Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ambrose looked over his mystical globe. The globe has helped him many times and today it would do so again. He was going to discover something legendary. He casts another spell, and he finally sees something.

“A-ha! The spell is working! Look Gamma, we finally found them!” He exclaimed to his owl friend while dropping his staff in both excitement and surprise. Gamma shakes his sleepiness away and turned his head toward the headmaster. After the Owl said his who, Ambrose explained.

“Two young wizards! Students with amazing potential… enough, perhaps, to save Wizard City!” He said while waving his hands around the crystal ball. The owl asked another question, but this time asking where these powerful wizards might be.

“A very, very distant realm...” the old man whispered. He looked into the ball more and his eyes widened. Adjusting his monocle, he let out a soft gasp.

“My goodness! On a world that does not even believe in magic!” He uttered in surprise. Sure, he knew some people didn't believe in magic, but for powerful wizards to come from a place that doesn't even believe in it? Well, that's just obviously not common.

“I wonder what manner of wizard they might become,” he said and scratched his semi-long beard. He picked up his staff he dropped earlier and cast another spell with the intention of inviting the new students to the school.

In a couple of minutes, two kids showed up. Both came in wearing the typical Ravenwood uniform with red and gold as their colors instead of their class colors. The girl somehow landed on her bottom and was on the verge of screaming while the boy was holding his head and groaning. Merle walked up to the kids and started talking to them.

“Welcome to Ravenwood, the school of magical arts!” He said. The old man in front of them drew the kid’s attention. They saw his purple robe patterned by stars. He also had a matching hat. He could’ve walked out of a con as far as they were concerned.

“I am the headmaster of Ravenwood. I have summoned you two cause I saw the great potential in you two, but this is quite a special case. You two don't know anything about magic, which will be fixed right here!” The Headmaster continued despite the confusion of the children. The boy finally pulled the younger girl up from the ground while Merle talked. When Ambrose saw the girl had finally gotten up, he paused his little speech and gave many apologies, which the girl accepted with no trouble. The boy, on the other hand, glared a bit at the elder man. It was obvious that these two students were very different personality-wise.

“Anyway, first, we need to find out what class you two belong in. For that, we must consult the Book of Secrets!” he finally concluded. He waved his arms toward a pedestal with a book on it. Suddenly, the book woke up.

"Who wants to go first?" The girl with short brown hair walked towards the pedestal. She read the first question on the test and she looked back at Ambrose, confused as to what to do. He made a tapping motion with his finger and she got the hint. She tapped her answer and the book flipped its page to the next question.

She looked back at the headmaster, who gave her a friendly nod. Moving her head back to the page, she starts reading the current question and chooses her answer again. This process, minus checking back on Ambrose to see if she was doing the test right, went on for a couple of minutes. Sometimes she would go on to ponder some questions, but most of them were fairly easy.

When she finally finished, the book glowed green and a leaf symbol floated above the book. She looked back at the wise man again and he told her to stand still and nothing bad was happening. The leaf symbol floated onto her chest, right where the yellow circle on her robe was. Then, her clothes went from red and gold to green and brown. She fully turned back and looked at the boy and the master wizard. Her face was in complete shock, but the master couldn't tell if it was negative or not until she finally spoke.

“Oh, my gosh! That was so cool!” The teen girl shouted and ran towards the boy. Before he could say anything, she pushed him towards the book, impatiently waiting for him to take the test. He looked down at the book and saw her results. She was a Theurgist, or a life wizard, according to the book. Ambrose saw that he wasn't doing anything and reached for the book. He tore the page and handed it to the girl. The older boy saw the page regrow in the book and then it flipped its pages all the way back to the first question.

The boy tried to not think too much about what just happened and tried to replicate the way the girl took the test. He took longer to answer each question than his sister did and when he finally finished the last one, he saw the book glow purple. A cloud with lightning coming out of it came off the page. As the leaf from earlier did, it landed on his chest in the same yellow circle. His clothes went from red and gold to purple and yellow.

“Now that you've finally found your schools, how about you two introduce yourselves?” The professor spoke as he tore the page and gave it to the boy. Like before, the page grew back. The boy stepped away from the pedestal and stood next to the girl, who was still reading her test results as if she was studying the words on that page.

“Now, what are your names?” He finally asked. He closed the book on the pedestal and turned towards them, giving them his undivided attention as he waited for their answer.

“My name is Evan and my sister's name is Natasha, Tasha for short,” the teen male, Evan, said while pointing towards his sister as he said her name. She smiled brightly. Meanwhile, his face was somewhat scolded, not liking this situation and wishing to take him and his sister home. The old man looked confused and spoke.

“Do you two not have any last names?” he asked. Tasha was about to answer, but Evan spoke up.

“No, we don't. Nobody knows who our parents were, and nobody gave us a last name.” Tasha looked up at him in confusion, but he held his finger to his mouth.

“hmm… I might have a solution for this,” the elder man walked around the room to a scroll and looked through it. The kids watched silently. Tasha kept her distance from the man, but she tried to take a peek at the scroll’s contents. Evan had his arms crossed and watched him judgementally. When he finally found what he was looking for, he wrote some stuff down on paper.

“How about the name Lotusleaf?” The elder man asked while still writing, but not really looking at them. Evan just shrugged. His sister, on the other hand, placed her hand on her chin, as if she was wondering something super important when it really was just a name.

Evan took the time to actually look down at his paper. It said he was a diviner, or a storm wizard. He didn't understand any of this, and it made him quite frustrated. Before his anger could cloud up, Ambrose said something.

“I don't hear any disagreements, so we'll go along with these names. You two will be known as Evan and Tasha Lotusleaf.” He clapped his hands and turned back to them. Before he could say another word, Evan opened his mouth.

“Can you explain why we're here? Your 'magic’ was cool and all, but I want an actual explanation.” Evan sounded quite angry. His grey eyes filled with frustration, his arms crossed again, and he waited for some type of explanation.

“My, My, we need to have quite the talk about how this world works. Hmm… let's get out of this small room and go outside to let you breathe.” Ambrose said and he started to walk out towards the door. His owl friend followed him and so did the kids, having nowhere else to go.

The siblings looked outside of the tower to see the Commons. It had such a friendly vibe, especially with all the other kids running around, playing with their pets, fishing in the pond, and so many more activities. Along the houses that surrounded the Commons was an arch with the name, "Ravenwood", on it. Evan saw a giant tree behind the arch and paid no mind to it, observing the other buildings on their way to Golem Court.

The houses were similar to the rest of the houses in the Commons, white bricks and colorful roofs. He accidentally looked into one of the houses and saw a family of anthropomorphic cats, which caused him to look at the other side of the street in horror. Continuing up the hill, they saw the fairgrounds. Several people were riding the carousel, and others were waiting in line to get into some tents. Not nearly the same active energy as in the Commons, but still looked like it could be fun. Again, they both saw anthropomorphic animals hanging around and left both of them confused.

Then, they finally entered Golem Court.
“Here we are!” Ambrose's voice raised. No one was really there other than the two students and Gamma. When the four met at the circle pavement in front of the singular tower, the Owl spoke.

“Hellooo! My name is Gamma the Owl, and I am quite pleased to meet yooou!” he spread his wings as he flew above the ground and up to the new students. They were both surprised by his ability to talk, but Tasha was more excited while Evan kept close to his sister, just in case this was a bad sign.

“I'm sure you're confused by this whole wizarding thing and I'll try my best to explain it! Wizards test their skills by summoning fantastic creatures and dueling! To become a master wizard, you must learn every spell in your class!” The owl continued on, lecturing the two about what wizards are. Tasha listened carefully as he spoke more, while Evan was just looking around the area. The owl continued on about how wizards love to duel and how to become a master wizard, but before he could say anything else, the ground shook and it rained. Evan looked up to see that a figure was inside the tower, and so did Ambrose.

“How odd! Come along. Let's investigate the matter!” He said and started walking towards the tower. Gamma stayed where he was and told the kids to follow the man, which the two did, and went into the tower as well. The siblings walked to the top floor of the tower and saw Ambrose confront a sinister man who was shifting through books.

“Malistaire!” Ambrose said. The tall figure had two dragon-looking folks beside him. He wore black robes, black hair, black nails, and even black sclera to go with his menacing aesthetic. The man held a dark staff as well with a gold dragon hugging a red globe on top of the staff.

“Ambrose,” The tall man sneered.

“You are no longer welcome here! Why have you returned?” The headmaster said.

“I'm here to resolve our unfinished business!” He growled at Merle. The man named Malistaire looked at the two students who just entered. Tasha started to shake in fear and Evan held her protectively.

“Are these your latest students? My henchmen will see to your little friends!” He moved his hand to point at the two teens while talking. His henchmen followed his command and started flying toward the students. The dragons blocked the door before the two could escape.

“Take this deck of spell cards and deal with those creatures while I tend to Malistaire himself!” He threw two decks of cards at the students and they caught them.

“Don't be so sure of yourself, old man!” Malistaire sneered before attacking Ambrose.

Tasha took a card out for armor and suddenly shields appeared in front of both of them and the henchmen ran into them, being unable to do any damage, but did cause them to fly away from the door. The shields disappeared after the attack. One of the dragons took the opportunity to breathe fire on them while they were down.

“Agh!” Evan screeched in pain and he started to look through his deck. He took a storm snake out and summoned it. The snake attacked the dragon, causing the other henchman to attack the snake. Tasha looked for a card as well and found a spell that had a unicorn on it. Taking it out, the unicorn came out of nowhere and walked towards the two, and laid its head down to bow. Its horn sparkled and sprouted a rainbow at them before disappearing.

“Foolish creatures! You've let the young whelps heal!” Malistaire shouted at his henchmen. The siblings looked at themselves and saw that any burns they got from before were totally gone.

“Defeat the whelps or you'll suffer for it!” He threatened, which caused his henchmen to flinch. They got back to battle and the other henchmen attempted to scratch at Tasha, but she moved away just in time.

Evan pulled out a card and before he could see what he pulled out, the room started to fill up with water and two giant waves came up from his feet and hit the two dragons. They coughed and groaned from all the water and then suddenly fainted.

“Excellent work, young wizard! Now, let me see to Malistaire… I'll show him… threatening new students!” The old man looked furiously at the tall man in the tower. Ambrose was casting a spell, but Malistaire did not flinch.

“Another time, old man… I have what I came for. And now, I'll take my leave of this wretched place, ” he said as he disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke.

“He's gone!” Tasha shouted.

“And none too soon! What sinister goal brought him here? Hmm…” he pondered and walked towards the two new students. The two looked at him, Tasha with worry and Evan with exhaustion.

“On the bright side, congratulations! Defeating Malistaire’s henchmen was no easy task,” he said and patted the two on the back. Tasha softly smiled and Evan scratched his face nervously, but the frustration seemed to have been wiped off his face for now.

“I have to go and sort some papers, but before I go, you two will need a spell book and a wand.” He handed them two wands and conjured up two books. The books both had the same design, a dark maroon cover with a golden spiral on the cover and some gold tips at the edges. On the opposite side, the wands looked nothing alike. Evan’s wand has a yellow handle and at the top, there was a big purple star. Tasha's wand was just a stick with a couple of leaves here and there, but Tasha seemed to like it. She waved the wand as if she were a child pretending to be a wizard casting spells.

“No wizard should be without them,” Ambrose said. Evan focused more on the man this time rather than Tasha, who was still checking out her wand.

“I should say, I am quite impressed with your courage. There is little doubt that a great destiny awaits you," He continued. Evan slightly smirked but rolled his eyes.

“Who knows? Maybe one of you two will fill my shoes and become headmaster someday.” He chuckled at the thought. The other two couldn't help but chuckle as well.

“But now, if you'll excuse me, I have a mountain of duties to attend to right now, including readying your enrollment! I'll pop back into my office and straighten up… so many papers to tidy up.” He whispered those last few sentences, trying to keep the other two from knowing his untidiness.

“I'll summon you when things are presentable. See you soon!” He sparkled away and left the two alone in the tower. Evan sat down and Tasha followed.

“Are you okay Evan?” She asked. He looked at her concerned face.

“Don't worry about me,” he patted her head.

“Do you still have any burns?” he shook his head. They then continued with minor questions like this about their current situation. They had no idea what was going to happen in the future, but they tried to take it light-heartedly.

“Wasn't that fight kinda cool, though?” Tasha raised her fists up and had stars in her eyes. She was more excited than expected for the fight, which for him was much more stressful.

“I honestly have no idea what happened, I ran on pure instinct,” he laughed.

"Still, it was awesome! I bet that one book series didn't start out-"

"Don't mention that series, please." He pleaded despite laughing. The two laughed for a bit before calming down, leading Evan to talk again. "I doubt anything that interesting will happen, anyway."

"You're gonna eat your words." She giggled.

"Yeah, yeah." He smirked before instinctively going for his phone, only to realize it wasn't on him. "This is going to be something, that's for sure."

"Oh, I need to ask." Tasha pulled him out of his thoughts. "Why did you lie about our last name?"

"Can you blame me for not wanting to be totally up front with that guy?" Evan said. "I don't like being randomly kidnapped."

"I think it's preferable to not be kidnapped at all."

"You know what I mean!" He huffed.

"Now that I think about it, that weird envelope we got mentioned a magical school."

"You actually read the junk mail?"

"Forgive me for being bored while being stuck in my room all day." She rolled her eyes at him.

"You will fall for scam mail one day, I swear."

"Shut up!" She pushed his face until his head laid on the wall. She could feel his laughter through her hand. The girl finally relented and put her hands back on her wand as she continued observing it. They continued talking until they disappeared from the tower.

Chapter Text

Tasha and Evan found themselves in a new room. No longer were they in the Golem Tower, but they were now at the Headmaster's office. The room was much cleaner than the inside of the tower. It had hints of red and gold, which the two figured must be the school’s colors, since the school banner that was on the wall behind his desk was red and gold as well, with a tree in the middle of the banner.

“My apologies for the excitement. Welcome, now, to the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, Tasha and Evan!” Merle said as he walked towards the two of them. Evan continued to observe the room as Tasha listened to everything the wise wizard had to say. “Now, on to your enrollment," Ambrose said.

Evan could see the messiness that still plagued Ambrose's office, even after he cleaned it. There were areas where he could see piles of books on the floor. For a moment, he was just counting the piles before Ambrose continued.

“There are seven magic instructors here in Ravenwood. You should visit each one of them to get to know them better.” He held up seven fingers while speaking about the teachers. "The classrooms are circling the Great Tree, Bartleby. Return to me when you're finished!”

When they walked out of his office, they could see that people were still outside, just like before. Tasha held onto Evan's arm as they walked down the cobblestone road to Ravenwood. Evan noticed students staring at him and he noticed detailed embroidery on their uniforms that his uniform lacked. One girl came up to them.

“I don't think I've seen you two around before? Are you new?” The girl bluntly asked. She had a similar uniform, but it was white and black. Her uniform had a skull on her chest and black vines embroidered into her clothes.

