#divine-collosus

You would believe that a school that has kindergarten, middle school and high school would have a gigantic canteen. Well that’s true. But the architects who build the school never thought that the number of students will ever grow to such big numbers. And now the ones who had to suffer from the consequences of these choices would be the ones who are getting too late to get even a seat… or the weakest of the food chain: the kindergartens.

Neither the weather was trying to help the younger ones with sunshine and clear blue skies to have no problem eating in the surroundings of the school. It was more likely mocking them by rain and strong winds. Yes, the children were prepared for such ugly conditions of the Mother Nature since their parents were adamant that the health of their children wouldn’t suffer from the harsh conditions of the weather. But let’s just say it: Almost nobody likes to eat his lunch under the rain.

Knowing the pain of not finding a table where to sit, as soon as the bell rang, all the students of the 7M class run out with the hope of being between the first groups who would be present in the canteen.  Their last class was History Magic with one of their beloved teachers, Desirée Orkan. She was one of the eldest teachers but one of the sweetest too. Although she was a strict woman when it came to teaching and culture, her classes were always fun and interesting. It was like she could transform even the most boring subject into a worldwide debate that needed to be solved as quickly as possible. She also gave to the younger ones of the class a grandmother feeling. As if she would always be there, waiting for you in a cottage, with a cup of warm tea and a big old storybook for anyone who liked to hear great stories.

Everybody, including the teachers, knew about the problem with the canteen. She immediately thought of suggesting this theme in the next teacher meeting and propose some renovations for the next summer vacation. Now she just had to find a way how to bang that idea into the thick skulls of Lamont Mitten and Oswald Syd without getting to a physical confrontation with the latter. The school was no place for violence. She repeated this rule to her students basically every week. Anyway, she often had the urge to ignore that rule whenever she was in the same room as Oswald. From the first moment they met the both didn’t get along whatsoever but in the honor of their precious Queen they would respect each other’s boundaries.  But there were still incidents when they would just try to get under the skin of each other, resulting in the last principal before Gabbi, Stig A. Aker, reprimanding them like children.

The classes have been like always for Desirée although the new student quite surprised her. She already knew the 7M class would have a new student so the new presence of a child didn’t startle her. But… during classes the girl really showed a greater level of knowledge than the one she was supposed to have. At first, Desirée thought it was just a coincidence but after she had done purposely a question about a subject the students never heard of still, the riot between the own members of the anarchist group that fifty years ago used to create malice around the capital of Victubia, which also led to a great number of lost lives at the time, the girl – Vyper Gates – answered her like the incident happened a few days ago. It was clear she didn’t knew which subjects her other classmates had yet heard of so when she had seen the confused faces of her new acquaintances and possible friends she realized that she wasn’t supposed to know such information. Desirée afterwards made a joke of how she forgetful was and that just in that moment realized she still didn’t told the children about that specific riot. Everyone laughed at the realization and tried to make silly jokes of the moment. Desirée seeing the shock from earlier she somewhat, not knowing why, expected a deadly glare from the little girl. But the only thing she did was blushing while her friends – Lily, Dj, Marthus and Tom – began to ask her questions excitedly. The elderly teacher felt something amiss. She felt as if she was watching Oswald masking his feeling like any other time the Queen Minx was gracing them with her presence. She felt angry and at the same time confused. Why would a little girl try to mask her feelings? Also, any time she would take a glance at her, there would be a wave of familiarity. As if the little student reminded her of someone, but she just couldn’t place who it was. But it was impossible since the reports were saying she was coming from other far-away kingdom.

When the bell rung, she saw that the little group was trying to escape towards their oh so beloved lunches but she wanted to have a word with her newest student.

“Excuse me can I have a word with your little friend, Lily?” She mustered the best smile she could get since she didn’t wanted to scare them off.

With uncertainty Lily looked at Vyper but the latter immediately took the initiative saying: “Hey, how about you go first to lunch? I think I can get there on my own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course. I may be a ditz with directions but I could follow the sound of chatter.” The sea-eyed girl replied to the curly girl.

“Umm… Ok, if that’s what you wish… But I will try to keep you a seat. See ya.” And there the little president left with the hopes of getting a seat, still uncrushed.

For a few moments there was an awkward atmosphere between the elder woman and the little girl. Desirée didn’t really know how to begin the discussion. Vyper was just standing there in front of her, with a puzzled look to boot. She decided to make small talk before beginning to pry the information out of her unsuspecting student. It was unsettling to see that amount of information at a kindergarten. But somehow she was having the hunch that her new student knew more than what she needed to know.

“Excuse me for taking your time Miss Gates but since I didn’t welcome you properly since the beginning I wanted to do it at the end of the classroom. Welcome to the Victubia Kindergarten and I really hope you will have a great time around here! So, how was your day until now and what other teachers did you met?

Just like clicking a switch, the confident attitude of the girl was switched to a shyer one: “Thank you for welcoming me! I’m sure that I’m going to have a good time around here and I will surely make the best of it! Everyone here is so nice! Even the teachers! Until now I’ve only met Mister Pro, Miss Nilsson, Miss Doodz and Miss Wynnn! They are really kind persons, just like you Madam Orkan! I’ve got my hopes high if I think all the teachers here are nice?”

Just by that hopeful and optimistic question, Desirée’s heart began to grow at the sight of such little girl. But somehow her rational part still couldn’t be convinced by the innocence this child was showing. It seemed too perfect, as if the girl in front of her was reading an invisible script. And that feeling of hate she felt during class… There was something wrong in all this. And most of the times her gut feelings never betrayed her.

“I’m really sorry sweetheart but you must know the saying: In every big family there always must be a black sheep. And unfortunately we’ve got some in this school too. I hope those persons won’t deter your vision of the school.” That was really the truth. The first persons who came to Desirée’s mind were the despicable Oswald and that uncultured Lamont. But it was no use to lie about the fact that there weren’t others to look out for. Ugh, just thinking of this was creating headaches to Desirée.

There were groups of troublemakers around the school. The majority of groups were small and those were just trying to make pranks or to get attention for minor problems through violence. But those groups were nothing in comparison with the two main ring leaders of those groups: Leila Rebecca Morpheus or as she is known around the society as Leila Mara and her right-hand man Salem Thorne, the only child and survivor of the Thorne dynasty.

