March 5th, 2018

Pocket Dimension

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

Princess Tower

05:30 AM

 

“Wake up, young mistress.”

Elissa heard the soft and enticing voice of someone in her ear and felt a hand caressing her head.

“Your hair is so smooth, young mistress.” Another voice, this time different from the first said and a set of hands passed in Elissa’s hair slowly stroking her head.

“If you don’t wake up I will kiss you.” the first voice said teasingly.

Elissa felt lips against hers and a tongue invading her mouth, she opened her eyes widely and saw the beautiful face of her demoness familiar. While the demoness deepened the kiss the redhead tried to pry Fenirael away from her but she didn't have enough strength. Feni’s hand slipped under Elissa’s black shirt, stroking her breasts. The demoness lured Elissa’s tongue into her mouth and cooed with delight as the redhead kissed her back, little by little it grew aggressive. Then her mouth slipped away and Elissa pushed Feni out of her bed. There were a loud BUMP and the laugh of the other naked demoness, Reinatiel at her side.

“You could have stopped her,” Elissa told Reinatiel.

The young girl considered Fenirael’s sister the more reasonable one of the two.

“Not at all, Feni is really stubborn as you experienced.” Rei looked at her impishly.

Elissa couldn’t say she did not like that kiss, after all, she had given in to it. But the fact that it wasn’t Dawn doing the kissing weirded her out.

“Hmph.”

“Come, young mistress, it is time to shower.” Fenirael was already at Elissa's side, taking her hand and pulling her out of the bed.

Reinatiel got out of bed and began to take Elissa’s clothes off, the young girl tried to resist but was overpowered.

“Girls, what are you doing? I can clean myself it's not like you are my handmaidens or something.” Elissa protested.

Fenirael and Reinatiel looked at each other, smiled and laughed at the young redhead's ignorance. But they kept their mouths shut, Queen Malicia had been adamant about not revealing Elissa's parentage to her. The punishment for doing so was promised to be horrendous. Elissa's pleading fell on deaf ears as she was unceremoniously carried to the bathroom straight into the shower cabin. Elissa felt the cold water wake her up and the dexterous hands of the demonesses as they carefully cleaned every inch of her body. Despite herself, the redhead felt pleasure at their ministrations but didn’t show it. Once they were done and they left her alone, Elissa brushed her teeth and dried her hair, then put on her sports bra and panties, donned her black under armor leggings and a white hoodie with ‘warrior’ written on it in big bold black letters.

Elissa took her time choosing which sports shoes to put on.

*White or blue and black?*

Reinatiel appeared at her side and took the white ones and put them in her hands, smiled and disappeared. And it was at this moment that the young girl understood that she will never know peace with those two around. Elissa sighed heavily and left her bedroom to take a quick big bowl of milk with her muesli cereals full of nuts and dried fruits. The young girl found her demon familiars already preparing her breakfast for her, she rolled her eyes and put herself before the dinner table.

Dawn appeared in her Pajamas and Elissa’s gaze roamed on her, she liked her bedhead look. The asian girl advanced blearily, she saw the redhead and went toward her, sat at her side and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi.” The asian girl saluted.

She looked and sounded still asleep, the redhead shook the asian girl who looked at her, smiling.

“Good morning,” Elissa answered.

Dawn then heard the noise in the kitchen, wondering what was happening. Then guessed that maybe Elissa was using magic to do breakfast.

“Hum, are you making breakfast?” Dawn asked.

Elissa shook her head and made an awkward face. “Not me, my familiars are.”

Dawn looked at the kitchen door and opened her mage sight, no one was there only floating cooking pans, milk jug, and a bottle of orange juice.

“Elissa there is no one here, but I see kitchen flying implements!” The asian girl said shocked.

*At least now she’s not half asleep anymore.* Elissa thought with mirth.

However something bothered her, how come she couldn’t see her two demonesses?

“Don’t you see them?”

“Nope.” Dawn shook her head.

Elissa realized that Feni and Rei were messing with the perception of everyone who wasn’t her and having fun with it.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, I swear that my familiars are doing the job.” Elissa sighed.

“You have more familiars than the two birds I saw in the exam?” Dawn asked a bit envious.

“Uh-huh, a present from my mother.”

“Dang, you have it all, don’t you?” Dawn was thinking that Elissa got two spirits familiar, she couldn’t guess how wrong she was.

To the asian girl, a bowl full of milk and cereal was placed before her, the same happened to Elissa. Reinatiel put spoons before them and Fenirael placed glasses of fruit juice on the table. The black-clothed demoness winked at Elissa whose face reddened when she thought of the kiss they had exchanged.

“I would gladly give them to you, they are… a handful.” Elissa told Dawn.

The time passed as Elissa ate fast and Dawn consulted her smartphone when she saw a weird post on Facespace as she was about to look at her mom’s profile.

“DRAGON ATTACK IN ITALY!”

