“No, that idea is above your level of magic at this point John. What about changing a fireball into an ice ball? It’s where you should be at and it’ll give you the challenge you’re looking for.”

His student frowned, eyebrows furrowing.

“Journeyman Joshua,” a voice rang through the hall, interrupting Joshua’s little lecture with one of his students. “Your presence is required by the Dean.”

Joshua turned away, spotting the university head’s secretary. Ever since the report of the results of his last quest passed the through the hands of the department heads and into the hands of the university dean, there were talks about how perhaps Joshua should be groomed to become the next head of the university. They mentioned how he handled the situation showed great promise. Honestly though, it all just gave Joshua a giant headache. He wanted to be left alone with his books and familiar after his last jump to high mage and a nice long journey filled with research and fun, not be made into the university’s political and social leader.

But at this point he was still under the university’s beck and call. If they asked him to jump, Joshua would have to ask how high. Given who came looking for Joshua, Joshua would have to jump rather high. The dean sent his personal secretary after all to fetch him.

Joshua sighed internally, saying goodbye to the hot bath and relaxing dinner with his familiar. His student said his goodbyes scurrying away, with Joshua following the secretary to his newest headache.

The minute Joshua stepped foot into the office, he could see the pensive look on Dean Winterborn’s face.

Dean Winterborn didn’t even bother with greetings. He simply got right to the point. “Something has come up.” He paused, searching for the right words to continue. “One of the prominent vampire clans is calling for help. It seems the outskirts area surrounding the town has seen a higher number of aggressive attacks from the animals. Coupled with reports of the plants coming alive to attack people.”

Sitting down, Joshua latched onto the part of vampire clans. “Why are we being called to help? We don’t exactly have the best relations with the vampires. It’s odd that they’re asking for help, from us. The University of Magica and its mages.” Joshua said.

“Despite how uninvolved we tend to be in each other business. It seems like they cannot solve this on their own. It reeks of magic and foul play. They’re out of their depth.” The dean explained.

Foul play could mean many things: overly dramatic vampires, over reactive townspeople, or actual foul pay. “Do they want us to quiet down the area?”

Dean Winterborn sighed. “If only it were that simple.” He shook his head, “No, they want us to solve the mystery behind the rising of attacks. They’re correlating the attacks to the late clan leader’s death.”

Frowning, Joshua mumbled. “If the attacks increased with the death of the late clan leader, it goes to think that instating a new clan leader will solve the problem.”

“Yes, that’s what we had told them the first time they had contacted us. They have chosen a new leader however…it seems to have done nothing.” Dean Winterborn slid a folder across his desk. Gently motioning for Joshua to open it. “The surrounding areas have grown dark. More so than usual the locals report. The creatures darker in nature, as if possessed,” reciting the letter in front of Joshua’s face line by line.

Joshua’s eyebrows rose. “Dark? Why am I being called in for this job? My specialty is holy magic.”

“Don’t downplay your skills Joshua. You didn’t reach your rank by luck.” The dean said with a pointed look, clearly trying to remind him how he held a good portion of the university department heads good graces. “Your familiar alone would qualify you for this.”

It meant little to Joshua, but the talks of his skills spread between professors when they had previously been kept to the confines of the classroom and written reports. Before all the talk spread, all he happened to be was another journeyman mage who had a rather ironic situation, an odd combination of skills, and a demon cat.

Ignoring the dean’s words, Joshua asked “And if I don’t take on this job?”

“You’d move up in your ranking,” Bluntly, he pointed out, “There won’t be another one of this caliber to push you up to the last rank Joshua. Not for a long time.” He leaned back into his chair and said reluctantly, “They are asking for help and if we refuse, the university will be irreparably changed. You have no choice. I have no choice. I ask out of courtesy, but you must go.””

“Why do we have no choice?” Joshua asked. Orders were orders but that didn’t mean he had to blindly follow without good reason.

He signed, asking, “What do you know of the upcoming vote? Of the issues to be voted on precisely?”

Joshua replied, “The only one involving the university is the whether or not it should allow nonhumans into the school as we had done in the past; we take everyone in as long as they show magical talent and a willingness to learn.”