“Yes, we are," Evan simply stated. Tasha waved as a greeting and the girl reluctantly waved back. She then looked over at the boy.

“I saw you walking towards Golem Tower earlier, I believe. What happened?” The girl turned her head right at Evan's face. Evan backed off from her a bit and before he could answer or say anything, Tasha jumped in.

“There was this crazy guy in the tower, I think his name was Malistaire, and-” Tasha could not finish her sentence before she was interrupted.

“Wow! You saw Malistaire?!” the girl shouted in excitement. Tasha nodded. Evan laid his face in his hands and groaned.

“Yep! And he had some kind of henchmen there and we ended up defeating them! That guy then ran away by disappearing into smoke or magic stuff!” Tasha talked excitedly. The black-haired girl’s eyes widened, but she didn't bother to ask anymore questions. She ran into a group of students. Tasha shrugged and dragged Evan back to their destination.

“That won't go well. I can just feel it,” Evan speculated as Tasha dragged his sleeve to the entrance of Ravenwood. It seemed like Tasha didn't hear him, being far more interested in her surroundings. For a moment, all he could imagine was all the horrible troubles that could come from them being well known. The last thing he would want is to have so many eyes on him. As they walked into the school area, they were shocked by what they saw.

The main thing catching their attention is the giant tree in the center of the school. It had the face of an old man. They knew there would be a tree, and this tree must've been the “Bartleby” that Ambrose mentioned, but they didn't expect it to be as big as it was. The tree took up a good portion of Ravenwood. They walked over the path that held seven small symbols. "Evan! Look at the pattern on the floor!" Tasha let go of Evan's arm and observed the circular pattern beneath them. Evan sighed, but looked down and instantly became curious.

They managed to walk to the middle, where there was a red scale within a circle. Neither of them knew what it could mean, but Tasha didn't care as she ran right into another circle. Evan slowly followed behind as he tried to actually observe the symbols on the floor, trying to memorize them and guess their meaning. They saw a symbol with a storm cloud, which looked about the same as the cloud on Evan's uniform. They also saw several symbols on the floor including a snowflake, a flame, a triangle with an eye in it, and finally, the leaf symbol that was identical to Tasha's insignia on her uniform. There was also a circle with a skull in it, like the uniform of the girl they just met, but it was hard to see with the cracks in the cobblestone.

Right when Evan was done observing the leaf symbol, he looked up to see another person. At least, they looked like a human person at first glance before taking a better look at his face. Right in front of the elder tree was a dog standing on two legs. Not only was he standing on two legs, but he looked quite dapper as well. He wore a neat reddish-brown suit with a little top hat and monocle. Evan assumed he must've been one of the professors. He took Tasha's hand and walked towards the dog person, planning to introduce themselves.

“Hello? We're the new students on a Ravenwood… tour?” Evan hesitantly spoke. The dog’s ears twitched forward as he looked down to see the young man. Evan stood back a bit while Tasha inched closer.

“Jolly good to meet you then, young students! Allow me to introduce myself.” The dog said. He had a British accent, which was quite a weird cherry on top with everything else. “I am Arthur Wethersfield. I am originally from Marleybone, which is a much different world than this.” While talking, the dog would move his monocle and his top hat every so often. Despite his posh-looking attire, he had a friendly attitude towards them as he spoke and was clearly passionate about his subject.

“As a lad, I was always interested in magic, but they don't practice magic in Marleybone. When I got older, I spent many years studying here in Ravenwood. For the last ten years, I've been in Krokotopia. I came back to train students in a form of magic called “Sorcery” that deals with the Balance of all things. It is more advanced than the other schools and harder to master, but its power is unbelievable! Come by later if you want to learn more. Cheers!” The dapper dog went on about his backstory.

The professor gave them a goodbye and the two new students walked away. The dog just sat down on one of his suitcases, waiting for classes to start as he opened a book to start reading.

“Hey, that place looks like it might be your class Evan!” Tasha pointed towards their right. Evan turned his head and saw a building with purples, yellows, and rain. The rain came from a tree with a face like the Great Tree, but it was more sad-looking and much smaller in comparison. He nodded and they walked under the arch with the school symbol and towards the building. When they walked in, they could feel the sparks in the air. The desks were etched with lightning and the building was covered in deep purples and yellows. The windows were wet with rain from the tree outside. The classroom was filled with desks placed together like a high school class, with a rug in the middle separating them. The rug led to a teacher's desk at the front of the class.

“Ah! Some new students!” The frogman, standing on both legs, started greeting them. He was wearing a suit and top hat, not unlike the dog from before, except his clothes had patterns of purple stripes and lightning bolts attached to his coat's buttons. He leaned on his cane and urged the two to come closer. “Welcome to the School of Storm, also known as Divination! For those, like you-” The frog pointed his cane at Evan, right at the storm on his chest. Evan backed up at the sudden interaction. The storm professor then continued.

“Those who have chosen to master this magic, are known as Diviners! I am Professor Halston Balestrom, Master Inventor! Oh, yes, and Professor of Storm Magic.” Balestrom had a British accent, not unlike Arthur from before. Evan started to wonder how many British animals he was going to meet as Tasha just listened to the professor, even though she wouldn't be taking his class. He spoke energetically to the new students. “Who can master the power of the Storm Lords and the sea? Anyone who can harness their creativity! You look like a smart one! Check back when you are ready to release your inner thunder!” The frog mainly looked at Evan while talking. Tasha walked out and Evan followed. They could immediately see the Ice Tree upon exiting. Frost and snow covered the tree, which had a jolly expression. Feeling an intense cold, they went inside the ice building, only to be met with a similar icy breeze.

“Welcome, dearies!” They saw a small elderly fairy with a small blue wand welcoming them. The building was covered in blues and whites with snowflakes along with frost on the windows. “I am Lydia Greyrose, the Ice Magic Professor. Ice Magic, or Thaumaturgy, is not for the impatient or flighty! My goodness, no!” Evan observed the room. The class was very similar to the storm class, but it had an ice theme. Even the desks were ordered similarly, with all of them facing the front of the classroom, towards the teacher, and separated by a light blue rug in the middle of the room.

“You'll need to study hard to learn Ice Magic, but I am sure you can be great at it. And I'll always offer a hand to any student who needs it.” Evan took his little sister’s hand, and they left the classroom just like before, with Lydia waving them both off. Tasha smiled as she left the classroom. She, unlike Evan, was really excited to see all the classrooms. Evan just wanted to get this all out of the way. He still needed a few moments to absorb everything that was going on.

They went outside and went towards the Fire Tree. The Fire Tree, where instead of normal leaves, the top half of the tree was ablaze and scared Evan away to the other side of the sidewalk, pulling Tasha with him, to avoid the flames and heading into the classroom. The classroom was much like the Storm and Ice building, but they felt warmth as they walked in. The inside was coated in orange and fire paint on the walls and desks. Along with the fire patterns, there were burn marks on the ceiling and floor. They walked towards the teacher's desk and saw a pretty lady, who had hair that was shaped into a flame.

“Hello. Welcome to the School of Fire. I'm Madame Falmea.” the fire professor said without looking up from her paperwork. Evan, annoyed, knocked on her desk. She looked up and dropped her pen down and stood up. “Ah, yes, you're new students here. You definitely have that spark about you.” She gave an awkward smile. As she was about to continue, a bell rang. The young student's eyes widened, but Falmea assured them that nothing bad would happen since it was their first day. She went on to talk about the School of Fire, even when students started coming in.

“Here, I instruct students how to be powerful Pyromancers! But fire can be quite dangerous. We must not be rash, lest we destroy that which we mean to achieve.” The woman continued for a bit, but once a good part of the class came in, there were many gasps in the classroom. All three of them in the front looked to see students gawking at the new kids. In just a moment, the classroom went from quiet gasps to full of loud questions, filling the entire room. ”Settle down everyone. What's going on?”

“These two took care of Malistaire's henchmen in Golem Tower. Quite the accomplishment, I gotta say.” A boy spoke out. He had his hand on his chin. He said it as if the two were still under him despite their accomplishment. “Which is quite interesting because one of them is literally just a Life Wizard. Aka, can't hit wizard.”

“Can you please stop saying foolish things?” A girl with black hair and yellow eyes spoke up. She had darker skin and thin golden eyes that had a tinge of disgust over the gatekeeping behavior of her classmates.

“You calling me a fool even though you're a life wanna-be?” The boy spoke. The class giggled at his remark as the girl's face darkened with anger. She gave him a quick mean look before looking back at the new students that were the objects of interest at the moment.

“You've probably gotten this a lot already, but welcome to Ravenwood. I am Aika Kimura from Mooshu. I hope we can become great classmates.” The girl said. Other students started pushing their way towards the siblings, trying to introduce themselves. Eventually, Falmea was able to guide the two students out of the chaotic classroom so they could finish their tour.

“Please don't go telling kids stuff like that next time.” Evan went off, assuming that Tasha talking to the girl earlier caused the commotion in the fire class. Tasha only pouted in response. Suddenly, they both stopped walking. “What in the world..?" Evan and Tasha walked to the edge of a giant hole. Rocks floated in the void plateau. It was as if something was supposed to be there in the crater, but it was empty, with only a few floating rocks here and there. As the two were scanning the hole, a bunch of students noticed them. Silent gasps and a boy with black hair and green eyes walked toward them. They looked away from the hole and looked at the boy.

“Have you come looking for the Death School? Well, you found where it used to be.” The green-eyed boy said. He made it sound like it was just a fun fact, but something in his tone of voice made it sound like he was slightly sad. Like he was mourning the Death School, but was trying to hide it. “This gaping chasm is all that is left after it was torn from Ravenwood. The old Death Professor, Malistaire, disappeared along with it.” The silent mourning only became more apparent as the boy continued. He tried to keep a sly smirk as he continued to talk. If this was meant to be an introduction like the others before, it didn't feel like it. There was no school building, the person introducing the subject wasn't even an adult, and the atmosphere wasn't what they could have expected. Instead of meeting cool or hot air, they just felt emptiness.

“Oh, I'm Malorn Ashthorn. I don't mean to boast, but I used to be one of Malistaire's top students. Now, I'm about all that's left.” he waved his hand above them, signifying the empty space behind him. “So I try to teach the new students. So, I teach Death spells, or "Necromancy". If you're up for it, stop by at any time.” Malorn gave them a wink as he concluded. He stepped a little closer and asked something.

“Did you two really defeat Malistaire's henchmen?” Malorn asked. As he popped the question, the students behind him grouped up closer. Evan just brought his hands to his face and accepted his certain doom. Tasha nodded at him. Students in white and black came even closer, with two students practically on top of Malorn.

“Where did it happen again?” One student on top of Malorn asked. It was a girl with green eyes, pale skin, and brown hair held together in a ponytail. She had an accent that sounded British to the two. Although Evan was a little more unsure of the origin of her accent, for she didn’t sound like the two professors from before. Maybe she was Irish? He peaked through his fingers to see who asked.

“Golem something. We were in some kind of tower," Tasha said. The girl's eyes widened up.

“You mean Golem Court?” She responded.

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Evan said. The boy next to her scoffed a bit.

“Do you think he's great or something now just because he supposedly defeated some henchmen? I bet they're lying for attention.” The dark-skinned boy said to her. The girl's head tilted in confusion.

"I just wanted a normal day," Evan said as he hid his face again.

"Yeah, I'm sure-"

“Can you not harass the new students?” Malorn said under him. Duncan's face darkened, and he just turned away as the other boy giggled.

The group of students behind him started nagging at Malorn, and he guided the group out of Ravenwood. The only person remaining was the girl from before.

“Sorry about Duncan. He can kinda be a jerk, but he doesn’t mean it. My name is Elizabeth Polley and I'm from Marleybone! Where are you from?” The girl introduced herself.

“This is Evan! He's quite a dummy, even though he likes to act like he isn't.” Tasha said. Evan silently protested the way she was introducing him. The girl put her hand on his mouth. “And I'm Tasha! We come from Earth!”

“Oooh, I've never heard of that place before.” The girl turned her head in interest, but before she could ask anymore questions, she got called in by Malorn. “I hope we can meet again sometime!”

Once they passed the crater, they saw a yellow and blue building in front of them. Walking in, the two were greeted with a face similar to the one they saw before in Golem Tower.

"I don't trust this-" Evan whispered to his sister before he was interrupted.

"Over here!" The professor shouted, causing Evan to jump a little. Even Tasha's shoulders jumped like she was a cat, but they had no choice but to move forward. They could see his long, judgemental face. Unlike the tall man in the tower, the professor standing was bald and his skin wasn’t as pale as light itself. His blue eyes cut through their defenses and guessed their intentions.

“Let me guess. Another wizard want-to-be taking the Ravenwood tour? How quaint. I wish they would send us some adept pupils for once…” The tall man shook his head in frustration. Evan was already mad about being judged and Tasha backed off a bit, wondering what she did wrong. Holding his breath in, Evan could sense the no-nonsense tone of the room. Every kid in the room remained silent, which wasn't common from the last two classes. When students saw them, they talked and could even be obnoxious towards them.

“Well, if you wish to attempt to learn some myth spells, come back later and I will see how well you pay attention. Now, leave me alone.” The tall professor, before even introducing his name, had already started to brush the kids out of his nonexistent hair.

"I guess he wasn't the Malistaire guy?" Tasha said once they left the building.

"Then who was that?" Evan said.

"We should ask the Headmaster."

"I would prefer not to, but fine." Evan sighed. They walked past the tree with one eye and saw a green building, just like the last few buildings.

When they walked in, they could feel the peaceful atmosphere radiating in the classroom. In front of the classroom, they could see a female cow on her two legs. Tasha went ahead of Evan and greeted her with a hand wave. The students were surprisingly silent about the two arrivals, but Evan knew the class wasn’t as intense as the last class because the students were talking among themselves about random stuff.

“Welcome, my dear young wizard,” The lady cow said to the young girl, not noticing Evan. The clothes on the young girl made it obvious to the life professor that this student would be her new pupil. “I am Moolinda Wu, professor of the School of Life. This school celebrates the living, ever-green power of creation and vitality," she said. Tasha enjoyed hearing her speak. She was probably paying more attention to this teacher than all the other teachers. It just connected to her for some reason.

“If you listen carefully to your surroundings,” one of Moolinda’s ears twitched up. “You'll hear Life Magic all around. Just a few notes can heal one’s troubles, purify one’s spirit, and restore life.”

The young Life Student had a wide smile on her face while hearing Moolinda. For some reason, her words really spoke to her, and she only wished to know more.

“Soon I will teach you how. Come visit me when you're ready to learn more.” Moolinda took out her green fan and whooshed the two students out. They finally walked out of the tunnel of Ravenwood and went back into Ambrose's office. He patted the students on the shoulders when he saw them return.

“Did you two visit all the classes Ravenwood has to offer?” Ambrose gave a sweet smile, the kind you'd imagine a sincere old man would give. The two nodded in response. “Good! I hope you liked all the Ravenwood instructors. If you want, you can wander about to see what all of Wizard City has to offer.”

