I am leaving

Chapter 4

Age is just a number but love is timeless…

 Time seemed to pass, the silence was deafening, Mia wished the ground would swallow her because she did not understand why she talked back at him, he just killed a man in front of her!

 Tavon looked at her and scoffed.

 She tried to touch her neck, where he grabbed her but felt dirty because of the blood stains. It made her want to cry more.

"But you… you on the other hand, killed a man" She said, remembering what she saw earlier.

 That was her very first bloody human scene, fear and tears engulfed her. 

 Why was associating with him, bringing so much blood?

 Tavon looked at her with a hard glare and she swore she saw his eyes flicker from blue to red. More like, from life to death, she gulped, nervously.

"That is none of your business," he said, staring daggers at her.

"And I do not want to hear any of it from anyone or you are dead, I mean it!" Tavon said, with menacing eyes.

 She takes back what she said about him, being all that handsome and great.

 Shamika was right, he was merely showing off at daytime and being a killer at night.

"And stop with those foolish thoughts!" He yelled, suddenly at her.

'Did I tell him to read my mind?' She thought, sarcastically, as she rolled her eyes.

"You really want to die, don't you?" He asked, with a stare that sent shivers down her spine and she decided it was best not to answer.

'No' would sound very sarcastic to his ears and 'yes' would be a death wish.

"You really do not know how to keep your thoughts well hidden, do you?" Tavon asked, like he was getting frustrated in waiting to end her, any moment.

 He walked towards a plank and pulled off his cloak, bringing out different weapons, as he laid them on it, Mia frozed.

"No, no, no, I can keep thoughts very well. I am very skillful, in that field" she quickly told him, as he scoffed.

"Fine," Tavon said, facing her

"Do not tell anyone that I am the famous secret assassin, who is rampant. Trust, you can do that for your life?" He asked

"What?! Secret assassin! Certainly!, I can keep that!" She yelled each word, nervously, which made Tavon raise an eyebrow at her.

 She tried not to think of anything but everything was feeling her thoughts too.

"I have a condition too," she said, clenching her hands beside her dress.

"You do not have a say in this, thank your stars you are still alive"

"You have to help me tomorrow to cast magic" she pleaded. 

 Tomorrow would be her last day here because she is writing a letter to her father, to get her out.

"I am not interested," he said, packing his things back.

"So, that is why I can hear your thoughts, you have no magic cultivation" Tavon said, straightening up.

"You are below poor, I will advise you to leave this centre or they will chase you out themselves, your choice" he added, as he packed his things and went to open the door.

 Mia contemplated following him but when she remembered the horrid being, she questioned herself no more and followed him immediately.

 The horrid being was nowhere to be found, she only saw the man that was killed and heaved a heavy sigh.

"He was a demon," Tavon said, jolting her.

"What?!" She asked, not believing her ears.

"I do not just kill people, I kill demons" he said, as he started walking and she followed closely behind him, glancing back if she could see anything but she didn't. 

'If the man was a demon, does that mean, Tavon was doing a favor to mankind?' she thought, within her.

'Then what about his features?, the red eyes? The anger?' She was not sure if she should believe him or not.

"I don't really need your help, I can do it on my own" she found herself saying but he did not reply her.

 Soon, they were out of the forest and he walked away, like nothing had ever happened. 

 Mia ran to her room with her voice shouting in her head that she would never in her life, come out at night in the centre, in her house or in the future!

Thank goodness, she was leaving soon.

•••

 The next day, Mia sent a letter to her father that she had written the night before, through a magic owl. Everyone knew that was the way to send letters, so it wasn't hard for her to find one.

 She just could not wait anymore, wishing he could answer her today.

 At noon, Mia, her housemates and other students were gathered in the fields, listening to Master leoric who was also the centre's leader, giving his speech to welcome all new intakes.

 He was a middle aged man, tall, white-haired, with clean shaved beards, little blue eyes, no wrinkles at all, he reminded her of Tavon.

"Mika, what do you think, he is so handsome, today?" Lydia asked in a teasing manner to Shamika who was slightly embarrassed.

"Be quiet," she said, glancing at him, hoping he did not hear.

 Mia looked at them confused.

"Oh dear Mia, I am going to explain to you, what is happening, Shamika is in love with the master leoric" Natalia said and the rest of the girls burst out laughing.

"I have my secret in the wrong hands" Shamika said, sighing.

"Once again, I see no reason why she can not like him, he is attractive" Georgia said to them.

"Oh yes, imagine you falling in love with my papa?" Lydia shot back.

"Okay, eww, I will never, I can not fall for a male version of you. First off, master leoric is not a father, his wife died years ago and he is still very eligible to get married, he is 40 years old!" Georgia almost screamed as everyone looked at them.

"Male version of me? What do you mean by that?" Lydia asked, boiling with anger.

"Do you want to show us Georgia?" Master leoric asked from where he stood. He had not even finished his speech but she was already against it.

"No, continue master, I am sorry" Georgia replied bowing and everyone's focus returned to him.

