Hello folks, the first part is finally done! I had a bit of a hard time deciding where to start this. As is the custom, beginnings tend to be rich with information drops, so do bear with me until I get this into full swing.

Part 1: With friends like these 

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Moon was trying not to panic. The world was chaos incarnate. Waves of pained cries, whistling wind and angry screeching dominated the soundscape around her. Blurred shadows of people scattered around her, running away from an invisible danger that she couldn’t pinpoint. There were faces she recognized, faces that she didn’t, but the abject looks of terror and fear were equally written across them.

Then the surroundings changed, and she was running as fast as her legs would carry her. Her heart was almost beating out of her chest under the influence of adrenaline, and she  vaguely registered the fact that she was headed for a particular destination. Her shoes crunched on charred grasses and leaves, bringing up puffs of black dust that were instantly dispersed by the fury of the wild gale that was howling into her face, bringing along with it the scent of smoke and burning wood. With each step her legs seemed to grow heavier until they seemed weighed down by blocks of lead and she could run no more.

“Moon! Moon! Don’t stop! Just a bit farther!” A voice urged beside her, a voice she knew well. “You can’t walk now! We won’t be in time for-”

Moon wanted to obey. She could feel an atavistic fear in her bones, screaming at her to keep running. There was a terrible presence in pursuit of her, so distorted with rage and anger that its very existence was at the edge of making  her hyperventilate. A fate worse than death awaited her if she stopped now, and yet her energy was draining away from her body like sand through an hourglass. A cold fog was creeping over her vison, obscuring her judgement. Perhaps a moment
to recover would help. No, she couldn’t stop now. Ahead she could just make out the silhouettes of the people she knew fighting together against blurry enemies. She could faintly hear their words carried to her by the howling wind. They needed help. And she needed to get out of this place, fast. Before she was stuck here for good.

The presence was closing the distance she had put between it and herself. She made a last effort to move her legs, but in vain. Her eyes widened as a force clamped down from behind on her shoulder-

Moon gasped and sat up, clutching her chest. Her forehead was covered in cold sweat. Heaving for breath, she glanced wildly around her. 

The dashboard of the car came into focus first. Then the windshield, and the rubber duck mirrored at the bottom of it.

“You ok?” A voice asked beside her. “Bad dreams?”

Moon turned her head and was met with a pair of worrying brown eyes. “H-Hawkstar!” She mumbled, voice unsteady as she phased out of the immersive experience of her dream.

The brown-haired girl at the wheel tilted her head slightly, indicating her attentiveness. “You looked pale. Hope you didn’t mind me shaking you, but I thought you were getting carsick. We’ll be at the institute in five minutes anyway, so you might
want to clear your head a bit before you get out.”

“I…” Moon rubbed her face to clear her mind. “You’re right, I guess.” She tried to recall what she had been dreaming about, but all she recalled was a soup of tumulting pictures. “There was this really terrible nightmare. Everyone was scared out of
their wits.” She eventually said, settling on the most accurate description she could find.

Hawkstar reached out and patted Moon on the shoulder. “You’re tired, girl. Some fresh air would do us some good.”

The windows rolled down as she said so, allowing a gust of fresh mountain air into the car, a welcome cool feel upon Moon’s hot face. It was night. A silver fishhook lay silently amidst a backdrop of velvet, shining gently with a silver radiance. Stars blinked like silver eyes. The rumbling of the car engine weaved through the tall trees of the mountains, interrupting the merry song of cicadas. Two bright beams of light cleaved their way through the darkness, illuminating the
path forwards.

As she watched the trees recede into the distance, Moon found herself calming down and reflecting on the various events that had been happening during the past half year.

It had been six months since she had arrived at the Institute, and from then on it seemed that there was never an end of new matters to contend with- choosing her new mentor,
associating with her fellow apprentices, figuring out the schedule of her day and having to deal with near-death experiences every single time the Barrier leaked- it was a completely new change from the slow-paced life she had led at the ministry, where what one was going to have for lunch was one’s greatest worries.

Her gaze drifted to the erect figure to her left. Hawkstar’s brown eyes were fixed on the weaving road in front, her shoulder length brown hair billowing in the breeze. Thankfully, she had run into a supportive friend. She admired Hawkstar for her kindness just as she in turn had a fondness for Moon’s quick wit and mind-bending talent. It was a stroke of luck that they happened to be learning under the same grumpy
mentor…

“What’s up?” Hawkstar asked, catching Moon’s gaze out of the corner of her eye as the car approached the gate of the Ministry.

