#apprentice izzy

Finally, they stormed out with vexation during the meeting with the florists who stupidly managed to order 20 bouquets of the incorrect flowers. Nasmira who was with Izzy, was quite surprised st the sudden outburst of anger. However, the green haired sister merely picked it up the conversation to fix the mistake, with only a worried glance towards the apprentice. 

Blinded with the emotions raging through their veins, they tore through the palace, not quite sure what they were looking for. Finally, they reached a balcony that out looked the palace gardens and was far away enough from people where they could catch their breath in solitude.

It was just so difficult. Why couldn’t things be easy for once?

Irritably, Izzy brushed away the few drops of wetness from their eyes. There wasn’t any time for this. Really, there wasn’t any time at all.

The apprentice heard someone approach from behind and made no move to acknowledge them - it was probably Nasmira, surely wondering why they had stomped away angrily. With a huff of annoyance, they hoped that whoever the person was would take a hint and leave them alone.

“Well, that was disrespectful.” 

Izzy whirled around in shock, surprised to hear his voice, of all voices. Valerius was standing there, looking quite peculiar without a some kind of wine glass in his hand. 

“Sorry,” the word barely crossed their lips as they stared in surprise at the consul. “What do you want?” The apprentice didn’t mean for the words to sound so accusatory and winced at themselves. To his credit, Valerius took it in stride and didn’t acknowledge it. Placing his hands on the railing of the balcony, he moved next them.

“Wine. However, when don’t I want that?”

“I could use some, too.”

“Is something not to your liking?”

Izzy snorted. “You could say that.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as they watched the serene scene of the white clouds drifting by lazily in the stretching sky.

“I think you are ... doing a good job,” He half muttered the last part of it so it was mostly unintelligible, but the apprentice understood most of his words. Izzy snapped their head to goggle slightly at him.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“You definitely said something along a compliment.”

“You’re talking nonsense, now,” he huffed, turning to go back inside. Even though he couldn’t see them anymore, Izzy raised an eyebrow. 

“Good luck, I suppose, with your endeavors.” 

His steps faded away with sure movements and Izzy’s eyes flickered to rest on the ram sculpture in the garden. The side of their mouth curved up in pure joy. Contently, they touched the place where their heart was in their body.

“I’m not afraid,” they said bravely. “I’ll face any challenge, no matter what it may be. I’ll figure it out... I’ll come back to you.”

“Not alone, you won’t.” Valerius turned to the apprentice. A surprised expression crossed their face.

“Consul? What are you talking about?” They leaned in from the other end of the table. Valerius put down his wine glass roughly, wine spilling and swishing out from either side.

“Do I need to spell it out for you? I want to help you, something I infrequently do. Tell anyone and this entire ‘help’ is off the table.”

“...I understand. Why, though?” Izzy squinted, surprised by the consul’s course of action. 

“Do you need to ask?”

The apprentice said nothing for awhile, setting down their fork and staring at the plate of luxurious food.

This quieted the apprentices briefly. A purple haired Countess appeared in Halla’s mind and she smiled to herself automatically. Izzy glanced down with a grin as they thought of the wine loving consul they had buzzing in their thoughts. Ross’s mind went to the masochistic troublemaker they went everywhere with; a side of their mouth quirked up in amusement. Only thinking of what had followed after the elusive magician told her about the mission, Isla blushed a bright pink. 

“Y-yep,” she agreed. Ross raised their eyebrows, but didn’t question her red cheeks.

“Ooooh~” Izzy, unlike Ross, wiggled their eyebrows playfully and slyly grinned. “Did you do something naughty, Isla?” Halla laughed at this, a sparkle in her eyes, the sound of it sweet and infectious.

The heat in Isla’s cheeks only rose even more. “H-hey, it’s not like you guys don’t do things with your significant others!” she protested. “We should focus on the task at hand.”

A contemplative silence fell over the four, as they thought of what lie ahead - certainly, it wasn’t something to be desired. Something was eerily haunting the palace, the apprentices' lives, and Vesuvia itself. They had to find it - or perhaps be doomed.

“Come on,” Izzy said, their amber eyes shining determinedly, “I’ll lead. Let’s get this over with.”

“I’ll bring up the back,” answered Ross. Halla smiled reassuringly at Isla before the two girls followed Izzy, Ross on their heels.

“Wow, the air is almost as tense as when we first met,” commented Halla. Izzy broke their let’s-do-this composure and laughed while Isla ducked her head; All four of them agreed to meet at Ross’s place when they had been first informed of the mission - it was the most convenient for everyone. Isla and Izzy thought it would be a nice idea if they baked something quick for the four to share, only to make a huge mess in the oven, as they had placed Isla’s sweet potatoes in the oven without pricking them first. Naturally, the potatoes exploded.

“I’m sorry again, Ross,” apologized Isla with a tiny laugh. “I don’t really cook or bake.”

“Neither do I,” Izzy added, grinning. Ross ran their fingers through their hair, remembering how incredibly surprised and irked they were when they found the cooking catastrophe; it wasn’t too bad though, all of the apprentices helped clean up afterward. Isla and Izzy apologized profusely afterward, Halla cheerfully happy with the apprentices’ bonding - despite the situation, and Ross somewhat annoyed yet a tiny smidge amused.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you guys worried?” Halla inquired. A tiny portion of her was antsy, but a larger part of her was determined to protect the Countess she adored.

“Nah - we have a good balance of magic between us.” Ross commented.

Halla did have to agree with that - her magic was mostly focused around healing and illusion, which was the opposite of Izzy, who used necromancy, blood magic, and hexes. Isla’s and Ross’s went more hand and hand - Ross was the master of divination, as they used runes, tea leaves to read the future, practiced chriomancy while Isla’s specialty was reading the stars for the future as well as producing stars of energy for battle purposes.

The air seemed to grow thicker and thicker, as if it trying to choke the four apprentices in the dark hallway while their footsteps echoed mysteriously as they tredded carefully. Izzy anxiously glanced left and right in a quiet rhythm while Halla and Isla automatically clung to one another. Even Ross who normally was unshakable, looked unease. Nervously, the four apprentices kept their eyes peeled open, on the look out for anything that could attack them. It was beginning to be hard to see, so Isla silently formed small stars of light that twinkled like fireflies on a summer's night around the group.

Cobwebs were hanging left and right, the intricate thin lines of string reminding Isla of how fragile the apprentices were - given the wrong moment in time where one wasn't paying attention, one had their back turned, or even one was blinking could be a move that would send them to their death.

"The only thing lacking here is the creepy music before something gets us," Izzy whispered.

"Umm, if I had the power to turn back time, I'd go back and not do this," Isla said, clearly frightened. "I'd rather not die today."

"You won't die alone, you'll have us." Halla murmured softly. "Whoever - or whatever - is out there, it can't kill one of us without killing all of us."

Suddenly, a willowy noise erupted from the far end of the corridor, startling the apprentices. It was a sound of pure horror - as if something completely inhumane was in agony. Before covering her mouth, Isla uttered a small scream while Halla jumped out of her skin, trembling. Ross balled their hands into fists as Izzy bounced back in alarm into the other apprentices, knocking them into the floor accidentally.

A goat with vivid red eyes appeared before the apprentices on the ground - its horns were tall and its transparent fur snow white. Towering over them, it glared and growled viciously while each of the apprentices shrank back.