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Description
Dark and Light
Chapter 9
Freezing Memories

"The cold memories you carry with you.
They will never go away,
never be forgotten.
Allways be there to remind you,
of the things you have done.
Bad and good."

"Concentrate, Zach. Concentrate, this spell will be crucial in your exam." An white vixen said with a calm voice, her long white hair waved a little bit as the magical energies began to form in one of the student's paws. The student was fairly long and he had been training his muscles, not much, but not too little. Just enough so he wouldn't seem to have problems with eating. His eyes were closed as he tried his best to concentrate, a tear ran down on his forehead, a sweat tear. "Come on, come on. Concentrate." Zachorias whispered for himself as he saw a green sphere slowly growing on his paw, he smiled and opened his purple eyes. The antidote spell was glowing brightly, some of the students were writing notes, while others were caught staring at it. The hybrid did his best to memorize the instructions on how to cast the spell, then he could hear the bell ring, the class was over.

As he begun to put away his ink bottle and writing stuff, the teacher came to him. She checked first if all the other students had left the room before she began to speak. "I'm sorry that we had to try the antidote spell today, I know it's really hard for you to concentrate your mana, considering your past, especially at this time, since it's soon time for 'that' again, tomorrow isn't it?" The vixen asked while a quiet voice just incase someone was walking in the corridoors and would happen to hear something. "Actually it's today. So I had a little bit more problems with the spells, I'm sorry for that. But I will try my best after tonight! I promise." Zachorias said while his breathing became a little bit faster from nervousness. "Very well, are you gonna be at the fountain again? What I have heard from the grandmaster, it is your favourite place." The vixen said while she looked at the door every now and then. "Yes, he has good ears and eyes for his age. And I will try and not be seen. Goodbye."

Zachorias was walking in the corridoor, he couldn't think in all the noice when all the students were walking back to their own rooms. He could hear how some students were arguing over something, how one was talking about the latest rumours, some were talking about the classes. He smiled and put his paw in one of the pockets in his grey apprentice robes. He could feel something he hadn't felt in a long time, happiness. He was happy since his life was finally starting to go for the better. "Mom, dad. My life has been, good lately. After a long while I can feel happiness again. School is doing fairly well, I'm starting on making friends. I just wish you could be alive and see it." Zachorias whispered to himself as he held on a soul stone in his pocket, the very same soul stone he had sealed his parents in when they were murdered. "I still don't know who wanted you killed, or wanted me to absorb your souls. But I know that when I graduate from here, I will start looking for some answers. I promise."

Suddenly Zachorias could feel how his heart leaped out of joy, he could see a beautyful female deer in the end of the corridoor. She was talking with a couple of other girls and didn't even see Zachorias. "Hey! Victoria!" Zachorias yelled fairly loud, just enough that it was heard, but not loud enough so anyone would turn their heads. She looked who had yelled at her, but when he saw Zachorias, she seemed like she had seen a ghost, her expression showed that she was either at breaking point, or horrified of Zachorias. She turned away fast and began to walk away with her friends following around her.

Zachorias let out a little, "Huh?" sound as his head tilted a little to his right side. "What was that all about? She did see me, then why did she turn away with that strange expression on her face? She seemed...Scared. For what? Best to not think about it, she has her own life too." Zachorias thought for himself as he began to walk to his own room while all the students around him were making a lot of noise. "It's a miracle she even heard me, since all this noise. Well, I guess go and take a bath before tonight's unleash of power." Zachorias thought for himself as he walked in the crowd, no one paid much attention to him, wich he very liked very much. He couldn't think of anything more relaxing than to be alone and reading a good book in the light from a fireplace sitting next to his wife. "It's a shame that it's just day dreaming, since most magicians and magic weilders are destined to be alone, because some people lack the understanding of magic, and see magicians as evil." Zachorias sighed as he allmost bumped into another student who was running at the opposite direction. Zachorias turned and looked at the student.

He was a horse with a coal dark fur and a red hair. It was D'hares, an old school friend of Zachorias. Zachorias couldn't believe his eyes, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him until the logic came back. "Oh right, he was planning on becoming a white magician, I wonder if he is in a hurry." Zachorias said while he began to run afted the equine. After only a few seconds Zachorias was able to get a grip around D'hares' hoove, he turned his big equine head and looked who was behind him. "Zach?" He whispered while a smile crept into his mouth. "It's been a long time D'hares, how's the dream of becoming a white magician going?" Zachorias asked while he let go of D'hares' hoove. "Well, it's going okay. If I'm lucky, I'll become a full fledged white mage in a couple of months. But that's only boring to talk about, tell me how you been! How your studying is going?" D'hares said while he put his hooves in the pockets if his robe. "I'll tell everything, but right now I'm going to the bath house, wanna come with me? It'll be relaxing and I guess you need it, especially now that you are buried in work because soon you'll graduate. Am I right?" Zachorias asked while he put his right paw in one of the pockets in his robe. "Yeah, I've been literally buried in studies, so I guess that some cooling off would be in order." D'hares said while they both began to walk to the bath house wich was only a couple of corridoors away.

"No way! She like, totally didn't say that!" A female was saying with her friends. "Girls will be girls, talking and spreading rumours." Zachorias whispered to D'hares while they walked in the bath house, the sound of D'hares' hooves echoed around the whole house while Zachorias' pawsteps didn't make any sound at all, a trait he had inherited from his mother. But his paw steps became more loud when he saw that every female had turned their heads to look at who had just entered the bath house, and only a few could take their eyes of D'hares, his body was very well trained, huge muscles that could easily pickup a huge stone boulder.