“Nothing, nothing. I was daydreaming.” Moon hurriedly said, turning her face to the other side. “Wait, no. Nightdreaming.”

Hawkstar rolled her eyes at the terrible pun. “Then what were you doing just now?”

Moon cocked her head with a grin as the topic headed into her element. “That? That was only sleepdreaming. Any questions?”

Hawkstar shook her head with a smile, obviously deciding not to continue the argument. 

As the car neared the large gates of the Ministry, a figure appeared out of the shadows. “Moon! Still have the face to come back, do you?” It asked angrily.

Hawkstar raised a questioning eyebrow, turning down the headlights. “Who’s that ahead?”

“Huh.” Moon debated on whether or not to answer. Finally, she glanced up to confirm the guess she was thinking and, seeing that she was right, held back a snort. “Our local
peacock.”

It was not a peacock in the literal sense. It was a steaming Peregrine, another of Moon’s friends. Or, in a sense, more enemies than friends. Frenemies, Moon thought. The type that would be at each other’s throats if it wasn’t for Hawkstar  pulling them apart.

Peregrine was standing hotly in front of the ministry’s iron gate, clad in gleaming silver armor that covered her arms and legs. Her long dark hair was gathered into a high ponytail that shook with every slight movement of her head. Even more
ostentatious were the fact that she had even unfurled her shining metal wings without any reason for doing so. They gleamed dangerously in the moonlight, feathers clinking as they touched.

Moon clucked her tongue as she got out of the car. “Hey there.” She tried, giving her a little wave.

Peregrine’s gaze flashed over Moon for a brief instant with an expression as though she was making a mental note to dispose the garbage and turned away without answering, instead walking over to greet Hawkstar. “Welcome back. How did the cleanup go?”

“Tiring.” Hawkstar sighed, patting her sore back as she clambered out of the driver’s seat. “But smooth compared to the ones last week. I ran into Moon halfway. If it wasn’t for her help, I might have missed a few possessed sparrows in the alleyways.”

Peregrine’s gaze flashed over Moon once more, eyebrows furrowing. “You should know better than to bring her with you. She’ll be too busy burrowing into the nearest bookstore
to be of any help.”

“That’s called a love of reading, missus.” Moon retorted, not to be outdone. “I don’t see you doing any of that anytime soon. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night, anyway? Trying to date a male peacock?”

“Why, you-” Peregrine said, finally turning in Moon’s direction for the first time since they began talking. Moon had a vague feeling that she was rather irritated over something and it was only thanks to basic etiquette that she was still holding
her temper back. “If you have any sense of respect, Moon Wolf, you’d keep your mouth shut while I’m talking. Just  because you think you’re more talented than everyone else in the institute doesn’t change the fact that you need a through education of the rules here.”

Moon was just about to say something sharp back when Hawkstar stepped between them, coughing softly. “Alright, alright. That’s enough, both of you.”

Moon glared at Peregrine. Showy Peacock.

Peregrine glared back. Arrogant dog.

That was how it usually went between them. Peregrine was incredibly talented in magic, that was a given fact. She had been the undisputed number one in the institute until Moon had arrived. She quickly proved to be an existence that was soon deemed to defy all known patterns of development. Complex spells came to her mind as easily as drinking water, and she could sleep through every single training session of the day without falling behind. She seemed to barely put any effort into anything.

And Peregrine could not tolerate slackers.

“Well then, what are you doing out here?” Hawkstar asked Peregrine, trying to lighten the mood between the two girls a bit. “Waiting for someone?”

“What else do you think I could be doing? Admiring the stars?”

“Ah?” Moon said, not wanting to lose the chance to needle her. “Who are you waiting for, Peregrine? I feel rather sorry for them, to be honest-”

“You.”

“Oh, me- wait, what?”

Peregrine slowly raised an arm and pointed a finger at her.  “Yes you, you imbecile. Do you have a problem with that?”

Moon: “???” 

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Alright! Characters will slowly fill in as the solo write progresses. Side characters may take a while, but be assured that it's only so that they can have a longer time in the spotlight in the future. Due to the fact that everyone has filled out entity forms, the universe may be slightly altered to adjust to the plot's needs. Feel free to ask questions and also try to guess why Peregrine is in a bad mood <3

Part 2, The Consequences of Not Paying Attention

The quarreling ended abruptly after that. Hawkstar left them to drive away the car and added a reminder to not bicker their heads off. Such was that Moon, with a head full of questions, found herself following Peregrine through the gate and into the airy main hall of the institute, an ornate building with paintings hung all over the walls.

