeat.

    ¡°Fine! It doesn¡¯t make any sense. I cannot imagine any scenario in which either of them would start it. So what are you suggesting?¡±

    ¡°I am not suggesting anything. I cannot, unfortunately. Not with the information I have. At this point, all we can do is rule out certain possibilities.¡±

    The Magister took his turn immersing into thoughts. A theory came up as his eyes fell onto Aeri¡¯s weapon hanging behind her back.

    ¡°What if¡­ is it possible that Harin fired accidentally?¡±

    ¡°What? Nuh-uh. This is an impossible thing next to Harin assaulting anyone. Her machina is twice as big as my contraption, and Harin, she is tiny. Well, except for one part.¡±

    The last part she almost whispered, as if accidentally voicing her thoughts.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°N-no, nothing. The point is: to compensate for it, she has to use super light alloys, due to which her machina requires regular maintenance. I don¡¯t clean my room as often as she performs maintenance.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s fist landed onto her palm with a clap.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. That must be why her machina activated yesterday. It must have been damaged in the fight.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry. Machina?¡±

    ¡°Oh, arcane machina. Think of it as a more sophisticated arcane contraption.¡±

    ¡°Arcane contraption? Ah, you mean that weapon of yours.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Among the others, obviously.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for clarifying. I didn¡¯t know you use specific term for it. Right, so¡ª¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait. Hold on a second. What do you mean you didn¡¯t know it? If you don¡¯t know even that, what do you know about the specifics of the Vanguard coven?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, I am not aware of coven specifics. I only possess common knowledge about witchcraft.¡±

    ¡°Common knowledge? Such as?¡±

    Aeri folded her arms, looking at him curiously with a hint of a doubt.

    ¡°There are five elements of nature used in witchcraft¡­¡±

    The Magister made a pause seeing how Aeri raised a brow.

    ¡°And each coven can use only one of them and adjacent sub-elements¡­¡±

    Her brow immediately went down as her eye started twitching, making the Magister hesitant to continue.

    ¡°And each element serves a specific purpose: defence, offense, healing, enhancement, and curses.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s face gained an unstable symmetry as her other eye started twitching as well.

    ¡°And each element of nature counters the other, like lightning is strong against water and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Stop it! I can¡¯t take it anymore!¡±

    Aeri covered her ears, vigorously shaking her head.

    ¡°Are you making this up?¡±

    ¡°Um, no. Is it that much wrong though?¡±

    ¡°Everything you said was wrong! How is that even supposed to work? Is one coven supposed to be completely defenceless against another with this ¡®countering¡¯? I feel awkward and embarrassed just hearing this. Just how are you a Magister? What do they teach you at the academy?¡±

    ¡°Subjects such as economy, negotiations, psychology, history, bureaucracy¡ª¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, I get it. A lot of stuff. But seriously, I thought they would at least educate you on basic concepts of witchcraft. I know the Oath is strict, but you run the academy after all.¡±

    ¡°Magistern don¡¯t need to know concepts of witchcraft to perform their duties, as a rule. When we do, they can be explained to us on the ¡®need to know¡¯ basis.¡±

    ¡°I guess I can tell you something then, but there¡¯s also¡­¡±

    She turned to look at Hane, who was going through the folders in a book case opposite her desk.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. I¡¯m under the Oath.¡±

    Though conscious of what was going on in the room, she remained focused on her object of search, replying without interrupting her motions.

    ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t know they require female workers to take the Oath.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t as far as I know. Hane, you¡¯re not a witch, are you?¡±

    This subject peaked the Magister¡¯s curiosity.

    ¡°I am not.¡±

    ¡°Which means¡­¡±

    ¡°That I am a drop-out.¡±

    Looking at Aeri, the Magister didn¡¯t notice her face displaying any distinguished reaction.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem surprised.¡±

    ¡°Why should I be? You don¡¯t even imagine what it is like to study at Vanguard. Our academy ranks first by the number of failed students. No wonder she didn¡¯t make it.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t fail. I quit.¡±

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°Disappointment in the world of witchcraft.¡±

    ¡°Disappointment? Sorry, but I cannot imagine what kind of disappointment would lead someone to trade witchcraft for papers.¡±

    ¡°Papers, huh?¡±

    Hane immediately stopped browsing through the contents of the folder in her hands. She closed it and turned her attention to Aeri with a look that sent chills down her spine.

    ¡°Of course. Because doing paperwork isn¡¯t as fun as wielding fire and lightning to cause destruction? Who would want that, right?¡±

    Hane steadily approached Aeri. Even just one step away from her, she wouldn¡¯t stop, forcing Aeri to start walking backwards.

    ¡°Oh, and I can¡¯t even express how much value your tools of destruction bring to society compared to ¡®papers¡¯ that keep institutions like yours running.¡±

    They eventually ended up with Hane almost pinning Aeri in a corner between another book case and a wall.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m¡­ sorry.¡±

    For the first time the Magister witnessed the opposite spectrum of Aeri¡¯s emotions: fear. It seemed as if Aeri would start crying if Hane pushed a little further. He was about to intervene and calm Hane down, but before that became a necessity, she just silently walked back to the book case.

    Exhaling with a relief, Aeri returned to the Magister.

    ¡°Sheesh. That is one scary lady. Are you sure she is not a coven witch in disguise?¡±

    Almost whispering, she cautiously looked in Hane¡¯s direction, as if waiting to make another apology had she heard it.

    ¡°No. The coven witches are much scarier. Terrifying even.¡±

    The Magister recalled his earlier encounter with the coven witch. Even though his determination had repelled any fear, he could clearly evaluate the threatening nature of her message.

    ¡°What? You¡¯ve already met them?¡±

    ¡°Uh? Oh. No, it¡¯s just what I¡¯ve heard. Anyway, back to the topic. You were saying something about arcane¡­¡±

    ¡°Machina.¡±

    Aeri sighed, seeing this situation as if she had been a teacher about to explain the basics of math.

    She lifted the belt from which her contraption hung, bringing the device closer to the Magister¡¯s face.

    ¡°This is called an arcane contraption. It¡¯s a highly sophisticated mechanism that we use to perform extraction invocations. It has its drawbacks compared to other types of invocations, among which is bigger size required for more complex invocations. I am a contraptionist: I rely on an array of arcane contraptions. Harin is the opposite: she is¡­ well¡­¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Just say how it is.¡±

    ¡°She bestowed the title of an omniscionist on herself. Though technically she is an arcenist. She focuses on developing invocations by transposing aspects of different elements. And she uses what is called an arcane machina. It is even more sophisticated and bigger and heavier than my Arc Emitter as a result. She wouldn¡¯t be able to lift it if it wasn¡¯t for special alloys. It isn¡¯t fragile, but still requires regular maintenance. So, no, an accidental invocation is out of the question.¡±

    The Magister recalled Aeri¡¯s earlier words about any fellowship being limited to a kol, which brought up another theory.