“Yes. That is exactly the issue. Some vocal newcomers on the High Council are opposed to the idea of having nonhumans within our walls. These new purists are out to have us change our policy. The Yoon clan are friends with some of them, having them on our side would help immensely. We can’t have the tradition changed because some purists have it out for the separation of races.” With an urgent look in his eyes, he stated, “This has to be solved, before the vote for separation of nonhumans and magical humans in the university comes to head. If we don’t hold our end of the bargain the clan will not hold theirs.”

“So, it’s a matter of politics then,” Joshua clarified.

“Politics and that final push for that rank you’ve been wanting for two years.” Dean Winterborn held out his hands in a placating manner, “You’re allowed to take a fellow mage and even a promising apprentice if you think they can handle this kind of situation. We’re not sending you out there alone.”

Internally, Joshua sighed. He knew he was going to take it as there was little choice. “I want everything we know or that they’re willing to tell us about everything that happened, after the clan leader’s death and even before if they can.”

“I’ll see what I can do on the information front.”

Joshua got up to leave. Turning around as he walked out, he threw back, “Oh, I also want Seungkwan with me on this. And I think Chan would benefit from this as well. Make sure their schedules are cleared for this.”

As the door closed he heard the Dean Winterborn swear, served him right Joshua thought. Taking Seungkwan was a mild risk. He was talented but loud. But also good at wheedling out information that Joshua was sure he would need. Chan was a wild card, the young apprentice had the ability to speak to animals but it sometimes went awry. The potential was there, but things went south often enough. He picked wild cards hoping it would be in his favor.  

 Deciding to tell Seungkwan and Chan about their new mission, he swung by the Apprentice dorms first. Lucky for him, Chan was in his room. A perfect situation considering the sensitive nature of the what they were going to do.

He knocked on the door twice and waited. The door opened, revealing the person he was looking for. “Chan, is your roommate in right now?”

“No, he isn’t. Do you need to talk to him sir?” Chan asked.

Joshua shook his head. “No, I need to talk to you in private and since he’s out this will work out nicely.” He gestured towards the room. “In we go. I won’t talk about why I’m here outside in the hallways.”

Startled, Chan nodded, scurrying out of the way to let Joshua in, “Oh, please come in.”

“You’re not currently on the roster for any new missions are you?” Joshua inquired right off the bat.

“No, I’m not. Can I ask why you want to know sir?” Chan replied.

“I’m going on a mission in the next day or so and I want you on my team. Are you in?”

“Yes!” He yelled voice filled with happiness. Being asked to be on the team roster of a quest was a privilege, especially when it came from a journeyman mage.

Joshua laughed. “While that’s great, aren’t you going to ask what’s the mission about? Jumping on every opportunity may one day get you stuck in a swamp filled with things you never wanted to meet.”

 Chan rubbed at his head, smiling sheepishly, “What kind of mission?”

“A recent problem has cropped up in a vampire clan’s territory. Odd things have been seen and the local area has seen a rise in attacks on the city and its people.” Joshua said, being slightly vague.

His eyes sparkled with excitement. “Totally a different level than the ones they normally allow apprentices to take. Ours are small time quests, minor problems to be solved in the area.” Chan replied, shoulders drooping at how boring his normal quests were.

“Well yes. Those quests and missions are more to get your feet wet in how things are done. Larger scale quests and missions are of a different nature which you don’t normally encounter in your apprentice years unless the supervising mage of a quest requests you personally.” Joshua explained, feeling much like how his old professor must’ve felt when he complained years ago.  “In this case it's because I requested you. Your skills might come in handy.”

Joshua patted him on the shoulder. “For now, you need to pack as we'll be leaving tomorrow after breakfast. Come to my rooms later at dinner. We'll need to talk more about what's happened and what we’re going to do. You can also meet the other mage I’m taking with us.”

“Yes, sir.”

Joshua left Chan’s rooms, taking long strides toward the mage hallway where Seungkwan would be, knowing him. This year he didn't have classes to assist in as the university would be more interested in seeing how far Seungkwan could go as a mage.

He walked towards the direction where he could hear loud familiar squawking, nodding hellos to other mages he knew. It seemed like Solar was in fine form this afternoon, Basque would hate that. Joshua pounded on the door, knowing that if he lightly knocked like he normally did, the two wouldn’t hear him at all. Once Solar got into a snit, things got loud.

He waited as he heard Seungkwan shout, “Just one moment!”

