"Keep on breathing, keep on breathing." Cormac was rocking himself back and forth while holding his knees. Looking straight at Norman's body, which now lied in a still growing pool of blood.

Cormac started exhaling and he continue on with just that. Even when he felt pressure in his cheeks and the emptiness of his lungs, he couldn’t inhale. He just watched the body of the Master.

"Breathe in." said Aviana with a raspy voice, her throat still hurting.

"I killed him. Ha ha. I killed him." Even Cormac heard the crazed tone of his voice.

"He would have killed us if you didn’t." She said, caressing Cormac's cheek with her hand to calm him down. When that didn’t work, she averted his gaze from the bloody body to her eyes. "He would have killed me if you didn’t stop him. Thank you."

Cormac took his first normal breath at that. Looking into her eyes calmed him down, enough to start breathing normally.

"Yeah…he would…yeah." Cormac stood up and closed his eyes for a little bit. Focusing on exhaling and inhaling. When he decided he meditated enough he opened them again.

Aviana was looking over the teacher's body, looking for something. Based on her dissatisfied grunt, she didn’t find it.

"Why was he trying to hurt you?" she asked Cormac.

"I have no idea. He just called me a lowly ruler and started swinging." He said. Now when he calmed down somewhat, he asked that question himself. Surely it wasn’t enough that he was a bad student. Right?

"This is bad, we need to report it to uncle…hm, to the principal. He need to know that this happened."

"Won't that get us to trouble?"

"And what do you suggest? That we just Ignore the body and leave it here to rot? This might be a place where not many people go to, but they will find him. By the smell if nothing else."

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK." Cormac kicked into the buckets around. "FUCK!"

"Calm the fuck down! Do you want to attract others here right now?" she gestured aggressively with her hands.

"Yeah sorry. You are right. We should report this right away. Come clean about everything." he reflected the gestures, though his were the embodiment of chaos. "There was this weird guy too, but he disappeared begore Norman…" Cormac gulped. "Before master Norman came running."

"Who was he?"

"I don’t know."

"Then we have to run! What if he misunderstood the situation!"

"No, he actually warned me about Norman."

"He did what?!" Now it was Aviana's turn to shout.

"He said that someone will try to kill me."

"How did he know?"

"Couldn’t say." he replied weakly.

Aviana just opened her eyes wide at him, her mouth open. She tried to think of something to say, but just opted to kick the buckets too. Now she focused on her breathing, calming enough to think over things clearly.

"Ok," she started. "I will go ahead to the principal and bring him here. You will stay in case someone comes here and you'll have to explain what happened."

"O-okay." Cormac nodded.

Aviana nodded vehemently back at him, before setting off to the office.

She walked like her limbs were made out of wood. Her muscles spasmed in the stress and she gone through little panic episodes every dozen steps, but she had to get there, lest she get Cormac in even more trouble. That boy really is a bad luck charm. She cursed at herself for her intrigue and promised herself a life of celibacy and indifference to all. She would buy a small shack in nowhere and live there. Tending to the garden and thinking only about weather.

She was so lost in everything that was happening, that she strongly bumped into someone. A different boy from her class, the giant one.

"Oh, sorry my ba…" he said, when he turned around and saw her, his eyes widened. "Are you ok?"

"Yes! Completely fine. Just a little tired." she lied quickly.

"You have a bruise all over your neck and your clothes are covered in blood!" The gentle giant yelled back at her. Holding both her shoulders gently. "You must still be in shock. Something happened. We have to go to the infirmary. HELP! HELP!" he started shouting, while he tried to pick her up.

She fought him off, escaping his arms and gesturing him to stop.

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"No, you have it all wrong. Really it's not that big a deal." she said. Then she noticed the boy's eyes quickly dart off to the side, as Cormac, covered head to toe in blood, ran to them.

"I heard someone yelling, so I ran…Carl?"

The giant boy rushed off, straight at Cormac.

Cormac still in a state of utter stress like never before, felt the sense of danger clearer than ever before. He quickly jumped to the side, dodging the other boy's charge. The giant ran past him, slowing down. When he realized he didn’t get his target, he quickly turned again to Cormac, who was forced to utilize the step techniques that were drilled into him from his birth for the second time today. Again he was narrowly escaping the now hulking mass of muscle trying to pound him into a slab of meat.

He dodged beneath on of the arms again, jumped over the other and darted off through the hallway, back to where Norman's body was. Carl followed suit, growling and shouting obscenities all the way.

Aviana watched the whole thing dumbfounded. Everything today escalated incredibly quickly and she had no idea what to make of it.