    ¡°Could someone have damaged it?¡±

    ¡°Damaged it? You mean on purpose, like sabotaging? No. Firstly, a witch either carries her arcane contraption with her or leaves it behind so many locks and traps that it would be easier and safer to try and take it from her hands. Besides what¡¯s the point? An arcane contraption is a product of a witch¡¯s own skills and knowledge, so any damage can be repaired.¡±

    The Magister tilted his head forward, rubbing his forehead. At this point, nothing he had tried to come up with had brought them closer to an answer.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start from the very beginning. Why did Harin approach her, again?¡±

    ¡°She said that she found an arcane contraption that belonged to Harin¡¯s family.¡±

    ¡°Arcane contraption that belonged to Harin¡¯s family? Like some kind of a relic?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Harin comes from a family of inventors. Her mother is not a witch though, so she is not a hereditary witch, and she never mentioned anyone among her ancestors being a witch.¡±

    ¡°And how did she find it?¡±

    ¡°Well, not exactly found. Oh, right, I remember now. She told me that she had overheard two Vanguard students discussing a heritage work and she had known where it had been.¡±

    Aeri noticed confused expression on the Magisters face.

    ¡°It¡¯s a term we use to describe any work of witchcraft of the past. Before covens. The arcane contraption she ¡®found¡¯ appears to be one of those.¡±

    ¡°Is that common? I mean finding heritage works.¡±

    ¡°Ho, no! Do you think covens wouldn¡¯t search every nook and cranny of the habitable land? Whatever could be found has already been found. And whatever is still out there is nigh impossible to find.¡±

    ¡°But she didn¡¯t find it. You said she overheard Vanguard students discussing it.¡±

    ¡°And I find it hard to swallow. To stumble upon a contraption, I could attribute it to luck. But to know where to search? No, she definitely lied. She must have wanted to avoid more trouble. And I fell for that.¡±

    ¡°Something doesn¡¯t add up.¡±

    ¡°That is exactly what I was saying.¡±

    ¡°No. I mean, why craft such an elaborate lie? She could have just told you it was a lucky find, and it would be more convincing. And on top of it, she didn¡¯t mention just any students, but students of your academy. If she wanted to hide something, that would be the worst option.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I already mentioned how fellowship is not a thing here? Nobody tells others anything, be it witchcraft related or not.¡±

    ¡°But does she know that? I didn¡¯t know that.¡±

    A corner of Aeri¡¯s mouth showed a glimpse of her clenched teeth, reluctantly admitting his point.

    ¡°How did Harin find out Orena had the contraption?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t have a chance to ask: there was too much for me to process at the moment. But the fact that she did not tell me, Sumi, or Minali could only mean that it happened in our absence.¡±

    The Magister took a moment following the chain of events from one end to the other, trying to add another link.

    ¡°It looks like we¡¯ve hit a dead end.¡±

    Aeri felt disappointed, but only for a moment. Expecting the Magister to solve the puzzle with fragments of evidence that didn¡¯t seem to make sense would be too much. And she understood it.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve helped¡ª¡±

    ¡°I am going to speak to Orena.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°There are just too many unknowns. Everything that you described points to too many coincidences: her overhearing a conversation, the conversation being related to something incredibly rare, her knowing the location, Harin finding out about this, and¡­ the only thing that falls out of the picture is their clash. We must be missing something.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ everything seems oddly convenient.¡±

    Aeri followed the chain of events the Magister had recited, up to the conflict between Orena and Harin. She still failed to imagine Harin attacking her, but it triggered a recall of the recent accident that had occurred at the dorm.

    ¡°And now that I think about it, how could Harin¡¯s machina release an invocation even if it was damaged? It doesn¡¯t incorporate infused cores. A mere touch would not trigger an invocation without an infusion. It¡¯s almost as if someone¡ª¡±

    A bright flash filled Aeri¡¯s vision.

    With her eyes starting to recognize colours and shapes, she saw a familiar face in a place she had recently been to.

    Orena was walking down a lively street. Her mind seemed preoccupied as could be judged by her eyes fixed in their sockets rather than focusing on anything around her.

    As she approached her destination, she was taken out of her thoughts by the voices of two girls sitting by an outdoor bar. There were three more seats vacant, but she hesitated to take one of them as those students were from the Vanguard Academy.

    With both girls wearing black-edged grey uniforms and facing the bartender, they could be distinguished only by hair, the girl on the right in particular. Being poorly cut, locks of her wavy shoulder-length hair were sticking out like spikes here and there. And if it wasn¡¯t enough, they were carelessly dyed brown, resulting in a shiny bronze colour. A few locks she had missed and the roots revealed her natural golden colour. The other girl, on the opposite, had her green-tinted light-grey hair neatly done in a long braid.

    Just as Orena was about to walk away, a word dropped by the girl on the left caught her attention.

    ¡°Heritage work? Leads? Somebody must have played a joke on you.¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye. I just wanted to run it by you. Just in case, you know.¡±

    ¡°It might have been worth a shot, but a mansion in the Heruson forest? Not only is it located on the outskirts of Inakray, you know the size of it? Definitely somebody wanted you to spend a few days there wandering around.¡±

    As if illuminated by something they had mentioned, Orena changed in face, which vanished in another flash, which took Aeri to a clearing in a thick forest.

    Orena was making her way to a fa?ade of an old mansion, walking between two overgrown rectangular indentations in the ground. Supposed to be filled with water from three square columns down the middle of each, they would now only accumulate rain water in large shallow puddles.

    The right side of the mansion¡¯s front doors was slightly open, just enough for Orena to squeeze through. The wooden fibres of the floor cracked under her foot as she stepped in, screaming of years, if not decades, of decay.

    The clouds in the sky gave way to the sun, its rays illuminating the interior through the holes in the roof and collapsed window frames while barely piercing layers of dirt accumulated on the glass of a few surviving windows. As the light hit the floor, it revealed two sets of footprints. Somebody had been here, and not too long ago.

    Orena followed the footprints around the site eventually returning to the point of entry. As could be judged by the density, the visitors had been thorough enough, and anything of value must had been found.

