Chapter Twenty

I woke up on the cold hard floor of my room in the mansion, I was holding my neck as I sat up from the wake. I got up from the floor and sat on the bed, it was all like a dream I could remember the pain but I couldn't feel it anymore.

I walked into the bathroom to wash the sweat off of my face and the water felt colder than it usually was, I wonder why.

"Strig!", I called as I was walking back into the room.

"Yes Casto", he answered.

I was just making sure he was still there because the way he went silent during my encounter with Ayxask left me wondering.

"Why did you go silent that time? And what happened after I blacked out? Was it all a dream?", I asked.

"It was like I was put in a cage where nothing I said could reach you, although I doubt I could have done anything about it, I'm not supposed to be in your body, but they are", he replied.

"They as in WRATH?".

"Yes, I'm just a secondary soul that gives you the ability to control the book of swords, I'm supposed to be here so I'm powerless over the ones that are supposed to be part of you", He answered.

"Okay, but what happened to me after I blacked out? all I can remember is the deathly pain can't remember anything else", I asked.

"I don't know what happened, all I saw was that the purple ball of light shined brighter and brighter until it just went poof!", he replied.

I was about to ask him how I even survived that pain, but I was startled by the knock on my door.

"Hey Casto, let's walk to school together!", Axy said from the other side of the door.

I had forgotten that today was a school day. I quickly took my shirt off and dashed toward the bathroom.

"Just give me a minute to arrange myself!!", I yelled. I didn't get e response which meant she had either left without me or she was waiting for me, regardless I still had to get ready I didn't need another professor to make a fool out of me for coming late to class.

I went into the bathroom and like every other time I had come in here I looked at the mirror first, I always like to look at the marking on my right hand left there by Strig and which had made me continue to wear a long-sleeved shirt ever since I started at the academy.

I looked at the mirror the mark was still there but the was something different, I walked closer to the mirror to get a better look.

"Strig? What is this?", I asked Strig.

"I have no idea, it wasn't me but I'm very sure it came from your encounter with Anguish", He answered.

"Will it allow me to control his power as I do yours", I said as I rubbed my hand across the center of my chest where the huge gothic style A was embedded.

I walked down the stairs hurriedly, Axy was sitting on one of the chairs in the main living area downstairs.

"Let's go", I said as I zoomed past her heading for the door.

"What about your breakfast?", she asked.

I turned, stared at the bread that was placed on a plate for me, I walked over to the dining table and grabbed the bread off the plate and stuffed it in my mouth. I spread my hands in a gesture of 'happy now', then I walked out the door, she just chuckled and followed behind me.

It was quite a long walk to the academy, mostly because I was trying to get to school fast and she was taking her time. It was tiring.

"So, did things work out like you thought they would with the book of wrath and all that?", she asked.

"I'm still checking, I'm not sure about anything yet", I replied.

The rest of the walk was more silent than when you walk through a graveyard in the middle of the night.

It felt nice to have someone to talk to in a house I now call home, but at the academy, I was still the outcast, with my outcast coursemates, and well it was okay at least for now I could act normal even though I wasn't but I could blend in with my coursemates too.

"See you back at the mansion", Axy said taking the right pathway toward her class.

I focused forward put my legs in gear and fired straight to class, I walked past the assembly hall and just at the tip of my left eye u saw something move on the roof of the assembly hall, it was like a shadow looming over the building.

"Can you see that shadow on the roof", I asked Strig after I stopped to get a better look.

"No, I don't see anything, and keep your voice down", He replied.

'You mean you don see that shadow-like figure on that roof?', I asked again.

"I don't see anything, what exactly are you seeing", He asked.

'It looks like it has wings, with four legs, that's all I can see it's a shadow with wings and four legs', I replied.

"I've never heard of that one before".

'How do you not see it? I thought you can see everything I see, I said.

"I don't know", He replied.

I kept staring at the shadow on the roof and I felt chills all over, which made me walk fast into my class building, I swear it was staring at me before I walked away.

Can other students or professors see it, or was us just another thing that would make me stranger than I was already?

One thing was certain I hadn't seen anything like that before finding the name of one of the spirits of WRATH, I needed to find out what had changed and how much it had changed.