“Is this really a good idea?” Isabella asked Lily as she sneaked out of their classroom. “I mean, won’t we get into a lot of trouble for meeting up with Tyler and-?”

They weren’t even dressed for the party yet, and the sun was already dipping below the horizon. In fact, as Isabella turned around to look into their classroom, she spotted their dresses still hanging up on the cloth hangers.

“All we need to do is get changed and fix our hair, and that won’t take more than a few minutes if we hurry. Come on, Isabella! We won’t have this chance again!”

Isabella could tell Lily was excited. Though the building was guarded, the interior was empty since the school day was over. It was the perfect time to go exploring, according to Lily’s muttering. Isabella blinked as Lily quickly shoved her extra mage robe into her hand.

“It’ll be a little big on you, but the belt cinches. Your outfit is too noticeable. Your hair too, but we can’t fix that right now.” Lily looked over with a frown. “Are you sure you don’t want to try your mother’s dyes again? They are less smelly than other ones I’ve tried.”

“No thank you. I’m sure that there is another way. I just haven’t remembered it yet.”

Lily rolled her eyes.

“I’ve heard that before.”

“I swear it’ll work this time! It’s not like the last time!” Isabella pouted. Throwing Lily’s mage robe over her head, she fumbled as she pulled it down and scowled as the edges hit the floor. She hiked up the robe and cinched the belt tight across her waist.

The lights on the building were starting to turn on as the sunlight fully faded away, the corridors slowly turning bright once again. Isabella stopped and looked back one more time as they left the corridor behind them, heading deeper into the building toward the regular classrooms.

“Of course it’s fine, Bella. I was able to sneak a look at the banquet itinerary earlier this week, and we aren’t even showing up til’ the end of the banquet. Mother says the whole thing is about adding more prestige to the Queen; we’re just a bonus to show off how good our education is here at Nespe. Though, even that is a lie.”

Lily peeked into the room and shook her head, moving to the next one. Isabella peeked into the room and looked around. It was much like her own classroom, though with more seats.

“Hey, Lily? What are we looking for?”

“Well, the rest of our Party is here. Somewhere. So I thought we’d go exploring the rest of the building. It seems strange that there wouldn’t be more to the building than meets the eye.”

Isabella gave her the flattest look she could. “I’ve heard that one before, Lily.”

Lily slowed and flushed. “Yeah… well, I’m sure there’s something here! And now we have more people to go explore with!” Her eyes practically radiated light as a slow breeze floated past the two of them. “Follow me! I’ve found them!”

Isabella turned to follow and slightly frowned as she jogged behind Lily. She would be lying to herself if she didn’t say she was jealous of Lily. Even though she had a few wind spells as well, she didn’t have the affinity to make the spells work as Lily could.

Lily stopped at the door and gathered her mana at her feet. Isabella stepped back, knowing exactly what Lily was planning on doing. She rolled her eyes as Lily took a deep breath, and stepped forward and kicked the door, her mana throwing the door open as the wind whipped the room into disarray. “Tyler! Markus! We’re here! Let’s go explore!”

“Lily! We were just about to eat!”

“Whoops. Umm… let me get a rag. I’ll clean that up.”

Isabella followed Lily and laughed. Tyler was sitting down at the table, his sandwich blown to pieces across his face and behind him. He was already wearing his specialty outfit; a form-fitting leather armor with a shield emblem stitched over his heart. That suited him since he was a Vanguard and all.

But the other boy. Isabella looked at him and felt...odd. He must have been sitting in front of Tyler since only his hair was blown back. He too was wearing a leather armor set, though as she looked at his back, she noticed a few straps that could possibly hold a sword. Or maybe both armors were like that.

But as the unknown boy turned to face her, the odd feeling grew inside her. He was a stranger, and yet he seemed familiar. His eyes and hair were dark black, much like her mother’s hair. And he held himself like her Uncle Bishner, his hand resting on his hip, right where his sword hilt would have been.

She made eye contact and the feeling grew; so intense she felt sick to her stomach. A feeling of panic washed over her for some strange reason. It was supposed to be a happy moment, where she met her future party member. But instead, it was quickly turning into unease. His presence scared her. Like a nightmare come to life.

