I stared at the black creature before me. Its tattered hood covered its head, if it even had one. The air around us tightened as it slithered closer to me, with my smile grew wider. I couldn't move as fear took over me, and not in a pleasant way.

"You have such pretty eyes," the creature beamed, "a rare find indeed."

My eyes? I never thought a monster would compliment me, especially one that would kill me. I always thought my chartreuse eyes made me look odd, too yellow to be human. At least I have proof of my humanity from my blood-related parents.

"It would be a shame to take them," It said as its greedy hand stretched out to me.

Its figures were black and boney, and all I could do was stare at my approaching doom. My life flashed before me as every dream and regret started playing in my head. This thing will steal everything from me. I wanted to move, to scream, but I couldn't. My mind and body won't obey me. Suddenly, a bright light came out of nowhere, and I covered my eyes as a blue light emitted around me. 

Was I dead? 

No. 

My heart was beating, and my hands were sweating. A sure sign that I was alive and very much in danger. I glanced at the ash tree pin that Mariel gave me, glowing a brilliant blue with silver highlights. My thoughts were interrupted as the creature roared in pain. It sounded horrible, like tortured souls. I wanted to cover my ears, but my hands were still frozen.

"Damn that mage!" It cursed, "he'll pay for interfering!"

"Want me to put it on his tab?" A feminine voice chucked.

She appeared in front of me like a ghost. Her long golden hair glowed like her fair skin. Her navy blue skirt and jacket matched her deep blue eyes, and her black boots resembled an onyx. Everything about her stood out, but her silver longsword enchanted me the most, with its golden hilt looked like wings with colorful gemstones around the center. It's gorgeous, just like its welder. 

She frowned when she saw me. I don't think she expected me to be here. The swordswoman stepped closer to the monster in the black, tattered cloak with a smirk on her face.

"Who are you?" the creature asked.

"None of your concerned," she said and, in a flash, lunged her sword at it.

The creature dodged it as quickly as her sword. Shadows rippled in the air like a stone on water. I could taste its fear, but the flavor soon became hatred and anger, and it was fantastic. It was like an entire buffet was laid out before me, ready to be consumed. I had to bite my lip to prevent my smile from growing, and I shook my head.

No, not now. 

I won't question my humanity.

"A holy sword," the monster grunted, "you're no ordinary hunter." It hovered in the air," But it will take more than simple swings to defeat me."

The creature started to duplicate itself. The woman was calm as she watched the monster create five clones. All copies looked and sounded the same as they howled with laughter, twisting and turning above. She mumbled under her breath, and golden flame consumed the blade, and she lept off the ground. Golden sparks followed her as she swung her sword at one of the copies. It burned but did not scream as it turned to ashes, and one by one, the copies followed its brethren. The cold air smelled like rotting corpses as they fell, but that didn't faze the creature as it created more of itself. They circled the swordswoman, throwing fireballs at her, and she swiftly dodged every last one of them, like the leaf in the wind.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. My smile grows each time the swordswoman swings the blade with such precision. It was so graceful, so elegant, like a waltz. Each of them twirling and twisting, their flames of red and gold danced under the pale, blue moonlight. I wanted to join them, imagining holding a sword and fighting alongside my comrades. 

Strange, wasn’t it?

Suddenly, a loud boom echoed in my ears, disturbing my daydream, as a golden light blocked my vision. When my eyes adjusted, I saw the mystic swordswoman stand over me, saying something to me, but my ears were still humming from the explosion. She helped me back to the bench and ran into the building. I gazed up at the sky, never realizing how blue it was tonight. The ground, the sky, and the academy all have the same murky blue coloring. It was odd but comforting to look at as my body ached from unknown causes. I don't know why, but I have this urge to go after her. I got up with a pounding head, ignoring my body protest to sit down, and raced after her into the building. 

What's wrong with me? An average person would run far away, but I'm not normal, am I? As I opened the large steel door, a surge of excitement flowed inside me. The fear that was once there was gone when I saw her swordsmanship. I yearned to join her, the golden swordswoman, to watch her fight elegantly, disregarding the danger I was still in.

~~~~~

Ross wasn't sure how long the veil would hold. He had created too many shields in the past few days, and maintaining this veil was exhausting. The moment he saw the shadow figure at the window, he knew it was time. The wraith would wait for the boy as it couldn't resist such a strong soul. Pure souls were rare but finding a powerful soul like Ellis's, was like finding a needle in a haystack. Not even demi-humans or champions have that type of aura.

The agency studied the boy and his family from afar when dozens of supernatural cases had emerged involving them. The agency concluded that he attracted creatures of the night; however, the monsters were weak and only attacked the easier targets, the innocent people around him. They would not dare tempt such a beast, but a powerful and intelligent monster like a wraith would, especially one that was desperate to enter the spirit world.

Good luck with that. No matter how many souls, regardless of how powerful the souls the wraith gathers, the gods would never let it go to the afterlife, as it was their curse to wander forever for messing with the natural order of life and death. Ross would never understand why anyone would want immortality.

Life sucks as it is.

Ross held a small blue orb in his hands and deeply sighed as he thought about the plan. Meyer better not be playing around like she usually does. Time would pause for any mortal, except for them and the wraith, as long as the veil was up. The farther away the spirit was from Mariel and Ross, the better. He just hoped that he was wrong about Ellis. He was only there to lure that thing outside so that Meyer could handle it, but Ross made Ellis a personal shield just in case. You can never be too careful. 

His head got lighter as he poured more of his soul into the fist-sized orb and stopped as the grey-blue color was at the top. This was his last time supplying magic into it. One more fill and he would spontaneously combust as the human body cannot function without body, mind, and soul, and he had used too much of his soul.

He placed the orb on the gym stage and pulled out a pistol. It was heavy in his hands as he examined it, carefully rolling it around his palm. This would appear to be an ordinary gun to any average human, but the agency created this particular weapon as a substitute for magic. They made several magical weapons, but the firearm was their most modernized ordnance.

The bullets had Red magic sigils on them as red magic was easy to control. Even though Red magic was easy to perform, Ross never could maintain his magic well enough to do attack spells. It would be risky for him and others, so he'll stick with defense magic, mainly Ruin and Arcane, and trickery.

He counted thirteen bullets, five fire, and seven lighting bullets. Ross picked these specific bullets to weaken the spirit as wraiths did not like the light. He could only incapacitate it because Meyer's holy sword was the only thing that could defeat it.

There was an unsettling chill in the air as Ross finished counting. Has it made its way inside? He listened carefully for any noise and heard footsteps closing in on him. Ross turned towards the door, sweat dripping down his face from exhaustion as Meyer burst through the gym door with a crash.

"It's inside!"

"And you brought it here?"

"I was worried about you!" She said.

"I told you I was fine," he exhaled and showed Meyer the gun.

"Where did you get that? It's still being tested."

"Well, let's test it."

Ross cast a shield around the orb using his last remaining strength. It was weaker than the others, shown by the dim blue glow, but it should still cause trouble with the wraith. His blood was boiling when he was done casting the spell, clenching his teeth from the pain. Ross loaded his gun. The battle would be over soon.