To say the truth, Desirée would have never thought of Leila as a problem child. Yes she always had been a temperamental child and quite easy to anger but Desirée just thought that it must have run from her father, Lucas, since she also gave him classes in the past and she knew how easy was for him to blow up. How amusing to think that easily annoyed, cheeky time-bomb grew up and became a respectable gentleman who inspires respect and who honors the Morpheus name. But it would be an atrocity to say that kid had a happy life before his marriage… She may not bring up sad memories right at this moment. Anyway, Leila never struck her as an evil character. And if she thought about it, her change from a searching-attention child to a real troublemaker happened too quickly. It was too deliberant to seem real in the first place. Like her previous attitude would have been an illusion and her current self her true self. A mature and mischievous grown-up woman who just seeks domination and power over others. Or better said… It wouldn’t be the other way around? Desirée would have never thought she will come to such lengths just to have power. Bulling others, organizing shows that support violence, spreading false rumors around the school, making people fear her presence and many other awful things Desirée just could feel ashamed imagining or even thinking about. Although it was hurting her the concept of seeing Leila crumble down, Desirée knew she needed to be caught once and for all. But it was impossible without physic evidence.

It was true; nobody had evidence on her or her little group. Although everyone supported the idea that she was the ring leader behind every little evil scheme she would do… Nobody could incriminate her without evidence for the fear of the up-coming humiliation and pity but also because of the fear of Leila’s wrath. The teachers weren’t scared or anything but their credibility would crumble for accusing a random child out of nowhere. It just proved how good at erasing evidence was her henchman, Salem.

Desirée gave him classes too. Salem has been always an introverted child. Desirée always thought that maybe because of the tragedy that his family suffered made him paranoid of the world. Anyway that wouldn’t explain why he befriended Leila. Because of his appearance he would easily get other children scared so almost nobody wanted to play with him. And neither him accepted the invitations from the brave children. Leila was an attention-seeker so she always loved to be with other people. Since the moment Leila’s power and reputation grew around the school with the help of Salem and her other minions, Desirée wandered how Leila and Salem even became acquaintances in the first place. But to think they ended partners in crime… There was something that didn’t add up in all this business. And even if Desirée was curious enough to find out, it wouldn’t be easy at all. And she was also sure her only effort would be enough… She would need somebody’s help.

“Madam Desirée… Are you alright?” The voice of Vyper got her back to reality.

“Umm, yes dear, did you tell me something? I didn’t catch it.” And once again she got trapped in her own train of thoughts. It always felt humiliating for her to daydream around while not in her house. More so before a stranger or someone she just met.

But this is the way she and her husband became acquaintances in the first place. She was spacing out while she got lost in her first visit of the capital. He bumped her, stained her dress. He excused himself and offered to buy her a new dress or at least make it clean once again.

 Typical cliché flick but she still found herself in love with him. And somehow they ended married.

At the time we would have never thought we will get where we are. But fate has always been tricky and truthfully, she was happy where she ended up. It wasn’t the perfect life but she had a roof above her head, she had all the necessities she needed and she was with her loved ones and she had a good job. She didn’t need anything else. She already had everything she wanted.

“No I haven’t said anything but you turned pale all of a sudden. Are you sure you are alright Madam?” Again, the affectionate enough voice touched her heart but not her rational part too.

“Yes, I’m fine child. You not need to worry over me. I wanted to ask you a few questions actually. Could I?” It was maybe too risky to confront Vyper directly about her knowledge but Desirée felt as if she couldn’t beat around the bush anymore. Her curiosity was slowly eating at her and she felt that if she continued to talk aimlessly, she would not be able to get the answers she wanted.

“Umm… Sure! Ask straight away!” Vyper showed no hesitance to answer the questions.

Desirée made some questions regarding the kingdom the little girl came from. Supposedly it was a kingdom far into the north. Although it was a weird name, it was called Prima Vista. Her household was located in a town at the outskirts of the kingdom. A town called Reindeer. Her mother wasn’t around anymore and her father, Count Lucanor Gates was quite a business man himself and he would always be away in journeys leaving his daughter to study at home under the constant watch of her governess. Apparently, the governess realized the growing anxiety between the little girl and her father so she recommended the master of the house to take his daughter with him in his next trip. And this is how Vyper ended up in Victubia. From the documents her family gave to enroll her in the school, it seemed the story Vyper was sharing was true. It still didn’t explain her somewhat big quantity of knowledge.

“Miss Gates, excuse me if I brought back any bad memories. Please believe me when I say it wasn’t my intention.” Yes, she couldn’t trust yet the little girl but Desirée just could not hurt somebody without really knowing if they deserve it or not.

“Oh, no! There is no problem! I’m already accustomed to this so there is no problem! Anyway it’s not as if we can change the past. Many tragedies wouldn’t have happened then. The only thing we can do is go for a better future.”

Next Desirée asked her how come she knew about the rebellion between the ranks of anarchists. It didn’t have any sense that an outsider would know such event happened. Unless said outsider was connected somehow to said event or had connections with someone in the kingdom.

“Ah, as I said before my father is a big business man and a rather known noble man. Every time he has some free time he would tell me about any kind of historical events that happened in the past or actuality of the kingdoms he visited. This is not the first time my father is doing business in Victubia so I heard quite a lot of stories, be it tragedies or happy moments, about this country… Madam Desirée, you gave me quite the little scare in class.” She ended showing a nervous yet playful smile which would just remind her of someone but who, Desirée couldn’t make it out.

“And how come, Miss Gates? You answered correctly. I see no problem there.”

Did she just saw there a shadow of doubt? Whatever emotion the girl was showing a second ago it was quickly replaced with a shy look.

“Yes, but it’s quite embarrassing to know some things that your other classmates don’t know. It would be so unfortunate if my friends would begin to think I’m a know-it-all. Almost nobody likes this type of person. And neither would I like to give the wrong impression.” And another smile. This was the first time in a long while she was seeing a child smiling so much.

This almost made Desirée think about it. If her new student wanted to hide something, she was doing a good job on it. Every answer she was giving it sounded normal enough and it seemed she wasn’t either messing with her words like her other classmates when they were trying to lie. The feeling of animosity she was feeling almost disappeared but it came back stronger than at first after her new student’s reply to her question.

“Of course not, Miss Gates. We, the teachers and staff of this school, made sure the children who study here would become responsible people who would be able to see through appearances and realize what is better for them and for everyone. I am sure that everyone you met until now welcomes you wholeheartedly in our community.”

“Community?”

“Exactly Miss Gates. Here, at this school, we are all just like a community, a very big family. Do you understand now,… Vyper?” Desirée just couldn’t stop herself from letting a smile on her face just from thinking about her work place.

