𝕰𝖕𝖎𝖘𝖔𝖉𝖊 𝟒: Meet the *mAgIcaL* Teachers

After a one-week-turned-two-week break, I've finally, finally, written the fourth Chapter. Enjoy!

[PRE-READING WARNING: Laying the angst on thick in the beginning. Mentions of self-harm, suicide.]

[NOTE: I asked some of you what you wanted your zodiacs' mentor to be. Some of you I obeyed and some I didn't since I already decided. I apologize.]

--------------------------------

The next morning, Barry woke up with the warm sun shining in his face. Groaning, he rolled over, squinting at the clock. 

1:03 p.m.?!

His eyes snapped open instantly and he jolted out of bed... only to immediately regret it as his entire body protested against it. Ah... that's right. He flashed back to yesterday, the many strenuous hours of digging through the weeds, clearing them out, and sharpening the weapons. His back, arms, legs, and entire body in general ached-but at least he wasn't alone. Everyone else has looked and probably felt as worn out as he was.

But it's a school day! I need to get up!

Carefully, he lifted himself (unwillingly) out of bed. Barry stopped, thoug, when he noticed something on thet able. Limping over, he saw that someone has set out a plate of baby carrots for him. A paper peeked out from under the plate. Curiously Barry tugged the paper out and read it.

Heya roomie,

You were sleeping pretty soundly so I didn't feel like disturbing you. You're probably as tired as Ryuu is so here're some carrots, so you don't have to go all the way downstairs to eat. We're out shopping. Be back soon!

-Rita

Her handwriting was shaky and the letters slanted into one another, making it hard to read, but it was nevertheless hers. Barry looked warily at the carrots, then noticed an extra note at the bottom.

P.S. The carrots aren't poisoned. It's hard even to write at this point, much less prepare poison (which is a process that requires rather delicate hands, which I currently DO NOT possess)

Cautiously Barry set down the letter and popped a carrot into his mouth. To his surprise, it tasted... really good. Crispy and fresh. It cleared his mind and energy coursed through his veins. Barry gobbled them down in an instant, (thank goodness his teeth weren't sore as well) then flipped the letter over. Grabbing the nearest pen, he clicked it open.

Thank you.

- - -

Walking downstairs after hurriedly (well, as quick as he could manage) changing, he found a tired-looking Dracaena sitting at the table, scrolling through Pinterest and looking at clothes while sipping a cup of coffee. She looked up when he entered, smiling tiredly. "Hey there, Chorie."

He mustered up a smile back. "Morning. What about school? Why are you just sitting here calmly?"

"Ea pleaded for us," Dracaena said. "Bless his kind soul. So Emp agreed to pull in a few favors. The day is ours to use-that is, until 4:00, when we're going to go back for more training."

While Barry was relieved that he wasn't going to immediately fail school when he'd barely even begun, he was also very terrified at the idea of training again. "Oh, okay... then do you know where the others are?"

"Mm." Dracaena stirred her coffee idly. "Dorian, Liesel, and Nagini are all still resting. Poor dears were all worn out by yesterday. Ryuu let Rita take over, so he's technically resting.... however that weird body sharing works. Evon, Nadia, Chaol, Rita, and Vinh are out shopping. Colt and Mason are resting still as well-or outside goofing off, not sure."

That... sounded like a recipe for disaster.

"They'll be fine," Dracaena reassured him, as if reading this mind-or worries. "It's only a simple shopping trip. What could go wrong?"

- - -

A lot could go wrong, as it turned out.

Halfway through the shopping trip, Evon stumbled, then promptly passed out. He'd only gotten about 5 hours of sleep last night, even as tired as he was-and had spent one of them with nightmares, and the other tossing and turning-and had still dragged himself out of bed to accompany them on the shopping trip. It was only natural that he would fall, but what was unfortunate was the fact that Evon had fallen towards Chaol, who caught him, then dropped him because of how sore his arms and fingers still were. 

Thankfully, right before Evon could crack his head on the cold grocery aisle floor, Rita lept forward, turned him into a baby swaddled in cloth, and he dropped into the shopping basket Vinh had shoved under him at the last moment.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close," Rita sighed. "Honestly, that boy needs to sleep more-!!" Suddenly she bent over, her body racked by coughs. 

"Hey, what-?!" Vinh stopped.

Splat, splat.

Blood dripped onto the ground. Rita stared at the blood on her hand, dropping out from her mouth. "Huh...?"

The next moment her eyes fluttered closed and she fell over. Nadia rushed to catch her and checked her pulse. "That's not good. Vital signs are slowing down."

"This baby over here is fine," Vinh reported. "Out cold, but sleeping peacefully."

"Let's first get back to the dorms," Chaol said. He dropped off some money at the cashier stepped outside, and transformed into a large white tiger. "Climb on already!" He growled at them, the groceries hanging from between his teeth.

After a moment's hesitation they obeyed, and Chaol sped away. Vinh, despite the bad situation they were in, couldn't resist yelling, "Faster, sensei, faster! Giddyup!" To which he snapped back, "Don't f*cking treat me like a horse, dammit!"

Five minutes later they sped into the dorm. Chaol turned back into a human. "I've got the groceries, you guys hurry up and go!" He snapped, looking irritated.

Nadia nodded and they hurried into the house, only to be met with a horrific sight-an unconscious and barely breathing Mason, his arms and legs bleeding along with his head from many scratches. He was being cradled gently bridal-style in the arms of an extremely worried Colt, whose mouth was pressed into a thin frantic line.

Dracaena was cleaning up the blood and scratches. Barry ran in. "I found the bandages!" Liesel appeared. "Here's the disinfectant!" 

"Thanks!" At that moment Dracaena noticed the others. "What the-What happened?! Why is Evon a sleeping baby?! Why is Rita unconscious too!?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Vinh replied, looking like if Evon's safety wasn't relying on her abilities as a baby-carrier she'd be rushing over to help Dracaena. "What happened to Mason?!"

"We were climbing trees," Colt said in a voice tight and tremulous, although he was trying his best to hide it. "And this monkey here fell. He passed out during the fall and... I couldn't catch him in time." He clutched Mason a little tighter in his arms.

"It's not your fault," Dorian appeared at the doorway. "Move aside, I know how to do this. You take care of Rita."

Dracaena nodded and handed the bandages to Dorian, turning to Rita. "How did this happen?"

