[27.4] Inner Peace is Hard to Find

I stood outside with a pale expression as buzzing drowned out the noise around me.

Children surrounded me with confused expressions. One looked at Zephyr, "What's wrong with her?"

He yawned, "Her soul left her body. She's dead now."

A small girl with blonde, silver hair clicked her tongue, "She's not dead."

Zephyr snickered, "You're right… She's a demon!"

The little girl crossed her arms arrogantly, "No she's not. I would know."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow, "How would you know?"

She placed her hands on her hips with a grin, "Because my big brother is a Royal Guard! He wouldn't let any demons into the Academy!"

Zephyr chuckled, "Humans are so stupid."

Another child pulled on Zephyr, "What are we supposed to do?"

Zephyr thought for a moment, "Um… What do you want to do?"

The little girl raised her hand, "Let's play Royal Guards and demons! I'm the Captain!"

Zephyr pointed to himself, "What about me?"

She grinned at him, "You're a demon."

He chuckled, "Rightfully so."

As the children played around, I stared off into space with a wide mouth.

The little girl laughed valiantly after she successfully grabbed one of the boys, "Haha! I caught you! Now you have to go to jail and await trial!"

The little boy cried out, "But I'm innocent!"

"Don't lie to me, demon!" She spoke dramatically, "I have seen with my own eyes your demon tricks. Now receive your punishment of death!"

Zephyr played with the other children off to the side with a humorous look, "Children are so feisty these days."

The boy twisted in her grip, "No! Let me go!"

She frowned, "Hey! You're dead! Don't move!"

He stuck out his tongue, "You didn't kill me! I'm a super strong demon! I am capable of rejuvenation!"

Zephyr watched intently, "Ooo the plot thickens."

She stomped her foot, "Demons can't do that!"

He taunted her, "How would you know? Have you ever met one?"

She hesitated, "N-No… But that doesn't matter! My older brother is a Royal Guard! If anyone would know it's me!"

"Yeah right! You wouldn't know anything!"

"Would so!"

"Would not! You're just a dumb girl!"

The silver-haired girl turned red in anger and shouted, "I'M NOT DUMB!"

In a fit of anger, the air grew thick and the grass around her suddenly combusted into flames.

She let out a scream when she realized she had trapped herself in a circle of fire.

At the smell of smoke, I snapped out of my daze.

I quickly reached through the flames to pull out the girl without getting burned. I looked at her in boredom, "Don't play with fire."

She looked up at me with a tearful expression and broke down, "I'M SORRY!!!"

My face scrunched together in disgust, "Please stop getting snot on me."

She grabbed onto me desperately, sobbing into my skirt. My face scrunched up more wishing to be free from the nuisance, but Zephyr watched on laughing at my misery.

This is why I hate children!

There's so much snot!

I want it off of me!!!

I glared at Zephyr, "Help me!"

Finally, he regained control over himself and rubbed the little girl's back, "Calm down. It's just fire."

She withdrew from my skirt and wiped her nose, "B-But I can't control it… I always burn people by accident."

"I can't believe this." I let out a groan and ran my fingers through my hair, "So all of you really can't control your magic?"

The boy who she'd been arguing with looked at his feet with a somber look, "Whenever I'm upset I cause lightning to strike the ground beside me… It got so bad my family had to put in a lightning rod so our house would stop getting hit."

The second boy with chubby cheeks pouted his lips, "I kept making strong wind currents and my family sent me here because they were sick of it… I haven't seen them since."

My eyes widened, "You haven't seen your parents?"

All because of some pesky wind?

"I'm an Earth attribute." The third boy spoke in a dark tone, "I was plagued by intrusive thoughts telling me that I was going to accidentally bury my baby brother. I would always dig up my backyard to find him… One day my parents caught me burying a metal casket and they found my brother inside. He was perfectly fine, but they didn't trust me around him ever again and sent me here."

…Okay that one makes sense.

The little girl looked at me with sad eyes, "No one wants to be around kids like us who have no control…"

I looked at the entire group with complicated emotions. There were only four children, three boys and one girl, but they all shared the same experience.

Did the Academy really expect me to help them!?

Unlike these snot-faced brats, I never had an issue! How do they expect me to teach them!?

I have no experience with losing control!

At least I don't think so…

But I don't have any idea how to help them control it regardless.

Also…

Do I even have the qualifications?

The last time I was around children like this was at that terrible orphanage…

And that didn't end well.

I let out a groan and covered my face. I muttered out silently, "Bea…"

The little girl tugged at my skirt, "You can help us, right? They said you have excessive mana like us."

I felt guilt tugging at my heart.

There's no way I can possibly help these children.

But looking at their faces, I don't have the heart to say otherwise.

I let out a sigh and slapped my face. I looked at them with a stern expression, "Okay. I'm going to teach you yoga."

Zephyr flinched beside me and stared at me with wide eyes.

The little girl tilted her head, "What is that?"

I smirked at her, "It's a beautiful form of art."

A girl raised her hand.

I smiled at her, "Yes?"

She spoke with an innocent expression, "Isn't art evil?"

My eyebrow twitched, "Why would you think that?"

One of the boys spoke up, "Everyone thinks that."

I let out a disappointed sigh, "What kind of reason is that? If everyone thought magic was bad, would you as well?"

He thought deeply for a moment before nodding, "Probably, yeah."

I let out a groan and pinched the bridge of my nose, "Well it's not evil. Try to think for yourself. If you let others think for you, you'll only hurt yourself."

I clapped my hands together, "Okay. First, we are going to start with the warrior pose. Just do what I'm doing… Extend that leg more… Okay… Good. Just like that. Now we are going to move to downward dog. Just follow my movements and-"

*poot*

I glared at the pudgy little boy who turned red, "E-Excuse me."

I let out a sigh, "Let's do the upward plank pose instead."

The kids all cried out as they struggled to maintain their form.

One of the boys clenched his jaw as his arms shook, "Is this a summoning ritual or something!?"

The pudgy little boy cried out, "It feels like exercise but it doesn't at the same time!"

The silver-haired girl's face turned red from the effort, "It truly is demonic!! They were right about art!"

I ignored their cries and spoke confidently, "Breathing deeply will help you control your overwhelming emotions… Focus on your core… Find your center… And breathe."

I closed my eyes and smiled in nostalgia.

I almost forgot…

In my other world, I would take yoga classes.

Whenever I thought I was losing my mind, it helped me in my darkest times…

How could I forget?

The bell tolled, announcing the end of class. I wiped my hands on my clothes and smiled, "That concludes the lesson for today."

The kids collapsed in exhaustion, each one sharing their complaints.

One cried out, "How will this help!?"

I smirked, "You didn't lose control, did you?"

They all frowned at me.

I ignored their disappointed looks and walked away with a flip of my hair, "Have fun, brats."

Zephyr rushed after me, staring at me with a strange look.

I gave him a glance, "What?"

"You're weird."

My eyebrow twitched, "Are you trying to start a fight?"

He shook his head, "No. Just… How do you know this… Yoga?"

I gave him a look, "Do they not have that here either?"

"They don't… At least the humans in this era shouldn't."

I muttered to myself, "I don't even know what that means."

He pursed his lips, "Also, how did you not get burned by her flames? Are you using necromancy again?"

I glared at him, "You know I'm not. I made a promise."

"Then how? Magic?"

I averted my eyes, "You could say that."

He narrowed his eyes, "Explain."