Through the Night

Emmia hefted the books into her bag, trying to fit the tens of books that she had gathered for reference.

'I don't think all of these will fit...' Emmia thought sullenly as she stared at her stuffed bag on the verge of exploding.

'I guess I don't need Ulan's book, it's already mentioned in the Manual for Engineers,' Emmia started to sort out the books from her bag in the hopes of reducing the burden on the poor bag. After removing a total of two books, Emmia once again looked at her bulging bag.

'Finally! I can close the zip now' Emmia thought happily as she forced the zip close on the bag.

With a mournful *ziiiiiip* the bag finally closed with multiple sharp angles trying to escape its canvas barrier.

"...why don't you just...organize your bag?" Luna asked from the side. Having witnessed the torture in front of her, Luna felt a need to speak out for the poor bag.

"Ehh, it really just doesn't make a difference. Honestly, it takes less time when I just throw everything into my bag. It's a waste of time to keep organizing it each time I have to pack it," Emmia answered as she slung the bag onto her shoulders.

Grunting at the effort, Emmia carried the forcibly expanded bag out of the library under the exasperated stare of the librarian.

Luna locked eyes with the lady and tilted her head in questioning.

Understanding, the librarian just shook her head sadly in response.

"Hey Luna, come on!" Emmia called out from outside the library.

"..coming!" Luna raised her voice so that she could be heard and she paused for a second.

'Hey that was loud...did I shout too loudly?' Luna questioned as she sneaked a gaze at the librarian. But all she got was the librarian reading a book, seemingly not having heard the outburst.

'Maybe not that loud?' Luna thought confused and hurried after Emmia.

'Should I ask Emmia? I mean- nah, that would be awkward.' Luna decided to herself and walked in step with Emmia as the two made their way out of the campus of the academy.

"Alright Luna! I'll see you tomorrow!" Emmia waved goodbye cheerfully and started walking, albeit a little hurriedly under the burden of her bag.

Luna's eyes followed Emmia until she was out of sight, unable to look away in fear that Emmia would collapse suddenly.

Heaving a sigh, which translated into a short breath through her mouth, Luna started to make her way back to her home under the watchful eye of her masked observer.

Luna ignored the prickling gaze, and thought to herself, 'I found some books on internal energy manipulation...but they're all so vague.'

'I guess I have to start somewhere.'

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Night fell quickly on Aster City. As the city went to sleep, the few workers such as cleaners made their way through the streets making sure that the streets were spotless before the next day rolled around. In one part of the city, a lone worker swept an empty bottle into his garbage collection unit before making his way to the rest.

This was, of course, Ron. His everpresent tormentor Uto was not currently present offering him a short time of peace that he would normally never get.

'Haahh...I hate my life..' Ron sighed as he wheeled the collection unit towards the next street. Around him, shadows loomed under the semi-bright street lights where Ron could swear that he saw movement. Yet every time he went to investigate, there was nothing there. His 'friends' had always laughed at him and his lead tormentor Uto had made sure to ridicule Ron as much as possible until Ron himself was convinced that he was going crazy.

Passing another alleyway, Ron turned his head to look inside. A familiar sensation struck him that forced his head to swivel and look into the alleyway. It was the same sensation that drove a compulsion to look into the shadows every time even though he knew that there would be nothing there.

'Yep, nothing there like always.' Ron sighed after extending his head into the alley for a second. Pulling back, Ron took his collection unit and continued to go on his regular planned route praying with all his might that he wouldn't run into anyone else from his collection team.

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Icarth made his way through the forest in the dead of the night. The darkness covered him, masking his figure and hiding him from any outside observers.

The soft chirping of the insects and the rustle of the wind through the leaves harmonized around him, covering his soft almost inaudible footsteps and movements. Icarth's senses were tuned up to the max at the moment. His red eyes swiveled constantly, various scents hit his nose as he inhaled, and he could almost feel the movement ahead of him through the sensation on his skin.

It prickled and sent signals to his brain as his hair moved and swayed due to his surroundings.

Whenever a scent of danger hit his nose, his hair correspondingly spiked up which prompted Icarth to make a detour to avoid whatever was ahead of him.

As he moved forward, the feeling on his neck warned him of a predator. If something had set its sights on Icarth, his neck would go cold, and thus he would quickly zig-zag through the undergrowth in an attempt to lose whatever animal was stalking him.

Like this, Icarth made his way to the center of the forest, dodging and sneaking his way through the dense forest filled with nocturnal predators.

As he neared the center, the forest gave way to a small clearing where one lone tree sat.

It looked no different from the rest of the trees, just a little bigger with a lone hollow situated in its trunk.

Icarth made his way to the tree and waited in front of it. This was his routine every time he came to visit his master.

Through countless times, Icarth had learned that his master was busy at night, patrolling the forest and keeping its peace.

All he had to do was wait for his master in the clearing made by her.

Time went by, Icarth had already laid down next to the tree, looking up at the night sky through the sparse canopy in the clearing.

Deep in thought, he didn't notice his master's presence until she finally spoke up.

"What are you thinking of child?" Acacia gently asked her student.

"My sister woke up," Icarth replied after a while. Acacia rustled the branches of the tree that she was situated in.

"That's great," her gravelly voice sounded out above Icarth.

"Mmm."

"If you're worried about her body, you may bring her here, and I can take a look at her." Acacia offered gently through her gravelly voice.

"Mmm. Thanks, master, but I think she's fine," Icarth said while sitting up.

"Let's get started." Icarth stood up, his red eyes gazing into Acacia's blue pearl of an eye.