    One more lap through each hallway and inside every room yielded no discoveries: all doors were open, every composite objects dismantled, and any fragile thing shattered to pieces.

    She looked disappointed, though just a little: she must have not had expected to make any findings, just like the two girls she had overheard.

    Already at the entrance, wood cracked again¡ªbut this time, not under her feet. It came somewhere from the passage on the second floor to which a stairway from the lobby led.

    She ascended, looking all around her. Given the state of the building, anything could have made this sound.

    As her glance dropped from the ceiling to the floor, she noticed something strange about a baluster in the railings. From a crack in it a shining emanated, as if reflecting the light. A closer look revealed something metallic inside.

    Orena grabbed the baluster at the top, giving it a slight push. Feeling how it easily moved, she grabbed it with the other hand at the bottom and pulled it. The baluster came off, leaving behind torn holes in rotten-through wood.

    She noticed that moss on the surface formed a straight line, splitting it into two vertical parts held together by two metal rings at the top and the bottom. Despite the rust and the swollen fibres of the wood, the rings came off without much resistance. The two parts of the baluster came apart just as easily as she pushed them in opposite directions. The inside was hallowed out to fit a long cylindrical object, which had two pincer-like elements placed in a cross on one side and a smaller cylinder protruding on the other.

    Whatever it was, a smile that appeared on Orena¡¯s face meant that she found something of interest.

    Upon exiting the premises, she encountered two faces, the faces she had not had an opportunity to look at before: the girls in grey uniforms.

    Orena and the girls froze in their places. The gaze of the girl with the weird hair style fell onto the artefact in Orena¡¯s hands. She then exchanged glances with her friend. Just as the other girl opened her mouth, an exclamation came out of it when she received a whack on her head.

    ¡°Here¡¯s your ¡®joke¡¯. Told you we should have come here right away. Hurry, there still might be something we can find.¡±

    She then hasted to enter the premise passing Orena by, as if ignoring her presence.

    Once inside, they waited for Orena to leave.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s noticed.¡±

    The short-haired girl was cautiously peeking through a gap in the doors, while her friend leaned against a closed partition, her arms folded.

    ¡°We¡¯ve taken too many precautions. She needs to be a genius or a detective to spot something. She managed to find it on her own after all.¡±

    A flash hit Aeri again, taking her to the walls of the Vanguard Academy.

    Her friend, Harin, was walking there when a shout from behind made her look back while not slowing her pace. She stopped only when she felt her arcane machina hit something.

    ¡°Ouch!¡±

    A girl sat on the ground in front of Harin, rubbing her forehead. The same girl with a braid that had appeared before at the mansion.

    ¡°Aaaah! Sorry, sorry, sorry, I wasn¡¯t looking ahead. I¡¯m so sorry!¡±

    Harin pressed a button on the handle of her machina, forcing the belt to detach at the back and pull inside the handle. She placed it on the ground beside her and got down to the injured girl, rummaging in her handbag.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sorry, sorry. There must be something cold.¡±

    A purple-eyed girl in the same grey uniform with a long coat and trousers approached Harin from behind. Her long white hair hung a few centimetres from the ground as she knelt. While Harin was distracted, the girl¡¯s hands made a few subtle touches applying small pieces of paper to the machina. Upon contact they instantly burnt away leaving behind patterned marks: two smaller ones on the button of the handle and the trigger on the grip and one larger one on the side of the main body. The marks were distinct yet unnoticeable unless looked at closely.

    ¡°Sorry, sorry, sorry. I can¡¯t find anything. Ah! Here, use this.¡±

    Harin lifted her machina from the ground just as the girl pulled her hands away, and stretched the device towards the girl before her.

    ¡°You are overreacting.¡±

    The purple-eyed girl¡¯s voice was even and calm, almost blending with the environment.

    ¡°It is nothing serious. Right, Eunah?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°You are quite strong for someone your size.¡±

    Harin looked at her with a puzzled expression. She then redirected her gaze to her machina.

    ¡°Ah, no, no. It¡¯s actually not that heavy. I used super light alloys for the most part. I would have also incorporated wood, but my machina combines the effects of combustion and electric discharges. Also, the cataclytic cores are stored inside without rigid containers¡ª¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to tell all these details to rival witches?¡±

    ¡°Rival? We are students of the same academy, are we not?¡±

    ¡°We are, but¡ª¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye, I know. Aeri always nags at me for doing this, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯m showing you the schematics. Besides, even if you were to replicate my machina, what of it? It¡¯ll just motivate me to whip something else. It¡¯s not a problem for an omniscionist like me. So I see no problem giving ideas to my fellow aspiring witches.¡±

    The brows above the purple eyes came together. Not that much to show strong emotions but enough to indicate that something about that response displeased her.

    ¡°Hm? Did I say something wrong?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just that¡ª¡±

    ¡°Say, is this your kol¡¯s emblem?¡±

    The girl on the ground pointed at an engraving on the grip of Harin¡¯s machina, which depicted a gear inside a drop with two wrenches in a cross formation on the background.

    ¡°Oh, this? It¡¯s my family emblem.¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­ a hereditary?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no, no. We are inventors. There were no witches in my family. Not that we know of.¡±

    ¡°I swear I saw it on another contraption¡­ Oh, right, it was that Sorceress student.¡±

    ¡°Sorceress student?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We encountered her the other day when we were going to search for a heritage work in an abandoned mansion, but she beat us to it. Though it looked more like a big cataclytic core than a contraption. It definitely had the same engraving on it.¡±

    This information caused a surge of agitation in Harin. She immediately grabbed the girl by the shoulders, forgetting she had injured her just a moment ago.

    ¡°Who was it? Where? I must have a look at it!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°What did she look like?¡±

    ¡°Like any other Sorceress student. Sorry, I only remember her being around my height and having short grey-greenish hair with braids and green-tinted grey eyes.¡±

    Harin jumped up, picking up her machina and pulling the belt over her shoulder as she ran into the distance.

    ¡°Thank you very muuuuuch!¡±

    As another flash happened, Aeri saw Harin again, in a hurry barely catching her breath. Running along a pathway in a park, she was trying to catch to Orena.

    ¡°Miss Sorceress, Miss Sorceress!¡±

    Seeing as there was no one else around, Orena brought her measured stroll to a halt and turned to face Harin, who stopped a few meters away, bending over and taking deep breaths.

    ¡°Are you talking to me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Sorry, I know that sounds¡ª I was told¡ª Did you happen to stumble upon an arcane contraption recently, by any chance?¡±

    ¡°Arcane contraption?¡±

    ¡°A device like this one.¡±

    Harin tapped her fingers on the metal case of her machina.