“Then it’s just like a beehive! Miss Nilsson is the queen bee, the students and the staff are the working bees and the troublemakers are the killer bees. It makes sense. But I wonder… how much time it will be until this community… crumbles.”

Once again the feeling of dread overcame Desirée. It was just like a predator, a snake, was bearing its large mouth, pointing his fangs towards her neck. This time she knew it. In front of her was no longer a child. Just a person full of desire of destruction and despair.

“W-what?” She just couldn’t stop herself from stammering. What just happened?

“Oh, don’t take my words wrong Madam Desirée. I just wanted to suggest such idea. I mean, there were a lot of societies who just died by the littlest of mistakes. For example the great clan of the Umbra Witches from Europe. Until now, nobody knows what really happened to provoke the Witch Hunts but it’s said that it was all fault of just one witch. How many deaths would have never happened if that supposed witch never existed? Maybe we will never know what happened after all. Or let’s take nature for example: the queen bee. She’s always in danger just for being the queen. I mean, she can’t trust anybody around her. What a sad life. Until one day she’s caught with the guard down and BAM”- the sudden exclamation showed how nervous she was right now but Desirée still let her new student talk - “there’s a new queen on the throne and nobody is mourning over the last one. There are also many other species, one of them being humans obviously, who would just do anything to have a little more power. Another good example would be… The Barr family.” Desirée finally realized that behind that innocent smile there was there was always the shadow of a smirk.

“Wait, w-what? How come you…?” Her student didn’t let her finish her line. And it felt as if the snake behind her was also coming slowly but approaching none the less.

“My daddy knows quite a lot of things. And let’s say that rebellion was quite the show for your neighboring countries. A comedy actually. A stupid buffoon trying to take back what was once his from a snake ready to lash out with all the venom she kept hiding from her loyal pawns, only to show it to her natural enemies. Or should I say fire in exchange of venom?”

“And with all the disappearances  that happen right now… I wonder what could those mean? A new enemy, maybe?”

Desirée remained speechless. All the quantity of information she just got… she just couldn’t decipher it. Was this a threat, a warning? Conspiracy thoughts from a child full of imagination? No. It couldn’t be the last option since every word this child was spewing out resembled a little bit of hate and sociopathy. But there was something else too. Something like contempt. Contempt over a victory or something between those lines.

The snake was preparing to jump. It was like the seconds were passing so agonizingly slow.

Heading towards the door, she stopped slowly: “Gilroy Barr was quite an idiot if I think about it. He believed that by just brute force he will win against an enemy more powerful than him. It was his mistake that lead to his death, not our Dear Queen’s sword. There were so many ways to escape of her: assassinations, treason, humiliate her in front of her own people and many other ways to bring her to her own downfall. But he wasn’t patient enough. I think he ripped what he sow. I’m sure that his family beyond the grave was quite disappointed in him. Hmm. The shame of the family Barr. Maybe Victubia’s too. I don’t really know if that’s true or not.” With the bored look on her face it was quite clear she was no supporter of Gilroy Barr. Yes there still were supporters but not as much in the past and at least from the reaction the girl showed, neither their neighboring countries. At least those were good news.

The snake finally jumped at her. Although, to her bewilderment, it stopped in mid-air. The feeling of hostility was gone. As if it has never been there.

She took a look at her student one more time before she took her leave. She was once again showing a smile towards her new teacher as if they just had a chat over a little problem that was now resolved.

“Thank you for listening to me Madam Desirée. I didn’t have in quite a while such discussion with somebody. I really hope our next class will come really soon. Excuse me, but I will need to run if I still want to have lunch with my newest friends. Goodbye Madam.” She closed the door and left down the hallway with her footsteps echoing behind her.

Desirée finally collapsed on her knees. She was quite shaken after her “welcoming speech” with her new student. She didn’t know what to make out of it. She looked at the clock on the wall. It just passed 8 minutes but for her felt like hours. She wasn’t able to get up for a while just for thinking of what had happened.

“What?! Desirée, what are you doing standing there? Are you alright?” A new voice broke her out of her train of thoughts. She recognized it quickly thought.

“Mishy…?”

“Yes, it’s me, Desirée. What happened? Why are you like this?” Mishy Wynnn, one of her fellow colleagues, and a younger teacher, wouldn’t stop her worrying over her senior. She was showing today her usual attire: a deep navy blue, almost black, pencil skirt, light grey stocking, deep blue flats, an white shirt buttoned all the way up, a light blue vest and finishing with an electric blue tie. Just like always her hair was up in a messy bun. Her rimmed glasses, which were bringing attention to her eyes, and her red sheep earrings were present as always.

“Oh, nothing darling. It’s nothing important, trust me. I just think our new student is quite an interesting one.”

“Vyper Gates? I think I had a class with her. She had many questions and was really participating in the classes. Until now, she seems to be a good kid.” Oh, if it wasn’t for their small talk she would have believed that too now.

“Why? Is there something wrong with her?” How could she forget that Mishy was so susceptible and could easily see through things? Red flags were flashing in Desirée’s  mind.

“Oh, no no no no. There is nothing wrong with Vyper. I’m just a bit stressed out. Just a little. Ha ha ha, it passed a month since the beginning of the school year and I’m already like this. I think I would really need to relax this weekend. Yeah, it would really help me a lot.” The only thing Desirée was wishing right now was that she convinced Mishy to just not pry into the subject anymore.

After giving her a glance, Mishy stopped the interrogation and told her that Paul, one of the most charming teachers of the school, needed her help in organizing a project for the high school students.

It wasn’t like she was trying to protect her new student. She just knew that she couldn’t incriminate her with just accusations. Neither her speech was too incriminating.  Both herself and Miss Gates knew she didn’t said anything to let out something which would represent a clue to what was happening at that moment. But neither Miss Gates looked like an innocent fellow in this story. She had too many doubts and it would here been careless to open her mouth without nothing clear.

As she was heading towards the teacher’s lounge, she decided that the only ones who was she going to speak to are going to be Paul and Gabbi. She felt like those two were the only ones who will not declare her crazy after hearing her out. Right now she really needed a breath of fresh air. And the school year just began… Way to go Desirée. But this was Victubia so there was always something going on. Be it a miracle or a tragedy. This time she wished it’s going to be something good. Although the funny feeling she had now just told her something really big it’s going to happen. The bad news: She didn’t knew in whose favor that something it’s going to happen.

As some were walking dejected through the school for the bad weather or problems that were coming up in their life, others skipping spreading positive vibes and laughter through the halls, there was a couple that didn’t fit in any of those two categories. Although it was lunch time, the couple was going the opposite direction from the canteen. It was clear they had other plans for now.

