《Nidhoggr》


 1 Prologue: Ceremony of Marking

    "Carnel Nago! Come up on the stage!" A booming voice echoed through the grand hallway. I sighed: Why did they always give a grand party like this one whenever people went for their Marking? I adjusted my long coat and brushed my hair aside as I made my way over to the big stage in the middle of the hall.


    The Marking Ceremony. I''ve read about this event during the past years. But I''d never imagined they''d invite every single high official of the city to come and take a look what Marking would be linked to the soul of this year''s youths! Not that everyone got a Marking.


    A disillusioned young man walked past me, tears in his eyes. He wasn''t lucky: He didn''t have any capability to hold a power inside him at all. Not even a weak one! So he was doomed to find work elsewhere in the city or, if he was unlucky to grab one of the few places available in the city for non-Marked people, try his luck elsewhere in a different country.


    "Place your hand on top of the stone slab, child." An old man explained. I took a good, long look at the impressive stone. It was engraved with all kinds of ancient texts, with words I didn''t even try to understand. I had read much about this stone: it was supposed to give people an idea what kind of being their soul had been Marked with. Essentially, it was a show where people got to hear what they''ll be doing for the rest of their lives.


    Cold and smooth. Not what I expected, I mused when I placed my hand against the hard material. The stone hummed softly and started glowing in a light white colour. One at a time, magical circles lighted up, each in a different colour. I knew that each magical circle represented a kind of Mark: a devil, an angel, a fairy, a Norse or a Greek. There was also a sixth circle, which glowed in an abundance of colour.


    "The Unknown¡­" I mumbled. Those were strong beings that weren''t really affiliated with anything else. For that reason, there were not that many people that had their soul Marked with any of them, as they tended to keep human matters far, far away from them.


    I saw how the light slowly moved over the dark red circle of the Devils, then crossed the golden glow of the Angelic, the dirt-brown colour of the Fairy circle. Then ice-cold glow of the Norse and the pale green glow of the Greek circle. But the light of the table didn''t stop there. It continued onwards, flowing through the cracks of the stone as it searched for something.


    "Well, this is taking longer than I expected¡­" I deadpanned. I tapped my feet on the ground in an impatient fashion as the light suddenly disappeared. At first, I thought I didn''t have the capability of being Marked by a being. Which wasn''t all that surprising, considering 85% of the continent''s population didn''t have any capability either. Still, I felt a slight twang of disappointment course through my veins when I saw the light disappear.


    "H-Huh?" When I tried removing my hand from the stone slab, I felt something tugging against me. Like it wanted my hand to stay on the hard surface. The old man that called me up on the stage walked towards me.


    "That''s enough, child. You do not have the capability for a Marking. Please remove your hand from the Choosing Slab." I looked him dead in the eye, all the while I pulled as hard as I could at my arm.


    "All fine and well, old guy, but the stone doesn''t want to let go!" Suddenly, the stone started to vibrate. No matter how hard I tried pulling at my right hand, it seemed like my fingers had been glued to the cold slab.


    I looked around in a panic, before a bright light suddenly erupted from the centre of the Choosing Slab. Every eyeball in the room was directed at the newly emergent light as it searched its way through the ancient scriptures and circles. And then, it stopped with a dark glow emerging from a peculiar spot: the circle of the Unknown.


    Warmth drained from my face. A black smoke started bellowing from the stone, easily covering the entirety of the stage. The old man shrieked and quickly ran to safety, as did the people seated on the first three rows around the stage.


    "Uhm¡­ H-Hello?" I carefully said. A pair of glowing red orbs were directly staring at me. I gulped and noticed I had a dry throat. Of course, the smoke didn''t answer. Instead, it reached up to the glass ceiling high above. Before it got there however, the smoke pillar collapsed and cascaded all over me. The smoke completely covered my surroundings. I couldn''t even see my own feet.


    There were those red eyes again! I gulped before I saw a row of misty teeth emerging from the smoky darkness. They looked sharp, as sharp as mist can be. I didn''t get any opportunity to say anything, as the red eyes and teeth burst forwards and rammed against my chest. From the moment they touched my clothes, they splattered in countless smoky particles. The mist swirled all around me while I felt like something was being pumped through my skin against my will.


    "What is¡­?" Those were the only words that I could muster. The mist thinned out, until only the red eyes and misty maw remained. The teeth turned into an excited grin before they hid inside my body as well. After I stumbled a couple of feet, I fell down on my knees. My head was spinning while my body felt like it was about to explode.


    "Let me see your mark, child." The old man had returned. He knelt beside me and roughly reached for my arm. When his fingers touched my skin, he suddenly pulled back. The man seemed genuinely shocked: Was he unable to touch me? I looked all over my body before I showed him my left hand palm. Instead of being smooth, it now had a strange marking. In my mind, it kind of looking like a multi-legged serpent that was gnawing at¡­ something.


    "I-I''ve never seen such a Mark..." He looked perplexed. His eyes bounced from the Mark on my hand to me and then back to the Mark. I didn''t understand: there were Marks that were still unknown? I knew the Unknown were seclusive and didn''t like to meddle in human affairs as much as other pantheons, but having no information at all on this Mark worried me a bit.


    "Please remove yourself away from the choosing slab, young man." Since the old man seemed too stunned to say anything sensible, his aide took over. He ushered me away and out of the Grand Hall while everyone''s eyes were directed straight at me. Not that I cared: I was more taken with my Marking.


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    An Unknown, huh? , I asked myself. Before I could return to my apartment a couple of streets away, a young man ran towards me. He dumped a small plastic bag in my hands before he dashed away.


    Is it just me, or did he look afraid?, I wondered. I took a quick look inside and spotted a pen, a welcoming brochure for the Academy of Magic and a map of the school grounds. That''s right, I realized. I''m supposed to attend classes from tomorrow on.


    "What a pain..." I mumbled. People who had been marked were forced to attend the Academy for at least one year, as their powers were still developing.


    I looked ahead, at the massive tower-like structures in the distance. The Academy of Magic, where Marked people went to learn to control their powers and learn how to use their magic. How to create and structure their own magical formulas. A school where elves, merfolk, beastmen and humans alike live together, Just like the rest of the city actually.


    "Right. Back home I go." I mused. I liked talking to myself. That reminded me I was never alone, even if I didn''t have any tangible friends to speak of. While I waited for the electro-tram to arrive, I read through the welcoming brochure of the Academy. It mostly handled talked about the facilities on-site, like a pool (including a real-life beach and reef for merfolk) or an acrobatic trail (located inside a forest to accommodate for elves) and a running court. But what stood out the most for me was the time when students were supposed to arrive.


    "8:30 am?! The electro-tram takes half an hour to get to the Academy.. Argh, that''s too early!" I complained. I rubbed my temples as I stepped unto the electro-tram and scanned my key card. I could see the spell imbued in the card and in the scanner resonate with each other before spells retracted into their metal cases.


    While the vehicle brought me to my apartment, I looked around. Everywhere I looked were elves, merfolk and beastmen going about their normal days. Some shopping, some returning from home , others going to one of the Devil districts to unwind after a long day of work. I saw some believers heading towards Angel''s tower, a massive white tower piercing the heavens in the far distance, for their daily prayers as well.


    "Finally, back home." I said in a tired voice before I unlocked the door to my modest apartment. After the electro-tram delivered me to my destination, I had to walk just a hundred feet until I reached my apartment. The room behind the door was still the same: messy and disorganized. I quickly grabbed some bread and started munching. I held the bread between my teeth as I fell down on my bed and grabbed the welcoming brochure again.


    "8:30 am¡­ I''d better set my alarm." I reached out and tapped the small egg-shaped object. The magic formula slowly extracted itself from the metal and hovered in the middle of the air. The magic circle slowly rotated as its complicated symbols glowed in a golden colour. I reached out to the magic circle to adjust the time of the alarm, like always.


    "What?!" I could feel an otherworldly pulse course through my body before it exploded from my left hand. A ghostly image, shaped like the red eyes and misty jaws from before, appeared and chomped down upon the magic circle. Before I could do anything else, the jaws fell shut around the spell. I saw how the symbols on the magic circle faded until they disappeared completely. A second later, the circle broke apart completely with the fragments fading into glowing particles that were eagerly devoured by the black mist.


    "¡­Huh." That was the only thing that came out of my perplexed mouth. The red eyes blinked at me before they disappeared again. Which left me with a broken alarm. And a lot of panic about how I''d ever get awake in time for my first day in school.


    "All right, let''s calm down. If I leave my blinds open for the night, I''ll be fine." I reasoned. I calmed down and finished my bread before I took another look at my clock. No reaction. Was it broken? It didn''t react anymore, so I tossed it into the trash.


    With a deep sigh, I fell down unto my cushions. I grabbed my teddy-bear and pulled him close to my chest. I always slept with him, whether I was one year old or , like right now, 21 years old. At first, I couldn''t catch a wink of sleep as the excitement and questions about my first day at the Academy slowly came seeping into my system. But after the moon had risen into the sky, I finally fell asleep.


    When I awoke again, it was when a ray of weak sunlight poked through the blinds of my bedroom. I rolled away from the light, noticed too late my bed wasn''t too wide and landed on the floor. I grumbled as I untangled myself from my bedsheets and dragged myself into my apartment''s shower cabin. If only I''d stripped myself of my pyjamas before I turned on the water¡­


    After I''d hung out my pyjamas out to dry and dried myself off, I dumped some things into a small plastic bag and set off for the Academy. When I reached the electro-tram, I barely managed to get on before it went on its daily route throughout the city. I let my pass be scanned by the metallic pole in the middle of the copper cart, and saw the same magic circle as yesterday hover above the metal. It waited for my key card.


    "Well, this may not be my key-card but¡­" I couldn''t stop myself. I was just too curious after the jaws ate the spell yesterday. I reached out to the magic circle, which glowed in a light green colour. Fairy magic, I recognized. The ghostly image appeared once more, the red eyes hungrily gazing at the magic circle in front of it. The image threw a couple of teasing gazes towards me, like a child who was about to do something naughty, before the misty teeth sunk deep into the circle.


    From the moment the circle faded into particles, the alarm of the electro-tram went off. The copper cart immediately stopped, and the Norse electrical spell powering the thing faded at the same time. The driver of the cart jumped from his chair and bolted towards me.


    "You! What did you do, you teenage scum?!" Wow. He''s rather aggressive, wasn''t he?, I thought. I shrugged.


    "The spell malfunctioned suddenly when I tried handing it my key-card." The driver clicked his tongue before he reached for the portable phone hanging from his hip. The man tapped on a short sequence of numbers before he spoke against the plastic object. The spell embedded in the metal hovered slightly in the air. I tried to have the ghostly image eat it again, but each time I lashed out, the driver jumped away.


    "Hello, police. I''ve got a reprobate, right here in front of me in electro-tram 729! Come quick, he''s very violent!" He announced. I felt the blood retract from my face.


    Uh-oh, not good!, I realized. I wanted to jump of the electro-tram, but the conductor kept a tight grip on my arm. No matter how much I tried pulling away from him, his hand stuck to my arm and kept me close to him. Soon, the police arrived and took my away to the station.


    Well, this wasn''t exactly how I''d imagined my first day at school to go., I mused to myself.

 2 The Academy of Magic

    "You''re allowed to leave. But don''t let us see you in the station again, you hear me?" With those words, the police agents forced me out of their vehicle and drove off. I rubbed my chafed hands and pushed myself back on my feet.


    "You''re late." A strict, mature voice echoed ahead of me. When I looked up, I saw a blonde woman walking towards me. Her gold-coloured hair was stuck in a classy bun, with two braids framing her face on each side. I could see a pair of thin strands poking from her forehead and a pair of butterfly wings poking through the back of her white shirt. A beastwoman, of the butterfly variety.


    "Who''re you?" I asked. She didn''t look like anything special. But there was something about the way she carried herself that made me wary. Her 4-inch black heels tapped against the concrete ground as she came closer and closer. Her tight black skirt reached just beyond her knees, with black see-through stockings covering the entirety of her smooth legs.


    "My name is Tanya. But that''s Miss Chaffendale to you. I''m your teacher." That last sentence sent shivers along my spine. She was my teacher? And here I was, being late and not being exactly respectful¡­


    "Right. So, what are you doing here, Tan¡ªMiss Chaffendale?" I corrected myself. I saw how she tensed up whenever her first name came into play. She crossed arms before brushing her braided hair behind her ears.


    "Yeah. I heard one of my students already got in trouble, before school even commenced! So? What''s up with you getting caught by the police?" She asked. While I tried finding the correct words, she guided me into the main school building.


    "Well, I was just testing the power given to me by my Marking." I said and showed her my Marking. It was still the same as yesterday: some kind of serpent-like figure with 8 tentacles protruding outwards. Its sharp jaws looked like they were gnawing at something, but I couldn''t quite make out what it was.


    "Oh, I''ve read about you in the newspaper." The teacher revealed. She walked away, only to return with a single sheet of paper. The blonde woman waved her hand over it, causing the spell that had been imbued into the paper to rise up. I recognized the colour and symbols of the magic circle as Valhallian. Suddenly, words started to appear all over the piece of paper. I saw a picture of myself, among all the other people that had been Marked. Out of 1,500 people, only a measly 100 had received a Marking. And only 10 of those people had a Marking that wasn''t a generic one.


    "Big news: Unknown marking sighted!" I repeated the article''s title. Along with a small explanation of the events that transpired yesterday, my face was plastered along the page. I''ve never given any permission for that! I reached out to the piece of paper to take a closer look. However, I didn''t pay enough attention and brushed my hand along the magic circle.


    "Not again!" I saw the now-familiar ghostly image appear again. It looked at me once before I gulped the magic circle down its greedy gullet. I was certain I saw some kind of tongue lick the misty teeth before the entire image retreated into my feet.


    "So, that''s what your power can do?" The teacher calmly said. She inspected the paper, which had now become useless and put it into the trash bin. The blonde woman nodded before she pulled me along countless hallways. Every inch was clinically clean. I suspected some form of magic spell at work.


    "Here. This is your classroom for the coming year. The other students are already in there, so do you best to make a good impression." Without further ado, she turned around and pushed open the door. An avalanche of sound burst through the opening. I jumped back, startled. I dodged a paper plane before a flying pen hit me straight on the nose.


    "Okay, simmer down, all of you!" Gone was her kind voice. Miss Chaffendale walked into the room, dodged a couple of objects before she smacked her papers on the teacher''s desk. When everyone in the room had calmed down somewhat, I sneaked into the room, shut the door and sat down in the nearest I could find. Right behind a girl with seaweed coloured hair. Judging from the soft tendrils poking out of her scalp, she seemed to be some kind of merfolk. A squid, maybe?


    "All right, now that all of you had your fun, it''s time to focus. I''ve retrieved your missing classmate, Carnel, so we can directly go to lessons. I will be handling all of your lessons , seeing as we are only with ten people in this class. Now, eyes on the blackboard, please!" She gestured at the white metal board behind her. With one touch of her hand, she activated the spell imbued in the metal. Judging from the colour, it was fairy magic. In other words, someone with a Fairy Marking put down this spell.


    "Now, time for a little remedial. Who can tell me what Markings are?" Immediately, the girl in front of me raised her left hand. I saw that her fingers were longer than mine, and squishy too. She failed to keep them straight for longer than a couple seconds, after which they flopped down. A giggle echoed from the back of the class. The girl shivered when the voice reached her.


    "Angelique, you can answer." The girl shrieked before she took a big gulp and stood up.


    "Y-Yes, Miss Chaffendale. U-Uhm¡­ The Markings give a person the ability to use magic. How much magic depends on the class of the Marking." The teacher nodded and gestured for the girl to sit back down again. I heard the same voice let out a disappointed sigh. I turned around to take a look at the culprit.


    A girl had her knee-high black leather boots on her desk. She twirled the dark purple ends of her scarlet hair through her fingers while she blankly stared through the window. The girl was dressed in a tight tank-top that revealed her bra''s dark red silk straps running over her smooth skin. A short jeans-skirt and a look that said ''fuck all of you nerds'' said it all.


    "Lily. I understand you may be bored, since you got held back a year, but don''t contaminate others with your attitude." Since the girl didn''t seem to react, the teacher cranked it up a notch.


    "Otherwise, I''ll have to put you in remedial for the rest of the year. Again." That certainly seemed to do the trick. Lily scoffed and put her feet back on the floor. However, she didn''t seem to change her interest. The teacher shrugged and nodded.


    "Anyway. Yes, that''s correct, Angelique. Some Elves, merfolk, beastmen and humans have the ability to be Marked. In short, this means that they get the ability to use magical circles. However, there is a clear distinction between Markings themselves." Tanya turned towards me. "Carnel, tell me the differences between Markings from person to person." I gulped and stood up.


    "Well¡­ There are the six types of Markings. Like an Angelic Marking can only give the powers of an angel, limiting the person''s magic circles to only be of the angelic variety. That means they can only use spells compatible for that kind: angels can''t use Black magic for example." The teacher nodded. But when I wanted to sit down again, she clicked her tongue.


    "That''s not all, Carnel. Stand up and think hard: there is a second difference. Between Markings of the same type." I wondered for a bit. What was she--? Then, it clicked in my head what she was waiting for.


    "Yes. When somebody receives a Marking, they immediately get a rank as well. Mostly, the Markings people receive are low-ranked angels, devils, fairies or one of the other types. However, there are people that have high-ranking Markings. Those people, in addition to being capable of invoking magic circles for high-tiered spells, also have the ability to use unique spells." The teacher nodded and ordered me to sit down with a simple movement of her hand.


    "Very good. Indeed, all ten of you have been Marked by higher-ranked beings, while the other ninety students of this year have lower-ranked Markings. That doesn''t mean you get to slack off, however! In fact, you people need to work harder than anybody else here to learn how to control your powers." She glanced over at me.


    "Normally, the books in the Academy''s library would help you to search for what your original spell could be. However, in Carnel''s case, there are no books about his Mark. I''ll be expecting monthly reports about your findings, yes?" There was no way I could refuse. I nodded despondently before I leaned backwards : this day was getting worse and worse. Working never was my strong suit. Luckily, the lesson was done for the day when the lunch bell tolled.


    "Finally, some food!" I rejoiced in a happy tone. Maybe too loud, as every student around me threw me a strange gaze. I grumbled and dumped all of my stuff into my bag. The girl in front of me was doing the same. She gazed in her bag, before her brown eyes looked at her desk.


    "Looking for something, fish-for-brains?" The scarlet-haired girl twirled something between her fingers. From what I saw, it looked like some kind of gold-coloured accessory. A necklace. The girl gasped and wanted to grab the thing, but Lily danced away from her.


    "P-Please¡­ Please give it back." Angelique whispered. Lily didn''t oblige. Each time the squid-girl got closer, the gal stepped out of her reach. This continued for a minute, until the teacher stepped back into class.


    "What are you three still doing here? The lunch hall is only open for an hour, you know! If you don''t get to there in time, you won''t have time to finish your food." She spurred us on. Lily scoffed and threw the accessory towards Angelique, who clumsily grabbed it and put it around her neck. After that, she quickly grabbed her bag and bolted out of the room.


    I decided the best course action would be to get something to eat. I was happy to see the lunch hall was very spacious and could hold all of the students. After I got my food, which consisted of mashed potatoes, a brownie and some sausages. All in all, not a bad meal. Certainly not considering the meal was free for students.


    At least a small point of light in my school life, I sighed. While I was chomping down on my meal, I saw how Angelique quickly grabbed her plate filled with food and then sought out the quietest corner in the lunch hall. Whenever people came too close to her, she would simply gather all her belongings and move away from them. This continued the entire time: move, get spotted and relocate again.


    I''ve seen my fair share of shy people, but she definitely takes the cake, I said to myself. After lunch, I made my way through the empty hallways back to my classroom.


