PART ONE

Angie gulped, “I know it’s weird for me to say this, but…Do we really have to do this?”

The trembling Felly at her side, who was now trembling at a rate that seemed impossible, managed to nod a few times to show her agreement, eyes shut and mouth unable to speak.

A water as blue as the azure sky, sparkling like a jewel – with our feet standing amidst it, we looked down at the majestic waterfall in front of us. As it fell ever so fast into a puff of white spray, we were unable to distinguish what lied beyond.

“It is the only way.”

I spoke simply as I calmly stared down into the abyss beyond the waterfall. Then I turned towards Ezekiel.

“Dog.”

“Y-Yes?!”

He looked shocked at being addressed, somehow knowing it was him (I always knew he was a dog), so his eyes stared spinning as he stared at me expectantly.

“Make sure they all come.”

After ordering him, I looked back down at the waterfall, and, without hesitation, I jumped. I could feel my hair flying about me as the wind hit me straight on. So, feeling a bit exhilarated, I played a bit in the air before I reached the current of water and glided down towards the unknown.

“…She just did a backflip midair as she jumped down a dangerous waterfall to her death, didn’t she?”

Felyn’s mouth twitched as she commented dumbstruck, but her reaction didn’t even compare to the others. Unable to even speak, they stared wide-eyed down the waterfall of death. Only Ezekiel seemed completely unaffected as he laughed heartily.

“As expected of my angel! Now, come! Let us join her! Hahaha!”

“Eh? What are you doing?!”

Magnus was the first to react as Ezekiel spread his arms wide, and from behind, captured the four into a deadly tight hug. He laughed even more as he jumped off the waterfall, dragging the four screaming people with him.

“Aaahhh!!!”

Tears streamed down their faces as the wind as well as the realization of their imminent death hit them hard. Somehow, Felly had even fainted…

“Hahaha! That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

With his hands on his hips, Ezekiel laughed heartily once more, completely not realizing the state of the people sprawled around him in the lake. Magnus had his hands to his head as he mumbled unrecognizable words to himself with a crazed look in his eyes, sometimes even laughing manically. Felly was passed out, her soul practically leaving her body as drool dripped from her mouth, while Angie was taking turns between puking and trying to slap Felly into consciousness.

And Felyn… Felyn was leaning forward in the lake, staring down at her trembling hands as they supported her body up. Then, her eyes suddenly flashed as her head snapped up, and with a crazy raged look, she lunged forward towards me, out of the lake and into the grass surrounding it, her arms spread out as if to grasp my neck…

Simply sidestepping her, and adding a bit of dark aura to my foot as I tripped her, I ignored the ‘splat’ sound as she fell face forward into the dewy grass.

“See! Ezekiel did as he was told. Admirable, right?”

Running up to me, Ezekiel kneeled in front of me, his hands clasped together as his eyes turned to hearts and his tail…wagged. I decided to simply nod as I looked away. The look on Ezekiel’s face had turned to one of complete bliss as his eyes sparkled. At least it seems like he has his uses…Pushing everyone one by one would have been too troublesome.

“Handsome boys…elves…handsome boys…elves…”

Felyn just muttered to herself as she pulled her body up, trying to use the words to control her anger as a vein throbbed on her forehead.

We had landed in a small lake that reached up just to our ankles, much like the one we had jumped down from. Surrounding it was a forest, probably the one we had seen as being closest to the cliff. As I headed towards the opposite direction of the cliff without a care, everyone soon started somehow following as well…By the way, Ezekiel had to carry Felly because Angie had not managed to wake her up. Her soul still looked like it would dangerously leave at any moment. The tables have turned…now Ezekiel is carrying Felly instead! Haha! …Just how did she manage that?

Looking at the small Felly being carried by Ezekiel, it was hard to remember that time she had effortlessly thrown him over her back and carried him easily. I could only shake my head to get rid of the thought and continue walking deeper into the forest.

