Chapter 9

Further north of the academy, beyond the vast grassland surrounding the academy, the mountain range could vaguely be observed. East holds a dense healthy forest, west holds more rocky territory, and the south inhabits the main source of water, a large river.

John runs towards the mountains with the sheet of paper in hand, they are expected to gather ingredients for a potion that is assigned to them. The paper had the list of ingredients for the Potion of Calm Mind and its formula. The quest requires both students to gather enough for each of them. The main ingredient Blue Flowerite is supposedly located inside a cave that should reside at the base of the mountains. Momo starts to pant from trying to keep up with John. He tries to slow down, but he hasn't felt tired yet.

"John… can we take... a break!" Momo speaks in a loud voice. He stops in his tracks letting Momo catch up. The base of the mountain should be about half an hour away and he knows this.

"We'll rest for a few minutes then continue. That'll give us two hours of searching before having to depart."

"Sure yeah whatever, but why aren't we waiting for the others. They have similar quests."

"That'll take too long and we still have to find the materials and gather them for the both of us."

"We shouldn't rush things, we still have a few days."

"True, but the faster we get everything the better off we'll be in the long run. Returning to school isn't an option after we left the grounds, at least not until we gathered all the ingredients."

John waits for Momo to regain her stamina before guiding her through the rocky path towards the mountains. Many small lakes rest near the base, some larger, some deeper, but they're all transparent with fishes swimming about. The air grows colder as they approach the base. A large creature left footprints embedded in the rocks and that tells them that they aren't alone. They notice four cave entrances embedded into the mountain. One led up, two down and the last one straight. They approach the last one. They can instantly see a vibrant red glow deep inside the cave.

Momo approaches with caution, observing the wall and ground. The ruby colored, gem-like flowers, have five petals. The flowers were the size of golf balls. Red thick liquid resides inside them, almost like a honey texture. At least two dozen were huddling together only a few inches apart. What catches John's eye is that some have already been harvested.

"So this is a flowerite." John says, kneeling down to take a closer look.

"This isn't the one we need. Ours are blue."

"I know, but we at least now know what it looks like." They search each cave, failing to find the blue flowerite. Momo wants to rest so she stays in the bottom cave with the red flowerite and while John walks around the mountain searching for more caves. After a while he finally finds one. The cave is basically empty except for a blue glow near the end of it. He approaches with floating fiery spheres to give light. The flower looks similar to the red flowerite except that it's more like a sapphire.

He uses the magic from the first magic class to open a small portal that can store objects before he harvests the amount they both need while leaving the roots as the instructions say. Afterwards, he jogs back to meet with Momo again. Momo shouts as if in pain. John begins to sprint fast.

A hulking, grey furred beast growls like a wolf as it nears boar-like tusks. Momo launches a rock-like spear puncturing its eye. Each time it went for a bite, Momo dragged a defensive pillar into its mouth. The creature effortlessly breaks the pillar and spits out the rubble, baring its large wolf-like teeth.

John grabs its rough, fur coat and throws the beast into the far end of the cave with all his strength. Afterwards he releases a constant wave of flames into the cave. The whines from the creature reminds them of a dog. He winces as a sharp needle pierces his leg. He feels his strength drain as blood gets sucked from his body. A green, red spotted flower pins itself into his leg, drinking with thirst.

"Son of bitch." He pulls his leg away, freeing himself. Maneuvering his arm towards the blood sucking flower, he blasts it with a ray of flames. It slithers into the ground's cracks protecting itself from the heat.

He grabs Momo's hand and runs with her, away from the mountain. Behind them a howl similar to wolves, but not quite the same, echoes through the sky. Somehow that thing lived and is angry from its last encounter.

"John, we have to go back. We need the flowerite."

"I already gathered them, we have to find some place to rest for the night." He continues to run with a limp.

"Oh, well, I can make a temporary campsite for us."

"No, that'll take too long and you need your energy. We'll leave that for option two." A stream of fire rushes into the sky before extinguishing. John makes his way to it with Momo holding onto the blazer. "Are you that scared?"

"That's why they call it scaredy cat. And it only happened because you left me alone."

"Yeah, sorry about that. It won't happen again." John sees Marcus rubbing the belly of a red dragon with Astra sitting by the campfire in silence.

"Hey." John calls out approaching them.

"Oh, hi." Marcus answers.

"So you have a dragon as a familiar. That's neat."

"Yeah, found him when he was young."

"Did you gather all the ingredients already?"

"Only the main one. I'll be careful though monsters lurk around that area." Two stones emerge from the ground.

"Go on, have a seat." Marcus offers. "The food is almost ready."

"Thanks." John and Momo respond.

"Do the two of you want to camp with us?" Marcus asks, pointing at the stone houses. "I can make one for each of you or if you'd prefer I can make one that'll fit both of you." Astra, John, and Momo turn red as they stare at him.

"We don't have that relationship yet." John says.

"Yet?" Momo joins.

"Ah, not what I meant."

"It's fine, I want that as well." She whispers in a honey tone near John's ear. "But I'd like to wait a bit more."

