Shadow… what is a shadow? Is it an enigma? A person? A thing? A thought? An idea? Nothing much could be said about the man who called himself 'Shadow' since he left so abruptly in the middle of the night. Questions have been swelling inside Shiki's head as he sleeps until daybreak… the one that comes to mind most of all though, is whether or not this man named 'Colbert' can fix his eyes.

"Zero" – Regular Speech

'Zero' – Thoughts

"Zero" – Unknown Speech

"Zero" – Spell/Technique

[Louise's Room, Academy]

The bright sun, along with the unladylike groans from Louise, awoke Shiki from his slumber. He wasn't used to sleeping on a pile of hay but then again it was nice to get some sleep after the events from last night. His eyes, strangely enough, weren't hurting like they usually were when he opened them up to the scenery before him. The lines were still apparent as ever but it wasn't as much of a strain to look at them that he thought it would be as he rose up from his makeshift bed.

Looking over at the California King sized bed; he noticed Louise was still trying her hardest to keep the sun away from her eyes. She was tired, she was grumpy but above all else she was irritated. For what though, he didn't have a clue. Staring at her for a few more moments, he finally built up the courage to move over to the bed and tried to wake. He knew this was slightly rude but she was his guide and he wanted to find a way to get his eyes adjusted as soon as possible.

"Louise… Louise it's time to get up." Shiki said as kind as he could.

"Five more minutes… dog…" She labeled him as she turned and muffled herself in her soft, pink pillow.

Smirking to himself, Shiki decided to not be an asshole and strolled over to the chair before closing his eyes again. It wasn't like he needed to go anywhere immediately… as long as he could get it taken care of today, that was all he cared about. Then again he wasn't going to put himself through the torture of keeping his eyes open if he could help it so this was a simple solution to an inevitable problem.

Time passed, a lot more than five minutes mind you, before Louise finally got the dust out of her eyes and stretched herself out of the cocoon she wrapped herself in. She was still slightly tired, most likely for oversleeping, but she was finally up. It wasn't like she wanted though as she looked at the clock and realized she was late for class.

"AH!" Louise screamed at the time as she realized her predicament. "I'm late!" She yelled as she jumped out of her gown, put on a fresh pair of undergarments and quickly donned her school uniform in less than 30 seconds.

The abrupt movement as well as the screaming of incoherent curses shook Shiki as he jumped from his chair from the sudden noise. He wasn't sure whether to say 'I told you so' or something along those lines but he decided to keep his mouth shut so as to avoid the wrath of the petite pink-haired ball of anger. It wasn't to last though when she was finally ready and pegged him with the question that was bound to come floating his way.

"Why didn't you get me up?!" Louise yelled at her familiar as she stood there with her elbows bent and her fists on her waist. "It's your job to take care of me while I'm asleep! That includes waking your master up!" She yelled in a reprimanding yet refined tone.

"Well Louise, I did try to wake you up-" He was interrupted when his 'Master' caught word of him using her first name.

"D-Did I say you could call me Louise? I'm your 'Master' you can't just call your master by her first name, stupid dog!"

"And you can't just call a person a dog when they're clearly a human being." Shiki replied calmly as he was starting to get irritated with what she was saying.

Shiki always thought of himself as a calm, collected person with a lot of tolerance for bullshit. He took insults and shrugged them off as if they were nothing. He accepted words of discouragement as he knew that it was just smoke blowing out of people's asses. He never got angry at a provocation unless the situation required it, and he was always friendly enough to dismiss himself from conflict if he was able to. This girl on the other hand was pissing him off completely.

If it was one thing that Shiki didn't understand it was the way Louise held herself, at least in terms of presence. He never understood why she had this 'holier-than-thou' attitude when it came to every situation. It didn't make much sense to him at all but then again if you were to look at him he usually was a humble person who didn't care for such things… he did have two maids though and lived in a mansion with his sister… actually now that he thought about it more clearly he was living just like this girl just instead of magical abilities he could kill anything.

Sighing to himself, he resigned as the defeated in the little quarrel and averted the attention to the task at hand: Getting to class.

It was a rather uneventful day. People were making fun of 'Louise the Zero' and her unexpected, yet strangely within expectations, 'Familiar Summoning'. The classes ranged from alchemical potions to divine fortune telling to destructive fireballs and even reconstructing restorations spells… all the aspects of the five pillars of magic were taught here and it truly intrigued Shiki with what mages were able to accomplish here. He even thought of seriously taking a few of the lessons taught to heart and might even start practicing a bit of his own magic if given the chance. The thought was quickly dismissed though when he learned that only those of a certain noble blood could learn and use magic… or at least so they taught.

The final class of the day was taught by Mr. Colbert, the one that Shiki was expecting the most throughout the entire time of the studies. His shining bald head had been reflecting off the light rays from above which blinded nearly half the students, keeping them from focusing on the lesson he was teaching that day. He decided today he would talk about the different runes that could be found throughout the land and what they all meant.

