The Sky Garden; [Open]

The vines would only temporarily retract as Cassima tried to break her way out of them, but she would soon find herself overwhelmed by the branches as they wrapped around her ankles and her torso and her other arm. To make matters worse, Jack had also been stabbed the spider leg. As he did, the monster's unhinged jaw would grin.

A strange, inhuman cackle filled the air as it let go of Jack and continued wrapping Cassima up. Its other legs would toss Liseran aside, making room for the monster to descend down the stairs.

"Finally...FREE!!!"

Meanwhile, Liseran was barely conscious of what was happening. She felt no pain, but she did feel extremely light headed. Every sound, every scream, seemed like nothing but a murmur. It was as if she was listening to everything from underwater.

The one eye she had opened saw what happened to Jack. She felt like she should have been alarmed, but something was telling her if she went to sleep everything would be fine. She then saw Cassima being wrapped up. She also wanted to help, but her hands wouldn't move. Nothing would. But then she felt her fingers twitch. Ever so slightly, she raised one up towards the vines near Cassima and cast one last mark. The mark would zip towards the vines wrapping around the girl before a line of light severed through Cassima's binds and would free her. Liseran's hand dropped and her eyes closed.

At least Cassima would be able to get away. That was a nice last thought, she supposed.

Cassima was wrapped in even more vines as she tried to break out of them. She struggled and looked around to see that Jack and Liseran were both on the ground, having been stabbed, she tried to get out. "Don't hurt them!" She screamed to the monster, and just as she was going to be consumed by the vines, she was saved by the last of Liseran's magic and fell to the ground. She quickly stood up and looked at both Jack and Liseran again, before looking at the door out of the library. She ran towards it and tried to cut her way through any obstacle that got in her way.

Jack, Liseran, she might not be able to save them on time if she gets help. She knows she doesn't want to leave the two behind, but at this rate, finding help is the only option, she just hopes her friends will stay alive until she gets back. Cassima tried her best to reach the door, as if she's captured again, the trio could be doomed.

"Almost, there."She teared up approaching the door.

The monster let out a high-pitch shriek, its nails scraping against every surface it clawed at as it charged after the running. Cassima would be getting closer to the main door only for the monster to close in on her. She was just ten steps away. Then five steps. Three steps. Two. One.

The monster let out a shriek as it crouched in preparation for a big jump.

Suddenly, the door cracked open. The old hinges creaked loudly as the double doors parted slowly. Behind the door was a girl an entire head shorter than Liseran.

"..."

The girl stared blankly at Cassima, leaning just a few inches from her face. The girl had short pink hair in a bob. Her big red eyes focused on nothing in particular. The girl had a round face and a petite frame. Her clothes looked like some sort of black uniform jacket with a skirt where underneath she wore shorts. She had on a pair of long knee-high boots and gloves that left her fingers uncovered. She wore brass ornaments on her ears shaped like wings. At her sides were a pair of sheathed swords on each side and on her back were two muskets crossing each other.

Her blank eyes stared at Cassima for a second, then without the rest of her head moving an inch, her eyes moved up, staring at the monster who had stopped its advanced. Then her eyes rolled to the left where Liseran was lying and then to the right where Jack was. She started walking, pushing pass Cassima without a word. The moment one foot stepped on the ground in front of her, her other foot left the ground immediately. Her arms barely swayed as she walked and her gaze was always looking ahead looking at everything at once without ever focusing on one thing. Not a single movement she made was wasted. If the blonde girl from earlier was like a doll, then this one was like a toy soldier.

The Golden Fairy hissed threateningly as the girl approached closer and closer. The mysterious girl made the first none-basic movement since she came, reaching for a pack on her side and taking out a pair of green marbles. She tossed one to the left and one to the right. They clattered and rolled on the ground until they bumped against Liseran and Jack. In a sudden burst the two were enveloped in a dome of lime-green light. In astounding pace, their fatal wounds suddenly closed up, reverting them both until looked no different than they did when they woke up in the morning.