The one who was posing the biggest confidence of those two was a girl with a long curly mane. Her uniform, which showed she was not a magi, a weakness that she found stupid and even if it wasn’t there, it would be all just the same, just made the male students – and some girls too – surround her like flies for showing her nice curses. Any boy would fall in love with her just because of her beauty but most of them were shunned away just by her scowl and deadly glare. Others were just thrown off because of her foul mouth, cruelty and the bad temper she had. Anyway she wasn’t interested in anybody. Many were just worthless cowards or wastes of space. The only thing they were good at was just being easy to manipulate puppets. She didn’t need failures by her side. This was a lesson her father taught her long ago. There was no place for failure. And she got too far. She couldn’t go back now and neither she could make a mistake. While walking down the hall, almost nobody could have seen that the middle child of the Morpheus family – or during school time, the only child of the family Mara - was cooking up a plan for her next big hit. Remembering who she was with, she passed a glance to the boy next to her.

By popular belief, Salem Thorne was the creepiest guy that could ever exist. Stupid girls. They don’t know what they miss. If they would know how fluffy his raven hair actually was. Or what a hot body he was hiding under his baggy uniform. And even thought he looked like a creep he was a really nice guy once you truly knew him. Although it took for her months to truly know him – or speak to him.

Yes, at first she didn’t even wanted to be in the same space as him. Most of people found big and black eye bags unappealing. Neither the fact that he looked like he lived in a cave all his life. And those grey eyes that could stare in the soul of people just by a gaze… were not helping at all, beside in their line of work. But after so many things happened, them being always together - as partners of course -, both being capable persons… understanding each other and trying to help each other… yes, things have changed over the years between them. But she would never go to such lengths with him.

There was no place for failures or weaknesses. Love, crushes, feelings, friendship… any of those can be exploited. They both understood there was no future where they could be together. There was no helping it. They knew it when they began a long time ago. And speaking truthfully… It was far better like this. Even if one of them would be busted or would die, the other will still continue. There will be a new partner like always, waiting. Everyone is disposable. After all Death doesn’t care who you are when it’s your time. Old, young; wealthy, poor; sick, healthy it doesn’t. And the world still continues even if one dies. But at least she could have all the fun she wanted until that day and there won’t be any regrets.

As one of her ignorant classmates would say: YOLO.

She resumed thinking about the details of her next scheme when her thoughts were interrupted by an insolent kid which was running in the hallways humming a melodies and – in her stupidity – passed through the space between her and her companion. The dumb brat didn’t stop from running until the hysterical voice full of arrogance and hate of Leila stopped her: the girl had an interesting shade of purple – kids already died their hair? Or was it natural? It just reminded her of the wife of her arrogant and annoying teacher of hers, Oswald Syd, which was an unnatural shade of dark green, but they were in Victubia so many things who looked fake were actually the real thing.

“Hey, brat! Weren’t you thought manners or what?!” She decided to not throw any insults yet, in case there was a teacher in any of the class and she surely didn’t wanted a half an hour talk about being considerate with the future of our society. Pffft please. As If they didn’t already knew how to swear.

The brat didn’t turn her head for a while. She was thinking about showing the kindergarten student – which could have been one of her little sister’s friends but she could care less at the moment – a piece of her mind but the little thing turned to face her.

“Excuse me but it’s not my fault you two were occupying the entire hallway with your lovey-dovey atmosphere. Bleh!” And she finished making gagging sounds and sticking out her tongue to show her childish disgust towards PDA. One of those moments she expected the stupid brat to scream about cooties. Oh right, those were the boys who were making that kind of fuss. But either way when they grow up they begin to date said girls and all those become memories. Pffft cowards.

And she started once again running supposedly – again as if she would care – towards the canteen. She just couldn’t like children. No, she despised them. Once they fall, they began to cry and scream with their screeching voices for their mommies. And the worst is there are some adults who do that. Yes, she was an attention seeker in her younger days but at least when it was about crying she would keep the tears in. And Linda and – hopefully – her little sister have done and are doing the same. Keeping the tears in. Not shaming the family name of the f&#@-tasting family Morpheus. Even if they had other identities in freaking public, they still needed to protect the family’s honor. Yeah right, better said daddy’s reputation.

She was about to shout some obscenities to that insolent girl but her sharp ears caught the quiet murmur of her partner: “So it had finally began, huh?”

“What began Salem?” At the beginning it was an impossible task to hear what Salem was saying but after years her ears began to catch up on the lower sounds more accurately – another reason why she hated big parties beside the big amounts of idiotic hormonal teenagers. She also found out that whenever Salem was talking out loud he was like whispering. She knew she wasn’t supposed to hear that when he began to brush her off.

“Nothing.”

“Alright, your business. Why did you attached a fragment of your shadow to that little girl though, Salem? Can I know at least that?”

He didn’t looked surprised that I saw him. His face was just like an expressionless mask. Or he didn’t even tried to hide it. Yes, it was for a fraction of a second – for normal people it would be impossible to see it – but he knew she would be able to see it. So what he was playing at then?

“ I didn’t used my magic in days so I wanted to test myself a bit.” And yeah, Leila was supposedly brainless and the magic of Shadow Magis is running out by not using it. Was he calling her dumb or something?

She already knew everything that could be known about Shadow Magi so why didn’t even he bothered to lie to her she didn’t knew. By actual information there are only two known Shadow Magis in the Capital: Salem and Mister Raz Chevalier, her English teacher. Of course she studied them over the time. Their magic was powerful, it was rare, it couldn’t run out and it could be a deathly weapon in the wrong hands. She only saw Salem once lose control over the shadows and the results of it were… terrifying. She couldn’t sleep a week after that incident but it just proved her one thing. Shadow Magis can’t lose control over their emotions… or the shadows would try to devour their beings and anything in their way. She didn’t knew how her teacher was coping with it, but she knew this was one of the main reasons why Salem was so antisocial. The less people, the less emotions. This I one of the many reasons why she didn’t let him alone. Being lonely is not only sad… it’s also scary.

“Yeah you’re not going to tell me poop so why do I try, I don’t know.”

“Can we go to the canteen?” It took her a few seconds to understand what he was saying but she didn’t said anything. In exchange she took his hand and began to drag him towards the canteen. She didn’t knew what was going on in Salem’s mind or if he finally went crazy on her since he hated crowded places. But she knew that if Salem didn’t wanted to tell her anything it was useless to try to pull the words out of him. At least for now. But she had a funny feeling it was something to do with the brat from earlier. She couldn’t see the connection between  the two since all of Salem’s family died in that accident but she would try to found it out later.

