April is my death month :)))))) so I might not update for a while. Literally flying across the country for a job interview in like two hours haha.

The air was tense as I walked into school. Students were talking in hushed whispers, their eyes to the ground. Security guards were lingering on every corner, in every hallway, with solemn expressions. Something must've happened.

I spotted Kaito, a classmate, loitering around in one of the hallways and so I approached him. He jumped out of his skin when I said his name.

"Oh, it's just you," he said once he spotted me.

I frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kaito shook his head, eyes darting around nervously. He leaned in. "Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"About the mine incident."

I thought back to yesterday. "Oh, yeah. My father mentioned something. What about it?"

He gave me a frown. "Someone stole some crystals from the reserves," he said. "Specifically, nox crystals. Everyone thinks it might be… her."

I raised an eyebrow. "The student who blew up the school?"

"Yeah. That's why there's so much security around today. They think she might come back, or something. I don't know."

"Do you… think she will?"

Kaito tugged at his uniform collar, before shrugging. "I don't know. I don't think so, since she was never that kind of person for violence, but… they say noxchanges you… and…" He didn't need to finish the sentence for me to know what he was going to say next.

Everyone I'd talked to had said the girl wasn't violent or vengeful, but on the day of the accident, she became an entirely different person.

"Sounds scary," I said.

He looked at me with wide eyes. "You don't even know. The day it happened, everyone was screaming and running and crying. No one knew what happened until it was over."

"Did… people die?"

Kaito opened his mouth, closed it, before opening it again. "A teacher did," he answered. He then narrowed his eyes. "We're not supposed to talk about this, you know."

I grimaced. "I don't get it. Why can't we talk about this?"

He looked like he didn't want to respond, but eventually, he said cryptically, "The more you talk about something, the more you're asking it to happen."

"Is that why no one says her name?" I blurted.

Kaito's pinched his lips together in exasperation. "You ask too many questions, Len. If she comes to finish off the job today, I'm blaming it all on you." He jabbed a finger at my chest, before slinking off down the hallway.

I sighed.

Miku appeared by my side a moment later, a curious expression on her face. "What did you do to ruffle his feathers?" she asked, clutching some books to her chest.

"Asked too many questions." Apparently.

The corners of her lips twitched. "I'm not surprised. You seem to like doing that," she said. She then peered over at me with a cautious expression. "Is your father well, by the way? I heard about the incident at the mine."

We started to walk to our classroom together. "Oh, yeah," I said. "He didn't come home last night, but he told me he couldn't because of it. I haven't heard from him since, so I hope so. I'm sure so."

"The mines have a lot of security," Miku added, in an attempt to be reassuring. "If anything happened, he would be safe. The incident wasn't hostile from what I heard. Just a theft." She set her books down on her desk, a few rows in front of mine, and looked back at me expectantly.

I let her words stew, twisting my mouth in thought. "Yeah, supposedly. He's just as clueless as me about magic, though, you know? He probably doesn't even know about the crystals he's mining."

She smiled. "The more clueless, the better," she said. Her eyes then dropped to the book in my hands. It was the one Luka had given to me. "Did you do your homework?"

I glanced down at the book. "Yes. I even started reading about the other crystals Luka picked out, as well."

Miku opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated. She then said, "It's nice you're eager about it."

Giving her a wry smile, I shot back, "I mean, I need to know this stuff to pass this semester, so yeah. I have to be."

She laughed. "Well, the grading system relies on both knowledge and ability, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Wow, I feel honoured, those words coming from the highest achiever in our grade."

Miku didn't try to hide her smug expression. "I wasn't always."

I pretended to be shocked. "There was someone more perfect than Miku? Unbelievable."

She just shook her head, smiling. "Perfection comes with its flaws, Len."

"Right."

I didn't want to believe her, but she was telling the truth. There was no such thing as perfection—wasn't that how it went? Besides, hadn't that girl been a high achiever?

The rest of the day went rather unproductively, with no sign of danger despite the paranoia. When I went to my lesson with Luka that afternoon, there was a security guard waiting outside her lab.

Before I even got the question out, Luka told me it was just for the day, due to the issue at the mine. Her tone implied the topic was a no-go zone, so I kept my mouth shut.

After we sat down, she leant back in her chair and fixed her gaze on mine. "So, how did you go?"

"I finished the chapter on ignis, and since I had free time, I started on fulmen. I didn't get too far, though, and I couldn't find any information in the book on cael and stella."

Luka pulled my box from her drawer and set it down in front of me.

"Cael and stella are in another book," she explained. "I'm pleased you completed the homework, though. I was expecting you to read a page and give up."

"I guess I found it interesting," I said.

She smiled, but it was a little empty. "Well, I suppose that'll make things easier for both of us, then." She then opened the box and handed me the glove.

