Few things could be as annoying as the sound of a phone's alarm-clock in the early morning.
Duncan knew that, was not for that alarm, he would probably sleep until well in the late morning, and that was something he just couldn't do on a weekday.
But still, as the sound of the alarm woke him up from his dream, he did not immediately reach for his phone to turn it off. Instead, he stayed on his bed, on the same position he slept in last night, and only stared at the ceiling.
He kept staring, as he remembered what happened.
He remembered what he had witnessed just a few nights ago, on that Friday, on that bowling alley.
Yuki was a mage.
The girl he was totally crazy about was a mage, and Duncan never even knew.
This thought kept hammering on his head during the entire weekend. It got him so fixated on it that he barely was able to think about anything else.
He didn't even try to study, as he was still thinking about it.
However, more than that, Duncan could not get over how worried he was with Yuki.
With how she rushed out of that place. Of the expression on her eyes as she looked at him for a moment before dashing off without looking back, leaving behind only those few papers, which Duncan picked up and brought back home with him.
He should have run after her.
He should have run after her to give her back the papers she left behind. Heck, that was only an excuse! He wanted to run after her to see if she was doing okay! To see if she needed him!
But instead, he only stood right where he was like a complete idiot.
And then, after she left, Duncan now had no way of reaching her. He could not call her because she didn't even own a phone, and he couldn't go to her house to check on her because he didn't know where she lived! He had to spend the entire weekend thinking about her and thinking if she was okay or if she was in trouble after what happened.
She certainly seemed troubled when she dashed out of there with her head down and tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
Duncan sighed, the sound of the alarm was just getting too annoying now, and he finally decided that it was time to turn it off. As he got up from his bed, however, things got worse.
For a moment, he had a double vision. However, he was not seeing only two of the nightstand and everything in it. Instead, he was now seeing the nightstand... and the top of his own head.
His eyepatch.
Covering both his eyes, Duncan felt on the nightstand by the side of his bed until he managed to grab his eyepatch. He then made sure to position it over one of his eyes while opening the other one. Duncan let out a sigh of relief as he opened his right eye and didn't saw anything he was not supposed to be seeing. He then ventured to look across his room, which was on the way it usually was on that time of the morning: controlled chaos.
What, thought that Duncan would be a neat freak? Nah, he was pretty much like every other seventeen-years-old guy on that category. He was not keen on cleaning his room unless told to do so, although he knew that, after he left his home to go to college, he would be have no choice but to clean the dorm, once he already heard from his older cousin that trying to play "dirty room chicken" with your roommate would eventually end poorly for everyone involved.
Then, Duncan looked to his writing desk, right on the corner of his room. This was the one place that he often used to study and do his homework, or to read a book, when he felt like it. However, this weekend, he used it for another purpose.
The papers were still in there, right where Duncan had left them on the previous night before walking to his bed and falling in it before going to sleep only on his boxers.
Duncan had spent good part of the weekend studying those papers, as they seemed to be important.
Duncan, however, had no idea what they meant, as he was no mage, and so he had no way of knowing what they could even be. However, he could manage to understand enough to know that they seemed to be part of something magic.
The first of the papers was a depiction of what Duncan could only assume was a magic circle. The kind that mages were said to use as part of their rituals, as they often drew them with chalk, with blood, or even with some other kind of material they prepared to conduct magical energy for some high-level magecraft, if the information he found on the internet was in any way reliable.
The second paper described what seemed to be some short of incantation. This paper contained Japanese ideograms on one side and lines in English on the other. It didn't take a genius to know that the lines in Japanese on the right of the page he been translated to English on the left. It certainly seemed to be an incantation for a ritual, from what Duncan read from the lines in English, with the way it spoke of four directions, and from the "archduke of pacts" and "guardian of balance". He read it so many times that he memorized the whole thing. He was good at memorizing texts, after all.
The last piece of paper was probably the most enigmatic of all. This one didn't depict a circle or something that could be a magic formula. Neither it contained another strange incantation that could be part of a strange ritual. Instead, this last paper contained a bunch of drawings of seven strange figures.
The first one wore a full set of medieval armor, complete with a helmet with a feather coming out of it and was wielding a sword. The second one was searing a long robe and had a bow and arrow in hands. The third one was wearing clothes that, on a surface look, seemed to be lighter, and was carrying a long spear in both hands. The fourth figure was wearing a cape, and was holding something on their hands that, as Duncan took way too long to realize, were a pair of reins, like the ones used to ride horses. The fifth figure was wearing a mantle and carrying a scepter in one hand and an open book into another. The six was nearly entirely black and was wearing a skull mask and carrying a dagger. Finally, the seventh and final figure was probably the biggest of them all, and it depicted a very muscular creature with the horned head of some kind of monster and carrying an axe so big that no normal person would be able to even lift it.
It was a very detailed drawing of those seven figures on the paper, and it looked like the kind of thing that a person would dedicate a lot of time into making. Also, there was the fact that this last paper seemed a lot older than the other two, as it was yellowed and looked to be worm down by time. It was mostly made with ink, including the Japanese kanji on top. Right beneath those kanji, was a phrase written in what seemed red ballpoint pen:
Seven to fill a cup.
What does that even mean?
"Duncan!" The voice suddenly broken the young man off his reminiscing, as he looked away from the papers and to the door of his room, where the voice came from.
"You up, sweetie? If you are, then you better start ready soon! Remember you need to walk to the other stop because the bus is no longer stopping on the one nearby?"
"Yeah, I'm up Mom!" Duncan said, "I'll go get ready!"
And Duncan did as he said. He showered and brushed his teeth, and then he got ready for school with his favorite set of clothes for every Monday, and then he prepared his backpack.