"Runes are an old form of writing from a time long before you and I…" Mr. Colbert said with his kind voice as he addressed the class on the subject. "…Runes have been known to do a great deal of many things. Some runes can be used to heal wounds; others can be used to unlock secret passages that are triggered by commands. Others can be used to seal away the mightiest of foes and some can even bring back the dead if used in the correct conjunction with one another… however, it is a highly volatile study that has claimed the lives of many mages." He cautioned as he went on with the lecture.

Shiki listened closely to each word that Mr. Colbert was saying. He knew that if anyone could figure out how to treat his eyes, it'd be him. His knowledge was vast and his skills as a mage were renowned throughout the academy. One would even say that he would be the next headmaster if the current headmaster decided to step down… would that be likely though? Probably not.

As the lesson ended and the bell rang, the students quickly got up from their chairs and exited the classroom. Shiki and Louise had stayed behind as part of their plan to get the attention of Mr. Colbert.

"Colbert-sensei." Louise addressed the middle-age magician with a courteous bow. "I have a favor to ask." She pleaded sincerity as if it was her job to help Shiki with his problem.

"Sure, anything for a learning student. What is it that you need help with?" Colbert responded with a kind and genuine smile.

"Well you see… the problem is that my familiar, Shiki, has a problem with his eyes… I told him that it was probably just a headache from the summoning but he says differently… would you please take a look at them to see what's wrong?" Louise asked.

"Hrm… well I'm not really a doctor Louise… I wouldn't be the one to take care of something like this." Colbert reasoned as he scratched his chin. "However your familiar, Shiki was it?" Colbert asked, addressing the boy before him.

"Y-yea… My name is Shiki Tohno." He responded to the question.

"Ah yes well… Tohno-san then." Colbert corrected himself as he addressed Shiki as a true person and not just some familiar. "I'm actually rather curious as per the runes that were inscribed on your hands Shiki." Colbert noted as he held out his hand. "May I have a look at them?"

"U-Uh… Sure…?" Shiki questioned the man as he looked down. Indeed there were two engraving, each on one hand. It was strange since it didn't look like they were tattoos… They were too gray in order to be any sort of ink and he didn't remember getting any while he was back in his normal life... so why would they be on his hands now?

"Ah… I see…" The wise mage noted to himself aloud as he looked at the runes with a keen eye.

He then started to nod to himself as he quickly dropped both of the boy's hands and strolled up to his personal library that he had stationed on a shelf in the class. As he sifted through the books that he had picked out, he opened up the pages to one of the rune markings that was on Shiki's hand.

"Come here if you will please…" Colbert motioned over as he pointed at the rune marking. "…I knew I saw this before but I just didn't know where when I first saw you." He explained as he read from the passages in the book.

"You see this marking? This marking represents a great warrior… no, probably one of the greatest warriors of the void mage: Gandalfr." He decreed as he read further into the book. "I'll have to read further into this to see what this actually means… I don't have the proper book collection here to fully understand the meaning of this rune." He said as he finished the passage in the book.

"Is there anything you can do about my eyes though?" Shiki asked as he felt the singe of pain start to come onto him from the constant use of his eyes.

"Hrm… I might be able to do something if I know what the problem is… but I would still say that you should go to the nurse to fix something like a headache." Colbert responded, bringing his hand to his chin and striking his personal thinking pose.

"It's got nothing to do with the headache… it's…" Shiki trailed off as he didn't want to show his curse to people he didn't know.

"Ah… I see." The old mage said as he smiled. "Come with me for a bit… I think I can help you." He motioned to the boy before looking at his pink-haired student. "You won't mind if I have a 1-on-1 talk with Tohno-san, would you Ms. Valliere-san?" Colbert asked, not overstepping his bounds.

"U-Uhm… No, please." Louise agreed to the conditions as she was taken aback by the request.

"Alright then… we'll just be in here." He said before knocking on a switch that was protruding from the floor which opened up a secret passage to another room. As they both entered into the room, the door closed behind them and Louise was left alone in the barren classroom.

Inside the secret compartment were thousands of books… far too many to count within a day and far too much to read in one lifetime if you were to keep reading each one consecutively. The cobwebs as well as the fine line of dust that enveloped the contents of the room made it apparent that this room hadn't been used in a long time. It was quiet though… it was dim enough so the lines of death didn't bother Shiki all that much. The pain was still there but at least it was dulled.

"So, what is it that you have such a hard time coming to terms with?" Colbert got straight to the point.

"I-I…" Shiki started, not knowing where to begin.

He never once thought of how to describe his ability to anyone. It wasn't like he was asked about it either… then again he did receive those glasses from his teacher way back when so as not to be burdened by the eyes but those were long gone now. If he wanted to get help, Colbert would need to know the truth.