Tasha hopped up and down in place, ready for Ambrose to dismiss the two so she could head on out. Evan, however, still had questions.

"There was a teacher that looked exactly like Malistaire! How do we know it's not him?"

"Are you referring to the Myth Professor?"

"I don't know, but he looks a lot like him! How can we know it's not a disguise or something?"

"You've heard that Malistaire used to work here, right?" The two nodded. "He has a twin brother and he happens to be the Myth Professor. They both studied in the Dragonspyre Academy before coming here to teach magic. He is a good professor and I trust Cyrus wholeheartedly."

"He seems to be a rather rude teacher." He rolled his eyes.

"Well… yes, his methods are far stricter than other teachers. He's said that's how it worked in the Dragonspyre Academy."

"So-"

"So he just happens to be his brother and isn't evil!" Tasha blurted out. Ambrose nodded. "Good, cause I want to look around Wizard City already!" She stepped in front of Evan and hopped in place. Ambrose chuckled at her excitement before speaking again.

“As a reward for visiting all the instructors, here's your first spell card!” Ambrose handed the students two cards, one for each. Tasha got a card saying “Minor Heal” and Evan got a card saying “Lightning Strike”. The two stood there confused for a moment, not knowing what to do with them. Ambrose recognized the confused looks and helped them out a bit. “Here, give me those cards and your spell book.” The two gave him what he asked for and he walked to his desk. The two walked closer to his desk to see what he was doing. He opened Tasha's book first, opening to an empty page. He put the Minor Heal spell on the page, and the page lightened up. Soon, the entire page turned into a page about Minor Heal. Tasha took the book and looked at the page.

“How about you try it?” Ambrose handed the spell book and the Lightning Strike card to Evan. He slowly opened the book and treaded to find an empty page, which didn't take very long. He placed the spell card down and the same thing as before with Tasha's book happened to him. When the light stopped, the page also went from empty to a new page about Lightning Strike. Evan took the book off the table and followed Tasha as she quickly left the building. Ambrose waved them goodbye.

The two first walked near the pond. In the middle of the pond, there was a statue of two students and some kind of writing on the plaque that neither of them could read because they weren't close enough. Evan decided to just sit down and Tasha followed him. Classes were going on, so for once, the area near the pond was empty. The emptiness gave Evan anxiety.

“Maybe I should've asked Ambrose if we're exempt from class or not?” Evan asked and chuckled nervously. Tasha shrugged. They assumed that there wasn't much they could do and Evan laid down on the ground and Tasha giggled. She opened her book and started reading from what little the book had. Evan ended up falling asleep, and the two stayed like that for a couple of hours. Tasha would pick at some flowers and practiced Minor Healing on a wilting flower nearby, but Evan kept snoring through it all. She even got up and looked around the Commons, but there was nobody there. All the nearby tunnels were closed and even the Fairgrounds was closed. She sat down next to her brother in boredom.

After a final bell, students started coming out of the Ravenwood Tunnel. Tasha nudged Evan to wake him up. Before anyone could come up to them and bother them, Evan grabbed Tasha and ran around a bit until they found a building. They walked in and immediately was face to face with a dog man sitting at the desk. Instead of being a brown pinscher, like the Balance instructor was, he was a schnauzer wearing glasses. His black nose was within a book, not paying attention to the opening door.

The two didn't bother the Librarian and went to look for books. Tasha looked for books in the school she was in, but Evan got distracted by history books about worlds of the Spiral. Tasha saw he wasn't picking up storm books and chuckled. She picked up one book about Storm, just in case he had forgotten to. Once done, they sat under a flight of stairs and read together in silence. They just stayed and read for the rest of the night.

The next day, they finally separated for their classes. They were fast learners, with both being able to summon the first level creature in their respective classes on their first day. The day didn't have too much chaos until Ambrose called them into his office once again.

“What is it, old man?” Evan asked as he barged in. Tasha laughed from what he had said. Ambrose walked up to them while holding a letter, his hand shaking anxiously.

“There's a problem on Unicorn Way that absolutely must be dealt with, and you two should be able to help. It will also let you see more of Wizard City!” Ambrose said. Evan furrowed his eyebrows, seriously not ready for another big fight like the one with Malistaire. Tasha, on the other hand, got excited and jumped up to cover Evan's mouth so he couldn't possibly protest. The old man handed him the letter. It had an ornate wax seal. “Please deliver this letter to Private Stillson at the Unicorn Way gate. He will let you through. Good luck!” He waved them goodbye as they left the building. When they left, Evan started talking.

“Tasha, are you seriously excited?” He saw her hopping in her step. She nodded in response to his question. He sighed. The area in the Commons was empty once again. They silently walked to the gate for Unicorn Way and immediately heard a man yell at them.

“None shall pass! Unicorn Way is off-limits. There are ghosts everywhere!” He halted the two students. He wore a helmet and wore the Ravenwood symbol on his cloak above his armor. He held a spear, which intimidated Evan. Tasha assumed this was Private Stillson, and before Evan could try to walk away, she took the letter from Evan's hands and showed it. He took one look at the ornate seal and backed off. “Ah, a letter from the Headmaster! You two are very brave to bring this to me. I'll let you pass. Show this to Private Connelly in Unicorn Way.”

He gave the two a warning right before opening the gate. Without hesitation, Tasha ran in and Evan followed, trying to catch up with her.

Chapter Text

When the siblings both walked past the gate, signs with skeleton heads greeted them. They looked like they were there as a warning, but it only made Tasha more curious. Evan had to grab her arm to keep her from moving ahead of him.

Evan observed the street entrance they were at. They were in the middle of a circle with a minor road up ahead of them. He could also make out a giant marble statue of a unicorn down the road under the hill.

"Evan, come on! We can't be sitting around all day!" Tasha said and dragged Evan. He gave in, but still tried to observe what little he could.

He looked to his right and saw a large wall connected to the gate with a giant door that he couldn't imagine wasn't holding nightmares. The other way was an abandoned marketplace. Then he looked forward so he wouldn't trip from not concentrating, but it was hard to focus on his surroundings with the heavy fog.

By the time they got to the edge of the hill, they could see two paths. One was the continuation of the cobblestone road that led to the unicorn statue that he saw. The other one was a desire path that led to a wooden gazebo.

"Where could that guard be?" Evan said. Tasha walked over to the gazebo and looked forward before shouting at Evan.

"There's a guard over there! Maybe that's him." She immediately ran off without waiting for Evan to even process where she was pointing. He could only chase her across the green fields until they were called out by said guard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, halt young students! The streets are very dangerous right now. Is there something I can help you with?" The guard pointed at the two and waved at them to come to him.

"We were sent by Headmaster Ambrose!" Tasha, still having the letter Ambrose gave to them, handed it to the guard. He took a look at it and then spoke again.

"Well then, you're just the person- er, wizards- I've been looking for!" He loosened up a little. "This used to be a pleasant street, but we've been recently invaded by hordes of strange creatures. The guards and I have been doing our best to push the creatures back, but we're no match for the undead." He pointed up the road, and they saw translucent hooded figures up the hill. The thought that they might've been ghosts wouldn't even cross their minds if the guard didn't already tell them that it was indeed undead.

"Go battle a few of those Lost Souls, then report back to me. Good luck!" He watched them walk up the hill onto the street.

"Ready, Evan?" Tasha looked up at him. She could tell that he was a little nervous, but he nodded anyway. "I'll go first!"

"Wait-" Before Evan could stop her, she ran towards the road and cast her first attack. An imp came to life and attacked one of the unsuspecting phantoms with his tiny violin. A few notes made the Lost Soul collapse into the ground. The green imp disappeared, and Tasha jumped in victory.

"Wasn't that amazing Evan-" She couldn't finish her sentence without being attacked by another Lost Soul. It whipped its arm across her face and knocked her down to the ground.

"Tasha!" He ran in front of the ghost, distancing the ghost from attacking her again. He took a deep breath and casted a spell. "Take this, you dead freak!" The thunder snake was summoned and positioned itself in front of the ghost. The snake revealed its lightning-shaped tongue and shocked the ghost, causing it to collapse into the floor as well. Evan turned around towards his sister.

"You alright?" He offered his hand to his sister, which she took.

"Yes, I just wasn't expecting that." She said as she got up. She then realized something. "But that isn't the last of them. We need to defend ourselves."

"Gotcha!" Both of them held out their wands at the incoming ghosts. This was surely going to take a while.

A patient pyromancer was waiting for Falmea to get back to her lesson. The professor had gotten a call from her globe. She had suspected that it wouldn't be an unordinary call. Maybe a kid was going to be called out of class, but it usually wasn't about her.

She was a well behaved student, her parents rarely pulled her out of class, and she wasn't aware of any event she needed to attend. They saw her grades as most important, even if they weren't proud of what she was studying.

"Aika Kimura, Headmaster Ambrose has called you to his office. He's said that it's urgent and will take some time, so take your stuff with you." The professor finally put down her globe. The girl widened her eyes, but quickly got to packing her stuff. She heard her teacher continue with the lecture as she packed her stuff and headed out of the classroom. She made sure to not make too much noise while opening the door.

The fresh air didn't seem to calm her nerves. Even though the atmosphere was much cooler and the smell of ash wasn't present, she missed the warmth of the classroom. She was also afraid of what was about to happen to her. Why did she get called out of class? Does it have something to do with her parents? Did she forget something or miss some mail? What if she was in trouble for something she doesn't remember doing? These questions and more wrapped around her head until she walked in front of the ice school and heard the doors fly open.

"Aika!" A familiar redhead ran towards the pyromancer and grabbed her arm. She usually invades personal space like this. "How's my great friend doing?"

"I was called down by the Headmaster. You?" the black-haired girl spoke.

"Same thing! I thought I was in trouble for a moment." The thaumaturge said.

"But what could he want?"

"Well, let's find out!" She dragged her friend out of Ravenwood by her arm without hesitation. When they got to the Headmaster's door, Aika couldn’t open it before Calder slammed it open. Again.

"Greetings, Headmaster Ambrose." Aika bowed as she greeted the elderly man inside the room. She lifted herself up just in time to hear Calder greet him.

"Good afternoon Headmaster!" Calder waved at the elder. She was always more relaxed with her ways of greeting people.

"I'm glad you two could make it, Aika and Calder." He stepped closer to them as he spoke. "I know your studies are very important and you're probably anxious to get back to your classes, but this is an emergency." The two became concerned about what that could mean. Aika squeezed her hand for comfort.

"Times are not normal. There's some kind of supernatural incursion in Unicorn Way. I've already sent two students there, but I've begun to wonder if Malistaire is responsible. You two have demonstrated much potential in your classes. Maybe you two could help those students. This could be an experience that'll serve you both well. Care to put your talents to the test?" His hands shook as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"You two are at the top of your respective classes. I'm surprised you're confused about that." Ambrose gave a slight grin at her. He then continued. "Time is of the essence, so I'll teleport you there directly. Seek out Private Connelly and ask him about the two other students I sent."

The students nodded. They then had glitter envelop them until they disappeared out of his office.

They found themselves at Unicorn Way. They both have been there before, but noticed the heavy change of atmosphere. All the fog seemed so unnatural for a place that was so lovely beforehand. Calder looked around and saw Connelly. She grabbed her friend's hand and walked over to him.

"Are you with the two from before?" He said. They nodded. "Great! They went ahead."

He pointed up the hill, and they followed. They walked to the street and saw the signs covering the roads and saw two wizards struggling. It looked intense, with both of them fighting a handful of enemies. How they were still standing was unsure to Aika.

"They're clearly novices. Let's help them out!" Calder jumped over the signs and swung her ax at one of the Lost Souls. It was ineffective, and the ghost screamed at her, making her fall back.

Of course, this made Evan and Tasha finally notice them, but they couldn't help her cause they already had a handful of ghosts. The girl got hit again by the same ghost.

"Calder!" Aika ran past the signs and cast Meteor Strike. Summoning a couple of portals, they started firing asteroids at the Lost Souls. This stopped many of them, including the one that attacked the fire wizard's friend. She got up and the two novices and Aika ran to her.

"Beaten by mere students?! Come Souls, let's get lost somewhere else!" One of the remaining souls echoed. All the remaining Lost Souls then evaporated into the floor, making that corner of the street free again.

"Calder, are you alright?" She hugged her friend.

"Of course, measly ghost can't kill me that easily!" Calder flexed her arm proudly. Aika giggled, finding her prideful expression cute.

"Do we know you?" Evan pointed at Aika, ruining their moment. The young woman let go of her friend and looked at the novice.

"I think we spoke yesterday while you were going classroom to classroom-" she got interrupted by her friend.

"Are you the two that beat Malistaire's minions?!" The fiery girl's attention was completely on the siblings. They nodded. "Since you two are also trying to save Unicorn Way, you must be trying to become legends, yes?" The young woman gave a cheeky grin.

"I'd rather not." Evan didn't even want to think about getting as much attention as a celebrity, much less than a "legend".

"Well, most novices can't defeat ghosts, but it seems like you've been holding them out? Looks like the legend status will come to you." Evan sighed at her words. He shook his head as the young woman laughed.

"Let's get back to Private Connelly." Aika directed them to the task at hand. The siblings nodded, and Calder calmed her laughter. They all marched down the hill back to the guard.

"That's turned the tide! We'll start following your lead and start pushing these creatures back!" He looked much more relieved than before. Even though he was quite a distance from them, he could still see that they did a good number on them from all the fireballs that he saw. "We've got to find out what's behind this. Another intrepid student, Ceren Nightchant, also came to help. Maybe he's learned something useful." He also pointed to the student in question. The boy in the green cloak stood on the opposite side of the cobblestone road. He looked at them and waved.

"Greetings!" He smiled at them when the students walked up to him. "Professor Moolinda Wu sent me here to see if the rumors about the fairies are true. I can't get any further than the Skeleton Pirates though. Would you check for me?"

"Of course!" Tasha accepted for everyone without hesitation. Ceren expressed his gratitude, and the group went off.

They stayed on the sidewalk. Evan could still see the fog everywhere and there were black vines growing out of broken stone. They hugged the houses on the streets. The residents had barricaded most of the houses by nailing wooden planks over the doors and windows.

The signs from before were also very frequent. When they finally got to the area where the pirates were, they crowded the street. Their bones rattled as they marched up and down the road. Turning the corner, there were only more undead along with another statue of a Unicorn.

"For a place named after them, I haven't seen any unicorns yet." Evan said.

"I believe this place was named for its life energy." Aika said. "Merle founded many of the streets here and he named this street off of Unicorns from his home world."

"That's kinda ironic now."

"Trust me, the street is much more lovely usually. Life students study and practice in the park."

"Maybe you can practice here." He nudged Tasha.

"I guess." She wasn't paying attention, favoring the sights of the street besides them.

