The traumatised girl whipped her head, locking onto the source of her name.

  She ran towards her two gawking friends and one amused Commission mage, her cheeks burning up in embarrassment and eyes full of resentment.

  “You’re not going to believe what happened.” She screeched, jumping into the arms of TIberius.

  “Oof,” Tiberius muttered, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs. The boy stumbled back, nearly tripping over at the sudden display of affection.

  “I was in the SHOWER when these COMMISSION BUFFONS evacuated ME to their STUPID evacuation facility!” She wailed, her eyes welling up in tears.

  “My fortune today was supposed to be GOOD! What the HELL went WRONG?” She complained, as Tiberius’s eyes darted around worriedly. Clearly, he had no idea what to do in this situation, being the clueless idiot when it came to romance.

  Thankfully, Mr. Tona, catching onto Tiberius’s oafishness, intervened in time.

  “Offer the lady a seat, Mr. Velcor. What exactly is her name?” He asked, smoothly transitioning the conversation away from her eventful day.

  “Sniff, sniff, it’s Lucina, Lucina Caelestis. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She replied, her elegant noble demeanour shining through despite the curtain of despair that shadowed her face.

  Tiberius gingerly led the distressed girl to the bench, dusting down the bench with his hands to make sure it didn’t ruin her trousers.

  Lucina was a charming student mage, 19 years old with glossy hair cut to her shoulders. She had a single gray lock in her black hair, giving an impression of a starry river running through the dark nigh sky.

  She was currently dressed poorly, in a simple t-shirt and ill-fitting trousers. Yet, one could not hide her noble upbringing from the way that she carried herself. From her deliberate gait to her subtle guesticulations, it was clear that she had a wealthy background.

  She was, after all, from the Caelestis House.

  “Ah, a student from the Caelestis House! I have had many fruitful relationships with your members. The pleasure is mine, Ms. Lucina. It is always delightful to meet an aspiring Caelestis.” The old mage greeted, tipping an imaginary hat on his head.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Tsk, I know Lucina is from the House, but he doesn’t need to completely overhaul his speech patterns! Or is it because she’s a girl? Aurelius wondered, his eyes searching through the old man’s sleazy smile.

  Lucina, slightly less distressed now, looked up at the commission mage, her chin tilted slightly up in delight. She had fallen hook and sinker for the flattery.

  “Thank you, I’m sure my family members have had a pleasant time interacting with a wisened and experienced mage such as yourself.” She responded haughtily.

  To Aurelius’s terror, the two mismatched pair started to converse naturally. The banter was almost awe-inspring by the way it implied years of friendship, as the two social butterflies chatted with fluid ease.

  In this conversation between the extroverts, Tiberius opted to simply hug his girlfriend and nod along to her words robotically.

  This left Aurelius out of the entire interaction, stuck as both a third wheel and an outside observer to a conversation he had no business in.

  The Caelestis House was one of the closest allies with the Magic Commission, known for their soul-shape that allowed for divinations, the contracts between them were lucrative and mutually beneficial.

  While the Commission did employ diviners, The Caelestis had more mages who specialised in foresight and had more contracts with the spirit realm.

  Divinations were a branch of water elemental magic, where one relied on the “leakage” of information between the spirit realm and the material realm to collect and process a large sum of details and data to create predictions and divine certain facts.

  While limited, the Caelestis had contracted enough spirits over its history to allow for excellent accuracy and foresight.

  “...Indeed, divinations do fail us sometimes. It is good to understand such an essential fact so early.” Mr. Tona replied, as the conversation fell back to the topic of Lucina’s misfortune that day.

  “Commission activities are sheltered from a degree of divinations by taking appropriate anti-divination measures. For example, the ignivite casing around the Tower of Trust has several enchantments to keep information within its walls safe and secured…”

  “Yes… That makes sense… BUT NOW I’M LUMPED IN WITH ALL THE WEIRDOS! DO YOU KNOW THE KINDS OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE HAD BEEN CAUGHT DOING DURING FORCED TELEPORTATION?” Lucina yelled, her elegant demeanour crumbling slightly as her horror came back.

  “C-Calm down Ms.Caelestis. The rumours would be unfounded and go away within days!” Mr. Tona soothed, his cigarette nearly dropping from his mouth at the sudden intensity.

  “Do you have some tales you can tell us about the kind of things have people been caught doing during forced teleportation? You must have encountered some interesting stories from the Commission spirits!” Tiberius, being dense as always, interjected. His curiosity had evidently bypassed the ‘common sense’ filter.

  The commission mage coughted slightly, his lips curving upwards as he pondered the question.

  “Would the lady like to listen in on the tales of an old man?” He asked, his concerned tone hiding a thin layer of teasing.

  “I-No… I mean… I suppose I am curious…” She responded, weighing if she should research on the types of people she would be lumped in with, or if she would prefer ignorance.

  “Tsk, don’t be such a downbeat Lucina. Let’s hear some of these… stories…” Aurelius shot, finally having gotten the opportunity to join the conversation.

  With a mischievous grin, the commission mage started his tales of horror…

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