Chapter 15: How to drive off devils
On Sunday, January the 5th, I arrive back at school at lunch time. It feels good to be back at school again.I brought my clarinet, music notes and painting utensils with me. I won't be able to practice clarinet in front of anyone, but fortunately I have a room, for me alone – apart from Grabiner, but he doesn't visit the mail room aka post office aka conference room very often. It would be nice, if I could cast Silence around the room, in order to muffle the sound, but I would end up silencing myself as well, since I don't know yet how to spread the spell into a hollow circle. Well, the post office is located quite secluded at the end of a hall, so it should be okay.
My roommates are already waiting in our dorm room for me. "Hey, Elise!" "Welcome back", they greet me. "Oh hey, what's up? Did you enjoy your vacation?"
"It was fine.", answers Ellen. "It was great!", answers Virginia. "Look I brought back tons of stuff." I look towards Virginia's bed, which is buried under stacks of sweets. 'Diabetes!' is the first word I think of. "That should last me at least a week, right?" A week? More like a month! Isn't she afraid of getting fat or something?
I mean, maybe I'm not one to talk, since I love sweets as well and nibble too much candy as well, but still… Ellen sighs. Must have been difficult for her, to bear Virginia engulfing herself in cakes and cookies and so on during the holydays, since she is dissatisfied with her weight. "What?", Virginia asks, not understanding Ellen's dissatisfaction. "Nothing.", Ellen answers flustered. "Come on, what?", Virginia presses on. Just let her be!
How insensitive can you be, to not see Ellen's inner conflict?! "It's not fair." Yeah, I feel you Ellen. Though I don't have any problems with my weight. Virginia just looks at her uncomprehending. "You eat nothing but bags of junk and sugar and you're as skinny as a twig. I eat healthy food and look like… me. Why?", Ellen complains. "The same reason my hair is red and yours that yellow colour. I'm just born that way." Ellen blows a strand of her yellow hair out of her face. "I could dye it."
What kind of argument is that? "It would grow back again. There is nothing wrong with you. You don't have to eat salad all the time."
"But I like salad." Ellen doesn't make much sense today. If she likes to eat salad, when there is the problem? "Then don't worry about it!"
We continue to catch up a bit, while I pack my new stuff away. Ellen reminds us, that there will be a test at the end of the week, and I revise my spells a bit. For classes, I decide to focus on black magic.
On Monday I encounter Damien after my last class. He greets me. Ugh, no way to avoid him, unless I act unreasonably impolitely. "Hi, Damien."
"It's good to see you. I'm glad you came back." "Of course I came back." I mean, I can learn magic here, duh. "Not everyone does." Ok, that's true. It seems like 3 wild seeds have dropped out, 1 after the Thanksgiving holydays and 2 after the Christmas holydays. There are some rumours going around regarding the reasons,
but they're extremely exaggerated. One is about one of them trying to spy for the FBI. Like, what the heck? How and why would he contact the FBI?
They wouldn't believe him anyways! I wasn't close to those wild seeds, so I'm not that much affected by the news.
"Did you have a nice holyday?", Damien asks me. "Yup.", I answer. "Mine was pretty quiet with almost everyone gone." I didn't ask you about your holydays?
Just leave me alone, dangerous meanie! "Oh?", I ask with disinterest. "No it's alright. Christmas doesn't mean the same thing to me as it does to you. It's your holyday, your time with your family. You should enjoy it." Look, I don't know how I could act any colder towards you, without being impolite! I reached my limit!
I didn't even ask you about your holydays. Besides, are you trying to make me feel bad for enjoying the time with my family? I'm sorry for not being as unlucky as you! I just continue to stare at him quietly. With eyes that clearly say: what the f**** do you want from me?
"Ah family. I'd rather not talk about it." Then DON'T! "Oh, I have something to show you. I made you a present. It's nothing much, but I wanted to give you something you could keep. Hold out your hands." Ugh, I don't want it. "Ah, I have nothing for you…", I try to object timidly. "Hold out your hands.", Damien repeats, still smiling, but in a scary way. Argh, somehow I can't say no. I hesitatingly hold out my hands and he places his stone rose in them. I'm not a big fan of roses…
"Ugh, thanks… It's pretty." That much is true, it's really well made. "Advanced black magic. By the time you're a senior you'll be able to sculpt details even smaller."
