Finding that nothing as interesting would happen in the test as hers and Arthur's, Frasia decided to head home early. She walked for about twenty minutes on the busy streets of Krebes before she finally saw the outline of her house in the distance.
Frasia walked down the path leading to her small green house, the scent of pine and fresh earth hanging in the air as she passed by the woods that bordered her home. The morning had been long enough, and she decided she'd had enough of the magic academy entrance test for the day.
While her classmates tested their mettle with spells and charms, she had chosen instead to return to the familiar peace of her small home, surrounded by the quiet whispers of nature.
As she entered the house, she quickly settled in, deciding to pass the afternoon with a cup of herbal tea and a moment of solitude. The gentle crackle of firewood in the hearth was a comforting sound as she stared out the window, watching the forest sway in the breeze.
Time seemed to slip away unnoticed, and before she knew it, the afternoon sun was already beginning to dip lower in the sky.
Frasia stood, stretched, and made her way back outside. The moment she stepped out the door, she spotted her younger brother, Axel, swinging a wooden sword in the backyard with the determination of a knight in training.
His movements were steady, though there was a hint of youthful impatience in his strikes, a desire to be better—stronger. His short, messy hair flitted in the wind as he worked up a sweat under the afternoon sun.
Sitting on the steps leading into the house, Anastasia—small, bright-eyed, and full of curiosity—watched him with the kind of intensity that only a six-year-old could manage. Her little legs dangled from the edge of the step, and her face was lit with a mix of admiration and quiet wonder. It was clear she thought her older brother was the bravest, most skilled knight there ever was, even if he was still practicing the basics.
Frasia smiled softly at the scene, feeling a warmth spread through her chest. She had always felt a quiet protectiveness over her siblings, and this moment was no different.
She stepped closer, her footsteps light on the gravel path. "Axel," she called out, her voice carrying on the breeze. "You'll wear yourself out if you keep going like that. Don't forget to take breaks."
Axel paused mid-swing, his brow furrowed in mock concentration. "I can't stop now, Frasia. I need to be ready! What if the same thing happens as... " He trailed off and just started swinging his wooden sword once more.
Anastasia, who would've commented on something by now, stayed on the perch of the steps, keeping her silence. It was clear to everyone there, she still hadn't really gotten over the traumatizing events of those mafia "knights" stirring up trouble in their home, and their desiccated corpses being all that was there when she awoke from her unconsciousness.
She doesn't know what really happened though, with Axel pushing it down to the deepest parts of his heart wishing to never speak on it, and Frasia not ready to tell the both of them yet about her newfound devoutness to the Lord of Corruption.
Frasia decided to say nothing about her sister's new condition and just watched Axel swing and parry his sword hundreds of different angles and ways.
Watching the amount of veins showing on his arms increase, Frasia wanted to give her brother a signal to rest. "Don't push yourself too hard." She noted with a firm tone, hinting at him being on the verge of exhaustion.
Axel, knowing his sister doesn't know anything about swordmanship, just scoffs at her suggestion and kept practicing. Reading the atmosphere, Frasia guessed she had distracted her younger brother enough from his training, and went inside to prepare dinner.
As she was opening the door, Axel suddenly remembered the Academy's entrance exam and called out asking "How did you do on the test?"
Not wanting to bore her sibling with details, or continue the conversation on longer than she wanted it to be, she responded with a simple "Not bad". With that, she left into the house.
Axel then turned his attention back to his sword practices and set a new goal for himself. "After two-hundred more side swings then I will rest." Before he started, he took a quick glance at his usually talkative sister who has stopped watching him attentively, and just staring off in the distance.
I guess someone her age doesn't really have a good attention span anyway. But if I had known she wasn't watching, I would not have tried to show off all that much!
That night, Axel was tossing and turning in his sleep.His recurring nightmare had been haunting him for weeks now, each night feeling more vivid and suffocating than the last. The dream always started the same way: a darkened street, wet with the relentless fall of rain, glistening beneath the pale glow of distant streetlights.
The sound of his footsteps echoed, mingling with the rhythm of raindrops hitting the pavement. He was running, his breath ragged, pulse quickening with every passing second.
But it wasn't the rain or the emptiness of the street that frightened him the most. It was the shadow behind him—looming, patient, and relentless.
No matter how fast he ran, the figure drew closer. He could never see its face, but he knew it was there, just out of sight, always there, getting nearer with every step.
Axel's heart would race, the fear paralyzing him, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the shadow caught up to him. His limbs felt heavier with each stride, as though the darkness itself were weighing him down.
The air grew thick, heavy with an unseen presence. He could almost feel the cold breath of the figure on his neck, its shadow stretching toward him like claws.
And then, just as he felt the figure's icy grip on his shoulder, pulling him into the void, he would jerk awake, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest. For a moment, it felt as if the nightmare were still real, as though the shadows still lingered just outside the edges of his vision, waiting to return.
But Axel knew this wasn't just a bad dream. The nightmare was a manifestation of something far darker, something that had been lurking in the recesses of his mind ever since that day.
It had been several weeks since that fateful encounter—the day he came face to face with the being who claimed to be the God of Corruption.
Axel had been walking through the city at dusk when he first saw the figure. It had been standing in the middle of the street, tall and foreboding, its form shifting like a mirage in the fading light. Its presence had chilled him to the bone, a dark aura radiating from it like a poison that spread through the very air.
The being's voice had cut through the silence, hollow and ancient, claiming itself as the God of Corruption, an entity that existed in the space between darkness and decay.
It spoke of ancient powers, of the end of worlds, and of the forces that consumed all that was pure. Axel had tried to turn away, to run, but his body refused to obey, as if trapped in some unseen force.
The God of Corruption had smiled—a smile that twisted the world around it—and told Axel that his fate had already been sealed. That Axel would be his.
That encounter had left him with more questions than answers, but one thing was clear: the god's influence had touched him, somehow marking him in a way he could not escape.
Ever since that one day, Axel's life had been consumed by the nightmares. Each one felt more real than the last, each chase through the rain-drenched streets a reminder of the darkness that had begun to claw at his soul.
The shadow that haunted him in the dream seemed to be a manifestation of that very corruption—something that had followed him home, waiting for the moment when it could claim him fully.
As Axel sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, his thoughts raced. The nightmares were growing stronger, the figure closer each time. The God of Corruption had warned him, but Axel had no idea how to fight back against something so vast and powerful.
He had long since thought about seeking help from his older sister, but he figured that he shouldn't burden her with his dreams. Plus, he was not completely sure she hadn't already fallen under the being's influence!
That would certainly explain why she has been acting a little weird recently. Tomorrow I'm going to follow her on her trip in the morning.
Axel layed back down, staring at the ceiling, trying to push the fear away. But deep inside, he knew one truth: his nightmare wasn't just a dream anymore. It was a warning from his own instincts.