Chapter 002

A Night Guest

Alevier scrutinized the cover of his grimoire, a vessel of spells storing countless incantations, with a versatility much greater than other spellcasting mediums. A lot of spells and information could be kept safely in them thus, they were quite popular among mages. Since they were widely used by mages of the past, a lot of stories, such as that of powerful sentient or autonomous grimoires that had served powerful mages who lived thousands of years, were common. However, there was no proof of such grimoires and thus they could be regarded as no more special than a wand or a magic staff.

Alevier’s grimoire was as shabby as ever. Its long complex designs had yielded to time and now appeared as faded broken lines. A few blotches of dull pigment only told how many ages it had borne. Its spine also had similar patterns on it but lay tattered at places. But, despite all its worn out features, it held a certain charm to it. One would get the feeling that some enigmatic entity is hiding between those yellow pages or some mystery is inscribed in it: waiting to be discovered.

However, Alevier’s eyes were fixed upon the small circle containing that symbol he saw in his dreams. Yes, it was the same symbol. But this was not something new - it had always been there as far as Alevier could remember. He ran his fingers across the small symbol. It was distinctly carved in the circle. Yes, it had always been there. It was probably the most discrete thing on the cover and Alevier had failed to take notice of it.

He opened it and flipped through its pages. Except for a few spell formulae he had created in it and some gibberish its previous owner had inscribed on it, it was mostly empty.

Alevier shook his head. He was overthinking things. He closed the book and once again stared at the cover. No way that mysterious Archmage and this symbol were related, right? Could he be that person? Nonsense, he had a depressing mana capacity and knew nothing about city-destroying spells. And as far as he could remember, he was nowhere near the Archmage level. But that symbol... maybe it was a generic ancient rune used to empower spells.

'It does have a simple design,' Alevier thought to himself. 'Besides it’s a dream, a darn dream… No one had ever reported - from what I have heard - the presence of an Archmage or a rune in the sky or a giant city eating ball!'

With a sigh, he thought, 'Then again there were only a handful of survivors including me...'

"Damn it!" Alevier slammed his fist in his lap. "Why did he have to die? Damn it, damn it damn it all!”

Alevier took a few deep breaths to calm down.

'The past is in the past, I need to focus - focus and move forward, I have to become an Archmage else I will never be able to face him.'

He relaxed in his bed and wondered what he should do next. His ice-cold skin, an ailment he caught after that tragic incident, would certainly bother people around him. He did not want to attract unwanted attention. Although it was quite common knowledge that all the survivors of the ‘Vanishing Of Armi’ had caught strange ailments, he did not want his classmates to keep asking him about it.

A sudden knock on the door broke Alevier’s train of thoughts. Alevier hastily put away his book and got out of bed. He carefully approached the door. Well, he had screamed quite loudly, probably everyone present in the dormitory would have heard him. It was probably someone sent to check on him.

“Who is it?” He asked.

“Yo Alevier, it is me Jaysaun,” came the voice of a boy from the other side of the door.

Alevier opened the wooden door. In the hallway, a handsome blond boy in his mid-teens was standing. He wore a blue nightdress which was not much different from his blue eyes. He had a frown on his clean, pretty face.

“Man, why the heck were you screaming? Did a Nightstalker barge into your bedroom?” he asked.

“I would be long dead if that were the case, and you would have been lying in a pool of blood right now,” Alevier shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh really? I bet I can take down a Nightstalker,” he said with a determined look in his eyes.

“For god’s sake Jaysaun, you are a 2nd Star Magus like me, and we are still students. A goddamn Nightstalker would literally tear us apart in five minutes - six if he can’t chew that thick skull of yours.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I’m sure you have an amazing magical aptitude and you are the best when it comes to combat magic - but a Nightstalker is out of your league,” Alevier crossed his arms. It was quite easy to make Jaysaun lose track of the conversation. He had attention and hyperactivity disorder. He was a cheerful person with an air of mischief around him - something one might not expect from a person training to join the Imperial Mage Corps. However, while duelling, he was a completely different person. Alevier had experienced his prowess first-hand when he had been tragically put against ‘Jaysaun the Light Cannon’ in the duel preliminaries of Mage Cup last year.

“Fine…” Jaysaun stared up at the wooden ceiling with an angry pout on his face. “This autumn is oddly cold, don’t you think?”

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“Jaysaun, it is two in the morning. It is supposed to be cold,” Alevier rolled his eyes.

“So you are not gonna invite me in my room?” he asked with a smile. Jaysaun had been his roommate for the past two years, but right now he was occupying a dorm neighbouring his. The dorms were mostly empty, as the school had not begun yet, thus Jaysaun’s request for a new room had been accepted by the dormitory manager, for the time being, that is. He was a person who liked personal space and he was enjoying it while he could. Moreover, the school would begin in five days so Jaysaun would be moving in tomorrow.

“...Come in,” Alevier said with a sigh. His conversations with Jaysaun had always been this random. Alevier walked inside the room and gestured Jaysaun to follow behind.