"I…" Shiki stuttered as he tried to summarize it the best he could. "…I can see these lines." Shiki started as he tried to explain it further. "These lines that I see can't be seen by anyone else except me." He elaborated as he slowly moved his hand over one of the lines, hovering just above it.

"I see." Colbert responded with an understanding tone. "And what happens with these lines?" He asked the most basic of questions for this type of situation.

"Well… they represent their death." Shiki finally spat out as he found the words he wanted to place. "Or to be more precise… these lines represent the area where death is most prominent on them. If I trace them…" He trailed off as he shuddered once again at the thought of killing Arcueid in the past.

"…They die, don't they?" Colbert finished Shiki's sentence.

With a quick nod, Colbert went straight to his books. It was almost as if he knew exactly what the boy had the second he was able to contribute to the situation. Fingering through the bookshelf, Colbert came upon a leatherback book. It was rather unique from all the other ones since it was made of leather but something about this book just screamed: 'Don't fucking open me up.' Regardless, Colbert threw caution to the wind and immediately started sifting through the pages. Every single line that he read he delved closer and closer to the answer he was trying to find. He got so enveloped in trying to look for the answer through reading that he actually started to speak aloud.

"Dissection of the eyes of death can be seen here… Beholder's eyes petrify the subjects they set their eyes upon… no correlation with Medusa… Insanity is caused from overuse… No cure to disease or illness that takes place upon affected members… Mystic eye of death…" Colbert continued to speak in murmured tones as he read through it. Finally upon reading the entire book within a span of 3 minutes, Colbert looked back up at Shiki and gave a smile.

"Well… I know what it is that plagues you." Colbert said with a smile as he closed the book. "And what I can tell from this… is that it's a really unfortunate thing for you." He noted as he opened up yet another book. This one representing what seemed to be all sorts of restraint spells and sealing techniques.

"What can you do to help me then?" Shiki asked the skilled mage before him, hoping he would shed some light on the misfortune that ruled his life.

Colbert didn't look up immediately… in fact one would think that he didn't hear him at all since he continued to read for another two minutes before finally looking up at him. He had the look of a man who came to a realization that the world was round instead of flat.

"Well, I'm about to figure out how to seal those eyes of yours." Colbert said with a smile as he delved into reading some more.

He started to move through the book more rapidly as he started to flip through the pages. Spell circles and incantations lined the pages as he went from page to page and as he went deeper and deeper into the book, the spells seemed to get more intricate. The incantations and drawings that were once so simple and easy to understand, even for Shiki, were starting to get more complex with each page. The lines became more rapid, irregular and unrefined… or at least to his eyes they were unrefined. The instructions and directions with each one started to get larger and longer with each page until the entire page was filled with notes. It then became strange as Colbert himself started to get frustrated and before he completely threw the book away from him… he stopped mid-swing when he noticed a page unturned as it flew up with the wind.

Setting the book back down, he quickly scrolled through the remaining pages of the tome before opening it up to the encryption that he saw briefly. As it turned out, it was what he was looking for.

"Ahhh… Here we are." Colbert finally said with a sigh as he turned the book around so Shiki could read it. "This is the rune that is only your right hand." Colbert said with a smile as he pointed at the drawing in the book.

The drawing was of the exact same depiction. It was a runic circular design with a trigram inscribing the middle of it. The trigram had three circles, one at each point of the triangle. Inside of the trigram was yet another runic inscription that was also unreadable to Shiki but with a little help from Colbert, he was able to make out the inscribing of the character 'Death' in their language.

"What's it supposed to mean?" Shiki asked, wondering what type of plague he was stuck with.

"What it means… is that you're a figment and familiar of a Shinigami." Colbert said… "Or to be more exact, you're a familiar of a god of death." Colbert said with a stern look as he flipped the book around and started to read further into it. Each word that he started to read made his face look more and more aware that he didn't like what he was delving into. Something about this tome was sinister and it seemed that whatever it was that Colbert was reading it was the sole purpose of why this book was the epitome of evil.

"A-And what is that supposed to mean?" Shiki asked rhetorically as he readied himself for what he knew was to come.

Colbert didn't answer him at first… actually it became more aware to Shiki that Colbert himself didn't want to answer as it seemed hard for him to describe exactly what it was. It wasn't until he took of his glasses and gave a deep sigh that he finally looked at the boy in front of him. With a heavy heart, he sighed again before answering.

"I… I don't necessarily know." Colbert said with a wavering voice. "Or really, to be more precise, I don't know how to define exactly what it's supposed to mean." He corrected himself.

"The only thing I know is this…" He said before pointing his finger at him. "…you have the power of a god of death… and that power is going to change this world, whether it is for better or worse, it's going to change this world."