After a while, all sound stopped and a person’s voice – precisely a masculine and low voice she recognized – made itself clear.

"Even if you kill her it’s not going to bring anybody back or take away all that pain in your heart.”

Again silence overcame her surroundings until another voice broke it. The voice was kind of distorted but some words were understandable.

"To… th-… -uo... are the….tell me…We are…-rent. May-… you’re… -ger an assas-... cant esc-… the past."

It wasn’t clear if the voice was of a male or female but the hate was dripping from every fragment that could be heard.

Her teacher’s voice made it clears once again.

"It’s true that I have done a lot of bad things in the past. But I was found by these guys and I’m not gonna let you trample all over their happiness and what they believe. Even if I die I will make sure to make it Monday to classes and continue our lessons." A pause. It seems the other voice was reluctant to answer her teacher. Seeing the reluctance he continued.

"It didn’t pass much time since you came but you already formed bonds with everyone. There is a way for you out of the darkness, and you know it but don’t want to recognize it. You’re sca-"

"SHUT UP! YOU PATHETHIC WORM!"

The voice was so strong that Lilianne’s headaches started to feel worse. Again the room was a blurring mess of images and voices. It was unbearable. She wanted to stop this madness. She wanted to punch that second voice just to make it snap to reality. Somehow this person wasn’t getting her scared, if not mad and she felt like there was something uniting her and that person. Something not superficial… if not, something special.

She was trying to approach the person but it was like she was hold back by a foreign force that couldn’t let her move. She even tried to speak but it was as if she lost her voice.

After countless time of trying the person startled her with an ice-cold voice.

"You were always just obstacles in my way. As if I would like to be friends with pathetic people like you."

As if something broke, all her background vanished into black.

"My Lady, are you alright?"

" Um, what?! What happened?!" The little girl said with a start.

"My Lady, you were having a nightmare, I believe. And it’s time to wake up, after all it’s a school day." The maid made Lilianne remember where she was and who she is.

"A nightmare, huh? Alright Mrs. Olga. I’m going to change."

„Ah, and also my Lady, you’re parents have requested your presence at the dining hall for breakfast. They requested the presence of both your bigger sisters also."

"Understood. Thank you for informing me Mrs. Olga. I can prepare alone so you are dismissed." With a smile the maid left alone the little aristocrat.

"What could Mama and Papa have thought by asking everyone to eat breakfast together? Leila will surely be mass of nerves. Must be something big, eh?”

Trying to think about what could have happened, Lilianne tried to untangle her bed-messy hair – which was an impossible task - , changed in her school uniform that was a green skirt with knee high boots, a white, recently tailored, shirt and a black cape with a hood and a sun symbol on the back which meant she was a non-magi student. It was very important for her to have her cape on. It was school rules and she was class president after all so it was no way she could go to school without it.

Making her way towards the dining hall was quite weird since she already got used to the servants kitchen. It was hectic yes, but it was far better than the silent meals with her family. Her parents how they had so much work and neither of the sisters sharing a sisterly bond as they say it’s not even worth it.

"Oh you finally arrived, darling." Not even realizing she was already in the dining hall, just the sweet voice and warm hugs of her mother could break her from her daze. It was something she always loved about her mother.

"Lilianne, get to your seat please. You also darling." And of course her father had to destroy like always the beautiful atmosphere. She never understood what her mother even saw in her father, such a strict cold man, while her, a bubbly sweet woman.

Getting in her seat, she realized Leila and Linda were also there. Her two twin big sisters. Leila was already glaring daggers at Lilianne and the others at the table while playing with her food. Linda, as always was sipping elegantly from her cup of tea and probably being in her own world right now.

Leila Rebecca Morpheus was the meanest and nastiest person Lilianne ever met. Being the youngest of the twins it’s like she took all the hate from her bigger sister by a minute – Linda – and came in the world as one of the most spiteful, vengeful and full of hate woman that could ever existed. She hated everything about her family but her bigger sister for obvious reasons.

Linda Rosa Morpheus, the oldest child of their family was the definition of beauty, elegance, manners and nobility. She was also the favorite child of their father. She is the only magi of the family but nobody understood how it could have happened. Although most of the people who ever met her, know already what must have been the price for her powers.

The poor girl was born blind. There was no explication of it at the beginning for such a disaster since nobody in the family ever suffered such illness but when she began to show her powerful wind magic it was thought that this could have been the cause of such tragedy.

Her powers were also the reason for Leila’s hate towards her twin. But the hate towards the rest of the family, Lilianne could never understand. Lilianne made various theories of why she could hate her parents but she never understood what HERSELF has done to provoke the big duchess Morpheus.

Oh well, you can’t have it all, do you?

"Mom, could you tell us already why are we here, together?" It didn’t take even a minute but she was quite thankful that her sister made already the question. The quicker, the best.

"Leila Rebecca Morpheus, talk politely to your mother." The voice of the head of the family made his presence known once again. You could never expect more than short phrases from this respectable man.

With a glare towards her father the nasty teenager shut up, threw her fork and knife, rose from her seat and left without even taking a glance towards her female parent who was asking her with the authority of an understanding mother to get back and stand at the table. Lilianne hoped that after 8 years she won’t be so cruel like her sister.

"Mother, would you please let Leila go? She seems too nervous to stay to take breakfast with us. Let her maid, Amber take the message and bring it to her." For the first time that day the gentle voice of Linda remembered the family she was still there. "Let’s just have a quiet and pleasing breakfast, could we please?" She finished the sentence with a little and warm smile.

Her mother, although reluctantly, stopped calling her second child. It was such a great pain not being able to keep her family united for the poor woman. She was Elizabeth Morpheus, the wife of the great Duke Lucas Morpheus, with an important position in the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Victubia but she can’t even keep her family together, neither speaking with any of her daughters thinking she would be rejected instantly. Yes, she had Linda every time she wanted to have a tea party but she couldn’t even speak freely with her first daughter. She has been the universe of her youngest daughter until when she began school, and she having so much work with the council she slowly lost all the need her dear little flower was asking from her. And with her second child, she could never tell why she was so decided on not speaking with anybody from her family. She thought that maybe she failed Leila as a mother while trying to help Linda with her condition but since Lilianne’s 2 years old birthday,… it’s like she lost Leila completely. As if her sweet little daughter has left to an unknown place where she can’t come back from. Neither her husband was a great supporter to say the truth. He also have grown more colder over the years, which made for her sometimes a difficult task to even recognize the sweet and noble boy she met and fell in love with all this time ago. It broke her heart every time she saw she can’t keep her loved ones together. She thought the notice she would give them maybe will gave her a chance to restore the good atmosphere in her family.