"Been working out? Last time I saw you was when we decided what we should study and let's just say that you weren't actually strong looking back then." Zachorias said while he walked into the warm water and he could feel how his whole body started to relax. "Hey now! I've been training every now and then, maybe four or five times a week." D'hares chuckled while feeling the temperature of the water with his hoove. The towels that they had wrapped around their waists were wet in only a matter of seconds, Zachorias could feel how his body got a little heavier and his movement got slowler, but the extra weight didn't seem to bother D'hares, his body was used to weight and he moved in the water just as if he had been on dry land.

They passed several statues of gods and goddesses, several of the statues were made of gold and other precious metals, they passed several other students as they continued to walk in the water. A couple of time D'hares decided to have some fun and pushed Zachorias so he lost his balance and fell in the water. D'hares laughed every time, only to find himself soon underwater when Zachorias had pulled in his hooves and made him lose balance too. They both laughed at each other and they couldn't care less what the other students there would think.

"So, how has it been going? It's been what? 5 or 6 years? I bet much has happened to both of us. Tell me, what have you been doing these years?" Zachorias said while he sat in one of the higher places in the water, his upper part of his body wasn't in the water and had begun to dry, D'hares sat on a smiliar place and only a few feet away. "Well, around the same time that you left, most of the other students did too, since our little home village didn't have the necessary schooling we needed. I've been in contact with some of the other students, remember Me'kren? Last I heard was that he is engaged with a royal family's youngest daughter and his business as a symbolist is going really well. I even heard that he has done some work for the king too!"

Zachorias whistled when he heard this. "Wow, Me'kren must have really been studying hard." Suddenly they both began to laugh as they all remembered one thing, that Me'kren had allways loved studying and reading. "Well that's enough of me, how did the necromancer study go?" D'hares said while he moved his hooves in the water. But Zachorias was getting nervous.

Had D'hares had contact with his parents back in Birj'un? If he had, would he know about Zachorias' parents and what had happened there? There were so many unknown factors about the subject so Zachorias decided to skip the subject about his home and only talk about the studies. "Well, after I was allowed to even practice necromancy, I had to go through several tests and exams. Mostly considering my physical and magical skills. In the school I pretty much did what we were told, studied and did my best in the classes and studied more spells at my free time. And since I got kinda anti-social there, I didn't have many friends, only one, Celine. All went well, I got good grades and Celine and I were getting close, but then all of a sudden, I got into a fight with an older student when he tried to harass Celine and me. Soon after that, the student was found dead, or atleast we think it was him, it was a little hard to identify him since he was allmost only a pile of blood and a few pieces of meat. Someone had blown him inside out. And as they started to look for someone to blame, they found out that I had been in a fight with him only a few days before. So, they blamed me and kicked me out from the school, I had been fast and I knew that they would blame me, so I left a letter to Celine, saying where I would go and what I would do. Of course I went a little berserk when they kicked me out, but I managed to destroy a couple of their towers. Then, finally I came here, the start was a little rough, since their teachings are the exact opposite to what I am used to, but it's been going well, alltough it has been hard to hide my necromatic symbols on my wrists." Zachorias said while he splashed in the water with his paw.

D'hares had been more or less surpised when he heard about the things Zachorias had gone through, but still he believed what Zachorias had told him, even if he had left bits and pieces untold. "Wow, that sounds pretty amazing, but who do you think killed the older student? Do you think it was an assasin?" D'hares asked while he glided back into the water, Zachorias on the other paw stayed sitting. "I don't know, and I couldn't care less. The necromancer's school is only an dirty page of history now, and I'd like to forget it." Zachorias said while he closed his eyes, the had returned again, luckily it wasn't as painful as it was a couple of months ago. "Well, I hope I didn't get any feelings worked up, but I'm gonna go and talk with some of my friends, haven't had any time to talk with them in a long time. "Yeah, ok." Zachorias replied while he slowly glided into the water, his mind was remembering things he usually didn't remember, when back when Zasha had just been born. "Mom used to wash him and her, and take care of us. She used to scratch Zasha and me behind our ears, it felt so good and relaxing." Zachorias said to himself while the pain struck him, harder this time. He remembered, his parents. Their deaths. He could still feel the warm blood of the necromancers who he had killed on his paws, the red, warm, liquid of life.

"They didn't need to die." Zachorias whispered to himself when he started to wrap his paws around him while he began to cry, for every tear cried, his pain grew stronger. This all wouldn't have been a problem except that he hadn't unleashed his dark powers in some time, wich made his mana very unstable. As Zachorias stood in the water, his body started to send out small energies of ice around him, causing the water to start freezing. Most other students and teachers who were there began to leave when they could feel that the water was getting colder, only a few stayed, mostly because they all were species with long fur, so they had no problem with cold water.

The ice blocks around Zachorias grew larger and larger, the other students noticed that something was wrong when one of them felt one of the ice blocks bump in his back. "Hey! Are you okay?" One of the higher rank students asked him while he began to cast a fire spell in order to melt the ice so the water would get warm again.

Suddenly Zachorias snapped out from his trance and looked around him with confused eyes, then he looked at the husky who had asked him a question. "Huh, what?" Zachorias mumbled while he turned his paws so that the necromancer signs were against his body. The husky seemed a little bit annoyed that he needed to ask hins question again. "Are you okay? You look like you're swetting, best to get up from this water, I think there was some malfunction or something since there was ice there, and you were pretty much surrounded by it, so chances are that you've got a cold. You should mix up some cold medicine."

One of the females had been looking at Zachorias ever since he had entered the room, she had also seen some strange symbols in Zachorias' wrists. "No harm asking, I guess." The female thought for herself. "Hey, what are those markings on your wrists? They look really beautyful." The female arctic wolf said while her tail swished from one side to another in a calm movement. Zachorias was just one his way to step up from the pool when he froze up, his tail moving towards his legs. He could feel how his stomach went up in a knot and his paws began to sweat.