The door swung open with Seungkwan in stained robes and his hair in every direction. “Joshua! What brings you here?”

“A new mission. A big one Seungkwan.” He said with a smile that turned into a grimace. “One that’ll get to you the rank of journeyman if we play this right.”

“That’s great!” Seungkwan’s smile turned into a frown once he noticed Joshua’s facial expression though. “Why aren’t you happy? If it going to bump me up the ranks, it also means you’ll reach high mage status won’t you?”

Joshua nodded, “It will. But the circumstances of the quest are…interesting. Let me in first and then I’ll tell you what I know so far.”

Seungkwan slid to the side allowing Joshua to walk into his rooms. As soon as he entered he smelled the remnants of a restorative potion gone wrong. Turning to Seungkwan, “Is this why I heard Solar all the way down the hallway and your robes are ruined?”

He nodded, looking down in shame. Joshua sighed and wondered why Seungkwan could never seem to get the healing potions brewed correctly.

“it's been how many years of learning and of me helping you?” He said incredulously. “Yet you still can't make healing potions and elixirs. Seungkwan…. you’re really something.”

Lips pursed, he shouted, “Hey! I have other skills too. I...just can't get these damn healing potions right. even when you literally handed me all the ingredients and basically held my hand while I was brewing, I still botch it up.” Seungkwan huffed, puffing his cheeks.

 Joshua nodded, remembering session after countless session spent trying to teach Seungkwan on how to brew them properly, only to fail each and every time. “Well that’s beside the point. The new mission that’s come my way is more interesting.” Joshua said, dropping into the arm chair closest to him.

“Right. A leveling up in rank you said?” Seungkwan questioned, peeling off his stained robe to drop it in the corner.

Joshua nodded. Ranks in the university rose by skill level based on quests, missions, and other tests that were given to them starting when they were apprentices. Each rank essentially had a meter that needed to be filled before a mage in training could move onto the next one. With each quest, mission, and test their rankings would rise, depending on the level of difficulty, the work they put in, and if the outcome was favorable. Failed missions gained them less than a successful one.

This particular mission ranked high in terms of difficulty and skill needed. And given how important it was to be solved swiftly and neatly, it definitely would give them what they needed to achieve the next rank, the last rank for Joshua.

“This one is difficult.” He grimaced remembering the amount of details that he heard. “There’s gaps of information and things smell funky. The people who requested us to look into thing has me concerned as well.”

“Who?” Seungkwan asked, eyes wide.

“Vampires,” Joshua replied flatly.

“Vampires? Really? They never ask us for help unless they’re literally backed into a corner.” Seungkwan said, voice filled with surprise.

He nodded. “The Yoon clan. What do you know about them? My knowledge of the clans is limited to the ones in the Northern areas. I never encountered those that reside in the Western areas of the country.”

“Nothing much besides the fact that they’re especially known for their good looks and rather tight lippedness on their clan skill.”

 “Exactly why it stinks of something fishy. Vampires have never come to the university for anything they couldn’t solve themselves or until the high council demanded them to. But as it is we have no choice. Or rather I have no choice and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me.”

Frowning, Seungkwan looked at him. “How much a rank boost are we talking?”

“You’re only at the lower rungs of reaching journeyman right?” Watching Seungkwan nod, Joshua continued, “It’ll get you there if we succeed or nearly there.”

Seungkwan looked deep in thought, letting out hmms and rubbing his chin. Joshua sat there waiting for an answer in the silence, until Solar came flying into the room with a loud squawk. “Do it, you silly child! Look at how close it’ll bring us.”

Rubbing at his ears, Joshua let out a hello to the parrot familiar. Solar settled down on the couch that Seungkwan sat on, babbling away at how close they’d get and that he’d better take it. Sighing, he watched as the two squabbled about the mission for a few more seconds before Seungkwan turned back towards him, “Yes! Wait, am I going to be under your supervision?”

“Yes, this mission isn’t something you have experience in. Not to mention I am higher in rank than you.” Joshua replied, pausing to let that sink in. “You know how relaxed I am about ranks, but I have the final say in how we do this.”

Seungkwan nodded, clearly remembering how much he actually let Seungkwan contribute and do on his own in other quests that they were put together on. Smiling, Joshua said, “Fantastic. Later at 6 come by my rooms for dinner and I’ll let you and the apprentice I picked, in on the details. We have lots to discuss.”

