WHITE DARKNESS - BLACK MAGIC SAGA - BOOK 1

ASTRAL DRAMA

Divining Astral Projection (DAP) class with Professor Starling was always something Leevanna enjoyed very much. She could see what was supposed to be without it really being. It made her feel she could get out of herself, out of the cellar that trapped her in fire, burning her beautiful ice.

It felt like going through a wall of glass, which divided her body from the Astral Magic inside of her. She went through it, letting her essence flow around the streams of colours against the dark vault of stars. She felt free. For once. It was peace or something related to that. The weight, the worries and monsters just let her go; and oh how wonderful was to feel her feet leaving the ground so slowly that she almost felt like being one with the wind. She could feel all the elements arranging with her own mind, eyes white and light coming out. Her soul taking off her, becoming itself, being in front of her as she levitates among the magic.

A few seconds later, she snapped out of it, slowly and without pain as her magic went back to its original cage inside of her. With the jade returning to her eyes, she was able to hear the claps from her other classmates just as well as Professor Starling, who looked at her with such fondness and admiration. The woman was proud of her, Leevanna knew that, so she smiled back.

“And that, my dears, is how a successful Astral Projection is done,” started the middle-aged woman. Professor Nimeeh Starling was one of the few people in all Eskarya who could fully separate herself and live a double life when she needed it. It was a virtue no many had, even if they were part of the Fifty Elementals around the world. “We, though, must be really careful with our inner magic so as not to harm ourselves,” she clapped. “Now the difference between a normal and a Divining one is that…”

Leevanna instantly stopped listening, she was already aware of the fact that what she had done was not even the half that could be accomplished. Her eyes fixated on the woman with straight dark tan, brown hair, it was below-waist-length and with soft platinum blonde at the ends. The woman was taller than Leevanna but seemed shorter due to that she most of the time was slouched. Professor Starling gave off a feminine hippie vibe, almost sophisticated by the choices of clothing.

And when she was about to snap her fingers to make her hair go up in a high ponytail, she heard various murmurs among the class. Nor Lhu or any of the group where on that class with her — since they thought it was something that could be learnt later on —, so she was alone for those two hours, thing that now bothered her because she would have to find what was happening by herself.

Walking towards Isobel, a Vasilka girl of her year, she asked, “What happened?” voice as low as she could.

“Madden tried to use Astral Projection as a volunteer, but apparently did it wrong,” the raven-haired answered with a shrug.

Leevanna looked straight, watching Madden do a kind of epileptic state as he levitated.

When he stopped after a second, he fell on to the ground coughing his lungs out for a good few minutes.

He couldn’t be more pathetic trying to do what she did.

It was at that moment that something no one saw coming even in their dreams, occurred. Professor Starling’s eyes became white and bright as two bulbs of light, she levitated a few inches from the ground, making many gasp at the sight of her being illuminated by literally the heavens.

With her eyes fixed on Madden, her index finger pointed straight forwards as the boy dragged himself backwards on the ground, who was in front of all the students. Leevanna frowned. Yes, she knew what was happening, Astral Projections when divining could be formed into prophecies, and only two people alive were able to be illuminated so to manifest some event that would happen.

“Blood running and tears aware…” the woman started, monotonically. “The true spirit of dragons will rise upon the fog, and innocence would be lost as they die and re reborn. Your heart wouldn’t be enough to overcome the flames…”

With that, the woman fell onto the ground, barely conscious of the situation. Leevanna heard Professor Madeleine Meiden shouting from behind the tumult, she supposed the old-aged woman was trying to disperse the students so as to go inside the chateau while Madame Pamela rushed towards Professor Starling. Feeling a hand barely brush her shoulder before fully supporting on it, she remained silent, knowing Professor Reeves was behind her, guiding her to where she would be safe and guarded. Leevanna’s eyes remained on the now three professors who were helping Nimeeh stand up to tell them what had happened. It wasn’t until she looked up at the sky that she saw the clouds turn themselves into gold just to then become obscure, announcing that day would be rain.

“Don’t mention this to anyone.” It was barely a whisper, one that the wind took away when fortunately she had already grasped the meaning of it. She nodded, knowing what was best by far.

The week went by as a slug would, slow and tedious just as well as mortifying. As Wednesday arrived, Leevanna started her class of Self Defence and Magical Survival (SDMS) with a face even scarier than de dark side of magic. This class wasn’t particularly of her favourites, but she would enjoy most of it sometimes — if she was in the mood to bear with Professor Lawrence.