    "Do you have that stink bomb?" I heard Lily''s voice coming from an empty corridor. I hid behind some lockers and calmly listened to her talking to someone. From the sound of it, it sounded like one of her friends. Or accomplices in this case.


    "Yes, here it is." After the ruffling of clothes subsided, I heard a metallic clank. Something hard falling on the hard floor.


    "Watch out with that thing! You want people to hear us?!" Lily''s agitated voice echoed throughout the hallway. I heard the clicking of her heels before she put her head around the corner. I gulped: I didn''t expect that.


    "Ah. Don''t mind me, just passing through!" I lied. When I turned around, the girl grabbed my arm and pulled me into the corridor. She looked around to ensure no one saw her before she glanced at me. A sneaky smirk appeared on her red-painted lips.


    "Yeah¡­ You''ll work." She said. Lily smiled softly before put an arm around my head. She pulled me closer while she made sure to give me a full view of her generous cleavage.


    "Say¡­ Won''t you do me a favour?" She whispered into my ear in a seductive tone. I had trouble keeping my eyes focused on hers and not let them drift downwards where I could feel her soft breasts press softly against my chest.


    "F-Favour, you say? A-And what do I have to do?" I replied. I felt my face heating up while the girl reached behind my back and dropped a metal canister in my palm. It had a small piece of rope hanging out of it, like a wick.


    "Aha, so this was that stink bomb you mentioned earlier then?" The canister itself didn''t look impressive at all. It was made of a black metal and wasn''t that sturdy. However, it was filled with a substance that carried a penetrating stench.


    "Hmph. Eavesdropping doesn''t get you any points with me, you know." Lily replied. She glared at me for just an instant before switching back to her seductive ways once more. Her soft fingers caressed my left chair while her other hand ruffled my black hair. Her hot breath rolled over my ear and sent shivers down my back.


    "Anyway, I want you to light that thing and put it in fish-head''s bag." Oh, so that''s what all of this was about. I shook my head and dumped the metal canister back into Lily''s hands.


    "Go seek someone else to pull your pranks. Although it would be better for everyone if you didn''t bother that girl at all, yeah?" I said, glaring into Lily''s eyes. The girl was less than impressed. She threw the canister behind her back and poked her finger against my chest. Her blue eyes gazed deeply into mine before I saw a beginning magic circle appear in her irises.


    That''s weird, I contemplated. Normally, magic circles were conceived at someone''s fingertips. Was it her Original Magic? I felt a surge of unrest course through my veins as I felt my body getting hotter and hotter. My thoughts were being wiped out the longer I looked into Lily''s eyes. I had no idea what kind her Marking was, nor what being her Mark was. However, I wasn''t keen on finding out.


    Before I knew what was going on, my left hand slowly rose and tapped against Lily''s cheeks. The girl frowned as she looked at me with a questioning gaze. The smoky figure appeared once more, licking its smoky jaws. It glanced at me before it sunk its misty teeth straight into Lily''s head. The girl didn''t seem to notice, however. The jaws just went straight through her skin.


    "H-Huh?" The girl blinked, twice. When she realized her spell had been¡­ eaten, she looked more puzzled than ever. At the same time, the smoky image, whom I had come to assume was the being of my Mark, contently licked its lips before retreating into my body.


    "What happened to my spell?" She wondered. I shrugged my shoulders and walked away. Even I didn''t know the full extent of my powers, and I wasn''t about to enlighten her. While I walked towards my classroom, I heard a frustrated yell from behind me. Seems like she couldn''t handle her spell being broken apart, I reasoned.


    When I walked into the classroom, most of the other students were already there. And with Lily''s arrival a minute later, everyone was present. She shot me a poisonous glare and walked away from me.


    "All right, everyone! After lunch, most days will be filled with practical combat training. Today is no exception. All of you, to the courtyard!" Tanya announced. The blonde teacher walked out of the classroom. Soon, the ten students in the room followed her.


    The courtyard was really impressive: It was a huge stretch of grass-ridden land. Some wooden dolls were scattered around on the ground. However, those weren''t what Tanya had in mind.


    "Now, pay close attention. I''m sure you already know this, but I will repeat this to prevent any misfires. A magic circle consists of three things, can anyone tell me what they are?" A male student cautiously raised their hand. The blonde teacher nodded and waited for their answer.


    "The first thing you need to have is a link with the type of your Mark. Then, you need to add an element to your magic circle. Finally, you need to define your spell." The teacher nodded.


    "Exactly. That answer would get you full marks on any test! Right then. I''ll demonstrate." Without another word, Tanya turned around and gazed over the empty field. I wondered what she would be aiming at. The teacher closed her eyes before extending her right hand. Immediately, a magic circle appeared which glowed in a muddy colour.


    A fairy circle, I realized.


    "This is the first circle. Of course, for most of you, this will be of a different colour and different symbols." She announced. With a soft grunt, she added another layer to her magic circle. This time, the drawing had a richer colour of brown. Like dark beer. The symbols engraved into the drawing were new to me, however.


    "This is the second circle, where you define your element. Again, these have slight differences between Mark types." She explained. I noticed some of the student jotting this down on a piece of paper. I forgot to bring any paper, sadly.


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    "Never let your focus down during this third part. If your focus is even slightly off, a misfire could occur. And the results of that can be catastrophic." The teacher continued to form her magic circle. I saw the last part of her circle fade into existence. When it fully formed, she directed her spell to the ground. A second later, a ball of mud bounced out of the spell and into the soil beneath.


    "Uhm, Teach? Nothing''s happening." Lily deadpanned. She wasn''t the least bit interested in the lesson, but she couldn''t stop herself from giggling when she noticed Tanya''s spell failed. Or so she thought.


    "W-Why is the ground rumbling?!" Angelique shrieked in a distraught tone. I felt the ground shaking and trembling, and the movement only increased. It became so bad that I almost fell on my ass, something which happened to a few other students. And then, nothing.


    The entire plain was silent. Until about fifty mud dolls crawled up from underneath the green tapestry. They tore through the grass and dug a way out for themselves. In a way, they looked like humans. Yet, they lacked life. Their eyes were empty and vacant, and their moves uncoordinated.


    "This is an advanced Earth-spell: Mud Army. They react just the same way as normal people, so fire away. However, if I see even one spell directed at one of your classmates, that person will have the first remedial study lesson to suffer through. Got it?!" Her voice sounded strict and unforgiving. Almost all students nodded. Only Lily didn''t: she only gave an uncaring shrug.


    "Alright, these will be your targets. Let them have it!" With those words, Tanya stepped aside and left us to our own devices. While others were already making their own magic circles with relative ease, I was in a whole world of problems.


    "Why can''t I--?!" For the tenth time, I tried creating a simple magic circle, suitable to launch one fireball. However, each time I tried going beyond the first step, the misty teeth would gobble it all up. I tried to keep it from eating up my magic circles, but the red-eyed monstrosity had no interest in obeying my orders. Or it was just that hungry. Each time it devoured a spell, it licked its misty maw and nodded at me. Was it¡­ thanking me? , I asked myself. It''s polite, if nothing else.


    "What''s the matter, Carnel?" Tanya walked towards me. Oh great, just what I needed : more pressure. I created another magic circle, only for it to fall apart again after I completed the first step.


    "Interesting. Your Mark doesn''t allow you to use magic. Instead, it seems to prevent you from using any conventional spells. To be honest, Markings of the Unknown aren''t my speciality. I know someone who does, however. I''ll ask them if they know why you can''t use any magic circle and¡ªHey, watch out!" The teacher yelled. I turned around and saw a massive fireball stretch to the sky. At the base, a terrified Angelique covered her eyes. Her delicate, slimy squid-skin started to burn as the heat of the fireball scorched her.


    "Get away from there!" Tanya yelled loudly. However, the seaweed-haired girl was too shocked to react. When the plume of fire almost reached two-hundred feet, it cascaded down. Towards me.


    "Oh, shit!" I ran away, but the flames continued their chase. They were undeterred by the rocks, mud and leaves I threw at them as their heat continued to come closer and closer. Even the rocky pillars Tanya summoned didn''t stop their scorching advance. They just continued their destructive path, burning everything they come across to cinders.


    "Cancel your magic circle, Angelique! Now!" Tanya yelled. I saw how the squid-girl tried to recall her magic circle, but it had no effect.


    "This is for defying me earlier." Suddenly, Lily''s voice cut through the carnage. My head snapped to the right, seeing the redhaired vixen along with a couple of mud dolls at her side. All of them had the same marking I noticed earlier in Lily''s eyes: it had to be her own Original Magic. She handed a metal canister to one of the mud dolls she had under her spell before sending all of them into the blazing inferno chasing me.


    "You better think twice about defying me in the future." She said in a poisonous tone. After that, she dashed away from me. I didn''t even have any time to react before the mud dolls reached the fire spell. Both exploded at the same time. The dolls were pushed away by the sheer force of the explosion, as were the sticky contents of the metal canister.


    I felt the scorching heat of Angelique''s spell burn off some of my eyebrows. When I tried touching the remains of her spell, I noticed that my Mark , or rather the being associated with it, didn''t react at all. It must not like magic that''s been fully completed and on its way to its target., I reasoned. However, that was the least of my worries.


    "Carnel, are you¡ªUrgh, what''s that awful smell?!" The teacher quickly backed off after she ensured I didn''t have any wounds. Aside from some scars and burn marks, I wasn''t wounded. On the other hand, I saw how harshly Angelique''s fingers were burnt along with the rest of her arms. I guess that''s the effect fire has on squids¡­, I mused.


    "Go wash yourself right now, young man. After that, go directly home to put on some new clothes. You are dismissed." She announced. I grumbled and shot an angry glare at Lily. The redhaired vixen only winked before she stepped away. Did she know Angelique was going to freak out, or did she make it happen?, I asked myself.


    No use worrying about that right now. I had to get this stinky goop off of me. I pushed myself on my feet and made my way over to the student''s quarters. Luckily, I didn''t encounter anyone. When I reached the student showers, I discarded my clothes. Judging from the stench, I doubted I''d ever get it out of my clothes.


    I quickly stepped into the shower and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the goop disappearing along with the hot water. However, I didn''t pay close attention and reached upwards when I stretched. The magic circle providing me with hot water hovered right underneath the silver-coloured nozzle. I didn''t pay any attention, and noticed too late that the hungry being of my Mark started chomping down on the magic circle.


    And gone was the warm water.


    "Oh, come on!" I lamented. What a day¡­

 3 Angelique

    "Why does time in the Academy pass so slowly?" I complained. It was lunchtime, three days after the start of the Academic year. And it was steadily getting more and more boring. Aside from Lily''s questionable pranks on both me and Angelique. She seemed to have grown a grudge against me, probably because I went against her will on the first day of school. Oh well. I could handle it.


    However, Angelique wasn''t so lucky. Every day, the girl looked a bit more stressed out. Yesterday, she came to school and the tips of her squid-tentacles were coloured brown. When Tanya asked her about it, she said it was due to stress from living a new life here at the Academy. But I knew better. I saw how Lily followed her after school. I still didn''t know what the redhaired vixen did then, but it couldn''t be anything pleasant, I knew that for certain.


    Today was no exception.


    Lunch hadn''t even begun for ten minutes and while I was digging into my food, I saw Angelique running off. A set of painful wooden clothespins bit into the tentacles braided into her seaweed-coloured hair. I''ve heard that tentacles of merfolk acted like feelers on some occasions, and were sensitive, so that must''ve hurt a lot. Lily''s laughter echoed throughout the lunch hall. I clicked my tongue and put my food away.


    After I cleaned my own plate, I followed the girl throughout the hallway. I found her crying on the roof as she looked out over the city. Her entire body shook with every sob as tears trailed along the slime-covered tentacles framing her face.


    "Angelique?" I carefully asked. The girl shrieked when she heard my voice and quickly turned around. She looked very afraid. Each step I took to get closer to her, she shuffled backwards. Until she couldn''t go further back anymore. With her back against the fence, she collapsed and started crying again.


    "H-Hey, don''t cry. I''m not here to hurt you. Let me see your tentacles." That stopped her bawling. She looked at me through the wet tresses of her tentacles. I knelt right in front of her. When she had calmed down enough, I touched one of her tentacles. Cold and slimy, but not uncomfortable. The girl blushed when she noticed how I took one of the clothespins and pulled it away from her sensitive tentacles.


    "W-Why are you helping me? Aren''t you afraid of Lily''s wrath?" I scoffed. I didn''t mind being the target of her pranks: I could handle it. It wouldn''t be the first time I was the target of bullying. However, Angelique wasn''t able to cope with it.


    "Afraid? Of her? No, she''s an asshole. I know I''m better than her." I mumbled. I''d almost removed every clothespin I found. The girl mumbled a soft thank-you as she caressed her tortured tentacles. I heard her whimper each time she touched the swollen spots where the clothespins were.


    "You alright now?" I asked. Angelique nodded and rubbed the remains of her tears from her face. She even flashed me a soft smile before she stood back up. She sighed.


    "We''ve got practical again¡­" She mumbled. I nodded. Tanya kept her out of practice sessions for the past few days after her spell went haywire on the first day of school. But today, she needed to train alongside the rest of the students again. Otherwise, she would be too far behind on the rest. Not that I fared any better: I still couldn''t form any spells without the being of my Mark devour every single bit of my magic circle.


    "Yeah. Are you afraid?" I asked while I took a place beside her. Angelique recoiled away from me, but when she noticed I wasn''t about to pull any pranks, she visibly relaxed.


    "Yeah." The squid-girl nodded. "I still can''t use my powers. In fact, I''d rather not have them at all¡­" She whispered. Her voice sounded soft, and kind. I took a good look at her. She wasn''t really suited for combat, that''s for sure: she''s too kind to try and hurt anyone.


    "But isn''t it exciting? I mean, you have unique powers that no one else has. You''ve got to be happy about that." I tried. The girl just shrugged. After Angelique sighed, she shook her head and looked up at the sky.


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    "Maybe for others. But every time I use my powers, they go out of control. And then it chars my tentacles. I wanted a Mark with aquatic powers, not one that can burn anything it touches. Including me." Ah. So she''s afraid to hurt herself and others. The seaweed-haired girl leaned back and sighed.


    "I don''t know if I''ll ever come to terms with my powers. Have you seen Lily or the teacher''s powers? They are so strong and can control it fairly well and here I am¡­ Afraid to use my powers." She explained. I shook my head.


    "Don''t think that way. You can form magic circles, even if you can''t control them very well. I can''t even do that." I countered. The girl chuckled softly. I stood up when I heard the lunch bell tolling in the distance.


    "Come on. Let''s go. If your spell goes haywire, I''ll try to protect you, okay? No promises though, I don''t really have faith in my own strength." Angelique chuckled softly before she stood up as well. She dusted herself off while her eyes gazed at the training field.


    "That''s nice of you to say, Carnel." The girl smiled before she walked alongside me. Her presence alone was quite soothing, even if she didn''t say a lot. Soon, we arrived at the training field. The rest of the class was already there. Including Lily, who shot both of us a nasty glare.


    "All right, now that everyone is present¡­ I''ll summon my mud army again. This time, I want to see more controlled magic circles, understood?" The teacher glanced over at Angelique, who gulped and nodded. Lily scoffed and walked away. A mud doll rose out of the ground right beside her.


    "Hmph, pathetic." She degraded the doll. The scarlet-haired vixen took a swift step forwards before she grabbed the muddy head with both her hands. I saw her eyes light up in a hot pink colour before a magic circle appeared in her irises.


    The mud doll, previously moving on its own accord with uncontrolled flailing, stood still. It looked at Lily, like it expected something. The redhaired woman waved her hand, which caused the doll to nod and immediately storm off to fight its former brethren. On its back, a magic circle shone. I saw the dark red of the Devil Marking, then the light purple of psychokinesis. However, I didn''t recognize the third part of the magic circle: The symbols were unlike anything I''ve ever seen. In a book or in real life.


    "Suprised?" Lily asked." This is the magic my Devil Mark granted me: mind manipulation." She proudly continued. So that''s what she tried to do to me. But my Mark devoured her spell before she could complete her magic circle¡­


    "Huh. Any other spells?" I asked her. The redhaired girl''s face tensed up. She looked around, trying to find something that could bring this conversation to an end. Sadly for her, Tanya heard it all.


    "No. Remarkably, Lily has a Mark that doesn''t allow her to use any other magic than psychokinesis. Instead, it gives her heightened physical capabilities. Harder kicks and punches and whatnot." Lily scoffed. Her face revealed her feelings, even if she didn''t want to say anything: this conversation wasn''t going the way she wanted it to.


    "That wasn''t necessary, Tanya!" The redhead complained. However, the fact that she didn''t use the correct title brushed the teacher the wrong way.


    "Is that so? Well, if you used the correct form to speak to me, I was willing to forgive your transgression. However, now that you didn''t¡­ Follow me to my office, young lady!" The blonde butterfly-woman ordered. Lily grumbled as she contemplated just running away and ignoring the professor. However, Tanya must''ve guessed that the woman wanted to try that and quickly summoned some walls to block off all her routes.


    "No running. Right this way, now!" She ordered. The redhead sighed. After throwing Angelique and I a foul gaze, she followed the teacher inside.


    "Well, that happened. Right, shall we get on with it then?" I said. Angelique nodded before she formed her magic circle. I noticed the golden glow of an Angelic Mark surrounding the fire-red glow of a fire spell. Then, the third part of the spell appeared. I recognized it as the symbols needed to summon up a small fireball. However, the symbols just formed or something forced them to change.


    "There it is again!" Angelique panicked. I saw her Mark, which was on her right cheek, light up in a copper colour. It looked like a wing, with flames spouting out from every possible side. Her spell morphed as I saw the symbols change from accommodating a normal fireball to something called¡­ ''Righteous Inferno''?


    "Oh no!" Those were the only words the seaweed-haired girl could say before a massive flame stretched to the sky. It was the same spell that chased me on the first day of school. I saw how Angelique was starting to freak out.


    "Calm down! Your fear is only making it worse!" I yelled over the howling of the flames. But the girl didn''t listen, or was unable to. The flames curled and turned towards us. They approached at an alarming speed. I saw the magic circle on Angelique''s hands: she was frozen with fear and unable to control her magic.


    "Nothing else to do!" I pepped myself up before I jumped towards her. Feeling the magic circle coming closer to me, the misty figure living inside of my Mark immediately licked its teeth and started chomping at the magic. However, since the circle already had been activated, it seemed to go slower than I anticipated.


    "Come here!" I quickly grabbed Angelique, who stood stunned and in the direct path of her own spell before I pulled her close to me. She let out a surprised yelp, but I didn''t care. I turned my attention to the approaching flames. They were still getting closer, and my Mark wasn''t done yet with eating through the magic circle. Judging from its reaction, an already working magic-circle was really touch and chewy¡­


    "Get on with it!" I yelled to the ghostly figure. Its red eyes glared at me before it started to chomp even faster. I felt the scorching heat radiating down my back, burning some of the hair on the top of my head. Finally, my Mark managed to chew through the magic circle and swallowed it whole. It licked its lips before it eagerly retreated into my body.


    "Watch out!" Angelique hugged me tightly while her eyes went wide. I saw the reflection of the flames in her brown eyes and pulled her even closer. With my back first in its route, I would be scorched first. Luckily, the flames started to die out once my Mark had devoured the magic circle. At first, the change was minimal. But the farther the spell travelled, the weaker it became.


    "That was close¡­" I said in a tired tone before falling to the ground. The only thing remained of Angelique''s misfire was only a small cinder, something that died out once it touched the muddy ground. The squid-girl let out a happy sigh before she sunk to the floor.


