Chapter Text
Chapter 2: Swallowed by darkness
“Hey”: a character talking
‘Hey’ :a character thinking
Hey: a echo or whisper
—
Katarina was just finishing tending her field while the dream still remained in the back of her head: the routine of watering the crops, applying fertilizer, pulling weeds, and plowing the land. All these little tasks allowed her to quickly lose herself in the joys of hard work. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't really stay farming all day; she had responsibilities too. As a student in the magic academy, she was expected to attend a session of magic training to ensure a safe performance in her final exam. And of course, Katarina had already forgotten about it. Thankfully, the young lady, who was arguably the most competent maid in the kingdom, was forged by years of her lady randomly deciding to climb a tree, hunt bugs, fish, or toy with snakes during training.
Anne had learned to be ready at least two hours before any activity of her lady. Upon arriving, she was surprised by her lady once again. While she was arguably the strongest of her social group, she wasn't sure if the results of her lady's arm wrestling contest were accurate, since everybody was more interested in holding her lady for as long as they could. Katarina right now was not only carrying two times the weight she normally did like it was nothing, looking around she saw that all of the heavy work was also finished. Everybody else was busy, so this surely made her lady alone.
As Katarina finished packing her farming supplies in a shed, she noticed her maid looking at her.
“Hello Anne, are you alright? You look pale.” Anne shook her head a little and returned to her usual neutral expression.
“Lady Katarina, I came to remind you of the mandatory magical practice today." As soon as she finished her sentence, Katarina's expression changed.
"Today! Everybody told me it was for tomorrow," the anxiety kept building on her face. While the practice wasn't a big deal for most students, for her, an average student who struggles in most tests and exercises, it was a nightmare to go into it without studying.
"That was yesterday, my lady," as desperation took over the young lady, her maid directed her towards her room to help her change in preparation for the practice.
Unknown to both of them, a pair of deep yellow eyes was spying on them, slowly returning to the shadows after they left.
—
Katarina was a mess. She had changed to her usual white and blue dress and arrived just in time to the exercises. She tried to frantically study her notes as the different names of the students were being called to perform, even if her own magic was weak. The teachers expected her to perform all security measures perfectly since everybody was held to the same standards regardless of their house, affinity, or power.
She hadn't seen her friends either, as this class was separated by affinities, and her little brother Keith was in an advanced class due to his exceptional magic power. While she knew a couple of people here, most were like her, trying to concentrate for the exercise, creating a tense atmosphere in the room that didn't help the already nervous lady.
"Lady Katarina Claes," a chill ran down Katarina's back. She wasn't ready, but after a deep breath, she composed herself and advanced towards the training field.
On her way, Katarina was able to see her friends performing in their respective fields. All of them gave reassuring looks after noticing she was a little nervous. With another deep breath, she pushed her worries away and stood in front of her professor.
"Good evening, Lady Claes. Your objective is to make the earth under the middle dummy rise without touching the other dummies," the teacher then pointed towards her target, a dummy as tall as an average person in the middle of a line of 5 of similar size.
It wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be. Feeling more relaxed, Katarina then began to concentrate. Her professor was more focused on its notes, after all, Katarina had a really low magic power, so nothing to worry about, right?
The following incident took everybody by surprise. Normally, Katarina was only capable of raising a little bump of earth, but instead was able to raise enough earth to damage the dummy in the middle and the two closest to it, leaving Katarina dumbfounded. Her professor composed himself from the surprise and began to do damage control.
“Well, Lady Claes, you damaged three dummies. Judging by your expression, you didn't expect this outcome,” he said while looking around at the dummies, noticing remains of the magic used, showing the user's lack of experience with stronger magic outputs.
“It wasn't supposed to be like this. Normally, it's just a bump,” Katarina said, growing anxious at her apparent failure in the exercise. The professor looked at her and the dummies, then continued to write in his notes.
“There is nothing to worry about, Lady Claes. These kinds of situations are why we have these exercises, even for third-year students. Sudden increases in magical power aren't as uncommon as people think; some people are just late bloomers,” he explained, taking a piece of paper from his pocket and handing it to her.