    ¡°Well, maybe not like this one. But something similar. Maybe not that much.¡±

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Um, if what I was told is true, it might have been created by someone from my family. I know this¡ª if I could just take a look at it, if you don¡¯t mind?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but it was destroyed when I attempted to dismantle it.¡±

    This response made Harin upset, making her look like a child with big watery eyes who was about to cry, which apparently made Orena feel guilty as could be judged by her saddened expression.

    ¡°Ueheeeee. This must be fate¡¯s cruel joke. Oh! By any chance¡ª¡±

    It looked as if something was physically disturbing Harin as she squinted one eye while rubbing her shoulder under the machina¡¯s belt. She then pushed the button to detach the belt and started moving the machina down when the coils around the rods in the front started spinning.

    ¡°What in the¡ª¡±

    Before she could think, not to mention react, the machina fired, creating a yellow lightning that pierced Orena¡¯s arm. An explosion that followed sent her flying to the side, shredding a part of her dress.

    As Harin was about to run to her, Orena miraculously stood up, angry, her eyes showing glowing patterns. Harin immediately dropped the machina, showing her hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I don¡¯t know how that happened!¡±

    Orena stretched her hand, forcing a strange object to appear beside Harin: two cylinders, one inside the other, rotating in opposite directions. Within it a bright orange light shone through a grid of slits of different shapes.

    The next moment Haring was already down on one knee, breathing heavily.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ really sorry¡­ I honestly don¡¯t know¡­ how this happened¡­¡±

    As the energy ball was forming next to her palm, Orena¡¯s eyes started flickering and her face was showing signs of struggle as if she was trying to get a hold of herself. But just as her eyes returned to normal, an electric discharge, emitted from somewhere behind the trees, hit her in the arm, making it drop numb and release the energy ball from under control.

    The last thing Aeri saw was Harin¡¯s frightened expression as the ball approached her, shining blinding light onto her as another flash took Aeri back to reality.

    ¡°Aeri. Aeri!¡±

    The Magister was standing before her, holding her by the shoulders.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°You spaced out for several seconds. What happened?¡±

    ¡°Datastratum.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°My Brand.¡±

    Her reflexes were answering for her while her mind was processing the events she had witnessed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Magister. Some urgent matters have just come up that I need to take care of¡­¡±

    As she fully came to her senses, her brows came together and creases formed all around her eyes, which the Magister could swear flashed for a moment.

    ¡°¡­very urgently!¡±

    While only her lips moved to render the words, her teeth produced a short screech as they clenched.

    Her anger could be felt with each step she took marching towards the door before exiting and leaving the Magister wonder what could have upset her this much all of a sudden.

    <hr>

 Chapter 4: Consequences

    With the Magister¡¯s eyes running through the lines of a document before him, his free hand crawled across the desk¡¯s surface in a blind search of a cup. Having found it, his hand froze mid-aid just as he was about to take a sip. The cup was already cold. Had he been a witch, he could probably just heat it up in his hand. The thought made him curious.

    ¡°Hane.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Hane answered without looking at him, busy writing something in a journal laid open on her desk.

    ¡°Since you were a student here at the academy, that means you can utilise witchcraft?¡±

    ¡°No, I cannot.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you must have dropped out early.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just¡­ They wouldn¡¯t let drop-outs utilise their knowledge of witchcraft to perform invocations, so they just seal¡­ It requires too much explaining about witchcraft.¡±

    ¡°They sealed your grimoire, I get it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Did you talk some more to that girl after the session? I suggest you refrain from discussing witchcraft with her. That ¡®need-to-know¡¯ rule actually applies to coven witches, not students, so it might get her in trouble if she is not careful.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it was a coven witch who told me that.¡±

    The pen in her hand stopped scratching paper, making the room silent before the next reply.

    ¡°A coven witch?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I met this strange woman the other day, who appeared to be a member of a coven, though from what I can conclude she must be from the Sorceress League.¡±

    ¡°You casually walked into a coven witch who happened to be in the mood to discuss witchcraft with you?¡±

    ¡°Actually, it was she who found me, because she wanted me to resign.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. It was to be expected after your performance at the hearing. So, when are you leaving?¡±

    With her tone changed from concerned to relieved, Hane resumed her writing activity. That didn¡¯t last long as another reply disturbed her peace of mind.

    ¡°I am not leaving.¡±

    ¡°Come again?¡±

    ¡°I am not leaving.¡±

    ¡°I heard you the first time. How are you not leaving?¡±

    ¡°Obviously because I refused to resign.¡±

    ¡°You what?¡±

    Hane pushed herself out of her seat and momentarily appeared towering above him.

    ¡°Do you have the slightest appreciation of life? Your life means nothing to them. Refusing a coven¡¯s demand is asking for a death sentence. And¡­ wait, how are you still sitting here after that?¡±

    ¡°I am not sure what happened, to be honest. When I gave her a response, her attitude somehow changed. And then she approached me and suddenly collapsed. I didn¡¯t know what to do since there was no one around, so I tried a resuscitation method I¡¯ve read about in a newspaper and¡­ it worked. I then went to get help, but when I returned she had already been gone.¡±

    ¡°What? Is this supposed to be a joke? This is¡ª¡±

    Her thought instead continued with a sigh filled with utmost disappointment.

    ¡°But I wasn¡¯t¡ª¡±

    His eyes following Hane as she returned to her desk, it crossed his mind that perhaps it would be better to keep her out of it.

    Having forgotten how his question had come in the first place, he reflexively reached for the cup on the desk. As the cold sensation spread through his palm, he got up and walked to the kettle.

    After a curtain had gone up, his sequence of motions was interrupted when a familiar light-blue uniform appeared in his peripheral vision in the outside square. Leaning against a pillar, one leg in front of the other, Aeri stood in the middle of a pathway connecting the main academy building and gates. At first glance it looked like she was immersed in her thoughts, but her body language told a different story: with arms folded, her fingers were tapping on her left arm; her head was fixed straight, but her eyes were jumping between the students of the academy in the uneven flow of the crowd.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡±

    Aeri appeared to be too focused looking for something, so focused she did not pay attention to the Magister even as he walked up to her.