He keeps looking at me, smiling. I start to fidget a bit. Does he want anything more? I already told him, I don't have anything for him, right?
"Uh, as I said, I have nothing to give to you. …sorry." Somehow, I feel really intimidated by him. "You already did. You're here.", he answers with a seductive smile.
A shiver runs down my spine. "Anyway, I should go. I'll see you later." Please don't! Scary! You're too scary!
On Wednesday Donald knocks on our door to invite us to bingo. I don't like games of chance, especially since I have usually bad luck with them, so I decline politely. The rest of the week proceeds without any problems and I manage to avoid Damien. Good thing, that he's a senior…
On Friday is the next exam. I touch the door handle and get teleported into the dungeon. This was the dungeon with the Hodag, right?
I cast an Awareness and there are indeed living beings in this dungeon. The dungeon is lighted like the last. It is also formed like a labyrinth, though not as big as the last. I use the Inscription for orientation, while I sneak forwards. I tried using the method of following the scent of Grabiner, but I couldn't find his trace this time. Soon I reach a deadlock. I decide to use it as an enclosure for the Hodags and imprint this place in my mind. I then go a bit back in the passage and create a barrier using black magic, using the floor on the side of the deadlock. I then return to the junction and continue in a new direction. Soon I reach a junction with a path towards a deadlock and a path with a Hodag. I hide against the wall from the path where I come from and take a deep breath. I risk another glance at the Hodag.
The Hodag is around twice as tall as I am, with green fur, a lot of horns and teeth as long as my lower arm.
Wtf?! Isn't that monster way too dangerous for a freshman?
The Hodags forefeet are raised into the air, showcasing its long and sharp claws, and it takes a step into my direction. Its tail, which swirls around nervously, hits the wall and it loses its balance due to this, crashing with his head horn right into the wall. It yelps, and tries to scratch the wall.
Ok, I take back that comment about it being too dangerous for freshmen.
I supress a giggle and concentrate on teleporting it into the enclosure I made for it. After teleporting two more Hodags into the enclosure, I finally find the exit, completely tired out. Potsdam already awaits me, to congratulate me and give me ten merits, five for succeeding and five for not using any violence.
With this I already have 40 merits. Yei .
At dinner I talk with Ellen and Virginia about the exam. Ellen used a method similar to mine, while Virginia went right against the Hodag, as soon as she noticed it.
She bragged to us, about how she defeated it with her red magic. To be honest, after seeing the embarrassing show of the first Hodag I met, I kinda feel pity for it. After I settled my treasurer duties on Saturday, I play my clarinet in the conference room. I forgot my music stand, so I use the desk and some accounting books as surrogate. As music notes, I have pieces from various musicals from Andrew Lloyd Weber, such as 'Memories' from Cats and 'Don't cry for me Argentina' from Evita. Apart from that, I also have notes from movie music, such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'The Godfather'.
Some of the pieces from the notes my parents gifted me, require too much skill for me to even try playing it, nevermind playing it well. After playing for about one and a half hour, I dismantle my clarinet, clean it and stuff it back into the case. Time for breakfast, I'm starving! But eating right before playing a wind instrument is a mistake, only greenhorns would do.
At the cafeteria I meet Virginia. Looks like she slept even longer than usual today. We eat together and chat a bit about our sports club and what games we want to play. After breakfast I go to the gym with Virginia and we play around a bit. After working up some sweat, we head to lunch together. The afternoon and evening I spent playing some more clarinet and creating another ceiling illusion. The illusion of my face, with which I'm quite familiar and which I practiced creating a lot for my first duel practice, is easier to do than generating some random image of something I just dreamed up. The greater and detailed the image I want to create, the more difficult is casting the illusion, among other reasons due to the fact, that I have to picture the illusion in my head.
On Sunday I head later than usual to breakfast. Virginia was still sleeping though. As I sit down at a window seat again, I hear someone calling my name.
"Oh, Elise. Good morning." I turn around to Damien, who's standing with a tablet behind me. "Good morning.", I greet him back politely. He smiles at me and decides to sit down on front of me. I suppress a sigh. I turn to my omelettes and quietly start eating. If I ignore him, he will go away, right? Damien also starts eating his bread rolls garnished with pepperoni, so for now I'm safe? "So, do you already have plans for today?", Damien casually asks me, as I was just beginning to relax.
