Alix Roche

Kaira’s Assigment: A Magidex Academy Prequel

Of course, it had to be Devin Leone.

Copyright © 2023 by Alix Roche

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

1. 1. Chapter 1

2. 2. Chapter 2

3. 3. Chapter 3

4. 4. Chapter 4

5. 5. Chapter 5

6. 6. Chapter 6

7. 7. Epilogue

8. 8. Read the Magidex Academy Series for FREE

9. About the Author

10. Also by Alix Roche

1

Chapter 1

A loud beep from my Magidex startled me as I lay in my bed after running Neumann’s latest obstacle course. He was my dispatcher ever since I arrived at the Union’s Academy in Annecy and got assigned to his department.

If he wasn’t running us ragged in training, we were out in the field on a mission. A notification pinged; looked like I was just assigned one.

It was only the fifth time I had heard that sound in the three months since my arrival.

That meant I wouldn’t have to run that damn course again. It was nearly summer proper and I itched to get out of Annecy for good.

I slipped the Magidex out of its holding case, which I had discarded on my bedside-table as soon as I had returned from training.

This magical device, specifically developed by the Union, was integral to my work as a guardian here.

Everything I needed was contained within it—from the lunch menu at the cafeteria to an extensive search algorithm that gave me access to the Union archives.

I had to admit, I frequently forgot to use the Magidex for its intended purpose and often wasted time looking for materials in the physical archives.

In reality, it was nothing more than a moderately fancy tablet disguised magically as a book, but instead of connecting to the internet, it connected to the internal Magitome system, which stored all of the Union’s data.

The information crystals embedded in the spine and cover—the ones responsible for magic and technology intertwining seamlessly—sparkled as I opened the pale green leather-bound Magidex and a hologram of a text box flashed into existence in front of me.

But to my surprise, the sender wasn’t Neumann. It was Jansen.

You have been assigned a new mission: The Hunt for the Teumessian Fox.

Objective: Capture the recently awakened Ispoleen of the Teumessian Fox and bring it back to the Magidex Union Academy.

Squad: Stella Byrne, Andreas Lyko.

Squad Leaders: Devin Leone, Kaira Alliguery.

Mission Start: 12 a.m. May 24th.

Mission Location: Thebes, Greece.

To accept the mission, take the card now.

A black mission card with a red and white crystal illustration materialized under the text box.

Devin Leone… I blinked at the screen in disbelief.

I had gotten a mission from Jansen’s department last month, but this…

I was able to land on the same mission squad as him.

I couldn’t snatch the mission card fast enough.

It had been my aim all along to work with Devin. He was the Union’s best guardian, the reason I was here.

I looked at the time on my Magidex and realized it was already 9 p.m., which meant Jansen would not be available to talk. And the mission was starting tomorrow.

A new lot of guardians were starting their studies at the Academy in a week and Jansen was clearly too busy with that if he was sending out mission cards this late in the day.

My mind still reeling, I flipped the card around to learn more about the Ispoleen we would be going after.

I am going to Greece with Devin Leone. Tomorrow.

Another notification beeped from the Magidex; my schedule. I grabbed it and started reading. The faint blue glow of the hologram became more familiar with every mission… And every mission report I had to type up on it.

As I scanned my schedule, I dialed Raze, who should be ecstatic to hear the news of my upcoming mission.

When he picked up, I read out the mission card.

“I thought you were calling me to say you’re on his permanent team. I’m disappointed. It’s taking you too long to get this done, Kaira.”

I took a deep breath and swallowed the sourness filling my mouth.

“You and I both know he doesn’t do the search for the Scepter on Union time,” I reminded my mentor. “I need a lot more than being on his team to get to that.”

A moment of silence stretched.

“I’m busy with Syndicate business. We have a trail on the Chavez family’s hideout, and our resources are focused on that. Stay alert at the Union about developments on that front as well. Complete your mission as normal, and don’t contact me until you have something meaningful to report.” Raze clipped his words, and hung up.

I understood what he meant, but it didn’t stop me from grinding my teeth. I was so over Raze’s attitude about this.

Why had he sent me on this assignment if he wasn’t invested in it? Finding the Scepter and capturing Leone should be his top priority.

I fiddled more with the mission card as I thought about my possible courses of action.

Because the mission assignment was short notice, the message sent after at the end of Jansen’s working hours, it probably meant I wasn’t the first one considered to fill this spot on the squad.

This wasn’t surprising, as I was relatively new to this division of the Union and they were still trying to find which position to assign me long term.

An unfamiliar notification pinged from the Magidex, but I eagerly opened the email.

I scanned the text, in disbelief at my luck…

It was a transfer document between Neumann and Jansen. I was on loan to Jansen’s department for the next mission and if successful, I would be transferred fully.

I had been trying my best to steer the Union into putting me out in the field, switching me over to Jansen’s department for months.

I would have rather torn out my hair than do paperwork willingly, but it seemed that Jansen was looking for an archivist that could still give his squad a run for their money out on a mission—a hard thing to find, as most archivists and researchers were specializing in that because of their lack of combat abilities.

I had made it pretty clear I wanted that spot. I guess they were finally giving me my shot.

Plus, the Teumessian Fox was a powerful Push Force-Paradox Ispoleen. Being a mission leader for this one meant I would get first dibs on that Ispoleen crystal, once we got it back to the Academy.

It would make me an even more powerful guardian, given I had the Push affinity.

I tried to calculate my potential ranking if I could secure it… I would break the top 100 for sure… depending on the synergy score I got for it, I might even break the top 70 guardians here at the Academy.

That was a long way from Devin’s number one spot, but it would allow me to always be a consideration for any mission.

Even if I don’t get the Ispoleen crystal, at least I can impress Leone, and he might take me on another of his missions. I tried to reason with myself. I would be able to even request him to join my own missions.

If he would join, that was a different matter all together, though.

I opened my Magidex again and tried to book a meeting with Jansen.

It was obvious I was a last-minute stand-in, as normally there was a three-day preparation period between mission dispatch and departure. I didn’t even have a day’s worth of prep, as we were leaving at noon the next day from the Academy.

Hell, I hadn’t been to a planning meeting about this. And it was Jansen’s protocol to have at least one planning meeting before taking off on a mission.

I thought there would be one scheduled for the morning, surely, but upon opening my meeting calendar, I saw that it was completely empty and the next three days were blocked out, as I was to be in Greece.

I opened Jansen’s calendar and tried to schedule his earliest time slot for the morning.

Timeslot: Occupied.

Strange, normally it showed the person who had reserved the spot directly instead of this warning.

I tried the next meeting slot, just before I would need to leave for Basel to get on the plane with the rest of the mission squad.

Timeslot: Occupied. Devin Leone.

I was about to curse him out when a tug from my power snapped me out of my thoughts.

The crystal I wore around my neck became uncomfortably hot—Vixair wanted out. He must have sensed my… was it excitement or anxiety, I didn’t know myself, but I was feeling cold.

“Fly out, Vixair,” I mumbled and stroked the crystal, which started glowing.

A silver fox the size of a cocker spaniel materialized from thin air in front of me and floated in mid air. His three tails stretched out and Vixair blinked slowly at me with his star-speckled eyes.

Took you long enough, he whined, before blowing a gust of wind and following it all around the room, inspecting the mess I had made the night before.

He couldn’t talk out loud to me, naturally, but we communicated through our Ispoleen bond, which we had forged the moment I acquired him.

He was an elemental Ispoleen. There were many like him, each one with a slightly different skill set. He was an air Ispoleen specifically, and could fly without a problem.

I had struggled for years to get him under control. Air Ispoleens were naturally unpredictable and free-willed, but by the time I was twelve, the two of us were the best of friends. It’s why he dared to be a whiny bitch about being cooped up in his crystal… and knew I would give in.

He had been through everything with me.

“We’re going to be hunting the Teumessian Fox tomorrow. I’ll need you to be on your best behavior and you’re going to track it for me, alright? We need to impress Leone on this mission,” I called out to Vixair, who stopped his flight around the room, and nodded as he hovered in place, then immediately went to the window, indicating he wanted to go outside.

“Go on, I need some fresh air as well,” I sighed.

Vixair was skilled in picking locks and could potentially open any door. He was more than capable of lifting the latch of the window himself, which he did, and fresh air flooded into the room.

“And check on the state of the Academy’s barrier for me,” I asked him.

He confirmed my suspicion, they had gotten even weaker.

They had been steadily decreasing in power ever since I had arrived.

The evening was becoming night as I watched the lights of Annecy flicker on and the cold river breeze rush into my lungs as I leaned on the edge of the window, watching Vixair enjoy his momentary freedom.

Tomorrow would make or break my assignment… and my career as a guardian at both, the Union and the Syndicate.

2

Chapter 2

I couldn’t get a hold of Jansen before breakfast the next morning, so I was going into this mission blind. There weren’t any documents attached to my mission card by the morning.

I dug up everything on the Teumessian Fox from the archives, using my Magidex, but it wasn’t anything I didn’t already know: It was a giant red fox, the last time it ended up on Earth was around two hundred years ago and its Force-Paradox ability was simple but powerful—it could never be caught.

That didn’t mean that it could never be tamed, though.

I gave up trying to find any more information myself and hoped that there would be enough time to prepare while traveling. We had two long car rides and a flight cooped up with the mission squad, and we would figure something out, I hoped.

These were some of the top guardians after all.

If there was one thing I loved about the Union, it was the fact I was able to travel all over, whenever I wanted, and I didn’t even have to be sent out on a mission. There were special allowances for what most guardians called “research holidays” but formally known as “research retreats.”

I could take one and explore an area, and as long as I came back with some new information for the database of the Union I would be good to go. I was so excited to get the chance for one next month. An actual holiday…

A guardian had to have the freedom to explore, but the Syndicate didn’t believe that to be the case.

The agents’ Ispoleens usually got restless, which resulted in internal tournaments to pass the time between assignments back in Prague.

But I lacked practical field experience. Like most of the recruits I was raised along with at the Syndicate. Their method of teaching was… restrictive.

I had adapted to the ways of the Union too quickly, so much so I was scared to tell Raze that.

The Syndicate was my home and I would do anything to serve the Inner Circle, and Raze in particular. I owed them everything.

But the opportunities I had gotten while here were…

I had to focus and get the most out of the few hours I had before leaving for Basel. My assignment’s outcome would be decided by this very mission.

I walked downstairs to the dining hall where, like every other day, there was a buffet spread of anything I could have thought of for breakfast.

After filling my plate with an omelet, some bread, and a zucchini pancake, I headed for my usual spot in the back of the room, where I could eat in peace… usually…

But before I could take a bite of my food, a tall and slender figure slid into the seat next to me.

“What do you want, Stella?” I asked, biting the inside of my cheek and making it a point not to look her way.

Maybe she would leave me be in peace. I had completely overlooked she was also assigned to this mission.