“Oh My God! Look at this, Elissa.” Dawn passed her phone to Elissa.

The redhead was about to swallow her food when she began to read the article. The food suddenly got stuck in her throat because of the shock of seeing the article's title. Dawn slapped her back three times to relieve her. Elissa kept her eyes glued to the touchscreen of the phone and read avidly, there was even a video that she watched raptly. Elissa watched as the military in Italy was defeated in minutes by a big golden dragon that she was familiar with and then she remembered that her mother said that she had things to do in Italy. There was another article, showing that the Vatican was attacked by a powered person, the walls of the city-state and several historical sites were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. There were hundreds of wounded and sixty-three casualties. There were also casualties in Rome but surprisingly not a lot, there was that at least.

“Shit.” In the back of her head, Elissa knew that Malicia was behind this. "All I wanted was some pasta..." She lamented.

“What’s wrong, Eli?” Dawn was mystified by her friend’s behavior.

Elissa nailed Dawn with a stare full of anger, sadness and disappointment.

“I know the Dragon.” The redhead finally said.

Dawn flinched back, her eyes opening wide; she put a hand on Elissa’s arm.

“What? How?! Those are super rare you know.”

“This is my Aunt Gadhiss…” Elissa began to say.

---

Elissa was running in the school's gardens, freeing her mind from her problems, worries, and disappointment in her mother’s actions. The redhead told herself that maybe Malicia had a reason to do what she did and that she will be made aware of it later. As she ran, Elissa reached past the garden and onto the white cobbled road leading to the school and decided to continue until she reached the entrance of the pocket realm and loop around the school after that.

The young girl was about to go faster when she caught a sparkle of gold light in the periphery of her field of view which caught her attention. What or it’s better to say ‘who’ she saw in the meadow on her right made her fall on the ground but she caught herself with her hands. Elissa looked once more on her right and the gigantic form of a Dragon laid there on the bed of flowers. The young girl entered the meadow by jumping over the trees and walked towards where the head of the magical being could be found. The Dragoness, Gadhiss opened her lizard eyes peering down at Elissa. The two looked at each other for a long minute before the sibilant and powerful voice of the mother of the dragons echoed.

<I am still waiting for you to greet me, Youngling.>

“Hello, Aunt Ga-”

Sparks of lightning hit the space between Elissa and the Dragoness. Sweat ran down Elissa’s back, she had forgotten how stressful it was to interact with the mother of dragons. Gadhiss was stubborn, haughty, and a bully. But a good person nonetheless, at least that’s what she thought before this morning when she read the articles about her attacking Italy and killing superheroes.

<Speak as I taught you.> The dragoness ordered.

Elissa sighed heavily, circulated her mana in her body and let it invade her brain and permeate her spirit and pushed her thoughts at the dragoness.

<My apologies, aunty Gadhiss. It has been a long time since we saw each other, I had forgotten…> Elissa said with her mind.

<Good, you are finally speaking as a dragon should.>

Elissa remembered about telling the mother of dragons how she wanted to be like her when she grew up and to be able to turn into a dragon to fly in the sky; the redhead was twelve years old and didn’t know better. The dragoness had taken a shine to her and Cassandra and she had even taught her how to talk Draconic with her mind by using mana. The problem was also that she felt too intimidated to defy Gadhiss.

<How have you been, Cassie and I missed you.> The dragoness had lavished the two sisters with attention when they were younger, even letting one of her children take them flying.

<I was tending to my flock until your mother called on me for a favor.> The dragoness replied, closing her eyes she let her long tongue out, trying to smell the scent of the fresh flowers. She felt like waiting for the sun to come out for a good lie in, this was a good spot for it.

<Oh, may I ask what kind of favor it was?> Elissa tried to pry the information out of Gadhiss, she was curious about what her mother was up to.

The dragon's eye opened looking at Elissa who flinched.

<You may not.> The dragoness declared.

<Then can I ask you why you attacked Italy last night?> Elissa stood straight, she looked hard at Gadhiss.

The dragoness looked at the youngling, she was amused by the little girl trying to look menacing. Like a true dragoness would Gadhiss had always smelt dragon blood in Elissa's scent and it could be seen that distantly she had a drake in her family ancestry. That was why she had taken a shine to this youngling. The mother of dragons shrank to her humanoid form and placed herself before Elissa who didn’t even blink, their wills clashed as the two looked each other in the eyes. No one broke or averted their gaze. Gadhiss and Elissa smiled.

<I can answer this, simply put I was flying over that puny city called Rome, astonished by its growth since the last time I saw it and the puny humans attacked me with their toys. I retaliated.> The dragoness finally said.

Indeed, in Malicia's initial plan she was supposed to just distract the city by flying over it and roaring to scare the humans. Who would have thought that the humans would attack first with their ineffective war machine.

<Oh… you didn’t set out to destroy the city?> Elissa was taken aback by her aunt’s answer.