“For now, you need to have some extra classes on magic control. Thanks for coming today.” The paper contained the schedule of some magic instructors at the academy.
With it, the teacher called the staff to clean the training ground for the next student, but unknown to them, Katarina's new earth magic had left a dark trace in the field that disappeared after they left.
—
Outside the training grounds, Katarina was feeling down; having to take extra classes was the second-worst outcome of these exercises. On the other hand, at least her magic was finally getting stronger, but it was a little too late for her liking. Where was this power when she faced the doom flags?
"Lady Katarina," she heard her friends approaching with worried expressions.
"We heard you failed the exercise. Is it true?" the one asking was Sofía Ascart, a white-haired girl with ruby eyes. Katarina and she shared a passion for books, especially romance novels. To her side stood Mary Hunt, a confident lady with brown hair and eyes with a green touch, and María Campbell, a blond commoner capable of using light magic and the greatest baker in the kingdom if you asked Katarina.
"I'm sorry, Lady Katarina. We should have helped you study for it. I promise it won't happen again," Mary mentioned with a little guilt in her tone.
"Lady Katarina, I brought you some cookies to cheer you up," María offered, presenting a small bag to Katarina. She was about to explain what had happened, but María's cookies took priority.
"Thank you, María! Your cookies are the best," Katarina exclaimed, taking the bag and happily eating them.
As all her troubles became insignificant thanks to María's delicious cookies, the rest of her friends arrived to check on her. Alan and Geordo Stuart, both princes of the kingdom and, in Geordo's case, her fiancé, approached, a compromise made out of convenience to avoid fans, unlike Alan and Mary who clearly were made for each other. Then there was her little brother Keith, a prodigy with incredible magic power, adopted from a lesser branch of the Claes family to replace her as the head of the family after she entered her engagement with Geordo. Unlike her, Keith was a prodigy with incredible magic power. There were times where she forgot they were all supposed to be characters from an otome game. It was weird that neither of them had tried to make a move on María, the main character; not even Nicol, Sofía's older brother and one main capture target, had made the effort to deepen his relationship with her after he graduated from the academy. If she were a man, she would be head over heels for her, but everybody seemed to be busy with something else. Apparently, she wondered what or who it could be.
"Katarina, are you hearing us?" Geordo asked, used to her spacing out.
"Sorry, I got distracted. What was the question?" As the cookies had run out, Katarina realized they were talking to her, only for Geordo to sigh and repeat himself.
"I asked you what happened; the instructors were too busy to tell us exactly what had happened," he said with concern in his voice.
"The only thing we got was that a student had accidentally lost control of their magic and they were unable to fix the training ground," Keith added, matching Geordo's tone.
"What? But it was just my earth bump; there is no way it caused that much trouble, right?” Everybody looked at her surprised that magic control had never been a problem for her due to her low magic power. seeing the disbelief of her friends Katarina proceeded to make a little demonstration with similar results than the exercise.
“Sister, how are you doing that?” Keith was the closest thing that the group had to earth magic and moving this amount of earth required an amount of magic power he thought his sister lacked; he also was worried that she would run out of magic power and hurt herself in the process.
“I don't know. Before today it was normal.” As Katarina kept worrying about her magic, Geordo tried to analyze the situation.
“Have you done any exercises to increase your affinity and not just farming, the exercises that the academy recommends?” he asked while he kept looking at Katarina's display.
“I don't think so, I mean maybe I tried to study everything before the exercise and the teacher said something about late bloomers.'' For a moment, everybody went silent. Until Alan broke down laughing.
“After all these years, that's what it took for you to finally improve your magic, studying at the last minute of a test.” As Alan kept trying to regain composure and the tension that their worries had created disappeared. With everybody in a better mood, the topic changed to what had actually happened.
“That reminds me. I have to get someone to teach me magic control again.” With those innocent words, Katarina had started a war. As is custom, Geordo made the first attack.