    ¡°Aeri.¡±

    ¡°Wha¡ª oh, Magister.¡±

    ¡°You left abruptly earlier. Is everything all right?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes. As I said, there is something I need to take care of.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I don¡¯t want to be obnoxious, but you seemed rather upset.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that? Right. I just realised something. It¡¯s not something¡­ it¡¯s just something personal.¡±

    Aeri¡¯s eyes locked on a group of students in grey uniforms walking in the background behind the Magister. Just like Aeri, who had a grey patch with the depiction of a golden gear pierced by an eight-point star with two slanted lines connecting one ray with the next, they had insignia at the base of the right sleeve: square black patch with a black outline of an hourglass the top part of which was shaped like flames and the bottom of which transitioned into an array of dots, as if crumbling. Below it, was a hexagonal patch that¡ªunlike Aeri¡¯s six-point star, which was missing two petals shaped like incomplete rhombuses¡ªwas filled with six hollow triangles.

    The Magister tried to follow her gaze in the search of whatever that had made her look angry, but he did not notice anything out of ordinary.

    ¡°Very personal. Sorry, I must go.¡±

    She then adjusted her contraption belt and disappeared, blending into the crowd.

    ****

    As another day of studies came to an end, there was but one student already outside of the academy¡¯s classrooms. Same place, same pose as it had been yesterday, Aeri had her eyes directed at the top of the academy building. With slanted white walls sharply receding with each of eight storeys, the building resembled a ziggurat, where full-height windows on odd-numbered storeys only cemented the impression.

    The hall bells rang. Her eyes dropped and focused on the building¡¯s entrance as students began emerging from it. She intently stared into the depth of a hall, barely blinking, until a group of students in grey made an appearance. In addition to the three Aeri had already seen, there was also a timid looking girl. A lock of her ash ruby hair appeared to be purposely affixed with two hairclips in a curtain-like manner to cover her right eye, leaving only the left amber eye visible.

    Unlike the last time, Aeri¡¯s face expressed little more than disdain. Before the group crossed the doorstep, she straightened and walked through the front gates.

    The timid looking girl made a few hastened steps, levelling with the purple-eyed girl in the front.

    ¡°Kiara.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I found¡ª¡±

    She cautiously looked around and brought her voice down a little.

    ¡°I looked into it. From what I managed to gather, a Magister stepped in and the hearing was postponed.¡±

    ¡°A Magister¡­ So they decided to keep it under wraps. The covens couldn¡¯t have changed their assessment of her.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a Magister from the Sorceress Academy. He is from our academy. And people even talk about how he got into a fight with another Magister, defending that girl.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. Why would a Magister defend a student of another academy, not to mention get in a fight with another Magister. Could this intervention be the doing of another coven? But if what we know is true, she should be considered a threat to all covens. Yet he couldn¡¯t have acted without a coven¡¯s approval, our coven¡¯s approval. Being a student of the Sorceress Academy, she is of no value to the Vanguard coven, unless they are scheming something with her in mind.¡±

    She stopped voicing her thoughts and instead let them take more solid shape in her mind.

    As the girls navigated the streets, the chatter around became quieter and the air around easier to breathe, until they took a turn down an empty pathway. Only rustling of trees filled the silence as the wind passed through the grove on both sides.

    The light-haired girl with a braid then subtly changed in face when she looked at the bushes along the pathway.

    ¡°Oh, right, I almost forgot I¡¯m running low on fertilizers. I need to visit a shop before they close. See you tomorrow.¡±

    She waived at her friends and hastened the pace, taking Kiara out of her immersed state.

    ¡°Take ca¡ª¡±

    Having barely ran a few metres, Eunah stopped, distracted by a sharp mechanical sound. The source of the sound revealed itself the next moment as four metal cylindrical contraptions shot up from the ground around her. In a second, electricity started running across their surface before expanding and saturating the air around with blinding lightning arcs. The cylinders fell to the ground along with the girl.

    ¡°Ah! Ambush!¡±

    The timid girl pulled up her arcane contraption, which looked like a full-metal crossbow with a short scope, and ran through the bushes.

    ¡°Nali, no!¡±

    When Kiara tried to give her a warning, the girl had already jumped into the thick of the growth, realising the error when she tripped over the wires hidden inside. Electric currents enveloped and shackled her body as she fell with a whimper, residual energy causing her fingers to make a few erratic moves.

    Multiple electric contraptions. This must be her, but why would she¡ª No, the answer is obvious: she has found out. The only question is how.

    Meanwhile the girl with colourful hair nervously cast glances all around her until stopping in the direction of the turn that they had taken.

    ¡°Let¡¯s retreat. There shouldn¡¯t be any traps where we have come from.¡±

    She then accelerated to trace her path back, passing Kiara, who stopped her by grabbing her hand.

    ¡°No, she could be¡ª¡±

    A sound of electric charge accumulating somewhere inside the grove caught her attention. She jumped away, releasing her grip on the hand, just a fraction of second before her friend got hit by lightning. A powerful impact made her stagger backwards into the bushes on the opposite side, where another set of concealed wires knocked her out flat.

    The first trap should have taken out all four of us under the ideal conditions. Nali and Yeona fell victims to contingency. And that attack just now: there was no trigger and the angle it came from was off. That is where she is. The longer I stay here, the more I am at a disadvantage. I have to eliminate it.

    Her hand reached behind her waist, grabbing a white-silver staff-like contraption that hung on her back. With a mechanical clank it detached from the belt tossed diagonally across her torso. The contraption made a spin as she brought it before her, the left hand going to the top into a hollowed out space inside a flat box-like attachment with slanted edges that looked like inverted butterfly wings.

    Her thumb pushed a switch in the clockwise direction around the staff¡¯s axis, making four metal rods at the top retract with two flat arched plates taking their place, after which her index finger squeezed a trigger on the opposite side, forcing a stream of fire to appear as she held the contraption upright. A downwards swing sent a thin vertical wave of flame rolling towards the direction the lightning had come from, cutting through the bushes in front like a blade and leaving behind only scorched ground. Without any delay, she followed the smouldering path.

    Once inside the grove, her eyes started jumping from one tree to another, trying to find the enemy, her muscles tense in the readiness to react. Her body received a signal to jump behind the nearest tree as she caught the same crackling sound of electricity. In a few seconds, lightning hit the tree behind her.

    ¡°I know why you are doing this. Is there any chance we can talk this out?¡±

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that.¡±

    As Aeri answered, her left hand made a swift move detaching two of three metal cylinders at the back of her weapon and placing them into her bag. With the same swiftness, she took out two other and inserted them into circular indentations.

    ¡°We will have plenty of time to talk once I finish beating your face into the ground!¡±

    Aeri pulled her hand from the bag once more. This time, her palm was wrapped around a spherical metal contraption.