He placed the three pieces of paper in there. He would be giving them back to Yuki as soon as he saw her in school. And he would ask her if she was alright and if he could do anything to help her.
Yeah, that was a plan.
Return her papers for her and see if she needed his help with anything.
With that, Duncan was soon going down to the floor level of the house, where his parents were surely already waiting for him.
Duncan's family was normal, by all accounts of the word. A father who was drinking some coffee as he read the newspaper, a mother with an apron cooking food for her family, and the son who just arrived to join them for breakfast before coming to school. Just your average stereotypical suburban family, if Duncan himself ever saw one.
Kind of like in those butter commercials on television.
"Well, looks like our boy has decided to join us for breakfast." Said Duncan's father, as he lowered his newspaper to look at his son. He had strong features, with a well-defined jawline and sharp lines on his face. He did look European, although with slightly reddish hair, result of his Irish (or was it Scottish?) heritage. "And he is not looking like a zombie! That's a first for a Monday!"
"Well, that's good. Zombies don't tend to go well in school." Duncan's mother said as she went to greet her son on the table and to serve him toast with starry eggs on top. She had much softer features than her husband, and a slightly darker skin. If Duncan's dad looked Scottish, then his mother certainly looked Native American. With long dark hair tied in a ponytail and eyes of the same shade of hazelnut as her son's only visible eye, as the other one was hidden under the eyepatch.
The rest of the morning went as it did every school day. A conversation between the Callaghan family in the morning. Dawson Callaghan talked to his loving wife Malia Callaghan, and their son Duncan. All of them having something to say, and one of them often saying something that made at least one of the other two laugh.
They could not be that much special of a family. They were not wealthy or influent, but they were happy, and that was worth a lot.
And they were having a special call to join them for breakfast, as there was a call on his father's tablet.
"Hey, if is isn't Little Dun!" Said the man on the screen of the tablet as it was turned to the teenager on the table. "Still looking like a candidate for a pirate as well!"
"Uncle Dash, please!" Duncan said, "I told you I am too old to be called 'Little Dun'!"
"Hey, wait a minute, he is not in his Monday-zombie mode." Dash, Duncan's uncle on his father's side, said as he looked at the boy through the screen. "Are you really Duncan? What extra classes you had when you were eight and why you dropped them?"
Duncan could only roll his eyes. Why was everyone so keen on how he was acting today? I mean, it was not like anything was different from every other Monday.
Well, save for the fact that he found out the love of his life was a mage, and that she might be in trouble...
Luckily for him, the conversation soon moved to other topics, as his uncle had great news to share with the rest of the Callaghans.
"Oh, you are coming back to the city?" Malia asked, and Dash confirmed by nodding.
"Yup, for a testing for the military." The man said, "We got this new secret project that we are sponsoring, and we are testing it in one of the bases on the outskirts of the city. We want to see what this weapon can actually do."
"A weapon?" Dawson asked, and he had a look on his face as he asked that. Duncan knew, just as the rest of the family, that his father didn't really liked weapons. He had a very bad opinion on them.
"Oh, come on, bro." Dash said to his brother as he held the tablet on his hands. "Look, I know you have a real bad opinion on weapons, but we need them to defend ourselves."
"Yes, I know that." Dawson said, "But still, I think that the government would do better to invest more money on education and healthcare than making new weapons."
Yup, that was exactly the kind of thing that his father would say. Duncan still knew his father very well. He always thought bad of guns, since his mother, Duncan's grandmother, died in a gang shootout. He didn't allowed guns anywhere near his house and made it clear to Duncan he should never even touch one.
He definitely would not have made it into the military, like his brother did.
"Well, this new weapon will serve to save a lot of people, if it is as good as the guy who is trying to sell it to us says it is." Dash said, "According to him, it would revolutionize warfare in a way that we never imagined before. Of course, we cannot only take his word, so we will be running a test on it tonight. It will be a simulation of a warfare, see how this machine does against an armed battalion."
"So, it is from a guy who makes weapons?" Dawson asked, as he had a bad opinion about people who did and sold guns for profit, nearly as much as from the guns themselves. He always thought that people like that usually only cared about making a profit and didn't gave a hoot about who got hurt by their weapons.
"What kind of weapon it is?" Duncan asked, trying to get past the moment. "You said you want to see how it does against an armed battalion, does it mean it some kind of vehicle, or some kind of remote-controlled thing?"
"Actually, it is like an autonomous battle armor." Dash said, answering his nephew's question. "That's right, it is a fighting robot! Straight out of a sci-fi movie. The thing is honestly a little scary. I heard the weapon's owner saying that it is called 'Berserker'. Quite the flashy name, no?"
It was obvious that the talk about this weapon was making Dawson more and more uncomfortable, so everyone in the family had the good idea of changing the subject before they went even further and soured his mood.
"Anyways, I'll be there with the General to see the test of the weapon myself, and then I'll be free tomorrow. I'll try to go in there and have a meeting with my family. Let's see if we can have a family dinner together, all of us." Dash suggested, and all the family welcomed that idea nicely. It had been a while since they all had seen Dash, after all, and they would very much like to have his company for a dinner. Especially if he would be the one cooking.
With that agreement, the family all bid Dash farewell, before they both went back to their breakfast. Duncan, on his end, was excited at the prospect of seeing his uncle again after so long.
His uncle Dash was the funniest guy he knew, and he could make some of the best food Duncan ever tasted. Duncan certainly liked being around him. Truth to be told, Duncan liked both sides of his family, both his father's and his mother's.
