Fugitive

The ancient spell, whose origin was unknown, surprisingly shared the same language as it's world of origin. It sounded heretical and evil, but that wasn't necessarily true. Though vaguely, the man knew that the devouring power would take many things from him.
On that night, his happiness was fleeting. Pain, like thousands of needles, pierced his entire body. Groans of agony sought help, but instead, he ended up hurting many people.

Regardless of age, gender, or even close acquaintances, he attacked them relentlessly. Seeing Mahendra go wild for no reason made everyone flee in terror. No one dared to attack as their magical power was simply absorbed.

A dark, evil aura enveloped his body, looking like mist, and that was what absorbed everyone's power. His ferocious figure with glowing red eyes made people shudder in fear. They were all helpless before him, who had lost control.

"Mahendra, wake up!" With a hoarse voice, his classmate tried to free himself from Mahendra's increasingly strong chokehold.

No matter how hard they tried to make him conscious, Mahendra only continued to rage, even laughing as if enjoying his friends' suffering as mere entertainment. However, sometimes his true personality tried to restrain the evil side.

"Go away!"

Mahendra held his head after releasing his friend. Heavy breathing and a racing heartbeat made the red-eyed man feel nauseous. A line of ancient spells surrounded him as if giving a warning.

"Get lost!" Mahendra shouted, pushing away the line of ancient spells, then sat on the floor, holding the pain in his head.

For quite some time recently, the ancient spell hadn't appeared, and what made it surface was when he felt cornered while fighting a senior in the Magic Duel Tournament. Mahendra thought it would end as long as he could slowly increase his magical power. However, the ancient spell actually went out of control again, just like before, because he was weakened by a drink once given by the Princess.

"Ever since that drink weakened me, the ancient spell has been like this. Is she trying to harm me? No, that's impossible. She doesn't know about my weakness as a cursed person," Mahendra muttered. His hands trembled violently, and he now tried to get up from there with wobbly steps.

The Aura of the Devourer Destiny, resembling black mist, had filled the boys' dormitory building. At that time, no one realized it yet, except for a god from the Upper Realm, and Liliana, who was asleep, now woke up with an uneasy feeling.

"This… an aura of a god?"

Her bad premonition proved true when Liliana approached the boys' dormitory building.

"Master!"

All the students in the dormitory building lay helpless, severely wounded. What was once just a dream had now become reality. Although not entirely the same because Mahendra managed to control himself as much as possible, in the end, all this was unavoidable.

With heavy breaths and steps, a strong urge to kill continued to pervade his thoughts. The man dressed entirely in black was almost invisible in the darkness. Until he momentarily looked back, revealing those red eyes.

"Master!" Liliana called to Mahendra, who had re-entered his room. Liliana quickly approached him.

"Master, Master! I sense the aura of a god, you must leave here immediately!"

"I know," Mahendra said, his voice hoarse but soft.He took an emerald dagger, a gift from Uru, and slipped it into his waistband, then reached for something in a desk drawer. There was a brand new gift box.

"Oh, right, I don't know where he is yet. He... I have to meet him. For my life, I have to meet him."

Mahendra put the gift box into his pants pocket, then turned around and looked at Liliana, who seemed about to cry.

"Master, please go. I'll take care of the god."

Mahendra was surprised to see the girl's tears flowing quickly, and the hands that clasped his arm trembled. For a moment, Mahendra exhaled near her, slowly saying something in his heavy voice.

"I'm sorry, Liliana."

A situation he never expected had now occurred, as if toying with his feelings. As if fate didn't want him to live happily. However, Mahendra thought that if he truly was the Devourer Destiny, then it meant he was never bound by fate.

"Fate can't hinder me. I... will live!"

With just his sharp gaze, the window glass and its bars shattered into pieces. Mahendra grabbed his long black cloak and jumped out, leaving the Magic Academy. The full moon that day seemed larger, as if swallowing him alive, and the remaining black mist drifted with the wind, merging with the night sky.

The next morning, the incident in the boys' dormitory building was quietly investigated by the academy. It seemed they were reluctant to escalate the matter, as many victims remained silent. Liliana's presence, still at the academy, acted as if nothing had happened, while the victims couldn't hide their expressions.

There was fear, worry, and much indecision. Many of them realized that something was wrong with Mahendra. The missing academy student, of course, became the prime suspect.

"If you don't say something, I'll assume Mahendra did it."
"No, teacher! Mahendra didn't do it."
"Then where is he, and who did this to you?"
"This... is hard to explain, teacher."
"Difficult? Or are you trying to hide something?"

The teachers never got answers from them, and in the end, the incident was simply left alone. Although there were many irregularities, they couldn't just make assumptions because that would certainly tarnish the academy's name itself.

"If Mahendra didn't do it, then why didn't they say who attacked that night? I'm sure Mahendra did it," a female teacher logically remarked.

Even though Mageia City wasn't affected, the Magic Academy was a different story. Thanks to them, the problem was at least well-hidden. Meanwhile, Mahendra was still in the city, hiding from several people who were looking for him.

"The academy overseer, huh? Ugh, this is such a hassle."

Leaving the harbor was difficult as some senior students were also searching for him. To take the land route, he'd have to pass through the royal guard's checkpoints. There were dead ends everywhere.

The pain in his head was still intense, he occasionally felt like he would lose control because of it, even though Mahendra had struggled to suppress the curse's aura for hours.

With land and sea routes unsafe, Mahendra could only think of one possible way to get out of Mageia City. It was none other than the forest—home to the elf race and other nature creatures.

A small river flowed along the outermost right side of the city, looking like a boundary between the urban area and the forest. Large, floating rocks served as a bridge. Just two steps onto a rock, he suddenly hesitated.

"Just anyone can't enter the forest area, and Senior Uru might catch me too."

His anxious and indecisive heart prevented him from making a quick decision. Mahendra stood there for several minutes until he finally risked rushing into the forest while no one was watching. However, as the black mist once again corrupted his mind, Mahendra accidentally slipped and fell into the river.

The unfathomable depth felt less like a river and more like the sea, like falling into a very deep chasm. Mahendra was in a desperate state; let alone fighting the river's current that dragged him down, he couldn't even breathe.

In a dying condition, his body, pushed further away from the land, finally struck a black crystal. The tip of the crystal scratched his forehead, and a little blood flowing out stained the front of the crystal, causing a pair of golden eyes within the crystal to appear.