Chapter 9: Espirmailius

I wander through the halls of the castle, waving hello to a few of my classmates passing by. It has been a month since I have discovered Viritore and Edelin, and the adventure is still a wild ride.

I have decided to take classes from each major branch, and do group lessons for most of them, the outliers being healing, and stealth. Though I have yet to pick up any trades, I might try one to see what it feels like.

And with group classes, I have managed to meet almost everyone in the castle, from fellow warriors in training to some of the teachers and servants. But don't worry, I do get to spend time with my friends and family, especially Alador, because he gives me private lessons on the culture of Edelin, from the widely excepted to the very limited. We also get to tackle every book in his study, as I get to teach him about Mortealum... or Earth culture.

But right now, I'm walking through the training halls, wearing a flowing, knee-length silver dress, along with white flats and a grey satchel with various spellbooks, as I walk into the room marked with stars.

A large room made like a Colosseum that spectates the center where our teacher, Professor Desirae stood, flowing brown hair, with purple eyes, wearing black robes, and carrying a black wand and a spellbook.

She notices my presence as I take a seat in the second row, as more students file in. One of these is Lillith, whom I got to know more about, over this last month. She sits down next to me in a pink top and black skirt with pink heels. As Professor Desirae sends up fireworks to begin class.

"Good morning children, and welcome to a new class in magic," she smiles wistfully, as all eyes fall on her.

"Today we shall be learning about the magic of Espirmailius," Everyone gets out their books and flips to the page towards the middle of the book entitled after the topic in question.

"An Espirmailius is a sentient part of your soul that mainly takes an animal form, and can act separately of you," I look down at the book where it shows a leopard with black fur and gold spots and green eyes clinging to the side of the page.

"Does anyone know how they can be summoned?" Lillith raises her hand, not surprising as she has one herself, a sweet but cynical coyote she named Loki, after the Nordic trickster god, not the Marvel god sadly.

"They can be summoned in a multitude of ways, for those that are summoning there Espirmailius for the first time they have to drink the Water of Viritore, from the sacred tree, but after that, if they are dormant, few simple spells can be said or written to conjure them," Lillith explains, as I start to take notes in a little notebook I carry around.

"Correct, generally speaking, the first summoning of your Espirmailius happens in a ceremony around your 13th birthday, when they are most likely to be summoned, afterward it is a gamble on whether or not they can or want to come out," one of the girls raises her hand in the back.

"No Juleka, it doesn't mean you don't have a soul if you can't summon one, but does anyone know what an Espirmailius can do when summoned," several people, including Lillith, raise their hands.

"They can act as an advisor or guide," a boy to my left says.

"They can protect you from certain spells or weapons," a girl across from me states.

"They can act as an extra warrior or scout if needed," Lillith adds.

"They can be a friend to those who need it," someone continues.

"And when either summoned or dormant, they can help control and focus your magic," another concludes.

"All are correct, but all of you are forgetting one thing," Professor Desirae interjects. I glance at her confused as everyone seems to get what she means.

"To some who are skilled enough, they can take the form of their Espirmailius," I could distinctly see Professor look at me as she explains this.

"And which group was the first to do this?" she asks, as I start to get dizzy.

"The alphas," someone answers, as my head starts to hurt more.

"And who out of them was the first?" she asks as I start to see red, I see Lillith's concerned face as I slowly fade to the red.

"Cindias," I feel my eyes close as I'm met with the red room again, with the same man.

I manage to take a step towards him as he looks up, but not at me. I come to realize I'm in a different part of the room, most of the time I was able to see his face, his back now facing me as he looks at a doorway. I could hear vaguely what they were saying.

"Have you made your decision yet?" I hear distantly, as I slowly gain consciousness as the man says the same thing he has been saying since it started.

"I won't give it," then it fades to black. That same line is said over and over again. Dawn? Every single time, ever since I started training, I've been having this dream. Dawn? And every time, he says that line, what the hell does it mean?!

"DAWN!" I get jolted out of my thought process as I see Lillith above me, along with Professor Desirae and half the class.

"Are you alright?" she asks, as I attempt to sit up but end up having to lie down again.

"I guess," I shrug my shoulders, as best I could before trying to get up again.

"You just passed out," Victoria says to my right, as Lillith helps me to sit up.

"You were out cold for a few minutes," Julian continues, most of the class muttering in agreement.

"What happened?" Professor Desirae asks, I blush a bit, though I have been having these dreams for a month and I haven't told anyone about it.