When Leevanna was like this, having bad days, she could say very cold and hurtful things — even if she didn’t mean it — to those who she found tiresome to deal with or was contradicted in some sense. So in this moment Lhu new better than to ask her if she wanted something or how she was doing. Her best friend hated those kind of questions, especially in a moment like this. Lhu knew that her best friend had special behaviour when she had episodes of anger or depression.

Lhu knew that Leevanna didn’t know how to express her emotions in the right way, she had been taught to not have them, so the brunette always was trying to help her to learn how to do it and not just explode like dynamite or accumulate things until she couldn’t hold them anymore.

The problem was that Leevanna didn’t know what exactly was she feeling. Because she did not like feeling at all.

Feelings made her weak, at least that’s what she thought. And she was the Ice Queen, the feelings had no right or space in her life. She could not let her marvellous empire of ice walls that she had successfully build through the years fall apart just because yes, just because some nonsense, useless and stupid feelings.

She could not let the ice melt for nothing in the entire world, even if the sun was too bright.

And that made this day a horrible Wednesday.

The daylight sun beat down.

Although there were a few grey clouds disturbing its hot haze.

The sun light streaming through the windows was starting to give her a headache.

She wanted to make the sun die.

She hates the sun.

Too bright.

Too cheerful.

The sun is bad.

It burns her ice.

She hated the summer and spring climate because the bloody rays of sun made her remind those horrible screams.

And ‘hate’ was an enormously powerful word for Leevanna.

Hate wasn’t something that she would take easily, no, never.

But the sun? She hates it and hates how cheerful the people are in the season of the year. Why have they had to smile all the bloody time? Why they seemed to be so happy when the sunlight hit their faces? It was horrible.

On the other hand, she loves autumn and winter, those were her favourite stations of the year and would be forever. She could wrap herself in her blankets and sleep all day or read next to the fireplace while she drank hot, sweet chocolate or tea. And in those stations her nightmares were fewer also. In autumn, the red, orange and yellow leaves decorated the sky with their beautiful colours giving her the joy to appreciate an alluring landscape as she read or just took air on the balcony. She loved to see the snow falling over the people, leaving a warm but melancholic aura over them as they thought how much they missed the sun and its hot light.

But, for Leevanna, winter was much warmer than summer.

For her, the ice was warmer than the sunlight.

The ice was her beautiful refuge. If she would be able to pick the way she wanted to die, she would say: ‘Bury me in ice, with flowers and snow, don’t let the sun hurt me.’

It was a perfect way to end her life, at least for her, it definitely was. Ice and coldness were a beautiful way to die.

While with the sun you feel the agony of the fire burning every part of your body, the asphyxiation you can’t escape, the deep wounds it leaves in your body and you are not able from recovering, being and feeling full of agony and despair, the screams that escape your throat. The worst part of it is that you don’t die for the burning, you die for suffocation, coughing and discomfort, the panic, and eventually unconsciousness from oxygen being replaced by carbon dioxide and monoxide.

But with the ice?

You star with little shivering, feeling the cold entering your systems and freezing all inside you. Then follows the slow, shallow breathing as the little pieces of ice decorate your eyelashes and hair, how the tears that roll down your rosy cheeks burn your skin as they freeze. Confusion and memory loss are the next two steps in hypothermia, your memories fade slowly away as you see them pass in front of your eyes like a blurry sheet. Drowsiness or exhaustion are the best part, you feel your body slowly weakening, like falling asleep. Your speech soon becomes slurred or mumbled, but you can’t avoid chuckle. And, finally, as your internal temperature raises and fills you with lots of warm, your pulse is slow and weak. Being an unconscious person without obvious signs of breathing or a pulse. Falling asleep in an eternal dream is the last step, also known as death.

Talking about ice, for Leevanna, was beautiful.

She loved to talk about it, saying how alluring and pretty would be being in a world full of it. The ice was her whole world, her whole being. Her element.

The white-haired girl was leaning against one of the columns in the classroom next to her usual friend group, even if right now she wasn’t exactly mingling with them.

And that was a good thing, because then she would have to endure the voice and presence of someone she right now had in her top one people she didn’t want to deal with today and for as long she could avoid it. It was such a strange thing that they didn’t even tolerate the other but yet they had always to share the same space because of the friend group they had and was the only thing that bonded them. Even if they didn’t want to.

And to the add to the lack of luck of the day, they collided glances by the chance of destiny. She raised her eyebrows, annoyed and asking with her look if he had lost something on her face because if not he could very much f**k the f**k off. He narrowed his eyes, little flames sparkling inside his pupils, making her take the challenge and turn her eyes to ice before breaking eye-contact when the professor clapped his hands.