Gadhiss laughed loudly, thunder could be heard from afar when she did. <Why should I care about humans, youngling?> Said the dragoness, mildly amused.

Elissa felt insulted, normally she would never try to defy Gadhiss but she felt offended by what she said.

<But I am human!> Elissa cried.

<No you are not!> The dragoness immediately dismissed. She lost any joyful feeling when the girl she considered a little niece thought of herself like those inferior primates.

Astonished by this revelation, Elissa asked. <Huh? What do you mean.>

She felt human, looked human.

Gadhiss humphed and then looked at her claws. <You are not human I said.>

<Then what...am I?> The redhead voice became subdued.

Elissa didn’t understand where the mother of dragon was coming at.

<Your mother and sister aren’t human either, you don’t smell like one. That is all I will say.> The sibilant voice of Gadhiss echoed with finality.

Elissa knew that her mother had some demon blood in her and some Fae but her father was human and thought that it was just a question about strong genetics. The fact that she didn’t have horns like Cassie and Malicia had always hurt her, she felt different from them. Were they truly… related? Her mother wouldn’t lie to her, she was unable to.

<No, Aunty you can’t just drop a bomb like this and stop talking.> Elissa cried.

<Yes I can, this topic bores me. Bring me to this school your mother is so proud of.> The mother of dragon ordered.

Elissa wanted to protest, but Gadhiss’ stare showed that she didn’t want to answer any more questions. The redhead closed her eyes and calmed down.

<Please follow me.> The redhead said, but still she felt angry at Gadhiss.

She took the dragon by the hand and led her out of the meadow.

---

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

08:00 AM

 

Dawn looked at Elissa who looked pissed, she had never seen such a scowling face on her before. The redhead didn’t look very approachable right now. She had come back into the tower earlier with a beautiful woman with wings who promptly took a room, then emptied the fridge of all the food and promptly went to sleep. The two girls had put their school uniforms on, it looked like the one from Tesla Academy, a white shirt with tie and a black skirt with knee socks, however near the academy's emblem there was a logo consisting of a magical circle with runes inside it; the two girls had chosen to modify their uniforms with their magical accessories and to not wear the shoes matching with the uniform, Elissa had chosen to go with black ankle boots with short heels and Dawn with pink and grey sneakers.

The asian girl took Elissa’s hand in hers, the redhead looked at her and her face reddened but she didn’t take her hand away. Dawn felt satisfied having changed her friend’s mood. They were going to the underground amphitheater to meet the other new students and the teachers. Elissa couldn’t wait to see Malicia as she had a lot of questions to ask her, the sorceress had ignored all the phone calls she made so far. The young girl had become depressed.

A redheaded girl in the same uniform as them with cat ears and tail passed them as she ran like the wind, a tall black-haired young man was running after her, he also wore the school's uniform, white shirt, black tie, and pants but it looked rather tight on him showing off his muscled body. The young man’s voice rang when he couldn’t catch up to the cat-eared girl. “Tabitha! Come back here and give me back my wallet!”

“Catch me if you can, Kester!” The catgirl shouted.

The young man growled and suddenly gained in speed however he still couldn’t catch up to the fast and agile cat girl, as he tried to tackle her she danced away from his powerful arms. Elissa ran after her as she decided to help the guy get his belongings back. The catgirl as fast as she was, couldn’t avoid Elissa at her fastest speed, the redhead caught her by the collar of her shirt. The cat girl made a strangling noise. Elissa caught her arm and Tabitha tried to flee but was firmly caught.

“Who are you? Release me!” The cat girl screamed.

She struggled but Elissa had a death grip on her, but she took care not to hurt her with her superior strength.

“Stealing isn’t good,” Elissa said.

“I caught you, Tabs!” The tall young man said.

The young man named Kester lumbered toward the three girls, huffing and puffing, he was not sweating, however. This showed that he wasn’t quite human, to the girls he looked rather wild. Dawn looked at the catgirl, she was a redhead with catlike blue eyes and tanned skin; she was taller than Dawn by an inch, had big breasts and a toned body. The catgirl showed a lot of teeth and distinctly elongated canine.

“No you didn’t, she did.” The catgirl glared at Elissa who just smiled at her.

Kester looked at Elissa awkwardly and waved briefly at her.“Ah, thanks!”

“We can’t frisk her, Tabitha right? Why don’t you give this guy his wallet and I will treat you to something later?” Elissa said she didn’t want to strip the girl before the young man or something humiliating like that.

“Tssk.” The catgirl’s shoulders slumped and she took the wallet from between her breasts as she showed off her cleavage with her slightly unbuttoned shirt. “Take your wallet, loser wolf.” She threw it in the air and the guy caught it.

“Thanks, stop stealing Tabs, a cute girl like you shouldn’t be doing this.” The tall young man tried to look serious but didn’t manage it well. He tried to pat her head but she batted his hand away with hers and tried to claw his face.

