THIRD PERSON'S POV
A happy day greeted Ahrina. She successfully connected part of her mind to Damaris who gave her the garland yesterday. She used an evil spell she learned from Sorceress Halina when they went to her house.
Her servants returned to her room to bathe and dress her. On his fourth day here in Dreich, she was gradually getting used to this treatment by everyone. Besides being the daughter of Headmaster Hades and the first female heir to the throne of Dreich, she is the only Mystic Princess to be used in the Enchanted War to have Headmaster Hades cover the whole of Demetria.
After putting on her crown, they left her room and went to the dining room of the Dark Fortress. As usual, she went inside alone and sat down next to the Headmaster. They ate together quietly and Ahrina seemed to feel the one next to her.
The door opened again and the members of the Societas entered and to this day, they included Tyson Regalia who did not show much unless there was an important meeting in their organization. They all greeted Ahrina and Headmaster Hades.
“Good morning to you too,” Ahrina greeted them back as if still embarrassed.
After dinner, Headmaster Hades spoke. “Societas, I want to talk to you in my room after breakfast.”
They all agreed. “All right, dear leader.”
He glanced at his daughter and smiled. “Is there anything you want to do today?”
“I would like to pick flowers like the one Damaris gave me yesterday.”
“Chief War Strategist Tyson knows where that place is so you go with him.”
“But don't you have a meeting? Besides, I might be bothered. I'll just send my four servants there.”
Headmaster Hades looked at Tyson for a moment and nodded at Ahrina. “All right.” Ahrina smiled happily. “Be careful, my child. I'm leaving.”
“All right, Father. Be careful too,” Ahrina said that even though she was very happy, what she said meant something different to her.
After eating breakfast, Ahrina went back to her room to get dressed. Her black dress reaches up to her knees and she also wears her black cape. When it was over he left with his four servants.
Arriving at the gates of the Dark Fortress, she approached two of the soldiers guarding around. “I want you to find a girl named Damaris and send her here now.”
They both bowed to her. “We will, dear Princess Ahrina,” they replied and left to find the child Ahrina was looking for.
They boarded the vehicle while waiting for the two soldiers with Damaris. After a few minutes, the two soldiers arrived with the child carrying more necklace-making equipment placed in a deep basket. Ahrina smiled and let the child sit next to her.
“Good morning, dear Princess!” kind greetings of the child.
Ahrina laughed. “Good morning too, Damaris. How are you?”
“It's okay. I'm so happy because I'm with the kindest princess in the world again.”
She laughed again and squeezed the little girl’s cheek. “It's still flattering.”
While going to a large flower field, Damaris tirelessly told Ahrina about what she could tell. Even the four waiters were also entertaining the child.
Ahrina's eyes widened and she could barely move when they reached the flower field. “It's so beautiful. Unlike the color of the whole town which is only black, here there are different colors of flowers that give life to the dark town.”
Damaris dragged, Ahrina got out of the car and ran away because of the child. They stopped in the middle of the whole field and smiling the child asked. “What can you say, dear Princess?”
“It's so nice here...” Ahrina smiled at Damaris. “I-I never thought there was such a place here in Dreich. Thank you, Damaris.”
“It's nothing, dear Princess.”
Ahrina came down and held the child's two hands. “Ahrina.”
“Yes?”
“Address me by my first name, Damaris. Can you do that?”
Damaris looked enthusiastically at Ahrina's servants who just answered with a nod and nodded. “It's an honor, Ahrina!”
“Let's pick flowers?”
They both picked the flowers they liked to pick. It was almost noon so they went to the home of young Damaris to rest for a while. They were immediately cooked to eat.
While eating they thought to talk about Dreich. “Headmaster Hades is doing well here. He has tightened the penalties on those who break Dreich's law even more.”
“Like?”
“Escaping attempts.” Ahrina stopped eating at what she heard. “Those who try to get out of this town are immediately killed and the soul becomes a necromancer.”
Nervously, she kept asking. “Have many tried?”