"Why am I getting this nervous about one little question. But what'll I answer?!" Zachorias thought for himself as he tried to find an answer that would be as explaining and simple. "Markings? I don't have any markings on my wrists. You must have been seeing things." Zachorias said while he tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. He then continued to walk before they would ask more questions. "Damn, they allmost learned about 'it'. I can't wait to get out from here and start journeying on my own, without anyone who would ask alot of questions. I just began to study here and allready I can't wait to get out from here." Zachorias thought for himself while he walked in the male's change room. He began to wonder what he would do on his journeys.

One couldn't survive long without money, and the last pieces of gold he had taken from his parent's house were running out. "I guess it means that I won't be sleeping in a bed in a long time, and hunt my own food, well, atleast I wouldn't need to waste money on medicine, being a white magician and all. Maybe I could do some small jobs and requests for a warm bed and food, perhaps a few coins, life would be a lot more interesting. Sleeping under the moon, enduring the pain of walking too much walking. It'll be a lot of excitement." Zachorias said for himself while he dried his fur with a simple fire spell. He began to wonder how his sister was going. Where she was, how she was doing, what she was thinking of him. "I bet she hates me, she would scratch me to death, since she was more like mom than dad."

Zachorias chuckled for himself, thinking about his sister and how she would hate him should have made him sad, but just the memory of her allready brought a smile on his lips. He continued to smile while he felt if his fur was dry and put on his clothes, he looked outside and saw a beautyful sunset by the horizon. "Evening allready?" Zachorias sighed while he began to walk silently towards the door that leaded to the school grounds. He allways looked behind every corner incase someone was walking in the same direction. "Lucky, nobody." Zachorias whispered for himself while he looked to different directions before opening the big wooden door. His ears twitched a little, he heard something. He tried to listen again, but there was nothing to be heard. Zachorias let out a low growl while he began to push the huge door.

As he was pushing he could once again hear something making noice, this time more clearly, meaning that the sound was getting closer, this made Zachorias nervous. He didn't have any other choices but to push the door open and fast! He managed to push the door open allmost completely without sound. He dashed straight into the bushes and began to wait for the fullmoon to rise. He saw a guard walking past the door without even looking outside, he yawned before continuing his night patrol. "Good, he didn't come here, maybe the grandmaster told him about me, it would be stupid if he hadn't." Zachorias thought for himself while he rose from the bushes and noticed that he was bathing in the moonlight.

"I guess it's time." Zachorias sighed while he walked up to the fountain in the middle of the school's grounds. He walked a couple of times around it, feeling the stone surface. His eyes became filled with tears, even though he had been doing this for a couple of times allready, he still didn't enjoy it. He stopped walking and lowered his paw in the fountain's water. The water felt cold, but sooner it became colder and colder as Zachorias casted an ice spell and froze the whole fountain. All the water had been frozen into big lumps of ice, but Zachorias soon started to form the ice into statues and beautyful carvings. The black markings on his wrists had begun to glow but soon stopped as all the pent up dark mana was being used in spells. He couldn't stand using his dark powers, but the consequences if he didn't use them were even worse. He would become unstable and disrupt dark mana every now and then, making his spells very unstable and dangerous. It would make a normal healing spell into a spell that would make the subject blow up from the inside.

The ice spell stopped as Zachorias' breathing became heavy, the spells were taking alot of mana from him, but he was determined to waste all his dark powers, so he could be a longer time to not use them. He continued for a little while, but his energy wasn't limitless so he fell on his knees while a couple of small strings of ice were stuck in the air. He was on his knees but held his body up with his paws. He dragged his aching body to the bushes. He let out a long sigh as his body started to recover the energy. Zachorias looked up at the night sky and saw a big, clear fullmoon staring at him. "Strange, isn't it? That you, the one who I seek the most comfort from, only appears to me when I have unleashed the powers I so foolishly wanted." He talked with the moon like he was his best friend, he talked about the school, how he had been and what he was going to do after becoming an white magician. Time passed and Zachorias could feel how his body didn't ache anymore, he felt energic again, the talk with the moon had been really energic.

He stood up and felt his paws, they were a little numb and cold from all the ice spells, but still he could feel the energy running in his veins. He aimed his paw at one of the statues he had made and cast a spell. But something was wrong, it felt different, his ice spells had begun to glow slightly white, they were even more transparent than usual. "Could it have been the fullmoon? It is known that the planets and moons have the ability to strenghten the spells we cast while it's a fullmoon." Zachorias thought for himself while he began to study the new kind of ice. He summoned a chunk of ice in his paw and began to look at it, feel it, attack it and other things to learn how much better it was than the usual ice.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" A female voice came from the direction of the big wooden door that Zachorias had opened. Luckily Zachorias couldn't be seen, considering that he had a pretty dark fur and was hidden in the bushes. The female took a few paw steps outside the school and held a lantern in her paw. The statues reflected a good ammount of the light from the lantern and made them even more beautyful than they allready were. The female held the lantern infront of her and tried to scout the area, but then her eyes were caught by the statues. "Wow, such fine craftmanship." She said to herself while walking towards one of the statues. The light reflecting from the statues helped Zachorias see who the female was.

"Victoria?" Zachorias said, wich he immediatly regretted because the female had heard the sound coming from one of the bushes. "Who said that? Who's there?" The deer asked while her voice suddenly became scared and fast. Her eyes widened as she saw Zachorias rise up from one of the bushes. "Victoria, what are you doing here? No one is supposed to know about this event. But I'm glad that you're here." Zachorias said with a happy tone and began to walk towards the deer who had started to shake. "No! Don't come any closer! Stay away!" Victoria yelled while she took a few steps away from Zachorias. "What? What's the matter?" Zachorias asked while he held his paws like he was waiting for a hug from Victoria. His mind had went numb. "What is this? Why is she afraid? Is she afraid...Of me?" Zachorias thought for himself, but it didn't make any sence! Why would she be afraid of him?

