The meeting in Xiao's room turned out to be nothing at all, at least for the first half hour. Xiao was giving me a lecture about how I'd be trained by the four best students at Eternal Academy and the heirs to the Crown, and how it would help me in honing my magic and combat skills. Despite this explanation, Adrian seemed very confused as to why he was there.
"Oh, Mr. Skalanias." Xiao said quickly. "I forgot to mention this to you, but you'll be tutoring Prince Scarlett."
Adrian blinked in surprise. "Why, is her attribute Reality magic?"
"Not exactly. I'll explain in further detail once the other mentors get here." Xiao said, flicking his tail.
I nudged Adrian. "So, you're one of the best students on campus?"
Adrian nodded. "I-It's nothing, really. I just do my homework, and do what teachers instruct me. In the weekly battles, I came first in my division, but only because I've kind of been bred and trained as a killing machine."
"Still, that's pretty cool." I commented. "I look forward to working with you."
"And I do, too."
Soon, the room began to fill up. First came in Jian, carrying a scared-looking Hazu on his back. Kallan came next, her hair up in a high ponytail and wearing workout gear, forehead covered in sweat like she just got out of gym class. Talia sashayed into the room with the usual sunny forecast of a scowl showing on her face, followed by Madoc and Luc, who seemed to be arguing in two different foreign languages. Since when did Luc know how to speak French? And where did Madoc learn Spanish? And why were the best students at Eternal all people that I knew? Go figure, I guess.
Everyone began to stand around me, and pretty soon all eyes were on Xiao for an explanation.
"This had better be good." Madoc said. "I was in the middle of creating fabulous posters for the concert tonight."
"I thought you hated concerts." Talia said rudely.
"I do." Madoc shot back. "But I love creating the posters. There is a difference, Miss It's-Too-Cold-Where-I-Come-From-So-I-Must-Be-Grouch-At-All-Times."
Talia growled as she pinched Madoc's lips shut. "Shut your face, you nitwit."
Madoc spread his hands, knocking her hand off. "Hey, it's your own fault if you can't handle my..." Madoc snapped his hands in a z-fashion. "Fabulousity!"
"That's not even a real word!" Talia argued.
"Well it is in my language."
"I didn't mind getting out of Elements." Luc offered, trying to draw attention away from the arguing duo. "That class is boring."
"What did we get called down here for anyways?" Jian asked, setting Hazu down gently.
"I'm glad you asked, Mr. Gao." Xiao said. He laid his head atop his scaly front paws and flicked out his tongue. "All of you will be mentoring Scarlett."
"What?" Came a collective gasp from my peers.
"Hold up..." Kallan said, rubbing her temples. "I thought that the Crown would only be training her. You didn't say anything about us being mentors."
"Yeah, why us?" Jian chimed.
"I mean, not to be rude or anything..." Madoc started, giving the implication that what he said was, in fact, going to be rude. "But aren't mentors supposed to be, like...mature and experienced?"
"I am far more experienced than you are, Madoc!" Talia shouted in her Russian accent.
"Hey, I was referring to me." Madoc said. "Man, Talia, you take everything too personally."
"Yes, to answer your question, usually mentors are of a higher age and maturity level than regular high schoolers." Xiao said. "But considering that in all my years here at Eternal, no one has shown more potential in the weekly rankings than you seven. I've decided that you'd all be the perfect fit for Scarlett."
Hazu tentatively raised her hand.
"Yes, Ms. Omori."
Hazu began playing with her braid nervously, the room beginning to smell like mint. "Um...aren't m-mentors usually s-singular?"
"True, but never before have we had a student quite like Scarlett at our school." Xiao adjusted himself on his desk. "Scarlett is-"
"Pregnant?"
Everyone narrowed their eyes at Madoc.
"No, Mr. O'Brian." Xiao looked at me and sighed in disappointment. "Tell me again why I have to deal with this." Xiao looked back to the group of students. "Scarlett has the attribute of Dragon Soul."
I swear everyone's jaws dropped to the floor at that moment. There was a bit of silence before Kallan finally broke it by whooping at the top of her lungs. She pumped her fist and pointed at Talia.
"I told you so!" She exclaimed.
"But...what?" Came Talia.
"So you're saying that she's basically a living fairy tale: A legend. Something straight out of a fantasy like Mama used to read to me so I'd fall asleep at night." Madoc asked, a look of disbelief on his face.
"Well..." Luc started, folding his arms across his chest. "Considering she's here, and she's living and breathing, I'd define that as pretty damn real."
