It's been three days since I the three of us, Anne, Henry, and I, went to the slums to scope out the activity there. When Carlyle heard of it, he was somewhat relaxed, two months he said would be more than enough time for us to get ready to intercept them or stop whatever they plan on doing. Last night we didn't do anything, he told me that I could go back home, I didn't I instead sparred with Aiden. He was also very strong, taught me a new spell too.

It wasn't easy to learn but with the time I had there, a little more than two hours, I was able to get the hang of it.

Since I had some extra time I went back to the orphanage, Aron and Maia were still there. I played with them a few hours before I left to go to the warehouse. I also had a quick fetch quest earlier right after school with Axel too. Finding a flying pet is pretty hard, especially when they're not flying in the sky. One would think that flying would make it harder to catch but the problem was that we simply couldn't find it.

I'll have to plead guilty, I'm kinda spacing out in class. That is, until I hear Miss Ein utter the word, "Demons." My ears instantly perk up, what have I been missing?

"They only emerged a few hundred years ago, the date isn't well known but researchers estimate that the small demon group were here after the Great War."

A small demon group? That's something I haven't heard of before.

"That's the second reason that some give for why the angels didn't join in the war. They were busy fighting against the demon group."

I raise my hand, "What do you mean by demon group?"

She grins, "I was waiting for you hand. The group of demons, some kingdoms recognize them as a species so demon race, are separate from the demons that you're interested in. Although, not by much. Instead of being formless entities, they're like red imps with horns and tails."

A student raises her hand, "Where did they come from? Which continent did they originate from?"

"We don't know and none." Miss Ein answers. "Many of them live in the islands outside of the continents, the ones that aren't in the middle surrounded by the four continents. Although, some do argue that the island that the demons live on isn't an island but also a continent. Scholars assume that they were brought here from the other realm after the god of the Navacks, Malkuron, used his magic that was powerful enough to tear a hole between the realms."

"But why are they on the island, instead of on this continent?" Iris asks.

"That's the part that we don't know. Despite them being here for a few hundred years, we haven't had much contact with them other than with the ones that come from the island to these continents. What we do know is that they have their own political systems much like our own."

*DING*

Miss Ein stares at the clock, "Alright. Class is dismissed."

Axel immediately comes up to me like he usually does, "Rai, you wanna go grab something to eat?"

"Don't want to do a quest today?" I ask.

"Nope, I think it's okay if we just play around today." he cranes his head. "Looks like your partner over there has something to ask. I'll be waitin over here, see ya in a bit or not at all." he waves his hand and goes down the stairs.

I refocus my attention to blue hair.

"U-um. Rai-Rainen, are you done with that book yet?" she asks, her eyes looking all around except at me.

Oh, I totally forgot that I've had it for so long. I finished it a while back too.

"Yeah, sorry. If you want you could come with me to get it. I left it in my room."

She peeks over to her friends who shoo her away. It seems like they have an idea of what's going on.

"S-sure." Ellar says. "L-let's go get it."

Getting out of my seat I think about how long I've had the book for. I finished it two days ago, but I've had it for almost a month. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Reader was a little angry with me for having for so long. He's a nice guy, I'm sure he'll only say a few words before sending another round of books I ask for my way.

"I should've returned it before I left. My bad." I say as we exit the room.

Axel's leaning against the wall, a grin on his face. He simply waves and heads in the opposite direction, away from the exit. Well, he could still be leaving through the back, it's a horrible idea to have thousands of students and only having one exit. That being said, the only one that I know of, or care to remember, is the one that leads to the sparring grounds behind the school.

"I-it's fine. H-how was it? Did you like it?" she asks without meeting my gaze.

There it is, that little spark in her voice. I'll answer her honestly.

"I thought it was very good. Particularly the part about when the Gallan broke Nazal's sword because it wasn't up to his standards. I also very much enjoyed the part where Nazal saved Yashia."

Blue hair smiles slightly as if she's recalling good memories. I expect her to happily talk about the book with me but the next question is unexpected. "How did it go with your sister?" she asks. "Did you have fun with your family?" a tinge of sadness in the last question. Why? Did she lose her parents too?

"I wouldn't say it was a lot of fun, except for the last day that is." It was fun to go around town with Aisha. "My sister wasn't so friendly at first." I laugh. "Yeah, she was kinda mad at me." for the first time, I see blue hair look at me with sympathetic eyes. I throw my hands up. "Haha. Don't worry, we made up in the end."

