In my previous life I disliked high places but now I really like looking at the stars from the rooftop. I usually looked at the stars when I was sad and needed to think but I don’t think that’s the case, maybe I found a way to relax.

“Do you like this place?”

Why do people enjoy sneaking so much? Oh well, it was just a matter of time until she came here. When Mir is with us she barely says anything, for example that’s the first time I’ve heard her speak today so I guess she talks to me now when most people are sleeping.

“I don’t know.”

“You looked like you were looking at something beyond the sky.”

I know there’s something I have to say but I don’t know what. Beyond the sky, there are just planets and stars and I don’t think I’m the deep, silent character. Maybe it’s just solitude, some time for me to think.

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Maybe I want to be alone?”

“Loneliness it’s the cause. I’ve seen people like you before, you can’t see what’s around you.”

“What am I supposed to see?”

“That’s not something I can tell you, even if I did you wouldn’t believe me. When you see it you will know.”

“So you came here to tell me I’m lonely and I fail to see something I should?”

“Changing the subject when you don’t like it, you are still a kid. I just said it when I saw your face when you turned face me. I actually wanted to talk about what happened before with the teacher.”

Even a blind person could’ve seen the smile on her face when she said I was a kid. Of course I would change the subject, I had a bad feeling about where that was going.

“You are talking about the yelling?”

“Yes, one year ago some students tried the same thing that you did and he tied them to the towers and left them there until morning.”

“Nice.”

“That’s not nice! You wouldn’t have said that if you were tied to one of the towers. What I wanted to ask was why he didn’t do anything to you.”

It was a joke. Seeing her lose her composure was worth it. I think there’s a reason he did nothing, that being the headmistress.

“My mother was one of headmistress’s apprentices and she told the headmistress to help me and I wanted to see how far I can go before I cross the line.”

“So you bet your well being on an assumption?”

“Yes. If he wanted to punish us I would insist on being punished in Jaden’s place too and it’s not like you or Jaden gave a fuck about me.”

“If Jaden is too trusting you are the opposite, you don’t want to try trusting another person.”

“It’s been two days, do you really expect me to believe that you or Jaden care about me? Sorry but I don’t believe you.”

“It doesn’t matter if we’ve known each other for two days or two years, both Jaden and I care about you.”

“I don’t understand why and even if you told me I would probably change nothing.”

“OK, let’s try something else. You know about slavery?”

“Yes. What about it?”

“The biggest difference between the two is the magic tattoo a slave has. They said that being a maid is better than being a slave but that’s a lie, be it maid or slave people look at you like you aren’t human or alive. In a sea of people who treat maids worse than slaves there are some people who treat you like a human, wouldn’t you befriend them if you had the chance?”

“How can you be so sure I’m one of those people?”

“I’m not but you proved you are not like other people and you talk to me normally even though I’m a maid, this much is enough for me.”

“I can’t see things the way you see them.”

“I don’t expect you to understand now but in time things may change.”

“I really want to know the reason you said that.”

“It’s not fun to tell you everything at once. I will tell you little by little why your current way of thinking is wrong.”

“I’m not the type of person who listens to others but you can try.”

“The day you open your eyes will be the day many things will change. I’ve said enough for today and you have to go, Maria is coming to the courtyard.”

All my senses should be better than those of a human and yet Mir repeatedly shows me the difference between us. I can’t feel her presence but I know it’s about time to meet her.

“Any advice or something before I go?”

“Pay attention to what Maria says.”

I left without saying anything after that. The things about slaves and maids were something new to me. He said that I was one of the people who treated her like a human being so that means Jaden is another one of them. I will stop with the jokes for a while.

“Now that you are here we can talk about what you did earlier.”

“I really want to hear what happened after he left.”

“The headmistress told the teachers to leave you alone. As expected most of them complained but in the end she is the headmistress so they….”

“I don’t care. Tell me what happened with the dorm teacher.”

“Fine. The teacher comes storming into the headmistress’s office complaining about two students yelling and making fun of him. He didn’t tell her your names but both the headmistress and I figured that he was talking about you so she told him off this time but next time you might not be so lucky.”

“What’s he going to do, expel me?”

“That’s the easy way out, we don’t expel people for misbehaving, we usually punish them until they learn their lesson, after all we gain nothing if we expel them and just between us and the headmistress: I hate that he punishes the students even for small mistakes and telling him off felt good.”

“So Liliana let me off the hook because she had the chance to piss off someone who pissed her off.”

“Yes.”

“Glad to be of service. Now can we get on with what we came here to do?”

“I am going to explain some things about dark magic then…”

“Fuck that. Forget the theory, I’m ready to practice.”

“Ready is the last thing you are, you are unable to use normal magic techniques and you think you are ready, maybe in your dreams.”

What is she talking about? The only normal technique I know is body enchantment, the rest depend on your elements.

“So I’m stupid, can you tell me why I’m not ready?”

“As you know dark magic is used by humans mostly for sneaking. The foundation of these techniques was the Shadow Step. Unlike other types of magic spells dark magic spells don’t have an incantation and can only be used by somebody with exceptional magic control, something you lack.”

“I have control over magic, that’s how I was able to pass the tests.”

“Watch me and then you may understand what I’m talking about.”

Maria started walking in circles. What was I supposed to see? Her posture is normal and so is her walking style, the only strange thing is the dark purple glow coming from her feet. Her shoes are coated in magic and every time she takes a step the ground glows a little too.

