"Ha, so we actually made it into the same squad for the exam. Try not to slow me down Ezra."
Lyla grin was all snark and confidence.
Ezra smile widened like even he was surprised to have made it this far.
"I'll try best my highness."
He couldn't help admiring the way Lyla exuded confidence. Her crooked smile. The faint glow in her emerald eyes. She even chopped her long hazel hair just to be more "field ready".
I wish I had that drive. If you weren't here pushing me, making me compete. I probably would have never made it this far.
Today was the first major field exam of the year. Sorcery students close to graduation were being divided into groups of four, each being assessed by two supervisors. Their performance would determine whether they would be offered an apprenticeship in one of the SOL's exorcist divisions.
One of supervisors stepped forward, scrolling through a sheet of paper.
"Lyla Gaha… oh lucky day for the rest of you. A prodigy is aboard."
Lyla kept a polite smile. She was used to it. Being the daughter of Goro Gaha, the strongest sorcerer alive. It tended to overshadow everything else.
"We also should have Mav Orix, Mia Taylor, and…. Just Ezra, I guess."
Ezra pretended not to react. He pulled his beanie lower over his eyes. Heavy eyes. Skin too pale for someone who should've been darker. Messy hair he never bothered tidying. He looked like someone that didn't sleep and definitely didn't want to make eye contact.
They piled into a worn-out company vehicle, and the road flowed beneath them.
"Alright," the second supervisor finally spoke.
"I'll explain the rules while we drive."
"You've been in the academy long enough to know more than the basics, but I'm not losing any students today. Especially not a Gaha."
She cleared her throat.
"As part of your curriculum, you must experience one neg-2 distortion or two neg 1 distortions. 'Neg' of course referring to how far down the Axis it will reach. The stronger the accumulation of ash the further it sinks."
She glanced over her shoulder.
"Anyone want to explain why entering a distortion doesn't mean you're literally moving down the axis layer."
Lyla immediately raises her hand.
"Oh I know! Distortions form in areas where too much ash has accumulated. Plane 0 pushes the ash out but that causes a rift, so a distortion is basically the loading phase before the ash is dumped into the lower planes."
She's finished with a smug little look at Ezra. Ezra stuck is tongue out at her but kept his eyes hidden. After his childish gesture he tugged beanie even lower.
"Unlucky for you today's is a neg-1 distortion. Or lucky, depending on how you see it. Just small forest on the outskirts of the city. Haunted rumours. Low tier distortions like that pop up all the time."
The car slowed.
The silent supervisor, yet to speak the whole journey pulled the hand break and drew a cigarette.
" we"re here."
The group stepped out, nerves tightening around the them like invisible threads. The other supervisor drew a compass from their pocket.
" Fourty yards north puts us in the radius. Once inside the job is simple- locate the ashkin spawn, exorcise it and then will all go home happy."
Ezra looked at the two supervisors. One was carrying a hand gun, the other a large case.
A hand gun… Must be some sort of catalyst for his divine and case must have some sort weapon in it. A neg-1 distortion shouldn't be problem for them. Supervisors need to be at least B-rank, which is around neg-3 level.
They stepped forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Suddenly they was one step away.
"Let's see the monster of the day."
The group simultaneously took the last step forward.
The summer sky vanished.
"Snow?"
The world turned white within an instant. The trees stretched taller and grew denser. Swallowing the path they came from.
Ezra pushed his beanie up just enough to reveal his eyes.
"So now we're just looking for the ashkin?"
He began scanning the forest with unusual focus.
Weird. Any kind of ash normally usually sets my eyes off instantly… it must be because all the ash in concentrated inside the ashkin.
"Yeah, pretty much. We just find the thing that caused this. Supervisor Ann, you can take it out now,"
The larger supervisor stood completely unfazed while Supervisor Ann took the giant case of her back and opened it— revealing a bundle of fishing rods. She grabbed one out of the case and handed the rest to her partner.
" I trust you to hold onto those, supervisor White."
She rested the rod on her shoulder. The kids stared at her bewildered.
"Don't worry about me. This is just insurance. It's your job to hunt and exorcise the ashkin." She gives them confident thumbs up.
I wonder what her divine is. Fishing? It doesn't match her vibe at all.
The group walked deeper into the forest, with each step the snow grew thicker and thicker. Ezra tugged lightly on Lylas shoulder, leaning close to whisper into her ear.
"Hey, ask her what her divine is. I know you're curious too."
Before Lyla could speak, Mia blurted out.
"Hey lady, what's the fishing rod for?"
Ann laughed loudly, spinning the the rod almost flaunting it around, causing supervisor White to sigh. He's clearly used to this.
"You really wanna know how I hit B-rank after only two years as an apprentice…?"
Ezra zoned out of the conversation to focus on his surroundings.
His attention was dragged somewhere else.
A sensation crawled under his skin. The ash. Cold. Violating. Wrong. A dread so heavy it pinned him in place.
"I see it. It's… it's bad."
His breathing spiked out of control. His knees buckled and folded, causing him to collapse into the snow clutching his chest as the panic shreds through him. Lyla rushed to his side. Manifesting crystal dragon around them. Supervisor White looked at his watch.
The dial plummeted.
"It's neg-4! Ann get ready to use your….."
His sentence was cut short.
Ann tuned toward him and saw a massive hand around supervisor White's head, completely engulfing it.
Before the monster could crush him a blinding white blur cut through the snow. In the next instant, White appeared beside her, panting. The ashkins hand clenching nothing but air.
"Damn…almost thought you had grown slow old man."
The ashkin loomed over them; almost three meters tall. An owls face stretched across its skull, its fur thick and wolf like but so white it blended into the blizzard.