"T-that's good to hear. I'm glad it went well." she says. A moment later she lifts her elbow up, "Achoo!" it's a small little sneeze, more like a mouse squeak than a sneeze. She reaches into her pocket and produces a handkerchief, the design on it is far more intricate than most of the ones I've seen. A cracked shield emblem is on the piece of fabric, maybe it's more like a crest.

After getting rid of her sniffles there, we continue our way to the dormitories. It's only a little further away. I wonder if now is a good time to ask her about the incident. I could choose to not bring it up, honestly I think that that's the best choice if we weren't partners but since we are I feel the need to. I'm also a bit curious as how she'll answer.

"E-Ellar." great. Now I'm the one stuttering. "W-why didn't you stop fighting when you were not feeling so well? You know, during the tag battle." the topic's even uncomfortable for me.

I see her fidget, she's trying to hide from me. "I-" she stops for another minute. "I didn't us to lose just because of me." she says. "I didn't want to give up."

That's a noble sentiment. I didn't think that she'd answer, especially not with those words. Maybe I've been looking at her in the wrong light this whole time. We still don't know much about the other.

"I-is there something wrong?" she asks only glancing up at me. Oh, should I have said something?

"No. I think that it's a good reason."

"I-I mean, is there something on my face?" she moves her hand to feel around. I just then notice that I've been staring at her in silence after what she just said.

"Ah, it's nothing. I was lost in thought."

"I see." she follows me inside the building.

After getting inside my room, I head over to the nightstand where I leave all the books I borrow. As I pick it up I notice my bookmark sticking out from the top. It's closer to the start, I don't remember putting it there, I finished the book too. Running my hands over the top of the book, I open it to find a quote. Oh yeah, I really liked this one.

I walk over to where Ellar stands, by the doorway. I hand over the book to her.

"I didn't mention this before but I really like what Nalzal said here." I point to the text. "No day is like the other. Each one carries new hardships and new challenges. But, I believe, the times in which we're strongest, are when we choose to get back up."

-----------

"Hey Rai." Axel says.

"What's up?" I reply looking past him into the distance. The sun's down and we're still wandering the streets. It should be safe though, there's still a lot of people. We're not wearing our uniforms.

"Wanna get something to eat?"

"It's always food with you."

"I thought is was quests." he tilts his head.

"Uh, sure." I guess it is quests. "Where do you wanna go? Maybe a snack or a stand?"

"Restaurant." he says while grinning. "You wanna see that waitress again don't you? What was her name... Anne?"

"Heh. What makes you think that? She's probably already gone. Maybe you haven't had much to eat in a while after all."

"I was just joking, just joking. No need for you to bring up my eating habits." his palms face towards the sky while his head goes side to side. "Let's just go get a snack at a stand then,"

"A snack?"

"Okay. A small meal."

We arrive at a small stand selling Axel's favorite kebabs. I get two while he buys one. It's usually the other way around.

"Maybe you're not so hungry after all. I wasn't calling you fat or anything Axel." I say while I munch down a kebab.

"Ahaha. Don't worry about it. It's just that I forgot that I didn't have much money left." he says while rubbing his head.

I look at him suspiciously, "Even though we just had a quest yesterday?"

He laughs it off, "Hahaha. Maybe I shouldn't be binge eating so much. Otherwise I won't have enough money to get something for the next day."

Now that I take some more time to look at him, it looks like he's lost some weight. Axel isn't a big guy, much more on the smaller side in fact. "Here, have this one too then."

"Really?!" a toothy smile spreads across his face. "Thanks!" he gives me a quick but tight hug and takes the kebab.

"I don't mind the hug but aren't you supposed to argue that you can't take it?" I ask.

He nods, "But I knew you would insist anyways so I saved us some time." he takes another bite out of the kebab as we walk back to the dorm.

This isn't the first time I see Axel try to play off his hunger. How much money is he sending to his family? When we went to visit them they didn't seem to be too bad off that he has to skip a few meals. Though, that could just be because we were guests and they didn't want to be rude or look bad. Axel's dad didn't come home until the next morning.

"Lost in thought?" he asks leaning forward to see my face.

"Just a bit." I say.

"Hahaha. Yeah..." he straightens his back. "There's no need for you to worry about me." a weak smile touches his lips. "I've got a few things on my plate but it's for me to worry about, not you, so don't. If anything, I'm the one who should be worrying, or at least the one who's worried about you."

