Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol. 1- Novus Magus

[Edited/Revised] Episode 12: The Boy in White

-"The Lights shall rise to the occasion and render the darkness null."

[Deck of the S.S. Yuko]

*???*

I. leaned against the rail. "Yuko. Yuko? Why is the name so familiar?" I lowered my head and sighed. I had heard it for sure somewhere, but where?

"Hey, Nuk!" a young woman called out.

I was staring at the various passengers as the sea glistened around us under the light of the sun. Some of the adults played with their children, throwing beach balls around as if they themselves were children. Meanwhile, others were seated in chairs, tanning under the warm sun. Others were busy reading books under the protection of giant multicolored parasols.

I leaned my head back and looked up at the girl wearing a white cloak with golden trim similar to mine. Like me, a white masquerade mask covered her face.

"Hey Boss," I said, grinning.

Nahi shook her head at me. "What are you doing now? Thinking of your family again?"

I closed my turquoise eyes, the only part of my upper face that others could see. "I'm fine." I pouted. "Also, stop calling me 'Nuk'. I have a real name, ya know!"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed. "Stop acting like a child. Also, it's best that we use your alias while we're on this boat."

My ears, hidden by my white hood, twitched. "Why?" I looked around. "Is there an enemy here? Wait, that can't be. Our enemies aren't people, they would obviously stand out."

She scoffed. "People can turn out to be our enemies, those otherworld creatures are not necessarily our only enemies. Plus, there are a couple of them that have humanoid forms, like the ones that attacked the Mahoulympics years ago."

Right. My siblings and I were nearly killed during that attack. Thanks to a young man rushing in to protect us, we lived to tell the tale. If there were humanoid ones here, we had more issues at hand than just identifying them.

Nahi's hands curled around the silver rail. "Luckily there are no people here whom I would label as enemies."

I let go of the rail, curiosity on the brink of overflowing. "Then who are they? Because, we're obviously talking about a person, right?"

She nodded. "Your old acquaintances might be here, on this very boat."

My own white-gloved fingers curled around my mask, slowly pulling it off. A hand slapped my own. It wasn't my boss's. Rather my other hand. Now wasn't the time. I couldn't talk to anyone who used to know me. The old me. I wasn't allowed to show myself to my friends and family until our mission was complete.

"Who?" I asked, turning away.

"The High Priestess of our Almighty one."

"Adela is here? Is she one of us?" My boss, a few others, and I were traveling the world, in search of people with a 'brilliant light'. One of them was said to become our leader.

"No. I checked. Neither she nor the others on this boat have a 'Shard of the Goddess of Light', with one exception. But I think that it's too early to approach him. However, I get the impression, from being near the priestess, that she'll be important to us. I can't quite figure out why, but my gut tells me so."

I lowered my head. We were still far from collecting all fourteen 'Shards of Light'. 'At this rate, I'll have to keep my identity a secret for several more years.'

"I see," I said, closing my eyes.

"But we should expect to see a few more interesting faces once we return to Caelum."