***

The Omniscient Magic.

It was a powerful spell that enabled one to access the Akashic record, and learn everything there is to know about this world’s mysteries. Mages had whispered of its existence for generations. If it was real, it would enable someone to save the world, to destroy it, or to rule it. Its power was such that some laughed at the very idea of its existence.

But the whispers remained, down the long generations, along with another rumor: that there was a family of mages who inherited that spell. And at this very moment, the young female heir to that clan of mages was unsure of what to do.

Her name was Satsuki Otomo. Tomorrow, she would turn sixteen. That was a very important age for her family. Her clan, which handed the great Omniscient Magic down through the generations, carried a powerful protective spell to keep their bloodline from dying out.

It was called the Omniscient Contract. Whoever kissed Satsuki under the sign of that contract would become her partner for life. Simply put, the contract ensured that their bloodline would be carried on.

This might not seem to be a problem, but it was. Whoever she made the contract with would be able to use the Omniscient Magic, just like her. And this important contract could only be sealed when a mage was sixteen years old.

So, as you’ve just learned, the Omniscient Magic was a double-edged sword. If she chose the wrong partner, it could destroy the world. And in every era, there was no shortage of evil men who wished to use it for their own purposes.

To protect the great magic from those people, Satsuki’s clan had hidden themselves with layer after layer of disguises and deceits. But a short while ago, a man had appeared who’d seen through their disguises and learned their true identity.

His name was Messiah Kyandistrapps. He was the strongest mage of the modern era. The rumors said that not only was he a powerful mage, but he was greedy for knowledge, and even worse, a serious show-off. If a man like that acquired the Omniscient Magic, terrible things would happen.

Her parents had gone to fight Messiah, to protect her and the great magic. But they wouldn’t be able to do more than buy a little bit of time.

Satsuki herself had mostly mastered spells that would help her flee from combat, like teleportation and levitation. But Messiah’s magical power was so much greater than hers that even if she could elude him, it would only be for a day or two. She couldn’t keep it up. A day or two was, in fact, the absolute most she could hope for.

Her parents had passed the great magic on to her when she was born, and now she was the only one capable of accessing the Akashic record. She could only make a contract with one person, too. Messiah would doubtless do whatever it took to become that person. A mage of his skill had any number of ways of forcing her to make the contract. Her only choice now was to make the contract with someone else, before he could find her.

Satsuki rubbed her eyes to stop the tears from forming. She would’ve preferred a real romance. She would’ve liked to go through all the steps, and slowly built up a relationship of love, and only then reveal her secret, which he would then accept.

But time wouldn’t wait for that. Messiah wouldn’t wait for that.

She continued her letter, making sure that her tears didn’t fall onto the paper.

I should’ve just told him I liked him in middle school. But it’s too late for that now, she thought. Again and again her tears would stain the words, and each time she’d start over on a new sheet of paper.

By dawn, the letter was done, and she wrote his name on the envelope. “Rekka Namidare,” it said.