I've received a message from Near today. I can't wait to open it.

So the letter's finally reached her. She's been telling me about how it should come any day now for the past two weeks. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Near might not write back but I'm glad that she did.

That's great. I hope that it's good news. You should read it now. I write back to Aisha.

Just give me a moment. I'm a little scared to open it.

It'll definitely be good, I can almost guarantee you she was happy to get your mail. Now I'm going to leave, so open that letter and read it. I won't write to you until you do.

I roll up the scroll moving my hands as if I were wringing out a towel. All of the previous writing or messages get erased once it's rolled up, very handy for exchanging information. It'll still glow when a message is sent, even while rolled up. It won't be erased until a person reads it and rolls it up again.

I change out of my uniform, putting on the short sleeved, black shirt first which holds the pull up mask. I switch the comfortable robes for a what's close to a cloak jacket but much more tight and solid than the wavy cloak. I slip my arms through both holes and grab the short strap around my neck and attach it to the button on the opposite left hand side, securing the cloak jacket to my body.

Opening the door, I swiftly check, using my eyes to scan, for signs of any students before I leave. When the coast is clear I pull up the mask which rests on my nose and I teleport away with my ability.

Night has broken and I want to get there quick. Maybe Henry will give me some of that fruit that he had me buy, it's only fair, kind of. I have the bracelet in my pocket, the scroll's also down there and the fruit's in my hands. What a disaster it'll be if I drop it from here. Would it break? It does feel pretty heavy.

Of course, I'm not going to try it out. Henry paid for it after all.

Dropping down onto the ground below I make sure not to drop the fruit. Today, for some reason, the warehouse seems much more ominous than usual. Something about the way that the darkness wraps itself around the building and how well it blends in.

The heavy winds blow past and dark clouds up above gather around it, around the city. If the moon hovered directly above the earth in the sky, not a single ray of its light would be able to pierce through the clouds. The cool air whistles past me restlessly, sending my clothes into a frenzy.

I should get inside, I like it cold but not this much.

"Hey." I say preemptively as I enter the warehouse.

"There you are!" Anne sprints over to me. "Did you get the summoning scroll? He should've had it right?"

I furrow my brow and stare into Anne's face for a moment. "Is he some sort of person working under the Twelve?" when Anne told me to get a summoning scroll I assumed that I could just buy it from anywhere.

"Did I need to buy the scroll from him?" I ask.

Anne sucks in her cheeks like she just suddenly ate something sour. "Y-you didn't buy it from him?"

I guess that I was lucky I bought it from him then. Maybe I should mess with her a little bit.

"Uhhh. You didn't specify. I thought that it'd be okay to just buy one from anybody. W-was the scroll special." I made sure to throw in a little stumble there. I reach into my pocket, and wait for Anne to speak.

Betraying my expectations, Anne lowers her head and sighs. Her hanging lips and half open eyes make me squirm a bit where I stand. I'm glad that I got it from the right place, else I'd be feeling really bad right now. Though, I do feel bad for messing with her.

Henry walks out from behind a group of barrels. Spotting me he waves and jogs over with light steps.

"Thanks for getting them for me." he says as he lifts the fruit with both hands. "Where's the bracelet?"

I slide my hand down my pocket and grab both the bracelet and scroll.

"Here." I say handing it over to Henry first.

His grin widens upon receiving it. He sets the fruit down and turns the bracelet at every angle possible, inspecting it as if he were an appraiser. After a few seconds he lets it rest on the palm of his hand and slowly shades it from the light with his fingers.

"Here Anne." I casually hand over the scroll.

She lifts her head weakly, "I-it's okay if you have it..." she says.

"Ahaha. Remember what I said about just randomly getting the scroll from someone else? Yeah well I did, and it turned out to be the guy Henry sent me to so we're good. Right?"

Her once sad demeanor dies instantly and she snatches the scroll from my hands. "Thanks!" falling to her knees she rolls it out on the ground. Holding and patting down the sides, Anne waits for several minutes. After she's sure that it won't roll up again she places her hand over the circle drawn in the middle.

As I study it closer, the once plain scroll looks more magnificent. The circle in the middle, drawn with black ink, intricately made with many strokes of the brush is perfectly symmetrical. I've seen summoning scrolls before but none like this, if this were torn and thrown into a mix of others, randomly bought throughout the city, there would only be one side that could complete the picture.

