Tess POV

He had that lofty, detached air around him as if he wasn't a part of this world, but above it. The tendrils of lightning shifted in color as they coiled around his body, shifting to black with a faint shade of purple mixed in.

The shroud of lightning around him grew and with a blink, he vanished like he never even existed. It seemed like a dream, I felt like it was all a life-like illusion. However, the lingering tendrils of black lightning in the air were clear evidence that it is real.

I calmed my heart and only then did I notice the large shadow under me. As soon as I realized that the shadow was shaped like a human body, everything seemed to have slowed down. It was quiet, deadly quiet, I felt my heart beats reaching my ear.

I slowly turned around and as soon as I saw his eyes, I crumbled to my knees and instantly augmented my body with mana.

I was scared.

What sort of monster was he that a simple gaze from his eyes made me fall to my knees.

I couldn't stop shivering and the mana in my body dispersed, refusing to listen to me from the lack of mental control I had over myself.

I was on the verge of becoming a white core mage, I faced and even killed a retainer, yet for the first time in a long while, I felt like a child - an actual, helpless child.

"W-Who are y-you?" I tried my best to roar but my shaking voice betrayed me.

As his shining golden eyes locked into me, I felt like no matter what I did at this point, I couldn't stop whatever was about to happen. It was an instinctual reaction that for some reason I just couldn't ignore.

While the aura and demeanor of him was heavy and oppressive, it felt so familIar, yet so unfamiliar at the same time. However, what I was sure of was that he didn't want to hurt me; otherwise I would've been dead already.