The occasional sound of footsteps would periodically disturb the otherwise silent room with a tall fair-skinned elf kneeling on the bed with an even fairer girl cradled in her hands. The girl's pale skin gleamed in the morning light providing her with an ethereal aura which caused the elf to be unable to take her eyes off the otherworldly beauty in front of her.

 

"Mrrrrr..." A soft, relishing purr came from Kia's sleeping form as Iris continuously stroked her head, silky strands of the pitch-black hair passing between the elf's fingers as she repeated her gentle coddle on the bold and wicked undead.

 

The folds on the white linen shirt hanging loosely on the once malnourished frame of the risen rippled as a strong breeze of frigid air surged inside through the small gap between the window and the wall.

 

"Nyaaaa?" The girl's closed eyes slowly opened, allowing the minimum amount of morning light to enter through the narrow opening.

 

"Would you like a glass of milk too~?" Iris remarked, flashing a warm smile toward the soft kitten in her arms.

 

"Yeshh." A quick response came from the still-awaking kitten.

 

"As you wish." An overly serious answer came from the elf who gave a deep bow towards Kia with one arm on her chest.

 

"NYAAAA?!" The feline's sleepiness instantly disappeared as the elf finished her sentence.

 

"Oh, a foul demi-human has infiltered our walls, quick before it lures me into sin!" Iris made exaggerated hand gestures as she spoke before giving the necromancer a quick warm peck on the forehead.

 

"Huh?" Kia's blue and golden eyes stared at the elf above her with a mix of confusion and puzzlement. "Demi-hue-man?"

 

"Demi-human and a bold one at that."

 

"Am I a demi-hue-man?" An unexpected question hit the playful elf as the ancient still didn't get her joke.

 

"No, you're not. You are far too old for that," Iris leaned closer to the mage. "And far too pretty."

 

"Hey! I am not that old." The girl who lived alongside the first of the ancient races responded in slight distress.

 

"Did you sleep well?" Iris brushed the back of her hand on the girl's cold cheek.

 

"My head hurts a little bit," Kia wriggled her arm from under the blanket and rested it on her forehead. "Iris?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"What did you mean by bold?" The necromancer's slender arm began to play with the elf's black hair.

 

"Bold as in brave," Iris explained. "You don't remember what happened last night?" The elf's tone revealed a little bit of disappointment brewing inside.

 

Kia squirmed in Iris's hands, her glowing eyes avoiding the inquisitive stare of the elf above her. "I do remember some..."

 

"That's good~" The kneeling undead ran her hand down Kia's slender neck causing the mage to adorably quiver away from her gentle touch. "Do you want to stand up?" A question came from the elf after she played a bit with the undead kitten.

 

"Have to?" A complaining cry came from the girl, wriggling herself further into the elf's lap in protest.

 

"I am sure we don't have to but I have a suspicion a certain undead would burst through the door if we don't show ourselves."

 

"Annoying..." Kia murmured a bothered grumble as she hid her face in the white folds of Iris's shirt, her head pressed against the warm elven skin behind.

 

"Half a bell more?"

 

"A bell." An enticing counteroffer came from the chilly undead which the elf couldn't argue against.

 

"A bell."

 

A bell and a half later, Iris slowly began to unglue Kia from herself. The girl grumbled more as the elf left her alone on the bed to gather their clothes. Iris swiftly dressed herself first in a few brief moments before turning her attention towards the not-so-sneakily peeping undead.

Iris entered some sort of trance as she skilfully repeated movements she had already done dozens of times not even attempting to tease the completely naked girl sitting in front of her as she dressed her.

 

"Done," Iris announced as she locked the last latch on the tall black shoe. "Something happened?"

 

A glum-looking girl sat in front of the elf. "No." Her hands played with the still untied strings of her cloak. Iris observed as the powerful mage struggled with the simple manual task of tying an ordinary knot.

 

"Watch, you cross them like that, pull the string underneath then make a loop, wrap it around then pull the string through these two and then tighten it all."

 

Iris slowly showed the mage how to tie the string under her chin. She repeated presenting the simple task before untieing the strings and leaving the girl to do it herself. Kia took the two cloth strings and with an expression of courage, she slowly and methodically repeated each movement the elf made with unnatural precision.

 

"What do you want to do?" Iris stood up and asked the smiling girl.

 

"Don't know," Kia answered followed by a long thoughtful sound. The girl looked down and her face suddenly brightened up as she received a revelation. "Come, I did promise to teach you magic." The girl jumped from the bed and grabbed the risen, who followed her with curiosity.

 

When Kia opened the door a maid standing perfectly still gave the two a deep bow before they even left the room. Iris noticed the human servant was the stoic and silent maid she had met before.

Iris wondered why the maid's unmoving face flushed red slightly as the human avoided direct eye contact with the two. Kia dragged the elf away from the maid as she herself quickly headed deeper into the mansion.

 

"What will you teach me?" Iris asked as Kia led them outside into the cold autumn air.

 

"Magic." The mage replied with an unhelpful answer.

 

The undead girl found a large open space in the gardens of the mansion. She suddenly stopped and stared at the elf with a blank expression. Iris felt something stirring deep inside her body a disgusting feeling of something moving just under her skin. She couldn't pinpoint where the sensation came from precisely, it felt as if her most sacred and primal foundation were violated while at the same time the vulgar sensation felt as if it was not happening at all in the clear error of what the elf felt.

 

"Kia?"

 

"I was just skimming through your soul." The necromancer shook her head from side to side before returning back to reality. "Sorry about that."

