Eleanor Deveena

Eleanor barged through Professor Leylon’s office, pushing Veronica in a wheelchair. She held onto the handles anxiously, hoping Veronica’s father had some kind of fix, or at least an answer, for this.

Wide-eyed, she noticed blood trickling down his right shoulder. On the floor was an unconscious professor and a knife next to him.

There were scorch marks by his desk and floor. Veronica placed her hands on her wheels and rushed to her father. A mixture of water and light magic filled her hands as she placed them on his shoulder. It glowed, the wound slowly faded away. The only trace of the wound left was the dried blood and the hole in his shirt.

“Father, what happened?” Veronica asked, tightening her fists. Leylon sighed as he stood up, flexing his shoulder in the process.

“My coworker knocked on my door. He started spewing out some nonsense on the beauty of Ms. Deveena. He wanted me to join some cult centered around you,” He looked at Eleanor, who clenched her chest anxiously. “I didn’t mean to make you more anxious, Ms. Deveena.”

The redhead kept quiet and simply looked over her wand aimlessly. She levitated the unconscious person on the floor with her magic, placing them on a chair by Leylon’s desk. Veronica and her father started a conversation without her, about her. The strange feeling of seclusion hit her as her heart felt tiny and stifled. She heard Leylon mutter, “A...curse, you say?”

Her sneaking glances told her that Veronica was nervous over her father’s reaction. His tone didn’t seem understanding. He seemed angry. His controlled whispered words only served to make him appear terrifying.

She placed her wand back on the hook of her pants. Eleanor’s full attention focused back on Professor Leylon who started to rummage with his keys. With a very leveled yet artificial tone of voice, he said, “Veronica told me the situation. I understand the gist of it now.”

Eleanor’s face dropped a little. From what little Veronica told her, it was definitely her fault. Everything that happened in the past few weeks was her fault. The weight and pressure from the current situation also weighed on her shoulders.

No, she told herself, If I succumb to pressure here, what would my cousin think?

“She told me about the strange miasma centered around you. Specifically your heart. A curse seems to have latched on to you.” He stepped forward, “Veronica naturally has the ability to see curses, but if it was able to hide from her until now, it would be risky to do an Exorcism procedure with our skill level.” His words seemed leveled. He refused to look at her.

“So then...What do we do?”

Leylon hovered a hand over Eleanor’s head and an orb of light formed around his palm. It scanned her body, as he slowly moved the ball of light around her. He shook his head. “I can’t find it. The only person I know who is better at curse management than I am is the Chancellor. We’ll need to get to her, and that is if she hasn’t been infected by the curse itself.”

He dematerialized the orb and placed his hands behind Veronica’s wheelchair. Leylon motioned for Eleanor to open the front door when his office window shattered. A ball of flame destroyed the window and landed on the carpet; its fire easily spread through the room. A ring of flame blocked Eleanor from reaching the door.

“Elean!” Veronica screamed, “Shoot the roof!”

She raised her wand and then the roof collapsed. Dust filled the fire-flamed room, but it wasn’t Eleanor that caused the destruction. From the wreckage emerged a familiar black-haired figure.

“Hi Eleanor!” Elsie waved happily, completely ignoring the fire around her. Everyone around her started to choke on the smoke, but Elsie didn’t register her surroundings apart from the red-haired girl before her.

The shockwave cracked the ground below Eleanor’s feet. Ground shattered and the weight of gravity pulled everyone down. “Mph!” Eleanor gasped. Blood slowly seeped out of her mouth. Touching the side of her lip, she realized it was busted as she pushed herself off the debris-covered floor. She saw the flames spreading from the upper floor down to the basement.

Veronica laid unconscious. Right next to her was a broken up wheelchair; its wheels completely bent inward.

Elsie towered over the silver-haired girl; her hands were covered in smoldering red mana, hotter than the flames creeping down on everyone.

The black-haired girl knelt down, her hand about to crush Veronica’s skull when Leylon bashed into her like a wild bulldog, her head smashing against the concrete wall.

“Get away from my daughter!” He screamed. Leylon’s bloodied hands gently picked up Veronica; a stark contrast from his ambush with Elsie, and started to run down the corridor.

Eleanor’s vision shook. She stood shell-shocked as she watched Leylon completely battered Elsie into the wall. Her body squeaked when she realized the flames had engulfed the other professor, causing screams of agony.

The professor croaked up, their spine contorting and cracking as Eleanor flinched under the sound. Elsie stood up slowly, blood dripping from her forehead as she stared maniacally at her redheaded friend.

Her bones cracked as her veins popped a sickly black. Underneath the smell of smoke and blood, Eleanor sensed a whiff of vanilla and flowers which only served to churn her stomach in six different directions.

She ran to the direction Leylon went off to, covering her ears as Elsie started to shriek obscene perversions; about the things Elsie would do to Eleanor once she’s caught. Eleanor didn’t want to see or hear Elsie this way. Whatever took hold of her, corrupted their friendship, twisted it like some kind of ragdoll toy.

As her legs fumbled through the hallway, Eleanor’s lungs burned as her chest heaved. Sweat rolled down her forehead and armpits as the heat and smoke of the flames pushed down on her.

She ran up the stairs, thankful Leylon had bashed the doors open. From the corner of her eye she saw Leylon carrying Veronica on his back. He motioned for her to follow him.

As they did, she noticed glass falling from the top of the buildings. Each subsequent shatter of glass was accompanied by frenzied falling people, as if Athena decided it was one sick joke to make it rain people.

The girl swore those falling people extended their arms at her in pure happy ecstasy at gazing upon her for those short few seconds before their inevitable end.