"No! Stay away!" Victoria yelled again while Zachorias was left standing like one of the statues he had made. "V-Victoria? What's wrong?" Zachorias asked while keeping distance from Victoria who was taking steps back for every step that Zachorias towards her. "Stay back! You're evil! You're a hell spawn!" She yelled while she dragged her hooves on the ground. Her movement was slow and sluggish, this made her lose her balance when she tripped over her own hooves. "A h-hell spawn?" Zachorias said to himself while he looked at his paws, the feeling that the fullmoon had given him had allready dissappeared. "I'm a hellspawn? No, no." Zachorias thought for himself while he fell on his knees, those words were like an emotional blow to him. The pain could be seen in his eyes, they were wide open. Zachorias couldn't even think straight, but still he heard someone screaming.

His mind broke free from the trance and he looked around, the bushes and trees around Victoria had caught fire. The lantern she had held in her hoove had broken at the moment when fell on the ground. The fire was spreading fast and Victoria was in the middle of all the flames and was begging for help. "Help! Help me! Please!" She yelled while the flames had started to burn some parts of her robes, Zachorias watched first and tried to determine what to do. "She hates me, but why? I'm not a hell spawn. I'm the son of Christopher and Ashley Furosa, what would they tell me to do if they were, alive?" Victoria saw Zachorias but didn't understand why he didn't do anything, he just stood there, holding his paws. "Zachorias! Please help me!" She yelled, even though she didn't believe that he would even consider helping her. "Fine." Zachorias whispered, and at the same moment he began concentrate cold air around the fire and tried to keep Victoria safe from all the flames.

"This should be easy, considering how much I've been forced to use the ice spells." Zachorias thought for himself while he continued to create chunks of ice on the most dangerous parts of the fire. He could feel how the confidence and courage filled his heart, he didn't need to think why he had done this, he didn't need a reason. "I'm allmost done." Zachorias said while he casted a thin layer of ice on the whole school ground, the fire was left under the ice and didn't get any oxygen. Soon the whole yard was only a little wet and cold from all the ice magics. Zachorias was still standing in the middle of the yard and was looking for any flames, he didn't find any and began to walk towards Victoria.

"My god, he saved me, but why? Why did he save me? I insulted him, he shouldn't have needed to." Victoria thought for herself as she watched Zachorias come closer and closer. She didn't panic, but she was afraid, afraid of him, what he was, why he had saved her, what he would do to her now. "Are you all right?" Zachorias asked wile he was breathing heavily from all the exhaustion. Victoria looked up at him and tried to see his eyes, but no success since he had his eyes closed. "Yeah, I-I think so." Victoria answered while she looked down at the ground while she felt how shame was taking over her. "Good, I hope that you are all right. I have done my part." Zachorias said while he fought to hold his voice calm.

Victoria was sitting on the wet ground, her breathing was getting more stable and she looked at the ground while tears flowed out from her eyes. But before she knew, she was holding on Zachorias' robe, her whole body shaking. "Why? Why did you save me? Especially after what I said." She sobbed while pulling on Zachorias' robe. He didn't budge neither did he make sound, not before he had thought of a good reason. He sighed and opened his eyes while staring at the moon. "I don't know, it's just as you said, I didn't have a reason to save you, but." Zachorias said while he turned his face away from the moon and crouched to look Victoria into her clear, tear filled eyes. "But does one really need a reason to help others? Or to be helped? I didn't need a reason, still my mind kept telling me to help you, my body moved on it's own and my feelings didn't even try to stop me, they encouraged me to help you." Zachorias said with a smile while he used his robe to whipe the tears from Victoria's eyes.

"What do you mean?" Victoria said with open eyes while her hooves still held on Zachorias' robe. "I mean exactly what I said." Zachorias said while he wiped the last tears from her eyes before she jumped on him and gave him a tight hug.

"What? What are you doing? Are you okay?" Zachorias asked while he tried to get her to loosen her grip, but the deer just continued to hug and cried. "Victoria? Are you okay?" Zachorias asked again, Victoria looked up and was only a few inches away from his muzzle. "Zach..." She said while she blushed and looked into Zachorias' purple eyes, she couldn't understand what she had been afraid for. With a soft kiss on the cheek Victoria thanked Zachorias. He didn't even blink, he just sat there and looked like something that was impossible had just happened.

His cheeks blushed as his mind slowly released itself from the trance. He could feel a warm feeling inside him, something he hadn't felt before. He felt like a massive weight had been taken of his heart. He didn't feel lonely anymore, he felt love. "Zach?" Victoria whispered while still holding him in a hug, Zachorias enjoyed this moment, the tender hugging and slowly caressing eachothers' fur. "Yeah?" Zachorias replied with a low voice, allmost afraid to break the moment. "Thank you. Thank you, Zach, for saving me." Victoria said as she kissed Zachorias again on his cheek, this time they both blushed. It was obvious that this was a new experience for both of them.

"Well, I guess it's time for us both to get inside, it's getting kinda chilly out here." Zachorias said when she noticed that Victoria was shaking, he casted a small fire spell on her robes to they would get warmer and make her more comfortable. "Yeah, I better get going, I don't have the permission to be out this late, school regulations." Victoria said while she began to walk inside the school again, and allmost loosing her balance when she turned her head and looked at Zachorias a few times. Zachorias chuckled when she did this, he looked back at the fullmoon and his purple eyes glowed in the moonlight. "It really is getting late, I need to get going, thanks for a lovely night old friend. I hope we see again." Zachorias said with a yawn and began to walk back inside the school while a smile crept on his muzzle.

End of Chapter 9
Dark and Light...

