The Witch Within The Academe Arc Part Two

Loc's First Year

A day at the academe went like this, she would learn maths, literacy and science, history and art. These were the only lessons that all students there would attend. Then after these she would learn about Grasharlo and the impact that she had over her lifetime. This first year she was to learn more about her early years and life. She was learning about her childhood on that first day. To her astonishment, she learnt that they were quite ordinary people! There was nothing wrong with them, the only thing of note was that during her birth they were having troubles conceiving.

However even as a child, Grasharlo displayed anti-social behaviour, such as experimenting on her pets, some of which led to their deaths. When her parents stopped getting them for her she went on to experimenting on her neighbours pets and when that stopped she went onto strays. It was during this she had discovered that she had magic.

Which by this point she had escalated to experimenting on her neighbours children, by this point she was only twelve years old! When they all were found dead her parents confronted her and to their horror this was when they discovered that she had magic. She used it to trap them inside and there they were at their daughter's mercy until their deaths. When they were found by them and a group of dead babies, some of which were already skeletons.

This gave Loc a sense of unease and she started to realise that the moment that she came into their lives their deaths would be inevitable that their parents would die, and any children that they had would end up being dragged into her many experiments. Then came the idea that she might have forced them to give birth to them so that she had something to experiment on.

She just could not know whether or not this shocked her or sickened her. Either way the one thing that she took away from that first lesson was that it seemed that the witch Grasharlo was born completely evil. As this very thought she felt a shiver creep down her spine.

After that they would take a break for her process her thoughts and meditate on the lesson. She tried not to get too effected by each lesson. She then found alone in the overgrown aria in the campus gardens. She would find herself staring at one single blood red rose. She felt a tug of something that can only be akin to nostalgia as she looked at it.

“Do you like them?” asked a man.

She jumped as it broke her trance. He put his hands up.

“Relax! I'm only wondering if you liked them that's all!”

She let out a relieved sigh as she smiled and turned her attention to the rose.

“Yeah, I do.” she said. “It's beautiful and complex. You could just stair at it for hours and get lost in thought. So why did you want to know?”

His lip curled.

“Strange, Grasharlo hated roses of any kind.” he said.

Her smile wiped as she could sense danger brewing.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“What does it matter to you. Not that you'll be using that head of yours any more!” he shouted as he ran to her and then took out a knife. He came to her throat and she dived away and in between his legs. She then shot her feet up and kicked him away. She then reached up and her hand felt thorns reach inside of her ans she realised that she had gripped the rose bush. She tried to let go but it was painful to so part of her stopped her. She looked to her left to see that he was about to strike down and, just as she dodged she moved the other hand to cause him to cut the branch of the rose bush. She then moved away and then flung the part of the bush at him. Some hit him in the eye, blinding him in the process.

“Help!” she shouted. “Help!”

“Loc!” Sven, her tutor shouted as she got to him. That was when the man looked in the direction of the man he then ran to him and just as he reached him Sven hit him hard in the gut. Then the people took him away. Quietly he led her away from him and to his office. There he took his hand in hers.

“Look, I'm sorry I have to tell you this to you, but not everyone wants you to be here and they've sent some assassins after you.” he said as he pulled the thorny branch off her hand to her small winces of pain. He looked at it and smiled. “Don't worry, it's not lethal so you'll only feel the pain and you'll live.”

She nodded slightly, not really registering. He then got out a bandage and a bottle of vodka and poured it on a piece of cloth and then cleaned her wounds. He then put a bandage on it. He then poured some in a small glass cup and gave it to her.

“Look I know that you're only just underage but I think that you need something to deal with that.” he said.

She looked at it and nodded. She reached out and just as she grabbed it her wounds hurt so she took it with the other hand. She took a slight sip and she coughed. With a look of disgust and put it back on the table.

He looked up as someone walked in.

“Lora Cerberus, this is Den Komor, he will be training you and protecting you while you're here.” he said. “Of course after your regular lessons you will be training with him.”

She nodded.

“Well, I think there's no time better than the present! Come along Lora!” he said.

She was lead to the gym and he then faced her.

“Right, now I would like to see where you are.” he said. “So let's start fighting.”

She looked at him but her shock was still prevented her from registering anything. He sighed and then he slapped her.

“Snap out of it girl!” he shouted.

Suddenly she was shocked and she snapped out of it. She looked at it and nodded. They then started to fight and as she did she passed out. Den caught her and carried her to the physicians ward and there they examined her, as Sven came up by him.

“Don't worry, she only fainted. I can tell that it's nothing too serious.” she said.

The next day she woke she saw that Den was sleeping next to her. She sat up and then she woke him up and then he turned around and then he turned as she dressed into her brown pants and blue blows. She then got her things.

“Come on.” she said.

Together they walked with Loc's new friends to their lessons and they soon came back to the lesson of Grasharlo and then it was back to training. This they did for over three hours, the first one was all about finding out what Loc could do. The second, what she can't do and the last part was starting to correcting what she could do.

For the next couple of months they dedicated on correcting her fighting. With all the days repeating like this. The only thing that she slipped at was her homework that was because she was too busy doing everything else. She could feel slight panic about that, but she was able to work it off during her training.

When the went back to her dorm Den would always sleep in a tree. She felt for him and once she requested for him to have the dorm next to her but she later found out that he refused. She even gave him a spare blanket but he refused it. She wondered why that was. She had even asked it once but he said that it was a long story. So she just came to the conclusion that he just liked sleeping in trees.