As much as I was thankful to finally work with Devin, working with Stella again was souring my mood.

“You’re coming on a mission with me, I thought it would be good for me to tell you how things go on high-ranking missions like this,” the young woman started off.

She smoothed back her long red hair and I was tempted to tell her to keep it out of my food but alas, I was going to be stuck with her for a while if this mission was to go smoothly.

She was one of the longest-standing members of Jansen’s department.

“If you’re going, it isn’t high ranking enough.” I smiled and shoved a big bite of my omelet into my mouth so I would have to chew instead of entertain the idea of physically putting her in her place like I did last time she insisted on sparring with me.

“You just happened to have the crystal of a Ispoleen that is fit for this mission. If Tina hadn’t backed out last minute—”

“Well, at least you can be happy about one thing.” I interrupted her as I finally turned around and stared her down. I forced my voice an octave lower, driving my threat home. “I am nearly guaranteed to be on debrief duty. Unless you don’t want me to volunteer you for it or drag you into it with me, try to not get on my nerves for the rest of the miserable time we would have to spend together.”

She angled her head and stared back at me as her nostrils flared.

“I’m also likely getting transferred to Jansen’s department after this. Get used to seeing me around.” I smiled. Riling her up was fun. And deserved after I had to drag information crystals outside a cave by myself because of her for hours.

We stood like this for a moment before something behind me caught her attention.

I turned around and saw it was the other member of the mission squad, Andreas Lyko, heading our way.

“Good morning, ladies. I see the two of you are already talking. I don’t know if I should be happy about that…” he trailed off as he sat in front of Stella and turned to her. “Jansen is testing you after your stunt last month, you know that, right?”

A huff escaped Stella and from the corner of my eye, I could swear the ends of her ears had gone as red as her hair.

Well, I guess it was time it bit her in the ass.

Last month, we were on a mission together, just Stella and I. We were sent to retrieve a new batch of information crystals for the Academy from the Jura mountains, to make Magidexes for the new Guardians.

Let’s just say she was a little trigger happy when she saw the Ispoleens guarding that particular dungeon and got herself locked out, while trying to show off. To me of all people…

I had to drag out the crystals myself and load up her Stone Sentinel Ispoleen so we could transport them back to the Academy.

It took us twice as long to get back. Jansen and Neumann were beyond disappointed.

I still couldn’t believe she only got a slap on the wrist from Jansen, while I had to hole up in Archiving for a week, when I wasn’t even to blame. If going on a mission with me was her punishment…

I couldn’t wait to transfer.

And I couldn’t wait to go head-to-head with her daily in training. She was good, but she overestimated herself. I liked to use that against her.

“Devin is in a meeting up until our leaving time. He is driving as always, so we won’t be leaving without him,” Andreas said, averting his gaze from Stella and locking eyes with me.

“You’ve been on a lot of missions together, I figure?” I smiled up at him, hoping to steer the conversation in a more productive direction. I wanted to make friends after all.

There was a lot I could learn from both of them. They were both in the top 100 of the Guardians at this Union location.

“Stella and I have been on the same team since our time at the Academy. Jansen picked us up right after we graduated. Devin has come and gone. Stella and Tina were inseparable up until Tina decided to give mentoring another try.”

“I could never take it up now, it feels like a retirement plan,” Stella said… though no one asked for her opinion. I gritted my teeth so the words wouldn’t escape me.

I didn’t know if she was actually annoying or if I was just jealous of her, and the opportunities she has gotten. How could one person have it all?

“Tina felt ready to do it again, that’s all that matters. And who knows, maybe Kaira, here, will fit right in. Devin said you’re taking her spot after we get back from the mission.” Andreas turned the conversation to me. “He has been looking for a new partner, you know? Jansen has been on his ass about it ever since his slip-up in Prague last month.”

“I wasn’t aware this was that kind of an arrangement,” I said and felt my stomach drop. No, it wasn’t the food.

“Of course, you weren’t, Andreas doesn’t know how to shut up,” Stella sneered at him.

Alright, maybe it wasn’t just me, she was like that with everyone.

And as happy as I was about the turn of the conversation and the fact Stella had dropped most of her attitude toward me, it took everything in me not to be smug about what I was hearing.

Devin’s slip-up last month in Prague… That was all Raze’s doing. He nearly had him captured without much help from me beyond the mission information I had dug up from the Magidex documentation.

Jansen’s biggest strength and weakness both lay in his immaculate record-keeping.

I had spaced out of the conversation for a few moments but by the time I came back to it, Stella was heading to fill her plate, Andreas calling after her to hurry up.

Despite that, I now knew two things: I was being tested, by both Jansen and Devin, for a potential at the exact spot in their department I had been after for the past three months.

And I had a very good chance of getting the spot of Devin’s partner as well.

If all went to plan, I would have a reason to call Raze as soon as I returned.

* * *

Devin didn’t show up to breakfast, which was expected, given the meeting time slot I saw last night. Instead, he stormed out of the Academy’s main entrance to the car that Andreas had parked out front, where the three of us waited for him.

He was packed light, just like all of us. Whatever his conversation with Jansen, it must have shaken him because he asked Andreas to drive before swinging his luggage in the trunk.

Stella had called shotgun right before he showed up, banking on him driving like he normally did. This meant he was stuck sitting next to me… or was I the one stuck? I awkwardly sat down on the other side and shuffled in my seat.

“I guess we haven’t been properly introduced before,” he said once he buckled his seat belt, then extended his hand. “Devin Leone, nice to meet you.”

“Kaira Alliguery,” I answered and shook his hand.

He was surprisingly gentle… His handshake was weak, which threw me off—he didn’t seem like that type of person from what I had observed at the Academy. Or what I’d been told about him.

For a second I was almost starstruck as I looked up at him.

Tan skin, dirty-blonde hair and the face whose picture I had cursed and spat at for months. So much so I had memorized the arch of his eyebrows, the upturn of his nose and how one of his eyes stayed always half-closed.

Devin became famous, even outside of the Union, because of his quest to find the Scepter of Onyx. No one knew why he was so obsessed with that artefact, even when I asked around the Academy.

It shouldn’t have really mattered to me, it didn’t matter to Raze, after all.

All I needed to know was that Devin was my only ticket to finding and delivering it to the Syndicate.

Andreas and Stella were bickering in the front of the car about the music which got old fast, so after exchanging a few awkward glances with Devin, he butted in and started talking to Andreas about one of the devices he was working on.

It was going to be a long three hours before we got to the airport.

* * *

At some point, Devin finished his conversation with Andreas about the device. Something to do with the weakening barrier of the Academy, but I couldn’t really understand what it actually did.

A tense silence filled the car, quickly cut through by Devin turning to me. “So, Kaira, how has the Academy been treating you? I heard you transferred pretty recently.”

“I did, I transferred in March. It has been quite the change, not going to lie.” I tensed. I hadn’t known I was going to be interrogated.

“What about before? Where did you transfer from?”

“Kazakhstan, I was in the Astana HQ,” I lied. My paperwork was forged. But the Kazakhs were pretty bad at documentation, so I had a possible out, if I got caught.

“Makes sense,” Stella called out from the passenger seat.

“Just because she’s Asian, doesn’t mean—” Andreas started.

“It’s fine,” I interrupted. “I am only half-Kazakh actually, my mom was from Astana.”

“I’ve never been. Did you live there for a while?” Devin asked.

“Yeah,” I lied. “I left for Russia to live with my father’s family for a few years, but eventually came back to Astana.”

Devin locked eyes with me, then angled his head. “Then what brings you here?”

“I wanted to explore Europe,” I said with a smile. “And practice my French, of course.”

“And your Ispoleen affinities? Dark, Push, and Air? Right?”

I smiled and nodded. He had done his research on me, I’d give him that.

Just like I had done mine on him. His affinities were Light, Pull, and Air.

“Devin, if you are going to interview her, you could have waited, you know?” Stella whined from the front. “There was going to be plenty of downtime to do that later!”

Had they been interviewed in a similar fashion to be in Jansen’s department? I wondered.

“Don’t act like you two weren’t going to be nosy about it later. I thought I could kill two birds with one stone,” Devin replied. “Now, Kaira, would you mind telling us why and how you became a guardian?”

My heart skipped a beat and something in my chest shrunk. I used all of my willpower not to physically fold.

“That’s extremely private,” I mumbled.

“Jansen will ask you, too, later. You should be prepared to tell him, at least,” Devin warned me.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone dry. I slammed my hand onto my knee so my leg wouldn’t start shaking, before answering.

“I got caught up in a fight between some guardians from the Union and the Syndicate. Got hurt in the chaos, and rescued by my mentor, who took me in for training right away.” I lied through my teeth. It was close enough to the truth, but instead of the Union, the Syndicate took me in. “I know most guardians show their powers at around sixteen to seventeen, I got mine at ten, when I had to defend myself.”

“Not what I meant.” Devin shook his head. “But you’ve got quite the story there, you’ll have to tell me more about it.”

“Of course, you would,” Andreas called out for a change. “Didn’t Jansen rescue you from some Syndicate agents when you were thirteen or something? Prodigy complex much?”

I did my best not to laugh, but Devin didn’t and a snort escaped him.

“You’ve got me there,” he said, closing his eyes for a second before continuing and looking up at me for validation. “It’s a lot different to go to the Academy with no prior knowledge than attending after having years of using your powers intuitively.”

“You’re right.” I nodded even though I didn’t quite understand what he meant.

“Anyway, what I meant to ask is why are you an active guardian? What made you want to be out here? What made you want to master your powers?” he reiterated.

Raze made me, I said in my head. There was really no other choice for me.

“I wanted to be powerful enough to be in charge of my own destiny,” I said out loud instead, straightening.

I guess that was a satisfactory enough answer as all three nodded. Even Stella’s face lacked malice or snark.

The conversation became more casual after that. Andreas and Stella shared stories of their time at the Academy, and I learned they were a lot more than just partners on missions.

Devin didn’t really speak at all after that, opting to stare out of the window. Whenever someone was talking to him, he needed a second to realize they were indeed speaking to him.

Andreas had to repeat himself three times before Devin could tell him which turn to take at the intersection when we were about to arrive in Basel.

“And what about Vixair? How did you acquire him?” Stella asked as we were nearing the airport. She had shared the story of how she got her first Ispoleen crystal just before.

I wrapped the string on which Vixair’s crystal hung on my neck by around my finger. “I’ve had him for ages. He was my first bonded Ispoleen. I discovered him on a mountain hike when I was eleven. It was him that came to me,” I chuckled. It hadn’t happened quite like that.

Raze had taken me to the mountain cave the air Ispoleens were known to inhabit on the Czech-Slovak border. I hiked up there every day for weeks until Vixair finally relented and took pity on me. The two of us needed years before we really started to gel into the team we were today.

