A World Of Decree: And The Seven Laws

The long journey back to school started in the depths of the nightly shadows to the blissful fields of soft snow that layered the ground like blankets. Everyone had a story to tell, either revealing certain secrets from the past they have yet to share, or even discovering information they weren't even aware of. Even so, Calvin brought them to the school medical department as quick as he could before any serious conversations were started. They were all treated over the course of the night until their injuries were made tolerable and nonfatal.

Atlas, Paris, and Faibel were in the worst conditions of all. Although Leo lost consciousness, it was simply due to his body surpassing the storage of magic which it contained. The spell he cast at such an underdeveloped level of magic essence put his body at great risk of complete annihilation, forcing his body to shut down any movement for a period of time to avoid further unnecessary stress.

Paris was nearly chained to her medical bed due to her frustration and eagerness to get out, despite having the most critical wounds of all. Faibel occupied the bed next to hers, falling into a deep slumber with bandages all of his arms and c.h.e.s.t with a few nurses chanting some ridiculous healing spells.

Atlas was offered a bed, but politely refused as he stood up with a real splint this time to hold onto. With Faibel asleep, Calvin hesitated to start speaking but realized there was nothing really new that Faibel would hear anyways.

"What a night to remember!" Calvin cheered in a sarcastically happy voice. "First, all my guild members escaped school grounds while placed on lockdown." Everyone quickly went silent as they realized how serious he was. "Second, they ended up going into the cave that I lost my previous students in." He slammed his fist on the table next to him, waking up Faibel in the process. "And third, they nearly got themselves massacred by god knows what and…"

He paused, staring at all of them until slowly forming a smile to change the mood, "But they all survived. They all became stronger. And they became, the Seven Laws of the Universe!"

A mellow silence crept in, but not one that would eradicate all the noises in the environment. The nurses shuffled off with their black leather boots on the hardened floor, the wind outside could be heard rustling through the dead branches of the oak trees, and the creaking of the bed Faibel laid on was much louder than usual.

However, the silence was quickly broken by a gentle appraisal from Calvin once more, "I have never in my life been more proud of a group of students before. I want to truly thank all of you for staying alive, I'm sure there is much more that awaits you all in the future."

Before anyone can reply, Leo jumped to the middle of everyone and swung his fists through the air like a kid, "Calvin you should of seen me! I was like POW and SKADOOSH!" He continued to make random dramatic noises as he flopped around until Calvin replied with a slight chuckle, "Oh don't worry I saw you. In fact, you beat the guy up so bad I had to carry you on my shoulder for quite some time."

Everyone besides Leo laughed in a friendly manner as Leo began to punch Calvin's shoulder without any intention to hurt him.

As the laughter died down, Grandmaster Selvins walked in from a large door that separated one of the medical rooms they were in to the large hallway behind it. Everyone quickly jolted up in a proper manner to show their respects.

"Ahh, Axiom Unity, It is very nice to see you are all recovering safely. Your professor has told me much about your recent adventures and travels."

Everyone gulped as a nervous drop of sweat metaphorically began forming at the back of their necks. They all thought that just because Calvin let them off the hook they would be just fine. However, the Grandmaster was a different story they weren't expecting.

"Professor," Selvis signaled to Calvin, getting a nod in response. "I would like you to clear the room, and make sure not a single person can hear us from the hall as well.

After a quick nod again, Calvin cleared the rest of the nurses from the surrounding space and exited the room. He shut the large door that entered from the hallway and stood with his back to it to make sure no one approached from the hall.

Once the room was completely cleared except for Axiom Unity members and the Grandmaster, the real talk started.

"Now then, your punishment for leaving school grounds while on lockdown, and without the accommodation of an advisor results to 4 weeks of service to the school's architectural department. This will involve 10 hours each week to be completed with them, helping any needs they might request in their projects."

Cartuja instantly sighed dramatically to catch everyone's attention, hoping the Grandmaster would let them off the hook sooner than 4 weeks. Instead, he continued speaking, "That's not all Mr. Purgis, you will all be prohibited from partaking in any sort of guild activities and all the points you have acquired will also be stripped-"

"What!" Paris interrupted him as she screamed, quickly regretting her decision to do so, "I'm very sorry Grandmaster but I worked very hard for those points."

"I understand, and I did not create the rules that I have just shared, but rules must be followed. However, when the four weeks are over, you will no longer be needing to do bordered missions at the headquarters to earn a miniscule amount of points. I will personally make sure your guild is granted one borderless mission per month. Seeing as you are much stronger than you were before, it should be a walk in the park."

They all smiled in relief and for something to look forward to after the following four weeks of mental torture have passed.

"Now I hope you weren't expecting me to come here just to tell you such negative things." Selvis raised his eyebrows to see their faces. "I also came to talk to you about your current realization of the seven laws."

Their faces instantly locked eyes with the Grandmaster, unsure of what to expect from the following conversation.

"As you are already aware of who Abbadon truly was, and who you are now, your lives will be much more dangerous to live. Having your magic essence be polluted with one law of the universe will be a burden to carry. You are all still quite young, and your opponents might not be."

The Grandmaster continued to explain their current situation in this world as is. They needed to be cautious of some folks out there in the wild who might actually attempt in killing the laws to harness their powers for themselves.

There are other humans and nonhumans who are distinctly different than the average magic users. The sins and the zodiacs are especially among the hostile encounters they might lurk onto that they should be wary of.

Since they all just inherited a large amount of magical powers, it puts them on the radar of those who have a keen sense for it. If their essence gets into someones radar for detecting it, red flags will be raised and will only be solved by unnecessary interactions. Faibel and Calvin can sense magic essence quite easily, making them very usable in fight or flee situations.

