It's time I take my studies seriously because exams are overhead—And by overhead I mean tomorrow and I haven't even started. I am going to graduate high school before going to the purgatory. I threw three thick books at my table and asked Lict to play me some classical music as I study. Lict played the harp behind me while I started memorising my spells.

I will not sleep tonight!

That's what I thought but I don't know when I slept. I woke up in the morning. I was on my bed, covered with a blanket over me and Lict slept beside me. It was still early morning. I heard some noise from the kitchen. I was ready for thieves. I picked up my sword which was lying on the floor—But won't it be a bit extreme to cut down a thief?

I kept it aside and decided to enter the kitchen barehanded, like a fool. The voice was coming from the fridge, jokes on the thief to have decided to rob a fridge out of everything in a mansion as huge as this.

I took the pan and ran towards the fridge's open door. It suddenly closed and I raised the pan. I couldn't see clearly in the dark. He looked at me, "How pansexual do you think I am?"

I went tak!
"Ow!"
Lict opened his eyes and got up from his bed. He slowly came downstairs where I was being killed by Lord Akagi as he grabbed my neck between his biceps and placed a gun on my head.

"I thought it was a thief!" I explained myself to him.
"Any better excuse?"
"I thought you died!"
"As you can see, it didn't stick,"

Melissa was busy enjoying all the treats kept inside the fridge, "Melissa, help me!"
"The front of the back?" She asked.
"Nevermind, kill me,"

Lict stood at the door. I knew he would help me but you know, I never realised how indifferent Lict is when he is half asleep. He went right through us and grabbed a tea kettle.

We just stared at him, "What?" He said.
"This bastard is okay now?" Lord Akagi asked.
"Yes,"
"So, we can play lick and touch, Lict?" Melissa jumped towards him.

"Melissa, how are you so energetic so early in the morning?" Lict asked her. His eyes were still narrowed because of how sleepy he seemed, which was pretty adorable.
"Because I'm not getting laid like you," Melissa burnt him so bad, the whole Moscow could've heated their assses this fall.

"Yeah, true that,"
"It's not true! I'm not laying you! You are not getting laid!" What was I even saying? I should've just gone back to studying.
"Has everyone else come back?"
"They should have," Lord Akagi drank some boiled water while Lict drank some green tea. After Lict finished drinking his tea, he was a complete;y different bastard.

"Good morning, Milady. Yesterday sure was pretty rough," He smiled. What the fuck?! Who was that guy before? This might be the first time I've seen Lict's morning mood.
"Anyways, go get ready. You have your exam today,"

"Yes—I will, in a while." I ran towards my room and opened my books, "I'm going to fail!" I was on the verge of tears but I somehow convinced myself that marks don't matter. Then, the bitch inside me said "They do, you dildo!" I spent thirty minutes calming myself down.

And the rest thirty in actually studying. After that, I sat inside the bathroom with my book in my hands. Half of my focus was on studying, the other half was on prayer to our lord and saviour to just make me pass the exam. Lict knocked at the door,

"Milady, you're late,"
"No, I'm failing!"

Lict calmed me down but I threw him aside and continued panicking. Brush—Lict brushed my teeth while I looked inside my book. Bath—It's not necessary—I skipped it and Lict sprayed some perfume on me. Breakfast—Lict fed me while I had my book in my hand. Lord Akagi stared at me, my stupidity irked him but I ignored him. I was doing an exam, not him! Let him judge. On my way to the car, I slipped on the ice and fell into the water.

"Oh, God!" Lict picked me up. Lord Akagi did a facepalm while Melissa laughed at me. I got up and went inside. I had a bath, Lict got me a change of uniform and I was out again.
"We are late!" I ran towards the car, Lict made a golden path below because he trusted my stupid and that I would fall again without it. Till the time we reached school, I studied.

I reached our classroom. We had already given our exams for practical music and mannerisms. Now, only theory papers were left. Math, Russian Literature, History and Magic. It was complete two hundred marks exam with 50 questions from each subject, objective and we had 3 hours to complete it.

"Are we not human?!" I shouted as I slammed my locker.
"...No? Wait—Should I have answered it?" I turned back and saw Galkin and Nadia stand against my locker. They were back!
"Hoho!" Slavik saluted me as he took out a paper from his locker.

"Do you have a pen?"
"You didn't get a pen on the exam day?"
"Wait, we have an exam today?"
Belka, Galkin and Nadia gave a weird stare at him, "Bruh,"

I met Evgeni and Lobelia in the halls. He smiled and waved at me. I went ahead and hugged him tightly.
"What the hell?" The entire school seemed to stare at us. I slowly moved away from him.
"What are you doing?!" He blushed from all the embarrassment and unwanted attention I got him.
"Sorry," Guess I got too excited.

