Taking a step forward I moved towards the water mage. My affliction screamed in sweet victory as my will slipped away like a whisper in the wind. Another step forward and I felt the excitement and anticipation build in my chest. I opened my eyes and was greeted by Ilian standing in front of me. He reached out to me and placed a hand on my chest. Curling my lip, I moved forward intending to get past him, but he held firm.

“Kiri, focus on me, not him,” his voice sounded so distant from me.

I could feel my eyes burning even brighter than before as my desire roared inside me. I was so mad that he would dare get in my way. How dare he try to stop me. Destroy him, that familiar voice echoed.

No. Wait. This was Ilian in front of me. I didn’t want to hurt Ilian… did I? 

Get rid of him! It screamed at me. 

No. This wasn’t me. I didn’t want to hurt Ilian. He was kind.

Get. Rid. Of. Him! The voice growled at me in an inhuman tone. My hesitation seemed only to infuriate the voice more, it was clear it didn’t like to be disobeyed.

“Kiri, can you hear me?” Ilian’s voice hummed faintly in my ears.

I shook my head as the conflicting barrage of thoughts slammed into me. It was so loud. My skull pounded as I argued back and forth with the voice that screamed inside of my head. 

“Kiri?” Ilian said hesitantly, slowly moving his other hand to brush against my cheek.

The sudden spread of warmth that his touch gave me had my mind skid to a halt. All of my senses focusing now on Ilian, instead of the bleeding mage. I leaned in to bury my head in his hand, my labored breath brushing his skin.

“Kiri, it's going to be okay. Can you talk to me please? Can you let me know that you hear me?” Ilian asked, his tone bordering on pleading. I could smell the faint sense of fear in his blood. He was scared of me. 

The fear began to pickle his blood, ruining his succulently sweet scent. The tainting of his smell brought back a sliver of my will to resist. I couldn’t hurt Ilian. I wouldn’t hurt Ilian. I didn’t want him to fear me. I wanted him to look at me with curiosity and excitement burning in his eyes. Not fear. Never fear.

“I can hear you,” I said weakly.

He let out a relieved sigh and smiled at me, “I’m glad. Now follow me, okay? I’m going to lead you back out into the hall.”

Scared I would lose the strength to resist if he let go, I held his wrist firm in my hand, “No! Don’t let go,” I begged, a tear sliding from the corner of my eye, “Please, please don’t let go. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to give in to it!”

Hushing me, Ilian rubbed his thumb across my cheek, “It’s okay, Kiri. It’s okay. I won’t let go. Just walk with me okay?”

Covering my hand over his, I nodded. He continued to hush me and repeat that it was okay, that I just needed to focus on him. As if I could possibly focus on anything else in the room. Everything and everyone blurred around Ilian. He was all I could feel, smell, see, hear. 

“See you did it. You made it out of the room. That wasn’t that bad, now was it?” Ilian said, removing his hand from my chest, leaving the other to rest on my cheek.

“I… did?” I stuttered trying to let my surroundings come back into focus.

“What happened!” Palaemon’s voice boomed down the hall.

Turning my head to face his direction, the sounds of boots running down the hall finally came into focus. As did Thyandril’s presence next to us. Blush painted my cheeks as I realized the scene I must have just caused.

Palaemon and another man came to a halt as they approached us. Finney kept his pace as he moved past us, into the cafeteria. Palaemon’s brow furrowed as he looked at Ilian and I.

“Thyandril, care to explain what the hell just happened?” Palaemon barked.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I whispered, gluing my eyes to the ground.

“Did you let him bite someone!” Palaemon roared.

“No, Aphiel Palaemon. The shadow Isturn was able to quell the beast inside of the other,” Thyandril started, “It’s the other three that were the issue.”

Shocked, I looked up to meet Palaemon’s gaze, “We didn’t do anything wrong?” I asked.

Refusing to acknowledge our presence or our questions, Thyandril continued to speak to Palaemon, “It is quite simple, the male water mage spoke ill against you and Taurin reprimanded him. The other two Isturns didn’t like that and decided to try, in a rather feeble attempt I might add, to fight back. The three of them together, however,  proved no match for Taurin. No matter how old he may be. But it did cause quite a commotion which I assume is what alerted Sir Sion and you.”

“And what of these two?” Palaemon asked.

“The blood stirred quite a frenzy into your little blood mage. His companion, though, stood fearlessly in his path and was able to draw his attention and lead him out of the fray,” Thyandril explained.

Palaemon’s eyes flickered with rage at the idea that Ilian would so carelessly put himself in danger. He grew madder by the second and I could feel his blood boiling in his veins.

“They aren’t companions. You,” he said pointing to Ilian, “Are incredibly stupid to put yourself between a blood mage and its food.”

“I couldn’t let Kiri wander into the fighting like that, when it was clear he couldn’t see what was happening,” Ilain said defiantly.

Palaemon crossed his arms and pinned Ilian with a stern stare, “Because you are apparently an expert in blood mages? How, pray tell, do you know that he couldn’t see what was happening? There is one thing we know about their kind, when blood is involved the rest be damned. He probably saw the fighting and saw his chance at an easy dinner.”

Ilian took a step forward and pinned Palaemon with an equally stern glare, “I know he couldn’t see it because he told me himself when the hunger takes over everything else blurs out around him. I know for a fact he couldn’t even hear it because until I put my hand on him he couldn’t even hear me yelling at him. You shouldn’t assume just because you don’t know!”