Description
Dark and Light
Chapter 9
Freezing Memories

"The cold memories you carry with you.
They will never go away,
never be forgotten.
Allways be there to remind you,
of the things you have done.
Bad and good."

"Concentrate, Zach. Concentrate, this spell will be crucial in your exam." An white vixen said with a calm voice, her long white hair waved a little bit as the magical energies began to form in one of the student's paws. The student was fairly long and he had been training his muscles, not much, but not too little. Just enough so he wouldn't seem to have problems with eating. His eyes were closed as he tried his best to concentrate, a tear ran down on his forehead, a sweat tear. "Come on, come on. Concentrate." Zachorias whispered for himself as he saw a green sphere slowly growing on his paw, he smiled and opened his purple eyes. The antidote spell was glowing brightly, some of the students were writing notes, while others were caught staring at it. The hybrid did his best to memorize the instructions on how to cast the spell, then he could hear the bell ring, the class was over.

As he begun to put away his ink bottle and writing stuff, the teacher came to him. She checked first if all the other students had left the room before she began to speak. "I'm sorry that we had to try the antidote spell today, I know it's really hard for you to concentrate your mana, considering your past, especially at this time, since it's soon time for 'that' again, tomorrow isn't it?" The vixen asked while a quiet voice just incase someone was walking in the corridoors and would happen to hear something. "Actually it's today. So I had a little bit more problems with the spells, I'm sorry for that. But I will try my best after tonight! I promise." Zachorias said while his breathing became a little bit faster from nervousness. "Very well, are you gonna be at the fountain again? What I have heard from the grandmaster, it is your favourite place." The vixen said while she looked at the door every now and then. "Yes, he has good ears and eyes for his age. And I will try and not be seen. Goodbye."

Zachorias was walking in the corridoor, he couldn't think in all the noice when all the students were walking back to their own rooms. He could hear how some students were arguing over something, how one was talking about the latest rumours, some were talking about the classes. He smiled and put his paw in one of the pockets in his grey apprentice robes. He could feel something he hadn't felt in a long time, happiness. He was happy since his life was finally starting to go for the better. "Mom, dad. My life has been, good lately. After a long while I can feel happiness again. School is doing fairly well, I'm starting on making friends. I just wish you could be alive and see it." Zachorias whispered to himself as he held on a soul stone in his pocket, the very same soul stone he had sealed his parents in when they were murdered. "I still don't know who wanted you killed, or wanted me to absorb your souls. But I know that when I graduate from here, I will start looking for some answers. I promise."

Suddenly Zachorias could feel how his heart leaped out of joy, he could see a beautyful female deer in the end of the corridoor. She was talking with a couple of other girls and didn't even see Zachorias. "Hey! Victoria!" Zachorias yelled fairly loud, just enough that it was heard, but not loud enough so anyone would turn their heads. She looked who had yelled at her, but when he saw Zachorias, she seemed like she had seen a ghost, her expression showed that she was either at breaking point, or horrified of Zachorias. She turned away fast and began to walk away with her friends following around her.

Zachorias let out a little, "Huh?" sound as his head tilted a little to his right side. "What was that all about? She did see me, then why did she turn away with that strange expression on her face? She seemed...Scared. For what? Best to not think about it, she has her own life too." Zachorias thought for himself as he began to walk to his own room while all the students around him were making a lot of noise. "It's a miracle she even heard me, since all this noise. Well, I guess go and take a bath before tonight's unleash of power." Zachorias thought for himself as he walked in the crowd, no one paid much attention to him, wich he very liked very much. He couldn't think of anything more relaxing than to be alone and reading a good book in the light from a fireplace sitting next to his wife. "It's a shame that it's just day dreaming, since most magicians and magic weilders are destined to be alone, because some people lack the understanding of magic, and see magicians as evil." Zachorias sighed as he allmost bumped into another student who was running at the opposite direction. Zachorias turned and looked at the student.

He was a horse with a coal dark fur and a red hair. It was D'hares, an old school friend of Zachorias. Zachorias couldn't believe his eyes, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him until the logic came back. "Oh right, he was planning on becoming a white magician, I wonder if he is in a hurry." Zachorias said while he began to run afted the equine. After only a few seconds Zachorias was able to get a grip around D'hares' hoove, he turned his big equine head and looked who was behind him. "Zach?" He whispered while a smile crept into his mouth. "It's been a long time D'hares, how's the dream of becoming a white magician going?" Zachorias asked while he let go of D'hares' hoove. "Well, it's going okay. If I'm lucky, I'll become a full fledged white mage in a couple of months. But that's only boring to talk about, tell me how you been! How your studying is going?" D'hares said while he put his hooves in the pockets if his robe. "I'll tell everything, but right now I'm going to the bath house, wanna come with me? It'll be relaxing and I guess you need it, especially now that you are buried in work because soon you'll graduate. Am I right?" Zachorias asked while he put his right paw in one of the pockets in his robe. "Yeah, I've been literally buried in studies, so I guess that some cooling off would be in order." D'hares said while they both began to walk to the bath house wich was only a couple of corridoors away.

"No way! She like, totally didn't say that!" A female was saying with her friends. "Girls will be girls, talking and spreading rumours." Zachorias whispered to D'hares while they walked in the bath house, the sound of D'hares' hooves echoed around the whole house while Zachorias' pawsteps didn't make any sound at all, a trait he had inherited from his mother. But his paw steps became more loud when he saw that every female had turned their heads to look at who had just entered the bath house, and only a few could take their eyes of D'hares, his body was very well trained, huge muscles that could easily pickup a huge stone boulder.

