CHAPTER 8

William Atthill walked through the pristine hallways of the Sovereign Palace, stomping over to the throne room, impatient. He brushed a piece of brown hair out of his face, and narrowed his golden brown eyes, nodding as he entered. Upon the throne sat his esteemed uncle Iman, or rather the Sovereign Ruler. He sat upon the throne like he had been chosen by some or other God, but William wished his father was still alive, because he didn't believe Iman could make a good ruler.

"Uncle," William said, with a quick bow, and an acknowledging nod to his uncle's Adviser, Percival. The man was a stick, tall as a building, but shaky as a reed.

"William, I'm glad to see you are well." His uncle remarked with a sly smile on his face.

"You called for me?" William asked.

"Yes, indeed I have. Percival seems to think that you should have a say in the coronation." He voiced, while Percival shook in his shoes.

"I only say this because I believe that William is the true descendant of our great and humble Ruler, Sein, and that he should voice his opinion on the matter." Percival's shaky voice rung through the throne room.

William replied with a shrug, "you know I have no interest in politics, Percival."

"I was hoping you would change your mind, my Lord." Percival said softly, "simply because I believe it is your right to rule this Capital."

William sighed, "as I have said before, Percival. I do not care for politics the way my uncle does, and therefore I will not be attending the coronation as the new Sovereign Ruler, but as a guest, to support my uncle."

"As you wish, your Highness." Percival nodded, scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"Now that we have discussed that, I have a favour to ask, uncle." William said sternly, his voice resonating through the entire throne room.

"What is it, William?" Iman asked.

"I request that I be allowed to form my Royal Force now. There has been talk of it for months, but I think now is a crucial time." He explained.

"Yes, of course, William. I understand you are determined to find your parents' assailant." Iman reasoned, "I shall grant you permission. You may assemble a Royal Force to be used at your will, to find your parents' assailant, and to rid the Sovereign Capital of Ascended Beings."

William bowed his head in respect, "thank you, uncle." He said with the utmost respect, then he turned around and faced his shadow.

"Demetrius," he said quickly, "we are departing to the Academy shortly, ready a carriage."

"Surely you do not have to depart now?" Iman requested.

"I must, uncle, I apologise. I will be here for dinner tomorrow, right now I must tend to my Sovereign Duty." He bowed once again and then exited the room. He walked along the corridor toward the front entrance, where his carriage awaited him and exhaled as he stepped inside. It was a relatively long ride to the Academy, and he knew Magister would still be up to assist him with his task. They had been discussing a Royal Force for months, but it had never quite come together because he was too busy attending to ridiculous politics. He remembered the day his parents were killed all too well. Some of the Palace doctors said that people who experience trauma often do not remember anything, but he remembered everything, the way the light reflected on his father cheeks as the assailant slashed his throat, the way they found his mother's body on the outskirts of the Capital, burnt beyond recognition, and the way he saw her nimbly leap out of the window that night. He remembered everything but her face. He was not sure whether the assailant's gender was female, but he remembered her distinct hairstyle, her focused eyes, and two neat buns on her head, and dead-set eyes, dagger glimmering in the moonlight. She glowed gold that night, he couldn't describe it, and it angered him every time because it was almost as if she were proud of her deeds. He needed to find her, and kill her because she killed his parents, and no one could get away with that. That was why he was assembling the Royal Force, he needed the Capital's best minds to track down the mysterious assailant that seemed to disappear into the dead of the night.

They arrived at the Academy sooner than he could register it. The place was booming with loud music and splashes of water, and he smiled as he thought of all the young mages enjoying themselves with copious amounts of alcohol and sex appeal. He didn't investigate it though, but he did find it strange that some of the corridors had tiny specks of blood that glimmered in the moonlight as he passed them. Lewis Magister's hair was shorter than last time, but she still looked the same as William politely knocked on the door. She greeted him with a smile, and ushered him inside, ordering his guards and Demetrius to remain outside.

"William, this is a surprise." She remarked as she poured him some tea. He sat down on one of the lavish chairs in her office, and looked at the painting that hung over her head.

"I am aware, Miss Magister," he said apologetically, "but I could not get word across fast enough, so I had to come myself."

"It sounds urgent." She said as she emptied the teapot into her cup, and passed him his.

"It is, Miss. We need to assemble the Royal Force tonight. I need a list of your best students respectably in healing, combat, and intelligence." William tried not to sound demanding, but war had done something to him that forced the politeness out of him and replaced it with hostility.

"Oh, yes. Of course, but before we commence with that I would like to bring an incident to your attention." Magister said after she took a long sip of her herbal tea.

"Go ahead." William urged.

"Well, earlier today my valedictorian used a portal, which is not completely illegal, but he brought along some friends, Aurean friends," at this William stiffened and all his attention was turned to Magister, "they were from esteemed families, unlike the ones you have been going around murdering. There was a Bachmann, a Negi and a Sai."

"I thought we eliminated those families." William remarked in almost disbelief.

"I thought so too, but it seems a sole descendant has survived. However I would not worry too much, apparently a man from the Aro line is set on murdering them. He is willing to commit genocide over these three children." Magister continued.

William thought for a while before saying, "we should attempt to make contact with the Aro man, maybe he will be of assistance."

"No need, William, because they are here in the Academy right now." She said with a sinister tone to her voice.

