Tower of Souls

Opening her eyes, Zhu pulled her thumb from her mouth, rolling off the bed till her head hit the floor. Tears bubbled in her eyes as she looked around for help. She held her head and slowly moved towards the door left wide open.

Noting Aurelia standing close by, she pulled on her tunic, drawing her attention," Truck-kun wants kisses. She fell."

Eyes sparkling, Aurelia wrapped her arms around the young girl, almost half her size, "You are so cute. How can you be Dumb-Dumbs, sister?"

"Some say we are twins!" The Zhu bragged, interloping her arms around Aurelia's. She turned to look at everyone and waved, " What's everyone doing? And what's for breakfast?"

"Nothing," Iz weakly said.

"But aren't you the chef?" Zariel reminded darkly.

Iz winced as if his words had hurt, barely finding a smile. " I'm on a diet."

There was a large distinctive silence as Zariel, alongside everyone, looked at the triple chins on Iz and smiled, " Ok fine. I'm not on a diet, but shit, cooking for all you judgemental bastards is a lot of hard work. Last we cooked, Arsene wanted so much pepper on his food, I could literally hear the toilet scream for mercy."

"Let's not over exaggerate. It wasn't that peppery!" Arsene rebutted but still found himself nodding, recalling that sweaty afternoon he had that day.

"Then there's Zero! You like weird shit! Coffee in rice? Come on! That was disgusting." Iz reminded, in a fit of rage.

"Ok, first off, it wasn't that bad, and I said Curry, you just misheard me."

"You still ended up stealing most of the food, going into hiding in one of our emergency safe houses so we couldn't find you till you finished eating it. We had to torch the building because of you!"

Zero coughed and turned his head. Despite wearing the mask, almost everyone could imagine his cheeks reddening.

"Ok, let's stop here before you guys keep going and end up in another brawl." Said the Dean of Trinity, shaking her head. "You all are weird, and Aurelia, we have a major event today. With all these people causing chaos for weeks, I decided to host a major event with all the first to fourth years."

Aurelia nodded, "K, but what is it?"

"Just head to the Atrium. North of the central academy." Elyimi said, rising.

And Little Zhu, we are leaving; you've got a lot of work to do; you can visit your brother at night." Added Flay

"Which one, Big Broda or Big-Big Broda?" She asked with glistering eyes.

"Umm? I guess both," Flay said as the two brothers nodded.

"I'm a little busy, but I'll come and go quite frequently with KO. We've got a few things to finish on Iluthath," Arsene addressed, rising to his feet alongside KO. Who seemed to turn solemn.

Zariel seemed to notice the shift in temperament but said nothing, only rising to his feet as he glanced at Zero, who nodded.

"I'll be staying; I'd actually like to meet this devil that's been shadowing you," Zero said, drawing Ildurla attention, who stared at the masked man, narrowing her eyes that hid alarm.

'A devil? She thought, dismissing the idea of one coming from the nine hells. It had been known for over a hundred chaos cycles that those of the Nine Hells rarely interfered in the lives of those that existed in the material realm.

They were shadows, only appearing at the beginning and end of major figures on Iluthath, fiends who were said to have shaped the confines of Iluthath to this very day.

"Little one, we are leaving," Ildurla said, withdrawing from sight without a second thought.

Behind the mask, Zero smiled.

"You to Aurelia! And bring your friends, hangover or not, you three are required to be there. Change and meet us in the central Atrium." Said the dean taking her leave behind Ildurla and Flay.

"Wait for the Zhu!"

Leaping out of Aurelia's embrace, the little bun of joy raced after Ildurla.

"Go get changed," Zariel said to Aurelia, who nodded,

"You got any clothing for—"

"Let me rephrase, go to your apartment and get change," Zariel argued, shaking his head.

Aurelia rolled her eyes and left without another word forgetting about Ella and Sionn. Racing back to her dorm, she hopped into the shower and left after hoisting Morningstar to her waist.

Feeling the pulse of her sword, her attention to her surroundings dwindled as she gazed upon the exquisite hilt of her sword.

Her fingers skimmed over the blade's hilt, and a gentle warmth touched her heart, reaching her soul's depths. She pushed open the door to her dorm and left after locking everything up.

Aurelia ran towards the central Atrium, following the dean's direction.

Noticing a few gatherings of students, the longer she walked, the more a feeling of excitement seemed to bubble over in the pit of her stomach.

The Blade of Morningstar pulsed again, sending jitters down her spine. Aurelia's fingers tightened. And the smile over her face deepened.

She looked up towards a large towering building teaming with a crowd filled with school spirit and glanced around when a voice suddenly caught her off guard.

"You look excited," Arthur said, maneuvering around various students till he was by Aurelia's side.

"Hmmm," She nodded.

Arthur chuckled and looked up at the Atrium, known by man as the Tower of Souls brimming a powerful Arcana, " Think you can make it to the top?"

Aurelia wanted to answer, but before she could, a voice answered," Sure she can. She's not like the people here."

"Aldrich," said Aurelia softly, causing Arthur to arch his brow and direct his attention to the handsome man, smiling. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Aldrich?" Arthur whispered, "That's a unique name. I've met an Aldrich once, as a child."

"So did Mordred, little Morgana, and even that devil Merlin," Aldrich kindly said, recalling a devilishly handsome young man who only knew how to smile despite how grim situations became.

"So you returned as well?" Arthur uttered in a soft voice, 'Are we enemies?"

"Maybe, it depends if you are going to kill this little bun before she's been groomed."

Arthur shook his head and narrowed his eyes, " There's only one man I need dead, and that's—"

"Sooo, none of you want to kill me?" Aurelia brightly chimed in, "But you do want to kill Dumb-Dumb. Correct?"The two looked at each other and nodded almost simultaneously, "Good, so what's the plan? Dumb-Dumb needs to be taken down a peg."

"Your kidding, right?" Said, Aldrich

"Aurelia, never kids! Down with Dumb-Dumb! I'm sure he'll understand. maybe!"