"Been working out? Last time I saw you was when we decided what we should study and let's just say that you weren't actually strong looking back then." Zachorias said while he walked into the warm water and he could feel how his whole body started to relax. "Hey now! I've been training every now and then, maybe four or five times a week." D'hares chuckled while feeling the temperature of the water with his hoove. The towels that they had wrapped around their waists were wet in only a matter of seconds, Zachorias could feel how his body got a little heavier and his movement got slowler, but the extra weight didn't seem to bother D'hares, his body was used to weight and he moved in the water just as if he had been on dry land.

They passed several statues of gods and goddesses, several of the statues were made of gold and other precious metals, they passed several other students as they continued to walk in the water. A couple of time D'hares decided to have some fun and pushed Zachorias so he lost his balance and fell in the water. D'hares laughed every time, only to find himself soon underwater when Zachorias had pulled in his hooves and made him lose balance too. They both laughed at each other and they couldn't care less what the other students there would think.

"So, how has it been going? It's been what? 5 or 6 years? I bet much has happened to both of us. Tell me, what have you been doing these years?" Zachorias said while he sat in one of the higher places in the water, his upper part of his body wasn't in the water and had begun to dry, D'hares sat on a smiliar place and only a few feet away. "Well, around the same time that you left, most of the other students did too, since our little home village didn't have the necessary schooling we needed. I've been in contact with some of the other students, remember Me'kren? Last I heard was that he is engaged with a royal family's youngest daughter and his business as a symbolist is going really well. I even heard that he has done some work for the king too!"

Zachorias whistled when he heard this. "Wow, Me'kren must have really been studying hard." Suddenly they both began to laugh as they all remembered one thing, that Me'kren had allways loved studying and reading. "Well that's enough of me, how did the necromancer study go?" D'hares said while he moved his hooves in the water. But Zachorias was getting nervous.

Had D'hares had contact with his parents back in Birj'un? If he had, would he know about Zachorias' parents and what had happened there? There were so many unknown factors about the subject so Zachorias decided to skip the subject about his home and only talk about the studies. "Well, after I was allowed to even practice necromancy, I had to go through several tests and exams. Mostly considering my physical and magical skills. In the school I pretty much did what we were told, studied and did my best in the classes and studied more spells at my free time. And since I got kinda anti-social there, I didn't have many friends, only one, Celine. All went well, I got good grades and Celine and I were getting close, but then all of a sudden, I got into a fight with an older student when he tried to harass Celine and me. Soon after that, the student was found dead, or atleast we think it was him, it was a little hard to identify him since he was allmost only a pile of blood and a few pieces of meat. Someone had blown him inside out. And as they started to look for someone to blame, they found out that I had been in a fight with him only a few days before. So, they blamed me and kicked me out from the school, I had been fast and I knew that they would blame me, so I left a letter to Celine, saying where I would go and what I would do. Of course I went a little berserk when they kicked me out, but I managed to destroy a couple of their towers. Then, finally I came here, the start was a little rough, since their teachings are the exact opposite to what I am used to, but it's been going well, alltough it has been hard to hide my necromatic symbols on my wrists." Zachorias said while he splashed in the water with his paw.

D'hares had been more or less surpised when he heard about the things Zachorias had gone through, but still he believed what Zachorias had told him, even if he had left bits and pieces untold. "Wow, that sounds pretty amazing, but who do you think killed the older student? Do you think it was an assasin?" D'hares asked while he glided back into the water, Zachorias on the other paw stayed sitting. "I don't know, and I couldn't care less. The necromancer's school is only an dirty page of history now, and I'd like to forget it." Zachorias said while he closed his eyes, the had returned again, luckily it wasn't as painful as it was a couple of months ago. "Well, I hope I didn't get any feelings worked up, but I'm gonna go and talk with some of my friends, haven't had any time to talk with them in a long time. "Yeah, ok." Zachorias replied while he slowly glided into the water, his mind was remembering things he usually didn't remember, when back when Zasha had just been born. "Mom used to wash him and her, and take care of us. She used to scratch Zasha and me behind our ears, it felt so good and relaxing." Zachorias said to himself while the pain struck him, harder this time. He remembered, his parents. Their deaths. He could still feel the warm blood of the necromancers who he had killed on his paws, the red, warm, liquid of life.

"They didn't need to die." Zachorias whispered to himself when he started to wrap his paws around him while he began to cry, for every tear cried, his pain grew stronger. This all wouldn't have been a problem except that he hadn't unleashed his dark powers in some time, wich made his mana very unstable. As Zachorias stood in the water, his body started to send out small energies of ice around him, causing the water to start freezing. Most other students and teachers who were there began to leave when they could feel that the water was getting colder, only a few stayed, mostly because they all were species with long fur, so they had no problem with cold water.

The ice blocks around Zachorias grew larger and larger, the other students noticed that something was wrong when one of them felt one of the ice blocks bump in his back. "Hey! Are you okay?" One of the higher rank students asked him while he began to cast a fire spell in order to melt the ice so the water would get warm again.

Suddenly Zachorias snapped out from his trance and looked around him with confused eyes, then he looked at the husky who had asked him a question. "Huh, what?" Zachorias mumbled while he turned his paws so that the necromancer signs were against his body. The husky seemed a little bit annoyed that he needed to ask hins question again. "Are you okay? You look like you're swetting, best to get up from this water, I think there was some malfunction or something since there was ice there, and you were pretty much surrounded by it, so chances are that you've got a cold. You should mix up some cold medicine."

One of the females had been looking at Zachorias ever since he had entered the room, she had also seen some strange symbols in Zachorias' wrists. "No harm asking, I guess." The female thought for herself. "Hey, what are those markings on your wrists? They look really beautyful." The female arctic wolf said while her tail swished from one side to another in a calm movement. Zachorias was just one his way to step up from the pool when he froze up, his tail moving towards his legs. He could feel how his stomach went up in a knot and his paws began to sweat.

