Isolde's POV
Sol, I was going to die.
I was going to die young.
To make things worse it will by the hands of the boy who, according to Esme, fancies me.
I am pretty sure it was a mistake on her part because if her claims were true then he wouldn't be moving towards me with a bloody fire sword raised high like he was just blessed by Mixcoatl .
He was coming closer. And closer.
That's it. I'm leaving, sweet mortal life; I am coming, mama.
Sorry I managed to get myself offed one year into your departure, mama.
So it was finally coming to an, huh? Maybe they figured out about my illegitimacy...
Pathetically, I moved the only organ I still had control over, my eyes.
Hey, If I don't get to chose how I die, at least I could do was decide not to watch as it happens.
So I close them tightly. And...... the blow didn't come?
Huh?
I slowly peek through half-open eyes to see Akira standing in front of me with his sword held down.
I look down to see the zombie vines that were clutching my legs set on fire on the grass nearby.
Oh so, he was aiming for those!
Of course, he was, stupid Izzy. Why would he try to kill you? Think, idiot, think.
Inner me sure had a valid point.
"Why are you standing so close?" He pulled me towards him by my hands, away from the fire and I landed on his chest.
"Do you wanna get grilled like a chicken?" He glared at me from above.
"With how pale she is, I think it will be more like a toasted marshmallow," someone says from behind us.
Both of us look towards the voice to see a crowd has formed around us.
"Naeem, before you open your stupid mouth, keep in mind that I am holding a fiery sword," Akira's voice came out full of annoyance.
"I didn't come to the academy to be humiliated!" Naeem shouted back at Akira.
"Where do you usually go then?" Louis asked from behind.
An offended-looking Naeem started to say something. "I was just-" but he was cut off by the girl with a metal arm, Gunhild, I think her name was.
"Shut up, Naeem. And Akira, are those vines a product of necromancy?"
The crowd dipped into an uncomfortable silence.
Akira pushed me harshly towards a stunned Dhara and went to stand with his friends.
A wave of unannounced chill went through my body.
Necromancy? That was Necromancy?
What was the art of dread magic doing here in the holy land of Azura?
"Attention, everyone." Inayat drew our attention towards him with a clap sounding unnaturally serious for once. "Looks like we'll have to resume this lesson some other day. Everyone, please go back to your dorm rooms. All other lessons will be canceled. A guide from the teaching staff will accompany you to your dorm."
After the sudden dismissal, Inayat walked up to me. There was a soft smile on his usual smirking face.
"Are you trying to get your revenge on me for the time I almost gave you a heart attack in the Fire And Ice Gateway?" he said with a slight chuckle.
"I was trying to but looks like it backfired," I said, matching his tone.
"It sure did," he said with another chuckle. "Isolde, would you please tell exactly what happened out there?" His voice took a grave turn.
So I tried to explain as best as I could. However, there was a weird thing I noticed when retelling the incident. My memory felt blurry and disoriented again. I couldn't remember why I felt paralyzed.
Inayat thought it was probably due to the trauma of encountering forbidden magic but I still couldn't ignore the menacing feeling I had.
I also couldn't ignore the frown he had when he looked at me.
Did I do something wrong?
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Classes were canceled for the rest of the day. A net of fear had been cast over the dormitory. No one was allowed outside the dorm castles. Only the lunch hall was accessible until the interrogation finished.
Students looked like they would be spooked by their shadows.
Yet they somehow had the time to form an undying interest in me, who was the center of the incident, and Akira, my so-called knight with a flaming sword.
Before nightfall, I had gone from quiet, almost invisible Isolde to Cinderella to Akira's prince charming.
Thus I and Dhara were getting hounded by another crowd of girls looking for nothing but gossip.
"Guys, it was very traumatic for her, could you please give us some quiet?" That was Dhara's third attempt at getting them to leave me alone. She hasn't been very successful so far.
With her mouse-like squeaks, I hadn't expected her to honestly.
"Hey, crowd of unimportant people, may I ask what is going on over here? Auditions for the role of Cinderella's step sisters?" Esme's authoritative voice and the clicks of her heeled shoes announced her arrival.
"Esme, we were just-" one girl tried to explain their side before getting brutally cut off by Esme.
"Just what? Came here to see if you can bag the role for heroin's spinster older sister Then? Of course, sweetie, they practically wrote it for you," she said with the fakest sugary voice.
"You're a bitch," the girl said with a face that was moments away from a crying session.
"I know I am. Now go be pitiful somewhere else," she shouted with a threatening step towards them, and they all moved away faster than I could say Scram.
"While I do appreciate the help Esme, but was the mean comments really necessary?" Dhara said with a spectacled voice.
"It wasn't. I just wanted to say it," She said nonchalantly.
We have her a look.
"Oh, don't give me that face. You know she's being unfaithful to her lover, right?" she said when she saw our disappointed faces.
"And how do you know that?" Dhara asked, clearly not convinced.
"Oh honey, I can sense a scandal from a mile away," She declared proudly.
Sol, she's like a village lady who thrives on petty gossip.
"Since last week, she's been having way too many study sessions with a particular man-whorish third year. They meet in the abandoned chess club room during lunch and I'm sure it's not to read the holy book of life. Today her lover got a sweet note from her asking him to meet her there tomorrow at lunch for a surprise," Esme explained the scandal as well as her devious plan to expose it while brushing her ginger curls with a golden comb.
Seriously? Where does she even get the time to plan all these?
"And you're scandal hound nose told you that some dragon likes Isolde?" Dhara asked, tilting her head towards me.
"Nope, I figured it out by observing the way he was eyeing her like a five-course meal," Esme said in a very obvious tone.
"No, he wasn't and he's rich, he won't care for five-course meals and maybe he was just curios," I defended my case of denial immediately.
"Whatever makes you sleep better," she answered without even looking at me.
"Stop it, Esme," I snatch the comb from her.
Wow, this was heavy, almost as it it were real gold.
"Hey, give it back!" she shouted while trying to grab the comb back from my hands.
Hmm, there was line in dead language inscribed on it.
"I didn't know you speak dead language, Esme," I said while looking at the beautifully carved writing.
"It wasn't worth mentioning", she replied while snatching it back and looking at it.
"What does it say?" Dhara asks curiously.
"Amour De Ma Vie," she replies in a quite voice while gently brushing her fingers over the writing.
"What does that mean?" I ask.
"Hey, stop trying to distract me from your issues with him," She says loudly.
"Oh my Gods, who is he?" Dhara shouts in frustration.
Esme rolled her eyes at Dhara's obliviousness and I just sighed.
The conversation went on to late-night until the results of the investigations came. Apparently, no security breach had been detected.
Weird. Then how did dread magic enter the premises?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The next day, I woke up fully expecting a commotion on the vine incident.
I was so wrong.
Because the real reason that caused the commotion was the noble kids coming to our table and asking if they could sit with us.
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GLOSSARY
*Mixcoatl: Aztec God of the hunt who identified with the milky way , the stars, and the heavens.
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