The night sky greeted me with bright shiny stars as I made my way out of a secluded back door. The air was cool against my bare skin, a welcome gentle touch to my sore muscles. I took a deep breath, basking in the beauty of this summer night and the glory of my win. The whole day seemed to pass by in a blur and by the end of it, the cheers and claps of the audience engulfed me, sending waves of pleasure and pride through my ragged nerves. I had been dreaming about this day since I was a little girl, and now that it was finally here, there was only one person with whom I wanted to share this victory. Almost everyone in the kingdom flocked to the castle, cheering and singing, celebrating the new dawn of change. Drinks were served all around and the sound of drums echoed throughout, sending the people into a frenzy of wild dancing. I closed the door behind me and stepped into the cool summer night, my full length royal blue gown was now replaced by black shorts and a simple white tank top. I had made sure to stay and greet everyone, to perform my duties and please my parents, but as soon as everyone had started drinking and dancing I had taken that as my queue to leave.

He must be waiting for me.

My heart skipped a beat as my mind wandered. His image flashed in front of my eyes and a wide smile made its way to my lips.

His warm brown eyes.

His sculpted face.

His full lips.

Every atom in my body longed for him, his warm touch, his beautiful smile, his tender kiss. There was no one else I would rather be with, there was no one else I would rather celebrate with and as I stepped further away from the castle all I could think about was him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”The wind carried her voice to me and I froze in my place. I cursed myself for being too careless and her for being too attentive. I turned around slowly; an awkward nervous smile was plastered on my face.

“Sooyeon…” I chocked, the words refusing to leave my mouth.

“I see you have changed.” She smirked as she took in my new attire. “I’m not sure those shorts are fitting for the royal banquet.”

“I…” Damn it why was I stuttering?

“You’re going to see him aren’t you?” The smirk on her face disappeared; a warm smile took its place.

“I am.” I nodded with a sheepish grin.

“Ah, young love.” She sighed and I giggled. “They won’t be pleased you know.”

“Oh please, they hardly even noticed I was gone. They were too busy feeling great about themselves and getting praised by the public.” I huffed a stray strand of raven black hair out of my face and scowled.

“Yeah you’re right”. She chuckled. “They do love the spot light.” A moment of silence passed by before she continued: “I’ll cover for you if they noticed.” A high pitched squeal left my mouth and I skipped towards her, engulfing her in a tight hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I beamed.

“Alright, alright.” She giggled in response. “Hurry up.” She watched as I headed back down the dark road. “And be careful.”

“I will.”

The sounds of the drum fainted as I got further away from the castle. Silence swallowed the dark roads and I welcomed it with a content sigh. It won’t be long now. Just a few more minutes.

The trees swayed with the breeze, the rustling of the leaves was the only sound that whispered through the night. The roads were deserted as the people abandoned their homes to celebrate within the castle. I wrapped my arms around my waist and shuddered. A shiver ran down my spine and I knew that it had nothing to do with the cool breeze. The pride, joy and happiness I was feeling a second ago faded away, fear taking their place.

I was being followed.

The next morning, the academy was enveloped in chaos. Most of our classes were cancelled due to the fact that some of our professors were called in by the covenant. According to Kiseop, the professors of Lixierra academy were very powerful and would serve as great assets in the attack. Mr. Blackthorn –my mentor and friend- was also called in and I found myself worried sick for his well being. I knew that he was very powerful, one of the most advanced mystics in the four lands who chose to teach instead of fight or serve the covenant, but I couldn’t help the feeling of utter helplessness that took over me. I couldn’t understand the covenant’s decision of launching a counter attack on the Grim ones. By what we had witnessed here, the Grim ones weren’t to be taken lightly. They were dark and powerful and they had managed to almost wipe us out without many losses in their ranks. What could the covenant possibly have to battle their black magic?

Despite the decision to cancel classes however, Mr. Salvatore was adamant on having us continue our endurance training. The senior class was called in at the crack of dawn to run the mandatory 3.5 miserable miles. We gathered in front of the main building, shivering as the chill morning air our bare arms and legs.

“Listen up,” Mr. Salvatore yelled, grabbing our attention with his booming raspy voice and his sour expression, “as you all have probably heard by now, some professors of our pristine academy were called in by the covenant to fight alongside our warriors. This means that some of your classes like Charms and Potions, Spell Craft and Elemental magic will be cancelled for today. However, that does not mean that you should take your training lightly.”