“I could help you after all as a fire mage, keeping control of my magic is a top priority at all moments.” A direct attack fitting of a member of the royal family; unfortunately, Geordo's adversaries knew him well from their countless battles.
“But Prince Geordo, you have duties as the student council president. There is no way you have enough time to properly teach Katarina.” Mary intercepted Geordo's attack with a fake worried tone that had been perfected over years of messing up his relationship with Katarina.
“A good fiancé always makes time for their partner, no matter what.” To this day, Geordo was sure that Mary had pulled some strings to ensure he became the student council president and spent less time with Katarina.
“As the only earth mage, I think I'm more suited to be my sister's instructor,” Keith charged in.
Soon Sofía also entered the Battlefield offering both her help and her brother, saying two teachers were better. Alan, as usual, stood in the middle of the battlefield completely unaware of the bloodbath. The unexpected move came from María, who implied always baking sweets to eat after her practice and later invited Katarina to study with her. Both Geordo and Mary had realized that by focusing on each other, they had allowed María to become one of the biggest threats in this violent war for Katarina's heart. As usual, Katarina ended the conflict by simply turning it into a group study session.
Katarina loved all her friends and wished to spend all the time she could with them.
If only things could remain like this forever.
—
After talking a little more with her friends, they all parted ways to their respective rooms. However, on her way there, Katarina’s dark familiar Pocchi, a dog formed of dark magic that she got after rescuing Keith from his kidnappers, jumped out of her shadow and started to look around frantically. He then locked onto something in one direction and ran towards it. Knowing she couldn't leave the dog without supervision, Katarina started to chase it.
Soon, she was out of the dormitories under the light of the dawn. Katarina nearly lost the trace of the familiar, but she recognized the road it took to be the same one she used every morning to reach her farm. As she ran towards it, she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Upon arriving at her farm, she found it to be a wreck. Claw marks covered the place, and most of the crops were destroyed. All her effort and care were gone, and she still had no sign of Pochi.
As the night began, a green glow appeared deeper in the forest around her farm. Having no other clue, Katarina grabbed her favorite hoe for self-defense and started to approach whatever was causing that glow.
As she got closer, signs of something bigger moving were all around the forest. Trees were cracked all over the place, and then she finally saw Pocchi. The little dog laid in the middle of a burned patch of grass with some kind of green flames lingering around him. Katarina rushed to help him, and as she touched him, the dog merged back into her shadow.
“What an interesting creature. Not many beings can withstand my power.” From where the voice came, an old woman appeared. She wore a long dark robe with a purple trim, a black horned headdress, and a staff with a green orb at the tip. Her skin was pale, and she wore purple makeup along with red lipstick. Katarina could only tighten the grip on her hoe as the obviously evil woman got closer.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Katarina managed to say, feeling her legs giving up. Everything about this woman felt like a giant doom flag.
“I assume that creature responds to you, correct? Normally, I would have burned it for daring to attack me. But as a fellow user of the dark arts, I must admit I'm quite intrigued by its abilities.” As she said it, yellow eyes started to appear from the shadows of the forest, staring at her.
“You wouldn’t mind if I experiment a little more, right?” To Katarina's horror, she was soon surrounded by the same monsters from her dream, only this time she didn't have the magic sword. She tried to defend herself with the hoe, but her tool did nothing to them. Seeing no other option, she decided to run away into the forest.
“Going so soon? That is so disrespectful of a noble.” Or at least she tried to, as a wall of green flames blocked the way, forming a circle around them.
“I recommend you start using your magic. The heartless are quite ruthless, even little shadows like these.” The woman looked at her with a sadistic smile as the shadows kept cornering her. Before she knew it, one had jumped at her. Desperate, she closed her eyes and made a last swing to try to repel the attack.
“A KEYBLADE!” Finally, she heard another tone that wasn't sadistic joy from the mysterious woman. As she opened her eyes, she could see a silver blade instead of the wooden handle of her hoe. She had also seen this weapon in her dream before, and as much as she wanted to question what was happening, the other shadows started attacking her too. Only this time, with her new weapon, she was able to fight back.