"We don't know," Nadia answered, adjusting her hold on Rita carefully. "Evon fainted halfway through the trip. She turned him into a baby in order to make sure he wouldn't get a concussion. After that she just started coughing up blood and passed out next."

Dracaena checked her pulse and body. "Oh wow. Her vital signs are going crazy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vinh asked, holding baby Evon in her arms like a stuffed animal but taking care not to squeeze too much.

"Outwardly she's fine," Dracaena explained in a rush. "But there's something wrong inside. Her heartbeat and bodily systems are going haywire and working overtime, most likely because of an emotional rush."

Chaol appeared. "Where's that snake?"

"She's calling our caretakers," Dorian called.

Chaol fixed his eyes on Dracaena. "Continue. What's wrong with her?" Rita had started shaking, breath becoming fast and erratic as her face twisted into fear. Her mouth said inaudible words, and tears fell out of her tightly closed eyes.

"Wait-I think I know!" Liesel suddenly said. "She's having a nightmare reaction!"

"A what?" Vinh asked.

"A reaction to a nightmare!" Liesel explained in a rush. "When you have a nightmare-or a bad dream in general-it's because your mind is bringing up parts of your past or conjuring up images you don't want to see or remember, often making you feel scared, enclosed, or overwhelmed, depending on what the nightmare encloses and how serious it is. Because of that, your mind will subconsciously want to force itself free from the cause of the fear and try to force you awake-part of the reason why sometimes you'll wake up in a cold sweat or because you had a nightmare. I think that's what's happening to Rita, but for some reason, she can't seem to wake up!"

"Dammit!" Vinh gnashed her teeth in frustration. "At this rate, if this continues-!!"

"Move aside!" Barry ran towards them. "I think I can help-my special ability, Blue Aura, lets me emit an aura that can calm down people around me!"

"It's worth a shot," Dracaena encouraged him. Nadia nodded in agreement, dark eyes sharp with worry.

Barry took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Holding his hands, he began to glow-a lovely blue color. It surrounded him, then fell onto Rita.

Instantly wave after wave of images-memories-hit Barry and he collapsed, unaware of the shouts around him as they crashed relentlessly into his head. Blood, darkness, so much darkness... pain... suffering... 

He saw a younger version of Ryuu-or at least he thought it was him. This Ryuu had messy, slight long dark chocolate brown hair, and was dressed in a long black trench coat. But his eyes were the same-blank and unseeing as they were to this day, except, if it were possible, to Barry, they seemed almost even darker and more lifeless than they were currently. He saw him use Rita's ability to torture countless people, to kill, to threaten. He saw him fight side-by-side with an unknown brown-haired man, but that memory was tinged with pain so deep Barry's heart might as well been sliced. He saw him... kissing... that man, but it was so brief he thought he might've imagined it-and like the other one it came with a wave of guilt, heartbreak, and other complicated emotions. He saw a memory, of blood-stained hands as the very same brown-haired man from before memories-the one that I killed-bled to death in his arms. Why? Why did I kill him? Why did I let my ego get in the way of the only friend I had in this world? I want to turn back time, I want to die, just let me die already, why can't I just die I want to be dead-

"Barry! Barry!"

His eyes snapped open and he was abruptly jerked from the dark sea of memories as he became aware of Liesel, kneeling in front of him and shaking his shoulders. Unsteadily he stood up, and realized a single tear was sliding down his face. He touched it. "What... happened?"

"You dropped to the ground the moment you started using your aura on her," Dorian said. Mason was all bandaged up. Rita had stopped thrashing and her face was calmer. Dracaena checked her body. "Vital signs are steady now." She gave Barry a look. "I'm grateful you calmed her down, but now the question is, are you okay?"

Barry exhaled shakily. "Y... yeah. I'll be fine." From the looks he received, he knew they weren't convinced, but at that moment Ea materialized into the room. He glanced at all of them, swept an arm through the air, flicked his hands, and Rita and Mason were lifted into the air, encased in watery bubbles. "What are you-?!"

"Quiet," Ea interrupted Colt through gritted teeth. He looked at Rita first. "All good." Then he moved onto Mason. "A concussion and a couple of broken bones. An easy enough fix." He waved a hand. The water around them glowed, then Mason's wounds disappeared. He floated down, and when he touched the ground the water popped and his eyes opened slowly. "... Huh? I was... falling, and then-Oof!" 

Colt had buried him in his arms. "Don't almost die on me, again you... monkey..." Mason, unsure how to react, awkwardly hugged back.

Cal materialized again, in time to watch Ea lower Rita back into Nadia's arms. "She'll need more rest," Ea told her, voice tight. "But she'll be in a peaceful sleep. Evon as well." He nodded at Evon. With a wave of his hand both of them vanished-teleported into their beds, most likely. "You too," he turned to Mason. "Do not do anything wild or too strenuous for the next 24 hours, maybe longer, just in case." Without a second word Ea whirled around and disappeared into his and Cal's room. The door slammed behind him, the lock clicking with a scary finality.

"Is he going to be okay?" Chaol ventured, the tension in his brows disappearing a little. Cal sighed. "All of us at COSD care about humans, but Ea in particular holds humans very close to his heart. He blames himself for what just happened to you. I'd better go help him before he hurts himself beyond repair." And Cal hurried into the room.

Emp was the next to come in. His face was grim. "What does this mean...?"

Nadia was the only one who dared to ask, "What does what mean?"

If possible, Emp's face darkened more. "It means we might need to move ahead quicker than anticipated." He turned around. "Training is canceled today."

- - - 

Barry was checking the pictures that he took to calm himself down when he heard a groan. Ryuu slowly sat up in his bed, clutching his head. "What in the...?"

Barry stood up hurriedly. "Y-You're awake!" Taking care not to trip through their piles of stuff, he rushed over. Once there he couldn't help but stare at Ryuu's head. It was slightly choppy and uneven, reached past his waist, and was split clean in half vertically-one side was white, the other lilac-purple. If it weren't for his voice and the same facial features, Barry might've thought it was somebody else.

"It's the worst-case scenario, isn't it?" Ryuu grumbled. "Anyways, I want to-"

All of a sudden Rita appeared from nowhere, startling Barry. Shamelessly, she hit Ryuu on the head with the same crown from before and he fell over, out cold. "Sorry about that," Rita apologized-whether to him or to the now unconscious Ryuu-slumping over. His hair, which was usually in a side ponytail, wasn't right then and instead spilled down her back in wavy curls-which Barry found rather distracting.