When they got closer to the end of the street, they noticed something sinister. Fairies flew on the road alongside the skeletons. Not only that, but the fairies looked completely different from how they usually looked, like a twisted counterpart to Tinkerbell. Their skin was as white as the skeletons, their hair was pure black, and dark colors shrouded their lively wings. They held sinister smiles and menacing giggles that rattled Aika's bones.

"Oh my Bartleby! What happened to them?" She shouted and was on the verge of crossing the street to get a closer look at them.

"Do they usually look like that?" The two novices were not used to fairies at all, but even their image menaced them.

"Nope. They more like novice death spell." Calder looked at Evan. With her eyes off of Aika, she didn't notice that her friend had walked off the sidewalk. Aika was so distracted by the fairies that she didn't notice that a pirate was about to swing his sword at her.

"Ah!" she yelled in pain when the pirate attacked her. The others watched as she fell to the ground.

"Aika!" Calder jumped off the street and performed an Ice Beetle to chase off the undead creature. The horns of the Beetle rammed into the ribs of the skeleton, causing it to fall apart. The last sound it made was a painful groan. She ran towards her friend and helped her get up. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She performed a Minor Heal on herself and the pain she felt was gone. She held onto her friend's arms for a moment. "How about you try doing Blizzard?" Aika winked at her friend with a goofy smile. Calder returned with a toothy grin and faced the rest of the army, still marching towards them.

"Hey, should we do something?-" Tasha couldn't take a step onto the road before ice covered it. Giant snowballs formed out of nowhere in the sky and started slamming into the pirates. Once the last snowball hit, the streets turned back to normal, and most of the pirates were knocked out cold. "Woooooow." Tasha was amazed by what she saw. Evan was still observing the street for any surviving pirates. Of course, he spotted a couple burst out of the remaining snow, but he couldn't step onto the street either without one of them speaking.

"Yarrrrgh! Parley! Parley! Ye got guts, little wizard." A skeleton pointed his sword at the thaumaturge. Calder frowned. "But ye be no match for that which rattles in the darkness! Bwaharhar!"

With that, he retreated, and the little remaining enemies followed as well. Evan just decided to walk up to the two other wizards and gestured Tasha to follow. The group then walked down the empty road back to Ceren.

"Unicorn Way is swarming with evil fairies?! And the pirates warned about a 'rattle in the darkness'?" Ceren didn't take any of the news well. He brought his hands to his temples for a moment to think and calm down. "Evil forces are at work here in Wizard City. That is clear."

"Guess we're going to need more than a guard, huh?" Evan darkingly joked and gave a slight chuckle. Ceren pondered about what he said while the two young women gave Evan a look and Tasha pinched his arm. "Ouch!"

"There is a powerful, ancient being who may be able to help us understand the dark forces we're facing." He slammed his fist into his palm as if he had a eureka moment. "The wise seraph, Lady Oriel! She's the warden of the fairies and they keep her well informed, so she might understand what happened to the fairies. She might have heard of the 'rattle in the darkness' as well. Speak with her in the Hedge Maze at the end of Unicorn Way."

The group set off once again into the streets of Unicorn Way. This time, they needed to reach the end of the road. When they avoided the dark fairies and got there, they were greeted with a few steps and a doorway. Fog, black vines, and a bunch of signs still covered the ground under the door.

"That doorway looks ominous." Evan wanted to take a step back, but Tasha grabbed his arm. He sighed as he was forced inside with the rest of the group. They were all greeted with a powerful voice.

"Halt! What purpose brings you into our Hedge Maze?" The voice belonged to an elegant woman flying above them. Fairies flew around her and her angel-like wings. Her white dress was so long that it looked like she didn't have feet at all. She also carried an enormous sword, which was pointing right at them.

"WE'RE HERE TO SAVE UNICORN WAY!" Tasha said. The lady lowered her sword and judged the group before recognizing Aika and the obviously new life student. She sighed and relaxed.

"Forgive me, wizards, dark times make me weary of new forces. We have much to discuss." The four students walked towards her until they were within her circle in the middle of a garden. "Evil forces have corrupted my precious fairies. I've heard that someone has hung vile bone cages along Unicorn Way. Their dark magic corrupts any fairy that ventures near them!" Aika loudly gasped. Calder understood her sympathy and put her arm around her friend to comfort her.

"Dispel these bone cages and collect some fairy dust from the corrupted fairies. It's a dark task, but it must be done! It may reveal who's behind these atrocities. Try to be gentle!"

They left the maze, but they didn't immediately spring into action. Evan wanted to split up to make the tasks completed faster.

"Me and Aika can go for the dark fairies since we're stronger." The young redhead said. The pyromancer looked nervous, though. Evan simply nodded and took his sister with him to the sidewalks. It didn't take long for the siblings to stumble upon their first bone cage.

"How come I haven't noticed these before?" The boy questioned out loud. "Anyway, how do we open these?" He wasn't able to do much before Tasha found a little door and opened it for him. A fairy flew out. Its joyous laughter made the both of them eager to open the rest of the cages.

The two young women, on the other hand, were fighting a dark fairy. Calder was setting up shields for Aika while she performed minor hits on the fairy. Aika didn't want to hurt them while they were corrupted.

The fairies didn't have much resistance to fire magic and soon enough, they defeated the dark fairy. Calder collected the dust. The fairy in front of their eyes turned back to normal. It giggled in glee and flew towards the pyromancer.

"I could feel the darkness in my bones, but now it's lifted. Thank you! Thank you!" The tiny voice called out and then flew away. Aika smiled, happy to see the fairy uncorrupted and hoping they could do the same for all the fairies. Calder then took her hand.

"Let's go back to that lady!" Aika nodded happily, and they walked down the road. It wasn't too long before the siblings came back to the entrance as well. "Welcome back. Ready to talk to Lady Oriel again?"

"Ready if you are," Evan said. Tasha ran in front of them and entered the maze and was followed by the other three. As they walked in, Tasha heard a tiny joyful voice call her name and a fairy made her appearance known.

"Thank you, kind wizard! Your courage and benevolence won't be soon forgotten by fairy folk!" The bright fairy then swarmed around the young teen, covering her in fairy dust. Tasha giggled.

"I was half expecting you to start flying, not gonna lie," Evan whispered to Tasha. She pushed his face away while laughing and ran up to the Seraph.

"You've cemented your reputation as a hero to the fairy folk, young wizard. To show my appreciation, here is a healing spell." Oriel floated down until she was on her knees in front of the girl. She then summoned a fairy card and handed it to the novice life wizard.

Aika ran up ahead and watched the brown-haired girl put the spell into her book. The page glowed as usual and soon the empty page was all about the fairy spell. Tasha closed her book and hugged it.

"Thank you!" Tasha said. The two girls looked at each other for a second and looked back at Lady Oriel. The woman was flying in the air again. They stood up before her presence.

"Now we must root out who is behind this attack." Calder walked up and gave her the fairy dust. Everyone watched as she observed the dust in her hand. The woman gasped. "The fairy dust displays dark magic banished from this world long ago..."

"Could "rattle in the darkness" also be a clue?" Evan remembered a skeleton pirate's words from before.

"Rattle in the darkness... Could it be… Rattlebones!" Her voice became more bleak as she talked about the dead tyrant. She then thought of something again. "In life, a ruthless tyrant who was banished to the underworld for his crimes. Perhaps I can finding him." She tried with all her might, and the students could see her struggle. She couldn't find it.

"my vision is obscured. All I see is a tower ringed in bones. Ceren Nightchant knows Unicorn Way well. Go to him." The group nodded and ran out of the door. The road was still plagued with fairies, so they stuck to the sidewalk.

"So you got the fairy spell early, huh?" Aika said to Tasha.

"Huh?"

"Life Students usually need to pass a certain criteria and wait until the Spring before they can get that spell." She smiled at her. "It took me a while to get that spell. I'm honestly jealous."

"I thought you were a fire wizard?" Tasha tilted her head.

"Oh, she takes Life as a secondary school," Calder jumped in.

"Can you teach me spells?" Tasha's eyes sparkled in delight.

"Only Moolinda can do that," Aika said. "Maybe I can help you with notes."

"Yes!" She jumped in her step.

Once they got back to Ceren, he immediately cheered up a little.

"You were gone for so long I was beginning to worry you'd run off to join a skeletal pirate crew. So, what did Lady Oriel have to say?" He placed his hand on his chest to calm himself down.

"She said that Rattlebones is behind this and he's in a tower ringed in bones. Do you know where that could be?" Evan took the liberty of explaining everything to Ceren. The boy then pondered.

"The skeletal pirates do seem to be concentrated around the old archives. Try there. Please do everything you can to save the fairies!" He gripped his staff as tightly as he could.

"I promise to defeat Rattlebones!" Tasha spoke for everyone once again and started running ahead of everyone. The others tried catching up to her.

They ran to where the skeletons were concentrated before they retreated. There was only one tower. When they ran up to it, the doorway had an arch covered in bones. Up close, it was obvious that the tower was responsible for the fog coming out of the tower's windows. Vines climbed the tower to the top.

Aika carefully opened the door and confirmed to the group that someone was inside. Tasha looked inside while Aika held onto Calder to keep her from charging in and ruining their attempted eavesdropping.

"Good work, my thrall!" A short skeleton with metal armor talked to a dark fairy. She looked different from the other dark fairies, though. She had bright purple wings and wore a tiny crown. Rattlebones held a long sword and a shield. "This could be the tome Malistaire seeks. Now-" Calder got herself out of their grips and plunged into Rattlebones. He pushed his shield into her neck and she growled in pain before falling to the ground.

"What's this, a bunch of wizards? Excellent." His head turned towards the door. He aimed his sword at Calder's neck. "I could use a combat break. Let's play!" When it looked like he was about to stab the ice wizard, Evan shot a minor hit at him. This threw Rattlebones into one of the bookcases. Everyone ran in at once. Aika ran towards Calder while Tasha ran towards Evan.

"I want to defeat Rattlebones." Tasha ran in front of Evan before he could give any interjections. She summoned another imp and let his violin damage Rattlebones. The undead tyrant screamed in agony. Evan sighed. He then noticed that the fairy was coming towards him.

He summoned a Thunder Snake to attack the fairy, but all it did was stop her for a moment. She managed to avoid the snake's attacks and once the snake vanished, she resumed flying right at him. The fairy giggled as the Diviner simply threw another minor hit to throw her off.

The impact made the dark queen fairy fall to the floor. She stopped giggling and was about to get up again until Evan summoned Thunder Snake again. The snake struck her with its tail and electrocuted her before she evaporated. She didn't erupt into pixie dust, but the fog started evaporating.

Evan wanted to question it, but he had no time to ponder it as he looked back at his sister. He looked at Tasha to see she was spamming minor hits at Rattlebones. He kept blocking them with his shield and sword.

Knowing he was focusing on her, Evan took the opportunity to summon another snake to sneak attack the undead man. Rattlebones was shocked, and he turned around to hit the snake. Tasha used a minor hit, and it knocked off his head.

Meanwhile, Aika and Calder weren't fighting, the pyromancer was still healing the thaumaturge. The Ice Wizard was begging her to believe she was fine before they heard Rattlebones speak.

"Argh! The day is yours, wizards! But the dark master's plan is already in motion. You haven't heard the last rattle in the darkness!" He let out a cackle and his body collected his head before rushing out. In his haste to leave, Rattlebones dropped the tome he was holding. Evan ran and grabbed it.

"Let's bring this to Ceren. This could be important." The others nodded, and they left the tower.

When they walked out, they noticed how the fog was clearing up. The vines were trickling back into the ground. The dark magic choking the street had disappeared, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to all of them. When they finally got to Ceren, he was cheering.

"You did it! You beat Rattlebones! The darkness is lifting and the fairies will sing again!" His arms were in the air. The Life Wizard was keeping himself from jumping up and down in excitement.

"Rattlebones was holding onto this tome. What should we do with it?" Evan held out the book to show the boy. Ceren examined the cover.

"Ooh, that looks important. You should take it to the library in the Commons. Harold Argleston will know what to do with it." Evan nodded, and they finally left Unicorn Way. Near the exit, a couple of guards were already picking up the signs.

"Have you two been to the library before?" Aika looked at the two curiously as they went through the exit of Unicorn Way.

"Yeah, we were there yesterday. We didn't exactly know what to do. We may have ended up sleeping there." Tasha awkwardly laughed.

"So you two didn't go to Mr. Lincoln?" The group turned left at an intersection.

"Nope."

"Maybe try seeing him later. He'll guide you to your dorms," Aika said. Tasha's eyes glowed.

"We get to have our own dorms?!" she shouted right next to the library. Evan shushed her.

"Let's talk to Harold first." Evan walked into the library and the others followed.

"Well, hello there!" They heard the British dog talk. Evan went forward to his desk while the others waited near the door. He presented the tome and told him everything. "My, my, I do believe this is a matter for Headmaster Ambrose. You should take it to him at once."

They then left the library and continued talking.

"Are you two novices?" Calder asked.

"I guess so. I don't really understand these terms." Evan shrugged his shoulders. The group walked over the bridge.

"You sound way too new to be THAT good." The ice wizard grinned.

"Huh?"

"You two defeated Rattlebones by yourselves! And you held yourselves well before we arrived!"

"We literally just got here yesterday. I had no idea what I was doing." Evan said.

"I had no idea what I was doing either, but it was fun!" Tasha said.

"So?! You defeated a boss on your own. You two great warriors!" She then laughed a bit as they walked by some buildings. "I know that Aika thinks the same. She didn't get off of me, even though I said I was okay."

"He hit you with his shield! I can't be that sure without checking!" Aika replied. Calder laughed and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. They walked up the steps to Ambrose's door and finally went in.

"Oh good, you're back. I'm anxious to hear your update on Unicorn Way!" Ambrose greeted all four of them. They went on to tell everything that had happened. His eyes widened while he listened and his monocle came close to falling off a few times. "Oh my! Of course, Malistaire was behind this. But why?"

"He seemed to be searching for this." Evan showed him the tome. Ambrose immediately took it from his hands and read the title.

"Let me see what it is… "On the Trail of the Order of the Fang". Oh my stars! I'll definitely look into this! While I do that..." He gently placed the book on his desk, right next to a stock of messy papers. "You need to finish your enrollment. I was just told that you haven't talked with Mr. Lincoln yet. Go to Mr. Lincoln, our registrar, in Ravenwood."

They walked out of his office. By the time they finally walked out, the bell rang.

"We missed class? Again?!" Evan was furious at the moment. Through all of that chaos, relaxing in a classroom would be the most he could ask for.

"Don't you two need to go to Mr. Lincoln?" Aika teasingly pointed at them. He sighed.

"Good point. Can you take us to him?" The girls nodded and walked to Ravenwood while the siblings and Calder followed. When they finally got to Ravenwood, a crowd of students was already walking back to the Commons. They were able to stay together and make it to Mr. Lincoln.

"Ah, you two must be the new students!" He said once most of the crowd was gone.

The four teens ran up to him. This was the first time Evan and Tasha had seen him. This was also the first time they'd seen an anthropomorphic talking bird, which surprised them a little. They tried to not act weird around him, though.

