POV: Will

Terry was sleeping beside me, contentment and exhaustion evident on her naked body. It's really time for me to sneak out of the girls' dorm before the morning rounds. I pulled away the curtains and momentarily made a gap in my bed-mate's localized wards. Silencing spell, nondescript spell, etc.

To my surprise, her roommate is awake. I felt my heart run cold, not because I just got caught fooling around. It was the look on her face. I felt fear from the indescribable murderousness of her countenance, as if all the malice in the world are weighing on her thin shoulders.

Lisbeth, The Little Countess of Dasom. The school's mentors heap praises on this first year genius but the student body knows what she truly is - a monster. My posse and I prank a lot of people but this one feels like she has eyes on the back of her head. She looks at everyone like they're all beneath her. Sometimes, I would glimpse this look on her face and I always thought that there's something wrong with my head. Then it's gone in the blink of an eye, just like now.

Her face smoothed over into it's usual calm. Pretending that there's nothing going on with me and her roommate - nobles like us had always been liberal when it comes to bedroom matters. She gave me a nod and she briskly went to the washroom. Leaving that illusion of coldness again, and the stone walls of this dormitory seemed a little more sinister.

I can't understand how that nerd, Mike, have the guts to glare at her all the time. Is it because his domesticated sheep-like instincts can't sense the danger from girl?

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Lisbeth

I was too late. I'm supposed to rescue the children. The humans' technology had advanced too much that they have a counter for every trick I had but I persisted and I came this far. Just a little more and I could take them to a relatively safe location, to exile with me.

Really? Do I really have enough magic to transport us all? How about the injured?

Reality struck me hard when I saw the scene that greeted me. I stumbled on what seemed like a laboratory with countless little pale-blue bodies. I felt a spark of consciousness in the middle of the room and found a little kid with her four limbs severed from her body. Her stomach was torn open, surgically clean but it was just left open.

Oh Mother, she's conscious.

Magic is linked to a person's spirit and consciousness so I could sense it with a habitual scan. They might have been experimenting on what suffering could stimulate a reaction, and how they could wield it. There were signs of life in other cages but no... there are no conscious thoughts that echo within the weave of magic. They're reduced to this. Only this child remained. I don't know any healing spells, I don't have any potent potions that could possibly help, and I have lost contact with my allies.

Before I knew it, I knelt beside the table she was on. For the first time in my life I prayed, "Time has passed, the Wheel has turned," I should be allowed this, we should be allowed at least this.

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"...let her come to you and know that she has been b-blessed by your gracious gift of Life." I choked on my words. This little girl had suffered more in this life...

I was crying blood and tears and I wiped them off from my eyes, using them to write a rune on the floor. It's okay, I'll end it now. It's okay. I held her 'hand', or the stub that remained, and comforted us both.

Incinerate.

I woke up in despair and I realized that the nightmare was over. The memories were over. But they were real, I don't even know if time restarted or if this is an alternate timeline. It was real. I trembled and screamed, grateful for the wards surrounding my bed. My restlessness urged me to get out and start my day.

To my surprise, there's someone else beside my roommate in this room. I didn't mean to but my nerves screamed at me to kill, eliminate the threat. I met his eyes and his terrified expression brought me back to reality. Let's pretend no one saw anything.

Later after breakfast, I have Runes with Professor Wolf and I try not to throw up. The Runes subject hasn't changed since ancient times, that it's always passing down the symbols that various noble families had graciously donated to the public. It is the product of research and understanding the ancient Yron Language - a language believed to be a relic from an origin dimension.

Today, we're studying the Runic Symbol for 'Burn'. What I previously used, 'Incinerate', was an improved version. Specially developed for battle instead of cooking stew. I marvel how need inspires innovation. If only we could innovate more before the need arises.

"Ms. Dasom, you look pale today. Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

"No sir," I smiled sweetly, "I was just studying last night." I heard several scoffs in the classroom.

He beamed, "It will get easier, studying Runes actually has a positive effect on a Mage's mind. Class, take note." It's true, although there's currently no conclusive evidence on the matter. If you get on a high enough level that runes are imprinted in your mind, your memory and brain space will get a lot of benefits. It's not easy, as runes have a certain characteristic that they can't be written in most permanent methods and it's obscenely blurry when you first encounter one.

You can write them with water, sand, blood etc. but not with ink. There are special materials that make up scrolls that could hold them, usually as disposable objects. For example, a Mage would imbue his magic on a scroll, to be used by an acolyte. One-use is the limit.

There are secret methods that I know of to carve them on weapons but it requires a monstrous amount of mana. Writing them without intent will cause them to fade. A basic demonstration would require Professor Wolf to set the floor on fire, the water that formed the rune still visible beneath the flames.

The best use for runes is to advance a Mage's Consciousness and by extension, the control over magic. People should really take this class more seriously.

Speaking of archived information. That boy with my roommate, William was it? One of his great, great, great grandparents was a succubus. I should warn her. They can get almost anything pregnant. Anyway,

"Sir, may I? I accidentally discovered something, I hope you won't be too mad..."

"Go ahead, Ms. Dasom!"

I sent additional mana and spiritual force on the Rune, then I added an extra stroke on the character. It's a lower version of incinerate but it still made the fires blaze ever stronger, and although my mana input was minimal, everyone could feel that the duration had been extended. "I practiced on a safe spot and made a mistake," I said guiltily, lying doubly. "then it became this way. Also it naturally imprinted on my head..."

"Marvelous!" This man isn't the type to care for safety. Somewhere in the deepest parts of his desires, he placed Runes over the wellbeing of the brats he's forced to babysit for hours.

I could feel the children's interest rise. Do they also feel the rot in their magic? Do they also crave our connection to Yron and the World's Weave?