“Shut up! I do what I want!” The cat girl’s face was so red she looked like a tomato.

Dawn and Elissa were giggling when they saw the show those two were putting on.

“Come with us to the amphitheater, I am Dawn by the way, and this is Elissa.”

“I am Anthony Volf Kester, and this is the resident klepto cat, Tabitha.” The young man introduced himself and did the same for the catgirl.

Tabitha hissed. “Fuck you, Kester!”

“It could be arranged, beautiful,” Kester said smoothly.

“Ok, ok calm down and come on you two.”

“Hmph.” The catgirl placed herself between Elissa and Dawn, ignoring the dancing brows of the tall dark haired guy.

The four of them entered the school's hall and were shown the way by a fairy with blue hair and dark blue butterfly wings who floated towards them and bid them to follow her. Elissa didn’t visit the inside of the school and she was struck by the beauty of the craftsmanship inside and it all looked dwarven made! Still, the classic architectural baroque style was the same as the one Elissa saw when she lived in France, a country where she will never place her feet again. The redhead didn’t hate the people but loathed the government after they had tried to kidnap her from her parents. It’s because of them that she still had nightmares after killing all those scientists and security guards.

Anyway they went into an elevator where they met a female goblin with purple skin and pink hair, she wore a brown jacket, red skirt, and yellow top, Elissa recognized her instantly. The elevator lurched downward and the numbers on the electronic screen showed the number of underground levels the school actually had.

“Grandmaster Bridgeburn!” The redhead shouted.

The female goblin looked startled and looked troubled as she seemed to recognize Elissa. “?”

Elissa stood next to the Grandmaster in the elevator’s cage and began to say, “I am one of your greatest fans! My name is Elissa Von-” but she was interrupted.

“Me, know who you are. C’mere give your hand.” The goblina held her clawed hand before her, waiting.

Elissa put her hand palm open in the goblina’s hand, who began smelling it and looking at the calluses on the young girl’s hand.

“Hmm, you do Alchemy too. Good, good.” Histreldia Bridgeburn was an expert and could spot a fellow alchemist.

Elissa smiled, she tried to take her hand back but the goblina had it firmly in her clawed hand.“Hum, can I have my hand back, please.” The redhead asked.

Histreldia looked at the girl with her amber-like eyes, smiled and said,“Oh yes yes, sorry sorry.”

While the elevator kept descending, Dawn was having a heated discussion with Tabitha who smiled slyly at her and looked between her and Elissa. The Asian girl was blushing furiously, meanwhile, Kester kept looking at Tabitha with a lovestruck expression. The catgirl ignored him, preferring not to speak to the loser. The blue-haired Fairy choose to not comment on the behavior of those big humans and huffed on the perch specially made for the little people in the elevator.

“So, how do you know me,” Elissa asked, wanting to know Histreldia more.

“Your matriarch. She speaks a lot about you.” Histreldia said without looking at Elissa. The goblina was writing something in a notebook that she had taken from her brown jacket.

“Ah?” That surprised Elissa.

It got the attention of the others who smelled good gossip and listened with rapt attention.

“Always saying how much trouble you get into, she called you a magnet.” The goblina continued.

Elissa heard the snickers of the rest of her friends around her and her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Finally, the elevator arrived at their destination and she could be spared from further humiliation, Dawn took her hand, and dragged her out of the elevator as the Blue Fairy was already waiting for them in the corridor.

“This is the corridor leading to the amphitheater!” The Fairy turned herself around while flying and then disappeared in a shower of blue sparks.

“Well shit, at least we know Fairies can really become invisible now,” Tabitha grumbled.

“Yeah, and they make good spies…” Informed Kester.

“I already knew this, ok let’s go guys.” Elissa walked away from the elevator.

Histreldia followed them, still writing in her notebook.

---

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

Amphitheater

08:30 AM

 

Malicia looked around in the seats facing her, she was on the stage with the teaching staff behind her, her notes were on the lectern with the magic item that will amplify her voice for all to hear. Unfortunately, there were only eight students for the moment and it didn’t motivate the chairwoman very much to do her speech. The sorceress looked at Elissa who was in the front row with her new friends; the space mage girl who she bunked with, the mystic catgirl Tabitha and the Werewolf boy Kester. Malicia squinted her eyes, by the way Elissa had her hand on Dawn’s they weren’t just... friends. The sorceress smiled wryly, she didn’t expect Daphne’s blood to be this strong and her sexual preferences to be the same as her daughter's.

*Like mother, like daughter.* She had thought that Elissa would be straight, but she seemed to like either sex.

The last four students came in and sat in the front row apart from Elissa’s group. They were the unbound Dryad, Vampire, shadow mage and the enslaved fire mage Wayne Griffins that Malicia had ‘recruited’ through her connections with the small family of mages, the Faes and the Vampire council she serviced with her security ward business. A cone of light came to illuminate Malicia in all her splendor; she wore a black and silver pantsuit with heels, had styled her hair in a tight bun and had spectacles on her nose, a magical item to permit her to see from afar and read at ten times the speed of a normal person.

