Author: Grimoire, Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 6:27 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Idris thought they were just a pair of rulebreaking students sneaking around the campus, only to learn his assumptions were very off. For starters, that psychic shock should've handled any student, prodigy or not. And second–they were reacting like they were highly trained individuals. His bluff had been called, and now he was sailing through the air without any trace of his previous intimidating aura flailing his arms as a shrill cry escaped his lips. "Wait, this isn't ri-aaAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Bracing himself for the slam against a pile of books, his arms shielded his head and neck to minimize the impact. "Owowowowow, not so hard!!" He whined, rolling on the floor. What was going on here?!! He was just a scholar, a librarian! Since when did the students here get so violent? Idris didn't understand why these two kids were beating him up.

When he was hired here as a staff member he didn't remember signing up for this! Not only was the job monotonous and mind numbing, but the senior staff didn't like him either. His boss was a jerk, and the rest were a bunch of sticks in the mud. Alright, so maybe spiking the punch at a meeting with a voice altering potion wasn't the most professional thing to do. But it wasn't like the staff meetings were great to begin with. Seeing a glint of metal in the male student's hand, Idris dropped all pretenses and held up his hands. "Ok, you got me! Can't we talk about this? What do you want?" At this point he was going to be fired either way for failure so might as well bargain for his life while he still could.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:22 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

The duo were surprised that anyone had been down in the hidden library. If anything, Lewis was more surprised as the lack of presence the being had. Either that, or Lewis’ subconscious did not mark him as a threat…

The pressure in Lewis’ mind from the psychic attack was annoying, but having dealt with the Resonance for so long, n attack like this was something that held little actual sway over either of them. If anything, the link opened him up to a counterattack from the two. And, with the resonance, it meant that it was two on one.

“Submit,” Lewis demanded as he and Simone threw back the psychic assault. They were done with this damned academy, and nothing was stopping them from going home at this point. If Lewis had to end this man’s life in a flash, then so be it.

The ex-assassin readied his dagger, and readied a killing blow.

Author: Grimoire, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:41 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

While the two intruders were rifling through the forbidden section of the academy's library, a tall dark clothed figure materialized out of thin air. Naturally someone had to keep an eye on these books, and that person was Idris. In fact, he had been here the entire time–merely invisible to the naked eye. The faint scent of clove and anise drifted through the air as a man with silver hair and ebony skin loomed above the two. "I'm afraid this section is off limits, now–please leave~" A pair of thin rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of his nose as he moved his fingers slightly, causing several tomes to float off their shelves in a menacing manner. "If you won't comply, I suppose I'll have to send you out myself." 

This wasn't the most advantageous place for him to start a scuffle to be honest. First off, he couldn't risk setting things on fire. Second, there was no room for his other weapon. I mean he could use it, but not without accidentally causing collateral damage. If he damaged the books or they went missing, he'd get his letter of resignation handed in for him and then he could kiss this job goodbye. Sure it wasn't the most exciting and his boss was a jerk, but how many jobs let you drink at work? Since nobody but him came down here Idris was left to his own devices. Over the course of the year he would sneak in things like food and alcohol with growing frequency once he found he could get away with it. And so, many an afternoon was spent sleeping off a bottle or two of hard cider or spiced ale. Today's lunchtime beverage was a half bottle of absinthe. 

The half elf didn't know how these students got in, but as far as he was concerned all he needed to do was perform his duty (so he could go back to sleep). At once, Lewis and Simone would feel an oppressive force slam into their psyches, with a strong hint of magical coercion. Idris wasn't a violent person. A little psychic suggestion and memory tampering would suffice before dumping them outside through a portal leading somewhere else. Maybe he could plant some of his empty bottles and make it look like they had a drunken bender or something. 

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:14 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“Are Simone and Lewis alright?” Sophia asked as Terra wrapped a blanket around them both since they weren’t allowed inside since the dorms were being searched. Rachel and her group were listening in as the Goddess gave an answer.

“Those two? They will be fine. They might not look like it but nothing can kill them outright. After all, I tethered their souls together and it’s made them almost un-killable. Their love protects them… You can say…” She thought about it. “That Lewis is Simone-sexual and that Simone is Lewis-sexual. They don’t actually have feelings towards anyone else. It actually made Lewis vomit one time because some girl forced a kiss on him.”

“That… explains so much,” Terra shivered. “Like why Lewis threatened to take my balls off over her.”

“No, he’s always been that way since they met,” Angela said with a blank face. “Always. He was a very jealous boy and he’s a very jealous man now. Though he doesn’t kill as much over it now.” Angela was busy making sure all the students were being purified of the toxin they had been given. “So much work for me to do.”

Simone looked at Lewis and tilted her head. It has to be down here… That’s what they told us… There were so many tomes around them that Simone didn’t even know where to begin.

“Well… Ang did say to look for the most obvious books.” She began to look at the titles. “Something that would absolutely fucking stick out…”

… “Botanical for beginners?” She reached for it and it shocked her fingertips from the magic on it. “… Well… Ones that look like morons would read. In a library full of books that literally say The forbidden word on it. I guess now we know what she meant… but there’s nine of them down here?”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:01 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Everyone immediately got to work. It was impossible to argue with the angry Goddess. Anyone who did so was likely to be killed where they stood.

Or worse.

Xeik went to work, using his rather ‘unique’ healing skills to capture and interrogate the rest of the Academy staff. It was almost an even split on who and who wasn’t in on the experiment, and those who were innocent in it all were let go in order to help rally the students. Those who were, though, were handed over to Lewis for a more ‘experienced’ interrogation.

It was there that Lewis learned that, indeed, all nine books were in the forbidden library, a section that was hidden in the main one. It was a powerful spell that hid that part of the library from view, and it took Lewis and Simone together to find and break that spell. The two descended the stone steps into an underground part of the library. The smell of musty tomes hung heavy in the air.

I don’t sense any magical traps. Nothing physical either. I guess they had confidence in that concealing spell, Lewis thought to Simone. Do we really think they’re down here?

Author: Angela Rose, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:48 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Angela was listening intently and she left her lap with a rather big bang as she appeared on campus. The explosion that happened behind her rattled the entire building. The students were looking onward. “Miss Angela!” Terra was yelling. “They took them!”

“I’m aware,” Angela was wearing her lab coat and had her hair tied back. “You just could never do it right could you? Trying to one-up me. Trying to take credit for what I’ve done.” She took a few steps further. “XEIK!” She screamed as she forced the Divine Mender by her side. “Protect the students. I’m going to show you magic cancellation at a scale you’ve never seen before.”

She held up her hand and broke down the blocks that held the anti-magic spells. She clenched her hands breaking apart their basic magic ability. “There is no way in hell anyone would be able to attain a power like mine but let me show you what I’ve created. There is no other life in the observatory. Lewis… Simone… Show them what I’ve created.”

The entire building erupted in hellfire. Xeik’s job was to keep the students back and protect the rest of the buildings from the heavy fire. “Raine…”

The phoenix appeared and did her best to combat the fire back. “It’s too strong!”

Angela took her glasses off and tucked them into her pocket. “It’s alright you can come out now. I know you two broke the potion effects.” Emerging from the fire from above was not one but two naked beings with big black wings. They landed and Simone staggered a bit as Lewis caught her.

“This entire place belongs to me now… Xeik…” She looked back at him. “Now that we’ve been found out. I want you to interrogate and capture everyone involved in stealing my research. I’ve already sent letters threatening the other schools in Iria to send us back up or I’m withdrawing my books from their libraries. No one… steals my research…” She loomed over one of the teachers. “Absolutely. Fucking. No. One.” She made the guy piss himself as the hellfire went out.

“And get dressed you two… Your job isn’t done. We STILL need to find those books. If I’m right it wasn’t just three of them. There should be a set of nine of them. What Xeik uncovered is enough to convince me that all nine of them are here on the campus somewhere.” She threw them some of their work clothes and weapons.

“Interview the students. See if any of them have seen anything out of the ordinary,” she instructed Raine. “Lewis… Simone… Also, bring me the student from the infirmary. ANEMONE,” she screamed as a nymph appeared. “Locate the bodies of the missing students. If there’s anything left I might be able to perform basic resurrection. Let’s GO.”

Author: FalseHope, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:33 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“Of course,” Lewis replied.

Things are moving fast. We need to be careful.

The two were taken to the infirmary just as a precaution, and when all was settled, they headed to the conservatory. Lewis and Simome both sat down across from the Dean of Magic,

“Now, if I may,” the Dean started. “What you two have done is quite extraordinary. I’ve seen some magic like this before, but only from the most experienced of mages of my time. To have students who can do miracles like this…” He seemed very happy. “The advisor will be so happy to know that his little experiments have borne fruit!”

Lewis was immediately on edge. “Ex…periments?” he asked tentatively, trying to play into it.

“Why of course, Sir Lewis,” he said, getting up and walking over to the door, locking it. “It would seem that at least two of our tests have gone exceptionally well, over the hundreds we’ve done. You see…most of my students showed no change at all. A few bore enhanced powers, but at a small cost…while others were very unfortunate and seem to have lost their mana…”

His eyes were wide as he turned to look at Simone and Lewis. “But you two…are perf-”

“Fuck this,” Lewis said as he was up in a flash. He took a step forward for a magically enhanced attack and… nothing. He stumbled. “W-what?”

