"The Dark Side." I read with a highly unamused tone. Teacher was nodding in agreement beside me, making the same flat expression as me. "That's the most emo name they could think of."
"Emo?" Teacher echoed, confused but amused.
"I mean, edgy."
"Oh yes, it's definitely edgy." She nodded.
We finally reached a breakthrough in our investigation. We reached the part of grandmother's diary where she mentioned a shady organisation called the Dark Side. They conducted inhuman experiments and always had eye on people with high mana. They targeted her multiple times but failed every time because grandmother was actually a former High Sorcerer of Franciff. She was also veteran in combat. She was too strong for them. Well, that until they found out about me. I had a large mana pool too despite
being so young. I was her granddaughter. I was the easier target than her. So, I became their target.
Grandmother knew I was targeted the moment I was born. My parents died after I was born, thanks to the attack from the Dark Side. Their target was me and killed my parents in the process. Grandmother was a little late to save them and only able to snatch me away before they could. She took me under her wings and lived in a secluded place. No wonder she was so strict with me whenever I was going out. It was for my safety. I was still hunted by those pricks after all.
"So, I guess, we're going to hunt these emo scoundrels now." Teacher remarked. I snickered. I didn't expect that she would use that word so naturally. "What? Did I use it wrong?"
"No, it's so perfect, teacher." I grinned widely.
"Good. Don't slack off now, kiddo. We're going to be so busy from now on." She was in a high spirit.
"Well, we can start looking for them in Franciff. They were based here right?" I thought.
"Yeah, I have connections that might know something about them." Teacher's gaze looked sharp. Well, this organisation messed with her sworn friend, she wasn't going to let them go easily. Me too. I was so going to beat them senseless.
So, we started to move. Teacher and I went separate way. She was going to meet her connections while I went to visit my grandmother's grave. She was buried alongside my parents. I teleported to the location teacher gave me. As I expected, the pain roaring back to life. The atmosphere in the graveyard heavily reminded me of the ones that gone. I found grandmother's name carved on the gravestone.
Delina Martin
A great Sorcerer, loving mother, grandmother and friend.
My eyes were stinging. I thought I could do this calmly. The moment I saw that picture on the gravestone, I caved in to my sadness. That picture, I saw that a lot of times in grandmother's room, saying that it was when she received her achievement medal. I was too young. I didn't ask more and I said I would be doing the same in the future.
To her right, there were two more gravestones. I've never knew them. I guessed, it was just tragic. Despite our blood relations, they were nothing more than strangers to me.
Julian Martin
A brave knight, loving husband and father.
Reyna Martin
A passionate herbalist, loving wife and mother.
Their pictures didn't surprise me. They were just like the parents I had in the other world. Although, I could tell they were a different person altogether. The way they dressed and smiled was different than them. I wondered if.. No, never mind, I didn't want to think of something impossible. It would only hurt me more.
I produced flowers for each of the gravestone. I smiled at the fact that the botanist part of me took after the passionate herbalist that was my mother. Maybe that was why grandmother looked at me with pride whenever I was gushing about any plants I found. She must've reminded of my mother. Huh, thinking about the past hurt me more.
I spent another hour there before I left. I've met up with teacher in a pub. She should be done talking with her connections. I spotted her almost immediately. Well, she wasn't being subtle. She wore her most vibrant colour robes. She stood out like a sore thumb among the customers in the pub. I sat down across from her. Teacher was in a bad mood. She slammed her glass down with a little more force than necessary. I flinched in surprise.
"The Dark Side has been disbanded a long time ago." She told me through gritted teeth. She was furious.
"Any lead on the former members?"
"There were some but all of them are scattered all around the world. We'd have to track them down one by one."
"Well, I guess.. Huh, this sucks." I slammed my head on the table and stayed there. My spirit was low.
"We'll go to Hirta first. I have the exact location of that bastard. From there, we'll extract more information on his group of emo scoundrels." She took an aggressive sip of her drink and slammed it again on the table. I flinched again.
"Sure.. We'll go there. I can't wait to burn his ass."
"That's the spirit. Let's get moving, kiddo." She stood up, scraping her chair loudly on the floor.
"Teacher, you really should drop that nickname. I'm a grown ass woman now." I followed after her to the door.
"No can do, kiddo. You're always small to me."
"It must be due to your age." I muttered under my breath. Despite looking so young, teacher was actually a lot older than she lets on. I didn't dare to ask what her actual age. She was probably older than my grandmother.
"What's that, brat?" She turned around so quickly. I immediately bolted away before she fired her magic at me. I grinned to myself. I was glad I still had teacher.
*
You sound tired, dear." Evi's voice sounded in my head. I missed her so much.
"It's been hectic but I'm fine. How are things there?" I replied.
"It's going well here. The matter with Franciff is settled. Thanks to you."
"No, I just do a small part in that."
"Your contribution is huge, Resse." It was making me warm. I could hear pride in her voice. "I want to see you.."