The exam started at eleven sharp. Lord Akagi and Ms Sophie were our invigilators. It didn't take me long to finish all the other subjects. History, literature and math are easy and I just praised myself as I confidently filled in the circles. I lost my shit when I turned to the final section of magic. I prayed and then looked at questions.

"How are the three different forms achieved?"

So, this was the first question. I looked at the options and ticked the correct option. Okay, maybe the second one would be difficult?

"A demigod's powers are called a ____"
Sila. Duh.

"What makes elite stars different from other stars?"
Of course, option B—Many Magixiyas! Damn, I'm nailing it—

"This is a perilous exercise in which one summons up a powerful demon of type IV" ... I'm panicking again! Think Vierne, the options were Evocation, conjuration, Baptism, Neopaganism. Well, uhh. Can I cry?

Somehow, the exam was over. Goodbye books! I threw everything away and ran towards the school gate but Lord Akagi saw me. And after that, I was seen picking everything that I had thrown. This day is literally going so bad, I need to find a way to kill days!

The result was out the other day. I just hope I hadn't failed.

"I got an A!" I shrieked out of happiness! Oh my God—What's better than an exam which you think you had failed but you made it! Now, like a bitch, I was walking towards others and looking into their report sheets. Galkin got an A+. I moved away from him and looked at Slavik's sheet—He got an A+, heh. What the fuck!

Leave it! Marks don't matter!
A single sheet of paper can't decide my future. Heck, I'm a gatekeeper and these guys are not!

Now it was time for us to celebrate our graduation. I decided to cherish my time with other fellow demigods because from what I knew, life in purgatory was going to be very hard.

The music played in our practising hall. There were food and dance. They called a DJ. Best of everything, there were drinks.

Evgeni and our other junior demigods came to dance with us. I couldn't believe that Evgeni didn't know the hipster dance. So, we both just danced randomly and laughed at each other. Though, he soon got tired and sat back. Lobelia proposed that they make a pact in the third form. And they did.

Once she was into his soul, he had the strength to dance with us again. We even had a dance match between Slavik and Belka where they both danced and we formed a circle around them.

https://youtu.be/K6XNkcC6o68

The juniors weren't allowed to drink but we could so we did! I think, out of my entire high school, graduation was the best! We played truth and dare and Aleksei revealed that he's actually twenty-two and graduated four years ago.
"Creepy ass shit," Evgeni reprimanded him but then he explained that he was here to keep a close look on Lict.

After that night, all of us went back home. Slavik and Galkin went back to Alkinshime in the east of Siberia, over the Arctic circle. His parents were preparing for his coronation now. Slavik became the commanding officer of the Alkinshime army.

That night, everyone was gone and I was drunk, standing on my balcony. Lict was drunk and asleep on the bed. I heard the knock on my door and turned back. Lord Akagi stood at my door. We both stood in my balcony. We quietly stood and stared ahead. It was late at night, almost morning now. I hadn't slept that night.

He was about to light up his cigarette but then he stopped and threw it aside.
"Giving up smoking?" I asked.
"Well, I guess I should avoid all possibilities of uterus cancer,"

I laughed and then we both looked at the trees touching the horizon.

"What are you thinking?" He asked.
"I am wondering that our chains are broken but," I turned towards him, "Are we truly free?"

"I guess," He replied and I shrugged my shoulders in the cold, "Where do we go now?"
I looked ahead at the orange, rising sun that turned the entire sky pink and lavender, "Wherever our Sila takes us,"

"And what about those who don't have a sila?"
"Lord Akagi," I turned towards him, "No one is you and that is your Sila. Everyone has a Sila. Sila means power, not magic. Everyone has powers to protect what they have and fight for what they don't. In the end, it all comes down to how brave you are to unleash your inner strength, to explore your Sila," I was soberer than ever when I looked into his eyes.

"It's unfair," I pouted.
"What is?"
"I still didn't get your autograph!" I was after it since day one!
He chuckled and took out a pen from his shirt's pocket, "Turn back,"
I quickly turned back and he signed over my uniform's shirt.

"Lord Akagi, I have a favour to ask for,"
"Say it," I got up on the balcony's stone railings and he looked at me.
"Could you please look after this mansion. This is everything I have and I don't want to lose it again," 
He smiled as he looked at me and that made me weak,

"I guess I'd love to live in a mansion,"

-To be continued

Vierne | Lict
Dear Ms Lady Demigod