A Villain's Survival Guide

The massive glowing blue eye floated in a stormy void above Raine’s head. The iris was mystical, with intricate circular patterns around the pupil, radiating a cold, intimidating aura.

Next to it was a terrifying red eye, much more violent and sinister in tone, as though it could perceive all evil-doings. Its pupil was narrow and intense, surrounded by rough, red textures that made it demonic and commanding.

Those eyes didn’t stop moving. They scraped from location to location with a chilling, methodical sweep... the kind that made one feel seen in the worst possible way, as though missing anything was something they were constitutionally incapable of, and lying before them was simply not something the body dared consider.

Leomaris was used to it by now, which didn’t make it less terrifying, just familiar. He’d tried, early on, to stop seeing them. To switch that part of his ability off, or at least dim it. Nothing had worked.

And then he’d understood why. He wasn’t perceiving those eyes through his ability. Raine was showing them to him through her divine aura.

"How’s Ren? I haven’t seen her in a bit."

The words left him softly, deliberately so.

They were far enough from the others, but the grand library had its own rules about sound. The enormous walls and gigantic shelves carried even the quietest voices in subtle echoes, as though the building itself was listening.

Raine, who had a small book between her fingers, gave Leomaris her attention for a moment. She flickered her white hair backward slightly, almost as if she wanted Leomaris to see her new hairstyle.

"Did you come here just to disturb me? Aren’t you supposed to be pleading with Instructor Mike for destroying his priceless artifact?"

Leomaris shrugged it off the way he shrugged most things off.

Moments ago, during Magic Combat Practice, he had nearly died fighting a dummy. What was meant to be a test had turned into something life and death without permission. That was one of the reasons he’d come here.

"You could be a little kinder to me, couldn’t you? I survived the test, after all. Now, what’s your condition for joining my faction?"

Raine’s expression was unreadable, shading toward cold.

But something had shifted. Leomaris had her attention, genuinely. The book came to rest on the table. She leaned back slightly, and said.

"You survived? You nearly died."

"But I didn’t..."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides, the test wasn’t necessarily over. You were a few seconds away. That last attack would have ended it, but it would have ended you as well."

Leomaris let the conversation run longer than it needed to, his attention only partially in it. He already knew Raine wanted to join his faction, that wasn’t the question. The question was the price.

Her nonchalance was its own kind of answer: she wanted to exploit the situation, squeezing more favors out of it before she committed to anything.

Leomaris let it go on until it had served its purpose, and then, just as deliberately as he’d kept it alive, he ended it.

"So what do you want? You need me as much as I need you. You already know what I can do. Let’s not play games."

Raine was taken aback. She didn’t show it, not exactly, but the composure she maintained cost something this time. She sat with his words longer than she usually did before she spoke.

"I believe you are correct. I don’t know your ability, but I assume it allows you to learn at an incredible pace. That alone is enough to impress me."

She paused briefly.

"However, I need to know... why are you so determined to have me in your faction? If I’m right, you know something about me that I don’t."

A small smile tugged on Leomaris’s lips. ’Of course, I do. I am a reader.’

Raine’s eyes narrowed slightly. So did the two above her head. Leomaris’s throat tightened before he’d decided to react, and he swallowed against it.

"Tell me." Her voice was even. "What do you want?"

He knew what would happen if he tried to lie, the words wouldn’t come, or worse, they would. But he wasn’t lying. He was telling the truth. Half of it, actually. And because of that, the tension didn’t touch him.

"I can’t answer your question. But I can offer you something of equal value... my ability turns anything into a puzzle, and once it’s solved, it becomes mine to control."

He continued without pause, face entirely flat.

"I can help you. Your family... and your eyes. I’ve already promised you that, haven’t I?"

"Hm..." Raine leaned forward, turning Leomaris’s words over in her head.

"So you’re saying this ability can help you find something to prevent my certain blindness?"

"Not necessarily. But I’m certain that with your help, we can find an artifact that reduces your contractual cost by 50%, preventing your blindness."

Raine nodded in agreement. For a brief moment, she seemed satisfied before her thoughts recoiled.

"What do you stand to gain from this?" she asked.

Leomaris paused. His true purpose was survival, but the full truth of that required telling Raine something he couldn’t: that he was destined to die at Lucius’s hand. He sat with the problem for a moment. Then found his way around it.

"To make our comradeship fair... I’ll tell you something I never intended to tell anyone. My contractual cost is memory loss. With time, I might even forget who I am, and I’m trying to prevent that outcome as well."

Raine smiled, faintly amused. "I thought you’d be happy about that. Won’t that make you the new person you are fighting so hard to become?"

Raine noted that her words hadn’t landed kindly and moved past it. She extended her hand to seal the agreement between them, though the words came with it.

"My condition for joining your faction is simple: we support each other whenever necessary. This alliance doesn’t end at the academy. You will inform me of all mission strategies beforehand, and it is in addition to your original promise."

Leomaris smirked and joined his hands together. "You beat me to it. Well, you are my fiancée, after all. I can’t have anything happening to you."

Raine frowned. "Then maybe you should’ve focused on that instead of trying so hard to recruit me into your faction."

Leomaris laughed, and it came out easily enough. His mind, however, had already moved on. Someone was after him, someone with real power behind them, and Raine was the help he needed.

His expression darkened. "What do you make of what happened during the test today?"

Raine’s expression stayed natural. She reached for her book.

"Do I even need to tell you? That wasn’t normal. I’ve seen mage dummies before, but never one that acted like that."

Those wine-coloured eyes lifted and found Leomaris.

"One of your enemies came after you, didn’t they? Could it be Emerald?"

Leomaris shook his head in disagreement.

"It can’t be Emerald. If it were, then she’d have to be hiding her actual rank. Whoever’s doing this is beyond the level of a Magician."

Raine nodded slightly. "I think so. The level of hatred people have toward you isn’t natural either."

Leomaris’s expression dimmed. He’d thought about it enough. Defeating whoever was behind it might not be possible, but any hint of what or who they were was more than he had now.

"Can you help me?"

"Huh?" Raine’s eyes darted up from the pages to Leomaris’s face. She held the confusion for a moment, and then, without drama, realisation settled in behind it.

"So... I take it you’ve already figured out something about my ability too?"

He smiled first. "Not entirely."

A gesture toward the eyes floating above her head.

"I can see those eyes. I just figured your ability had something to do with seeing."

Raine panicked. "Eyes?"

"Don’t worry. Only I can see it... though I think you’re unintentionally revealing it to me."

Raine’s hands went up instinctively, passing over her head as if that might do something about the eyes. It didn’t, of course.

"I’m sorry," she said. "It must be terrifying seeing eyes above me all the time."

"Don’t worry... I’m completely fine with it."

Raine took a deep breath and braced herself. "I don’t know if it’ll work... but I think I can do something."

Leomaris accepted her words warmly enough. The paranoia arrived almost at the same time, quiet and insistent, already asking questions about what it might be.