Five minutes in The Mirror World and Celia immediately saw how desolate the entire place was. No plant life in sight. The dry ground crackled beneath her feet. Not so much sand, but rather rocky soil. The wind was very dry, and it carried the putrid smell of blood. She covered her nose. It was a horrible scent. The sky was blood red, as if the sun turned its face away and the moon swallowed itself in disgust of the planet it used to watch over.
"Run!!" A loud scream echoed across the wastelands. Followed by a small earthquake."Run!!" A loud scream echoed across the wastelands. Followed by a small earthquake.
"What?" she stepped forward to try and see what was going on, but she soon broke into a run in the opposite direction.
Hundreds of people like her ran towards her direction, followed very closely by strange creatures that resemble rhinoceros, except with an extremely large horn half as long as their body. A few tried to kill the beasts, but were quickly trampled down or pierced through with their massive horns.
"What are those?" She asked loudly.
"Monoceros. Mythological forest keepers, hates humans like worms hate salt." A male voice said beside her. She turned to look as he waved. " Yo, the name's Yuki."
She waved back. "Yuki? Isn't that a japanese girl's name?" She was being bumped around by the other running people.
"Can we discuss the nature of my name when we're not about to die?" Yuki turned around for a moment and his hand glowed white. "Unforgiving winds, scream absolute frost!" From his hand, a strong wind blew towards the charging beasts, causing the environment to freeze. This causes some of the Monoceros to slip, but it ultimately did nothing.
"Woah, ice magic." Celia continued to run, but occasionally looked behind her to watch. She saw Yuki and the Monoceros' distance begin to close rapidly. "Yuki!" She ran towards him. Her hand dug around her backpack, and once her fingers closed around a sizeable gem, she raised it high and chanted.
"Heavenly wrath of the seven skies, strike down my enemies with ultimate fury!" She threw the game forward, grabbed Yuki, and ran away.
The gem remained suspended in the air for a moment before emitting blue spark that very quickly became red spirals of fire, appearing to have gained consciousness as the spirals grabbed the herd of Monoceros by the legs. The gem exploded once the Monoceros were all together and struggling to get out. After the gem exploded, the space it once occupied imploded and the herd of Monoceros was no more.
"Holy- You did that?" Yuki began to run on his own now. "That's amazing, you're already this powerful!"
Celia shrugged. "I have no idea what I just did!" she said truthfully. The chant and the power suddenly came to her, and she genuinely didn't know where both came from. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a series of screeches from overhead.
"And here's gryphons. We just can't get a break!" Yuri sighed loudly in exasperation.
"How far away is the academy?" Celia asked.
"See that spire? On the horizon?" He pointed forward. A very tall spire jutted out from beyond the horizon, as if someone planted it there.
"Yeah, I see it!"
"That's the tip of the academy watchtower. Or so my mom said. That's safe." He suddenly stopped and slammed his palm down on the ground. "Cave of the Ice God, let the night shroud surround us!" A thick wall of ice covered the two of them and formed a sort of igloo that sheltered them from the Gryphon onslaught. Yuki fell on his behind and breathed out a small relief.
"Good idea, shielding us from the gryphons." Celia checked outside to see whether the flying atrocities were still there.
"That." In his mind, that was not his initial purpose. "Also, we need to rest. Mostly me. I am not built for this kind of test."
Celia took a seat too. The ground was still very hard. "This is a test?"
"Hmm?" Yuki spaced out for a little while. "Oh, not really. Or maybe. I don't know. The technical reason, according to my mom, is that the academy is surrounded by a very powerful barrier, that no one can go in and out except through the front gate."
Celia nodded. "It blocks direct gates and teleportation too, if we're so far."
"Really strong barrier. Like seven layers of seven layer barriers. Probably made by the Grandmaster. I don't think anyone can maintain that level of protection and live."
"Grandmaster, huh?"
"Yeah!" Yuki's eyes suddenly lit up. "They say he was a descendant of the legendary Merlin! Master of all magic, keeper of the secrets of sorcery, the first Arcana!"
Celica raised an eyebrow. "He must be very good, for you to speak of him so highly."
"No doubt. He's the best." He crossed his arms as if to make a point. "I think we better get going."
Celia looked outside. "There's a lot of, uh, what do you officially call them?"
"At home we call them Yokai, but that doesn't work here. Hmm..." Yuki thought deeply. "I know, let's call them Mythical Beasts, since that's what they are."
"Can't we just call them monsters?"
"People are monsters, these things are majestic creatures."
Celia was about to.say something but held herself back. "Maybe if we launch attacks in one go we can bypass most of them."
Yuki nodded. "On three."
"Three." Celia grabbed another gem roughly the same size as the one she used before.
"Two." Yuki readied himself.
"One."
At the same time, they sprinted outside their ice shelter, Yuki focusing on increasing their mobility, Celia focusing on offense.
"Frozen walkway, slippery slope, freeze the path and guide the way!"
"Love beyond love, let all who see be damned to eternal pain!" She let the gem fly. The red gem started to spin inwards, creating a localized tornado, sucking in everything in the vicinity and tearing them apart on each other.
Yuki and Celia began to use the ice path and skate their way towards the academy. She used smaller gems to cast weaker spells to deter smaller Mythical Beasts from impeding their progress. Soon, the silhouette of the academy became concrete. The front gates were open.
"We're finally here!" Yuki announced before both of them lost control of their skating motion and slammed into the iron gate.
Celia got up in time to see five persons from the gate, who she guessed were guards, simultaneously raised their hands towards the coming horde of Mythical Beasts. A cloaked figure approached them and offered them a hand.
His golden hair swayed in the breeze as the tempest of flames lit his face up.
"Congratulations." A warm voice greeted them. A very warm, familiar voice. "You made it. Welcome to Arcana Academia."