“Test, test, 1, 2, 3. Ah, it works very well.” Malicia tested the amplifying enchantment.

The sorceress coughed twice and then began to look through her notes and started.

“Greeting, new students! I am Malicia Von Braun-Halliwell, the Chairwoman of this school.” There were only eight students and some low Faes like fairies, pixies, and brownies as the school's personnel who are hearing it.

“I would like to officially welcome you all as new students of this newly established school, the Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art. Your attendance here today is not only the fruit of your own hard work. You're here because of the people who gave you a second chance in life. You're here because of the loving support of your friends and family who want the best for you.”

Malicia glared particularly at the young Vampire, Tabitha the cat girl and the werewolf Volf Kester. They have come here as a charity as they had nowhere to go, the sorceress was their defacto foster mother now. It was a favor asked by two of her clients who now owed her big for this service. Tabitha and Volf averted their gazes from Malicia’s.

“The school has high hopes for you as you go on to shape the future of this country and the world.” Malicia didn’t believe that at least not this world but the one she came from.

“Next, I would like to recognize a few of our distinguished teachers. First, we have the Alchemist Grandmaster Histreldia Bridgeburn.” The cone of light moved from Malicia to focus on the pink haired goblina at the sorceress’ side who waved at the students. “She will be teaching Alchemy to those interested in it, but I must warn you, she’s very strict.” The goblina smiled and then returned to her notebook.

“We also have the Storm Sorceress, Nerine, a mermaid from the Tritonian empire of the Pacific, she’s a good person to work with, you’ll have fun.” The light moved onto Nerine, who was a short woman with blue hair and azure colored eyes, her face was soft and her expression was really playful. She had a lithe body and looked used to always being on the move. She was after all a mermaid and the students were only seeing her human form. The mermaid’s gaze focuses entirely on Elissa and no one else. The redhead bristled under the attention.

“Also in attendance, we have Yastan Forgemaster a blacksmith of the Forgemaster Clan and one of the esteemed contributors who built this school.” A strong bodied and muscled dwarf-like man with long brown hair and dark eyes advanced and the light shone upon him, he began to take a pose and show off his muscles. Malicia rolled her eyes and focused on her speech. “He will be teaching Blacksmithing to those who want to know how to make their own weapons. He is a really dedicated teacher, show him respect and he will help you to the best of his abilities.”

“There are other teachers who couldn’t come today but will be here tomorrow. You’ll get to know them soon enough. On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Academy, I would like to extend a very warm welcome, and thank you for joining us on this special day.” Malicia said.

Dawn began to clap and the others followed suit, but Elissa didn’t. Malicia was worried when she saw her daughter's scowling face, who was glaring at her.

“Hum, thank you. In pursuing a meaningful school life, I would like to make three important suggestions.” Malicia avoided Elissa's gaze and continued.

“The first is to build up your physical and mental strength. You’ll be able to go train with the mystical combat teacher, do your best. Your body is still in the process of growing. Please live a healthy school life with a balanced routine of meals, sleep, and exercise. Involve yourself in athletic activities, cherish friendships, and learn sportsmanship. A healthy body and mind will give you confidence and high self-esteem.

“The second is to study hard, above all else. Dedicate yourself to your studies and polish your language abilities.” The sorceress planned to work them to death, those poor students didn’t understand in what pit they had fallen into.

“My final advice is to always respect others.” Malicia planned to severely punish anyone who broke the rules of this institution. The punishments she was going to inflict were going to be legendary. She had already enchanted a slew of cursed items just for this moment, it gave the sorceress potential students to feed on! Life was about to be even better than the drab existence of a housewife she has been relegated to when she was at home.

“Everyone has a different cultural background, customs, and perspective at our school. Please do not assume that there is only one answer. Try to be open-minded, and respect those who inspire you to consider a different way of thinking. Through your appreciation of others, you will naturally begin to feel gratitude toward everyday things, and learn the importance of contributing to society.

“We have gathered here today to commemorate our first Entrance Ceremony in the Amphitheater, which was constructed thanks to many generous contributions, it will be used not only as a place for special events, but also as a space for learning, extracurricular activities, cultural exchanges, and as a stage to showcase our student’s creativity and talent. Let us remember to be conscientious as we celebrate and continue to use this space.

“I wish you the very best, and congratulations again, new students!” Malicia finished as she watched everyone while smiling. She loathed these kinds of goody-two-shoes niceties, that speech had made her feel as if she was a hypocrite. But as her father once told her, sometimes you ought to do what you like the least to advance in life.

Everyone clapped, the personnel of the school, the teaching staff, and the students but only one person didn’t as she glowered at her mother from where she sat.