"Me too."
"Guess, you can't go home yet aren't you?"
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I can wait for you."
"You deserve more than this.."
"Stop it. I'm going to be angry. I told you, you're enough for me."
We talked for the whole night, we shared stories and talked about the most mundane things like what we ate or drinks, the weathers and all that. I just wanted to hear her voice more. Then, the other side went silent which making me guess that Evi fell asleep. I smiled, imagining her sleeping face.
"Sleep well, Evi.." I wished before I ended the connection.
"Are you ready?" Teacher asked when she entered the room. I just nodded.
"How about you take it easy while we're in the carriage? You used up too much mana." She told me, giving me a reprimanding look.
"Yeah, I'll sleep on the way." I sighed.
"You still have a long way to go in terms of controlling your magic, kiddo." She smirked.
"Get off my case, teacher. I've been only in this world for 9 months." I rolled my eyes jokingly at her.
"Excuses." She snorted.
With that, I packed up my bag and then we went to the next location. When we arrived at Hirta. We managed to track down the bastard. Turned out he was just a small lackey that wasn't even involved in the organisation's main operation. All he was doing was sending secret messages and small errands. We forced out any information he could give us some regarding the other members of the Dark Side. We managed to do so. Well, we weren't being exactly kind after letting him go. Teacher Rossa put a curse on him. A quite nasty curse. He would feel pain 10 times worse. A pinch to his skin probably felt like a knife stabbed him. If he bumps into anything, it would feel like a full blown punch thrown at him. All the best to him.
The next location we would go was a mountain that was located at the country next to Hirta. We prepared thick cloaks with us. Hiking was definitely the dead of me. I wasn't athletic at all. Teacher said that I was being a big baby. I was younger than her, so it should be no problem for me to hike. Easy for her to say. She knew tons of spells to strengthen her body.
We spent a day in the town closest to the mountain. They called it the Mountain Avery. There was an absurd thought came over me that the mountain was the counterpart of Mount Everest back in the previous world. No, that would be the worst! There was a relief shelter at the foot of the mountain. Along the way, we have gathered information of the residents up at the mountain. There was a group of shady people made a nest on the mountain, making the most foul potions ever made. I could tell there was an exaggeration of it. The Intel we got from the poor bloke back at Hirta hinted that his former superior continued their old organisation's legacy.
"Why can't we just teleport?" I complained the moment the harsh cold breeze slapped me.
"Kiddo, how can you, a Royal Sorcerer, don't know that basic thing?" She glared at me.
"No, I mean, we can just grab a local and tell us the location." I frowned at her.
"No local willing to come with Us. They think this mountain is a taboo."
"Let me guess, alot of deaths?"
"Yes, exactly. People went missing, dead bodies found months later and Human remains under the pile of snows."
"That's wonderful." I said sarcastically.
"Well, it means we're on the right track." She was so positive.
Without further ado, we began our hike. It was freezing cold, snow piled up on the pathway. My breathe turned into a mist in front of my face. It was a struggle to breathe. The higher the altitude, the lower the oxygen and plus it was fucking cold. Teacher put a warming spell on our clothes but it was still cold.
"I can see a.. A.. Cave.. Probably a few metres in.. In front of us." I spoke through chattering teeth.
"I see it too. Let's go there and don't you dare fall behind. You, youngster is supposed to be stronger than me." She replied. I wanted to quip back but I thought better of it. I wanted to reserve my energy.
The cave wasn't empty. It was occupied. We could see fire inside and crumbs of people living in it. We might already find them. Which turned out to be true. We were attacked. Magic projectiles were fired toward us relentlessly. Teacher Rossa pushed me away and I dropped into the snow, the attacks missed me by an inch. I quickly stood up and casted a barrier in front of me. They were a very aggressive bunch.
I moved forward bravely, deflecting their spells. It was hard to focus when the blizzard got in the way of battle. It was hard to see properly. I could hear Teacher's spell hit one of them. I was getting frustrated. The barrier shattered and a spell made contact with my torso. I fell backward, coughing violently. I felt the wind knocked out of me. I wheezed, it was hard to breath because of the pain and force. I put a hand up, forcing out a chant.
"Dragona fires away.." I blurted out. Fire formed on my palm and a dragon shape blue fire started emerging. Roars sounded and the fire in a shape of dragon flew toward the enemies. I slumped on the ground, trying to recover.
It was a fire storm. The fire was raging without control, the magic projectile halted because they were all busy trying to save themselves from being burn. I stood up, staggering on my feet. Yeah, that spell was dangerous as hell. They put me on the edge and that spell was the only one I could think of.
"What a show off, kiddo." Teacher walked over to me. I could see a torn on the sleeve of her cloak. But she looked unscathed.
"I.. I was just mad." I breathe out, holding my side. I didn't know if I was bleeding or not but the pain didn't go away.
