"The moon's beautiful." Becca said walking with his hands in hers, enjoying the scenery of silent night and the moon's shadow in the lake around them.

Rio looked up and instead of the moon and clouds, all his eyes saw were the magical patterns and drones drawn in the sky, covering the real stars and sky.

"Academy sure opens up their pockets for these stupid events." He couldn't help but say as he remembered how on earth some students had to contribute money themselves for any festival or celebrations, since the college counselors were all cheap as fuck.

"Can you stop ruining the moment?" Rebecca said and clicked her tongue as she looked away, clearly she too now couldn't help but wonder how much it would cost.

"Let's go there." She said pointing at the rows of students on the shore, lighting a candle and watching it float.

When they reached the shore Becca noticed a small round metal golem going around and handing out a paper to every student.

"That's the Norman tradition." Rio said, noticing her curious gaze.

"What?" Rebecca turned her face and asked.

"The thing with the paper, that's the Norman Tradition." Rio said again, but seeing she had no clue what it meant, he shook his head and explained, "Basically you write a wish on that paper with your mana and then wrap it around the candle before lighting it up and letting it fly freely.

If the paper doesn't burn as long as the candle lasts, then it means your wish is accepted by the gods and would be fulfilled."

Hearing the explanation somehow brought a smile to Becca's face, as she grabbed the passing golem and snatched two papers from its hands.

Feeling the texture of sheet, she frowned and looked at him, and without waiting for her question, Rio explained.

"It's normal paper, hence the tradition. If every wish gets accepted, and doesn't get fulfilled, why'd people pray to gods."

"So it's cheating. Of course this paper's gonna burn if you light it up." Becca asked and was ready to throw this shit away, when Rio's words stopped her.

"Well, some say you just gotta pour your heart while writing the wish, and then it wouldn't burn. Let's try it." He said and waved his hand, pulling two candle and cover tops floating on the ground and lakeside with magic strings.

After saying it Rio sat on the ground and started writing down his wish. It was the first time he was doing it, so he was kind of curious.

"No peeking, or it wouldn't work." He said, pushing Becca's head away as she tried to read what he wrote.

"Humph," Becca hummed and turned around and looked at her paper seriously.

'Doesn't hurt to try.' She thought and smiled as she looked at his back and wrote down her wish.

"What's with that smile, you didn't write something weird, did you?" Rio said looming over her figure with a smile.

"Arghh, you…" Becca, who nearly screamed looked up and glared at him, before punching him.

Rio just grabbed her hand and pulled her up, helping her stand. Becca bumped into him and just stayed like that for a few seconds, staring at his face with a flushed expression.

Her heart nearly stuck in her throat and jumped out through her open mouth, as Rio raised her hand and carrased her cheek, fixing a lock of hair behind her ears.'Is he going to…' A wild thought came to her ears, making her blush and close her eyes in expectations, but after waiting for a long few seconds, the sensation she was waiting for didn't come, so she opened her eyes, only to see him laughing at her.

For a second, she really wanted to rush ahead and slap that heavenly handsome face and kiss the life out of him, but as always, her sanity won and she just took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

Unaware what effects his casual actions had on the young princess, or what kind of wild fantasies he survived being a part of, Rio just turned around and spoke up.

"Let's set our wishes on fire, shall we?" He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the river bed.

The cold touch of water washed over their feet, giving a chilling feeling to their bodies. Maybe it was due to dread of night and open air, or just some random magic spell underwater, but the water really felt cold enough that people wanted to jump out of it instantly, but then miss the touch and dip their feet in again. A oddly comforting sensation.

They both walked like that along the waves, ignoring the whispers from the students who recognized them and talked about their relationship like it was some hot topic gossip. When they reached away from the crowd, from where the previous people had just turned into little shadows and dark figures, they both stopped and planned to light their candles.

"What did you write?" Rebecca asked, making a small flame with her mana and igniting the candle carefully.

"What did you write?" Rio shot the same question back at her, chuckling amusedly as she snorted at his response.

They both looked at each other and counted to three before letting go of their candles together. Rio made a small table behind their backs, where they both sat down, their eyes following their lanterns floating together amongst others below the shimmering stars.lightsnovel

As the distance grew more the view they could witness started getting smaller and smaller. Until they both started using their mana to amplify their sight.