---

The new students were shown the facilities around the school, the running track, the practice field, and the swimming pool. Then there was also the alchemy lab which was well away from the school as it was dangerous to even connect it to the main building. Then there was the Forge that was underground and looked like a modern one, there was even a mana forge chamber that was just a white room with ingots of all sorts of metal. The teacher, Yastan was really proud of this one room as he left everything in his clan to come work here just for it.

The brownies who were members of the cooking staff showed the students the way to the big cafeteria where they were shown a table where pastries and hot food were displayed. The cafeteria was three hundred square meters and decorated with posters about healthy food and rules of conduct on its wall, there were ten rows of tables near the kitchen. Wayne, the fire mage, sat with the duo of Elissa and Dawn, Dawn watched him like a hawk. He was about to speak with Elissa when the Asian girl gave him a kick under the table, he looked at her with a glare but the shaking of Dawn's head told him to not try. Then he really looked at the redhead and noticed that she was angry, really angry.

“What happened?” He asked hesitantly.

Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know, she has been like this since she returned with her aunt.”

“Her aunt? Her family is here?” Wayne became less excited by this prospect.

Everyone in Elissa Von Braun’s family seemed to be too powerful and too ruthless to his liking. He had pledged himself to her family but it didn’t mean that he had no misgivings about it; Wayne was still shocked by the type of training he was being made to do under Malicia. She had told him to forgo fire magic for now and focus on his weaknesses, water magic! The sorceress was even teaching him a mana control technique to toughen his spiritual meridians.

“More or less…” Dawn answered, worried for her friend.

Elissa’s gaze became harder and she broke her phone out of her pocket and began to text on it, oblivious of everyone around her.

Elissa: Mom we need to talk.

After thirty-second Malicia answered, it was a change from the radio silence from before.

Mal: What for?

Elissa: You killed all those people.

There Elissa said it, she hoped that her mother felt responsible, had remorse about it...

Mal: Yes.

Was Malicia only reply, she didn’t try to justify herself or lie to her.

Elissa: What for?

The redhead waited with bated breath the answer of her mother.

Mal: I will tell you when you get your magic back.

Yet again she dodged the subject, it was becoming a trend Elissa began to loathe.

Elissa: You can’t do this, I have a right to know!!

Elissa’s phone case creaked so much she held the phone too tightly.

Mal: This is my business, Elissa.

Malicia wasn’t cooperating, normally she would try to give a good reason for the things she was doing.

Elissa: Mom, what happens when they discover it was you?

Mal: Nothing major, I will deal with whatever they throw at me.

Malicia didn’t sound worried through the text, all the answers seemed so matter of fact.

Elissa: I see…

Mal: Will you fight with me? ">

Malicia asked she had even added a smiley face.

Elissa: You know I will.

The redhead inhaled and sighed loudly as she locked her phone and looked around her, Dawn looked worried and she asked herself why Wayne was there.

“What are you doing here?” Elissa scowled at the fire mage, she didn’t have a good impression of him.

He had reminded her of a prick she knew on the football team of her ex-high school. A rather stalkerish idiot that she had to ‘dissuade’ from hounding her. Wayne leaned in his seat and began to eat from the plate full of donuts he had taken from the buffet. The young man noticed that Elissa’s glare didn’t let up and smiled at her.

“Just being friendly,” Wayne said.

Elissa rolled her eyes and stared daggers at Dawn who was chewing on succulent buttered bread that she was eating with milk. She swallowed, giggling at the same time and said, “Hey don’t look at me like that, he invited himself.” Dawn lightly punched her friend’s arm.

“Fine.” Elissa huffed.

The redhead went to serve herself from the buffet and took a mountain of donuts, cream scones, chocolate muffins and cookies of all flavors available with some freshly pressed orange juice. When she got back Dawn looked at her as if she was crazy to have taken this much food, but as Elissa began to polish off the plate of sugary wonder, the Asian girl didn’t worry anymore. When Elissa was done and completely satisfied, Wayne decided to ask what he came for.

“Hum, why don’t we forget what happened between us and start over, Von Braun?” The young man said.

He had tried to say it nonchalantly but it came off with a hesitation born of the inferiority complex he felt toward the girl who destroyed his confidence in a park forest. Elissa looked crossly at the young man.

“Before saying things like that, did you forget to say something to me?” Elissa said while licking her finger full of sugar.

Wayne’s face became thoughtful, he tried to remember all the interactions he had with the beautiful redhead. Then something clicked in his mind as he recalled their fights and the way he had called her.

“Hum, I am sorry for calling you a monster.” The black haired boy tried.

Elissa nodded.“That’s a good start, what else?” But continued to make the boy sweat, it was one of her favorite pastimes in her previous school.

Dawn looked at Elissa who didn’t notice that she had a bit of chocolate cream at the side of her mouth, all the gravitas she had tried to muster with Wayne just disappeared when the boy tried not to laugh at her. Wayne avoided looking at Elissa’s mouth and focused on her eyes and told her, “Sorry to have been a prick while we were fighting?”