I nearly choke, but manage to calm myself. I just feel a bit insecure, since this situation is not a game event. "I usually decide what to do spontaneously."
Although I do wish to be left alone from Damien, I don't want to anger him too much, since he IS dangerous after all. Besides, I do pity him a little bit, since he is incapable of building honest relationships with people. Sure he is mean, and shouldn't be underestimated, but I don't think, that it is simply his nature to be 'evil',
I think his circumstances turned him into such a self-centred person.
But as I mentioned, I won't be able to 'save' him, and I don't want to forfeit my life, magic or freedom for trying to do so. "Well, do you want to spend some time with me then?" I look up from my food, surprised at his question. Wasn't he supposed to avoid me more at the academy, since my roommates don't approve of him?
This situation is intriguing, for now I decide to go with the flow. "Well, what do you usually do in your free time?", I ask, with honest curiosity.
His smile seems to deepen due to my new-found interest in him. "Apart from dating, of course", I add hastily, in order to push him away a bit.
I don't wish to become closer to him, after all. He just chuckles at my poor attempt to play the ice-queen.
He leans closer to me and whispers in my ear, "Care to find out?" I want to, but that would be stupid, right? I'm confident, that I won't fall for him, because players are not my type (I prefer the quiet and cool ones, who are unexpectedly caring), but that doesn't mean I'm safe from him, does it? I'm curious though…
"So will you tell me?", I ask him, without avoiding his look. I'm a horse after all, I shouldn't be easily intimidated. "No… But I'll show you."
"I wanted to know, what you do in your spare time, apart from dating.", I dryly comment, emphasizing the word 'apart'. Does he crazily laugh to himself in some mouldy cave, while making plans to subdue the whole world? Does he serve rich noble boys as a butler, to help them avenging their parents in exchange for their soul? Probably not, but I can't imagine him having any normal hobbies, besides seducing people and playing with their hearts.
To those who object the definition of 'seducing people and playing with their hearts' as 'normal hobby', there are too many people, who at least try to spend their free time doing this, so it may as well be considered a normal hobby.
Damien just chuckles at my remark. "You want to know, what I do, when I'm alone?" "Yes, how do you entertain yourself, if there is no naïve person around, with whose heart you could play around? No one to seduce? No one, to pretend in front of?", I ask him honestly, without malice in my voice. He hasn't played with my heart, so I can stay calm towards him. I decided to drop this farce. Why should I wait for the next game event to leave Damien's route? Why haven't I tried this sooner? Avoiding the game-fate-thingy feels better anyways. Damien is totally perplexed by my comment. He just stares at me. I patiently wait for him to compose himself.
He will probably shout angrily at me and leave, won't he? Since he has quite the reputation, it shouldn't damage my image too much, and even if it does, my friends would definitely choose my side. Virginia will probably even celebrate me finally breaking contact with Damien. Damien clears his throat.
"I don't know what kind of lies they told you, but…" "Oh, save it.", I interrupt him. "I don't know why you became the person you are, and it's not my business anyways, but what do you even try to achieve with pushing everyone away? How will you spend your time, when you're finally all alone, after attaining everything you wished for?" Damien just looks at me, still shocked. "What…", he begins, but simply stops. I sigh.
"Well, I already know, that you wouldn't tell me anything, so let's simply stop here." Damien grits his teeth. "You damn witch. You just played with me, didn't you? You witches are all the same!", he yells at me while standing up, finally having recovered from his shock. I stay calm. My heart is actually hurting a bit at seeing him so full of wrath. He looks like an injured animal, which has been driven to the edge. "Can you promise me, that you never intended to do something awful to me, like breaking my heart?", I ask him softly while meeting his infuriated glare. A hint of vulnerability seems to be hidden deep in his eyes. I smile sadly. I lost my appetite, so I stand up as well and take my tablet with my half-eaten omelette. Damien still stands there, looking at me thunderstruck. "Good day, Damien.", I bid him goodbye, my voice gentler than intended.
When I meet Virginia in the gym later, she already heard about our argument and congratulates me, for finally 'driving the devil away', but I choose not to comment the incident with Damien any further.