The monster hissed and charged at the girl.

"Cantus threat identified," the girl spoke in a low monotone voice. "Approved for combat maneuvers. Engaging target."

The girl's arms reached back and grasped the handles of her muskets. With a quick tug, she pulled them off her back. She barely got the barrels leveled when she pulled the triggers. In a loud BANG the monster was knocked back as it was hit dead on.

The girl's grip on her muskets loosen and both large guns started to fall on the ground. Then suddenly as if gravity stopped working, the guns floating up and hovered by the girl's sides. Her right arm gripped one of the sheathed swords on her left and her left arm gripped one on her right. With a sharp sound she unsheathed a pair of thin, straight swords and wielded one in each hand while her muskets floated behind her.

The monster roared and sprouted twenty jagged arms, each with an unnatural number of joints going each way. They all rained down on the girl who stared on blankly. They all descended with a cloud of dust and debris. The monster let out something that sounded like zealous cackling as it pummeled the same spot, not noticing the small girl in the air twenty feet up.

The Mysterious Girl:

A barely-visble runic glyph was underneath her feet. Without missing a heartbeat, she jumped off it and inexplicably moved across the air. Her feet seemed to slide on some sort of invisible surface, leaving behind a fading trail. She circled around the golden fairy and her muskets which followed her while floating shot at the creature.

The abomination let out a pained screech as it was pelted with shots. One of its arms shot at the gliding girl. It was about to impale her when she spun her body, evading the limb without effort. Her movements through the air was like those of a dancer. She descended to the grown, twisting and bending away from the creature's attacking arms while continuing to fall until her feet hit the ground.

The creature roared and lunged at her, but before it got close, her floating muskets lunged, the blades slicing the arms that came at her clean off. The mysterious girl charged, a sword in each hand and her bladed muskets behind her like a pair of wings. She dodged every attack and hacked and slashed at the monster.

The golden fairy backed away as if afraid. It let out a series of cries that sounded like the wails of humans. Women, children, elderly, all begging and crying, and most particularly, that of an agonized young woman. The girl didn't seem the least phased. She let go of the swords she held and just like her muskets they floated in the air. Then her other pair left their sheathes without her laying a hand on them and then the same to an identical pair on her back. A total of six swords floated around her as well as her muskets. With a gesture of her hand, the six blades went flying, circling around the monster. A pentagram on each blade glowed brightly and each one shot a spell at the monster. Two shot firebolts, the other pair ice spikes, and the last lightning bolts. The golden fair screeched as it was pinned by a barrage of spells. It tried to morph and struggle but can't seem to escape. Then the flying swords stopped and stabbed the ground around the creature. A pair of lines came from each blade, connecting it to another until the crossing lines formed a six-pronged star together with the creature trapped in the middle.

Before the creature could attempt anything it was swallowed in a pillar of light, the brightness so intense that daylight had come to the perpetually dark library for a single moment. The pillar of light disappeared and nothing was left when it did. The swords tugged themselves out of the ground and floated back to the girl, sheathing themselves with simultaneous *chinks*.

"Purging complete," the girl stated in an emotionless, blank tone.

***

Cassima would watch as the vines that had pervaded the library began to retract, shrink, and vanish all together. The stairway and the bookshelves were in ruin, but in the open space on the floor, sun shone from the now broken glass dome above. Nearby, she'd see Liseran stir awake.

"Nn..."

"Liseran!" the strained voice of a man would come from behind.

At the entrance were a group of Expiate officers in a straight horizontal line. They wore deep blue, silver-lined coats, and each had a sword and arms at their sides. The one standing in front of them wore the most decorated of outfits and a silver pendant. His hair was the color of wheat, and while his face was pale and drawn out, he had sharp piercing azure eyes. From the almost frightened expression he had on his face, it was apparent that he had been the one who had screamed.

He then turned towards the group, and his expression would go from scared to furious.