"I've heard much about you two. You made quite a name for yourselves on Unicorn Way and Golem Court."

Evan couldn't help but let out a sigh. He really didn't want him or his sister to be the "talk of the town".

"I just have some quick papers to get you enrolled." He held out to paper forms. They took the pens from the clipboards. "Signature here, initials here, and a lock of hair there. Also, are you allergic to unicorns or eyes of newt?"

"I hope I'm not allergic to Unicorns," Tasha whispered to Evan.

"You didn't even know Unicorns existed until yesterday. Put down no," Evan said.

While the two were busy, some teachers began leaving as well. The only one missing from the group was Malorn, which was expected since he teaches his class outside of Ravenwood. The two girls decided to talk to their respective teachers about catching up on what they missed. Aika looked back while Calder went on ahead. She shouted at the two.

"If you want a tour of Wizard City, let's meet up later!" The two looked away from the clipboards to see her approach Falmea. They then looked back at Mr. Lincoln and gave him their pieces of hair.

"Good. That takes care of that. Now, how about you two talk to your respective teachers over there and we can talk about dorms later?" Tasha's eyes widened at the possibility of a dorm.

"No more having to sleep in the same room as my brother in a tiny room!" She shouted and ran to Moolinda Wu. He couldn't really deny the fact that a room away from his sister might be relaxing, but he just sighed in response and went to Balestorm. He was attached to her hip for so long, maybe some privacy would be good.

Chapter Text

Evan sat in his chair, waiting for tutoring to begin. He tapped his feet in anticipation as he watched his teacher prepare. The boy tried to not think about the events that happened earlier that day.

As the frog professor messed with the papers on his desk, his magical globe glowed. Balestrom tapped on it, making an image of the librarian appear on the globe. The boy’s eyes widened. He leaned forward on his desk, trying to hear what’s going on. No matter how close he seemed to be, he couldn’t hear the voice of the dog-man inside the globe.

Finally, the globe turns off on command. Halston stood up on his desk and scratched the side of his head. He looked at Evan and it seemed like a lightbulb lit up. He jumped off his desk and landed on Evan’s desk.

“Hello, newest student! Can you help me with something?” he spoke to the new Diviner. Evan initially jumped out of his seat, but he calmed down and sighed.

“Do I have to?” the boy pouted in his seat. No matter how much he complained, he would have to help.

Meanwhile, Tasha was also in her classroom for tutoring. This time, she wouldn’t be bothered by being forced to go outside or do some other chore. Moolinda was on task and taught the class the lesson they went over that afternoon. Soon, her lecture about fairies was over, and she handed the day’s assignment to the new student.

“Here's today's assignment,” Moolinda spoke. The life professor smiled at her and continued handing out homework. Tasha stood up and left the building, but was stopped by Ceren.

“Hey, I remember you. Do you need help with stuff you missed today?” the older boy said. “I’m part of a study group and you can join if you want!”

“Oh, sure!” she responded. “Lead the way!”

They left Ravenwood and went back to Unicorn Way. The caution signs were completely gone, and the fog cleared. Everything felt so much more lively than the last time she entered the street as they passed the entrance and went to the gazebo. A group of life students were already there. They all immediately recognized her and approached her, asking about her adventures earlier that day.

“Oh boy…” he whispered to himself as he watched his classmates swarm the new girl.

Meanwhile, Evan finally introduced himself to Torrence, the tree next to the storm school. Evan was ordered to talk to him and collect the tree's rain water with the Layden jar for the little mission Balestrom sent him on. The jar had a copper lining, which he got from Lady Oriel. It had a little brass bulb at the top of the jar lid.

“That should do it,” Torrence spoke once he finished. The tree had a sad-looking face, always looking upset, no matter what he was saying. Even his leaves hung down, making him look more melancholy. “You can give the jar to Librarian Harold Argleston. Wish him good luck for me.”

He nodded and left the tree alone once again. He left Ravenwood again and went to the Library. As he opened the entrance to the library, a book almost flew right into his head. He was able to move in time to see the book fly into the paw of the librarian. The librarian looked at the shell-shocked boy.

“Sorry about that lad, happens all the time.” The librarian spoke. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the book in his paws before Evan walked forward with his Leyden Jar.

“Professor Balestrom sent me to give this to you.” The boy handed the jar to the dog man. Harold took a look at it and spoke.

“This is excellent. Tell Professor Balestrom thank you for me. Hmm...” He took hold of the jar. He adjusted his glasses and his eyes widened. He gave the jar back to the young diviner. “Upon further examination, it could use a good charging. Could you take it outside and charge it?”

Evan looked at the little bulb. There was no way he was going to get a rational explanation, so he quietly just accepted it.

“But why?” He said to himself as he walked outside. He walked down the platform and heard hissing deep within the earth. Then, lightning came down and smoke filled the air. Evan had to cover his eyes from the flashing lights. Once the lightning stopped, a snake appeared.

“Ssssso, you need that charged?” The snake hissed when he spoke. Evan put his hands down and observed the snake in front of him. The snake was mainly purple and yellow, with its scales holding lightning patterns. Evan nodded and held the jar up, just enough to make the rod more visible. The snake opened its mouth and let out a burst of electricity, all of it hitting the little bulb on top of the jar lid. Evan made sure to keep his hands on the bottom where the protective layering was. Once he was done, the snake vanished. Evan tried to catch his breath before going back inside.

“But why?” he whispered to himself once more as he entered the building. He handed the jar to the dog one more time, and Argleston took it.

“That’s perfect, thanks-” Evan was hit by a book before the librarian could finish his sentence. “Oh my Bartleby!”

Meanwhile, Aika had a decent time in tutoring. As she left the fire classroom and headed towards her dorm, she also saw a group of life students coming in from the Commons. One of these, she noticed, was Tasha. The young girl ran up to her.

“Hey! Can you help me find my dorm?”

“You still haven’t found your dorm?” the life wizard shook her head in response.

“I was in a studying group for a bit. I just finished my homework!”

“Ah, okay. You might want to see Mr. Lincoln.” Aika looked around, trying to see if he was nearby. He wasn’t where he was earlier that day. “I don’t see him anywhere, maybe we should go talk to-”

“Wait!” Tasha tugged on Aika’s sleeve, making her stop from trying to go to the Commons. “Is it possible to find my dorm on our own?”

“Maybe, but-” she was interrupted by being dragged. “Do you even know where the girl’s dorm is?”

“No.” Tasha looked up at the older girl. “Maybe you can take me to the girl’s dorms?”

Aika chuckled and nodded. The girl held onto her arm as the fire wizard walked into the red tower. They were immediately met with purple painted walls. The new student stared in awe as Aika walked forward, with Tasha following right behind. It amazed her that the tower looked so much bigger on the inside. When they went upstairs, they were met with red and orange walls.

“My dorm is here somewhere, but yours should be higher up.” the pyromancer whispered.

“Do all the floors have a class theme?” They continued to walk up the stairs as they talked. Her older friend nodded in response. As they walked up, they saw the Ice floor and the Balance floor. When they met the Life floor, they finally stepped off the long staircase.

“There should be a list of residences around here.” The older girl looked at the walls, ignoring the painted leaves and vines, trying to find any kind of clipboards hanging on the walls. Tasha found it first.

“Is this what we’re looking for?” she pointed to a list on the wall. Aika nodded and ran towards it. She started to flip through it.

“What is your last name, again?” she looked down at the young girl.

“Lotusleaf.” Tasha smiled as she replied. She watched as her older friend flipped through the list, not even reading most of it, till she got to a certain point. The pyromancer then skimmed through the pages.

“Here’s your dorm!” she took the list off the wall and let the girl look at it. Tasha looked to see nothing but a symbol of a fairy next to her name.

"Shouldn't this be a number?" She looked up at her friend as she pointed at the symbol. Aika took the list from her hands and looked at it one more time.

"Nope! There are little symbols above the door. Yours will have a fairy symbol on it." Tasha looked out in the hallway to see that she was correct. There were little symbols like a key, a gem, a knife, and others above the doors that she could see. The pyromancer put the list back on the wall. “Do you need help with getting your stuff in your room?”

“Huh?” the new student turned her head in confusion.

“You know, like moving luggage and all that.” the life wizard furrowed her eyebrows while trying to think. No matter what, she didn’t remember having anything from her home with her when she arrived. Her eyes then widened, finally remembering her phone. She scrambled through the pockets in her uniform. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, relieving her anxiety at that moment. “Are you okay?”

“Yep!” she smiled at her friend. “Can we check my room real quick?”

“Sure!” The two walked to her room. Green fire shined in their eyes as they walked down the hallway and into the room. Most of the room was various shades of green, with only some hints of brown and red sheets of the Ravenwood beds. On top of one bed was a suitcase. “Oh, is that your stuff?”

Tasha ran over and opened the suitcase to find her stuff in it. She could see her pajamas, her winter clothes, her bedsheets, her phone charger and laptop, and her stuffed animals. The only thing missing was her casual clothes. She tried looking through the clothes she pulled out, but she found nothing.

“Are you having a problem finding something?” her friend walked away from the doorway and towards her.

“I can’t find any normal clothes here. I have my PJs and my warm clothes, but I don’t have my normal stuff!” She pouted in frustration. Her friend sat on the bed and thought for a bit.

“What if I were to give you some new clothes?” she said as soon as she thought of the idea. The younger girl just looked confused. “Like, I could make you some-”

“You don’t need to! Really-”

“No, it’s fine! I need some practice with sewing anyway.” She took her friend’s hand. As she was about to drag her friend to her room, something clicked in her head. “Do you have any clothes you want me to reference?”

“Hmm?” she wiggled out of her hand for a moment.

“Like, is there a specific dress or something you’d like me to try to make?” Tasha pondered for a bit until she remembered a photo she had on her phone. She pulled out her phone and started swiping through her gallery. When she landed on the picture she was looking for, she turned off her phone.

“I’ll show you when we get there!” They walked out of the bedroom and walked down the stairs. When they got to the Pyromancy hallway, they went into her room. Aika had her sit on her bed and she prepared her sewing station. Tasha turned her phone on and showed it to the girl. The woman saw a lady in a green dress with a small dark green coat. As she stared at it, she started coming up with more and more designs in her head. She grabbed some paper and started drawing ideas down. Tasha watched as she made life themed dresses. When she started making a version with pink flowers at the bottom, Tasha pointed at it. “Oh! I like that one.”

Aika circled the drawing and then continued drawing on the next page, elaborating on the previous drawing she had circled. She continued doing that until they found a satisfying dress they both liked.

“I’m going to need to take some measurements.” The fire wizard had her friend stand up and started getting ready.

Meanwhile, Calder was packing all of her stuff and getting ready to go back to her dorm. As she left the school building, she saw Evan leaving his as well. She ran up to him and saw that he looked agitated.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” the ice wizard yelled and grabbed his shoulders. Evan jumped, but when he turned around to face her, he recognized her freckled face.

“I was hit in the head with a book,” he replied.

“By Professor Balestrom?” she turned her head in confusion.

“No! In the library.” His face turned red in embarrassment.

“Oh! Yeah, that hurts,” she let out a laugh, making Evan more embarrassed. “How about we go meet Aika and forget about that?”

Evan couldn’t even speak before the girl dragged his arm. Right before she could enter the dorm, he squirmed out of her hands and yelled.

“Do you even realize that you were just about to bring a boy into the girl’s dorm?!” he backed away from the red door. Calder just looked at him confused.

“Yeah. And?”

“Aren’t guys not allowed?”

“Not really. Nobody cares.” She opened the door.

“No thank you, I’ll just wait for Tasha to finish her class.” He sat on a nearby bench and watched the red-haired woman go inside the tower. He rubbed the back of his head and waited.

Calder, meanwhile, walked upstairs to the pyromancer floor. When she walked into Aika’s room, she saw Tasha in a completely different outfit. Aika immediately noticed her and ran up to her.

“You came just in time! Come look at what I just made!” she giggled and grabbed her friend’s arm. She came in and closed the door, bringing Calder closer to the third girl in the room. “What do you think? Does she look cute?”

Tasha twirled to show off her new dress. It was a green dress with a tiny dark green coat. The coat had the life casting symbol on the back and the bottom of the dress showed off a garden of pink flowers.

“I love it!” she smiled as she watched the young girl become even more excited. As she sat down, she suddenly remembered something. “Hey, Theurgist!”

“Hmm?” The little life wizard stopped jumping up and down.

“Your brother is waiting outside. You might wanna meet him.” She laid down on the bed as Tasha rushed to get her stuff.

“Thank you so much, Aika! See you tomorrow!” She ran out of the room with her school uniform. The pyromancer in question sat next to Calder on her bed, enjoying the rest of the night with her.

Tasha ran down the stairs and out the door to see Evan wait for her, just like Calder said. She got up to him and gave him a hug.

“How was tutoring?” she said as she backed away from the hug. He shrugged.

“It sucked. The professor took forever, and I got hit by a book.” he rubbed the back of his head.

“The professor hit you with a book?” she turned her head in confusion.

“No! It was in the library-”

“The librarian hit you?”

“NO! I-I don’t know how to explain it, but nobody hit me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” he laughed the conversation off. He looked back up at the sky and realized how late it was. Orange filled the sky with hints of purple and blue. He looked back at his sister, just realizing that she was wearing a completely new dress. “Where did you get that from?”

“Oh! Aika gave it to me!” she grabbed the edge of her skirt and giggled.

“Well, it looks great.”

“Thank you!” she looked at the boy’s dorm across from the bench they sat on. “Do you know how to find your dorm?”

“Not really.” he scratched the back of his head.

“Just go to the floor level with your school theme and find the list with names.” She pointed at the boy’s dorm. “Maybe we should go to our dorms right now?”

“Sure. Night!” He waved at her and got up. They headed to their respective rooms, getting settled, and getting ready for a new day.

Chapter Text

Ravenwood woke up the next day. Students slumped out of their beds and left for their classes. The two siblings were able to meet before class started, betting if they’ll be dragged through on a mission today or not. Evan rubbed his eyes, annoyed at the idea. Meanwhile, Tasha continued to talk about it despite his annoyance. She laughed at the idea, but at the same time was slightly excited by the possibility, waving her arms energetically while sitting on a bench with her brother. As they talked, Evan noticed kids dressed in black waiting in front of Bartleby. As the siblings talked, Aika walked up to the two.

“Hello there,” She said. The two waved to her. “How are you two doing this morning?”

“I’m fine!” The girl said.

“I’m just tired.” The older brother said as he attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes. The pyromancer and his little sister chuckled.

“I get it, I’m tired often in the morning.”

“I just hate getting up in the mor-” He looked up from his hands to see the kids in black from earlier exiting Ravenwood in mass. He pointed behind Aika at the crowd.

“Hey, where are they going?”

“Huh?” She looked behind her to see the group Evan was talking about. She then looked back at Evan.

“Oh! Those are the Death students.”

“That doesn’t ans-” The diviner was interrupted by the ice wizard from yesterday greeting them.

