"Why here?" Hunter asks.
[Don't you feel it?]
"The chaos magic around? Hard not to; it's everywhere."
[My blood ... Our blood has an affinity to chaos magic which speeds up your healing factor.]
"Doesn't that mean chaos magic cannot harm us?"
[Technically yes. But it depends on the volume. Someone can strike you stronger and faster than your body can heal.]
"I see ..."
[Chaos magic cannot harm me though. Neither can black magic and dark magic.]
"Why?"
[Imagine if someone saw you using soul magic and also practices a bit and decides to fight you, it'll be near impossible for them to beat you, and you've only spent five months studying souls and soul energy. I have dedicated generations upon generations to studying dark, black, and chaos energy; no one has a greater understanding of the three as I do.]
"So you can only be defeated with pure magic?" Hunter asked.
['Defeated' is a strong word. But no, I have transcended the effects of natural energy; it would be impossible for it to be used to inflict any kind of injury on me.]
"What does 'transcend the effects' even mean? How does even happen?"
The degenerated necromancer laughs but doesn't reply. Hunter, who is now used to the demon knows that means he would be getting no response from the latter and decides to move on. "How long do I have to stay here?" He asks.
[For as long as long as your body needs.]
The sprite looks around. "What did you do while you were here for more than a millennium?" He asks.
[I studied chaos energy.]
"I should have guessed."
[I can teach you some of what I learned.]
"I'm already on the Bureau's watchlist for using chaos magic - thanks by the way - plus isn't it kinda impossible for me to use chaos magic without powerful sorcerers knowing about it?"
[Pay attention, I'm going to teach you something new about energy: just because they have different names doesn't mean they're not alike. You'll be surprised just how much of black and dark magic skills can be applied to chaos.]
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•Sector 5
Hunter sprung to his feet. "Skylar ... You look good," the sprite said.
"This is what I usually wear," the healer replied, she was wearing a lab coat. "What happened back there?"
"Dr. Sonya was trying to make me remember River Pot but used more energy than I could handle. ... Where is she by the way?" He asked looking around the room.
"I kicked her off the five. Aragones too." Skylar paused. "Have you been practicing chaos magic?"
Hunter raises an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"When you passed out earlier, I checked on you to see if there was anything I could do to help ... Your body was emitting chaos energy."
[That was me. The projection I created while I took you to my realm was with chaos magic.]
"Yes. That's basically my white blood cells," said the teal-green-eyed boy.
"Huh?"
"When I'm injured, my body begins forming and distributing chaos energy to help with recovery. Chaos energy helps my body recover quicker," he explained.
"Why?"
"No idea," he shrugged. "It's something I realized back after the study tour."
"When you were called to the council of mysticism?" Skylar asked.
"Yes," he continued with the lie. "Reports said I started chaos bending after a while of using black magic; this was after the demon had injured me. So I did a bit of research and found that my body defaults to chaos magic if a great injury has been dealt to it."
Skylar places her and on her chin. "I see."
Hunter looks around. "So, am I to join Sypha and the others, or what?"
"Yes," the director of the Alpha Sector nods. "Your instructor would probably report me sooner rather than later to the Bureau but I can extend the case long enough for you guys to get some work done. There's a few things I need to finish over here before you join them though," she added.
"No problem," Hunter said. "I was going to ask you for a favor ..."
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Sophia was watching a movie on her tablet when she heard a soft rap on her door followed by the door sliding open. The stone blue-skinned girl turned back to see Hunter standing by the door side. "Hi," the dark-haired boy waved.
"I thought the door had a lock," said Sof.
"It does, Skylar overrode it." Hunter threw a facemask to the bed. "Come on, we're going to the surface," the sprite said.
"No!"
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•Thornbridge
"So why exactly are we out here?" Sophia asked as the duo walked through the crowd of people. They were both wearing dark blue trousers and sky blue t-shirts, Hunter's had a slogan that said: 'It was written' while the dark mystic's was plain.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" Hunter asked.
"I have. Everyone's wearing sunglasses, solar eclipse."