 

"No problem." Iris replied before waiting for Kia to speak again.

 

"Mmmm... Since you don't have a shield I think you should learn a ward spell, is that okay?" The mage asked the hoplite.

 

"I don't see anything wrong with this." Iris replied. She didn't fancy having to wield a large shield heavy enough to actually serve a purpose against the more monstrous creatures living in Edor. Using both hands to wield a spear gave her increased control over her attacks without having to limit the power of her thrusts with the added bonus of being more unpredictable in the direction and range of her attacks.

 

"You learn by seeing the process soo..." Kia's words trailed off as she took off her long dress, she raised her hand in front of herself but nothing had happened. Iris was about to open her mouth but suddenly with a brilliant burst of azure light, the girl was instantly surrounded by a blue bubble of energy, its surface covered by overlapping script written in some long-forgotten language as it crackled with energy.

 

"..." The risen was stunned silent at the bizarre sight. From the basic knowledge everyone knew, the number of words on the surface of the ward told how skilful the caster was. The delicate body of the mage in front of her was partially obscured by the sheer number of letters which had to overlap numerous times for every word to be able to fit on the spell's surface.

 

*Sigh*

 

A heavy sigh came from behind the ward which lessen in intensity and size causing the magical script to shrink but never lessen in density.

 

"I am still not used to this, should have accounted for my smaller mana links," Kia explained between winded breaths. "This should do."

 

"Wow." The elf stared at the necromancer with wonder.

 

"Hehe!"

 

"But why did you undress?" The amazement quickly faded as the elf's purple eyes shifted onto the girl with everything except her dress still on her pale body.

 

"Because my dress prevents me from casting these spells."

 

"You can't use protection spells?" Iris asked in a worried tone.

 

"Technically? I can't use spells like this because they completely isolate me from the mana outside but I can use a spell like this." The bubble around Kia disappeared and she looked like she casted something but Iris couldn't spot whatever spell the mage casted. "This spell doesn't isolate me completely from the outside which means it's worse at protection against spells but I can use it without worry. Unfortunately, this spell is useless for you now, because you don't learn like me."

 

"You haven't answered why."

 

The undead girl paused for a moment before answering. "This dress is enchanted to gather mana from its surroundings."

 

"Yes?"

 

"If I would have worn the dress while casting a mana shield the mana trapped inside would quickly be depleted and the enchantment would turn its attention to the closest mana source and I am mostly made from mana..." Iris suddenly felt awful for asking the girl such an inconsiderate question. "It also prevents the use of pure mana manipulation but I am just using this spell for teaching you mana shield. I will later teach you a similar spell to what I am using now."

 

"I understand now."

 

"Look at me again and try to remember what happened," Kia stated. "I will be trying to do this as slowly as possible."

 

The necromancer raised her arm again, the crystal which was usually hidden underneath her black dress gave off a strong violet shine as she prepared to cast the ward spell.

Instead of a burst of light, specks of blue light drifted from Kia's torso orbiting around her like small blue stars. The little specks of light began to grow in size slowly filling the space between each other with a tender layer of mana. A complex geometric shape appeared on the surface of the still-expanding bobble. The shape stamped letter after letter into the magical membrane. Bright blue sparks which filled the air in their blue glow accompanied the appearance of each letter of the flowing script.

Even with Kia trying to slow the process down it was almost impossible to follow the geometric shape which moved swiftly across the spell as its surface filled with individually stamped letters.

 

"You saw it?" In a sudden flash, the spell finished forming as Kia stopped slowing down its formation.

 

"Yes. Do I now try to imagine this exact process?"

 

"Not exact but something along those lines, you would probably have a different technique than mine." Kia explained, her face turned slightly pinkish as she picked up her dress from the ground. "But it was vital for you to see the process and help you visualise what you need to do." The embarrassed kitten added while her voice was strangely adamant at excusing her teaching method.

 

Iris closed her eyes, she attempted to imagine the exact same steps Kia had done. She began by trying to imagine small specks of light surrounding her. Instead of cold blue lights appearing around her in the dark void, a large orange flame radiating soft warm light materialised in her hand. She frowned at the inanimate ball of mana before refocusing on attempting the very first step of the spell.

 

"Ashen Skies." Iris hurled the flaming orange orb into the darkness before sitting down on the floor.

 

The hoplite couldn't recreate the first step of the spell she was shown. She even attempted skipping this step, finding some success with it. Her mana was orange in colour instead of the necromancer's pale blue and it was able to form into a bubble around her but whenever the shield around her was about to finish expanding it would shatter into a deluge of orange glass fragments which fell onto the floor before turning into a cloud of orange dust. Iris didn't want to admit to Kia that she was not even able to complete the very first step.

Would asking the necromancer even help if the problem was with her imagination? Iris thought as she leaned backwards trying to come up with a solution.

 

"Huh?" The elf suddenly found herself in a field of wheat with a leafy tree behind her. The tree's bark and branches shifted and morphed continuously as if her mind couldn't decide what a proper tree looked like.

She looked up into the void only to find the Moon which was far too close to be real, shining its silvery light onto her. The smell of summer flowers slowly crept towards her as she relaxed and cleared her mind.

 

Iris didn't know why her mind was morphing the scenery around her into what it had but she didn't mind it too much as she basked in the Moon's cold light still trying to figure out a solution to her dilemma.

The silver light gradually gained a bright green and orange hue as a swarm of fireflies buzzed above the wheat field. A large black firefly continuously orbited her head, its black armour reflected the dim light into a rainbow as it landed on the elf's arm.

 

"Let's try this."