The Headmaster

The night air was chilly and unwelcoming but the interactions between members of the group being more so. After my initial attempt of running failed, I got a good look at one of the guys chasing me.

He was the one who was next to green when he appeared through the fog. Though initially I thought he was wearing purple clothing it turns out he was infact wearing a thick, navy blue, windbreaker over top of a grey dress coat and a indigo blue tunic. The windbreaker was decorated with silver embroidery that resembles frost or snowflakes at the bottom. His hair was short and wavy admiral blue, pairing with a set of bangs that draped over his forehead. His eyes were a cold, calculating admiral blue. The demeanor of the man was rigid at every step. He had a perfect poker-faced expression that match with his over all unfriendly attitude.

The man with black hair also seemed unfriendly when we first met but his attitude towards me had seem to have worsened.

"Move." He ordered in a low growl as I still sat limp against the ground.

Though I tried to flight it as my body moved on its own. Pain shot through my body causing it to tip over. My shoulder violently hits the wall causing me the grit my teeth. I glare at the man with black hair who only looked annoyed.

"She has no more strength left, Noir." The one with red hair comments in a calm tone, which throws the one with black hair through a loop. Glances are thrown his way but the one in black hair only scoffs. "So you wasted it all? What a fool you are." His tone was annoyed and dry, leading him to grab my arm and started to drag me.

My legs scuff against the cobble, scratching my denim jeans that I wore before falling asleep. I wince and writhe in pain as the jeans start to rip open, exposing my skin to the stone. All as this is happening the rest chased after us, calling in there own set of annoyance and worry.

"Let me go! Ah!" I scream in anger in pain as my nails dig into his hand.

But nothing seemed to loosen it, instead my actions made the grip around my arm tighten.

"Noir! Don't drag her like that!" The one with red hair calls to the man dragging me as he glanced over to me. His tone was a controlled and seemed more along the lines of a civil request than someone actually wanting him to stop right then and there. His demeanor also seemed stiff, as his pace was matched with the man dragging me.

I take note of the name the red one mentioned, Noir. The name rings in my head as I shift my gaze upwards to stare at the man dragging me by my arm. The others fallow shortly behind as we near another tall, metal gate. The lamps that sit on either side glow a faint light blue, illuminating a bronze plack. The plack had something inscribed on it, though I couldn't understand fully what it said.

'Bright....enter halls...equal.' That was all I could understand.

A brief delay comes as we sit at the gate, waiting for them to open. As the group arrives together, a few words are exchanged between them all. "Chimera~why don't you let someone else hold her~? You're too rough after all~." The green one asks as he rubs Noir's right shoulder. Noir spares him nothing but a quick yet terrifying glare.

"You should take this more seriously, Anwyl." The one with blue hair chastised the one hanging on Noir's other arm. The green haired man response to his comment by going and hanging on the blue haired mans shoulder. "Aw~ Do you want attention, Bluebell? You could have just said so~."

I look both of them up and down through the interaction. I try to hide my blatant annoyance by scratching at Noir's arm.

"Let Go!" I yell again, this time getting a reaction as I pinch against the underside of his arm. He lifts me up by the wrist to the point our eyes meet. "Enough. Go to sleep." The words were jagged and brief but my head swayed side to side for a second.

"No! I won't-" but the swaying motion of my head causes my brain to become fuzzy and the rest of my body to drown in dizziness. I couldn't even swing my arms or scratch at Noir, I only sitting on the ground drowsily. "I..." My words hung around longer as time past by. Soon the world became darker and soon silent.

I woke up in a haze. My memories were foggy and I couldn't remember much.

'There was this guy and I really didn't like him...'

My brain throbs in pain as I tried to remember more, though my head felt clouded.

'no there where four... Four guys...'

A memory flashes as I think of a pair of black eyes staring down at me.

'Noir..'

I jerked my body the second the name crossed my mind. I knew after everything I couldn't forget that face, that guy. My brain became clearer after the remembrance of Noir. Soon after more memories came flooding back.

I started to jerk my head to the side while squinting my eyes. I tried to move my arms but they weren't complying. I looked down to see myself sitting in a plush grey armchair. I wasn't restrained in any way which made me worry even more. I tried to stand up and move around but my body still refused. Instead of moving a sharp pain stung my legs and forehead, leaving me to groaning in pain. My head throbs from the light in the room and the voices that now know I'm awake.