"Might want to stop it before you kill them with it." She grinned in amusement. I nodded and put up my hand.
"Dragona retreat.." The fire dragon flew back toward me and returned into my palm. It wasn't so cold anymore. With burning stenches around.
"It's been a while since I saw someone successfully casting that spell. The others that attempted it couldn't even manage to form a full dragon. Yours, however, it's perfect." She praised in acknowledgement. I smiled proudly.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" One of them shouted angrily. Half of his body was burnt.
"We're here to talk about the Dark Side. Does that ring any bell?" Teacher said menacingly. All of them were surprised.
"How.. How do you.." He stammered.
We tied them up and began the interrogation. They were a bunch of maniacs banded together to revive the Dark Side again. They kidnapped bunch of people and did heartless experiment on them. They were trying to make a portal. A portal to alternate world. Their attempts were all unsuccessful and the victims died in the process. They were using those poor victims like an energy supplier for the portal. They sucked out all of their mana but it wasn't enough.
"Alternate world?" I repeated, eyes widened.
"Hah! You must be thinking that we're crazy! Thinking that it doesn't exist! It's exist! We know it's exist!" He yelled. "We did it back then! We opened the portal!"
"What? You opened a portal?" I seized his collar, pulling him closer. "Tell me all about it!"
"We saw the other world! The portal was opened. We could've let it open for a while longer but.. But that idiot made a mistake. Explosion! Yes everything blew up! Our years of effort just.. Just.." He passed out a moment later. I let go of him and he slammed to the ground. I stood up straight, sighing tiredly.
"So, they managed to open it." Teacher said, looking so serious. "At least we know what they're after and what was their goal. No wonder they were so interested in people with high mana. They needed a huge amount of magic to open a portal."
"We have to know who that idiot he was talking about. Ugh.. I need to sit down." The pain on my side flared up again.
"Let me check." She helped me to sit down on the chair. I lifted my clothes so that she could see. Teacher gasped. "Those scoundrels! How dare they use this curse on you!"
"What?" I was confused. I looked down and saw that my skin hardened, it turned black as if it had aged.
"Corrosion Curse." She muttered darkly. Teacher Rosss was so furious. She swore loudly.
"What's a Corrosion Curse?" I asked, a little worried.
"That black spot on your skin is the sign of corrosion. It's going to spread to your whole body, destroying your flesh until you eventually turn into ash." She explained tersely. "The curse that's one of the most forbidden curses of all time. We need to be quick, it's spreading fast!"
I was feeling strangely weaker. Teacher rounded up everyone and then teleported us to the nearest town. She was working fast. She briefly explained to the authority about those bastards and then dragged me away. We went into a potion shop where she purchased a bunch of weird ingredients. Then, we settled in an inn and she produced a cauldron. She started brewing a potion. I didn't ask anything because it was quite obvious. She was trying to brew a potion to stop the curse.
"There's no spell that can break the curse until now. Regen Potion is the only way to counter it. Although, it doesn't cure the curse, it can only slow down the spreading." She told me as she was busy working. I sat down on the bed, taking a deep breath.
"How.. How long until-"
"You're not dying under my watch, brat!" She snapped. It warmed my heart how much she cared about me. I smiled sincerely at her. "I will make sure the curse is spreading at the slowest rate. You won't even notice it's there."
"That's an idea." I nodded and laid down on my back. My head was spinning, the pain was numbing my senses in my limbs. This was probably the effect of the curse.
"Are you feeling weak?" She asked me.
"Yeah, I feel numb, my head is spinning." I answered her. The ceiling above me felt like rotating. I heard she scrambled toward me and pulled up my shirt to see where the curse hit me. I let her.
"I'm going to kill those bastards!" She cursed. I dared to look at my side and that black spot was getting bigger. It was creepy. "It's spreading so fast. Damn it."
"It's fine, teacher. Just finish the potion, I can handle this.. I think."
"Fine." She sighed heavily and went back to her cauldron. "Try to stay awake, Resse."
"Alright." I forced myself to stand up from the bed. I went to the window and leaned against it. I fought the growing fatigue. It was hard to stay conscious.
"This is a disaster! I'll visit those bastards and pull out their teeth one by one." Teacher Rossa grumbled angrily as she was stirring the boiling cauldron. I opened the window so that it wasn't stifling inside the room.
"Sorry, teacher. I should've been more careful." I felt guilty.
"No, I don't want to hear your apology." She shook her head. She ran a hand through her hair in distress. "Maybe we should stop here and get back. We can't go on with you like this."
"No, we've come so far. There's no way we're stopping." I frowned deeply.
"Resse, your condition-"
"I can handle it." I cut her off.
"You don't have to act so tough right now!" She glared at me.
"Teacher, you know I need to do this. I'm not going to just give up." I already made my decision. There was no going back.
"Agh! Fine!" She gave in reluctantly. "Young people with their stubborn heads!"
"Thank you teacher." I smiled at her.