"What are you fools doing!? Secure the area! Find anyone else who may be around!"

One of the Expiate officers who wore a strange white full mask with red streaks would make his way to Liseran and slowly lift her upper body up slightly.

"Sister. Are you hurt?" he asked.

Meanwhile, another officer with copper brown hair and amber eyes would examine Jack.

"Sir, are you alright?" she asked.

Meanwhile, the officer who had shouted earlier would step as if to move towards the direction of Liseran. He stopped, however, and turned towards Cassima. He scowled deeply, as if disapproving of the girl's presence in the room.

"We received a report from Mademoiselle Cinq of an Incantus in the area," he said. "You must be one of the people she reported as being trapped in. It was fortunate that one of ours was able to pacify the problem. But I digress, may I ask who you are and what exactly you were doing in the library?"

Cassima kept running as fast as she could, away from the monster, away from the carnage, away from everything. She just needed to escape the library and everything will be ok, she'll get help for Liseran and Jack just in time before the monster could do anything bad. The monster got closer and closer, until finally, just when it seemed like Cassima was going to get captured, stabbed or tied up with vines again. The door opened by itself and Cassima stopped when the monster back away.

A girl stood in front of the door, who moved past Cassima.

"Wh-Who are you!?" Cassima decided not to say anything after what the girl did next, which was performing a wide range of spells to finish off the monster, but Cassima's slight look of excitement turned to that of shock when the monster was defeated. "Wait, why did you kill it? I think that monster was possessing someone!" Cassima seethed to the girl, but it's unlikely she would get a reply, as the expiate officers soon arrived to help out in the area, including tending to the now healed Liseran and Jack. Since the former appeared to be pulling through, Cassima tried to approach Jack to see if he was doing alright.

Only to stop and turn towards the officer that was trying to see Liseran, it appears he and Liseran had some history together that Cassima doesn't know about, yet. "I...Uhh." Cassima took a deep breath, realising that everything was ok. Despite not saving the monster, the girl that came to the trio's aide did get rid of the problem in the library and tended to Liseran and Jack's wounds.

"I'm Cassima Addington, I came a long way to attend this school. I came to this library hoping to gain information regarding my enrollment here, and that was when I met the two that were injured, Liseran and Jack." She pointed to Liseran from near the officer then over to Jack. "I was helping them find books when we were attacked by a girl with golden hair and her companions, who were a man and a woman. However during the fight, the monster appeared and attacked us." Cassima became slightly worried.

"Are Liseran and Jack doing ok? I just met them and they didn't deserve to have what happened to them, we just came here for books." Cassima looked down at her leg, deciding not to reveal her injury until her new friends are confirmed to be alive and in normal health.

The mysterious girl didn't give Cassima an answer or even acknowledged her in any way. She seemed to stand to the side as the other officers went to work.

Jack twitched on the ground weakly before bolting upright and gasping for air.

"Gah! What the-" He looked around as he tried to register what just happened. His one real hand grabbed at his chest, trying to find the wound that wasn't there anymore. He used his spear like a cane and pulled himself up with it. He looked around at all the officers. "Ah! The Expiate?"

As Cassima explained what happened and pointed to Liseran and Jack, the scowl on the man's face seemed to deepen, not out of distaste, but concern. He would have said something, but he was interrupted.

"Excuse me, Miss Veiller attacked first," an indignant voice said from the background. Behind the officer speaking to Cassima stood Mirai and her two companions. She had a fan up to her face again, and she looked rather bored and disinterested. "And you should be thanking me. If I hadn't called the authorities, then you three could have been Incantus soup."

The man speaking to Cassima turned around and gave a small bow.

"Ah, Mademoiselle Cinq," he said, albeit still scowling. "One of our members has taken care of the threat. You will find that the library will not be available for awhile and isolated for investigation."

Mirai arched an eyebrow.