"Okay love birds." Marcus says with a smile before losing some of it. He stops himself from facing Astra and leaves the campfire to build two stone houses.

"What's going on with the two of you? I remember the two of you wouldn't stop talking during class and now out of nowhere you have some kind of wall between yourselves." John asks.

"We hit a rough patch."

"But this has been going on for more than a week. What happened?" Momo joins.

"It's my fault," Astra claims. "I pushed him away and he retaliated by shutting me out completely." Her eyes are damp as if she's holding out on tears. "I went too far. I realize that. But he's still the son of a monster." Her lips tremble slightly as her voice cracks. She takes a few short breaths before speaking again. "I can't be friends with someone like that, even if I have to sacrifice my own happiness."

"Do you really have to be so honest?" Marcus states as he looks at Astra for the first time in a while. Her hair isn't as elegant as when he first met her, it's as if she stopped taking care of it every morning. "I intended to let the bridge build itself back up slowly since I thought I did something wrong." His voice begins to crack. Maximus rushes to Marcus. "Not now." He says, recalling Maximus back. "I'll ask to be moved to another class."

"Marcus, calm down a little." John tries to intervene.

"Goodnight." Marcus shuts himself inside one of the stone houses.

"Astra?" Momo says, as Astra rushes into one of the stone houses and closes the exit with a stone door. John and Momo eat in silence before heading to bed.

Marcus reluctantly opens his eyes feeling a slight pain in his back. He did not sleep well. He exits the house and notices the dim light of the sky. The sun is still rising. John walks in the distance with Momo clinging onto his arm. Marcus stares in jealousy before glancing at the stone house where Astra lays. He leaves the campsite to hunt.

On his return he knocks on Astra's room and waits for a while, no response. Knocking again did nothing except make the surrounding more ominous with silence.

"Astra, you awake? We have to get going." Again no response. He moves the stone door in his way, curious about the absence of sound. She lays curled up, sound asleep with a blanket wrapped around her. "I want to fix things, but you need to be the one to apologize."

The random ruffling movement and quiet noises she makes, reassures him that she's waking up. She sits up and yawns as she stretches, not noticing Marcus in the entrance. He gazes in awe at her graceful, well-endowed figure. It's slender, smooth and muscularly lean. But what catches his eyes the most is the pair of silvery grey butterfly wings. His eyes shift to hers as she's starting to gather the information of their current situation.

"You're a demi-fairy!" He says with excitement in his voice.

"What?" Astra questions before noticing her loose clothing, showing parts of her bra. "What are you doing here?" She shouts before noticing her wings out in the open. "Don't look! Get out!" She yells covering herself. He rushes out and makes breakfast while waiting for her to exit the house before collapsing it. She eats her breakfast in silence then eats the rest of Marcus' avoiding his eyes. It didn't bother him much. He regrets entering without permission. So he decides to take it upon himself to cheer her up.

"So… you and Sarah are the same size?" Astra's fist comes flying towards his face at an incredible speed. He blocks it and looks at her teary face. It's beet red and she still avoids eye contact. "Look, I'm sorry I barged in without permission and saw you half naked, but I knocked quite a few times. So I got worried something might have happened."

"I don't think you're a monster." She admits. Finally looking into his eyes she repeats. "I don't think you're a monster. My family just has a negative history with your dad and I let that take over."

"You still hurt me when I did nothing wrong."

"I'm sorry. I want to go back to the way things were, but I know that it's too late." It's the first time he sees a girl cry other than Selena and Emily. Marcus puts his hands on her cheeks.

"We're fine. You apologized and meant it."

"I don't want you to switch classes! I don't want to sit by anyone else!"

"And you won't, I'll stay."

"My father's going to kill me. He doesn't like angels and I let my wings be seen before marriage." She cries, relaxing her body and falling onto her legs. Marcus drops with her, to remind her that he is there. He pushes his forehead against hers and starts to caress her head.

"I'll be here. Even if they abandon you, I'll be here." Marcus reassures. "After all, I stayed while you acted like a bitch."

"Yeah, you did." She leans in for a kiss. Marcus entertains the idea by lingering in front of her lips, but pulls away with a smile.

"You have to earn that." He stands and offers his hand. "Come on, we still need the flowerite."

"Have you kissed someone before?" Astra asks, accepting his hand. "I've seen some students do it, so I'm just curious." She attempts to clarify.

"No, I haven't, but I'll surely like to one day."

"What did you mean, by me and Sarah are the same size?"

"She took your place as my sparring partner and I happened to strategically destroy her clothes to see her figure better."

"You pervert."

"Now, no more lollygagging. We have plenty of time to talk after we find the purple flowerite." They start running towards the mountain. He glances back to check if Astra was still keeping up. She follows with lingering thoughts. Once they reach the base of the mountain, he summons Maximus.

"Why'd you bring him out?"

"It's good for him to get exercise at least once a day." They both search each cave not finding a purple flowerite, only blue, red and yellow after a few hours. Marcus harvests them for later. They both take a short break before continuing. After a few hours, they find the purple flowerite. He harvests enough for the both of them and a little extra.

