The Youngling

After having seen her without her ability, the man smirked in relief and shouted, "Get him!"

The kirin leaped forward lunging at her with its heavy hooves. Lotus reacted quickly and jumped away quickly. She grabbed a hold of the branches and lept onto the branch before sliding out some needles from her pocket and flung it at the beast. The beast freaked out when the needles pierced through its shoulder and muscle tossing its body onto the ground with a loud shriek.

Shocked, the guy flung his blade at her as she rushed away from the branch. Then, she jumped down and saw that he was already chasing after her with a palm to her stomach. A huge force crashed into her as she could taste the blood coming back up from inside her. Flung to the ground, she saw guy come at her again when she noticed the barrier coming up around him as she gasped for a breath. Blood tricked down from her shoulder and could feel her injured Dantian from her stomach. She pulled out Ying Hui and quickly cut the man's shoulder.

It was then that she finally drew blood from the man before she quickly drew back.

"Damn it!" The man scowled in bewilderment, "You're the one! Damn it!"

After she left the place, she could see the guy jump back as the mist grew foggier around the forest. She watched from afar as the fog grew thicker and thicker by the hour before she could see the shadowy figure dash through the area before it collapsed. Two hours ticked by before she could finally sense that there was no more movement. With the movement in the place dying away, she entered back into the place as she saw the figure of the man have been torn apart on the ground. the insides were displayed and torn as if torn apart by sharp teeth and brute strength.

She breathed a sigh of relief when a sharp pain shot up from her stomach and blood came out from her mouth. She crumbled to the ground and grimaced before tossing a rejuvenation pill into her mouth. She quickly sat back up and tried to use rotate the energy through out her body when she heard a cry. She turned around and saw something move in the shadows behind the body of the dead Kirin.

She could see a white and gold flash movement the size of a three-year-old child. Surprised, she reached over and saw the horse body and dragon scale tail. Her eyes widen in bewilderment. It was a small kirin!

She gasped and looked around as she could see the mother of it dead. Lotus frowned and touched the belly to realize that it wasn't as big anymore. So, this was a female?!

She glanced over to the kirin shivering and kicking in the cold. She thought for a bit before pulling out towels and a white blanket from her ring and quickly dried out the youngling before wrapping it in the blanket. Only after doing this could she start to focus on herself.

She quickly processed the pill quicker with the energy in her. An hour passed before the effect began. She could feel her dantian in her abdomen began to relieve itself from the pain. She scowled when she opened her eyes and found that it was already late evening! She frowned when she thought about the curfew. She should have a few hours before midnight. With a grimace, she took the young foaling into her arms and looked around in confusion before wrapping the towel over the young kirin's eyes. She took out a bottle of chemical and poured it over the body of the man after taking away some of his possessions.

She set up an illusion barrier and burnt away the body of the mother kirin. When she was done erasing the evidence, she took the young creature into her arms and stated, "I'll raise you myself until we can go back."

She saw the white foal shiver and picked it up as it gave a quiet cry. She carefully carried it as she left the forest nervously. After leaving the place, she could see the rising white moon and frowned before bringing out a black cover and wrapped it around the foal. It's white fur and gold scale was a dead give away to its identity. However, as she reached the rose garden and wrapped a white ribbon on her shoulder to close the wound a little, she could feel her conscious slowly slipping away. She could also see her black hair return to its crimson and gold tint hue before she crumbled to the ground.

Probably a couple hours had passed or so when she opened her eyes again, she found herself carried to the infirmary.

She groaned when she finally came around and found herself placed on the bed. There was a cry as someone cried out nervously, "W-Woah!"

"Hey, he's coming around!"

A familiar voice came into her ears as she got up and saw the three familiar figures with suits of white, black, and red. She looked up and saw that she had been brought to the infirmary and Trey was right in front of her along with a red-hair boy in a similar suit but with a white and black cape that had a red interior. He also had a small gold crown on his head. They stared at her curiously before she grumbled, "I'm... alive?"

Trey smiled in relief when he heard her speak, "That's right. You can thank our dorm leader for finding you when he did."

The small red hair student folded his arms and sighed, "Thank the flamingoes and hedgehogs. I've never seen the animals so desperate in my life. I'll go call the headmaster. Though it really isn't the best time to do so."

"That'd be bad..." She responded shaking her head, "Don't find the headmaster... No, go find the dark mirror."

"What?!" Trey looked to her in bewilderment when she also heard carter not to far.

She turned her head and saw the guy hugging the young foal who was struggling to be released from his grasp to reach out to her.

"But the dark mirror can only be used by the headmaster only and only with his permission." Trey pointed out as he came back with the first aid kit, "If the mirror was ever used by someone else without permission, the headmaster will know and we'd be in trouble."

