Guardian of My Heart

Chapter 10: First Love Memories

Iruma's POV:

After my embarrassing panic attack last night, I surprisingly went to sleep rather quickly, and my dreams had been nice for a change. Most nights I hadn't dreampt at all, but recently the past couple of times I had fallen asleep or been knocked unconscious, I had found myself in that black desert again. It felt like an eternity of loneliness, just me and that dark reflection stuck at the top of that gnarled tree looking down at me with hunger in its eyes, always taunting me with my worst insecurities. But last night was different. After my heart-to-heart with Kalego, I had come to see the teacher as a caring demon at heart, just like Ameri had said he was. He wore a mask of terror, but to me that's all it was now, just a mask that he chose to wear. My dreams that night were filled with Kalego carrying me high above the lush forests of the Netherworld, swooping down low enough to run my hand through the rushing water of a nearby lake. And I dreamed of the forest covered in a blanket of snow, the trees flying past me as I rode atop Cerberion, laughing all the while. I almost hated having to wake up from those dreams, but then I remembered that today Ameri was going to give me a tour of Babyls, my new school. This time, I felt ready to finally see it.

We were forced to walk to the school on account of my wings being damaged, but I was content with walking for now. It may not have been as exciting as the idea of flight, but it felt more natural to me. I had been told that my demon guardians would be teaching me how to properly fly once I was settled into my new home and my wings were fully healed. To that end, Professor Balam told me that he was going to start working on a salve that should help speed up the recovery process, which was music to my ears! Lost in thought, I accidentally bumped into Ameri, who had stopped and was currently pointing in the distance. "Here we are, welcome to Babyls Iruma." As I followed her finger, I gasped as from beneath a heavy blanket of mist emerged an unbelievably massive castle. Seriously, if something like this existed back in the human world, I'm sure it could get away with being its own country with the size it was! Ameri must have picked up on my awe, as she gave an amused laugh. "Don't worry, I know it looks imposing right now, but you'll get familiar with it soon enough." I looked at her with skepticism. "There's no way we can possibly get around this entire school in a couple hours, right?" Ameri started walking again as she responded. "Of course not, and no one is expecting you to commit everything to memory right away. Today we'll just be looking into the first-year classrooms. And I'll be sure to show you the student council office."

"Oh yeah, you said you were Student Council President, right?" Ameri held a proud look on her face. "Indeed, I am, which is why I'm showing you to the office, just in case you ever need to find me during school hours." I was really glad that so far, the demons I'd gotten to know had treated me so well. I knew it was naive to hope that all of them would be like that, but I held onto that hope regardless. Even someone like Kalego, who I was scared of initially, had proved he could be considerate of others when he needed to be. It filled me with warmth in my heart, a pleasant feeling I refused to let go of. The tour of Babyls was very confusing but also joyful. I would definitely need to write down some directions or get a layout of the school for reference, but the various classrooms themselves all looked quite interesting. Each professor's personal style was depicted subtly within each room, so in a way I was getting to know more of my teachers without having to actually meet them yet. It would still be a challenge to get over my anxiety with meeting new demons, but I'd push through. Thankfully none of the staff were around today, so I could relax for a bit longer. After an hour of exploring the various rooms, Ameri finally led me to the Student Council Office.

"This is my office. I apologize for the stacks of papers strewn about the place. We members of the student council are naturally very busy." My ears flattened on my head and a slight frown pulled at my lips. She's been looking after me instead of taking care of her responsibilities as Student Council President. Ameri must have somehow sensed my thoughts. Maybe it was another spell of some kind, or maybe I was just easy to read. Either way, when she turned around to face me I felt her hands on my shoulders. "Relax, Iruma. You aren't being a burden, okay? We all have to make sacrifices for what's important to us. Besides, most of this is going straight into the trash. I mean, some of these requests are absolutely ludicrous, and far outside the school's provided budget anyway." We both laughed as Ameri gave some examples of the various requests, and as I glanced at one of the sheets I gasped. "I . . . I think I can read this. A little at least." Some of the symbols did look slightly familiar, but many of them were foreign to me. It was like looking at a puzzle that was missing pieces, leaving the final picture incomplete. As Ameri took the sheet back from my hands and carefully reorganized it with the others, she cleared her throat. "Well, it's good to know you have at least some starting point for understanding the language of demons. I'm sure your guardians will provide you with a translation spell to aid you in the short term, but learning without magic will help you far more in the long term."