"Why am I getting this nervous about one little question. But what'll I answer?!" Zachorias thought for himself as he tried to find an answer that would be as explaining and simple. "Markings? I don't have any markings on my wrists. You must have been seeing things." Zachorias said while he tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. He then continued to walk before they would ask more questions. "Damn, they allmost learned about 'it'. I can't wait to get out from here and start journeying on my own, without anyone who would ask alot of questions. I just began to study here and allready I can't wait to get out from here." Zachorias thought for himself while he walked in the male's change room. He began to wonder what he would do on his journeys.

One couldn't survive long without money, and the last pieces of gold he had taken from his parent's house were running out. "I guess it means that I won't be sleeping in a bed in a long time, and hunt my own food, well, atleast I wouldn't need to waste money on medicine, being a white magician and all. Maybe I could do some small jobs and requests for a warm bed and food, perhaps a few coins, life would be a lot more interesting. Sleeping under the moon, enduring the pain of walking too much walking. It'll be a lot of excitement." Zachorias said for himself while he dried his fur with a simple fire spell. He began to wonder how his sister was going. Where she was, how she was doing, what she was thinking of him. "I bet she hates me, she would scratch me to death, since she was more like mom than dad."

Zachorias chuckled for himself, thinking about his sister and how she would hate him should have made him sad, but just the memory of her allready brought a smile on his lips. He continued to smile while he felt if his fur was dry and put on his clothes, he looked outside and saw a beautyful sunset by the horizon. "Evening allready?" Zachorias sighed while he began to walk silently towards the door that leaded to the school grounds. He allways looked behind every corner incase someone was walking in the same direction. "Lucky, nobody." Zachorias whispered for himself while he looked to different directions before opening the big wooden door. His ears twitched a little, he heard something. He tried to listen again, but there was nothing to be heard. Zachorias let out a low growl while he began to push the huge door.

As he was pushing he could once again hear something making noice, this time more clearly, meaning that the sound was getting closer, this made Zachorias nervous. He didn't have any other choices but to push the door open and fast! He managed to push the door open allmost completely without sound. He dashed straight into the bushes and began to wait for the fullmoon to rise. He saw a guard walking past the door without even looking outside, he yawned before continuing his night patrol. "Good, he didn't come here, maybe the grandmaster told him about me, it would be stupid if he hadn't." Zachorias thought for himself while he rose from the bushes and noticed that he was bathing in the moonlight.

"I guess it's time." Zachorias sighed while he walked up to the fountain in the middle of the school's grounds. He walked a couple of times around it, feeling the stone surface. His eyes became filled with tears, even though he had been doing this for a couple of times allready, he still didn't enjoy it. He stopped walking and lowered his paw in the fountain's water. The water felt cold, but sooner it became colder and colder as Zachorias casted an ice spell and froze the whole fountain. All the water had been frozen into big lumps of ice, but Zachorias soon started to form the ice into statues and beautyful carvings. The black markings on his wrists had begun to glow but soon stopped as all the pent up dark mana was being used in spells. He couldn't stand using his dark powers, but the consequences if he didn't use them were even worse. He would become unstable and disrupt dark mana every now and then, making his spells very unstable and dangerous. It would make a normal healing spell into a spell that would make the subject blow up from the inside.

The ice spell stopped as Zachorias' breathing became heavy, the spells were taking alot of mana from him, but he was determined to waste all his dark powers, so he could be a longer time to not use them. He continued for a little while, but his energy wasn't limitless so he fell on his knees while a couple of small strings of ice were stuck in the air. He was on his knees but held his body up with his paws. He dragged his aching body to the bushes. He let out a long sigh as his body started to recover the energy. Zachorias looked up at the night sky and saw a big, clear fullmoon staring at him. "Strange, isn't it? That you, the one who I seek the most comfort from, only appears to me when I have unleashed the powers I so foolishly wanted." He talked with the moon like he was his best friend, he talked about the school, how he had been and what he was going to do after becoming an white magician. Time passed and Zachorias could feel how his body didn't ache anymore, he felt energic again, the talk with the moon had been really energic.

He stood up and felt his paws, they were a little numb and cold from all the ice spells, but still he could feel the energy running in his veins. He aimed his paw at one of the statues he had made and cast a spell. But something was wrong, it felt different, his ice spells had begun to glow slightly white, they were even more transparent than usual. "Could it have been the fullmoon? It is known that the planets and moons have the ability to strenghten the spells we cast while it's a fullmoon." Zachorias thought for himself while he began to study the new kind of ice. He summoned a chunk of ice in his paw and began to look at it, feel it, attack it and other things to learn how much better it was than the usual ice.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" A female voice came from the direction of the big wooden door that Zachorias had opened. Luckily Zachorias couldn't be seen, considering that he had a pretty dark fur and was hidden in the bushes. The female took a few paw steps outside the school and held a lantern in her paw. The statues reflected a good ammount of the light from the lantern and made them even more beautyful than they allready were. The female held the lantern infront of her and tried to scout the area, but then her eyes were caught by the statues. "Wow, such fine craftmanship." She said to herself while walking towards one of the statues. The light reflecting from the statues helped Zachorias see who the female was.

"Victoria?" Zachorias said, wich he immediatly regretted because the female had heard the sound coming from one of the bushes. "Who said that? Who's there?" The deer asked while her voice suddenly became scared and fast. Her eyes widened as she saw Zachorias rise up from one of the bushes. "Victoria, what are you doing here? No one is supposed to know about this event. But I'm glad that you're here." Zachorias said with a happy tone and began to walk towards the deer who had started to shake. "No! Don't come any closer! Stay away!" Victoria yelled while she took a few steps away from Zachorias. "What? What's the matter?" Zachorias asked while he held his paws like he was waiting for a hug from Victoria. His mind had went numb. "What is this? Why is she afraid? Is she afraid...Of me?" Zachorias thought for himself, but it didn't make any sence! Why would she be afraid of him?