Madoc put a hand on his hip and one in the air as he held up a finger. "Okay, in my defense, I said living."
"I-I wanna see it." Hazu said, her green eyes full of wonder. "C-Can we see you cast some magic or s-something?"
I shrugged. "Um...I don't know. I mean I could try sometime but I'm not sure if it works like that or anything."
Xiao gave a huff of annoyance, signaling that he wanted the attention focused on him once again. Once everyone's eyes were on him once again, he visibly settled and started speaking again.
"Today, I will dismiss you all back to your regular classes except for Lucian D'Ange, who will be helping Prince Scarlett learn the attribute of Sky magic. I have assigned each of you to tutor Scarlett for one day out of the week. Mr. D'Ange will be taking Wednesdays, like today; Hazuki Omori will be working with her tomorrow, Metalia Stalin will train her on Thursdays, Madoc O'Brien on Fridays, Adrian Skalanias on Sundays, Kallan Wells on Mondays, and Jian Gao on Tuesdays.This will give you an excused pass from all of your classes that day, and full credit for participation." Xiao explained. "In return, I expect all of you to be able to come up with your own lesson plans and 'homework', for practice requirements."
Luc smiled. "Well, luckily I had a plan for this, just in case things would happen anyways." He muttered to himself. I wonder what he had meant by that.
After the meeting was adjourned, I observed Luc, looking for any clues or ideas as to what he was talking about. The sad part was that I didn't know him well enough to tell. After a few minutes of walking through the halls, we arrived at what I assumed was Luc's dorm. He opened the door with his key, then looked back at me.
"Stay here." He instructed. "I'll be right back."
He went into his room. True to his word, a few minutes later he came back out with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. I was a little suspicious as to why he was carrying a duffle bag, but didn't say anything to him. Luc began moving once again and signaled to continue following him. I had a lot of time to think, due to the heavy silence between us.
Who was this guy anyways, and why had I agreed to date him in the first place? I knew little to nothing about him. What if his whole spiel on 'dragons know when they're supposed to be together' was just some kind of trick to gain my trust? Maybe he secretly wanted to lock me up in the basement and use me as some sort of slave for his own sexual whims. But there was something about him that made me feel at ease. There was something familiar about Lucian D'Ange. The more and more time I spent with him, the more and more it was like I had known him my entire life. There was no other way to describe it.
"So, Scarlett..." Luc said, snapping me out of my trance.
"What?" I asked, snapping me to full attention.
"We're here."
I looked around in confusion. I immediately realized where I was, and that was what confused me. "Uh, are you sure we're in the right place?" I asked him, worried. "This is my dorm room."
"Oh, really? I couldn't tell!" Came Luc's sardonic answer, right on cue. "Now if you don't mind, you might want to unlock the door and walk in the room so we can begin our lesson. Unless you want me staring at you uncomfortably for the next half hour."
I bit my lip and felt my face get warmer. "Um...Luc, what exactly is this lesson going to be about? What are you planning?"
Luc narrowed his eyes. "I brought you to your room so I could tie you to the bedpost and rape you."
"Really?"
Luc banged his head against the wall a couple times before replying. "No...just...no! Trust me. It won't be anything like that. I promise you, Scar."
I groaned. "Okay, fine. But do not call me Scar."
Luc raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Does it bother you or something?"
"For your information, yes it does." I told him, pulling out my room key and swiping it across the lock. "I hate it nearly as much as I hate being called 'princess'."
He lifted my chin up with two fingers, forcing me to look into his gorgeous eyes. Man, I had an issue. I shuddered as those orbs of golden perfection looked all over my face. "Well then, Scar, you'd better get used to the fact that those are the only two things I'll be calling you from now on." He then poked my nose and walked into my dorm room.
I hated the fact that every single time he touched me, it sent a billion sparks flooding throughout my body. Why was this happening to me? Had Luc slipped some sort of drug to me, because I never remember being this crazy about a guy before. I couldn't believe I was so attracted to someone based on their looks and one...not-date. I still didn't know much about Lucian D'Ange, but maybe that was also the reason I was so intrigued by him.
Luc walked into my room and sat down on my bed. I leaned on the doorframe, folding my arms across my chest as I looked at him. Could I really trust him?
"What's wrong?"
His face was full of concern. I shook my head. "Nothing. Just wondering what you had in mind for today's lesson, which you still haven't told me about."
