29 Unlisted

"I want you in our rank of instructors."

Zylith watched expectantly as Gray tilted his head forward to pinch the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

He let out a heavy breath and shoved both his hands back into the pockets of his commoner-reeking windbreaker, only building on to the silent suspense.

Amerion kicked the stone path and turned away sulking, just like the rude, impatient man he was. "Geez," he grumbled under his breath. "Just say yes already, you prick. Who in their right mind would reject?"

Wrenley cast his superior an incredulous look, and Zylith could practically see the question in his eyes.

'Why are you granting this boy so much privilege?'

Zylith shook her head, denying to answer his question at the moment. But he wasn't wrong that she was offering Gray such high privilege. Ones called 'Instructor' in the association usually were high-achieving recruits who have years of experience in the field; these people only answered to her, the General Instructor, and the chairman.

Now she was letting him have in on this special position...not for no reason, though.

Zylith glanced up as Gray finally shifted his unmoving position, and she held her breath, hoping the best. And then her face fell when she caught the fiery look in his eyes.

It was no look of a normal human. His black, blazing eyes of extreme animosity drilled into hers, and she felt her blood stop cold when a monstrous, overwhelming pressure suddenly came upon them. The mana inside her quickly worked to enforce her body, but even so, her legs strained to keep her standing.

The guards found themselves lurching towards the ground, unable to bear the weight that pressed down on them; and to see their superior frozen to the spot only increased their fear.

Amerion especially. He was on both hands and knees, scared shitless, baselessly assuming it was an attack from the gods until he found Gray standing before him, completely unaffected. Suddenly he couldn't bring himself to even look at the boy he had been secretly cussing out.

The air around them crackled vigorously. Zylith flinched when a scorching bolt of electricity materialized next to her ear and streaked across her face, producing a thin but precise cut. The tiny wound quickly spread the burn through the side of her face, and she gritted her teeth to endure the throbbing pain.

What...what the hell was that? Electrokinesis?

"I think you're misunderstanding something here," Gray said murderously, his head lolled to the side. His voice held an unnatural rasp, and for a second there, Zylith thought she saw the devil's incarnation flash before her eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't even utter a word in the shadow of Gray's irresistible power. The last and only other time she felt his power back at the academy was nothing like this...

Black wisps of smoke seemed to radiate from his body as the shadow of his power continued to spread into the air and the ground beneath them. "Don't take my cooperation the wrong way," he said bitterly. "I originally didn't want to have anything to do with you people, but I already promised the kid."

"So don't bite off more than you can chew. I can't guarantee I will be able to hold back the next time something stupid comes out of your mouth," he warned. "Do. You. Understand?"

The silence that followed wasn't anything pleasant, and just as Gray was about to burst, Zylith barely managed to force out the needed words to save herself and her subordinates from further suffering.

"I- I understand."

A bead of sweat dripped down her chin as Gray's eyes slowly morphed back to normal, and a small sigh of relief escaped her lips as the threatening aura was withdrawn so quickly as if it were never there. Her legs gave out and she dropped to one knee, the hairs on the back of her neck still standing up in shock.

Gray flashed the guards a look of disdain as they fell to the ground and broke into a fit of coughing before turning back to Zylith, who clutching her beating chest with a slightly trembling hand.

It was a complete fail. This boy...really was more dangerous than he looked.

What did he want now?

"Listen here," Gray said, his voice sounding more human than a minute ago. He sat down right in front of the woman's knelt figure and crossed his arms. "Until the kid turns eighteen, I am his guardian. Documents or whatever, I'll allow you to put my name."

"...y- your name?"

Gray blinked. "Was I wrong to assume that you've already met his parents?"

How did he know? "No, you're right," Zylith replied, a bit surprised. "His parents...didn't look like the supportive type."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes before getting back to what he wanted to say. "I'm only going to say this one time. Drop your insufferable intentions to keep trying to reel me in. The only relation between me and you, is that I am the person who permitted you to scout my student," he disclosed sharply, jabbing his finger in the older woman's face.

Zylith kept quiet as Gray pushed himself off the floor, pulling up the messy zipper of his thin jacket to his chest. She stared intensely at the ground where he sat just moments before, sensing the remnants of his demon-like power.

"Don't bother me in the future...unless it's about Emrys."

And when he was gone, Zylith's shoulder sagged dramatically, finally at ease.

"What the hell?" Wrenley rasped as he staggered to his feet, visibly shaken. He ran his hand through his flaming red hair, still struggling to process what just happened. "D- did Miss Kameron really make friends with such a monster?"

Amerion was still on the ground, expression blank as he stared off into the distance with a frozen, incredulous look on his face.

