In a dark alleyway, a girl was hiding behind a dumpster, hands covering her mouth. She stood still, not even daring to move a muscle.
Behind her, a monster lurked in the shadows, closely observing the surroundings, trying to find a hint of its prey.
The girl sat behind the dumpster praying for anyone to come, she closed her eyes. The monster began moving around, sliding across the alley in a slime like form.
He was now in front of the dumpster, his shadow casting over it. The girl's eyes widened, she was now shaking, she watched as the monster slowly leaned closer.
As the monster grew nearer, the girl became anxious, without thinking she bolted out of the way and into a corner.
The monster roared and proceeded to follow her. The girl was now running for her life as the monster gave chaste. She turned and ducked, avoiding the blasts of goo being thrown at her.
She ran as fast as she could until she ended up at a dead end. The girl stood there horrified, she tried looking around for anything that could help her.
The girl looked until she saw a piece of vine hanging above the wall, the girl smiled and held out her hand.
The vine grew bigger and was now inching closer to her, the beast roared and the girl quickly grabbed hold of the vine. The vine quickly crawled down her body, fastening itself around her waist. After securing her, the vine pulled her up, removing her from the ground.
The girl suddenly felt hope, as she slowly made her way towards the top. That's when the girl felt something weird on her foot, she looked and saw the monster was now grabbing hold of her, solidifying its hands onto her shoe.
The girl kicked and thrashed, but the monster held a tight grip and didn't let go.
"Help!"
The girl was now screaming, letting anyone know she was in trouble. She moved and kicked her leg hoping that the monster would let go.
The monster began making its way up her leg, and towards her waist, the girl screamed and moved, but it was no use, she couldn't escape. She watched as the monster slowly went up her waist and now reached her chest, she closed her eyes fearing for the worst, when a burst of light appeared.
The monster was blinded, it let out a screech and fell to the ground. The girl watched as the monster fell, seeing the opportunity, she ordered the vine to lift her up. The vine followed and hoisted her up until she was now on top of the wall.
She stared at the beast, its body was burnt, probably from the light.
"Good job Mari"
The girl was startled, she looked behind her and saw Lloyd watching her with a smile on his face.
"Lloyd, it's you" She said, feeling relieved "Thanks for helping me"
"No problem Mari" He raised his hands and pointed at her waist "I'm very impressed, you managed to have a little bit of control on your power"
Mari looked at he was pointing, and saw the vine on her waist.
"Oh yeah, after our little talk I started to feel for this...magic and now I can apparently make plants grow?"
"Well that is one of the many abilities of your kind"
"What do you mean 'kind'?"
"I'll explain later, but first let's take care of this monster"
Lloyd walked forward, he raised his hand and aimed it at the monster. His hand began emitting a powerful light, illuminating the entire alleyway.
He pointed his hands and from it shot a beam of light, Mari watched wide eyed, as the monster screamed in pain. Its entire body was covered in light and was now beginning to turn to ash.
After a second or two, the light dimmed down and all that was left was a lump of ash. Mari was stupefied, she looked intently at the now burnt monster and back to Lloyd.
Lloyd nodded at her and proceeded to jump of the building towards the lump of ashes. Mari followed him by summoning the vine again to bring her back down.
Once they arrived Lloyd picked up a piece of burnt material, probably came from the monster. He held it out to Mari and said:
"Could you summon your magic and put it into this"
Mari looked at Lloyd quizzically, but nevertheless held out her hand. Her fingers began glowing, Mari then went closer to the material and touched it. The material started glowing the same color as Mari's finger, it then began shrinking and finally disappearing.
Lloyd nodded in content while Mari stared in confusion.
"Mind explaining what that was"
Lloyd looked at her and sighed, he closed his eyes and turned around.
"Nadus astuno" he said quietly "Born from one"
"What?"
"You made it, it came from you..."
"What does that mean!?" Mari yelled, she was now getting more confused.
"When you use to much magic, the excess leave your body and enter the environment. The magic that leaves your body, either disappears, becomes one with the environment, or gains sentience"
Lloyd paused, he lowered his head and stared into the ground.
"Those that gain sentience, will morph into creatures, good or bad. These creatures begin living like normal animals, while some look for their creator, the magic in which they come from. The creature can develop good will and wish to befriend its master or become more wild and try to attack. That monster came from you, when you started leaking magic in the hospital, some of it must have escaped and gained sentience, Nadus astuno. That monster then started following you, and from the looks of it wished to merge with you, to become one"
Mari blinked, she was now quiet, that monster that attacked her, was her own creation.
"Is this normal?"
"Oh yes, its not uncommon for this to occur"
"Oh.....ok then"
The both of them stood their for a while, looking at the lump of ash on the ground. Lloyd stared at it, he waved his fingers and a gust of wind carried the lump of ash into the air. The wind then formed into a ball, the ash in the middle of it. Lloyd snapped his fingers and soon violet colored flames covered the entire sphere of wind, burning it all. After it died down, the ash was no longer there, gone, as if it never existed.
