Chapter 15

Chapter 15: NEW AQUAINTANCES

“You didn’t have to blow it up like that Frey” Zephirine said as she looked at the current state of their environment, in absolute ruin.

“Yeah but we got the golem, maybe i did over do it” he replied as looked at the trails of smoke that came after the battle.

Frey was a skilled fighter, great at hand to hand and an experienced swordsman but he sucked at controlling the amount of energy infused in his special attacks.

“Let’s move, I sense three large auras coming in this direction.” Amanda said with a distraught look on her face. She was a healer and defence type, she actively avoided conflicts.

“We can’t tak—” before she could complete her thought it hit her, 7 distinct auras coming in the opposite direction. All beginner stage masters [early B].

“We have to move now, Frey we can’t stay here” Zephirine wasn’t as proficient at sensing auras like Amanda, but she could never mistake bloodlusted aura.

And so with three unknown figures from the east and what should be an assasination squad from the west, they could only go south. Frey’s expression turned serious as he began assessing the situation.

“Which is closer”

“Eastern anomaly” Amanda answered.

“We go east then, i’ll take my chances”

Dumbfounded. She knew Frey never backed down from a fight but this was insanity.

“But—”

“No, you wanted to ride with us? Don’t question, just defend” Zephirine’s eyes began to light up as her adrenaline spiked trying to overload the doubt in her heart.

And so they went east. Zephy and Amanda were mage types so speed wasn’t an issue if they created levitating bases and maxed out the energy output. But Frey was moving at an inhumane speed, his dark brown eyes glowing with a yellow hue like sparks becoming a flame.

20 minutes at top speed and they were within range of the anomaly but this part of the forest was dense in vegetation, so it was difficult to visualise the enemy.

“Err Frey hold o–”

He didn’t wait for orders, he charged at the first thing that he saw move.

`BANG`

His sword was repelled by the aura of whatever he hit. But the attack connected, unfortunately he had made a grave mistake.

“AARRGG, Frey? WHAT IN THE DRAGON’S DEN MAN” Frey had just struck Axel on the side of his neck, aiming for a fatal blow from the start.

“I..i’m sorry…i didn’t know, AMANDA..HELP HIM” his voice began to crack as he saw his friend in pain. The slash coated his aura which was meant to kill on contact but Axel’s skin was harder and he instinctively upped his defences at the last moment.

“It’s okay Frey, he’ll be fine. It’s a second degree burn,I can heal him and reduce the pain but it’s going to leave a scar” Amanda did her best to heal him but a scar had already formed. A diagonal burn mark from his ear to his upper chest, something that hurt Frey to look at.

“Hey kid, sorry about the big guy.”

“He has taken heavier hits, he’ll be fine” Frey muttered as he began to remember why he avoided using his flames.

“Yeah but are you alright? Remember you can talk to us—” Zach was cut off by a wave of hostile energy.

Zephirine was the first to react, casting a fire ball directly at the source, only for it to be deflected with a simple gesture by a figure leading a group of masked individuals.

“Impressive but not enough—”

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU” Axel yelled as he got up with support from Amanda.

“Confidential”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT”

“Starlight”

“THATS KINDA GAY!!”

“I see no need to involve yourself in these matters, children. I have orders to kill the boy, extra for the young witch.” he stated.

Frey was sure it wasn’t just about him, he had a bounty on his head that could only be executed outside school grounds. The question now was who placed it and how much.

With a glance at the twins Frey knew they could stand their ground but they knew nothing about the enemy, so going in blindly wasn’t an option at the moment.


“We can’t win without a plan Frey” Amanda stated as she could tell a few of the aggressors were levels above them. Just holding Axel was enough to gradually heal him but not enough for a full blown recovery, he needed rest.

The entire confrontation was less than 2 minutes but he had developed a plan…

“On my mark, we bolt in groups of 2s and spread out. I have a hunch they aren’t allowed to be seen by students.” His plan was simple and precise, run away then regroup later on.