The parents of the child Damaris looked at each other. “They've all become necromancers,” replied the girl’s father and drank the water. “Our parents experienced the same fate.”
“I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked,” Ahrina said and bowed while biting her lip.
“That's all right, dear Princess. There's nothing wrong with your question,” Damaris' mother said with a smile. Ahrina raised her gaze to the two again. “Although we are sad, it is too late to be buried in oblivion because there is nothing we can do. They are dead, only their souls are alive here but even so, we can no longer be with them.”
Ahrina smiled softly and nodded. “Thank you very much. I understand. Although I will not promise, I will do everything I can to make the administration here in the town of Dreich more humane.”
She took one of the garlands and secretly blessed it with her power before handing it to Damaris' mother. “The flowers here are beautiful. I want everyone here to live the same way. Thank you very much for welcoming us here to your home. We are leaving. I am also sorry for my unpleasant questions...”
After Ahrina turned away, Damaris' father spoke again. “Dear Princess Ahrina, I just wanted to ask a favor of you.”
Astonished, she faced the couple again and nodded. “Sure. What is it?”
The child's mother stood up and approached Ahrina. It touched his hands. “The second Enchanted War is about to take place. All the people here will be forced to fight in the war except for children under the age of ten, including our son who is only six years old. If you will allow, we have decided to leave our daughter in your care. There is no certainty of what will happen in the war and we do not want to leave Damaris alone.” The mother began to cry. “So if you will allow me, we are begging...”
Even with tears streaming down her face, Ahrina smiled and nodded. “There's no reason for me not to agree.” The child’s mother cried so much that she hugged her. “I just wish I had one more favor for you.” She felt the mother nod so he looked his wife straight in the eyes. “I want you to betray Dreich.” The couple's eyes widened and the mother was shocked to let go of Ahrina's hug. “I know it's hard, but I know you can and I believe in you.”
“B-But why, dear Princess?”
Ahrina smiled at the two of them. “I promise to take care of Damaris. But, I also want you to assure me that you will leave Dreich with those who agreed to come with you when we give a warning of the start of the war. Please, promise me.”
The couple looked at each other and sighed. “It is difficult to do your favor, dear Princess.” Ahrina was slightly disappointed with what she heard from Damaris' father. “But, we will. For the sake of the freedom that everyone has dreamt of for so long.”
“Thank you very much.”
While going on their way back to the Dark Fortress, Ahrina quietly makes her new plan to escape from here to Dreich. But unbeknownst to her, this was unlikely to happen to her.
At the meeting held in the room of Headmaster Hades, the leader found out everything about Ahrina. That’s from the scrutiny of Tyson Regalia.
Headmaster Hades sighed and smashed his desk to everyone's surprise. “My daughter, I was betrayed...”
“Dear leader, there is only one way to stop her,” Tyson Regalia added. “Our goal now is to get the evil darkness gem and his necklace where the Mystic Stone and the six other pieces of elemental gems are attached.”
“To do that, there is only one way,” said one of the Societas members.
Headmaster nodded and turned to them all. “Where is Ahrina now?”
Headmaster Hades rushed into Ahrina's room with the two necromancers. Ahrina looked at him in surprise because of the force of the door opening. She immediately saw the anger on its face which surprised her but before he could ask a slap was already given to him. The two necromances in turn touched Ahrina immediately so as not to escape. “Put her in the dungeon.”
Ahrina's eyes widened at what she heard. “W-What? Father, what did I do?" When Headmaster Hades turned his back on her, she began to run away until she burst into tears. “Father! Please! I have done nothing wrong to you!”
“For me, nothing. In my town, there is,” he said firmly, which surprised Ahrina even more. “Take her away.”
He closed his eyes tightly and pushed hard the two necromancers who were holding him and then quickly approached Headmaster to hold his hands. “Father, I'm not doing anything wrong. Please don't lock me up! Please, I'm begging you!”
He pushed Ahrina hard causing her to sit on the floor and slapped her on the other cheek again. “I don't have a child like you! Traitor!”