“Well, he is an impressive Ispoleen, and should be able to track the Teumessian Fox once it feels we are on its trail. It’s why Jansen decided you should be leading the mission with me,” Devin noted.

“I don’t think that’s the case, I was told I am a last-second stand-in,” I said.

“No, you are leading it, at least the hunt portion will be yours to handle. I have the crystal of the Ispoleen of Laelaps, and he can hunt down anything he is told to,” he explained. “And because we will be hunting his opposite force—the Teumessian Fox, the one who can never be caught. Vixair will be the only Ispoleen that will be able to keep up with them, so you’re coming with me.”

That was an interesting development, for sure. I didn’t know Devin had that particular Ispoleen’s crystal. I certainly didn’t see it on his mission record. He must have not acquired it on a mission.

“Then what are Stella and Andreas here for?” I asked.

“Apparently, Jansen won’t let me go anywhere without backup anymore.” Devin sighed.

“And we’re milking it for all we’ve got,” Andreas added. “We want the royal treatment as well!”

“Royal treatment?” I asked.

“Just wait until we get there, you’ll see what we mean,” Stella laughed from the front seat.

I had to give it to them, spending a three-hour car ride with those three taught me a lot about their dynamic.

I could see myself enjoying my time in their company in the future. Even Stella’s. Once she dropped the attitude she wasn’t half bad.

I was excited to potentially make a female friend at the Union.

3

Chapter 3

Devin disappeared the moment we arrived at the airport. I hadn’t been to this gate before so I trailed some distance behind Stella and Andreas so as not to get in the middle of their bickering again, but also not far enough for me to lose sight of them.

As we walked through the busy corridors to get to Gate E, I scanned the people we walked past. They had no idea about our world, and if there was one thing both the Syndicate and the Union agreed on, it was we had to keep it so.

“Kaira,” Devin shouted as he ran up to me from behind.

A chill ran down my back as I turned around and locked eyes with him; he had almost startled me. We were about to walk out of the airport gate and onto the track. I was trying my best to control my breathing, a lump forming in the pit of my stomach.

Devin fell into step next to me as we started walking up to the plane that would take us from Basel to Athens.

A private Union plane.

It was only reserved for emergency missions and… the top teams, of course it was. Given that Devin was doing this mission, I expected nothing less. That must be the royal treatment Andreas was talking about.

“What?” I asked Devin and slowly blinked at him.

I quickly wiped my sweaty palms on the outside of my thighs. No, it wasn’t because of Devin, it was the plane.

“Nothing… Are you feeling alright?” He fell into step next to me.

I tried not to react to his double take as he looked me up and down.

“I just have a bad feeling, that’s all,” I mumbled, sizing him up myself.

“Do you have something you want to tell me?”

I was not going to tell Devin Leone I was scared of planes just before I was getting on one. No-no, that was a surefire way to get myself booted from any future missions.

“You’re the one with something on your mind. You’ve been spacing out.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off.

“Was it your meeting with Jansen?” I asked. He nodded. “What did he tell you to get you this worried? Are we walking into a trap on this mission? Did someone die?”

“No, that’s not it…” He looked at the ground then chewed on his lip for a second before continuing. “He doesn’t look it most of the time, but Jansen has a… condition and he is getting very sick.” Devin averted his gaze, staring straight ahead. “He won’t admit it to anyone… Won’t even let me search for a cure anymore. I don’t know how much longer he has…”

I had no idea this was what was weighing him down. Without stopping to think about it my mouth opened on its own.

“I am so sorry, that was so rude of me to ask. I get what you mean,” I blurted out. “I have someone in my life in a similar situation. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry into your private life.”

Once we were seated in the small plane, I kept replaying the conversation I had with Devin on the way.

This wasn’t the first time someone I barely knew shared something like that out of the blue. I always found it weird people thought they could do that with me. I didn’t think I had ever given off that kind of a presence.

I gritted my teeth and forced this thought to the side. I had a mission to worry about.

My sympathy was only one of the ways to get on Devin’s good side. Though it seemed I was already seen as worthy by Jansen, if he’d assigned me to co-lead this mission.

From what I’d heard, documentation wasn’t Devin’s strong suit, it was Jansen’s, so maybe all those hours studying his documentation finally paid off.

Vixair’s crystal warmed like it had done last night.

Not now, I need you on your best behavior. We need to do this right. I can’t let you out on a plane!

The crystal warmed even more, and then went completely cold. I rolled my eyes; he thought he could bargain with me.

I’ll let you out three nights in a row if you behave for the mission.

The crystal hummed in return.

My eyes were still focused on same spot right in front of me, which I hoped to stare at for the rest of the flight so I wouldn’t give myself an unnecessary headache.

The three others kept walking around the plane, but I couldn’t force myself to stand. Flying always made my stomach churn.

There wasn’t anything physically wrong with me, but being inside a death machine in the sky gave me anxiety I couldn’t brush off.

* * *

An hour until our touchdown in Athens, Devin called out to us.

“Jansen just sent me the provisional plans for the mission, let’s go over them before we get on the ground.” He waved us to the front of the plane.

I stood and wobbled my way to where he sat at a larger table surrounded by seven chairs. My legs were half asleep from the way I had tensed them in my seat.

I took the chair one away from Devin and surveyed the other part of the aircraft I could now see from my seat. Like everything else in the Union, it felt eerily clinical, which wasn’t helped by the actual medical bay that was visible from this spot.

“You both look pale,” Andreas remarked as he walked up to the table and took the seat on the other side of Devin. “Is there a ghost I’m unaware of?”

I shrugged.

Devin didn’t offer an excuse for his own appearance, either. I was sure he was overthinking whatever Jansen had told him in that meeting. I knew I would be if I were in his shoes.

I couldn’t help but be somewhat sympathetic to what he shared with me earlier, though. He hadn’t pried into my situation. Neither did he elaborate on Jansen’s condition.

But I did relate to the defeat in his voice, it was the same thing I felt when I found Raze in the hospital, barely alive after he had run into Devin while searching for the Onyx Scepter for the Syndicate.

It was the same defeat when he told me he wouldn’t be able to go out into the field again because of his injuries. Raze was getting old, and those injuries would never heal the way they were supposed to, no matter how much magical healing or modern medicine was used.

Devin was directly to blame for the condition Raze was in, but I couldn’t blame him for it, not exactly. I could do one thing, though—I could make sure that he never got his hands on the Onyx Scepter.

I came back to reality as Stella walked up to the table and sat down between me and Devin.

“First things first, I want to make this clear.” Devin cleared his throat and stared Stella down. “I am leading this mission. If I am unavailable, Kaira is to give you directions.”

Both Stella and Andreas nodded, the former more reluctantly than the latter.

“Next up, I will be preoccupied with trying to control Laelaps which means I need to be able to concentrate—unless we are intercepted by the Syndicate I don’t want any deviations from the plan, understood?” he continued and this time looked at me.

I nodded my head once and he averted his eyes back to his notes.

“The Fox we are hunting is not an ordinary Ispoleen. It is one of the Force-Paradox Ispoleens that can trigger rifts between the realms, just like Laelaps and it is incredibly dangerous to let it wreak havoc, which means we have to catch it at any cost.”

“Excuse me, I have a question…” I spoke up.

“Yes, of course, Kaira.” Devin refocused on me.

“But if you would be using Laelaps to catch the Teumessian Fox, aren’t you going to trigger the Force-Paradoxes the Ispoleens bring to Earth? And if you do so, aren’t both of them going to go back to the Ispoleen realm, leaving you and the Union by extension without the best tracker Ispoleen?”

“That’s where you and Vixair come in, Kaira.” He smiled. “Vixair has a way to monitor the air currents and thus appear in any disturbances. You and I will be following Vixair. Jansen also assured me you were a skilled wind walker. If it works, we rip off the Teumessian Fox’s Ispoleen crystal, if it doesn’t we send Laelaps and itself to the Ispoleen realm.”

I blinked at him… Would he really risk, hell, would Jansen risk losing the best tracking Ispoleen just to tame this Fox?

“What kind of damage is the Fox doing that this is the extent we are going to go to?” I continued.

“You’re asking too many questions,” Stella called out.

I averted my gaze and looked her up and down, searching where all of that audacity came from.

“Those are all good questions, though,” Devin interjected. “They are necessary so all of us are on the same page.”

Andreas had been quiet throughout the whole exchange and when he cleared his throat everyone’s attention snapped to him. “The Fox should not be taken by the Syndicate, for starters. The fact that we caught its appearance so fast means we might even avoid tipping them off about it coming into our world.”

They already knew, because of me, but it wouldn’t change much—they weren’t interested in it.

“That’s true, but really, we need to make sure no one gets hurt by it, it is tourist season, and we don’t want people who are exploring the ruins to stumble upon it. Plus it is destroying private property in the old town and damaging the ruins further,” Devin added.

I had to give it to them, they were very dedicated to this mission, and Jansen’s planning made it an absolutely brilliant plan—using a decoy chase target for Laelaps so the Fox could be caught only when it was inevitable.

But that wouldn’t work though… There was no use in chasing the Fox because it could not be caught, that would just trigger the Force-Paradox.

Then a lightbulb went off in my head—he wasn’t going to be chasing it to catch it. He wanted to bond with it… Devin Leone, you are one hell of a hunter, I’ll give you that.

Devin whipped out his Magidex and set it on the table. His was a burnt orange color, and it was a lot larger than my own.

He opened it like one would open a laptop, and even though it was disguised as a book, as soon as he opened it, the familiar blue glow of it sprung into existence with a distinct beep.

“Now before we go, we need to do the mandatory Ispoleen crystal check. Please scan your mission card and hover your crystals over the green box. We know how Jansen can get if we forget.” He chuckled and nodded to Stella, who giggled as well.

Devin swiped his black mission card above the hologram of the Magidex and hovered the crystal that hung on a leather tether from his neck over it first.

“Laelaps the Feral Hunter, Attack - 4, Defense - 4, Type - Force-Paradox Pull, Utility - Scout, Size - Medium, Special Ability - The Wild Hunt.” The robotic voice of the Magidex sounded through the plane.

Then he whipped out another crystal on a leather band. “Magma Blaster, Attack - 5, Defense - 2, Type - Fire Elemental, Utility - Blaster, Size - Large, Special Ability - Fireball.”

Interesting, he didn’t use an Air Ispoleen, instead opting for a Fire one for this mission. It’s not like it was unusual to have Ispoleens that didn’t align with your affinities, but I though his Ispoleens would at least be optimized.

After Devin finished with his Ispoleens, Stella practically jumped to scan her main Ispoleen.

“Stone Sentinel, Attack - 3, Defense - 7, Type - Earth Elemental, Utility - Defender, Size - Colossal, Special Ability – Boulder,” the Magidex informed us.

She then took out another crystal to hover over it.

“Behemoth, Attack - 1, Defense - 6, Type - Force-Paradox Push, Utility - Defender, Size - Large, Special Ability - Immovable Object,” the Magidex informed me.