"Yup," Hunter smiled handing a sunglass to the redhead. "You always say that we don't see any natural phenomenon from Skyline. Since there was an eclipse happening today that was visible from Thornbridge, I thought why not?" The sprite nudges Sophia with his shoulder. "What do you think?"
"Not the worst reason to get out of bed," she replied.
"... You know what? I'll take it. Come, I saw a cool spot from the map on the five, looks secluded."
Following the teal-green-eyed boy, Sophia found herself at the edge of a mountain with the sun directly above them. "How many minutes now?" Sofi asked.
Hunter sat on the edge, below the mountain was a busy street in Thornbridge. "Six. Join me."
Sophia looked below before joining the dark-haired boy. "Isn't that Nova?" She pointed below.
Hunter laughs. "No amount of mystical ability would allow you to see that far," said the boy.
"Okay, at first I was joking but that one's definitely her," the dark mystic pointed to a different spot.
"No."
[Yes.]
'Huh?'
Hunter clears his throat. "Alright, maybe there's a certain mystical ability you can have that helps you see that far," he admitted.
"You really can't see her?" The dark mystic was genuinely surprised.
"Uhm ... Of course I can."
Sophia laughs. "The student surpasses the teacher."
"It's not --"
"No amount of energy can help you see better."
"I'm --"
"How do you feel knowing a blind girl can still see better than you can?"
"Are you done?" Hunter frowns.
"Not yet, I have a couple more left in me." Sophia inhales deeply. "I missed this ... It's always fun hanging out with you ... and Jacob. He can be weird sometimes but I miss those days in Skyline."
"Skyline can be fun sometimes," said Hunter.
"Only sometimes?"
"Well, some of my worst memories happened there."
Sofi turned to the dark-haired boy who was staring down at the road. "A few years ago," he started. "Jacob and I received a call from someone whose mom had been injured and his younger sister had been scared to death by some 'supernatural force' while they visited an old building of theirs. The man was offering a huge sum for successfully cleansing the building, so naturally, I accepted the job. When I got to the house, I saw a vape lying around and three kids doing kids stuff - that should've been my first and second signs to abandon the job ..."
"Hunter --"
"I thought they were darklings, these creatures can take any form they like so I confronted them and we fought and fought until I was the last one standing. When a darkling dies, they normally turn to dust but these ones didn't ... I watched as they bled out and died... One of them was only fourteen."
"Oh my g --'
"I'm not telling you this story so you'll feel sorry for me." Hunter turned to face Sof. "I told you about that because I think you're feeling the same way I did back then because of Dreieck."
It was now Sofi's turn to look below the mountain. "If I had tried to talk to those kids back then, they would've been alive today. You, on the other hand, didn't have that choice; if you had tried to talk to him back then, you wouldn't have been alive today. It was either you or him and you chose to save not just yourself but two others too. That was the right choice."
Hunter took the dark mystic's hand in his and placed a ring on it. Sophia's eyes widened, it was her ring, the very one the teal-green-eyed boy had won for her at the Skyline Fair some years ago before Kilian took it away from her while she was in the Archaeons' captivity. The sprite must have swiped it off the Archaeons' body back in Dreieck.
"I think the eclipse's starting."
After putting on their glasses, the duo looks up just as the bright sky turns dark and the sunlight is blocked by the moon.
From the side of his eye, Hunter notices Sophia struggling to breathe. "Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.
"Did it suddenly get hot in here?" She asked in between heavy breaths.
It didn't.
The dark mystic suddenly fell backward to the ground and began convulsing, her skin - which she turned pale to blend in better with non-mystics - turned stone blue. Hunter tried to grab a hold of the redhead but she rolled and turned so violently he could barely touch her.
Sof then grabbed her head and began screaming. "What's that hammering noise?" She cried. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" She pleaded as blood began dripping from her nose.
"How can I help? Tell me how I can help!"
[You can't. She's transitioning.]
"Hunter ... It hurts ... It hurts so much ... It's cold ... I'm freezing ... I'm --"
Hunter embraces the stone-blue-skinned woman, comforting her with his warmth.
----