The only way I could believe someone of being able to make a scroll like this would be if they had an ability. Even if the symbols and the circle itself were guided by a template or outline, It'd still take great skill and care. Maybe it's easier for those out there. I myself don't have very good handwriting and could never do this so I can't be speaking for everybody.

I shake my head and turn to Henry while Anne continues to concentrate.

"Where's Carlyle and the rest. Are those three still on a mission?" I take another glance around the room. Though the place is usually silent, it's eerily so today.

"Yeah, they won't be back until tomorrow. Carlyle and Francis are in the back, Allan isn't here today either, something about managing his pet treant and garden."

I blow air out of my nose, "Pet treant? Where can you get those? Don't they grow pretty big?" Treant Park has lots of young treants but I don't know how they keep them like that for so long. I know that treants take a while to grow but those baby treants were still large enough to be mistaken for small trees.

"A special kind. Apparently his kid wanted one so he traveled to the southern continent to get one." Henry nods approvingly. "He's a good dad, or at least one that cares."

I think back on all the places I've been with my master, they were all on this continent. From martial art temples, which I didn't get to stay at for more than a day, to abandoned mines, I don't think that our distance traveled can match how far it takes to get to the southern continent.

"Didn't that take a long time?" I ask.

"Nope. Only if you count a month as a long time when traveling to another land mass, then yes, it was a long time." Henry points over to the scroll. "Allan used a teleportation portal. They were made back when the Navacks attacked so the races could escape to other continents. Not many remain now as most were destroyed. Using them requires for one to get a special kind of permit to pass through. The gatekeepers aren't very friendly."

"Gatekeepers?"

"Golems. They were created by magicians back then to guard the portals. Seeing as how many of them are left, they weren't very effective against the Navacks. Still, I'd advise not getting into a fight with one." Henry turns his head towards the incoming footsteps.

"Hello Rainen, glad that you're here. Shall we start the linking?" Francis stands tall with his back straight. He's a very well mannered guy compared to everyone else here.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Francis leans to the side, "Anne. Are you ready?"

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Anne coughs while pointing to the scroll. "I'm a little busy right now so why don't you start with Henry hmm?"

Gee, she sounds a little annoyed. I can't say she looks unhappy right now, it's much closer to someone who's in the middle of their work not wanting to be disturbed. I can understand, I used to be bothered by a friend of mine while I was training. It's different to this situation but I wish I spent more time with him.

"Something wrong Thirteenth?" Henry asks leaning forward to stare at me. "You seemed a bit sad for a moment there."

"O-oh. Aha. I was just thinking about a time where my master denied me a day of rest because I couldn't fit my fist into my mouth." I rub the back of my neck.

He rubs his chin, "That's an... odd thought." Henry throws the bracelet into the air and pulls out his pants pocket. As if it were practiced, a routine, it falls perfectly in. "Let's start." he says giving his hand to Francis.

"Ahem. The Thirteenth first." Francis says,

"Just a little eager. Come on Thirteenth, don't be shy now."

I allow him free reign over my left hand and after he finishes he moves on to Henry. I watch Anne closely as she continues pouring mana into the scroll. Just how much can it eat up? From what I understand, it's like a bottomless pit, something that can't ever be filled.

The light from her hand changes from blue to yellow. I crouch down for a better view. What kind of spirit or animal is she summoning? My summoning didn't involve any yellow light. A single, lonesome, bead of sweat trails down the side of Anne's face. She gulps and closes her eyes. What kind of animal is she imagining right now? What kind of attributes does she want it to have?

Suddenly, the light fades and Anne slumps her shoulders taking in heavy breaths. She looks up and around almost frantically. An absent minded look in her eyes.

"Um Anne?" I say. "Are you okay? Did you make sure that you weren't contracted with any spirits or have any other summoned pets before you tried this?" Miss Ein only said that it applied to spirits but she didn't necessarily rule out that it couldn't apply to summoned animals.

"I-I, I uh, was trying to summon a... thunder beast." she turns away her head, maybe in shame.

"You mean Bes." Henry says coolly. "Were you imagining Bes?"

Anne takes a deep breath, "Yeah." she runs her fingers over the scroll. "I waited a long time for the merchant to get a scroll on this level."