"Darling, you said you wanted to tell us something." Her husband voice snapped her out of the train-wreck of thoughts she had in her beautiful head.

"Oh right sorry. We have 2 new great news. The first one is that we are going to have finally new neighbors!" She let out a little giggle of excitement "I’m so happy to meet them afterwards and have tea with someone of my age finally!"

The master of the house and his two other daughters were quite shocked from hearing the news. There hasn’t been anybody living in the mansion next to them for a long time. The two girls suddenly were left with curiosity over what kind of family would be coming. The unique male of this family was hoping that his neighbors were a quiet family and if they had males including it, it would be best for them to be very, very old in age.

In a flash, Elizabeth remembered a great detail. "Also, my dear daughters, I hope you will understand that you will have to wear your masks from now even in the house. Also, I wish for you to be more vigilant from now on too."

The phrase sounded more like an order than a plea but the two daughters let her mother know they approved of her terms.

Funny fact. Being a noble family with great power meant you had to attend various events and be the centre of everyone’s attention, right? Well, the Morpheus family wasn’t so supportive of such concepts. In the history of both the Morpheus and Lionsbridge families – Lionsbridge being the maiden name of Elizabeth Morpheus – there have been countless attempts of assassination or corruption for the power the both families held. From the moment the heirs of those families even declared their engagement their lives have been more exposed to dangerous assassins and mercenaries ready to kill, kidnap or even sabotage those 2 families under the commands of their political enemies. Somehow they survived but it had done a great deal to the Lionsbridge heiress. She wished that her children have their identities unknown and never attend whatever event that held no importance and not without them. Her husband knowing the fear of his family being in danger accepted her proposal since their engagement days. Since their first daughters were born, every child in the family had their own mask which would conceal their appearance and were never let to attend any social event at which the family was invited.

All of them knew the danger they were exposed with if their identities were revealed so nobody made a fuss of it. Lilianne was quite happy that she didn’t have to act all snobby all the time. Also, for this arrangement she was able to attend her kindergarten too and not some high class noble school.

And this it was all thanks to her paternal grand-mother.

When her grand-mother, Barbara Roxanne Morpheus, heard about this arrangement she was quite pleased with it. Although, she made clear her wish that if the identities of her nieces would never be known until they believe it’s safe to make their names public, the girls and future children will have to attend the Public Victubia School, which included kindergarten, middle school and high school. The school was a project made 30 years ago for all the magis who couldn’t control their powers and without wishing to, create disasters. After 7 years from its founding it was open also for normal people from all the revolts that were created by the citizens of Victubia for not understanding who magis are, what their gifts are and considering them monsters.

"And the second news. Well, I’m not sure how you are going to take it, but… I’m pregnant."

Once she finished the sentence, all the occupants at the table had different reactions. Linda almost choked herself with tea, while Lilianne with her pancakes. Only the male had a disbelief look on his face while looking at the smiling face of his wife and soon showed a small smile, while raising himself from his seat, taking her in his arms and asking how long she is.

"I only found out a while ago. I’m 3 weeks long so it does still gonna be some time since we are gonna be able to know if it’s a girl or a boy."

Linda which was the one who react the fastest between the 2 sisters got to her mother too and congratulated her for such news. She was going to have another baby sister or brother. She hoped too, that this child will bring in the house a happier atmosphere and unite once more the entire family. The relationship between all of them was too cold for her liking too but she was scared to confront her parents about it and to burden their hearts more.

Realizing her youngest daughter was still not saying anything and changed her view towards her. Lilianne was just chugging down a glass full of water since she couldn’t breathe correctly yet. Coming towards her, she gave her a pat on her back and, magically, Lilianne managed to recover her breath.

"Well, what do you think, Lily?" She couldn’t wait to know the answer of her youngest daughter. After all she would become a big sister.

"Yeah, it’s great… I’m done, could I leave?" Taking her backpack, which was placed on the seat beside her, the little girl began to run.

Elizabeth was left a bit shocked since her dear Lily didn’t seem s excited about the idea but her thoughts were soon taken away by her husband’s questions about her health and preparations for the new born coming.

As she was getting out of her house, Lilianne was having too many thoughts on her mind. Her dream last night and the feeling of dread she felt when she hear her mother talk about their ’neighbors’ were something that quite confused her. But the news about her brother or sister in the way and how her stone-cold father showed a smile, even thought it was little shocked her even more.

She was thinking about it just when a feeling of grief and something different – maybe happiness? – overwhelmed her and made her stop, just to watch to the side and see the great manor that was just by the side of her house. She knew she was already late to school but she couldn’t stop and stare a bit to the house and all the carriages with boxes full of mysteries that were carried away into the house by a young gentleman with a bored expression on his face.

After realizing that a little girl was watching, the young lad decided he found himself a new toy to play with.

Lilianne couldn’t put a finger on why this man, which she was sure she never has seen in her life, created her a sense of déjà-vu.  He pulled her out of her thoughts without even realizing when he came so close to her.

"And who may you be little lady?" He began with a toothy grin. His smiles always were making girls turn to jelly before him, so they never were a true challenge. Although, he met some exceptions.

"U-um, no-body, j-just looking. Bye!" She did it again. Why does she get so nervous and shy around strangers? And, it seems he is working for their neighbors too so… God. At least she didn’t meet them yet. She could prepare her speech afterwards.

Looking after the little girl that he saw coming out of the neighboring house, and now running away, probably to school from her attire, the lad let pass a smirk on his face.

"Things are gonna get fun, eh?"

Thinking no-more of the eye-catching lad, Lilianne was running down the streets of the city. She knew these streets very well, since when she could sneak out of her house she would pass time adventuring with her friends in the whole town. Every morning on her way to school, she would just cook up new and newer ideas for adventures –as she preferred to call their roll-playing games - to play with her friends.

But this time all she could think about was the news her mother gave her.

She is gonna be a big sister.

Yes, she was happy about it but somehow a pang of jealousy was making its way through her heart. She knew her parents were already trying to give her and her sisters all the attention possible. And if it wasn’t enough now, how it’s going to be when she or him would come up?

Also, what would happen to her little brother or sister once their parents disappear once again from their family lives? The worst would happen it was for them to turn just like Leila. She wouldn’t forgive herself ever if something like this happened to her smaller sibling.