However, there was something off with the hall. It had something to do with the yet undispersed feeling of  depression hanging in the air and the appearance of rows of folding chairs. And the wreaths and flowers laid against the  walls. And the large black and white picture of a group photo  sitting in the front and enter of everything. And right before it, leaning on an ornamental sword stand under the photo, was a glowing blue figure in a suit.

Moon walked over to them and greeted them politely, trying to ignore the new décor. “Xen, I’m back.”

The figure nodded, raising their head. “Finally returned, Moon?” Their voice did not come from their mouth, though their lips were moving. It instead resonated from the speaker
system in the hall and echoed around her like the walls  themselves were speaking.

“Yes. I… I’m late, aren’t I?” She said.

“Not too late to miss saying hello to me.” The administrator said with a melancholic smile. “But I’m afraid you missed Eclipse’s funeral. And Unit 04’s in general.”

Oh no. So that was why Peregrine was in a terrible mood. Moon gulped nervously, a sinking feeling taking form in her breast. She could already picture in her mind the empty seat that had been reserved for her in the midst of scientists and fellow acquaintances. “I’m the only one that wasn’t here?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Hold up, then Hawkstar…”

“Hawkstar left only after the service was finished.” Xen said. “Where were you?”

Moon managed a guilty smile as an answer and glanced at the weapon stand beside them to conceal her hot face. A shining sword lay upon it, the light of the florescent lightbulbs in the ceiling reflecting upon its body. For an instant, one could have pretended that it was still thrumming with its owner’s  translucent energy, ready to unleash a devastating attack  upon anyone in his path. But the wielder was gone, and now only his sword remained, and even that now had fine cracks running along its spine. Looking closer, Moon could see its name still engraved upon its pommel. Erindi. Eclipse had been one of the more popular presences in the institute, she knew. Missing out on such an event because she had been hanging out in a bookstore for the whole day without telling anyone was not something that would be pardoned easily.

Xen glanced Moon up and down, only making her feel more embarrased. They must have known what was going on in her head but they didn’t scold her. Instead they motioned at the sword with a silent exhale. “Have a good look while it still holds. Bound weapons don’t last long after the master passes away. I doubt that it’ll make it till morning.”

“I…I thought that the funeral was supposed to begin the day after tomorrow.” Moon finally managed to squeeze out, tearing her eyes from the sword.

“The date was changed.” Xen said, their shining eyes darting from Moon to Peregrine standing beside them. “Didn’t you catch the update?”

Peregrine, who had been silent for the entire time until now, cut in. “Of course she didn’t. She’s always too busy  daydreaming when our mentor is talking, what do you  expect?”

Rather off put at Peregrine’s lasting irritation, Xen waved a tired hand. “Now there, Peregrine. I understand that you mean well, but there’s no need to get constantly worked up
over other’s faults. I’m sure that she already knows where the problem lies.”

Moon scuffed her shoes on the ground wordlessly. Though she didn’t show it directly on her face, she was already dying of humility inside. She had made excuses for every single possible situation that she might have been presented with except for this one, and for once her quick tongue failed to turn out a good response.

Seeing her hesitant expression, Xen exhaled and patted her on the shoulder. Or tried to. Their hand went straight through the shirt she was wearing and sank into her arm. “Don’t let yourself be too depressed. I’ve seen quite my share of it  today, and to be truthful, it’s taxing on the nerves. According to protocol, I’m supposed to send you to have a talk with the chief about your recent behavior. But as you know, they’re out on business and won’t be back for three months, so I’ll make a deal with you. If you behave yourself and stick to the rules until they come back, I’ll make sure no one will have to know about this.”

Moon looked back up from the ground, eyes lighting up.  “Really?”

Peregrine raised an eyebrow, apparently not content with the direction the conversation was headed, but surprisingly she kept to herself. 

“Why not?” Xen asked with a smile. “I’d rather see everyone working together than having to contend with bad tempers on both sides.”

Moon laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Peregrine asked, exasperated at her attitude.

“Well you can’t expect me to cry on the spot, can you?” Moon said as her good humor returned, nudging her friend good-naturedly with an elbow. As unsatisfied as she seemed,  Peregrine didn’t dodge it. She only facepalmed.

