The castle looked different depending on the way the sun hit the sheen of the gold bricks in the walls.
A light fell down the halls, casting a beautiful glow.
Especially on Darius' hair, as you walked behind him to your lesson.
There was a golden shimmer that could only really be replicated by the liquid texture of abomination clay.
You didn't really know how he did that.. Or why he did that, but it looked amazing.
Until you realised it could look back at you, then you immediately shifted your gaze to the unique tiling on the ground.
Darius chuckled,
"You're with me today, Y/N. Alright?"
You nodded then turned to Amity, feeling bad for her as you realised she had her training with the Golden Guard today.
You walked through the door on the left, and watched Darius close the door behind him.
A second of silence filled the room..
You felt a pang of anxiety, had you done something wrong..?
"Show me that spell you learnt."
He smiled and had a look of anticipation across his face.
You smiled back, then stood at a far end of the room.
You tried the motion, slipping the first time round. Then you got the right shape again and flew yourself across the room.
You did Jazz hands afterwards as Darius looked at you in awe.
"You have no idea how impressive this is! I can't believe it's not abomination magic either! Finally, I can train you in something else."
You looked confused for a second,
"What do you mean by that?"
"Abomination magic is gross. Amity has spent most of her time training with me to learn how to correctly raise abominations, and move them. The proper way to use them, if you will."
"But I think they're disgusting. So, it's nice to have a student that doesn't use them."
"Even though you're the head of the abomination coven?"
You asked,
"Yep. Abomination magic is so much more than those ugly walking things. It's a source for physical kinetic movement in magic. Shields, wiring, weaponry. So much can be done with this magic, and all they teach in school is abomination raising."
"There are pupils that are so much more talented than that, like you."
He finished,
You laughed a bit,
"Yeah, tell that to my abomination professor. There's a reason Amity's the top student."
He stood up for a bit, trying to comprehend what you said,
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, Amity's the top student in our class. She has a pin that says she is, she gets the best grades out of all of us."
He muttered to himself, then changed the conversation,
"Anyway, want to start implementing magic into the movement I've been teaching you?"
You nodded,
"That sounds good."
"Brilliant, because I have an idea.."
...
The idea Darius mentioned ended up being really complicated, but cool.
Sort of like him.
There were specific targets to hit, and obstacles to avoid.
Meaning you had to duck and spin and dodge around the room, casting specific spells in order to knock out specific targets.
Plants sliced through pieces of abomination clay, splashing it across the room as it slowly congealed into a new shape to be destroyed.
You jumped over blocks and huffed as you started to burn through your stamina. You felt yourself get warmer as you made more progress, determined to go until you fainted again.
You were ignoring what your parents told you to do, but it didn't matter.
Not in that moment.
It was invigorating!
A rush started to flow through you. A new kind of feeling, one you only felt when fighting that abomination for the first time in your entrance exam to the campaign.
A feeling of all of your hard work paying off. You'd been feeling that a lot recently.
But this time it was paired with adrenaline, dopamine.
A burning desire to keep going.
You shot fire, and ice through the room, until you decided to push yourself further.
Trying your new spell again, you managed to fly through a series of obstacles and get to the other side of the room unharmed.
"YES!!"
You panted and sat down for a bit to catch your breath.
Darius smiled,
"Has anyone ever told you how well you're doing?"
You stammered a bit,
"Not really, why?"
"Because everything you've done is so impressive! I wasn't this good at your age. I can only imagine how proud your parents and teachers are of you."
You sighed,
"Well, they're not really. At least I don't get told it, my parents are always busy, and my Teachers care more about Amity than me."
"Amity always does better and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. She's amazing, but I want to be as good as her but nothing's ever enough."
Darius sat down on a chair and encouraged you to do the same,
"Then can I tell you how proud I am of you?"
"Listen, there's a reason why your school prefers Amity over you. It's because you don't fit school properly."
"Abomination magic is all about making the abominations themselves, perfecting that small aspect of the craft, and don't even get me started on single magic tracks."
"Amity fits Hexside's idea of magic perfectly, her abominations are strong and it's the only thing she focuses on. You do so much more than that. Plant, construction, even 'artificial' magic now."