 Lydia rolled her eyes and Natalia giggled, as Shamika turned to faced them and said in a low voice:

"He is 40 and I am 19, I know he might never look at me that way, which makes him such a gentleman but I am very much satisfied with just looking at him all day, he makes me feel at peace, which is something you can never understand" 

"We did not mean it that way," Natalia said, feeling bad, immediately. "I am sorry" 

"Do not worry, it is my reality" Shamika said.

 Mia did not know what to say in this context, she has never been in this situation before.

 What was it like to love a silver fox?

 All of them were immediately in their own thoughts before Shamika's words interrupted Mia's thought.

"He calls on you" 

 Mia looked up to see some students already lined up.

"Show them, Mia!" Georgia screamed after her, as Mia walked up to stand beside the new intakes.

'Show them what, exactly?' She wished she had disappeared sooner, what is she going to do?!

 She looked at the rest intakes who were already preparing to show off their skills, there were 12 in number, including her.

'It's not too late to run right?'

 She glanced around and when she saw, people were not looking at her but were fixated on the girl who was performing a fire dance with her sword, she started walking to another direction which was empty, to escape.

"Mia Castro, you are next" 

 Mia stopped in her tracks, embarrassed that someone had caught her, she turned to face the person but was also amazed to see thousands of eyes on her.

 Wonderful, just wonderful!

 This type of attention was what she hated.

"I… well…" she found herself, stuttering, looking at master leoric.

"It's your turn, come on," he said.

 Mia had to walk towards them again, beating herself mentally.

'So, this is where she goes back home?' 

 Come to think of it, It is even better. She just has to tell her father that they threw her out, so she has no way of going close to Tavon. 

 She is going to miss her room, new friends and everything but this is where it ends.

"You stated here that you are at 3rd grade level, show us what you have"

3rd grade?! How could she control the wind?

'Father really did a lot' she thought, sarcastically.

 According to Arcanador's magic pact, there were six grades all together. 

 The first grade mastered the ability to gather, control, gain water energy and eventually convert it to fire.

 The second grade, manipulates fire and could unsheathes their swords.

 A person's sword, totally marked with them, after that and most people had their family swords, passed down, from generations.

 The third grade was able to control energy in the atmosphere- manipulate wind and that is what she was asked to do.

 She nodded as she stood, facing the crowd, they looked eager to see what she had to offer, especially her housemate's but she is going to disappoint them now. 

 She could not believe she was about to disgrace herself in front of many people, but they don't know her, anyway.

 She clasped her hands together in front, like she had seen Carina doing, trying her best to focus on the nonsense she is about doing, as she closed her eyes 

'I am sorry Carina, I wanted to stay in this centre for you. To make you proud but I forgot, I do not have the power to do that'

 She removed her right clasped hand, as she drew it back slowly, while still closing her eyes, she felt herself, turned swiftly and with one leg and the other to the ground, a gushed wind followed her seemingly dance posture, her clothes swirling before she landed her other feet on the ground, producing more air, shocked and confused, as claps followed after.

 What just happened? Did she just do magic?!

"That was okay, Mia. Thanks for the performance" master leoric said, as she nodded and walked back to her housemates, not sure if she knew herself anymore, she was dumbfounded.

"I loved it," Natalia told her, giggling like she always did, when she came back.

 She watched as others continued and her eyes darted to the left, seeing Tavon, he was leaving.

"I will be back," she told her housemates.

 She walked faster, following him. 

"Tavon!" She yelled, as he turned to see her, he sighed, looking away.

"Good day, Tavon" she said, when she got to him.

"Good day" he said simply, as he started walking.

"Well, did you watch my performance? I totally did it on my own" She asked, a bit proud and Tavon chuckled.

"Oh, did you just laugh?" She asked, surprised.

'He is so handsome when he laugh' 

"Why are you following me, anyway?" He asked, looking at her.

"I… uhm" she stuttered, suddenly shy about his ocean blue eyes looking at her and Tavon rolled his eyes at her thoughts.

"Well, I want you to train me"

"I thought you said you were good?" Tavon asked, with a smirk, that she wished she could slap off.

'Of course but I don't know if I just hallucinated my powers or how I came to have any in the first place'

"I can not teach you, teaching you would take forever" he said, as he ruffled his white hair, looking away.

'He is so, breathtaking'

"Tavon!" She called, when she saw he had walked five steps away from her.

"Stop it, stop trying to associate with me!" He suddenly yelled at her.

 Back with the bad attitude again?

 What's his problem?

"What do you think you like about me?" He asked, facing her.

"This is just a facade and you already know that. You are supposed to run and not daydream about it" he said, livid with anger.

"I am… sorry" she said, not knowing why she was even apologizing in the first place.

 Tavon tightened his grip on his bag and turned to walk away but stopped.

"My father can know how to open your cultivation fully" he said, as he walked away briskly and Mia tried to take in the new information.

 Right there, she tried to form fire, water but none was working.

 She hitched her breath as she formed air but it did not work! 

 Oh goodness! Is her powers malfunctioning? Or maybe, it's because it is not fully opened but what even opened it?

 She had a lot of questions and no one to answer but she had hope that Tavon's father would.