"She's awake, good. Now we can get a better grip on the situation." I hear an unfamiliar man say. My head felt muddled still but the sound of shuffling feet and a familiar voice caused me to snap back to reality.

"Are you sure it is not best to restrain her, Headmaster?" I bobbed my head towards the voice. Unsurprisingly I see a blue haired man standing there. He's focus was not on me however and was instead was towards an unfamiliar man.

The man was wearing a simple light grey business suit with a simple white collar shirt and grey tie. His eyes where liked stained glass windows of misty blue-grey, a color that was obscured behind the thick lenses the man wore. The man looked to be about in his thirties despite his head of grey.

'So this must be the Headmaster I've heard about.'

I sigh this thought to myself, thinking of a way out of this mess. The feeling in my arms and legs came back to me as my brain finally became clear. I tried standing out of the chair and running but all I could manage was a weak attempt of standing. A hand reach out and grabbed my shoulder. I flinched and smack it out of reflex causing me to tip over and almost fall. In a panic I turned to look at whom grabbed me. My eyes landed on pair of yellow eyes looking back at me. The 'Yellow Demon' still had a false smile plastered on his face as he rubbed the back of his hand.

I flinch in fear as our eyes meet. I quickly looked away, not daring to fight with him. "Pfft!" Someone spits in amused laughter at my actions and I already can guess who it was. "It really is strange, usually they fall for your charms."

Anwyl, the green and flamboyant one was resting against the windowsill below a semi-grand stained glass window. His knee was bent and had his foot resting against the stone he sat on. He still carried his snake-like smile with him along with his mischievous green eyes.

'Only one of them is missing now.'

I narrowed my eyes and started my search to find Noir. Though I couldn't look around for long as the Headmaster stands up from his chair and walks over to me in a calm manner. "So, let's take a proper look at you." His voice was of low pitch and dripped with obscured intentions.

He move his hand in a circular motion, stirring up a cloud of greyish-blue dust. I am then knocked back into the chair, this time unable to move as the dust begins to cover my hand. The dust brushes up against my skin, feeling like soft, warm clay. Though it continues to creep up under my sleeves, trailing my hidden bare skin causing my mind to feel muddled. I was stuck on the chair as if my body was suddenly injected with a sedative. My thoughts became tamer as time passes on and I could see everyone standing infront of me, including Noir.

Anxiety began to prickle against my skin as I watched the Headmaster inch even closer. That is when sparkling white particles started to form around the room, falling like elegant snowflakes. Everyone seemed to pause in silent unison watching as the Headmaster remains standing infront of me.

At this point I wanted out of here and away from these people more than anything else. Right as I was about to give into the calm numbing of my brain while the gentle snowflakes became sharply pointed stars and stopped moving midair. My thoughts started to become less and less muddled and more defined as an intense glow covered the blueish-grey light that was already spread across my body. My eyes darted around wildly and I could feel movement in my fingers yet again.

"S-She's-!" Noir started in alarmed panic. He started to move his body and charged towards me but the sudden burst of air and light around me blocks him.

I writhe in pain as I fall onto the floor, feeling as though lighting had just passed through my body. I couldn't move now, not because of the weird glow that the Headmaster had used but because of the immense pain I felt in every fiber of my being. I could barely move my eyes around to see what was going on. I could hear the sound of scraping against cobbled floors and the agitated voices of my attackers.

Rin grunted intangible words that where muffled behind thick, sparkling walls made of blue ice. From what I could see it seemed that the wall surrounded me all the way around the room, my captors being on the other side.

From there they have a conversation that I could only listen to.

"She is indeed powerful. The ability to adaptation, but she can also use the excess for offensive means." The Headmaster strokes his chin and thought to himself for a while.

As the silence grew longer the angrier I felt. Nothing could have been better than an explanation of what was going on.

"Where. The Hell. Am I.?" My question was spat between gritting teeth and glaring at Rin through the ice.

"Which One Of You, DID. THIS!?"

My voice was horse and my throat was dry. Just with the use of breathing sent my lungs up in flames but talking was much more painful.

The Headmaster snapped back at me with his own question.

"Did what, Miss?"

His stance became ever more curiouser as I laid on the floor.

"I Was Kidnapped. By One Of Them. The Green Freak Is My Best Bet. And Now-."

I slightly move my neck upwards only to be met with an electric shock through my spine. Rin gives me a sceptical look as the others exchange glances.

