“I understand you have amnesia, correct?” He asked, his blue eyes emanating mana. Just standing in front of him made me feel small.

“Yes sir.” I said, trying to be polite. “Oh, there’s no need to be formal.” He said, letting out a small laugh. “I just want to offer you something, nothing too serious.” Beginning to relax, I took a seat in front of his desk. “Since you have nowhere else to go, you can stay here and learn with the other students.” He said, gesturing to the school. “Or, you can leave and find things out on your own.” I sat there, thinking about the options. “Don’t stay here.” The voice in my head said. “You should stay here.” The other voice said. “You can grow stronger by staying here.” Akai said. I stood up and looked out the window, watching the students passing between classes. “There’s no point in staying here. The only way you can copy magic is if you kill whatever is using the magic.” My reflection said. “It’s not copying, it’s stealing.”

I thought for a moment. “I’ll stay here.” I answered. “I was hoping you would. Here’s your schedule, classes will start in a couple days.” He said, handing me a slip of paper. “Follow me, I’ll lead you to the dorms.”

As he led me out and deeper into the academy, I was able to get a good look of the building. It was a castle, there were multiple sections and paths winding everywhere, there was even an outdoors area in the middle of everything. “You’ll get a tour tomorrow, along with your uniform.” the headmaster said, not looking behind. “You will also have one roommate, so don’t be too surprised.” He said, leading me around a corner. Knocking on a door, it seemed we reached our destination. The one who opened the door was Netsu.

After showing me the inside of the room, the headmaster left. “He must be busy.” I thought, recalling the stacks of papers on his desk. The room was somewhat small. Splitting it in half, my bed took up most of my side, leaving only my bathroom door and a wardrobe. We each had our own bathroom, making sure we wouldn’t walk in on eachother while on the toilet. I was surprised that there was running water, for some reason I didn't think there would be any.

A heavy sigh escaped my mouth, alerting my roommate. “What’s Wrong?” Netsu asked, knocking on the bathroom door. “I was going to take a shower but I have no other clothes.” I said, opening the door. I was currently still wearing the generic hospital outfit, which was a gown. Staring at my current outfit, Netsu came up with an idea. “Here.” He said, handing me some spare clothing. “Take a shower and then get ready to go outside.”

“Wow.” I said, standing in front of a small town. “This place is so lively.” People were wandering about, there were stalls put up, selling food and other general goods. Walking up to one of the stalls, Netsu handed over some coins to the owner and picked out some clothing. “How are these?” He asked, handing me the clothes. “They're good, thanks.” I answered. “Do you not know how to use spatial magic?” He asked, noticing me still holding the clothes. “Spatial magic?” I inquired. “Here, I’ll hold onto them for you.” He took the clothes and created a crack in reality. At least that’s what it looked like. The air had cracked, revealing a white space behind it. Putting the clothes inside, they vanished along with the crack.

“Do you want to look around?” Netsu asked, noticing me staring at the stalls. “Ah, I would but I don’t have any money.” I said, disheartened. “Here.” Netsu said, handing over a small pouch. “Just pick something out. Also, look for a weapon of some sort, you’ll need it for the academy.” Taking the money, I made sure to express my gratitude. “Thanks man, I’ll make it up to you.”

Looking into the stalls was a pleasant experience. The different foods and items were amazing. Making sure to listen to Netsu, I looked for a good weapon. He had given me ten small silver coins and one larger gold coin. As I walked, I noticed a weapons stall. There were several swords and bows, one of which caught my eye. “Who made this?” I asked, Picking up a sword. There was a slight curve at the end of it, and only one side was sharpened. The metal was completely black, almost allowing no sunlight to reach it.

“No one knows, it just showed up on the market one day.” The stall keeper said. “How much for it?” I asked, still staring at the sword. “How about ten silver coins?” He asked, a smirk on his face. “Seven silver coins.” I replied.

“Eight.”

“Fine, but I want that as well.” I said, pointing to a regular dagger. “Deal.”

As I walked away from the stall, I put the sword into a crack in reality using the spatial magic I copied. “Two silver coins and one gold left.” I looked through the stalls and the occasional building, but nothing caught my eye like the black sword did. Until I found a mask. It was just a normal porcelain mask, nothing special about it, but for some reason, whenever I looked at it, the static in the back of my mind would grow louder. Spending one silver, I tossed it into the storage with my sword.

As I began walking back to Netsu, I picked up some meat on a stick for the last silver coin. It was surprisingly good.