“Father! Father please!” Ahrina continues to cry at her father but Headmaster Hades' decision is complete. It was painful for his will to do this to his daughter but he could not bear the sin it had committed in the whole town.
For him, his constituency is heavier than his blood relative.
The prison door opened and the Headmaster entered with all the members of the Societas de Malae Tenebrae. Ahrina had lost her strength, was covered with wounds, was pale, and almost flooded with blood where she was chained. “How many blows did you do to him?” Headmaster Hades asked those watching Ahrina.
“One thousand and one hundred, dear leader.”
“A thousand and one hundred strokes of the rope. I don't think so many have been done to me,” whispered Ahrina in her mind.
“Good. Remove his chains.”
After removing the chains from Ahrina, her body immediately fell on the cold floor which was already weak and looked like a withered vegetable. Someone pulled him upright. “Take her to the Extraction Room.”
Extraction Room. The retrieval of the evil darkness gem that is inside Ahrina's body that has continued to live since her birth will happen in the said location. And there is only one way for them to succeed: to kill Ahrina.
Stopping in front of the Extraction Room, one of the Societas members approached Ahrina and went in behind her. When she felt a pair of fingers on her nape, she was immediately startled and quickly pulled away even though the wounds were weak and painful.
“You can't get what you want! You can't get anything!” Ahrina shouted as she gripped her pendant tightly and continued to step back.
A necromancer approached him but with one stroke of it, the wall was punctured and he sprang out. As a result, Ahrina stopped and thought of a unique way to get her out. She looked at his father with sadness and anger in his eyes. “You're right, I'm a traitor. And everything goes according to my plan.” She released his wings and quickly flew out.
“Catch her! Kill if necessary!”
All the necromancers turned into crows and started chasing Ahrina. Even before Dreich's dome was released, something hit him causing him to lose control. “Dark bullet.” She tightened his grip on the pendant and accelerated the flight with his remaining strength.
Ahrina successfully escaped from Dreich's dome too far from the Dark Fortress but when she flapped her wings, a dark bullet penetrate her foot, causing her to drop her flight a bit.
She can’t avoid all dark bullets, so the number of wounds she has increased. Because of the limited strength left in her and with each pain of the wounds she continued to endure, she could not fly properly and freely. She just draws energy from the Mystic Stone she has in the pendant and the six other small stones that surround it.
Right after Ahrina saw the Schiz Academy, she confronted the necromancers and with the wind and dust she pushed them all away so she couldn't catch up. She flew fast again when she saw that she had succeeded. Not far away, a dark bullet again penetrated her right leg. It was there that they took out Ahrina using a witch destroyer, a rope equipped with a blessing to kill witches and warlocks by taking energy from them.
Because Ahrina was a bloody sorcerer and a sibling race of witches and warlocks and sorcerers and sorceresses, the winding of said rope around her left leg affected her. Even if the effect is not that severe, because Ahrina has almost exhausted her strength, she will still be greatly affected.
She closed her eyes tightly and used air exhaustion to weaken the necromancers. Seeing that she had succeeded again, Ahrina was so weak that she continued to fly. But, one of the necromancers pulled out a gun and aimed it at Ahrina's heart, causing her to faint. The dark bullet made against the mages that would be Dreich's main weapon in the Enchanted War penetrated his heart. But Ahrina continued to fly to Schiz Academy.
Two necromancers fired and pierced Ahrina's wing so that it would not grow again and she could no longer fly. Using the witch destroyer again, she pulled her right leg, causing her to lose control even more and weaken so she did her best and used wind magic to push all the necromancers away from her.
Still unable to move, a necromancer quickly approached her and stabbed her with a soul blade used to weaken the soul of a creature. The necromancer grinned even more when Ahrina started bleeding.
Ahrina slowly moved her hands that had fallen as if to hold on but suddenly the necromancer pulled out the knife and turned to kick her hard.