    "Thanks for stopping the flames, Carnel." She whispered. I nodded and pushed myself back on my feet. However, just as I stretched out, I felt a massive heatwave spreading throughout my body. I immediately collapsed again, as if somebody kicked me in the knees. My entire body felt like it was burning with the power of a thousand fireballs. My Mark shone in an eerie white colour.


    Was this the payback of devouring a spell that was already in effect?, I wondered.


    The pain and heat inside my body continued to grow, eating away at my nerves. Every inch of my skin felt like it was being scorched by the same flames my Mark just devoured. The grass around me wilted immediately while my body radiated a massive amount of heat.


    "What''s wrong? Carnel?!" I heard Angelique''s voice in the distance while I desperately held on to my consciousness. After a gruelling five minutes, the flames inside me finally subsided. The heat radiating from my body died down as well. I felt sweat trickling down my back as my body slowly cooled down again.


    "Carnel¡­?" Angelique carefully rubbed my right shoulder as I pushed myself on my knees. I rubbed the drool from my chin and tried to stand up. However, it felt like my muscles were fried. They didn''t react to any command I tried to give them. Guess I''ll have to wait until I cooled down some more, I reasoned.


    "I-I''ll help!" The seaweed-haired girl said. Her voice sounded like she wouldn''t accept any counterarguments. She grabbed a couple of her slime-covered tentacles and draped them over my scorching-hot limbs. Her tentacles sizzled for a second before I felt how cool they were. The slime oozed over my skin, cooling it down. It actually felt good.


    "Thanks, Angelique." I said. I felt my power returning to my legs and stood back up. I saw Tanya standing a couple of feet further away, her gaze discerning every inch about me. I shrugged and checked my body: there didn''t seem to be any external injuries. Only the remaining warmth was a testament of what just happened.


    "All right, that''s it for today, guys! Tomorrow will be your last day of your first school week, I expect you to do even better!" Tanya announced before she walked into the school building. I stretched my body before walking towards the exit of the Academy.


    "P-Please¡­ C-Can I walk with you to my dorm?" Angelique asked. I felt her soft, webbed hand around my right one. I remembered how she had been followed yesterday so I accepted. Her dorm wasn''t all that far: only two streets from the Academy. When we arrived, the girl thanked me with blushing cheeks.


    "O-Oh, I know! H-Here''s my contact information. It''s fine if you don''t want that from me, of all people, but---" I cut her off with a simple shake of my head.


    "No, it''s fine!" She held out a metallic object I recognized as a Xenophone. It was a rather new piece of technology that allows people to talk to each on great distances. I swiped my own Xenophone on hers and a bleeping noise confirmed we had each other''s contact information.


    "Well then, see you tomorrow!" I said before I turned around and went on my own way to my own home a couple of streets down the road. I heard Angelique''s soft voice behind me, but I couldn''t quite make out what. I waved back at her and returned to my own apartment for a quiet evening.


    The next day, it was the last day of school in the week. That seemed to get the students rowdy. Well, louder than they already were, anyway. Our practical was the same as the four days before, yet there were way more mud dolls this time. Now that most of the students of my class started to understand where their strengths and weaknesses lied , they started to build their spelling-repertoire around that. However, I still couldn''t cast any spells since my Mark was still as hungry as ever.


    Angelique however made more progress. Now that her fear of being roasted alive had been nullified somewhat, since she knew I would break her spell before that could happen, she seemed more comfortable around her own Mark. Albeit a little. At the end of the day, she was able to blast a single mud doll to pieces with a well-aimed fireball. Her smile was soothing to anyone who caught it.


    "Did you see what I did, Carnel?!" She laughed proudly while we were going back to her dorm. Angelique looked like a completely different person now: her smile was truly a sight a to behold and that twinkle in her eyes made her look cute.


    "Yeah, good job!" I answered with a smile. I was still bummed out when I remembered my failed attempts to form a proper magic circle. However, Angelique was way too happy to notice that, and I didn''t blame her. She was slowly getting over her fear of her Mark. Like she was accepting her destiny.


    "Oh! D-D-Do you¡­ Do you have any plans for tonight?" Angelique''s trademark shy stutter had returned. She fumbled her squid tentacles between her trembling fingers as she inspected the ground before her.


    "No, why do you ask?" I responded. While I patiently waited for her answer, I leaned against a concrete pillar.


    "W-Well¡­ W-What would you think of¡­ o-of¡­ eating with me?" Her voice became softer and softer the further she got with her sentence. I frowned: this was a new experience. A girl asking me out?


    "Sure, I don''t mind!" The girl happily smiled and giggled. She turned around and started a dash towards her apartment.


    "P-Please wait here! I''ll go put on something more comfortable!" She said in a shy tone before she raced towards her dorm. I chuckled. That girl: shy and fumbling one moment, bold in the next. I guess that means she feels comfortable around me, I reasoned. It doesn''t feel bad to have someone that is comfortable around me¡­ For once.


    I waited five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Just as I started thinking the girl was pulling a fast one on me, my Xenophone rumbled in my back pocket. Angelique''s name appeared on it. I tapped the thing and placed it against my air. I was very careful not to touch it with my bare skin. Else, my mark would happily gobble it up again!


    "Angelique? Where--?!'' Instead of her voice, I heard some screams, yells and rustling of clothes. I couldn''t quite make out what was happening on the other side. But it didn''t sound good. I heard a deep male voice echo at the other end. I couldn''t quite understand him, though.


    "Carnel, help!" Her voice cut through the cacophony of sounds. Then, the connection got broken. A Xenophone always functioned on the user''s magic force, which was why it never caught on to the greater public. So that meant Angelique was unconscious right now or¡­


    Not good. Not good at all.

 5 A deadly shopping trip

    "Carnel! You''re awake!" Angelique''s big brown eyes suddenly clouded my vision. Her soft tentacles caressed my face: it honestly felt rather nice. She smiled when I nodded softly. I tried pushing myself up, but the squid-girl held me down.


    "You need to rest. Your body has suffered severe burns and cuts. The doctors said it''ll take about a week for you to fully heal." She said while she caressed my bandaged hands. I saw how her arms were covered in bandages, along with some of her tentacles tenderly wrapped in soft gauze.


    "And you? How''re you feeling?" I answered. I was shocked to hear my own voice; I sounded so weak! The girl smiled and shushed me to silence.


    "Nothing that can''t be healed. You''ve taken far more damage since I held you underwater for too long." That''s right, I realized. I passed out when Angelique swam us both to safety. The rest after that was just a black hole.


    "Right¡­ Tell me, what happened after we ditched the old man?" I asked. Angelique tapped her chin as she recalled the events of the past night.


    "Well¡­ After I swum for a while, I arrived in the mainstream river that runs through the city. I followed it and jumped when I reached the Academy. From there, I carried you to the hospital.


    "¡­You''re really amazing, you know that?" I commented. It was quite a feat to drag a human for so long underwater, let alone carrying them five streets further to bring them to a hospital. My squid-like companion blushed and shifted on her chair.


    "No¡­ we did it together, you know? If you hadn''t shown up with that weird old man¡­ I don''t even want to think about the outcome." She shivered. I caressed her shoulder to make her feel better until a deep bong echoed from the hospital hallway.


    "Oh, seems visiting hours are over. Please, Carnel, get better soon, okay? I''ll come back tomorrow to visit after school." Angelique promised before she left my hospital room. And she meant that.


    Every evening, the seaweed-haired girl visited me with fresh fruit while she vividly told about the things she experienced that day. She seemed so much happier than when I first met her. Her happiness was infectious.


    Normally, I would be out of the hospital in a couple of days. But whenever the doctors wanted to use their magic to heal me, my Mark would activate and gobble up all magic. My Mark''s beast seemed happy enough, though. So I had to rely on salves and my own body''s strength.


    And soon¡­.


    "Okay, Sir. You''re dismissed!" The secretary at the entrance of the hospital said to me. It had been a full week since I had been outside. Almost no marks were left on my body, only the remainders of some scars.


    When I walked outside, I felt a cool breeze roll over my face. It was almost winter now, wasn''t it? I smiled: I always loved the winter.


    Not much people were out and about on this nightly hour. I walked back to my own room. It was Friday, so school would not resume until Monday. While I was contemplating what to do during the weekend after processing my schoolwork, I felt a chill travel across my back.


    It isn''t that cold, I reasoned. What was that?


    I looked around and noticed that there weren''t any people or vehicles around me. Only an empty, desolate street. Suddenly, I heard a rustle behind me. Cloth rubbing against skin. I jumped forwards. Right in time before a fist smashed the pavement to pieces.


    "What the fuck, lady?!" I yelled loudly at the person that attacked me. Somehow, she reminded me of someone¡­ She had deep green hair and big, blue eyes. Scales adorned her skin with a powerful fishy tail swaying behind her.


    "You! You hurt her, didn''t you?!" Without waiting for an answer, she charged forwards and tackled me. All air got knocked out of my lungs before I rolled aside. Another punch smashed into the pavement and cracked it.


    "The fuck are you talking about, woman?! I don''t even know you!" I yelled. I turned around and dashed away. The woman immediately followed me. And she was a lot faster than me!


    Too fast!, I realized as she caught me in a matter of seconds. When I saw her hand rearing back for another punch, I crossed my arms in front of me to protect me. However, they froze in place midway through.


    "Time lock!" I saw an Angelic magic circle hovering above the woman. However, my Mark''s being was totally incapacitated; I couldn''t move my arms!


    "Mother, stop!" A familiar voice cut through the night sky. From the moment the syllables reached the woman''s ears, she immediately froze. She looked fervently around her, until a figure appeared out of a nearby alley.


    "Mother, please get away from him! He isn''t the one who hurt me!" It was Angelique! Now I saw the resemblance: Both had the same seaweed-coloured hair and body type. The only difference were their eye colour and skin. While Angelique''s was smooth and slimy, I''d imagined the woman''s skin to be much coarser.


    "B-But¡­ Deary, you said in your letter that¡ª" The squid-girl cut the woman off.


    "I said that some men hurt me AND that someone rescued me. Let me guess: you saw Carnel''s picture fall out of the letter and simply dashed off?" I judged from the woman''s reaction that Angelique hit the nail on the head.


    "Sorry but¡­ What is happening here?" Both ladies ignored me as I pushed myself back on my feet. Angelique walked over to me and checked me out. Once she was certain I wasn''t injured, she smiled and turned towards her mother.


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    "This is the person that helped me escape, mom!" She said again. The truth started to dawn on the woman''s face before she immediately bowed.


    "I-I am so sorry! When I saw you walking and then that picture¡ªI--And my sweet guppy¡ªI did¡ª" I shook my head.


    "What''s done is done. There is no reason to apologize. You thought your daughter was in danger, and you acted on it. I see nothing wrong with that." I answered. The woman straightened her back again and looked me over.


    "So¡­ This is the Carnel you''ve talked about in your letter, my guppy? He seems a lot less¡­ muscular than you described." Angelique''s face immediately went as red as a cooked lobster.


    "M-Mom! Don''t tell him that!" She yelled. Seeing her embarrassed like that made me chuckle: she looked just as cute, if not cuter!


    "¡­Right, right. I shouldn''t force you two together." The woman answered with a smile. Force together?, I asked myself. What was this woman thinking?


    "Mom, you''re killing me!" Angelique complained. In fact, she got so embarrassed that her tentacles shot out some ink. I''ve heard that squids sometimes do that whenever high emotions got the better of them. The girl pushed her mother away before she turned to me.


    "S-Sorry to let you see this, Carnel¡­ M-My mom is a bit overprotective¡­ When I send her a letter to explain what had happened, she must''ve immediately bolted off to come and ''safe me''¡­ I-I''m so sorry." She whispered. I didn''t think about the issue that way.


    "No, don''t be sorry. That''s proof your mother loves you more than anything, right? Anyway, I need to rest and I think your mother has a lot of explaining to do. See you Monday at school?" I asked. Angelique nodded eagerly before she pulled her mother towards her own dorm. I chuckled before I walked to my own home.


    "Those two are¡­ quite the pair." I commented as I walked into my apartment and went about my weekend. I didn''t do anything special, as I loved to laze about. The only thing I did do was my school work and make that report detailing about my Mark. However, I decided to keep a lot of details to myself.


    No one unsavoury needs to know about my Mark, after all.


    The weekend passed way too quickly, and school resumed. There were a lot of questions from my classmates, but I decided to leave them in the dark. I didn''t even tell the teacher, Tanya, about anything. I just told her I fell down the stairs and ended the conversation there.


    The week passed without much incident, although I still couldn''t form any spells on my own. Not even the fireball spell I swallowed and spit back out when I helped out Angelique.


    It seems that I can only use swallowed spells once, I concluded. Which was a major bummer.


    My Mark''s beast seemed insatiable as always during the entire week. Whenever magic got too close too me, it munched down on it eagerly. I couldn''t even control it; I tried yelling at it, but the creature seemed deaf. Only if I said it was dinner time, then it reacted to my voice. What a pain in my ass.


    After five gruelling days of school, it was finally weekend again. When I walked back home, I noticed Angelique standing right outside the Academy gates. She seemed shifty.


    "O-Oh, Carnel!" From the moment she saw me, her cheeks flushed red.


    "Hi Angelique. Are you on your way home?" The girl nodded and walked alongside me. Behind us were Lily and her group of friends, discussing which shop they should visit this weekend.


    "Hey, Carnel. Do you have anything to do this weekend?" My squid-like companion suddenly asked. Her blush intensified even more.


    "No, just like any other weekend. Why?" I responded curiously. Angelique squirmed while she struggled to find the right words.


    "W-Well¡­ I-I was thinking¡­ D-D-Do¡­ Do you want to go out with me tomorrow?" She blurted out. I was almost sure the entire street heard her. When she realized that, her blush intensified even more. I saw some black ink drip along her tentacles as well.


    "Uhmm¡­ Sure. I don''t see why not? How about 10 AM at the mall in the centre of the city?" I proposed. The girl eagerly nodded and quickly said goodbye. I had the distinct impression she wanted to hurry home before her embarrassment caused her to shoot ink in all directions from her cute tentacles.


    And I didn''t blame her: the entire street watched her run to her dorm.


    The following day, I waited for Angelique to arrive. I gazed at the mall behind me; I''ve heard it was the biggest collection of shops in the entire country. And when I looked over the five-story tall building, I was inclined to believe those rumours.


    "Carnel! Over here!" Angelique''s voice echoed behind me. When I turned around, I got greeted by a whole other girl.


    Somebody had done her hair; Instead of letting her hair fall, she braided it along with her soft tentacles. The deep green and white had a nice synergy going on. The squid-girl wore a mint-green dress that worked wonders with her eyes. She twirled around on her 3-inch heels. I saw the faintest glimmering, coming from stalactite-based earrings, peaking from underneath her hair.


    "D-Do I look good? M-Mom insisted I should wear this instead of my normal clothes." She stuttered. Her shy side was cute too. I smiled and nodded. When we walked into the shopping mall, I noticed Lily and her friends giggling in the corner of my eye.


    I need to keep them apart somehow, I reasoned. Angelique was still scared of Lily , no matter the situation. She wanted this day, and I wanted to make it as good as possible.


    We first went to a plushie shop, at Angelique''s insistence. She smiled brightly while she browsed through the various soft plushies. In the end, she chose a dolphin-one. According to her, it reminded her of home. She cuddled it close to her as we walked through the shopping mall.


    Next, we visited an electronics shop. Not because Angelique was particularly interested in that, but because she lost her Xenophone after she got grabbed. And she wanted my opinion what colour would fit her best. We both decided on an emerald-coloured Xenophone.


    After that, we went to a restaurant. I saw how Angelique only drank water with salt. Lots of salt. I realized that a squid-girl like her needed a lot of salt and water to keep herself from drying out.


    Just when we were getting to the dessert, a rumble shook the building. I frowned: earthquakes weren''t common in this country. So what were these tremors?


    The lights started to dim and flare in an irregular fashion. Some even came crashing down. People started freaking out, only adding to the confusion. After a couple of seconds, the lights shut off. The rumbling stopped as well.


    "What did you think that--?!" Angelique''s voice got cut off by a massive ''bang'' echoing from the ground floor. A plume of smoke rose up from the central staircase as screams erupted at the same time.


    "Everybody freeze!" An unknown voice echoed from within the cloud of smoke. Before I could react, a barrage of icicles shot in our direction. I immediately pulled the squid-girl closer before I kicked the table. The sound of the icicles smashing into the wood was terrifying.


    Just what was happening here?! I inspected the clothes of the unwelcome newcomers. They all wore the same: brown robes that covered their faces and bodies completely with golden stitches. On their backs, I saw that the stitches formed some kind of ¡­ plant?


    "Nobody moves! If even a single one of you moves, everyone dies!" I grunted and looked at Angelique. She gulped. I saw her hands trembling and I fared no better.


    Just what were these guys doing here?

 7 Moving ou

    "How much longer am I going to be grounded?" I complained through my Xenophone. A prim voice answered.


    "As long as the investigation is ongoing, you will stay in your room." I sighed. That was the same answer they told me the past week. I fell back down on my bed and looked at my teddy bear.


    "I''m bored." I deadpanned. It had been a week since the attack on the mall. After we had been rescued from the building, we were immediately thrust into the hospital for a check-up. When the doctors were absolutely sure we didn''t have any serious injuries, we were brought back to our homes and told to stay put.


    Which was boring.


    I liked staying at home. But I had already played through my collection of games five times: there was a limit how much boredom I could handle!


    Suddenly, I heard someone knock on my door. I ruffled my unkempt hair and rolled out of bed. I stumbled through my apartment and unlocked the door.


    "Hi Carnel! Are you ready?" Angelique''s voice echoed from behind the door. The squid-girl cradled a couple of boxes in her arms.


    "Angelique? What are you doing here? Ready for what?" I asked, perplexed. The seaweed-haired girl frowned and pointed at the boxes.


    "Didn''t you get the memo? W-We are... supposed to live together now, by the orders of the city council." Angelique explained with blushing cheeks. It took a while before my brain had processed that information. After a couple of long seconds, A shock rushed through my mind.


    "¡­ Say what?" I asked in a lost voice. This day was getting crazier by the minute! I had a very small apartment, barely fitting one person. Where was I going to put three people?!


    "It''s for your own protection." A deep female voice announced. A police officer walked towards us, closely followed by Lily. The redhead brushed her hair backwards while she tapped on her Xenophone. She didn''t give a damn about what happened around her.


    "Protection? You mean against those nutjobs? I''ve said it a countless times: we don''t need anyone''s protection. We are more than strong enough to look after ourselves." The police officer ignored my complaints.


    "R-Ready to go?" She asked. This was getting more and more puzzling: where would we be going?


    "To ensure the safety of you three, the mayor of the city has ordered you three to go live together in a house. It''s easier to protect the three of you that way." The police officer explained. That took me by surprise. I thought we had to stay inside while the investigation was ongoing, not to wait until a house was done.


    "W-Why? I don''t want to relocate!" I complained. Lily chuckled and put her arm around me.


    "Give it up, boy. I''ve tried every trick in the book, and some out of its pages, and they didn''t budge!" The redhead said. I groaned and glared at the officer. But she seemed far more interested by something on the wall.


    "Where are we going anyway? Isn''t it better to keep us all apart so that they can''t take us all down at once." The officer shook her head.


    "No. The commanders have decided you will live in a house secluded from other civilians. Besides, having you three in the same building makes it easier to safeguard all of you with less manpower." I gritted my teeth. Those damned old people! What gives them the right to just decide that on their own?


    "There''s, like, no use fighting it, Carnel." Lily repeated. I looked at the redhaired vixen. The girl poked against her Xenophone. Probably typing something at her friends.


    "Are you okay with this?" I asked. Angelique blushed, but she slowly nodded. Lily''s eyebrows went up.


