"Tae?"A worried voice echoed through the fog of my subconscious. My eyes slowly opened at the sound of movement around me. I didn't even remember going to sleep in the first place. The last thing I remembered was the large creature in the dark forest. Wait....
"Alistair! Levi!" I bolted up looking around only to notice that I was now lying in a bed in a large room that wasn't ours.
"Tae? You're awake!" Levi cheered as he jumped up from his seat besides the bed. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had several bandages wrapped around his waist and a small red spot on his left side where he was hit. He winced slightly when he moved to quick and Alistair told him to calm down before he injured himself further. Alistair scooted to the edge of his chair which was right besides the bed and reached out for my hand.
My fingers intertwined with his just as Levi sat beside me on the bed his warmth sending waves of comfort through me. My eyes focused on the bandaged wound on his side and flashes of what happened last night had me thanking whatever it was that had been looking out for us.
"You guys are alright..." I sighed as I sat back in the bed.
"You're worried about us? You're the one who took on that beast and then passed out." Levi cried, his arms flailing in the air.
"Wait, what?" I questioned.
"You were completely engulfed in the purple flames and then the creature slowly came closer and closer and we thought you were a goner but it stopped short, stared at you, licked your muzzle and left. What the hell Tae?" Alistair exclaimed.
"Licked my muzzle?" I replied in confusion. I didn't understand what was happening. I remember the big inky black creature that had attacked us and I even remembered the purple flames but I don't remember anything else after that.
"Yes, it was as if it knew you." Levi replied as he stared at me suspiciously.
"Well I'm glad you're awake now." Jason spoke as he and Mr. Corin entered the room.
It was clear that they were not happy with what us and with what was happening but I couldn't figure out how much they actually knew about what had happened. Everything seemed to be a huge mystery to me right now and all I really wanted was some answers.
"Yeah..." I replied halfheartedly.
"Care to tell us what happened?" Mr. Corin questioned with his arms crossed sternly across his chest.
"You don't know?" I asked.
"No, we waited until you were awake to ask any questions because we were more concerned about your well-being." Jason answered softly.
"So can you please explain to us why we had to drag you three out the woods way after curfew?" Mr. Corin asked.
"I'm not actually sure." I replied truthfully before explaining what happened all the way up to when I blacked out. "And that's all I remember."
"I can fill in a few blanks." Alistair offered. "After the purple flames appeared the creature became more docile. It approached Tae slowly, licked his muzzle and then ran off. Once we were sure it was gone Levi shifted back, Tae passed out in his kitsune form, and we carried him back here."
"Alert the headmaster and call back Thomas." Mr. Corin instructed Jason who shifted instantly and ran off to do as he was told.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem and who's Thomas?" Levi questioned seeing the concern in Mr. Corin's eyes. He knew something that he sure wasn't going to tell us.
"Thomas is my other familiar, in total I have three. To answer your other questions; we don't generally have creatures like that in the forest because of how dangerous they are. This means that this one snuck onto our grounds. We can't be sure if the creature is off the campus grounds yet so we'll have to shut down the forest hiking path." He explained calmly.
"That reminds me..." Alistair began before clearing his throat. "While we were in the forest the hiking path disappeared on us."
"The forest has a mind of its own to be honest. During the day there is a clear path that hikers can travel along however at night the path disappears and hikers are on their own. That is why students are not allowed inside the forest after sundown even if it's not curfew yet." He explained.
"Well that's really weird." I mused.
"Certain things on Academy grounds can't be explained nor do we try to explain it. Now if you'll excuse me the Headmaster is calling for me. I will be back to speak to your further about what happened last night." He excused himself and walked out.
"Wait! Did he say last night?" I questioned.
"Yeah, you've been asleep for quite a while. Jason says he thinks it's because of the flames. He believes that your Kitsune used up a lot of your energy trying to protect us and once your Kitsune saw that things were alright it went away leaving you unconscious." Alistair explained.
"That's so much to try and understand." I sighed heavily.
"You have to remember that your Kitsune spirit is a part of you and it's what makes you an excellent familiar but at the same time it's an entirely separate entity that has intense primal instincts that causes it to react in certain ways. He saw Levi and I in trouble and the need to protect emerged regardless of how much strength you physically had it was determined to protect." He explained.