“Hello!” She excitedly yelled at the group. The siblings waved and Aika returned the greeting. Before the conversation could be changed too much, Evan brought it back on topic.

“I still want to know why the Death students are leaving.”

“Oh! Their-” Aika tried to explain, but Calder went on and explained.

“Their classroom is gone and they have classes in library.”

“Why is their classroom gone?”

“Did you already forget what Malorn said?” Tasha looked up at her brother, who just shrugged. She rolled her eyes.

“He said that Malistaire made their school disappear.”

She looked back at the two girls real quick just to see the pyromancer nod. The group couldn’t do much before the bell rang.

“Aw man, class already?” The ice wizard sighed. She waved bye to the group. “See you folks later.”

“Good luck with your classes!” Aika shouted as she rushed to school. The two siblings finally waved goodbye and went to their respective classes.

Meanwhile, a golden chariot landed on the ground outside of Ravenwood. Surrounded by waterfalls, the girl stepped off onto the plane of grass. Carrying her bags, she walked onto the streets. Her long robe dragged on the grass as she walked away from the chariot and to the yellow streets of Cyclops Lane. As she walked up, she was stopped by a cyclops guard.

“Halt! Who are you and what is your business in Cyclops Lane?” One of the guards shouted. The cyclops stood near two Wizard City guards, both being nowhere as tall as the one-eyed man.

“I just came here on Apollo’s chariot. I am heading to Ravenwood.” She tried to pass, but the guards stopped her again.

“Who are you?” One of the guards spoke once more. She sighed, but answered anyway.

“Selene Argyris.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke. The human guard on the left took out a clipboard and read through a list. He pointed at a name on the list and showed it to the other two guards.

“Very well, you may proceed, young wizard.” The human guard on the right spoke. She walked past the three guards and traveled on the cobbled streets. As she walked past them, a troll charged at her.

“Young wizard, look out-”

She looked back just in time to see a troll strike her down with his club. Her head hit the rock-hard street, making the girl groan in pain. She got up and rolled to avoid the troll’s second attack. She turned her head to see the two guards from before on the ground, and the cyclops running after her. She got up and pulled out her wand and summoned a blood bat. Its tattered wings flapped at their opponent, ready to attack. It spat onto the troll’s eyes, causing it to be distracted. As she raised her wand to cast another spell, the cyclops guard swung his hammer at her head. She ducked, just avoiding a collision with her head.

“By Artemis!” She said as she stumbled back, her head still spinning from her previous hit. She tried to cast another blood bat to attack the cyclops. As the creature flew up to attack, the giant swung the bat out of the air. Before she could even lift her wand again, the one-eyed man hit her in the abdomen, bruising her ribs. She fell on the ground and held her abdomen in pain. Before the cyclops could land another blow, a Wizard City guard pushed the giant man out of the way. He ran up to the girl and tapped her shoulder.

“Hey, are you okay?” She brushed him off.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She took a moment, but was able to get up on her own. Even while standing up, she still held her side. “What is going on with the cyclops there?”

“I don’t know. There’s been rumors that the cyclops were planning on betraying Wizard City, but I never thought it would turn out like this.” He pressed his fingers against his temples, trying to remain calm.

“Either way, we need to get you out of here-”

He turned around to see trolls filling the streets. The sight caused him to stay still and have his mouth open in surprise. The girl, on the other hand, pulled out her wand again. A wooden puppet was summoned and started to cast spells as well. Eyes on the wall of buildings watched as the puppet used its wooden staff to summon blood bats and other low-rank spells. As frost beetles and scarabs charged and trolls bashed the ground, the conscious guard stared until Selene forced him to move.

“That’ll serve as a distraction, come on!” She grabbed the guard’s arm and dragged him to the sidewalk, avoiding the trolls on the street as they ran away. The eyes on the walls watched as the living puppet’s spells failed to stop the oncoming trolls. A troll took notice of the two, and pursued them instead of the construct. As they came closer and closer to the entrance to Olde Town, they both realized they were being chased and ran faster before entering Olde Town. Selene yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Somebody close the gates! The cyclops are revolting!”

Nearby guards heard her and instantly started to work on turning gears. The grunts of the green monster came closer, but were stopped by an iron gate that dropped right before him. He banged the gates with his club for a few agonizing minutes, but he eventually gave up and left. The student was finally able to catch her breath, holding onto her abdomen once more. A fellow guard offered to take her to a nurse, which she accepted.

At Ravenwood, classes had finally ended. The four kids had met up quickly before splitting up. Tasha was the first to go, hurrying to her study group. As Evan and the two girls waved goodbye, Aika had her globe glow.

"You have those magic globes as well?" Evan stared at the sphere in her hands. She nodded. She tapped on it to see Flamea calling for her to come to the classroom.

"See you two later." She left. Just as she left, Calder started to yawn.

"Looks like I should-" Just as Calder spoke, they heard a boy near them scream.

"Duncan, get off!" The two friends looked to see Malorn struggling under the weight of another boy. The boy on top was laughing as he held the other guy in a choke-hold. That was when Evan realized that a bunch of death students were entering Ravenwood, though most were returning to their dorm. Despite the position the boys in front of them were in, both were laughing. As the two friends were about to force him off, another girl yelled. She looked familiar.

"Duncan, get off of him!" The woman demanded as she grabbed onto his shoulders. The voice was something he could recognize, but he wasn't sure where. He was only sure that her accent sounded English.

"Hey, I'm only playing!" The boy on top of Malorn laughed as he was pulled off by the girl. He wore a hood that covered some of his face.

“Why is playing so rough between you two?” she crossed her arms as she watched the two get up. Malorn brushed his black hair out of his face as he got up.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Polley.” Malorn got up as soon as Duncan fully stood up. As he got up, they suddenly noticed the ice and storm wizard staring at them. The tall hooded boy angrily stared at Calder, which confused her, but she stared back. They stuck their tongues at each other. The girl, on the other hand, walked up to the diviner.

“Hey, did you really save Unicorn Way yesterday?" She looked at the diviner, who nodded. Her brown ponytail seemed to bounce in excitement. Her eagerness over what he did made him back up uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to this kind of attitude at all. She hesitated from speaking for a bit due to his reaction, but quickly gained the courage to try again.

"Hey, do you remember-"

Before she could finish her question, Malorn started leaving. She watched Duncan follow their friend and she looked back at the two students in front of her. She looked back and forth, not sure what to do. Her feet finally decided to follow her necromancer friends, but she still waved goodbye as she left Ravenwood. Calder watched her leave, somewhat confused by her anxious energy when interacting with the boy.

"Do you know her?" The redhead looked at Evan.

"Not really, I only met her once before I think." He said. She shrugged as well and then yawned.

"I'm going, farewell." She left for the girls’ dorm. Evan looked around for a bit, not sure what to do other than sit on a bench. He thought about his old life in his old world. Things on Earth were hard, he always felt isolated around his peers and he was always on edge at school. He was a little on edge here, but it was due to everything being so different. He felt wanted. Like he wasn't annoying his peers by just existing. Is this what they call a fresh start?

He wished he could understand his surroundings more, it was nothing like Earth. With his understanding of science, things made sense. Not everything had an answer, but learning about space came easy to him and it was more understandable than people. It seemed like the Spiral was there to break his understanding. He shouldn't be able to summon fantastical beasts from cards or his hands. But like how stupid stuff would always manage to happen on Earth, it came naturally to him.

While he reminisces about his old school, he failed to notice a student heading towards him. He was only brought back to reality by a tap on the shoulder. When he looked at the source of the sudden contact, he was met with a stunning woman with an Amazonian build. She wore a typical Greek robe that reached the ground, with her dark brown hair held in a bun. Her caramel eyes seemed to naturally fit with her tan skin and dark hair. As he stared, she started talking.

"Why are you skipping class?" She put her hands on her hips. He swore that school was over for the day and he shook his head.

"No, class is over."

"Don't tell me fleeing from Cyclops took that long!" She kicked her foot onto the bench in frustration, scaring Evan. Her face gave off an energy that said she was totally done, ready to choke whoever disturbed her.

"Are you-" Before he could say anything, the woman kicked the bench with more force again, making him jump once more.

“I missed the first day, Tartarus!”

“Don’t you mean he-” the woman rushed off before he could finish. He watched her pass the life school, not sure what just happened.

Aika walked into her class, embracing the warm atmosphere of the fire school. Seeing that Flamea was waiting for her in front of the class, she walked down the classroom to her desk. She could already tell that Flamea was holding a ruby in one hand, but she stayed silent.

“Thank you for coming, this is a very important assignment,”Falmea said. “I don’t normally have students do this task, but I’ve been really busy as of late with paperwork.”

“Why do you have so much work?”

“I’ve been trying to organize a field trip. Hopefully, I can get this completed by this year.” She laughed at her own joke. Aika’s interest was peaked.

“Can I come?” The girl gave a shy smile. She was a little nervous, afraid she was overstepping her boundaries.

“Maybe if you help me with this. You’ll need this first.” Flamea winked and handed her a small, perfectly cut Bloodstone Ruby. The student looked at the ruby in her hands as the mentor continued to speak. “Go seek the ancient sanctuary known as the Dragon’s Mouth, hidden in a cave behind Golem Tower. When you find the fire within, hold the bloodstone tight and whisper the name of the creature you seek.”

She whispered the name of the creature before sending her off. She ignored Evan staring into space in Ravenwood and she went past the Commons and the Fairgrounds. As she went into Golem Court, she could see many students participating in different activities. Students who were gathered around the Ladybug woman were taking pictures of the environment. Other students were doing stuff such as gardening or crafting. She looked around the small area, trying to find the cave. She noticed a cave that was locked by a gate with a fire symbol at the edge of the area. The top of the cave came down like sharp teeth, giving credence to the name ‘Dragon’s Mouth’.

“Felidae Pyronus.” she whispered to make sure no one else heard. After she spoke the name, she heard flames erupt from inside the gate. She looked up from the ruby to see fire come out through the bars of the gate. The fire danced until it formed a fire cat. The fire cat looked straight at the young wizard. At this point, every nearby student wizard was looking straight at Aika, but she hadn’t noticed.

“We hear your call and answer, Pyromancer. You may enter the Dragon’s Mouth!” As the fire cat spoke, it quickly disappeared and the gate flung open. She stood for a moment, just realizing that a crowd was watching her. She rushed into the cave.

She heard the gate close behind her. She looked back to see a student taking a picture of her through the bars and then left. She sighed and looked away from the gates. The inside of the cave didn’t look much like a cave, with only the flowing magma giving the resemblance of being inside the ground. Thankfully, the molten rock was below her. She noticed the platform she was standing on had a pattern made of rocks that formed a dragon encased in a circle. She walked over to the brazier holding fire. She noticed that it looked like the brazier was being held by the huge stone Dragon glaring behind it.

As she stared at the flames, she noticed the Bloodstone Ruby in her hand got warmer until it felt like it burned her hand. In the dancing flames, she sees a great battle. She recognizes it’s the Titan War from seeing all the Titan Dragons in the red sky. The sky is thick with a cloud of winged Dragons hurling themselves against the strong, vengeful Giants and the sly, wicked Tritons.

The Dragons started to decrease until one Dragon remains. She is old and alone. For centuries, she slumbers. Then, a shadow falls over her! It is a wizard, a figure with eyes of fire and a wicked scowl. She immediately recognized the fired teacher. The man turns to look directly at her through the flames, making her jump. She stared at the floor, trying to regain her breathe. When she finally looked back up, the vision was gone.

She took a while to process what she just saw. She already heard about the incident in Golem Tower and she suspected that he was behind the chaos of Unicorn Way, but she hoped that would be it. Was that a vision of the future? Her legs shook as she contemplated the thought. What business does he want with one of the Titans? At that moment, she wished she knew more, but most importantly, she needed to tell someone. She immediately ran and headed to her professor.

“Professor Flamea, we’re in danger!” She forced the doors open as she yelled. Flamea looked up from her paper to look up at her.

“What did you see in the Fire of Destiny?” she put her pen down.

“Malistaire was with the Dragon Titan!” she slammed her hands against the desk. Flamea looked into her panicked eyes with deep concern.

“Oh my!” The teacher looked away for a moment, becoming panicked as well. She took a breath and tried her best to keep a calm composure. The last thing she wanted was to have a student freak out right in front of her. Despite the concern, she couldn’t help but let out,

“It seems that Wizard City has a powerful enemy…” She covered her mouth, but it was too late. She could tell that she upset Aika more. Falmea stood up from her chair and tried to comfort her.

“I’ll tell the Headmaster about this, he should know what to do.” She patted her shoulder. “I'll make sure to enroll you on the trip for next year.”

She tried to smile to hopefully make Aika feel better. The young wizard didn’t start smiling, but it seemed like she stopped panicking. She sighed and nodded. As she watched her student, she remembered how she was involved with saving Unicorn Way and wondered if Merle Ambrose was going to enlist the four to help with this situation. She wasn’t sure about the other three, but she knew Aika was her most studious student. Was she capable of saving Wizard City, or even the entire Spiral?

She imagined her student being able to defeat Malistaire and being praised as a hero. Alongside visions of her student being defeated. She was a great student, but Malistaire was an even greater teacher. How could a mere student defeat or stop him? She didn't know much of his homeworld, but she heard they had some of the greatest army wizards before the world's fall. If only she understood what was truly happening. She headed towards the Headmaster's Office, he should know what to do.

Chapter Text

Three Necromancers entered Triton Avenue. The seemingly permanent storm clouds covered the sky as it always did. Rain poured and lightning flashed in the sky. Two of the Necromancers were about to head to Duncan’s house, but Duncan pulled them back by their sleeves.

“Wait! I want to do something real quick.” He said as he pulled them away. Polley tried to shake his grip off while Malorn just let himself be dragged.

“What could possibly be so imp-”

“He’s probably going to go annoy Susie-” Malorn said while trying to hide his chuckles.

“Shut up!” Despite Duncan’s insistence, the other two chuckled. His two friends annoyed him all the way to the Storm Mill. When they finally made it, they were greeted with a dark building. On close inspection, the mill was made out of purple bricks that were wet due to the waterfall and body of water next to the mill.

“Yo, Susie!” A girl with a brown ponytail looked at the three. For once, Blad Raveneye wasn’t hanging outside of the Four Falls Mill. When she spotted Duncan, she rolled her purple eyes in annoyance. Rather than wearing the typical Ravenwood uniform, she wore a button-up shirt, with jeans and an apron.

“Duncan, what do you want?” She pushed some of her hair out of her face. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him.

“Can’t I just come by and say hi?” Duncan smirked and shrugged.

“The last time you came to say hi, a fish got stuck in the mill.” The girl put her hands on her hips. “You don’t exactly have a great record here.”

“Maybe YOU don’t have a great record here.”