Palaemon’s eyes darkened at Ilian’s defiant tone. Not wanting Palaemon to hurt Ilian, I moved to stand in front of him and prepared to take on Palaemon’s rage. 

“Don’t hurt him,” I said flatly.

Ilian’s hand slipped into mine as we stood there, ready for Palaemon to lash out at us. Sion, the other man with Palaemon, let out a low whistle at us. Turning his attention to Sion, Palaemon let out a guttural warning growl.

Sion, who stood as tall as Palaemon, wore a set of dark navy blue armor decorated with gold constellations. His bright gold hair was cropped short and kept extremely neat. His already pale skin seemed even paler in contrast to the darkness of his armor.

“What, Pay? I can’t appreciate their stupidity?” Sion asked with a teasing tone.

“Yes please do encourage them, because that’s what I need at this moment,” Palaemon barked.

“Oh please. Like you are really that mad at them. I seemed to distinctly remember a certain water mage, who was overly infatuated with a certain ice mage, who used to put themselves in all manners of shit to try to protect each other. How many beatings did you take for Finney back when we were kids?” Sion said, laughing slightly.

“Now is not the time Sion!” He growled, “Do you have any idea what could have happened had he given in to his thirst. How do we know he would have stopped! For once in your life take something seriously I-”

Palaemon stopped abruptly as Finney exited the cafeteria and moved to walk past us. In his arms was the limp body of the young earth mage. The air in our lungs seemed to be sucked out at the exact same moment as we processed the site of his lifeless body. 

The whites of his eyes were now stained red and the cloudy gleam of death had started to color his irises. A harrowing expression was frozen on his face, forever stuck in his final moments. His arms dangled awkwardly as Finney carried him, and his fingertips now blackened to a crisp. 

Finney did not slow as he moved past us, nor did he take a moment to share a glance with his companion. Instead he held his eyes forward, trying to keep his face as stoic as possible, and kept moving.

Taurin was the next to emerge from the room, behind him were two older mages who held the young water mages still. Tears poured from their eyes over the loss of their friend. Their clothes were wet and battered from their fight. The boy’s lip was split and bleeding slightly, while the girl had a cut running across her temple.

“Someone care to explain why one of my recruits is dead!” Palaemon roared. His lip quivering slightly as he spoke.

Everyone stood quiet for a brief moment, the silence a deafening sound in our ears. I could smell the panic setting into Ilian’s blood before he moved to press himself closer to my back. He gripped my hand tighter than before and balled the other in the back of my tunic. 

Taurin was the first to break the silence, his voice was steady as he spoke, “Alaric, Celine, take those two to the cells. Their Aphiel can retrieve them later,” he ordered. 

Palaemon shifted his weight as he moved to stand with his arms crossed. His eyes roared with anger. Sion, who no longer had an air of humor to him, moved to stand closer to Palaemon. He rested his hand on the hilt of the sword that was tied to his hip. Taurin’s blatant disregard was like a slap in the face to the two tenured aphiel’s, who were not used to being ignored. 

“Those are my recruits Taurin-” Palaemon started but was cut off by Taurin. 

“They absolutely are Aphiel Palaemon, which is why I expected better of someone under your command,” Taurin said coldly, pinning Palaemon with a glare, “Need I remind you, young one, that Thyandril and I are above you in rank and you do not question our decisions.”

Sion scoffed at Taurin’s boldness, “Yes, librarian,” Sion sneered, “You do hold a higher rank than we do. Though I fear we must remind you, you achieved that rank solely for your age.”

I smelled the anger flare in Taurin’s blood at Sion’s sneering comment. The tension between the four of them was so thick in the air that I feared to breathe too loud should their attention be turned to Ilian and I.

“Are you threatening us, Aphiel Sion?” Thyandril asked coldly.

“Of course not, just giving a simple reminder to you both. It's not uncommon for someone your age to be forgetful of things. After all, you seem to forget, my friend here asked you a question that you have yet to answer,” Sion said, a cocky smirk toying at the corners of his lips.

Taurin gritted his teeth and gave an unnerving smile to Sion, “Your male water mage has a mouth is what happened,” he started explaining, “I saw fit to correct that for you, Aphiel Palaemon. Though his friends were not too happy about it. I fear their rebuttal was ill planned though and I deemed it necessary to remind them of their place.”

“So you electrocuted one to death?” Palaemon growled.

“That was not my intent, though I have no remorse as it is by their own hands that their friend is now dead. The water mages sent a wave crashing on all of us. In an attempt to scare them and halt their antics, I called down a rather large bolt of lightning to strike the ground near them. I, however, did not notice that where I called the lightning to was in a rather large puddle on the ground. Your earth mage, unfortunately happened to be standing in the same puddle,” Taurin explained, absolutely no emotion was heard in his tone. His face was completely stoic as he recounted the boy’s death.

It shocked me how little he cared. How unbothered he was that he caused the death of another. Palaemon stood quiet for a moment, aghast at Taurin’s reckless actions. I could hear the stuttering in his breath as he struggled to remain calm and composed. Retribution flared in Palaemon’s eyes, it was as if I could see him running through the different ways he could attack the librarians. Like he was plotting which would be the most effective. Sion eyed his friend suspiciously, as if he sensed the same thing that I did.

“I understand completely, Taurin,” Sion said, breaking the silence, “Accidents happen. Recruits pass all the time, so don’t fret. I suppose now with the other two in lock up for the day it seems rather silly to bother you with these Isturns, does it not?”