Pantheon of the Great Lord of Time (12.10.9973 AS)

“Are you sure, it is ok to let the boy be? Won’t we sooner or later run into problems if you don’t guide him properly?” Aetas looked puzzled. “You said you would guide her. Why only her? What is she lacking in comparison to him?” Bella’s alluring smile, made Aetas heart skip beats. “You see: I assumed you wouldn’t be happy if I took care of a young boy leaving you my old husband here all alone.” Bella replied with a teasing tone while petting the blonde head on her lap.

“I’m not old!” Bella said, mimicking Aetas voice. “I don’t know you are the one who is supposed to be the smartest being in the universe! You should know the answer already! I’m the one who is supposed to look sexy and cute by your side.” Bella winked at him in such a seductive manner making Aetas mind going almost completely blank. He tried to resist her charms. But he couldn’t.

Aetas straightened his back. He knew if he gave in to her charms, she would take complete control of their relationship. “Quit, trying to use your powers on me and tell why her and not him?” Aetas said with a sharp tone, trying to act as if he was unaffected by her charms. ‘How cute! He is trying to act tough and pretend he isn’t affected by my charms!  That’s... so… so sexy! He just earned himself, something really good. If only this brat wasn’t here.’ Bella licked her red, full lips.

“Fine, I will tell you why I will have to actively guide her and why there is no need in guiding him. He has his passive. So if he follows his passive, he will be fine. Also, his circumstances are… How should I put them… sad?

Deep down, he is plagued by doubts. He thinks he is alone. He fears his parents abandoned him because they hate him and not because of ‘them’. He fears that the person, who looks after him does it only for the money. Therefore, he works hard and is willing to do everything to become the strongest. To be accepted by the ones who rejected him.” Bella stopped petting the head on her lap.

“Meanwhile, she is loved by her family and treated by everybody as a prodigy. Everything she touches is celebrated by the ones she loves. She has never felt loneliness. She never had the need to give her best. Everything she needs is provided to her by her doting parents. She doesn’t even know how the world around her works.

Of course she has started to turn into a spoiled brat. She has started to take everything for granted. And She doesn’t have a passive hat tells her what to do, therefore she needs guidance. She needs someone to educate her. She needs my guidance. Does that answer your question darling?” Aetas nodded.

Bella had a sadistic smile on her face while pulling on the blonde hair of the girl on her lap. Suddenly, the head jerked around. And two big blue eyes started staring at Bella.

“Do you know who I am?” Bella suppressed her laughter. Bella had not expected her to ask that question, but rather a ‘Where am I?’ or a ‘Who are you?’. Bella gave Aetas an ‘I told you so’ look. “No, who are you little girl?” The girls face turned red from anger as she realized the other party wasn’t taking her seriously. “I’m the ‘Golden Princess’! Do you what will happen to you, when daddy finds out I’m gone?!” The girl shouted.

“AHAHahahhaha” Bella couldn’t suppress her laughter anymore. “Okay, ‘Golden Princess’ was it? I’m Bella the Queen of all Gods! And you will shut up for now and hear what I have to say!” Bella’s tone had changed completely, as she stared at the trembling ‘Golden Princes’, who had gone completely silent.

Nocturnio (12.10.9973 AS)

The café ‘Mitternacht’ was located two hundred meters from the main entrance of the Guardian Academy. The café was situated in the ground floor of a four story building in gothic style. The Guardian Academy was located in the historic district of Nocturnio. Therefore, all the buildings in the immediate vicinity of the academy were old. And the architecture in this district resembled Obscurati with the many gothic buildings.

Many students visited the café regularly. Not only because it was close to the academy, but also because its chocolate cake. ‘Mitternacht’ had opened only a few months ago, but its chocolate cake was already seen as a delicacy by the students and teachers of the academy.

Four students were sitting in ‘Mitternacht’ and waiting for their orders to arrive. “You know I can’t believe they actually let us go home early!” Seria complained. “Yeah, I was so looking forward to today’s lesson.” Richard added. “I know, right? Our teacher is so incompetent. She should have brought that loser to the nurse’s office and should have continued with the practical class.” As usual the one with the harshest remarks was Annemarie.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A young girl, probably a college student from the Academy working as a part timer, brought them their orders. As she was serving them, Leo saw how a teacher from the academy entered the kitchen area. Leo paid it no heed. His full attention was now on the caramel parfait he had ordered. Richard, Seria and Annemarie, had each ordered a cup of black coffee and a piece of the famous chocolate cake.