Glancing down at my hand, I couldn’t help but wonder what had become of my body. It was usual for me to do things without thinking much of the consequences, but the difference was that now my body could actually keep up! When I jumped…I felt so light like I could fly. Is this…normal? Maybe having gained this power wasn’t such a bad thing…No! I quickly shook my head to get rid of the thought. There is no way this power is good! I will become ugly, penniless, and then die! Plus, penniless! I cannot let that happen, no matter what! Not penniless!

Baling up my right first into the air determinedly, I stopped walking as I stared up at the sky. And then, I noticed…The hundreds of eyes staring at me from the cover of the trees.

“Jeez! Do you have to walk so fast? And don’t make it look so easy- huh?”

From behind, Magnus started complaining as he struggled to keep up, panting as he approached. He was the first to reach me, pausing when he noticed what I had. Looking around, his eyes went wide, “What…what is this?”

The forest was denser in front of us, giving the eyes plenty of cover. Leaves rustled and a hand emerged from beyond, pulling the foliage aside as a figure emerged. By now everyone had managed to catch up, staring, much the same way as Magnus, at the odd surroundings.

Coming out from the shadow of the trees, and into the spot of sunlight that flitted through the leaves above, a thin, beautiful and oddly delicate man appeared. Every feature of his was small and delicate, with a certain sharpness of nobility. His hair was long, straight and golden, shining perfectly under the flitting sunlight…and his skin, perfect fair skin with the right amount of blush for life. For some reason, I’m really pissed off right now… I couldn’t hold the incomprehensible anger welling up inside of me, my mouth twitching as my hands baled up at my sides.

“This is Ellvehalli, territory of the south-western elves. Who dares intrude?”

Perhaps the most prominent feature would be, however, those sharp pointy ears sticking out from his golden hair. But, what I really noticed was that snotty, up-nosed look of one who arrogantly looks down on others as his sharp eyes narrowed. Ah…as expected, I’m really pissed off.

“An elf!”

With her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes turning into hearts, Felyn exclaimed lovingly.

Really pissed off!

*

“Isn’t it nice that they let us stay the night?”

Angie smiled contently as she spoke, enjoying the calming atmosphere. Night had fallen, and so we sat around a fire that was situated in the middle of all our tents. A pot with stew boiled over the fire, and we each had a wooden bowl in our hands. Mine only had water in it though…

“But…”

Then she glanced to the side, and saw Ezekiel with an apron on, a motherly expression on his face as he gently smiled. He was pouring a second serving for the blushing Felyn, who tried hiding it by looking away shyly. I shivered. Seeing Felyn blushing so naturally…this is definitely not normal!

A helpless look now appeared on Angie’s face, “Who would have expected Ezekiel, the number one war Ciel candidate, to be able to cook so well?”

Felly nodded twice and said determinedly as she baled up a fist, “Yeah! I must definitely get him to teach me! My grades would definitely improve!”

“Wow ~ It really was so nice of them to let us stay, wasn’t it? I’m glad it all worked out.”

Using my brightest smile, I tried changing the subject. However, I didn’t expect the amazed look that would surface on both Angie and Felly’s faces. With shining eyes, they leaned forward towards me and drawled out, “Woooow…”

“Eh? Eh? W-what? What are you looking at? Eeeh?”

I couldn’t help my shock, and every time they leaned forward, I leaned back as my mouth stumbled for words.

“Ellie!”

Angie suddenly exclaimed. I could only answer an automatic, “Yes?!”

“You’re really shining!”

“…Huh?”

“Like really shining! It’s even stronger than before! Like a shining silver moon!”

Felly nodded in agreement repeatedly with that serious look of hers, “Like a silver moon!”

“…”

“Eh? Ellie?! Where are you going?!”

Angie exclaimed as the two of them turned to look back, catching me silently opening the tent door to get in. I paused, my hair falling in my face and hiding it in shadows. However, I didn’t answer, and simply went in, letting the cloth of the tent door fall behind me.

*

“You go in!”