A collective groan was heard throughout the grumpy students. One thing all seniors could agree on was that our most exciting classes were the ones where we could actually practice magic. Granted I have found The History of Mystics to be incredibly fascinating, but making my own spells and potions was far more interesting. So to have those classes cancelled meant that we would be stuck running and throwing punches at each other all day.

“So, after you run your miles, meet me at the gymnasium for martial arts practice.” Mr. Salvatore was clearly more bummed about the idea of spending the whole day yelling at us to straighten up and pack more strength in our kicks more than we were. For an old man, our PE instructor was deceivingly strong. He was tall and well built, with muscles poking out all of the right places. His silver hair was receding, the only indication of his aging nature. He could have been handsome in his young years, but the constant frown on his face had spread some wrinkles and fine lines all around his sharp features. At this point I didn’t know if I felt sorry for him for being stuck here babysitting us or hate him for making our lives so difficult. But as he shouted for us to move our asses I decided I leaned more for the latter emotion.

“Here” Kiseop handed me a bottle of water. I was standing at the edge of the football field, panting with my hands on my knees. I had just finished running and was trying to catch my breath before martial arts kicked in.

“Thanks.” I said between raspy breaths, downing the cold water down in seconds. My whole body was sore and my muscles screamed at me to lie down but I knew I didn’t have time for rest. I snuck a glance at Kiseop who was looking at me with an amused look on his face, and I grunted loudly as I took him in. His grey shirt clung to his torso, hugging the muscles of his upper body tightly. His black hair swayed with the cold morning air, as wild and untamed as ever. His smile was bright and mischievous and when we were all sweating our lives away, Kiseop looked gorgeous.

“That is so not fair!” I exclaimed, throwing the empty water bottle at his head.

“What is?” He chuckled and ducked, the bottle missing his head by an inch.

“That!” I said as I motioned at his body. “You look like a freaking super model. It’s so annoying! Were you even running with us miserable peasants?” a low grunt escaped my lips and he laughed even louder.

“Of course I was.” He took a step closer and held my hands in his. “I can’t help it if I look good even when I shouldn’t.” He smirked.

I pulled my hand free and smacked the back of his head.

“Arrogance doesn’t become you, your highness.” I rolled my eyes.

“And jealousy doesn’t become you.” He whispered against my lips as he wrapped his free hand around my waist. His breath was warm with hints of coffee and mint and I smiled as the familiar scent embraced me. My hand traveled up his back and rested on his neck just as his lips met mine, and suddenly all the anger and fatigue vanished as I melted into the kiss. My heart banged against my rib cage, just as it always did whenever Kiseop was around, and a tiny moan escaped my lips. I could feel him smile into the kiss and he took the opportunity to deepen it. Our tongues danced together in a battle of dominance and for that brief amount of time all I could feel was bliss, that is, until my best friend showed up.

“Ahem!”

Kiseop and I pulled away from each other; my head was still swirling around in a meadow of daisies. As soon as I sobered up I turned around, glaring daggers at Kira.

“I would say get a room, but we have to get to class.”

The first couple of hours of class went by painstakingly slow. Mr. Salvatore – or Lucifer as the seniors nicknamed him- made it his life’s mission to torture us. His class consisted of mixing up karate with boxing, aikido, jujitsu, wrestling and other forms of armed and unarmed combat that I simply could not keep track of. He spent the first part of the lesson barking orders at us. It was clear by his scowl that he was less that impressed by our skills but that didn’t stop him from working us ragged. When he finally blew his whistle announcing our 5 minute break, we all sighed in relief and plopped on the mats but what we didn’t know was that the lesson was far from over.

“You will now commence training in pairs.” He announced, his voice bouncing off of the walls of the gym. “I will be picking two of you to spar together, so I can assess your progress and determine your strengths and weaknesses. Each lesson you will be paired with a different partner which will help keep you on your toes.” A collective groan was heard across the room. All of us were tired and sore and this new sparing exercise was sure to drain whatever energy we had left.

“First up,” Professor Salvatore cleared his throat, “Hyuna and Lilith.”

I drew in a sharp breath and froze in my spot.