The Academy of Magical Arts 2: A New Life

Chapter 6: Illness

  ~Noelina~
  I sat in the library reading a book. The village nearby had already decorated for Christmas, and there were bright lights everywhere. Everyone was probably still asleep, well except for Raynor. Knowing him, he would probably be awake earlier than I was. Grandmother would go to the village to get more of my medicine later today. Other than that, my schedule is completely empty. I guess I'll practice magic later today.

~Raynor~
I was on the rooftop, practicing how to control fire. They say it's a difficult concept, but since it was snowing, it was a pretty good time to practice. A few hours later, Noelle had come up to the roof too.

"Good morning." She greeted.

"Morning." I said. "It's pretty cold today, huh?"

"A little bit, but it's not as cold as it is back home." She said. "Practicing?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'm practicing fire today." As soon as I turned away, I saw a blast of magic strike the fire I was trying to control, which made it bigger. I turned around and found Noelle smiling.

"It's easy once you get the hang of it." She said. "If you want to learn to control fire, I suggest you start by trying to melt something first. Take the snow for example."

She taught me raise the surrounding temperature, which eventually just cleaned up all the snow on the rooftop. It had also gotten warmer having used the ability this many times.

"Controlling elements is completely different from controlling things through telekinesis." She explained. "They require more power, which means more energy. You have to be careful not to-"

She stopped and fell coughing on the floor, dropping her staff. Her skin began to turn pale, and she suddenly began to shiver.

"Noelle?! Are you okay?" I asked, crouching beside her.

"Grandmother... hasn't... come back yet..." She said in between coughs.

"I'll get you to the nurse." I said, picking her up and running down the stairs. I brought her to the medical wing of the castle and placed her on one of the beds.

"Is she okay?" I asked the nurse.

"It seems to me that she has some dark magic in her." The nurse said. "It's reacting to her white magic, and her body isn't strong enough to fight it. It's slowly growing in her."

"N-No way."

"She was taking medicine before this, and her grandmother is still in town buying them." She said. "She'll be fine in a few hours or so."

"Thank you." I said. The nurse just nodded and left.

"You know now, huh?" Noelle said.

"Why didn't you tell me that this was the reason why you took medicine?" I asked. "You told me it wasn't a big deal, and I'm pretty sure we both know that having dark magic in a white magic user's body is extremely dangerous."

"I just didn't want you to worry." She said. "During the battle against the Academy of Masterminds, when they were sucking out my white magic to replace it with dark magic, some dark magic got in. When you returned the white magic back to me, the dark magic stayed in there. It was only a little bit, and it grew about one percent in size every year, but if I took medicine, it wouldn't grow as much. So that's what I did."

  "Wait, so you were planning to take medicine for the rest of your life?" I asked.

  "That was the original plan, we don't know the cure after all." She said.

  "You have to find a cure!" I said. "You can't take medicine forever! You don't like it, do you?"

  "I've gotten used to it, having drank it for four years." She said.

  "You're grandmother's gonna come back in a few hours, we don't know what's gonna happen to you without the medicine." I said.

  "But I'm no doctor." She said. "I don't know anything about medicine."

  "Then, why don't we try alchemy?" I suggested.

  "What?!" She exclaimed. "Alchemy is an even more difficult concept! It's even harder to learn than medicine!"

  "But the effects are more helpful than medicine." I said. "We could read a few books from the library. You stay here, I'll find the books."

  ~Noelina~
  This was why I didn't want to tell Raynor. He would worry too much, and do whatever it takes for my well being. But that's why I loved him from before...