“Oh, I’m afraid that won’t do. See, even enhanced, you two are quite subject to all laws of magic…”

Anti-magic?

The Dean clapped his hands. “Now…it’s time to see just what happened….

—

Xeik had traveled to the darkest depths of a hidden library, toiling away at the name he was given to research. Professor Larian of the Angelus Academy…the Dean of Magic. That name was somehow familiar to him. He had read hundreds of books in the past few years on magical research, and he swore up and down that he had heard the name before…

“Wait, what’s this?” It was a report on the failed experiment using manaz enhancing drugs. Angela had forced him to read a few of these after he had made a joke about taking them for a shortcut. He knew better, but Angela was more than ready to slap his wrist if he even joked about it again. Something about this report was pulling him to it…

“Day two. Eight subjects, ages ranging from 6-12 have been gathered. The use of Project Celestial Aether had been greenlit. From this point forward, all subjects will be given equal doses of Aether.” Xeik gulped. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Subject one. Male. Age 8. After three days of Aether exposure, he has shown zero signs of improvement, nor has he shown signs of degrading.

Subject two. Female. Age 11. Three days of Aether exposure has shown a significant increase in her mana flow. Potential candidate.

Subject three. Female. Age 6. Three days of Aether exposure has lead to a serious decline in her health and mental state. Age is a potential factor, and will be noted for future experiments.

Subject four. Male. Age 9. Three days of Aether exposure has lead to serious decline in health and mental state. It is possible that age is not a factor. More tests will need to be run….”

Xeik shook his head. The whole experiment that had been run was inhumane, and could have been considered torture. Still, he pressed on. Something about this experiment seemed familiar to the events happening now. “A week after Aether exposure, and all of the subjects are now experiencing adverse effects. Subject two is barely holding on despite her initial increase in mana flow. For some reason, her reaction is opposite of the others. Her power grows as theirs weaken. Could this be a siphoning effect?”

“Oh no…” Xeik turned the page. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to keep reading. “Project Aether Shift has been approved. We will now proceed to force all eight subjects into…” He paused. “Into one super being.” He continued down the page. “With subject two as the center point, she will inherit all of the other seven’s mana. If our hypothesis is correct, she will…”

Xeik clenched his fists, ruffling the paper. “She’ll have the power to rival a god.”

“The experiment is a success. The other seven subjects have perished, but Subject Two’s mana output is incredible. The power that she holds can be nurtured and grown into something that can surpass the gods themselves, and into the realm of the celestials of legend.” Xeik turned the page.

“Subject two’s power has gone berserk. The mana is consuming her. The Aether we gave her was too much for her to handle, and her body can no longer take it. The Aether was imperfect, and the age was too much of a determining factor. Project Celestial Aether and Project Aether Shift have been deemed as failures, but the data we have gleaned is more than enough to set up a new experiment…”

Xeik shook his head. “So…this is it. The second step. The whole damned academy is a testing ground for this damned Aether bullshit.” He was getting mad. Having seen what the world had to offer, what life itself was able to give to the world…to effortlessly steal that life and future away from children was something that couldn’t be overlooked.

“Angela…” He knew she was listening. “Lewis and Simone are in trouble…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:03 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone’s eyes were azure too and there were a few like Terra who noticed the change in the two. “I’m fine,” she clung to Lewis which was to be expected from someone who was attacked suddenly by other students. He held her close and cradled her.

It was considered a rage-induced act but with this level of magic being used, it was amazing to the dean who was looking on.

“Bravo,” the dean was clapping as the students all backed off of Simone and Lewis. “The control of you both. I could see it. The mana transference.” This was bad. It didn’t look like they caught onto just how it had happened.

“I didn’t have time to cast my spells,” Simone lied effortlessly… It must have happened then.

“There are stories of complete trust being able to do such things… To witness it with my own eyes,” the dean seemed too pleased with himself. The nurses were on the scene to look at the students and Simone was being treated especially well.

“She’s completely healed,” the nurse was in disbelief.

“It’s quite possible that the sudden explosion of mana between them boosted her restoration abilities. This is an amazing find.” The dean was clapping more. “You both are a gold mine of information.”

Simone was nervous about this. “Sir Lewis… If you would join me at the conservatory once you are sure Miss Simone is alright… I would love to have a conversation with you.”

This scares me more than it should…

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:54 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

It started out as an innocent little revenge plot, but it quickly escalated into something much more. Lewis was trying to take the ‘let Simone handle her own problems’ approach, but the moment that blood had been drawn, Lewis moved to act. He took a step forward but was blocked by a group of guys.

“No going to save your girlfriend,” one of them mocked. He was a rather large boy with dark hair and freckles. He seemed to be the boy of the week that Rachel had on her arm. “What’s a scrawny pri-”

He barely finished before Lewis’ eyes flickered azure blue, and he was tossed to the side like a rag doll. For a phoenix, he was insignificant.

The other two boys made a move, but Lewis moved like the wind, throwing each of them to the ground. He took a step forward, and vanished, using magic to clear the distance between him and the girls. He appeared between Simone and Rachel, fury in his eyes. Shadows seemed to be growing around him as the dark magic he was so accustomed to using took effect.

“You had your chance,” Lewis said as he raised his hand. Rachel grew rigid, unable to move from the high level paralysis that overtook her. He raised his other hand, holding the blade, and pointed it to her neck.

LEWIS!

“You’re not even worth it…” He dropped the blade, and turned around. “Simone, are you okay?” The shadows were gone, and Rachel fell to the floor as the magic dissipated.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:42 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“Okay,” Simone looked excited as she took up a polearm. She was pretty decent at it as she swung it around her body and danced around with it. All eyes were on her. “What? My father had me learn basic self-defense?” It was enough to make others look away.

“Look at me,” Rachel mocked. “I know basic self-defense.” She was quiet about it as she got up. “I’ll spar with Simone.”

Simone looked wearily at it. She wasn’t about to use her magic now that it was considered an upgrade. Something was definitely off about it though.

Lewis… Look at her group moving…

She had been trained to notice things. Lewis taught her the very basics of being an assassin and spy. That was when the flurry of attacks started coming at Simone. FUCK

One actually managed to hit Simone and she cut the resonance so it only affected her. Blood was going down her arm from the sudden hit. The teacher was trying to get it under control but Rachel’s group just pushed him back.

“This is a lesson for being fucking snarky,” Rachel sneered. “You are in over your head. A little beating should be alright.”

“You are going too far!” Sophia yelled and Terra pushed her behind him once someone else was looking too aggressively at them.

Simone could defend herself against one or two but multiples had always been a problem for her.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:34 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

At the rate they were going, the whole academy would know their secret by the end of the week. Much to Lewis’ surprise, though, Xeik seemed mostly okay with the fact that Sophia now knew their secret. She, of the two of them, had the better head on her shoulders and would likely not spill the secret as easily as Terra did.

And maybe she could keep him quiet.

“Annie went missing, huh?” Lewis repeated. That was interesting. He had been keeping a tabs on a few of the other students who had dropped, and some had gone home, while others were still recovering in the infirmary. “I wonder if it had anything to do with the effects the potions had on them.” The ‘failures’ must have been the ones abducted. “If there is anything good coming out of this, it’s that Simone can’t be abducted now. She’s too high profile, and her presence would be missed.”

Lewis sighed, and leaned back into the couch as he mulled over more of the details in his mind. “We need to find the books before this ends up as a disaster. He stood up, and started to walk over to the bookcase, and he paused. “Some idiot student has been drinking in here…there’s an empty bottle of wine…” He glanced over to Terra.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t drink!” Terra said, holding up his hands.

“Right,” Lewis replied, not bothering to hide his disbelief.

“I don’t though!” he shot back, annoyed.

“No one here believes you,” Xeik added. “Hey, doesn’t he remind you of-”

“Don’t even mention his name. It’ll summon him here….”

—

Rhenakos was having a field day shopping with his darling Reva. The streets were crowded and bustling, and his darling daughter was happy, and that was all that mattered. Then, out of nowhere…he sneezed.

—

“I need to get back to Elysia,” Xeik said as he stood up from one of the other couches. “Angela will probably have some sagely wisdom. Or…not. Who knows at this point…” He opened a gate, and disappeared.

“Wow, that’s so cool,” Terra said as the gate closed. “I wonder if I can do that.”

“If you practice a lot,” Lewis replied. “But knowing you-”

Sophia huffed, “I can make him practice. Just watch me!” The serious talk devolved into a rather normal conversation, and the evening ended with the boys going one way, and the girls the other.

The next day was a slight change up from the usual schedule. A practical course was held during the first half of the day; swordsmanship.

It wasn’t exactly swordsmanship, despite the name of the class, but more a session that was designed around letting the students learn a variety of different weapons and styles that may suit their magical needs. After all, nobles were originally meant to protect their lands and their ruler. Sure, the actual practice had died out in lieu of standing armies, but nobles were always about their traditions.

Lewis knew better than to stick to his trusty dagger, and instead went for a basic longsword. His time practicing with Llywellyn had given him more than the necessary skills to be competent with the chosen weapon. For now, we just need to pass. No standing out. Well…maybe you can stand out a little, he thought to Simone. After all, she was the magical prodigy of the Academy.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:14 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone was nodding with all of them, “I’m worried but we’ll see what happens… If anything I’m more worried about the kids that have been falling ill and disappearing.” She held out her hands as she explained.

