>Chapter 28<

Chapter 28<

The carriage wheels creaked as they stopped spinning on the gravel road. The horses that were pulling the carriage clacked their hooves on the ground as they neighed.

Soon after, a handsome butler came out of the front of the carriage. He then approached the door and opened it. A man, named Caedis, came out of the carriage followed by a group of five teenage boys.

Caedis then turned around to look at the boys.

"Welcome, to the Veneficia Academy."

The boys just quietly looked at the gargantuan building in front of them. The campus alone was huge, as the academy itself was only visible in the distance, but the sheer size of the building was visible from even a few kilometers away.

The whole campus was surrounded by a very high white wall. So, how can they see what's inside then, you ask? Well, the gates are made from something along the lines of pure black steel bars, which seem rather counter-effective, since they have these high walls to protect them and then there are these thin sticks of metal.

Caedis, seeing the weird expressions on the boys' faces, didn't explain and just smiled mysteriously, which caused some small veins to appear on their foreheads.

Caedis then started walking and the gates started opening by themselves again. The boys just quietly followed since they didn't want to see that smile again.

"I'm only going to show you the campus today and not the inside of the Academy itself, since it is strictly prohibited to enter the building when the classes hadn't started yet." Caedis spoke.

"Why is that?" Phillip couldn't help but ask.

"Well, you see, a few years ago, when this rule didn't exist yet, a certain instructor that was actually a spy from another kingdom entered here and placed some traps all over the academy. Nearly half of the academy was blown up and around 50 students died from all the traps. Another 100 students were unable to continue studying magic due to injuries they had received that day." Caedis said with a grim expression. "This rule was then added. Nobody wanted the repeat of what had happened, after all."

"How did a spy even become an instructor?" David asked. It doesn't make sense that they didn't research details about that person if they were to hire them.

Caedis smiled at this question. Quite an unexpected reaction, but the boys didn't say anything.

"There are many sins, such as greed, lust, gluttony, and etcetera." Caedis paused and took a look into the distance, as if reminiscing about something. "But in my opinion, there is one sin that is the absolute worst of the worst…"

"Betrayal," After he said this word, a terrifying pressure surrounded the boys. They couldn't even blink their eyes for the fear of being crushed the next second.

The pressure calmed down after Caedis saw the boys' expressions. He took a deep breath and his expression changed again in a split second.

"Forgive me. I let my emotions get a hold of me. Let us continue in our tour."

They then continued walking through the whole forest-like area that surrounded the innermost place, which was the academy itself.

"As you can see, the academy is surrounded by a forest." He started talking. "The seeds of all the trees that are currently here actually come from the misty forest you were in. Remember?"

This sentence sent shivers up their spine. They didn't want to remember all of that, but he just had to remind them.

"Does that mean that the school is surrounded by mist all the time?" Jacob questioned Caedis.

"It is, but only for some people." Caedis replied

"What does that mean?" Patrick didn't understand.

Caedis smiled again and explained.

"You see, this mist isn't an ordinary mist. It is a little bit special, in a way."

"How is it special?" Patrick couldn't stand the suspense.

"The mist is really mysterious in many ways, even we don't know why it behaves the way it does. But what we do know is that it can recognize a familiar type of magic particle." Caedis explained. "It means that the mist can somehow read our intentions. Obviously, our intention was to use it for protection, so the mist only recognizes a certain type of magic that a certain person possesses. This basically means that people not "registered" in the mist as a known entity will just get lost in it and eventually die of hunger. Of course, there are exceptions. One of them is if the person is has more magic particles than the mist itself."

The boys' curiosity was satiated a little bit so they smiled a little. They had actually kind of expected Caedis to just do his creepy smile again and ignore them entirely.

"How does the mist come into existence?" One of the boys, David, asked.

"That is one of the things we are not sure about. There are many theories about it, one of them being that the magic particles of the mist are absorbed into the seeds, which then start creating this particular type of mist. Though, that doesn't exactly explain how the mist was created in the first place." Caedis took a quick breath. "But, there is one theory, more of a legend I would say. The legend says that a certain powerful being creating this forest along with the mist in it."

"Who was that person?" One of the boys raised a question.

The man who was walking in front of them just shook his head slowly.

"We aren't sure… but there is only one being in the history, which used such powerful mist magic." He paused his steps and looked at the boys. "That being was of different race… She was a demon. But not just any demon, she was actually crowned as the Demon Empress."

Seeing the eager stares of the boys, Caedis decided to tease them.

"However… you will learn about this person in school…"

The boys' expressions changed and Caedis just released an amused chuckle, which caused the groups faces to turn even more sour.

"Even so, it wouldn't hurt to just say the name…"

The dramatic pause lasted a few seconds, but for the boys, it was like an eternity.

"Her name was, Emily Caligo."