"You're tense."
"I'm not."
"You are." She moved a little closer to Aurora, guiding his hand onto the keys.
"Don't worry, you will mess up, that's how we all learn."
"Now, I want you to assign a number to each white key. You see how the black keys are separated into pairs and threes? Treat the white key in front of each paired black key as '1', the next one on the right will be '2', and so on until it ends at '7', then the cycle continues."
Clara explained softly, her words slow and patient.
"Do re mi fa sol la si", she sang as she continued; her hand landed softly on three keys spaced from each other at once, demonstrating what was a chord.
Aurora was astonished by how simple, yet complicated this instrument was. There were only 88 keys, yet when playing them, the interplay between different notes felt like infinite possibilities, all coming together to produce a lovely melody.
"Fabulous, you've grasped the basics now." She turned towards him.
"Let's try for an actual piece, you'll be my support!"
"My lady!"
A sudden, eager voice had interrupted the music sanctuary of the two.
Aurora looked at the door, and found a lady in maid uniform panting, an evidence she found this place through running.
"Molly?" Clara was surprised by her sudden appearance, her voice nearly cracked.
"What are you doing here?"
"Of course I'm looking for you, my lady!" The woman named 'Molly' rushed in, grabbing her by the hand.
"What on Kael's name are you doing? You ran away without even leaving a note, you know how dangerous that is?"
"Sorry I've made you worry, my poor Molly." Clara smiled, slowly letting go.
"But we're on campus right now, here, it's safe."
"Nothing could be said for certain, my lady. Those who lurk in the shadows could be anywhere, even here!"
For some reason, her eyes were locked onto Aurora when she said that, like an alerted cat.
"Well," Aurora stood up, and nodded to Clara.
"I'm relieved to see you're not by yourself."
"Are you leaving?" Clara asked immediately, Aurora could faintly hear the worriness in her voice.
"I was hoping we could play a piece together…"
"I will be sure to come back again, if you may bless me with your presence." He said with his back turned, right before he left.
"Who is he, my lady?" Seeing the stranger gone, Molly asked hesitantly.
"Secret." Clara made a "hush" sign, smiling.
"What— Nevermind." Molly signed, shaking her head.
"His Majesty asked for you to attend the dance tonight, we need to head back so you can get dressed."
Upon hearing this, Clara fell into silence.
'Molly… I don't want to go.'
'No one asks to dance with me, they all laugh behind me…'
'And because of my eyes, I know you get bullied too…'
'What if… we ran away together?'
As if Clara's heart had swirled into a dead knot, she felt difficult to even breathe. The suffocating feeling she had forgotten momentarily inside the music haven returned, this time stronger than ever.
Her emotions were so powerful, her message so desperate… yet she lacked a voice, a strength to convey her feelings.
In the end, all what's forced out of her trembling lips was an obedient "yes."
***
"Oh, looks like you two got back before me!"
Renna walked into the same room with a cheerful look, addressing Professor Laurent and Lucien who were already in their seats.
"How did it go?"
"Well, Madam." The two said in unison, then gaze locked onto each other with a spark flashed in their eyes.
They stood up, greeted the little girl and only sat back down again when she had entered her seat.
"Are you sure about this, Madam?" Professor Laurent asked, it appears that she was still hesitant about the procedure.
"I had some spare time after I finished my question, so I went for a little research on the boy... yet I couldn't find his name in any systems of the Kingdom."
"What if he was a spy from our enemy nation?"
"Watch it, Laurent." Lucien interrupted her.
"Every nation has signed a global peace treaty, we cannot say we have enemies anymore."
"Like anyone's gonna hear us here." Professor Laurent rolled her eyes.
"Also, did I ask? Keep that mouth of yours shut, please."
"Professor Laurent, your temper." Renna took out another tray of macarons from the drawer.
"You don't have to worry about the boy's identity. I casted [Past Vision] on the recommendation letter, you know how it works, it allowed me to see what was happening during the time interval of Professor Simon writing it."
