Chapter 9: Valstrath

One more day till they reach the allotted deadline. Chris and Raven woke early to get a head start, but found themselves standing in line behind a large group of freshmen. The students murmured among themselves, discussing the new restrictions brought upon their instructors.

When their turns arrived, Chris saw a familiar figure dressed in white buttoned sleeve and a frilled skirt. Meeting her gaze, he sent the demon girl a wave and a hint of smile. The girl narrowed her brows, returning an annoyed glare. But that was all. No words of disdain were thrown at his face. As Chris approached, however, the girl reached for the sword on her waist, then loosened her grip when a shadow towered over Chris. He turned, and saw a pair of crimson eyes peering through purple bangs, looking down at him.

“Good to see that you are both here,” his demon teacher, Leon Gladius, said as he crossed his arms. “Christopher and Cecilia. Follow me.”

“Eh? What about me?” Raven complained.

“Stay there and wait for your turn.” Gladius shot Raven a glare before he turned and walked towards a door on the far left where no crowd has settled. Wordlessly, the demon girl trailed after him.

“Seems like there’s no choice but to comply,” said Chris.

“I guess so.” Raven rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed. “Be careful.”

“You too.”

Following the demon named Cecilia, Chis entered a room that led to another one downstairs.

“The fifth floor is a special course to test your endurance, strength and adaptability under extreme circumstances.” Gladius stood in the center of a magic formation. “Your goal is simple: Track the [Boss Room] and retrieve the Cerulean gem inside. Cooperation is a must. I understand that’s not too much of a problem?”

“No,” the girl answered in a flat tone.

Chris sighed, growing serious. “None.”

“Then gear yourselves. We’ll start with the transfer as soon as you’re ready.”

Chris removed his blazer and equipped the leather jerkin he bought the other day on top of his black shirt. As he strapped a short sword on his back, Chris wondered about this unusual treatment. Do they really have to restrict them down to two students? An eerie sensation prickled his scalp, but he decided to go along with it.

After they both announced their preparedness, Gladius left the room. Then the typical blackness swallowed the light in his vision. But soon, an iridescent blue light glowed around their footing, creating a vortex out of thin air. With his foothold gone and nothing to hold onto, Christopher fell into the abyss.

He landed on the solid dirt, face first. His vision swirling he shook his head. Not an ounce in his body appreciated the fall just now. No one would. He wondered about the girl. But unlike him, she seemed to have landed fine, brushing the dirt off her skirt. Giving his vision another shake he stood up, and an unfamiliar view greeted him outside of the moss coated ruins.

Blue and wide, he could see the ocean from where he stood. But Chris focused his gaze on the whirlpools surrounding their coastal landscape, separating him from another island he couldn’t measure the size. Squinting his eyes he saw a building that seemed like a church towering in the middle with a broken statue of a certain individual as its symbol.

“Valstrath…” the girl murmured somewhere.

“Valstrath?” A word unknown to him. Chris tilted his head to the girl’s direction. Crouching down, the girl brushed her fingertips on the surface of a fallen debris. Chris peeked over her shoulder, wondering what it was. Though he recognized some of the alphabets, he failed to read the inscriptions written in the old tongue.

“Yes.” Cecilia stood up as her eyes darted around the area. “An old town that supposedly sunk in the bottom of the ocean 1500 years ago.”

“And yet here we are, in front of it. Whatever happened to the other labyrinth?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m as confused as you are.” After a minute of walking around, she found the stairs hidden beneath a pile of rubble. “Stay here and behave. I’ll see what I can find.”

“Wait!” Chris instinctively reached for her hand. “You intend to go alone?”

A small chuckle escaped her lips. “Hah! To think that you didn’t know!” Shoving Chris’ hand off, her gaze sharpened. “In Valstrath lies the temple of the dark. You cannot use your Diviner around its walls. And an Exquisitor without his Diviner would just be a liability. You cannot even use magic,” she spat, clearly looking down at his abilities.

“And that’s where you’re wrong.” Chris invoked a small flame on his palm to prove his point. “I’m no longer an Exquisitor; how many times do I have to say this?”

“I-Impossible…” Her eyes widened at the sight of his flame. “How?”

“You seem to know an awful lot about Exquisitors. If you tell me why, then I’ll answer your question.” Chris sent her a wink.

“Forget about it then!” Reddening in outrage, the girl whirled away from him. She stopped at the edge of a cliff and gazed at the other island. “It’s just that… Can you feel it?”

“Yeah.” Chris killed the flame with a wave of his hand. “It’s faint, but something is definitely amplifying the strength of my magic here. Though what it is, I do not know. Do you?”

“No.” Standing there, she looked beyond the horizon and remained motionless. The wind blew; a mysterious breeze rustled in the wind. Locking the strands of purple hair behind her ear, she turned to Chris.

“!!” A frustrating hot sensation erupted in his chest. ‘What manner of sorcery is this?’

With an innocent smile on her face, she laughed.

“Lilia? Is it really… you?” But when he rubbed his eyes to confirm, the girl was already gone. “No…”

He knew it wasn’t real. It was a dream; something his desires made up. Nothing more than a convenient escape.

“…for the last time! Are you coming or not?” He heard Cecilia say.

“C-Coming…” he replied, taking one last glance at that spot near the cliff. Whether that was nothing but his illusions or some type of magic, he would find out soon enough.