Ignis felt pressure like never before. ‘Teaching and leading a team? And what does he expect me to teach in a few days?’’

“Wait a minute, I’ve never led anyone before, I wouldn’t know where to start! And how long am I supposed to teach them, exorcisms are one thing, but curses are a different entirely, you need a lot of knowledge and first-hand experience.”

Vanati smiled, the ghost had given him an unexpected opportunity to force this ragtag group together. It was true that there wouldn’t be enough time to teach them properly, but the youth had already taken the first step to break out of his solitary shell by himself. If he could forge a connection between him and the other, his strong sense of duty would make him feel obligated to help them in the future.

“Obviously child, I do not expect you to teach them about curse. The church’s education in matter of exorcism is adequate, but as you should know, there are things you can only learn from observing others.”

The death mage had to admit it was true, even though the church has ample documentation and a myriad of spell book, there’s an inescapable a gap between knowledge and practice. “I’ll do what I can. Err…”

“Now, to the task at hand. As you all know, there’s been a series of disturbance in the city over the last few weeks. At first, it was rather tame so most witness thought it was but a dream, however it’s been gaining in strength by the day. Already, people have started blaming those with the death attribute and at this rate it’s only a matter of time before it degenerates into a mob.”

The listeners gulped; mob didn’t think, it acted. Once it was on the street it’d seek a scapegoat which would eventually lead to random lynching and mass paranoia. Some here already knew the result of such things, they were the one who had to exorcise the evil spirit left by victims.

The wights’ war was a story from many generations ago but the fear was still vivid in everyone’s heart, even authorities who should know better weren’t exempt of prejudices. The church itself had to remove depictions of the death element from its facade and its teaching even though when all’s said and done, the fire lords were the cause of most destruction.

“The disturbance only occurs at night. Please, gather information and deal with it as soon as possible. That’ll be all”

“Sir, can I speak with you for a second?” asked Ignis.

“Absolutely.” Addressing the others. “Do you mind waiting outside?”

The youths removed themselves from the room and then… “What should I do?” Exclaimed the death mage freaking out. “I don’t know how to lead a team! I’ve never had to investigate into anything before, and that’s… that’s because it’s your damn job!”

Although extreme, the reaction was within the ecclesiarch’s expectations. “I know I’m pushing you hard, but you must understand there’s only so many things our investigators can do without. Unless we make some effort into educating these youths, all you’ll ever have on your dispatches are fragmented information collected by someone without the proper knowledge and abilities.”

The necromancer had no way to answer that since it was indeed a recurring complaint of his. “That doesn’t mean I have to lead them, though!”

“Oh, but it does, how else would they know what to look for if you don’t tell them? Since Firis suddenly retired you’re one of our only two properly trained death mage. You had seven years with a master; they’ve had books. Like it or not, you’ll have to impart your knowledge sometime or deal with ten times the jobs down the line.”

It was grumble at this point, but Ignis nevertheless pointed out. “What about the other mage? He’s older and more experienced than me, right? Can’t he teach them?”

“He works in Fueur, and he already have some apprentices.”

Fueur was the home of the fire lord, of all country it was the one that suffered the most and most the land is still unhabitable to this day.

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it. So, where do I start?”

Ignis called the others back inside. “Alright, I’d like those who have friends and family in the capital to use their network to get an idea of where the disturbance started and how it progressed.” Three heads nodded, not as much as he had hoped but they were in luck since the last two disturbances occurred in one of the blocks surrounding their dormitory. “The other will go by pairs and try to find the location from last night.”

“Why act in pairs?” Asked a guy, making him realize he still didn’t know their names.

“With the current climate, we might attract suspicion or get in trouble. It’s safer to act in a group. Who among you has a familiar?” The downcast gazes told it all. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t have a permanent familiar either. When you find a nice spirit, you’d rather help it pass on than enslave it.”

“Yeah.” “I don’t even use familiar.” “Same here.” “I didn’t learn how to use them.” “I can barely see spirits.”

“Let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Ignis, nineteen-years-old a tripe with death, fire and wind attributes.”

“Wow, that’s a rather destructive combination.”

“You’d think so, but the most terrifying mage I’ve ever seen was a single of the wind attribute called Windy. She retired a few years ago.”

“I’m Alizée, fourteen, a wind/death double and I don’t think wind is such a strong offensive element.”

Ignis smirked at the girl’s comment. “You’re lucky she isn’t here, because she’d given you a lesson.” He then shuddered, remembering the asphyxiation and other mistreatment she had put him through under the guise of training. “Let’s just say she could detect people breathing and change the composition of the air to induce coma or kill someone.”

“I’m Oliver, nineteen, an earth/death double. My second element is extremely weak and even in the best I can barely see evil spirits.”

“I’m Govad, fifteen, a triple with wind/water/death attributes, but my secondary attributes are barely noticeable. My family live around”

“I’m Cascade, fifteen, a water/death double. Both my attributes are about equally strong, and my family also live in the city.”

“I’m Atesh, twenty fire/death/wind/water quadruple but all my attributes are weak. I have some uncles and a few friends who live in this city.”

“I’m Zivagho, a life/death double…”

“Eh?” “What?” “For real?” “Why didn’t I hear of that before?!” The excitation was comprehensible opposite attributes were extremely rare, usually only appearing in quadruple and beings of legend. Furthermore, this specific pairing was considered impossible.”

“… but my death attribute it super weak.”

Still, life and earth mages were welcome everywhere, having one capable of detecting curses and death attribute even a little would be a major boon. Ignis felt unusually motivated, he wished he was born with a life or earth pairing himself.

“How good are you with your light element?”

“I can heal wounds no problem, but only certain disease. I’m training with a doctor at the moment.”

Some people were naturally capable of healing about anything while others had to train to identify what was ailing the patient and how to treat them to be any good.

“I’m Azrael, eleven,” he looked more thirteen but that wasn’t surprising, some people aged faster or slower than other, but in some cases, they had to mature quickly. This boy had the look of the latter. “death is my only attribute.”

“When did you arrive?” Asked Ignis while looking at the cardinal suspiciously.

“I was taken in by the church two weeks ago and arrived yesterday.”

“Just so you know, he volunteered to observe you.” Said Vanati matching eye for eye with the death mage.

“The south is a cursed land of ruin and death but it’s still full of fools fearing those who do something about it.”

This boy’s story mirrored Ignis’ own, the north too used to be like that and it probably still was for the most part.