"We can't have it regenerating now, can we"
Lloyd said, his cheerful demeanor coming back.
Mari nodded and Lloyd smiled, he turned around and pointed towards a building.
"C'mon, we should get going, its almost midnight"
With that, both Lloyd and Mari walked towards the building, beside it was a dark alley. Lloyd walked first, followed by Mari. Once they reached the end, they were met with a wall, Lloyd glanced at Mari and walked through the wall. Mari stared at the wall, she was shocked to see him just phase through the wall.
"C'mon Mari! don't be afraid, only humans can't walk through, while those with magic can!"
Mari stared at the wall, she closed her eyes and bolted forward. She expected for it to fail and for her to hit it, but instead she couldn't feel a thing. She opened her eyes and she was now in a bright corridor, in front her was an archway leading to a balcony.
She walked forward and into the balcony, she was now officially stunned, her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped.
In front of her was a massive library, there were countless shelfs, filled with books of many kinds. On to the side were tables and pedestals, holding various artifacts. The other side however were filled with vials and test tubes, some even glowing while others emitted smoke. And finally onto the center was a giant round table, behind it was a stand where a book was held, beside the table, Lloyd stood, staring at Mari with expectant eyes.
"So....what do you think?" he said, spreading his arms.
"This place, I-Its s-stunning" Mari said, her voice stuttering.
"Well glad you like the axis!" Lloyd exclaimed "Its so excited to meet you"
"It?"
"Yes It!" Lloyd turned around and raised his head "Right Axis?"
The entire room started to rumble, even the table was shaking.
"See" Lloyd said "It can't even hold its excitement"
Mari's jaw dropped again. This thing was alive, like alive-alive!
Lloyd walked passed her and sat down on one of the table, gesturing for her to sit. Mari quickly sat down and looked at Lloyd.
"So....?" Mari said, hoping for Lloyd to start talking.
"Oh yes!" Lloyd chirped "You see Mari, when I used magic on you, which I deeply regret, it activated the magic inside your body. This event led me to believe that their are people like you, those that hold magic, but are inactive. This led me to make another theory, a theory that states that your people must have held magic long ago, but slowly lost it, to the point where everyone forgot it existed"
Lloyd began talking, he stood up and looked directly Mari.
"And if it is true, then Mari, you are the only magic user ever!"
Mari was quiet, she doesn't know what to say, she stared back at Lloyd, who was looking at her.
"Wait a minute, how can I be the only magic user, when your here?"
"Well, that's because I'm not from this world"
"What do you mean, not from this world?"
"I mean, I come from another world. Another world filled with magic, and dragons, and demons, and many more"
"Wait, your saying you actually came from another world?" Lloyd nodded "Ok....Then why are you here, did you die and get reincarnated?"
"What no!" Lloyd said, shaking his hand "I escaped, my world was filled with chaos, there was war, plague, and monsters....It killed many people, even my parents. Right now, I'm the only living descendent of my family"
"I'm sorry, that must have been hard, losing your parents"
"Oh, it's ok, that was a year ago" Lloyd tried to dismiss it, he looked behind him and pointed at a book "When I was scrolling through the Grimoire, I found this..."
Lloyd showed Mari a page, it was filled with runes and symbols.
"This is the spell that transported me here. When I found this, I immediately went to recover the items needed for the spell. I thought that maybe escaping my world would mean being safe.." Lloyd looked at Mari, who was listening intently to him "You must think I'm a coward don't you? running away..."
"What!? no!" Mari protested "I understand why you did it, and besides running away is sometimes the best move you can make"
Lloyd smiled at Mari, which the girl returned with her own.
"Well, now that's taken care of, are you willing to be my apprentice?"
"Apprentice?" Mari asked, sitting back down on the chair.
"Yes, apprentice, I'll help you control your magic" Lloyd said "Especially your other abilities"
"What other abilities?"
"Well I had my suspicions when you summoned all those plants, but I needed to be sure so I got some of your blood, and did a test and turns out, your a fairy!"
Lloyd exclaimed, raising his hands, his mouth opened. Mari on the other hand, stared dumbfounded.
"I'm a fairy"
"Yes...." Lloyd said, no hesitation in his voice "Your ancestor must have been a fairy, and then passed it down to you"
Mari nodded, looks like she's a fairy, will she get wings, she doesn't know.
"So...do you accept?"
"Well your the expert, so yes..."
"Great! we'll start tomorrow, after school"
Lloyd walked pass her and towards the stairs to the the balcony. He turned back at her and smiled.
"You should probably go home now, we wouldn't want your parents catching you"
Mari stood up and climbed up the stairs, just as she was about to leave, she looked back at Lloyd.
"Well, see you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow Mari, and I hope you keep this a secret, I believe your world is far better off with out magic"
For a second, Mari could've sworn she saw Lloyd's face darken at his statement. Mari shook this thought and left.
"Looks like this is gonna be an interesting school year"
Mari muttered to herself as she exited the library and walked out into the street.