“Ignis.” whispered Marvin, and a combination of burning blue, orange and white colours dominated the chalk drawn circle on the floor.

Inside it was a smaller circle with a heptagram inside it in the bottom left, and ancient symbols-runes-above it spelling the word fire. A bright red triangle decorated the right, the alchemical symbol of fire. The glowing energy was transferred over to his hand, a flame lighting on it. It was quite the impressive display considering the fire’s smallness.

Still, even after training for two months, he was still surprised by the fire basically coming out of him-terrified of it actually. No matter what, he didn’t think he’d ever get over this feeling. His hand, the part actually on fire, felt oddly cold, while his prosthetic leg felt warm. Logically he knew that wass because of the magic, but he couldn’t help but feel like there was something wrong whenever he used it.

“You’re doing great. Just try to heat it up more. Make it a little hotter, make it a little bigger.” instructed Kara, sitting opposite of him in her lab below the school. Closing his eyes, Marvin tried to feel the fire, willing it to become stronger, but it just-it didn’t. With a sigh he opened his eyes and his flames went out.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t seem to get it.” he told Kara. He’d been training for the past two and a half months on his magic, but it felt like his progress was getting slower each day. Kara sighed in response.

“You’re still afraid aren’t you?” she asked, exasperation dripping from her voice.

“I just-it’s freaking fire! How am I supposed to keep calm when it’s actually coming out of me?” responded Marvin

“You’re right, it is pretty scary.” smiled Kara, and she looked like this was the exact answer she expected out of him. “Everything you mentioned, it’s all completely natural. But understanding that everything you do is possible by bending the rules of the universe is essential. Throw everything you know out. Understood?” instructed Kara.

“I-I think so?”

“Good. Now I want you to focus on the circle you’ve drawn. Υour prosthetic leg. You’ve read, heard and talked about the universe’s errors. I want you to try and feel them through your conduits. Don’t close your eyes, don’t say anything. Just focus on it.” she told him

Taking a deep breath, Marvin did.

“Ignis.” The fiery glow is reborn and reaches his arm once more, igniting another flame. But this time he embraces it, feeling the power behind it. It was-it was frankly intoxicating. A tingle of the all too familiar self-doubt he’d felt all throughout the years is coming in. He was more aware and conscious of his scarred body, and warm prosthesis. His breathing became sharper.

The mental and physical downside of magic was something he was used to. The more he pushed into the broken pieces of the universe, the more it pushed back, showing him his weakest moments, reminding him of all his negativity. Maybe even a couple of weeks ago this might have been too much, but practicing had made him more resistant. The flames were now covering his entire arm, although it felt like the exact opposite. It was incredible. This was a feeling he’d never get over.

“This is-I can’t explain it.” he told her.

“It is pretty incredible.” nodded Kara. “You’re pretty good Marvin. But you got ahead of yourself. There is a long road ahead. It’s relatively easy to get a basic level of understanding of magic, but hard to get good at it. To move beyond this stuff.”

“What do you mean?” asked Marvin. Just when he thought he got a grasp on how it all worked, he now learned that he was much further behind than he thought he was.

“Shoot it out.” she told him simply. The dark haired teen looked at her as if she was insane.

“Shoot...the fire?” This makes no sense. Of course he was spending his afternoon training on using magic so ‘sense’ was a moot point. But it wasn't that easy 'throwing out everything he knows'.

“As you mature and grow more in tune with the world around you, you become stronger and something like summoning fire, or an item you need becomes basic.” explained Kara. She then muttered something and produced a sword from nothing and planted it on the ground. “Prepare yourself!”

The dark haired boy looked at his teacher confusedly. She took out a small potion bottle, downing its ingredients quickly. She then took a fighting stance and reached Marvin with inhuman speed, punching him to the back wall.

He wass pretty sure something’s broken. Okay probably not, since he could still move well enough, but that sure hurt like hell. He was also pretty sure she held back on that punch. As quick as he could in his hurt state, he stood battle ready whilst focusing on not taking out the fire in his left arm.