"My head hurts..." I groaned just trying to piece everything together.
"Don't worry we'll discuss it all later and I'm sure Jason wouldn't have a problem trying to explain it better to us." Levi suggested.
"No, I wouldn't at all." Another voice entered the conversation.
"Did they catch the creature?" Levi questioned excitedly jumping up.
"No they haven't but don't you worry about it I'm sure they will. There's only so much ground to cover and the spell they have up now means that nothing can enter or leave the grounds until it's been lifted." He explained. "The three of you will be staying here in the infirmary until Tae is completely healed and is given the go ahead from the head nurse. Mr. Corin and I will come down to check on you later. Get some rest you guys."
With that Jason left for a second time that day leaving me with more questions than answers. There was something that they were trying to keep under wraps and the more I thought about it the more confusing everything seemed to get. I was already an anomaly when it came to familiars and then now this.
Before anything else could be said Levi shifted into his smaller fox and hopped into the bed besides me. He curled his bushy red tail around his small frame and went to sleep. Alistair smiled lightly before he as well climbed into the bed on the other side of Levi and instantly fell asleep. My guess is that they had been up for a while waiting to see what happened with me.
I lay back in the bed as the lights dimmed on their own accord and tried to get some sleep but it just wasn't happening. Lying there with my eyes wide open I stared up at the ceiling and tried to recount something, anything, no matter how small that would tell me what it was that I was missing.
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"I heard that they snuck out after curfew and went back to the mortal realm for two nights."
"Well I heard that they went to a realm that wasn't even their own." One whispered.
"I heard that they're not actually students here at all."
"Someone told me that they're actually a part of the familiar slave ring trying to steal familiars."
"Yeah well I heard that you're all a bunch of idiots just spreading rumors!" Levi shouted over the hushed whispers in the hallway. It had been like this for the last two days. The three of us had stayed in the infirmary for an extra night just to be sure I was fine despite my many objections. Once we were out the rumors began to spread like a wildfire.
"Calm down Levi." I sighed. "It's not going to do you any good blowing up like this."
"Maybe not but they just make me so angry. Not one of them has the common decency to just come up to us and ask what happened." He huffed.
"That's true but none of them know us well enough to do that. Well, except Alex and he already talked to us about it all." Alistair replied.
"Can we just get to the room serving all the food already?" Levi huffed.
"You mean the cafeteria?" I laughed.
"Yeah, that." He grumbled as he grabbed each of our hands and pulled us along behind him through the semi- crowded hallway.
My mind was still on that night in the forest as we walked up to the line, grabbed our trays and slowly moved forward station by station waiting for food. Mr. Corin and Jason had been checking up on me daily claiming that they were making sure that I was alright after the attack but somehow I knew that it wasn't just the attack that worried them. Something else had them spooked enough to have the entire campus under strict lock and key not even allowing the faculty to freely move about.
A majority of the upperclassmen have expressed their disdain for this new found restriction to us in the form of hateful glares and threatening words. Unfortunately for them I'm more afraid of what's out there then I am of them. If they witnessed what I witnessed that night and experienced the fear of seeing someone you considered your only family injured so badly they wouldn't be as calm as they were.
Levi's injuries had managed to heal quite fast due to his own kitsune spirit but whatever that creature was left a lasting scar on him. No matter what the medical team here at the Academy tried the inky black veins that surrounded the scar wouldn't go away. He was in perfect health as far as a kitsune familiar went but according to the Head nurse they were there to stay.
"Come on Tae..." Levi pulled me forward alerting me to the fact that I had been lost in my thoughts this entire time. They had managed to put tasty looking food on my plate without me noticing and to grab my tray from me as well. Levi was now leading me to a table while Alistair held my tray for me.
"So what are we going to be doing this weekend?" Levi questioned with a mouth full of food.
"Stop that." Alistair poked his cheek causing Levi to stick out his tongue.
"Well since the Academy is pretty much on lockdown there isn't much we can do." I replied as I poked at the food on my tray.
"Don't play with your food and eat it. You need to gain all your energy and strength back." Levi chastised me. "Actually how about we visit the training center?"
"The training center?" I questioned after swallowing a forkful of whatever it was that was on my plate.
