Zyda thought of putting her skills to use. When she checked her system she discovered that gaining a few more elemental points would earn her new abilities and advance her to the next levels but so far she had two skills and one ability, blue magic. She was still absent-minded when she heard someone talk to her.
"Zyda you up for extra training?" Nova asked, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. She had taken interest in Zyda as she had enjoyed the fighting match with her.
"Um...uh....maybe later. I feel a bit tired" Zyda gave her an apologetic smile. With that, she swiftly stood up and briskly left the dining hall.
Nova looked at Zyda suspiciously who had dashed out of the dining hall, her chocolate brown hazel eyes had hidden something unfathomable. She then reminisced her secret meeting with Professor Kontos in his undercover chamber.
(Flashback)
In one of the academy corridors that led to a library stood two individuals one was a female and the other was an old male holding a stick. His expression was neutral as he carefully digested the news conveyed to him.
"She has perfect sword skills," explained the female, her expression spoke surprise and tiredness for she had just come from training.
"Follow me!" the old man whispered, turning his back towards the library door.
The girl behind him kept a wary eye on the surroundings.
They entered the library, moved past two shelf rows and then stopped in front of the third row for which on top of it was an ornate perfectly curved in sparkly silver big block letters "Special collections" it read.
The old man enchanted some unknown words and the shelf slid open revealing a hidden door.
The door entrance revealed a grand spiral staircase that led into a magnificently designed room with seemingly modern antiques. A large black wooden desk and a chair. The colour of the walls was white, a snow-white colour that enhanced the antiques in the room. An animal painting hanging on one of the walls. The floor was covered by a thick Persian carpet with Zebra stripe patterns and a large white chandelier hanging at the ceiling.
"Wow!... its..... amazing," gasped Nova in amazement, her eyes shimmered like a kid's first time in a park. She had never encountered such a splendidly designed room. A large white leathered couch stood at one side of the room and beside it was a coffee table with a couple of randomly piled books.
"Have a seat!" ordered the old man as he sat at his desk. Nova felt the softness of the couch as she sat.
"Ahem..so what'd you notice?" began the old man bringing back Nova to business. His eyes stared at her attentively.
"So, yes. As I said she has magnificent sword skills, she didn't even need any learning," she firmly explained not skipping any detail.
Silence occupied the room as the old man's expression turned solemn. Finally breaking the silence the old man commanded, "Keep an eye on her!".
With that, he immediately dismissed her and then took out a piece of paper, scribbled a few notes, folded it and stuffed it in his pocket. Nova silently noticed these actions as she exited the room.
(End of flashback)
An hour had passed since Zyda left the dining hall. Nova then followed her, she did this to avoid suspicion.
At the same time, Zyda had put her abilities and skills into use. She had opted to visit the training room, she stood a few feet away from the training room as she observed everything from there making sure the guards didn't suspect her, she pretended to be reading. Minutes later, she saw Professor Kontos slowly heading to the library, she carefully tailed him
Nova busily ran from corridor to corridor in search of Zyda. She wanted to know what she was up to, she knew Zyda had some secrets and her arrival at the academy felt strange. What was her relationship with the magical realm was a mystery. Nova managed to access her room but found it very organized. She searched everywhere for something as a clue but she found nothing. She was a few minutes late because someone had entered Zyda's room earlier than her.
Inside Zyda's dressing chamber hid a girl with sparkly silver hair, a satisfactory smirk displayed on her face. Her colourless eyes glinted victoriously. It was Yurie who had come to save Zyda. She hid all the clues, Yurie had been following Zyda's moves for the past few days and discovered the mysterious necklace which she knew. It was the Elementalist gem. She also followed Nova's moves, her secret meeting with Professor Kontos.
"I promise to keep you safe Zyda," she silently swore.
Nova left frustrated, she had never felt so much defeated. She stomped her foot in desperation and cursed loudly "What are you Zyda?"
Zyda finally found herself in the library, she lost her target.
"Night Vision!" she commanded. Her eyes turned to keen blue ones which were enough to notice a needle. She stared at the linoleum floor and saw a couple of footprints that straightly led her to a row of books which was the special collections.
"Hmm... what's he doing in the special collections?" she suspiciously thought, sneakily tracing the footprints and stopping in front of a large bookshelf.
She then scanned the shelf with her night-vision eyes and discovered a hidden door behind it. She used her blue magic to open the chamber behind the shelf and disappeared into it. At its end, she was astonished at the modern interior designs, they reminded her of her father. Her dad preferred his furniture black and white. His sturdy back in the mundane world had been furnished in black and white.
Zyda immediately scrutinized the room, her eyes immediately landed on the coffee table that had a pile of books. She briskly perused them and landed on an old black and white tattered photo. Two happy individuals imprinted on them, and one had a red mark on him. Zyda managed to recognize the red marked individual. It was her dad but when she turned the photo behind, she saw a black faint note had been scribbled "he must die!". Her eyes widened in shock, not wanting to make a noise she covered her mouth. She rapidly stuffed the photo in one of her trouser pockets.
There were two books on the coffee table that were plain black. One had a title written "Mundane and Panacea by Prof. Cien Sylph" in silver block letters. The second book was written "The journal" in red letters.
"What! Dad was in the magic realm?" she gasped, her jaw slacked with shock.
Zyda's thoughts were interrupted by a couple of footsteps that seemed to be heading in her direction, she immediately hid under the large black desk. Professor Kontos had come to get some of his stuff. He scanned the room and noticed nothing abnormal and then exited the chamber.
Zyda fearlessly resumed her work, she searched the room for almost half an hour. She took the two black books with her and headed for the door. But the moment she opened the exit, she came face to face with a pair of intense hazel brown eyes.
"Well done," clapped the hazel-eyed person, a vile smile on displayed her face.
"What are you doing Nova?" Zyda changed her expression to solemn. She squeezed her palms behind to hide her nervousness.
"Keeping an eye on you!" she replied her arms crossed.
"Whoosh" an eccentric black mist suddenly clouded the library.
"Zyda! hurry and let's go!" whispered a gentle voice.
"Not so fast!" an irritated voice struggled to see in the fog but all in vain. But Zyda had already vanished into the mist.
"Hurry, this way!" she ordered racing to the right. Nova also followed the voice but she found herself in the middle of the library aisles.
"Aahhh!" she cursed defeatedly.
Meanwhile, the duo was squelching down a secret passage that was filled with rotting leaves, it was quite humid in there.
"Yurie!" Zyda quickly embraced her tightly. "I missed you!. But how did you know I'm here?" she bombarded her with questions.
"Long story.!" Yurie said breaking their embrace. "Now let's get out here before we get into more trouble. But how the hell did you lock horns with that vile empathetic witch?"
"Long story!" Zyda shrugged.
"Hmm... I see!" Yurie rubbed her chin in thought as they climbed up a couple of stairs which led them into a bedroom that looked familiar. Zyda was surprised to see that it was her room.
"How did you-"
"Shhh! long story!" chuckled Yurie.
"So what were you doing in the special collections?" she asked.
"Ummm... " stammered Zyda. Zyda was interrupted by a notification from her system.
Elemental level 4 unlocked.
Zyda quickly told her the story from when she had got the mysterious system and the necklace, the match with Nova and how she ended up in the library secret chamber of Professor Kontos.
"...."
Yurie kept silent, she was trying to relate the content which she partly knew.
"What? you don't believe me?" Zyda asked slightly disappointed.
"I believe you. It's just.-"
"Too much to consume?"
"Yeah. Anyway let's go I want to show you something," she said tugging her hand. The two girls left the room and headed to the academy commons.