Chapter 16

"Finally done!!" Finn shouted as he get out of his last class. He ran outside the building then saw Luke and the others waiting for him.

"I'll be staying here this semester break." Dina said.

"I will be too. My sister doesn't want me to come home." Luke said and sighed.

"Finn's here, let's have dinner." Seiran said.

"Good 'cause I'm starving." Finn said.

*•*•*•*

"You think you can carry me?" Reymund asked as he and Seiran looked down the endless looking cliff.

They were looking at the violet flower that grows at the side of the cliff. They read a book that Adi borrowed and it is said that, that flower costs fortune.

"I should be the one to get it since I'm lighter." She said.

"No, it's too dangerous and the book warned that there's a monster that comes out once the flower is picked." Reymund said. He convinced Seiran more and eventually she gave up. She produced her three pieces vines and put it around Reymund's waist tightly. She turned at the tree and put the vines around it then Reymund slowly descend while holding his sword tightly.

"Lower!" He shouted.

There was a sound beside Seiran so her focus snapped and the vines continued to grow long.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Reymund shouted. She quickly focused back and stopped the vines from growing.

"Sorry!!!" Seiran shouted. Not sure whether he heard it or not. She turned to look at her side and saw the squirrel picking up it's food. Must've fallen while it's climbing a tree.

She felt a tug in her vines so she pulled until Reymund returned. He layed on the ground once he's back up.

"My life flashed before my eyes and it was boring." He said breathlessly. His face looked pale and he seemed to have cold sweats too.

"I'm really sorry about that. O heard a noise beside me so I thought there was somebody in here." She explained. She saw the flowers clutched in his hand that rests in his stomach.

She took the flowers then noticed something was wrong.

"This isn't the flower in the book. The center should be red, not orange." She showed it to Reymund.

"Great, so that's why there was no monster and I risked my life for nothing." He said.

A twig snapped behind them. Seiran grabbed her bow and quickly aimed behind her. She activated her wind magic to add more speed and power to her attack. Reymund quickly get to his feet and grabbed his sword, getting ready to attack.

"Noah?" Seiran called when she saw him appeared behind a bush. Her yellow magic circle disappeared as she and Reymund lowered their weapon.

"Hi." He greeted as he smiled, wiping off the surprised look when he saw those two aiming their weapon at him. Leon is following closely behind him.

"Fancy meeting you here again." Leon said.

"Is there another evil beast nearby?" Seiran asked.

"Yup, near the border of our kingdoms." Noah answered.

"Aren't those beasts appearing more often lately?" Reymund asked.

"Yeah, truthfully this is the 3rd beast this month and they were stronger than the previous. This guy just got bitten by it." Leon answered and pointed at Noah's neck. There were two small red dots and it's swelling too.

"Let me help you with that." Seiran said. Noah backed away when she stepped forward.

"I don't need it, thank you." He said.

"Ok." She simply replied. This was an unusual response for Noah so he was a bit surprised because normally people would force themselves to be of help to him just to make an impression. He's thinking if the girl in front of him will change her mind anytime now but it was like Leon heard what he was thinking.

"She wouldn't persuade you." He whispered. Noah rolled his eyes then someone appeared behind them.

"I've been looking for you two!" An old man looked very haggard as he stumbled.

Leo tried to stand in front of him so he wouldn't see the girl but it was too late.

"My, is that a Villamonde?" He asked and stood straight. No one answered so the old man continued.

"Though impossible since Mr. William loves his wife so much, is it an illegitimate child?" He asked and smirked at the thought. No one laughed like he did. The men glared at him as Seiran can only look down.

"You-" Seiran stopped Reymund from attacking the old man.

"Do shut your mouth sir Armonde." Noah said coldly. The old man, Noah referred to as sir Armonde, flinched. It was then he only noticed they were glaring at him. He faked a cough and reached out his hand to the girl.

"Please excuse my rudeness. I'm Paul Armonde, a teacher at Jade Academy," Seiran remembered Reymund telling her that it's a school in Hale Kingdom, "here to observe this two young men right here in completing their task." He changed his smirk into a simple smile. Seiran doesn't have a good impression about this old man so she just nodded.

Paul retrieved his hand when Seiran didn't take it. There was an awkward silence until Noah held his head and swayed. Soon after that, blood came running out of his nose and ears.

"Seiran, no-" Reymund tried to stop her but she already made a magic circle. She reached up to Noah's head and tilted it to have more access to his neck. She put her other hand with the magic circle in his neck.

Suddenly something black came out of the small wound. Noah felt immense pain and held Seiran's hand for support that's tilting his head. Leon recognized this as black mana, even though it's impossible since only the most powerful evil beast has it.

The black mana spread and turned towards Seiran's hand like it has it's own life, covering the magic circle away. Seiran felt her mana was being sucked out as soon as it made contact in her hand. She felt scared but for Noah's sake she held on. She noticed the swelling started to get small so she released her mana more. Her magic circle shined brighter then the black mana started to disappear.

She put out her magic then retrieved her hand but the other one remained being held by Noah. Both of them were panting hard then Seiran blacked out.

Noah caught her before she hit the ground. Reymund quickly took her then they walked away.

"That was magnificent!" Paul exclaimed.

"Don't tell anyone what happened today." Noah said as he stood up, wiping out all the blood.

"And also don't tell anyone about that girl." Leon added.

"If that's what you want." Paul said looking at them in dismay but inside he's actually celebrating because of the big news he's about to tell their kingdom when they get back.

Reymund kicked the door to their house open and shouted to call his mom. Adi was sewing her son's sleeve and pricked her finger when she heard the loud bang of the door.

"Why are breaking the door?!!" She shouted but stopped when she saw Seiran being held by him, unconscious.

"What happened?" She asked worriedly then checked Seiran's head and body for any possible injury as Reymund put her in the bed.

"I think she overused her mana." He said. He told Adi about what happened.

"Do you know what that black thing is?" Adi asked. Reymund shake his head as an answer then an idea came to his mind.

"I think her friend Dina knows. I'll go write her a letter." Then he quickly left.