“But enough with the theory,” the professor grinned. “Today we will be having your first duelling class. Please today we will be concentrating in shielding spell work,” he continued. “Elemental Magic and Elemental Defence will be for the next one—”

Her right arm raised, as she interrupted the man, “Professor.”

“Yes… Miss…?” said the man trying to see above the tumult of students.

Leevanna almost rolled her eyes.

But that would be disrespectful.

Professor Ryuk Lawrence was relatively new to the institute, this being his second-year teaching but not his first setting foot inside the Gleaxsiara chateau. He had been put there by order of the Parliament.

“Vaughan, sir,” she answered, crossing her arms.

All the students in front of her separated, leaving a trail open for the professor to have a look on her. The man, who didn’t pass his forties, and this is, seemed to form a closed-mouth smile before chuckling as his eyes looked down the floor. “Ah, miss Vaughan, yes, should’ve recognised your voice,” his eyes then bored into hers. “Do you have a question?”

Her eyes narrowed for a second, trying to decipher why his seemed darker against her, almost ominously predatory, trying to figure out something. “Yes, actually,” she took a step forward, “with the Paragon Tournament here, and a few of us trying to get in, wouldn’t it better be to start with Elemental Defence?”

It was his turn to narrow his eyes. She held her ground, waiting patiently for an answer that surely would make sense. At least she hoped that. Fake obliviousness to a whole class of twenty-something students wasn’t something the law would take lightly — either would be throwing sixteen- and seventeen-year-old students into a tournament for the war without being fully prepared for it.

But before Lawrence would respond to her, someone else did.

“Why don’t you teach the class then? Huh?” snarled Vailant. Her eyes instantly making contact with his in a snap. “Since you are so smart and bossy.”

She licked her lips, “I know you adore me, so I would gladly teach you how to keep your mouth shut,” and with a grin that didn’t last two seconds, she made his mouth disappear from his face. “Satisfied?”

“Now, now, please keep your mouths in place,” as Lawrence made Vailant’s mouth appear again, he glanced Leevanna, “and respect your partner’s opinion.”

“b***h,” muttered Vailant massaging his jaw.

Professor Lawrence smiled to his students for a second, then started pacing slowly, “Your classmate has a point, I won’t deny,” he confessed. Leevanna almost floated in pride when her eyes locked into Vailant’s, who rolled his. “However… I didn’t finish,” he grinned again. “Our class will be complemented with an hour extra each Wednesday and Friday starting from next week — silence please — dictated by our new professor, Miss Angelice Laverne, who would be teaching you most of duelling and Defensive spell work… Including Elemental Defence, even though for House Vasilka it will be just for men.”

This time his eyes went to Leevanna’s.

She just bit the interior of her cheek.

Taking her mind out of that subject, she huffed when the clock on the wall before her still marked half past eleven. Thirty more minutes that she had to await standing like a f*****g tree.

Goodness.

What a waste.

Dying wouldn’t be a fuss for her. She had a few ideas for it. Setting herself on fire for example. The Eskarya Train running over her wasn’t such a bad idea either, although the mere thought of waiting for it to happen would make her anxious and even so bored she would be out of the trainwrecks before it could reach her. So that was out of the list.

She could pitch herself from The Heaven’s Lookout Tower and said that she was trying to fly or something. But being honest, that wasn’t such a good idea, she would die with people thinking she was retarded or something, and there was also the chance she could survive, so no. Maybe she could borrow Lhu’s magic and use the Interitio Curse on herself because with her own magic wouldn’t work…But Lhu would refuse to do so, she is sure of it.

And that is when the best idea yet hits: she could use Vailant’s rage and fire via the Sensus Imperiose and then make it seem he had done it unprovokedly.

That made her press her lips avoiding laugh. That would be extremely funny. She, dead on the floor, and Vailant trying to defend himself saying that he didn’t even know how that happened because he didn’t remember anything, and surely she was the one doing it to herself because she was mental as everyone looked them in shock. Oh, she would laugh so bloody hard if that happened.

Repressing a smile for her funny thoughts, she finally started paying attention to the professor’s class, she had missed half of the explanation, of course, “…and Vaughan with Haxel.”

Oh.

Well.

It wasn’t that bad.