Xen chuckled. “I do hope that you two have it even now. If everything is settled, then you two should be getting to the dorms now. It’s late, and tomorrow is another day to live
through.”

As they were talking, a small cherry blossom drifted in through an open window and landed on the floor beside Moon’s shoes. It could have been just as easily brought in by the night breeze, but there was a faint luminescent glow infused in its petals that made it clear that it was no ordinary flower.

Neither of the three paid it any heed to it at first, but the instant Moon said her goodbyes and turned to leave, secretly thanking the Xen and the skies for not having to die socially in front of the entire institute, a voice from behind shattered her
newfound sense of relief. It was not Peregrine’s, nor Xen’s. It was the one that she least wanted to hear tonight.

“Just where do you think you’re going, Moon Wolf?” The voice came from the cherry blossom, levitating up from the ground. A bright pink glow encased its petals, which quickly began
to elongate into tendrils.

“Moon watch out!” Xen called out as Moon hurriedly ducked, just in time to dodge a pink glowing tendril as it lashed out at her head. Then holding up a hand for peace, “Director Ivy! Please, calm down-”

“That’s quite enough Xen.” The person speaking through the flower said icily. “This is between me and Moon, not you.”

Taking advantage of the distraction, Moon belted out of the hall as fast as her legs would carry her, heart once more pounding as fast as it had been in her dream.

No way! There was no way that that person could have been waiting for her! If she was, she’d be the one lingering in the main hall, not Xen!

No matter what, she wasn’t going to let herself get caught now, not when everything was looking up! Not in a hundred years!

---------End of part two-------

Guess who's going to appear in the third part? Its going to be rather obvious, I believe.

Part three is here, and it's long! I got a bit carried away...

Part 3, My Dear Mentor 

The hundred years lasted for only around twenty seconds, after which the flower caught up with Moon and pounced on her like an angry wasp, bringing her to the ground with a
crash. Her limbs were instantly immobilized by the tendrils, and all her struggles and squirms proved to be ultimately futile against them.

“Well, that’s what happens when you don’t follow the rules.” Peregrine said simply, walking over to where Moon was lying.

“If you have any sense of compassion, Peacock, you’d be trying to help me get out of this.” Moon grumbled, continuing her efforts to escape but accomplishing nothing other than
managing to roll back and forth on the ground.

“I did my best by not reminding Xen to contact her when you first showed up.” Peregrine said with a shrug, trailing behind Moon as she began to be dragged along the ground by an
invisible force. “Though you deserved it. Isn’t that enough?” She seemed much more at ease now that Moon wasn’t free to tread on her nerves.

Moon groaned and gave up the fight against her binds, instead turning her attention to keeping her face and hair off the surface of the ground. Thankfully the path she was being dragged across was one of the standard walkways in the grounds of the institute, paved from head to tail with a single seamless smooth slab of obsidian. At the very least, it made the trip easier on her clothes.

What would have made a sight worth stopping and gawking at was left unnoticed due to the lateness of the night. There were no people outside at midnight to observe them, and thus the curious pair- one being dragged, the other walking behind- traversed the forest-covered grounds of the entire institute in this fashion with few words exchanged except for the occasional jab at each other.

As they neared the eastern boundary, Moon shivered despite herself. “Is it getting colder?”

Peregrine glanced up at the sky. It was a cloudless night. The crescent moon hung silently above them like it had been half an hour ago at the gate. The cool night breeze was still blowing in her face, as comforting as ever…

She sniffed the air. There was a slight chill to it, like the air that escaped from a freezer when one opened the door. “It is.”

Moon did not need an explanation from her. She already was hearing the reason not far in front of them, and it was getting louder by the moment. From afar, it could have been passed off as wind gusting through the trees, but as they neared and the temperature began to drop lower, it was clear that it was anything but.

As Moon was dragged around the last bend in the walkway, the trees to either side stopped abruptly and she was greeted with an unhindered view of the reason for the long trip on the ground.

“Oh dear.” She murmured, temporarily forgetting the state of her clothes.

The Barrier was leaking.

The scene that was playing out before Moon was not for the faint of heart. The immediate vicinity of the leak was  enveloped by bone-chilling mist that swirled and undulated and forced its way into one’s lungs no matter if you breathed it or not. Transparent souls yet to manifest howled and screeched in the air. From her view on the ground Moon could clearly see a gaping tear in the sky like an ugly wound.
Behind that was the tumulting Deathspace, from which a crumbling flight of stone steps was extending, covered with tens upon thousands of vengeful spirits and weeping ghouls that were teetering and tottering their way to the world of
the living.