Terra came into the library with Sophia and Terra looked concerned. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to tell her.”

Simone looked up at Sophia and looked concerned. “Terra…”

“It slipped out of my mouth when we were making out okay!” Terra was looking to explain how his loose lips got him in trouble. Sophia was over hugging Simone and looking at her with concern.

“You should have told me!”

“We didn’t want to get people involved. Terra was an accident. We didn’t think his dick would give him loose lips,” Simone covered her eyes.

“Don’t tell anymore people. You are starting to make this dangerous.” Simone sighed a bit.

“No, it might be good for her to know,” Xeik was thinking about it. “Sophia, can you make sure that no one puts food in your dorm without Simone knowing? If anything looks out of place please tell us.”

“So what are we dealing with?” Terra sat down next to Lewis. “Super evil?”

“Essentially…” Simone sighed as they explained their working theory.

“But that’s fucking insane,” Terra almost yelled but he calmed down. “Listen, those kids who got sick? They haven’t come back. Annie? I asked her folks if they heard from her… Supposedly she went back home. They had no fucking idea she was missing.”

“When did you find this out?” Simone was instantly concerned.

“Yesterday, I had written a letter to her folks. They are business partners with mine.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:04 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Xeik sat down and thought about what he heard. “So, they’re comparing you to a deity?” He frowned. The idea that someone was trying to create the powers of a God or a Goddess was concerning. That kind of power didn’t just come naturally. It took a lot of learning, training, and sacrifice to get on that level. Even to become merely a champion, Xeik had to undergo years of training, and even then the powers were a lot to handle without even more fine tuning.

“This is bigger than we thought. Of course, creating something to rival a God’s power is impossible, but I can see even the attempts going horribly wrong. There have been different experiments all throughout history. Most ended with mere death, but others created abominations that were nigh unkillable, but…” He grimaced. “They couldn’t control it.”

Lewis crossed his arms. “So you think that this is just another grand experiment? And that they’re using the kids as test subjects?”

“More than likely. A school is a great place to do it. You have access to all kinds of magic, and silver is always flowing in. No need to find test subjects since they’re all here anyway. And with the constant testing, they have all the required data to run a successful study.” Xeik didn’t like this one bit. “These classes…you need to be careful Simone.”

“Like she needs to be told,” Lewis replied. The moment he felt something off, he would burn the whole academy down.

“Just…make sure not to eat or drink anything they give you,” Xeik replied. “Be wary of any sprays or mists that might come your way as well. Just as a precaution.” He sighed. “I’ll report this to Angela and see where to go from here. For the time being, just keep up the charade, and see what else you can find.”

Lewis nodded. “If you can, look into the Dean of Magic and the Dean of Potions here. The Dean of Magic was pretty gung ho about these extra classes, but…I can’t get a good read on him. As for the Potions woman, she doesn’t strike me as anyone malicious, but we might as well dig up what we can.”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:52 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“It will be really good when we’ve started adopting children in the hundreds.”

Xeik got wide eyes, “Please don’t you would never be able to keep up with them. Or pay attention to all of them. Then you would get upset and tell me to babysit more when you two wanted sex. It would exhaust me.”

“It’s always about you isn’t it?” Simone held a look on her face and sighed. “All well..”

“You both are assholes you know that?” Xeik sighed.

“Yup,” they answered together.

“Anyways, the reason why we called you here is that they want me to become as strong as Angela. That's what this whole thing is about. I now have to take extra classes to open up my mana to her level of craft…"

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:45 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

I’m on it. We can set up a meeting in the library for tonight.

It was easy enough for Lewis to signal Xeik for a meeting. So, Lewis and Simone made an excuse to visit the library after the last class, and started to wait.

They were a little early, and Lewis found himself wandering the aisles looking at different types of magic. He had never really put much thought into the power that he had access to with Simone’s magic. For the most part, he had only ever drawn on the spells that he knew from his assassin days mixed with the spells that Simone had learned and cultivated throughout her life. He had never really explored other options. With the wealth of mana and experience at hand, he could hypothetically start branching out into new forms of magic, and that meant…

“Here,” he said, pulling out a book on the theoretical composition of spatial magic. He wandered over to the couches, and opened it up. At first glance, it was an extremely complicated book, and he could barely understand anything they were going on about. So, slowly but surely, he started to delve into each of the smaller parts first, accessing Simone’s memory, and using the library to look up more terms. A few more books piled up next to him, and soon he was lost in the books.

Xeik popped into the library almost an hour later, apologizing profusely for being late. “Sorry, I had a rather sickly patient who couldn’t stop sneezing. Turns out, he was allergic to magic. Let me tell you how much fun that was to deal wi-” He paused, noticing that Lewis had not looked up from his book.

“Wait, are you reading?” Xeik asked, shocked that Lewis would even attempt to study.

“Wait, is that what this is?” Lewis said, glancing up from the book. “I was wondering why these books didn’t have pictures and instead had really long and complicated words…” There was the barest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Which for him, was a lot.

“All right, smart ass…” Xeik replied with a glare. “What are you even reading?”

“Spatial Magic theory. Thinking about adding on to the castle with magic.” Lewis seemed so nonchalant about it.

“I shouldn’t even be surprised anymore…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:30 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone wielded her abilities easily enough. It was amazing to most that witnessed it for the first time. After all, she was a seasoned magic-user. She could use the hellfire because of what she was and how old she was. Her mana was cultivated with love, at least that’s what Angela made it out to be.

Terra was standing there with Sophia holding on tight. “The heat from that is intense!”

The phoenix smiled back at them, “This is so unexpected! I’m so excited! I’ve only ever read about hellfire before!” Terra smirked knowing she was a liar but she was hiding it well. “Lewis! Look what I did!” She was pointing to the candles she had lit.

She jumped into his arms and he swung her around. It was something extraordinary. Very few students ever learned something of this level. That was when the dean of magic showed up. “Miss Simone, can you come with us?” The students parted and Simone looked toward Lewis.

Here we go…

They went to an observatory where she sat down in his chair and folded his hands, “What you’ve done is extraordinary. There has been little from our school with this much potential. With this, we might be able to compare to Sularia’s Angela Rose. She was and still is the top student from her academy.”

Oh my god. They are out of their minds.

“We would like you to take extra classes every other day. You’ll be working with a specialized group of teachers to measure your growth. We’ll see if we can’t push your magic even farther… Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. I don’t see any problem with that.” Simone agreed and got a whole new set of books. Once she was released she met back up with Lewis. “Compare me to Angela? They are out of their fucking minds… We should get a hold of Xeik.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:09 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Today as the day that Simone would reveal her sudden ‘power increase’ to the world. And if they were right, she would be taken for further study as the only student who didn’t fail the testing. The first part of the day went on as usual, with nothing of note happening. It wasn’t until the second half of the day that the plan started.

Diplomacy wasn’t going well. It never went well. Lewis and Simone held their resonance with ease, but the two had pushed an intentional discordance into the mix. As it turned out, Lewis being so bored out of his mind and falling asleep had the potential to cause Simone to fall asleep mid-class. So, for both of their sake’s, the less they were connected during Diplomacy, the better.

Still, the dissonance wasn’t enough to prevent Lewis from feeling the use of her hellfire. That warm feeling of mana being pulled, and sparking into a chaotic flame…he knew that feeling all too well now. He smirked. Step one, complete.

A student burst into the Diplomacy Class, and pointed down the hall. “Everyone! That transfer girl is doing Epic Level magic! It’s amazing!” Without waiting for a response, the student moved on to the next class. In the end, most of the students and the professors all gathered to witness the now dying flames of Simone’s Hellfire.

Well, well…you’re the talk of the school now, love…

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:18 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

What are you up t– Her thoughts got cut short and she stared at Lewis.

“Maybe?” Simone gave a smile. “I do ache a bit…”

Sophia made a look, “Let me go get you some painkillers real quick.” She got up and made her way to the infirmary.

It was enough time that Simone took control of the situation. “Lewis, you greedy bastard.” Simone was flushed but she very clearly enjoyed it. “Come here.” She dragged him down under her.

When Sophia came back Lewis had a passed out Simone in his arms and he was contently watching her. “Oh, she’s asleep.”

“I can give it to her,” Lewis took it and put it down next to the water that Sophia brought.

“It’s so cute how much you care about her!” Sophia was very impressed at their relationship. Almost wanting a Lewis for herself, if only Lewis was more submissive.

Still, Sophia actually got a view of Lewis’s bare ass as he got his pants on. Simone noticed and smirked a bit, “It’s okay. He has a nice ass,” Simone slapped it playfully and Lewis was wrestling with her. She was laughing. “Let me get dressed!”

“I don’t know… I quite like the view,” Lewis teased her before helping her.

–

The rest of the week went by well with Simone and Lewis getting closer to their new friends. Sophia broke up with her beau and Simone wasn’t very shocked as they had tea over it. Turns out he was a playboy.

Simone was in the middle of tea at lunch before magic lessons when she looked up between Terra and Sophia making eye contact and looking away. “Look…” Her voice scared them. “Just ask each other out already. You’ve been eye-fucking each other for three days now.”

“SIMONE!” Sophia was blushing hard and hid her face.