“Lily? You okay?”

Isabella looked over at Lily, her face plastered with concern.

“I, I’m fine. I just don’t feel good right now.”

Lily paused and swept the room with her mana and the feeling decreased slightly. She looked over to her Markus with a frown. “Hey, your mana is leaking out, Markus. Can you control your mana?”

“Oh! I can,” the boy said as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

“That’s how we feel when we’re around your family. Markus has a greater affinity to darkness, just like your mom. Maybe you’re not used to feeling someone else have such a strong affinity,” Lily said quietly.

The feeling faded slightly as the boy opened his eyes and stared at her, though she quickly hid her feelings deep into her heart. “...yeah. Thanks, Lily. Ar-, are we going to go explore now?”

Lily stared suspiciously at her face, clearly looking for signs that Isabella was lying, but she channeled her inner Aunt Shavie and fooled Lily. “Yeah, since there are no teachers around, I thought it’d be cool to go and check out the upper floors since we won’t be here much longer.”

Lily quickly cleaned up the mess and turned to the three of them. “Okay, Cidala’s Heroes, follow me!”

“Let’s go!”

----

Isabella followed hesitantly behind the three of them, her eyes never leaving the unknown boy’s back. No, not unknown. Markus. Markus’s back.

‘Why does Markus scare me so much?’ she thought as she walked behind her group silently. She bit her lip. ‘It doesn’t make sense. I don’t even know him, so why am I so bothered?’ She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she ran straight into Markus’s back.

“Ow!”

“Sorry! Are you okay... Isabella?” Markus asked.

He held out his hand, but Isabella hesitated.

“I, I, I can get up by myself,” she said hurriedly.

Markus tilted his head.

“You’re scared of me. But why?” Markus asked.

Isabella looked down. He wasn’t scary. She just didn’t feel comfortable around him for some reason. “Your mana feels weird,” she muttered.

Markus started. “... it feels weird to me too, recently. But no one else had said anything, so I thought it was just my imagination.”

Isabella shook her head. “It feels dark. And scary.”

Markus frowned, his brow creasing in thought. “My family and fought had to fight recently. Some demon soldiers came over and did some terrible things. Its mana felt the same way. Maybe I absorbed some of it when I was running low?”

“I, I guess?” Isabella pondered over that. She knew it was possible to absorb ambient mana, but wouldn’t that mean the affinities had to be similar? She shuddered as she realized that whatever had happened could happen to her since she had an affinity to darkness as well.

As they turned a corner, they ran straight into Lily, who had a fake smile plastered on her face. “Soo, what’s the big secret?”

“He feels funny,” Isabella blurted out. She blushed as everyone turned to her and she realized what she had said. “I mean, Markus absorbed some bad mana, so his mana feels funny.”

“Huh. Is that what’s causing your discomfort? His mana feels normal to me.” Lily waved her hand around Markus, a slight breeze filled the hallway as Lily channeled her mana. “Well, mostly normal. It gets hard to control my mana as it gets close to you. Hmm, did mentor teach you how to passively resist mana?”

Markus nodded. “She did.”

“Well, maybe it’s just that then. We can ask your family later, Markus. But for now, we need to hurry before it’s time for us to leave.”

Lily grabbed Isabella by the hand and briskly walked forward, passing various signs that stated no students were allowed.

Isabella did not like the look of the signs. “Lily, are you sure we can go this way?”

“The signs say keep out, so that is exactly what we are not going to do,” Lily said excitedly

“And what exactly is this way, Lily?” Tyler stopped to read a sign. Isabella looked and paled.

Caution: Enter at your own risk.

“Lily, I don’t like this,” Isabella said.

“This way is the most secretive place of all. At least, in this building. The Teacher’s Lounge. Peter reinforced this area himself, you know.”

Markus looked at the signs suspiciously. “Lily, that is ridiculous. I don’t think the teachers would play a trick like that.”

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Lily said with a smile.

“I hate to burst your bubble, Lily, but we’re running out of time,” Tyler said. Isabella turned to look. Tyler was looking out the window at the night sky. The lights from the school made it hard, but Isabella knew he was trying to figure out the time based on the star’s location.