Finally, she arrived to her precious school. She knew that other kids hated this building for all the responsibilities like homework, following the rules and not making any noise in fear of hers P.E. teacher, Sir Oswald’s wrath. In exchange, she loved it just as it was. It was the only place where she could be herself and not the mannered Lilianne Rosette Morpheus. Here, she was just Lily, a normal girl.

Entering in her class, she was greeted by all her classmates whom she replied cheerfully. Although, there was something that didn’t add up in her classroom. There was a new desk and chair.

Snapping her out of her thoughts, the voice of one of her best friends brought her back to reality: "Hello Lily! Is something troubling you? You were just dazing at space."

It was one of her best-friends, Adam Djinn. He was her mate in the president position of classroom 7M. He was also her must trust-worthy friend since he never would say a thing afterwards asking him an advice. She felt that even she would tell him the secret about her identity, he wouldn’t slip a word of it, but she promised her mom and if she wanted to continue here she mustn’t say a word.

"Oh nothing, it’s just that I’ve seen a new desk so I wondered if we have a new classmate. Thanks Dj, for worrying." Oh right, since he believed his name was too formal he preferred to be called Dj, a nickname from his family name.

Reading his notebook, he answered her with a short "You’re welcome." He was deaf so with the help of his magical notebook he could read from it what people are saying.

„From the rumors I understood that is a transfer student from another city. Oh, and that she is a girl." With a shock, Lily straightened up and turned her sight towards her other best friend, Thomas Meet, while Dj was trying to stifle a laugh. Most of the girls in the classroom were making fun of him for always having put on his robot mask. But he would never let it off. There was once an incident when her friend got lectured for wearing hi mask all the time. His answer was:

"Then why do you let mister Raz wear his helmet in school?"

Mister Raz is our Literature teacher. He’s always wearing a black helmet over his head and if you ask him about he would just glare at the person who asked him. Even sir Oswald wasn’t able to make him get off the helmet. And that reason was always the escape-boat of Tom’s for this kind of situations.

Anyway, back to the present: "TOM! Don’t you do that! My hearthy is gonna explode like this one day!" To say the truth, for a guy, he was too silent. Just like a serpent.

"’Hearthy ’? You already began with puns Lily? Don’t forget about me!" And the last of our little gang, Marthus Colossus. Although he likes to be called Divine. His nickname comes from a historical hero that has a statue in the plaza of the city. It’s seems this man was a random adventurer coming from a country called Greece who wanted to explore the world and bring justice wherever he went. One day he stopped in Victubia while there was a war for the throne. Then he met the pirate Vincent Ingemar Leif Minx. Convinced by the way he was thinking and his way of seeing justice, Divine became his ally and together, alongside the rebellion fought for the crown and finally won. After the great victory, the ex-pirate was named king of Victubia. He offered his ally a position in his Council but said hero refused. His reason was that his only reason why he came to Victubia was give the justice to all the poor citizens who needed it and that his mission was done. He needed to go to other places where people were suffering and needed a ray of hope in their lives. His friend understood his motives and let him leave. No more was known about this hero. He disappeared of the face of the planet and not even his body was found after all these time. During the reign of King Vincent Minx, the citizens asked a famous architect to make a statue of the glorious hero as thanks and for this story to not be forgotten.

Marthus was so inspired by this story that he wished to be just like the mysterious hero, and hopefully, one day, become the royal guard of our dear Queen Minx. Or at least of our favorite principal and teacher, Gabbi.

"But seriously now, Lily. One day it could be an enemy or a stalker who will try to surprise you like this. You need to sharpen your senses more." And as always Tom had to remember her she was just slower at reacting than other people.

Sincerely, those two were the people she needed to be the most aware of. Thomas was the most intelligent boy she ever met. Even teachers were surprised with his intellect and sharpness. He could deduce the answer of any mystery and he was just a normal human. She always wondered how much of a powerful enemy he would be if he was also a magi. And after him was also Marthus. He may be easy-going most of the time but he was still an aristocrat. Just by how she would act and how she would talk he would realize how she is a noble like him. And with Dj ability to see through lies they would discover her in no time. This is why she never talked with them about her family background. They were understanding thankfully so they never pried about the subject even thought she knows their families like the back of her hand. She was happy she could have such understanding friends.

"Okay, guys, it’s time for class! Get back in your seats. Also, we have news." Our first class it was Magic History, with one of our teacher’s, Panda. His real name is Pro but most of the girls love to call him Panda since he’s always seen carrying with him a cute panda plushy. For now, he’s a Wind magi-in-training and a teacher-in-training too. The one who tries to help him in both cases is another of the teachers, Asa. She’s one of the most playful of teachers and is always seen with a smirk on her face. Although she can get really scary if you play with her patience.

About the classrooms, since there aren’t so many children in the Kindergarten project there are only 3 classes. So most of the time the classes are held by teachers who are temporarily free at the moment. Basically, the classes never have a specific order so the books are always kept in school.

Pro was a good guy, but he was the strictest when he was coming to rules. He wouldn’t forgive anybody without a good reason if they broke the rules.

After everyone was finally seated in their seats, Panda continued:

"Okay, now keep quiet and listen. Gabbi, you can enter now."

A cheery voice made her presence known in the classroom: "Alright thank you Pro for the help."

The entire class was going crazy. Gabbi finally appeared once again, with a smile on her face just like always.

As it was said before, a teacher would come only if he or she is able to take the time to come. At the beginning Gabbi was the most present teacher for all the children. But since her promotion as principal of the school she could no longer appear to classes and give lessons. So every time she would appear it was like a fresh breath of air from their boring lives.

"I have an announcement. There has arrived a new transfer student and she is still new to the city so she doesn’t know much about it. I would like for you to greet her warmly and treat her like she’s part of this big family."

"Alright, Gabbi." No student couldn’t resist saying no to such a sweet teacher like Gabbi.

"Alright, say hello and present yourself Vyper."

"Al-alright…" Only now all the children realized there was somebody behind Gabbi. Even Pro wouldn’t have realized she was there if she wouldn’t have seen her when she was entering besides his superior.

"Hello, I’m Vyper Gates. Pleased to meet you." The girl said with a friendly smile on her face while looking towards the class.

The girl was quite short for her age. She had purple hair, which was in a side ponytail updo. Her eyes were a clear color of the sea, tinted with a bit of green. She was wearing already the school uniform too. She didn’t looked menacing in any way but for Lily, she felt a strong sense of déjà-vu, just like with the lad she met that morning. Only that it was far stronger.

