Episode 14: Feelings

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Jessica Black

I walked down one of the many corridors of Aurora University. My mind wasn't focused on my studies anyway. What I was focused on was... Lough.

My face heated up. I mean, sure, he's good-looking, but... My thoughts wavered as I remembered his cold and icy fury when he'd realised who me and my brother, Darius, really were. The look in his eyes said that even though he saw us as friends, he was ready to kill us both in an instant if the situation called for that.

And I believed it too.

The power he displayed was another level. He'd shown greater physical strength and pinned Darius to the wall, and then, to top it off, he'd used a lightning spell when he was a fire mage.

That night was confusing, to say the least. We'd left him and gone to the dorm room, only for me to be given a job titled: Kill Samani Seisyll.

There was no other given info, no notes, no method for killing, no reason. I'd been confused beyond belief, even more so when I ran out of my room and found Lough stood there with a confused look pointed at me.

That was embarrassing. I thought to myself silently as I rounded a corner to enter the formulation sector of the university. I also lost my target to Lough... another reason he is so mysterious to me... he was such a good assassin that night.

I saw my brother a few yards away, and I walked over. "Hey Darius!"

He turned to me and waved at me as I walked over. His red hair had grown a little longer, and he looked a bit shaken for some reason. "Are you ok?" I asked him questioningly.

"Yeah... no... I just had Lough offer an all-out battle one day. Sis, I'm terrified of that guy..." he said with a sigh and a shaky voice. I could tell that this was an exaggeration, but the unbelievable part was that there was a tiny bit of truth mixed in there. Lough was a mystery and a scary one at that. His power to copy and use any and all skills was not something that was just an everyday thing. It was thought to be impossible! How he managed to get that ring I had no idea, but it was an irrefutable fact that he had it.

My {Lightning Bolt} skill was considered quite a powerful one. It was a strong lightning spell that had range and power and was lethal at high charges. It was considered a high-tier spell. However, there were obviously more powerful lightning spells. My artefact, a blue and black twin blade sword, was also a powerful one. In the ranking system, it was estimated at A-rank. My thoughts were dispelled as I remembered that I was talking to Darius.

"He offered an all-out fight? Could you take him?" I responded.

"Hell no! You've seen him, right? Not to mention, he's got new skills now, too!" He countered in an exasperated tone. I couldn't believe my ears. He had new skills? That means...

"He's done it then..." I uttered under my breath. Then, a little louder, I asked my brother, "What new skill?"

Darius rubbed his forehead and sighed. "He can now use fire, and most likely lightning too, on his hands to create a close quarters fighting style."

I was even more dumbfounded than I thought I would have been. He can use physical skills with magic skills?

Of course, it was possible to use skills like {Lightning Fist}, but that was only if your artefact was a physically based artefact. Lough's ring was a magic based artefact, so how...

It clicked in my head like a light bulb, something Lough had said after our scuffle a couple of weeks ago.

"This ring is a special one. It's called {Ring of the Forgotten Sovereign}, and it provides me with a skill named {Archive of the Forgotten Sovereign}. Essentially, it contains the knowledge and ability to use every magic type along with some physical abilities."

He had claimed the ring was special and that he could harness magical and physical skills. "Archive of the Forgotten Sovereign? That's a strange ability..." I whispered quietly.

"What did you say?" My brother asked as he tried to listen to what I was saying.

"Nothing, just about Lough..." I answered back.

"Jess... do you like him?" He asked me, flat toned and with a straight face. How could he ask me that kind of question with that look?!

"W-What?! I've only known him for like, what? A month? I'm not that easy, Darius!" I retorted, feeling a little flushed despite what I was claiming.

"Yeah, I know, but you do like him. I can tell. I'm not your brother for nothing." He replied with a grin on his face. "All I'm saying is that he might be a good match for you. He seems like a good guy, not to mention he's strong as hell!"

"Shut up!" I shouted.

"What do you think of his tied up hair? It's a nice change, don't you think?" Darius asked me without even taking in what I just shouted at him.

My cheeks turned red, and my face heated up as I thought of Lough's tied up hair. What really got me thinking in overdrive was that his hair was tied up with my bobbel. My bobbel!

"It looks..." I started, but before I could finish, Darius was already in my face and finished my sentence, "hot?"

My face got red, but from anger this time, and I gently slapped Darius away from me. "Whatever, piss off!" I yelled back.

I stormed off and away from Darius, who walked away with a grin on his face, teasing me all the way until he rounded the next corner. It frustrated me, but I loved him. He was my brother after all. I slowly walked down the corridors again, on my way to Artificial Formulation class. Taking deep breaths, I calmed myself after a good 10 minutes of feeling hot and annoyed. No thanks to my dear brother. I thought silently.

As I was walking towards the classroom door, I grabbed the handle, and a pressure knocked me to my knees. My breath caught in my throat, and it felt like all the mana in my body was forcefully ripped away from me, leaving me bare and defenceless.

I felt a presence so powerful that my initial thoughts were Lough, but it was the difference in emotion that made me sure it couldn't be Lough. If it was, someone had made him furious beyond belief. The feeling I felt at that moment wasn't that I was just sitting on the floor because of weakness, but kneeling and bowing to a being far above our comprehension.

I couldn't imagine the level of power this person... or thing... had attained.

The fear was palpable, and I could feel an icy grip choking me. I reached out with my hand as if there would be someone there to help me through this

Embarrassingly, the person I thought of was Lough, and I smiled at the thought of him.

It must have been then that I realised I had some kind of feelings towards him.

But I didn't have time to relish in my new discovery, nor act upon it as the force vanished, and I blacked out.

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