Lyan
I woke up to something poking me in the ass.
I turned around to see what it was and felt Oscar behind me. I had completely forgotten about it.
His hands were still on my stomach and his head was pressed against mine. His legs intertwined with mine and I could feel his breath and his heartbeat.
The thing poking my ass was bothering me, so I started scanning the bed, looking for the source of the pressure. What I found was that it was Oscar's boner.
I tried to untangle from him as softly as I could and feeling flustered left the bed.
" Where are you going?" I heard a drowsy voice coming from my bed.
" You know why"
" Know what?"
" You placed your body like that so I'd know you had a boner"
" What? No!!" He blushed red and started stammering, trying to tell me he'd never do that.
" Mark?" I asked.
" Yeah?" Everything made sense now.
" Could you please leave?" I needed my space to change and check out the library.
Mark just nodded and left the room, avoiding eye contact. Once he was gone I changed clothes and picked up the blood vial from the drawer and hid it in my back pocket. Then I left the room and went to the library.
The corridors were now shinning and with no stains at all. It was as if nothing had happened here, even the smell of flesh and blood was gone, as if yesterday had just been a nightmare, but through the windows you could see outside, where the corpses piled up high, waiting to be examined by the government or to be picked up by the families.
They had removed all the blood stains and the limbs. The once red halls were now brown again, shinning as if they had just been cleaned, which was very likely the truth.
The library door was opened and there was no one inside. Who would want to read books after what had happened?
Remembering the path from the time I followed the robed figures I turned left, right, then left again and encountered a wall. ' This is it' I told myself.
I took out the vial and smeared the blood over the wall. The arcane symbols started shinning brightly, coloring the whole wall and I passed through the illusion spell.
The inside was as dark as a cave. I could only make out where the wall was behind be because of the shinning symbols, but just as I thought it was lucky that they were still giving off some light they went out. I tried to open the wall by placing my hands on it, but nothing happened and I didn't have any more blood left.
I felt pressure building up in my chest, panic rising to the surface.
" Calm down. I'm sure there's another way out"
I looked into the dark expanse beyond and took out my phone. The light illuminated a narrow passage that led into the depths of the academy.
" Guess I'm going that way" I muttered.
I walked for a while, phone shinning all over the walls in search of anything suspicious, when I suddenly lost my footing and fell down a hole I hadn't seen on the floor.
" Aaahhh!!!" I screamed, terrified. I started thinking of a spell to get out of this, but none came to mind. I was still trying to figure out a way to break my fall when cold water splashed all over me and pain bloomed all over my legs where I had fallen into the water, but thankfully it wasn't sand and all I had were bruises.
Shivering from the cold, the water must've been at negative temperatures, I got to the shore and laid there.
Relief flooded through my system when I made sure I had nothing broken and noticed I just had a few bruises, but my phone hadn't been so lucky. The screen was all cracked and the light was gone, no doubt broken either from the fall or the water.
" Just great"
I got up and looked around, but it was no use since there was no light, so I cast a simple light spell as well as a drying spell I had learned from Jack and a ball of light appeared in my hand at the same time my clothes and hair suddenly dried. I could finally see my sorroundings. I was in the middle of a cave, which contained and underground lake and had just one opening on the left side.
I looked up, wandering if I could go out that way, but immediately discarded it. The hole I had fallen through was at least 30 feet away and not for the first time in my life I wished I had wings.
I looked to the other opening and sighed. More cave it was.
The opening led to another narrow passage, but this one had paintings all over the walls, only thing was they weren't normal ones. The paintings decipted demons doing everyday activities: eating, dancing, talking, they were even two demons kissing, and above them all there was a dark shadow sitting on a throne. The demon King, the most feared demon, who was believed to have created the demon world from scratch. A being so powerful he had ruled in his world for over ten milenia without ever been challenged. A true demon. It was said he could command the shadows and raise back the dead. It was also said he could control anyone who looked him in the eyes and make them carry out his will.
I shuddered thinking about it.
The passage finally led to a wooden door, which I opened without hesitation. Inside was a room with shelves and shelves filled with books and a chair and a desk on the middle of the circular room. I sent the light to the ceiling in the middle and sent more mana into the spell. The light intensified several times and I began my job.
" Uhhhh, there's nothing useful here"
I had already gone through all the books, well, more like skimmed, but it was the same, and there was no information on the gem.
" This was a waste of time"
I hadn't found any clue and now I was trapped in here, no phone, no way of contacting anyone and no way out. Exhausted, I sat on the chair and laid my head on the desk. That's when I noticed the drawer.
Curious, and really desperate for anything at all, I opened it and found a small journal book inside. I started skimming through it.
The gem is believed to be hidden in the forest. Every area was searched but wasn't found. We should pay special attention to areas over a thousand years old.
I believe it's hidden deep inside the forest or in the old mine. Searches for the mine have been issued, but to no avail, no one can find it. Could it be hidden behind a spell?
The journal went on, but I had found what I wanted. The gem was in the forest, and I now knew for sure there were other people after it.
" This isn't good" I muttered. Now I had to find it and had competition, but I had something they didn't, my shadows. They were perfect for searching and could see through almost any spell and detect magic, but it was too risky to use them inside the academy where anyone could see, but if it was in the forest... That was a game changer, and I had an advantage with the new rules.
