"I can't believe you ran away, Shu." His grandfather told him. "You were so close to taking care of them."
"My apologies for doing so, but I had to. Kaede was hit with the serum, so I couldn't bare risking her very life!" He replied to his grandfather with an angry tone.
Shu was in a place that he very rarely visited: his grandfather's house. He lived in a big mansion alongside some other people that help him with everyday things around the house. They weren't maids or butlers or anything, they were members of the magic organization owned by him: Shadow Raven, or the SR for short.
One day had passed since Shu and Kaede went on the mission to apprehend more members of Nefarious. They had failed to do so due to Shu running away because Kaede had been hit with a weapon that was very dangerous for magicians: Neutralizing Serum. This was a serum capable of "deactivating" a magicians' Mana for a certain amount of time. But due to its strange nature, this time was always random.
"I understand how you feel, I really do. But you got to understand that we cannot keep Nefarious alive at any costs. You both know what they've done."
"I know, grandfather. But my sister's safety is still my top priority, and I refuse to let her get hurt any longer. I'm sorry, but until she's completely healed, I will not go on any other mission." Shu boldly responded.
Until she was fully healed, Shu refused to do anything relating to the SR.
"…Fine. Understood. I'll let you take care of your sister. But once she's completely healed, you're both getting summoned once again."
"Yes, grandfather."
"You make now take your leave. I'll see you soon, Shu."
"Yes. Goodbye, grandfather."
Shu took his leave. He exited the room that his grandfather was in. The mansion had 3 floors, and way too many rooms for a regular one that. Though this is expected considering that the leader of the SR lived here. After walking to the first floor, Shu entered a room that was well hidden in 1 of the house's corners; the one on the right of the front door. This room had one of the rarest sights in the magic world: a red magic circle.
Magic circles were relatively common when it came to magic, since many spells summoned said circles. There were magic circles of many different colors. The rarest of them all was red, since red magic circles were only seen in 1 specific type of magic…
He walked to the circle and, after a few seconds of standing on it, it started to shine with a light blue glow. After another few seconds, Shu was surrounded with the same light blue glow as the circle and suddenly, appeared in what appeared to seem a basement. This was his and Kaede's home: their house.
This house was given to them by their father for them to live a normal life not related to any magic. But of course, this was ironic since they both worked for the SR. The basement was very big for a normal basement, and it had tons of different tables, bookshelves, and cabinets with many different items. These were their father's and grandfather's, mostly the latter's, books.
"Kaede, I'm back!" Shu shouted at his sister as he went up the stairs of his house and into her room. There she was, lying on her bed with a sick look on her face. The serum did more than just "deactivate" her Mana. It somehow actually made her sick.
"H-hey…brother…" She was trying to talk, but she was so weak that those were all the words that she was able to muster.
"You don't have to force yourself, sister. Just rest for the entire day. I'll tell school that we'll be absent today, so don't worry about it."
"T-thank you…" she responded.
Shu was supposed to have a very important test today at school, but he simply thought his sister's health was more important. He also stopped caring so much about his grades a while ago.
"Well then, I'll be in the basement if you need me. If you need me, just call me with your phone, alright?"
Kaede nodded "yes" to her brother.
"Well then, see you soon!"
Shu walked out of Kaede's room and went to the house's basement and did his and his sister's daily routine: read about magic. He grabbed a few books that he hasn't read yet and started reading.
Magic was a very mysterious concept nowadays. Many people didn't know about it since it was very rare to see due to it being illegal in most places around the world.
He was currently reading a book called "The Demi-Human Encyclopedia". It was a collection of around 10 books that talked about a very controversial topic in the magic world: Demi-Humans.
Demi-Humans were once regular humans who were mutated due to the Mana in their bodies, making them develop animal characteristics, the most common being animal ears and an animal tail. They were highly discriminated against for whatever reason, and because of this, they live in very specific areas in the magic world. Shu found this concept very interesting, since he had never seen one before.
"It would be cool to someday see one, wouldn't it…" he thought to himself.
Half of the reason he loved to read about magic was because it was a very intriguing thing to read about. But there was another reason he read a ton about magic. He had been trying to find information about something that has been bugging him for years. Something related to his own magic ability. Shu didn't have the most intriguing of magic, only able to use fire magic. But there was something odd about it: every time he used his magic, a strange symbol would appear on the back of his right hand. The reason for this is not known by anyone, but both Shu and his grandfather have been trying to decipher the true purpose behind the diamond-shaped symbol. "Let's find another book. Maybe I can finally find something about that…I mean, it's been…what, like 9 years? Yet I still haven't found anything regarding the symbol …what am I to do?" he was thinking to himself while he was looking for new magic books to read.
He kept looking and looking for a new book…until he finally found one that caught his attention. "What…is this?" It was a book called "The 3rd Study of the Secondary Elements", yet he had somehow not seen it. The "Secondary Elements" was the official magic name given to the 4 Elements of Nature: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air/Wind. This book caught his attention since he was a fire magic user. "How have I never seen this before? I even read the first 2!".
Shu grabbed the book from the bookshelf. It was a big red book with its title in the cover. It appeared to be around a couple of years old. He was about to open it and begin reading it, but in that exact moment…
Knock, knock, knock.
Shu turned his head towards his left. "Was that…the front door…?"
He left the basement and went towards the front door. He quickly opened it. It was a weird sight.
No one was in front of the door. He saw many of his neighbors just doing their own thing. He was honestly disappointed with the overall fact. "Well, I guess that was nothing".
As he was about to enter back his house, he saw something from the corner of his vision. "Wait…what the?"
There was a letter on the floor. It was one of those letters you would probably see in a movie or something: it was a regular envelope with a red seal containing a logo Shu had never witnessed before in his life.
"Why is there a letter here…?" he picked up the letter and quickly went back in. He went toward Kaede's room, and slowly opened the door. She was sleeping, and as soon as he saw this, he quickly closed it. "I'll just ask her later. And as for this letter itself…" he walked back to the basement and sat down on 1 of the 2 desks that were there. Instead of reading the other book he grabbed before, he started to look for another one that might help with find out what this crest is. But in the end, he didn't find anything. "There's only 1 more thing I can do now…".
He opened a cabinet in the basement and grabbed a small glass bottle that contained a red substance. This red substance was a sample of magic blood that belonged to himself. He poured it on top of the magic circle and the circle started glowing in a light blue color.
"Kaede, I'm heading out again. Ill be back soon!" Shu shouted whilst he was being enveloped in the light blue glow. A few seconds passed, and he returned to the same place as before: his grandfather's house.
"Grandfather, please look at this."
"Oh, you're back, Shu. It's rare enough to see you once a day, but twice? Did you forget to tell me something?" His grandfather said to him as soon as he returned to the room he was in.
"I need your help."
"My help? With what?"
"Here. Look at this."
Shu slid the letter on top of the table that was between him and his grandfather, similar to how people would slide someone drinks at a bar.
"A letter? Why do you need help with this?"
"Do you by any chance recognize the crest in that thing's seal?"
"Hmm…lets see…" his grandfather checked the seal on the letter, and in the next few seconds…
"What?!" his grandfather said in shock.
"Is something wrong?"
"How did you get this letter, Shu? Tell me!" his grandfather was begging for an answer.
"Um…I just found in my front door this morning…why, is it bad?"
"No way…how do you recognize these symbols?!"
"Am I supposed to?! Wait…what do you mean "these symbols"?? Isn't it supposed to be one?"
"No, Shu…these are 7 different symbols."
"7 symbols of what?"
"These are…the 7 symbols…of the Seven Magic Academies!"