The mess hall was large, the walls all white. The aesthetic was found all over the academy, a blend of white, silver and blue, with polished wood for the finishing touches.
Since the lunch break spanned from eleven to two, the children all had their lunch earlier and enjoy the campus later on.
On one of the benches at the far edge of the hall sat two figures, having their meals.
"The professors also get the same food as the kids, no special treatment?" Jack asked the woman in front of him.
Charla chuckled, "We are free to leave the academy for our lunches, but I prefer anything."
"Ha, me too, so what is it you wanted to discuss," Jack looked at her, resting his hands on the cold dark wooden table.
"You're sick, aren't you?" she spun around a small strand of her hair.
"No," Jack replied with a smile, "why would you think that?"
"I can see it."
"See it?"
"Your entire body, it's emanating cold energy, I can help you get rid of it," Charla looked at him with a confident smile.
"It's not going to work, you're thinking of burning it out, right?"
"What? I'm not some brute head, I was thinking of giving you a flame lotus."
"The last flame lotus I consumed led me to my current state, I don't need it."
"What if it was a Black Lotus?"
"Something so rare, even if you did have it I assume it's not free, what do you want?"
"Yeah, you already know what I want."
"Let me guess, a duel?"
"Professor, what do you think of my deal?"
"Ha, I must say, it's quite tempting, but..."
"But, what?" Charla chuckled.
Jack's face strained under the choices before him, "I'll... have to reject."
"Why?" Charla's expression hardened.
"I know I'm in a tight spot, but it's been like this my whole life, and your offer is too much of a loss for you."
Lose for me? Charla stared at him in wonder, if it were anyone else, they would have jumped at the offer eyes closed but he cares for me, such a strange man.
"We never properly introduced ourselves, did we? My name is Charla Eunice, the second daughter of the Flame Tiger Clan."
"Ah, yes," Jack smirked. "My name is Jonathan Raosa, the second son of the Thorne duchy."
"Pleased to meet you," Charla smiled back.
"You too."
"It seems I've been quite indisciplined as an adult, I hope you can forgive me?"
"Huh?" Jack looked at her in surprise, "don't worry, I don't care about those things."
"Oh really? Then that duel?"
"You're quite eager, why is it?" Jack picked up and ate a piece of the sliced apple.
Charla paused, looking at the man who was honest with her. The reason laid behind her deep rooted insecurities.
"It's, um..." Charla paused.
It was something she was uncomfortable with in discussing, yet when the man in front of her asked she wanted to answer.
Jack sensing the tension breaks the silence saying, "It's alright, I don't want to know, by the way, where can I find Hailee?"
"You know Hailee?" Charla shifts the topic.
"Yes, she's... where can I find her?"
"Finish your lunch, I'll take you to her."
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The grass floor was wind swept, trees dancing to the gust and leaves floating around. Nexarion had a large ground, with some parts decorated and turned into gardens while others were left alone.
Two students with white and grey uniforms were standing on one of the untouched parts of the campus grounds.
Daniela pulled out a black wand. The wand was unlike anything, smooth polished blackwood, the dark wood glistening.
"Here," she held out the wand to Nichole.
"Um, I don't need it," Nichole rejected her, holding up her hand.
"But I brought it for you," Daniela looked at her in puppy eyes, "I want my junior sister to accept this."
"Having two wands isn't going to do me any good, is it?"
"No, but keep it, you can use it as your trump card," Daniela put in Nichole's palm and closed her hand, leaving it with her.
"Uh," Nichole accepts, looking at the wand.
"Try it."
"Hm," she nods her head in reply. Nichole holds out the wand and focuses, and the wand extends into a staff, the same black colour, but at the top was a dragon head with green gems shining, resembling eyes.
"Woah, well don't cast anything with it yet, pretty sure it'll drain you dry," Daniela looked around the wand.
"Alright, but you have any advice on how to stabilize my mana, it keeps losing control and I keep causing him trouble," Nichole shrunk the staff back to a wand, before taping it on her bracelet the wand turning into sparks and vanishing.
"I have something," she turned back to take the elixir out of her inventory. I left a drop on purpose, because the last drop is said to still have five percent of its power.
"Here drink this," Daniela shook a vial with a single drop of green liquid.
"What's that, poison?" Nichole commented upon seeing the green fluid.
"Just because it's green doesn't mean it's poison, and if you're lucky you might be able to solve your elemental problem."
"Why are you doing so much for me senior?"
"What do you mean why, you can't let down your professor, right?"
"My professor?"
"Of course, aren't you participating in the Ascension tournament? There is only one Manakai."
"Huh? M—Me!" Nichole gasped in surprise. Although Daniela casually mentioned it, her words held weight.