So Devin wasn’t the only one with a Force-Paradox Ispoleen crystal, it seemed. Of course, Stella would have one. I wondered who had to give it up for her to get it, as far as I knew she hadn’t gotten it from a mission.

“Andreas, it’s your turn,” Devin encouraged him.

With a sigh, he rose and approached Devin’s Magidex, where he hovered over an abnormally large crystal he took out of his pocket.

“Zmei, Attack - 4, Defense - 6, Type - Earth Elemental, Utility - Blaster, Size - Large, Special Ability - Bite,” the Magidex said.

That was an interesting Ispoleen for sure. It seemed too innocently simple but the high Attack and Defense were nothing to scoff at.

Before I could form my thoughts, he switched the crystal to one embedded in his ring.

“Magma Jailer, Attack - 7, Defense - 1, Type - Fire Elemental, Utility - Fighter, Special ability - Ring of Fire.”

Now, this was something you didn’t see every day. I almost felt sorry for judging them earlier. Stella and Andreas were powerful guardians in their own right, if those were the Ispoleen crystals they used. I was wondering what kept them from making it to the top of the rankings.

This was finally a mission on which I wouldn’t have to hold back, for the fear of standing out too much.

“Kaira?” Devin prodded me to scan my own Ispoleen crystals.

I did so with pleasure. Rising from my seat, I slowly walked up to his Magidex and hovered my own mission card over it until the hologram lit up.

I carefully fished out the string on which I had Vixair’s crystal on and hovered it above the device.

“Vixair, Attack - 3, Defense - 3, Type - Air Elemental, Utility: - Scout, Size - Small, Special Ability - Windrun,” the Magidex informed the rest.

I knew his tagline by heart, and every time I had to make sure I wasn’t mouthing it along with the Magidex, for fear that the rest would know how obsessed I was obsessed with my Ispoleen crystals.

I had one more Ispoleen with me I never used. Lilith was too proud, a lot harder for me to control than Vixair. I had gotten her just before setting off on the Raze’s assignment here, so I hadn’t had enough time to tame her.

“Lilith, the Shadow Claw, Attack - 1, Defense - 7, Type - Primal-Dark, Utility - Summoner, Size - Large, Special Ability - Nightmare Cage.”

The eyes of the other guardians widened at Lilith’s tagline.

“I never use her, she’s really hard to control. I got her right before transferring so I haven’t had the time to train her,” I clarified. “I won’t feel comfortable using her unless I absolutely need to.”

“That’s understandable, Kaira, but it is still impressive you were able to bond with such a powerful Ispoleen.” Andreas perked up, his eyes still peeled on the model of Lilith displayed by the Magidex.

“Well, I don’t have Force-Paradox Ispoleen crystals, Stella and Devin are certainly amazing for bonding with them. Lilith is a different type of a powerhouse,” I explained.

“I knew there was a reason beyond just Vixair, for Jansen to recommend you to lead the mission.” Devin smiled.

I felt the end of my mouth turn up at his comment.

I wasn’t flattered or anything…

The Magidex Union’s best field agent thought I was impressive.

Get it together, Kaira, you need to hate this guy.

It was easy to like Devin, it was easy to relate to him.

But he left Raze crippled and bound to his lab.

Raze deserved it. He would have done the same.

The Union is in the wrong, and you know it.

I hadn’t seen anything to tell me so. Raze just had a hate-boner for Jansen.

Raze told you what to do, you don’t have to think about it.

I shook off the internal debate I was having with myself and realized everyone was staring at me.

“Sorry, I spaced out, what did you say?” I asked, looking between them.

“I said we need to get in our seats, the plane is starting to prepare for landing,” Devin repeated.

“Yeah, alright.” I nodded and walked back to my window seat in the back.

To my surprise, Devin followed me.

4

Chapter 4

“So are you going to tell me what is bothering you, or do I have to guess?” Devin said as he dropped into the seat next to me.

“I get nervous on planes,” I mumbled. There was no use hiding it, we were nearly there.

“That isn’t it, come on now.”

I was about to laugh because it was at least half of the reason I was in my current state, but I guess it was hard for the Union’s top guardian to understand someone like me could be scared of flying in a death machine ten kilometers in the sky.

Instead, I admitted the second reason for my apparent uneasiness.

“Our conversation earlier, about Jansen… it got me thinking about my…” I trailed off. What was Raze to me, though? He was a mentor, but not in the way the Union thought of mentors. I thought of him as my father, but he wasn’t that either.

“I’m sorry I brought that up, do you want to talk about it?” he offered.

“No, not really. It just got me thinking that’s all.”

“Did you lose him?” He lowered his head to watch the floor instead of searching for answers on my face like he had done earlier.

“No, he’s alive, but it feels like the person I knew before it happened died, and he’s a completely different person now,” I answered honestly. But even as I did, I felt a jolt in my chest.

Raze changed after getting crippled, he became unrecognizable, bitter and all-consumed by preventing Leone from completing his quest for the Scepter.

So why didn’t I feel the same hate when I looked into Devin’s eyes?

Maybe because Raze was pushing his luck. Maybe because Raze deserved to be put in his place.

Maybe because for the first time ever Raze actually let me do things.

It sucked that he had to be injured that severely to finally do it. To finally let me leave Prague. I hadn’t left that city since he brought me there at ten.

Did Devin know what he had done to my mentor?

“Is there anything you can do… to help him?” he asked.

“There isn’t anything… I have done my best to support him, but I don’t know if he will ever get better.”

If only he knew who I was speaking about. If only he knew that all of my problems started and ended with him.

At times I realized the guardians at the Union didn’t think of us at the Syndicate as people. They thought of as bugs they needed to squish.

I could see it, even inside the Syndicate there were certain divisions that we looked down upon. But the guardians from the Union were just as ruthless no matter who was in front of them. They thought of us as nothing more than zombies, like in those video games I saw some of the recruits in the Academy playing.

But I was always treated with respect. If they decided you were one of them, their respect was high.

“Well, if you ever need any help with whatever it is, I could probably throw in a good word for you and get you what you need,” Devin said, lifting his head and meeting my eyes.

“You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to get help themselves,” I mumbled and forced my eyes to the ground.

I really didn’t feel comfortable having this conversation, but it was the only common ground with Devin I had found. I was going to milk it for all I could. Even if it meant playing on Devin’s pity.

“I get that, Jansen has given up too, and is trying to force me into quitting as well,” Devin shared.

“I am still baffled that the Union’s best, with the best scout Ispoleen crystal cannot find a cure,” I said. “If you can’t find it, I don’t know who can.”

“I wasn’t talking with Jansen about the mission this morning, you know? I’ve exhausted every cure that could have helped. Some improved his condition for a little while, but nothing could cure it. There is only one thing left that I haven’t tried.” He scratched the back of his head. “But I’m not allowed to search for more cures.”

I blinked at him.

“Jansen had given up a while ago, but he wants me to give up now as well. The only thing I didn’t find and that could cure him fully is the Onyx Scepter,” he reiterated.

“You aren’t going to listen to him, right?” I didn’t know the Scepter had such powers. I didn’t know he needed it for that.

“Of course, I’m not. He’s delusional if he thinks that I would give up on him.” Devin shook his head. “You haven’t given up either, right?”

“I could never.” I tried to smile.

Raze wouldn’t have asked me to give up, though, I knew him well enough to know he would do anything, and make me do anything to get what he needed. I mean I was at the Union to find the thing he needed, was that not enough to show he was ready to do anything?

Jansen was a coward to give up like that. Couldn’t he see that it was ruining Devin to see him give up?

I would never forgive Raze if he had done what Jansen had… I didn’t even know what this curse was, though. If there was a way for me to…

Why was I sorry for Devin? He’d gravely injured Raze… For a chance to save Jansen… I knew I would be doing the same as him. I bit my cheek to snap myself out of this thought.

“Thanks for the talk, sorry for getting way too deep, but I haven’t had anyone really understand what it’s like.” Devin nodded to the others.

“You need to have gone through it to know, I don’t blame them.” I envy them.

“I hope you enjoy the mission with us, we try to have fun with it. I’m not this existential normally, I swear!”

If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Devin Leone was embarrassed.

“I don’t doubt that.” I smiled back.

* * *

We landed safely in Athens, which was a miracle, given the fact I was convinced we were going to tip over because of the wind that was suddenly going at a neck-breaking speed and got us stuck in the worst turbulence of my life.

Okay, I was exaggerating, but my life was flashing before my eyes nonetheless. The only thing I prayed for was that I wouldn’t be buried at a Union grave.

There was a car waiting for us at the airport in Athens and this time Devin felt good enough to drive, which was great because I wasn’t stuck in the backseat with him. Instead, he insisted I sit in the front seat to Stella’s distaste.

The time flew by and the three hours from Athens to Thebes felt like minutes, compared to the drawn-out three-hour drive from Annecy to Basel. Once we reached the Thebes, we first stopped for food and then drove to our hotel.

“This is the life,” Stella sighed once we stepped into the hotel. “The royal treatment is something else. If it was just me and Andreas like normally, they would’ve made us stay in the HQ in Athens and drive from there to here at night.”

“Well, none of us are on Devin’s level yet, I bet we’ll get it soon enough, we need only a few more successful missions to get to the higher ranks,” Andreas said.

“Yeah, hopefully, this one will be the last one, I can feel the promotion coming,” she laughed.

Devin didn’t pay attention to their conversation, busy checking us in at the reception before he returned to the car.

“Grab your bags,” he said, handing us each our room keys.

“When do we go to scout?” I asked, falling into step next to him as we walked to our rooms.

Andreas and Stella were on a different floor, while Devin and I had adjacent rooms. It was a good thing, I decided, because it meant I would have more time to spend with him and get him to like me.

“We’re going to go ask around town with Andreas about the last sightings of the Fox,” he said. “It’s supposedly terrorizing the old town and the ruins mainly, Jansen told me. After that, we’re going to get dinner and do one more planning session before we go try to track it down during the night, so we won’t be attracting that much attention from the people here.”

“I didn’t know I was joining a night hunt when I accepted this mission.” I rolled my eyes.

“I like to work like that because it allows us to stay an extra day to explore the place after we finish the mission, or if it gets drawn out, we will finish on time,” he explained before he stopped in front of his door.

I took a few steps forward to get to my own room and jammed the key in the lock.

“See you downstairs for dinner in an hour,” Devin said after me. I waved him off and entered my room.

I threw my backpack on the bed, rolling my shoulders back to relax the muscles. I was determined to take a shower so I could loosen up from the stiffness that accumulated during the flight and drive here.

There was a Fox we had to hunt in a twenty-kilometer radius, which got my adrenaline pumping.

I wanted to tame that Force-Paradox Ispoleen for myself, and I had been served this opportunity on a silver plate.

