pre style="word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chapter 4: Bloody Orchids

The days blurred by quickly as I developed a routine and took Alex's advice, all of it in fact. In the morning before school I would do school work and study with Olivia. She was nice and if I had not known better, I'd say she was just a normal girl, instead if a Fae Witch who specialized in illusions, much to my dismay, she enjoyed making jokes and pranking me in the morning, mostly harmless thankfully.

School... Just did not seem to matter, or at least it did not matter nearly as much. I was going to be something not entirely human in the next couple days, meet and fight supernatural horrors and school... Just doesn't compare. It would be like watching a movie in black and white after living your whole life in color, it just seemed to be lacking.

After school, I would train with Tol and Gote, occasionally Kayla would join but typically she would just observe or instruct and I got the feeling that she didn't play when she decides to fight. Twin brothers, Tol and Gote, I could tell the difference between the two but it took me a minute or so of interaction. They both had dark brown hair that went down just past the bottom of their ears. Their facial features were hawkish, angular, their skin a dusty bronze color, maybe Egyptian ancestry? They fought well regardless of their origin, fighting in sync and me... I had never thrown a punch in my life before, but they both had commented that I was a quick study.

After training was dinner, which happened to be a big get together to discuss what had happened during the day, not everyone could attend all the time since some were on 'runs' or missions, but everyone who could attend would. It was surprising at first, still is. Its like they were all one big family and during these times, when we were all together, that I felt the most alone and out of place. It seemed to highlight all the differences between myself and everyone else. The way they talked and referred to each other... everyone had known each other for years, Alex was the newest addition before me but even that was 10 years ago. Alex and Olivia both would notice my mood and try to keep me involved and i appreciated their efforts and humored them but my smile felt like a mask. I did not feel like I belonged, at least, not together with everyone.

After dinner and until the early morning I would study in the library, their library... was extensive to say the least, it would take me a hundred years at least to get to everything... and then some because we were constantly adding volumes to the shelves. Alex had commented once when he noticed my fascination that I should see the library in Arcane HQ in Berlin, their collection dwarfed this chapter house's collection, at that my jaw had dropped for a while and I must have made a face because Alex laughed at me for at least 5 minutes. I seemed to meet someone new every day I was in the library, even if we just exchanged greetings. I studied everything that took my interest at the time. Once it was vampires, then it was different schools of magic, then it was the various paths... I was... eclectic, always switching subjects was strange for me, normally I would focus in one subject before moving on but I felt like a sponge, soaking up all the knowledge that came to me.

My routine was not done when I eventually fell asleep though. It was a shock the first night when my Witch self came to visit me in my dreams. Last night it had been the Wizard and tonight had been the Warlock. They all told me of the components I would need to complete the ritual that would set my path but while the Wizard and Witch were talkative, friendly even, the Warlock was cold and calculating, he did not even talk about the Path of the Warlock. Only the components and the ritual markings, without an explanation of what they were or what they did. When I asked all he said was:
"... I would know when I needed to know. All you need to know now is mechanically how the ritual works and that the Path of the Warlock is the strongest path, it would give me the power to stop any foe I faced, save any innocent I wished, given I was prepared to do whatever it took..."

I woke up in a cold sweat and shivered considering Warlock's words carefully. I took a deep breath and got up and dressed before heading to Walter's room as I had every morning to make sure we had all the components for the ritual imparted to me the previous night. I knocked on the door and Walter promptly answered the door as he always had before.
"More components from another ritual?" He asked with a sigh.
"Yes sir," I replied and I listed off every component I would need. Walter gave me a look at the last component I had listed off, a suspicious look.
"Bloody Orchid? Why do you need Bloody Orchid?" He asked moving slightly. Loser which made me back up half a step.
"I don't know, that is what Warlock me said," I explained quickly, not sure what I had done wrong. He stopped himself before taking a breath.
"We do not have Bloody Orchid. You will only find that component in Arcadia," he said and sighed when he saw my look of confusion on my face.
"Arcadia, the Fae Wilds. If you are truly intent on retrieving that component you will need Olivia's help. She is the only one who could get you there in time. It would take a week to get a portal set up and permissions gained. It would take me three days just to get the portal readied. You need Olivia and she can explain why. It is not my place to say, as it is personal," he explained to me. emCryptic much?/em I asked myself before nodding.
"Ok. Thank you, Walter," I said and stood in front of his door after he had closed it for a second and wondered if Walter slept as it seemed he was always up and about.

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