Little Clover

Chapter III

***The Black Bulls***
Yami and I wondered and talked for about an hour more before he finally got fed up with just walking around and ordered someone named Finral to take us home. At first I thought he was just talking to himself, but when an odd black hole looking thing appeared in front of us, I was a bit more than surprised.
"Come on kid," he grumbled before stepping inside the hole himself. His leg disappeared and I watched the rest of his body do the same. He continued going farther and farther into the void until his entire body had been engulfed by the hole.
I stood there for a minute, unsure of exactly what to do. I mean, he did tell me to follow him, but follow him into a strange hole in the sky? I thought while I just stood there with wide eyes.
"I said come on kid!" Yamis rough voice resonated from inside the hole.

"Yeah I can't keep this thing open all day, I gotta get back to the ladies!" Another voice, this one wobbly, sounded after Yamis. Making my decision, I looked around the deserted area one last time before I gave in and stepped through what I could only guess was a portal. Going through it, I half expected there to be a moment of weird visuals, but instead, I simply stepped into the crowded street of a bustling city. People were everywhere. Some of them spoke to one another, while others bought things from the little stores that lined the road. I quickly spotted Yami amongst the chaos, walking off toward a large castle that seemed to loom over the entire city. I began to follow him, but I was quickly stopped by the same wobbly voice I had heard before.

"Wait a minute sweetheart, you're coming with me," a sudden fear shot through me and I quickly turned around to see who was speaking with me. The man was average looking at best with dirty blonde hair and soft brown eyes. He wasn't tall, he looked to be about 5'6, and he was more bone than he was anything else. His words still intimidated me but his stature left me less concerned. Almost as if it was instinct, I opened my book, or my grimoire as Yami had called it, and it suddenly came to life. It flew open and the pages of the book began flipping themselves while it floated just in front of me. The flipping stopped on a random page and little scribbles began to form, and information flooded my head. stepping back, I aimed my hand at the man, and a ball of energy began forming in front of it.
"Whoa, whoa no need to get violent here!" The man quickly yelped in response, "Captain Yami wanted me to bring you to the hideout!" This stopped me, "That's all that I meant, really!"
"What hideout?" I asked.
"The Black Bulls hideout of course," he stated like it was the most obvious thing ever, " I'm Finral by the way."
"what are the 'Black Bulls'?"
"You know, the Black Bulls, the worst magic knight squad." I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Magic Knight squad?"
"Yes Magic Knights, the people who protect the clover kingdom! None of this is ringing a bell?" I shook my head. Finral sighed, "Well Yami wants you to join the squad, and he told me to take you back to base."
"Why can't he do it himself?" I asked, still skeptical.
"Because he's watching the magic knight exams," Finral explained, only making things even more confusing for me. That seemed to be the common theme for today.
"Exams?"
"Yes exams," He groaned, "They allow squad leaders to recruit new people into their squads!"
"Then why aren't I taking them?"
"Because Yami has already decided he wants you on the squad, so you don't have to."
"What if I want to?" I felt kind of offended but I knew that I wouldn't stand a chance anyway.
"That's up to Yami, I'm just supposed to take you to the hideout, that's all!" He let out in an exasperated grunt.
"Fine where is this hideout?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"I can't tell you, it's a hideout for a reason, you'll just have to come with me," he spoke slowly, as if he was trying to communicate with a child. Rolling my eyes I didn't say anything in response, not wanting to continue the conversation. Finral then turned away from me and opened another portal in front of the both of us. He stepped through without waiting for me, leaving me alone. The fine hairs on the back of my neck rose as I got the weird feeling someone was watching me. I quickly headed through the portal without waiting to find out who had been there.
As I stepped out of the portal, my feet landed on soft dirt. Everything around me was so far from being even remotely similar to the city. In front of me rose a giant, black mansion that looked as if it was about to fall at any second. The house was riddled with holes and loud explosions reverberated throughout the entire structure. I looked over to Finral, alarmed but he just rolled his eyes and smiled.
"That's probably Luck and Ma-" Finral begin but he was quickly cut off by a boisterous voice that hollered, "I'm gonna burn you to a crisp," which was quickly followed by another voice that said, "I don't think so," before letting out high pitched cackle. The explosions became louder and louder only to fade away inside the building.
"-gna," Finral finished what he had been trying to say.
"What are they doing?" I asked, curious as to how the building was still standing despite all of its gaping holes.
"Those two always fight, you see Luck has a bit of a... personality defect, he's basically a total sociopath in small, skinny body." Finral let out in an irritated sigh.
I eyed the building, waiting to see if it would fall, but to my udder surprise, it actually began healing itself; I guess my shock was obvious because when Finral noticed he let out a small chuckle, "Pretty neat right?" He asked and I nodded my approval. I stood, watching the castle rocks return to where they were before almost mesmerized before Finral snapped me back into reality, "Oh hey, I think the Magic knight exams are over, I gotta go."
He then quickly opened a portal, stepped through it, and disappeared.