He reached his rooms shutting the door quietly, before he started to swearing, letting out all the emotions he felt about being cornered into this mission. Joshua was so invested in venting out his frustrations that he didn’t hear rustling and the gentle footfalls of his familiar Basque.

“What’s gotten your in a twist Shua?” The monstrous demon cat asked, yawning.

He cursed once more before turning his head towards the striped, black haired cat. Blowing out a breath of frustration he said, “We have a mission. A rather mysterious one. It’s a fishy mission. But one we have to take because of politics.” He made sure to stress the word politics by using air quotation marks.

“A fishy mission? Care to explain what do mean by that?”

Joshua flopped down onto the couch in the sitting room, while Basque padded and laid his head onto his lap. “The Yoon vampire clan,” he sighed. “They have a problem. A rather large one it seems. The surrounding area of their territory has grown increasing dark in nature, attacking the locals and the manor. The villagers seem to be afraid to venture out of the city gates as they say the shadows have grown malicious and darker than before. According the missives and talks, their previous clan leader has just died. Which coincidentally triggered this jump in attacks. They have since chosen a new one but the attacks continue and the area continues to be dark in nature, growing even.”

“Where does the politics come in?” Basque asked, rumbling against his thigh.

Joshua pet his head and replied with annoyance in his voice, “Well, kitten, you remember the vote that’s coming up for whether or not the university will stay open to all those with magical potential? Well it seems the Yoon clan has sway over certain voting members. Dean Winterborn wants them in our good graces, so by solving this mystery the university can keep them in our corner.”

“Ah, hence the politics. But what else has you agitated Joshua?” Basque questioned. Throwing in as a side note, “And you know I hate it when you call me kitten. It makes everyone so shocked when they see me,” head turning into Joshua’s hands, purring due to the head petting.

Laughing, Joshua his ears, saying, “That’s exactly why I call you kitten. The shock value is always worth it. And you can’t throw stones; you used to call me boy child for years when I first summoned you.” He gave a little scowl before smoothing out his face, going back to the matter at hand. “This mystery is full of dark magic and of holes. Big gaping holes of information that we don’t have. I feel as if we’re going into this half blind. And that never goes well for us.”

“The dark magic we can deal with. It’s not like you don’t have skill with it. I’m full of dark magic after all; we work wonderfully together. Otherwise the summoning circle wouldn’t have called me forth.” He said with a giant kitty smirk full of sharp canines.

Joshua smiled at Basque, remembering the utter surprise when he finished chanting the spell, there in the summoning circle stood an enormous demon pantheresque jungle cat. A dark magic familiar for the boy who had an affinity for holy magic, as if it weren’t ironic enough that he was a rather devout child of God who was learning to become a mage.

“With the two of us, this mystery will be solved in no time and we can secure that rank we’ve been eyeing for some time.” Looking at Joshua in the eyes, tail lashing left and right in curiosity, “This will push up the ranks correct?”

“Yes. It’ll definitely bring us to the rank we’ve been eyeing. And we’re not going at this alone. I was told we could have partners so I requested Seungkwan and an apprentice named Chan.”

“Seungkwan?” Basque asked, the disdain clear in his voice.

“Yes Basque, Seungkwan. His ability to charm people will come in handy. Even against vampires, the siren blood in him will be a large asset. After we get the magical key to the wards that stop his ability to charm. It’ll help loosen lips. Not to mention his natural ability for the gift of gab will be helpful.” He gave a hard stare at Basque, “I’m surprised you haven’t complained about Solar.”

Solar being Seungkwan’s familiar; a rather loud-mouthed parrot. Basque made an ugly face, causing Joshua to laugh.

“Why not choose another mage?” He whined. Joshua knew that while he hated the constant talking Solar did and found him more than just a bit annoying. But when push came to shove in battles, Basque would still help him, instead of the letting the bird die.

“Because.” He said giving Basque a pointed look. “Seungkwan gets along with us rather well, and his skills are some of best in his rank.” Joshua moved Basque’s head off his thigh and stood. Walking towards their bedroom he said, “I’m surprised you’re not throwing a fuss over me taking an apprentice along.”

Basque huffed at being left without head rubs and padded alongside his master. “The apprentice has to follow orders and is on the bottom of the command chain. Not to mention his familiar is most likely less annoying than Solar.”

