In a small village, colorful lights lined the roofs of buildings. The general atmosphere was that of cheer and happiness. “What's all of this celebration for?” I asked Ariel, we were both walking through the town. It was a few weeks after our first meeting. She was currently showing me through the town near the academy, and helping me get prepared for the classes that would be starting soon. “Christmas is coming up, do you not remember what it is?” I shook my head, it sounded familiar, but nothing came to mind. “I honestly don't know how it started, but once a year we celebrate. It's coming up so people are getting ready for it.” She explained.
After a few moments of walking in silence, we reached a building. “What exactly are we doing out here?” I asked, the cold was starting to get to me, I would've rather been inside. “You need to get some supplies for the upcoming semester, and since you have no money, the school gave me some to use for you.” She answered. “Ah.” We entered the building in front of us. The walls of the interior were filled with various different types of weapons. Swords, maces, axes, even a great hammer. I could tell what they all were even if I didn't remember where I had learned the information. On stands were types of armor. The selection of armor was much lower than the weapons. It seemed weird to me. There weren't even any shields. Not a single one. I ignored the strange feeling. We were in a remote village, so the supplies could just be low, or hard to obtain.
“What are we getting here?”
“You'll need your own personal weapon. For now, we're just going to grab a sword and dagger.” She answered. She was obviously excited to be out of the school and shopping.
I watched her as she picked out two decent blades. I was grateful to her, I was told by one of the teachers I had met that she was the one to find and save me. I was lucky, apparently the layout of the labyrinth changes, and they just barely got me out. “Thank you” I said as she handed me the two weapons. She just gave me a smile as a response. Once we left the blacksmith, we walked to the market stalls. Browsing from books, potions, and other miscellaneous items.
We ended up grabbing a few healing potions, books about magic and monsters, and a few other things. Ariel saw some street food and decided to get some, “For you, you look hungry,” but I could tell she just wanted some for herself. I could see her wiping away drool.
As we walked past a run-down stall, something caught my eye. A black sword. The entire blade was a deep black. I could tell it was old, as there were a few rusty spots close to the bottom of the blade, but I was just drawn to it. “Do you want that?” Ariel asked, but I rejected the idea. I didn't need it, and having her pay for it would make me feel bad. We walked away.
“Before we leave, we need to do one more thing.” We walked up to a large building. It wasn’t as big as the academy, but it was still rather large. We walked into the lobby, and were greeted by a lady in a suit. “Are you here for the spell books?” She asked Ariel. “Yes,” She said, “The ones on black magic.” The lady handed Ariel a few books and we left. “What are those for?” I asked curiously, looking at the books she held. “They’re for you.” she said, handing me the books. “When I first found you, we tested your aptitude for magic, it was black magic.” I took the books and looked at the label. “Basic Black Magic. VOL. 1.”
“Thank you.” I said. I was excited to start learning magic. I had seen many people use it since I got out of the Labyrinth. We started walking the path back to the mountain that the academy was atop. Roughly half the way to the mountain, me and Ariel noticed a commotion ahead of us. I saw a girl in a white, either large shirt, or gown. It was very dirty, and seemed to be the only thing she was wearing, other than a chain around her neck. The weirdest thing to me, was the two animal ears on her head, and the fluffy tail. She was running straight for us, closely followed by a large man in a black robe. His face was covered by the hood.
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Once the girl reached us, she hid behind Ariel, who covered her with her arm. “It’s a slaver. Since slavery is illegal, we need to inform the guards.” She let me know. “You head back to the town, and I’ll keep him here.” I nodded, and turned to run. When I looked behind me, I was greeted with another man in a robe. This one was much shorter, but he gave me more chills. “We can’t have either of you leave.” He said as I pulled my new sword, and got ready for a fight.
“🝲🝝🝘🝖.” Ariel said something I didn’t understand, and then a bow made of yellow light appeared in her hand. “Bless.” I understood this word as bless for some reason, after she said it, I could feel more energy in my body. I felt stronger, faster. The man ahead of me just laughed when he realized what we were doing. “Hey, I think I should warn you.” The ghost, who had been unusually quiet recently, spoke. “Fighting that guy with no mana is practically impossible.” She was very matter of fact, “What do you suggest?” I asked. “Let me give you a mana body, it’ll let you use magic. However, there will be some side effects.” She suddenly became vague. “What kind?” I asked. “Since it’s demonic mana, it’ll be very hard for you, who has never used magic, to control.”
“If it’ll let me win, do it.” I said. I just wanted to keep the two people behind me safe. “Okay.” She said, “I’ll start.” I suddenly felt an energy flow through my body. It was warm, very warm. Almost too warm, but it was just cool enough. Everything was fine, until the warmth was replaced with pain. Sharp, sharp pain. “That’s weird, let me try harder.?” The ghost mumbled. The pain increased. It almost got unbearable, but the ghost stopped. “I’ll have to do something else. You're probably only going to be able to use this once or twice before passing out.” The pain subsided, and I felt something coil around my heart. It felt very strange. “There.” She said, which made me immediately open the book I had just gotten. After skipping past the introduction and useless stuff, I read:
Blindness - Using dark magic, the user temporarily blocks the connection of the eyes to the brain. The chant is “§Ö▌Þµ ╢ÿφ§¤.” This stands for blindness in the dragon's tongue.
I had no idea how to say that. Not wanting to give up, I pointed my sword at the man, who had yet to move. Probably waiting for me to make the first move. I shouted. “Blindness!” I felt the energy in me leave in heaps. I definitely wouldn’t be able to do that again. I rushed at the man ahead of me, pointing my sword at his neck. “Damnit!” The man yelled, holding his face. “What? Is a kid's blindness spell too much for you?” The larger man said while blocking Ariel's light arrows. “No, it was just stronger than expected.” He said, suddenly regaining his vision. “🜥🜧🜹🜸🝄.” He chanted, and I immediately stopped moving. I couldn’t move anything. The book in my hand fell to the ground and opened, I chanted the first word I saw. “Madness!”
Everyone around me stopped moving and looked my way, even the little girl. The man in front of me stopped walking towards me and fell to the ground. “You bastard!” The larger man immediately ran past Ariel and charged me. I was able to move again, but the energy that immediately vanished caused me to fall to the ground. I was fighting sleep, the ghost was right, once or twice before I passed out. I was able to stay awake, but I was functionally useless. As I was on the ground I noticed the smaller man's eyes were fully white, and his mouth was foaming. He grabbed a knife out of his robe while shaking, aiming it at his throat. The large man quickly ran past me and stopped the man from killing himself. He picked him up and ran off with him, vanishing into the forest.
Since they were gone, I started calming down and threw up. “What did you do?” Ariel asked, she had a concerned expression. “I just chanted something from this book.” I said, picking up the book as I stood up. “Why? What’s wrong?” She looked a little more concerned, and answered. “That spell is forbidden, because it’s deemed too inhumane.” I heard the ghost chuckle as I panicked. “Am I going to prison?” I quickly asked. She was quiet for a while, until she said, “I won’t say anything, and I doubt the slavers will, so no, you won't.”