It would compliment Vixair and Lilith well. And I would finally have a Ispoleen for each of my three affinities: Dark, Push and Air.

While Lilith was on the same power scale as a Force-Paradox Ispoleen, she was a summoner-type, which was cool, but I still needed a strong Ispoleen that could fight by itself to round out my kit.

While Vixair could do it, he was more of a utility and scout type. He could argue about this with me for hours, but facts were facts. No matter how much I trained and specialized him in combat, he would never compete in that regard.

* * *

I went downstairs to the hotel lobby an hour later on the dot, but I only saw Stella there waiting for me.

“Are the others running late?” I asked as I approached.

Stella rose from her seat and walked to the door.

“No, they went ahead to gather information from the locals before dinner, we are in charge of finding a place to eat.”

“Well, where do we start with that?”

I followed her out of the hotel and into the street. The sun was starting to set and cast the streets in a pink hue.

“I already found a spot that might work, but I want to make sure it will be fine with you as well,” she said and continued walking, assuming I would follow.

“If I were you I wouldn’t be wasting my energy on walking around town, we have an uncatchable Fox to chase all night. I would be fine with anything.”

I slipped my Magidex open as I walked and texted the address to Stella’s restaurant choice. I got an immediate ping from Devin telling me they were going to start making their way there already.

I made sure to state it was Stella’s choice, so I would be absolved if it ended up being bad. I doubted it though. I would like to think we put the sourness about our last mission behind us on the way here.

I had to admit, I had warmed up to her.

When we got to the restaurant, Stella spotted a table and spoke with the hostess in impressively broken Greek.

I should’ve told her I could speak if she wasn’t that good, but I bit back my words and let her struggle through. I didn’t want to take it away from her. She was talking how she couldn’t wait to practice it.

We sat down at the table and waited for the guys to join us.

“The mission for the informations crystals… It was my first mission as a squad leader,” Stella mumbled. “I’m sorry for derailing everything.”

I hadn’t expected an apology from her, so this had me stumped for a moment.

“Being a squad leader doesn’t mean you have to do the mission on your own,” I finally said. “I accept your apology, really, it’s fine. It’s behind us now.”

“You know, I see why Jansen wants you in his department,” she laughed. “You sounded so much like him just now.”

“What can I say, he must be a wise man.”

Devin and Andreas joined us a few minutes later.

“So anything you’ve found out from the locals?” I initiated the conversation once Devin and Andreas sat next to us.

While Stella and I were sitting across from each other, Andreas slid into the seat next to her, while Devin sat down next to me.

I tried not to take a full survey of him like it had become a second instinct from always assessing him when I spotted him at the Academy. Instead I just glanced at him and gave a small smile, handing him the menu of the restaurant.

“The Fox is haunting the ruins, that’s where the rift between the realms was probably. The people keep telling us that the ruins had started singing and the wind randomly got unnaturally fast,” Devin said. “Anyway, what’s good in this place? What are you having?”

“I heard the fish was good from the hostess, so I want to try that,” I offered.

“Good call on that,” Devin said as he read the menu.

“We should go stock up on food and water from the convenience store before we head out,” Andreas reminded us.

“Then we better eat fast, they close at eight here,” I added.

Before we could say anything else, the waitress came over. We each ordered for ourselves and as soon as the waitress left, an awkward silence filled the air.

“There is no trace of the Syndicate. I installed a warning system so we could get notified if any other guardians enter the city and so far there has been no activity,” Andreas told us.

“Right, you and Stella make sure it stays that way all night while Kaira and I will make sure the Fox is captured,” Devin instructed.

“The crystal being in the ruins is logical, but I am worried about how large they are. We might have better luck tracing the Ispoleen rather than the source,” I offered.

“We will have to do both, I doubt the Fox will want us around,” he replied.

We thought the same, which brought a smile to my face.

Kaira, this is a mission!

Right, right.

5

Chapter 5

We got back to the hotel after dinner, after stopping to stock up on food, water, and our choice of stimulant at one of the three supermarkets in the old town.

Stella and I both opted for an energy drink, Andreas had gotten one of those bottles of cold brew coffee (which I couldn’t believe people drank straight from the bottle without making their teeth chatter.)

Devin hadn’t gotten anything to chase the sleep away which surprised me.

The cashier tried to invite Stella and I to some sort of club, but we both smiled politely and waved him off. We had other plans for the night.

Once I entered my hotel room, I didn’t waste a second when unpacking and putting on my Union-issued guardian suit.

I didn’t want to say it looked and felt like a superhero suit, but it did… kind of…

They had this special chamber at this Academy that custom-made these suits for every guardian there, when I had to get my own done as a part of my ‘transfer’ to the Academy, I was beyond scared of what it would be.

I had to give the Union credit, this gear was the perfect blend of technology and magic. I didn’t know exactly what the chamber did, and how it made it in seconds, all I knew was that ancient versions of this chamber were something the Chavez family, the bloodline of the First Guardian, created. It’s where those wizarding robes legends came from.

I carefully pulled up my black linen pants with too many pockets to count and tightened the belt around my waist, then strapped my Magidex into the allocated place on my right hip, and as it slid into place the emerald information crystals embedded in it illuminated for a second.

Next, I pulled a deep green blouse over my head and tucked it in—it was made from the same magic-resistant fabric, that was a staple in all of the guardians’ get-ups, that protected us from taking any magical projectiles straight with our bodies.

I finally put on my gloves, which were my favorite thing about this get-up. They weren’t a part of the gear the Union gave me. These were designed by Raze himself.

They were pieces of fabric over a skeleton of soft metal casts going up my whole arm. The gloves were what made me famous at the Academy—I could take nearly everyone in hand-to-hand combat with these babies on. And the best thing about them—they didn’t obstruct my magic usage at all.

I pondered for a second if it was a good idea to go to Devin’s room earlier but ultimately decided that I should go see him before we had to head out alone into the ruins. I needed to talk over the specifics with him.

I walked out of my room, instinctively tapping where my Magidex was, where Vixair’s crystal hung around my neck, and where I carried Lilith’s ring in the inner pocket of my jacket. Once I felt everything was in its place I closed the door behind me, turned the keys three times, and pocketed them in another of my jacket’s inner pockets.

I took a deep breath before knocking on Devin’s door.

It flew open and I was met with piercing hazel eyes darting up and down my body.

“Nice get-up,” he remarked before stepping away from the door and waving me over to enter the room.

“Thanks, you’ve got quite the get-up as well,” I replied as I, more discreetly, looked over his gear. Sandy brown leather jacket, a beige-colored shirt, and pants with the signature Magidex strap on the right thigh.

I had seen him in this clothing before, he liked to parade it around the Academy whenever he got back from a mission.

I wasn’t that much of a fan. I only wore mine whenever we sparred at the Academy, otherwise, I kept it in my room. It was still in pristine condition, as the Academy frowned upon fixing the gear after every mission.

“How are you feeling?” Devin asked, sitting down on his bed and patting the place next to him.

“Honestly, I want to get this over with. I can already feel the boredom once I get back and have to do debrief,” I said, trying to suppress a yawn. It was now around nine p.m. and I was starting to feel the toll traveling all day had had on me.

He smiled in return. “You’re going to be more interested when I tell you the news.”

“What news?”

“Jansen and I want you to tame and bond with the Teumessian Fox,” he said nonchalantly. “As soon as we capture it.”

This was truly an interesting turn of events. I guess this was just a retrieval mission anymore.

“Why?” I asked.

“You have a Push affinity, the sprit will suit you, plus, you said it yourself in the plane, you don’t have a Force-Paradox Ispoleen, and if Jansen has it his way, you’ll be my partner in the field if we come back from this mission successfully.”

“Is that why you’ve been this nice to me all this time? Jansen has gotten that far already?”

“What can I say, he likes to play matchmaker.” Devin laughed.

Peculiar phrasing aside, I wondered why Jansen was doing this.

Did he have an inkling about what I was at the Academy actually for? Or had all of my hard work at the Academy to get on his radar worked a little better than I had anticipated?

Whatever it was, I couldn’t say no to potentially acquiring the Teumessian Fox for myself right away, instead of having to petition for it once we got back to the Academy.

“And you would also want me to have a Force-Paradox Ispoleen if I would be going on missions with you, got it,” I concluded.

“Yes, I would like that. This way you would have at least one Ispoleen per each of your affinity types. It is necessary if you were to keep up with me.” He chuckled.

“I don’t think many people can keep up with you.”

“I’ll tell Jansen to go easy on you. It isn’t going to be an smooth transition for you, I believe.”

I laughed. “No need, I take pride in the work I do, even if it is going to be part-paperwork.”

He smiled weakly as we fell into an awkward silence. I dared to look around the room and noted Devin had chucked his luggage in the corner, his bathroom door was wide open and steam was coming out.

He must have taken a shower while he waited.

“So, where’d you grow up, Kaira? You talked about Russian and Kazakhstan,” Devin picked the conversation back up.

“Originally from Kazakhstan, but I grew up with my father’s family in Russia after my parents died. We had just moved back to Kazakhstan where I became a guardian,” I said. I knew my cover story by heart.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize your parents…” he shook his head.

In the Union, my story was a common one when it came to growing up all over that place—born in one, raised in another, then settling down in a third, wherever the Union sent you. Not how things worked at the Syndicate though.

“What about you? Your French is way too poor for me to assume you stayed at the Academy for a long time,” I remarked, making him roll his eyes.

“You’re not the first one to insult my French, you know. I’m Spanish, lived in Seville until I was about fourteen, then got myself in trouble and was in the middle of a guardian show-off. Next thing I knew Jansen was offering to take me with him to Italy until I was old enough to attend the Academy.” His eyes were focused on a singular point on the wall as he said that.

“At least you remember some of your old life in Spain. I barely remember anything from Astana, my first memories were starting first grade in Russia.” I tried to smile, despite the lump in my throat. “Gah, we’re no fun. Look at us getting existential again.”

“You don’t seem to mind though, you still came to chat before our agreed meeting time.” He retorted and peeled his eyes from the wall to stare me down.

“You’re easy to talk to.”

There was something pulling me to continue talking to him.

It’s just your assignment. He needs to like you, and trust you in order for you to do what Raze needs from you. You’re doing your job.

Yes, I was just doing my job.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts.

Stella and Andreas walked in without waiting for an answer, which made Devin furrow his brows at them. They were dressed in custom gear from the Union just as futuristic as mine and Devin’s. Stella’s had bright red accents, while Andreas’s had blue.

“My device just detected a Ispoleen crossing into the old town and then immediately going back to the ruins. We need to go,” Andreas informed us.

“You two are not going anywhere. I told you, you’re here only to make sure Kaira and I do not get ambushed while hunting the Fox,” Devin replied calmly. “You said it yourself, the Fox immediately went back to the ruins, there is no immediate danger for the town. Plus it hasn’t been outright destructive, more obnoxious since its appearance. We aren’t hunting an aggressive Ispoleen.”