Getting into the main team for the Ascension tournament was one of the hardest challenges in Nexarion as the competition for the seven roles were high, even among the first years.
"I... I can't possibly covet such a position, I can't even cast spells, while the mages that I'm going to compete with have been learning magic their whole lives."
"If you don't have the skills, make up for it with items, here drink this," Daniela uncapped the vial, grabbing Nichole by her throat, and pushing the one sole drop into her mouth.
"Ah, what was that?" Nichole cried from the sharp taste that infiltrated her mouth, freeing herself from Daniela's grasp and falling to the ground.
"You can't be weak, isn't that right? Do you want to disappoint him?" Daniela voiced, yet her thoughts were different, I feel bad, she's just a child, but this is to change her fate, even if it's the wrong way.
Nichole's eyes darkened, her thoughts drifted off... Disappoint him? The words struck her constantly, the moments of trouble she had caused for Jack.
"Hehe, thank you senior," Nichole let out a slight chuckle, "I got it, the reason why I keep failing."
Why is she laughing? Daniela looked at her in confusion.
"The flame used my mana to burn through the source code and form a shape of its own," her tone shifted to an eerie, almost sinister one, "that's the reason why I kept on failing."
Daniela noticed the shift in her tone, "Nichole, are you alright?"
"Oh, I've never felt better, senior," she got back on her feet, her expression becoming more clear as she got up.
Is she like this because of me? Daniela's visage paled.
"Oh, senior," Nichole asked in confusion as if she had just gotten back up from a slumber, "what happened, you gave something and I fainted?"
Wait, what? Daniela was even more confused, "Yeah... you blacked out, maybe... maybe try forming your source code?"
"Let me try," Nichole stands back, closing her eyes to focus. After a few seconds the air around her swirls before a small circle appears atop her palm.
The circle then shines bright, orange, mana flowing around the circle before stabilising around it.
"Senior, I did it," Nichole celebrated, her eyes much more relaxed.
"You did, but it's only because of the poison I gave you," Daniela laughed, but the earlier shift in Nichole did not go unnoticed, She's back to herself.
"Hey, by the way, do you not remember anything after you drank the elixir?"
"Huh? That was an elixir?!"
"What did you think I was? Some cheap potion?"
"Why did you give me something so valuable?"
"I gave you one drop, stop exaggerating everything," Daniela waved her off.
Nichole panicked, "But, senior, I can't pay that back, I'm poor."
"I don't need you to, but if you want to pay me back, enter the Ascension tournament, now goodbye and maybe try practising with the wand," Daniela walks away, waving.
"What a strange senior," Nichole shook her head, watching her leave.
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"Yep, there she is," Charla pointed at a woman sitting under a tree, whispering to thin air. "She's always whispering to thin air."
"That's because she can sense the essence of Animancy," Jack watched his friend sitting on the grassy floor, "she can see every spirit there is, both good and bad."
"You seem to know quite a bit about her, you her friend?"
"I have known her since she was a kid. Her power was way too much for a kid, the slight movements in the dark, the malignant creatures in the dark, she could see them, but those aren't pretty sights for a child."
"She isn't very close with the faculty, whatever the reason, she's never talked to me unless it is for formal stuff, anyways I'll leave you to it, and— no, nevermind."
"Thanks again," Jack moved towards Hailee. Although Jack couldn't see spirits, he could sense the presence.
"That's a lot you got going on there," Jack sits down beside her on the grass.
"You alright?" Hailee fixed her gaze on Jack.
"What do you mean?"
"You were pretty drawn back from that day."
"Ah, that. That felt better than I expected," Jack's eyes softened at his words. "So, this is how you spend your afternoon?"
"Ah, yes. They always talk to me, that's how I know of everything happening in the academy. They told me you and Charla came looking for me."
"Oh, spirits really are everywhere."
"Do you want to see them?" Hailee placed her hands over his, her warmth against his ice cold hand, "woah! That's cold."
"Oh, don't worry about it, I'm alright," Jack placed his own hand atop her, a yellow glow shone, "how about now?"
"Much better, but is it still not gone?" Hailee's time turned to that of a concerned sibling.
"It doesn't hurt as much, but it's alright, anyways, spirits."
Hailee nods before letting her mana flow into his hands where they are held. Her mana found itself flowing up all the way to his head.
"Focus the mana on your eyes," Hailee's eyes turned bright yellow.
Jack followed suit, his own eyes glowing yellow, before the glow secured itself around his pupils.
"See for yourself," Hailee smiled, the multiple entities around her came into his view from small blurs of light to taking shape as birds, mammals and even reptiles, of all size.
"They're all... looking at me," he murmured in awe.
"I think they're interested in you, quite a bit."
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