forum Alfea College (Closed)

Started November 23, 2021 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Nissa laughed, shaking her head. "You're really something, you know? Come on. Let's go check out that Burned One."

Needless to say, when Saúl called the Queen of Solaria saying there had been a Burned One prowling in the woods outside Alfea's barrier, she was concerned. A military caravan was dispatched immediately, Saúl Silva at the head of it all. The large black train of SUVs drove down a stretch of paved road away from Alfea.

Farah watched from the window of her office, her chin lifted high in a projection of strength even when there was no one there to see it. "Godspeed, Saúl Silva," she whispered through the glass.

Nissa laughed, shaking her head. "You're really something, you know? Come on. Let's go check out that Burned One."

“Right now? You don't have a lot of patience, do you?” Mila chuckled, but not objecting to the supposed plan.

"Dowling and Silva are probably planning on moving the Burned One to another location." Nissa replied. "If we can get some info before they move it, maybe we can figure out where it was all this time."

Mila nodded, understanding her roommate's reasoning. “Well, then we’d better hurry.” she agreed.

(Cool)

After a while of walking, the barn finally came into view. "We're here." Nissa said, looking back at Mila. "Let's just hope they haven't moved it yet."

Mila nodded a little nervously as she shook a few stray sparks from her fingers. “I can't believe we're doing this.” she admitted, taking a deep breath to try to calm her magic. It was still a little difficult to wrap her head around the fact that she was so far past the barrier and even harder to think that she was about to come so close to a literal monster.

The forest around the barn had an eerie feel about it. From the way the girls approached it, there was no sign of Headmaster Silva or the Solarian army dispatch. There was, however, a wide double door that faced them, and it was cracked open slightly. Silence hung in the air.

"Well, let's get a look at this thing." Nissa moved closer to the doors, reaching to open them. She hesitated. "You ready for this?"

“As I’ll ever be.” Mila nodded, taking another deep breath as she joined Nissa by the partially open doors.

"Okay. Here we go." Nissa pulled the door open.

The inside of the barn was empty. A metal pole ran from the ground up into the roof and surrounding it was a pile of chains. The Burned One was gone, and there was no sign of the soldiers that took it. However, a door on the other side of the barn was also open slightly…

Mila blinked in surprise once her eyes finally adjusted to the dimmer lighting inside the barn and saw it was empty. “Uhhh… What?” she murmured, taking a cautionary step further in. “What the… What happened?”

A tangy, odd smell hung in the air of the barn. The chains on the floor hadn't appeared to be broken by the Burned One – they were still intact. It was gone, but it had been released by a person. It hadn't escaped on its own. The door opposite the one the girls had entered was slightly ajar, and a light wind blowing through caused it to creak open a bit more.

"Somebody let it out." Nissa said, inspecting the chains. "We didn't see any sign of Silva, or anyone important, so I don't think they already moved it." She turned to Mila, feeling a sense of foreboding. "Someone didn't want them to take it away."

Mila took a deep breath to keep her magic under control. “It doesn't make sense. Why would someone take a mindless wild beast? Unless… No. No, that makes even less sense.” she said, thinking out loud. The only explanation that kept clicking in her head was that the creature had seen something that a mind fairy would be able to uncover.

"Unless, what?" Nissa asked. "What are you thinking, Mila?"

Mila sighed and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. “Mind fairies. Even a monster has a memory. The question is what could a rouge Burned One possibility have a memory of that would warrant a “rescue”. And I'm only calling this a rescue because it's obvious that it didn't escape on its own.”

Saúl couldn't think, and he could barely breathe. Each of his inhales caused his lungs to burn even more with pain. The rest of the battalion members that had been with him were dead. Their bodies were slumped against the trees, not unlike his own.

He had no idea how he was still alive, but his wounds were great, and there was little chance that he'd live much longer since no one knew he was out here. His thoughts drifted to Farah as his eyes closed. His fairy. He couldn't imagine what would happen to her when she found out about his death.

The Specialist's thoughts, as muddled as they were due to the pain, were turning morbid – until he heard voices. There were other people out here. Even weak, his fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword, and he prepared to wield it, even if he was too weak to stand.

"Who's there?" he called as loudly as he could, glaring at the barn. "Come out now!"

Nissa turned, hearing a voice. "Did you hear that? I'm not hearing things, right?"

“No. I heard it too.” Mila nodded, a little worried as she looked towards the other door. “Should we… Should we run or answer?”

Nissa thought for a moment. "I think we should go see who that was. Someone could be hurt." She said, a bit worried herself. "Besides, whoever it is already knows we're here."