Flynn Haxel was a Vasilka from her year that had quite the reputation among students for selling drugs. Leevanna had three or four interactions with him last year, before he started trafficking, when Professor Azura Sandstorm formed pairs in class so they would experiment with Chimera Extract and Belch Blade. He was actually a really soft-spoken person, just that his looks didn’t help much with the reputation. Messy raven hair that almost covered his eyes and many piercings in his ears disguised the actually really nice person he was. His mother wasn’t part of the royalty, so that was the reason of the obscure of him, apart from the financial situation in his household.

Living in the downtown of Karesh near Kirkrial Alleway wasn’t much of help either. Most people, who were able to provide decent, well-paid jobs, didn’t want to hire people from that specific zone.

His father had abandoned his mother after he was born, due to him being married, but he indeed was part of the royalty, so the platinum strand of hair Flynn had acquired actually was the only good his father had done.

Thanks to that, Leevanna had been able to manipulate a high-rank employer to take Flynn’s mother in, even if it was with a medium salary. Of course the manipulation wasn’t genuinely nice, she had actually needed to use some of her magic to terrorise the man. But at the end of the tale, the end justifies the means, doesn’t it?

She tried to think about that when it came down the drug-trafficking. She knew Flynn used the money he got from it to buy his school material now that her mother had remarried and had another child to take care of. Still with two pay checks, things weren’t easy.

She gave him a bump with her elbow when he passed by her side. He smiled briefly at her, and both bumped fists. She liked to consider him a kind of friend. “Hey white head.”

“Hey white strand,” Leevanna smiled, “Ready to make some shields?”

“I was born ready,” he chuckled, making her roll her eyes playfully. She then moved her right hand, as if she was softly bowling. But he stopped the hex just before it could throw him to the ground. Leevanna smiled downwards and clapped two times. Hands inside his pockets and body leaving a few inches of separation between them, he said, “Told you, pretty girl.”

“I see, sweetheart,” she smiled at him. She knew Flynn wasn’t flirting with her, and she wasn’t mistaking his intentions either. Flynn didn’t play for her side; he actually was an opposite player. “Heard someone saying they had seen August Chiare kissing a boy in the corridors,” his eyes flickered against hers at the same time she shielded herself against his hex. “Surely that poor boy isn’t another one in the list, isn’t he? Or is that finally you have settled?”

Flynn blushed and she flickered her hand, using his distraction to make him fall to the ground.

“Oh my god,” Leevanna’s mouth opened whole. Shock in all her face. “Oh. My. God. You like him, don’t you?”

“Don’t speak so loudly, somebody’s gonna hear you, goodness woman” but he was smiling. “Yes, I like him. We met in summer outside Ayrith, and we just got talking and… Gods’ sake, stop doing that!”

Leevanna stopped pocking his side with her index finger and pretended she wasn’t doing it. “Doing what?” and with raised eyebrows, she just made him chuckle. “Well, go on.”

“And we went to the Deli Cup for a cheesecake and exchanged locations so we could write each other letters and yeah, that is it, pretty much.”

Her eyes were glistering in happiness, and for a second, she thought that perhaps the winter within her was gone. Only for a second though, because a smile was the only thing she could give him as a response. “I hope everything goes smoothly between you two, Flynn,” the boy nodded, and both kept with their shield training.

Still near the wall he had been leaning before, Eisdrache Vailant tried to keep up with the spells and hexes Freya was throwing in his direction. But his mind now was somewhere else.

How on earth did Flynn Haxel, a bastard child, could mingle with… her — and how on heavenly Paradise was he able to make her laugh that way?

His eyes suddenly turned into reflections of flames at the sight of her, but then, soft, it was all ash before it could even lit.

“God, keep up, Drache,” Freya growled seeing how he didn’t even bother to shield himself anymore.

“Sorry,” he muttered, his gaze finally leaving a certain girl.

Leevanna smiled once more as she saw the astral projection of a baby girl being held by Flynn’s mother. The class was about to end, and the professor had already given them congratulations. “Oh, she is so precious!” Flynn nodded.

“Seems the lad really makes her happy, and well, Catherine has just made the household a little bit better,” he shrugged. “They’ve been considering moving to a more central zone, south Agresh maybe, due to this guy’s place in the Council. The baby’s been born with caramel hair.”

“That’s so good!” Leevanna cheered. “Tell Liz I rightfully congratulate her for the marriage and the beautiful baby she has given birth to. And if you need something let me know.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Professor Lawrence reprimanding Dexter Madden. It seemed that this time being in Faris wasn’t going to save him.

“There are more ways to shield, Dexter,” said Lawrence. “If you keep using the same over and over, you spell work will be limited because you don’t care in learning more.”