"Hoh? Why's that?"

"Because you're involved in some dangerous stuff right? I know that you're hiding something for me and if you don't want to tell me, that's fine too but you don't always need to do things by yourself." he says.

"Same goes for you."

"Heh. I guess so."

A scream rings through the nearly silent night. Everyone who were on the streets before had gone to bed, most of them at least.

"I'm going to check it out." I tell Axel.

"I'm going with then." he says after finishing his kebab.

I want to protest but the scream sounded really close by. Even if I did tell him he couldn't come he could just find her anyways. I also didn't have much time, she's probably being hurt right now. We round several corners going towards he ongoing screams. Axel's breathing very heavily, I'd imagine so, he's a mage, can't expect too much in terms of physical ability.

"D-don't hurt us." a woman is crouching down, using her body to protect what seems like her child. She's covered in dirt but doesn't look bruised.

"Shut up." one of the men says. "We told you we wouldn't hurt you or your stinkin baby if you didn't say nothin." he kicks her and she falls to the floor.

"P-please!" she cries.

"I said shut up!" another kick. "Nobody's cares about weaklings like you. All you have to do is hand over your money so you don't die." he says.

*Growl*

There it is. Why is it coming out now? I should end this quickly, before it's able to say anything and before that woman gets hurt. The men are definitely scared of someone, most likely me or another of the Twelve, coming.

I count five people and shoot five stuns. Only the person who was kicking the woman fell to the floor. One man throws a knife at me, it's accurate enough. He's been practicing, but this still shouldn't be too hard.

I rush in taking out my staff. The longer reach allows me to easily knock one out by swiping it across his chin and use his body as a projectile.

"UWAH!" the person I threw knocked one of his friend to the wall.

Only two more.

"RAINEN! WATCH OUT!"

Axel runs and tackles me to the ground.

"[Paralyze]!"

Axel's body stiffens and he closes his eyes. I reluctantly push him off me onto the ground. The woman stands up smirking, she cradles a doll while chuckling.

"Wasn't who we expected but these guys seem like they should have some money." the woman says.

I push one end of my staff and it shoots out, knocking her off balance. With one twirl I knock another man down too.

I drop my staff, which goes back into the bracer and shout, "[Stun}!" both of them lay still.

I walk towards the remaining person, he's backed up against the wall.

"I told you guys this was a bad idea!" he shouts.

My punch connects with his jaw and he crumples to the floor.

"Hold it right there!" a voice commands from behind me. "Turn around slowly!"

Ignoring the order I swiftly twist my body and fall into a crouch. A green ball of mana flies overhead, I toss out my own stuns. The person dodges, and retaliates with more of their own paralyzes and stuns.

I sense a presence behind me, there's two now. My body reacts by sending out a low kick backwards. My leg's attack is deflected and I lose balance, pushing off of the ground with my hands, my body spins to the side, away from the stun headed there.

"Not bad." he says. The voice sounds familiar. I open my mouth to say something but a flurry of punches come my way.

Using my arms, I stop and push away his fists before they connect. I want to say something but he doesn't relent for a second.

"Having fun huh?" he says while continuing.

My leg goes up like a high knee and I stop his own kick. Bright yellow lights start surrounding his arms, a lightning affinity. Since it coats his whole arms I can't stop his arms without getting hurt so I dodge. The electricity from his arms arc off and gives me a small shock whenever his fists are too close to my head.

"H-Henry!" I manage to yell.

He instantly relaxes, "T-Thirteenth?"

-----------

"What year is it?" A man in black asked. He looked weary from travel. Clearly he had been through much.

"It's the year 520." the old man he was talking to said. "Based on the Dragonion calendar."

"Where's Aurora City?" the man stared hard at the old man.

"Oh, the city with the academy. Past the mountains, there should be a large road with a sign." the old man pointed.

"How much for a horse." the man in black asked reaching into his pocket.

"Not for sale."

He harshly grabbed the old man by the cuff of the neck, "Either you sell one to me or I'll beat you up and take one." there was no one else on the empty road to see this.

The old man's hands trembled, "Y-yes, pl-please take one."

He released his hold and tossed a few coins at the old man. Hopping onto the back of the horse, he rode off.

I can make it. he thought to himself. I will make it, this time.