Tessa helped Wylis to his feet, and the youngest of the group of mages seemed to barely be hanging on, his face completely drained of color. Wylis was taken as a candidate by Cille's department only two years ago as he held exceptional power with his hydrokinetic element, but it seems today was the first time he felt that he could've easily lost his life.

Zylith took in a breath and stood back up on her heels, brushing her hands down the side of her blazer. She was lost in her own thoughts as the bodyguards slowly recovered from their shock.

Taking Gray into the M.A. seemed pretty much a lost cause, but that didn't mean that she was going to give up. Because of Emrys, Gray stood on middle grounds.

Neutral was better than a confirmed enemy, which he could've been labeled minutes ago if he did more than give a warning...though his warning was plenty aggressive.

The fact that bothered her the most, however, was his identity.

His full name, elemental power, age, origin, background, and everything else was unknown...and she needed to figure out why.

Why was he missing from the records, and why he despised their association so much.

Flaws in the association cannot be overlooked.

'I need to tell the chairman...'

_______________

Emrys sat in the back seats of the car driven by the butler, who offered to drive the three guests home himself since he was quite free in the afternoon.

Jade sat in the passenger's seat, delightfully chatting away with the gray-haired driver to pass the time, while Gray sat silently to his right, arms crossed and head slightly bowed.

In his little corner, Emrys fidgeted with the metal-like card in his hands, tracing every bump and sharp corner with his fingers. He couldn't take his eyes off it, happiness and excitement overflowing from within his chest for the first time since...quite a long time.

"Why is it so heavy?" he proceeded to murmur under his breath, flipping the card back to the front. The Association's symbol. the platinum, winged lightning bolt shone in his eyes. Under it on the very bottom was the woman's name: Zylith Mai.

He swiped his thumb across the face of the card, and all of a sudden the logo lit up. A small, rectangular hologram popped up right in front of his eyes, and he straightened up in surprise. "Wha-?"

He blinked a couple of times, moving his head side to side, but the hologram remained fixed in the air where it appeared. Slowly, he reached up with his arm and wondered if he could touch the little panel, only to be let down when his hand passed right through.

A message suddenly blinked onto the projection, the Association's symbol materializing at the very corner.

[Insert Data]

[First Name]

[Middle Name]

[Last Name]

Emrys scratched the back of his head, confused. He was sure this hologram came from his accidental activation of the card, but something like this was way past his understanding. He'd never seen something like this before, let alone know how to use it.

Another message in smaller font flickered onto the hologram, and he squinted his eyes to read it.

[Voice Instruction Required to Continue]

Voice? Did he need to say it out loud?

Emrys cast the two who sat in the front seats an uncertain look. They seemed too into their conversation to pay him any attention.

Then he glanced over at Gray, who was still unmoved from the same position as he was nearly ten minutes ago.

Well...

"E- Emrys," he started unsurely, speaking as quietly as he could.

He watched as his name filled in the empty spot next to its correct category, turning the white box into a faint green. The two remaining boxes stared back at him, waiting patiently to be completed.

His hand quickly flew to his mouth as he suddenly became embarrassed by the thought of his middle name. He held up the card with his other hand and tapped the logo in an attempt to somehow shut it down.

Unfortunately for him, the hologram did not disappear, and no matter how he messed around with the card, he did not know how to turn it off.

'Ugh...'

"Uh, Vinn," he hissed hurriedly, the tips of his ears burning red. "Kwan."

[Initializing...]

[Complete]

[Greetings, Emrys V. Kwan]

He watched the hologram flash before him, his eyes transfixed to the blue glow as the system continued on its own.

[Synchronizing Database...]

[Complete]

[Welcome to the Mage Association, Emrys. Please transfer sufficient mana into the identification card]

Emrys looked down at the metal card in his hands, perplexed to see that the card had changed appearance. Instead of Zylith Mai's, his name was the one written below the symbol in thin, platinum letters. Instead of the previous silver shine, the material was near-transparent, and he could see his hand through the rectangle.

[Please transfer a sufficient amount of mana into the identification card]

Emrys bit down on his lip as did as he was told, letting his power seep through his fingers into the card. His eyebrows shot up in astonishment as his crystal blue flakes naturally filled into the card, spreading out to take shape of the transparent rectangle.

It only stopped when it was returned to the initial density from when Zylith first gave him the card, and he paused to admire the light blue snowflake incorporated into the card right next to his name.

[Mana Transfer... Complete]

[Mana Detection... Complete]

[Kinesis Type: Cyrokinesis]

[Synchronizing...]

[Step One: Complete]