Then she glanced up and he flinched as she pointed the crown at his face in an imitation of brandishing a sword. "Barry. While I was out, I felt someone or somebody calm me down. Was that you?"

"Y-Yes..." Barry stuttered. Her glare deepened, but for some reason, there was... was that... fear?... in her expression. "Dammit," She muttered under her breath. "Did you see anything?" She demanded.

Barry scooched back from the gleaming edge of the crown. "..."

Rita sighed loudly. "Argh, whatever." Before Barry could react she leaned forwards and grasped his wrist. He gasped as a cold rush flooded through him. A word-two words to be precise-wiggled into his brain. Mafia. Nyros. 

Rita sat back. Her face was white as a sheet. "No..."

"What?" Barry dared to ask. What did those words mean? "What's wrong?"

When she looked up he was surprised. It was a mixture of raw fear and desperation. "Listen, Barry-what you say, you must not tell anyone. Not a single soul, and especially not Ryuu."

"But why?" Barry's head was spinning in confusion. 

She clutched at the blankets. "The truth," the word were no more than a tremulous whisper, "The truth will break him." And Barry knew she was talking about Ryuu-but why? "He's trying, Barry. Trying. But he's more broken than he appears. If those memories get returned to him, his sanity will disappear and so will I."

D... disappear?

"So, promise," Rita said imploringly, looking up at him again. "Promise you won't say anything. If such a thing happens again, do not use your power on any of us unless strictly necessary. Above all, do not pry into this further."

"W-Why...?"

This time Rita gave him a wry smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes like they usually did. "Well, I'm your roommate, aren't I? And roommates don't share things that will lower the other roommate's opinion of them."

XXX

"Yeesh, what happened to you all?" Jake asked during lunchtime the next day. Both he and Luna had found them and promptly sat down to chat with them again. Thanks to Emp's many connections, he has 'deleted' a day from school-so technically today was only their second day of school. "You've all been moaning and groaning all morning."

"Nunya business," Chaol snipped. He was still grouchy over being used a horse yesterday and was brooding. 

"What sensei means is, we'd like to keep it a secret," Vinh corrected him.

Jake shrugged. "S'okay with me. Anyways, we didn't get to finish our sentence yesterday." The zodiacs all froze up.

Luna noticed this and laughed lightly. "Oh, don't worry. We're just going to state our abilities. No pressure intended at all."

"Mine's called Snapshot," Jake began eagerly. "It lets me perfectly capture any moment I want-which includes sight, sound, taste, etc.-and also transplant them into another person's head at will."

"Mine is Astral Projection," Luna said next, smiling. "I can turn the moisture in my body and skin into temporary illusions or an avatar to help boost my strength, speed, and stamina." To demonstrate she waved a hand and miniature figure of what looked like a mini Luna condensed out of water droplets, then disappeared. 

"Cool," Mason breathed. He was recovering nicely from his fall, although Colt had refused to leave his side and fussed over him like a mama the entire time. "Mine's called Mess. I can 'mess up' one person's ability and also project illusions, but only for one person." (Yesterday, they had all sat down with Cal's help they all decided which power they would use to at school.)

"Oh! I can create a large 'phantom' ram to help me fight-and also give me a physical boost!" Liesel raised a hand excitedly. "I call it my 'Phantom Fighter'."

The zodiacs listed them off one after another.

"My Howl, I can basically scream supersonically...Can somebody get me some more lead? I'm almost out."

"I can turn into a tiger and have all the tiger senses along with that."

"Uh well like enhanced reflexes, speed, and whatnot. OI DON'T LAUGH AT ME MONKEY-"

"Summoning objects... but I'm also a black belt..."

"I can turn into three elements, water, air, and lightning. One at a time."

"R-Rabbit Hole... basically teleportation but it's limited to 30 meters..."

"Spitting poison and blue fire! Take that, you peons!"

"Raaaambutan power up! I get power from eating more rambutans!"

"Well... mine's kinda bland compared to theirs but... prey-survival instincts. It helps me get out of sticky situations."

"Age manipulation for the currently non-existent Rita, object switching for me."

(Yeah I ended up too lazy to make them all do an intro to their powers when y'all already know them so... yeah. Apologies...)

Luna's eyes were gleaming. "That's so interesting! Say, when Abilities Studies start, do you mind if I could, maybe, look at them...?!"

"Actually," Ryuu said, interrupting her subtly, "I'm interested in the abilities of the Royals. I'm sure someone who's as observant abut abilities like you are would know everything about them." He flashed a smile.

Immediately Luna lit up like a firefly. "Long version or short?"

"Please, ask for the short one," Jake begged him. "Once she starts talking about powers, she's practically impossible to stop."

"All right then, we'll go with the short version for now," Ryuu agreed.

"Okay!" Luna clapped happily. "First, let's begin with the King, Felix Han. That's the bluenette. He's from a super-famous family and his older brother, Kuyo, is hailed as a national hero. His ability is called Unholy Light. It's hard to describe without seeing it, but I believe he uses his own energy and stamina to create up to six angel-like wings made out of light. They're fast, maneuverable, and paired with his brilliancy and ruthlessness, Felix quickly became King."

"Next to the Queen, Harin Lee! That's the redhead with the ponytail over there. She comes from a family famous for being able to control 'animas', which are like, er, spirit animals? None of them have an ability name, but she can control a tiger and also use pyrokinesis through it."

Chaol looked up. "A tiger?"

"Yep," Luna confirmed. "Though it's probably vastly different than yours; she can't actually turn into one like you can, or has the senses of one I assume. Harin has quite a temper, although she looks calm and innocent on the outside. Oh, and she's also kind of arrogant towards the Commoners... but with her powerful and versatile methods of using her tiger, she's definitely fit to be the Queen."

"Then we've got the Princess and the Jack! The princess is Sakuraku Madonna-the pale blonde pigtailed girl-and the Jack is Shinchino Asunamu, more commonly just called Asu. Sakuraku's ability is called Heart Measure-she can manipulate the distance between one person's heart and hers, so most people, even if they despise her, can't attack because she makes their hearts become 'closer'-therefore tricking her opponent into believing their friends or closer, so they can't make themselves attack her."

That's going to be troublesome, Rita whispered inside Ryuu's head. Ryuu hushed her and instead asked, "With that ability, she should be able to become Queen, no?"