He smirked. "I'm glad you brought that up, princess." He stood up and pulled out an iPad from his duffel bag. He sat back down and began flipping through a few images. Once he found what he was looking for, his eyes focused on me, and he invited me to sit down next to him by patting the open space by his side. I warily walked over and sat down, unsure of what would happen next. I looked on the screen and saw a human body, with eight colored dots in various areas.
"These are known as the centers of power." Luc informed me. "The white dot in the area just below your throat is the center of power for Sky-type magic. It's your center of loyalty, trust and comfort." He gave me a weak smile. "Now, I may not have known you for very long, but I can tell you obviously have some trust issues. If you can't learn to trust, then Sky magic is going to be near impossible for you to even begin to use." Luc took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "And in order for you to gain trust, one must show trust. That's why, during our times together, I'm going to let you ask me any question that you want. It can be as shallow or as deep as you want. The only limit is the questions you can't think of."
I was taken aback. Did he really mean what he just said? I took a deep breath. "Are you sure about that?"
Luc nodded. "Yep. I'll answer anything you want me to."
I drummed my fingers against my knee. Was he really serious about this? There was only one way to found out. If he was being truthful about this, he'd answer that one question. "Um...well, what exactly did you got you in trouble with Xiao during your first year?"
Luc inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Damn, pick the biggest bone from the pile right off the bat, why don't you?"
"You don't have to-"
"Yes, I do, Scar." Luc folded his hands behind his head. "In my first year of middle school, I was addicted to porn. Throughout the halls, I'd always catch myself looking under girls' skirts whenever they bent over—considering how short they were, they gave me a perfect view of their butt. Sometimes, that wouldn't be enough for me. I'd watch girls undress from outside their dorms, looking in the windows. I got caught one day by a girl named Raziya. She reported all this to Xiao, and I got busted for what I did. As if the bullying wasn't enough, Xiao let one of Raziya's friends publish an article about me on the school's blog.
"My life was a living hell after that. Bras were left on my door everyday by both genders. More girls started throwing themselves at me, seeing my weakness as an opportunity for them to make their move. I can't tell you how many girls have set themselves up for 'study sessions' with me—which involved coming to my dorm, confessing, stripping, then begging me to have sex with them."
"Did you?" I asked, a little uncomfortable he could admit all of this so easily.
"No." He answered quickly. "Not even close. Even if I wanted to, I was disgusted by the fact that they wanted me for all the wrong reasons. None of them liked me for who I was, and didn't know a thing about me. The only reasons that they wanted me is because one: they thought I was hot, or two—and this was the most frequent case—they wanted me because I'm the Diplomat of Sciana. Basically, they wanted bragging rights like, 'Look at me, I'm dating the Diplomat' or 'Guess what? I had sex with Lucian D'Ange! Do you know how important that makes me'? And other such annoyances."
"So why didn't you have sex with them or anything like that?" I asked. "Weren't those girls attractive?"
"Physically, yes. And they knew it, which made it even worse." He affirmed. "Since they knew they were hot, that just made them dress even sleazier and throw their bodies at me as though they honestly expected me to catch them, but their personalities weren't anything special. None of them seemed to be interested in anything other than my royal position. The worst part is, the same thing happens to Kallan and Talia all the time. Talia has guys make passes at her all the time, and in Kallan's case, it's both genders."
"What?" I asked.
"Kallan's pansexual." Luc clarified. "My point is, is that it's disgusting. The only difference is that they can actually punch those guys for being rude when they're groped." He sighed and rubbed his temples. "It was so bad that I ended up completely losing any and all interests in girls for a while, because none of them were anything that I wanted to associate with." He smiled and looked at me. "Well, that is until I met you."
"Me?" I asked. "What about me?"
"You're different." He said plainly. "You didn't just throw yourself at me. You actually had opinions and passions and adorable little quirks like snorting when you laugh."
"I am not adorable." I said adamantly.
"Yes, yes you are." He said, getting a little closer. "It's also cool how you don't like to be fawned over and in the spotlight, unlike most girls. And...you're intriguing. I don't know a whole lot about you, and that makes me want to know more." At this point, his nose was basically on top of mine, and his lips weren't that far away either.
I felt myself blushing. "Do...do you really feel that way about me?"
"Yyyep. I mean, not only are you pretty damn hot—and I mean that quite literally at times—but you're...how do I put this? You're like a flame; bright, warm and full of fire."
I smiled, then coughed, causing Luc to back away a bit. I had to change the subject. If him and I kept at it like this, then pretty soon I'd be wrapped around his finger—or his body in general. Guys don't just give girls compliments like that for no reason.