    ¡°Be it your way then.¡±

    A blue pill found its way from a breast pocket into Kiara¡¯s mouth just a second before the sphere appeared about five metres above her, drawing attention with a mechanical clank. It broke apart, releasing volumes of water that came down raining on her. She had barely enough time to react: switching her contraption to the previous state, she drew an arc with it over her head in a swing. A stream of expanding fire covered her like an umbrella, evaporating water with a hiss and creating a cloud of steam. An electric discharge followed, hitting her cover again.

    With plates replacing rods on her weapon again, Kiara assumed a stance. Another sphere appeared, this time bouncing over the ground. Being prepared, she made a big step with her right foot, stepping out of the cover and facing Aeri¡¯s direction as her hands made an upwards swing with the staff, hitting the sphere and sending a cutting flame wave behind it. The sphere exploded halfway between them in another big water blast as the wave went through it.

    Standing in the open a dozen metres away with her contraption aimed at the opponent, Aeri jumped and rolled to her left seeing the fire coming her way. Her finger slipped from the trigger, releasing an electric discharge, with the enemy safely away from its path. Aeri immediately took cover behind another tree as she got to her feet. Had her reaction been a little bit slower, she would have taken a hit, so she was lucky to have only an edge of her coat burnt off.

    Holding down the trigger as another charge built, Aeri peeped from behind the trunk, searching for the enemy, whose grey coat could no longer be seen sticking where she had been a few seconds ago. The search did not take long when another wave came her way. She hid again, though the flame went by her position more than a metre away, setting on fire a few other trees.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Did she miss on purpose? She might be trying to have me drop my guard down.

    Another sphere in her hand, she made a throw and waited for the opponent¡¯s reaction. After another scorching wave passed by, accompanied by the sound of water evaporating, Aeri dashed out of cover. She moved in an arc around the cloud whilst it blocked the line of sight of her enemy.

    Just two steps between her and the spot she ran for, her movement got interrupted by a black metal orb that landed there, followed by another one behind her, but much farther away. With them being seemingly thrown in blind, Aeri found a space to jump away, firing in the approximate opponent¡¯s direction at the same time. Just as her feet touched the ground, orbs exploded, engulfing large area in clouds of fire. The flames reached Aeri, yet there was no explosive force behind them. The combustion set a few dozen trees on fire, with the whole surrounding now being lit.

    These contraptions aren¡¯t explosive. Does this mad bitch want to burn the entire grove?

    Aeri coughed, feeling the smoke finding way into her lungs, as the hunger of flames consumed the oxygen. Not only that: with the surroundings burning, her cover options shrunk. The fires, the smoke, and the fog though prevented the girls from seeing each other. Using this to her advantage, she sporadically threw three spheres around her, which saturated the ground with water.

    The fog slowly let some light through, whilst she replaced three cylinders. After the third was fixed in place with a click, she took another, slightly bigger, identical to those that had knocked out Eunah.

    Her eyes squinted, she tried to catch an outline of the enemy, but the enemy revealed herself first when an orange glow pierced the thick of the fog. A throw made the cylinder land a few metres away from Aeri.

    Electric arcs started jumping around the metal case of the cylinder, crackling louder than the charge building inside Aeri¡¯s weapon. The glowing light moved half a metre up in response.

    Aeri fired and lightning lunged forward, though there was no confirmation of the opponent getting hit: no sound, the light did not even move. It took her some time to assess what had happened, time that her opponent used against her: when Aeri heard a metal object land near her and turned to look at it, it exploded. This time there was even no fire, just a shock wave, which filled her ears with deafening ringing.

    While Aeri was dazed, Kiara sprinted towards her staff-like contraption, which was plunged into the ground. Its arched plates were now in a horizontal position, spinning around the centre, and at the top of four rods glowed a ball of concentrated fire. Chunks of soil erupted as Kiara pulled the staff from the ground. Having served as a conductor for lightning, her contraption emanated heat, which she could feel through the lover rubber-wrapped grip as it slowly started softening.

    With a pull of a trigger, the ball thrusted with arrow speed, leaving a tunnelled trail as it tore through the fog. When Aeri recovered, there was no time to evade. She shielded from the impact with her weapon. The flames from the explosion were much more intense compared to the devices that had gone off on the ground, and the explosive force threw her a few metres back.

    Before hitting the ground, she squeezed the trigger and released a charge in the opponent¡¯s direction as soon as her feet gave an uneven balance to her body. It didn¡¯t hit Kiara, but made her hide from it, which gave Aeri enough time to jump behind a large rock. Taking deep breaths as she tried to replenish the oxygen in her lungs in the suffocating environment, it took her a few moments before she could gather her thoughts.

    She is somehow one step ahead of me every time. She stays out of puddles, and even if I manage to catch her in one, the large area covered by water will weaken the charge. But¡­

    Feeling the moist soil through the skin of her palm, she lifted her hand off the ground and looked at the wet brown pieces covering it.

    This might work.

    She took another cylinder and threw it from behind the cover, this time to where she had seen the opponent, as another charge built in her weapon. In response another explosion hit the rock from the opposite side.

    ¡°Seruze voporu minie horodo zamisut tepora.¡±

    As her ears discerned feet touching the ground, she jumped from the cover and moved, following her opponent in a parallel path.

    After the enemy took cover behind another tree trunk, an exchange followed: Aeri threw another cylinder and at the same time had an orb flying her way. She moved away, covering one ear with her left hand, the right hand holding tight grip on her weapon.

    ¡°Myotiro sutane zovia zokomu mizuho¡­¡±

    As if anticipating Aeri¡¯s next move, Kiara stayed there only for a split second and swiftly ran further even before the electric contraption landed near her, and the route that she took seemed to be chosen with caution, putting one trunk after another between her and Aeri. Both contraptions went off on the ground at the same time: electric arcs could not catch Kiara, who was already past their range, and whilst Aeri managed to distance herself from the orb, the air burst it produced made one of her ears ringing again, but not enough to disorient her.

    ¡°¡­vonuto risinim tazovi nisinim suvitom.¡±

    Aeri focused on the spot to the right of the next tree her opponent had hid behind, but Kiara appeared on the opposite side, sending another flame wave in Aeri¡¯s direction. Aeri jumped to the side and fired, but the time it took for her to evade and aim prevented her from hitting the target.

    ¡°Neporu sunei vogonu zupinit vesuruh¡­¡±

    Kiara stepped from behind another tree, throwing a metal orb at Aeri directly and aiming her staff as a blazing ball started forming at its end. Surprise painted her face when instead of evading or hiding Aeri took Arc Emitter and used it as a bat to send the orb flying back. Knowing what¡¯s coming, Kiara ran sideward from it, and with the speed of the flight, was lucky a blast occurred a dozen meters farther from her.