Nuri Bachmann hated rain, and by hated he meant he absolutely despised it. It wasn't solely because rain extinguished fire and he always felt rather dead when it rained, it was because it rained the day his sister died. Or snowed, he can't remember all too well, it changes every time. That night it was snowing, it was more like a blizzard and Nuri was pushing, pushing, pushing his way through the crowd, it was denser than usual. An icicle flew through the air, and something in the distance shone ethereally. The crowd dispersed in a matter of seconds, and his sister's head hit the floor, Aziel Aro stood, watching over the Sovereign Knight, Vayu's body discarded on the floor next to him. His sister's blood hit the walls of the huts and the crowd gasped in fear. The anger didn't come like it usually it, all he saw was black. The crowd became engulfed in black flames and Ignis Lux stood on the other side of the crowd, a menacing smirk distorting his features. His eyes were sinister, and Nuri swore he bore too much resemblance to Hades. He woke up when Ignis shot a black fireball in his direction and it felt like poison had hit him straight in his centre of gravity. He was shaking when he woke up, usually it ended with him drenched in sweat, but tonight the entire room felt as if were made of ice, and Ignis' menacing smirk haunted him. He hoped there would never be a moment where his dreams would become reality. He was wary of his breathing, trying to inhale and exhale as softly as he could, but his heart was racing, and his lungs were screaming for air, so much so that he gasped out loud and saw a pair of eyes flicking open beside him.

"What... are you doing?" Ignis gave him a rather dirty looking glare through sleep-caked eyes.

"Sorry," Nuri said softly, "I just couldn't sleep."

Ignis yawned, apparently not caring whether he'd wake Avani or Vayu up, and looked to Nuri, "that bad, huh?"

"What?" Nuri looked to him with doe eyes, "oh, right. The nightmares. I guess. I mean, yeah. They're um... awful."

"Let's go for a walk then. It'll help tire you out." He suggested, sitting up. Nuri watched him get up, and stretch his lanky arms forward. Nuri did the same and got up from his position, tiptoeing through the room of sleeping children. Outside the rain was still pouring, coming down in buckets. Their walk was silent, the rain drowning out the sounds of the party going on in someone else's room, but only barely masking the smell of the herbs they were probably smoking. Nuri sort of wished he could be that careless, getting high off strange herbs and mushrooms, just forgetting all of his troubles existed. He knew if he did however, people would die. They passed Miss Magister's office, the lights were still on, and the smell of tea hung over them like a cloud. He heard her voice resonate from inside.

"They are here in the Academy right now." Magister's voice rung through the rain.

"The Aureans?" Another voice replied. The accent was sublime, the person was definitely from the Sovereign Capital. Ignis pulled Nuri aside and leaned up against the door, they listened and kept their breaths shallow against the thundering rain.

"Yes, William. And one of them is injured. I shall tell you where they are, but you must not make a big deal out of this." Magister said sternly, "they are people, after all."

William spat, and placed his teacup down loudly, "people don't burn other people." He muttered under his breath, "thank you, Miss Magister. I promise I will go about this... softly." Before Nuri could hear Magister's reply, Ignis pulled him away from the door and then they were dashing through the rain-soaked hallways at the speed of light. When they arrived back at their room, they packed up their things as quick as they could. Avani was hesitant to wake up, but when Nuri told her who it was, she sprung into action, fearing a confrontation with William was close. From out of the veil of rain appeared a soaking wet student. His hair was matted against his forehead and he was breathing like he had just run a marathon.

"Ignis!" He managed to exclaim, Nuri recognized him from the courtyard earlier as the rather large kid with the polite smile. The kid took a breather, his hands on his knees, and fished out a contraption, which pumped air into his lungs.

"Sorry!" He said breathily, "but you need to get out of here... now! Miss Magister—"

"We know, Alfus." Ignis said quickly, "we listened in on her conversation."

"Oh." Alfus said, looking rather stupid, "I can help you get out, though!"

"Much obliged, Alfus." Ignis nodded.

"However it's through the old service tunnels, where they initiated us. I know how you despise that place." He said quickly, as Avani came from inside the room, with a half-conscious Vayu hanging onto her every being.

"Lovely." Ignis said sarcastically, and then turned to Avani.

"Who's the fat kid?" She asked blatantly, Alfus didn't look offended however.

"Avani, this is Alfus Pepper, he's a good friend of mine. Alfus, this is Avani Sai, she used to be an assassin, and that's Nuri Bachmann, I owe him my life, apparently." Ignis said with a slight smile on his face.

"Nice to meet you all! However we must get moving if we're going to get past the Sovereign Knights wandering the hallways." Alfus said, "just act drunk. We've just come from a party! Put a damn smile on your faces, will ya?" Alfus made a beeline for the corridor leading to Professor Juvia's room, but then took a sharp turn left. He almost ran straight into the wall. They heard footsteps behind them, loud and thundering footsteps, overpowering the harsh downpour's sound. Alfus said a quick incantation, and William Atthill appeared around the corner, eyes set on Nuri.

"Stop in the name of Sovereign Ruler!" He exclaimed, but they disappeared into the stone, the door shutting in his face. He tried to find a way into their hiding spot, but it was for naught.

"Someone get to the damn Portal! They'll escape through it!" William's voice rung through the corridors, his rage staining the stone red. His aura was so prominent, Nuri could feel it as they dashed through the labyrinthine corridors with seemingly no light. Ignis' small white flame dwindled in the darkness, as if it were afraid to shine brighter. They emerged in the courtyard, their pursuers hard on their tales. The Portal shone in the darkness as they beckoned toward it. The rain obscured their view of William. Vayu was the first into the Portal, and Ignis went next, Nuri bit his lip as he heard Ignis' distorted voice beckon him through the Portal. Avani stopped running suddenly, letting William come dangerously close, until some of the grass sprouted long vines and caught his foot. His gargantuan sword shone in the moonlight, and he fell face first into the mud with a loud plop that echoed through the walls of the Academy. When he looked back up, through mud-soaked eyes, all he saw was a blazing BYE shining in the night sky, taunting him.