A small smile was lingering on Becca's face, while Rio had an amused expression, noticing the flames didn't burn either of their wishing papers.

Even though Becca knew it was nothing but a hoax, or maybe luck, wind, fog or moisture in the air saving it, seeing her wish safe and sound, still made her feel happy.

lightsnοvεl "Do you think gods would listen to us?" Becca said, before slightly leaning against his arms and resting her head on his shoulder.

Rio didn't seem to mind as he too bent his head against hers and kept staring at the stars.

"Maybe who knows." He replied thoughtfully remembering the note of arrogance he had written.

[I want to rule over all the dungeons and towers one day.]

There may be many who wished for clearing them, erasing them, but he was sure, there'd be very few , if any, psychos who'd want to keep these dangers and instead wishes to cover them as their territory.He didn't really think that much about it, he just thought randomly about what would be cool and boss villain worthwhile. As for if there was any truth in the tradition or not, he wasn't sure.

"I hope they do." She replied.

"Well, it's your wish so you might as well fulfill it yourself, why even place your hope on some God to help you anyway." Rio said nonchalantly, his eyes following the papers falling down to the river like graffiti, once the flames died down.

Becca, who heard his words raised her head to look at him, "Rio, I_…" She tried to say something but started hesitating about the words.

Rio turned to look at her as she called him, but widened his eyes, as he saw her staring at him, before closing her eyes and… .

'Did she just…' Rio stared at Becca's face so close and didn't know how to react. Thousands of thoughts trestled through his mind, hundreds of scenarios and memories flashing fast, yet in the end he shelved all of them aside and closed his eyes as he responded to her kiss.

A smile came to Becca's lips and she opened her eyes for a second after seeing his reaction, but then she ignored everything too and just let her heart enjoy the sweet feeling of her first kiss, and the taste of his lips.

On the other side of the riverbed, Saisha who came outside for fresh air after getting bored listening to everyone just praising her and pleasing her, looked at the scene in front of her and a wave of uneasiness coursed through her heart.

Her eyes glanced through the darkness of night, which didn't seem to affect her vision at all, and stayed on their figures. She didn't know what she was feeling or why, but she felt anger.

Her mana which she had always been in full control of started a havoc inside her body, a broken dam hammering her veins, just waiting to be released. And when she finally saw Rio taking the initiative to kiss Rebecca back, she lost it.

Ground beneath her feet cracked in an irregular pattern which spread outward like spiderwebs, making way for the vines crawling from the planet's core and coming out. But unlike her pretty skills which brought forth nature's greenery and signified life, the vines forming now were withered and empty, filled with nothing but malice and darkness.

Unconsciously she ended up using another skill of her goddess Gaya, called "Nature's Nash". (Nature's death.)

The vitality surrounding the whole river started to disappear, as the trees withered and branches turned to ashes. The calm water of river surged into a turbulent wave and formed a violent surge in current, scaring the students still lighting candles nearby.

Their screams breaking her rage mode and bringing a little sanity back to her head.

Thus not in the mood to stay in this place any longer, she just turned around and planned to leave. But just as she moved, a simple paper fell on her head, sliding along the skin of her arms. She raised a hand and pulled it, noticing it was one of the wishing papers every student used.

[I wish we both stay together forever. R & R ❤]

She read the simple line and looked over her shoulder at the 'adulterous' pair behind her, and the same feeling of frustration welled up in her heart again.

'If the paper doesn't burn then the wish will come true.' She remembered the words Jaesin told her about this tradition, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

A small flame appeared on her fingers, burning the wishing paper to ashes. After doing it she just walked away, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips for no reason at all, while the nature everywhere, returned to calm and restored itself with her departure.

Rio suddenly opened his eyes and turned around sensing the changes around him, but before he turned to look back, Rebecca who lost the feeling of kiss, grabbed him and pulled in for another one.

She was inexperienced, extremely so, as Rio could still taste the blood on his lips when she tried to nibble on it lightly, not to mention the awkward movement of her tongue. He smiled thinking how embarrassed she'd be later, or how many days she may avoid him to hide her embarassment and blush, but ignoring those thoughts he held her head and gently guided her, trying to teach her how a kiss worked. Which she seemed not at all interested in noticing, as she had that high on addiction expression.

The pair, not aware that just their one kiss, had started a chain reaction that would be enough to ignite the heavens and burn down empires very very soon.

But that's a saga for future me to write.