(The fifth, season of orange, year 120)

Daddy just taught me how to write in this! I can't wait to write a lot in here! I love mommy! I love daddy!

(The sixth, season of orange, year 120)

I don’t know what’s happening! My father told me to stay away, and then he turned into a dragon! He told me that it was the only way to beat the other dragon! I don’t know what’s happening! I don’t know, I don't know! My father told me to write in this when something happens! But I don't know what happened! Oh! I see something! I’m going to go see what it is!

(The seventh, season of orange, year 120)

I picked up the book my dad was always writing in yesterday. Also, people came to fight the dragon, but they were too late. They told me I needed to join them if I wanted to live! Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Seraphina and I'm eight years old! Oh, they're calling me! I'll write more tomorrow!

(???)

I finally got out. They tortured me, said things like "spit it out! Where is the dragon?" I told them, I told them I didn't know! But they kept hitting me! They told me they would sell me, that the people that buy me will do horrible things to me, I'm scared! Where are you daddy?

(The eleventh, season of white, year 125)

Honestly, I don't know why I'm writing in this anymore. It's been more than five years, I don't need this anymore. The only th-

It cuts off right there. No more information, no more pages, just the other side of the book. All the pages but those I read were kept intact.

"Why do I bother with reading this?" sighing to myself, as I turned to face the sea of bodies behind me.

"Right, it's to keep me sane while I do these missions." Walking forwards, it was a real sea of bodies. Blood and gore everywhere. Heads were split open, arms were torn from their sockets. It extended further than the horizon. There was shouting and moaning, but not too much, just enough to activate the wish.

A half-dead started talking, it grabbed me by the foot. “Help me young woman! Help me, crimson haired goddess!”

Oh, look, a dead man talking. I plunge my spear in the middle of his skull, putting him out of misery.

Even though said misery was caused by us. It seems like there are less than fifty . Seems like the ground is ready for the wish.

While waiting for everyone to regroup, I start chanting the wish.

“omne quod vivit morietur

omne quod moritur mortuum remanebit

hoc est votum meum”

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Reality fell in on itself. And then it exploded back to what it was originally. Ah, everything is quiet. No talking dead bodies, no crying children, no half-dead people.

Just silence.

I waved a hand in front of my face, removing the mask I’m always wearing. It was a breezy day, the sun was shining, and blood was still flowing. I savored this moment, before the blood stops running and the wind stops moving.

Nothing happened for around an hour after that, only me, and the red sea we had created. The only sound heard was the faraway chatter of my students and the familiar hymn of death. Pure bliss. The sound people make when they're dead is comparable to the sound of the ocean, not the sound of the waves, but the whooshes of the wind and the sound of flowing currents. That was because of their energy escaping their body and going up to feed plants, animals, monsters, and other humans.

Of course, the smell was something else, a putrid smell. A smell so indicative of death that it made me feel like I couldn't breathe, that I shouldn't, but I liked it. That smell, that horrible, disgusting stench reminded me of my mission. Of the path I took. I hear a loud thunder-like noise, and know that it’s time to go.

I pull out my starshot and fire it out directly upwards, leaving a big indicator of where I am so that everyone could regroup. Starshots are so ineffective, they use a lot of my arcane energy, compressed down, and all that for one shot, one shot that can just barely go through a regular human’s skull, not even talking about a monster. Maybe it’s the ease of putting a round inside, pull slightly with a finger, let the last prism crystal strike the energy, and watch the stars unveil from your barrel. They say that’s where the name came from, because it looks like they shoot stars. The only reason I use them is for the looks. I guess that’s why they sell? Honestly, sometimes their ineffectiveness irks me to a point where I want to remove them from this world.

As the kids get closer to me, I pull out a disk-shaped black object out of my pocket. Placing it in the palm of my hands, all my fingers flexed to make a claw shape, and slowly move my hand down from the top of my face. The mask slowly forms as the disk fades away. After about three seconds, a fully black mask is covering my face, except for the eye slits, which are a sea blue.

The students are now all over me, trying to see my face, since they’ve never seen it before. They’re all shouting and moving around, being chaotic.

“Alright everyone settle down!”

Immediate silence.

“We’ll be going back to the guild hall right now, so please make a good circle in front of me! This time I want a good circle not like last time, Laflame could have lost his hand!”

Everybody turns to Laflame. He seems to want himself buried so far under the gound that nobody will ever find him again.

I clap twice and ask them again. That’s when it happened. A huge amount of supercell energy was coming my way. There was only one choice. The children needed to get out of here ASAP.

No. I couldn’t get them out of here in time. It would be foolish to even suggest being powerful enough to fight while protecting them. Wait?! Was it possible? Because chanting the whole teleportation spell would take about 5 seconds, and that way too much in the current situation.

While walking towards the source of energy, with my right hand taking out the spear, my left is open palmed facing the kids, forming a dimensional shield, although since it was done so fast it would hold for one attack, maybe two.

But when I saw who was coming towards us, the relief was instant. He had the guild mask. It also made complete sense, my magic recognized him as a co-worker, not an enemy, so my cleansing spell didn’t work.

“Hey! Can you lend me a bit to transport these children back to the guild? It’s only one chant!”

“Oh! You’re the one with the little ones today!” He had an audible smile. “Yeah, go right ahead! I’ll be waiting then”

I walk back to the protective barrier, and forcefully break it, since when you activate a spell, there is no way to deactivate it.

Two weak thrusts from my spear did the work, going too hard might have impaled one of the kids, so the risk wasn't worth it.

The moment the barrier was broken, I started chanting. The kids understood, they’re smart.

“ut mittas eos in salutem

mitte ad locum ubi commorantur

hoc est votum meum”

After the chant was done, me and the other masked person turned to each other and said in unison

“Rule one: if two members of the corps find each other on the field, they must reaffirm the path.”

We both stopped to prepare, got out all our weapons, because in this battle you were only allowed one weapon and your ability to fight.

“Ready?” we both said at the same time.

This is the path I chose. A path soaked in blood.