His grandfather, his mother's father, could tell some of the best stories, all of them stories of their ancestors, the people who originally lived on that very same area of America before the first colonizer ever arrived. All of them, according to the old shaman, as true as any of the things written in the history books Duncan studied at school.
And he seemed very keen on repeating them to Duncan every time that they met, as if he wanted his grandson to memorize every single one of them. Not that Duncan minded, after all, those stories he told were so good that they never got old.
However, even as he thought of his family, Duncan still had Yuki on his mind. He could not stop thinking about her, as he was far too worried about her.
He actually wanted to go to school quickly so he could finally meet her and make sure she was okay.
He was getting up as soon as he was done with breakfast and he was saying bye to his family as he wanted to get on the bus and arrive at school. However, his father stopped him.
"Hold on, speedy boy." Dawson said, "Before you go, I'd like you give you something."
Duncan looked as his father said to him, and he pulled something wrapped in a cloth, and he then unfurled the cloth to reveal something he had been wanting to give to his son for a while now.
"Wow... dad. This is... really cool!" Duncan said, as he took the object on his hand. It seemed to be old. Like, really old. It was rusted, but only slightly, and the symbols across it were still clearly visible. This old bracelet seemed like it should be in a museum, by the looks of it. Duncan for a moment wondered what this bracelet was and why his father was giving him this.
"It is a family heirloom." His father said to him, "I should have waited until your eighteenth birthday, but I decided that now was as good a time as any to give it to you."
"This..." his father said, showing him the wristband. "Has been in our family since our ancestors still lived in the Great Island."
Duncan heard as his father talked. His father had this thing where he often referred to Britain as "Great Island", Duncan heard that his grandfather on his father's side used to do the very same thing, and that both his father and uncle learned to do it as well.
"It was one of the few possessions my great-grandfather brought with himself as he came to America after a new life." Dawson continued, "He passed to my grandfather once he turned eighteen. Then he passed to my father, who passed to me. And now..." He then took Duncan's hand, and he placed the wristband on Duncan's wrist, and it emitted a click as it closed around his wrist. "I am giving it to you."
Duncan looked at it, and then he thanked his dad. The thing did look pretty neat.
"It looks great on you, darling." Malia said to her son. "And it even matches the necklace my father gave you! You are still with it, aren't you?"
Duncan reached inside his shirt, pulling out the pendant he had around his neck, with an effigy on the form of a cougar's head.
"Never leave home without it." Duncan said to her, "Gramps told me to carry it with me everywhere and it would protect me from evil, right?"
"And now you have the bracelet to help you as well." Dawton said, "According to my grandfather, this thing was supposed to bring good luck to whoever wears it."
"So, you will be twice as lucky from now on." Malia said to her son, and Duncan answer to this was:
"Hope both of them work then. I could definitely use some luck with the exams coming up, especially for math. Okay, I gotta go now."
"And be careful, Duncan!" His father said, "I saw on the news that some mage attacked a bunch of kids your age in a bowling alley last Friday!"
Duncan said nothing to that, and only rushed out of the house and in direction to the nearest working bus stop.
Duncan never came to tell his parents about what happened. He now thought he did well, because he didn't need his parents to know that he had been into said bowling alley, and that the said mage who attacked he kids was only acting on his defense.
As Duncan rode the bus to school, he could hear the place buzzing with conversation, and the theme was the same everywhere: the fact that Yuki Hayashi, of their school, was a mage.
Well, no surprise, because he heard from his own father that it was on the news. And, if it was on the news, it means that the internet had already heard about it long ago. Not to mention that some of the most popular kids in school heard about it, and so, it was no surprise that it would spread all over school in a flash.
Nothing was faster than gossip, after all.
And it seemed that no one had anything good to say about her.
Duncan didn't liked hearing what everyone was saying about Yuki. He didn't like it one bit.
As Duncan arrived in the school, he soon found Yuki across the people. She was carrying her backpack on her back and her books against her chest, and she was looking down.
"Yuki!" Duncan called her. "Hey! Yuki!"
Just as she turned her head...
"It's her!" said someone right by Duncan's side. "It is the witch!"
And that was what it took for everyone to start jeering at Yuki, calling her names and telling her to "go home", and to "do some decent magic and disappear". Yuki looked down, and she then ran off as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't turn around anymore, not even when Duncan called her name again, trying to chase after her, but she was far too fast for him.
All that was left for Duncan was to watch from a distance as she vanished behind a corner.
Soon after, Mike came to meet him, and he was soon talking to Duncan, as they were going together for their first period.
After this, they both separated, and all that was left for Duncan was to keep thinking back on what happened, and on the shocked, and sad, expression on Yuki's face as everyone started jeering at him.
It was around fourth period, when Duncan and Mike once more had the same class together, that his friend gave him an update on what was happening.
"They are not giving her a break." Mike said to his friend. "They keep pulling her hair, calling her a witch, they keep throwing paper balls at her, all the basic bullying stuff. And it is not only that! They also destroyed her desk and spray-painted things on her locker! And you know that girl who is super religious and who has friends who are too? They tried to make some kind of exorcism on her! Right in the middle of class!"
"And the teacher let them?" Duncan said, not being able to believe it.
"The teachers are not doing anything to help her!" Mike said back, "Yuki even tried to talk to one of them, but he completely gave her the cold shoulder! And it was a teacher who used to like her! Can you believe it! She used to be super popular, and now it seems that everyone wants to chase her out of the school! Can you believe how much things can change on a single weekend?"
Duncan could not. He could not believe how people could change with her so much.
It made him angry.
Soon, it came time for lunch, and everyone was on the messing hall to get their food. Duncan was in there as well, and he was sitting on his preferred place right by Mike's side, as they both ate the food.