As Lawrence went to congratulate another couple of students, Harlee Leighton stood next to Madden and gave him a smile, congratulating him in some way.

Leevanna found it so pathetic of them that she let out a single sneer. Vasilka would never congratulate someone who did the bare minimum, they would push him to be better, not to be a mediocre conformist. She knew Madden’s situation, but he didn’t even try to achieve at least something. Everyone in his schoolhouse was just so woeful with him that it was just annoying.

The history to what had happened to Madden’s mother wasn’t a secretive subject even though everyone took it like some kind of legend or taboo that was whispered ear to ear. A stupidity.

When Leevanna walked past him, she made sure to bump his shoulder and make one of her sweet comments. “Like always being a pity,” and she laughed, the other students around the boy with caramel hair did the same.

Leevanna wasn’t a bully, she just liked to… tease.

And she envied him a little — more than a little maybe. A ridiculous amount that was more than a little. She envied something that nobody would, really. Nobody would even think about it because it was weird — extremely weird.

It was more than weird. Nobody knew about it; she knew she had to keep it for herself only or someone would really call a Psycho Healer for they to attend her. And she did not want that. At least not in front of all the students. If someone came to Eskarya to take her to a psychiatric, she would ask for them to be extremely discreet. Nobody needed to know that she was crazy and needed to be interned immediately.

It wasn’t their business, just hers.

Nobody needed to had knowledge about her madness and traumas.

And that envy was pretty alarming too.

She — She envied his parents being dead.

Many years ago, there had been a riot taking place near the frontier Shiat had with the main village of Ayrith, and many soldiers had been called to help in the battlefield. Madden’s parent had gone, leaving their son with his aunt and uncle, two high-ranked Divining Actuaries, who as far as Leevanna knew, were loving people. The riot had gone wrong, and many soldiers had fallen, including Madden’s father, the general in charge. Aziah, the mother, was taken prisoner by the Shiatian soldiers and put her body on a spike near the borders of Eglary so everyone could see.

“…you say if we go to Knit Wit & Fabrics to search the one you want? Leev you in?”

The jade-eyed blinked and got out of her thoughts almost bumping into Freya. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Freya rolled her eyes, “Watch your step woman, don’t it be you bump into a Phantomind one of this days.” Leevanna just held her middle finger up to her friend.

“We want to go to Altsuix on the visit to Ayrith,” Thea answered her question before her best friend could continue with her wit. “All girls out, want to come?”

“But how would you pass the Phantominds?”

Leevanna didn’t exactly recall if the Phantominds around the villages were meant to hurt anybody, but Headmistress Armstrong had given the instruction to not be out the chateau grounds without supervision, and knowing her girlfriends, search for fabric wouldn’t be the only thing on the list.

“If you continue being distracted we could use you as bait—”

“I know a way we can go in and out the passages without being noticed, I’ll guide you,” said Lhu. “Please do come?”

Leevanna thought about it a second.

Well she had to write those three essays for the following week so she could take one more advanced course next month and she couldn’t forget the investigation on Nephilim to surpass her class of Magical Creatures and the progress on her Divining research…

But she could do that first hour on Saturday.

“Yeah sure.”

She hadn’t accepted just because she was a lover of going out, but the light in Lhu’s eyes when she heard her say yes was just something she wanted to see more often, and surely, if she had promised her best friend she would try and socialize more. In her first years, she and Lhu didn’t exactly have the opportunity to ever go out, just one or two tranquil parties that were hosted only for House Vasilka, but nothing more than that. Leevanna had been always hesitant in going out because she was afraid her father would know and punish her for it.

Lhu deserved a normal teenage girl experience as long as she could, so Leevanna was just trying to make her worry less for her and just have some fun, even if that meant Lhu dragging Leevanna to some events and go-outs. Leevanna just wanted to see Lhu happy after what she had put her through two years prior with all that fuss and trauma. Lhu hadn’t even needed to be there, but she had stayed no matter what, and now Leevanna was just repaying her with something she wanted for both of them.

“Just ladies out or my fellows here can go grab a drink too?”

The playful voice tone of Rhazel made Lhu roll her eyes back playfully. “At least you want to hear Freya talking about fabrics all afternoon, you’re out, dear demon.”

“Your favourite demon, baby girl,” the dirty-blond-haired boy winked his eyes at the brunette, who laughed and nodded.

“We could catch up after, I say,” Mason’s voice came into conversation, and Freya just shrugged.

“That’d be a good idea, could use some time to make this three the butt of the joke, surely.”