“We haven’t gone through any plans yet, you aren’t expecting us to go in blind,” I chimed in.

I had no problem with improvising once we got out in the field, but having a plan for me to lean back on always gave me a sense of security, even if it went to shit the moment we engaged the Ispoleen.

“Then let’s get this over with and head out,” Stella said through gritted teeth.

And so we did. Devin whipped out his Magidex once again and projected a hologram of the layout of the ruins we’d be chasing the Fox around in.

“The Fox’s crystal hangs around its neck, we will need to get to it to rip it out so we can force it back into the crystal,” Devin noted, switching the image to a hologram of the Teumessian Fox.

The Ispoleen was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was a tornado of red and white fur that only vaguely resembled a fox, its eyes were not proportional to its face—for a fox, that was—and were as dark as the night sky on a moonless night with specks that reminded me of stars.

My power rumbled in my chest as I took in the information about the Ispoleen. And I felt my power yearn for it.

The Magidex’s robotic voice spoke out its stats.

“The Teumessian Fox, Attack- 4, Defense - 1, Push Force-Paradox Ispoleen Scout, Size - Large, Special Abilities: Immediate Escape.”

That was the old layout for the Ispoleen taglines in the Magidex database. This entry hadn’t been touched in decades, it seemed.

I took a moment to appreciate the beauty and power of the Ispoleen. I knew I had to respect it and not underestimate how powerful it was. I had to successfully bond with it and tame it to complete this mission and also land on Devin’s permanent team.

“Let’s go.” Devin shut his Magidex and got up from the bed.

He was talking more to me than the two others.

I noticed a stark shift in Stella’s attitude on our way to the ruins. She was done whining and the way her face sharpened at every noise and the stillness in her walk showed me she was done playing.

It was refreshing to see her like this.

Andreas, on the other hand, had become even more focused than he was already, and I could see the obsession in his eyes as he checked his Magidex every spare moment and made sure his system was working.

I made a mental note of talking to him about it on our way back to the Academy. I wondered if this would be the system they would be putting in place around the Academy as the barrier was weakening.

The streets were eerily quiet as we walked through the old town and I had to consciously tell myself not to jump at the smallest of sounds and changes in the wind.

Thank the Ispoleens, there was no one to look at us in our guardian get-up.

6

Chapter 6

Once we walked out of the town and into the strip of land between it and the ruins, we were finally free to summon our Ispoleens.

I was waiting for Devin to say it was go time, but he was stalling.

Stella and Andreas had split up the perimeter of the ruins and I could see the outlines of their figures on the plain that spread all around us.

He turned to me. “If we capture the Fox tonight, would you be open to going out to that club the guy at the store was talking about… with me?”

Was he asking me out? Right before we went hunting?

“I thought it was frowned upon to go out with co-workers,” I challenged him.

“That’s what we tell the students, to minimize the drama at the Academy. Once we’re out of it, it’s fair game.” He smiled and nodded to Stella and Andreas.

Yeah, those two were definitely more than friends.

“Sure, but I’m not really an alcohol person,” I warned him.

“That’s fine, as long as you won’t mind me drinking one or two,” he shot right back.

“Is that all? Can we go do our jobs now?” My patience was running out.

He nodded and we prepared to summon our Ispoleens. “Find their tracks, Laelaps,” Devin whispered, stroking the crystal embedded in the ring on his index finger.

I stood frozen for a second as he called forth the Ispoleen. Laelaps looked like he was made out of the night sky, his jet-black fur speckled with sparkles of stars. His sheer size made the air leave my lungs… He was larger than a horse. The dog looked into my eyes, blinked slowly, and stuck out its tongue.

So much for a vicious hunter.

I shook off the daze and prepared to summon Vixair.

“Blow them away, Vixair,” I mumbled.

The crystal around my neck shone with a bright white light and warmed up as he eagerly jumped out of it and flew right past me to circle the giant Ispoleen dog whose eyes hadn’t peeled off of me yet. His snow-white fur was in stark contrast to Laelaps’s. Vixair’s excitement radiated through our bond and something inside me melted as I slipped into my fighting calm.

The ruins were our hunting ground, and as we took another step into the ancient city, I felt the energy of the ruins encompass us. I tapped into my power and sent a small ripple into the air around us, whispering the spell under my breath.

Powerscan.

The power quickly returned to me with information—two other guardians and four more Ispoleens than the ones before me—Stella and Andreas had summoned both of the Ispoleens they had brought with them to the mission.

No sign of the Teumessian Fox.

The ruins were eerily quiet as if they held their breath in anticipation of the hunt. The crumbling stone buildings and overgrown weeds made it feel like we were the only ones there. Devin and I exchanged a nod, signaling that we were ready to begin. Laelaps barked into the wind, his tail wagging and his eagerness to pounce apparent.

Vixair whined to echo the excitement as I released him to fly into the night to detect any changes in the air around us so we could intercept the movement of the Fox. He flew up higher in the sky, straining our bond as he focused his whole attention on monitoring the air currents over the ancient city we moved deeper into.

Devin and I set off into the ruins as well. Laelaps led the way with his keen sense of smell and walked on the ground in front of us. Vixair flew above us, his fox ears perking up as he searched for any sign of the Teumessian Fox. His energy flowed through me, giving me a sense of heightened awareness and agility, as well as the momentary communication between the two of us. As we continued walking deeper into the ruins the air started to change.…. We were getting closer to the rift that let the Fox escape the Ispoleen Realm.

A second later, Vixair suddenly picked up a disturbance in the air currents right behind us. I saw a flash of white a split second later and the scent of the Teumessian Fox, ash and cold, filled the air as Devin wrestled with Laelaps so his Ispoleen would stand down and resist chasing the Fox.

Vixair and I exchanged a quick glance before we set off in pursuit.

Windwalk, I whispered, my legs pushing me high off the ground and Vixair blew a gust of wind that picked me up from the ground so I could keep up with him.

As I was rushed through the air I went over the plan again in my head.

I knew I had to trust Devin for this to work.

We were over our first big hurdle—Laelaps did not trigger the Force-Paradox event upon seeing the Teumessian Fox, but it flew through the air and we were right behind it.

We flew through the winding ruins, leaping over the old stones and ducking through tight spaces. Laelaps was following closely behind me, barking and howling as he could smell the track of Fox’s scent.

As we turned a corner, the Fox suddenly stopped and turned to face us for a split second. As if it taunted us with its threat to trigger the Paradox event, and that no matter how close we got, we could never catch it, the stars in its eyes glowing a fierce red color.

It was Devin’s turn right now…

An arrow of pure guardian power flew through the air, right by the crystal that hung around Fox’s neck…

But it didn’t cut it off.

Devin and Laelaps landed on the ground just behind me, as Vixair was already taking off to get a better look at where the Fox was headed next.

The Teumessian Fox did not miss a beat as it realized our plan and charged toward us, its razor-sharp teeth bared. Laelaps lunged forward to intercept it, his powerful claws missing its neck by a hair.

Devin had lost control of Laelaps, I realized. But by some miracle, this did not trigger the Paradox event.

There was no opening between the realms to swallow both of the Ispoleens back to their home dimension, even though the crack between the dimensions felt dangerously close, its distinct crackle in the air ever so present.

The Fox sent a gust of wind in our direction and it slammed into us as the untamed Ispoleen beelined into one of the ancient buildings, its walls crumbling and unstable. This wasn’t a place we wanted to disturb.

Vixair and I were forced to slow down, as we navigated the ruins and he dropped me out of the air so I could make my way inside on foot.

Daggercall, I whispered and a dagger of lime-colored light materialized, Laelaps and Devin, however, were able to maneuver to the other side of the building with ease, keeping the Teumessian Fox trapped inside.

The Fox turned and unleashed a powerful blast of energy at us. Vixair flew out of reach, and I shielded myself as the blast slammed into us, pushing us back out.

Laelaps and Vixair, however, were not affected by the blast and they quickly closed in on the Teumessian Fox from outside as I recovered from the blast and joined the chase.

Windwalk. I was once again swept up by an air current, and was quickly catching up to Devin and Laelaps, who had cornered the Fox in another building.

As I walked in I tried my best to keep myself hidden from the Fox, going as far as throwing an illusion spell over myself, to make me practically invisible, unless it was staring right at me.

Immisceo.

As Laelaps and the Fox were staring each other down, I waited for an opening.

And it opened up soon enough.

As Devin lost control of Laelaps and the Fox jumped out of the way to escape the bite of the Dog, I instinctively threw the dagger I was still holding, aiming for the string that kept its crystal tied to its neck.

A breath later, it cut the string cleanly and the crystal fell to the ground with a loud clank.

I prayed I would get to it in time, as I slipped into Windwalk. It was hard to control the wind, as the adrenaline in my blood was making my magic frantic, so I practically threw myself over the crystal.

The Fox stood frozen for a second but in a last-ditch attempt, it made a sudden leap out of a window, trying to get as far away as it could.

I was momentarily stunned too but quickly scrambled to pick up the crystal and slammed it into my Magidex.

A bright red light lined the ends of my body as I heaved, my knees bleeding from the impact with the rocks that were on the floor where I had landed.

A new kind of power appeared next to my own, curiously circling it, poking at it. I shut my eyes and focused all of my energy on my power core that sat on the intersection between my collarbone and the base of my neck as the Teumessian Fox’s Ispoleen poked at it as it was deciding if I was worth bonding to.

You’re powerful… You could have done this hunt on your own… The Fox whispered in my head.

I froze and didn’t know what to say, my mind going blank.

The smell of ash and cold wrapped around me and I opened my eyes to see the Fox in front of me, its head bowed to my own.

I locked eyes with it and felt the bond snap in place.

The Teumessian Fox slowly blinked at me and disappeared in a wisp of red smoke.

I opened my palm to find the crystal glowing red, and a ring of silver wrapped around it.

It felt like a millennia later when I drew in my next breath.

“Congratulations!” Devin rushed up to me and helped me get off the ground. “You did amazing.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you.” I smiled and got up.

“At least you caught your own Force-Paradox Ispoleen, I got mine gifted to me. Stella got hers assigned for a mission and just kept it later.” He didn’t let me belittle my achievement. “Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

He helped me to my feet and as my knees wobbled he asked me if it would be okay for him to pick me up outright.

I nodded weakly, which was enough of an answer for him as he swooped me up and then placed me on Laelaps’s back so we could walk back to Thebes.

I didn’t remember anything else from that night, as I slipped in and out of consciousness, and as the Teumessian Fox was still poking around my power core.

* * *

I awoke with the cuts on my knees disinfected and bandaged. My pants were ripped further so that could have been done. I was in my room at the hotel, which put my mind at ease for a second.

I patted the Magidex still strapped onto my thigh.

“Good morning, sunshine,” a male voice groaned.

