Arya: The Lodge tower.

The capital Teosopolis was located in the southern part of the kingdom of Ellyrium on a large promontory, in such a way that there was a port in the north of the city and one in the south. It was one of the largest cities in the known land. Both the land and the city were rich in every way, and it was here that the world's largest association of magicians was found. The Lodge and The Lodge tower.

In the center of the town was the Royal Palace and next to it was the Lodges Tower. The tower was massive, over two hundred meters high, and could hold thousands of people. Around the tower were a moat and a ten-meter high white wall. The area between the tower itself and the wall was filled with economic buildings, stables, and housing for all kinds of people. The compound is both home and a training facility for all the members of the Lodge.

Novices and Adepts have their rooms in a palace-like building at the back of the main tower. The interior consists of galleries with stone railings surrounding a small courtyard consisting of a small garden with only a handful of evergreen hedges. The two galleries for adepts hold almost two hundred, while the two galleries for novices hold almost four hundred.

Arya walked down the corridor towards the novice's living quarters. One was a novice for one to two years. After the first few years, you became an adept, after which you became a full witch or wizard. Another name for a full-fledged member of the Lodge was Maga. There was a similar system for guardians. Recruit, protector, and guardian. Arya was both an adept among the witches and a recruit among the guardians. She trained intensely with both because she was a warlock.

Everyone had heard of a young warlock, but not many knew it was Arya. Which suited her perfectly because as she wishes to remain anonymous.

The ruling council had the same opinion; it was best for her to keep a low profile. That was the reason she still lived among the novices.

The corridor to her room was empty, but she hurried anyway to avoid being seen. Arya had no desire to socialize today. The storm outside had picked up and, the wind was sinister.

Her golden eagle had already made its way to her room. It's going to smell wet bird all over the room, Arya thought. I heard that she was told. Her familiar could sometimes read her mind even though they didn't speak to each other via the magic band. That magic had nothing to do with runes but came automatically. Arya had got her familiar in her first year. Most people never got one, for others it took decades.

Arya found the corridor suddenly darkened in an unnatural way. There was a thunderstorm outside and, the sky was black as the night, but this was something else. There was something at the end of the corridor that made her skin crawl and her whole body scream 'don't go there'. Could it be a shadow demon? But that is impossible. This is the Lodge tower that has several hundred Magas and magical protection barriers.

She hesitated but continued forward. The warning call from her familiar echoed in her head. 'Go and get help. Don't go any further. Flee.'

She had five runes left to use. Strength, agility, sight, and two fire runes. 'If it is a shadow demon, I can destroy it with fire.' she thought.

She didn't know much about these demons except that they were used as assassins and that they were sensitive to fire.

A flash outside the window lit up the entire corridor, but the shadow at the end of it remained solid.

Arya activated all the runes and, they glowed brightly in blue and violet, then channeled her mana through them.

She felt her body grow stronger and more agile. Her vision became better and, warm fire energy flowed around her. It then moved with lightning speed towards the shadow creature.

The fire energy turned into blue flames that licked the walls, floor, and ceiling where the shadow being had been standing. To keep the fire alive, more and more mana needed to be added. Arya was so close to the fire she had to channel heat away from her own fire to avoid burning herself.

Arya let the fire die away but still transformed mana into fire energy without manifesting it into fire. The amount of fire energy in the corridor was increasing by the second. Either she had to manifest it or stop transforming her mana into fire energy. But If she stopped, she would have used the rune.

Arya let the fire die away and she saw no remains of any creature. Either it had gotten away or it was completely burned. How could she explain the fire if there was no evidence of the demon? She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. There had been no permanent damage in the corridor as everything was made of stone. Which was lucky for her. The fire had been so clean that there were no soot remains. The stone had melted in some places but there were few traces.

But what had happened to the creature. She didn't have the same creepy feeling in her body as she had before. Maybe it was dead or maybe it got away.

Arya went to her room. There wasn't much she could do except talk to her sister.

The shock of meeting a shadow demon had numbed her of all emotions. She was afraid although she did not show it.