“What are you doing here?” I heard a voice call out behind me. Turning to look, I was greeted with Akari. She was holding the same type of meat on a stick, only she hadn’t eaten any of hers yet. As I had food in my mouth, I pointed over to Netsu, who waved.

“He needed to get a weapon and some clothes. Speaking of which, did you find one?” Netsu said, looking over to me. I lifted up my dagger. “Yeah, I like this one.” I answered, putting it back away. “Anyways.” I said. “We should leave.” The sun was beginning to set, and we had a curfew.

We were walking through a small patch of trees when I heard it, the rustling of leaves, cracks of twigs, and frantic breaths. I quickly reached for my sheathed dagger, ready to attack. A child ran out of the trees, sticks littering their dark cyan hair. As they ran, their head was looking towards the ground, so, not being able to see us, they ran straight into my chest. Falling to the ground, the child rubbed their head.

“Hey, are you alright?” Akari asked, quickly running to help the child. As she crouched down and was checking the kid with Netsu, I stayed back, looking into the woods.

*Thump Thump*

My heart was racing, and I began to feel it, the sensation I felt while in the dungeon. My vision turned blue, but instead of dodging, I grabbed the three on the ground. Realizing I had no time to dodge after getting them out of the way, I held up my hand and expelled almost all of my mana. Doing this just in time, A large stream of water slammed into my makeshift barrier. The recoil sent my arm back, dislocating it.

“Is everyone alright!?” I asked, making sure to not turn around. “Yeah, thanks to you.” As I stood my ground, I watched two robed figures walk out from behind the trees. I turned to Netsu. “My arm is dislocated, can you relocate it? Quickly!” I yelled. Clenching my teeth, I watched as Netsu pushed my arm back into place. “Fuck!” Shaking my arm, the pain worsened, but I had no choice. I walked closer to the two People.

“Is there any chance you two will just leave peacefully?” I asked. “I'm afraid not.” One of them said. “I thought so.” Unsheathing my dagger, I rushed the one who spoke. He was able to jump completely over my head, running towards the others. I was going to stop him, however, the other one stood in my way. “That thing belongs to us.” She said, unsheathing a sword. “What, the kid?” I asked, disgusted.

As the woman charged at me, I held up my dagger and added some fire magic to it, coating the blade with flames. As I did, the static in my mind grew louder. Our weapons clashed, sparks shot off our blades, hitting my forearm. The force of her swing was heavy, It almost knocked me off balance. As I regained balance, we continued trading blows, and I gained several small slashes and cuts. “Kill Her!” The voice in my head yelled loudly. I held my head, Ignoring the approaching enemy and dropping my dagger.

*Bzzt*

I Immediately ducked under the incoming sword and grabbed the woman's wrist. Squeezing it, I was able to get her to drop it. Catching the sword while It was in the air, I stood up straight and stabbed into the woman's stomach. Slicing her in half, I turned and threw the sword into the guy, Impaling his head. The exhausted Akari and Netsu Immediately collapsed upon seeing their enemy drop.

*Bzzt*

I suddenly came to. I was standing in front of Akari and Netsu. They were covered in multiple cuts and Netsu had one large gash running across his back. “Hey man, thanks for that.” Nestu said, walking towards me. “Yeah.” I said, distantly, not sure what had happened. “You’re welcome.” The voice said. Deciding to think about this later, I walked over to the kid. As I walked over, I noticed that they had two wolf ears on the top of their head. I was going to talk to them, but I realized I still hadn’t picked up my dagger.

We decided to bring the girl back with us. The headmaster would decide what to do from there. “Whoa, what’d I miss?” Akai asked, popping up out of nowhere. I noticed she was wearing different clothes, A black cloak, white shirt, and even a choker. “How are you even wearing that stuff?” I asked. “I can wear any piece of clothing I see.” She answered, immediately swapping to what Akari was wearing. “So were you just browsing a clothing store while we were out here?” I asked, Slightly irritated. “Well, yeah… But I blacked out for a second, so I came as fast as I could.”

I noticed that the girl was sticking to Akari, and if me or Netsu got close, she would move. “Well, It doesn’t really matter.” I thought as I continued walking. By the time we got back to the academy the sun had set and the moon was now in the sky. I let Akari and Netsu bring the kid to the headmaster, I was exhausted from the fight. Sitting on my bed, I checked my core. It was still almost completely empty. The purple aura was also slightly used up. After I checked my core, I just ran through what had happened that day, checking all my memories. While I did this, one memory came up.

“Remember, I’m always here for you.” “I know mom.”

Closing my eyes, I fell asleep.