From what I've learned, having the same dream for days, or weeks on end isn't normal. Mainly reserved for fortune-tellers and those associated with dark magic. So I kept my trap shut, which was easy because this was mainly a dream that never transpired in the daytime hours.

This is the first time I had this dream when I was awake. Yet, I remain silent, half because I don't want the class to think I'm crazy, and the other half, because I'm still reeling from the dream and the effect passing out in the middle of the class, has on my body.

"She needs to be taken to the healers," Lillith recommends. Professor Desirae nods as Lillith helps me to my feet as we walk out of the classroom.

Walking into the healer's room is a rare occurrence for me, mainly because they probably think if I get badly injured, it will result in a death sentence. Of course, the only exception of this is my close friends and some of the teachers, including the combat teacher, who although laid-back and nice, can slice your throat open within a few seconds without hesitation.

The room felt very warm but also very sanitized as if a hospital was forced into a tiny wooden cabin in the woods. Lillith walks me over to a bed towards the front of the room as my legs start to give out. Soon the head healer, Mrs. Lilium walks over and talks to Lillith for a second before turning to me and using her magic to scan me.

"Her temperature is abnormally high, but she is not feverish, has she had any sporadic outbursts or power flares?" she asks Lillith, answering every question, as I rest my eyes. Soon I hear her leave as I hear two footsteps approach.

"Dawn are you ok?" Raina asks I open my eyes to find the loveable twins staring down at me, with Lillith close by. Raina's cups my cheeks, even though it's clear she's in pain by the contact. I sigh in relief as she plays with my hair until Mrs. Lilium returns. With my mother and Alador following behind.

"So she hasn't had any spastic outbursts?" Mrs. Lilium questions as they approach me.

"No, this just came out of nowhere," Mother replies as Alador sits next to Raina.

"She never showed any signs of this happening," Roman adds, as I start to feel my body's heat affect me, my eyes droop, maybe if I just sleep this through then it will be gone. But of course, this wasn't the case.

I find myself back in the red room, the image slightly blurry as I look around. I'm in the same spot as I was this morning, I look around as I look at the man again, again facing his back as he looks at the door.

But suddenly, I feel a hand touch my shoulder, I reach my hand over to find nothing there, not feeling anything. But I look over to the man again as my vision starts to clear. More of the room comes into focus as I could see the man more clearly.

I hear someone calling my name in the distance, which starts to fog my perception again, so I start to focus more on the man. What is new that I see, ok I know of the black skin, black hair with red tip, black and red clothes, and who could forget his bright orange eyes. My vision starts to become more focused as I see more things about him, part of his clothing is torn, his hair is ruffled, and I could see dried blood on his back, and I guess the wings are hard to miss as well. Wait, what?

I look around, as I feel something wet and smooth going down my throat, I touch my lips but they were dry. I look back at the man in question and I could see wings. the same color as his hair, even with the mahogany tips. I focus on him more, but before I could continue, something else calls my name.

"Dawn?" I turn around but no one is there. I look around the room to find the mysterious voice, getting a larger sense of the room, by that I mean that the room is huge. Made for more than just one person, with not that much in the room except for me and the man.

"Dawn?" I hear the voice again, to pretty much the same result.

"Who are you?" I decide to ask, guess this isn't my first time hearing things from the ether.

"My name is Domiens, I want to ask you a few questions," I hear it speak again, the voice is low, most likely male, deep and authoritative, but something distinct about his voice was the sounds he makes, snarls and growls as if he were an animal.

"Can you tell me where you are?" he asks, I look around, I have this gut feeling that I should trust him, but I don't know who this guy is, but I feel like I do.

"In some sort of red room," I reply, looking around, not seeing any indicators about where I was.

"Can you be more specific?" he asks, I continue to look.

"Red wall and floors, both made of stone, a large door to my left, and a man in the center of the room," I say looking back at the man, this seems to stump the voice, or Domiens as he likes to call himself.

"What does he look like?" I look back at the man, as I start to see his eyes open, and a fire starts to grow from his hands.

"Um... Black skin, black hair with mahogany tips, bright orange eyes," I reply hesitantly as the flames start to grow up the man's arms as he stands.

"Is something happening?" I hear a different voice this time, feminine yet unfamiliar, sounding older, and most definitely wiser. They seem to be having a conversation while the fire has consumed his body, as I try to find a place to hide. I get hit by a shockwave, as I see the man's feral form...

"A dragon..." I say as they stop.

