Chapter Twenty-One

Otherwise, Their ninth year proceded as had those before it. Classes were attended, matches were won, injuries were recieved, and here and there people died as a result of fiddling with magic for the wrong amount of time. Whether to much, or simply not being prepared; Life at the academy was quite dangerous. To say that nothing happened would be wrong; rather, nothing important to Petra happened.

The tenth year had gone much like the nine proceeding it. Scarcely a month went by some bonehead didn't try to upset her power, or challenge her outside of TacSim. And sadly, by now most of the teachers were themselves rightfully afraid of her power. Although she had probably killed before; Petra made no secret of it now. No one tried to stop her; if you were the level of stupid it took to start a fight with her, you were going to die anyways. She just made it prompt, painful, and public.

Alid and Chesi usually tried to convince her not to. Chesi would often heal the survivors, what few there were. Alid was the only student who could get away with intervening in her fights. More people owed their lives to him than he wished to count. He was a good guard; if ever there was a threat he'd try to deal with it long before she could find out about it. And when someone really did need to be put down he'd stand aside and let her do what she did best. Love is probably to stronga term; to say that she'd come to feel a strong affection for him might be a better. But if he felt anything more than a professional obligation he didn't show it.

It was august, halfway into the semester, when the end began. Chesi climbed down the stairway that lead to Petra's lab. It was dark, as always, and smelled like rotting flesh, a dozen herbs, and singed hair. Chesi was always polite enough not to say anything, so she'd written it into Fey to hate this place.
"Petra, what happened in the labrinth last year after I blacked out?"
"I blasted the golems. Boom, little bits of golem everywhere."
"How?"
"What do you mean how? With magic of course."
"I have a witness who says otherwise."
"What? We were the only ones in there."
"Not quite." A golem, the statue from the center of the room, clumsily descended the stairs. "He says it was a Shaditha. That you barely survived."
Petra muttered a curse at the stone man waiting silently beside her roommate. "Can you blame me for not saying so? What would you think if you saw a demon come to your defense?"
"I'd think something was wrong and that we should stop what we were doing and go back."
"We're immortal now Chesi. I'd don't care what the Demon wanted us to do; they don't control us. What could they possibly do to us?"
"What if they wanted us to be immortal? Wouldn't that mean it was wrong to be immortal?"
"How can it be wrong to not die?"
"I don't know, but if demons want it than it must be wrong."

"I think there might be a demon following you."
"What?"
"The first day of school; I felt something from when you killed that prisoner. It's the same thing I felt when Vlad fought his demon; not Vlad's demon but something close, and nearby as well. And the way the golem felt from the demon last year; it's the same thing. It took me till now to realize it; it may not be controlling you Petra, but it's following you."
"Absurd; Demons don't follow people. They offer power..."
"Which you have had since day one because everyone knew you could and were willing to kill. Because the Demon killed the prisoner for you."
"..Or eternal youth..."
"Which we both have thanks to the fountain he saved our lives for us to get to."
"...Or love." Petra paused. If the trend the demon had been following so far was any indication that would be next.
"Chesi, do you think the demon could make Alid like me?"
"Petra Laerdsfeld how could you? He's your guard, you shouldn't even think of using a demon's powers to make him like you."
"If I'm lucky the nether lord will do it of his own accord."

Chesi just stared at her friend in perturbed shock.
"I'm kidding. If he's following me then it will save me the trouble of finding one. He wants to play with my life; he'll find out what happens to people who take me lightly."