Dressed in their uniforms, Sora and Z walked through the Academy's hallway, taking turn after turn before finally arriving at Vorak's door.
"I will wait here till you're done. You'll be fine." Z reassured him, then made two knocks on the door before opening and giving way to Sora.
Sora sighed and walked into the room to find Master Vorak already seated at his table. Vorak looked serious, but calm. He was always meticulous about his appearance, but today he was dressed more officially than the last time they met and not a single grey hair on his head was out of place.
"Welcome Sora, please take a seat."
Sora took the seat across from Vorak.
"How did your training go?"
"Great, my teacher was exceptional." Sora replied.
"And you've progressed quickly, I heard."
Was Vorak stalling?
"I guess... my teac
Vorak nodded to Anaise beside him, and he took over."It has come to our attention that you are quite an unusual mage. We have questions and we would appreciate honest and very precise answers. Is that okay?"Sora nodded;"Please use your words, young mage, for the sake of clarity."Sora cleared his throat. "Yes, it is okay.""Before a month ago, how would you describe your life as a mage?""Ordinary, useless and painful.""And why was that?""I couldn't harness energy and I was useless to everyone and myself.""Any particular reason why you couldn't harness your energy?""I have no idea. No one had an idea, not even the best mages knew why."His comment made the mages a bit uneasy and he could tell from the way their eyes shifted between each other.<
"Do you see anything?" Z whispered as low as possible from behind."I can't see anything from this angle," Sora replied in the same low tone.Crouched behind the trees, with Z behind him. Sora scanned through the building across from them. The fog made it difficult for him to see as clearly as he would normally, so he tried relying on his sense of smell, but that didn't work either. It wouldn't be easy this far away and the fog made it worse.His senses had gotten stronger in the last month since they started going on these missions—always with Tydinn's permission. On missions, Z was to be his guardian, as decided by the Academy, to watch him, make sure he stays in line, and make sure to kill him if he ever breached their agreement.But he hadn't tried to take any more souls, not even soul eaters', and every encounter they had had with soul eaters nearly drove him to the edge. After taking Garg
The coven leader charged at them too, sending his own charges at them. Sora's blue energy against the Coven leader's red filled the room as the fights continued.The number of soul eaters reduced but the coven leader remained strong. Swinging its claws in all directions, Sora was unable to find a direct opening to hit the coven leader."Distract him," Sora yelled to no one in particular.Z was still busy slicing through the soul eaters and definitely couldn't hear a word Sora said but Kain ran towards the coven leader fully charged and swung his weapon at it from a close range, his blow landed but not before it could slash its claws at Kain's neck. He scratched Kain's neck, but it gave Sora enough time to hit the Soul eater with a full blast in the chest and it immediately burst into flames.With the soul eaters dead, they walked around the coven, entering each compartment for traces of the usual evidence they had
Deki sighed and began, "They came to our home at night yesterday. We thought they wanted to take our souls when they came and we were ready to die, but they didn't. They took us i-instead and brought us here. There were humans with the-the soul eat-ters, they were the ones that ca-captured us.""Humans and Soul eaters? Is that even possible?" Kain asked, looking between Sora and Z."That's outrageous." Z retorted;"It would make sense how they were captured. Soul eaters can't touch humans without killing them or taking their souls. The humans probably captured them to ensure they didn't get hurt." Kain replied.Sora was bothered by Deki's words. "Do you know what this even means? An alliance of that sort.""This is probably bigger than we imagined. If humans are working with soul eaters and vice versa, then there's a motive." Z replied"But what could be the
Z, who was ahead finally stopped on a building, and the rest stopped too. "My home is that way." Kain said pointing left with Deki still on his back." "Be careful especially with her around and be safe," Z warned staring daggers at Deki who remained quiet with her head bent behind Kain. Kain smiled softly at Z "I will be. Thanks." Kain bent again allowing Deki mount his back and they left. Z stood watching till they were out of sight before pulling her eyes away. "We have to go." Sora and Z got back to the Academy a little past midnight. They took the usual route through the woods. A walk that Sora had gotten accustomed to. "We have to see Tydinn first," Z noted. Sora wanted to pass on the meeting but he didn't complain. Instead, he followed Z to Tydinn's office.
"I need a soul." Sora repeated, sounding more desperate than he had the first time."Get in the bath Sora.""I don't need a bath, I need a soul!" Sora flared;Z got on her knees as she took Sora's hand in hers "I know Sora. I see how you've struggled to force your hunger down and hide your frenzy and I promise we'll find you what you need but please get in the bath first."Sora's face was pale and burning up, his throat felt dry and black vein lines appeared on his face down to his neck and arms. He bent his head in frustration, still fighting the frenzy that was building up inside him.Z felt his hands burning up in hers and stared intensely into his eyes,eyes, pleading with him. "Please… it'll help, I promise."He forced himself up,up, staggering as nausea hit again,again, but Z got up and balanced him on her shoulder. They struggled past the f
Dark energy began to flow into Sora through his veins, his body glowed and when he was done, he released the soul eater but it burst into nothingness at the same time.Like a shot of adrenaline, Sora felt his heart race as the last of the soul eater's energy entered him completely. He could feel his insides chill till they no longer hurt and his nausea became clarity.He was satisfied.Z caught up to him in time to help him balance on his feet without blacking out this time."You're good?""Great." Sora replied faintly."We can go now?""I don't want to go to the Academy yet."Z thought for a few seconds. "Alright, I know a place."They walked out of the slums, giving Sora time to recover fully then they jumped.They came to a spot on a roof directly facing the city clock and they sat down,
Sora struggled to his feet as the knocks got louder. He had passed out immediately after taking his shirt off when they returned to the Academy. He felt heavier than usual and dragged his feet from his bed to the door.He opened it to find Z standing akimbo. "Took you long enough.""Sorry." Sora gave way to let Z into his room, he shut the door behind her and grabbed a shirt from his wardrobe before coming back to take a seat, and stretch his limbs.Z walked around the room taking in the view as it was her first time in Sora's room and Sora didn't interrupt, he couldn't even if he wanted to from the way he sprawled across the chair.A nod from Z sent her approval across to him "Decent.""Thanks, I'm glad it's to your liking. It's nothing like your suite but it's functional."Now Z looked at Sora, he looked a mess with the way his hair had dried out and scatte