"They have a huge building devoted completely to training and honing in on our magical abilities." He explained.
"How do you know this?" Alistair questioned him skeptically.
"I overheard some other students talking about it." He shrugged before pointing to his ears. "I don't think it counts as eavesdropping if I have super hearing."
"I'm sure it does." Alex laughed as he dropped his tray at our table. "Ah dinnertime...The only time I can eat with people I actually can tolerate."
"Sounds depressing..." Levi snickered.
"Meh." Alex shrugged his shoulders.
"What about Vivian?" I questioned.
"You know how she is. I barely see her anymore. She's so worried about trying to impress those idiots that she forgets whose familiar she is. She shifts on command when it comes to that stuck up little snobby princess and only speaks to me in the classes that we share." He sighed.
"Sorry I brought it up." I replied.
"It's not you. It's not even her. It's all these false rumors being spread about mages and their familiars that have relationships throughout our community shattering." He explained. "My family sends me messages to keep me up on the world outside this Academy and four mages and familiars it just seems to be getting worse and worse."
"Really?" Alistair questioned.
"Really. My mother wrote me last week saying that two mages lost their familiars to an anti-slavery alliance that has formed. She told me that the mages were devastated and that one hasn't left his home in weeks. It's getting bad out there."
"I had no idea things were that bad for our kind." Alistair sighed.
"Yeah, and steadily getting worse. I just hope that everything sort of rights itself before it gets too late." Alex answered.
Our dinner conversation after that was a bit strained and more on the serious side as we talked about various politics in our school. I was shocked to find that there was more than one Royal student attending this school. Apparently they didn't all get along, which was actually expected, but they had to keep the peace in order to stay at the school.
"So what are your plans for this weekend?" Alex questioned us.
"Well Levi said there was a training center that we could utilize so we might check that out tomorrow." I answered for us.
"Good choice. It's good to try and build up as much strength and stamina as possible as a familiar and even as a mage. Some spells can tire us out quicker than other. The training center is good to help build up your bond as well. I might drag Vivi to that tomorrow now that I think of it." He mused.
"Is it just a big room where people fight and train?" Levi asked curiously.
"No, quite the opposite actually. There are several charmed rooms that provide the users with simulated experiences that they have to get through and survive in order to successfully complete the training course. There are instructors monitoring the rooms, of course, in case of emergency but other than that it's all up to you." He explained excitedly.
"Really?" Levi chirped. "That sounds amazing!"
"It's actually quite fun when you really get into it. The room actually evaluates you before it begins and determines what would be the best level to start at for the group."
"Yeah, we're definitely going to that tomorrow." I smiled.
"I dunno..." Alistair groaned.
"Why not?" I questioned turning to look at him.
"I'm not the best mage there is. I don't think I can do it." He sighed.
"Are you kidding me?" Levi snapped. "You managed to bond to two familiars already, one that's older than you and the other one has two tails. If you can manage to keep our bond this strong without any hiccup I'm sure you can do a little training exercise."
"Wait. You're keeping our bond together?" I questioned.
"As the mage I'm like the conduit of the magical energy that you two give off. I help you to control and direct it into different ways like special skills and when you're stronger, into various attacks." Alistair explained.
"Wow..." I whistled. "You do all that AND have to deal with all Levi's foolishness?"
"Hey!" Levi protested as Alistair blushed. "I'm not that bad."
"But you admit you are a handful." I teased.
"Oh I'm certainly a handful if you catch my drift." He teased me with a low growl and wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"Great...I'm officially scarred for life." Alex mumbled as he picked up his tray and got up from the table. "I guess I'll talk to you three later and maybe by then all this...um...tension...will have dissipated." He laughed.
"There's none of whatever it is that you think we have here to dissipate!" Alistair yelled after him causing half of the cafeteria to turn back to face us. He ducked his head down as Levi laughed hard at the red tint of his cheeks.
"Really Aly?" I laughed as he got redder at the use of his nickname.
As things died down and dinner was finished we retired to our room where we began our various reading assignments and homework given to us during the time we weren't in class. It was quite a lot to catch up on and Alistair made sure that we wouldn't wait until the last minute, like Levi and I wanted, to start them.
