5 The Crusader

Time flied by as Persephone was able to regain her self confidence with the help of Maximillian and her new friend, Kathina. Despite the looks of fear and/or disgust in the eyes of her classmates and professor alike, she was still able to get though classes relatively well. Persephone felt relieved as with the help of her friends she was finally able to overcome her traumatic state.

As time went on, most of the classmates began to tolerate and even accept Persephone, her outgoing and seemingly innocent nature led to many of her classmates sympathising with her situation and they mostly learned to overlook her trait of hatred.

However, there were still those who stubbornly held on to their prejudices. Persephone glanced behind herself to find a pair of contempt filled eyes staring back at her. Those flaming eyes belonged to Justicar Dizzent, a magic caster who at the same time was study to become proficient at the sword as well.

From what Persephone was told, Justicar's trait was 'Justice' and she was seeking to become a powerful guardian for the Kingdom or something along those lines... A story told of how on just the third day of entering the academy she got into a fight with three delinquents. The outcome was that the three delinquents were beaten so badly that they had to treated immediately with healing magic. Apparently the professors seem to favour Justicar as they turned a blind-eye to this incident.

Justicar quickly claimed an area which she deemed "free from injustices for she is watching it" where she routinely gave out harsh beatings to those who would bring disorder to her utopia. Theoretically Justicar's utopia should have been a land of refuge for Persephone but Justicar's flaming eyes tell Persephone otherwise.

Throughout her days in the academy, Persephone always felt Justicar's eyes watching her, as if Justicar is waiting for something to happen. Persephone quickly banished those thoughts, thinking to herself [No, there's no need to mind her or think about her. She just must vigilant against me because of my trait right? Hopefully we can soothe things out as time went on.] But when Persephone turns back to glance at the flame-filled eyes of Justicar, Persephone felt that, that was just wishful thinking. As Persephone sighed about her dilemma with Justicar the professor finally entered the classroom.

"Good morning class. I trust that you have been keeping up with your study?"

As the people in the class showed a mixed range of feelings from pride to dread the Professor continued onwards.

"While for the first few days we have only been studying magic theory and the rules behind it. Today we are actually going to go through a practical lesson today, where we will first test your magic capacity and capability.

The feelings of pride and dread further rose within the room as those who studied and practiced their magic since birth sneered while those who barely made it into the academy held faces of fearful anticipation. Among those people was Persephone Odius.

...

Outside on the courtyard the class was split into four groups depending on their trait, the four groups being; offensive, defensive, support and mixed. Persephone was part of the offensive group while Maximillian and Kathina being part of the defensive and support groups respectively.

Persephone was full of fearful anticipation as she barely tried to tap into her magic ever since her trait was revealed out of fear of the damage it may cause. Now she would probably be forced to use it, in front of her entire class! Persephone was filled with dread as she imagined the future scenarios should her magic could get out of control, the looks of fear on her classmates and professor and the look of disappoint in Maximillian and Kathina because she broke her promise...

[NO! I can't let my magic get out of control. Otherwise everything I promised to Kathina when I when I first met her would be nothing more than a lie! I can't allow that to happen. For Maximillian. For Kathina... For myself].

As Persphone tried to calm herself down she felt the pressure of two flame eyes staring down at her. [Even now Justicar still watches me? Well I guess it would make sense for her to be even more vigilant since I'm actually going to use my magic.]

As Persphone began to contemplate an idea flashed before her eyes. [Wait... if Justicar is watching me? Doesn't that mean that I can finally prove to her that I have self-restraint and that I'm a good person? Yes. YES! This idea is so good that surely Maximillian would surely be surprised when he learns that I'm the one that came up with such a cleaver and intricate scheme!]

As Persephone smiled proudly of the excellent plan she had just conceived she felt a small nudge at her elbow. She turned to see that it was Maximillian with a somewhat timid boy who was slightly shorter than Maxmillian, Persephone remembered that his name was Atticus.

"What are you smiling about? Keep smiling like that and people will actually think that you really are an enemy of mankind and that you just conceived some world ending scheme. Either that or at the very least that you're insane."

Persephone felt her face redden but just before she can rebuke him, the timid boy seemingly also startled by Maxmillian's words spoke up.

"Max what are you doing? Do you really want to provoke the dreaded hatred magic caster and have her unleash her chaotic magic upon you?"

Persephone felt a pain in her heart as people were still fearful of her despite the fact that she never did anything wrong yet. Maximillian however, seemed unfazed and responded nonchalantly.

"So I guess that means that you want to provoke the oh-so-scary hatred magic caster as well? After all you did just call her a "dreaded hatred magic caster" right in front of her face."

Atticus seemed to be at a loss for words as he realised what he has just done. He turned fearfully to face Persephone, his eyes filled with dread. In response Maximillian calmly placed his hands on Atticus' shoulder.

"Relax she's not a vicious monster like the rumours make her out to be. The rumours about her having a few screws lose though... that may be true."

"Oh-oh... is that so? I see."

As Persephone's face began to redden again, her name was called out by Kathina.

"Peresphone! The professor's calling you! It's time for him to test out your magic capabilities!"

Persephone suddenly remembered her plan to prove her innocence to Justicar and now was the moment to put that plan into action. She can now finally rid herself of that pair of flaming eyes, or at least that's what she thought...