I turned and saw Devin stretching as he sat on the armchair in the corner of the room.

“I’m not your sunshine.” I rolled my eyes.

“Alright, I was pushing my luck anyway.” Devin smirked. “I doubt you will be able to walk well. Healing Light could only do so much healing on you last night.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him and made a move to get out of bed. “Please tell me you didn’t spend the night in that chair.”

“Oh, I did. You were sleep talking for half the night.”

“What did I say?” I snapped. This could be very bad…

“No clue, I’m pretty sure it was in Russian though.” He shook his head. “Believe me, I would like to know myself what would make you scream like that, Kaira?”

Russian, screaming… Nothing came to mind. I barely remembered my life in Russia, my life before joining the Syndicate was one big white spot in my memory.

I cleared my throat. “Would you mind, I want to get changed? Thanks for the bandages. I’ll get a talking about having to get the pants fixed in the Gear chamber though.”

“It’ll be no problem, I’ll make sure. And you should hurry, we’re leaving after breakfast.” He walked to the door.

“Wait, but you said we were going to stay longer if we finished the mission earlier?” I protested. I wanted to see more of Thebes.

We also had talked about the club, was that off the table, too?

“We would have, but you’re injured and I got word of Syndicate agents gathering in Athens. We want to get out while we are still unnoticed by them,” he explained. “Believe me, I am just as disappointed as you, I was looking forward to our date at the club.”

And after flashing me a wicked smile, he closed the door behind himself.

A date? He thought that was a date?!

7

Epilogue

So Devin got to go on holiday, and I was stuck in another meeting.

If it was up to me I wouldn’t have been sitting in a conference room, listening to field reports for the umpteenth time.

I couldn’t afford to complain about it though, I needed to keep this spot. I was still waiting to hear Jansen’s final decision and I was keeping an eye on the missions being issued by the Union, to check if they had been ticked off about the Chavez tail that Raze was after.

Devin had already made his decision clear about me joining him on future missions. On the flight back from Athens, he wouldn’t stop talking about all the missions he had lined up and asking me how they sounded.

I refocused on the report being presented but in the back of my mind I still couldn’t comprehend how Jansen did it—he was the Head of the Magidex Academy and a dispatcher for the Union, which meant his days were filled with paperwork and meetings. And worst of all, he was a stickler for procedure. The amount of paperwork that he had to deal with on a daily basis would be a thing of nightmares for me.

My phone started buzzing, which had the whole room go quite at once, and everyone’s eyes immediately shot in my direction.

But it wasn’t my actual phone, but the emergency line I always kept on, my only way to contact the Syndicate.

“Sorry, but this is urgent,” I apologized and hurried out of the door, picking up the call on the way.

“We caught him,” said the voice coming from the phone.

Caught who? I immediately wondered, then my stomach dropped, realizing who was on the other side of the call.

Raze never called just to check in on me.

Which meant…

“Leone is surrounded by our agents in Sofia. He isn’t alone though. Two kids are with him, they were delivering something to him. Any information on the specifics of that?” Raze asked.

I hesitated for a second.

“I have none. As I told you two days ago, he was released for a holiday. I was left to write debriefs and archive the information into their database,” I answered, my head still spinning from trying to process the information. “No missions have been authorized for Sofia, either.”

“I guess you are still in meetings… Once Leone has been captured I will send you an escape plan, keep the act up until then,” he mumbled, then immediately hung up.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and leaned on the wall to catch my breath. I was choking on the air in my own lungs. This feeling was wholly unfamiliar to me and scared me even further.

Once I was able to straighten up, I walked out to the window to take a few breaths of the fresh mountain air.

I would be going back to Prague… Back to the castle and knowing Raze, I wouldn’t be allowed to leave for months again.

For the first month while on this assignment, I had been eager to get it over with, but the longer I stayed at the Union, the more I dreaded having to do what I was sent to do because it meant going back to the Syndicate HQ.

Raze was a member of the inner circle, and being his protege, I would have to go back to the goddamn castle and stay cooped up there until he needed something done properly again.

But I didn’t want to wait for it, I desperately wanted to see the world, and this assignment opened my eyes to how much I was really missing out. Even the simple recruits at the Union had more freedom. The higher I was in the Syndicate’s hierarchy, the less I would leave the castle…

This seemed counterproductive to me because at the Magidex Union, it was the opposite—the higher your rank, the more missions were assigned to you, and the more you traveled and did actual guardian duties.

I had more opportunities to search for Ispoleen Crystals in the three months I was undercover than in my last five years at the Syndicate.

But Raze was the only family I had, I owed a life debt to him…

I slipped back into the meeting as swiftly as I had disappeared moments before.

I couldn’t focus on the work I had to do, my thoughts were a mess and I had spaced out multiple times while I pretended to listen to the speakers at the meeting. I thanked the Ispoleens that I had already done my part before Raze had called.

Sofia… If Devin was in Bulgaria, it meant that Nikolaev’s team was the one on his tracks, and they weren’t much more than a joke…

“Alright, that is it for today, thank you for your time. You will have the rest of the day off. Tomorrow is a big day after all—the Academy will be bringing in a new bunch of students. There are still a few mentorship spots that need filling, and we are still looking for an instructor for the mind-spells class,” Jansen announced as he got up from his seat.

The guardians started shuffling out of the room, most of them chatting among themselves.

“Kaira, can you hang back a second?” Jansen called after me.

“Yes?” I replied, turning around, and then walked up to his desk. I felt like a student again when he motioned for me to sit on the chair in front of him.

“Devin and I have talked and I would like to officially invite you to his team and my department,” he started off. “Additionally, you have shown a great deal of skill, so I am—”

Jansen’s own phone rang this time. He didn’t hurry to take it out of his pocket but when he saw the caller ID, he scrambled to put it up to his ear and got up from his chair.

“What’s wrong? What are you doing at that safe house?!” he muttered. He wasn’t really trying to be quiet, rather, his voice was trembling.

I couldn’t really make out what the person on the other side of the call was saying, but they were talking fast. Even so, Jansen’s face morphed into a frown.

“If you can get to Nish tomorrow, I’ll have someone make sure you won’t be followed further,” he said, clipping his words short.

He then turned to me and mouthed, “It’s Devin.”

I did my best to act shocked, and as I blinked at him in answer, he started pacing around his office. I made a move to get up and give them their privacy, not that I didn’t know what was happening.

Jansen shook his head and looked between me and the seat, I guess I was welcome to stay. Interesting… Was he going to send me?

Really, I was already half-thinking of tipping Raze and Nikolaev off about whatever was waiting for them in Nish. But another half of me saw this as an opportunity to buy myself more time at the Union. Another mission with Devin didn’t sound half bad.

“Are the kids injured?” Jansen started asking, his face mellowing out.

He followed it up immediately. “If you leave at 3 tomorrow, you’ll be here by nighttime.”

That was a very optimistic estimate, it was more like twelve hours, and they’d get here after midnight for sure. That’s if they drove without stopping.

“Take care, Devin. I love you.” Jansen’s voice broke. Devin said something short back before Jansen hung up for good.

My chest tightened. Jansen said that and it truly looked like he meant it. No wonder Devin would do anything for the man that now sat in front of me.

They were a lot more than a mentor and a student.

“I’m sorry about that, let me just send a quick message to my team in Nish so they can assist him and I’ll be with you in a second,” he said, scrambling to open the Magidex that lay discarded on his desk.

I nodded.

I really hope Devin makes it back.

* * *

In all of my twenty-six years of life, I hadn’t felt such a thing.

I awoke the next day to the floor shaking under my feet. The sky outside the window flashed bright blue, then yellow before going back to jet black.

I looked out of my window and spotted a sand-colored jeep driving toward the main entrance of the Academy, and the pit in my stomach dissolved.

I guess Devin escaped them. I smiled, then hurried to dress.

My heart raced as I rushed down the stairs of the Academy, desperate to learn more about what was happening.

As I reached the ground floor, Devin burst through the front door, followed by a young man carrying an unconscious girl around the same age in his arms.

He moved to the front desk immediately and fumbled with the machine in place.

The Academy intercom activated, Devin’s voice on it.

“Devin Leone speaking, I’m sorry for the commotion everyone, but the barrier around the Academy has been restored. The Academy is not under attack, you can go back to bed,” he spoke into the intercom microphone.

An older woman in her fifties rushed up to the three of them and started scolding the young man, while Devin did his best to guide him through the corridor and deeper into the Academy.

They were probably walking to the infirmary, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to shadow them without being seen.

I had to carefully choose my next step.

I could probably be a little nosy and go ask him what was going on before the official report came out in a day or two. Worst case scenario he got the wrong idea about my approach, best case scenario, I got what I want.

What did I want?

I wanted to go on more missions, tame more Ispoleens. I wanted to see the world before I returned to Prague.

The few moments of hesitation cost me. I lost sight of them, so I hurried and took a shortcut to the infirmary, the four already arrived.

I peeped through the half-closed door.

The young woman was set down on the bed, still unconscious. The older woman was talking to Devin and the young man looked between the two with wide eyes, occasionally glancing at his friend he’d held minutes before.

I stood there until Devin noticed me and excused himself, then walked out of the infirmary and right up to where I was standing, leaning on the wall opposite the door.

As he approached, I noted his appearance. His clothes were dirty and wrinkled, his posture limp and he could barely walk it seemed.

“What’s going on?” I asked first.

“I brought in two new recruits.” He smiled and scratched the back of his head. “Jansen is really happy about that.”

But I knew that wasn’t the whole story. I guessed Jansen hadn’t told him I knew. His smile didn’t reach his eyes, which I immediately called out.

“Jansen has been worried about that lately,” I noted, then turned the topic back onto what I really wanted to get to the bottom of. “But you don’t seem too happy about something…”

“Let me get my things and we can head to the kitchen to talk. I need to get something to eat before I collapse like her.” He nodded toward the young woman.

He returned a moment later and the two of us turned to walk down the corridor to the kitchens.

We walked in silence. Surprisingly not a lot of people were awoken by the earthquake their arrival had caused.

Once we slipped into one of the bigger kitchens, Devin immediately walked up to the fridge and poured himself a glass of wine, then started rummaging through the fringe for something to eat, while I continued to observe him carefully. I searched for the wound making him walk that way.

“Are you hurt?” I braved to ask finally, after not spotting anything myself.

“Not really, but driving for seven hours will do that to you.” He laughed it off as he set down a bowl of left over soup and stretched out.

“So what about it? What’s got you unhappy with Jansen?” I asked and narrowed my eyes at him.

“I wasn’t planning on being a mentor this year,” he admitted. “I saw it more as a retirement plan, not something I would be doing at thirty-two.”

I blinked.

“Wait, I thought you were an active guardian, what happened?”

This was really bad news for me. Was my transfer going to fall through? If he was going to be mentoring, he would be cooped up in this Academy for…

“Well, I owe Jansen big time, and he wants me to mentor the kids as a favor,” he explained. “There is a lack of mentors this year, he thinks I should set an example.”