"It can still work Anne." Francis says after studying it.

"I know it can. I'm a summoner after all." she gazes back at it. "It's just that, that, that it won't be able to summon a thunder beast now. Too much power's been used already to try to summon one."

"You don't need a thunder beast Anne." Henry says. "There are other good summoned animals out there."

"I-"

"Anne." Henry says firmly. "When Rai- the Thirteenth came to you and tried to help you. What happened? You ended up hitting him and knocking him down. He was okay with it because he thought that it would help you. The next day you seemed just fine. And I can promise you that he was glad with the choice he made."

"Henry I-"

Henry cuts me off.

"Hold on." he puts his hand up. "Anne. When you told him that you were okay. I hope that you weren't just lying to him."

Anne chokes out her next words, "I-I wasn't. I, I really felt better after that night. It's just, just that I couldn't live my life normally after Bes died. That's why I started working." she picks up the scroll. "Today, when I got the scroll, I was one hundred percent planning on summoning another pet without thinking of Bes. But I just couldn't."

"Anne." Henry says. "We are here for you. Sure, we're not a family or anything but we're a group right? Each of us have our own problems, don't be afraid to share what you can't handle alone. We're here for you."

Those words, they sound vaguely familiar.

Anne wipes away the tears that started to form around her eyes. "Y-yeah." she says while standing up. "Francis, I'm ready."

"Here I go Anne."

What do you think? Pretty good speech huh?

I look over to Henry and can't help but smile a little. I nod.

Although it was a speech, I meant every word I said. You shouldn't be hiding anything that you can't bear by yourself either.

This time, I nod annoyed.

Having a conversation?

Henry's eyes flare up in alarm when I turn to look at Anne.

Don't give me away!

I shake my head to answer Anne's question.

*BOOM*

"What was that?" Francis asks shaking a bit. "An explosion?"

"Either it's really small or really far away." Anne says running outside.

Running comes from further back in the warehouse. The loud sound of a book being dropped and the quick pitter pattering tells me it's Carlyle.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"An explosion from the north." Henry says. He followed Anne outside. "I think that it came from the academy."

"Is there any smoke?" Francis asks.

"Nothing so far." Anne says. "Even if there were, it would blend in with the clouds."

"Alright! Everyone disperse!" Carlyle shouts. "Henry! You head to the slums where the warehouse is, check to see if anything there is missing or any activity is going on. Anne. You'll head to the barracks and gather the guards, send most of them to the academy."

"What about us?" Francis asks. "What will we do."

"Francis and Thirteenth, you'll both stay here and act as back up to anyone who needs it." Carlyle crouches down preparing to jump. "That's all!"

-----------

As the three left the room, Rainen and Francis were left behind to provide necessary support. Rainen, a bit impatient, paced back and forth around the room.

"Hey." Francis said after watching him for a while. "Why don't you sit down and relax. It's not good to be so anxious before a battle."

Right as Rainen was about to say something, the two heard the barrels from further back in the warehouse break open. From one of them, a red haired girl stepped out and stretched her arms.

With a yawn, she said, "Hahaha. He's right, why don't you give your muscles a little time to relax. Ooof. Who knew that stuffing ourselves into the barrels would actually work?" she opened her mouth and yawned. "I'm pooped. Why'd you have to put a spell on me?"

A tall man with one wing stepped out of another barrel and stood next to her. He too stretched, but as he did so, both the eyes of Francis and Rainen focused on the wing. White like the snow, as long as a griffin's, the majestic wing, which was usually hidden from sight, captivated both of them in wonder.

The man standing in front of them was an angel.

He looked at Maria annoyed, "Because you wouldn't shut up. If it had been a moment later then we might have been found out. That leader of theirs is quite annoying, coming to check the warehouse every few hours."

"Sorry about that Telian. But I bet your wing didn't like being stuck in there either."

Francis stood up and shot out a fireball.

"Don't!" Rainen screamed out, but it was already too late.

Maria opened her mouth and swallowed the spell. A smile spread on her lips.

"My my. I hope that you've gotten stronger in the last few months black clothed man, or should I call you the vigilante? Anyways, I've gotten stronger."

Maria took in a deep breath. In the next moment, the area in front of her was covered in flames.