"Well, Sakuraku's a sweet girl," Luna admitted. "And... not quite the sharpest. Plus, there are several restrictions on her ability. For reasons unknown, she has a flower 'trapped' in her left eye-I'll point it out to you later. Whenever she uses her powers too much she'll experience heart troubles that heavily affect her health. Also, she has to be able to fully see her target with both eyes and it only works on three people at the same time. She was chosen as Princess because of her good social skills-most everyone who meets her loves her. She's a total sweetheart."

"On the other hand, Asu is not such a sweetheart. His ability is Permeation, or more commonly just called 'Phasing'. It's pretty straightforward. he can phase through objects, the ground, attack, etc., but it takes a massive amount of energy and stamina for him to do so. If pressed, he can only use his powers effectively for a little over nine minutes or ten before having to take a break." Luna stopped to take a breath. "And for the Advisors-"

Again, the bell rang loudly, interrupting her not-so-subtly. Luna closed her mouth, looking dejected. "Awww... I wanted to finish..."

"You can finish later, let's go!" Jake grabbed Luna, tucked her under one arm, and ran off with a "See a later!"

Nadia noticed the smirk on Ryuu's face and raised an exasperated eyebrow at him. "You're planning another scheme or trick of some sort, aren't you?"

"No, why would I be?" Ryuu denied, but the mischievous twinkle in his sightless eyes said otherwise.

XXX

The zodiacs knew that something was up when Ea and Cal teleported them directly to the training hall, skipping the Steps of Patience. "Yes, yes, I know I said you'd climb every day, but Emp requested this," Ea quickly said before they could say anything. The lightness had returned to him, but there was a rather thick and disturbing scar across his neck that the zodiacs were certain wasn't there before. But Cal had said not to pry, so they didn't.

Emp was waiting for them in the Main Hall. "Ah, hello!" He had also returned to his cheerful self, but like Ea there was something dark that still lingered over him. 

"So, question," Dracaena immediately asked, "Does the fact that we just skipped the killer steps today mean that something worse is going to happen?"

"Yes and no," Emp said, grinning. "Today we'll be getting into the mentoring part of training."

"Lectures?" Vinh groaned.

"Sort of," Emp replied mysteriously. "Before that, though, I've managed to get ahold of a very special person today to give you a lesson in-"

"You are all earlier than I expected."

All heads turned towards the entrance as the doors slowly swung open to reveal a stunning person. It was a male, who looked no older than at least 19 or 20. He has long, dark blackish-purple hair edged in deep purple, with two parts sticking up in what looked like 'wings' sprouting from the side of his head. Part of it was pulled back by a fancy gilded purple hairpin and a skill pin. He was dressed in elaborate purple-and-while silk robes with skull pins, which matched the one in his hair and rustled as he walked elegantly towards them, revealing simple purple flats. He was carrying a purple umbrella over his shoulder, light lavender scarves draped on it. His skin was pale, his eyes swirling with shades of purple and black. There was a black mark under his left eye that looked like a spade.

He was not stunning in a flashy way-no, he was stunning in the way like the quiet beauty of a clear star-speckled night, a single ripple on a glassy still lake, the rustle between bamboo leaves, the clean drawing of a sword. A quiet kind of beauty, yes, and yet power still hummed in the air around him as he glided towards them.

"Ah-ha-ha, sorry about that," Emp laughed sheepishly. "But you're not late, either."

"I am glad about that." The male closed his umbrella. Fixing his eyes on the zodiacs, he tilted his head. "You were correct, Emperor. Their souls are quite disturbed indeed."

"What does that mean?" Liesel blurted out. 

The male closed his eyes. "Every soul has a Yin and a Yang soul in it. Yin, the darkness and negativity, and Yang, the light and the good thing. These are things I am very aware of especially."

"So... that means..." Nadia said slowly.

The man smiled and dipped into a graceful semi-bow-curtsey. "It's a pleasure to meet you, zodiacs. I am Hyades, the Taoist of Hades."

There was a rather stunned silence before Mason spoke up. "I thought Hades was the god of riches and the underworld, in Greek mythology."

"That is correct," Hyades replied. "But in this case, I am a manipulator of the darkness within you-" He held out one hand, a yin symbol swirling there. "-And the light." In his other hand appear the yang symbol. "As such, I can see your souls. Most souls I encounter have either a ruling yin or a yang, or in rare cases, harmony. It is a delicate craft. Souls can change at a moment's notice, like water. In this case-"

He pointed to Liesel. "Your yin is very great, but is ruled out by the yang you receive from those around you."

He turned to Ryuu and Rita. "You two are interesting as your souls have been split. The yin soul is typically female, the yang male-but the yin resides in the male, the yang in the female. And you, the male-you hold an abnormal amount of yin in you, that is ready to burst at any moment. Unusual."

He smiled a little at Vinh. "You do not like being oppressed, which feeds your yin soul. But with how you plan to achieve it, your yang overshadows your yin by far. You could say that the yang soul has been put to sleep-something I do not see very often."

Towards Chaol he said, "Your yin and yang souls are mixed together. Your goal is pure, but the methods in which you plan to achieve that are not so. When the time comes, you will have to choose if you want to go down the yin path for a yang goal, or a yang path for a yang goal. It is up to you in the end, but do not forget my words of warning." Chaol looked stricken, for the first time.

To Evon. "Your case is very similar to the Ox's. There is much yin inside of you, but your yang soul is very bright. I can see that what you did in the past was never meant for evil, but completely for good. I commend you for that." Although looking slightly confused, Evon smiled fondly as the faces of his siblings flashed through his mind. 

To Dracaena. "Impressive. Your soul is one of the few in perfect harmony-I suspect that there is a source of yin in your life, but there is another source of yang with you as well. Both are there constantly, so they balance each other out." Dracaena nodded, struggling to keep a calm face.

To Nagini. "You are used to receiving much yang from others-but in fact, that yang is convoluted, not a pure form, so it only feeds your yin soul. Thus, it has put your yang soul to sleep-but I also sense once you shed away the convoluted yang you've received, your yang soul will awaken once more, even brighter so." Again, even Nagini was speechless.

To Mason. "You have received much yin in the past, continuously so, which made your yang take a nap. However, once you ran away from the source of that yin, you slowly gained yang from not only everyone around you, but also learning to have yang for yourself, and as such your yang rules mainly." Mason smiled a little, thinking of his acrobatic, fun, adoptive family.