It's presnce radiated a suffocating cold.
"Winter… winter… coming…. Winter."
Ann drew her fishing rod off her shoulder and pointed it at the creature.
"Winter huh? Well, this is Bethany."
"And my name is Mira Ann."
She turned to the frozen students.
"This is a little ahead of your curriculum, so kids sit back and watch a sorcerer in action."
Ezra sat up—pulling his his beanie down again, his breathing finally steadying.
"You okay?" Lyla whispered.
"I'm good."
Still refusing to open his eyes.
Ann Mirabel or Mira Ann had earned B-rank in only two years after becoming an apprentice. A feat so absurd it was still whispered about in the central isles, especially the tiny island where she'd been the only divine child ever born.
Ann snapped her wrist.
Bethany's line shot forward. Leading the ashkin to take the bait.
Ann reeled once and a pale piece of ash was ripped clean from the monster, leaving staggering.
Mira Ann's divine, Anglers Trinity gave her three rods— each giving her different uses. Bethany the first: a hook baited with a fraction of her soul. Ash being the condensed negative emotions of countless souls naturally lunged for it, letting Ann reel in pieces of the ash and weakening the whole.
Ann cast again. The line hooked making the ashkin brace expecting another piece to be torn away.
But instead, Ann yanked the rod back dragging the massive beast towards her.
She stepped in and smashed a barrage of punches into its face and body.
"Neg-4? Dissappinting."
She scoffed follow by another reel. Another strip of ash torn free.
But then…
The snow surged.
The ashkin disappeared from sight, suddenly reappearing right in front of her.
"Winter."
It grabbed Anna left leg. Frost exploded up her thigh— freezing it solid.
Before the creature could spread the ice further, White opened fire; bullets cracking with divine motion blur as they flew into the ashkin.
"Mira!"
Ann held up her hand.
"I'm fine."
She exhaled.
"Conversion- blaze."
A burst of heat erupted around her frozen leg; melting the frost. She hissed through her teeth.
"Oh man, that was close…. My fire conversion sucks so I prefer you not do that again."
She pointed Bethany at the monster once more.
This time after hooking it, she flung the ashkin into a tree before reeling out another bit of ash.
"Oi, old man. Throw me your gun!"
"Last time you destroyed."
"I'll buy you another one. Come on."
White tossed it. Ann caught it in her free hand without looking.
"Pay attention kids."
She grinned hard and heavy.
"For this is true sorcery."
She aimed.
"Conversion."
The barrel glowed.
"Release."
Water swelled inside the chamber.
"Hydro."
A thunderous jet of high pressure water blasted out of the hand gun.
So strong it slicing the Ashkin into two.
The snow fell silent.
"Job done." Ann flashed a wide grin, thumb raised towards the students.
Ezra stared at her, stunned.
She's strong… stronger than I thought. So this is real power of a sorcerer . B-rank and she used conversion. Plus her divine is insane.
A voice drifted across the snow.
"You poor thing. Are they bullying you?"
Ann turned towards the dying Ashkin and froze.
A man stood atop its soon to be corpse, head tilted, eyes gentle in a way that felt wrong.
Every instinct inside Ann screamed.
She instantly cast Bethanys line. The hook lashed out, striking the man in the chest.
He didn't move.
He simply smiled.
"What an interesting divine…You use your soul as bait to hook ash. But if you lose the contest…you lose a piece of yourself."
Ann reeled in sharply.
The line snapped.
Ann's knees hit the snow as a scream tore from her throat. Her chest constricted— like a piece of her soul had been ripped out.
"White hand me kesha…"
She never finished.
Warmth spilled across her uniform.
Then more.
She looked down. A hand. His hand, pushed clean through her chest.
For a moment she felt warm. Almost relaxed. She had been freezing ever since entering the distortion. Only her thin suit and her SOL windbreaker to keep her warm. She remembered how proud she was when she first received it. The first person from Ditta island to ever join the SOL.
Now it's soaked deep, spreading red.
"Oh." She whispered.
And died.
"RUN!"
White opened fire, bullets streaking with his motion blur.
But the man was already beside him.
Whites head hit the snow before his body did.
The students fled, stumbling blindly into the forest.
Ezra and Lyla lost sight of the others. Their class mates screams echoed somewhere behind them. One by one, cut short.
Ezra pushed his beanie up. Exposing his eyes, frantically scanning the area.
Though the man appeared between him and Lyla without a sound.
His hand slammed through Lyla's torso, launching her across the snow.
She hit the ground.
Suddenly a crystal spike erupted beneath the group striking the man in his back.
Ezra tries to run to Lyla but a massive crystal dragon coiled above her.
The man blinked genuinely confused.
"You didn't die?"
He crushed again.
And again.
Each time her body shattered and reformed. Like glass repairing itself.
He began laughing. Wildly. Ful of joy.
"Perfect!"
He howled as the air around him warped. Then grabbed Lyla face, forcing her eyes open. Ezra attempting to to run over but he's too late.
Something shifted.
His expression changed, Knees buckled.
Then he collapsed.
Lyla body twitched-then rose.
The breath that left her lips wasn't hers.
Ezra stared frozen, cold blooded.
She laughed softly, Lyla voice but wrong. Too smooth. Too knowing.
"This is the perfect vessel." She declared.
She crouched before Ezra. He trembled, face full with despair and horror. Then with raw hatred.
He glared into her eyes. Begging for something to happen.
But useless. His divine was useless.
She smiled.
"So that's who you are. Small world."
She walked away humming.
Leaving Ezra alone in the snow. Paralysed with fear.