“I’m just trying to help,” Simone sipped on her tea. “He’s submissive.”

“HEY,” Terra was blushing now. “Not fair Simone.”

“I said I’m just helping…”

Today is the day Lewis.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:03 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis pulled Simone back into him, and pushed his face into her hair. “We have a week of this festival, and then back to classes. Once the classes start back, it’ll be showtime again.” Neither one of them were looking forward to the ‘kidnapping’ that would occur, but they had little choice but to deal with it.

“So, I say we enjoy the festival until then….” Lewis started to idly trace circles on her stomach with his fingers. “Well.,..maybe…” He glanced at her,

I’d stay quiet if I were you…Simone.

Sophia walked over to her side of the room and sat down on the bed, reaching underneath to grab one of her more private journals. “Last night was amazing Simone. I don’t think you understand. That cute boy? He’s got a complex…it’s the most ADORABLE thing ever…”

“O-oh really?” Simone gasped lightly. “I-I thought you were only on a trial period with him.” She was flushed, but Sohpia wasn’t paying attention.

“Well, and Lewis, you can’t utter a word of this, secretly, I like the submissive boys. There’s just something so…desirable about their insecurities. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You won’t…you won’t find me spilling any of your secrets,” Lewis said, sounding as though he were winded.

Sophia started scribbling. “He’s got the cutest laugh, and he likes playing chess. A smart, nerdy boy. Not super strong, but…well, we can work on that. I bet he needs work on his-”

Simone yelped.

“Oh, hiccups? I hear holding your breath works,” Sophia said, crossing her t’s and dotting her i’s.

“Sorry,” Simone breathed, gripping the sheets tight.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Sophia said, looking up from the journal. “Both of you look…flushed. Maybe you overdid it last night?”

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:53 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone was chuckling and she tilted her head, “I missed you. Thank you Rachel for returning him to me.” They kissed lightly and Simone was outwardly smirking towards the woman. I pride myself on being at least one step ahead of my enemies and that girl made herself a target. I told you those dance lessons in Benin were going to pay off eventually.

As the party wrapped up Sophia and Terra came over to Lewis and Simone. Lewis was wrapping a fur cloak around Simone to keep her warm outside now that it was night. “We did what you said… Can’t believe she was that ballsy.”

“I thought she would be. It’s improper to refuse a dance and she knows that so she forced it probably thinking she could win Lewis over.” Simone nodded. “As it turns out both Lewis and myself love dancing so we’re very good at it together. We even practiced it in the little room in the library together.” Among… other things. They found out the room locked.

Sophia read the room right and got close to the two of them to whisper, “I’m staying out for the night… soo…”

“So we can have the dorm room?” Simone smirked up at Lewis. “How very thoughtful of you.”

“Anything for one of my best friends,” Sophia winked and went off with her date while Terra had found some poor girl to snatch for the night.

“Looks like everyone won tonight…”

“I won the most,” Lewis scooped her up to take her away.

–

In the morning, tatters of her dress were all over the dorm and Simone had a bite mark on her shoulder. Apparently, the boys staring at her all night and hitting on her warranted marking what was his. She was snuggled up to him in bed and kissed his lips. “Hey, Handsome.”

She snuggled into him and Sophia came in spotting them both, “Oh, you guys still need privacy.”

“Lewis isn’t shy… As long as you don’t stare.” Simone chuckled as she rolled around in Lewis’s arms.

“I just won’t look!” Sophia was pretty cheerful herself as she had already closed the door.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:38 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“Fine,” Lewis said with a sigh. He would ultimately rather not, but Simone knew that. He took Rachel’s arm and took the lead. It was there that an interesting thought crossed his mind.

“Dearest Rachel,” Lewis said with a suddenly sadistic smile. “I do hope you can keep up with me…” Lewis and Simone were like one. They could weave in and around each other with ease, and make the most difficult of tasks seem trivial. He sent a mental note to Simone, who moved into action.

A rather fast paced song started, and immediately Rachel’s eyes widened. “I do believe this is-”

“An Egjorian Waltz, a rather tricky one. And if I recall, this particular song is rather difficult…” He bowed as the music readied itself. Rachel curtsied nervously. He took her hand, and they were off.

This being a waltz from a completely different continent, most of the students weren’t sure how to follow their steps. Lewis, of course, was perfect. He had practiced many different dances with Simone, both official on and off the ballroom court. Rachel, however, seemed to struggle to keep up. Her steps were off, as if she were confusing the dance with a more traditional style of waltz from her own country.

“I do believe you’re not holding up too well…shall I take a different partner?” He was quick to step away as Rachel took a step back, obviously exhausted from the physical toll the dance had taken on her.

“No…no I can…” She was panting. Without waiting for permission, Simone stepped in without missing a beat, and Lewis took her hand.

The two finished out the waltz in perfect harmony, garnering a large applause from the crowd at the sheer elegance that they had demonstrated on the ballroom floor.

You did this intentionally, Lewis thought to Simone. Somehow she knew something like this would happen. Her forms of revenge were thought out far too many steps in advance.

Simone was quite the terrifying woman.

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:24 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone had taken nearly all the boys by storm as Lewis led her into the hall. Her long black hair was in slight waves with strings of pearls decorating it to hold some of her hair back. Since shes was in her younger form she had opted for a soft peachy pink color decorated with a spring green sash and a pink rose in the center of the bow. It had a soft white see-through sash tied around the strapless pink material. It was the very visage of spring.

Of course, Lewis matched her which was doing so much better than most of the other couples who were in attendance. As the applause sounded Lewis got up and offered Simone his hand. She took it gracefully and the loving couple went up to accept their flower crowns.

“KISS THE GIRL!” Terra yelled which got everyone else excited. Simone had given him one order. Make Lewis the center of attention.

Lewis was grumbling on the inside but he dipped his wife kissing her soundly. It made the applause go even louder with Rachel giving Simone a dirty look.

“The Flower King and Queen will now lead the first dance,” Donnavan announced as Lewis led her to the dance floor. Luckily, they had so much practice dancing that it was almost too convincing that they were made for each other. Everyone was in utter awe of how well they worked together.

It was the end of the dance and Lewis and Simone were close together. They were laughing and Lewis was peppering her face with small kisses. They were whispering to each other. How much they loved each other. How much they missed each other during the day. It wasn’t an act, this was just normally how they were.

Rachel made a face and marched up, “I would request that Sir Lewis give me the last dance.”

Simone made a face, “If he must… I suppose I can relinquish him but only if he comes right back to me.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 9:12 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

For the most part, Lewis was barely aware that another woman even existed. Not only was Rachel a child in comparison to them, but she wouldn’t have even been close to vying for Lewis’ attention. After all, she was lacking one massive feature. The fact that she wasn’t Simone.

“So…what was that about?” Lewis asked. He had felt her anger at the comment, but he was too busy with the mental image of them dancing, his excitement for it bubbling over. Despite his dislike of a public event, he didn’t actually mind it as long as he was with Simone.

“Oh…nothing,” Simone said as she took his arm. “Let’s go get ready…I still need to pick out a dress.”

“Dunno why you bother…it’ll be in tatters at the e-”

Simone stomped on his foot to keep him quiet.

—

The sun was just starting to set as the main event started. The dance was being held in the academy’s auditorium. The building was massive, easily at least half the size of the Terrowin castle, and more than sufficient to hold all of the students, faculty, and then some left over. Lewis and Simone were flagged, along side a few others, as the ‘main’ couples of the night. That being, the ones who had the highest chances of winning the Flower Crowns.

They were all seated at the largest table near the front of the auditorium. Six couples in total… And Rachel was there with her partner, some random guy she had picked up. His popularity had increased exponentially due to her. The other four couples seemed rather bland in comparison, but they were all there for the suspense of the count.

Sophia had brought a rather cute boy with her, and waved from the crowd. Terra was following her around, going the night solo with the hopes of picking some poor, broken hearted girl up from a disastrous night.

“May I have your attention everyone,” a magically amplified voice rang out. The Dean of Magic, Professor Larian. He was one of the potential targets for creating the illegal potions. “We have diligently tallied all of your votes for the King and Queen of Flowers. If you would, Professor Donnavan?”

An older woman walked up, and handed Larian an envelope. She was the Professor that was in charge of the healing ward, and ultimately one of the other potential targets.

“Drum roll, please?” Professor Larian asked. Magical drums started to beat, steadily crescendoing as he opened the envelope. “We have…”

“Lewis Kyhri, and Simone Rennovae!”

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:58 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone was giggling as they tortured Lewis for the festival. “Oh but Lewis… You love dancing with me.” She took his hand and spun him around like he was the princess. The students around them clapped and everyone seemed to love how their relationship blossomed in front of them.

Terra was the only one not surprised since he knew they were already married… With a family to boot. “It’s going to be great seeing Lewis with a flower crown.”

“He’ll be adorable!” Sophia smirked as she held out the ballot box for people to hand in their votes.

“I don’t get what’s so special about her,” one particular girl called out.

Simone’s eyes snapped to the beautiful sultry teen that was speaking and tilted her head, “Ah… Your the one who is always glaring at me. If you want Lewis you’ll have to try and take him from me… but the chances of doing that is pretty slim.” She snuggled herself up to Lewis. “Right?”

Terra was nervously laughing but one look from Simone made him just smirk, “I don’t think so Rachel. They are pretty much made for each other.”