"I... just want to go home." I rest my head on the ground again, facing away from them. I closed my eyes and took in deep, long breaths as I try not to cry.

The room was quiet again as the minutes pass us all by. Eventually I see the ice begin to melt away from the corner of my eye. I don't move my body as someone walks closer. The sound of their heavy steps against the cobble stop and the person crouches down.

"We can't bring you home like you want because we didn't take you away. Anwyl found you on the path not even knowing if you were alive."

The Headmaster gently rests his hand on my head.

"By chance, do you know what Selenium is?"

'Selenium? Is that the stuff found in vitamins or something?'

I wasn't quite sure what it was used for so I deny knowing about it.

"No. Why do you ask?"

My throat burned as I responded in short sentences. The Headmaster removed his hand from my head. Soon after I find myself being lifted from off the ground, however, I soon realized no one was lifting me up at all. Instead of someone lifting me up by the arms I find my body levitating ever so slightly above the ground. Infront of me was the Headmaster and in his hand he held a transparent crystal.

"This is Selenium, this is a special gem that will help stop the pain spread throughout your body."

The transparent gem glowed a faint light and refracted the glow into my eye. I grimaced at the sudden flicker into my eye and shook my head in pain.

"What else?" I eyed the Headmaster up and down before spitting out a joke. "Gotta tell the patient the side effects doc or else they wouldn't want to trust yah." I laughed at my own in a bitter chuckle but it seemed I was the only one who found it funny.

The silence left room for questionable looks to float between the gang. They really couldn't decide whether or not to be annoyed or scared. I stopped my laugh shortly after I started, rolling my eyes at the piss poor humor they seem to have. "Just let me go. I can find my own way home at this point." That was a bare face lie. I knew it better than anyone that it was. But I can't for the life of me find the courage to admit it.

My suggestion was cut short as the Headmaster quickly jumped to ignore it all together. "You can't leave yet Maryanne, You must learn the basic of magic before anything else. Here you will stay and be taught how to control your ability."

"And who told you I was staying?" I huffed frankly as I struggled to hold in my disbelief. "I don't remember saying that I was staying."

I watch as the headmasters expression remains the same even with my apparent dislike. Though with people of his status they know better to show any sign of weakness.

"I don't understand this hostility miss. I, like the princes, are only trying to help," The headmaster clutches the gem in his hand and shakes his head. "I say this is rather difficult but it can't be helped." He smile seemed to become a stiff, straight line. His eyes now reflecting sadness in them. He turns his back to me and walks to his grand desk.

"But why? I'm having a hard time understanding why you would help me." I finally crack as I blurted out my own annoyed thoughts. The room falls under a bitter silence as no one really cares to provide an answer. That was until the Headmaster smiled and looked down at me warmly.

"Its quite simple. I cannot let you out in the world in good conscience. You are far more dangerous to this world than you realize," The Headmasters thin grin became a frown as his look became more ominous. "Your very existence is an abnormal smudge on the very earth and will cause many disasters if left unchecked."

I was lost to all ends at this point and couldn't believe his audacity. "Wow. Just call me a pest if you want to be so poeticly ominous and insulting." 

The headmaster doesn't care for my words and continues on his speech. "You have emense power yet you know not on how to wield it. You can't even control you mana flow in this current moment," He points to the ice shards and battered looking princes. "Look at the danger you have already caused. They nearly lost their lives due to your explosion." The room felt stiff under his words and I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.

But I also felt angry. If it was true that I caused those strange happenings then I would have hurt these princes without really understand how. And could you blame me? I thought I was kidnapped and they seemed nothing but out for there own gain. It felt as though I was nothing more than a wild animal in there eyes that had a pretty pelt. Though even I had to admit I couldn't afford being tossed out onto the streets. I should at least pretend to go along with it until I have a handle on things.

"How.." I started trying to contain my anger, "How can I trust you? If it is just from the kindness in you heart, how can I find faith in that?" I couldn't raise my head or look in the Headmasters direction. It was hard enough to remain calm now that I'm trying to be civil.

The headmaster continued to smile as I watched the wheels in his head turn. "Having faith in others is hard, that I understand well," he hunched over in his chair and continued to peer down at me. "This land is based on neutrality, which is the core value I wish to uphold. Meaning I do not wish to cause harm to those here." I hear a drawer open fallowed by the sound of shuffling papers and items. Eventually the ruckus stops as soon as a glittering trail comes into view. There it holds a small wooden box, contents inside hidden away by the thick wooden walls. It drops to the floor with a thud, having the glittering trail disappear once it hits the floor.