    "Hell no! But they threatened to put me in jail if I didn''t complain, so I had to oblige." The redhead mumbled. I looked at the police officer one last time, then turned around.


    "Fine¡­ Give me some minutes to grab my stuff." I said and stumbled back into my apartment. I didn''t have that much stuff, anyway. My teddy-bear, my games and consoles, my clothes and that''s it. The rest was all part of the apartment. I couldn''t take it with me.


    "Wow. You''ve got even less stuff than I''d imagined for a nerd like you." Lily remarked. I rolled my eyes and followed the police officer to the car. There, I dropped my stuff into a nearby van and stepped into the car. Lily took the front seat, while Angelique shuffled besides me.


    While we were driving to my--- excuse me-- OUR new home, I turned to Angelique.


    "Are you really okay with this? I mean, living with Lily? She''s an insufferable bitch." The squid-girl turned to me. She shyly glanced at the redhaired vixen, but Lily was too occupied with her Xenophone to notice anything.


    "Yes. But you said to show her I am better than her. Besides, I''ve heard her cry in her hospital room. About her friend, I mean..." She whispered back. Right... One of her friends had been shocked to death right in front of her eyes. But still, I couldn''t believe the reasoning behind this decision. Had the council another plan in mind?


    Was there another reason why they did it?


    "We''re here." The police officer driving the car announced. I looked through the tinted windows of the car and saw a modest two-story building, surrounded by trees. It wasn''t anything special, yet it had more than enough space to accommodate the three of us.


    "Huh. It''s smaller than I anticipated." I commented as I stepped out of the car. If I remembered correctly, this area was located just outside the Devil''s district, near the Eastern entrance of the city. Lily and Angelique walked towards the moving van and grabbed the boxes with their stuff.


    "Oh yeah, boy! You''re sleeping on the second floor. Me and the squid already chose our rooms. The biggest one for me, of course!" Lily casually explained. Angelique politely bowed to say sorry and grabbed her own boxes.


    "I can''t even chose my own room? Aww, man!" I complained and brought my own stuff inside. Inside, it was quite cosy. The furniture was nice, there were two bathrooms, a kitchen, a spacious living room and more. Yet¡­


    "Have you noticed?" I whispered to Angelique when we were alone in the hallway on the second floor. I loosely pointed behind my back. A camera was watching our every move. I wasn''t sure how to feel about that.


    "Yeah. I think they consider us suspects regarding that attack on the mall the other day." Angelique explained. I clicked my tongue; We should watch out what we said and did then. Who knows what they actually wanted to see. Those old creeps...


    When the two of us walked to the stairs, I heard a peculiar sound coming from the nearest door. I grabbed Angelique''s shoulder and pulled her to the wall. I put my ears against the wooden door and listened.


    "I-I can''t... Why...? Why did you have to...?" The voice sobbed uncontrollably. It was Lily! So that attack affected her more than she let on. I looked at Angelique, who gazed back into my eyes with a soft gaze.


    "W-Who''s there?!" Lily suddenly jumped up. She looked around and brushed her tears away. I saw how her body shivered. Was it an after-effect of the attack, I asked myself. Like a trauma?


    I wanted to react, but Angelique stopped me. She pushed me back and opened the door. I looked at her: the squid-girl seemed really determined.


    "Okay, I''ll leave you to it then." I whispered and went down the stairs. I heard how Lily broke into sobs again and how Angelique tried to soothe the redhead. I was quite surprised, but I reasoned that Angelique had gotten over her memories about Lily now she saw she had emotions like a normal human being.


    The doorbell rang. When I opened it, Angelique''s mother greeted me and pushed a small package into my hands.


    "What''s this?" I asked. The package wasn''t big; It fit on my handpalm. But something hard and round rested in the middle of it.


    "My darling guppy had been complaining about severe burns and dehydration whenever she summoned her magic. So I''ve had some friends of mine create a prototype. They called it... a hydrobead or something like that? She needs to wear it at all times." The seaweed-haired woman explained. I nodded and carefully placed the package on the kitchen counter.


    "Anyway... I need to return back to Hydropolis. My company can''t do without me, it seems." She sighed. Before she turned around, however, she gazed deep into my eyes.


    "Protect her, Carnel. Protect my baby. That attack on the mall almost caused a heart attack, so please... Keep her safe." I nodded. There wasn''t much else I could do, was there?! The mature woman flashed me a soft smile before she turned around and stepped into a taxi.


    "What are you doing, staring out in the distance like that?" Angelique''s voice echoed behind me. I shut the door and gestured at the package.


    "Your mother came to bring something before she left. It''s apparently something you need to wear at all times. Anyway, how is Lily?" I asked. The squid-girl shook her head while she tore off the paper of her package. In her hands lied an azure-coloured gemstone. It hung from a golden cord.


    "She cried herself to sleep. The poor thing let out all the accumulated stress she build up during the past week." Angelique answered before she turned her back to me.


    "Can you help me with this?" She asked and showed me the clasp of the golden cord. I walked towards and fumbled with the clasp. Delicate stuff really wasn''t my forte. However, after a couple of botched attempts I managed to clasp the cords together.


    "So we''re going back to school tomorrow?" I asked. Angelique nodded. She showed a small piece of paper with the emblem of the Academy printed on it.


    "A monthly test? Why?" I asked after I''d read through the entire letter. Apparently, we were supposed to take a test to measure our abilities.


    "Seeing that we have unique Marks, they want to monitor our progress." Angelique explained. But there was a hint of doubt in her voice. And I could guess why. Between the monitoring equipment put all over the house, our forced relocation and those tests... The governing board wanted to keep us down. Eliminate any threats to their power, as it were.


    And that counted double for me, since I had an unknown Mark. I had to watch what I did and said in the future.


    "Right. I''ll cook up something, and then I''m going to call it a day." I announced. Angelique''s eyebrows raised. And she wasn''t the only one that was surprised.


    "Oho, a man that can cook?" Lily leaned against the staircase. Her make-up created black rivers across her smooth cheeks. Her scarlet hair was dishevelled and her eyes had gone red from all the crying.


    "Lily! What are you doing here? I thought you fell asleep." Angelique said while she walked towards the redhead.


    "I did. But sleeping with wet eyes is hard, ya know. Besides, like you said... She wouldn''t want me to seclude myself to my room." The scarlet-haired vixen teared up again. But she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She''s strong, I realized. Much stronger than I gave her credit for.


    "I''m glad that my words had at least some effect on you." The squid-girl said before she extended her hand towards the redhead.


    "H-Huh?" Lily was confused. Her eyes bounced from Angelique''s webbed hand to the big brown eyes of the girl herself.


    "I''ve decided something. If we are to live in the same house, share the same space with each other for most of the day and night, we need to have a good understanding with each other." Angelique explained.


    "B-But why? I-I''ve bullied you for so long!" Lily retorted. Angelique shook her head and glanced over at me.


    "There''s a certain someone that told me it was better to for me to just forgive those that opposed me in the past. And to show them that I can be better than them." She answered. Lily scoffed and grabbed Angelique''s extended hand.


    "Fine. But don''t think you can be better than me. No one can be!" The redhead answered while she flashed a smile.


    "Right... I heard you were going to cook for us? Get to it, chop-chop!" Lily said while she pointed at the kitchen counter. I sighed and nodded; I understood the hierarchy in this house already.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The next day, it was time for our Monthly Examination. This time, it was some kind of target practice. Tanya, the teacher, had erected countless mud dolls that behaved erratically. We had to beat them as fast as we could.


    To make things easier, we were divided in groups of three each. As luck would have it, I had been grouped with Lily and Angelique. We were last to begin and watched the how the others demolished the armies of mud dolls quickly. Or in some cases, rather slowly.


    When it was finally our turn, we were interrupted by a pompous voice coming from the Academy''s entrance.


    "...Teach? Ya going to give us the go-ahead or are you going to stare into the sky like that for the rest of the exam?" Lily joked. The blonde teacher gasped and fumbled with her butterfly feelers before she collected herself.


    "Ri-Right. Ready... Set... Go!" She yelled. Immediately, an entire army of mud dolls rose up from the muddy ground. Lily and Angelique smirked before the redhead stormed towards the nearest opponent she could find. She kicked a doll to pieces with one kick, then grabbed another one''s head and stared deep into the cavities where its eyes should be.


    The redhead''s eyes glowed in a hot pink colour before the doll froze. When the scarlet-haired vixen snapped her fingers, it suddenly started attacking other mud dolls. So that''s how her Original Magic worked, I realized.


    Angelique had finished her magic circle and sent a torrent of flames barreling through the mud dolls'' ranks. Many clumps of mud flew everywhere before the flames exploded.


    "You''re getting better, Angelique!" I exclaimed. The squid-girl flashed me a pleased smile before she started charging up for another blast. Meanwhile, I decided to jump into the fray as well.


    I saw that magic circles were embedded on each and every mud doll. So I jumped over one of them and had my Mark devour it. The doll fell apart immediately. I had my Mark recreate the spell, much to the beast''s dismay. I promised it would have its fill of spells soon, and that seemed to calm it down. Somewhat.


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    "All right! Let''s do this!" I spurred myself on.


    The recreated spell went off without a hitch and summoned a big mud doll. It was three times as big as its other brethren and held a club of hardened rock in its right hand. I snapped my fingers and commanded the doll to ravage our enemies.


    The dolls stood no chance. Between Lily, Angelique and me, none of them were even capable of attacking us. The examination was done in 3 minutes. Which was among the fastest times of the class.


    Tanya seemed to be pre-occupied with something else though. She checked her watch each passing five seconds and glanced at the entrance of the Academy.


    "So, Teach? How did we do?" Lily asked. She dusted herself off. I saw blood trickling from both her legs and her forehead. She must''ve kicked extremely hard. Angelique waved her wabbed hands back and forth to make them cool down quicker. Her soft tentacles seemed to be fine, though. The azure stone resting on her chest glowed in a calming manner.


    "Y-Yeah, good... I-I suppose." Tanya answered dismissively. A moment later, the bell rang. The blond eteacher jumped up, unfurled her multi-coloured wings and ran towards the Academy entrance. I couldn''t hold my curiosity and followed her.


    I looked around the corner of the Academy entrance and saw how Tanya stepped into a limousine. The black windows prevented me from seeing who was in that car. However, I recognized the emblems on the flags of the car as those of the Fairy Court. The strongest warriors of the Elves. They were strong and respected by many. But there were many unsavoury rumours about them as well.


    Why would Tanya be in cahoots with them?

 8 The Fairy Court Marshals

    "What did you think all that was about?" Angelique wondered while she devoured her mashed potatoes. It was the day after the examination. After Tanya ran from the moment school was over, we were left to our own devices.


    Since none of us knew what to do, we just¡­ left. After an uneventful evening, we all went back to school. However, the teacher was nowhere to be found. Instead, we had self-study sessions in the morning and practical sessions with the other classes in the afternoon.


    "I dunno." I shrugged. I had no idea why the Fairy Court would contact Tanya. Her Mark was of the Fairy-variety, yes, but the Court only acted when you were a high-priority target. This wasn''t making any sense.


    "I''ll ask my friends if they heard anything about it." Lily offered. I nodded: If there was anything you''d like to know, that bunch of gossipers mostly heard it through a rumour or two.


    Soon, the bell tolled. All students made their way to the central courtyard. It was much bigger than the field my class used to train in. But that was only logical, since about a hundred students were present. They all formed neat lines of ten people each. The class I was in stood a bit lost at the side.


    "What are you guys doing? Show these people how far they can go!" The old instructor yelled from the other end of the field. We all looked at each other before we walked to the middle of the field. I admired his drive to push the other students. But everyone knew there was a limit to the magic of low-tiered Marks; They could never reach Angelique''s current level, not in a million years.


    "Fine¡­" I said and looked around. Lily nodded and swiftly turned around. She looked at a couple of students and gazed deeply into their eyes. The redhaired vixen snapped her fingers, causing the students to fire their spells at random across the fields. I recognized some spells as weak fireballs, hydro shots, and gale bursts.


    Nothing impressive, however. I heard surprised gasps coming from the shocked audience.


    Next up was Angelique , who charged up one of her spells and let it fire without a target it mind. The flames tore irregularly through the field and charred various spots. When it was done maiming the courtyard, it exploded and sent cinders all over the place. It was very impressive to look at.


    Angelique blushed and hid behind a couple other students when she heard everyone applaud for her.


    I was next. But what should I show them?, I asked myself. I didn''t have any flashy magic like Angelique, nor did I have something that had any effect on them like Lily''s unique magic.


    Unless¡­


    "Hey, can you order your subjects to fire towards me? Two should do the trick." Lily smirked when she realized what I planned to do. Her eyes surged with a hot pink colour. When she snapped her fingers, two students under her spell immediately fired their spells towards me. A blubbery orb of water and a gale of wind raced towards me.


    I jumped forwards and had my Mark devour the watery orb. While it held the spell inside me, I had it devour the gale of wind as well. I had the misty beast combine the two spells in its stomach before it regurgitated the two at the same time. The spell that resulted was something new entirely: it was some kind of bubble.


    When it burst, it released a strong shockwave in all directions. Some students got knocked into the waiting arms of their peers. Maybe a bit too strong, I realized.


    "So this is what the famed ''Dread Trio'' can muster." An unfamiliar voice echoed from the audience. The students stepped aside to let a small group of people. They all wore the same uniform and had a rapier strapped to their hips. On their azure velvet vests, they had the same marks embroidered with silver stitching.


    The Fairy Court Marshals. I recognized the stitching in the shape of a four-leaf clover and a sword crossed together as their insignia.


    They were renowned for their power and were used by the Court as their hands. Every single one of them was on par with some of the strongest people in the city. If not the strongest.


    "Pardon? Dread Trio?" I responded. That was a new name for me. Lily frowned and watched the newcomers closely. I crossed my arms and waited for them to continue.


    "But of course. That''s the name we''ve given to the three people who crushed about a hundred people single-handedly." I raised my eyebrows. A hundred? When did that--?


    Oh. They were alluding to the mall attack. But a hundred? That was way too exaggerated; I only remembered bashing about ten people into the ground.


    "Aren''t you exaggerating? I''ve never¡ª" One of the Marshals scoffed and shook his head.


    "Of course not. I wouldn''t expect any truth coming out from one of the perpetrators." The man sneered. I glared at him. So that was it, huh? We''ve been put in the same house, just because they think we were the culprits of that attack.


    Not to mention the dip of popularity the Court suffered. Normally, they are regarded as the strongest organisation in the city. And everyone adored them for that, even if their methods were¡­ questionable. Now that a new power that seemed to rival theirs has appeared, they felt assaulted.


    Not to mention the fact that they couldn''t resolve the mall attack, and we did. I''ve read several newspapers about how incompetent the Court acted that day. And several articles praised Angelique, Lily and me. So there was some understandable hate, I thought.


    "Now, look here, asshole." I answered. "I don''t know what is going on, if anything, in that empty head of yours. But you don''t have any proof that we were the culprits, do you?" The man chuckled and shook his head.


    "No, that''s correct. I loathe to admit that we did find any evidence. Yet. However, we have a decisive lead that will reveal the truth." The Marshal rebutted. I frowned; What was he talking about?


    "However¡­ In preparation of the ceremony¡­" He didn''t finish his sentence. He glanced over at one of his companions, whom charged forth.


    "Hey, what--?!" Lily pulled me backwards and kicked back against the attacker. Her legs clashed with the attacker''s right arm. After a couple of seconds, the redhead was forced to pull back. She massaged her left leg. The resulting force must''ve damaged her leg.


    Before she could react, a big magic circle activated. It originated from the middle of the pack of Marshals. A huge torrent of water razed forth, towards the fallen woman.


    "Lily!" Angelique was just in time with her spell. The clash of water and fire caused steam to spew everywhere. Angelique got blown away by the impact and landed about fifty feet backwards. The entire field was covered in a thick, sweltering mist. I felt my clothes stick to my back. I didn''t see anything around me, not even my own feet.


    Was it a magic spell?, I asked myself. Steam normally wasn''t so thick.


    "So pathetic. Why the masses think you are better than us is beyond me!" The man''s voice rung behind me. I rolled forwards, just in time before a sharp rocky spike skewered the place where I''d been standing.


    "Holy--! Are you trying to kill me?!" I screamed.


    "Maybe. Not that you would ever understand." The man shrugged and fired off another spell. This time, two pincer-like rocks shut up from the ground and tried to crush me between them. Luckily, my Mark managed to eat one of the rocks.


    So things manipulated by magic is food as well for you?, I asked the misty beast that chomped on the rock. It ignored my question and licked its misty teeth before it retreated back into my body. A second after, I got smashed by the remaining rocky pincer.


    I rolled over the field until I finally managed to come to a stop. Twenty feet further. I grunted in pain before I jumped back on my feet. The steam started to clear out when a soft breeze rolled over the practice field.


    "Ha! Pathetic! These are the idiots that ended the attack on the mall? Worthless." The man scoffed. So it was about their reputation. I''ve read newspapers about a dip in the Court''s popularity due to our interference. Were they angry about that?


    "What the hell is your problem?!" Lily yelled. She had been knocked quite a distance away and clutched at her bleeding ankles.


    "Hmph. I don''t have to dignify worthless scum like you with a response." The man turned around and faced his subordinates. "That''s enough for today." The man turned around and ordered his subordinates to do the same.


    I frowned: why did they attack us anyway? To gloat? I looked around me while the steam got blown away by a gentle breeze. At the end of the field, Lily clutched at her ankles and fell on the ground. Angelique slowly pushed herself unto her knees and made her way over to the redhead.


    I felt countless stares at my back. When I turned around, most of the students looked wary of me. So that was it, I realized. They wanted to show their power. Show that we were nothing compared to them. That they were still the greatest institution in the city.


    Which was annoying.


    "Are you alright, Lily?" Angelique knelt right beside the red-haired vixen and checked her leg. It was swollen and, although she didn''t want to let anyone see, she whimpered in pain. That Marshal hit her hard, I assumed.


    "Let''s get you to the nurse''s office." I said and grabbed Lily''s left shoulder. I glanced at my squid-like companion. Angelique nodded and gently hoisted Lily on her feet. The redhaired vixen glared at the two of us and pushed us away.


    "I''m strong enough to¡ªARGH!" The girl tightly grabbed her left leg and fell to the ground. More blood trickled through her fingers. I pulled her back up and placed myself underneath one of her shoulder to support her.


    "Of course you are. But this time, let us help, yeah?" I said before carrying her to the nurse''s office with Angelique''s help. The doctor on duty ordered us to lie her down in one of the many beds in the room. While I was waiting for her to fill in the necessary paperwork, I noticed her Mark on the back of her neck.


    "You''ve got a Fairy Mark?" I asked. The doctor looked up and flashed me a soft smile. She nodded.


    "Yes, I do. It''s just a low-tier Mark though¡­" The woman responded despondently. I nodded and remembered what that Court Marshal said.


    Once the ceremony is completed, huh?


    "Say¡­ You wouldn''t happen to know about a ceremony of the Fairy Court?" I asked. The woman frowned and stopped filling in the paperwork.


    "I do know of one ceremony, yes. But it''s forbidden." I frowned. Were those rumours about the Fairy Court and their usage of forbidden spells correct after all¡­?


    "Can you tell me about it?" I pressed on. Something about the fact that those Marchals told us about the Ceremony in the first place didn''t sit right with me.


    "Well¡­ I don''t know the details but it seems like some kind of manipulation Ceremony. Normally, spells wear off after a set time, right? However, ceremonies can extend the length of that spell for as long as necessary." So it was some kind of manipulation ceremony?


    "Huh. Thanks for the information." I said and flashed her a soft smile. Angelique seemed in deep thought, however.


