The Figures In Black

Gian quickly peeked his head out the now shattered door.

Several figures were skilking about; black robes and black hats that fit like cones on their heads. What was most interesting about them was that they seemed to hover instead of walk.

'The trains under attack?' he thought, looking back at the group. 

The girl in glasses was hyperventilating, staring at the corpse with her hands pressed against her face. The potion girl seemed more intrigued than scared, whilst the enthralled boy didn't seem to even realise what was going on.

"What do you think did this?" the potion girl asked, running her fingers along the corpse's charred flesh.

Gian scoffed at that. "What do you think?" he asked sarcastically, pulling up his system. "Magic of course."

Once his system was up, he invoked the quest name, and another window popped up.

━━━━⊱༒︎ 『Beginnings of a Messiah』 ༒︎⊰━━━━ 

Quest difficulty: Unknown

Description: An unknown force poses a threat against the Messiah candidate. Foil their plans and make a statement. The Messiah is not a force to be trifled with.

Completion Criteria: Paint the words 'The Messiah is here' with the intruder's blood.

Rewards: 5 gold coins + 1 additional coin for every enemy slain.

━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ 

Gian quickly read over it. He had never taken a life before, but that was not what he was most worried about. It was how he would take a life that would be difficult. He didn't know a single spell, and judging by the state of the corpse on the table, his enemies didn't have the same restrictions.

"Hey, what are you doing spacing out for?" the potion girl said, snapping her fingers in front of Gian's face. 

He rubbed his eyes, and the system screen disappeared.

"I said, this couldn't have been magic," she said, looking back at the corpse. "The first law of magic, remember," she added.

Gian just looked at her, confused.

"Magic may not be used to directly harm others?" she said, as if stating the obvious.

Gian looked through his memories. She was right. This form of magic had laws, three to be specific. Magic shall not steal a life. Magic shall not heal. And Magic shall not corrupt.

'Then how? This was obviously done with magic.'

Just then, footsteps approached their cabin.

Gian gestured for everyone to hide, though there weren't very many places to hide in this cramped cabin.

He looked to the cabin across for them. The wooden door hung on its hinges. Three of the students in the cabin lay lifeless on their seats. However, he noticed one of them, a girl, hiding under the corpses. She had her hand over her mouth, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

He turned to the potion girl. "How strong is the fire spell you used earlier?" he asked.

"Not enough to blow someone's head off, if that's what you're asking," she whispered back.

Gian pointed to the girl in the other cabin. "I just need you to draw attention towards her so we can escape."

The girl with glasses looked at him wide-eyed. "We can't do th—" Gian held her mouth. The footsteps were getting closer.

"Now," he whispered hoarsely.

The potion girl hesitated for a moment before mouthing a spell under her breath. A small bolt of fire shot out of her wand, lighting some of the shattered wood in the other cabin. This ember quickly grew into a small fire.

Smoke began to fill that cabin. The girl began coughing before struggling to escape from beneath the corpses.

'Good.'

"Why!?" she shouted.

The footsteps approached at a quicker pace. 

She ran out of her cabin, turning to look down the hallway. She froze in shock.

"P-Please. No," she screamed, stumbling backwards. "Please." Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried crawling away from danger.

However, a moment later, a black flame zipped through the air, burning her face... her skull clean off.

Gian had to cover the glasses-girl's mouth even tighter. He could feel her body shivering under his hands.

The footsteps kept approaching, before suddenly stopping.

"This section is clear," a hollow voice said. "Move up to the higher cabins," another voice replied.

With that, the footsteps began retreating. Once they were out of earshot, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"You—You killed her," the girl-with-glasses whispered, her eyes shaking as she looked at the dead girl's corpse. "She didn't do anything wrong, and you killed—"

"No. We killed her," Gian interrupted, slowly peeking his head out the cabin once again. "You're still alive, aren't you?" he asked.

"We gave one life up for four others. Pretty good use of maths if you ask me," he said, looking towards the potion girl. 

"You're sick," she replied. "But not wrong," she added. "I just didn't know you had it in you."

Once Gian was sure that there were no other black figures in this section of the train, he walked out into the aisle.

The potion girl walked out behind him. "What do we do now?" 

Gian took in the scene in front of him.

The corridor was choked with smoke, its walls scorched black and slick with soot. Small fires flickered along the edges of shattered cabin doors, their flames dark, almost oily, burning with an unnatural stillness.

The air stank of scorched fabric and something far worse.

Gian stepped over the dead girl, his boots crunching on glass.

"You're asking me?" he asked, staring at one of the cabins ahead.

Its interior was charred beyond recognition. A hand, blackened and rigid, reached out from beneath a splintered table. Somewhere down the hall, in the higher sections of the train, he could hear screaming.

'From what the figure said before it left, I'm guessing this is a coordinated attack,' he surmised. Meaning that these men were no doubt trained, on top of the fact that they somehow defied the laws of magic.

"Do you think it's the Derilith Empire?" the potion girl asked.

Gian ignored her. He didn't care who it was. All he knew was that he would get coins if he killed them. 'But how do I do that?'

"Can you teach me that fire spell?" he asked, turning to face her.

Her brows furrowed. "Yeah, okay," she replied.

He pulled out his wand. "Just explain to me the basics, I'm a quick study."

She stepped back. "Wait, you mean now?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, now."

She fumbled for her wand, her eyes scanning empty space as she searched for the right words to say.

"How do you reach for mana? Explain to me what your thought process is when you draw mana from your core?"

The girl looked up at him with a confused expression. "Core? What do you mean?" she asked. 

"Whatever you call it," Gian snapped. "Where do you collect mana from?"

The girl shrugged and gestured towards the air. "Everywhere?"

Then it clicked. That was why people here needed wands. It all made so much sense. Why, despite being 17, this body's mana vessels seemed completely unused. Why things like mind control and spatial magic existed. And probably why magic couldn't be used to kill.