“And who are you to even make fun of Simone…” Sophia put her hand on her hip.

“I mean… she’s flat-chested,” Rachel spoke out and Simone saw red but she reminded herself she couldn’t do anything about it right now. She mentally counted down in her head.

“It’s not about breast size… Only morons would think that.” Simone said it coolly. “I mean… Lewis likes smart girls and the last time I checked you are bottom of the barrel. Come on… Let’s go, being here with the common rabble like her bothers me.”

Simone who had always been sweet got shocked expressions from everyone but they knew this was a battleground for Lewis… and it looked like Rachel was definitely going to lose.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:46 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“You had me at “walk you back to your dorm.””, Lewis said as he took her arm. “I’ll be back….” He thought about it for a good moment. “I actually don’t know when I’ll be back. Just…don’t worry about it.” He and Simone left the room and left a very confused Terra alone with his thoughts.

—

The Flower Dance was a yearly tradition that was held as the beginning of the Festival of Flowers. It was always held on the first day of the season of Terra. Not to be confused with their new friend, Terra, of course. The Flower Dance held a contest every year for the King and Queen of Flowers, a couple chosen to usher in the season.

Of course, none of that had any true sway over the seasons, but it was all in good fun.

The students had the day off in preparation for the event. Students banded together to make stalls and attractions for the whole week as classes were on hold for the entirety of the Festival. Lewis and Simone wandered around the chaos that was happening on the preparation day, with Terra and Sohpia following close behind.

“Lewis and Simone for King and Queen!” Terra yelled, handing out hastily made flyers.

Sophia giggled, “LewMone is the best pairing for King and Queen! Put your votes in!” she called out.

“I hate you all,” Lewis said with a defeated look on his face. Though, only Simone could really tell.

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:35 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone smirked a bit, “…You are going to win the King of Flowers for me.” She crossed her arms. “And be the center of attention and I won’t forgive you if you don’t.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Lewis stared at her.

“Oh but my darling Lewlew… I fucking would,” She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him to her. “And you know I would.”

Finally, back on to other topics she held up her hand to Terra, “We can always buy food and make it ourselves or just eat out. We have the silver for it. I would rather not get sick again.” Then Lewis spoke and her eyes got huge. “You are going to get me kidnapped again.”

Terra looked at her, “I really am missing something.”

Simone sighed a bit, “I am a really strong mage but I have a time limit.” She formed hellfire in her hand. “Hellfire. The ultimate form fire can take… We have a few days before I should show my potential. I at least want to do the flower dance before you get me kidnapped…” She sighed a bit and looked at Lewis. “I was hoping that part of my life was over.”

“…Did kidnapping happen a lot?” Terra was interested in the two.

“…That’s how Lewis got me to live with him at first… After he killed me twice… Like I said it is a terribly long story,” Simone gave him a smile. “He was hired to kill me.”

“You two–” He was cut off by Simone.

“Have the oddest relationship? We get told that a lot but we work well together.” Simone sighed a bit. “Can you walk me back to my dorm Lewis? I wouldn’t want to be outside… in the dark… by myself… in an alleyway…” Simone turned her attention back to her husband. “Alone…”

Terra looked away with a blush as he caught onto what his roommate’s spouse wanted.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:24 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis paused, “That’s a punushm-, I mean…oh…oh no. The horror.” He had a deadpan look on his face.

Lila and Janus both looked at Simone with the same, dead expression. “Oh no, the horror,” they parroted. That got a laugh from Terra, and soon they were gone, alongside Xeik and Angela.

“Alone again,” Lewis said as he sighed. “So, we have a few leads then.” He looked over the student records again, and sat down on his bed. “Reviewing these…all of these students have great potential, but low access to mana.” He glanced at Simone, “You included.” That meant someone was targeting the weaker students.

“So wait, am I just never eating again?” Terra asked.

“In all likelihood, you’re safe. We’re assuming that it’s the food, but it’s still targeted. Right now they’re going for a specific target group.” Lewis looked at Simone. “You’re going to have to fake mana sickness. At least for a few days.” He paused again. Wait. Do you? If we assume that they’re looking for results…then you being a ‘successful’ case might garner attention from whoever is running the experiment. His eyes widened. “Hellfire.”

You’ve been afraid to use it, but now…if you use it and act surprised… It was coming together quite nicely. “All we have to is be ready. If someone approaches you to run tests…”

Jackpot.

Terra was just staring at Lewis and Simone. “I….feel like I missed something.”

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:09 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone chuckled a bit at Terra, “Be careful. They are extremely powerful for little kids. Janus come here.” The five year old ran to his mother and she lifted him up to hold him. “You need to be good.” She kissed his forehead.

“No fair,” Lila said as she also ran to Simone.

“My lap isn’t big enou–” Simone got tackled by both of her kids and she was laughing with them. “You two are terrors.” She kissed both of their foreheads. “I love you all so much.”

“You love you too!” They yelled it back at her.

“YEAH!” Remy yelled with them.

“YEAH YEAH!” Damond yelled not to be outdone by Remy.

“You all are so much,” Simone smiled at them. She kissed them. “But you need to go back to Elysia okay? Stay safe with your grandmother.”

“Yes, good teach them,” Angela nodded as she held out her arms and the younger twins went to her easily. “Come on now. Raine said she will play with you.”

“I LOVE HER GAMES!” Lila yelled as she hopped off Simone with Janus trying to run.

“Kids,” Simone said it deadpan as they stopped. The older twins ran back to Lewis and hugged him.

“We love you Daddy!”

“Such a one track mind set they have,” Simone laughed as Angela left and she sighed

Terra sat there watching and finally he didn’t seem as scared, “You guys have a hell of a family.”

“Yeah… We do…” Simone smiled at Lewis. “Just sucks we have to do this.”

“Blame your husband. This would have been so much easier had he just let you go to the auction.”

Simone glared in Lewis’s direction, “That’s it. I’ve decided my punishment for you.” She got up and pointed at Lewis. “YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR BURNING MY INVITATION TO THE AUCTION!” She poked his chest and backed him into the wall. “You are taking me to the Flower Dance.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 4:52 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis took the twin boys and hugged them, keeping them quiet. “I’m surprised you all recognize us with these altered appearances,” he said as he tried to calm the boys down. He was thankful for Angela’s silencing magic around the room.

“Duh,” Lila said, walking over to Terra. “You seem like you would be fun to play with. We can play tag…the last one we played with just cried the entire time. It was boring..” She seemed annoyed. “Maybe not…you seem like a crybaby too.”

Janus nodded, “Definitely a crybaby. He would be boring….”

“I am NOT,” Terra said, stomping his foot. “I could play tag with you no problem!”

The twins looked at him, and at once the pressure in the room increased, almost suffocating him.

Janus was smiling, his eyes wide with anticipation. “Can you run fast?”

Lila’s eyes were cold, but her smile was menacing. “Can you hide well?”

The boy took a step forward. The pressure increased. “Can you hold your breath in?”

The girl followed, her voice like a razor in the air. “Can you lock away your terror?”

Terra was shaking. “W-what…” A cold sweat started to form. This was it. He was going to die. There was nothing stopping them from absolutely killing him right here and now.

“Hey,” a dull voice rang out. “Cut it out you two..” Lewis was giving them a look. “You’ll make him piss his pants and I have to sleep here.”

At once the pressure was gone from the room.

“Fine,” Janus said yawning. “He was getting boring anyway.” An obvious lie.

“I guess,” Lila responded. “He would have cried anyway….”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “Every time with you two. At this rate, you won’t have any friends.”

“We have plenty of friends, Daddy,” Lila said, pouting. “So many friends.”

“All the friends in the world,” Janus said nodding in agreement with his sister.

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 4:23 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone chuckled a bit at Terra, “He’s mostly harmless.” Xeik was taking a spit of water when he spit it out and stared at Simone. “What? I did say mostly. He’s gotten so much better about his jealousy…”

“…He locked someone in a basement and left them there for a bit…” Angela looked up.

“… He used to kill them,” Simone shrugged and smiled at Terra. “Don’t worry too much about it.” Terra seemed to relax in Simone’s soft presence.

That was when a portal opened and four children came through. The twins were holding their brothers. When the boys spotted their parents they started to get excited and jumping in Lila and Janus’s arms. “Kids!” Simone got excited after not seeing them for a week.

“I thought we told you it was dangerous?” Angela looked at the kids.

“We missed them,” the twins spoke up. “Who’s this?” They pointed at Terra.

“…Daddy’s new friend,” Simone said nervously.

“He flirted with Mommy didn’t he?” Janus asked his father as Simone took Damond and Remy from them. She was rubbing her face against theirs and they were squealing and loving it.

“DA DA DA DA!” The boys were screaming.

“No… Ma. Say Ma,” Simone was trying to get them to say mommy but…

“No!” The boys were giggling and Simone frowned.

“So troublesome.” She sighed a bit as she looked at Janus who was staring at Terra. “…His name is Terra. Can you stop staring at him like that?”

“You two have kids?”

“Oh lord… Do they ever have kids,” Angela groaned a bit.

Simone chuckled a bit and snuggled up to the boys as they started to clap at Lewis now. “The boy is Janus, his twin sister is Lila… And these boys are Damond and Remy.”

“… How old are you two?” Terra was mildly curious.

