Iris woke up and saw her face reflecting off the dual colour eyes of Kia which keenly monitored elf's every move. Kia's unruly hair formed a raven black veil shrouding her face, through that veil Iris saw Kia's blue and golden eyes had lost their old vibrant hues with black exhausted spots under her eyes. Kia avoided Iris's gaze with a worried expression, they both lay there neither of them moving as Iris tried to wrap her head around the situation.

 

Suddenly she grabbed the younger-looking girl by her shoulders and yanked both of them up. She just stares at Kia, her trembling jaw silently working to produce mute words, feeling tears rolling down her cheek. The silent moment was broken by Kia who freed herself from the elf's outstretched arms and threw herself at Iris burying her face in elf's chest. Her arms wrap tight around Iris's waist. Shocked and even more confused Iris froze while she stared at the undead who looked to have been more worried then the elf herself. She glanced down at the top of Kia's head, her long raven black hair forming a cordon around her face hiding whatever expression laid beneath which could hint at the reason for her action.

Iris took off her gaze from the crown of Kia's head to her surroundings finding the tent to be nothing more then shredded strips scattered around the branches of the nearby trees. The entire campsite looked almost unregonisable as most of the grass had been ripped from the ground and broken branches appeared like spears as they stuck out of the ground. Her eyes returned to Kia, who quickly hid her face filled with regret and shame back in Iris's chest tightening her grip even more. Iris didn't know why but her hand began to gently stroke Kia's hair and she took the opportunity to try to understand her current situation.

 

"Are you hurt anywhere?" The elf spoke after a while, in an calm voice trying her best not to spook the sheepish girl.

 

"Mnmo." A muffled response accompanied by a shake of the head/

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"Mymems." Another muffled reply with a small bob of the head.

 

"That's good... What happen yesterday?"

 

"..." No response came from the necromancer.

 

"I will not be angry at you I just want to know what happened."

 

"..."

 

"Kia do you not believe me?"

 

"I believe but..." A snow-white head popped up from between Iris's breast and timidly pulled her hair off her face. She looked directly at Iris but quickly averted her gaze biting her small lip.

 

Iris caringly rested her forehead on the side of Kia's head. "But?"

 

"B-but I d-don't know what happened." She turned to face the elf with a face full of regret.

 

"Not even a bit? I-I don't want that to happen again." The elf's forehead met Kia's.

 

"I just remember feeling tired and hearing voices." She tried to look away again but Iris's hands kept her eyes on Iris's.

 

"Voices?" Iris asked with concern.

 

"There were lots of them and they were saying things about domain and then I heard your..." The girl's eyes became watery before a single blackish tear rolled down her cheek. "Y-you will not abandon me, will you?"

 

"No of course not. Parish such thoughts." Iris spared no time to reassure her saviour and also hugged Kia and the two girls sat in each other embrace.

 

The sun moved on the cloudless sky until it hung high above the small forest clearing. The two girls finally released each other from their grip and finally resumed their travel. The tattered trees slowly swayed in the wind with a terrible creak as the girls made their way to the old road which will lead them away from the Necropolis. The forest slowly gave way to the endless highlands filled with tall blades of grass an unheard phenomenon back in Edor now filled the horizon.

 

"Mmm mmm mmm..." Iris hummed a tune that she remembered.

 

"What's that?" Kia tilted her head, stopping her never ending observation of her surroundings and placed her sight quizzically on Iris.

 

"Humming?"

 

Kia nodded her head. "Why are you doing it?"

 

"To pass time and for fun I guess. I always knew this tune but I don't quite remember from where."

 

"Mmm mmm mmm..."

 

"Little copycat~"

 

The sun traveled lazily in the high heavens now in a steady descent beyond the horizon. Iris tried to learn more about what happened but the girl only repeat what she had already knew but the necromancer reassured the concerned risen that it won't happen again. It saddened her that Kia wouldn't share with her everything but her words did stop her worried heart from working to hard. She estimated that they will have another 3 hours before it got dark, not like that was a big problem given their dark vision. She keenly observed their surrounding for any undead to train her class but there was very little of them in this apparent "continent of the dead". She wanted to ask Kia for a reason but remembering her situation she would not be of much help.

Actually, she realized that she did not know a lot about Kia only that she is a powerful necromancer and very old. Iris glanced at the black hair girl beside her who was happily humming the same tune for the past couple of hours and skipping along in her black sleeveless dress which never swayed from the wind. The dress is similar to summer dresses which Alicia would have but way more luxurious and magical.

 

"Hey, would you like to play a game? Kia?"

 

"YES!"

 

"Alright the game is called Questions and we just answer each other questions. How does that sound?"

 

"Great but I go first!"

 

"Go for it."

 

"How does your home look like!?" Kia looked at Iris with anticipation.

 

"Well, I did not... C-Cuna was pretty flat with a lot of orchards, crops or animals with one big river going through the middle and from that one river people built a lot of canals. So it can be very colourful depending on the season."

 

Kia's mouth made an "O" shape with her eyes pleading Iris to continue.

 

"What is an orchard?"

 

"It's a place where fruits are harvested from trees."

 

"Why?"

 

"To eat."

 

"Can I eat?" Tilled her head and put her finger on her lower lip.

 

"We don't have food now but if we find you could try... eey I was to ask questions!~"

 

"Hehe!"

 

"Alright, my turn. How long were you underground?"

 

"All my life?"

 

"And how old are you then? Y-you can choose to skip that one."

 

"... It says I am 18 Cycles Old?"

 

"What?"

 

"It says I am 18 Cycles Old." The ancient undead repeated slowly.

 

Iris shook her head in defeat to understand the mysterious girl from the ancient ruins. For now.

 

"How did you learn magic, Kia?"

 

"Hey, my turn."

 

"Can I eat?~" Iris parroted the mage's voice causing Kia to looked away from her with a small pout but quickly her expression brightens again.

 

"I just could. I never had to learn magic."

 

"Then how do you learn a specific spell?"

 

"I just think about the results and either leave it at that or I have to create a formulaic phrase that manifests my specific desire or to make it more powerful like this." Kia lifted her arm and from her finger tip a black and green ball shoot out dissipating into tiny particles after 200 meters of flight.

 

"[Dark Arrow]" Kia casted the same spell but the black ball with dark green hues flies for so long that Iris loses sight of it.

 

"Or Like this... Mm, it does not work now?" Kia raises her voice and Iris could sense a huge amount of mana circulating around them but then the feeling fades as whatever spell Kia was about to cast, failed. "Why can't I cast it?"

 

"Shh, careful now." Iris interrupted the girl pointing at a strange black creature digging couple hundred meters in front of them.

 

"Oh, alright."

 

---

 

"...As only a couple of you have passed the test I have to repeat myself again on chants and their progression.

The first level of proficiency is... Green-Horn. This stage is experienced by all people who can cast magic even when they are not

mages. It's when all spells have to be chanted by their casters. An example of this can be a village hag casting [Spark] to light a fire.

The second level is... Principal Chanting. This and the rest of the levels can only be gained by people who are mages. At this stage, you should be able to use the spells from your specialisation without chanting. You all should reach this level at least.

The third level is the Pure Chanting. This Level is only achieved by the high-level mages. This level of skill allows you to multiply the spell power by chanting its name without you taking damage or dying.

The last category of level is Ancient Chanting which is poorly understood but allows the caster to cast spells extremely quickly. As all the rule casters of a certain level of proficiency can use all levels below them.

This will be on the next test so learn it. Now...

-Part of a lecture by a Joseph "Magu'i"