Chapter Text
The soul-eater wasn’t getting away, and it knew it.
Orion trailed close behind its shadowy heels. He'd spotted it as he was leaving the bathroom - lucky him, unlucky mal. The soul-eater had given him one look before it immediately turned tail, and they’ve been on a merry chase ever since. He smiled, feeling a twinge of excitement. There was no point running - it was trapped.
The soul-eater knew it, judging by its shrill shriek of frustration, before it twisted and dived into the closest room of whatever poor unlucky student owned it - a last-ditch effort for a final meal, though not if Orion could help it.
He gathered the mana from his previous “meal” and blasted the doorknob (his go-to spell, reliable for anything from blasting mals, to objects, to starting lab work fires) and kicked the battered door open. In the span of a second, he flipped through his catalogue of combat spells - soul-eater is made of shadow, ergo should be weak to light - and settled on this really strong incandescing spell he’d only used once or twice before. He thinks it’s Roman?
He gathered mana into his hands, bright white light filling his palms, and mimed cupping it around the soul-eater, trapping it. He intoned “Luxe Avarium,” and the spell poured through his hands.
The soul-eater screamed, thumping and twisting inside its cage of light, trying to dive into the floor grate. It was too late, though. It hadn’t moved two inches before the light shrank to a pinpoint and the soul-eater exploded, its shadowy form turning into goo and splattering across the room in gloops of stinking purple slime. That was quick. Orion made a note to use that spell more often. Purple smoke drifted up lazily from the spot the soul-eater was, vanished from existence and now transformed into pure delicious mana for Orion to enjoy.
He bent over, hands on his knees, taking deep shuddering breaths as he felt the soul-eater’s mana surge into him in massive waves. He closed his eyes and relished it, that soothing satisfied-full feeling of a good meal. This should last him a full week before he’d have to hunt again.
His eyes snapped open. Wait, he’s not alone. He’d almost forgotten. And crap, are they okay-
Orion turned to check on the person whose room it was, and- Oh. Oh, it’s her.
He tried to look casual, or at least as casual as he could while bent over, desperately gasping for breath. He straightened up, wiping his forehead with his sleeve and feeling it come away soaked with sweat. That soul-eater had a lot of mana. “Gal, right?” The name popped up almost immediately, and he gave a small private cheer - that almost never happened. “You alright?”
He’d seen her around, almost always alone and hanging about the edge of her classes. The weirdly crispy-clear girl. He’d always wanted to speak to her, but never found an opportunity to so he only knew her as that beautiful scary girl everyone seemed to avoid. She held an impenetrable aura of “don’t you even dare talk to me,” so Orion never found the chance or words to approach her without looking like a creep. This was the closest he’d ever been to her.
Not that this situation wasn’t awkward, with how he blasted his way into a girl’s private quarters and with whom he was now alone. He anxiously prepared himself for the incoming wave of tears, and thanks, and pushed gifts and favours, already trying to come up with what he could say to gently let them down.
The girl - Gal - was sitting cross-legged on the bed, a heavy tome in her lap and- glaring daggers at him? If anything, she looked frostier with every passing second, if that was even possible.
She snapped the tome shut with a heavy thomp. “No thanks to you and your boundless fascination for every dark thing creeping through the place,” she said sharply, in the iciest tones Orion had ever heard. “And it is not Gal, it has never been Gal, it’s Galadriel - and if that’s too many syllables for you to manage all in one go, El will do.”
… huh?
Orion blinked at her. His post-meal contentment dropped way to the sinking feeling that he’d done something very wrong. It was not unlike the feeling of someone finding their raft had disintegrated into a pile of sticks, and they were now floundering at sea.
He grasped desperately for the nearest appropriate social response that had been drilled into him. “Oh. Uh. I-I'm sorry?”
“No, no.” She held up a hand. “I’m sorry. Clearly I’m not performing my role up to standard.” She stood up - wow, she’s tall - and draped a dramatic hand against her forehead. “Orion, I was so terrified.” She threw herself at his chest and Orion tottered a bit - woah, she’s strong. She also smelled a bit strong, though Orion didn’t mind much, distracted as he was by a girl pressed against him and just sheer bafflement. “Thank goodness you were here to save me, I could never have managed a soul-eater all on my own.” She simpered and made an over-the-top sob against his chest.
Orion didn’t know what to do. He felt like he’d accidentally stumbled into the middle of a play that was constantly switching scenes, and the whiplash just confused him even more. But at least this was more in-line with what he was used to? So he patted her.
However, that was clearly the wrong thing to do, because the girl - El - elbowed him, expelling all the air in his stomach with a rapid whoof. Orion stumbled back, gawking. What the hell?
She straightened up, eyes flashing. Wow, she’s pret- Wait, is her hair floating? The world shrank to just her - literally, the room started becoming darker. Orion was also pretty sure the temperature dropped several degrees, feeling goosebumps prickle over his skin. He shivered.
She leaned forward slowly, stabbing him in place with her glare. “I don’t need your help, you insufferable lurker,” she hissed, each word cold as death. “Keep away from me or you’ll be sorry.” Her eyes were deep swirling pools of shadow and Orion stared at them, trapped. His heart thumped in his ears.
She stepped towards him and gave his chest a sharp shove, jolting Orion out of his trance and making him stumble back several steps. He had the briefest glimpse of El with a bitter satisfied smile, when the metal door slammed shut barely an inch from his nose, the gust actually blowing his hair back. He just stood there, mouth hanging open, staring at the black hole where he’d blasted the doorknob earlier.
What the hell?