“Well… Lewis is thirty,” Terra nodded as Simone spoke. “I’m… over 1500?” He was now staring at her. “It’s a very long story but due to a situation that is the reason Lewis had to kill me… Lewis and I have been together since we were both your age. It’s complicated.”

Terra watched as Simone passed off the boys to Lewis since they were now screaming for him. “Sorry… They love their daddy…”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 4:04 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis gave a glare towards Angela. “If this weren’t so damn important, I’d pull Simone right here and now…” He knew that arguing with both the Goddess and Simone would be impossible at this point, though. “If we’re going to involve an innocent, I can at least be a little more truthful with him…:”

The room became almost icy as Lewis stared at Terra, “If you so much as think about flirting with my wife…I’ll cut your balls off and feed them to you…” Immediately, the room’s temperature went back to normal, and Lewis started thumbing through the other student’s records that Xeik had brought.

Terra was shaking, looking to Xeik or to Angela for any form of comfort. He had just been threatened by a very scary boy, but they seemed not to care that it had happened, almost if they were used to it. “J-just who the hell are you all!?”

“Xeik Eraphim, Champion of the Goddess of Life and Love. That’s her right over there,” Xeik said as he pointed. “And that there is my best friend and his wife. He’s an ex-assassin and she’s an impossibly powerful mage that was resurrected into a rare phoenix after he killed her.” Xeik paused. “When you say it out loud, it sounds so crazy…”

“What have I gotten myself in to!?” Terra said, almost crying.

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:50 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

The moment Terra had caught them he was forced into the room by a force. Magic sealed the room and Angela materialized, “You’ll keep this a secret won’t you?” The beautiful goddess bent over at the kid on the floor. “I would hate to make you disappear. You have such a bright future.”

“I… I WON’T SAY A THING!” Terra was scared out of his wits.

Angela crossed her arms and looked at Simone, “This is serious… Has this been happening a lot?”

“…We’ve had a lot of students passing out like her,” Terra stuttered. “It’s been happening a lot more lately.”

“…” Angela thought about it and looked at Simone then Lewis. “This is bad. This is alchemy at work but its goal is magic amplification.”

“But… Simone is a strong mage why would th–”

“…She has mana deficiency.” Angela thought about it. “Xeik… Go steal the records for the students who passed out. Well… chop. Chop.” It didn’t take long for Xeik to get them and Ang poured over them while Simone stirred.

“What?” Simone’s eyes flickered and she looked up at Lewis. “My head hurts Lew…”

“It should…” Angela looked at everyone in the room. “…All of these kids have mana deficiency in some way. It’s not as bad as Simone’s but look at these charts,” she showed Xeik as she spoke. “…Simone hasn’t taken any drugs.”

“Of fucking course she hasn’t,” Lewis snapped up at Angela.

“No, you misunderstand. That means these kids didn’t either,” Angela was thinking and finally she stopped. “Stop eating the food here. It’s Hilaphe Philfer. It’s named after the flower it’s extracted from. There’s no other thing it could be. It’s so dangerous it was banned in standard alchemy….” She got quiet. “Xeik, our top priority is these books. Lewis. Simone. Continue to be undercover.”

“Under…cover?” Terra looked at them. “Are you going to kill me?”

“No, but your friends will die if we don’t stop this. This is an experiment. Starting with the weakest they are experimenting with the drugs. It will look like this but it could be progressively worse. Avoid the infirmary for now. If you get hurt… Xeik will be on call.”

Simone looked like she was in pain as Lewis helped her up. “We’re involving outsiders now?”

“It can’t be helped… Besides Terra might be of use. Your job is to cover for Lewis and Simone. These books are dangerous. They are forbidden texts hidden as ordinary books.”

“Is the school in on this?” Simone asked as Lewis cradled her protectively.

“I don’t believe that the school is responsible. It’s most likely the alchemy or magic departments. Maybe both.” Angela frowned a bit. “This might be my fault. I had to put down Simone’s illnesses when we registered her. I didn’t want them to drive her hard with magic.”

“It’s fine… It gave us a lead didn’t it?” Simone looked at Lewis. “I’ll be fine.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:34 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis felt that Simone was going to pass out before she did. Immediately he caught her and let her down carefully. “Simone? SIMONE?” He was carefully trying to shake her awake, cursing under his breath when there was no response. He looked up to Terra, “Go! Now! Get someone from the infirmary!”

Terra was up in an instant and he ran out of the door. Lewis looked down at Simone, trying to feel out for her presence through the resonance. “Damn it…” He closed his eyes.

I can’t feel anything. This is bad.

“Xeik! Get your ass here now!” Lewis’ voice rang out. There was a moment of silence, and then a portal opened, Xeik running into the dorm room.

“What’s wrong?” The Divine Mender was already looking over Simone. To him, her mana was practically trying to explode out of her body.

“Lewis. This is going to be hard, but you need to pull the mana out of her body and into yours…” Xeik took his arm, and grabbed Simone’s. “I’ll act as a balancer. We need to work fast….”

Lewis took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, their color flickering azure as he forced a full resonance with Simone. Mana filled the room as he siphoned it through Xeik, pulling as much as he could.

“It’s working.” Xeik looked at Simone. “She’s in the clear. We’re good…”

Lewis nodded, and cut the full resonance, letting it settle to their normal levels. “Thanks Xeik…what would I do without the Divine Mender….”

“THE DIVINE WHAT!?” A voice called out from the doorway. Terra was standing there, his eyes wide.

“Fuck…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:10 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone was giggling at Lewis’s suffering. This is probably payback for the cornucopia thing. Just endure it… I’ll help you. Though… My concentration might suffer right now. In the end they found out that Simone wasn’t able to help too much with diplomacy class which meant that Lewis actually had to pay attention.

Simone was listed as a high class pyrokinesis. Her ability to control fire was among the best in the class but she was actually handicapping her power since she couldn’t use hellfire in class. This is so exhausting Lewis… Cuddle me later? She was sending him little whines as she spoke.

Once the classes were over she slinked over to Lewis and snuggled into him. They were dating now so this was okay. Everyone was looking at them as Lewis pet her hair. “I’m so tired Lew~” Simone whined out loud.

“Lew?” Sophia was walking with Terra now as they were both associated with Lewis and Simone. “That is so cute you have pet names now!” It had only been a short time and the two were so close already.

“You did say we should get close~” Simone fought to get out of Lewis’s arms with there being an entertaining struggle where Simone had lost. She sighed a bit as Lewis was wrapped around her and against her back. Mone had a pouting face on her as she looked up at him. “Cheater~” It left her mouth softly but no one knew what she meant but Lewis. He had lightly turned the resonance off so she couldn’t predict what he would do. They did tend to get competitive if they didn’t so it was perhaps for the best.

“Speaking of cheating…” Terra looked at them. “We had someone pass out in class.”

“That’s right… I almost forgot,” Simone spoke out loud. She had forgotten because she was too busy trying to restrict herself from using her full force.

“Her name was Annie. She wasn’t a bad magic user… She was up there in the top scores,” Sophia was quietly whispering. “Why would she need to cheat?”

“It doesn’t make any sense…” Simone put her finger under her chin. “Let’s go get food. I’m starving after all that magic…” They got lunch and later Simone went back with Lewis and Terra to his dorm.

“Curfew is in a few hours but you can stay until then,” Terra liked looking at Simone and she was always so quiet when reading poetry. Lewis liked to listen to her do it.

For Simone it was a good excuse to continue reading to her husband plus she got her cuddles that way. However, when Simone stood up to stretch her legs the world lurched and she fell over and passed out. There was a heavy fever out of nowhere and her body hurt.

“SIMONE!” Terra was up but not faster than Lewis. “This is what happened to Annie!”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:37 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

The Academy schedule was split into two halves; the first half of the day was general studies, while the second half was for more specialized classes. This meant that, unfortunately, Lewis and Simone were separated in the afternoons.

Ugh…figures Angela would enroll me into something so… Lewis was staring at the Diplomatic Studies professor with disdain. Useless…. He slammed his head into the table, which woke up another student two seats down. For a magic academy, most of the diplomatic classes were done earlier in a student’s career, and the only reason to take such a course this late would be for remedial purposes.

Simone, however, was enrolled in a high powered ‘control’ kind of class, designed for immensely powerful spells that need precision to cast. Terra and Spgia were both in this class as well. Terra’s speciality was lightning magic, which needed perfect control, otherwise he would fry himself and everyone around him. Sophia, however, was a specialist of a different kind, utilizing a variety of different elements to create trap magic.

“Professor….you’re falling asleep,” Lewis said with a yawn. :

“Oh….I am…” The professor yawned, and looked at the board. “It seems I dozed off around the third paragraph. Lewis, if you would please read the passage…”

I would rather be anywhere else….

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 12:22 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone nodded with Lewis, “Lewis is right. We have plenty of time to talk.” Easy killer, they don’t know. She let out an audible giggle that caught Sophia’s eyes. She watched Simone give Lewis a dreamy look which pleased her a bit.

She listened to the rumors and thought about it some. Lewis… Did Xeik ever tell you what those books were about? If Angela was willing to go to these lengths for them.. There was a chance they were dangerous. Rumors and myths are all based on facts somewhere. Even I had rumors about me. We can’t negate the possibility this has to do with the books… Simone was constantly coming up with a mental chessboard.