Then the panicked yells for help from the boy registered and she made a decision. She ran back to the scene, as quickly as she could.

"What the fuck is going on!" yelled Cormac mid-run. With a flash behind him, Cormac could see Carl's face twist into that of pure rage. The same kind that Norman wore just a few moments ago.

He could see the dead end coming soon, so he had to come up with a plan. He spared with Carl numerous times and always knew that the guy was holding his punches. If he really wanted, he could squeeze Cormac's innards out of him and he seemed pretty resolute in that in the moment.

"Why does everybody try to kill me!" yelled Cormac in frustration. He stopped before his late master's body and turned around. Carl was coming closer, sprinting at his full speed through the hallway. His shoulders almost brushing against both sides. Cormac got an idea, but he really didn’t like it.

Carl was coming closer, just a few more steps and he would be next to Cormac. But the idea really wasn’t great.

Carl was already there, ready to jump at Cormac. But it was the only idea Cormac had.

He jumped at Carl, targeting the giant's legs. The two arms whooshed over him, holding nothing but air.

Cormac's shoulder connected with the muscly arms and even through the pill, pain flared in it.

The giant's footing lost beneath him, while still in full speed. He flew over thee dead body and his head connected with the wall. A loud crack, sounded from the giant and blood started flowing yet again.

Cormac would never guess this, but he had a pile of bodies. He averted his eyes from it, as bile rose in his throat.

He emptied his breakfast on the cold stones.

He heard someone running again and he wiped his mouth quickly and got ready. Expecting yet another contender for his life.

But it was her.

He put his hands down and allowed himself to relax. She was still here. Still a solace in utter chaos. Even in this situation she was helping him.

Aviana was gesturing something at him, but he didn’t really understand. He just appreciated her beauty at the moment. Not just the outside, the inside too. He had gotten only glimpses of it, but it seemed to shine.

She was also yelling something.

"ge! Dodge! DODGE!" the sound was growing stronger as she ran and Cormac finally realized what she was saying. He turned quickly, only to see a fist swinging for his face.

Aviana saw Cormac hit the wall and fall to the ground, unmoving. The giant still kicked at the lying Cormac, the sounds made Aviana ill. She jumped into the air and kicked at the giants head. It connected, blood spraying from a hole in the giants head. But he still stood up from the ground, now glaring at her.

"You, wll t st emea frsh sj meem." he said. His eyes were running to the sides and his head wobbled from side to side. He was running on borrowed time. But so could be the case with the boy now.

He ran off at her, charging with his shoulder. She moved to the side, narrowly escaping the incoming attack. Still in-motion she pushed the giant further with her leg, making him trip on the stones.

He quickly started getting up, but she used the time she was offered. She quickly pulled the dagger out of her teacher's neck and pressed two fingers over Cormac's neck. He had a pulse, he was alive still. But so was the giant.

He was up and on his feet, leaving a pool of blood on the rocks. He wasn’t running anymore, only slowly taking steps towards her, his arms reached out.

She was watching a life-less body move. She easily dodged from the lazily moving arms, she got behind him. And with what she considered to be mercy, she sliced his throat. A loud yell sounded from the hallway again.

The young wizard from their lounge was watching. His eyes moving from one body to another, having a visceral reaction to Cormac's body.

She knew now what would come next, so she prepared herself int a fighting stance, prepared to fight off another attacker if necessary.

The wizard's eyes moved onto her and she saw it. Not the anger and bloodlust, the fear and sadness. The wizard quickly ran off without a word.

Then she realized. She was holding a dagger, covered in blood, standing in the middle of three bodies. Nobody would believe her now. Nobody could really. She couldn’t go to her uncle with this. She couldn’t do anything. She turned back around to check on Cormac, when she realized she saw something.

A big crack over the end wall. She placed her hands against it and with all the strength she had left, she pushed.

The wall crumbled, revealing a dark passage, leading somewhere.

She heard grunts behind her and turned quickly, dagger poised.

Cormac managed to pick himself up from the floor, his body swaying. He was holding his head, his face stuck in an expression of pain.

But Aviana had no time to wait for him to get better. She placed the dagger under her belt and hefted Cormac over her shoulder. Then she stopped at the entrance.

If she did knock him out there, he would seem like another victim. He could stay here, she could have just escaped on her own. She didn’t have to curse him with being a lowlife. She would leave him there, so he could live normally. He gone through enough already.

But in the middle of her decision, Cormac got from under her shoulder. He started walking by himself, into the dark passage ahead. He might have been delirious, confused. Nobody could guarantee that he was in control of what he was doing.

But she took is as his choice.

And selfishly, for the first time ever. She didn’t want to be alone.