"But this is my building, Chief Commander Veiller," she said, almost emphasizing his last name for Cassima to hear. "And I want to make sure that no severe damage has been done."

The officer seemed to flinch at her addressing him, but he merely adjusted his kerchief and gave her a matter-of-fact response.

"I am sure your concerns are well-founded, but before we can prioritize the damage caused to the infrastructure, it is more important that whatever threats may still be lingering are pacified. I can more than easily arrange a report listing what damages have been done afterwards, and I'm sure the academy will be more than happy to help you restore it. After all, you were planning on renovations anyways, as Madame Adler tells me."

Even if Cassima couldn't see it, Mirai's eyes narrowed. The chief officer went back to looking at Cassima.

"Both of your friends are fine," he said brusquely. "Our officer made sure of that earlier. Granted, you will be questioned by one of my fellow officers more thoroughly regarding the matter once everyone's come to."

As if on cue, Jack had gasped and screamed in surprise.

"There you go. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see to the others."

With that, the officer walked away leaving Cassima

"I'll take your sudden exclamation and jumping up as a yes," the female Expiate officer said before scribbling something in a notebook. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm sure all of this is a surprise to you all, and you're all in a dizzy state, but if you'll come with me with your comrades, we'd like to ask you a few things about what happened here today."

A distance away, both Cassima and Jack would hear Liseran make a small gasp. If they looked, Liseran would be sitting on the floor with her hands covering her face as if she was in agony, granted not a physical one.

"No...not again. Not again...!" she seemed to say in a shaky voice.

The officer kneeling next to her would rub her back soothingly and seemed to murmur something in the form of comfort.

Cassima gulped, expecting to be reprimanded for being a mere human in a magical place such as this one, but she was interrupted by the surprise appearance of the owner of the Sky Garden, Mirai. Cassima quickly pointed to Mirai in fury. "That's her, she and her soulless companions attacked us first before the monster did. We didn't give her a book she wanted and so she responded with trying to kill us." Cassima gave a cold hard glare in response to Mirai's disinterested expression.

"Oh, please." Cassima scoffed. "If that monster didn't appear you would have turned us into pounded cartic mud, in fact, becoming incantus soup would have been a better death then what you had plans for us. Honestly all because we didn't give you some book, at least you calling the Expiate was the only good thing you did today." Cassima pinched the edge of her nose, she decided to stop talking as she didn't want to cause a fight between her and Mirai, although if Mirai tried to respond back she would be happy to know that Mirai will probably be reprimanded by her behaviour.

"You can ask Miss Velliller and Jack if you don't believe my account that she and her bloodthirsty companions attacked us." Cassima looked back to the officer. "I will happily answer any questions to your officer." Once the officer left, Cassima soon noticed that something terrible was happening to Liseran. She quickly walked up to her new friend, ignoring Mirai if she tries to talk to her again.

"Liseran, what's wrong?" Cassima approached the officer and Liseran. Although showing little signs of worry, Cassima was at least relieved to see that Liseran had also pulled through in the attack.

"Even if you say that ma'am, I'm pretty sure I was dead just now," Jack grimaced as he leaned on his spear as a crutch. "What just happened? Where's that monster thing?"

It was then that Liseran had a sudden outburst. Despite barely recovered, Jack lumbered towards, using his spear as a walking stick.

"Oy, missy, what's the matter?" Jack asked.

The mysterious girl seemed to glance at their direction but went back to standing at attention without a word.

The Chief Commander had already been too distracted to hear Cassima's accusations properly, and Mirai merely rolled her eyes.

"If I remember correctly, Miss Liseran attacked first," she deadpanned as she fanned herself. "That said, what's a little fight between friends over a book? Students do it all the time. Now, excuse me. I'm going to see what can be done about the mess that horrible thing made."

She'd go on to ignore whatever comments Cassima would try to throw back her and just pass by, her face bored as ever.

Meanwhile, Jack was dealing with the officer in front of him.