“No, you go in!”

“Why should I?”

“Just- Just go!”

I glanced back, and from the corner of my eye, I could see two shadows forming on the tents surface, intently bickering in a hushed, whispered tone. Then, one shadow fell back as the other pushed it and went through the tent door.

“Shit…”

Having fallen on his butt, Magnus grimaced as he massaged his wound. Then, he suddenly decided to glance back in my direction and gulped.

“Hey…”

My voice was extremely calm. The calmness, or perhaps the fact that I had broken the deadly silence, startled him as he practically jumped as he answered, “Uh…Yes?!”

From the mirror in front on me, I could see him sitting there, his black hair messy and his face extremely fearful, as if he had to be extremely careful with everything he said and did so as not to incur some terrible wrath. However, I really couldn’t care at the moment. Looking back at the person staring at me in the mirror, the feeling inside me flamed up to a boiling point, and before I knew it my first was flying.

Bang!

“…”

Everything was silent, and I imagined Magnus expression was quite shocked. But, I simply looked down as I felt the blood dripping down my hands as my knuckles dug into the broken pieces of the mirror. My hair was covering my face. My hair…my hair…my hair…

“My hair!”

I suddenly yelled extremely loudly, and I could even hear Magnus jumping back behind me from the shock.

“W-What’s wrong with your hair?!”

He yelled in response, shaking. Turning to face him, my mouth quivered as I tried to hold in my tears. I was prepared to share my feelings with him, but…

“Aaaahhhh!! A ghost! It appeared!”

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, I was extremely angry as I vein popped on my face and a smile twitched one side of my lips up.

Magnus had slid back on his butt, and was currently pointing a finger at me as he trembled uncontrollably and his mouth struggled to form words, “Bu-But! That pale skin! That white hair! And that blood splattered all over! The contrast!! G-Ghost!”

“That’s exactly the problem, you idiot! Why has it gotten so bad so fast?! Forget 1.2% lighter, it’s only 1.2% golden now!”

The rage exploding within me, I jumped up and screamed at him angrily as I pointed. Then, I added, “If anyone will be a ghost here, it’s you if you don’t freaking shut up! Got it?!”

He nodded his head fervently, tears welling up in his eyes already and mouth struggling to keep shut as it trembled.

I clicked my tongue, “Che! Who would have expected it to have acted so fast?”

“Um…”

“What?!”

My head practically snapped his way as my eyed glared intently at him. Magnus started, but still answered me, “Aren’t…aren’t you gonna treat that?”

His hand weakly pointed at my hand that had blood constantly dripping down it. Suddenly, I had a bright idea as I smiled quite happily- well, maybe darkly, Magnus’s way as I put up my hand and said, “Then, lick it.”

The look on his face was of pure horror. At least it served to calm down my anger a tiny bit. Only a tiny bit.

When I walked out of the tent, Angie practically ran towards me and kneeled at my side to examine my hand, “What happened to your hand?! What was that noise?! Did… Did Magnus…”

At first she sounded quite frantic and worried, but then she glanced at Magnus as he came out from behind me, and the look in her eyes was quite frightening. I understood quite well why Magnus jumped back with a scared look on his face. But he really does get scared quite often…Is it my fault? Nah…

I absently shook her hand away, “It wasn’t. And this is nothing.”

“A-At least let me treat it…”

She was practically pouting, and Felly looked like a frozen statue to the side, so I sighed and let her lead me to a spot where we sat and she began cleaning up my wound. However…

“What’s this…it’s clean?”

Angie looked at my hand with a perplexed expression. There was no wound whatsoever, and it just looked like a perfectly smooth pale hand…Then, she glanced at Magnus with a mocking, not at all sorry expression, “Ah…was it actually Magnus’ blood? Sorry, Magnus.”

“Shut it!”

He jumped up from his seat on the log, and yelled quite angrily with shut eyes. Somehow, everyone likes messing with Magnus…Yep, it’s his fault, after all.