    ¡°Tiruki nosupa rahune furosu tonova!¡±

    As the last word left her mouth, a frost wave covered the ground, spreading in all directions from her in less than a second. The moist ground and all the puddles within ten metres of her turned hard.

    Before reaching a cover, Kiara almost tripped over as one of her feet got glued to the ground with ice. She caught her balance with the other foot that had been above the ground when the wave had hit.

    Got you.

    Seeing electricity lighting up the hollow cage-barrel, there were few options for Kiara and even less time. The ice cracked as the staff¡¯s pointy end got driven into the ground. Lightning stroke just as her hands let go off her weapon. She avoided a direct hit, but the lightning jumped from the staff onto her. Though weakened, the discharge paralysed her for a few seconds.

    Through a tight grip Kiara yanked the staff from the ground, and in response, Aeri pushed the trigger, expecting to release a lightning discharge before her enemy took her aim. To Aeri¡¯s misfortune, her contraption stayed silent, but misfortune hit Kiara as well when the heat of the metal shaft forced her to let go off the lower part of her weapon, where the rubber had already melted away, tilting her aim and making the blazing ball fly a metre above Aeri¡¯s head.

    Neither of them wasted any time: Aeri ejected one empty cylinder as her hand dived into the bag for a replacement, whilst Kiara took an orb from her pouch and threw it between her and Aeri. The contraption combusted, veiling her with a cloud of steam.

    The sound of feet rapidly touching the ground acted as a signal, sending Aeri into a chase as her hands made inept movements trying to finish the replacement on the move. She channelled the strength into her leg muscles feeling how oxygen-devoid air had been making her slower.

    As she tore through the cloud, she caught the opponent¡¯s silhouette trying to distance away. Finally managing to reload Arc Emitter with just one charge, she aimed, but the target vanished behind a fog cloud after another combustion.

    Just a moment before Aeri broke through the visual obstacle, a contraption exploded again, but this time in the air. Coated in fog, Aeri could barely see it shooting down a short burst of fire in a conical shape directed downwards.

    Opponent¡¯s shape appeared in sight once again, yet when Aeri pointed her weapon forward, a pattern appeared on the ground just as her foot landed within it. As if rippled by her touching the ground, glowing lines started drawing a circle crossed by a square with various shapes and symbols inside.

    A qantigram? When did she¡ª

    Her reflexes took control of her body as she made two jumps back. Before she could distance herself any further, an unseen force started pulling her into the pattern. Her feet scooped the ground as she tried to resist it.

    The force wasn¡¯t that strong to pull her inside, but enough to affect the surroundings: it sucked in the air, bending tree branches in its direction as the currents of air doused the flames. The fog and the smoke formed steadily growing mass of black water at the qantigram¡¯s centre. When it reached about a metre and a half in diameter, the force vector reversed, making it burst in a large splash, soaking Aeri, and pushing her back.

    Aeri landed on her rear and attempted to get up when a fire projectile came her way. Having no time to raise Arc Emitter, she shielded with her arm as the ball made an impact. Somehow, the explosive force was weaker than the last time she had been hit.

    She tumbled and landed flat on her back, heavily breathing, the upper left part of her coat burnt away. Whilst she was gathering strength, her blurry vision rendered a grey-white spot, which was gradually taking the shape of her opponent, calmly walking to her. On her way to Aeri, she bent and picked a black orb, etched with two silver circles on top and an array of slits at the bottom, floating in the water that filled a large indent formed in the wake of the burst and placed it into one of her pouches. Another two steps, and she took the pill out of her mouth and returned it back to the pocket.

    She finally stopped in front of Aeri, who responded by picking her weapon, but Kiara did not react in the slightest, holding her staff-like contraption upwards on the ground near her. Aeri could barely hold Arc Emitter steady with trembling hands, her lungs failing to support them with oxygen. Yet the tremor was not only physical, but mental as well: being all soaked, the squeeze of the trigger would electrocute her, and in her state, she would knock herself out. The indifferent look in the purple eyes directed at her told her that her opponent knew that as well.

    ¡°I assume you are ready to talk now.¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡±

    ¡°Why did you attack us?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb on me! You know full well why. You¡¯ve said it yourself.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I did. But I need to confirm my assumption.¡±

    ¡°I know that you are behind the clash between Harin and Orena.¡±

    ¡°And you know that how?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve talked to Orena. I know everything: how you let her eavesdrop on the discussion about a ¡®heritage work¡¯, how you hid a contraption in that abandoned mansion, how you rigged Harin¡¯s machina and pointed her to Orena. I know every little detail of your nasty scheme.¡±

    If the previous answer had not triggered any change in her facial expression, hearing this made her eyes widen.

    How can she have figured this out just from a conversation with that girl? The level of deduction required to do this should be above her abilities. Has my assessment of her been incorrect? Have I missed something?

    ¡°It¡¯s on your face.¡±

    ¡°You are correct. There is no denying it now.¡±

    ¡°Why, you bitch? What did she do to you?¡±

    ¡°You know the answer. It is at the core of our academy. She is simply a competition.¡±

    ¡°A competition? What in the world are you even talking about?¡±

    ¡°She has been working on a contraption that with a high degree of probability would bring her to a breakthrough that I made. I couldn¡¯t let that happen. Though her ending up in recovery was not my intention: I simply wanted her expelled.¡±

    ¡°A contraption, breakthrough? What is this damn nonsense? Even if it were true, how could she pose any threat to you? We are two years apart. Even if it is somehow a part of your graduation plan, that wouldn¡¯t make any difference. If anything, that would force her to work on something else.¡±

    ¡°Graduation? You are na?ve. Do you really believe that graduation is where it all ends? This is only the start. The real competition takes place within the coven, and any advantage you have over others increases your chances of staying afloat. You don¡¯t reveal everything you have to the coven. You will eventually learn this.¡±

    ¡°And Sumi and Minali? Are they also a competition? Am I a competition?¡±

    ¡°It was never in my plans. Your friends¡ª the incident that followed was the result of your own impulsiveness.¡±

    A brief pause followed as she waited for any further inquiries.

    ¡°So, since you have injured three of my friends, I assume we can call this even.¡±

    ¡°Even? My friends are unconscious in recovery. We are nowhere near being even.¡±

    ¡°Then I will have to put you in recovery as well.¡±

    Her finger made a slight move and a blazing ball formed at the top of her weapon. She then brought it in a horizontal position, with less than a metre separating the flames from Aeri¡¯s face. She didn¡¯t fire but waited for Aeri¡¯s response.