"Rest assured, sir, the the threat has been pacified by one of our members," she said. "In fact, you could say it was fortunate that she was visiting here or this would have been harder to solve. You're free to talk to your friends, but right after, I'm going to need you all to come with us to the academy's main building."

Jack would be given leave to go to Liseran, as would Cassima. Upon them asking what was wrong, Liseran flinched, realizing they were there. She looked at them in relief.

"I'm so glad you're both alright," she said softly. "I'm fine. It's just that....that thing...it wasn't just an Incantus. It was--"

"A justified threat that could have engulfed the entire campus had it not been pacified," the raspy voice of the Chief Commander would say again.

Upon hearing the voice, Liseran would jolt up, slightly wobbling a bit only to be supported by the masked officer next to her. She looked at the Chief Commander with familiar contempt, as did he towards her.

"You're supposed to be grounded," the Chief Commander said dryly.

"I got tired of it," Liseran said in return.

The two glared at each other; Liseran's deep blue eyes meeting his bright blue ones. Before long, the Chief Commander turned away and groaned.

"We will discuss your misbehavior later," he said before walking off.

Liseran lowered her head and clutched her hands tightly. Soon enough, another officer would approach them and escort them outside of the now broken Sky Garden.

****

The three would be taken to one of the studies in the main building of the academy: a wide study with large windows that peered into the fields, and surrounded with mahogany bookshelves that went from the ceiling to the floor. It appeared that Mirai had emitted from her report that she and the three had gotten into an altercation. Rather, she merely stated that she saw the Incantus and fled. Liseran, oddly enough, would not protest against this, most likely due to her own reasons. Both Jack and Cassima would be given the choice to correct her if they chose. Whatever the case, each of their answers would be regarded and probed, but would merely be recorded before they were all thanked.

This would leave Liseran, Jack, and Cassima alone in the study as an officer said someone would be with them shortly from the academy.

Liseran, the entire time, had been apprehensive. She had her arms crossed and kept gazing off in the distance, and now that they were alone, she let out a deep sigh and lowered her head. She couldn't seem to bring it to herself to look Cassima and Jack in the face.

"This...is all my fault. Had I not caused a fight, then maybe this wouldn't have happened. And all for that stupid book..."

"And if my memory that is admittedly better then yours is correct, you were the one that attacked first." Cassima snapped back to Mirai. Even when she began to ignore her and walk off, Cassima made one last comment to her new deadly enemy even if she will ignore it. "We're not your friends, and students don't kill each other for a book! If anything I wouldn't be surprised if your two fake companions are the only thing you have to friends you have if your this crazy." Now that Mirai was gone, for now, Cassima focused back on seeing if Liseran was ok and ran over to comfort her new friend. It appeared that the chief commander was her father, and not only that but the nice Liseran was revealed to have been grounded before she met Cassima and Jack.

Cassima remained silent when Liseran and her father had there spat, remembering the times she had arguments with her father, before he got sick. She was soon escorted out of the building and taken to a study.

When she got there and was told to wait, Cassima looked around in the study in amazement. She hoped she would be in these kinds of rooms when she was accepted, but her gaze around the room came back to Liseran and she walked towards her. "How are you doing?" She said warmly to her friend before grabbing her hand when she began to blame herself for getting the trio into this mess. "It wasn't your fault, that woman is just a crazy woman who appears to have charmed the officers of Aldmerrow into taking her side due to the way she wasn't reprimanded at all back at the Sky Garden by the looks of it, but all you did was just look for a book. You shouldn't blame yourself for something like that." She then turned towards Jack.

"What do you think the officer is going to do to us. I hope it's nothing bad, we just protected ourselves from a threat like the monster and the deranged woman." Cassima proceeded to sit down beside Liseran, and grumbled. She hopes this is the last time she will see Mirai again, but she had a slight feeling that she will be seeing her again. "However." Cassima lamented. "I still wish we were able to save that poor girl's life." She clutched her chest sadly.