It happened faster than a battle against a Lost Soul in Unicorn Way.
It was a typical day in my Marleybonian home. Following my tending to the plants I sat in my room, flipping through the cards that comprised my deck and switching out the ones I didn't need with the ones I wanted. Balance was proving to be such a useless school. I only used a few spells from it. Once I had the means, I'd switch my secondary school to something more useful. Maybe Ice or Life. Something that'd accommodate my Necromancer identity.
My thought processes had been abruptly interrupted by the shattering of windows.
Glass scattered about my bedroom, and a gust whipped through the air with enough force to send me to the wooden floor. When I recovered from the hit I looked up, only to find an imposing figure standing above me. He wore all black, the skull on the back of his cloak pinning him as a Death wizard. But something seemed...different about this Death wizard, and not just because he broke my windows. He emanated an aura of darkness and ice, and the scythe he wielded was unlike any wand I'd seen before. Despite this, however, his features looked rather young: pale skin, coal eyes, and midnight hair.
But those eyes were hard, and they were shooting holes into me.
"Rylee Bluehunter, I presume?" His voice was accented, much like a Marleybonian. But he was no dog nor cat nor rat nor frog. He was...human. Like all wizards.
"Y-Yes, that's me," I replied. Hesitantly I stood, and I winced at just how short I was compared to him. "Who are you?"
"I'm here to spread the cheer of the holidays," he said with few emotions in his voice.
I stared at him blankly.
"I'm kidding," he said, emotions still not present in his voice. "You humans have no sense of humor." He shook his head but not disappointedly. "Anyway, my name is Malorn Duskrider. I'm the Personification of Death and your new trainer."
My eyes widened. "Personification...?"
He smirked. "Oh, come now. You didn't think the seven schools of magic were simply founded from nothing, did you? That headmaster of yours—Ambrose, is it?—was our disciple before he became head of Ravenwood."
"Our?" I inquired.
Death nodded. "The Elements." He outstretched his emaciated hand. "Come. I'll explain more in Alamin, when the others are present."
Despite our abrupt meeting and his dangerous air, my inner-recklessness screamed at me to follow him. So I took his hand.
Malorn smirked. "Glad to see that you're not as foolish as others of your kind."
I nodded. Well, that had yet to be determined, I thought. | 