They rest on the side of the mountain where a flat enough level resides. He notices that Astra isn't the most proficient in simple tasks. She keeps burning the food, breaking dishes, and is quite clumsy when not fighting. She was prone to tripping, though always recovered quickly not allowing herself to fall, but that didn't apply to anything she was carrying. It took Marcus some time to set up a stone-like dining table for them. He tries to position it outside the cave facing towards the stunning scenery, restarting when it looks a little off. The healthy green field with speckles of large trees. Clear water lakes around sections of the base of the mountain, housing different small creatures. Various types of birds soar through the clear sky, heading towards their destination, or playing with one another.

After they eat and enjoy the slightly burnt meal, Astra looms over the edge of the lake keenly observing it. Marcus sits in a chair trying to keep an eye on Astra and Maximus, since they don't know enough of the area. Maximus runs around like a dog in a new park, he tries to get familiar with everything, even the small creatures in the lake. He leaps in splashing water on Astra who doesn't seem to mind, in fact she seems happy. They gaze at each other for a moment, her joyful smile and his kind grin. She is extremely beautiful no one can deny that, but Marcus doubts that she'll accept him when he wants others as well. Her carefree eyes shift to worry, and fear as they peer behind him.

Curiosity entices him to turn around to see the problem and near instantly he gets impaled by a horn. The hard, boney texture embedded in him squirms causing him to yelp out in pain. The dense, powerful tusk belongs to a large hybrid beast. No sound was made when it approached. Marcus blames himself for being distracted by a gorgeous girl. Either way he got hurt by his carelessness.

"Marcus!" Astra screams alerting Maximus. He dashes towards the beast unbeknownst that there were two. Maximus gets tackled by a smaller beast with its fur burnt and missing eye. They both knew that, that was the one John was talking about. And the larger one attacking Marcus is most likely the parent. He grasps the tusk in front of him and snaps it in half. The beast steps back readying to charge. He pulls out the tusk from his body, pulling it straight out yelling in frustration and pain. Allowing his anger to fuel him, he throws it back full force interrupting its preparation, even causing major damage to its face. He covers the wound with wind as it gathers around the gap to stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down.

Drawing Valkyrie he lunges towards the creature, feeling a sharp pain after his burst of movement, and thrusting the sword with enough force to flip the creature and him over. With both of them on their back he leaps onto his feet and uses the opportunity to finish off the creature by slicing off its head. After a strong swing he notices that its hide is extremely tough, only being able to slice a few inches deep. It struggles to stand flailing around attempting to knock Marcus away. He buries most of its body in thick layers of earth restraining its movement. With each swing only the wound gets a couple inches deeper. He finally chops off its head. With worry he faces Astra, who has her sword drawn with fresh blood coating it, and Maximus who is redder than usual. The small beast lays in front of them lifeless.

He walks to them sheathing Valkyrie, forcing more wind to gather around his wound. Instinctively, he runs up to Maximus and checks if he has any wounds. After confirming that he only has minor scratches and bruises he gives him a strong hug which causes him to yelp. Marcus recalls him to allow him to recover more effectively. He faces Astra and searches for any sign of a wound. She attempts to stop him by slowly pushing his hands away.

"I'm fine, Marcus I'm fine." But it only incentives him to be more thorough.

"Are you sure you're fine?" He doesn't see any wounds on her, but he feels responsible.

"Better than you! We have to get that treated!" She gazes at the wounds.

"It's fine, I've had worse."

"You got stabbed." She mumbles as her voice cracks.

"It's just a flesh wound." Marcus tries to calm her down. He raises her chin and gives her a smile.

"That's not a flesh wound!" She yells, slapping his hand away.

"Come on, we have to head back to school. We lost quite a bit of time here."

"No! Not until we treat it."

"We can treat it better at school." Astra glares with determination only inches from his face. Her silver eyes stare brightly at him, not wanting to give an inch.

"Marcus, please!"

"Only if you can beat me in a duel." He offers. She frowns and draws her sword, forcing him to dodge and draw Valkyrie. His blade clashes with hers. It's quite obvious that she's far better than Sarah. She fluidly changes stances before she strikes, even if she is countered or parried, she adapts to it. Her blade cuts the side of his uniform as his thrust knocks her back. She has a habit of sacrificing herself to land a blow. She charges in blasting silver wind below her feet to increase her speed. Marcus does the same and collides with her before she could gain enough momentum. He ensnares her in a dome of wind to indicate that he's won. Of course, she didn't want to give up.

"Give up." He asks, sheathing Valkyrie.

"No!" She yells, punching the dome.

"You can't escape, just give up."

"Not until you let me treat you." He looks deeply into her eyes, contemplating what to do. He releases the dome.

"Fine, I'll let you do what you want."

"Remove your clothes." Astra orders without hesitation.

"When I meant anything, I didn't mean-."

"Marcus, not now!" She yells, ripping one of her sleeves.