To Colt. "You're strange as well. You seem to have a lot of yang within you, with only occasional flashes of yin, but... it all seems very blank. Like a book that has not been written in. Curious."

To Nadia. "Your yang soul is pure. But due to the overwhelming amount of yin you've received from those around you, it too has been chained. I believe, however, it can be free again among the zodiacs." Nadia said nothing, but her mouth pressed together tightly. 

To Barry. "Your yin soul has dominated for so long that your yang soul has been scarred-corrupted, if you may. It was healed temporarily, but now I sense that unless something happens, your yin will eventually consume you whole." Barry clenched his hands, only to realize they were trembling-as was his entire body. His heart pounded in his ears.

To Dorian. "Again your yang has been corrupted as well by the yin. You pursue things, perfection when in truth it is your yin taking over. Like I said to the Rabbit, unless something happens, your yin will keep you chained to your idea of perfection forevermore, and drag you to the pits of Hell."

There was a very long moment of silence. Hyades's words had all struck them, in more ways than one. 

How... how does he know all of this...? Why... does he know this...?

"No!" Chaol suddenly shouted. All of the zodiacs looked at him and he flushed in embarrassment. 

Ea was the one who acted next. He sprang to his feet and with a wave of his hands individual streams of water swirled around each of the zodiacs. "You're scaring them!" he snapped. "It is unecessary to bring up their pasts and presents!" The water glowed and slowly each of the fear and panic and emotions that had started to crash over them ebbed away.

Cal hesitated, then put a hand on Ea's arm gently, mirroring what Ea had done to him earlier. [See Ch.2.] 

Ea ripped his arms away, but eventually let Cal's hand stay there. Slowly Ea calmed down. "Excuse me," and he hurried out of the room again. Cal ran after him.

"I-Is he going to be okay...?" Liesel ventured. 

Emp sighed sadly. "Ea is the water god-as such, like water, his personality can change easily depending on what happens. He's usually the cheerful person you all know, but... when he gets serious, it's nearly impossible to pull him out of that state. Only Calliope has ever managed to do so, along with our God."

"Can't we help-?"

"No, don't try," Emp said. "As a god, he can regenerate. As such, in his depressed state, he..." Emp didn't need to finish the sentence for the zodiacs to suddenly understand who had given Ea that scar across his neck.

Himself.

Rita cast a look over at Ryuu, who was fiddling with a loose bandage around his wrist. I never would've imagined that someone like him would feel the need to hurt himself because of us...

"Let's not dwell on that," Emp finally said. "But he was right, Hyades, there was no need to go that far."

Hyades, who had been silent up until now, lowered his head respectfully. "I did not mean for this. My power works unconsciously at times, especially when it senses such unique souls like these."

Emp sighed again. "Well. It would appear that some switches in the schedule are in order. Hyades, you wait here." Emp snapped his fingers and they suddenly found themselves in a different room.

It was relatively simple-glossed wooden floor, cotton rugs. Small plants of all kinds ringed the room. There were two trees in particular, growing in the far corners of the room, with metal wind chimes hanging from the branches. Pools of calm, crystal-clear water were in the ground. Lily pads floated on top and kois and other fish and an occasional turtle or two darted inside. Between the two trees, however, was the main focus of the oom-a large fountain of sorts, made from many different types of wood and materials. The twelve zodiac animals were carved onto it, among the other beautiful patterns. 

"Where are we?" Ryuu asked out loud. "I can sense that we've teleported, but where, I have not gained my sense about yet." He was still shaken from before-the terrified heartbeats of the people around him still ringings in his ears. There were terrified, he thoughts. And so was I.

"This is the Summoning Fountain," Emp explained. "We're here to choose a mentor for each of you."

"I thought that you, Ea, and Cal were our mentors...?" Evon asked in confusion.

"Well, yes," Emp admitted. "But in terms of abilities, our powers are too different from yours to properly train you. We handle the miscellaneous training; these mentors will train you in you personally in your powers."

It was then that the zodiacs realized that they didn't know what Emp's ability was.

"Hey, Emp," Colt piped up, "What's your ability?"

"Trade secret," Emp replied offhandedly, although they noticed he stiffened ever so slightly at the question. "Anyway, you'll train with your mentors for about two hours inside of private dimensions. Depending on how difficult it will be to train with them, I may or may not let you off a bit with the chores and writing. But," He continued over the zodiacs' quiet sighs of relief, "That does not mean you're through with them. You people still have half of the chores to complete, and you people have to continue copying and organizing-not to mention, you haven't even hit the studying part yet."

There were loud groans. "I reinstate my statement earlier," Dorian held a finger in the air. "If I die-"

"We'll arrange a beautiful funeral for you, yes," Nadia and Nagini finished sarcastically in perfect unison.

"Exactly!"

"Don't talk like that, honestly," Rita sighed. "I already have to deal with Ryuu's constant idiotic suicide talk."

"That reminds me, I saw a lovely bridge to jump off of earlier today..." Ryuu said part-thoughtfully, part-dreamily. "And it's above a lovely river too..."

"Not on my watch," Rita said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Just try it, I dare you to."

"We're getting off track again!" Emp sighed in exasperation. "I deal with suicide talk so much I just should get a counselor, honestly..." he muttered under his breath.

"Are the mentors going to be one-on-one or is this, like a group training session?" Mason asked.

"One-on-one," Emp confirmed. "The Summoning Fountain will summon-or choose-a mentor best suited to your individual tastes, personality, and abilities. It is never wrong, so even if you don't get along with your mentor at first, you'll eventually click."

"Huh," Dracaena made a noise between disbelief and curiosity. "How long does 'eventually' take, exactly?"

"Oh, one time it took a zodiac over three years until they finally clicked with their mentor," Emp waved a hand dismissively. "And another time one never truly got along with theirs. But that was a stubborn one."

"Sounds like sensei and me!" Vinh said cheerily. 

Chaol scowled. "Oi, I haven't forgotten about earlier, y'know. If you wanna be my student, you could at least show some respect! And it's sensei and I, not me!"

Emp's lips twitched. "Spectacular. Someday we'll have a group training session, but, right now, to put it bluntly, y'all are, well... Noobs." Emp frowned. "Wait, that's what they call absolute newbies and unexperienced amateurs, right...? In gaming...?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Dorian tried to search for the right words.

