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~Nova’s POV~

Blaze had brought me to a small cafe. The cafe was surrounded by warm oak floors and walls. There were a few bookshelves on the back wall that had a few comfy seats nearby. There were a few people around the bookshelf, reading a few books, but Blaze had us sit a table away from everyone. It was quiet enough that I took off the headphones and placed them on top of the table.

Blaze was at the counter, ordering drinks or something. I am not sure, honestly. He probably told me, but I didn’t hear him. The headphones work very well at muffling noise. It was strange to have someone just give me a pair of very nice headphones. When I was younger, I had a cheap pair, but they broke fairly quickly and mother never cared to buy new ones. She liked making me do things by yelling or being overly loud when I was around. It was -

“Nova?” Blaze’s voice was light and brought me out of my thoughts. He was sitting next to me, concern dripping from his golden eyes. He had worry wrinkles too. So strange to have someone worry about me.

“Nova? Can you hear me?” Blaze’s voice was becoming strained with concern. I should probably get out of my head now.

I nodded. “Yes, sorry.” My throat always hurts when I speak.

Blaze’s face relaxed immediately as his smile warmed the aura around us. “Good. I’m glad you are back. Maybe one day, you’ll let me know what thoughts swim around in your mind. But, for now, I got you chocolate milk and a chocolate chip cookie. Just for now. I’m meeting the crew later for a late lunch, early dinner type thing. You are more the welcome to join us. I think the crew would like to get to know you just as much as I do.”

My cheeks heated up as I sipped the chocolate milk. It was rich and cold, and paired nicely with the cookie - obviously. And now I’m focusing too much on the chocolate and not on what Blaze said. Something about dinner and the crew. Who is the crew?

“Who… is the crew?” I winced as my throat ached in agony from unused.

Blaze chuckled as he took a gulp of his drink. I think it might’ve been some type of coffee, I have no idea. “The crew is my group of friends that helped you move in. We have all been pretty busy, but they heard about what happened during the Test and want to meet up and see how you are doing. That is only if you are okay with hanging out with four oddballs.”

I remember the crew vaguely. It has been quite some time since I last saw them. Being seniors, they are always busy training, like Blaze has been. The idea they had heard about what happened during the Test raises my anxiety. They will be asking questions about what happened, wondering how I felt and if I am okay now. I don’t know if I want to go through that. But, it’s Blaze’s friends and they were kind enough to help me move in. I should be kind enough to have dinner with them… or was it lunch?

Sighing, I nodded. “I’ll go.”

Blaze nodded once as he finished his drink. “Sounds goo-...” He stopped, his face scrunching up in confusion as his head tilted towards the door.

At this exact moment, two men walked in. One looked younger, dressed more modern, while the other man was much older and wore a full dress suit. Both men surveyed the cafe, their eyes pausing on the table where Blaze and I sat, before continuing. After a small pause, they made their way to the counter and began ordering.

“We should leave now to make it to the dinner. Come.” Blaze’s face was taut in determination and focused on the door. His voice matched his demeanor as we made our way to the door. He was focused on getting out of the cafe for whatever reason.

“Blaze… my headphones.”

In his rush to get out, I forgot the headphones on the small table. By now, we were already in the square again. Music swelled from trumpets, saxophones, and more, all creating a loud symphony inside my head. The music was loud, but coupled with the hundreds of people milling about and walking in groups around the street vendors, did not help at all. The noise was deafening, my head was pounding immediately. Even covering my ears didn’t help. I need the headphones back.

“Fuck.” Blaze’s voice was loud, but still mixed in easily with the surrounding noises.

The pain grew in my head the longer I listened to the sounds, but I could still vaguely see Blaze watching the cafe. It was only then did I realized the two men from before were exiting the cafe and walked towards us, their eyes meeting ours. The only thing that made me not think these men were creeps, was my headphones clutched in the younger man’s hand.

They stopped a few paces from us. The younger man spoke, his voice was fairly average for a young male. No uniqueness, no strange accent.

“I think your friend left his headphones.”

Blaze grabbed the headphones from the guy and slipped over my ears immediately. Instantly the noises were gone, replaced with ringing silence.

Blaze was speaking to the men, probably saying thank you or something like that. The ringing was slowly going away. The men nodded once before disappearing into the crowds. Blaze grabbed my hand and led me into an alleyway.

The alleyway was empty apart from a homeless man sleeping at the end of the alleyway. Blaze slowly lifted one side of the headphones.

“Create a bond with me. It isn’t safe here anymore. We have to leave now.”

“No bus?” I was confused, that much was evident on my face and in my voice.

“No. Those men were not normal. I will have to take your headphones and leave them here. I can get you new ones, okay? I don’t know if they did anything to the headphones, but I don’t want to risk it.” Blaze was worried and almost had fear in his eyes if I was not mistaken.

I nodded and took the headphones off, placing them on top of a trash can lid.

“Vinculum Blaze.”

A warm tug and a taut pull signified to me that the bond was created. I could feel my magic flow through the bond into Blaze. It was much different than the bond I had to do with Ryker. This one was filling me with warmth and comfort.

“Okay… it’s good.”

Blaze nodded before whispering, “Lanuae Magicae to Whitehall.”

Blaze held me as we immediately appeared in the courtyard of the school. I could feel pressure in my ears, like you get from flying a plane or going up or down a mountain. It was quite uncomfortable, but after a few minutes, my ears popped and were normal again. Blaze was wiping tears away, though he didn’t seem like he was actually sad or crying. They were probably there due to teleporting.

“Okay, I will let the crew know to meet at the diner on the campus.” Blaze pulled out a slim cell phone. It looked very expensive and high tech. I’ve never really seen a phone up close, normally just through ads and holograms in stores.

“Diner?” I had never known there was a diner on the campus.

The phone made a small swoosh sound before Blaze slipped it back into the pockets of his basketball shorts. “Yes, there is a small diner on the edge of the campus, sort of near the cafe we had gone to a while back. It’s not super well known throughout the students, because it's mostly a hang out area for the seniors. Let’s head over, yeah?”

I nodded and proceeded to follow towards the diner.

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~~DISCLAIMER: Violence Up Ahead, Proceed with Caution!!~~

~Third POV~

A screeching sound echoed the chamber as the tall male grabbed the chair that had a man tied to it. The man on the chair was the young man from the square. He was blindfolded, mouth taped, and bound tightly to the chair.

The man dragging the chair was known as Dominus Midas. No one sees his face, if they do, they die. Dominus was ruthless most of the time. This was one of the times.

“You let him just leave. You let him fucking go!” Dominus threw the chair into the middle of the room, a dim light on the young man. Dominus’ aura was full of anger and wrath that his magic seeped out in waves of red.

The man on the chair was screaming, trying to talk, but it was muffled by the tape.

Dominus stayed in the shadows, circling the man on the chair. “For decades, we have tried to get to him. For years, we have gotten close, but always too far away to catch him. And the one time!” Dominus shouted, his magic snapping and electrifying as his anger grew.

“The one time, we got close enough, and you. Let. Him. Go. Marcu, pray, for I am sending you to the deepest levels of Hell. Suffer.”

The young man’s eyes widened, though no one could see. His muffled screams became louder. But instantly, in a quick flash of red, Marcus was no longer in the chair, and the room was silent of screams but filled with the low, heavy breathing coming from Dominus.

“I will get you, my son. Soon, Nova, soon. You will be mine again.”