...

Umm... this was a lot more complicated than I originally thought....

I thought absentmindedly as I stared at my palms.

In the left palm was a small transparent white sphere slowly rotating on itself, the sphere was not much bigger than an eye.

In the right palm was a small white mist that moved erratically to the right and left, but always pointing upward, almost as if it wanted to soar into the heavens.

Water and Fire.

Two of the three 'Elements' of Magic.

Complete opposites of each other, but equally beautiful.

Looking at the small sphere of water and the almost non-existent flame I frowned.

It seems I'm still not good enough at this... no matter how many times I change or reformulate the formula, the result is always similar....

It's weird... but not unexpected, after all, we are working with an energy that from what our knowledge says is only seen in fairy tales and fantasy. So we shouldn't expect to be able to control to perfection something that the Magicians themselves barely know its origin....

I know. But it's still frustrating to see how no matter what I do, the outcome barely varies... it makes me wonder if it was really worth the wait.

I understand the sentiment. But it's not like we can do much, Mother said that Magic is like a muscle, the more you use it and become familiar with it, the better you can manipulate it.

I know what she said, but even muscles follow a pattern and there are conditions for them to grow...with magic everything seems to be so...chaotic and meaningless.

I think you are frustrated that you don't know something. I can't blame you, but we knew that that knowledge at some point was going to have a limit, it was very useful and possibly will continue to be in the future but we seem to hit one of its many walls... it's... frustrating.

Yeah... I still don't understand how our Sister at such a young age could handle Magic so well, I still remember when she created gigantic spheres of fire as if it was nothing.

I don't think we should compare ourselves with our sister, we know very well that she is a special case. We can't have everything in life, sometimes we win something, sometimes we lose something.

We win something, We lose something....

With a weary sigh from the struggle between my inner thoughts, I undid the two different types of Magic as I felt the carriage I was riding in slowly come to a stop.

I turned my expressionless gaze to the little Mist at my side or rather, my now personal servant, Anna. "Have we arrived?"

Although I couldn't see her appearance, I could tell she had gotten a tiny bit taller, but she was still incredibly short, I remember when I asked her about her height she said that her Mother had Dwarf blood and that she inherited that blood or something like that.

Speaking of which, Mother had told me that I had Elven blood in me since she was a Half Elf. Apparently several people of my ancestry were related to Elves in one way or another. After reading in detail the test John took of me a few years ago, I remember he wrote that I had some Elven blood in me. Unfortunately I didn't possess most of its qualities due to the small amount of blood, at most I could preserve my appearance and live a couple more years.

"That's right" Anna nodded with a slight smile as she opened the door and helped me out of the carriage carefully so as not to ruin the academy uniform. "But I have to ask you to please not perform Magic in enclosed spaces, you may put yourself in danger."

I nodded absentmindedly as I looked around curiously only to be met with a fascinating sight.

*Whistling*... It almost looked like the souls that crossed the bridge....

There were hundreds of Mists walking in different directions and at different paces but they all seemed to be heading to the same place almost like a march.

There were many differences at a glance between the different Mists, some were much larger, others much brighter, some very gray, others thicker, they had different shades and inconsistent shapes but at the same time with an unusual beauty.

It was truly a sight worthy of a painting.

Snapping me out of my stupor, Anna's small hand gently took my hand. "Young Lady I will guide you to the Headmaster's room, I need to know if it is possible for me to stay here or if someone from the Academy staff would be willing to take care of you in my absence."

"Understood..." I responded quietly to Anna's words as my gaze continued to be fascinated by the myriad of Mists surrounding me. The surrounding noise was something new to me as the Mansion had always been silent for the most part.

It's a bit annoying...

For anyone who saw them it was a bit of a funny scene to see the little maid leading the girl who was not much smaller, some were even confused to think that they were both students but that doubt vanished when they saw Anna's attire.

After a few minutes they entered -according to Anna's description- a huge building that reminded of a big old-fashioned library but beautifully decorated mainly with white, black and gold colors giving it an elegant and modern air but also an ancient and mysterious view of the immense construction.

With Anna's guidance I crossed the doors of the Academy and immediately the noise intensified, some Nobles were talking to each other like old friends, others were arguing, and others were simply introducing themselves as if they were the kings of the solar system.

I felt a little nervous seeing so many people around me, and it made my hand tighten a little against Anna's unconsciously.

Slipping away from the large number of people, it didn't take us long to reach the Director's room, which was located on the second floor of the Academy.

Anna knocked on the door a couple of times until a piercing voice spoke from the other side of the door. "Come in!"

Anna opened the door softly as I followed closely behind her, on the other side of the door was a large Mist behind what I assume to be a desk. The Mist -which I assume to be the Director- was almost as perfect as my Mother's Mist, it almost didn't look like a Mist and was more like his own skin.

His eyes looked at us softly which was a great contrast to his big body filled to the brim with muscles.

Anna curtsied briefly as I peeked behind her, which was a bit funny due to the diminutive Anna height. "Good morning, Mr. Murem. I am Anna servant of House Flumin and this is Sophia, youngest daughter of House Flumin."

Still hiding behind Anna I peeked my head out briefly to look at the intimidating giant in front of me. "Good..."

The giant smiled as he motioned for us to sit in some chairs, I got a little help from Anna to sit properly. "Good morning to you both, and just call me Thomas it's a little awkward having you use my last name I'm not a big fan of formalities. Now may I know why you have come to visit me? If it is to discuss any special benefits for the Junior let me tell you in advance that there are no privileges for any incoming students."