He and Kara circled each other, both waiting for the other to attack. Marvin because, even after that display of power, was worried about hurting his teacher. And maybe just a tad bit scared that he’d be completely ineffectual. The problem, he guessed, was that Kara was waiting for him to attack. A theory disproven after a couple of seconds, when she tore the sword out of the ground and lunged at him with a single step.

“There is so much in this world you don’t understand.” As she started moving, he muttered ‘Aspis tou Aiax’ and instead of his face, the brown-haired teacher’s blade striked the seven layered bronze shield. A shield that the blade alone couldn’t dent.

Kara appeared to have thought about this, as using her new superhuman abilities she bounced back. Attacking once more, she muttered something too quickly for Marvin to hear. The air pressure around the blade increased, forming a razor sharp blade that cut into Marvin’s shield, pushing him back.

“Close quarters combat. Can you handle it Marvin?” asked Kara, going for another strike. Marvin turned, his burning arm facing her.

Shoot the fire.

The flames roared, flinging out of his arm and heading out toward his teacher. For a moment he was scared she’d be unable to defend herself, but she quickly stopped, using her enhanced abilities to react in time. The flames seemed to warp around her, converging to a small glowing ball in her hand, one that was extinguished by her closing her fist over it.

A pause followed. Kara's stance wasn’t that stable. Whether that was intentional or not, he used it to his advantage, tripping her, and using his arm to make sure she fell down.

“Don’t underestimate me.” growled Marvin, lower and angrier than he’d expected, or intended.

Truth be told he was mad.

Mad because he constantly felt inferior to the people around him.

People that know this world inside and out.

People that are more knowledgeable than him.

More powerful than him.

More skilled than him.

What really worried him though was that he couldn’t tell if this is all coming to him now because he was just fed up, or because of the magic he used.

“I never did.” laughed Kara. “You, on the other hand, striked me just when I was about to compliment you.” she teased.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t think I understood your lesson.” responded Marvin, helping Kara on her feet. She then handed him another small bottle from her back pocket, looking identical to the one she drank from earlier. It had a heptagram etched into it, and a purple liquid inside.

“There are moments where I think you have the potential for brilliance in you and then there are moments like this. The fight was just me checking on your progress and a little fun. Here’s a lesson though: Potions are really hard to make. A combination of incantations and materials in a specific time. Proof that, even if it may feel like we do, we don’t really understand magic’s nature and workings. We just use what little we do understand in creative ways. A lot of modern sorcerers use their skills and talent to expand our knowledge and capabilities.

“But before you can get into that you need to do what we are now. Both to protect yourself and as a doorway to the really wonderful stuff. A sorcerer’s road is a long one, patience is needed here just as it is in every aspect of your life. More so. A couple of years from now you'll only need these circles the first time you use a spell. A couple decades and you won’t recognise yourself. To get there you need to not only work harder, but smarter, more efficiently.” Marvin smiled at his mentor, her words motivating him to try harder.

The ringing of a phone set alarm signals the end of their lesson. Kara incants another spell to heal the minor injuries they sustained, something Marvin welcomed.

“Keep the potion. You're going to need it for the upcoming mission with your friends.”

“Mission?” muttered Marvin. He knew rescuing Ava was something that would happen eventually, and he wanted to help her. Hell, he was excited to meet her. But if that was what she was talking about, he couldn’t help but think that they were extremely unprepared. Mostly because of himself, even after the progress he’s made the past couple of months, Marvin felt himself like the weak link in the group, in more ways than one.

“They haven’t told you kids yet?” shouted a shocked Kara. “It’s not my place, so I won’t go into more detail.” she explained. “One more thing. You’re not like the others, but they aren’t like each other either. You’re all unique. Also you are beginners taking on your first mission. We aren't expecting you to save the world.” reassured Kara, as if reading her student’s thoughts.

“You all know so much about this world and I-and I don’t even know anything about magic. The thing I’m supposed to be good at.” complained Marvin, glad to finally be finally letting his concerns out.

“Trust me kiddo, you are better than you give yourself credit for.” smiled Kara empathetically.

Marvin nodded in response. There was something odd about the way Kara looked at him, as if she knew there was much he wasn’t telling her. But she didn’t push him about it, which he appreciated.

