Acadēm's Return

Through the moonless night he ran, black paws flashing over the forest floor. Antien Shadowkin, the Wolf-Born Shadow-wraith raced towards the place where it all began, Tetzunia. The heavy mists parted as he neared the Tapestry of Aern, which shielded the school from unwanted guests. He stopped, and looked down upon the enourmous castle with tears in his eyes. He was home.

He loped on four legs, then on two as he moved down the slope. Grinning fiendishly, Antien entered a rarely used side entrance that led to the lower halls. He ascended an old stairway, chuckling as he hopped over the missing 7th step which Venia "accidentaly" removed all those years ago. He stalked a lone cat as it sauntered down the dim hallway. Antien stopped when he arrived at the ornately carved stone archway that lead to "his" hallway.

As always, the stone door blocked the entrance, the usual message on the brass plate was still affixed to it. And yet...something new was present. Something that made every one of Antien's senses tingle with an unanticipated exhilaration. An Illusion. 'That's what it is', Antien concluded when he felt the cold darkness enter once more into his sapphire eys. He snickered with amusement. Someone actually thought they could best him in the Illusionist's Art. His enhanced senses pinpointed the sound of breathing 2...no make that 5 feet behind him and slightly to the right. The girl began to speak, partly scolding him and partly muttering to herself. "I forbade entrance to this hall. No one is allowed here, or else I partake of their blood...remember?"

Antien smiled and turned, fixing his now midnight black eyes upon his stalker.

"Remember, Selfinia, it would help if I had blood." He turned back around, muttering the incantation to release the seal upon the gate. Antien walked down the open hallway, leaving Selfinia sputtering behind him. The phrase "So troublesome" could be heard faintly as he wandered off.

Selfinia stared as Antien left. "A..An...Antien?" she stuttered, half questioningly, half trying to verify his existance herself. She ran after him only to leap back and scream, when he suddenly appeared before her, hanging from the ceiling.

"Who else could it be?", Antien stated as if it should've been obvious. She stared angrily at him, hands on her hips.

"You haven't been here in 5 years. 5 YEARS, you hear!"

Antien sighed. "Don't get your gown in a knot." He rolled his eyes, wondering why in the world she'd make a big fuss over such things. SLAP! Antien held a hand to his face, covering the red mark from Selfinia's hand.

"I'm not speaking to you ever again, you hear me!" She proceeded to do her classic whirl about, with her long hair auburn hair brushed aside to reveal her pointed ears.

As she walked away, she could hear Antien muttering, "You Eplith'Norrezea are so confusing." When she turned around to give him another glare, he was gone.

Antien ran down the gloomy hallway, brushing cobwebs aside with every step. He skidded to a stop in front of his old chambers. With immense trepidation, he slowly opened his doorway, trying to make sure that there was nothing dangerous still residing. Seeing no danger, he sighed and opened the door the rest of the way. But he nearly fainted when he heard the annoying voice of the old sage, still trapped in an orb.

//Well, it took you long enough to return, Acadēm of the Dark.//

Antien sighed, "So you're still here, neh?" He lifted up the Sage's obsidian orb and lobbed it at the wall, only for it to bounce back. "WHY WON'T YOU SHATTER YOU POOR EXCUSE FOR A NECROMANTIC EXPEIRIMENT?" The old sage, whose soul was trapped inside the small orb replied in his gravelly voice//Because you are the Dark Acadēm.// Antien growled angrily, "I renounced that title years ago, I am no longer the Dark Acadēm."

The old sage chuckled. // You cannot help being what you are. Even now, you have returned to retrieve your weapons so you may fight the Dark. //

"You know what," Antien muttered angrily, "I am definitely leaving you behind." Antien turned and strode over to the right side of his room, and lifted up the dusty, tattered black cloak. What seemed to be a cloak made from black cloth was actually made from condensed shadow. Antien smiled and whispered, "Hello, old friend" before he replaced his current cloak with his old one. Instantly, he faded into the plane of shadow where none without the power of "Shadowsight" could see him unless he wished it. He looked around the room, feeling as if something was missing. Like a marble column slamming into his forehead, he realized what was gone; his sword. He ransacked the room in a frantic search for the blade. The Blade of the Twin Souls, a sword with the power to divide a soul into two identical parts, among other things. There was only one being who could've taken it. "Andaer, you abominable and nefarious savage, where the heck did you take my sword", he muttered angrily.

Antien ran down the hallway searching for the centaur's presence; an orb of darkness spiraling within his open palm. He stopped before an open doorway, in which Andaer was standing in front of a class teaching elemental magic. Hiding his hand behind his back, he willed himself to be seen. Andaer turned, with a surprised look on his face.

"Oh, and who might you be?" he asked.

Antien smirked. "I'm shocked that you do not remember me, prissy pony", he said in an unusually cold voice. Andaer's eyes seemed to blaze with fury, while lips were contorted in a confused grimace.

"How dare you call me prissy you… uncouth fiend!" Andaer shouted, white fire spiraling around his arms.

"You stole my sword!" Antien replied while launching the darkness in his hand at Andaer. Andaer snarled and raised his shield, only to have the darkness pass through it and knock him backwards. 'Crud!', he thought, 'I haven't seen dark power like this in years."

Andaer held his arms out, the white fire pouring out to form a dragon's head as it rushed towards Antien. Antien clapped his hands together and stated calmly, "Kiri- Kiriryū Tate." White mist poured outward from his hands, coiling onto itself before him, forming the shape of a long serpentine dragon. Andaer's white fire hit the dragon and was consumed by it. Antien held up his clenched fist, small spheres of blackness spiraling about it. "Nijū Kageryū Rasenkai! (Dual Shadow Dragon Spiral)"

Antien extended his arm towards Andaer, palm open. Two black serpentine shapes flew outward from his palm, spiraling around each other as they flew. The force of their impact against Andaer smashed him into the wall.

In a room at the opposite end of the hall, was the office of the headmistress. Currently, she was hunched over her oddly crowded desk working on some annoying and useless paperwork. Of course, she thought it was very useful, but that doesn't really matter right now. When she heard loud cheers of students and the sound of a body crashing into a wall, she stood and dashed out of the room. Down the hall she ran, focusing only on the sounds of what she believed were quarreling students.

She stopped at the doorway, and rapidly bound the pair with her magic. She sensed the magical residue and realized this was no student fight; the spells were too strong. Antien turned around, easily breaking the binding. "Venia," he said, "did you really expect that simple binding to work on me?"

She grinned and replied," Well, I did until I realized it was you, Antien."

After hearing those words uttered, Andaer stared at him in shock. "Antien?" he said, "Is it really you?"

Antien turned back to face the centaur. "Of course it is. Now, where have you put my sword?" Venia spoke up from behind him, "Actually, he doesn't have it. I do." Antien sighed. "Well, may I have it back?" Venia answered him in her usual no-nonsense tone, "Only after you explain where you've been for the past five years."

"Fine, I'll tell you. But wait until we get to your office, this is a tale mere students should not hear."

Antien, Venia and Andaer walked down the hall and through Venia's open door. Upon entering, they found Selfinia lounging on Venia's chair. Seeing the trio enter, Selfinia perked up and began to listen intently as Antien began his tale.

"My story begins five years ago, 3 weeks after graduation……"