Elissa turned her head toward Dawn.

“Lo and behold, he can be taught, Dawn.” She laughed.

The Asian girl made a sign to Elissa that had some chocolate around her mouth and the redhead wiped it off with some tissue, she looked embarrassed, and Wayne thought she was cute when she wasn’t being intimidated.

“I didn’t expect it too, maybe him fumbling or stuttering.” Dawn teased.

“Hey, I am not some clueless guy.” Wayne wasn’t used to this kind of treatment from girls.

He looked lost and embarrassed.

“My apologies then, Sir Griffin,” Elissa said while laughing at him. When she finally settled she sighed again and said, “I guess we can start anew.” She held her hand before him.

Wayne, with the speed of a cobra, took Elissa’s hand and shook it.

“You won’t regret it, Elissa!” He said pleased by this turn of events.

His school life promised to be less shitty than he thought now that the person he thought would be the school's little star will not make his life hell. Elissa looked at him hard, her smile was less than pleasant.

“I hope you don’t make me.” She said coldly.

The day ended on a good note, Elissa made up with Wayne Griffin, got to speak briefly with her mother and was waiting hand and foot on Gadhiss who had woken up in the evening, and went to meet Malicia and left just like that. The girls looked at the news that was still going on about Italy, Dawn didn’t question Elissa about her dragoness aunt as she stayed tight-lipped about the subject, the redhead was just looking at what happened. A quarter of the Superteams of Rome suffered casualties, two of them were completely annihilated, the population lost trust in them as they failed to defend their cities, same for the military. L’arciere, the representative of the surviving team gave an interview on what happened and gave the video of the fight to prove her point, the Dragoness was too strong. They still received jeers from the other teams in Italy who said they could have done better.

“When she reappears and humiliates you, I shall say that you could have done better,” L’Arciere commented back on Mybook, the superhuman network. Elissa had ‘liked it’, Dawn too.

Elissa and Dawn noticed that the world had changed, people were now afraid that even with all the powers they had they still couldn’t hold a candle to these kinds of new threats. The redhead went to sleep with a full belly after a hot shower and began to dream, dream about Xara.

---

It was night when my daily meditation session ended, I was outside the Hurricane temple in a cave where Inshek movement techniques were engraved on the wall. I had already stayed there for one month, thanks to the spatial ring I could eat from my stocked food and water for a long time. Still, I felt grimy and unclean.

I felt like shit as my body hurt all over. I couldn't believe that it has already been six months under the tutelage of Master Tempest. How did I survive? Even though I was an ancient human my strength, speed and flexibility had been tested to the limit and I was found wanting by the master.

Going outside the cave I found myself in the temple’s courtyard yet again, the difference was that Master Tempest had carved a giant statue out of a mountain-sized boulder that he had transported from the mountain to the Oasis where the Hurricane temple is. It was the statue of a warrior who had one hand empty and palm open to the sky, his other hand brandished a sword. Master Tempest had put the statue in the center of the courtyard for aesthetic reasons it seems. I felt the cold air of the desert night and it invigorated me, those of us from the Ducal House of Snow thrived in the cold as ice was the main element that all our family members were born with.

I remembered how in this courtyard my training went for the last six months, half-naked and sweating I had to do strength training by lifting boulders ranging from the size of a man to a house. Evading mana projectiles while blindfolded or having a giant Chimera chasing me all day long to build my speed. Master Tempest was a cruel slave driver. But he had praised me on my Mana manipulation and my tenacity, however, I had begun to lose hope of ever learning Inshek. I then had a breakthrough when I had stopped thinking and just let myself go.

I breathed in and out and let my Mana circulate in my body and moved following the katas Tempest taught. It was like dancing under the three moons and letting my body have a conversation with the night. The secret of Inshek was about breathing, and knowing yourself and being one with the world; to fully express oneself with nature, one must have no limitations.

As I went faster, Mana imbued my limbs and I jumped high into the palm of the statue of the soldier before me. Inshek was the art of expressing the human body and a user of this style should be like water and the wind, able to move fluidly without hesitation. I danced in the Stony palm, then I punched, kicked, jumped and somersaulted and landed on the wrist of the giant Stony soldier. I relaxed and breathed out, I felt mana the source of magic flow into me, coursing through my spiritual meridians, forming the magical circuit of my body.

It was a rush, and I couldn’t believe that I was ever reluctant to unseal my mana core. Mana and cosmic energy were all around me, in the atmosphere, the land, and the oceans. I felt that I was close to being one with the world and when this happened I would truly be able to master Inshek. When I opened my eyes the glow of my Mana shimmered around my body forming a white and gold aura, I punched and kicked the air, my hands and feet moved like a blur creating gusts of air. Suddenly I felt someone coming at me with surreal speed and I lowered myself, contorting my body and avoided being punched in the face and jumped back from my assailant, put myself in a combat stance and saw... Tempest.

