The White Mage

Chapter 31

"Unicorns live in Arcana? Really?"

"Well, it is the country with the highest concentration of magic. So yes, unicorns do live in Arcana."

"They're really rare, aren't they?" Abby asked sadly.

"Considering there was a time when unicorns were rounded up to be farmed? Yeah. And the captive breeding thing really didn't work. Unicorns are intelligent and empathetic creatures, they would have rather their species die out that subject another generation to the trauma they were going through."

White sighed sadly, as if she had seen it herself. I couldn't imagine such beautiful creature being rounded up and stuck in horrible conditions just for their magic. They were one of the three sources of pure magic, but no one would dare go after the other two. The would mean facing an angry dragon or ripping the soul out of a person.

"The Black Angels." I mumbled.

"Huh?"

"The Black Angels, I remember hearing about them destroying a unicorn farm when I was a kid. I guess the story was twisted to make the Angels look bad."

"Yeah, we we're there. In the process, one of us was almost killed. I made a deal with one of the leaders, begged him to save the life of my follower. The deal was that if I ever came to the unicorn again, I would have to bring the pure elements with me. But that won't happen. I just hope the unicorn will want to save Arcana as much as we do."

"And if it doesn't?" Cain questioned.

"We're screwed unless someone wants to become soulless."

Cain and Abby glanced at each other nervously. They knew that we were at war, there were going to be sacrifices. We all should have been prepared for that. There was no way this was going to end with everyone alive. I knew that from the beginning, I already knew what war could do. It could tear apart everything you knew in a second, even if you weren't the one in the war.

"As soon as this stuff over, I'm going to sleep for a week. And I'm never leaving Arcana again." Cain said.

"If I see another volcano in twenty lifetimes, it will be far too soon." Abby grumbled.

"What about you, Eren? What are you going to do after this is all over?" Cain asked.

"I'm going to go home to see my sister. It's been almost six months since I've seen her."

"Wait, Eren has a sister!?"

"I bet she's adorable."

White glanced at me over her shoulder. She was the only one that understood the weight of what I was saying. And whether she had magic or not, I was bringing her to the school where I could keep an eye on her. I wasn't going let anyone hurt her, certainly not our father.

We finally stopped at the edge of a large forest. White explained that unicorns went wherever they wanted, but tended to favor dense forests because it was hard for humans to find them. Then White dropped her bag on the ground, followed by her coat. I was confused, until she used magic to change from her normal clothes to a long white dress that draped  down to the ground.

"What? Unicorns have a preference. Abby too. But you two will have to stay back, unicorns don't favor men."

She did the same to Abby and they moved closer to the forest. Abby smiled and waves from where they were sitting, and I noticed that same thing I saw every time.

"Why don't you just say something to her?"

"What!?"

"You've had doe eyes for Abby even before I showed up and it's painfully clear to everyone except you two."

"I do not! Shut up!"

"You are a moron."

I shook my head and let it drop. Nothing happened for a long while, long enough for me to be worried that the unicorn would never show. Then there was a snort and a rush of air behind me. Startled, I stumbled away from it quickly. A snow white horse stood there, looking down at me with intelligent eyes. But I was too busy staring a the large silver horn sprouting from its forehead. White and Abby came running as fast as their dress would let them.

"It's been quite some time, Grey Child."

"Kaisa."

"We had a deal, did we not?"

"We did. I'm sorry, but I couldn't-"

"And it seems you have done as I asked."

"What? But I didn't bring the sources of magic."

"Didn't you? You were each marked, were you not?"

"That's what the phoenix meant when he said the others would know." I said. "The marks, they're physical marking to show the power they gave to each of us."

"Yes, I will give you one more. And then, you will have collected the five."

The unicorn reared up, its horn starting to glow. There was a flash, and when it died down, the unicorn was gone. But another symbol had appeared on each of us, right over our hearts.

"We need to go, we're almost out of time."

*****

By the time we had gotten back to the school, there really was no time. Crow, with his forces, were at the door step of the school. Genevieve and Kayla were standing against him, with the entire school behind them. Whatever spell was on the school to hide it, had been stripped away. We ran frantically towards them, unable to hear what was being said. But what happened next would forever be burned into my mind.

Before I knew what happened, Crow had his arm through Genevieve's chest.

A scream of pure rage and agony was ripped from my lungs.