    When the paperwork was done, we both stepped out of the doctor''s office to let Lily be healed by the doctors. When we crossed the hallway and made our way to the Academy''s entrance.


    "Hang on a moment." Angelique suddenly said. I turned around. The squid-girl seemed to have come to some kind of conclusion.


    "The ceremony is to manipulate people, right? " I nodded. I wasn''t sure where she wanted to go with this, though.


    "And Tanya ran off after the examination yesterday, correct? And she stepped into a vehicle of the Fairy Court?" I nodded again. I was starting to see what Angelique was thinking.


    "Do you think¡­ they''re going to force a false confession out of our teacher?" I proposed. Angelique slowly nodded.


    "It''s a decent possibility. After all, she''s the only person that''s close to all three of us. And she is our teacher." Angelique responded. "However, something still isn''t right. Why tell us about the ceremony, while the Court normally is so secretive?" That''s right, I realized.


    If they planned on doing the ceremony and draw false evidence out of their asses, what reason did they have to tell us about it?


    "Yeah¡­ That''s weird." I pondered about it while we walked back to our house. I scratched my head. But I couldn''t find the missing piece of the puzzle.


    Just what was the Fairy Court planning?


    When we arrived at the house that was forced on us, we were in for a nasty shock. Several letters had been dumped in front of the door. I didn''t recognize the senders. Angelique drew a blank as well when she read the names written on the envelopes.


    The contents were nothing to laugh at, however.


    "Look at this one. ''If you don''t come out and tell the truth, I''m going to torture it out of you''." I mumbled when I grabbed the third letter. They were all about the same. Confess, or suffer the consequences.


    "I wonder why they''ve all been written with the same ink." Angelique pondered. I watched how she grabbed a couple of latters and placed them against the window. She scrutinized them closely.


    "You know what type of ink they used?" I wondered. The squid-girl nodded and turned to face me.


    "Yes. Mother is the CEO of a big company that manufactures ink, among other things. You have no idea how many hours I''ve spent staring into the ink tanks when I was a kid." The squid girl explained. I slowly nodded.


    " It''s the same ink. Same colour, same smell, everything. It''s quite expensive too. Not everyone can afford to waste money on this stuff." Angelique explained while she sipped from a glass of salty water.


    "So we''ve got a nefarious unknown admirer, huh?" I summarized. My squid-like companion nodded before she grabbed the entirety of the letters and dumped them into the bin.


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    "No use worrying about it now. They probably want to make us flustered." I said. Angelique nodded. Still, I coud see her eyes bouncing all over the place. She was getting nervous.


    "Right! I''ll start dinner." I announced. The girl softly smiled and nodded, before she grabbed a bottle of salted water and sat down on the kitchen counter.


    While I was cooking, my head was filled with questions. What would happen to us? Practically everyone knew that the city was ruled by the Fairy Court. If they were truly set on destroying us...


    We would have a heck of a time, that''s for sure.

 10 Oberon and the Mark of the Unknown

    "Anyone have a good idea?" Lily mumbled as she looked at the guards surrounding us. Every single one of them was armed to the teeth. Those that couldn''t use magic carried halberds, spears, swords and crossbows. Those that could use magic had their magic circle primed and ready to fire.


    I could block one or two of them. Not a whole platoon of them.


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    "You scoundrels! Did you really think we would let you walk freely in this magnificent building?" The pompous voice echoed once more. I looked past the many people gathered in the main hall and saw a blonde man looking down on us.


    He stood on a marble stage, with two women at each side. His green eyes gazed disapprovingly at me before a cocky smirk appeared on his overly handsome face. It sickened me. His armour gleamed in the dim light of the crystal chandeliers high above us.


    A short sword hung from his hip, sheathed in the most luxurious wooden scabbard. A pair of exquisite leather boots fitted well with the dark green velvet pants and shirt he wore.


    I didn''t like him.


    That was the first thing that went through my mind when I glanced at him. His gaze rubbed me the wrong way. I assumed that guy was Oberon.


    "I''ll admit that getting in was easier than I''d anticipated. So I guess we walked right into your trap." I said while I looked around.


    About a hundred soldiers, twenty Marshals and their boss. Not the best odds, I said to myself. There was no way we were going to be able to fight them all. However, we had those papers we found in his office.


    But could we trust them? If they let us in, it only stood to reason that anything we found could be a lie.


    "But your presence is of no matter. In fact, I want to see your faces when you are indicted for mass-murder and terrorism." Oberon gloated. He turned around and faced the many reporters gathered to his left. Many of them held up magic circles. I recognized Norse, Devil and Angelic magic circle.


    But it was all the same spell.


    Projection.


    It was a spell that could be used by any Mark-holder and was a low-tier spell. However, it was unmissable for reporters as it directly projected sound and vision to a remote location. I assumed those locations were the offices the reporters were affiliated with.


    "That''s right, dear ladies and gentlemen. For this night, these three will be finally revealed for the traitors they are! In fact, they are the perpetrators behind the gruesome attack on the Central Mall a couple of days ago." The man revealed theatrically.


    I scoffed; He was a good actor, if nothing else.


    I saw how everyone in the room glared at us. Angelique whimpered and hid behind me to escape those gazes. Lily didn''t give a damn and proudly smiled to every single one of them.


    " I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, Tanya Chaffendale, the woman who is going to put these ruffians in there place." The man waved behind his back. A wooden door opened, half-hidden behind a set of deep-red velvet curtains.


    A blonde figure stepped out. Tanya, our teacher.


    However, something was off about her. She didn''t react to anything. Not our voices, nor the gazes that were directed at her. Her eyes stared vacantly at the floor in front of her. Nothing else.


    Where we too late?


    The woman walked towards Oberon, her face was expressionless. The man spread his arms and Tanya fell into his embrace.


    "This woman is the teacher of these three wicked children. She will now reveal to all of you respectable people the truth about what devious terrorists these scoundrels are!" Oberon announced on a bombastic tone. I rolled my eyes; This guy was getting on my nerves!


    And judging from Lily''s displeased grunts, she wasn''t either. Her face revealed her anger. Just what was going on in that scarlet-haired head of hers?


    "Yes, I will reveal the truth." Tanya repeated apathetically. So we were too late, I reasoned. The question is now how to turn this situation on its head.


    "These three are my students. I''ve overheard them talking about attacking the mall two days prior the incident in an empty classroom." Lily gasped. She quickly turned around. Many of the soldiers brandished their weapons when they saw her erratic movements.


    "That''s a lie! She¡ª" I quickly pulled her back and glared at her. She returned the favour with a confused gaze. Anything we said right now would only hurt us, I reasoned.


    "They were talking about how they would attack the mall with a combined attack to block off any escape routes. They said they''ll do it alone, so that no one could stop them. They would kill off anyone who''d try and stop them." I frowned. Something wasn''t right here.


    Angelique and Lily looked at each other. They''d noticed it too. Now to turn this entire show on its head. I grabbed the stack of papers we stole from Oberon''s office behind my coat and stepped forwards.


    Immediately, the guards stepped forwards. Their weapons looked razor-sharp. I held up my hands in defence. This reminded me of those police shows I always watched when I had nothing to do. Which was most of the time.


    "No worries, I don''t have any weapons with me. Hey, you!" I yelled to the reporters at the side of the main hall. They reacted to my voice and aimed their Projection-spells at me. I took a deep breath to calm myself; Having so many eyes looking at me made me nauseous.


    "Make sure you film all that is about to happen, alright?" I saw how the reporter nodded. When I turned my gaze back to Oberon, I saw how he frowned. I took another step towards him. The guards barricaded the rest of the way.


    No matter.


    "I''m correct to assume she said ''They handled alone'', yes?" I asked the entire audience. Multiple people nodded. So they heard it too, excellent.


    "That''s strange because all the news talking about the event was centred around a peculiar group of people¡­ Argh, what was their name? Ah! The acolytes of Yggdrasill they called themselves?" Oberon reacted to that name. His right eyebrow twitched.


    "I recall people in the news talking about ten people dressed in the same clothes. The name ''Acolytes of Yggdrasill'' came from an eye-witness. Tell me, why would that name suddenly pop up if we handled alone?" Oberon bit his lower lip. Luckily for him, his moustache hid it from everyone.


    "There''s something else I''ve found strange. If this woman can only speak the truth, then why did she lie about that?" I continued and revealed the papers we stole from Oberon''s office to everyone. I took great care to show it to the Projection-spells as well.


    "That wouldn''t make sense, now would it? Unless¡­ She was made to say that? I''ve got here diagrams and instructions about a very peculiar spell. One that can manipulate people." Oberon completely froze when he saw the papers in my hand.


    "How did you--?! I''ve hid them in my ¨C" He stopped himself from speaking any further. Some people picked up on his hesitation, however, and shot him some questioning glances.


    "In your office, yes. However, we broke in. We found these diagrams there, along with a very handy set of maps¡­ of the mall. The same mall where the attack took place." I finished. Oberon scoffed as he found his confidence again.


    "That doesn''t mean anything. Those maps were used to make predictions and calculations about the attack itself after the facts. We can''t cordon off the entire place every day." The blonde man answered. I nodded and shrugged.


    "Of course, I understand that. But back to the magic diagrams¡­ Can I test something?" I asked. Before Oberon could answer, I walked towards him. The soldiers tried to stop me, but after Oberon commanded them to stand down, they created a path for me.


    The blonde man had found his confidence again. His cocky smirk appeared on his face. I returned his smile with a confident glare of my own. I''m not going to jail for something I didn''t commit, thank you very much!


    I stepped towards one of the reporters and dragged them along by their arm. I stopped when I stood in front of Tanya. She didn''t even react to my presence.


    "Forgive me for this, Miss Chaffendale." I murmured before I slapped her hard on both her cheeks. The sound echoed through the grand room. But still, no reaction.


    Just what I thought.


    "How strange. I''ve thought she would hit me back, or yell at me. Don''t you think this is strange?" I asked both Oberon and the reporter. The reporter had to admit it was a bit unsettling. I revealed the papers regarding that manipulation-spell again and placed them right in front of the Projection-spell the reporter was carrying.


    "Anyone can see this line, right? The subject has a loss of sensations, aside from those allowed by its master." I smirked when the realization hit Oberon. His face was priceless. It was a mixture of disgust and surprise.


    Gradually, the realization travelled through the entire room. I saw how people started to talk to each other. Not the effect I was going for, but not bad nonetheless.


    Now, for the finishing touch.


    "Let''s end this farce, shall we?" Without waiting for Oberon''s answer, I let my powers flare to the surface and revealed the misty monster. I heard the blonde man take a deep breath.


    He could see it?


    That was a first. Normally, people were oblivious to its misty maw. Lily did say he was an exceptional Marked person. The only thing withholding him from absolutely murdering my ass, I assumed, were all the high-ranked officials staring at him.


    "Here we go." I mumbled before the misty beast sunk its jaws into Tanya''s head. At first, there was no reaction. But slowly, I saw it moving its jaws. Each time it pulled back, I saw shards of an incredibly dense magic circle dispersing into nothingness.


    "H-Huh? Where¡­ am I?" Tanya suddenly said. She shivered whenever my Mark sunk its teeth into her head. When the last shards of the spell dispersed into my Mark''s misty embraces, the being retreated into my body.


    "Tanya Chaffendale, you dare to lie to us?!" Oberon bellowed. He was trying to save his face, I figured.


    "Back off, old-timer! I only came with you because you threatened my students!" Tanya responded and kicked towards the blonde man. He simply parried the kick with his arm. Oberon was losing his patience.


    "Silence! You dare defy me, your husband?!" That was a surprise! Tanya was Oberon''s--?!


    "I''m not your wife, you egotistical psychopath! My Mark is Titania, yes, but that doesn''t make me your wife by default, you pervert!" Ah, so that''s how it was. In legends, Titania and Oberon were wife and husband.


    "Hell yeah! Welcome back, Teach!" Lily rejoiced from the back of the room. She made her way to the front, closely followed by a shy Angelique.


    "Silence! All of you, do you want me dead?! Did they tell you to silence me now that I''ve done my thing?! " Oberon was starting to panic. What got up his ass?, I asked himself. His eyes frantically stared into the room. He seemed to look for something, but what?


    Who were the people he talked about?


    "That''s it! Everyone here needs to die!" My eyebrows shot up at hearing that. Overkill much? But Oberon seemed to completely lose it. What was his problem? He seemed to be afraid of something, but I couldn''t think of anything that should scare him. Him, the boss of the Fairy Court of all people!


    But the other guests didn''t think twice when they heard that. They all started frantically running towards the exit. Even some reporters made good on their escape. But some stayed and recorded the entire thing.


    "What are you talking about, old man? Are you getting delusional?" I said and stepped towards him. But from the moment my feet touched the ground in front of him, I felt a massive impact on my chest. It smashed me backwards into a marble pillar. I saw the remainders of a concrete fist retract into the earth.


    Instantaneous casting?! This guy was on a whole different level!, I realized. I coughed up some blood while the guards organised themselves.


    Lily and Angelique dashed towards me, followed by Tanya who immediately summoned some mud dolls with shields and swords to stop the advancing soldiers.


    "Are you alright, Carnel?" Angelique asked with a worried voice. She quickly tapped my chest. Luckily, nothing seemed to be damaged. He didn''t strike any vitals.


    "Yes, but¡­ What''s gotten into him?" I responded while I pointed at Oberon. The blonde man started to mumble erratically, like he was possessed. His eyes were almost bouncing out of their sockets as he stared around the room.


    "I dunno, but it isn''t safe here! Let''s go!" Lily said as she jumped up. When she turned around, she got greeted by a mass of armed soldiers and Marshals who were readying their spells.


    No two ways about, we had to fight our way through.


    "Okay, let''s bust out of here!" I yelled. Lily nodded and jumped forwards as she started kicking several soldiers with some lethal kicks. Those who could still move after that, she stared into their eyes and let her Original Magic do its work. She created her own private army quite quickly.


    "I''m so sorry!" Angelique yelled before she unleashed a new spell. It were a collection of flaming orbs that burst into a massive inferno on contact. According to the research she had done,


    Angelique called them ''Righteous Bursts''. I assumed that was the name given by the predecessors of her Mark.


    "Watch out!" I warned. I jumped into the path of a Gale burst and Fireball spell. I felt the two forces ravage my body; One part felt like it was going to melt, the other part felt uncomfortably light. I had my Mark push those spells back out and created a flaming vortex that tore through the soldiers.


    "¡­ Just what is your Mark?" Tanya asked me. Her mud dolls were busy fighting their human counterparts. Each time one of the muddy fighters got destroyed, a stronger one rose in its place. The teacher didn''t seem to have any issues sustaining her fighters. Just how much magical energy did she have?!


    "Fight now, talk later!" I responded before I jumped out of the way of a row of spikes shooting out from the ground. However, a rain of sharp ice-knives drilled into my arms and pushed me back.


    Both spells came from the crazed Oberon.


    "Wait¡­ He can use two elements?" I was shocked. Normally, high-tiered Marks specialized in only one element. That was the element they could grow the most in, after all. But he just fired high-tiered spells from both Aqua and Gaia elements.


    "I told you he was strong!" Lily grunted as she kicked two soldiers to the ground. Strong was an understatement; Being able to use strong spells of two elements was a huge advance.


    Oberon didn''t show any signs of stopping, though. He continued to wildly fire off any spells that came to his crazed mind without looking at the consequences.


    "I''ll take him on." I said. I was surprised at my own words. But he had pissed me off the entire night, I want to get my hands on this guy. The beast living inside me agreed as well. I could feel it. I had no idea what it was thinking, but I was starting to understand it a little bit more. I think.


    It wanted to take this guy on. Maybe it was just hungry for strong spells, that was also an option.


    "What?! You can''t take him on alone! That''s crazy¡­" Angelique said as she fired off another volley of flaming orbs. She took a deep breath; I saw she was getting tired.


    "Sorry, but my Mark tells me to." With those words, I charged forwards. I jumped out of the way of another volley of strong icicles and rolled behind a fallen pillar to dodge a hail of rocks.


    "Get away from me! Get away!" Oberon yelled in a shrill voice before spikes shut out from underneath his feet. They made their way over to me, spiking through the marble floor. I thought I was fast enough to jump out of the way.


    I wasn''t.


    "Carnel!" Angelique screamed. I howled in pain when one of the spikes perforated my left knee. It hurt! It hurt so much. My Mark activated immediately and started devouring the spell. But since it was a higher-tiered spell, it took a little while.


    While I was stuck, pinning on that rock, a lance of ice pierced through my right shoulder. I screamed while the hot blood trickled past my elbow.


    Finally, my Mark managed to chew through the rock and made it disappear. I fell unto the ground and re-created the spell with my Unknown Magic woven straight into it. The spikes shooting out of the ground were made of pressured rock, instead of granite like Oberon''s spell.


    I thought I hit him, but the spell fizzled out right in front of my eyes.


    What was up with that?


    "Ha! You think insects like you are capable of hurting me with my own spells?!" The deranged blonde man yelled.


    Shit. I didn''t see this one coming. Was this another perk of his Mark? I realized his Mark was Oberon, but I didn''t know it safeguarded him against his own spells.


    I yelled loudly when I threw the ice-spear my Mark chewed through. But it melted before it could hit its target.


    Oberon cackled while he swayed on his feet. He started muttering about something. I barely heard the words ''Revenge'' , ''Terrorists'' and ''Yggdrassil''.


    I didn''t have the time to worry about that right now! I saw ice gathering in his right hand and granite in his other. A few seconds later, he had two swords in his hands.


    Great. I was out of breath, heavily wounded, my friends were busy fighting the soldiers and Marshals and I had a crazed imbecile ready to cut my head off! Not how I thought this would go, I thought to myself.


    "Die! Die! Die!" Oberon yelled that over and over. I looked around, but I couldn''t move more than a couple of feet with my incapacitated leg and wounded shoulder. What were my options?


    I noticed the beast of my Mark lick its misty lips and look longingly at Oberon who swayed towards me.


    Did it want to eat the swords? But that wouldn''t help me at all. It shook its head. I felt a shock rush through my veins.


    It understood me?!


    I thought it just acted on its own whims. Or the whims of its stomach, to be more precise. It seemed there was much more to this Mark than I anticipated.


    Now that I took a closer look at where it was looking, it wasn''t looking at the swords. It was looking at Oberon himself.


    Was it carnivorous too?


    I gulped, but I realized I had no choice. I would follow its guidance, just this once. When Oberon jumped towards me, I heard Lily and Angelique scream behind me. All of their voices slowly drowned out as I focused on the person in front of me.


    Oberon.


    He yelled loudly while he reached back to deal the finishing blow. I took a deep breath before I leaned forwards.


    One sword pierced my left hand while the other landed into my healthy leg. I screamed in pain before I put my teeth deep into Oberon''s arm. I didn''t have any other option; My arms were out-of-commission , my legs were completely wrecked so that was my only option.


    My Mark reacted. The jaws grew before it sunk its misty teeth into Oberon''s chest. The man let out a shocked gasp. I didn''t even start to imagine how it would feel; Being bitten by a massive set of smoky jaws.


    "Argh?!" An unexplainable feeling welled up inside me. It was like my body was being pumped full of air, and that air had no escape. I tried to calm myself, but the pressure kept building. I felt my body burning up one moment and freezing the next.


    What was happening to me?!


    Before I had any time to react, my Mark''s beast roared. It was the first time I heard it roar since I received my Mark a month ago. And somehow, it felt good. Its glowing red eyes flared up even more before mist spread from its body.


    The black mist spread all over the floor around me. A second later, multiple magic circles appeared from the mist. I recognized them as the same spells Oberon used. Amplified by my own Unknown magic.


    "No! No! Not yet!" Oberon pushed me away. I slid over my own blood. But the mist stayed. In fact, the magic circles continued to swell in power. I felt like a vacuum machine was sucking me dry.


