Inna sat in her room. She floated above the floor, sitting on what seemed to be a nonexistent throne with her legs crossed. Her head rested against her hand and her eyes remained closed.
Inna was sifting through her memories. Events of each life passed before her mind's eye. It is one thing to live multiple different lives and it is another to actively hold each of those memories within her conscious mind. Logically, that amount of memories would cause any person to go mad. She was searching for a specific person. When she finally found them, a memory played out before her.
.....
A woman stared down at Inna. The woman's emerald green hair and fiery red eyes bore into her. Inna was unphased, seemingly uncaring. At this point in Inna's cycle, she had died countless times and lived even more. She was uncaring, unkind, and almost outright evil. This was Yion Frea (Ee-Oh-n Fray-uh), Inna's first encounter with phoenix fire.
The woman standing before Inna swung her fist covered in green fire at her. She grabbed the woman's fist, extinguishing her fire in a mere instant.
Inna spoke with a cocky grin. Her hair was cut to about shoulder length and she wore a leather jacket with nothing but a sports bra underneath. "Come now Yion, this is child's play for me. You should know better. Perhaps I should teach you just in case." Her voice oozed sarcasm.
Yion spoke with venom dripping from her tongue. Her tone was not playful. She was pissed. "Perhaps someone should teach a cocky brat like you to respect your peers."
Inna lifted her with one arm and slammed her into the ground, which cracked under her might. She did this three more times before Inna's arm suddenly burst into black flames. She backed off, dropping Yion on the ground. Try as she might, she could not get the flames to extinguish. The fire seemed perpetually on her. Although a minor nuisance in terms of pain, her arm would soon become useless.
Yion spoke with confidence as she stood with a smug look. She was now covered in bruises. "This is the end goal of phoenix fire. I deemed it eternal fire. Not even someone as strong as you should be able to put it out."
Inna scoffed as the fire continued to char her arm. "The pain doesn't even really hurt. Though, even if I can't remove the fire, how about this." Without even giving it a second thought, Inna reached up to her arm and began pulling.
Yion looked horrified for a moment as she began speaking hurriedly. "Wait. what are you-"
With a horrendous tearing sound, Inna's arm was torn off at the shoulder. She fell to one knee and threw it across the room. It landed with a wet *SPLAT*. Everyone that saw the action began retching.
"What in the hell is wrong with you?!" Yion asked with an expression of horror.
"Nothing. I'm completely normal." Was Inna's only reply.
The memory ends as Inna hears a knock on her door. Opening it, she meets a flustered Ember who immediately averts her gaze. Inna had forgotten that she was still in her underwear.
"What is it, Ember?" Inna asked with mild annoyance.
"I..uh.uhm. The h-headmaster called for you." Her eyes did not leave the floor.
Inna thanked her, as the same clothes she wore earlier suddenly appeared on her body. She exited the dorm and sent out a pulse of energy that mapped out the campus. Originally, she wanted to take time to actually map the campus grounds, but she was annoyed that someone had interrupted her memories.
Eventually, she found a nice office with a plaque next to it that read: "Headmaster's Office." Without even the slightest knock, she entered.
A man sat behind a desk. He was speaking to another man dressed in gold armor. A woman was standing nearby in a secretary-like business outfit. She spoke first. "Sir, the student in question is here."
The headmaster just looked incredulously at the secretary. "I can see that" was all he said.
After a short pause, he spoke to Inna. "You are Inna, correct? Please, take a seat."
She merely looked at him and spoke in a flat, uninterested tone. "No."
"Err..okay?" He seemed genuinely confused. 'Had he at some point annoyed her?' He did not remember ever doing so.
The man in Golden armor moved. He was fast. He swung a sword down on Inna, who merely caught it in her hand and crushed it in her fist. She punched him in the stomach with seemingly little strength. He doubled over in response, to which she elbowed him into the ground and put her foot on his helmet.
She looked down at the man who was now face down on the ground. "You have lost your privilege to stand and have gravely annoyed me." She directed her gaze to the headmaster. "Who is this buffoon that attacked me?"
Everything happened quickly. The secretary seemed entirely clueless, but the headmaster was in awe. It took him a few moments to respond. "He is a prince from the Kingdom of Alsharion. It is located to the west of here. His kingdom houses the Black Thorn Academy."
"I see" She looked down at the man. He seemed to be struggling against her boot, which was entirely unmoving. "Do you always just attack people for no reason? You're going to die an early death with a habit like that."
The headmaster cleared his throat. "In any case, I was talking with him about expanding our academy's tournament to include other academies. He asked who had this ingenious idea, and Kira mentioned that it was you who suggested this. I don't know why he attacked you, but can you please not step on him?"
Inna lifted her foot off of him. "Fine, but if he attacks me again, I'll separate his head from his shoulders."
The man stood up and dusted his newly dented armor off. He reached out for a handshake and spoke with a polite tone. "Hello, I'm Ril Alsharion."
Inna looked at his hand and did not even move. "What the hell is wrong with you? First, you attack a lady as soon as she enters, and now you act as if nothing is wrong. Are you insane? You absolutely must be."
The man spoke with confidence that he should not have had. "Well, I don't want to die so I figured it would be better to act politely."
Inna just stared at him. At this point, she had decided to entirely ignore him. She turned to the headmaster. "Did you just want me to meet this lunatic? Or is there something else?"
The headmaster seemed to have regained his composure. "Indeed there is. We would like you to travel with a group to investigate the disappearance of a village."
"Why the hell do you want me, also, you all ruined my meditation. Why should I even consider this?"
"We'll pay you-"
"Don't care. I can create money from thin air."
"That's a crime.."
"I still don't care."
The headmaster was starting to sweat a little. The kingdom they were in didn't have any leftover agents qualified enough to participate and Inna seemed like their only option. She had shattered their test crystals without even the slightest effort. He had to get her to agree.
After a brief pause, he spoke. "Fine, I'll give you a private dorm room and outfit it with the newest and best equipment the kingdoms have to offer."
Inna considered this. "I quite like my roommate, but if you upgrade ours I'll do you this favor."
"Deal." The Headmaster held his hand out for a handshake, which Inna did not reciprocate.
Inna reached into her chest and pulled a stone out. She placed it on the headmaster's desk. Just have the team shatter the stone and I'll teleport to them. Without saying another word, Inna left the room.