"You break moulds and Hexside can't compete with it, which is why you're praised less than Amity is. Because they don't know how to praise someone as multi track talented as you, because you're so rare."
"Just know, I think you're wonderful. Who cares what your school thinks when I've seen how well you've been training."
"I'm so proud of you."
He placed his hand on your shoulder, and you started to tear up a bit.
"Would you like a hug?"
He asked, and you rapidly nodded.
He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into him, he was strong, and kept you safe from the world for just a split second.
You tried not to cry into his cape, you could tell he appreciated it.
You.. hadn't been hugged in a while. It was warm, and nice.
Then once you had dried your eyes, he asked another question.
"Sorry to speak about it again, but Amity seemed off last time we trained, is something wrong?"
"Oh.. we had a falling out. The Golden Guard watched her performance at the covention and I didn't tell her, and now she feels bad about her magical skill."
You sighed, having to recap the conversation again.
He thought for a bit,
"I think I can do something about that, don't worry."
Your eyes started to shine when he said that,
"Really?? You can think of a way to get us to be friends again?"
"Maybe, maybe not, but I can at least get the two of you to have a proper conversation again."
"But that's next session, let's get back to work."
You nodded, with determination in your eyes, and threw yourself back into the assault course Darius had made for you.
...
You were exhausted, completely exhausted.
Collapsing onto the floor after you had finally finished your training, you cheered at your success and didn't move.
That was when the door handle started to rattle.
It swung open to reveal Amity and the Golden Guard, it looked like they had just finished training.
"Hello, Darius, sir. We've finished with today's training-"
"Y/N?? Oh Titan, not again."
"Relax, Golden Guard, they're fine. Just tired."
You caught Darius casting a smirk to Hunter as the Guard adjusted back to his more professional posture.
"Yes, right."
He muttered.
"Come on now, Y/N. Let's get going."
Darius turned around to face the door as he held it open, and you stumbled to your feet.
Amity kept her gaze to the ground, while you all walked back to the ballroom.
Even being in the castle started to feel similar, repetitive even.
You had already adjusted.
Part of you was wondering how you were going to become a proper member of the Emperor's coven.
Does just being in this campaign give you a spot?
Or were we going to have to prove ourselves?
You started lagging behind the group when the Golden Guard caught up to you.
"Hello fledgling, are you doing ok?"
He spoke with a clear smirk, you could hear it in his words.
"I'm good, just tired. Can I ask you a question?"
You hummed,
"Yes, what is it?"
"What's your opinion on Amity?"
You were almost sick of her name considering how much you thought about it.
"Blight? Well, she's certainly talented, that's for sure. Especially in her abomination magic. I think my first impression of her was a bit off, she's clearly proven her strengths to me recently."
He spoke honestly,
"Have you told her that?"
You asked,
"No, why? Surely she knows?"
He asked back.
"I don't think she does, you should tell her next time you train her."
"Oh, alright then. I will."
The conversation fell silent as your exhaustion got worse, but eventually you were sentient enough again to continue talking.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but prepare yourself for your next session. It's going to be.. a lot."
He whispered,
You nodded, not letting the confusion in your head spread to your face.
What did he mean by that? Surely you were just training again, nothing that difficult?
Or maybe.. this was your turn to prove yourself?
Maybe the Emperor would be watching?
Titan, you weren't ready for that.
You were never going to be ready for it.
You felt your breaths quicken, but stopped yourself from hyperventilating.
That wasn't going to help.
You had to train, that was what you were here for.
You clasped your hands together in an attempt to mentally balance yourself, then slowed your thoughts down.
It was going to be ok.
You were going to be ready for this.
You caught a shimmer of gold looking at you in your peripheral vision, but the mask turned away when you looked back at it.
Then he disappeared back into the castle as you walked into the ballroom.
You missed holding his hand..
You really did.
Part of you hoped he did too.
...
Apart from that, the rest of the day followed the same order.
The boat picked you up, you had a conversation with Willow, Amity was brooding by herself.
Once you were home, nothing particularly mattered aside from homework, then going to bed.
Your parents nagged at your physique again, and your brother wasn't there.
But at least your bed was comfy, and you had a view over the isles to look back at, before you drifted away to sleep.
Mentally preparing yourself for the next time you had to enter the castle..