An overwhelming sense of nausea filled her empty stomach and heaving lungs. Bile rose up her throat and in an instant, she felt the empty contents of her belly splurt out on the pavement. A sickly green liquid of mucus and acid left her gums and down the floor at the smell and sight of brains sprawled out from a laughing corpse.

Emotionally, she felt numb to it, however, her body and mind couldn’t take it. Dizziness overtook her as she felt a harsh tug on her sleeve.

Eleanor forcefully recollected herself, trying her best to look at Leylon through focused eyes. It didn’t work. “Do you have a plan?” She asked, purposely avoiding eye contact with the corpse. Leylon’s steps moved with purpose as she felt herself pulled along. She heard another splat but didn’t dare turn back.

“I do,” He said flatly. Leylon didn’t explain.

Eleanor followed him. His back seemed rigid and angry, almost like a lion pacing around in a cage. They were heading to the docks. She saw Lelyon fiddle with scrying magic to speak to someone.

There were a few ships still stationed by the docks. A lady in her early thirties wiped the dusty sweat off her forehead. She had a homey mechanic-type feel; her muscles were on the large side and had a toothy frown when she spotted Leylon.

“Ey! What’n Athena’s panties is goin’on?!” She pointed crossly at Leylon, “Why da hell is the Academy on bloody fire?!”

He swung Eleanor’s arm toward the ship lady, nearly tripping her in the process. Eleanor was too exhausted to stand up straight. “Mizelda, I want her out of here. Now.”

“Izzat all yer gonna tell me?” Mizelda crossed her arms, “How ‘bout tellin me why everythin went to bonkers?”

Eleanor froze. She was leaving the Academy? With Veronica?

“She’s under a curse,” He said flatly, “Just her presence is endangering everyone on the island. I want her as far away from Veronica as possible.”

“Wait wait wait,” Eleanor waved her arms, panicked, “You can’t just separate us! We can get through this. I thought you were supportive of our relationship!”

Leylon clicked his tongue as he adjusted Veronica on his back, “I was, for an admittedly very short while. It probably wasn’t even an hour that my support became simple tolerance. The moment Veronica lost control of her legs was when you lost my trust with her,” He said bluntly.

“T-that-” wasn’t anyone’s fault, She wanted to say, but her words got stuck in her throat like a fish bone.

“Don’t,” He shot her down, “Just don’t. At first I wanted to make up with Veronica by letting her be happy. Now I realize what I should’ve done was just keep her safe, even if it meant her hating me. Now she can’t walk, and there’s a good chance that bloody king will learn of what she is.”

“Weren’t we going to the Sage to heal her? We can all go, right now, to the kingdom!” She pleaded with him, “I know things look terrible here, but as long as we’re all toge-”

“I still plan on going with Veronica to the Sage,” Leylon said, “Just not with you. I can’t afford to risk handling a loose canon. You kept pushing for the Academy to help you with the Caverns. You brought Veronica along. Because of you we encountered a bloodthirsty majin. And now, you brought a curse that is infecting everyone.”

“That isn’t t---”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” He cried. “I’m...just barely keeping it together, Miss Deveena.” In a quiet voice, a whisper no louder than a mosquito, he muttered, “I just want my daughter safe and sound...so please, just go.”

Mizelda raised her hand awkwardly, “Shouldn’t I get a say?”

“No,” Leylon said, “Or I’ll tell the Chancellor about your little escapades.”

Mizelda winced. She gazed at the quiet redhead who retreated into a ball. She seemed smaller than a racoon. “C’mon lassie. I got a shipment need’d shippin.” She threw a set of keys to Leylon, “Das my extra ship. Take good care of Samantha, kay?”

Defeated, Eleanor followed Mizelda to the ship. As soon as the two were out of sight, Leylon fell to his knees with Veronica dangling helplessly on his back. Tears fell from his face. His originally composed face contorted with inexplicable sadness. “I’m...so sorry, Veronica. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

The Liar

I twirled the metal on my palm. It felt cool to the touch. A comfortable feeling. I flicked it and the black chamber popped out, revealing six shafts: five empty and one plugged with a golden metal. Someone in front of me muffled screams and pleads.

Honestly, I couldn’t understand their language. That was why my little guest was here. She couldn’t see, of course, but I felt their anger and fear mixed into a disgusting wine of emotion. Tears rolled down her cheeks as blood dripped down her thigh.

If I hadn’t blindfolded her, I’m sure she would have been glaring at me with fearful defiance.

The lady before me was a maid.She had three kids, two of them daughters no older than seven. The son was barely a teenager. I knew she knew that I knew that. That’s probably why she’s been very careful dealing with her kidnapper. Castle maids were...surprisingly prideful.

It’s alright though, I just need a teacher. Someone to show me the ropes on how to speak their language. I wouldn’t have needed to if my AI wasn’t destroyed by those scale-covered bastards, but here we are.

No use crying over spilled milk.

I carefully removed the rope from the maid’s mouth. In a split second I dodged the spit that flung out of her mouth. Awfully rude.

But I didn’t slap her. I needed her to be physically sound and I had already tortured her enough. During my time in the castle I had learned she taught many of the newer, less educated maids how to read and write. Which means she had experience as a teacher.

I needed that. So here she is, trapped until she teaches me the common language. Once I learned it from the ground up, I’ll let her go.

I will. Most likely. Probably. Maybe. Definitely not.

There is so much I need to learn about this place. About this world. About its people. Naivety is a sin. Ignorance is worse.

And knowledge is power. So teach me, little maid. Teach me what you know. I’ll make it worth it for you. You have a duty to do so.

After all, aren’t I your hero?