Ahrina couldn't move anymore so she continued to plunge. She fell into the garden on the side of the Academy building where she and her friends hung out whenever they were doing nothing. Though her vision was blurred, she saw a black object slowly falling toward her. A smile curved on her very pale lips covered with the blood she was vomiting as she stared at the blue sky.
“Finally, I'm home.”
There were no people around yet. Students are still in the midst of training for the upcoming Enchanted War. The other day, one of the students spying on Dreich saw the ceremony performed for a woman they could not view the face to identify as the official heir to the throne of Headmaster Hades. And before they could leave his companion, a necromancer approached them carrying a scripture containing a message.
When they got back to the Academy they immediately went to Headmistress Calla’s office where a meeting with Ahrina’s friends was taking place. It was here that Headmaster Carob issued an order announcing to the entire Academy about the Enchanted War so that everyone could be prepared.
Pitch, Crimson's black cat, immediately woke up and suddenly became weak. "W-What's going on?"
Pitch hasn't talked to her soul mate Ahrina for more than a week, so Sorceress Halina is worried about what might happen to her. Whatever they tried to call Ahrina through telepathic communication they got no answer. That's why Blake came up with the idea that the magic block might have used the dome that protects Dreich but so far, they haven't proven anything.
Pitch forced his way into the Training Chamber. Just as he arrived in the hallway of the Academy building, the bell rang and all the students went out of each room one by one. Since Pitch was already known as Crimson’s pet cat, everyone gave way to him.
“Pitch seems so tired.”
“What's happening?”
“Maybe he's hungry.”
“He might be sick!”
Right on cue, Crimson and his friends were already in the hallway so they saw Pitch running in their direction. Being so weak, Crimson immediately picked up and lifted Pitch. “Hey, why are you here?”
Pitch licked Crimson's arm and then jumped down. It circled at his feet and then ran away again. They immediately chased after Pitch. As she got closer and closer to the garden, Lia felt strange and heavy, causing her to also weaken and stop while holding her chest.
“Lia!” Freesia is alert and supports Lia. “What's wrong? Are you okay?”
Lia just nodded and took a deep breath. “I'm fine...” Blake and I just supported him because he was already pale. “Ahrina, what's wrong with you?”
A scream from a student was heard by everyone. They immediately ran Crimson towards the source of the scream. Two women ran into the hallway so they immediately blocked it. Pitch, on the other hand, went straight out. “Tell us what you saw?” Crimson's panicked cry because even he was nervous.
“There's a dead body in the garden! There's a dead body in the garden!” a woman cried and immediately ran again.
“Garden?” They immediately looked at each other and ran away again.
They stopped as if paralyzed when they saw the body of a woman near the fishpond. Its wings were flat on the floor and covered with wounds and blood. He also wore a crown unfamiliar to them. But because of the color of the wings, Freesia dared to approach the woman and here she was almost out of breath. She fell to the floor with her tears.
Because of Freesia's reaction, Crimson was alarmed so he quickly approached her. There he was shocked by what he saw and could hardly move. Friends looked at each other so they approached Crimson and Freesia. But they also did not expect what they saw.
Ahrina's pale arm touched the grass, causing the pendant she was holding and the dark bullet to slip from her palm. Stop rolling at Lia's feet. He faintly sat down on the floor and picked up the pendant and dark bullet with his trembling hands. Ahrina's blood continued to flood the lawn.
Lia noticed a black feather that looked different on Ahrina's chest, causing all the fear and anxiety she had never experienced or thought she would experience. A loud and alarming magic shockwave came out and spread from Ahrina’s body outwardly as if a bomb had exploded causing silence throughout Schiz Academy that had recently been overhearing the cheerful conversations of each student.
“A-Ahrina...” Crimson said weakly and trembling to look at the girl's face. “Ahrina.” Pitch sighed as he approached Ahrina's body and lay down next to the girl full of blood. Seconds later, Pitch didn't move and died next to him — a sign that the cat's and Ahrina's souls were one.
When one dies, the other experiences the same.