“So you’re going to turn back on fieldwork for three years?”

“Not really, you still go on missions with the recruits, it’s not like I’ll get rusty or anything. But I’ll be spending a lot more time here than I imagined.” He sighed.

“I’m sure you can talk with Jansen and leave this to someone else. You are the best the Union has, without you in the field—”

“I can’t refuse it. And with Jansen’s condition worsening, I think spending as much time here and with him is the best thing I can do. Especially when he has told me he won’t be authorizing any more missions searching for a cure. But you know him, if he was in better shape, he would be training them himself.”

“What about my position… I guess I’m going back to Neumann if I won’t be partnering with you?” It was a last-ditch attempt to get him to try and fight Jansen’s decision.

“I’m sure Jansen will have a better time searching for a partner for you, than he did for me.” He laughed. “I’m sorry, I really did think we would have made a great team out there.”

I needed to think of a way to get him to talk more while I thought up a new plan of action. I didn’t want to pry into his plan to acquire a cure so I could build trust, so asked about the only other thing I could.

“Now then, tell me about the new recruits, what’s wrong with the girl?”

“She’s a descendant of the First Guardian. She was adamant that she wasn’t on the way here, but the barrier doesn’t lie. She repaired it, though, which is good, because Jansen was getting ready to assign guard duty if it got any weaker.”

So that’s what the flashing lights outside must have been, I thought.

“How did you find them though?” I continued prying, not like I didn’t have a good idea already.

“Well, I didn’t actually find them… The Syndicate did. The girl, Mariana, she knew of the Union, so she came to me immediately, and dragged the boy along. The boy is interesting though.”

“How so?”

“You might have heard of Zachary Grim? You probably saw his database records a bunch, he was the top Union field researcher for years until he disappeared. The boy is his son. His mother flew in all the way from Ireland to make sure he was fine.”

So that’s who the woman that met them at the door was, then.

“Zachary… Wasn’t that the guy that disappeared without a trace searching for the Scepter?” I asked. “That was at least three years ago.”

“Yes, you’re correct, and the two of them discovered his father’s last Magitome. There are some corrupted files on it, but with a little work, I can get everything I need to go after the Scepter myself.”

I was tempted to laugh.

So that was it. He was accepting the mentoring because it would get him access to the information he was after.

I guessed fortune did favor the brave.

“So that’s what’s pulling you to mentoring,” I smirked.

Zachary Grim’s last Magitome,

If Raze knew this was the book the kids were delivering to Devin, I knew he would tell me to just cut my losses, steal the book and come back to Prague.

But another idea was maturing in my head at the same time. I really didn’t want to be called back to the Syndicate, especially when I’d had a taste of the freedom being offered by the Union.

“Simon wants to explore his father’s work, and what is a better way than to retrace Zachary’s steps, who was on the hunt for the same thing I am?” Devin shrugged.

I let him eat the rest of his soup as I walked to the fridge to pour myself a glass of wine. This was cause for celebration, so I allowed myself to drink this once.

When I returned to my seat, I was ready to confront him.

“You didn’t tell Jansen about Zachary’s Magitome?”

He blinked then shook his head before taking another sip of wine.

My mind worked in overdrive to assimilate this information. I brushed a hand through my hair and cracked my neck.

“And you wouldn’t want me to tell him, I gather.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

“You’ll need help with mentoring the recruits for sure. It is recommended there is only one mentor per recruit, and I know they are pairing people up so it’s more manageable. And these two sound like a handful.”

“The kids have a lot of potential,” Devin said through gritted teeth.

I hated myself, but this was the only way for me to worm myself into whatever Devin was going to be up to with his Onyx Scepter quest.

“I wouldn’t mind a break from the constant mission reports, you know. I could probably ask to sign up as a mentor. Jansen was asking around just before dinner again. And if I would be still working with you…”

“That’s what you want?” His brows furrowed. “Mentor the kids with me?”

“Yeah, and I mean, how bad will it be? I’ll talk to Jansen in the morning if you are okay with it.”

“I’ll take any help I can get.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t want to disappoint Jansen. If I don’t find the Scepter in the end, the least I can do is do this favor for him. I owe him this much for everything he has done for me.”

“I get what you mean, it’s fine, really. I was ready for a new challenge anyway.”

But I knew that even though Devin looked relieved, I had just cornered a beast.

He was desperate to find this Onyx Scepter, if he was ready to exploit the kids, tie himself down with them and be stuck at the Academy.

Hell, he was going to hide such an information goldmine like that Magitome, not only from Jansen, but from the whole Union, in order to get what he wanted.

I wondered what he would’ve done if I hadn’t agreed to keep my mouth shut.

I wondered why he even shared that with me in the first place.

I threw back the last of my wine, and as I set my glass down on the table, a wicked grin replaced the concerned look on Devin’s face.

“It would be a pleasure to work alongside you, Mentor Kaira Alliguery.”

* * *

“I can mentor the girl,” I declared as I burst into Jansen’s office at eight a.m. the next morning. I sat down in the same chair as I did yesterday when I was here to get my transfer between departments finalized.

It was amazing how that didn’t even matter anymore.

The head of the Academy stared me down, analyzing… Then his eyes flashed and he blinked.

“You know… I was hoping you would volunteer.” He smiled. “Especially after your mission to Thebes. Devin was impressed. So was I. But what I was most impressed by was how well the two of you worked together.”

“So this is what you meant, when you told Devin he needs to set an example? You want more people to volunteer to be mentors?” I countered.

“Not really. But let’s talk about what’s important. Mariana is coming to the Academy with prior training, and you know firsthand how difficult re-learning your basics can be.”

I swallowed back a retort and nodded. I had to alter my technique in more ways than one when I joined the Union to be brought in line with their standards.

“You will start properly tomorrow, today the kids have paperwork to fill and get to know their instructors. I have a feeling your team will work out well, as I know you are not as resistant to documentation as Devin is at times. If you can pass down even a little bit of that to the kids, I will be indebted to you.” He laughed at his own joke.

I cracked a smile as I nodded. It was hard to find an active guardian who you could sit down in front of his Magidex to type away.

“Devin will be happy you went through with this. He was anxious you would back down from your word last night,” Jansen added.

“Did he tell you more about what we discussed?” I asked. I needed to know if Zachary’s Magitome was something they had talked about. If Devin was really going through with his plan from last night.

“No, I guess you both want to keep that private.” He smiled, then winked at me.

It took all of my self-control not to burst out laughing. He had gotten it all wrong.

“Once Mariana wakes up I’ll send her your way so you can go through the registering process with her and issue her a Magidex. They’ll get their gear crafted by the end of next week, so they can prepare for the Newbie Clash.”

Of course, I would have to do that. I was a mentor now. I wondered how I would explain all of this to Raze.

“No need, I’ll go check up on her myself and wait for her to wake up. She will need guidance on how to get around this place,” I replied and started to stand.

“Alright then, make sure to bring her up to me before her classes so I can do my internal assessment,” he instructed and rose.

He extended his hand and we shook on it. A glint of something in the older man’s eyes caught my attention but it was gone before I could register. I walked out of his office and straight to the infirmary.

As I walked down there, I dared crack the door of the infirmary open.

I saw the young man, Simon, was sleeping in the chair next to Mariana’s bed, which he had leaned over.

I took a moment to study them—they wore a school uniform with pale blue shirts and black pants. Both were sound asleep.

I sat down on the chair in the waiting area outside their room and gave myself some time to study them and what else I knew about them.

The two must have been very good friends for Simon to carry her around like that the previous night.

There was an open journal in his lap that he was hovering over, that must have been the Magitome Devin was talking about. It didn’t quite look like ours. If it was really Zachary Grim’s then no wonder that the Syndicate was after it.

I would have to lie to Raze about it, for the fear he would make me return to Prague with it immediately.

And I was feeling like taking a summer vacation in Annecy instead.

8

Read the Magidex Academy Series for FREE

You can start reading Book 1 here.

Blurb:

When Simon’s peaceful life is turned upside down by mysterious men in black latex bodysuits, he discovers that he is a Guardian, one of the chosen few that protect the world against the untamed Ispoleens that slip through cracks between our dimension and the Ispoleen realm.

Equipped with his father’s powerful Ispoleen crystal, Simon is able to escape his pursuers and is taken to the Magidex Academy for further training.

Mariana, a young woman on the run from her troubled past, also finds a home at the Magidex Academy as she learns to control her own magical abilities. Although she is a strategic thinker and skilled at navigating complex social situations, Mariana struggles with self-doubt and insecurity. But with the help of Simon and their mentors, she learns to believe in herself and her own strength, using her own Ispoleen, Gecocat, to fight alongside Simon.

Together, Simon and Mariana must protect themselves from the Syndicate, a group of Guardians who have been hunting down Mariana’s bloodline for generations.

Follow their adventures as they navigate their destiny and discover the magic slumbering inside of them at the Magidex Academy.

About the Author

Alix Roche is Progression Fantasy and LitRPG author who has successfully avoided going to university for the past four years.

Yet she cannot stop writing stories set in magical schools, academies, institutes, and universities.

She lives in Sofia, Bulgaria with her two cats, a dog, and a loving partner. Most of her stories are written from her bed, where she types away every night until she passes out.

You can start reading all of her stories for FREE here.

You can connect with me on:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66202/the-magidex-academy-nova-era

https://twitter.com/alix_roche_

https://www.facebook.com/people/Alix-Roche/100089191443308

Also by Alix Roche

Next up in the Magidex Academy Series

The Magidex Academy: Nova Era

When Simon’s peaceful life is turned upside down by mysterious men in black latex bodysuits, he discovers that he is a Guardian, one of the chosen few that protect the world against the untamed Ispoleens that slip through cracks between our dimension and the Ispoleen realm.

Equipped with his father’s powerful Ispoleen crystal, Simon is able to escape his pursuers and is taken to the Magidex Academy for further training.

Mariana, a young woman on the run from her troubled past, also finds a home at the Magidex Academy as she learns to control her own magical abilities. Although she is a strategic thinker and skilled at navigating complex social situations, Mariana struggles with self-doubt and insecurity. But with the help of Simon and their mentors, she learns to believe in herself and her own strength, using her own Ispoleen, Gecocat, to fight alongside Simon.

Together, Simon and Mariana must protect themselves from the Syndicate, a group of Guardians who have been hunting down Mariana’s bloodline for generations.

Follow their adventures as they navigate their destiny and discover the magic slumbering inside of them at the Magidex Academy.

You can start reading it for FREE here.

Table of Contents

1. Chapter 1

2. Chapter 2

3. Chapter 3

4. Chapter 4

5. Chapter 5

6. Chapter 6

7. Epilogue

8. Read the Magidex Academy Series for FREE

About the Author

Also by Alix Roche