"We are well aware of the rules of the Academy" Anna spoke respectfully as she shook her head and formed a small smile on her face. "I came to ask if there was any way I could help my Young Lady in her stay at the Academy, as you will see, she suffers from a condition that totally denies her sense of sight."

"Well, it's pretty obvious to anyone with a little knowledge of disease what the Lady is suffering from if you look at her eyes." Thomas replied dryly as he ran a hand over his head, possibly scratching his hair thoughtfully. "By Academy rules I cannot allow anyone related to a Noble's House of origin to join him in any way unless it is an emergency, besides-..."

As the two talked about Sophia's condition and stay. The latter had been concentrating on looking closely at Thomas' Mist.

This Mist was unlike any other she had seen previously.

It did not feel elegant like Mother's.

It didn't look shattered like Clair's.

It wasn't unstable like Flora's.

And it wasn't dull like Anna's.

Instead it gave off a feisty and wild, but also patient and knowing vibe. I wouldn't know how to describe it other than contradictory but at the same time it fit together perfectly like two nuts.

And that's when she saw her and made her eyes, though expressionless, widen like saucers momentarily.

Those are...?

Nodes.

Sophia originally thought Thomas' Mist was like Mother's, at least in form. That is, instead of a purely white Mist that looked more like a strange white skin that spun around on itself constantly.

They were similar, even if the feeling was different.

But that thought went out the window as she took a closer look at Thomas "Skin".

That wasn't "Skin" or "Mist" it was 'Nodes' that gathered around Thomas like a spider web wrapping around its prey. Only the web was part of the prey, and the prey was the predator.

Quickly hiding her shocked expression by her usual expressionless stare, Sophia felt only a heavy thought hovering in her head.

How?

Snapping out of her momentary daze, she returned her attention to the negotiation between Thomas and Anna which had escalated to an argument rather than a negotiation....

Thomas ran a hand across his forehead before interrupting Anna, the Director had to admit that the little maid was terrifying when it came to negotiating. "So, how about we do this" Thomas spoke as he looked at the maid with irritation. "I will call a student to take care of Sophia during her stay at the Academy, this student will be chosen by me personally, in fact I already have someone in mind."

Anna blinked before narrowing her eyes at the sudden turn of event as she spoke in a voice that was serene but sounded threatening to Thomas. "May I know exactly who this student would be?"

"Well-"

Suddenly the door opened to reveal a Mist a little taller than Sophia, perhaps the same height as Anna. "Hey! Where-, who are they?"

Anna raised an eyebrow at the girl's sudden intrusion as she looked her up and down.

She had obsidian black eyes and hair, her skin was slightly yellowish but because of the light tone it could be mistaken for pale skin. Her hair was incredibly straight and almost looked like a dark waterfall that ran all the way down her back to her butt. Her eyes and nose were a little smaller than normal.

Anna knew she was a student because she was wearing the same clothes as Sophia.

A Kitsuwana? Anna thought with mild interest as she looked at the black haired girl's face, who returned an annoyed look with a frown. I didn't know they accepted students from other countries?

Thomas frowned visibly as he looked at the new girl in the room. "Nemu, Knock before you come in, I was discussing an important matter here..." Pointing to the small servant girl and the shy blind girl. "Well since you're here... wouldn't you be interested in taking care of a visually impaired student?"

The girl blinked twice confused by the sudden question before frowning again and crossing her arms. "No, why should I waste my time taking care of someone else?"

Thomas was not surprised by his niece's attitude and gave her an innocent smile. "If you do I'll give you access to a room in the Student Council."

Nemu stared at Thomas for a full minute, as if she was thinking deeply about the matter, but Thomas knew she wasn't by the slight twinkle in her eye. "Deal."

Thomas let out a slight chuckle as he thought about how easy it was to negotiate with children. "Well then, she's the girl you need to take care of try not to get her in trouble" He said pointing to Sophia, who had been staring at Nemu with her head tilted slightly to the side. "She possesses Grey Eyes, a disease that basically blinds you for life, remember that."

Nemu nodded reluctantly before looking at the white haired girl with narrowed eyes.

Nemu began walking towards Sophia, not noticing that said girl took a step backwards as she watched Nemu approach.

The girl possessed silky white hair that reached down to her lower back, her face though baby fat was very pretty, her eyes were hidden by a large fringe and you could barely make out that she had eyes behind her hair. She noticed that the girl was a little shorter.

Sophia meanwhile was a little uncomfortable about the taller Mist's sudden invasion of privacy.

But it wasn't the girl in question that made her uncomfortable.

It was the taller girl's Mist in question.

But right now she couldn't think about it as she felt a hand run across her forehead pushing aside her hair to reveal her eyes to the black haired girl.

What Nemu found was not a pair of beautiful, glowing eyes as each and every Noble possessed.

But a pair of gloomy gray pearls staring at her with infinite monotony.

The characteristic glow of the Nobles was nowhere to be seen.

They were a pair of eyes with no life, no soul, no emotion or feeling for anything or anyone.

But even then, deep within these ghastly, horrifying eyes a brief glimmer of light could be seen in them.

Nemu simply stared into Sophia's gray eyes without changing her expression in the slightest. Nemu was so close to Sophia that the latter could feel her breath lightly touching her nose.

Anna wanted to pull Nemu away from her mistress but a nod from Thomas told her that wouldn't be a good idea.

"Fine" Nemu said as she moved a little away from Sophia, still not noticing the discomfort she was causing her a few moments ago. "My name is Nemu Kumoshi, I'll be your babysitter while you're here."

"...Sophia Flumin, I hope we get along well."

...