"Then, I need to go there myself." She responded with a grimace, "Before it's too late..."

"Too late?" Riddle narrowed his eyes on her suspiciously with a harsh scowl, "First of all-! Gah!"

Riddle was caught off when the foal grabbed his cape and pulled on it in panic. Lotus frowned and patted its head before saying, "I know you're impatient. Just wait a little longer, okay?"

The young kirin was not like a horse or a regular animal as it understood her words and settled down a little nervously.

"They're not here for you." Lotus added as the kirin's ears perked up and plopped onto the floor in fatigue.

She then turned Riddle and stated, "I'm here because the mirror was the one who brought me to this school. There's something he has to protect in this school that's why I was brought here. It's something very important. Not even the headmaster knows of this. If he did, he wouldn't have continued school this year and endanger the students."

"Say what?!" Carter stated in bewilderment, "Hey, hey. Doesn't that make this a top secret mission?"

In exasperation, Lotus nodded with a sigh, "I'm revealing it now, because those intruders are still in the school and I've set up a barrier around the dorm of Heartslabyul before encountering them this afternoon."

This was really bad. Lotus was having a harder time keeping up a story while mixing truths amongst the mix. It was true that the mirror brought her here and that the mirror was protecting her. So, he was protecting something here. She didn't get sent though. She left herself when she realized how powerful these guys were. The barrier was a last-minute decision she made after she came back the second time on her own.

If she brought down one of them, another would follow when he notices that something is off. They could start striking the dorms right away regardless if they were responsible or not. Riddle was finally rather nervous when he heard this but he smirked and said, "And, how do we know that this is true?"

The intention of his smile, however, didn't pass her notice. Feigning a look of defeat, Lotus shook her head with a sigh, "Look it's fine if you only want to believe it after they figure out a way to break down the barrier. Let's see. Perhaps, I'll show you something..."

She turned to Riddle before gesturing him to come closer. Riddle raised a brow as she smiled daring him to take a step forward. Having already finished bandaging her shoulder, Trey was a little nervous when he saw this and was ready to stop her when Riddle stopped him, "I'll be fine."

The dorm leader looked back to her and folded his arms, "What are you planning to do?"

"Compensate you for bringing trouble on your territory." Lotus responded easily and began condensing her energy into one small ball with a small portion of her soul in her.

The condensation of the energy was very evident in the air to which surprised the three as she didn't give time for their reaction and tapped her two fingers on the red hair student's head. The energy easily slid into his body which shocked young student. When she was done, she felt a little dizzy and plopped three nourishing pills into her mouth. It was then that she felt it. She was ready to ascend!

She pushed aside her surprise as best as she could to hide her excitement and turned to Riddle after getting off the bed with much ease, "If you even encounter anything life-threatening around you, my imprint will sense it and come to save you. Apologies for giving you so much trouble. I'm feeling better already with the pills I just had, so I'll go see the dark mirror myself and inform him of the intruders."

With that, she activated her ability and sent two smaller cores into the other two before snatching the kirin back from Cater and said with a wide smirk, "You've done much for me. So please take this as my apologies for the trouble and gratitude for saving me. Despite following the strict rules, you still came to help me. This will be my compensation. Be careful not to tread too far past the maze or the barrier won't be of help anymore."

"Wait!"

Riddle reached out when he saw the door open before him. However, he was too late as Lotus was quick and quickly dashed out from the room. Once she was out, she was about to head straight for the mirror chamber when she heard a child voice, "What is an imprint?"

She looked down and saw the creature staring into her eyes. It was two feet off the ground with his hooves dangling in the air as she carried him under one arm. She stared at him stunned before she heaved a sigh of dismay, "Oh no..."

When she returned to the dorm, she had already changed into another pair of uniform she had carried with her in the ring. A basket of chestnut cakes and Bamboo Tube BBQ she had grilled over an open fire within her ring. Yes, her ring was very special. The ring could hold life and have an environment of its own. She could grow stuff in there and such. It was no different than being in another world entirely to her. That was where she had made her food and drinks. It was also rather easy as being in there for a month was equal to a day outside. Yet there was a space where she could preserve things within.

Such a convenient item made her wonder if it was her biological family who had gifted her such a useful thing. Human parents do care for their children if they favor them, right?

Right now, the baby kirin was in the space sleeping after having just been born and fed milk. So, she looked perfectly normal when she downed the bottle to change her hair color and gone to see the mirror to report about the intruders, scratch out the fact that she's already killed one.

When she entered the dorm, she was met with a shocking sight. In the foyer stood Ace and Deuce who had caught Grim making for the door.

"What's going on?" She questioned in confusion.

Seriously...

After such a long day, she just want to go back and rest already...