"Yep, that's exactly correct!"

The majority of the zodiacs jumped as Ea and Cal materialized out of nowhere. Instantly their eyes went to the thick, curved scars that had appeared on Ea's arms, then glanced at Cal. His eyes said We're fine. For now.

"Feeling better now?" Emp asked slightly hesitantly.

"Yep," Ea replied, although the light in his eyes flicked slightly. "And-oh, look! We got here just in time for the Mentor-Summoning!"

"Ah-right. Speaking of which, we should move on." Emp cleared his throat. "Please take one stone from the fountain each." 

When the zodiacs looked, they saw that there indeed were stones at the bottom of the fountain-smooth, gray stones that fit perfectly into each of their palms.

"Now, one after the other, dip your hands into the fountain's stream," Emp instructed them. "Ryuu and Rita, you two go first, then we'll go down the Chinese zodiac listed." With a snap of his fingers the zodiacs suddenly found themselves in their order as Chinese zodiacs-with Nadia bringing up the rear and Vinh at the front.

Rita nodded and vanished into Ryuu as he stepped forwards and put his hands, two stones in his hands, into the stream of water. 

Immediately a bright light shone from the water. There was a flash of light, then Ryuu drew his hands away-and in his hands were no longer two stones, but a pendant of some kind. Hanging on perfectly round beads so purple they seemed almost black was a round pendant with the yin and yang symbol on it. It glowed with a purple sheen. Attached to the bottom of the pendant was a rather large and long silver cross, the ends sharp and pointed. The whole thing was long enough to wrap around his wrists at least twice-or to wear around his neck.

Ryuu looked puzzled for a split second, before smiling a little. "I see.."

"You're a smart one, as to be expected from a Rat," Emp smiled as well. "Although I'm surprised. Your mentor is none other than the Taoist of Hades, Hyades."

Rita appeared again. "Huh? You mean... that purple guy?"

"Yes." Emp pointed at the yin and ying pendant. "That is Hyades's symbol, as the taoist. Each supernatural that can be a mentor has a symbol. That symbol will appear on your pendants, telling you who your mentor is. Of course, you don't know any of them, so that's why I'm here. I'll be decoding the symbols for you."

"Cool," Vinh breathed. "Am I next?" At Emp's nod she stepped eagerly forwards and put her hands under the stream of water. When she pulled them out, in her hands was a pendant like Ryuu's-except that her beads and cross were made out of gold. Her pendant had a golden sword and a set of golden scales engulfed in tongues of fire, with a golden sheen.

"The Archangel Uriel," Emp nodded. "How rare. Archangels almost never get summoned. Quite elusive, they are."

"I thought that was a Christian thing...?" Vinh asked hesitantly, roping her pendant around her wrist as Ryuu had done.

"Yes, but now that I think about it... your tempers are rather similar," Emp grinned. "She can't stand injustice against women either."

Vinh instantly perked up and bounced back into line. "Sensei's next, right?"

"Correct."

Chaol unwillingly walked up to the water. Cringing, he stuck his hands under the water. The moment the flash of light disappeared, he took his out immediately, shaking and drying them off. His pendant was silver, with a great white tiger seemingly sleeping inside. The beads were black, striped with silver; the cross silver as well.

"The White Tiger of the West," Emp said. "How fitting, considering your powers." Chaol said nothing, examining the pendant as he stepped back into line.

Barry went nervously up next at Emp's beckon, and put his hands under. After the flash of light his pendant was different as well-the cross was still silver, but the beads were a lovely shade of blue-green-gray. The pendant had a pale blue sheen and inside was a... "Is that a kelpie with wings?" There was a sea horse, but it had wings.

"Yep!" Emp looked delighted. "Another rare! There are only one winged kelpies in every one thousand, you know." Barry looked plesantly surprised, also examining it as he stepped back into the line.

Dracaena went up next. When the light died she yelped. "Ouch!" Her pendant was crackling with electricity, which had shocked her. There was a simple lightning bot in the pendant, the beads and cross made from a white-silver metal. 

"The female deity of lightning!" Once again, Emp looked delighted. "I haven't seen her in ages!"

"Cool..." Dracaena fastened the pendant around her neck, grinning as she slipped back into line.

Nagini practically strutted up to the fountain and put her hands under. Her pendant was unique; the beads looked like slithering snake scales, and the pendant had a curled up snake with a golden crown and eyes made out of real emeralds. The cross was made of gold and studded with emeralds as well. 

"Shesha, the King of Naga," Emp's voice sounded partly-impressed, partly-awed. "Amazing..."

This time, Nagini did strut as she went back into line, even flipping her hair. She was immensely pleased with her mentor.

Colt was next, and he actually tried washing his hands in the fountain (eliciting some chuckles), before his stone changed. His pendant, like Vinh's, had a solid gold cross and beads. The pendant was a simple laurel wreath over two crossed golden swords. 

"Nike, the Greek goddess of victory," Emp said. Cal cringed. "Gods, not her.."

"Is she, like, crazy or somethin'?" Colt asked jokingly, poking the beads to see if they were real gold. (They were) 

"In a... way," Ea chortled at Cal's expression. "She rather competitive, let's just put it at that."

"But she's a great combat teacher," Emp added. "And a valuable asset to COSD. Just make sure to tell her to fold her flappers in. They can quite literally burn you to a crisp." 

Colt brightened. "So she's the type that kills with hot wings?"

Dorian coughed politely. "Actually, I think the correct phrase is to kill with kindness, not hot wings..."

"Nah, the correct term is now hot wings," Colt argued, bouncing back into line. (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: First Colt phrase-butchering!)

Liesel laughed merrily at his jokes as she stepped up. "You make perfect sense yet no sense at the same time." Colt took a bow. 

(Okay random but I feel like the perfect nickname for Liesel would be Liesel Diesel because I just can't get that out of my head... thoughts?)

Liesel put her hands under the water. Her pendant was the planest of the group so far, with a wooden cross and beads, goated in a golden sheen like her pendant. Inside was a picture of fertile earth and grain and other earthly produces. A large heart was behind it all.

"Eir, the Germanic goddess of health," Emp smiled fondly. "Gosh, how many times has she saved out dumb butts..."

"I know her! I think!" Liesel said excitedly.

"... And how many times has she sent devastating plagues upon Earth..." Emp finished under his breath. Thankfully, Liesel didn't hear him as she happily skipped back into line. 