"With bright orange eyes," it turns to look around, not even noticing me as I start to get dizzy again. As I see it scratch a part of its neck, unknowingly containing something very powerful as my vision fades to black.

I wake up back in the hospital wing, staring up at my family and friends.

"Dawn, you're okay!" Raina exclaims hugging me, me blushing extremely as I could feel the same heat on her cheeks, along with the wetness of tears streaming down her face. I wipe her tears away, as I sit up, and look around.

The setup was similar to what it was before I fell asleep, but with some major differences. On my right were Raina, Roman, Lillith, and my mother; but on the right, there was Alador, Mrs. Lilium, and a woman I didn't recognize.

She was short in stature, but with a huge bright smile. With her is a small medical bag, but it only contained a canteen full of a liquid, I stare in confusion as she smiles at me.

"She seems to be back to normal," Mrs. Lilium exclaims as the others sigh in relief, but the woman only chuckles.

"Of course she is, no one knew what she was going through until I gave it to her," she chuckles as she pats the medical bag with the mysterious liquid.

"What exactly, did you give me?" I ask her, as she chuckles again.

"My dear I think you know," she smirks at me when it clicks.

"The Water of Viritore," I conclude as she nods.

"My name is Ninari, I had only wished I knew sooner to give you the Water, otherwise this wouldn't have happened," she replies.

"We wished to wait until it was closer to her birthday," Alador told her, as Raina smiles at me, while Roman smirks. But something nagged, the entire reason you drink the water.

"Ninari?" she turns to me with a smile on her face.

"Does this mean I summoned my Espirmailius?" everyone looks around, but she just smirks.

"I think that is something he can answer," I look at her in confusion, until I feel something nudge my hand as it hangs off the bed, I look down and see a cougar, light brown fur, with a white underbelly and bright gold eyes, the only thing out of the ordinary was his rainbow tail. He lays his head next to my hand on the bed, as I pet him, knowing exactly who it was.

"Domiens?" I ask, as he purrs and licks my hand as I place it back onto the bed.

"It is rare that the same Espirmailius can appear for more than one person, but they are the wisest I have ever known," Ninari strokes Domiens' back while she sits next to me.

"It is best to listen to him," she smiles as Mrs. Lilium leaves to tend to other guests.

"We should get going," Lillith spoke up as she gathers her things.

"We still have classes today," she stood and left, Roman following soon after.

"Hope to see you in class soon," Raina smiles before heading off.

I start to blush, what the hell, she probably doesn't even like me. That's probably not true, hold on what? You heard what I said. Ok so now I get to hear another voice in my head for the rest of my existence, that's fun. Well, it isn't when you phrase it like that. I sigh and look at the seat that Raina was in, damn it why do I constantly think about her. I think the answer is fairly simple, well what do you know. Not much, but from delving into your memories, it is clear that you have affection for the girl in question. What... I don't. I hear Domiens groan a bit, his look says it all, it's clear you're lying. I look up at Ninari as she smirks at our conversation.

"If you are wondering, those kinds of relationships are not banned here," I look at her in confusion.

"Although yes a very small percentage frown upon the notion, very few of the countries have restricted homosexual relationships," I sigh in relief, as she chuckles and helps me off the bed while handing my books back.

"But, if you ever need help with Domiens or some relationship advice..." she smirks as I blush,

"You can come and find me, find the purple stand," she whispers as we walk out.

Everything else in the day goes as expected, normal, except for the fact that I have a large cougar beside me. Which everyone has decided to notice for some reason.

I found it very relaxing, and now standing out on the balcony, watching the activities of the courtyard. I feel at peace as I rub Domiens' head until he heads back inside for something.

Returning with my sketchbook, I guess he wants me to draw. I look through all the pages until the color drains from my face at the last drawing, a perfect depiction of the man I saw in my dreams.

Domiens came back with another book clenched in his jaws, my history book I borrowed from Alador. I open it up, until the same picture appears again, in the section about the alphas of the elements. And I realized who I saw in those dreams. I saw the alpha of fire himself, Cindias.

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A/N:

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!!!*smashes hands on the organ**not a pretty sound emanates*

OW, why did I think that was a good idea?

Anyhow, I hope you guys liked this chapter. And this is the second to last chapter that I will be posting before I write the next 10(ish) chapters. So, please vote, comment about your opinion, or writing tips and critiques, because I'm always open for feedback. And follow if you haven't and I'll see you next week.

Your Obedient Writer,

-Alex.