“I still don’t get why they allowed those two into the academy. Not only are they too young.” Annemarie looked around cautiously and lowered her voice, so only people at their table could hear. “They are both ‘Passiveless’!” Leo almost chocked on his parfait. ‘Passiveless’ was a swear word to address Elders. One could get in a lot of trouble for speaking this word out. “I really don’t get why that guy tries to hide his real heritage!” Richard said while Seria nodded.

The four of them had come up the conclusion Tristan was also an Elder. There was no way a Demon wouldn’t have the passive of one of the three clans. Seria had even gone so far as to ask her father if he ever heard of a Demon with a passive other than the three Dark magic types. Her father had told her that was impossible.

“It’s not like we wouldn’t notice he is one of them. What a loser.” Seria continued. “Yeah, but what pisses off the most is: How that incompetent whore treats them like they are something special.” – “That is something we can’t change, the school has to look after the ‘Passiveless’ so they feel more comfortable in our realm, but still…” Annemarie answered Richard’s hateful comment.

Leo, who had been enjoying his parfait saw how a silver haired woman hurried out behind the teacher, who had just entered the kitchen area.

Annemarie sighed. “The most important question is, how were they allowed to enter our school! They are still too young! It is obvious they can’t keep up with us and that things like today might happen. In the end, we are the losers, since we don’t get to use our practice time at school.” –“You are right! We are the ones to suffer because those babies are in our class!” Richard agreed with Annemarie sentiments. “Yeah, people who are that young, should stay at home and not come to school and mess with our practice time!” Seria added.

"I thinkwe should teach them a lesson!” Annemarie decided. “Yeah, you are right” the twins agreed. Their gazes wandered towards Leo, who didn’t voice his opinion on the matter yet. A few seconds passed before he realized he was being watched by the others. “… Erm… I think so too…” Leo stuttered only for him to hear.

“Very well, how should we go about it?” Annemarie asked with a vicious smile.

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Tristan was lying on a bed in the nurse’s office. The healer working school nurse had already examined his body. Miss Doctri and Laura were watching the nurse manufacturing a pill for Tristan. Both of them had an uneasy expression on their faces. “And you really can’t tell us what’s wrong with him?” Miss Doctri asked. “I told you already he is fine. I’m sorry Lina, I really can’t tell you more since you aren’t his guardian.” The nurse stepped out of the room with test tubes in her hands.

A few minutes later a silver haired woman entered the room. “Where is he?” she asked with a hysterical voice. All she had been told while working at her café was that Tristan had collapsed during class and was now being treated by the school nurse.

“Nana!” Laura called out. “He is here. The nurse said he is fine.” Nana walked towards the boy and sat down next to him. “I assume you are his guardian?” the nurse asked as she walked into the room with a pill in her hand. Nana nodded.

The nurse looked towards Tristan and smiled. “He is fine. He is healthy. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a little bit of sleep and these pills.” – “If he is healthy, why has he to take those pills?” Nana asked. “Well, you see his body is changing. He is going through his ‘Demonification’.” –“How? He is too young to go through his ‘Demonification’ right now!” Miss Doctri who had been listening to Nana’s and the nurse’s conversation butted in.

She was right. The ‘Demonification’ was the process young Demons had to go through during puppetry. Better said, when they had reached a certain level of control over their mana. During the ‘Demonification’ their bodies would grow bat-like wings and tails. Untrained Demons would reach their ‘Demonification’ at their thirtieth birthday. Since most of the school had mana training in their curriculum, most of the young Demons went through their ‘Demonifiaction’ between their fourteenth and sixteenth birthdays.

“I know I have never heard of someone so young going through the ‘Demonification’. It is no wonder he collapsed. The ‘Demonification’ is a real painful process and a young, frail body like his probably couldn’t bear it. That is why I have prepared these two pills for him. One is for now to speed up the process. The other is for after the ‘Demonification’ to hide his wings and tail.”

It is not like Demons hated their Demonic appearances, they simply thought of them as impractical. For their big bat-like wings, they would need to build wider doors and would need more space in general in their homes to walk around without bumping into things. And space was something they did lack. So they couldn’t make their houses just bigger. And their long tails were very sensitive. In fact, so sensitive, they were considered one of the most erogenous zones in the Demon body. Hence it was common in Demon society to hide them with the help of magic.

“He should stay in bed till the process of the ‘Demonification’ is over. With the acceleration pill, it shouldn’t take more than two days. This means he should be able to visit the school next Monday as usual.” Nana nodded to the words of the nurse.