Mason couldn't resist a quick pat on her head before going up to th fountain. He was also very excited as he thrust his hands under. His pendant, like Liesel's, was made very simply out of wodd with a honey golden sheen on the beads, cross, and pendant. The pendant's picture was of a person, with hands covering their mouth, eyes, and ears. 

"The Three Wise Monkeys," Emp announced. "That's pretty rare that all three have been summoned."

"Monkeys?" Mason asked, confused.

"They embody the Japanese proverb, 'See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil," Cal explained. 

"Basically, one's blind, one's deaf, one's mute, and all together they're blind, deaf, and mute," Emp concluded.

"What?!" Mason blinked rapidly. "How am I supposed to communicate? Or train with them?"

"I think they'll figure something out," Emp soothed him. Colt hesitated, but reached over Liesel to put Mason's head reassuringly as he stepped back in line, thinking.

Evon went up next, looking slightly nervous as he put his hands under the water. His pendant was also colored uniquely-the beads and cross looked like they were made out of blue-green glass, with a subtle pattern of what looked like dragon scales on it. Inside the pendant was a blue dragon.

"The Blue Dragon of the East," Emp breathed. "That totally isn't fair."

Ea chuckled. "What a coincidence. White Tiger and Blue Dragon are both mentors-and of those two, to make it funnier. Hasn't it been over a hundred years since they talked after-"

Cal elbowed Ea hard, frowning. 

"Ahem, anyway, that's not important," Emp interjected quickly. "The Blue Dragon will be an excellent mentor to Evon." Evon nodded and stepped back, fingering the pendant and running his fingers over the cool glass-like beads.

Dorian was next. As the water looked clean, he didn't hesitate when putting his hands under-although he did take a moment to straighten out his clothes and hair before doing so. His pendant was also unique. The beads and cross were silver, but the pendant wasn't like the others-it looked like a large silver crescent moon.

"Ax Chel, the Mayan moon goddess," Emp swooned. "Ah, too bad it wasn't the chocolate goddess, her chocolates are sublime..."

"You'll get fat, Emp," Ea chided him, who sighed. "I know, I know... but still."

"We should've made you give up meat years ago," Cal agreed. "But... cheeseburgers."

"Yep, cheeseburgers."

"Well, you all look fine," Dorian offered, feeling the sharp edges of the moon as he stepped back in line.

Nadia was last, and was the only one who didn't showcase much emotion at all as she put her hands in. Her pendant, like Dorian's, was special-it was a large golden coin instead of a pendant. But like Liesel's, her beads and cross were made simply out of wooden with a golden sheen.

"Jurojin, one of the Seven Lucky Gods of wisdom and longevity," Emp announced, beaming. "He's super wise, like his name says."

Nadia didn't say anything, but a slight smile crossed her face, that showed she was happy with her mentor as she stepped back.

Emp let out a breath. "Okay... that's all of the mentors." With a flash of light they found themselves back in the Main Hall.

"So, are we going to meet them today?" Vinh asked eagerly.

"Not today, no," Emp said with a regretful smile on his face. "Like I said earlier, COSD is a large place and not all your mentors are easy to access. It takes typically three days for them to fully arrive."

There were some shifts in moods to disappointment.

"But don't worry," He was quick to reassure them. "It'll be worth the wait, I promise. But for now..." he glanced at the sun outside. "You should be getting to your dorms."

Without a second word he teleported them in front of their dorms.

"We'll be going now," Ea said, smiling at them. "See you tomorrow!"

The zodiacs all smiled a little at him, some waving. "See you tomorrow!"

- - -

From behind a pillar, a student snapped a picture of the zodiacs teleporting in with Emp, Ea, and Cal. He stored it in his envelope that already contained other pictures-some of them showcasing their other powers when they thought nobody was there, some of them teleporting again-then rushed off and ran to the private studies, stopping in front of the one with a plaque that read 'King'.

"Come in."

He hurriedly came in. Inside, sitting on a chair, legs crossed was the King of the school, Felix Han. A snake wound around his arm hissed at the student, who flinched. In one hand, he was playing with a plump red apple.

"I-I have these pictures to give you," he stuttered, giving Felix the envelope.

Felix opened it and looked inside. He hummed curiously. "Hmm... very good. You are dismissed." The student hurried out.

Harin's words when she'd heard that 13 new students would be coming ran through his head. 13? Well, I guess it's going to be wild.

He spun a knife in one hand and stabbed it through the apple. "Wild, huh?" A smirk slowly grew on his face as he looked at the pictures again. "Okay then. Let's see what kind of '[wild]' you can cook up for me."

- - -

The new 'transfer students' were suspicious.

No, they were not simply mysterious, but they were also very, very suspicious.

Of that, Elliot was sure.

First of all, their sudden transfer. Who the heck transferred 13 kids to high school out of the blue?! Second, their names-their names were crazy long and pretty unique. Third, apparently the short girl was fourteen and she still got in-not to mention her weapon, which he had no idea why it was allowed, the French blonde had no clue how to navigate school, one of the kids was blind, one apparently thought she was a goddess, and another pair seemed bent on causing as much mischief as possible. Elliot had never seen such a wild group of students.

Finally, they vanished mysteriously every day after school. Elliot had observed them keenly for the past days, and finally deduced they were mysteriously teleporting somewhere-by whom he wasn't sure, but he caught a glimpse of a redhead and a brunette bickering as they walked towards the group. Those two definitely looked too old for high school.

This was definitely the most interesting the school had gotten in a long time-and he definitely wanted to know more, like where they were going, what they really could do, and what exactly they were overall. (And yeah, he knew that they'd only been there for a day, but...)

Now the curly brown-haired teen crouched behind a pillar, watching a group of them eat and talk. He had all his senses turned on, automatically filtering out unecessary chat he didn't need.

"So, what does Emp want to us to do at school exactly?" That was the redhead.

"Oh, I know, destroy everyone?"

"No, you can't do that! It'll be bad for our image!"

"What image, we don't have one-"

"Well, Chaol certainly does-"

"I told you, that was Nicolas, not me!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say... I'm just kind of excited for the Ranking Battles."

"We'll get our mentors before that, right?"

"Shh! But yeah, I think so..."

