Footsteps echoed down the long, narrow, school corridor. The man walked down the hallway, looking around and knocking over bins as he went.

  "Where is that sneaky little bastard?" He muttered to himself.

  Moonlight from the school's very few windows illuminated his features hair, dull and lifeless eyes, sharp jawline, and a tattoo of a snake that ran up from his wrist to the end of his forearm.

  The man mistakenly tripped over a bin full of graded papers, doodles, and garbage. The Janitor must have put it out for collecting ter in the night. He would have to find the little mole quickly. The man cursed under his breath and picked himself up, but then slowed his pace. He felt a strange essence.

  "Found you." He decred.

  Ah, you got me. A strange voice echoed, from the ceiling, ink-bck liquid began to drip, spttering onto the floor below. "??Ψτ." The strange voice said, a nguage sounding almost alien. Slowly, impossibly, it began to rise—shaping itself into the form of a person. Hozi, what a wonderful surprise.

  "Sae-Ryun, I have news for you," Hozi bowed respectfully at a precise 90-degree angle.

  "Sir," Sae-Ryun corrected, the liquid fully building up his form revealing his features. A deep ssh carved from forehead to chin, passing through a cunning, ice blue eye that matched perfectly with his blond hair." Speak, Hozi. Maybe choose your next words carefully."

  "The book has been awakened." Hozi spoke slowly and carefully, hoping he wasn't going to do what he did to the others.

  "Awakened, you say?" Sae-Ryun sounded interested now. It would be good to keep him that way. "Don't be a fool, if the book awakened then go after it. You can trace magical energy, right?"

  "Apologies, sir. We believe someone else awakened it."

  "Somebody else awakened it? The book can awaken itself!" His fist clenched in rage. "That dragon cn....they probably used that."

  "I'm afraid so, sir." Hozi couldn't bear calling Sae-Ryun- that little mole that was younger than him-sir.

  Sae-Ryun seemed to have read his mind. "Oh, and by the way, Hozi what's with the name calling~?" Sae-Ryun's smile twisted into a sneer. "You shouldn't disrespect the next Snake Cn leader, right~?"

  "I simply don't think..."Hozi's voice was unwavering, which neglected the feeling he had inside. "You are qualified to become the next Cn leader."He knew what Sae-Ryun could do to him.

  "I see then. You don't think I'm good enough." Sae-Ryun's voice turned pyful-too pyful. The type of pyfulness that could wrap around your throat and make you trip your own words.

  Hozi was stammering now. "I-I never said that, sir..." Even the word sir left a bitter taste on his mouth. To reassure himself he added: "Please don't fire me sir..."

  "Excellent idea, Hozi." Sae-Ryun cracked his knuckles. Fmes started crackling at the ends of his fingertips, They spiraled together, swelling into a bzing sphere—molten, hungry, and just rge enough to swallow Hozi’s face whole."For that, I'll make your death painless. "?ξ∴§?-The inferno's wrath."

  His hand fred white-hot for a split second—then vanished in a blinding fsh. The fireball went through the air, a comet of living fme, and collided with Hozi’s face before he could take a step back.

  The explosion lit the sky, a wave of heat rippling outward, warping the air and turning nearby books to ash. Hozi’s scream was cut short—slienced out as the fire consumed him in a burst of incandescent fury.

  When the fmes cleared, only scorched wall remained. No trace of Hozi. No bones. No ash.

  "Hah,how pathetic." He rustled his blond hair. "Now I need another one that doesn't bore me."