“Solar isn’t annoying…he’s just talkative.”

“Saying Solar is just talkative, is like saying I’m only mildly dark. And we both know that’s a lie. I’m 100% demon animal. Solar is grating at his best.”

Joshua laughed. He shook his head as he grabbed his traveling bag. “What should I bring Basque?” Joshua asked rifling through his supplies and weapons. “An magic amplifier for sure. Which potions and books, besides the regular potions?”

“The ones on dark magic and shadows, maybe throw in a few on holy magic, the obscure ones. Bring more health replenishing potions; this mystery sounds like blood will be shed and you can’t be healing everyone all the time. Not like last time where you collapsed.” He growled, scolding Joshua.

Letting out an embarrassed cough, Joshua blushed, “I said I was sorry Basque. I just couldn’t let them die.”

“Yes, I know your tendencies, but you put yourself in danger and I won’t have it. You are my most important person, if you will not take care of yourself I will do it for you. Even if it means going against your nature.” He all but roared. Basque padded over to him and rubbed his large body against Joshua. “When you first summoned me, I remember thinking as I saw you, that I had to protect this small child with my life as your familiar. You may not be as small as you were then but I will always protect you.”

“As I will always protect you.” Joshua replied back, kneeling to hug Basque. At the end of the day all they had were each other until their master-familiar bond was broken via one of their deaths. “Now let’s pack together hmm, since you’re concerned about my health. Best to let you help me decide what to take.”

“Exactly. Let the smarter animal do the picking.” Basque said smugly, swishing his tail high. Joshua laughed as he picked the books off the shelf.

Dinner time rolled around and his rooms were filled with a loud parrot, a rather interesting looking Husky breed with something far more different than normal canine blood, Chan, and Seungkwan. Sitting down in his favorite chair he asked, “Who’s hungry?” He heard a small rumble from Chan and his Husky familiar. Laughing, he gestured towards the spread on his table, “Let’s eat before we get into the nitty gritty details.”

The three of them and their familiars demolished the food. Waiting for them to settle down, Joshua grabbed the complete file that had made its way into his hands via the dean’s secretary. “The Yoon clan, who lead the small city of Nox, are the clients. A month and half ago it seems like the former head of the clan died. Then came the huge increase in animal attacks and a shadowy darkness that came rushing in a few days after his death. After one month of these reports to the clan, they reached out the university asking for advice. As our reports go, we told them to instate a new clan head hoping that it would calm things down.” Putting down the file, he looked them in the eye, “It didn’t. Things escalated as time went on. They’re ridiculously desperate now it seems. They’ve requested help as soon as we could spare some skilled mages.” He let out a long sigh. “Any questions so far?”

“instating a new clan head didn’t help? At all?” Seungkwan asked. Solar squawked in tandem, which made both Basque and Winter, Chan familiar, wince.

“Not at all. The new clan head is even a direct blood descendent, his eldest child. A son even.” Joshua read.

Slowly raising his hand, Chan asked, “Umm…why would that matter if the descendent was directly related?”

Joshua turned to him, “You haven’t discussed vampires yet in class?” Seeing Chan shake his head, Joshua mentally sighed. “Most vampire clans are purists, and they often have spells or curses on the line that require clan heads to be blood related or else there are consequences. The spells normally depend on time period.” Tapping his lips, “There are stories of a clan who didn’t have direct descendants, who instated a cousin from a branch family who had no direct blood line trace.” He paused, staring up at the ceiling trying to remember what happened, “The clan mansion collapsed. They were lucky they had done it outdoors so the damage to the family was minimal, but the loss of the house was a huge blow.”

Chan let out a small “Oh.”

“The darkness is unnatural to the area?”

“Yes. The surrounding areas all corroborate that the miasma is a recent occurrence.” Joshua said rubbing Basque’s head. “Our job is find the source of the problems and take care of it. Banish the miasma and break whatever has the animals going more wild than normal. We set out at dawn tomorrow in order to make it there in two days. We’ll stop twice to replenish food and to not tire out our horses too much. The sooner we get there the sooner we solve what’s going on.”

Looking at all of them, Joshua said, voice serious, “We’re working on a schedule. This has to be solved before the High council meets to talk about the idea of barring nonhumans entry into the University of Magica.”