    First getting blown up, then sucked up. What the hell is my Mark doing?!, I panicked.


    "Stop it! I don''t want to die yet!" Oberon screamed. But it was no use. The spells fired over and over. My Mark roared loudly. It sounded ¡­ excited? I tried to stop it, but it just continued to fire the spells over and over without mercy.


    However, it seemed to miss Oberon''s vitals. I was happy about that. If I murdered somebody, my troubles would never end.


    After twenty long seconds, the barrage of spells finally ended. I felt drained. Like, really drained. There wasn''t an ounce of power left in side of me. I dropped to the floor and faintly heard Angelique''s voice, followed by Tanya and Lily''s voices.


    I didn''t care anymore.


    Everything was going black. The beast residing in me licked its vicious misty teeth and retreated back into my body before everything went black. Finally, silence.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "¡­ Did you see that?" Far away from the fight, a couple of people discussed the live feed in a dark room.


    "We''re not blind. That boy¡­ He''s dangerous." Another voice responded. The others nodded and hummed their approval towards this statements.


    "We need him to disappear. Otherwise, our plans¡ª" The voice got cut off by a rough voice. This voice sounded even more annoyed than the others.


    "We know very well what the consequences are, Horus. I''ll ask my associates to deal with him and those girls with him. Anyone who knows about him or his Mark are too dangerous." A fourth voice said. They all nodded before they dispersed, off to do their own thing.


    Only one person remained as they started at the screen that showed a passed-out, bloodied boy, three girls, a heavily wounded old man and a whole slew of wounded soldiers.


    "The serpent of the End¡­ How annoying."

 11 Threatening Recovery

    "..Rnel! ¨CArnel!" A familiar voice cut through the darkness of my mind. It felt so muddy inside my head. I couldn''t think straight.


    How did I pass out anyway?


    However, as the mud inside my mind cleared out, my memories returned. Oberon¡­ The fight¡­ And then, nothing. Anything beyond that was a black hole. Strange¡­


    The mist inside my head started to clear out. My mind became lighter and lighter until nothing of the muddling feeling remained.


    When I opened my eyes, I got greeted by harsh white lights. I recognized this ceiling, and those clinically-clean ancient-looking lamps. I even recognized the brown speck of dirt below the third row of lights.


    This was a hospital room.


    In fact, it was the same hospital room I was in after the mall-attack. I tried to move, but my body didn''t react. Only my fingers moved slightly.


    "He''s awake!" A shocked voice resounded out of my sight. I saw a flash of blonde hair running away. Was that a nurse''s cap on her head?


    A moment later, a small group of people burst into the room. I saw a flash of seaweed-coloured hair, followed by a splash of scarlet and short cropped blonde hair.


    "Oh, C-Carnel! You''re alive!" Angelique''s soothing voice cut through my mind. I felt my lips curling up slightly when I heard the voices of my friends.


    Strange, I was never the type to be attached to people. Or feel happy when I heard voices. I always loved to be alone. I wonder what changed?


    Slowly, the power in my body returned. Bit by bit, I started to move my body. It still felt like a metric ton of concrete had been dumped on my limbs. Small steps, I supposed.


    "We really thought ya were goin'' kick the bucket!" Lily snickered before Tanya rammed her elbow in her side. Lily grunted and bend double in pain.


    "That''s inappropriate to say to somebody who''d just woken up from a coma." The blonde teacher reprimanded. The redhaired vixen rolled her eyes before she stared at me.


    "Yeah, yeah, teach. Weren''t you the one that kept telling us that if he died, he''d feel nothing about it?" Lily countered. Tanya clicked her tongue but didn''t respond. The redhaired vixen smirked and turned her attention back to me.


    "Glad to see you''re still alive, though. When that black mist suddenly sprouted from you, I thought you were going to blow!" Lily said. I remembered that part; The mist leaked out of every pore of my body and recreated those spells. Then, it fired them all into my enemy.


    Oberon.


    "Ho-How is¡­?" Angelique put her soft webbed hand against my lips to silence me. She shook her head. Her smile never failed to soothe me.


    "Not now, Carnel. Rest up, get better." She whispered with a soothing tone while she brushed against my black hair. I grunted and softly let the warmth of my hospital bed wash over me. I groaned loudly while I felt waves of tiredness wash over me.


    Soon, I was submerged in stillness once again.


    The following was quite a blur. The doctors kept me in a still sleep while my body healed itself. On occasion, my Mark activated on its own and devoured whatever spell it could get between its jaws. It must''ve been as hungry and wounded as I was.


    Then again, I couldn''t tell what it was thinking.


    After that week, my body had healed enough to sustain itself once more. It still took an entire week to get back to full strength though.


    When I finally get released from the hospital, I made my way back to the house Lily, Angelique and me were confined in by the governing board of the city. What were those geezers thinking, forcing us to relocate?


    I still couldn''t wrap my head around it. The Fairy Court was one thing; They were just afraid to lose their power. Nothing more than saving their own faces. But the governing had nothing to win or lose by controlling and monitoring us¡­ Did they?


    "Back home. It felt like an eternity from the last time I was here." I mumbled to myself. When I wanted to knock on the door, it suddenly opened without me having to do anything.


    "Hi, Carnel!" Angelique said. She wore an azure-coloured apron that matched very well with her seaweed-coloured hair. She puffed her tentacles out of the way of her eyes and guided me inside. Judging from the looks of it, she was busy with flour. Lots of flour.


    Her tentacles were covered in the stuff while her face and apron where highlighted by streaks of the white powder. Her big brown eyes looked at me as she smiled and welcomed me.


    "Wha-What''s going on?" I asked, baffled. The squid-girl didn''t answer and dragged me into the kitchen. Lily lounged in the sofa while she emptied a cold one. There was one figure I didn''t expect though.


    "Miss Chaffendale?! What are you doing here?" I wondered. The blonde teacher turned around on one of the barstools centred around the kitchen counter.


    "The city board ordered me to move in with you." Her too? This was getting more and more ridiculous. It was like¡­ Like they were trying to group people that were related to me in one place.


    But why? They didn''t have anything to gain, did they?


    "Okay¡­ That''s weird but welcome to your new house, I guess?" I replied unhandily. I sat down and watched Angelique run back and forth with flour, sugar and other things between her webbed hands.


    "While we''re waiting for Angelique to finish, here." Tanya suddenly said. She reached into her purse and dug up a couple of folded papers.


    "These papers were found in Oberon''s office. After the entire¡­ scandal, everything he had done got researched by the city council. These things didn''t have anything to do with any investigations, so they wanted to throw them out. But I thought you''d be interested in what was on them." The teacher explained. I carefully unfolded the small pieces of paper.


    One had some incomprehensible scribbles on it. It were all kinds of pictograms, signs and arrows. Some kind of code?, I asked myself. No matter how long I stared at the black ink, I couldn''t figure out what was written.


    The second piece of paper was more interesting to me, though.


    "The serpent of the End, huh¡­?" The entire paper were some kind of instructions. The burnt bottom showed that someone wanted to get rid of the information, but who? The most likely suspect was Oberon, but he didn''t strike me as somebody who''d stop burning evidence.


    "The serpent of the End is on the move. He is a danger to us all. Eliminate this threat at your earliest convenience. You don''t have a choice." I frowned when I read the message aloud. That was a weird message; Who was this ''serpent'' anyway? And why was he such a danger to whomever wrote this message.


    "They tried scanning it with magic, but nothing turned up." I glanced at Tanya.


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    "How do you know all of this? Isn''t that confidential?" I asked her. The blonde teacher gently stroked her feelers while she flapped her thin butterfly-wings.


    "Now that Oberon has¡­ passed away, control of the Fairy Court goes to the highest ranked Fairy-Mark. Which is me, Titania." The blonde explained. That came as a shock: Oberon was dead? B-But¡­


    "Calm yourself. He didn''t die from your spells. His throat was slit in his hospital room a week ago. No one saw anyone enter his hospital room, though. They just found him in the morning, already dead." I gulped. Who would go as far as taking out Oberon in a hospital? I ruffled my black hair; This was getting crazier and crazier.


    "Anyway, now that Oberon is gone, his private collection of books has come into my possession as well. Here." She said and handed me a small booklet. It only counted a hundred pages or so, and was slightly bigger than my hand. The worn leather rubbed gently against my hand.


    "What''s this?" I asked while I carefully opened the booklet. It was filled with tiny letters. Most pages only contained text, but others also had weird magic circles drawn upon them.


    No, not magic circles, I realized. Marks.


    "As far as I can tell, it''s some kind of collection about the Marks of the Unknown. You should read through it, maybe your mark is included in the list." Tanya explained. I wanted to immediately read it, but Angelique stopped me.


    "B-But the food''s ready¡­" She mumbled in her soft voice. I smiled softly and put the booklet in my back pocket. Angelique smiled when she saw me focusing on her food.


    It was surprisingly delicious. Angelique had apparently burned the meat destined for today when she stood gazing out the window. But a plate full of delicious vegetables wasn''t bad either. Especially not with Angelique''s pudding after to wash it all down!


    "That was delicious!" I commented while I patted my full belly. Angelique beamed me a happy smile before she happily sunk into the sofa. I took it on me to do the dishes.


    Afterwards, I retreated back to my room. I read through the small pages of the booklet but nothing on my Mark. I didn''t see anything that looked like it, anyways.


    However, there was one passage that intrigued me. It was the last page. There wasn''t a drawing of the Mark but the explanation given for the mark was interesting, to say the least.


    "Nidhoggr. Potentially dangerous Mark. No one knows its true nature, or its powers. Nor its true name. But one thing is for certain: it is a very strong Mark. Its level of power is not predictable, judging that it is an Unknown Mark. Expectations are that its powers are highly destructive, however." I read the small letters aloud.


    Huh. I didn''t know there were so many known Unknown Marks out there. Nidhoggr, huh?


    "Well, no use worrying about things I can''t figure out." I said. I dropped the booklet on my bedside table and quickly fell asleep.


    When I awoke again, it was because I heard many footsteps behind my bedroom door. I looked at my clock. Ah, right, I must''ve touched it in my sleep again. My Mark had devoured the spell embedded in the thing. Again.


    "How many clocks do I need to buy until you understand they''re not food?" I mumbled against myself. My Mark''s beast didn''t react. Maybe it was sleeping?


    At first, I thought the footsteps were someone going to the restroom or something. But they continued to shuffle back and forth. When I heard the sounds of breaking glass, I rolled out of bed. After I plucked myself from the floor, I shuffled towards the door.


    I took a deep breath when I felt the cold metal handle between my fingers. I only heard three pair of footprints behind the wooden door. When I swung the door open, I saw Angelique run past me in a hurry.


    She was clad in green flannel pyjamas with bubbles drawn on them. The squid-girl gasped when I opened the door and quickly covered herself up. Not that her pyjamas showed much skin; It was more of a reflex, it seemed.


    "Carnel? You were still in your room?" The squid-girl asked. I nodded and looked at her webbed feet. Why was she bleeding and¡­ Were those glimmering bits shards of glass?


    "What''s going on?" I asked and followed her down the staircase. There, Lily and Tanya were both hiding behind the couch.


    The redhaired vixen was dressed in a black nightgown with a ridiculously deep neckline. I had already noticed she was proud of her body and wanted to show it. But it was kind of hard to focus on anything else¡­


    The teacher was still dressed in her usual attire of a white shirt and tight black skirt. However, she was wearing comfortable indoor shoes with a butterfly motif. I wanted to ask something, but the blonde teacher''s feelers suddenly stood on edge.


    "Get down!" Tanya yelled and pulled me to the wooden floor. A second after, something smashed in the wall behind me. When I turned around, I saw a small piece of metal falling to the ground. I looked outside, but didn''t see anything.


    My heart immediately jumped to my chest. If that hit me, I''d have a hole in my head. No doubt about that. A second after, a metal marble pierced through the leather sofa. One inch from my nose. I gulped and quickly jumped backwards.


    "Don''t move! Whatever you do, look around and evade any windows." Tanya said while she looked around. I saw her trembling hands and heard the crack in her voice. Angelique whimpered; The corners of her brown eyes were stained with tears. Lily grunted while she looked around.


    What was going on?!

 12 Under Attack

    "This is fucked up!" Lily yelled before she dodged a rain of glass. The redhaired woman rolled out of the way of the falling debris and hid behind the destroyed sofa. She brushed some glass shards out of her hair before she glanced at Tanya.


    "Do you know who''s attacking us?!" She asked the blonde teacher. But Tanya couldn''t answer; Both because she had no idea and because she was talking to Angelique to prevent her from freaking out.


    The squid-girl had her hands buried in her tentacles while she mumbled things that I couldn''t quite understand. She was distressed, I was sure about that.


    "Never mind who, the thing we should be thinking about is how we are going to take him out." I answered. The sound of cracking glass echoed from behind me. I rolled out of the way of the dangerous debris and peeked outside.


    I saw someone moving in the trees at the other side of the street. Multiple people even. I couldn''t see who they were, but I realized they were bad news.


    "They''re in the trees straight in front of the house." I mumbled while I crawled back towards Tanya. The blonde teacher summoned a mud soldier and let it run in front of the window to protect herself. But the metal projectiles just drilled through the mud.


    "Damn it! I can''t create stronger dolls with this weak ground underneath the house." The blonde teacher gritted her teeth while she followed my finger. Colour drained out of her face when she saw the figures on the other side of the street.


    "I can''t reach that far with any of my spells!" The teacher grumbled to herself. I looked outside: what kind of spell could reach that far? Angelique''s could maybe reach there, but she wasn''t precise enough. If she wasn''t careful, her spells could level an entire building.


    Wait a second. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. Angelique had her exploding orbs. I knew that she could make them bigger or smaller depending on the situation.


    "Hey, Tan¡ªMiss Chaffendale?" I asked the blonde teacher. She quickly turned around. "What is it?" She bit back.


    "Can you create a small, hard rock? Preferably an orb." Tanya frowned. However, she shrugged and immediately formed a small hard marble with a basic spell. The Fairy-inspired magic circle hadn''t even disappeared fully yet or I had my Mark devour the stone.


    "Hey, what do you think you''re--?" I shook my head. Action now, questions later. I turned to Angelique, who cradled her head between her arms and mumbled absent-mindedly.


    "Hey, Angelique. Snap out of it! Come on!" I tried coaxing the girl out of her stupor. But my voice didn''t reach her. She continued to mumble to herself.


    "Let me handle this." Lily pushed past me. The redhead glared at the squid-girl before she slapped her, twice on each cheek. That certainly dragged her out of her stupor. The girl rubbed her cheeks as she looked at the redhaired vixen.


    "Come on, Angelique. This is not the time to panic. If you panic, you''ve already given up!" Lily encouraged the squid-girl. Slowly, Angelique nodded and looked back at me with teary eyes.


    "W-What did you¡­ did you want, Carnel?" She asked on a demure tone. I smiled and placed an assuring hand on her right shoulder.


    "Can you create a very small orb? You know, like those flying bombs of yours?" I asked softly. Angelique nodded and created one very small orb. It had the size of my thumb, but I felt the heat radiating on my face a couple of feet away.


    "Perfect!" I exclaimed. My Mark reacted and its misty jaws easily tore through the spell. Was it just me or did its jaws look firmer than before?


    I shrugged and combined the two spells. Once I heard another projectile smash into a wall, I jumped up and unleashed the spell.


    The two spells formed right in front of me before they coiled into one another. With a fourth part, made from my Unknown magic, woven into the magic circle, it radiated with power. A small orb of pressured rock appeared in the middle of the magic circle.


    It had a very sharp point at the front and was flat at the back. But the spell wasn''t finished yet.


    A small flaming orb hovered out of the circle and attached itself to the back of the sharp rock. The beast of my Mark glanced back at me and waited for my command. I nodded.


    The spell activated. The flaming orb exploded. The shockwave got funnelled into the rock, catapulting it with great speed through the window.


    I heard a scream from the other side of the street. The other people that hid in the trees quickly jumped out and ran away.


    "I think¡­ that''s the end of that." I took a deep breath and sunk to my knees. Now that it was all over, the backlash of the adrenaline caused me to feel all queasy inside.


    "Thank¡­ goodness." Angelique replied breathlessly. Tanya shook her head and slowly wobbled towards the house''s Xenophone. I didn''t hear exactly what she said, though.


    "Who the fuck was targeting us?!" lily yelled in frustration. She ruffled through her hair. No one seemed to care that we all were dressed in our pyjamas. I grunted and pushed myself onto my feet. I sighed when I saw the glass spread all over the floor.


    This was going to take a while to clean.


    "I don''t know, but I want to bet that it were the same people that slit Oberon''s throat." Tanya returned from her call.


    "The Fairy Court Marshals are on their way. They should be here any minute. We can''t go to school either. They''ll have to take our statements and all kinds of evidence." She explained. I didn''t know how to feel about that.


    What if they were going to ask about my Mark? I barely knew anything about it.


    Luckily, they weren''t interested in that. The people that visited us were actually quite nice. Maybe it was because their former boss had just been killed. Or maybe it was because their new boss scrutinized their every move.


    They took our statements, took some pictures of the scene with a simple Projection-spell and left again. We were left with the clean-up. The sofa got punctured on every spot imaginable, the floor was covered in glass shards and small bits of rock.


    What kind of spell did they use to propel the rocks?


    The combined spell I created activated with a big , bright flame. But I didn''t see anything that resembled that through the leaves of the trees. So how did they attack us with only small rocks.


    "Miss Chaffendale, are there any Gaia-spells that can reach this far?" I asked the blonde teacher. Tanya swallowed her fruit juice and looked outside Now that the sun shone down, she had a better view of the surrounding area.


    "No. Gaia-spells are strong, but they can''t reach far. Certainly not a hundred feet!" She answered. So it wasn''t a Gaia-spell? Then what kind of¡­?


    "No use wondering about that right now. One thing is for certain, someone wants us dead. And fast." I mumbled. The ''why?'' still eluded me, however.


    "Angelique''s asleep." Lily said as she stumbled from the staircase. She put on a comfortable black tank top and a pair of dark blue denim shorts. The redhaired vixen walked over to the fridge and peered into it. She changed her mind and started making coffee for herself. Very strong coffee.


    "How is she?" I asked. It took a while for Lily to answer as she stared into the growing black liquid that gathered in her cup. When the coffee was finally finished, she swallowed the scalding hot broth in one gulp. Her face afterwards spoke for itself.


    "Her tentacles are all frazzled up, like she''s been electrocuted. That girl stood under pressure for almost the entire night, and I know that isn''t good for her¡­" Lily alluded to the time she used to bully Angelique. So she knew what damage she caused¡­?


    "Argh, this is so infuriating! Why does anyone want us dead?!" I asked aloud. But no one could give me an answer, of course not.


    "Wait a sec¡­ That weird message ya got, Teach, about this so-called Serpent of the End." Lily began. Tanya frowned, but her eyes soon widened when she realized what the redhead was talking about.


    "Wait, you don''t mean¡­?" Her gaze slowly moved towards me. I frowned; What was up with them?


    "Uhm¡­ Do I have something on my face?" I asked. Tanya shook her head and looked at my Mark that poked from underneath the neckline of my shirt.


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    "You never found out what your Mark actually is, right?" She wanted to confirm. I slowly nodded and listened to the teacher. What was she going on about.


    "Don''t you think¡­ your Mark is this so-called Serpent of the End?" I laughed when I heard her proposition. Me, the serpent of the End? That was so out there!


    "That can''t be. I mean, my Mark has teeth and a snake does not. Or, at least, not as much as my Mark. And ''Serpent of the End'' is more like a moniker, not a name, right?" I countered. I had to admit; They weren''t really valid arguments. But I knew next to nothing about my Mark.