“You are proving to be more interesting than I initially thought. Keep it that way, and you may get out of this place with much more than just your life.” As the shadows kept attacking her, Katarina soon began to realize that she had the same abilities as in that dream. She was faster and stronger, and in no time, the shadows had disappeared, leaving only her and the sorceress.
“Quite a display of talent. I believe you have earned the right to present yourself, young lady.” The sorceress congratulated her. Katarina didn't lower her guard but took the chance to catch her breath.
“I am Katarina Claes. Who are you?” she responded. It was more like a reflex than anything. She didn't like to judge people, but the woman in front of her and the things she controlled were obviously evil. Even she thought it was a bad idea to trust her.
“My name is Maleficent, and I am what you could call a traveler. I came to this world in order to find something really important. If you help me find it, I'll even reward you with power beyond your wildest dreams. I might even consider taking you as an apprentice.” The sorceress extended her offer.
“Who in their right mind would take an offer from someone as shady as you? You are probably sacrificing me to gain more power or something.” Katarina blurted out. She was the first to admit she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but the sorceress only needed to ask her to sign away her soul, and she would have the whole deal with the devil act complete. Katarina's outburst seemed to amuse Maleficent, who chuckled softly before responding.
"Ah, skepticism. It's a trait I find both endearing and irritating in mortals. But rest assured, my dear Katarina, I have no intention of sacrificing you. In fact, I see great potential in you."
Katarina remained wary, but curiosity gnawed at her. "Potential for what?"
Maleficent's eyes gleamed with a predatory glint. "For greatness, of course. With my guidance, you could become a master of the dark arts, wielding power that would make even the mightiest mages tremble."
“i have no need of a power that will turn me into your lackey”
“you still don't understand. I believe you just need some private time to think about my offer, and I happen to know the perfect place for you to ponder it.” The sorceress then struck the ground with her staff, summoning what resembled a knight clad in purple and blue armor. It had a very muscular physique in one arm that it used to move around, as its legs weren't strong enough to carry its weight. The other arm held a giant blue shield with the face of a three-eyed dog in the middle, covering its entire body. As she looked at the creature, she noted the face of the dog could move on its own.
“Why does it always have to be dogs?” As the eyes of the shield started to glow in bright red, the dog opened its mouth to form a fireball and shot it at her. She barely managed to dodge the projectile, but to her misfortune, it wasn't just one. Soon, another two fireballs hit her, making her fall to the ground. As she raised her head, she could see the wall of flames barely touching her, reminding her she couldn't run from this. Ignoring the pain of the burns, Katarina did her best to stand once more. In one last desperate attempt, she charged at the knight, hitting it with everything she had, crashing with the heartless and making it retreat a little.
“Quit fooling around and end it!” Maleficent screamed annoyed at the heartless, which proceeded to use its strength to push her back at such speed that she actually got past the wall of flames only to crash into a tree. The heartless slowly approached her to finish the job, but a green fireball destroyed it.
“Now you understand how weak you are. I can correct that. I offer you the power to take everything your heart desires; just let darkness take you and swear loyalty to me.” Maleficent towered over her as a dark puddle appeared under her, dragging her down. She didn't have the strength to move; she started to think about her friends, her family, and Anne, the people she cared for and was likely about to lose.
“Why does it have to happen again? After everything, to end it like this, to a generic evil witch?” Rage was a weird emotion on Katarina, one she shouldn't feel at this intensity. Her dark familiar rose again and absorbed the puddle, taking on a more dangerous form: a wolf who then let out a giant explosion with a howl. After the air cleared out, there were no traces of any of the participants of this battle.
—
Katarina opened her eyes again, feeling like nothing had happened. She also saw Pocchi sleeping on her. So, her fight with the generic evil witch was just another of her weird dreams. She would just stand up and eat breakfast only when she decided that she noticed something. She still had her damaged dress, this wasn't her bed, and she didn't recognize this room.
This place wasn't her home.