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n

n

"And that is when the darkness attribute is sticking out from the rest.

nMagic is well fitted for spies, assassins, robbers, and other people of... questionable interests.

nBasic spells consist of entering the shadow and instantly traveling to the other place that is connected by another spell called shadow connect - it's similar to teleportation.

nAnother one is muffle – the name is self-explanatory – it muffles the sound of objects and people touched by the caster.

nAnd lastly, there's the darkness blade - a spell that creates a short blade of condensed darkness capable of piercing through both physical and magical defenses of all kinds.

nPhysical augmentations enchantment: do not exist.

nSome of it may sound useful, and it is, to a certain degree.

nAside from the darkness blade, there are no other attacks in this school of magic.

nThe first spell, which only sounds amazing, is extremely dangerous for the caster.

nDarkness attributes is a corrosive magic – it is believed that darkness attribute mana itself is corrosive and gnaws at the body of the wielder – but that was never confirmed and might just be a superstition used to keep the darkness magician from mastering their magic.

nBut back to the traveling through the shadows - when the caster enters the shadow of their choosing, only his own mana is protecting his body from dissolving while being constantly drained.

nSimilar to entering and traveling through the darkness, mana is also needed to exit from the shadow.

nIt's not like with teleportation at all.

nIf a light magician doesn't have enough mana for a teleportation spell to reach their desired destination - they will not teleport at all.

nBut when a darkness magician miscalculates the amount of his mana and the distance they have to travel - they will become stuck in the shadow, unable to leave, and their only chance for survival would be if another darkness magician would dive into the exact same shadow and save them, in any other case, they will die slowly and painfully.

"

nI finished the explanation and pushed myself away from my desk which caused the wheels to creak and the sound had snapped the children back to reality.

n

"Teacher! How is it possible that the darkness magician entering shadow might die? Isn't it just shadow?

"

nThe blond prince raised his hand and immediately asked with a confused face.

n

"There is a lot of things that we don't know about magic – it might be that the darkness magicians are merely using the shadows as a medium to travel to some other world vaguely connected with our own, and that's why they can get trapped inside, but it's all unconfirmed theories that had not been explored since three hundred years.

"

nI answered to the best of my ability – I wasn't lying, no one even touched the subject of darkness magic since the day of the heinous crime three centuries ago.

n

"B-but it's still magic, you can just be careful with it and everything will be fine! Why do people dislike it?

"

nTo my surprise, the young prince wasn't finished with the matter and was the one to speak in defense of the darkness attribute.

n|Sigh...|

nIt felt bad talking about it but it's better they'll learn this as soon as possible, I guess – especially when it comes to the studious boy with the burn scar...

n

"You may or may not be aware that the darkness attribute magicians are often despised and ridiculed... But the laughter hides fear, and the reason for contempt is rooted in our kingdom's history.

"

nI spoke up and propelled myself away from the dest and towards my students.

n

"Because you see, if the darkness magician wants to, they can store things in their shadow as long as they have enough mana to do so – which more often than not they do not... Either way, if said things or people have been secured with the protective layer of darkness mana they will last for a while but when the barrier depletes, they will be dissolved by the surrounding darkness - without exception.

"

nI was beating around the bush too much – I saw the frowns of confusion on their faces...

nMaybe I shouldn't tell them after all...?

n|I'm their tutor now - they will have to learn it sooner or later anyway...|

nI took another deep breath and started explaining.

n

"Think about it for a moment. It is perfectly possible for the darkness magician to pull a living creature inside against their will - and only the darkness magician can pull them out. The shadows are sealed spaces with no way out for anyone except for the darkness magicians.

"

nEven after I made the decision of bringing up the tragedy of that dark day, it still took me a while to get to the point, but there I was...

n

"Three hundred years ago, in times before mana crystals, when all magic was treated the same way - Bellcephora kingdom had a special military unit formed of only the transcended magicians wielding the darkness attribute.

nThey were the pride of the king of that time, Kasorius Reterne Bellcephora, and caused both fear and respect from the other countries.

nThe members of that unit were known as the Ghosts of Bellcephora.

nThanks to them wars would end with only the commanders of the enemies being taken hostage with no way to stop them.

nThey were the country's heroes!

n...until one day they have betrayed everyone that trusted them and turned their spells against their ruler...

nKing Kasorius was traveling with his family to the neighboring country for peace talks.

nIn the middle of the travel, the king's horse's shadow turned deeper and the members of the Ghosts emerged around his family.

nKing's escorts seeing the king's most trusted troops arrive, took up their arms as they were sure that if the special unit arrived then the king was in danger.

nSo they surrounded the king and the Ghosts, their swords pointed outside the protective ring, and they waited.

nAnd listened.

nThen a scream could be heard, but not a warcry from some enemy lying in ambush, but from the center of their defensive position!

nWhen the king's guards turned around, they saw almost the entire royal family pierced by multiple blades of darkness – the king and queen and even the first prince who was riding together with his father and the first princess raiding besides her mother all died on the spot from the ruthless and vicious attack.

nThe only survivors of the initial attack were the second princess and the second prince, but even they were in grave danger - two of the Ghost caught the children and were escaping into the shadows together with them.

nGuards couldn't react in time - they couldn't believe that the country's heroes would commit such atrocity and if not for the quick-witted squire who thanks to his wind magic's wind blade spell managed to cut off the arm of one of the Ghosts, the traitors would have all escaped after eradicating the royal family completely.

nBut thanks to the squire the second prince managed to escape from the one-armed Ghost.

nThankfully he managed to survive... but he was the only survivor.

nAll Ghosts escaped into shadows and disappeared taking the struggling second princess together with them.

nAt first, it was thought that the traitors would use the young second princess as a hostage, but the truth turned out to be much more gruesome.

nOnce the king's guards returned to the kingdom with the surviving second prince, what awaited them was the mountain of corpses of every official that had said behind in the castle and the mutilated remains of the kidnapped nine-year-old second princess corroded by the darkness and seated on the throne as some sort of grim warning or declaration...

nThe entire kingdom of Bellcephora has fallen into chaos.

nAfter the chaos, ruin and famine followed.

nIt took over a hundred years to rebuild what was lost that during that single day.

"

nI sighed, massaging my forehead, and looked back at my young students.

n

"So, my prince, I hope that this story answers your question why the darkness attribute is disliked by everyone.

"

nI added with a weak smile.

n

"...

"

n

"...

"

nThe children looked terrified - especially the boy with the darkness attribute was looking at his hands in horror.

n|Well, better to learn now, he will need to grow a thick skin if he seriously is going to become the attendant of the future queen...|

nI thought to myself and moved back to the desk.

n

"But back to the original subject.

"

nEven though the atmosphere was fit to end the lesson I continued the lesson.

n