Even so, what sleazy guy openly admits to a girl that he used to be sleazy? That must have been really hard for him to admit. However, I didn't really want to continue talking about...me. I folded my hands in my lap. "So, what was your mom like?"
Luc laughed. "My mother was Haizea, the Peacekeeper of Sciana. She was graceful, caring, and overprotective. She was always singing or humming some song. Mom always taught me the importance of helping people out and keeping my promises. She also insisted that I always keep safe." Luc smiled wistfully. "You know, she would have liked to know that Ignacius' daughter is becoming the young woman I see before me."
I nodded. "That sounds nice."
"She was."
We sat in silence for a bit. He coughed and turned to me. "Well, now if it's not too much to ask, we're going to have our first trust exercise. You think you can handle it?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, that depends."
"No. I can't have any 'well...that depends' from you. I need you to trust me: fully, and completely." He said. "I'm not going to hurt you or do anything uncomfortable to you, I promise. All you have to do is just trust me."
I stayed silent for a bit. I finally nodded, and said, "Okay." In a quiet voice.
"I want you to stand up." I followed his directions. He got up and stood directly behind me. "Now close your eyes."
I wondered whether or not this was a good idea. I nodded anyways and closed my eyes. Logic told me that Luc wouldn't hurt me, he didn't seem like that kind of guy.
I shivered as I felt his fingertips on my neck. They trailed down to my shoulders and held out my elbows on either side of my body. He straightened my forearms out by gently running his fingers along the underside. It felt like I was ready to fly at any moment.
"Tilt your head back, and stand on one foot."
I followed his instructions. I felt a sense of joy flow throughout my entire being. It had been a long time since I had felt this giddy.
"This is the base stance for using Sky magic, it opens up the center of power. This is the first move in the Sky sequence. Each sequence has its own series of moves and is required for using different types of magic. The moves you did during your AME were a sequence, ones that you learn instinctively. Since you only learned one sequence, we'll have to teach you separately the other eight. For now, we'll just go through the Sky sequence."
He led me through the movements, which included me doing a back handspring, then bringing my hands up from my hips to straight above my head as I crossed my legs.
"There you go." Luc congratulated me. "You can open your eyes now."
I did so and turned around to look at Luc. I didn't necessarily feel any different. What was I supposed to do next?
He took a deep breath and held out his hand with his palm facing up. "Each element has a base magic that is shared between its attributes. We'll be learning the base Sky magic today." He close his hand and shook it, then blew on top of it and made a finger gun at me. He pulled his thumb down, creating a gust of wind that blew some stray hairs out of my face..
"Whoa..." I couldn't believe it. I was finally going to learn how to cast magic! I tried to contain my excitement, but it was to no avail. I began asking him rapid-fire questions. "Does this mean I get to do what you just did? Will I be able to make little tornadoes like you showed me yesterday? Will I be able to fly?"
"Possibly, no, and you can do that anyways in your Scale Form." Luc answered. "Today, I'll just show you how to manipulate the air." Luc opened both of his hands and spread out his fingers, raking them through the air. The air itself separated into eight white strands, much like strings on some sort of instrument. He ran his fingers across them, and they made a sound similar to a harp. He looked at me. "The air is like a canvas, or a medium for your magic. Just visualize what you want and let it happen."
I nodded. I closed my eyes and spread out my fingers like Luc had done, slicing them through the air. I opened my eyes and saw five golden lines hanging in the middle of the air. I smiled as an idea popped into my head. I drew a treble clef and three sharp signs next to it, then a time signature of 4/4. I snapped my fingers, and notes began to pop up in an A major scale.
Luc nodded. "Impressive."
I swiped my hands over the staff, and the scale began to play itself. I waved my hand through the notes and plucked one off the scale. It was a solid object in my hands. I willed it to grow larger, and surprisingly, it did. I held the quarter note by the long end and willed it into a solid form. There was a burst of light, and then the quarter note that I was holding was now a golf club. Surprised, I dropped it, and the club became a burst of wind.
"That..." Luc's jaw dropped wide open. "That is highly advanced Sky magic. How did you...it takes years of training in order to channel light waves!"
"Hey, I have just as much of an idea as you do, buddy—which in case you haven't already got this, isn't very much." I snapped.
He looked at me with an excited expression. "If you can learn such advanced magic that easily, then imagine what you could do in a few short months of training! We could be facing Kali in the next year, and win!" His eyes were glittering with joy. "Then we could restore the Crown to their former power, and Mireille could...Mireille could be healthy again!"