“I have to ask, what’s your codename? I have to know the name of my attacker.”

Then something strange happened, the leader took off his mask to reveal a face belonging to a young man not over 25. His dark crimson hair stood out most of all.

“I can see you are…suprised? Why so?” he said with a smile as he dashed towards Frey, only to be stopped by a wall from Zach.

‘He’s fast, and I didn't react fast enough. No room for errors’

As the attacker stepped back, giving a bit of distance he began to speak.

“My name is Ryder. And we are the shad—”

“Wait, I’ve heard that name before…” Zephirine was quick to cut him off again, which was starting to irritate Ryder.
“Excommunicated holy knight Ryder?” Amanda chimed in as she began to understand Zephy.

“What are they thinking?” Frey whispered as he looked for an opportunity for an escape.

“He said something about the Shadows, like the assassins for hire?” Zach added.
“I thought aunt Sera eradicated them aft—” before Zoey could complete her statement, Ryder snapped.

“THAT’S ENOUGH.” After a deep breath he managed to regain his composure.
“This is dragging on longer than I want. Run away or die here, won’t make a difference either way” as he finished the members of his team dropped from their hiding place in the trees, revealing Frey’s crew was outnumbered.


“I couldn’t have said it better, you ready Vanilla?” Frey was confident in his team but the gap was too wide.

“On it…” Then her eyes began to emit an unearthly glow,
“ EXSURGE, ESTO MURUS FULGIDUS. ITER CLAUDE ET HOSTEM EXCAECA…” a beam of light emerged from the spot where Zach stopped Ryder’s first attack.
“VALLUM LUCIS…STA!!!”

Then that beam became a wall radiating with the same amount of energy as a star. It was enough to disorient the agents of the Shadow long enough for the gang to create reasonable distance.


After almost 30 minutes of running, they finally settled after confirming the distance was safe to rest.

“That was a sloppy spell” Zephirine criticised Amanda on the chant used for the spell.

“It had no specific target, that was reckless for a light based spell.” Zoey understood the dangers of a light spell going wrong and that was a gamble.

“I’m sorry, it was a shortened version. Had to rush it cuz i wasn’t sure if they would have let me finish” Amanda was raised to perfect her affinity, but upon joining them she knew she had to abandon those ideals if she was going to survive.

“That was a crazy trick, good thing Zephy used an energy barrier to protect our side.” Axel was energetic in nature and getting injured was something a tank was to expect from any confrontation, even if it was from his own.

“I didn’t get to apologize, I'm so–”

“It was an accident, get over it Frey. look on the bright side, i got a cool scar now” Axel said as he admired the scar.

Frey could only smile at Axel’s optimism.

“Thank you Zach, good to see you guys don’t hate me too”
As he said that everything went quiet, before Zephirine decided to speak up.

“I’ve heard rumours but tell me Lord Starlight, why are you hated among three different kingdoms.” she said in a tone they had never heard before.

Frey noticed the place they were resting was affected by a fight that happened not long before they arrived, some icicles were still in full form and the air was too chill for this part of the forest. Then he smiled as he finally noticed her presence.

“I am hated because of an attempt on the life of a pure blood noble.” He smiled as the chill intensified. Then she spoke up, finally revealing herself.

“I’m truly sorry you had to go through all that dear Frey.” she said as she lounged a spear of pale blue ice at Frey.
He did not try to dodge, the spear melted inches away from his head. Frey knew it wasn’t going to connect, both their affinities repelled each other.

“I see you practicing concealment, princess”

“Basic observation, i expected more from you love”

“Frey… who is she exactly?” Zephirine had seen her only a few times since they started the academy, but the twins could tell from the moment the spear launched.

“This is…Princess Selene Frostfire”

SELENE FROSTFIRE: WATER AFFINITY
POINTS: 520 PTS
CURRENT RANKING: NO. 3.