A normal person would have been driven out of their wits within a few minutes of witnessing the ghastly sight. Moon had grown accustomed since her first, but up till now she
still felt goosebumps whenever she faced a leak.

The Great Dividing Barrier, or more commonly known as The Barrier, had been erected thousands of years ago by wielders of ancient magic and maintained by power cores placed upon enchanted pedestals that served to mark the limits. But as the centuries passed, the Deathspace swelled and began pushing the Barrier forwards, eventually swallowing up the pedestals. As the last pedestals were lost, along went the only method of keeping The Barrier at full power. Nowadays it was nothing more than a gigantic balloon blown to its limits, ready to burst at a moment’s notice.

Patching it demanded a huge amount of energy input with little benefits to the person doing the repairs. That was the main reason why not a single organization in the Union
was keen on pitting in to stabilize it except for the Institute. It was the only protection that the city districts nearby had against hostile anomalies, such was that everyone did their part whenever it came to a breach. It didn’t help that the Institute was situated where the Barrier was weakest. It tended to leak a dozen times every year.

Currently a few meters above ground, a young figure was standing calmly on nothing but thin air, clothes flapping. The gusting wind did little to hinder her movements. Instead it gave an unearthly quality to her silhouette, the only living being surrounded by swaths of dead souls. A shining yellow glow was enveloping her entire body, humming with suppressed energy. Half-transparent mirages of blades
and swords pitched around her in flashes of silver, pitilessly slashing through everything that dared to approach. She was repairing the leak completely by herself.

Her back was turned to Moon, but Moon could still vaguely make out the person’s features- rosy, freckled cheeks, thin lips, and clear dark eyes. However, what might have seemed a soft complexion at first glance was made intimidating by the hard gaze in her pupils and eyebrows that were slightly  furrowed in concentration.

Moon shivered once more. It wasn’t because she was cold. It was more of a sense of instinctive fear. The person was none other than-

Her mentor.

Periwinkle Ivy.

The youngest department director that the institute had ever had.

Periwinkle paid no heed to the two apprentices behind her, still focusing on the task at hand. The fact that she was surrounded by ghouls didn’t even make her bat an eye. Her
composure only showed that she was entirely at ease.

But as composed as she was, her actions begged to differ, for she was wielding a gleaming katana dripping with oily black blood. It took but a simple wave of her hand to cause an immense shockwave to crash into the steps, sending up a massive cloud of dust and fragmented stone that went raining down to the ground. The thousands of steps groaned in protest and instantly ceded to the slash with an earsplitting crack. Moon gulped as a straight crevice running from the bottom all the way up to the invisible beginning of the stairs made itself visible through the dust. The entire structure had been split cleanly in half, and in halves it promptly came crashing down.

Moon felt the remains of what courage she had gathered on the way here spill onto the ground along with the rubble. “Peregrine, save me…”

Peregrine threw a glance on the figure scooting behind her in an attempt to hide. “Scared?”

“Don’t tell me that you aren’t.” Moon mumbled, franticly searching her mind for a way to talk herself out of this, but all she found were memories of her mentor's dominating magical prowess. Are you kidding me? I don’t think it takes a lot of brainpower to realize that she’s in a really bad

mood.

Moon had yet to know all of her mentor’s quirks, but she already had grasped the fact that she did not behave like normal people. Normal people destroyed items when they were irritated. Periwinkle destroyed… big items. Like incredibly long staircases from the Deathspace.

The two pupils watched in a mixture of awe, respect and, mostly coming from Moon, increasing anxiety as Periwinkle methodically eradicated the entire area of every last intruder. Only after her task was completed did she finally float down and alight on the ground.

Peregrine went ahead to greet her. “Miss Periwinkle.”

Periwinkle nodded, a slight incline of her head. Moon shrank as her dark eyes focused on her face. “Um… hello Miss  Periwinkle! Wonderful night we’re having, isn’t it?”

“…” Periwinkle stared at Moon with the gaze one reserved for a fool. “Moon Wolf, I believe that you understand why I sent for you at this time of night.” Her voice was as still and cool as water from a spring. It was also as cold as one.

Quite a fine way to send for someone. Moon thought to herself. “Yes, I do.” She said as respectfully as she could manage to someone no more two years older than her.

“Perhaps you would like to give me a passable explanation as to why you were absent for the entirety of this day.” Periwinkle said, wiping some oily liquid off her katana.