    ¡°That is enough!¡±

    The Magister appeared half a dozen metres away, walking to them and placing himself between the two girls.

    ¡°Stranger, it isn¡¯t wise to intervene in a conflict between witches.¡±

    ¡°Even less so to assault a Magister.¡±

    ¡°A Magister? So you must be the one who¡­ people have been talking about.¡±

    She brought her staff back into the upwards position and released the blazing projectile soaring into the sky.

    ¡°In this case, I will leave her to you. I hope you can talk sense into her. Otherwise¡­ next time you might not be around.¡±

    Without waiting for a reply, she started walking away.

    ¡°Looks like she won¡¯t be the only one I¡¯ll have to have a talk with.¡±

    As if a lasso thrown around her neck, these words stopped Kiara in her steps. She turned to look him in the eyes.

    ¡°Magister, don¡¯t waste your time. I assume you have caught our conversation, so you must be thinking that I am a misguided girl, but you can¡¯t be farther from truth. I am nothing like this hot-tempered girl. My actions have been calculated and done in cold blood. Anything you have to say to me I already have an answer to. I am aware of the amorality of my actions towards her friend, but I simply follow the rules of the coven, and the coven follows the rules of nature. I can only wish you luck trying to change any of those. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to tend to my friends.¡±

    She then continued her way, leaving the Magister there paralysed with confusion, before Aeri got up and looked at him.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s with that face?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry, I just¡ª The girls! Curses, I got distracted after I saw them.¡±

    He took a flare gun from his bag, but Aeri grabbed his hand as he was about to point it at the sky.

    ¡°Cool down. They will be fine.¡±

    ¡°Aeri! Even if that girl harmed your friends¡ª¡±

    ¡°I only shattered their Ward.¡±

    ¡°Ward?¡±

    ¡°The Ethereal Ward.¡±

    Recalling the Magister knew little about the witchcraft, her tone became calmer.

    ¡°It¡¯s an invocation that protects witches from external damage and accelerates recovery. It has its limits, but at least it keeps us alive under the conditions any other human would not survive. They will come to their senses in an hour or two.¡±

    ¡°But then your friends¡­¡±

    ¡°What happened to them was not normal. Even by witch standards. That Sorceress witch exhausted us, and we can¡¯t¡ª the rest is just details.¡±

    ¡°If it is as you say, I¡¯ll trust you on this. Wait, you¡¯re injured, we should get you to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Have you been listening to what I¡¯ve just said? Apart from my uniform¡ª¡±

    She became a little embarrassed noticing how the burnt off part revealed a part of her chest and tried to pull the black edge to cover it.

    ¡°¡­this is nothing. There won¡¯t be a trace of it tomorrow. So I¡¯ll get going. You take care.¡±

    She turned away, but there was a load that kept her in place. She ought to take it off first.

    ¡°I should probably¡ª no, I owe you one. Even two. If it wasn¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have sorted this out. So, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    Only wind filled the void of silence, whistling through the branches of the charred grove as the Magister accompanied Aeri with his gaze into the distance before his legs started moving him home.

    ****

    An unfamiliar place. Though ¡®place¡¯ could hardly describe the environment he found himself in. The skies were both up and down, stretching into the non-existent horizon like an endless mirror. They were filled with clouds whose body was that of fire and blood. As if boiling, their magma-like substance formed protrusions, detaching as they transformed into chunks of concrete debris, crushing and turning to dust as they collided with their counterpart in the middle, and then dissolving back into the shapeless mass in reverse.

    But something was strange about him as well. As he looked down, he saw his arms bent, as if carrying something, or someone, but the space there was empty. A shadow blinked in and out of existence: as if an afterimage of someone he held. He tightened his grip, compelled not to let go, even if his force pushed against nothing.

    Something drew his attention. He felt an unseen presence ahead and tried to focus his gaze there. The more he looked in its direction, the more it felt like his consciousness was being absorbed. Darkness started slowly veiling the world around. Among the cracking of fire and crushing of concrete, a sound of mechanical ticking emerged, getting slower and heavier with each tick, along with distant echoes of a cacophony of female voices.

    ¡°We are not your enemies. None of us are.¡±

    ¡°They have stolen our future.¡±

    ¡°There was someone who tried to make a change. Do you know what happened to him, what happened to us?¡±

    ¡°Run! I will stop them. Just run.¡±

    When the last tick resounded, heavy as a lock closing a vault, everything dissolved into nothingness.

    An image began to appear. A face of a girl with long straight white hair, eyes closed. Her skin was covered in bruises and cuts and her grey uniform was torn and riddled with holes.

    She opened her eyes, raising her head, and looked all around, just to find herself tied to a stake in a spacious room. Despite her condition, she was surprisingly calm. She then turned her eyes directly ahead, where a few people were standing concealed by the shadows.

    ¡°Witches burning a witch¡­ ironic. Looking a few centuries back, makes you think who is in the right.¡±

    ¡°There is no irony here: it has always been done by witches. But there wasn¡¯t a single witch burnt, only traitors. We will always prevail over traitors and we will punish them accordingly.¡±

    ¡°Prevail? How exactly do you see yourself prevail? Maybe you think that you prevail by taking my life? You have already killed all of my friends, so taking my life hardly matters. Or do you think that you prevail in numbers, by reducing ours? Remind me, how many of you did Nali take down before you killed her? Four? Maybe five? You can¡¯t replenish your ranks now. Or do you na?vely believe that by killing me you will break the spirit of the others? My death will only fuel them.¡±

    In response one of them only walked out of the shadows and raised her hand, palm facing the ceiling. As she bent her fingers one by one, fires emerged in the stack of firewood below the girl¡¯s feet. The flames shrivelled when she looked down at them, as if rivalled by her cold look. She then redirected her purple eyes back to the shadows.

    ¡°Mark my words: your time is borrowed. The fires that I have started will eventually consume you all.¡±

    The flames grew and burnt more intensely, erasing the scene before his eyes, until the Magister woke up in his room, feeling all tired.

    It¡¯s still dark. Have I even slept?

    His assumption was quickly discarded as the first ray of light hit his peripheral vision through a curtain.

    It feels as if I have fallen asleep just a moment ago. How come this is morning already?

    But there was something else that disturbed him. Something that he had not woken up with ever before: a lingering ominous feeling that he could neither explain, nor shake it off.