Suddenly, the conversation on the hall came to an abrupt stop. The whole place went as quiet as a mausoleum suddenly, and it didn't take long for Duncan to find out why.
Yuki had just walked into the messing hall, and now everyone was looking her way, and most of them were either scared or hostile looks.
She stopped by a table, but it seemed that she changed her mind about sitting there after the looks the other girls on the table gave her. She just lowered her head and continued to walk
Duncan saw it all happen, and he was about to call her, when suddenly, something flew and hit her in the back.
It was a juice box.
This was all it took, and soon a lot of people were throwing food at her. Yuki fell to his knees, letting the trail she was carrying fall to the ground and spill her food. She covered her head with her arms as the others threw food at her.
"Hey!" Duncan said, "Hey, stop! Cut that out!"
That was when a few people walked to her. It was some guys, and one of them dumped a can of soda right on Yuki, who was shrinking into a ball.
"Oh, look! She is not melting!" The guy said, a huge smirk on his face. "Maybe soda does not work! I think we should try something else! Hey, someone bring me some juice and some water! Let's keep pouring things on that witch until she starts melting! Sounds like plan, don't you thi-"
The guy was cut as a fist connected with his jaw, sending him into the ground with a broken lip.
He looked over, to see Duncan staring at him with hate on his eyes.
"What's your deal, man!?" The guy demanded, and Duncan's answer was to grab him by the collar of his shirt and then force him onto his feet, before punching him hard into the face again, this time nearly breaking his nose as the guy went to the ground again, this time holding his bleeding face.
Immediately, his friends tried acting on his defense. They charged at Duncan, but the young man handed them their own butts.
At that moment, Duncan was glad that his Uncle Dash gave him some military-style combat training, all for personal defense, of course.
Soon, the guys were all on the ground, all of them bruised and groaning in pain.
"Do you like that, idiots!?" Duncan said to them. "What made you think it was a good idea to come and dump soda on a girls head!? How old are you!? Seven!?"
"Hey, calm down, man!" The guy who dumped the soda said. "We didn't mean anything by it! We were just following orders!"
"Orders!?" Duncan demanded. "Orders from who?"
Scared of the guy who just beat him towering over him, the other young man pointed at the direction of a person standing as she watched it all unfold.
"You..." Duncan said as he looked at Stephanie, who looked at him before making her way to him.
"Callaghan." Stephanie said, speaking to him as if he was a peasant. That only served to make Duncan all the angrier with her. He was soon demanding to know what she thought she was doing.
"Well, just thought that someone should make it clear to this mage that she is not welcome into our school." Stephanie said, very calmly and casually, as if she didn't think she was doing anything wrong.
Duncan only glared at her.
"Leave Yuki alone." Duncan growled at her, and she looked at him.
"So, she already got you under her sway, didn't she?" Stephanie asked, and then she looked at Yuki.
"This is why this witch should not be here!" Stephanie said out loud for the whole messing hall to hear. "Those mages think they can do as they want and get away with anything! Of course she would put spells on the guys to fawn over her and to do as she wants! She probably has been doing it for years! Who knows what else she had been doing since she arrived here?"
She then walked closer Yuki, who was still down.
"Freaks like you should just vanish." Stephanie said, her voice dripping with contempt.
Duncan had been taught never to raise his hand to a woman. However, on that moment, he really felt like giving Stephanie a punch.
Yuki beat him to it, though. With a single movement, the Japanese girl went to his feet and then swung her fist. It collided with Stephanie's face with a "BANG", hitting her so hard she was thrown back nearly five feet, and now she was on the ground, squirming in pain as she held her face, squealing about her nose being broken.
Next, Yuki rushed out of the messing hall. Everyone in there was shocked, but Duncan rushed after her, calling her by her name.
He followed her across the hallways, and he eventually found her crouched in a corner, sobbing.
"Yuki?" Duncan said, approaching her. She looked up at him, and Duncan could see the tears running down her face. They locked eyes for a moment, and then he r expression became fierce.
"What do you want?" She demanded, looking at the man. Duncan was a bit taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness that she showed, but he recovered.
"I... I want to see if you are okay." Duncan said to her approaching. She then turned her head away.
"I am fine. Leave me alone."
Yeah, Duncan was not convinced by that "I am fine". He approached her, asking if she needed his help with anything. She once more tried blowing him off and telling him to go somewhere else and leave her. Saying that she was a mage, and that she could handle anything that came her way, and that she didn't need him.
That could have sounded convincing in most other situations, but not when she still had those fresh tear tracks down her cheeks.
However, Duncan continued to tell him to leave, to what Duncan only stayed, and continued to ask her if there was anything he could do to help her. Overtime, Yuki eventually conceded to accept his help.
"I... need to change my clothes." She said, looking down and avoiding looking at Duncan. Well, understandable, considering her clothes were dirty with food and soaked with soda.
Duncan followed her to the girl's changing rooms. It was empty due to the time of day, and this meant Yuki had the privacy she needed to wash her hair and change her clothes. Especially because Duncan offered to stand outside and keep watch to make sure no one would come to bother her.
Yuki gave him a "thank you" as she walked inside to change while Duncan stayed on the door.
He was glad he did, for he was able to intercept a group of girls being led by Stephanie. Apparently, she wanted to get back at Yuki for punching her, and they came back with two buckets of paint, a cellphone that looked ready to record and, the most terrifying of all, a switch-knife and a lighter.
Duncan had to go out of his way to scare them off. Before leaving, Stephanie gave Duncan a dirty glare that gave the young man the distinct impression that he would no longer be invited to places by the popular crowd.