“What does that even mean?” Malorn hid his laughter while Polley stopped paying attention. As Susie and Duncan fought, Susie’s brother came out of the mill and tried to calm the two down. Malorn continued to watch the two students fight, but he felt something was off. Soon, the sounds from the argument were drowned out by the burning sensation that something was wrong. He walked towards the bridge and passed the waterfall beneath him. When he stepped onto the street of the neighborhood, he could sense that danger was near. Before Malorn could realize his mistake and turn back, he heard groans from across the street. The streets that were so empty and peaceful just yesterday now held rotten corpses running towards him. He froze, trying to comprehend what’s going on.

“Malorn!” The female necromancer looked over in his direction to see he was in danger. The others standing near her looked at the direction she screamed at only to realize the horror. She rushed past the bridge, the threatening figures becoming more apparent as she came closer. She stepped onto the sidewalk, suddenly stricken with fear as well. She was staring at legit undead. Not just a monster from a spell.

“Get off!” The boy finally pulled out of his trance, but it was too late. Two of the ghouls had restrained him. Seeing her friend be hurt made her want to move in and help, but her legs shook in fear. She tried to convince herself to move, but her legs barely budged.

“We need to stop those creatures from coming in!” Susie tightened her ponytail and rushed to the inside of the mill. “Arthur, get in here!”

“What about me?” Duncan tried to rush in behind Arthur, but Susie stopped him.

“No. We can handle this by ourselves-”

“My friends are about to die!” Susie was taken aback. She sighed. He was let in and he followed the two Diviner wizards.

“You can pull the lever over there when we say so.” She points towards a wooden lever on the side of the room. Susie and Arthur then focused their energy on a crystal ball floating in the middle of the room. As the magical item charged from the diviners’ energy, the room was lit in purple.

Meanwhile, Polley snapped back to reality and she instantly summoned two Evil Sprites to distract the two ghouls holding Malorn. The fae flew into the faces of the undead, making the ghouls drop the necromancer in favor of fighting against the pests. The brown-haired girl grabbed her friend’s hand and dragged him off the street. They both fell on the grass. The teenagers watched in horror as the undead crawled closer to the sidewalk. The Marleybonian summoned a banshee to try and keep them back. Malorn watched as his friend tried her best to defend the both of them.

“Pull the lever!” Susie screamed at Duncan with all the energy she had left. The boy did as told. A wall of electricity separated Malorn and Polley from the threat, the undead that still clawed at the barrier. Even when the fodder was electrocuted, they still continued to pry. The teenagers inside the mill rushed to the two necromancers’ side.

“Malorn!” Duncan ran up and hugged his friend. Malorn couldn’t reply, still needing a minute to catch his breath from the whole situation. The siblings ran up and helped the two students up.

“Okay, now you three need to leave. This street isn’t safe.” The female diviner demanded.

“But-” Before Duncan could make things worse, the girl gave him a bloody-eyed stare that silenced him.

“You three know how to teleport back to Ravenwood, right?” The necromancers nodded, Duncan rolling his eyes as he did so.

“Are you two going to come?” Malorn spoke up. Susie shook her head.

“We need to help stop whatever this is.” She waved her arm at the street right next to them. By then, the rotting fodder had finally given up on prying the wall. They seemed to walk up and down the streets in a rhythmical pattern. “Feel free to tell Balestrom that we won’t be able to make it.”

As she crossed her arms, the three necromancers disappeared. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and took out her hair tie. Before she could take a breath, Arthur walked up to her and pointed to the blue teleporter next to the house.

“Susie, I think turning on the shield accidentally turned off the porter over there.” his sister rubbed her eyes in annoyance. “We haven’t seen another worker in a while, so I’m a little concerned-”

“Our parents are going to kill us.” She lifted her hand off her face and looked up at the sky. Even just looking at the darker colors of the sky made her tired. She wondered if it would be possible for her to escape through sleep tonight.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Evan was woken up in the middle of the night by an unfamiliar sound. He immediately looked at the door. He realized that the sound was coming from inside the room. Seeing a bright light reflected on the door made him look at the source of the sound, a magical ball. He got out of his bed. By this time, he had found his own luggage with his stuff and gotten dressed in his old pajamas. He laid his hand on the desk holding the crystal ball and studied it. Its light blinked on and off. He carefully touched it, making the flash of light and annoying noise stop. He retracted his finger, causing a message to play on the ball.

“Young wizard, I need your help with something important.” An image of Headmaster Ambrose appeared and spoke inside the globe. “Please step into my office immediately.”

The message ended and the crystal ball turned off. The boy groaned in annoyance and started getting ready to go outside. As he headed to the Headmaster’s office, he wondered what could possibly be so important at night. His sleepy gray eyes wandered towards Ambrose’s house in the Commons. When he entered his office, he noticed that Ambrose was standing behind a cauldron instead of his usual long staff with a crystal ball on top. When Evan stood next to the cauldron, Ambrose spoke.

“Thank you for coming. I brewed up this potion especially for Bartleby, the tree in the center of Ravenwood.” He held a bottle with a bubbling blue elixir inside towards Evan. The student took the glass bottle from the headmaster. “He hasn’t been feeling well lately. He has trouble remembering things since his eye was stolen.”

“Who stole his eye?” Evan turned his head away from the potion in his hands towards the old man.

“I’ll tell you soon, but this is by far too important. Take the potion over to Bartleby and see what happens. Take note of anything he says.” Evan was disappointed by his response, but he nodded and left. After he left, Merle Ambrose took the book from his desk and studied it intently.

Evan entered Ravenwood and walked to the huge tree in front of him. His one eye looked like it was trying to remember something while the socket where his other eye would’ve been was empty. The only thing remaining was a couple of blue wisps swimming around in the eye socket.

“Must hold onto the First World until…” His voice had a low tone but it managed to echo throughout the area, likely due to his size. His words trailed away. He sighed before he spoke again.

“Oh, it is so hard for me to remember things. My mind is not as clear as it once was…” Evan looked away from the tree’s face and at the potion in his hand. Evan poured the Headmaster’s potion all around Bartleby’s roots. Bartleby instantly voiced his satisfaction from the potion. Evan closely watched Bartleby’s face.

“Beware, Master Ambrose! Beware of Malistaire!” The great tree looked off into the distance and spoke in deep, hollow tones. “He comes at night to torment me! Find those who can defeat him! They will be the savior of Wizard City! Find the Sci…”

Bartleby’s words trail again, as if he suddenly lost memory. Evan tried to let the words from the wise tree sink in. It felt terrifying. He wondered if there even was a savior of Wizard City. He thought about himself, but he worried about how it would even be possible for him to beat the old Death Professor.

Up in Golem tower, he remembered how terrifying the man was. His voice was low, but threatening. His dark robes and tall staff made him look like a powerful wizard, along with his reputation as one of the most powerful death wizards of all time that he heard from other students. He shakenly wrote down what the tree said and hurried to the Headmaster’s office, ignoring Bartleby’s incoherent mumbles. When he got back, he noticed that Ambrose was reading a book.

“Headmaster, I brought the potion to Bartleby.” He spoke, trying to get the man to notice him.

“Oh, good news! What did he say?”

“He said to beware Malistaire and to find the person that can defeat Malistaire. He then said…” He bit his lip trying to remember what the tree specifically said. He pulled out a tiny notepad and read what it said out loud. “Malistaire torments him at night. Find those who can defeat Malistaire, they will be the savior of Wizard City.”

“That’s what Bartleby had to say?” Headmaster Ambrose scratches his head, thinking. “My, how odd. Not the outcome I was quite expecting.”

Ambrose continued to scratch his head as he put the book down on his desk. He sat down and started to write down something. Evan walked up to the desk and spoke.

“Can I ask what’s going on with Bartleby’s eyes? What happened to his eye?” Evan pointed to his right eye to emphasize his question. The Headmaster was in deep thought for a moment before looking at him and answering.

“His eyes were gifts from his sister, Lady Nightstar, the Grandmother of Ravens. They were called the Eyes of Time. One showed the past and the other the future.” Merle brushed his fingers through his beard as he spoke.

“Recently, Malistaire stole the Eye of History. Now Bartleby can’t remember a thing.” The headmaster stopped for a second and was heavy in thought. Evan wasn’t sure how to comprehend this. Thoughts from earlier came crashing in, making him anxious. He then suddenly remembered Bartleby’s last few words. He wanted to ask and get an in-depth explanation, but Ambrose continued to talk.

“I will have to think upon Bartleby’s words about Malistaire. Things are so dire, I must be sure to choose wisely. There will be no second chances.” Merle scratched his head while in thought. Evan took the chance and spoke once more.

“Bartleby also said something about ‘finding the sci’, do you know what that means?”

“Sci? How odd.” He brushed through his beard as he tried to think of an answer.

“For some reason, it makes me think of scythe, but even I think that’s a little cruel-”

“Wait, I think I know what it is!” Ambrose interrupted Evan. “I don’t think we’ll be able to find one of those anytime soon though.”

He looked at Evan for a minute, but shook his head and looked away. He sent the student back to his dorm. He rubbed his eyes, hoping it’d make him feel less tired. Books from his shelves and Gamma’s room came flying onto his desk. He put the book about the Order of the Fang on the side as he looked at the book covers, trying to find books that would be helpful. He finally found one about Bartleby and flipped through it.

When he found a specific chapter, he read through it word by word. He could recognize his own handwriting throughout the book, but needed specific instructions on the ritual that he couldn’t recall right now. Once he read the words ‘Death Tree’, he slumped in his chair. When the Death School went down, both the teacher at the time and the Death Tree fell down with it. If by some miracle that the tree wasn’t pulled apart by space, there would be no way to get in contact with him. Ambrose cursed Malistaire under his breath. Who knows if he’ll ever find who it was.

Chapter Text

Suzie tossed and turned in her bed. No matter how much she tried to focus on sleeping, her mind wondered about the trouble on Triton Avenue. When her parents got home, she informed them about what happened. Along with the walking dead, the two siblings eventually learned that the Storm Magic that flowed through the streets was gone. Her mind wondered about the future of Triton Avenue. Most of the problems that happened in Triton Avenue were small enough to be fixed, but when the storm current was dead and the undead roamed, it made the future feel unsure. The situation could be solved, but for Suzie, it was hard to be optimistic. In short, the thought of losing her childhood home kept her up, making her want to get up and do something. Anything. Anything would’ve been better than doing nothing.

She couldn’t handle the sleepless night anymore. She got up, grabbed her wand, her gear, and quietly left the house. As she left, she got drenched in rain. She thought about how Ravenwood never seemed to rain. It was rare to even see a cloudy day. Despite that, she couldn’t help but prefer Triton Avenue, at least when it’s not in danger. Looking up to where the arcs of lightning were supposed to be emitted from the towers, she stared for what felt like a decade, as if somehow imagining the energy will make them come back. She truly didn’t know what to do and debated on going back inside, but while blinded by nostalgia, something went for her belt.

“What the-” In just a couple of seconds, Suzie witnessed a lightning eel steal her deck. "Get back here!"

She chased after the Eel that floated along the street, not realizing that there was a dark figure watching her. Arthur came out to inspect the noise that woke him up. As soon as he saw her run, he tried to follow her. Suzie ran to the end of the street and tripped as she failed to catch the Lightning Eel. She looked up to see a tall figure that looked like a scarecrow, with flaming eye sockets in its pumpkin head that stared down at her menacingly. A crow sat on the wooden planks that should’ve kept the puppet made of hay inanimate. Arthur saw the villainous figure and attempted to rescue Suzie. As if in response, wooden constructs started to appear around the scarecrow, keeping Arthur away from his sister.

“Suzie!” Before he could even attempt to reach out, his sister and the tall creature disappeared out of nowhere. Arthur wanted to cry. He didn’t have much time to mourn, for the wooden constructs were trying to grab him.

Luckily, he was able to escape, although it took him quite the struggle. He hurried back home. As he hurried inside, an eel flew happily with a belt in its jaws, with a deck of spell cards and a spellbook attached.

Evan woke up again to hear an annoying sound that he recognized. He sat up and yawned. He picked up his phone, taking the charger that he set up yesterday after going through all of his stuff. His eyes widened at the number of notifications on his screen. He scrolled away most of the junk, but he saw a text message as he did so. He wanted to respond so badly, but before he could even read the name of the messenger one more time, his alarm rang. As the annoying sound filled the room, he put down the phone. His dark purple alarm was one of the few things that felt familiar, one of the few items from his homeworld.

As he was about to wake up his roommate, he realized the bed beside him was completely empty. He was about to search for any trace of where he may be, but his roommate’s alarm rang. He groaned and started to get ready for class. He noticed that a piece of paper suddenly appeared on his desk, but he did not take the time to study it, opting to hurry up. He left the dorms without picking up the paper. Walking out of his dorm and into his classroom made him realize how tired he actually was. When he finally entered the classroom, he sat down. Right before he could put his head on his desk, Professor Balestrom hopped up to his desk and poked the boy’s head with his cane.

“Morning, Young Wizard! I’m surprised you came in.” He shouted, his normally cheery tone acting as Evan’s fourth alarm that morning.

“Why is that surprising? This is a school, isn’t it?” He turned his head towards the professor, circles under his eyes still present.

“Do you not know? Did the headmaster not tell you?”

“Tell what?” He looked tired and confused. He had already stayed up late, but being called in the middle of the night didn’t help his sleepiness this morning.

“You have the day off, you don’t have to be here.”

“Hmm… I’ll just stay for now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to miss a day of school.” The student waved his hand. The professor was confused, but he shrugged and jumped onto his desk. The teacher shuffled through his papers and Evan laid his head on his desk, waiting for the lesson of the day to begin. He soon drifted off to sleep.

As classes came to an end, the death students started exiting the library. Malorn, Duncan, and Polley usually stayed behind to study some more and to help Malorn with lesson plans, but today Duncan was about to rush out of the building with everyone else.

“Hey, dude, where are you going?” Malorn shouted as he stood up from his seat. The other boy stopped in his tracks.

“I’m going back to Triton Avenue.” Duncan turned around to face the other two students in the room. The students were alone. At this point, the room in the library was empty except for the three death students.

“Isn’t that place still filled with the undead?” The girl stayed in her seat, but she looked directly at the boy. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea-”

“You think I suddenly forgot about yesterday?” He fully turned around and faced Polley. “Unlike you, I don’t forget everything.”

“Dude, uncool!” The other boy called out.

“Whatever.” He left and shut the door. Malorn sighed and sat back down on his chair. Deathly silence choked the atmosphere as the two remaining students sat silently until one of them decided to speak up

“Is he still mad over me forgetting his birthday last year?” She stared at the door. Malorn could see a weight on her shoulders.

“I don’t think so.” He laid his head on his hand. “He’s still upset over everything that’s been happening recently, I don’t think it was you.”

“Oh…” She got the hint. Malistaire. She looked away from the door. Instead of looking at the other person in the room, she just looked down at the open book on her side of the table. “Can I leave?”

“Oh-uh… yeah, sure.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her. The creaks from her wooden seat as she backed echoed loudly in his eardrums. Was there anything he could do for his friends?

“I just need some time alone, I apologize. Let me know how Duncan is feeling if he comes back.” She stuffed her books and work into her bag right before she left.