I closed the book and left it exactly where I had found it, not moving a thing. Then I looked around. If the journal was there there must've been a way out.
" I'm hungry" I whined. I'd been looking for a way out for over an hour, or so I thought. My phone was broken and I had no watch and no way to measure time. And to make matters worse the light had began to dim and flicker along with my strength.
" Where's the exit?"
I had torn down almost through the whole room when the light finally went out.
" Just great"
Furious, I slammed my fist onto the desk and I heard it creak under me.
" No, no, no, don't break" I panicked. No one could know I was here, but instead of breaking the desk just sank into the floor.
" What the fuck?"
A shelve turned around and left an opening. Without thinking twice I ran to it and passed just as it began to close and once I was on the other side it slammed shut.
I turned to look at it, but there was just a plain wall in sight.
I couldn't see what was in front of me so I called my shadows and had them surround me and go ahead, no magic left to call on the light again. When I felt no resistance through the left I guessed that was the way to go. I walked a while through the tunnels, hungry and tired as hell, but stopped on my tracks when my shadows sensed some resistance.
I slowly walked ahead and touched everywhere. This couldn't be a dead end. I couldn't be trapped. I started to panick, hiperventilating. I dropped to the floor and hugged myself. After a while I calmed down and stopped to think.
" There has to be a way out" Unless this was a trap or the way out required blood like the way in, in which case I was fucked, there had to be a way to get back to the academy.
I touched the whole wall, looking for a way out and noticed a tiny gap on the left wall. I dropped to a crutch and started crawling through it, sending my shadows ahead to confirm there was a path.
After what seemed like ages of crawling I finally saw light on the end of the tunnel and rushed to it.
The light was coming from a bakery just ahead. Once I got out I immediately got up and checked for damage. Except for some scrapped knees I was fine. I noticed it was dark outside. I had spent the whole day in that cave, no wonder I was starving.
I had come out in an abandoned building near the far side of the little town that neared the academy. 'So the tunnels go out of the academy? Good to know' I mussed. If I ever needed to run now I knew there was a secret passage, and if there was one, there were more. I had acquired a new mission. Look for the passages to sneak out of the academy and search for that old mine.
I was walking through the town, already thinking of what to say to the guys, I had disappeared for a whole day, when I noticed a sign on one of the shops in the entrance of the town.
This town has been here for over a thousand years, please don't ruin it by littering.
Throw your trash into the trashcan. Help us keep the town clean.
That was it! This town was very old. Maybe there'd be records of that old mine somewhere. I decided to come by that weekend and check.
I kept walking back to the academy, but now I was smiling.
I had underestimated the guy's anger. As soon as I came back they started shouting and screaming.
" Where were you?" Orus got all over my face.
" We were worried sick" Jack's face was red from anger.
" You could've called" Mark said from his place on the couch. I just threw my broken phone at him.
" I'll get you a new one" He nodded and went back to scrolling on his phone and pretending not to be worried.
" That's not the point!" Orus screamed." I felt your panic" He said lowering his voice " I was worried. I thought something had happened to you"
I hugged him and he laid his head on my shoulder and sniffed me.
" I'm glad you're okay"
After a while he finally let go and walked to the couch, where he dropped, already smiling again.
" Who were you with?" Jack shouted into my ear as soon as Orus was gone.
" No one" I tried to defend myself, but Orus's smile was gone and Mark had stopped pretending to not pay attention.
" Then why didn't you tell us where you were going? Why did you hide? Where you with another guy?" His tone kept increasing and I could see he was angry.
" You slept with another guy!!!" Oscar's voice boomed all over the room.
I suddenly had three very angry men all over my personal space and I was beginning to get pissed.
" So what if I did?" I crossed my arms over my chest. Jack and Orus started huffing and I could see they were a few seconds away from losing their shit, but Oscar just smiled sweetly and that threw me off balance.
" Nothing, but could you please tell me his name" Oscar said with a sweet fake voice.
" So you can murder him" It wasn't a question, but he just smiled more sweetly and looked at me, waiting to hear a name, and since I was a good citizen and didn't want more mysterious murders to happen I went with a different lie.
" I was just buying pads in town"
" The whole day?" Orus cocked his eyebrow.
" I also bought some more things and spent there the whole day. I didn't notice time had gone by so quickly, sorry"
They all seemed to believe me and calmed down.
" No worries, but next time call, or say something" Jack said.
" Broken phone" I reminded him.
" How'd that happen?" Orus questioned. Shit, I had forgotten about that part.
" I fell into a pond, my phone broke and I had to stay at the inn until my clothes dried. You know I suck at magic. I really wish I could cast some drying spells" They seemed to believe that lie too. I had noticed they weren't very observant. They hadn't even noticed the dirt or the broken and scratched trousers. Only Oscar crooked an eyebrow, cleary noticing my lie, but deciding to let it go. That psycho was very observant. I would have to pay attention near him.
" You're so clumsy" Jack laughed and went to the couch, followed by Orus.
" Next time just use your undies and give them to me. I'd love to taste your blood"
" No way, psycho"
" You can always change your mind"
" I want in too" Orus whined from the couch, but I just moved my head and went to my room.
I'd be bussy tomorrow trying to find the passages out of the academy, and on the weekend I would go to town. My week was full. Now I just had to avoid the guys, or distract them for long enough to do my job. Easy peasy.