Great billows of ashen smoke rolled out of the bathroom which I set on fire.

  Heat filled the corridor and I was back to the scene from last night. Fear crept in, unwanted and unbidden, but present nonetheless. The fire alarm kept blaring, and combined with the disorientation I was experiencing from the blast, it was hard to make sense of what was what. On top of it all was the intercom trying in vain to calm the crowd over the noise.

  Hands grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me halfway off the floor.

  “You! What just–”

  I didn’t hear the rest of Mina’s sentence. The sudden movement sent another wave of dizzying sensations through my temple. My dulled mind noted that blood, fresh and slippery, was pouring down the side of my face. I hoped it wasn’t from my head.

  Flames licked out from the bathroom entrance and this time, the building shook.

  To her credit, the girl didn’t just leave me to be burned. She hugged me close, dropped to the floor, and rolled away from the bathroom entrance. I bumped my head multiple times, but only lightly. My faculties were returning one by one and I took sight of my surroundings.

  The Yeounui fable hadn't been metaphorical about the sea of fire. The bathroom was singed tar black, and stacks of flaming smoke poured out endlessly. Fuming pillars of toxic air were churned out at an alarming speed; the entire ceiling had turned black.

  But Mina wasn’t done. She growled, grabbing the front of my shirt again.

  “Are you one of those? Those kids on the news?” She spat, eyes shaking with adrenaline and fear. “The one who wants to get back at bullies? Is that why you did this?!”

  She was nearly shrieking near the end.

  “N-no,” I gasped out. It hurt to breathe. It hurt, period. “Trying to save t-them.”

  Mina might have rated a ten on the crazy scale, but she wasn’t illogical. The grip on the front of my shirt loosened at my words and her expression turned to one of confusion. “What?”

  “M-mercenaries. After me.” I coughed, trying my best to get the stinging sensation out of my lungs. It only got worse. “Have to get students out.”

  “What? Mercenaries? What are you talking about?”

  I started laughing. I've been doing that a lot lately. I think I laugh under pressure, most likely due to hysteria. “The Table put out a bounty on my head. Half a million fucking dollars,” I swore, gaining enough strength to grab her wrists. “And I think they put it in because your grandfather visited them.”

  She released me. “What? Harabeoji wouldn’t–”

  I stopped, dropped, and rolled away from the crazy girl. I stood up, regretteing it immediately as the dizziness returned and the coughing-fit returned tenfold. Only by dropping on all fours did the dizziness disappear.

  “He did,” I had to shout over the alarm. “It has to be. Or he helped it along.”

  It made sense. Atleast, in my carbon-monoxide-addled mind it did. Maybe they were already gunning for me. But I was sure that two spokespersons from prestigious practitioner family lobbying for my demise might have sped up the process.

  I saw Mina thinking. She stayed low to the ground, well out of the smoke rising to the air. My eyes were starting to water.

  She gestured wildly at the flames. “What does that have to do with this?”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I grimaced. “They might take hostages to get to me. I had to figure out a way to get the students out.”

  How come it made perfect sense in my head about an hour ago, but when I had to explain it to others it made zero sense? Maybe it was a hidden talent of mine; the ninth discipline of magic.

  “So you blew up the school?!” Mina shrieked. She crawled over to me, stopping only a hands width away.

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” I replied. “Look, I need to make sure everyone gets out.”

  “No one is going to stay when the whole building is burning down,” She said.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t expect the fire to be like this,” I said. “This is my fault. I need to–, I can’t just leave.”

  Wol appeared out of the flames, Hwari floating on top of him. Seoul was right behind them.

  “Jain,” he said, freezing at seeing Mina so close to me. “Oh, good. You’re alive.”

  Seoul saw me, growled and then lowered his hindquarters for the universal predator language of pounce.

  “Seoul, no.” Mina said hurriedly.

  “He cause big fire. Hurt many,” The mythical dog answered.

  “Seoul, not yet,” She said without taking her eyes off me.

  “Just take your familiar and get out of here,” I snapped.

  I didn’t have time to deal with this. Least of all, if Mina really did decide that I was responsible and decided to do something about it, things were going to get even worse. Already my plan had burned apart at the seams and I didn’t want to take any more unnecessary risks.

  “No, I'm coming with,” She said.

  “What?!” I exclaimed. “Are you serious? Just get out of here! There’s a fire.”

  “I’m good at fire. You can say whatever you want, but I’m going to help get the students out,” She said, clenching her jaw.

  I took a look at her face and groaned. I knew stubbornness when I saw one. “Fine, just stay out of my way.”

  Mina and I, plus our familiars, slunk low to the ground on all fours and crawled away as fast as we could. We dragged outselves through solid two minutes of ringing alarms and various intercom announcements, all the while trying our best not to breathe in the soot-filled air.

  “ –repeat, this is not a drill. Please get to the nearest emergency exit in an orderly fashion.”

  “Why is there no one here?” She asked once we were far away enough from the smoke to stand.

  “I chose this place on purpose. No classes here, especially right before winter break,” I explained and turned to go.

  “Wait,” she said.

  Mina knelt down and put her kendo bag on the floor, opening out and taking out a staff. Up until now, I thought all staves would look the same, made of old wood decorated with archaic runes.

  Her staff was made of some kind of light blue-metal. Maybe carbon fiber steel or carbon aluminum or carbon something or other that’s light, durable, and used by everyone from astronauts to athletes. The Baek practitioner held it by a groove in the middle, designed to fit perfectly in her palms, holding it out in front of her. The runes, shaped into the design of the staff, hummed soundlessly with power.

  “Seoul, bubbles.”

  The Haetae stood in front of her and began to shake. At first, nothing happened but the shaking grew in intensity. Soon enough, the interlocked rounded scales on its body started clashing against each other like tiny cymbals.

  Then bubbles floated from Seoul’s body. A dozen at first, then two dozen, and more than enough to fill the hallway in front of us.

  Unlike me, Mina didn't stop to stare. She traced the bubbles with her staff, dark-blue energy swirling together and remaining there in the shape of circle. There was a pulse of power and the circle dissipated like paint being scattered across a canvas, washing over the bubbles.

  Then the floating wall of bubbles held. They stopped in place, stretching from one wall to the other and creating a translucent barrier. The smoke that had been chasing us stopped, curling up against the invisible wall and unable to draw closer.

  Holy crap.