Queen vs. Cafeteria

3

image [https://i.ibb.co/9gP5RS6/toppng-com-line-dividers-png-1000x200.png]

With a soft electronic beep and a steady green light, Eydis bypassed the cafeteria's security system using her stolen key card. The clatter of trays and the boisterous chatter of students were replaced by an haunting stillness, broken only by the faint hum of freezers.

‘Your sleight of hand is as impressive as ever, Your Majesty,’ a voice slithered into Eydis' mind, as welcome as a cockroach in a bowl of cereal. It was Envy.

Eydis raised an eyebrow, the memory of her mother's disappointed face a fleeting visitor. "Years of perfecting the art, snake-eyes. Turns out solitary confinement has its benefits, besides questionable taste in familiars, of course."

Envy bristled, its hiss morphing into a theatrical gasp. ‘Grounded, you say? The mighty Queen reduced to a rebellious teenager? Details, Your Majesty, I simply must devour them!’

Eydis smirked. "Oh, the company I kept! Thankfully, my current companions are a bit more... intellectually stimulating. Unlike some gossipy, forked-tongue creatures I could name."

The serpent recoiled, its venomous hiss replaced by a nervous slither. Clearly, the barb had struck a nerve (or, well, a non-existent nerve, considering it was a magical snake).

Pushing open the creaky oak door to the kitchen, a mix of scents assaulted her - lingering food aromas battling artificial cleaning product fragrance.

But the telltale stench of Gluttony was absent.

"Curious," Eydis muttered. "I could've sworn that Mount-Everest-sized lunch this afternoon was Gluttony's handiwork. Perhaps Birgit was just… unusually thirsty today?"

She strode forward, her eyes scanning every corner, landing on a set of imposing, industrial-grade double doors. With a barely audible incantation, she watched as the doors shuddered and creaked open.

A wave of arctic air slapped Eydis in the face, threatening to turn her into a human popsicle. Before her stretched a sterile room. Its walls, lined with stainless steel shelves, groaned under the weight of a truly obscene amount of food. Mountains of frozen meat, pastries, and vegetables stacked like continents, their surfaces dusted with a glistening frost that shimmered like tiny crystals.

“Most peculiar.” Envy materialised beside her. "No sign of our gluttonous friend."

"Indeed," Eydis sighed, concentrating on picking up any hint of Gluttony's usual presence. For a brief moment, something flickered - a bottomless pit of hunger that scraped against her senses. Then, just like that, it vanished. Gone as fast as it appeared.

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Interesting. Normally, Gluttony's aura was a suffocating blanket of desire, thick enough to choke her. Was she missing something? Had she made a mistake?

Frustrated, she turned to leave, her body protesting the sudden temperature shift. Maybe her brain was fried from too little sleep and too much cafeteria chaos. But giving up wasn't in her vocabulary.

Perhaps, her magic simply wasn't enough.

Locking the cafeteria doors with a click, Eydis set a brisk pace towards the cricket ground. She settled on the damp grass, her mind reaching out in a silent call.

Envy, ever the eager gossip, vanished in a puff of smoke, ready to sniff out any sign of trouble.

Eydis traced lines in the dirt with a twig, subtly altering the intricate sigil. Unlike its usual violet expulsion, it now acted as a dark syphon, drawing the shadows inward. An elegant solution – it concealed her training visually while still cultivating the cursed essence for further mana enhancement. Almost perfect.

The problem, however, was that even this ‘subtle’ training wasn't suitable for indoors. While the untrained eye might mistake her for a late-night philosopher pondering the meaning of lint in a mosquito-infested field.

Astra, equipped with bat-like senses, could detect invisible darkness. Back to the drawing board, then, for a refinement that mirrored the impressive feat of keeping Envy's noxious essence from, well, noxiously escaping.

Closing her eyes, Eydis allowed the dark energy to flow. But as usual, her body rebelled. A violent push and pull thrummed through her veins. It shouldn't be this way. Why? Every being, or so she believed, held the capacity for darkness. Light and dark, two sides of a coin, forever intertwined.

Basic cosmic harmony, right? Apparently, Eydis's borrowed body hadn't gotten the memo. Just what kind of power was hidden in this body?

Light?

But light could be corrupted too, that much she knew. A memory surfaced. A childhood friend, their face obscured by the fog of forgotten years, a victim of her mother's… benevolent guidance.

"Foolish child," her mother's voice echoed. "Why consort with creatures of Light?"

"Because apparently, Mother, eternal joy is frowned upon in this drafty dungeon you call a kingdom," she retorted, an action that earned her a month in a cold, forbidding cell and her friend's... fate, forever a mystery.

Eydis shivered. With her insatiable curiosity, unravelling the truth about her friend should have been child's play. Yet, she held back. Because, deep down, she knew. Not knowing was a fragile comfort.

A lie of a life, an illusion of safety, seemed preferable than confronting sheer emptiness of absolute oblivion.

Pushing aside the unpleasant memory, Eydis concentrated on the present. Honing mana wasn't just about sharpening her senses for dark auras anymore. It was about crafting a more complex trap. And that, she realised, was the key to drawing out the elusive Gluttony.

A mischievous idea sparked in her mind—something most definitely outrageous. Envy, a sentient puff of negativity perpetually swirling around a bad attitude, felt a metaphorical sneeze tickle its nonexistent nose. Before it could wheeze out a protest, two figures materialised in its smoky vision, striding towards the abandoned cricket pitch.

Eydis's golden eyes sprang open as Envy's panicked warning echoed in her mind. The dark aura around her receded like a withdrawing tide. She got up, cloaking herself in the shadows and began to scan the area for the source of Envy's alarm.

In the distance, Astra and Theo moved with a commanding grace. Eydis scowled. Why were these two walking frost factories wasting their time on patrol? Something big was brewing.

With a final glance at the Gifted students, Eydis slipped back into the night, her mind piecing together the puzzle—vanished students, a lurking darkness, and now this cryptic patrol. One way or another, she'd pry the answers loose.

A trip back to her dorm room was necessary.