However, since they have such a large amount of magic essence now, they first need to figure out how to actually use it to their full extent. Right now it is just increasing their capacity for magic, unbinded to any spells or physical strength.

The Grandmaster smiled and walked off as he finished explaining their situation. He went back to his headquarters alone, sitting down slowly in his luxury chair as he released a large grasp of air, letting his thoughts out into the open air.

"This will be interesting… To think Abbaodon succeeded in creating the laws, and giving them to teenagers… Yes, this will be interesting indeed." He said as he began laughing, unsure of whether to be happy or sad about the situation.

Back at the medical room, Calvin took stance as the leader once more and began speaking to his students and current guild members, "Now then. Try to recover, you guys have quite the year ahead of you. And more to follow as well. Starting today your lives and adventures will become dangerous, it's important you all get strong and knowledgeable of our world. It's dangerous out there," Calvin said as he looked out the window in a deathly glare.

With no one else saying a word, Calvin began to walk off before Rina stopped him regarding something she had forgotten to say before, "Calvin!"

He turned around, "Yes Rina?"

"She loved you. Violet, she told me to tell you she loved you."

Calvin could feel his heart pause, only if it was just for a moment. His memories tried to overcome him in the moment but he resisted as much as he could. "Thank you for telling me Rina, I lov-.." He cut short of finishing his sentence, just giving a thankful nod for Rina sharing this information.

Before Calvin left once again, Rina stopped him as she pulled out the necklace that was hiding beneath her shirt. It was the same diamond shaped dragon's heart Violet gave her before she forged her soul into it. Calvin's eyes widened, as well as everyone else's.

"Rina. Is that a dragon's heart?" Calvin asked, putting his prayers in her answer.

"Apparently so. Violet gave it to me before she vanished-"

"Rina!" Calvin suddenly cut her off, "Do you know what a dragon's heart does?"

"Hmmm, I don't think Violet actually told me what it does."

Calvin suddenly felt a rush of excitement he hasn't felt in a long time for just a brief moment, "A dragon's heart seals the keeper who killed it inside the heart upon death. This means that if your sister killed a dragon, her soul is inside that heart."

"Wait does that mean-"

"Yes." Calvin cut her off once again. "She can be brought back to life. But it isn't as easy as just saying it. We would need another dragon, his heart to be exact..."

"Well how hard can that be, I'm sure all of us can take out one dragon am I right!" Leo jumped up in excitement.

"Killing a dragon isn't the hard part, It's finding one that might take time." Calvin quickly shattered Leo's dreams. "Violet was strong enough to go on her own mission at one point, but to think she killed a dragon without even telling me…"

They could see the hope being lost in Calvin's expression, bringing everyone to a deep state of thoughts.

"Well you're all safe now." Calvin broke the silence, "Just get some rest for now, we can discuss this another time." He finally walked off, no one stopping him this time.

As he left the room, he signaled for the nurses to return if they needed to, making sure his students were attended to incase something were to happen. Calvin walked off towards the Grandmaster's headquarters where he saw Selvis sitting in his chair, looking like he was expecting Calvin to come.

"Selvis." Calvin dropped his professor talk, addressing his superior in a more formal manner.

"Yes Calvin, I believe I am aware of the situation. The zodiacs have most likely found out about the laws already. It is only a matter of time… I am assigning you the role to protect them to your best ability, Aries."

Calvin nodded in response, pulling down his long-collared sweater, looking at the marks he's lived with for 6 years. All the dark marks on his neck leading to a dark black symbol in the middle of his c.h.e.s.t. The symbol resembled a ram, confirming his current state as one of the zodiacs.

In the medical room, everyone shared a few more laughs and any stories left from their journey in the caves. Cartuja left, followed by Leo and Paris right behind him. Laena sat on Fabel's bed, grasping his hand with a soft expression on her face.

Atlas and Rina said their goodbyes as they walked off together out of the medical room, despite still having injuries waiting to recover. Neither knew what to say as they walked down the tall hallway covered in fancy columns and large windows to occupy the space in between each one.

They could see the sun begin to rise from the distant horizon, most students were still asleep, and the only sounds heard were their footsteps along the wooden floor beneath them. Atlas stood a few inches taller than Rina, not sure if he should bring up what almost happened in the chamber the previous night.

As they reached the end of the hall, they were met with an option to either go left or right, knowing they both were planning to head off in opposite directions. They both paused for a moment, with Rina taking the lead and heading off to the left without saying a word.

Atlas looked at her walking down the hall before turning his head and slowly proceeding towards the right in a shutter of motionless thoughts. After a few steps, he was suddenly grasped from behind by a sudden breeze of emotions, erasing all his thoughts that were scrabbling around his head.

He could feel the softness of Rina's hands wrap around his c.h.e.s.t as she planted her face into the bruised muscles of his back. Atlas lowered his head as the feeling of loneliness seemed to slowly disappear, as well as the world around him.

All he could feel was the warmth of Rina's face tucked deep into his shirt, along with her hands joining them together. They both felt at ease, feeling the true emotion of having someone there, someone to fight for.

Atlas couldn't hold himself back as he stared at her hands around him, forcing a small tear to slowly roll down his wounded cheek and drop gently on Rina's hand. She slowly lifted her face from his back while her hands remained clasped around him.

"Atlas… I-" Rina cut off before she finished the sentence, hugging him deeply one more time before her hands came apart.

"Rina…" Atlas said as he couldn't feel her warmth around him anymore, "I-"

Atlas stopped mid sentence as he turned around to see her completely gone. Gone as if she were never even there to begin with. Nevertheless, Atlas smiled as he stared down the distant hallway Rina turned to before, knowing she must've left already.

He wiped the remains of the tear from his cheek, making it dry once again as he continued his path down the hall towards the open doors of the elevator.