When it came down to virgin’s blood she looked at Lewis when he made the comment and kicked his shin. Lewis…. She gave him a whine.

Looking over at Sophia she smirked, “I’ve read allll the books by her.” Lewis was now glaring at her and Simone was laughing out loud.

“What are you laughing at?” Sophia looked confused as she looked between her and Lewis.

Simone finished her lunch and stood up. “You play nice with the other boys.” She had cut off the resonance for a second which got Lewis to give her a look. She started to walk away before she turned on her heel. “I forgot.” She kissed him hard causing all the kids in the room to gasp and clap. “Be safe Lewis~” The resonance snapped back on and she was laughing.

Lewis reacted to the kiss with slapping her bottom with a grin. Simone jumped and stared at him with wide eyes. You are so very unlucky that we can’t just run away right now

The kids were in an uproar at the brashness of the two. Simone was blushing and Lewis was grinning at her. “I’ll see you later,” Simone gave him a quick cheek kiss as she left with Sophia.

“HE IS SO INTO YOU SIMONE,” Sophia yelled up at her.

“Is he?” She smiled and tilted her head.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 12:02 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Right….’friends’

The rest of the morning passed without too much insanity, and when lunch rolled around, Lewis and Simone took a table. The two were sitting in silence, talking mentally as they usually did, when Terra and Sophia both sat down at the same table.

Terra smirked, “Isn’t it adorable that they’re just staring into each other’s eyes?” He made what was supposed to be a kissy face.

Sophia was laughing at it, and looked at the two ‘lovebirds’, “You know, relationships take a lot of time and work. Communication is the key to it all, of course. You can’t just sit here in silence. Talk!” She seemed happy enough. “You two are the highlight of the year, and I’d hate for it to end so quickly.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, and sat back. Of course they wouldn’t know about the resonance, but it was a little annoying to be lectured on communication by a kid. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk. Right now, we’re just enjoying the silence.”

“Silence is dull, though,” Terra said as he dove into his food, chewing loudly. “Lemme tell you about the rumor I heard. I heard there’s a potion that can boost your mana with no drawbacks!”

“That’s a stupid rumor,” Sophia said with a huff. “Everyone knows that there are no shortcuts with magic. Everything has a price.” It was one of the fundamentals. “Besides, that rumor happens every year. The older kids start it to try and get silver from the hopeless newbies before they fail out. It’s preying on the desperate…” She thought for a moment. “Besides, if you want a real rumor…I heard that there’s a VAMPIRE going around.”

This is barely worth it… Lewis was getting bored of it all. Secret potions and vampires. Smut books. Was this all that the students talked about? He was lucky to have missed schooling.

“Well, you see,” Sophia said as she adjusted her glasses. “There was this girl yesterday who said she felt faint, and had to leave. She was as white as a ghost when she went to the infirmary. And that boy the other day who passed out in class-”

“That boy was Carter, and he’s a partier…of course he’s gonna pass out. He rarely sleeps,” Terra said with a grin. “Besides…vampires only like GIRL blood. Hell, virgin blood…” He grinned. “Bet he’ll go after our innocent Simone…”

“Doubt it,” Lewis said.

“Wait what?” Terra and Sophia stared at Lewis.

“Er…” The silver haired boy cleared his through. “Vampires…don’t care about gender, and virgin blood is only used in rituals. Creatures of the night are hardly picky when it comes to their prey. And besides that, vampires wouldn’t pick kids. Not unless they were crazed, and we’ld know if there was a crazed vampire here. It wouldn’t be just a few kids here or there…”

“Wow, look at you being smart,” Sophia said with a grin.

“And ruining my fun,” Terra replied as he sighed dramatically. “I heard there was a game of tag tonight. Magic allowed…how about we do that?” Terra looked to Lewis, ignoring Simone and Sophia.

Sophia turned to Simone, “And while the boys are out to play… did you hear that the new book, Lady Azure, is coming out in a few months? The premise is soooo dreamy, and it’s by my favorite author!”

Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:43 AM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone offered her husband a visible smile now that they were an object. But my love… Do I have to remind you what you were into at their age?

She was internally laughing as her books were brought up. If only they actually knew who was in front of them. They would die.

Class ended with the professor trying to get things back on track. Simone did most of the answering since she could pay attention above all the noise. We just have to reach the top. Even with all their eyes on us.

She took his hand as they stood up. She was delicately holding his books since they were still sharing. There was a notice that her shipment was lost but this would work all the same. She had a feeling that was Angela’s doing. “Do you want to get lunch with me?” Her eyes were shining up at his.

“Say yes Khyri,” Terra was loudly whispering and Simone gave him a side-eye.

You’ve made weird friends.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:21 AM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

What was initially meant to be something simple was turning into a large problem. Originally, they’re ‘getting together’ was merely meant as a step to make them less conspicuous in order to work together to locate the books. Unfortunately, due to their unforeseen status, they were now the center of attention. Of course, Lewis wanting to be a romantic to his wife was partially to blame.

What a pain. It was the worst thing for an assassin and a thief to be seen, and every instinct that he had honed was screaming at him to abort the mission, but….

Those damn books. He knew that stopping wasn’t an option. They would have to just get them even with all of the attention on them, or find a different way. And Lewis was stubborn.

“You lucky dog, you,” Terra said as he playfully punched Lewis in the arm.

Lewis had to fight against his urge to rip the kid’s arm off. “No luck about it,” Lewis stated with a matter-of-fact tone. “I just take what I want…” His deadpan tone and stare had the girls swooning, and the boys glaring at him.

Is this really what kids are in to? He sighed with exhaustion.

The professor walked in, and the class settled down for the time as the lesson started. Still, there was electricity in the air from the morning’s events. Most of the students were barely paying attention to the class, and some were even risking small whispers and discussions about the relationship.

“Doesn’t he remind you….” A small whisper.

“Yes…he’s so dreamy…just like the hero from Blades of…”

Of all the damn things… The silver haired boy took in a deep breath, trying to keep his nerves calm.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:37 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone looked entranced by Lewis as he spoke, her cheeks lit up red and she let him finish it. She nodded along to each line and there was a soft smile on her face as he finished. “That was very beautifully done. Your Adelunian is so good…” She bit her lip before reaching into her bag. “… Monsieur Lewis,” She said it to get his attention before pulling out a well kept peony. It’s pink petals were pristine.

“HE WAS THE ONE!” Sophia got excited and jealous at the same time.

“Aye, it was azure blue,” she held the peony out and blushed. “Will you accept my offering?”

The class was stunned and Terra looked jealous and impressed. “When the hell did you send her flowers?” He needed to take notes on how Lewis enchanted Simone.

“You two are going to be the couple of the century,” one of the other girls said with excitement.

If they only knew…

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:28 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

The game they were playing was almost cruel. It wasn’t even that he had paid attention to her, it was that he knew everything about her. No one in the world would ever stand a chance of knowing her like he did. When she sat down, he looked over to her with a smirk She was laying out the bait.

Was it time to bite?

Lewis cleared his throat, glancing outside.

“De l’éternel azur la sereine ironie
Accable, belle indolemment comme les fleurs…”

The words flowed as the room fell silent, everyone stunned that the ‘bad boy’ had spoken such a fluent, beautiful sounding poem. To those who understood its meaning, the melancholy of despair and sin…. Painful, yet beautiful.

Terra was staring in shock at his roommate. “When the hell did you come up with that!?”

“A bit of light reading…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:11 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone got a but overwhelmed but once they got to her dorm Sophia lost her shit. “SIMONE! Look at this lilac!” She did a dance. “Who is this mystery romance boy!?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea…”

“How do we find out? They will all tell you it was from them!” Sophia was now worried about her naive roommate.

She tilted her head at her roommate and smirked, “…I have an idea but this can’t leave the room…” She held up the ribbon, “We can’t let anyone know what color this was. Only the real boy will know.” It was azure blue, not just any shade of blue. “You know plant magic right Sophia?!” She got excited.

“YES! You want me to enchant it?”

“Yes, I want to send this boy a message,” Simone smiled and tilted her head. “That I choose him without knowing who he is.”

“That is so romantic!” Sophia helped her fashion a hairpin out of the lilac and she took the ribbon off.

The next day Simone came in and sat next to Lewis. Sophia watched Simone and got loud, “Simone that hairpin is so pretty!”

“Isn’t it?” She showed it off in her hair, “It got mysteriously delivered to me last night. I want to find the boy who gave it to me.” She blushed and smiled up. “I absolutely love lilacs.”

“IT WAS ME!” At least five boys yelled in her direction.

“It was?” She tilted her head. “What color ribbon did you put on it?”

They got white in the face and they began to call out many different colors, “It wasn’t any of those. But I appreciate your interest. But… I do hope that he comes forward… I really like him.” She pushed her notebook up and it had a lilac embroidered on it. “He paid attention to me.” The boys all looked at the notebook and were mentally kicking themselves.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:54 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“So all you’re saying is,” Lewis repeated, “That if I like a girl, I need to give her a flower?” That seemed easy enough to handle. He looked at the large group of boys surrounding her. As the teenager Lewis Khyrie, he merely rolled his eyes at it. Internally, as Lewis Terrowin, he was thinking of the easiest way to kill them all in a single-

“Lewiiiss, helllooo?” Terra said, tapping the other boy on the shoulder. “You zoned out. Are you doing okay?”