As soon as I put it on, I could feel ignis; a glowing red hot in the palm of my hand that flowed all the way to the pit of my stomach. I stretched my fingers, enjoying the strange sensation.

Luka cleared her throat. My eyes snapped to hers and I lowered my hand to my lap. "Since we'll be playing with fire today, it might be a better idea to practice your magic in one of the training rooms. I can't afford for you to destroy my paperwork." Her smile turned wry.

"Right," I said, dropping my gaze.

We stood, and she lead me out of the lab and down into the west wing basement. I'd been to the basement before for a magic class, but that was in the first week I'd arrived. My magic classes had since been replaced temporarily with a study session until further notice, so I hadn't the chance to go back.

After fumbling with her keys, she unlocked one of the doors lining the hall and walked in. I followed after her.

The room was smaller than the one I'd been to, with soundproof walls and a hard, concrete floor. There were no windows, either. Like the previous one, though, it smelt of nothing—which was a little uncanny. If I tilted my head to a specific degree, I could see the golden incantations running along the walls—I recalled my magic teacher explaining it was a protection spell of some sort.

Luka held out her gloved hand in front of me.

"This is the first exercise. I'm going to create a flame. I'll pass it to you, and I want you to use ignis to maintain it."

I nodded, swallowing hard.

She scanned my face, having sensed my uncertainty. "Don't think too much about it, Len. Just feel the heat flow from your hand."

Luka clicked her fingers, and almost immediately, a flame burst from her fingertips. She rolled it back into her palm and looked up at me. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I said.

I held up my hand to meet hers, and the fabric of her glove brushed mine as she rolled her palm and passed on the flame. Heat surged to my hand, and for a split second, I had it there—hovering—before it flickered and the skin on my fingers exploded in a white-hot pain.

I dropped the fire with a yelp, and Luka jumped away as it disappeared just above the ground.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her eyes on my hand.

"I'm fine," I said quickly, lifting my fingers to check the damage. There were no marks, and the skin seemed untouched. "I just wasn't expecting it to be so hot."

"Okay," she said with some hesitation. "We'll take it slower this time." She created another flame and held it out in front of me. "Remember, you need to keep your mind focused on the heat in your hand. It shouldn't hurt you if you control it right. Fearing it is the worst you could do."

She rolled it into my hand again, and this time, I managed to hold it for a few seconds, before it snuffed out.

I grinned at Luka, and she nodded in approval. "Good. Let's keep trying."

We repeated the exercise over and over, until I could control it without it going out at all. She then taught me how to 'desummon' the flames myself, before we moved on to summoning fire on my own.

Although a little difficult at first, the spells slowly became easier and easier to perform. It was all about the right movement, knowing the right feeling. The right technique.

Luka wrapped training up once she was confident I could summon a flame, control it and desummon it on my own without major calamity.

"These are just the basics, the first three steps to magic with ignis," she told me as we walked back to her lab. The sun outside was already setting, casting a golden glow into the east wing. I hadn't realised it'd gotten so late. "We'll work on more complicated things as well, but I'll get you to keep studying about fulmen. If you've finished that by tomorrow, we might try the basics with lightning… although it's much harder to master."

"Does that mean cael and stella are also difficult?" I asked.

"Yes," Luka said without a beat. She pointed to ignis on my glove. "Ignis is a level one difficulty, in terms of controlling and maintaining the power. Fulmen, about a level three. Cael would be a four, and stella, a six. If you were a child learning magic for the first time, there would be several years between each level—but we don't have years. That's why I'd like you to focus on the easier magic for now, at least until you're confident enough to handle cael and stella without killing yourself."

My eyebrows shot up at her morbid words. "How high does the difficulty go?"

She packed away my box, not waiting for me to hand her my glove. "It goes to ten."

"Which crystals are level ten?"

Luka paused to close her eyes, as if the question was painful. "Probably nox and lux, and similar variations—I'm unsure, as it's complicated. Before you ask, I cannot discuss in detail about nox and lux."

A pang of guilt filled my chest for unintentionally bringing up a sensitive topic. "Oh, yes. That's understandable."

She opened her eyes and looked at me. "I'm letting you keep your glove for now, so you can practice in your own time with ignis. But on that note, Len, please be careful. Any magic, regardless of difficulty, can be dangerous if used recklessly. I'm sure you know of the last major incident, and I don't want any more students being harmed because of misuse of magic."

I nodded and reached for my bag. "Of course, Luka. Thank you for your help today."

Luka gave a weary smile as she walked me out of her lab. "Be careful," she reminded me before I left.

On the way towards the main entrance, I passed Miku. She seemed deep in thought, not noticing my presence until I called out to her as she rushed past.

Her eyelids fluttered and she halted mid-step, spinning around to face me.

