CROSSFIELD TRILOGY : Volume No. 01

Chp. 10: Foes and Fireballs

The room was dark except for the moonlight that came in by the 3 giant arch windows.
"What the fuck?" Mark said to himself as he stared at the ball of fire that was coming towards himwith an astonishing pace.
THUD!
Behind him, the door shut close automatically.

'It's too fast and there is no where to go.' Mark thought as ruled out the possibility of dodging the fireball. 'Call the sword, and it will readily come for your help.' Tokyo's words ran through Mark's mind. 'Looks like I don't have much if a choice here.' Mark thought to himself as he closed his eyes.
His hand in a ready position, he took a deep breath. "Masamune,I call you. Come forth!"
Within a second, Mark's left hand felt a lot heavier. Smiling slightly and confidence brimming inside him,Mark unsheated the blade and was about to cut through the fireball when it stopped. The ball of fire was literally inches away from his face, it's heat felt by his bare skin. However, it didn't go any further and just hovered in the air.

Click!

Suddenly, the lights were switched on and Mark found himself in a spacious living room with 3 fellow individuals, two of whom, Mark realized were the ones who stopped the fight at the dining hall.
"He certainly has some neat reflexes." The girl with hazel hair said as she gave Mark a glance.
"Dosen't look too shabby either."
Another girl with pink dyed hair joined in the conversation.
"What do looks have to do with anything?" The girl in hazel argued.
"Excuse me" Mark broke them off. "Can someone please tell me what is going on here" He said pointing to the fireball that still hovered in mid air.

"Oops. That's my bad." The girl in pink hair replied. She snapped her fingers and the fireball quickly started decreasing in size until it evaporated in thin air.
"I'm Stacey. Stacy McMillan. I'm the secretary for the Imperium House. I believe you have already met those two over there." Stacey pointed to the other students in uniforms.

"Yeah." Mark replied a bit uncertainly.

"That guy is Henry Gerard. He is the House representative and the 6th seat of the Crossfield Student Council Committee." Stacey said as she motioned towards the guy with neat black hair and an arm band on his uniform sleeve.
"Her name is Katie Gomez. She is the Deputy House representative and the President of the Coction Brewing Society." Stacey was not motioning towards a girl who was sitting by the window, moonlight falling on her hazel brown hair.

"You deserve an explanation, Mark. Afterall, not everyone has a fireball thrown to their face on the first night of
school." Katie said. She got up form the window still she was sitting on and walked towards Mark. Though it had been a few minutes since Mark had entered the House, it was finally now that he had began to sense how huge it actually was. The living room was floored with oakwood flooring and had three giant arched windows to allow for ample sunlight. An artificial bear mount was attached on the cream coloured wall directly over the fireplace. The bear being the mascot of the Imperium House, symbolized Power and Integrity. The colours of red symbolizing desire and strength and navy blue symbolizing freedom and loyalty were spread out in the form of banners that hung from the roof.
A short 2 stair partition divided the room from its entrance and the main seating area which had a giant sofa and several comfortable looking arm chairs and bean bags.

"Truth to be told," Katie said as she sat on the stairs,"this was all my idea. I was taken by surprise when the Director said that a sword user was going to be alloted to our house. I being a sword user myself, wanted to see how well you could handle your blade. Hence seeing that you were gonna be late, I used this chance to test your skills. Thus the fireball and the-"
"Closed lights." Mark completed her sentence. "Its okay. No harm done."

"So we're cool?"

"Yup. By the way, how were my sword skills?" Mark asked.
"I'm afraid I've seem too little to say anything. But you think quick. I'll give you that." The Deputy House representative gave Mark a smile.

"You'll find your suitcase, a set of books, sheets and a fresh pair of uniforms kept on your bed. Laundry day is on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Just go straight up the stairs and take a right on the first floor. Room no 12 is yours." Stacey said, motioning mark towards a staircase on the right side of the living room.
                     ___________

"Are you satisfied?" Katie said sarcastically after she made sure that the new first year was our of earshot.
"Yup." Henry said as he casually ran a hand through his hair. "It was just as I expected it to be."
"What do you mean?" Stacey asked, feeling a bit confused.
"The sword." Henry said, directly looking at her, his eyes gleaming with content. "When Mark first entered into our house, he wasn't carrying anything. As soon as the fireball is launched, he magically pulls out a sword in a splitsecond, ready to counter it? No way."

"Well then it must have a transportational spell casted upon it. I don't see why this is a big deal." Stacey said, her hand untangling the rubber band, releasing her bright pink hair onto her shoulders.

"It wouldn't be a big deal, had I not placed spirit recognition seasons around the perimeter of our house. Thing is, not even one of them was alerted even as the sword teleported through the barrier. This means that an upper tier advanced spell was used on a sword. One that couldn't even be detected by my techniques." Katie explained, feeling slightly flustered.
"You put sensors around the house?" Stacey whispered trying to keep her voice low.
"Yup. I asked her to do it." Henry said in a calm but serious tone. "Don't you think this is suspicious? Mark Jefferson, a first year gets called to the director's office on the very first night of his school for reasons the director won't tell, has a sword with him that has an advanced magical spell casted upon it and moreover, wasn't even on the original list of admissions for this year, meaning that he was taken in at the very last moment. All of this simply days after what happened to the two card carriers."

"What do you mean to-"

"I think. He may not be a normal student. I think, he might be a card carrier." Henry cut off Stacey and stared at Katie.
"You know what this means right?"

"Yup. This directly breaks Article 15 of the GEA international paranormal safety act (IPSA). If we can prove this theory true then, Director Alphonse will be kicked as the director of our school and will be federally tried in court as he has violated the Law Code."

"So we're planning a coup?" Stacey asked, a smile on her face.
"Maybe. It's too early to say anything yet." Henry gave her a smile. "What I can say is, we need to keep an eye on that Mark guy."

"Well, I'm gonna go to sleep. It's been a long day and I sure don't want to be late for my Demonology lecture tomorrow." Katie said as she barely managed to  stifle a yawn. 
   
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