The room was not anything grand. Alevier was not the kind of person to immediately customize his room. Thus it looked like a simple room with two bookshelves, two almirahs, a pair of study table and two comfy bed on either side of the room. With the only sign that someone was living there were the open books on his study. Alevier sat on his bed while Jaysaun pulled out a chair and sat on it.

“What is it?” asked Alevier.

“Hmm… I am wondering the same thing,” said Jaysaun thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah - I was gonna ask why were you screaming this late in the night.”

“I had a nightmare,” said Alevier reluctantly.

“So a nightmare made you scream your lungs out?”

“Eh, yeah,” said Alevier.

“Really?” he leaned in.

“Yes,” Alevier looked dead into his eyes

“Okay… totally not gonna traumatize you by asking about it,” he slumped back into the chair.

“Good.”

“So, what's up?” he asked while he made himself comfortable in the chair.

“Eh, how long are you going to stay?” said Alevier in a slightly annoyed tone.

“That is rude! No wonder you don't have a girlfriend! And for your information, this is my dorm too” said Jaysaun. “Also, your screaming woke me up. So take responsibility, okay?”

“So you are going to stay here as long as you don't feel sleepy?” sighed Alevier.

“Yes,” Jaysaun nodded. “So what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“Fine, I will bear you for now,” Alevier rolled his eyes. He agreed mainly because of two reasons: Jaysaun - unlike the rest of his class - didn’t ignore or bully him, and Alevier really needed to get his mind off things. “Well, the school’s opening ceremony is in five days, and I plan to spend most my time in the library or working in the alchemic labs. That reminds me, I also have to give my subject-stream form and Oraculi preference.”

“Oh? You still haven’t done it yet?” asked Jaysaun. “What stream are you choosing?”

“I plan on taking alchemy as my major. You know how much I like alchemy and I would love to help out people by brewing them cheaper medicine and potions,” replied Alevier. Although Alevier wanted to become an Archmage, he had his eyes set on a more feasible short term goal - to be an Alchemist. Not to mention there was an ant-sized probability of him becoming an Archmage. “What about you? What are your plans for tomorrow?”

“Ah! Me? I think I will roam around a bit you know see the city of Ambrosio and stuff,” said Jaysaun while trying to hide his grin.

“Jaysaun, we have been in the academy for more than two years. That is to say, we have been in Ambrosio for two years… do you take me for a fool or are you trying to deliberately make me ask, ‘Oh! Jaysaun please please please tell me the truth, I am curious as hell’.”

“Sheesh, you are no fun,” he said. “I have a date tomorrow. You see, I arrived a week before you and Sinchiya were here too… so, ahem, well we began dating!”

“Ah, I should have known,” said Alevier. “How many girlfriends have you made now? Eight? nine?”

“Don’t degrade me, I have set the record of making twelve girlfriends!” Jaysaun’s every word was filled with pride.

“You are a greater manwhore than I thought.”

“Alevier, you are doing exactly those things which would protect your virginity forever,” grinned Jaysaun.

“Argh, anyway, why did you get here so early? I mean, school starts in six days.”

“Didn’t I tell you that yesterday when you arrived? My family is going for a visit to the Parvus continent, so no one will be at my mansion. So, they sent me to the academy early. And here I am, standing in your dorm.”

“Hmm… did I have a book with me when you told me that?”

“Ummm I guess so…”

“Then...” Alevier shrugged his shoulders.

“Goodness, you are such a bookworm. What kind of books do you read? ‘A complete guide to being an antisocial nerd’?” chided Jaysaun.

“...” Alevier frowned

“Hahaha,” laughed Jaysaun after looking at Alevier’s troubled expression.

“That is enough,” said Alevier. “You better leave before anyone sees you and you turn from a manwhore to a deviant.”

“Hah, fine, fine, I get it; you don’t like people,” Jaysaun got up from his chair and proceeded to walk outside. Alevier followed behind.

“Good night, Jaysaun,” said Alevier.

“Good night, Alevier,” he looked at him thoughtfully. “I totally wish you could see me slay a Nightstalker so you would appreciate me more.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alevier shrugged his shoulders. “I also wish that a Nightstalker would fall out of the sky and arrive here.”

“You know Alev-” Jaysaun abruptly stopped and his eyes widened. He quickly grabbed Alevier’s cold skinny arm and yanked him towards himself with all the might his toned muscles could muster. The ceiling above where Jaysaun was standing fell apart. With a heavy thud, debris fell down.

Alevier had closed his eyes and yelped as he fell down with Jaysaun. Jaysaun hurried to his feet and pulled back Alevier.

Alevier opened his eyes and saw something large standing amidst the dust and debris.

A seven-foot-tall mountain of dark muscles stepped out. Two large bat-like wings opened up behind him while he raised his large sharp claws. His face was shaped like an inverted pear, two feline ears placed on either side and a vertical slit running from the top of his demonic visage to its bottom. He had three pairs of lidless, small almond eyes, each of them was radiating red hostility. He had talons for feet and wore nothing but a pair of ragged red… boxers?

“Ah, man,” said Jaysaun as he pulled Alevier further back. “You should have wished for a hot girlfriend, Alevier.”

“Th-that-” stammered Alevier.

“Yes, our dear guest is a horrific, monstrous creature… also known as a Nightstalker ”