Soon, Yuki was coming out of the dressing rooms, as she had removed her dirty and wet clothes and was now wearing a new set. She was still looking down, and Duncan did try to comfort her. However, Yuki shied away from his touch, and she then walked off, saying she was late for her next class.
Duncan could only look at her from a distance.
The rest of the day proceeded without incidents, and Duncan was still having trouble to focus on his classes. Yuki was on his mind all day now, and the young man could not help but want to do something about this. To do something to help her.
Yeah, he glared at some guys who talked bad of her near him, and that was enough to shut them up. However, they did now whisper and mentioned Duncan as "that guy the witch hypnotized".
And they were not the only ones, as Duncan could notice how other people were looking his way. Also, the fact that Mike, who always had an ear to what other people were saying, came to him informing that people were saying that he was under Yuki's control because of some spell confirmed that those new rumors were going around.
Duncan had the inkling that Stephanie had something to do with it.
By the time the final bell rung, Duncan gathered his things and he was ready to head back home. However, on his way out, while everyone gave him looks and whispered, Duncan came across a Yuki's face once more.
And she was digging through the trash.
Duncan immediately approached her and asked her if she was okay. Yuki flinched as he approached her. She looked at him as he looked back at her for a long time, seeming that she was ready to react in case he attacked her.
Eventually, she calmed down and said that they stole her bag from her and tossed her things in the garbage, before going back to digging through it for her stuff.
Duncan did the only thing he could think of doing on a moment like that: helped her.
They recovered the books she had on her bag. As well as the pieces of paper she had with her that didn't look like anything that she would use in school. Like those pieces of paper strips with something in Japanese written in them, most of which were tore apart and crumpled on purpose.
They also recovered what seemed to be two matryoshka dolls from the trash, which Yuki confirmed were something she carried on her bag "just in case". Duncan didn't ask what she meant by that.
Finally, they recovered the bag itself. However, that last one was a lost cause, as it had been destroyed, tore apart and soaked into some sticky liquid that could be soda, but could also be something worse...
No way Yuki could still use it.
And there were just too many books and papers for her to carry it back home all by herself. Yuki never took the bus. Now she literally could not, once that would mean sharing a transportation with a lot of people who disliked her.
"I'll help." Duncan said to her, surprising the Japanese girl. "I'll carry your stuff to your home. I don't care if it's far, I'm glad to help."
Yuki looked at him with surprise. Duncan, however, only took her books and papers on his arms, and he was asking her to lead the way.
"Dun?" Mike asked, and Duncan told him he would be helping Yuki get to her house, and that he would catch up with him later.
Mike had a surprised expression, as surprised as Yuki's, as his best friend as he walked away with the girl whom he still liked after finding out she was a mage.
Then, the surprise turned into a smirk.
"Way to go, Duncan..."
They were all unaware that there was a person, among the many looking at the school's mage and her "new lapdog" go their way. And this person, unlike the others, cared enough to give up entering the bus and follow them...
The travel to Yuki's house was silent. And long.
Man, Duncan had no idea that Yuki lived so far away from the school. I mean, everyone knew that she came to school walking, which was why everyone assumed that she lived nearby, although no one knew exactly where she lived.
However, they have been walking for over two hours since they left the school, and they have not arrived yet!
Did Yuki walk this far from her home to her school? Man, she was in good shape!
Duncan himself was starting to sweat under the sun as he carried those books and papers on his arms, and the pale girl walking by his side didn't looked like she even started to break a single drop of sweat.
However, she had her head low, and she seemed to be uncomfortable. Duncan was about to ask her if she was okay, when she stopped and then said, out of nowhere:
"This is far enough. Thank you for your help, I can carry on from here."
"What?" Duncan asked, looking at her in surprise.
"I don't need your help anymore." Yuki said, rather drily. "You can just give my things and go your way."
Duncan looked around, and he found himself in a barren field. He followed Yuki all the way across and out of town. He was not sure where they were, but he knew for sure they passed by a trainline on their way there. He didn't saw any house yet.
"Is your house close?" Duncan asked.
"There still a stretch more before we arrive."
"Well, in that case, I guess I should continue with you until we arrive at your home."
"There is no need." Yuki said to him. "Just give me my things and leave!"
"Why?"
"Because I am telling you to!" Yuki snapped at him. "Because I'm not making the mistake of letting you know where my home is so you can come during the night and set it on fire while I sleep!"
"Wha!?" Was all that Duncan, shocked, could say, as he stared at Yuki for a few more moments before finding his voice again.
"I-I would never do that!"
"Why not!? You know I am a mage now!"
"That doesn't mean I would do it!" Duncan said, "Why would I ever do it!?"
"Because I am a mage, and that alone is enough reason for you to want to hurt me!" Yuki said to him, "Like everyone else at school! It can be because you are actually afraid of me, or because you are envious of my abilities, or because my existence is a sin and a heresy, but in the end, it is all the same! I am different from you, so you hate me, like everyone else!"
"No, I don't!" Duncan said, "Yuki, I don't hate you! I never have!"
She looked at him for a few moments, their eyes locking as Duncan could see the moistness forming on her eyes.
"Why..." Yuki said, looking at him. "Why are you doing this? We don't even know each other... why are you being so kind to me?"
Duncan looked at her, and then he said:
"Because you never gave me any reason to not be kind to you."
That was true.
That was absolutely true.
Yuki never, not even once, gave Duncan any reason to dislike her. She never acted like a stuck-up princess like Stephanie. She never picked on other people. She never flaunted her academic success to other people like an arrogant brat. She never did anything that made Duncan think that she was a person who deserved to be belittled by others.
