Continuation of Arianna's Letter
"…in the end, they never did find this creature. It disappeared just as mysteriously as it appeared. I was brought back to the academy and healed up. A few scars remain to remind me of my first 'solo adventure,' if you can call it that. I'm completely fine now, so don't worry. Later I asked Argus about this creature and what it was doing. Based on what Magnus told us after he at least partially recovered, it was looking for the academy's treasury for some reason. The old man seemed to know what reason this was. He told me there was a powerful artifact in there. Something the king himself ordered him to protect with his life. When I inquired about it, he refused to elaborate further, saying that he had already said too much as it is. I wonder what this artifact the academy is guarding for the king could be.
I was very lucky to escape with my life after facing that thing. It was actually Ralph that was awake that night and saw me flying out of the academy. He woke up Argus and a bunch of teachers, and they followed me. It was not hard to find me when they saw a dragon flying above the ruins of that old castle. I am eternally grateful to him for basically saving my life.
I would not be writing this letter had he not done this. I guess I am no better than you this time around, huh?
This wasn't the end of strange things happening, though. Just the next day, after the creature fled the scene, a student went missing. Her name was Rosie Loveluck and she was a fourteen-year-old girl that just entered the darkness course at the start of this school year. The teachers organized search parties to find her, but so far, all of them have come back empty. I'm also helping, but with each passing day, the hope of finding her is dwindling. I think that snake thing may have taken her as a form of revenge for me foiling its plans. Well, if making me feel guilty about this whole thing was the goal, it definitely succeeded. I feel horrible. This poor girl did nothing wrong and now she may be…I don't even want to think about it.
Magnus will probably never fully recover from being held captive and tortured for more than three months, so he was relieved of his student council duties and I have become the president now. Not really the way I wanted to receive my promotion, but Argus thought it was fitting to give the position to me for my efforts in protecting the academy from this thing and putting my life on the line. He said there might have been a lot more casualties if I hadn't done this and apologized for initially dismissing my worries.
There was another thing about Magnus that puzzled everyone, including Argus himself——his magic was gone! Yes, you read that correctly. When Miss Wormwood examined him, she found no mark of fire on his hand anymore. It was somehow taken from him. Drained completely. He can't even cast a single spell anymore. You can imagine how devastated he is feeling. This ambitious young man has graduated top of his class and trained for years just like us, but he has suddenly lost everything. Nobody has any idea how this is even possible to do, including the headmaster himself. He said no spell exists that could do that.
Didn't you say that jakkal mercenary you partnered up with was stealing magic somehow? With some strange crystals? This may just be what happened to Magnus if you ask me. I will ask Argus about this. Surely this can not be a coincidence. But what are the odds of us both running into someone who is stealing magic from people? Do you think these people are connected somehow?
Either way, your guy seemed normal enough. He just used darkness magic. But this thing used strange magic I'd never seen before. Based on my description of it, Argus seems to think this is some form of pure magic. What it was doing with it looked eerily similar to what you described your fairy friend doing, however. But using pure magic to this extent was deemed impossible. In the end, more new questions popped up than were answered regarding this whole incident, really. And since the creature escaped, we might never truly find out what was actually going on here.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The headmaster warned everyone that it might come back to finish the job. So security is at an all-time high at the academy right now. Don't be surprised if they search you when you eventually come back.
By the way, when are you actually planning to come back? It will be three years since we graduated in a few months and two years since we last saw each other a bit after that. I could really use a friend right now. These recent events have taken a toll on me, I think, and I feel like I am constantly on my toes and suspicious of others. Magnus was the closest thing to a friend I had, and ever since he started acting strange and then turned out to be replaced with whatever this thing was, I have had trouble trusting people. You can imagine this doesn't help me in making any new friends. The students in the council are about the only ones I hang out with, honestly, but even then, I couldn't call this friendship. Nobody from my class really stayed here after graduation, so there's that as well. I feel lonely.
Hope to see you soon,
Arianna”
20th of Modayn, 54
“Dear Arianna!
Wooow! I can't believe you are having more fun than I am! I loved your story——well, not the part where you almost died, of course—but the rest of it is really interesting! Also, might I add you tell stories pretty well? You really made me feel like I was there when all of this happened. That is almost how I felt when reading about Thoracc's adventures. Awesome!
I know you don't really like adventures that much, though, so this must have been pretty stressful for you. Take a little break from it all if you need it. I will try to come back as soon as possible, but I can't do that just yet. The ursas will start to wake up now and I need to find the one that killed uncle Grogar and finish it off! I think this is the only way I can really feel closure. Once I do that, I will return. I promise.
I met up with Trix this last full moon and she gave me a book on pure magic! Some of it is written in some strange ancient fairy language, though, so I have to decipher it first to be able to read it. The part that is written in the same language we use talks about how there is a connection between the body and the mind in regard to controlling pure magic. Nothing about how to really build that connection, however. This saddens me a little. But Trix did say that the books she gives me will not show me how to do it, so I guess I shouldn't really be surprised.
What you have described in your story indeed seems an awful lot like what Trix did when she helped me carry uncle's body to his grave. Poor uncle. I still cry sometimes at night when I have a dream about him. But at that time, Trix's body also lit up with sort of a purple magic current, so I think it's safe to assume that this is indeed pure magic that the snake-lady used when fighting you. This also means there must be a way to learn it! I'm so excited! Now we have a mystery we can solve together! I can't wait to tell Trix about this!
By the way, she is a riot. I hope you get to meet her yourself one day. She will definitely make you laugh with her jokes and witty remarks. I love this fairy!
I will keep you posted on my progress in tracking down and killing this ursa major. Oh, also, since I've been doing lots of tasks in preparation, I have risen to rank four as a huntress! Now only uncle Grogar and two other guys named Harold Shimmers and Lance Wardens are in front of me! The hunters also seem to respect me more and more now. I get offered drinks all the time and lots of men want to talk to me, saying things like “I would like a girl like you by my side.” or “You are strong and beautiful, Velvet.”—pretty neat, huh? Some of them even complimented my eyes!
Love,
Velvet”
P.S.
I just want to say again how proud I am to call you my friend. You are amazing, Arianna!”
Thank you for reading this part of the story! I hope you have a wonderful day!
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Did you know? All creatures have pure magic, but it can not be freely used. The bigger the creature, the more pure magic it possesses. That is why ursa majors and dragons are often hunted for purposes of its extraction.