His face has this superior smile that grated on my nerves and I did something I wasn’t used to, I jumped towards him rotated my body and extended my leg to make a wide sweep of the leg to try and kick him in the neck. Tempest stopped it with his left forearm. Then he countered me with a kick of his own and sent me flying, as I righted myself and landed in the stony palm I looked at my master.

He saluted me with a fist in his palm and a light bow, I answered in kind then in unison we put ourselves in the Inshek side horse stance. My master charged towards me at breakneck speed, I blocked his jabs with my forearms and I used an oblique kick to block his own. This exchange continued for a good thirty seconds until I somersaulted away from him. Master Tempest went into a stance I recognized and that made me open my eyes wide as his aura glowed around him.

My mage sight saw him focus mana in his leg and flash step towards me as he extended his arm. I could barely follow my master's movements but I blocked his punch, however as I braced myself the powerful impact made me step back about six meters.

I looked at my master and decided to try the same move, I let go of myself and relaxed, breathed in and circulated my golden and white mana, the energy enveloped me and I focused it in my legs, using the footwork master Tempest had taught me, I skipped as if I was rope jumping and then charged him as I used the same flash step. I attempted to punch his smug face but he caught my fist in his hand. The impact caused shock waves and the displacement of air.

Master Tempest gave me an appreciative glance. I felt as if he could see through me, it wasn't a good sensation. Why did I always feel so inept when I was in his presence? The Catman let go of my fist and bowed to me, I did the same. He looked at me with a warm look as he showed me a satisfied smile.

“Good you understand the essence of Inshek. Now, all you need is more control over your mind and body. Mana is finite, learn to use it sparingly. Try to become one with the world.” Master Tempest sat, a blue aura surrounded him.

“Thank you for your advice, Master.” I was truly thankful, he had confirmed what I was thinking.

“It's getting late you should go sleep” Tempest closed his eyes and began to meditate in the stony fist of the statue.

I bowed.

“I shall go right now.”

---

March 6th, 2018

Princess Tower

03:47 AM

Elissa woke up with a start, she felt even more tired than the last time she had woken up after dreaming of Xara. It was even weirder, it was as if she was Xara and Xara was her, her body hashed and she could feel her bones creak. It was as if she had trained in the same way as her ancestor. The redhead rose from her bed and took off her damp t-shirt, as she looked at herself in the mirror before her, she noticed something wrong. Her right hand traced the contour of her naked torso, since when did she have so many muscles? Sure she was athletic, but she tried to avoid looking buff. Elissa flexed her arms muscles and looked at her abs and legs...

*What the hell happened?* She thought in her heart.

Then she remembered what Malicia had told her about her genetic memory ability, that the skills and knowledge of her ancestors would become hers, the more she allowed their experiences to soak her mind. Elissa relaxed and then she tried to do as Xara did in her dream and the redhead was astonished by the result. It was as if she had done this for years. She began to let the mana circulate in her body like she had felt Xara had done it. She breathed in and out. A golden and white aura enshrouded her body, Elissa felt at ease, powerful, even better than when she was training with the Amazons.

The young girl gave a crazy smile and sat cross-legged on her bed and began to meditate, she let her mana flow through her body from her mana core to her spiritual meridians. As Elissa opened her eyes she looked around, mana and another form of energy were there all around her.

*Was this what Xara had called Cosmic energy?* Elissa tried to take it in.

Her body didn’t even resist and gulped it down, a pleasurable sensation inundated her senses. Elissa gave in to this feeling as she closed her eyes and through this sensation of luxury contentment she truly felt at ease for the first time in this world. Time passed and Elissa was suddenly jerked awake by someone.

“Mistress?” It was Reinatiel’s voice.

“Huh?” Elissa was finally able to be cognizant as she opened her eyes, yes she was in her room.

The redhead looked at the tanned beauty before her

“Please wake up, you have to go to Tesla Academy this morning for your physical assessment.”

Elissa looked at the time it was already 06:00 AM, and as if she was a cat her hair bristled. “OH SHIT.” she screamed and charged into her bathroom.

“Well, sister, you should have interrupted her earlier,” Fenirael told her little sister.

The demoness hugged her sister from behind, putting her chin on Rei’s head. The white-clothed demoness leaned into her big sister and put her hands on hers.

“No, she was taking in Cosmic energy consciously for the first time. Now everything has truly begun.” Reinatiel felt gleeful. The time to take their revenge and their world back was soon upon them.

Fenirael looked more ambivalent she had come to like the young Princess. Knowing what such a good girl was going to go through saddened her. “Yes, and it pains me to see that she will suffer. But at least now she can grow in power.” Feni said.

Reinatiel’s eyes became softer as she pondered over what her sister said. But she was confident that whatever the fates dished out, Elissa would come out on top.

“Yes, she will.”