She was barely able to register Gabbi’s question for the presidents of the class to stand up and make pleasantries with the girl. Chilling her mind, she sat up and walked to the front along with Dj. On her way, she realized her friends, Divine and Tom, were watching intensely the girl too. She took a glance towards Dj, and he too was like he was approaching a hissing animal ready to jump at them. It was clear whatever she was feeling, her friends were in the same boat as her.

The feeling was growing stronger and stronger. They tried to stop and act normal since their teachers and the new girl were giving them confused faces. Finally they managed to make a smile and Lily took the initiative

"Welcome to the Victubia Public Kindergarten, we are the presidents of the classroom 7M. My name is Lily Rose Dreamer and this is Adam Djinn. In the name of our class, we hope you will like the rest of the school year here."

It was necessary to make the speech anytime someone new appeared since Gabbi made herself clear it was important for the future. The kids needed to knew how to move around society and Gabbi wanted to be sure they were gonna be prepared for it. In this idea, ones of the most important kids that needed to know that were for example Lilianne and Marthus since they both were from noble families. And if they wanted to make their family name proud, they needed to know how to speak. And that was also a task for the others too.

With a big smile, she answered: "I’m happy to meet everybody. I hope we will become friends quickly." She wanted to give a hand-shake.

Lily didn’t saw that coming. For a moment she was mad, although she didn’t know why. Thinking she would make a bad impression she gave her hand.

She felt… nothing.

It was like she was able to breathe again. All the anxiety… it was gone just like that.

After Dj giving her a hand-shake too, both children turned to their seats with a blank stare. Something didn’t add up. All the pression they were feeling has gone as if nothing.

As if nothing happened, Gabbi left to continue with her duties and Pro told Vyper the basic rules, when her books are going to be brought, which classes she can’t attend since it seemed she wasn’t a magi and to sit besides Lily for now.

The little girl took her chair and positioned herself at the same table with Lily. Smiling, she said she would really be happy if the two of them would become really great friends. Lily couldn’t stop herself but let a big smile too.

"Okay, class. I want silence and for you to open the textbooks to page 47." The booming voice of Pro quieted down all the whispering.

The sky's powerful dark blue hue was changing slowly. It could be seen how slowly hints of purple, pink, red and orange hues were making their arrival. The soft blue of the clouds made known their presence too. Over the horizon, the little sun was creeping more and more on the surface of the sky to occupy his post and light the world with its light. It could be seen how a new day was born. However, in the great forest of Ekard this view was out shined by the great fire of a majestic villa. The sky and the sun were easily replaced by heavy dark grey clouds of smoke. The fire voracious was eating at the house wood foundation, being too strong to be stopped. It was clear that it will not perish until the entire house and whatever or whoever was inside be transformed in ashes.

In quite a distance, high, between the trees branches, there was a presence watching as the house was devoured by the waves of fire. It said these words unconsciously and resumed to its task. Holding a little creature in its arms, lulling it to sleep, the presence changed her view from the house toward the patrols of soldiers who were trying to stop the fire with their magic and their higher-up watching the disaster while talking in whispers, since its seems nobody seemed to hear what they were saying or were just too preoccupied with the fire. Between those figures, there was one which everybody loved and of great power. The Queen Minx, the ruler of Victubia or also known The Fire Mistress, the woman who also set the house on fire.

The melancholic and sad aura of the presence turned into one of pure rage and murderous intentions while having it eyes set on the Queen. If it wasn’t for all the people that were present right here and there, said presence would have tried to kill her on the spot.

The Queen Minx, while being on a discussion with the Mayor of Ekard sensed a murderous glare sent towards her. Breaking abruptly the conversation, she directed her sight towards the trees of the forest. If she was quicker on locating the ominous glare, she would have seen a person jumping off the tree. Putting the feeling of being watched aside, excused herself and continued the conversation with the Mayor.

At the base of a tree there was a young lady in a maids outfit with a big jacket over her dress to keep her safe from the cold of the morning. Scared when her master jumped of the tree she began nervously to stutter "U-u-um, my-"

"Don’t call me that." The presence gave this command to its maid. Realizing it nearly gave a snarl to the last person that cared for it, said an apology.

"I’m sorry, but please don’t call me that name anymore since it seems I’m no longer nobility. But please, take it as a last order of mine." Beside the regret on the beginning of the sentence there was no other emotion in the voice.

The maid, feeling sorry for her master and trying to hold back the tears that have already been shed during the horrifying night, tried to keep her voice stable to let her master know she was by its side.

"Ok. Could I ask you, what do you wish to do now?"

The presence though about it for a few minutes and finally decided.

"First of all, you are free to do as you wish. You’re no longer my maid."

"And of course I will not leave you alone. This is too much to take and most of; I would not let you go all alone out there. Everyone thinks you are dead along with your family, and you know it. You have nowhere to go because you don’t even know who is responsible of this nightmare. You can’t trust any-"

"Two questions: What if you get hurt? And can I trust you?" The presence cut her off.

"I’m sorry to remind you but it’s my duty which I love greatly. You know very well I swore loyalty to your family and only them. I don’t care if I get hurt if I know you are safe. And I’m hurt since you can’t trust me."

"This night I lost all notion of trust. And you said yourself, I can’t trust anybody."

The girl reluctantly bowed her head a little to try to stifle her crying. Her master lost everything. Not only its family but also the happy and positive character. It was clear that the master she knew died along with its family and just left an empty shell behind.

"Anyway, even if you don’t want too I will still follow you and help you. It would be like betraying the memory of your parents if I just let you go. And you can’t make me change my decision. After all, you said I can do as I wish from now on."

Feeling too exhausted of trying to make the girl go away, the person began walking.

Shocked by the sudden movement, the now jobless girl began to follow her ex-master asking where they are going and what the plan is.

The presence, in a quiet voice answered her first question.

"Towards the town, of course. We can’t stay in the woods when we don’t know what or who is lurking around here. The little guy we have will also need some food and I don’t think we are able right now as we are, to catch something for him."

Fearing the answer she will hear of her last question, arriving finally at a road where the city of Ekard could be seen in the horizon, the girl, hesitantly, asked again her second question.

Her master, stopping abruptly, gave a last look towards the forest where the clouds of smoke finally stopped rising and having various flashback of sweet memories in the house, with its parents and being replaced by the carnage that happened during the night.

With an emotionless gaze towards the teen girl, gave the answer its loyal friend and comrade feared.