“Fine,” Lewis responded. He stood up and looked at Simone. “Guess I’ll need to find a time to do it…”

“Do what?” Terra asked.

“Nothing.”

“You’re gonna give her a flower, aren’t you?”

“Of course not. Why would I waste my effort on some stupid tradition,” Lewis scoffed. What the rest of the students didn’t know was, however, that there was a single purple lilac awaiting Simone on her pillow. The moment she would walk into the door, she would find it waiting.

Of course, to Simone Terrowin, she would know immediately who it was. But for Simone Rennovae? A mysterious sender…

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:35 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone looked overwhelmed a bit on the outside as the class watched to see who would win. “I’m sorry I just…” She was now speaking in her native tongue which was a sign of how nervous she was.

Lewis caught on easily enough as he responded to her, “It’s fine. If you are more comfortable you can talk like this.” The two spoke back and forth in native Adelunian.

Simone looked a bit more relieved as the others in class who could understand them looked impressed at Lewis. “Thank you…..?” She was switching back to Iria’s language as she inquired about his name.

“Lewis Khyrie,” he introduced himself easily enough. Terra backed off as soon as he realized he couldn’t speak with her if she got nervous.

“Good luck Lewis…” He patted Lewis on his back. “You won this round.”

They spent the better part of the class going over notes and Lewis pretending not to be interested in her. After class, Simone was bum rushed by about twenty different boys with roses of all colors. She had her arms full and she actually didn’t know how to handle being that popular. “…Thank you?” She tilted her head as the girls started to tell her about the tradition.

“Simone, you are so lucky! You can have your pick of any nobleman!” Her roommate Sophia was telling her about it. “When you decide all you have to do is give him a flower back! This year’s big catch is the other transfer student. Everyone is dying to know who he will give his first flower to.”

“His name was Lewis?” She tilted her head towards Sophia.

“Yes! He’s so dreamy~” Sophia pretended to faint. “He is so hard to flirt with though. You are so lucky…”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:21 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Lewis rolled his eyes. Every boy in the class was swooning over Simone, and he was making a mental note of who to threaten later. That got an internal giggle from Simone.

“I guess,” Lewis said, pretending to be annoyed as he opened up his books for the very first time. He hadn’t bothered. Most of the curriculum was beyond his own experience, but Simone’s shared knowledge was more than enough to pass everything with ease. When she scooted over, he tried his hardest to keep his hands to himself and play the disinterested boy.

At least for now.

“Miss Mone, Miss Mone!” Terra said, sliding his desk to the other side of Simone’s. “I forgot my books today…you think we can all share?”

“Sounds like a you problem,” Lewis said with a death glare.

“Oh, I…I feel a little overwhelmed,” Simone said, fanning herself. “I think maybe it’s a bit too much-”

“OH I’m sorry,” Terra replied immediately. “I can just….oh hey, look, it seems like I did bring my books after all. Silly me…” He stuck out his tongue with a goofy expression. “Well, since Lewis seems so annoyed, you can share with me if you want.”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:00 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone was entertained by her bad boy’s thoughts. She was wearing the school’s uniform and it looked cute on her small body. Her hair was worn just like how she did when she was younger. This time a golden ribbon was tied into it to match the school’s colors. “Attention everyone,” Professor Aquila tapped her podium with a ruler. “We have another transfer student today from Canelux. Her father is a duke in charge of merchants that trade between here and Adeluna.” The door opened and Simone walked in. She was the honorable of Duke Leon Rennovae.

She was elegant as she held her skirt and did a small curtsey. “My name is Simone Rennovae. Please take care of me and help me as I learn your cultural differences.” Her accent was pretty cute as well. She was able to easily slip back into it after all this time.

Her eyes didn’t waver on Lewis for long. It had only been a few days since they had been separated but it was long enough. Luckily there was a free desk by Lewis and she took her spot by him. She let her face flush at Lewis, “Can I share your books with you for now? I’m afraid the shipment didn’t arrive on time.”

Lewis’s roommate got huge eyes and kicked Lewis, “SAY YES.” The fool was whispering loudly. Every one of the boys were envious in the room.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:46 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

It was a rather simple job, and Lewis rolled his eyes. “Why can’t I just sneak in and-”

Simone leaned over and whispered into his ear a idea that made him pause and think for a moment.

“Me. In a schoolgirl outfit.”

Lewis thought for a moment. It wasn’t as if they couldn’t do it now, but the idea of wooing a young Simone in a school setting seemed almost like one of her fantasy novels. It was a stupid idea, but it seemed almost fun.

“Fine…”

—

“Oi, transfer boy, it’s time to wake up!” a voice called.

Lewis groaned, and rolled over. “Five more minutes…”

“Khyri, up and at ‘em!” Someone jumped on the bed, and launched Lewis to the ground.

“For fuck’s sake,” Lewis said, growling. “I said five more minutes.” He got up and walked into the shared dorm’s bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror.

Staring back was a tired looking teen, one with a bad boy streak but surprisingly good grades. Lewis Khri, the son of the nobleman Aerie Kyhri, a manufacturer of a unique brand of airship engines used for cargo transports. Their special brand of magic was incorporated to provide the best engines in on the continent.

At least, that was the whole backstory that was given. Lewis splashed water on his face and groaned. The potion that Angela had made them take had altered their age, and as a teenager, Lewis had been the sleepiest of boys. He was lucky that he had the bad boy persona to fill, otherwise he might have had a real problem on hand.

“Not even a week here and you’re already thinking of skipping out on class? Ms. Aquila will be so disappointed…” Terra said with a sly grin. “She has the hots for your…I can see it in her eyes. The bad boy transfer student…gods, I wish she would look at me with those stern eyes…”

“You’re fucked in the head,” Lewis replied. “I’ll go to class…only because I heard there was a new girl starting today…” Of course, he already knew who it was….

Lewis and Terra left the dorms, and walked down the crowded pathways towards the main part of the campus.

This was the illustrious magic school for nobles, Angelus Academy, known for producing nobles who would take seats of power in society, whether it be in government or of a well known magic company. It was somewhere here that the target was.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:10 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

Simone sat there with a dumbfounded look on her face, “Stealing? Isn’t that more your forte?”

“It is but he isn’t allowed to leave my side right now,” Ang had a disapproving look on her face as she slammed open the door. “I just got done with three more advisories for weddings. I have time to explain the job before the next six.”

“…It’s that time of the year…” Simone frowned. “So you are saddling us with your shitty jobs…”

“No,” Angela held up her hand, “You are actually taking the job Xeik wanted to do.” She came over and sat next to Xeik. “These rare books came up for auction.” She crossed her arms and gave Lewis a look, “I slipped the pamphlet into Simone’s books for her to find for the auction but SOMEONE burned the address so she couldn’t go. Now we have to go out of our way to get the books.”

Lewis sighed and put his hands up, “You don’t understand, she would have bought everything but the books.”

Simone crossed her arms, “Lewis, you burned my invitation to the auction?”

Lewis got a scared look on his face for a second, “In my defense, have you ever seen yourself at an auction?”

The wife looked very cross with her husband but Angela came in for his rescue, “Anyways, this job will require you to take on younger forms, new identities, and being stealthy. I don’t care if you cheat and use each other to get answers for tests. You’ll need great grades to get into the library holding these books.”

“Wait… Grades?” Simone moved to the edge of her seat. “Younger forms? Are we going undercover as school children?”

“Young adults. I don’t care if you two want to date but please don’t get caught sneaking into each other’s dorms.” Angela informed as she pulled out the paperwork and showed them.

“Xeik can explain your names and your noble titles. Your families are going to be fake but there are things you’ll have to follow. For example, in order to be seen as courting you’ll have to gift Simone a flower and she will have to give you one back. After that, you’ll be known as exclusive. If all things go well I think you can be done with this job in a few weeks”

“But our kids…”

“Will be taken care of while you’re gone. We waited for Teagan to start walking because Lewis would have thrown the biggest tantrum known to man if we had tried to do this earlier.” Angela sighed a bit and opened a trunk. “You each have seven uniforms. The skirts are a bit short… So please don’t ruin all of them.” She glared at Lewis. “You are only getting seven.”.

Author: FalseHope, Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 6:48 PM, Post Subject: Mission Impossible [p/r]

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it,” Xeik stated as he slid a folder marked ‘classified’ to Lewis and Simone. They were in a rarely used office in Elysium, an office out of the way from normal traffic. It was one of those spaces where dark deals were made, where assassinations were planned, and where anything could happen.

This was serious.

“Your target is in that folder, as well as the details of the-”

“I don’t think you understand,” Lewis replied, an annoyed look on his face. “We don’t have a choice here. Angela is more or less forcing us to do this…”

“Well,” Xeik shot back with a dark look, “It’s not like we have any choice. We’re tried the peaceful approach, but-”

“How hypocritical of you,” Lewis said with a glare. “You act all high and mighty, but in the end you need us to do your dirty work.”

“I knew you’d feel this way,” the Divine Mender said with a sigh. “My hands are tied too. Sometimes we have to resort to these unsavory methods Angela needs it done, and-”

“Just out with it. Who am I killing?” Lewis opened the file.

“Wait, killing?” Xeik looked at his friend confused. “No, we need you to steal some books.”