    "Well, let''s say that that moniker is just a title. You don''t have any proof that says otherwise, you know?" Tanya answered. I bit my lip; She was right. There was no proof to tell me that I was not the Serpent of the End.


    "Alright, so Carnel over there got some asses hunting him down. What do we do about it?" Lily said before she took a swig from another cup of coffee.


    "Well¡­ Good question." Tanya stopped herself. She bit her lip. The blonde teacher ruffled her hair while she devised a solution.


    "Why don''t we let this rest for now, yeah? I don''t feel like dealing with it right now. I''m still tired as hell, and I still need to clean up the damn living room!." I cursed. The two ladies on the room nodded and smirked; They just loved to watch me work, didn''t they?


    I sighed and grabbed a mop. It took me almost an entire day to completely clean out the living room from all the glass, rocks, broken sofa''s and more. At the end of the day, I was even more tired than before I went to bed.


    "I got it!" Tanya said while she poked at her dinner. None of us were in the mood to eat; Angelique was still in her room. I tried coaxing her out of it, but her voice revealed she was still terrified of going outside. I put her dinner outside her room and told her she could eat whenever.


    "Huh? What did ya think of now, Teach?" Lily said. Tanya turned to face me.


    We just need to¡­ move." She said in a simple tone. Move? I didn''t understand. We weren''t allowed to move, that was an order from the governing board of the city.


    "Move? Move where? If they can find me here, they can find me anywhere in the city, you know!" I rebutted. Tanya smirked confidently as she chewed on a piece of meat.


    "That''s why we''ll move. Out of the city!" She announced.


    Huh?


    "Are you crazy?! We don''t have anywhere to stay outside of this house. We can''t just say ''Fuck you all'' and run!" Lily complained. Tanya sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.


    "I can ask the Fairy Court to arrange some living quarters outside the city for now. After that, we can always plan out our next move." The blonde teacher answered. I had to admit; It was a pretty bold plan.


    "We¡­ We can always go to my mother''s place." A timid voice echoed from the darkness of the staircase.


    "Angelique! How''re you feeling?" I asked and walked towards her. The girl sniffled. Her normally brown eyes were completely blood-shot. Her tentacles lie in a frazzle on top of her head and her skin was crackling. Was she that susceptible to stress?


    "I-I''m fi¡ªNo, I''m not fine. But I can''t sit still. That makes me even more nervous!" The girl said as she took a seat right next to me. I noticed she leaned towards me and always kept her hand on my shoulder.


    "Alright¡­" Lily mumbled while she finished her dinner with a big gulp of beer. "You said we could stay at your mother''s place?"


    "Ye-Yes. Mother has a really big house. After dad died, it''s become much too big for us alone. And now that I live here¡­" Angelique trailed off as she looked through the broken windows. she was still a nervous wreck. I gently draped my arm around her and pulled her close. She whimpered before she visibly relaxed.


    "Right. Then I''ll call the Court to arrange a boat for us." I frowned. A boat? Why would we need a boat?


    "You don''t think we could reach the bottom of the ocean just by simply stepping outside the city, do you?" Tanya said before she grabbed her Xenophone and walked away.


    Just what was about to happen?

 13 Departure

    "We''ll depart this night." Tanya explained the plan once more to us. It was fairly simple: we would depart in the middle of the night to avoid attention and take a ship to the neighbouring country of Mersal, the land of the merfolk.


    "We need to be quick. If we want any chance of succeeding, we need to get on that boat asap!" Lily repeated. I nodded; If our enemies dared to shoot at us, it won''t be long before they would try something even more brazen!


    And I wasn''t sure if we were able to handle such a thing. We barely survived their first attack. Which made wonder who our enemies were. If they had that much firepower to their disposal, why didn''t they massacre us with everything they had from the get-go?


    "Take only the most necessary things. Nothing more than money and maybe a change of clothes. Angelique, did you send a letter to your mother already?" The squid-girl nodded. She fiddled with her tentacles; The girl was clearly nervous.


    I had to admit I wasn''t feeling calm either. How could I? We were about to run from people who wanted us dead and run to another country!


    "All right. We meet at the house around 8 PM." The teacher stated before she walked out of the classroom. I glanced at the class hanging from a nearby wall. 5 PM. So we had three hours to fill in before we ran.


    "All right, I''ll go to the shopping centre! Who knows how long it''ll be before I can splurge!" Lily smiled. I smirked.


    "As long as you don''t get attacked by anyone, It''s all fine!" I joked. The redhaired woman rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. I listened to the sound of her shoes disappearing in the hallway before I turned to Angelique.


    The squid-girl fiddled with her long tentacles while her eyes dashed through the room. Her breathing was unsteady and droplets of sweat rolled over her smooth squid-like skin.


    "Take a deep breath, Angelique. Getting stressed out over something is a sure-fire way to get yourself very tired." My voice made the girl jump. She looked around. Only when she saw my face, she calmed down. Albeit a little.


    "Ye-Yeah¡­ I-I''m going to go home as well." She said in a shaky voice. I saw her knees wobble as she slowly stumbled out of the classroom and down the hallway. I wondered if she was going to be alright on her own¡­ I wasn''t feeling too confident myself.


    But I just had to make the best of it.


    After I read through Oberon''s booklet, detailing about all kinds of Markings, for the hundredth time, I decided to go home. It was almost 8 PM either way. While I walked through the bustling streets of the city, I looked around.


    I had no idea how long it would be until I could return, so I took this opportunity to look at all the famous landmarks the city had to offer. Who knows when I''d ever be able to return here?


    A long stone pillar pierced the sky in front of me. People called it ''The tree''. How anyone could mistake a simple brown piece of rock for a green tree was beyond me. But according to many scholars, it held some kind of religious significance in ancient times. They derived that from the many symbols engraved on its surface.


    Not that they understood everything. But the fraction they did manage to translate said so much as the fact that it was used in some kind of ritual. Nothing more.


    While I was admiring the stone pillar, I heard someone shuffling behind me. Normally, I didn''t take note of such things, but this time¡­


    This time, the shuffling sounded uncomfortably close. When I casually glanced sideways, I saw a black coat out of the corner of my eye.


    Great.


    I felt the adrenaline slowly coursing through my veins. I saw two people dressed exactly the same way coming towards me and judging from the sound of footsteps approaching me from behind, they weren''t the only ones.


    "Too afraid to take me on alone, I take it?" No reaction. Figures. Why would they talk to someone that would die in the near future?


    Well, I wasn''t planning to die today.


    I felt something cold near my right hand and directed my gaze towards the first attacker. I saw how cold air oozed from a magic circle. I recognized the insignia''s on the side of the circle as Valhallan. So the Valhalla-faction was in on this too?!, I asked myself.


    "Die." The deep voice reverberated from the darkness of my attacker. At the same moment he spoke those words, the three others immediately lunged forwards. Underneath the cover of their cloaks, I saw the glimmering of hungry steel.


    They were learning! If there was no magic to block or use for myself, I was like a sitting duck. The Valhallan circle was almost filled with enough magic energy! I deduced that by the amount of icy-blue glow radiating from the incantation.


    I reached out to the circle, but my attacker was quicker. He reached back while an icy blade formed in place of the incantation. He didn''t make any noise as he directed the point at my heart and thrust forwards. I let myself fall backwards in response.


    The blade only scraped the skin above my chest, but it still hurt like hell! I felt the cut burning as my attacker immediately changed position. The blade came crashing down on me a few seconds afterwards.


    I was prepared for it this time.


    My power pulsated through my body as I reached out towards the icy blade. From the moment the beast of my Mark smelled the latent magic inside the weapon, it eagerly chomped down on its freezing surface.


    The weapon shattered immediately. I felt the spell resonate within me as frosty waves rolled over my skin. I forced the creature inside me to regurgitate the spell once more. After an angry glare, it recreated the sword. However, it was longer and sturdier than its predecessor.


    That was Unknown magic for you!


    I lashed out with the new sword. My attacker dodged out of the way; I really sucked at close-combat situations¡­


    I heard footsteps approaching behind me; Those others don''t know patience, do they? I immediately jumped to the right and dashed away. I heard my assailants yell to each other. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw how they gave chase.


    And here I was, thinking that this day would be relatively calm!


    I dashed between the people commuting back to their homes. The sword in my hands was slightly melting, so I discarded it. No use keeping worthless tools around, I figured.


    "Carnel? Why the rush?" Lily''s voice echoed to my left. When I took a look, the redhead casually jogged alongside me. A pair of golden earrings shimmered against the orange evening glow. Did she buy them just now?


    "Unwanted attention." I answered dryly and motioned behind me. After the redhaired vixen glanced in the same direction, she frowned.


    "You just can''t go a week without attracting the wrong crowd, can you?" She mused before she sped up. Her scarlet hair danced behind her as she glared into random people''s eyes. I saw her irises glow in that same bright pink-colour before they nodded and followed her.


    "Right. Let''s buy some time!" The redhead said before she snapped her fingers. In a couple of seconds, the commuters went from a disorganized mess to standing between the two of us and our attackers like a human wall.


    "Well, that won''t stop them very long." I commented. The sickly green light of an wind-spell shone between the shocked commuters at the other side of the wall. I didn''t want to see what kind of spell they tried to conjure.


    "Stop complaining!" Lily pouted before she dashed off. I followed her. Anyone that had the misfortune of crossing us got shoved out of the way. No time to apologize.


    "Hey, Tanya! Angelique! Let''s move!" I yelled when we reached the house. After running for a solid ten minutes, I felt my body protesting against any further action. I never was the kind to sport for long periods of time.


    I regretted that now.


    "Why are you all sweaty?" Angelique''s soothing voice lightened the pain in my sides, albeit a little. I took a deep breath to calm my lungs while the other two walked towards us. They each had a leather backpack.


    "No questions. Not now. We need to run. Now." I answered in short sentences while I took in lots of air to calm down my lungs. I saw our pursuers emerging from behind the corner at the end of the street.


    By the Gods, they were a persistent bunch!


    Angelique''s tentacles rolled up in fear and shock when she saw the attackers charging towards us. They didn''t even bother to make a point of being sneaky; Their weapons glimmered in the evening sun. Angelique started to seize up.


    "Hey, stay with me!" I grabbed her shoulder and shook her out of her fear-induced stupor. She blinked with her brown eyes before she focused on my face. The corners of her mouth curled up.


    "Tha-Thanks, Carnel. I almost lost myself there." She said before she took a deep breath to calm herself.


    "Let''s go. I called the Fairy Court Marshals; They''ll support us while we make our way to the harbour. Our ship is waiting there." The blonde teacher announced. She flexed her fragile butterfly wings before she dashed past us. Lily smirked and quickly followed her, with me and Angelique hot on her heels.


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    While was dashed the evening commuters, Lily glanced over her shoulders. She grunted.


    "Those guys multiply like friggin'' rabbits!" She commented. Tanya turned around and put her hands on the ground. Before I could ask what she was doing, several rocky spikes erupted from the concrete walkway.


    "That should hold them back for a bit. Let''s go!" The blonde teacher dashed past us. A couple of people closed in on us from the front. I thought those were more enemies, but Tanya raised her hands.


    "Take care of the rear." She commanded. "Hold them back for as long as you can!" The people that had arrived were some of the Fairy Court Marshals, I realized. When we ran past them, they immediately started gathering energy for some high-tier spells.


    It must be handy to have so many talented Marked people under your command, I thought to myself.


    We just passed the shopping street; Not much longer to go, I realized. When we rounded the corner to the street that lead to the harbour, I noticed a faint whistling noise in my head. Was I getting that tired from running around?


    "Get down!" Tanya suddenly yelled. She grabbed Lily and Angelique, the people closest to her, and forced them to their knees. I quickly followed suit. A second later, a massive fireball smashed into the skyscraper next to us. The scorching heat burned my eyebrows off without any problem.


    Where did that come from?!


    I scoured the rooftops of nearby buildings. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But the closer I looked, the more I noticed something out-of-place. It was right in front of me, about 300 feet up in the air. A figure stood there, cloaked in black. The dark-red glow spilling from his hands made it very clear; He was the sniper.


    "How is that fair?!" Lily complained as she scrambled back to her feet. Tanya gently pulled Angelique off her ass while I noticed the glow intensifying.


    "Keep running!" Tanya said before she grabbed Angelique and pulled her along. The shy girl was getting overwhelmed and completely froze. Nothing surprising, considering her already frail nature. The fact that people were after her and trying to kill her didn''t help either!


    "There! That''s the ship!" The blonde teacher pointed at a small wooden boat resting in the harbour. It was underwhelming; It got easily pushed around by the small waves that collided with its worn wooden hull.


    "That''s it?" Tanya glared at me when the words escaped through my lips.


    "Sorry I couldn''t prepare a warship. But we are about to travel into another country, so that may not be the best option." She bit back. I held my hands up in defence while we barrelled down the broad lane.


    "What are they doing¡­?" I mumbled. A small group of about twenty people gathered right in the middle of our path. A couple of them split of and ran towards the boat. A group of Fairy Court Marshals intercepted them.


    The remaining attackers started channelling magic. A slew of spells appeared right in front of us, from low-tiered to powerful high-tiered spells.


    "Handle the incoming attacks, I got this!" Tanya said. The beginning of a Gaia-spell formed between her palms. By the looks of it, quite a powerful one.


    A blast of air raced towards us, followed by a barrage of smaller fireballs. I jumped forwards and let my Mark devour both spells. The spells made my body feel so light and uncontrollable, while I was burning to pieces inside. God, eating spells and living through their effects was such an inconvenience!


    "Keep your garbage!" I yelled before I fired one counter spell. Instead of countless fireballs, One big ball formed. I used the wind portion of the spell to accelerate the ball. Both spells activated at the same time, hurtling the ball forwards.


    One person stepped forwards. He put his hands together and an instant later, a thick wall of water appeared in front of my targets. My spell sizzled out right in front of them, creating a massive cloud of steam.


    "Tsk. Instant casting, huh? These guys are good¡­" I grumbled under my breath. However, the steam bought us enough time.


    "Carnel, get away from there!" Tanya warned. "My spell''s ready!" The spell slipped out of her hands and sunk into the ground.


    At first, nothing happened. When I walked past the blonde teacher, I shot her an unsure gaze. Then, the ground started rumbling. The vibrations became so strong, I had to keep myself on my feet by grabbing a nearby lamppost.


    One by one, magic circles appeared on the ground. Their brown colour made sure everyone knew they were Gaia-spells. But the insignia''s were of a whole other level. They circled in and over, out and under the magic circles. I glanced at Tanya; That was a teacher for you!


    The magic circles continued to pop up as they covered the entire lane, from us to the edge leading into the ocean. And underneath our attackers.


    "Gaia Spike!" The blonde teacher yelled loudly. At her command, the magic circles activated and created a massive field of sharp spikes. The roar of the crumbling earth drowned out the screams of our assailants.


    "Holy¡­ The fuck did you do, Teach?!" Lily''s voice sounded genuinely surprised. And I couldn''t blame her; Our teacher, someone I thought was quite tame in using her magic, literally wrecked an entire street with one spell.


    "It''s a magic principle for advanced Mark-users. I''ll learn you about it later, however¡­" She grunted as she dropped on one knee. " It drains my energy immensely." I nodded and supported her left shoulder as we made our way to the boat.


    "Ah, Boss! The vessel is ready." One of the Court Marshals stepped forth and kneeled politely. Tanya smirked and let him stand up. I saw the unconscious forms of their attackers lie behind them. Most of them showed burn marks, or had frozen limbs.


    "Thanks. Your job is over here, get back to headquarters and prepare for a counterattack." Tanya ordered. The Court Marshals looked at each other before turning their gazes towards their boss.


    "Shouldn''t we come with you, Boss?" One of the Marshals offered. That was a good idea, in my mind. But Tanya denied us the extra forces.


    "I don''t want to cause a diplomatic war by bringing strong forces of war into another country." She explained. The Marshals had to admit that was a decent argument. After that, they took their leave.


    "All right, let''s get out of here." Lily said and carried the unconscious Angelique on the boat. Tanya and I followed. The wind was right and soon, we were on the full sea, on our way to a place called the Abyss Passage, the gate to the neighbouring country.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "So¡­ we failed to stop the Snake?" A mysterious figure watched the disappearing boat from the highest building in the city. A cloaked man knelt right behind the figure and nodded.


    "Yes, my Lord. They killed thirty of our men, and escaped in the same boat you see before you. Our troops are already preparing forces to¡ª" The mysterious figure held up a black leather gloved hand.


    "No need. I have already contacted the Abyss branch. They will handle it from here." The mysterious figure announced before he walked away. A dirty smirk appeared on his young face before he disappeared into the shadows of the night.

 14 Shady welcome in Mersal

    "Blurgh¡­ Ships are the worst¡­" I mumbled. Lily chucked and patted my back. I could feel her red-painted fingernails pushing through the short-sleeved shirt I wore. She said she knew how I felt, but I think she just liked to see me suffer once in a while.


    "C''mon, Carnel! It''s been three days already. Can''t be that bad, right?" The redhaired vixen said before she slapped my back. I wanted to yell at her, but a wave of nausea silenced me. I could only produce a garbled mess as I hung over the ship''s railing.


    "We''re almost at the Abyss Passage. Get your mind out of the gutter." A blonde woman stepped out from the boat''s cabin and stretched out. She wore nothing more than a breezy white shirt, a knee-high skirt and comfortable shoes.


    I pouted and put out my tongue; I was feeling ill. I couldn''t just snap my fingers and feel better, you know!


    "Blergh¡­ That''s rich, coming from a woman who lied in a dark room for two days straight¡­" I weakly rebutted. Tanya puffed up her cheeks and walked over to the other side of the ship to see if we were still on course.


    It was true, though. The blonde woman had been in her bunk bed for almost the entire journey. According to her, it was because she used way too much energy destroying that group of attackers before we departed.


    "Where is Angelique, by the way?" I mumbled under my breath. I hadn''t seen the squid-girl since the moment we departed for Mersal. I knew the attack on our house and getting chased weren''t pleasant experiences, but shutting herself off from the entire world was going a bit far.


    "She said she''s going to be outside in just a moment. She had to get her stuff." The blonde teacher explained. Her tone explained she didn''t want any more inquiries regarding this topic.


    "What the hell is that?!" Lily''s alarmed voice echoed from the front of the ship. I took a deep breath and stumbled towards her. On a wobbling boat. With legs made of jelly.


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    God, I wanted this to end!


    The redhaired woman pointed at something in the distance. I focused my sight and watched how a pair of craggy, thin deep-blue rocks reached for the sky. They were massive, easily going beyond the reach of a couple of thousand feet.


    "Ah, we''re here." Tanya stated matter-of-factly. "Let me do the talking. I''ve heard border guards are rather fickle and against outsiders." That seemed counter-productive to me, but whatever floated their boats.


    When we approached the impressive structures, bubbles appeared beside the hull of our boat. I reached back to grab the small knife hanging from my belt. I grabbed it from the boat''s storage; Better safe than sorry.


    "Don''t be so anxious." The blonde teacher grabbed my wrist. Her calm voice and strict grip calmed me down enough to leave the blade for what it was. A second later, a couple of fish bubbled to the surface.


    Or rather, fish-like people.


    I shouldn''t have been surprised; I lived together with a girl with real-life tentacled and webbed limbs. But seeing other kind of merfolk still was a bit¡­ weird for me.


    They had big fins on the spots where their ears should''ve been. Their gills twitched softly on their shoulders and neck. Their scaly skin was a deep blue colour, although some had a brown colour. Like the colour of the ground. I guessed they were different kinds of merfolk.


    "Halt! Who goes there?" One of the merfolk surrounding us swam forwards. He held a big trident, inlaid with various gemstones. I doubted that would be an efficient weapon to use in combat. But it was the perfect tool for showing off.