“Ah, come on. It’s not that late.”

“You and Isabella still need to get ready for the banquet. We’re not supposed to be late for it,” Tyler pointed out.

Lily stopped and peeked quickly out the window.

“We should have enough time to check it out.”

“As much as I like dangerous signs in a school, we can’t be late for the banquet. Remember, we still need the queen’s recommendation before we go.”

Lily stopped and wistfully stared at the hallway. The signs were becoming sparser now, though Isabella could still see a few that heavily cautioned people to stay away. She watched as Lily hesitated, the war between adventure and caution clearly raged in her mind. Though to Isabella’s relief, caution emerged victoriously.

“Ugh! Fine. We’ll save the adventure for another time. Come on, Bella. Let’s go get changed.”

Isabella was glad they turned around, though she wondered what exactly was down the hallway.

---

Isabella waited her turn for the mirror and started to braid her hair as Lily undressed, quickly changing into the pale green dress that had been hanging on the rack. It looked good on Lily, Isabella thought. The pale green dress coordinated well with her hair, though a few of the accessories were a tad weird. The belt and wrist bands were all made of fine leather and matched the outfit, but it was the headband and necklace that was odd.

A polished green stone was hanging from a leather necklace, one that was familiar to both of them. It was the same stone that was embedded into Lily’s staff. The hairband was a copper circlet that was open in the front and rested directly on Lily’s forehead.

All together, Isabella was sure Lily enjoyed her outfit. Isabella looked over at her and sighed. It was still just a solid white robe, the same standard Cleric robe she had been forced to wear to school for the past four years.

“So, what did you think of Markus? Your true thoughts, Bella.” Lily said.

“Huh?”

“Your thoughts on Markus. Did he really seem that scary to you?” Lily asked lightly. She tidied up a few creases in her outfit in the mirror as she waited for her reply, though her eyes never left Isabella.

Isabella bit her lip and looked away. “I’m sorry I acted funny, Lily. He’s okay. I think we’ll be a good party,” Isabella partially lied. She didn’t quite know what to make of the boy yet. And she already missed just having Lily and Tyler in her party. They were her friends! And now a childhood friend was coming along.

Lily noticed. “He’s been lonely, Isabella. He hadn’t had much of a childhood, not where his family was.” Lily sighed. “Look, I’ll ask my mentor about the weird mana feeling you get from him. Better safe than sorry since you can feel it. Though, he is a friend, Lily. I promise nothing bad will happen, not while Tyler and I are around.”

Lily stepped away from the mirror and grabbed Isabella’s outfit for her. Stepping forward to grab her outfit from her friend, she blinked as she touched the fabric. The outfit was far nicer than she was used to. Though it was still solid white, the robe felt smoother to the touch. Even the edges of the robe were lined with some type of silvery thread.

“It’s a gift from Markus’s family. His aunt is a really good tailor, among other things,” Lily said cheerfully. “She also made our armors for us.”

Isabella traced the outline of the silver thread across the hem of her sleeves. Though the outfit was identical, the material was smooth like silk, yet it also had some weight to it.

Stepping forward to the mirror, she unclasped her belt and took off Lily’s old robe. Putting her new robe on, she noticed why it weighed more. Though it was hard to see from the inside, she could tell there were a few thin sheets of metal stitched to the inside of the robe. As she attached her adventurers' pack to her belt, she was surprised at how flexible the metal sheets were.

“It’s a really nice robe. His aunt sounds incredible.”

Lily smirked. “She is. But your family is great too, you know. Though, maybe you should ask your mom to give us a better discount on stuff. Like, make it free, perhaps.”

“I think my mother would kill me if I did that, Lily.”

“She’d kill us, Bella. You, not so much.”

Isabella thought about that. “True. She doesn’t believe in handouts.”

Isabella could hear a voice call out from outside. ‘It must be time to go,’ she thought to herself. ‘It’ll be fine. Mother will be there, and so will my aunts and uncle. They’ll keep me safe.’

“Lily, everything will be okay, right?” Isabella asked before she opened the door.

“Yeah. Everything will be.”