"No! Stay away!" Victoria yelled again while Zachorias was left standing like one of the statues he had made. "V-Victoria? What's wrong?" Zachorias asked while keeping distance from Victoria who was taking steps back for every step that Zachorias towards her. "Stay back! You're evil! You're a hell spawn!" She yelled while she dragged her hooves on the ground. Her movement was slow and sluggish, this made her lose her balance when she tripped over her own hooves. "A h-hell spawn?" Zachorias said to himself while he looked at his paws, the feeling that the fullmoon had given him had allready dissappeared. "I'm a hellspawn? No, no." Zachorias thought for himself while he fell on his knees, those words were like an emotional blow to him. The pain could be seen in his eyes, they were wide open. Zachorias couldn't even think straight, but still he heard someone screaming.

His mind broke free from the trance and he looked around, the bushes and trees around Victoria had caught fire. The lantern she had held in her hoove had broken at the moment when fell on the ground. The fire was spreading fast and Victoria was in the middle of all the flames and was begging for help. "Help! Help me! Please!" She yelled while the flames had started to burn some parts of her robes, Zachorias watched first and tried to determine what to do. "She hates me, but why? I'm not a hell spawn. I'm the son of Christopher and Ashley Furosa, what would they tell me to do if they were, alive?" Victoria saw Zachorias but didn't understand why he didn't do anything, he just stood there, holding his paws. "Zachorias! Please help me!" She yelled, even though she didn't believe that he would even consider helping her. "Fine." Zachorias whispered, and at the same moment he began concentrate cold air around the fire and tried to keep Victoria safe from all the flames.

"This should be easy, considering how much I've been forced to use the ice spells." Zachorias thought for himself while he continued to create chunks of ice on the most dangerous parts of the fire. He could feel how the confidence and courage filled his heart, he didn't need to think why he had done this, he didn't need a reason. "I'm allmost done." Zachorias said while he casted a thin layer of ice on the whole school ground, the fire was left under the ice and didn't get any oxygen. Soon the whole yard was only a little wet and cold from all the ice magics. Zachorias was still standing in the middle of the yard and was looking for any flames, he didn't find any and began to walk towards Victoria.

"My god, he saved me, but why? Why did he save me? I insulted him, he shouldn't have needed to." Victoria thought for herself as she watched Zachorias come closer and closer. She didn't panic, but she was afraid, afraid of him, what he was, why he had saved her, what he would do to her now. "Are you all right?" Zachorias asked wile he was breathing heavily from all the exhaustion. Victoria looked up at him and tried to see his eyes, but no success since he had his eyes closed. "Yeah, I-I think so." Victoria answered while she looked down at the ground while she felt how shame was taking over her. "Good, I hope that you are all right. I have done my part." Zachorias said while he fought to hold his voice calm.

Victoria was sitting on the wet ground, her breathing was getting more stable and she looked at the ground while tears flowed out from her eyes. But before she knew, she was holding on Zachorias' robe, her whole body shaking. "Why? Why did you save me? Especially after what I said." She sobbed while pulling on Zachorias' robe. He didn't budge neither did he make sound, not before he had thought of a good reason. He sighed and opened his eyes while staring at the moon. "I don't know, it's just as you said, I didn't have a reason to save you, but." Zachorias said while he turned his face away from the moon and crouched to look Victoria into her clear, tear filled eyes. "But does one really need a reason to help others? Or to be helped? I didn't need a reason, still my mind kept telling me to help you, my body moved on it's own and my feelings didn't even try to stop me, they encouraged me to help you." Zachorias said with a smile while he used his robe to whipe the tears from Victoria's eyes.

"What do you mean?" Victoria said with open eyes while her hooves still held on Zachorias' robe. "I mean exactly what I said." Zachorias said while he wiped the last tears from her eyes before she jumped on him and gave him a tight hug.

"What? What are you doing? Are you okay?" Zachorias asked while he tried to get her to loosen her grip, but the deer just continued to hug and cried. "Victoria? Are you okay?" Zachorias asked again, Victoria looked up and was only a few inches away from his muzzle. "Zach..." She said while she blushed and looked into Zachorias' purple eyes, she couldn't understand what she had been afraid for. With a soft kiss on the cheek Victoria thanked Zachorias. He didn't even blink, he just sat there and looked like something that was impossible had just happened.

His cheeks blushed as his mind slowly released itself from the trance. He could feel a warm feeling inside him, something he hadn't felt before. He felt like a massive weight had been taken of his heart. He didn't feel lonely anymore, he felt love. "Zach?" Victoria whispered while still holding him in a hug, Zachorias enjoyed this moment, the tender hugging and slowly caressing eachothers' fur. "Yeah?" Zachorias replied with a low voice, allmost afraid to break the moment. "Thank you. Thank you, Zach, for saving me." Victoria said as she kissed Zachorias again on his cheek, this time they both blushed. It was obvious that this was a new experience for both of them.

"Well, I guess it's time for us both to get inside, it's getting kinda chilly out here." Zachorias said when she noticed that Victoria was shaking, he casted a small fire spell on her robes to they would get warmer and make her more comfortable. "Yeah, I better get going, I don't have the permission to be out this late, school regulations." Victoria said while she began to walk inside the school again, and allmost loosing her balance when she turned her head and looked at Zachorias a few times. Zachorias chuckled when she did this, he looked back at the fullmoon and his purple eyes glowed in the moonlight. "It really is getting late, I need to get going, thanks for a lovely night old friend. I hope we see again." Zachorias said with a yawn and began to walk back inside the school while a smile crept on his muzzle.

End of Chapter 9
Dark and Light...