“Do you understand now?”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to see?”

“I will show you again. Pay attention and listen.”

She is telling me to listen. Listen to what, it’s not like she is telling me something. She is just walking around, so much for a sneaking technique……I’m an idiot, I had to listen to the sound of her footsteps. Conclusion: There is no sound, the dark magic on her feet and on the ground damps the sound.

“Your footsteps make no sound, that’s so cool. When do I learn that?”

“When you empower your body you keep the magic inside your body and just change the way it flows, to do this you have to focus your magic on your feet and shoes then release a small amount of it on the ground with each step you make.”

“That sounds awfully hard to control, isn’t there an easier way to do this?”

“This is one of the advanced techniques so it’s not supposed to be easy but it is the starting point for the other ones so learning it first will make the other easier.”

“I’m really losing the little motivation I had.”

“I was like that too when I started practicing dark magic.”

It’s hard to believe that the diligent Maria would say something like that. She looked like a person who has the discipline to move a mountain.

“So…”

“I’m not going to tell you about my past.”

“And you are soooo sure I would say that.”

“Yes, that’s what I used to do when I was learning. Don’t look down on adults, most of them go along with you for their entertainment.”

So bullshit aside, I still have to find a way to last longer than a few seconds. In my inner world body empowerment has the same effects as enchantment and it is activated the same way. Since Maria is still here I might as well talk to her for some advice.

“Can you explain to me how you use the technique?”

“Do you have trouble releasing your magic?”

“I can release it, it’s just that I can only use it for a few seconds before I run out of magic.”

“This question may sound a little strange but it’s important I get an honest answer, what do you see when you meditate?”

Usually when I meditate I go to my inner world so the thing I see is supposed to be my magic.

“There is a dark place with a glowing lake. It’s hard to explain, even though the lake is clear I cannot see the bottom. Does that help?”

“The darkness you see is a result of your dark magic and the lake is supposed to be your magic. Your magic is continuously flowing and yet you see it as something that doesn’t move.”

Now she is confused. At least she is better at thinking than me. Well, it’s not like I came up with the idea of empowerment, which was Ellen’s idea in the first place.

“When you use empowerment how do you control your magic?”

“The water in the lake comes to me.”

“Why don’t you go for a swim?”

“Last time I tried that I lost consciousness after five seconds.”

“The headmistress told me that body enchantment and empowerment used to be only one technique. If you can learn how to control your magic you might get another boost in your power.”

“Aren’t we getting side tracked here?”

The lesson was cool and all but it’s been almost an hour since we started and we’ve done nothing. I could find better ways to waste my time if Maria doesn’t help me or I could forget about other spell and just use empowerment.

“I got it!”

Holy shit! That actually scared me. She smiles like a child who’s got a new toy and looks at me like she found Mekka.

“What happened, you thought about something?”

“You said you call your magic to you so how about doing the opposite thing like putting your feet on the surface of the lake and see what happens.”

“Since we are sitting here doing nothing it may be worth a try.”

Hello darkness my old friend. Here I am in front of the lake thinking how long I will last before collapsing. I really hope I won’t be swallowed like the last time I tried to do something like this.

I stayed in front of the lake and put one foot in the lake. Nothing happened. I tried putting both feet and waited to get swallowed but yet again nothing happened. I took a few steps towards the center of the lake. Suddenly I felt the water moving beneath my feet dragging me down, towards the bottom of the lake.

I started to feel dizzy which made me lose my balance. Why does this happen when I try to control my magic. I was on my way to the bottom but the drowning sensation was not present which means I might have a chance to escape. I swam until I reached the surface then my dizziness got stronger making me lose consciousness. When I woke up I realised I was still in my inner world but there was no water left. Usually I wake up in the real world, so what changed? I got up and looked around. It seems the water carried me to the shore after I fainted, which never happened before.

“Wake up…Wake up…”

Somebody is calling me, somebody from the other side.

“Snap out of it!”

I opened my eyes and saw Maria looking in my eyes, she looked worried but why? Her hands were on my shoulders and now that I am back I realise that she is using quite some strength, it hurts a little.

“What happened?”

“You are fine…I’m glad. Look at your body.”

I did as she said and looked at my body, as expected the black veins appeared again and seeing her looking at my eyes I bet my eye color changed to black.

“It’s all right, this always happens when I use magic.”

“How do you feel?”

“I’m fine. More importantly, I couldn’t use body enchantment and it seems I wasted my magic.”

“Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s four in the morning. Why?”

“A short while after you started meditating you actually managed to hold a full body enchantment until I woke you up. Something happened to you there and I suggest you keep doing it until you gain a little more control.”

So she stayed here watching me for almost four hours on a weekday, I can’t even imagine how tired she is.

“Maria, I’m sorry for keeping you here for so long, let’s stop this.”

“What is this, a break-up?” She smiled while saying that.

“Jokes aside, please get some sleep tonight.”

“Very well, class is over. Good job.”

“I’m going back to my room. See you in class.”

Good job my ass, I did something I never could for two years and I wasn’t even aware of it.

It was already late so I don’t think there would be any doors left open for me so I decided to see if my room’s window is still open. It seems I was in luck, the window was left open so I could sneak in.

The fatigue I feel is due to magic exhaustion but my magic pool was barely drained. For now I have to know why I remained in my inner world and how I managed to use body enchantment for almost four hours.