The lid flies open revealing the velety red cloth that engulfed a thin silver needle that was decorated in small red gems and engraved with swirling symbols. "This is a blood oath needle. We can use this to ensure trust in each other." The headmaster summons another string of magic and sends it towards the needle, causing it to levitate. It floats towards him as he lowers his hands out of my view. The pen floats in the air, waiting for the headmaster, sparkling in the candle light. Eventually the headmasters hand comes back over the table in a bloody mess causing the wood to be stained red. The metallic smell of iron stings the air and causing a heavy atmosphere to fall on us. The needle floats towards the pooling blood on the desk as the headmaster explains. "The needle needs to soak in our blood before we write out or names and conditions to our oath. In this oath I swear that I seek no ill will towards you and instead wish to guide you towards a future where you can control you mana." The headmaster etched out his name in the air causing his blood to float and swirl in lettering. The needle floats to me next though I'm still stuck on the floor.

"And I can leave right? I'm not bound by you to stay here or something?" I tried again to sit up but it proved to be a difficult task as I questioned the headmaster. That's when the warming swirl of yellow lifts me up and onto the half destroyed plush chair. I panicked while trying to see the headmasters expression and staying balanced in the air. The headmaster only grinned widely. "You are free to leave at any time."

I only melted in the chair in bitter defeat. I can only agree to what seemed to be a truce between me and the guy in charge. "Fine. I, in this oath, swear to...not try to kill anyone here, to the best of my abilities. I swear to trust in what you promise me in this oath." I didn't take this very seriously. This really was just a verbal promise after all, it not like I can trust it either way. My arm shook violently as I tried to lift it up and toward the needle that now floated infront of me. With it I stab my finger and watch as the bloods beads up and trails down my hand. Coating it in blood I grasp the needle roughly and jerked my hand to write out my name.

Marianne Jay Hanlon

My name was crude in spelling as the blood swirled around in the air. The needle in my hand burned in red as the final letter was added. The needle leped out of my grasp and back into the box with the lid shutting itself closed. The once barren lid now was decorated in etched symbols burned in my red flames. I could read my name underneath what I presumed was the headmasters name. Though it was hard for me to read due to the letters being spelled out in what I guess is latin.

"There. Now we both are bound to this, yes? No sneaky tricks and whatnot." I grimace at the dried bloody trail on my hand that now shook less than it did before.

"So you agree to learn to control your magic here in this institution." The headmaster beams in joy as this was now settled. "The choice was yours to make, and a smart one it was." The princes all seem to stiffen and shuffle out of the room as the headmaster shoos them away. "It is late into the night, everyone must go to their rooms and rest." With the princes now gone it was just the headmaster and I. Well just us until a bookcase opens up to reveal a hidden entrance with a strange statue standing by. It's horns were long and pointed. The body miscellaneous with the bat-like wings stuck to the reptilian skin. It's face resembled that of an old man but with sharp fangs pointing out of it's puffy lips. It was like those statues that sat at the edge of the older towers in the city, a gargoyle. And right as my confusion settled in the statue opened its glowing eyes and began to speak.

"Master, you have need of me?" The gargoyle sat up on it's perch and began to jump down with the guidance of its wings. In its recovery it sat itself upright and held one of it's paws close to it's chest with the other hidden behind it's back. It reminded me of a small child imitating a butler.

The headmaster answered in kind.

"Of course Drogo." The headmaster then turns his attention to me. "Maryanne this is my familiar, Drogo. He will help assist you in obtaining your room key, clothing and class schedule." The headmaster stands up  and walks towards me. "though I can't let you leave yet. I need to give you a suppression device so your magic doesn't affect your surroundings as much. I only furthered my frown as my body stumbled around trying to sit up in the chair.

"Is this really necessary?" I almost pleaded with the headmaster to let this go.

"Yes. Even as we speak your mana infuses itself to everything in this room. It's only a matter of time before the items explode due to the high exposure." The headmaster flicks his wrist and sends his trail of magic to a cabinet on the wall. It eventually retrieves a small necklace with a simple grey ribbon and a beautifully cut gem that was clear as I diamond. "Here is the device that will suppress you magic for now," The headmaster handed me the collar I am to wear the rest of my time here at the Academy. "Welcome to Alason Academia, please study hard and enjoy your stay here."