See? Like he said. They were strange. He'd heard the name 'Emp' come up a couple of times already-the first few times he'd thought they were talking about Hemp seeds and was greatly confused. He pulled out a pen and paper and clicked it open. Normally he'd rely on a voice recorder, but they were rather faulty in bustling places like this.

Just as he was going to start taking notes, Elliot felt a tug on the edge of his jacket. Scowling, he looked turn only to find a kid who looked around 12 or 13 standing there. He had bright ocean-blue hair and was dressed in a large oversized gray cardigan, with worn-looking large pants stopping his knees and a bright rainbow-striped scarf around his neck. His right arm was in a cast with a sling, though, and his left foot was also in a cast-there was a black crutch under his left arm to help support him. His right foot had a black boot on it, but the rest of the leg visible was wrapped in bandages. And his eyes were the weirdest Elliot had seen so far-one had a star in it, the other a circle.

Elliot frowned inwardly at the child's injuries, and overall appearance. Weird.

The child tugged at his jacket again, more insistently this time. "Hey, Mister," the child's high-pitched, yet pleasant-sounding voice brought him out of his thinking. "Were you watching Nii-san over there?"

Elliot didn't really know what to say, so he just mustered a smile and said, "Yes."

To his surprise the child's face twisted into fear, and his grip on his jacket got tighter. "No! No! You mustn't keep watching Nii-san!"

"And why ever not?" Elliot asked, feeling slightly annoyed but more mystified at the same time.

The child's lip trembled. He cast his eyes down and when he spoke his voice was no more than a tremulous whisper. "Because... Nii-san is dangerous. The most dangerous person I ever saw."

---------------------------------------------------

So... we didn't end up meeting the teachers... because I got lazy... *wilts* I apologize... but it was just too hard. I hope you're all satisfied with the mentor your zodiac got, and if not, tell me now and I'll fix it while I still can!

I'm sorry if the ending was rushed... sigh...

[IMPORTANT NOTE: Elliot is not my OC but in fact, its_william's, who has graciously agreed to let me use his OC. Props to ya, William! *salute* For more information check out his OC book!]

And now we have a weird little kid in the mix who actually I know. We'll get to see him more later, rest assured! (I happen to know him very well...)

PLEASE NOTE, Chapter Five may take some time to write because I plan on getting some action into it. Chapter Six will take long as well, as I've planned some fun shenanigans for our dear zodiacs. ;)

- - -

Now for the difficult part.

I'm a young individual, as you all know, and for reasons unknown I have been able to produce monster chapters for this book on a fairly regular basis. Not many of you are aware, but before I came to Wattpad and truly dove into Wattpad, I had [disillusioned] myself and my view of the world to be all happiness and sparkles in order to attempt to block out the not-so-happy-and-light things that have happened to me in the past. I believe through the help of all of you, I have managed to stop my disillusioned thinking of the world and slowly adjust, also directing that through my writing.

However, being a writer doesn't always have its perks. I'm not sure about you, but I'm the type of individual who doesn't care very much about myself. I focus on not being a burden to others around me, and even [altering] myself in order to make sure others around me don't suffer from anything I do. As a writer here and as doing an applyfic, where people are actively reading because their OCs are in it and waiting for updates, it's kind of like the ultimate challenge for me. Can I write fast enough? Will I be able to portray their characters correctly? Are they happy? 

Recently I have been reading a webtoon on psychology, and I think it's been awfully eye-opening for me. I think that as an applyfic writer, I've developed a [dependent personality disorder] due to my smidge of [OCD] and strive to [be what other people expect me to be], part of why I keep on asking you about every single little detail about what your character would do if they were if in this situation, their dress, etc. Besides that, I think I have created a different disillusion for myself: am I blurring the lines of [what I am] and [what I want other people to see of me] and [what they expect]? After some thinking, I think I have. This applies to my real life as well. I'm a pianist and every time I finish playing I'll always ask my mom or dad or sister, "How did you think I did? Okay? Anything wrong? Improvements?" Like I stated before, I don't care about myself nearly as much as I care about what others see of me. This does not stop me from being shameless-heck, at school I'll boldly call out "Hi!" if I see any friends no matter no many people are there-but for me, if other people are not satisfied, then I am not satisfied either, like a [mirror]. As long as they are happy, then so am I. If they thought I need to work harder, then I need to work harder. I think I've fallen too deep into that hole to walk out, but I'll keep on trying.

Nikolai Gogol said, "The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes." I think this applies to Wattpad. When I first came here, I thought it was a very happy, writerly, fanfic and a safe place where I could myself. In recent times, I've been forced to see that it isn't. Wattpad has caused me great happiness, but at the same time great pain. I don't know how much stronger I can keep up my facade if these things keep continuing- the more I know about the people I know, the more it seems that the closest people have the worst kind of relationship. And I don't know if I'm ready to endure all of that. I haven't even hit 14 yet. Like I said above, I don't care nearly as much about myself as I do about all of you. It hurts me beyond belief every time I see you degrading yourself or saying negative things about yourself, and at the same time knowing there's nothing I can do because really? What can I do? Nothing. It makes me want to break down and start sobbing. Same applies to characters. If I see a character in a book or show constantly get bullied or get talked down by others, it makes me feel sick to the stomach. Something twists very uncomfortably in my stomach whenever I see 'badness' nowadays... 

As such, I've decided to take a miniature... break, of sorts. Don't worry, I'll still be updating-there're a lot of things I've planned for this book!-but the updates will just be more leisurely. Probably still as long, but I'll just mainly be flitting around Wattpad catching up on the things I might've missed, getting things sorted out, chatting with people, reading stories I haven't had times to read, reading fanfics anywhere and everywhere, finishing up that webtoon... I'm going to take this time to help myself think more about [what I need for myself] rather than [what I need to change in order to reach other people's expectations], as well giving other people a chance to perhaps realize they need to do the same. I don't know how long this will be, but for now I believe this is in order so I can get a better and firmer grasp on [who I truly am]. If any of you feel like this as well, you might benefit from this too.

Actually, I think I've made a small step just by saying this. I hate letting others see past what I project outwards to protect myself, and for a while now I've admired many people here for being able to say what they say to everyone. I would rather bottle up my emotions away and move forwards, so... I suppose it's something. (Now that I look back and read that... I feel really embarrassed.)

I thank you all for reading up 'till this point and sticking with me. *bows* (This is not a hiatus, just a message of leisureness.)

I hope you will all continue reading even as I continue my journey.

-awakened-angel-chan

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