“I… um…” Moon glanced at Peregrine beside her, and seeing that there would be no help, “I was engaged in normal and responsible activities beneficial to my training?” She said, unaware of the various suspicions her answer now confirmed in her mentor’s heart.

The bindings around Moon tightened a fraction. “I’ll give you one last chance, Moon Wolf.”

Moon laughed nervously. “I only read some books. The usual sort.”

“Ah. And that is all?” Periwinkle asked, raising a perfect eyebrow in question.

“Yes!” Moon nodded furiously.

Peregrine facepalmed for the second time this night. “Come on, Moon…”

“You know the consequences of lying to me, Moon Wolf.” Periwinkle said, icy demeanor unchanged.

Moon felt cold sweat begin to run down the nape of her neck. Despite that, she pressed on. “I swear I didn’t do anything!”

Periwinkle raised her hand. Moon yelped as the tendrils around her shifted and she was lifted onto her feet. She could only struggle as Periwinkle extended a finger and laid
it on her forehead.

Moon was very familiar with this treatment. Periwinkle wasn’t director of the Psychology department without reason- she had a power that Moon hated to the bone.

“What did you do today, Moon Wolf?” Periwinkle asked, looking into Moon’s eyes.

“I- Darn it-” Moon stuttered, eyes widening as a familiar aching sensation began to burrow into her mind like a snake. Accompanied was an overpowering notion to tell the truth. Her mouth was almost about to move on its own accord. “I went- Wait, wait! I didn’t- do- anything-”

Periwinkle sighed and pressed another finger to Moon’s slick forehead, doubling the output of her energy. This was her power. The ability to tap into other’s minds. She could manage many things with it, but Periwinkle’s best trick was  interrogation. No one could hold their tongue in the face of an onslaught of psychic magic.

Moon did her best. But she finally gave up after half a minute, beading with sweat and gasping for air. Her face was flushed in humiliation as she relented, handing over control of her vocal chords. “I… spent… the whole day… in a bookstore… reading romance…”

The aching pain in her head vanished immediately. But before Moon got a chance to recuperate, Periwinkle spoke again. “Were you listening to me when I announced that the date of Eclipse’s funeral was changed?”

Moon didn’t wait for the pain to come back. “No! No no no! I wasn’t I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again!” She gasped.

Periwinkle waved her hand. The magical tendrils vanished, releasing Moon who collapsed onto the ground, shivering with fatigue. She glared up at her mentor through blurry vision, fuming inside like a volcano.

Periwinkle had no idea that Moon was secretly dreaming up one hundred ways to behead her. She turned to the side. “Peregrine.”

Peregrine was still processing the fact that Moon had managed to spend an entire day in a bookstore. It wasn’t as though the institute didn’t have a library. Only after a few seconds of reasoning did she recall that it didn’t have a section for fiction. Such was that she only answered Periwinkle’s call after a pause. “Um, yes?”

“Do me a favor and inform Xen that I would like to reserve a private section of the training grounds tomorrow. And Moon, I expect to see you there right after breakfast.”

What!? She’s still not done with me?

Hearing no response, Periwinkle glanced over Moon’s face and caught the anger-laden glare she had yet to hide in time. “What are you thinking?”

Energy stores depleted, Moon only managed a whimper before another invisible wave of psychic magic surged in her direction. She had nearly forgotten that Periwinkle didn’t
have to come in contact with people to hack their minds. “I… I…” She struggled to keep her mouth shut. “I…”

The pain intensified all of a sudden, and it was no longer a snake but a whirring drill. Moon yelped, trembling with indignation. She took a shallow breath spat out her thoughts in one go: “Darn it Periwinkle- I’ll get you back one of these days, just you wait and see!”

Periwinkle paused visibly. Peregrine went pale.

The katana in Periwinkle’s left hand vanished into a puff of sparkles. Like Eclipse’s sword, it was a bound weapon that became one with the owner’s flesh when not in use.

Peregrine swallowed audibly. “Miss Periwinkle…”

“Enough.” Periwinkle took a deep breath to keep calm, shot a deathly glance at Moon and turned to stalk away. “There’s something wrong with my magic tonight. Leave this place and head back to your dorms this instant.”

Moon rolled over and stared up at the sky. She had been entertaining the thought of vengeance, but it was only a brief dream! But now Periwinkle knew… tomorrow was going to be a terrible day, she knew it. 

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And now our MC group is complete! A few more little scenes and we'll be off on the actual adventure.