"They were in a tent, it was very messy, Aurora was also there. Simon had his left arm missing, but he was fine, enough to write the letter. I don't know what happened, but it looked like they just had a battle."
"And I assure you," Renna paused, waiting for the sweet to swallow before continuing.
"Simon wasn't under any mind control spells when he wrote the letter… at least not any spells I've known of."
"Hehe." She laughed mischievously.
"Imagine if Aurora as a Prelude rank String Master managed to outpower Simon, put him under a spell to force a recommendation letter out of him, and for me to not see anything wrong… Hahaha, I might even make him my disciple!"
"Madam!" Professor Laurent did not hide her surprise of what she just heard.
"That is not something to joke about! Plus, we haven't heard back from Professor Simon in days, something might have happened to him!"
"He was always reckless." Lucien signed.
"Going to somewhere so dangerous, just in hope he would obtain something that could've helped his progression… One doesn't have to become a renowned String Master to be a good teacher, and he was the prime example for this."
"Yet he decided to go further, I respect it, at least." Renna nodded.
"I will send a rescue team tonight, if no news comes back before then."
"But now!" She reached her hand out in the door's direction, her voice gradually heightened, as if she was an announcer to an event.
"Let's welcome our young, brave challenger! No one knows where he had come from, yet we know he's here with ambition to take it all!"
"His name shines in the night sky, his looks, his charisma might make him the most popular professor — AAAAAAAAAAAAUORA!!!"
The moment her words landed, the door was pushed open by a young man.
His words and demeanor carry the elegance and poise of an adult, yet his appearance was still retaining the youthful innocence of his age.
He wore an exquisite burgundy suit, with stylish hair dark as ink.
And for some reason, his eyes had become darker than the last time they had seen him. It was still shadow-like, yet this time, they felt as if a void existed behind those darkness.
"Thanks for having me back, dear Board members." The young man greeted them politely.
"May we begin the test?"
"Very, well." Lucien stood up, and walked to an empty area.
"Then I shall begin my question first, please take a look at the spell structure mapped onto the floor."
As soon as the echo of his voice had faded, a complex, gigantic symbol began to appear from nowhere. When it had fully revealed itself, Aurora found himself standing inside a giant spell structure, which was also faintly glowing.
"There is only one simple instruction: tell me everything I need to know about this spell. You have 60 minutes."
'Magnificent.'
Aurora did not hide the fact that he was impressed by the craft of this spell structure, he looked at Lucien as if knowing him for the first time, surprised that the gentleman could accomplish such a feat while only appearing to be in his early-30s.
He knew this spell was created by Lucien himself, because many String Masters loved to incorporate their name inside the spell structure to prevent copyright infringement.
The spell contained 8 total String letters joined by Strings to form an Octagram, and combining them would give the professor's last name "D'Aramont".
'These Strings are for luminance, those Strings forming little stars indicates night time…'
'Oh, and they are also connected.'
He walked, scanning every little detail of the structure.
'I had hoped they would test me with spells I could recognise, but I guess it was too much to ask for.'
'What did I expect? Of course they would come up with new spells invented in modern times rather than reading through scrolls to find a spell from 100,000 years ago, just to make things difficult for me, I mean… easy.'
'But, logic could get me through this one.'
After 5 minutes had passed, Aurora looked up.
"This is a supportive spell, its effect was to bring starlight down to the user's location. At night time with no other way of illumination, this would come in handy."
Lucien's eyes widened, his burning gaze locked onto the young man as the latter continued.
"Compared to other spells at this tier, it required minimal resonance. The light it brings also contains holy elements, effective when surrounded by decay."
Then, Aurora paused, as if waiting for something.
"Is this all?" Lucien frowned.
"No." Aurora pointed in the north-east direction of the spell structure.
"If it was drawn correctly, it would become a practical tool for String Masters."
"But right now, your spell is unusable."