Before I could ask just exactly who Mireille was, I was snapped out of my trance by a loud scream. I looked outside to see a bunch of students, crowded around the biggest oak tree in the courtyard. Before I knew what was happening, I was out of my dorm room. I heard Luc shout something, but I didn't care. Something was pulling me over to that horde of students. I had to be there.
I rushed down the halls of the dormitory and out of the doors that led outside. I was bolting as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn't care about the fact that I was never able to run far distances for very long. After a minute or two, my lungs were screaming for me to stop, but I continued going. When I finally got to the oak tree, I was breathing like I had just finished a marathon. Man, I was out of shape.
I looked at the tree. Three students were hanging from their necks by nooses, bodies completely mutilated. In fact, I never would have guessed that they were students at Eternal if not for the uniforms that were still on their mutilated bodies. From the looks of it, a girl and two boys.
I was infuriated. This wasn't a suicide, this was a murder. No one could have been able to do this to themselves. I felt my blood boil. My hands balled into fists. Who could do this to anybody? This was just so disgusting on so many levels.
"Who did this?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. I felt my rage pulsing through my body. I tried again, this time shouting at the top of my lungs, "WHO DID THIS!?!"
Though my question was unanswered, I felt something strange around my feet. I looked down to see something that piqued my interest. I had two shadows. I moved my hand. One of the shadows did the same, but the other stood completely still. I leaned down and took a closer look at the second shadow. It seemed more...solid than the other. I tentatively reached out my hand to touch it.
Suddenly, a white face popped up from the shadows. Just like Mortulus, it had a disgustingly thin frame, sharpened yellow teeth and black, soulless eyes. It shrieked like a banshee, lunging at my face. As it's razor-sharp teeth dangerously neared my throat, the creature was bat aside by a golden and white battle axe. I looked over my shoulder to see Luc with a determined look on his face, panting slightly. He looked at me with an expression that clearly read, 'Thanks for ditching me. By the way, I also killed that thing for you. You're welcome.'
I felt the air suddenly grow cold—which was strange because it was 70 degrees outside, and in the middle of May. I looked back to the tree to see dozens of shadows circling the trunk, which then became hundreds of swirling black masses. Soon, a figure appeared from the darkness. She had sleek black hair and purple eyes, and lips the color of wine. She looked like an older, female version of Adrian. She wore a black lace gown and opera-length black gloves. She flicked open a fan and began walking towards the crowd, a small group of shadow creatures coming alive to surround the woman like they were her bodyguards.
I heard her heels click against the pavement as she walked towards me. There was something about her that set me off. Maybe it was the fact that she seemed to be enjoying, watching all the scared kids around her, or how the living shadow seemed ready to kill anything at any given moment. Or maybe it was the fact that her eyes were staring right at me as she got closer and closer.
I tried my best not to, but I was completely scared of her. Something about this woman made me want to run away screaming for my Mommy and crying like a little kid. Something else told me that I was feeling like that for a reason.
As she came closer and closer, my instincts to run away got stronger, but I ignored them. I stood my ground and looked her straight in the eye, which was one of the hardest things that I had ever had to do in my life. She smirked, sending chills throughout my body.
The woman snapped her fan shut. "Scarlett? Darling, you've grown so much in the past fifteen years!"
I grimaced. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
She spread out her arms. "Why, sweetie, I'm the one you asked for. Do you admire my handiwork? I did it all just for you."
I grit my teeth. "You mean you were the one that killed those students? Who are you?!"
She laughed. "Baby cousin, you amuse me. Well, then again, I'm not very recognizable in this form. Let me change into something more...comfortable."
The air around the woman began to darken, covering her in a swathe of shadow. I watched as her figure got bigger and bigger, her body beginning to ripple and change. Soon, she grew wings, standing on all fours at about twenty-five feet tall. A reptilian face emerged from the shroud of darkness, and I immediately realized who I was dealing with.
"Kali to irente!" She yelled. "Kali has returned!"
Oh my gosh this took forever to type. So far, this is the longest chapter I have written for Burning Hope. Over 4,500 words. The reason it is so long is because, as you have more than likely already guessed, this is the part where the plot finally comes into play. I'm sorry it took so long, no I did not forget about you guys. You know I never would. Anywho, 760 reads! 93 votes! Please don't forget to VOTE! We're seven votes away from 100! I believe in you! You can do the thing! You all are amazing! Thank you so much for everything it's amazing!
Signing off, Kiera Savage