After getting all the non-magical homework out the way I settled into our bed beside Levi and began to read up on the history of familiars. I began with their first appearance in the magical world but soon got sidetracked and ended up in the chapter about Dark Magic and familiars. The more my eyes skimmed the pages the more sucked in I got. Tales of wars won with the use of this forbidden magic and of lovers lost because of the temptation of such a powerful tool.
One story seemed to stick with me the most however. It had a section all to itself titled The Ultimate Betrayal. I was intrigued as to what it could be but at the same time I was worried that once I read it there would be no way to unread it.
"What's wrong?" Alistair questioned from his spot at the desk.
"Nothing. Just reading up on familiars and dark magic." I replied.
"Oh."
"Oh?" I questioned, sitting up now to look at him.
"Dark magic is such a taboo thing for us mages. Over the years it's helped win wars we would have otherwise never have won but it's also torn apart countries, killed millions of innocent beings, and destroyed lives. It's one of those things that people say they would never do but somehow end up trying at least once. But all it takes is one time and you're permanently marked as a Dark magic user." He explained.
"This sounds awfully personal to you." Levi butted in.
"It is." He replied but didn't elaborate further.
Clearly there was more to Alistair than I initially thought there was. I always assumed he was the sweetest most innocent guy that anyone could ever have met but there was something in his past that haunted him. It seemed we all had a few things hidden in our pasts that created who we were today.
"Well hopefully we can avoid using Dark magic. I don't want what's happened to these mages to happen to us." I answered.
"It won't. I refuse to stray into dark magic." Alistair told us as he turned back around to finish working on his math homework.
As we each went back to our respective homework I went back to reading about the different examples in history of mages turning against their own kind because of the tempting call of dark magic. With a deep breath I began to read about this so called ultimate betrayal.
According to the book the ultimate betrayal wasn't between a mage and another mage it was between a mage and his familiar. Lux Helion, a mage of high caliber and great expertise was secretly doing experiments on two of his familiars. He used dark magic to fuse two familiars together creating a creature that was as deadly as it was beautiful in it's own right.
The creature of the night was simply called the Seeker and had been seen only once by the Royal Mages that captured and later imprisoned Helion. Accounts of death and destruction by this creature has been documented til this day but no other living accounts have been recorded.
The one account made by Royal Mage Astomi was of a creature as dark as the night with piercing yellow eyes and fur reminiscent of the feathers of a raven. It moved gracefully through the woods keeping track of the mages as they traveled with Helion. It tracked and watched them until Royal Mages lost track of the creature as it disappeared into the night one last time before daybreak.
As I read this my heart stopped, my breathing hitched and my stomach dropped to my toes. The description of the Seeker sounded painfully similar to the creature we saw last night. I wasn't sure what to think of this or what to even say.
Surely the Headmaster must have known what this creature was once he was told about it. Even Mr. Corin should have known that we had encountered the Seeker as soon as we described it to him. Which would definitely explain the complete lock down we were currently experiencing.
"Tae?" Alistair questioned as he moved his chair back and made his way to the bed. "What's wrong? You seem even more anxious than before."
"You guys have to read this." I passed the book to him just as he sat down on the side of the bed.
He skimmed through the passage that I had pointed out to him and his facial expression changed once he read the part about the Seeker. His eyes widened, his mouth dropped and for a second I thought that he was going pass out.
"Wh-What is this?" Alistair questioned.
"Give it here!" Levi whined as he reached across me to snatch the book from Alistair's hand. As soon as he finished reading he simply stared at the pages of the book before looking up at us in shock. "We survived this thing?"
"What the hell is going on?" I questioned.
"I don't know. How did that thing get on campus and why is it on campus?" Alistair questioned.
"Better question is why did it lick Tae's muzzle instead of utterly destroying him?" Levi asked.
"That is actually a very good question." Alistair mused.
"So many questions and never any real answers." I sighed.
"Well I say we get some answers tomorrow after we train." Levi replied. "We'll go to the library and read up on that Lux Helion guy. Hopefully we can find something else about him that'll help us figure out what happened out there the other night."
It was a long shot but Levi's idea was a solid one. We'd go to the library and do some reading and hopefully the administration would find the creature before anything else happened or anyone got hurt. Who would have known that this would have happened when I accepted Alistair's offer of being his familiar?
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