Lunar Flare Book 2: Midnight Eclipse

Chapter ???

Much to William's chagrin, Azrael's awakening had not actually eliminated all of the other spirits on campus. After a few days he had started seeing them again, though they didn't appear in large numbers anymore, and seemed to be avoiding him. He might see one at the end of a corridor he was walking down, but once it noticed him it would disappear through a wall.

"What's up with your shadow servants?" Will asked the spectre eventually, after watching another one keeping its distance from him in the dining room.

My what? Azrael asked with clear confusion.

"Your... you know? The shadow people? The other spirits? That led me to the gem to free you?" Will explained incredulously.

Azrael cocked his head slightly when looking at Will, giving him a non-comprehending stare. I have no clue what the fuck you are talking about.

"You mean... they're not yours? You can't see them?" Will asked in puzzlement, pointing across the room at the shadowy spirit lingering against the far wall.

Azrael followed the direction of Will's gesture, before looking back at him with knitted brows. I don't see anything Will. Are you perhaps starting to lose it?

"No! Look, I read a cursed book in the library and started seeing spirits and they led me to the gem, so I assumed they were your servants trying to get me to free you!" Will explained, feeling slightly frustrated at Azrael implying he was crazy.

Azrael gave him an overexaggerated shrug. Nothing to do with me as far as I know.

"Well... they used to harass me a lot, so much that I could barely sleep. Now they won't come near me anymore... maybe they are scared of you," William deduced.

Well, I wouldn't blame them! Finally, some respect for my power around here, Azrael stated pridefully.

William had to admit that he was slightly grateful to the dark lord for keeping the other spirits at bay for now. It meant the wizard could finally get some proper rest. Though Azrael could sometimes be annoying enough in his own right, especially since he didn't need to sleep himself.

"Who are you talking to Will?" The question caught Will off guard, and he nearly jumped in his seat as he looked up to see Cornelius sitting down at the table across from him. Will quickly let out the breath he had taken in from gasping and tried to relax.

"O-Oh, no one. I, I mean, just myself, you know," Will excused awkwardly, unable to stop himself from stuttering anxiously.

Cornelius raised an eyebrow at his friend. "You feeling alright Will?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Never better in fact, since I started getting some proper sleep for the first time in a while." It really wasn't a lie at all, so why did he feel like he was acting so weird about it?

"Well, I'm happy that you are doing better," Cornelius said with a weak smile, not sounding entirely convinced.

William quickly tried to direct the conversation topic away from himself as they ate their meal together. He also tried, and failed, not to glance over at Azrael sitting next to him too much, as the spirit interjected his opinion on everything, and Will had to fight the urge to respond to him.

This sort of thing went on for a while. William tried his best not to draw any suspicion to himself. He attended classes normally, pretended Azrael wasn't there around other people, kept the gem hidden, and got enough rest that he stopped falling asleep in class. He was still quite terrible at light magic, but when he returned to his room in the evening, he could finally talk to Azrael properly, and the spectre kept good on his word of teaching Will more dark magic spells and more about dark magic overall.