"Sorry, are you busy?" I asked.

Miku's eyes lit up and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, shaking her head. "Oh, Len! I didn't see you. Did you just finish your training with Luka?" Her gaze hovered over my left hand, and I held it up to her like a child showing off a trophy.

"Yeah."

"You'll have to show me your new tricks sometime," she said with a grin. "Only ignis, though? No fulmen?"

"Not yet," I said with a sigh.

"Thought so." Miku glanced down at her arms, filled with some textbooks, as if she just remembered she was holding them. "Well, I was just running off to see Luka to talk about something. I better hurry before she leaves. I'll see you tomorrow, Len."

Not letting me get another word in, she barrelled down the hallway, her long, teal twintails streaming behind her.

When I arrived at home, my father was already there. He popped his head out of the kitchen as I walked through the front door. "Oh, Len," he said as a greeting. "It's pretty late. Where have you been?"

I held out my gloved hand to him. "I had a lesson with my tutor after school."

He leant in to get a close look of the crystal. "Let me guess… ignis?"

"That's right," I said, lowering my hand. "How'd you know?"

"Well, I've been learning a little as well," he said, disappearing back into the kitchen. I followed him in. "But ignis was one of the crystals your mother had, back when we first met. I guess you truly are taking after her."

He didn't look at me—gaze focused on cutting vegetables by the sink, preparing dinner.

I never knew what crystals my mother knew, but I'd never thought to ask about it, either. The topic of magic and my mother was always difficult for my father, and although it'd been at least ten years since she passed, I still felt hesitant to talk about her.

"Sorry I couldn't come home last night," he started again, after a beat of silence. "I couldn't get away. It was chaos after the incident. They insisted on having extra backup, at least until morning, just in case it happened again."

I leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen and watched him as he moved about in the kitchen. "I heard someone stole some nox?"

He kept his gaze down. "You did?"

"Kind of hard not to, after the accident that happened at school," I told him.

"Oh, yeah. You told me about that."

"They had extra security today and everything. It was pretty tense."

My father looked up at me and gave a tired smile. "I can imagine. I heard some rumours about it in the mines as well, but it was as you've told me. They're claiming that same girl stole them, but I wasn't there, so I'm not sure whether that's true or not. It's scary such a powerful thing exists, though."

I nodded. "Any magic in the wrong hands can be dangerous."

He turned away to slide the prepped vegetables into a pot of stew on the stove. "You have a point," he said. "Only the security in the mines really use magic, do you know that? It's forbidden to use down there. That's why they look for people like me. I guess it has something to do with the crystals."

My father had a rune, as did everyone—or most people. His was different, though.

It was by definition undecipherable, rune gibberish, and no information left by the Ancient Ones covered the kinds of symbols on his hand. Other people, like him, were much the same. Those who studied magic and the rune had tried to research it, to figure out whether they could use magic at all—but to no avail. It became a general rule these people were unable to practice magic.

They called it enervis.

Scientists had theorised enervis was either a genetic mutation, or that the runes belonged to an ancient—now extinct—set of crystals and symbols used by the Ancient Ones. Others believed they served to exist to balance magic, or were the anti to magic. No one was any closer to figuring the truth, yet, though—all we knew was that they had no physical or spiritual connection to the crystals we used in common magic today.

That was why my father was asked to work in the mines.

"No wonder the nox crystals were stolen so easy," I mused aloud.

My father paused mid-action, glancing over at me with his eyebrows raised. His mouth quirked, like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or scold me.

I rushed to spit out an apology, but he beat me to it. "You're probably right," he said, looking thoughtful. "It would be all too easy to get in if you knew how to avoid security."

"Are the mine workers really that useless?" I asked, fighting back a grin.

"We're all terrified of magic, Len," he said. "We wouldn't stand a chance against one of you."

I hated the way he said that. One of you. For so long I'd been able to relate to my father—being innocently clueless about magic—but now that was different. Now I treading a path he could never.

He noticed my silence and tried to fill it, continuing awkwardly, "But the thief didn't use any magic, you know? It was strange. They just went in, stole the crystals, and left. Someone saw them, but you know with us, we can't do anything anyway. I guess they knew that, as well."

"I'm glad no one was harmed, then," I said quietly.

My father walked up to me and reached out to rest a hand on my head. Although I'd grown a lot, he was still taller than me. I wondered how long it would stay that way.

"Since you're using magic now, I guess I'll have to rely on you to protect me, huh?" He had a crooked grin.

"I can't do much at the moment to protect you, but I'll try."

He ruffled my hair and stepped away to tend to the stew. I missed the warmth on my head. "When I get a day off, you'll have to show me your progress."

"Sure."

My father stared down at the pot, his lips curved, and I could see in his eyes that he was thinking.