She was a nice person, at least from where Duncan had been standing. And the fact that she was a mage did not change that. It was not a reason for him to think she was automatically a bad person. So, Duncan had no reason to think she was, at least not until he saw something that really made her see her as a bad person.
Yuki kept looking at him a single tear running down her cheek, before she turned around and wiped it away. Duncan was soon asking her if she was okay, to what she said that she was, before telling him to come with her, as they were close.
So, Duncan continued to follow her. They just had to walk for fifteen more minutes, before they arrived into a certain place.
"Hold on..." Yuki said to him, making him stop, as she reached out inside of her clothes and pulled a piece of paper. She said a few lines and lifted it in the air as it glowed.
Beams of light came out of it, reflecting on some unseen surface, and then forming a shape in the middle of the air around a wide area.
Duncan had to cover his eyes due to the sudden flash of light and, when he lowered again, he was shocked for seeing that there was a mansion there. An actual freaking mansion!
"This is where I live." Yuki said to him, looking at the young man, who was surprised for this mansion having, seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
"We should get inside." Yuki said, "It's okay, I put down the bounded field, it is safe for you to come."
She said that, and she walked forward, with Duncan staying where he was for a few moments, before he rushed after her.
"You... really live here?" Duncan said, as they made their way into the front door, taking in how big the house was.
"Yes, since I moved to your country." Yuki said, "My father had it built to be our summer home for when we spent vacations in America, but I have been living here with me grandmother for the last few years."
"Oh?" Duncan asked, "Only with your grandmother? Not your father?"
Yuki paused, and then she said:
"No... he died when I was ten. My mother too."
Duncan felt like kicking his own butt at that moment. He immediately apologized, but Yuki cut him off by saying that they should just get inside, as she was already a little past her curfew.
"Obaachan!" Yuki said as soon as she crossed the threshold of the door, speaking loudly to be sure that she would be heard. "I'm home! Sorry for being late! Oh, and I brought..." She paused, and looked at Duncan for two seconds, before saying:
"A friend!"
Friend, huh?
Well, that was more than Duncan had been to her on the past three years since he first saw her. He was kind of happy for being anything to her at all, if he was being totally honest.
But that was for another time. Now he had much more pressing matters on hand, as he could hear someone coming their way, and this person was speaking Japanese as she came to greet them.
Yuki's grandmother was your typical elderly woman, wrinkled and with a light complexion, like her granddaughter. Her hairs were white and tied in a bun behind her head. She walked straight and easily, showing that she didn't needed a cane to walk like your stereotypical elderly lady. In fact, she seemed to be as energetic as a woman on her thirties, as she walked to the two of them wearing a beige kimono. She greeted her granddaughter with a hug, and they both spoke in Japanese, and it seemed to be something that made her grandmother grimace, and she then turned to Duncan, with a severe expression.
For a moment, Duncan thought that he was in trouble. However, Yuki's grandma was not mad at him. If anything, she was thanking him for having stood up for her daughter and protected her from the mean kids in school, and for going an extra mile and helping her carry her belongings all the way back to her home and to be sure that she was okay.
Her English was fluent, but Duncan did notice that she had a heavier Japanese accent than her granddaughter, who spoke English as if she was born and raised in America.
Duncan said it was alright, and he was about to leave, when the grandmother stopped him, saying that she would like him to stay for dinner, as a shown of appreciation for what he did for her granddaughter.
"This is my way of repaying your kindness, my sweet boy." She said to him, and Duncan suddenly saw himself unable to leave.
Dinner was nice, with they all gathered on their knees around the table as bowls were placed before them. Yuki and her grandmother were eating with chopsticks, while Duncan was provided with regular flatware. The food smelled delicious, and it honestly made Duncan's mouth water.
"Itadakimasu." Yuki and her grandmother said before they started eating the fried fish and rice. Duncan followed suit, using the flatware they so kindly provided for him to eat, and it was, indeed, a delicious meal. Complete with sweet mochi for desert. Duncan was not used to Japanese desserts, but those little rice-dough things filled with sweet Nutella paste were a real treat!
By the end of it, Yuki excused herself, and then she was going to her bedroom. Duncan, however, stopped her, as he still had something to give her...
"Here..." Duncan said, offering the papers to Yuki. "Those are yours. You forgot them on the bowling alley when you rushed out. I would have given them back sooner, but I didn't know how to contact you."
Yuki took the papers from his hands, looking through them, and thanking him for his kindness. As she did so, Duncan noticed that she still seemed sad. This, of course, made Duncan want to help the girl in whom he has had a crush for years. So, he asked her if there was anything else she needed his help with.
For a moment, it seemed that Yuki was going to dismiss him. However, she instead asking him to come with her to her bedroom.
Now that was something Duncan had never imagined happening.
Going to Yuki's bedroom.
Luckily, Duncan was not the kind of guy who had his head in the gutter to immediately jump into conclusions. He just went with her to see what she needed his help with and, as it turns out, she just wanted to thank him properly.
"I... didn't expected anyone to be this kind to me..." Yuki said, "The last time people found out that I was a mage..."
She tensed, and it seemed that she was remembering a bad memory. Really bad. Duncan told her it was okay, and that she didn't needed to tell him if she didn't want to. She sighed, and said to him:
"Sorry... I... I forgot your name." She sounded ashamed as she said that. She felt bad for forgetting the name of the person who was being so kind to her. Duncan, however, didn't minded it too much.
"It's Duncan. Duncan Callaghan."
She nodded, and she once more thanked him for being so kind to her. She placed the papers he gave her into her desk, while the young man with her still tried to process the fact that he was, for the first time ever, in the bedroom of his crush.