Then during winter time, when people went home to their families when the fact her parents died hit her hardest. She would think of her friends laughing in their mothers and fathers arms, or having all of those presents, it would remind her of when she did that or had those. All the memories flooded her mind seemingly all at once. She would find herself feeling lonely and she would find a quiet and privet place where she could cry. All the memories were torture to her, yet what broke her heart the most was that there were people out there that would believe that she would deserve this. The worst part was the knowledge of why she would never have them ever again.

Yet it was during this time when she approached by a man.

“Hi, are you Loc?” he asked.

“Yeah, who are you?” she asked as she wiped her tears away.

“I'm Sahino Herry, I'm here to substitute for Den.” he said.

She nodded as he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah.” she lied.

He looked at her sternly.

“No, you're not. Tell me, as it's my job to protect you. What's wrong.” he said.

“This is the first winter without mum or dad.” she said.

“Do you miss them?” he asked.

“Very.”

“Do you wish you could see them again?” he asked.

“I wish that were possible. After all they're dead and it was my sisters that did it. Not to mention that all my friends have gone home with their parents so I'm feeling very alone right now.” she said depressed.

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“So the only way to be able to see them again is if you died?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I've got to stop my sisters form doing evil things.” she said.

“But won't there be others that can take car of those kinds of things?” he asked.

“I guess you're right.” she said as she felt something cold on her throat. She looked down shocked as she saw the blade.

“So it would be a mercy to kill you?” he said with a cruel look on his face.

She pushed the blade out of the way and then ducked as he threw the blade to the other hand. He then took her wrist and she jumped and dug her heels into his groin. This caused the man to drop his blade and she kicked it away into the rose bush. She then heard it dig into something. She looked down to see what it was and she let out a scream to see the dead face of Den!

She turned back knowing that if she didn't run from this place then she would be killed by him. She soon ran but then she saw that the door was locked. She banged against the doors hoping that it would open, but then when she spotted that regardless what he did it just wouldn't budge. She was forced to run back to another door and she then spotted that that was locked too. She then tried door after door but all were unsuccessful. She then turned back to the assassin.

Her eyes rose to the blade above her. She dived in between his legs but he snapped his knees together strangling her in the process. She then felt the first stab in the back. Fortunately her adrenalin was high enough for her to be effected too much from the pain. She put her lags to the door and pushed against it. This caused him to loose balance and he fell back. He then hit his head against a purple rose bush.

She saw him twitch as the thorns berried themselves into the back of his head and neck. She shouted for help again and again as he twitched and his face turned purple. He was long since dead before someone came. She was quickly taken from that place as all she could do was repeat that he's dead and he pointed to a different rosebush. They soon saw why. She felt the tears come and she cried into whoever was closest.

She was soon checked for injuries. She heard people talking but she did not care what they had said. She felt the cage of her depression weigh on her chest making it heavy. She could feel like she could not eat nor did she know what she wanted to do. She just wanted for all of this to end, somehow....

Honestly, my parents are dead, my sisters were the ones to do it and I have been almost killed twice, and the worst part is I have a feeling that things will only get worse. Just when will this end?She thought repeatedly in her head.

Sven came to her and gave her a glass of wine.

“Look, you really need to get this down you. It will help.” he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her. She looked up, her eyes were red and puffy.

“Look, this was not your fault. Den knew what he was going into and he was willing to do it.” he said.

“Maybe he shouldn't.” she said.

“I wouldn't be so sure. After all, even-though many see you as Grasharlo, we don't. Even-though you are one third of her soul, we know that you are not her. You are your own person.” he said.

“So?”

“So, you must not let this get to you. You need to be stronger than that.” he said.

“Why? Can't you get someone else to kill them?” she snapped.

“We can, but you're our best shot.” he said. “Now, come I think it would be better if you're not left alone at this time.”

With all that said she spent the winter with him and he made sure that she enjoyed her time there, mainly my distracting her mind with games like ping pong or teaching her how to dance. She soon started to feel happy and laughed many times.

When classes started she was given another bodyguard but this one was a woman. She was young and thin. She did not look like a bodyguard but then again, she was trained to blend in. She had started training when she started classes. She soon had her learning different fighting techniques. It soon came to mid spring.

“Look, Loc, I'll be going away for a while, so I'll be hiring a substitute soon.” she said.

She nodded and she arrived a week later she came. She had long blond hair and amber eyes. She came to her after all the classes were over and it was time for training.

“So, you must be Loc, I'm Avitina.” she said as she held her hand out.

“Well you know I'm Loc.” she said

“Yeah, tell me, once this session's over would you like for me to teach you how to put on make up?” she asked.

She smiled.

“Sure!”

They soon had the training finished. Then they both took a bath. Then she took her to the toilets and then took her to a mirror. At this she was stunned at how thin her face had become. She then she put on the foundation and then she put on some lipstick. She soon felt like her body was beginning to seize up. She then fell off her chair and she soon realized the woman was an assassin. She tried to back away, but her limbs would not move! She looked up and felt the shock and fear sink in as she knew that she was going to kill her and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

She knelt beside her and then she stroked her neck.

“You know, you're quite beautiful, even without make up, but before I kill you I just have to put on some eyeshadow.” she said as she put it on, closing her eyes in the process.

Then she felt her hand around her neck and then she felt a sudden squeeze. She then coughed and her hand became tighter and tighter. She could do nothing as her life was being choked out of her. She could feel her heartbeat increase making the choking worse. She couldn't even let out a scream for help. Then she felt the pressure build up in her head until it pounded.

She could feel that feeling that she had when she released the elemental shadow. She just could feel it build as her life started to fall and she soon released it. Her hand released too and she heard a something hit the ground beside her. She soon knew that she had killed her. She soon faded from consciousness.

When she woke she was in her last month of the year. So she spent all of that catching up on her work. This, she welcomed, for she needed something to distract her mind.