The school of Bermuda - Volume 2 - The Sea Monster

-12-

The half-fairy woke up with difficulty. The smell of rotten fish had been assaulting her nostrils for a while, and she quickly put her hands in front of her nose.

"We should change our position," Alonzo suggested with a smile. "We're in what should be its throat, surely where there are the most corpses of poor creatures that got trapped."

The girl agreed and got up. Disappearing the table and the remains of their meal, she simply followed the albino through the mucous labyrinth they were in. However, they didn't seem to get anywhere, constantly returning to their starting point, and that every day.

Thanks to magic, Lili could eat to her heart's content, sleep, and even wash herself or her clothes, but the confinement was starting to weigh on her.

This time, after circling for several hours, Lili let herself fall against a wall.

"We'll never make it..."

Alonzo sighed and sat down beside her.

"Let's take a break," he suggested. "I'll go alone afterwards."

"No, it's okay, I'll come with you..."

The albino remained silent, observing the girl, before finally lifting his head and looking around. How could they get out of here? By what miracle? Even he wasn't powerful enough.

He was brought out of his reverie when he felt Lili cuddle up against him, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm scared, Alonzo," she murmured. "What if we never get out of here...?"

"We'll get out," he whispered, stroking her hair. "I don't know how long it will take, but I promise we'll get out."

The young witch fell asleep for a short while, cuddled up against her albino companion.

She had a strange trust in him, even though she knew nothing about him. She had promised Izãdo to be careful, but for now, she had no other choice. She could only rest for less than an hour when suddenly a powerful tremor shook them.

"The monster is moving," Alonzo grimaced, holding the half-fairy firmly.

This continued for a while, until a large amount of water rushed into the aquatic body. The albino leaned against a wall, still holding Lili, and exerted all his strength not to be carried away by the current, but they were both thrown a little further.

When the deluge finally stopped, Alonzo helped the girl up. She had water up to her knees.

"Are you okay?" the albino asked.

"Yes," Lili replied, coughing. "Too bad we couldn't take the opportunity to escape."

"It was better not to try."

Lili adjusted her white cape to avoid catching a cold. Fortunately, it dried quickly and became pleasantly warm again.

The half-fairy would have gladly used her fire powers to burn the monster from the inside, but she didn't yet have enough control over them, having had only a few private lessons with Professor Mieret.

Furthermore, Alonzo had assured her that her weak control over this magic would not make her powerful enough, and it would only anger the monster, putting the entire island in danger. She didn't want to risk her friends getting hurt. Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when a plaintive cry echoed inside the giant body.

"What was that?" Lili asked. "Is there someone else here?"

"Maybe someone came in with the water," the albino suggested.

The call for help repeated, but the echo made it impossible to locate. After a moment of reflection, Alonzo stood behind Lili, undoing the smallest embroidery on his cape.

"What are you doing, Alonzo?" the girl exclaimed.

"Don't worry, it won't damage it in any way. The clothes created by the bubak repair themselves, but their thread is magical. Look."

The albino showed her the golden thread in his hand.

"Lead us to the person who needs help."

Suddenly, the thin cord began to glow before rising to a certain height. Then, it moved gently through the air. Alonzo took Lili's hand to follow this little source of light through the mucous corridors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izãdo spent so much time at the library that he sometimes fell asleep there and even stayed overnight.

Doan, the librarian, often reminded him to go back to the dorms, but the prince persisted. He had now read almost all the books on magical creatures, demons, and powerful spells.

On this day, he slammed shut one of the many books on his table.

"I'll never find it with this!" he shouted in rage.

"Silence, prince," the old man grumbled. "Other students are trying to study too..."

"Mr. Namarié, tell me honestly... don't you have any books on dark magic?"

"No, it's forbidden to have them in the school."

Izãdo cursed once again, under the disappointed gaze of the non-magician who sighed.

"There's a place where I know there are some," Doan finally admitted.

"Where?"

"You should visit your demonology teacher."

Izãdo didn't wait to hear more, running to Tera Noctis' office. However, she didn't appreciate him entering without knocking, sending him out the window where he barely caught himself, trying to climb back up.

"Professor, please," Izãdo pleaded. "Sorry, but it's important!"

"If you didn't understand a lesson, wait for the next one to ask your question."

"I need books on dark magic!"

Tera pulled him back up, but covered his mouth with her hand.

"Do you want to get me fired?" she growled. "Don't shout something like that!"

"Please... the Bermuda monster is the result of dark magic, I need to know how to destroy it..."

"...sit down."

She disappeared through a door that probably led to her room, returning with a stack of books that she placed on her desk.

"Just stay here, I don't want these books to leave my office. There are others, but I'll leave these with you for now."

The prince smiled gratefully, sitting silently to start reading each book diligently, one by one.