Turning to leave he noticed her smile turn into a frown from the corner of her eye, and he could have sworn he heard her mutter something about ‘unfair’ and ‘trap’.

Settling on exiting the principal’s office Kara’s room led out to without commenting on that, Marvin found himself wondering about his mentor’s words. If their mission was to save Ava, this was an opportunity to save what appeared to be an old friend and family, but a part of Marvin found this too convenient. Combining that with Kara’s muttering, he was now almost certain about it.

Reaching the school exit he saw a man in a trenchcoat staring back at him with a trenchcoat and dark red suit with a sharp blue tie, large sunglasses and hat covering his face from the sun. It seemed as if he was dressed specifically in a way as to showcase no skin at all apart from a little in his pale lower face, which was still covered from the sun by the hat.

His posture was casual, hands in pocket leaning back against a wall, a wide smile on his face, giving him a relaxed appearance. That, combined with his dressing made him stand out among the few people that were out and about.

His wide smile revealed his abnormally long canine teeth. Canine teeth that looked like fangs. He also seemed to exude power. If he and Marvin were to fight now, the dark haired teen would probably be snapped like a twig.

This was a vampire.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” asked the vampire, standing up straight, stretching himself, revealing that he was wearing long gloves.

“What-who are you?” asked Marvin, steeling himself, attempting to hide the fear he was feeling, although based on the condescending laugh the vampire let out, he didn’t do such a great job at it.

“I guess I’m the villain in your story.” jovially replied the vampire, before his smile turned into a grimace. “And let me tell you, I’m not here to fight. In this public area, and in the middle of the day? No no.” he wagged his finger, before removing his sunglasses.

His face being fully revealed made him seem even more at odds with everything around him. His face was deathly pale, and both of his eyes were crimson in colour. A crimson that was identical to Marly’s left eye, only here it showcased a cruelty that made the hairs at the back of Marvin’s neck stand up.

“Who are you?” once again asked Marvin, in a low voice this time, determined to not let the vampire know that his very presence causes an unease and fear at Marvin.

“Heh. I told you already. You’re not really paying attention to me are you? And after all the trouble I went through all the trouble of getting you where you are. We lost a perfectly good Hybrid you know.” The vampire’s overly exaggerated complaining tone of voice and arm movements dripped of sarcasm, although the way he stared at Marvin made it clear he was telling the truth, vague as his words were.

“Who are you?” The calculated neutral tone was cracking, as fear and anger mixed together before he snapped. “What do you want from me?” screamed Marvin, drawing the attention of a few passersby who still just decided to move on.

What nice people.

“Nothing from you. It’s one of your new colleagues that I’m interested in. But you are a really fun case. Not necessarily one of a kind, but I thought it’d be fun if we picked you who were so nicely connected with everything.” laughed the vampire, “My name is Amdis.” seemingly done with his speech, Amdis left going by Marvin, showcasing his lean frame and impressive height.

Whether or not this was intentionally done for intimidation he didn’t know, but it certainly did the trick. The man’s whole being screamed of power and arrogance. But that arrogance may have just led him to overplay his hand. “What makes you think I won’t use this information to my advantage? Tell everyone what you told me?”

“Your parents died when you were eleven by a falling building crashing on them. You didn’t have any friends until two and a half months ago. It was also two and a half months ago at three fifteen in the afternoon you got a message from Ava Mallory which set in motion the mission you're about to go to this coming week.-”

“Get. To. Your. Point.” interrupted Marvin through gritted teeth, at this-this-at Amdis, who just stared at him smugly.

“We vampires are immortal beings. And I’ll be honest with you, it gets pretty boring after the first few centuries. Everyone’s spending so long coming up with perfect schemes and flawless executions. That’s no fun is it though? I want to help you. I want the challenge.

“Keep this conversation to yourself and Ava Mallory will be reunited with her friends. Prove to your new friends-to yourself-that you’re not inferior. You can be the hero. Entertain me Marvin Perlie. Defeat me!” shouted what appeared to the being behind this whole thing. Whether he can be trusted or not Marvin does not know.

What he does know is that things just got more complicated than he’d anticipated.