He looked around, and saw the amount of posters on the walls, all of which containing esoteric symbols and formulas, much of it seemed hand-written and hand-drawn. Most of it with colorful ball-pen, and there was a whole package of them on the very bed Duncan was sitting on.
It looked like a normal bedroom, but also the one of a mage.
"So... you study magecraft on top of studying on our school?" Duncan asked, trying to find something to make small talk with.
"Yes, I do." Yuki said, "It is no different from doing electives. Except that, in this case, both are mandatory."
Duncan nodded.
"You know, there is a rumor going around that mages don't care about going to actual school, since all they need to know is magecraft, and they learn it at home or on that secret school back in London... not that I believe in it, of course!"
Duncan added the last part quickly, as he saw the look on Yuki's face. The last thing he wanted was to say something that would cause Yuki to think he'd overstayed his welcome.
"We care about going to schools." Yuki said to him. "It is important to know the basics of how the world works, and that is what you go to school for. Not to mention that, for mages my age, it is important to spend some time with other young people. The whole 'social interaction' and stuff. Even though I never felt much like having friends..."
Duncan looked at Yuki as she explained that, and then she sighed.
"I guess we mages are all loners by nature..."
Duncan felt bad as he heard she said that. Mostly because of the way she said that, as she looked down. He felt like saying something to comfort her. However, she then continued:
"My parents are not around anymore, but they left me all of their notes and books."
She looked at her desk, which contained a good deal of papers and old-looking books in it. "I have been using those to study." She concluded, and Duncan then asked:
"Can't your grandmother help you? I mean, ain't she..."
Yuki shook her head.
"Obaachan is not a mage. She never was." Yuki explained. "She only married a mage. She was always a strong woman, but never could do magecraft herself. They had a daughter together. My mother married another mage, my father, and they had me."
"Oh..." Duncan said, as he heard Yuki give him this quick briefing on her family tree.
"And, your grandfather..." Duncan asked, to what the Japanese girl said to him that he passed away by the time her mother was her age.
"He was a powerful mage, though." Yuki said, "He was a member of the Tohsaka. One of the oldest and most powerful mage families of Japan. But, he was not exactly an orthodox mage. Neither was my mother, nor my father. None of them were... proper mages."
Yuki looked at Duncan.
"They prioritized the happiness of their loved ones over achieving more power."
"But he was a very good mage, nonetheless." Yuki said, "At least, according to my grandma. And he left a lot of things to my mother. Old amulets, most of the books of my collection..." She gestured to the objects on the table.
"Does the magecraft you do..." Duncan asked, getting up from the bed and walking closer to where she was standing. "Is the same your grandfather used?"
Yuki shook her head to Duncan. She then explained to him that she used the very same magecraft that her father used. It was a magecraft that revolved around summoning the powers of the Japanese deities through charms and incantations with their names. Like Raijin, the god of lightning, and Kajin, the god of fire.
"It is a form of channeling the divine power into the physical world by summoning aspects of the kami." Yuki said, "It is somewhat based on onmyoudou magecraft, but focused in combating physical entities more than spiritual ones."
Duncan nodded. He was not sure if he understood the whole thing, but he certainly got the gist. You chant the names of the Japanese gods to summon things that attributed to them, like lightning and fireballs. It made sense.
He did read online that those magecraft systems mages used where largely based on esoteric, even religious, beliefs.
"The type of magecraft of the Tohsaka family revolves around using gemstones as a way of storing and releasing magical energy." Yuki continue dot explain. "They are rich enough to have a wide variety of gems at their disposal, and they are very competent in using them. I tried my hand at it, but I was never very good with jewel magecraft. Dad's style suited me much better. But, I do study a lot of the formulas that Grandpa left for Mom. They are high-level, after all."
Duncan looked at her, as he was now standing by her side before the desk, and then he looked at the papers she had just placed into the desk. The papers he had returned to her today.
"Including this one?" Duncan asked as he gestured at the three pieces of paper. "They are the same ritual, right? Or they are pieces of different rituals?"
Yuki looked at them for a few moments, and Duncan started to think if he had made a mistake asking that of her.
"They are all the same ritual." She finally said, breaking the tense silence that had build. "This is, according to my mother, the greatest ritual of the Tohsaka clan."
"Oh..." Duncan said, looking at the pieces of paper. The one with the magic circle drawn in it. The one with the lines of the incantation. The one with the drawing of the seven figures and the words "seven to fill a cup".
"What kind of ritual is that?" Duncan asked, to what Yuki said she actually had no idea.
"I never really understood completely." Yuki confessed, looking at those papers. "My parents never explained much about it to me either. All they ever told me was that they planned to make it one day, and that they hoped to summon a strong Eirei."
"A what?" Duncan asked.
"Eirei." Yuki said to him. "It is Japanese. It translates to English as 'legendary soul'."
"They... wanted to summon a soul?" Duncan asked, "Was it, like a spiritual ritual?"
"They told me it was a ritual that could do anything." Yuki said to him, "That it was a ritual that could make the impossible happen, as long as they were both strong enough, and they planned to be. But, before they could..."
Yuki stopped, and Duncan looked at her for a few moments, before she took in a deep breath and continued:
"I got those from studying my parent's and grandpa's notes." Yuki said, showing the two newest papers. The ones depicting the circle and the chant. "The circle and the chant are the most important things on the ritual. This one..." she gestured to the one with the pictures of the creatures, "Used to belong to grandpa, and I still don't know how it connects to the ritual. The notes were unfinished, and it felt like there were parts of them missing."
"So, you don't even know what the ritual does?" Duncan asked.