    "Tanya Chaffendale, current leader of the human Fairy Court. I send you a letter three days ago detailing how I would be visiting your country." The blonde woman announced. She held her back straight, yet somehow, made sure that she didn''t seem to look down upon the surrounding soldiers.


    "I have received a memo about that, indeed. However! I was not aware of any humans joining you." The soldier responded. Tanya rubbed the bridge of her nose.


    "I did not, indeed. However, these people are my aides and friends. They are entirely trustworthy." That made my eyebrows take a jump. Since when did I become friends with her? I glanced at Lily and the redhead had as much of an idea as I had.


    The soldiers gathered around and started whispered to each other. Some of them glanced over their shoulders at us. I didn''t like the look in their eyes: they were seemingly very wary of us.


    Which didn''t stroke with my knowledge about the relationship between humans and merfolk. We weren''t the best of friends, but I''d never thought that they would be this hostile.


    While we were waiting for them to be done with their whispering, Angelique walked out of the boat''s cabin. She leaned over the railing and helped herself to the refreshing salty air around her. She brushed her seaweed-coloured hair backwards.


    "Captain! Look there!" One of the soldiers pointed at my squid-like companion. When the man focused on her, his fishy eyes went wide. He corrected himself quickly, though, and swam forwards.


    "Hrmm¡­ right. I can give Miss Tanya Chaffendale a pass, but the rest of you need to come with us to the palace. I don''t want to be held responsible for any mishaps happening, so I''ll let the Her Majesty the Queen decide about you." The captain announced. We were going to see the queen?


    Something about this seemed fishy to me. No pun intended.


    "Here. Humans need air to survive, right?" One of the soldiers swam to the boat and handed us something peculiar. It looked like a surgical mask, but made of steel with goggles and a nose guard.


    "The hell is this thing?" Lily asked while she poked the glass goggles with her red-painted nails. Tanya tanked the fishy soldier, who retreated back into the water.


    "Her Majesty the Queen has created this, to facilitate land-walkers to take in enough air underwater. Be grateful!" I was rather hesitant to touch it.


    "Don''t worry. About 1 percent of the entire population of Mersal has a Mark. They have developed themselves with science. In other words, your Mark shouldn''t be a problem." Tanya explained. I carefully touched the metal device. My Mark activated, since it thought it would be fed. It hadn''t eaten in three days, so I imagined it was pretty hungry.


    But it wasn''t interested in the device. Once it sniffed it, it put up its nose and retreated back into my arm. I could''ve sworn it glared at me with a hungry gaze.


    Suddenly, bubbles appeared around the ship. The welled up from underneath the hull and quickly surrounded us. At first, I thought the bubbles were climbing up the wooden exterior. I soon realized the boat was sinking.


    I panicked, but Tanya grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to the nearest railing along with Lily.


    "Grab on to this! And do not let go! You can just breathe through the devices they gave you." The blonde teacher explained before she stood at the other side and grasped the wooden railing tightly. Angelique just let the water engulf her.


    It was quite a surreal feeling; The cold ocean water easily pulled us under. When the bubbles disappeared, the azure world around me baffled me. Mountains made of rugged stone, covered in a variety of colours. When I looked closer, the colours came from corals and fishes that made their home there.


    I wanted to talk to Lily, but only bubbles appeared. I realized talking wouldn''t be possible for the moment. Besides, the redhead seemed more engrossed in the world around her than the boy dangling on a sinking ship right beside her. Not that I could blame her.


    After what felt like an eternity, the boat crashed in the pristine white sand at the bottom of the waves. I looked up and saw that we were more than a thousand feet underwater. How didn''t we get crushed by the water pressure yet?


    Just when I thought about this conundrum, I saw a set of weird towers in the distance. They exuded a calming green light, even from this distance.


    I didn''t know why, but their light felt very soothing to me. I wanted to stare at them for much longer, but one of the soldiers poked me with his two-pronged spear and gestured to follow him.


    Walking underneath the waves felt so weird; It was like moving through some kind of very thick pudding. Something pushed against my limbs while I tried to keep up with the speed of the group. Angelique had no trouble moving through the water. She grew up beneath the waves, after all.


    She was rather stylish about it, as well. Like a real squid, she seemed to squat in mid-air before she propelled herself further. Her smooth tentacles flowed behind her, with her seaweed-coloured hair brushing against them. The shy girl seemed to feel rather at home, judging from her smile and waving at various people.


    For the rest of us, though, it was rather awkward. Even Tanya seemed to have trouble with the suspicious gazes of the soldiers. The citizens we passed seemed nice enough, though. The closer we came to the pillars I saw earlier, the more I noticed.


    Like the walls surrounding what looked like a massive city. It was way bigger than the human city we three came from. Angelique seemed to recognize the place, though. I''ve never seen her smile so happily.


    When we walked through the entranceway to the city, I noticed how busy the city was. People, all merfolk, were going from left to right carrying all kinds of unknown things. Some things I recognized, like watermelons or sea cucumbers. Other things were a bit weird, like some kind of plants that only had wriggly tentacles that waved in the soft oceanic current.


    "No dawdling! Get moving!" The closer we got to the capital, the harsher our envoy became. I had no idea what kind of stick they had up their ass, but it was starting to get on my nerves. They ushered us past the shopping people, past a huge plaza to the royal palace.


    And what a place it was.


    It was absolutely massive, yet didn''t have the gaudiness I expected from a royal palace. A thick wall made of some kind of white stone protected the building. At first, I thought it was some kind of marble stone, but on closer inspected, it was heavily-compressed sand. The black streaks that created a nice contrast with the white of the sand, seemed to be some kind of oil.


    I had heard the sea-floor had an abundance of oil. Not that any country needed it. The city was powered by magic, I heard the Elves used natural resources and the beastmen seemed to use more primitive methods. But it looked nice, at least.


    " Keep walking!" A boatload of bubbles escaped through the metal mask I wore when one of the soldiers pierced my ass with her spear. I glared at him, but he was less than impressed. We passed through the courtyard that hid behind the towering walls, where several groups of soldiers were doing their drills.


    And there were a lot of them. Was this some kind of power-play, coming from the queen? Like ''Look how strong my army is!'' ? Judging from Tanya''s expression, she had the same idea.


    We got forced into a long, regal-looking hallway. The sides were decorated with delicate curtains, made from a material that looked a lot like sponge-coral. The sunrays falling through the holes of the hallway created intricate patterns on the walls opposite to it.


    Suddenly, I felt a top on my shoulder. It was Lily. She casually pointed to her left.


    A group of soldiers were looking at us. And they were not friendly. I grunted and let my finger glide over the dagger in its sheath. The redhead glared at the soldiers which made them hide behind the nearest corner.


    Real sneaky, guys¡­


    "Wait in here. Her Majesty the Queen will see you shortly." One of the soldiers said and shoved us into a nearby room. It was a grand room, with a coral seat at the back of it. I realized this was some kind of audience chamber.


    I looked at my four companions. Not being able to talk was a major disadvantage. I wondered how the soldiers did it? Angelique looked nervously around her. But she seemed excited as well.


    "I''ve never been in the royal palace as well. Mother has been a couple of times during meetings with the queen but¡­" That made me raise my eyebrows. Angelique''s mother was acquainted with the queen of the merfolk.


    "Oh, right¡­ I guess I didn''t tell you yet. " Angelique twirled her soft tentacles between her fingers.


    "Mother is the economic advisor of the queen. Since she runs the biggest company in the country and all¡­" The squid-girl seemed shy to admit that, judging from her blushing cheeks. She wanted to explain more, but suddenly, a group of soldiers burst into the room.


    One by one, they were fully decked out with spears, shields, helmets and protective armour. It was like they were going to war!


    "Halt, intruders! You will tell us where the princess is, or you will die! We have good information that you are the culprits!" One of the soldiers yelled when the doors fell shut right behind them.


    Uh-Oh, this wasn''t good. At all.


    What were they going on about anyway?

 15 Feeding the Mark

    "What the hell is going on here?!" I thought while I narrowly dodged a heavy spear. Fighting underwater was such a drag. Literally.


    Every move I tried to make took at least a couple of seconds, if not more. The fact that our enemies were not at all stopped by this fact added insult to injury. The soldiers were built for combat underneath the waves. I wasn''t, to put it mildly.


    "Argh!" A whole heap of bubbles escaped through the mouth-mask that produced my oxygen. Something pierced my right leg. I grunted and fell to the white sandy floor. When I grabbed my leg, I felt something long and thin rub against my fingers.


    An arrow?! How did a friggin'' arrow hit me underwater?!


    That''s when I noticed some kind of light-blue stone at the end of the arrow''s wooden shaft. The stone ejected bubbles in one direction, like exhaust fumes. I couldn''t pull it out; It sat way too deep in my skin.


    I grunted and tried to ignore the weird feeling of salt water washing on my open wound. Just when I looked up, I saw how Lily had trouble fighting against her opponents.


    On top of moving sluggishly due to the surrounding water, her powers didn''t seem to have any effect. I saw her eyes glow in the same pinkish hue like always, but somehow, her powers didn''t take hold of her enemies like normal.


    Was it because of the goggles covering her eyes?


    I had no time to think about that any further as a couple of soldiers decided to end this horseplay. They dashed through the water and immediately surrounded me. Their spears waved back and forth, reaching for me.


    Until now, I managed to keep my distance from our attackers. It was hard, with them being excellent swimmers and all, but I managed to scrape by. Now, they were making an effort of cornering me together.


    And it worked.


    "Carnel!" Angelique''s voice echoed throughout the massive audience hall. The squid-girl placed her hands together and created a magic circle. I recognized the symbols lining the circle as those belonging to her trademark ''Righteous Inferno''. A couple of soldiers near her noticed the magic circle and immediately closed in on her.


    Lily shot Tanya a quick glance and both women moved to help. I couldn''t escape from the four soldiers surrounding me. Whenever I tried to escape, their weaponry crashed down towards me. This sucked; I was at a clear advantage if they couldn''t use any magic.


    The small knife wasn''t any help either; I couldn''t even reach my enemies! God, I had to pick that crossbow when I had the chance! Welp, no use complaining about it now!


    When Angelique''s spell activated, a thick stream of heated bubbles exploded outwards. I never knew that spells still were affected by their surroundings. I made a mental note of that; Maybe I could use that to my advantage in the future¡­


    "What in Neptune''s name are you doing?!" A regal voice cut through the salty water. The soldiers immediately reacted as they stiffened up and saluted on command. I glanced at Lily, who shrugged and relaxed. The soldiers threatening us immediately pulled back and swam towards the entrance of the audience hall.


    The woman who stood that looked royally pissed. Crevices appeared in her blue-skinned forehead while the fins hiding her ears flapped smoothly. Her long, black hair floated behind her while she stepped towards the throne at the end of the hall. In her right hand, she carried a long ornate staff with a golden ring on top. Hanging from the big golden ring, smaller silver rings were interlocked with it and jangled along with her steps.


    Her long marine-coloured dress flowed along her smooth, long legs. It had a slit in the middle, revealing her long, shapely legs. A pair of pearl-shaped earrings finished her outfit.


    So this was the Queen, eh?


    Well, she had that regal aura down hard. When she fell into her throne, her black hair cascaded past her shoulders.


    "Forgive us, Your Majesty! But, these land-walkers, they¡ª" The queen cut off the soldier without a second thought.


    "They what?" Her voice was as cold as ice. "I''ve stated numerous times that you should treat them with respect. And what do you do?! You get into a fight with them!" The soldiers didn''t answer. They just shuffled around, not daring to look the queen in the face.


    "¡­I''m sorry for the behaviour of my subjects." Her face changed from furious to benevolent in a heartbeat. I found it unsettling, to say the least. Her smile was soothing, but the image of her furious face was still burned in my mind.


    Tanya shook her head before a bounty of bubbles escaped her breathing mask. The queen chuckled softly before she tapped her staff twice against the floor.


    I felt a rush of something pass through my body. My Mark reacted as the misty jaws hungrily appeared. But after looking around, it seemed to sigh and retreat back into my body. If that was magic, why couldn''t I¡­?


    "There. That should suffice for you to speak freely. Please, you can take off those masks as well. My spell will protect you." I had my doubts about that. It wasn''t that I didn''t trust the queen, I just didn''t want to suffocate with my lungs filled with seawater.


    Lily was the first to throw her mask away. She carefully opened her mouth and let a few words slip through her lips. I was as shocked as she was when her voice reached my ears. Tanya followed suit and handed her mask to one of the soldiers near her.


    I was more reluctant to get the thing off my face. I didn''t know if my Mark would just activate on its own; The last time I fed it any magic was¡­ Well, a long time ago.


    I reached behind my head and fiddled with the straps holding the mask to my face. I took a deep breath and immediately pulled the mask off in one fell swoop.


    From the moment the steel left my face, my Mark activated and licked its misty jaws. It hungrily gazed at the queen''s sceptre, including the brightly-coloured gem.


    So that''s where the spell originated from. I''ve never heard of magic imbued in an object; was there something special about it?


    Right before the monster of my Mark readied itself to pounce towards the gem, I grabbed its misty form. The surprise I felt when my fingers grabbed the mist and managed to hold the beast back was something else! It glared at me and roared angrily. However, I wasn''t about to give up!


    "Hey, Angelique! Fire some spells this way! You too, Tanya!" It must''ve been quite a weird sight for anyone looking at me. I grasped at nothing and struggled with nothing else but air while my Mark glowed eerily in a bone-white colour.


    My squid-like friend hesitated to bombard me with her fire-spells, but Tanya didn''t waste a single second. She ran towards me and created some magic circle that floated above her shoulders. The monster of my Mark reacted to the new sources of magic and roared at me.


    "Fine. Fine. Go get your food, but only those spells, yeah? No eating the gem." I commanded. The beast seemed slightly bummed out but when it saw the plethora of Gaia-spells of the Fairy-kind, it still drooled.


    I let it loose on the spells. It continued to eat through any magic circle it saw. The only thing that connected it to my body was a thick strand of broiling black mist. Angelique was creating magic circles as well, but they burst into pieces before she could fully fill them with her magic energy.


    After ten minutes, the monster of my Mark seemed to finally calm down. It nodded at me and flashed me a beastly grin before it retreated back into my body.


    "That was¡­ tiring." Angelique mumbled. She fell to the floor and swayed with her hands. Even if there were no flames, channelling the energy of her Mark had the same effect as burning her webbed fingers. The blonde teacher groaned and leaned against the nearest pillar she could fine while breathing heavily.


    "What¡­ just happened?" The queen said. Her eyes dashed from Lily to Angelique to Tanya and rested on me. I grunted; She had a really piercing gaze!


    "Oh, that¡­ was Carnel''s Mark, your highness. We have absolutely no idea what it is, but it breaks down magic, apparently." Tanya answered when she managed to catch her breath. The queen''s eyes narrowed when she heard that. Her aquamarine eyes rested on me and scrutinized every inch of my body.


    "Get Laphicia here, immediately!" She ordered the nearest group of soldiers. They shrieked and swam out of the room.


    "Incidentally, queenie¡­" Lily began. Tanya hissed through her lips, but the redhaired vixen ignored her. "What''s the green gem on your staff?"


    If the queen had been offended by Lily''s loud mouth, she didn''t show it. The woman only chuckled while she affectionately patted the gemstone. Which made me think: I could still be hit by spells. Only if the monster inside me devoured the spell, I could re-use it¡­ I should keep that in mind.


    "This beautiful stone is called Neptune''s Eye. Long ago, it had been given by our kind to humans as a sign of respect and peace. However, the ruler at that time didn''t want the stone and returned it to us. It had an ancient spell inscribed into it that lets humans breathe and walk underwater like they would on land." How curious. I''ve never read any story like that. Let alone heard about objects being inscribed with anything¡­


    Tanya seemed at an equally big loss as I was. And she was a magic teacher!


    "You required my assistance, your High¡ªAngelique?!" A familiar voice rung through the audience hall. I turned around, just in time to dodge a woman who charged forwards to my squid-like companion.


    "H-Hi, mom. Long time no see¡­ You''re suffocating me¡­" Angelique murmured in a small voice. Her mother gasped and quickly lessened her grip of her daughter, yet refused to let her go. She waved at me and the others before returning her attention to her daughter.


    "You''ve grown a bit since the last time I saw you. Oh, what are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn''t you be at school, young lady?" I smiled gently; She still hasn''t changed a bit. Still a concerned mother. It was rather heartwarming to see.


    "Yes. I understand that you are happy to see your daughter again, Laphicia, but I think more pressing matters require your attention right now." The queen intervened. Angelique''s mother gasped and immediately bowed for the queen.


    "I trust you''ve heard of this boy''s Mark?" Laphicia turned her gaze towards me. What was these people''s problem?! I wasn''t some kind of exhibition object, you know!


    "Yes, Angelique wrote about it in some of her letters. I did some research and the chances that he bears its mark are¡­ decent." I frowned; What were they talking about. The queen looked at me like I was some very interesting museum piece. It made me all wobbly inside. Like pudding that stood in the sun for too long.


    "Interesting¡­ Very interesting. However, that matter will have to wait until further research. Tell me, why did you come here, to Mersal?" Tanya stepped forwards and quickly sketched our circumstances; About the attacks, the Fairy Court Battle against Oberon and about the Acolytes of Yggdrasil.


    "I see¡­ So you essentially have fled your country to seek protection here? Hrmm¡­" The queen looked us over, pausing a couple of seconds with every single one of us. Why did it feel like she looked at me for several seconds?


    "All right, we will give you protection. However, I want you to do something in return for us." The queen leaned back and stretched before she dismissed her soldiers. After they had left the room, she continued.


    "You see, I''m in quite a conundrum. The reason why those soldiers attacked you was because they thought you ¡­. had something to do with my daughter''s disappearance." I frowned; How would that even possible? We just arrived in Mersal.


    " The only thing they knew was that the culprit looked exactly like Laphicia''s daughter." That made even less sense than before! It''s simple not possible for one person to be at two places at the same time. Right?


    "I can vouch for her, your Majesty. Angelique didn''t leave our sight in the past three weeks. Not long enough to get to Mersal and back." Tanya responded in a calm tone. I had to commend her for her calm intervention. Angelique started to panic already.


    "That''s fine¡­ But I don''t get my daughter back by vouching for her. So, I want you to find her for me. So far, the inspectors on the case didn''t make any headway into their investigation. However, that might be to other influences as well¡­" The queen''s voice trailed off there. Lily frowned. She seemed to have the exact thought I had: What influences was she talking about?


    "Anyway, I''ll explain the rest of it tomorrow. You must be tired from your long journey, correct? I will have a room and food prepared for you. I''m afraid you have to stay in the palace walls for now, though. The range of Neptune''s eye isn''t that big." The black-haired queen explained. A couple of soldiers walked into the audience room and guided us to our lodgings.


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    "Laphicia¡­ If he is truly that being, what should we do? You know going against a being of that calibre is nothing less than throwing our lives away¡­" I heard the queen mumble behind us while we left the room.


    "He doesn''t seem to be malicious at least, not like the legends say. However, his mark doesn''t seem to be complete. If he really is that being¡­ He should be much stronger than that. Something is holding him back¡­ for now." After that, the big heavy doors of the audience room slammed shut.


    What was all that about ?


    When we finally arrived at our lodgings, I looked outside and saw the capital city of Mersal sprawling out in front of me. It was a rather pretty sight, with various luminescent forms of corals and seaweed lighting up the streets.


    The walls protecting the palace were something to behold too; They were at least ten feet wide and more than a hundred feet tall. Pretty impressive for a castle in peaceful times.


    "Hm?" I saw a figure climbing over the wall. I didn''t know why, but they seemed to be looking in my general direction.


    Were we being watched? By who?