"It summons something to the world, I am sure of that." Yuki said to the young man with an eyepatch standing by her side. "And, according to my parents, once they've completed the ritual, it would be able to do anything. Even impossible things."
Yuki paused, looking at the papers.
"That it could make all wishes and dreams come true..."
There was more silence, and Duncan continued to look at her.
"Like, it grants wishes?" Duncan asked, and Yuki nodded absent-mindedly. That was a lot to take.
"And... you want to do this ritual?"
It was a valid question. I mean, she seemed to be invested in that ritual, and she even went through the trouble of researching it even though she was not sure what it was exactly.
"I..." Yuki said, looking at the papers.
"I just... want to see my parents again."
Duncan blinked, and he looked at Yuki, as she looked at down with sadness.
Duncan then moved closer and put an arm around her.
Hey, what would you do if your crush got sad!? You would try to comfort her, of course!
Yuki then looked at Duncan in surprise, and that was when the young man felt like he had made a mistake.
"Sorry!" Duncan said, pulling his arm away. "Sorry, I was just trying to... I'm sorry..."
Duncan was about to leave, when Yuki stopped him and, for his surprise, asked him if he could embrace her like that again.
"That's exactly how my dad used to embrace me when he noticed I was sad..."
Duncan looked at her for a few moments and, much slower and more carefully this time, he got by Yuki's side and placed an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his chest.
Yuki seemed to like it, for she got comfy om his embrace, and she even leaned her head against his chest, what caused Duncan to blush like mad as she did.
For a very long moment, neither of them said anything, and Duncan only continued to embrace Yuki, silently comforting her while the Japanese mage gladly took this comfort.
Neither of them noticed that Yuki's grandmother had come to check on them and was now looking through the ajar door at the two young ones embracing like that. She smiled, as she thought that her little Yuki might just have found someone special to her...
All of them were unaware of the figure just outside of the house, hiding behind a few rocks as they looked at the big mansion, having followed Duncan and Yuki all the way there without being noticed even once, and now was camping just outside the house, watching it with a cellphone in hand...
In a military training field, not very far from the city.
"Run!" The man cried out in panic, before the figure coming behind him swung something. Blood spilled as a scream was cut short.
"No!" Another said. Another swing, and more blood spilled.
"Stop! Stop!" Said a third one, only for another swing to add his blood to the carnage.
"Keep shooting!" A man, who was commanding a small platoon of men, cried out as he had an expression of fear on his eyes. "Shoot it down! Kill it! Whatever it is!"
The men all obeyed, and they kept firing. Their bullets were real, even though that was only supposed to be a training. However, the effects that the bullets had on the thing they were shooting would have been the same if they were firing at it with apple seeds from small slingshots.
They only succeeded in attracting the attention of the figure to them, and then it rushed in their direction, swinging the huge weapon it had. The men's screams all died down as quickly as they did as the weapon was swung at them and blood exploded everywhere.
Not too far, a car was firing with a 50mm gun at the thing. Each shot made the figure flinch a little bit, as the bullets hit the dark surface of its grey-colored metal armor, which covered every inch of the thing's body, like the shell of a vehicle.
The figure turned to them, looking at them through the red visor, before charging at full speed.
The resulting explosion resulted in everyone on the vehicle dying nearly instantly, and then the figure turned its attention back to the remaining men with heavy duty weapons, who all screamed in fear and uselessly fired their weapons and tossed their grenade into the creature while trying to run for their lives, only for the creature to chase after them and crush them like nothing more than bugs.
An easy feat, considering that the thing was three times taller than the tallest one of them.
"S-stay back!" The last man left said, as he crawled back, and the thing, coated in blood, approached him.
"Stay away from me!" The man pulled his handgun and pointed at the thing. It stopped and stared at him.
It just stared.
Like an elephant staring down at a cockroach.
Like it was deciding how it would crush him next.
The man noticed it. He knew he had no escape. His mind, overcome with fear and confusion, did the only thing that seemed to be reasonable in a situation like that: pointed the handgun at his own head and pulled the trigger.
As the man's dead body slumped over, the figure continued to look at it, tilting its head to the sides as if examining the body. Then, it stood up straight, and remaining still for a few seconds, before its head snapped and was now staring at a specific direction at the distance.
On said direction, the General, a man on his fifties with graying hair and wearing a green uniform, dropped the binoculars he was using to watch the event from a distance as the eyes of the thing locked with his. He could not see eyes beneath that red visor, but he knew that a pair of eyes had stared directly into his'. He could feel it on his bones.
And it was nearly as terrifying as the scene of carnage that he had to watch the thing unfold.
This was supposed to be just a training!
And the General was not the only one terrified, as his men, standing by the sides, were also with expression of absolute horror at what they had just witnessed. This included Major Dash Callaghan, who had an expression of horror like he had not shown in years since he first enlisted into the army.
"Well, won't you look at that!" Said a man also standing there and watching. He was the only one who was smiling. Whole everyone else was wearing army uniforms, this man was wearing white clothes, from the fedora on his head all the way down to the polished shoes on his feet, all of it of an immaculate white. He had dark skin, with black hair and hazelnut eyes, and his wide smirk revealed that many of his teeth had been replaced with gold, which flashed with a reflex of the light coming from the fire glowing on the distance as a result of the explosion his loyal lapdog had created.
"It seems that this went way better than expected, no?" The man said, completely ignoring the looks of horror that all the members of the army were giving him. He simply adjusted his fedora with his right hand. On the back of said hand, was a symbol that looked like a red tattoo, which was a small circle, with a bigger circle around it, with a cross on the top of the outer circle.
"My Berserker is truly amazing!" The man said happily. "I'll definitely win this war!"