When classes ended, Evan and Tasha bumped into each other at the entrance to Ravenwood from the Commons. Tasha noticed the circles under his eyes. When she asked, he denied anything at first, but after enough persistence from her, Evan caved in.

“I stayed up a little bit last night, I was helping the Headmaster.” He continued to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Despite his general tiredness, he could still tell there weren't a lot of people in the Commons that day.

“Well, what did he need help with?”

“You know that giant tree in the center of the school?” Tasha’s eyes turned up, trying to remember. She then nodded. “Apparently that tree has been forgetting stuff and he needed something.”

“Well, what else happened-” Before she could finish her question, strong hands grabbed her shoulders. She looked up to see the freckled face of her new friend. The taller wizard bent down a little bit for Tasha. “Hi!”

“Hello little cub, are you ready for another adventure?" Calder laughed and let the life wizard go before standing up. Tasha looked up with a confused look. Evan also looked towards Calder.

“What do you mean another adventure?”

“Headmaster called us in.” Evan gave a confused look. Just then Aika walked towards the group.

“I didn't hear anything about this?" He spoke in an unsure tone.

“Seems like I was the only one that heard anything,” Aika said. “I stayed in class for a minute and I guess the headmaster was late on calling Flamea.”

She shrugged her shoulders and urged her friends to follow her.

“I even had to stop Calder for a second. Let’s hurry before he calls again.” laughs filled the small group as they walked to the Headmaster’s Office. Ambrose was looking through books by the time the group went inside.

As the four students talked to the headmaster, a death student sat near the wall of the office. She wiped fresh tears out of her eyes. She berated herself in her head for crying so much, hoping she'd stop causing a scene. She hated being this emotional over what probably felt like nothing much to others.

If she'd feel just the tiniest change of emotion in someone talking to her, she'd be anxious and wonder what she did wrong. This wasn't the first time she'd been insulted by her friend, but she couldn't help but feel awful afterward. The insult didn't hurt that much, it was that she felt like she couldn't help him.

Eventually, she got up after thinking she let it all out. Just as she got on her feet, she heard a group of people walk out of the Headmaster's office. She could recognize three of them, the two students who had defeated Malistaire's minions and her classmate in her Secondary Life class. She let them walk by until she heard something that peaked her interest.

"Have you two seriously never been to Olde Town?" She heard one of them speak. She couldn't recognize the voice, so she assumed it was the redhead.

"Calder, we've only been here for, like, what- three days?" She could hear the annoyance in the boy's voice. If they saved Unicorn Way, maybe they were going to fix the problems in Triton Avenue. The girl wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but she slowly followed them to the entrance to the Shopping District.

"This is the first time we've been through whatever this place is." He said and looked around the street he was on, seeing multiple buildings with ads on their windows and signs indicating they were shops. As he got further into the street, he could see the edge of the area, a cliff with floating rocks. Seeing the few spots that'd allowed him to look to the outside world made him feel a sense of loneliness, as if this floating rock was all there was of this world. The sky was pretty though, light colors occasionally covered by white clouds made the sky look like a painting. While he was in thought, his shirt collar got grabbed.

"Olde Town is this way." She dragged him back despite his protests at being scruffed.

As they walked in the opposite direction, Polley was getting cold feet when she accidentally stepped on a branch. Aika immediately turned around and saw the girl behind them. Thinking she was about to be called out, she looked into Aika's widened eyes, but never saw her turn angry. Her expression softened once she recognized who she was staring out.

"What's wrong?" The younger girl looked up at the slightly distressed lady. Aika sighed and let her shoulders relax.

"Nothing is wrong." She turned around and tried to reassure Tasha. They started walking towards the entrance to Olde Town and the necromancer turned around.

When the four entered Olde Town, Tasha and Evan looked around the unfamiliar area. Aika walked in front of them.

“We can show you around later, but for now, I see the guard over there.” She pointed down the hill to the guard standing on the sidewalk. “Should be the one Headmaster was talking about.”

The three followed her down the hill as she walked towards the guard dressed in yellow and red. The Sergeant asked the students their business.

“We were sent by the Headmaster to help deal with a problem in Olde Town and Triton Avenue.” The life wizard exclaimed as she handed a letter to the guard. He took one look at the wax seal.

“Seems legit. You four saved Unicorn Way?” He looked up at the Ravenwood students. Tasha nodded.

”Come over here then.” He started walking down the hill and the four followed. He went on about ghosts attacking the streets while they headed. Right as the group was a couple of feet away from the entrance to Triton Avenue, a gentle coo made itself known.

“Gahh! Now what?” The guard looked towards the source of the noise. His eyes landed on Aika, but before he could ask anything a little bird popped out from behind her. It continued to coo as it landed on the girl’s finger.

“What is it Mocha?” She said to the distressed bird.

“I feel like I should’ve seen that bird earlier.” The boy thought out loud. She looked at him and shrugged as the dove continued to coo.

“Mocha likes to sneak up on me sometimes.” She giggled and looked back at her bird. After one more coo, it jumped off and flew away.

“Where is it going-”

“It’s heading towards the Caretaker’s Tower!” The guard interrupted Evan.

"The Caretaker?" The boy looked up at the Ravenwood guard.

“Old Judd’s tower, nobody has been in there since he’s passed away.” Muldoon looked over to where the bird flew to. "But why is that bird heading towards the caretaker's tower?"

“Mocha!” Aika took off after her bird.

“Aika!” Calder, who had been mostly silent for a while, yelled and followed the pyromancer. The boy groaned in response.

“Guess we’ll go investigate the tower.” Tasha spoke and took off after the other two wizards, with her brother following her.

Mocha landed on the handle on the door leading into the tower. When the four students caught up to the bird, the pyromancer scooped up the dove.

“Mocha! Don’t do that again!” She kissed the top of the bird’s head, earning a chirp in response. The four observed the tower. The building itself didn’t look any different from the other towers in Olde town. However, it became clear something wasn’t right when someone started screaming inside.

“N-No! Help!”

Calder immediately opened the door and the others followed her in. They saw two figures in the room, an undead man and a student in a hood on the floor.

“I lost! I can’t believe I…” The same voice they heard outside came from the student. The student looked at the group before looking at the menacing figure in front of her. The undead man twisted his head towards the newly arrived group.

The undead man swung his spade directly at the student who cried for help. Calder acted fast, summoning an armor shield to protect her, which successfully did its job. The impact from the spade made both the shovel and shield break, creating a gust of wind that pushed the man down and unveiled the student’s hood, revealing her braids. The creature looked directly at the caster and aimed an attack at her, which she immediately cast an ice beetle in defense. The horns stabbed the zombie in the abdomen.

He stumbled back and held his stomach in pain, seemingly leaving another opportunity for an attack. Tasha took the moment to run up to the enemy. She was hit across the face before she could cast a spell, causing her to fall to the floor.

“Tasha, watch out!” Her brother shouted as he cast Lightning Bats. Storm clouds flying over the man distracted him long enough for Tasha to back off before he could get a second hit. The dark clouds summoned purple and yellow bats that overloaded the zombie with lighting swarming around him and hitting him. He falls to the floor, completely fried. Evan ran up to his sister. “Oh lord, are you okay?”

“Hold on.” She held a finger up. She then cast a spell and her head was engulfed in a pale golden light. As it disappeared, her pained expression vanished along with it. “I think I’m good now.”

“Alright, do you-”

“Thank you for saving me!” The student who was just on the floor was struggling to get up. Aika ran up to the student and helped her up. The student held her stomach. The student wore black and white clothes and she wore dark brown braids tied together by ribbons. The wounded student tried to say something, but was interrupted by the pyromancer.

“Hold on, I can help your wound.” She let go of the girl’s arms and bent down to cast a fairy. Its green butterfly wings swarmed around the wounded student, spilling fairy dust everywhere on the girl. The fairy then flew above her head and disappeared.

“Do you feel better now?” The pyromancer flashed a smile at the girl. She smiled back and nodded. Aika looked over to see Evan helping Tasha stand up, only to be interrupted by a hug from behind.

“Hey, cub, what were you doing in here?” Calder faced the student as she hugged her friend. Her friend was startled by the sudden physical contact, but hearing her voice calmed her down and made her bring her shoulders down.

“Oh yeah, I almost didn’t mention. That guy was going to corrupt people’s pets.” This suddenly got the attention of the siblings, who were previously talking to each other on the other side of the room.

“Wait, what’s going on?” The boy questioned and walked to the girl. Before she could answer, however, his sister ran up and asked who she was.

“Huh- oh! I’m Penny Dreadful, I’m new here.” She softly smiled at the life wizard. Now that Evan was paying attention, he could recognize her accent as British. Just like the dogs in suits, just like his teacher, and just like the other female necromancer he met days ago. How many people in this school had the same accent, he wondered.

“Can you explain what happened, Dreadful?” The pyromancer politely asked. Penny looked at her and answered.

“I was just walking around when I saw this zombie guy stealing pets.” She pointed at the dead man on the floor, as if to emphasize her point.

“We have to get to the kennel. I saw him come down from upstairs before I tried to stop him, so maybe it’s up there.” The girl then pointed at a doorway that leads to stairs, but it was behind a gate. Calder tried to open it first only to confirm that it’s indeed locked. She groaned. She turned her head towards the girl.

“How do we get in?”

“Hmm…” The necromancer wondered for a moment until she finally remembered. “I believe I saw him throw the key out there while we were fighting.”

Evan quietly sighed, though Penny could still hear it.

“So, I suppose you don’t have any shrinking spells…” The group stared at the bars. As she stared, Aika felt her bird jump out of her sleeve and onto her hand. Looking at her hand and back at the bars, she suddenly had an idea. She moved closer to the bars and placed her pet on one of the bars and started to whisper commands into the bird’s head.

"I should have thought of that, good thinking Aika.” She looked at Evan, who had a red face.

“Thank yo-” She stopped talking once she heard her bird’s chirp come closer. Her dove landed on her shoulder and chirped happily with the key in her hand. “Good job, Mocha!”

She took the key out of the white bird’s beak and unlocked the door. The gate quickly flew up, leaving the entranceway to the stairs completely free to enter.

“Great!” Penny yelled excitedly. “Now let’s go save those poor pets.”

She ran up the stairs first, with the others following her. As they ascended to the next floor, they noticed cobwebs decorated the hall and room extensively. The room they entered was filled with wooden boxes, cobwebs, and old unused tombs. Evan recalled that the last room was filled with the same items.

“Over there!” Penny found a cell on the left side of the room. When they went up to inspect it, they noticed the gate was locked and heard the pets in the cage shout for help. The gate was locked behind a 6-digit combination lock. Along with the lock, the bars were covered in barbed wire. The necromancer held the combination lock and spoke, “Only that dead guy would know the combination. Who was he anyway?”

“From the tombs all over this room, I want to assume it was the cemetery keeper guy the guard we talked to mentioned.” Evan spoke as he looked around the room.

“You mean Old Judd?” He looked at the pyromancer.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we can guess the combination.” The necromancer pondered the possible password, even when the boy argued for the impossibility.

“Let’s see… 0-0-0-0-0-1. Nope… 0-0-0-0-0-2. Nope, not it… forget it, this is ridiculous.”

Aika looked down at her pet and back at the bars as everyone continued to ponder on how to open the cage.

“Maybe the pets know the code.” She walked over to the bars and lifted her bird to them. Mocha flew inside the cage and chirped a question. As immediately as the dove chirped, a response from a firecat came. The bird then flew and entered the code with its feet.

“0-0-0-0-0...3?” The necromancer was distraught. Before she could say anything more, Calder shouted.

“Ulf!” She ran up and picked a small figure. From a quick glance, it looked like a small black dog with blue marks all over its fur that glowed. The ice wizard hugged it tightly, the dog not fighting back.

“Is that your dog, it’s cu-” Evan spoke, only to pause once he got a closer look at the pet’s face. Its facial features resembled a lot less like the little dogs he’d see walking down the street and more like a feral wolf. He took a step back realizing that it was, indeed, a small wolf. The pet, despite its frightening look, wagged its tail like a puppy and looked happy in Calder’s embrace. However, Calder herself looked at Evan.

“What?” She looked him in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

“Who’s going to take all of these pets to the pet pavilion?” The pyromancer watched the pets run around in the room.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the pets get back to the Pet Pavilion.” Penny gathered the pets and walked downstairs. The others went down as well, relieved they finally got to leave the tower. The group separated from Penny after leaving the tower, leaving her to do her duty as they continued on their mission.

Chapter Text

“Sergeant Muldoon!” Tasha ran up to the guard. The others had to run as well to keep up with her pace.

“We solved the situation with the tower,” Evan said.

“Not bad,” the Sergeant said. “But our work is just beginning. Triton Avenue and Cyclops Lane are still in trouble, and we have heard nothing from Firecat Alley in a while.”

"Alright, so where do we start?" Evan asked.

“All my guards are dealing with Cyclops Lane, so you can go deal with Triton Avenue first. The undead has overrun it and there’s already one student dealing with the crisis, so you all can meet there.”

They nodded and entered the tunnel into Triton Avenue. Before they could observe the environment, they heard someone shout, “You there! Help!”

Polley looked down at her diary in embarrassment. She couldn’t get the events of earlier out of her head. Despite trying to distract herself with two books, she still couldn’t get herself to read either of them. She stared at the other girl in the room.

Seeing the girl put on her makeup made her jealous of the girl’s social life. She could easily make friends with her other classmates, while Polley only really had her two friends, Duncan and Malorn. She had always struggled with social interactions, even with Malorn and Duncan they had introduced themselves to her and insisted on being her friend. She has tried to get along with others in her classes, but they looked right through her like she was a ghost.

The roommate then left the room. She stared at the door, wondering what she should do. Duncan was clearly busy and when she tried to talk to Malorn, he said the headmaster called him. Usually, she would force herself to occupy her time with books or art when her friends are busy, but all she could think about was what happened earlier that day.

Trying to think about something else, she ended up ruminating on how lonely she felt. Ever since she came to Ravenwood, she felt as if the people in her class never liked her and might’ve held contempt for her. The girl had nothing in common with the other necromancers. Then again, she didn't have a lot in common with most people, she always felt like the fool in the room.

She had an idea that her feelings might be exaggerations of how the other classmates felt about her, but she couldn’t help but think about it, and she ended up believing that feeling more than reality. She sighed. Then, noticing she was tapping her pencil against the desk, she stopped and put her pencil down and tried to calm down. Suddenly, a letter appeared on her desk. She picked it up.

“I’m lucky you guys came along.” The boy who called for help said. The four wizards had helped the boy get to a safe area near a cliff.

“Hey, are you the wizard that’s already dealing with what’s going on?” Aika interrogated.

“I guess?” He shrugged his shoulders. He then tried to explain the situation.

“Something has broken the flow of Storm Magic through the street. Those towers should have arcs of lightning between them.” He waved his arm in the street's direction. As he said, the towers arcing over the houses were inactive. “My sister and I were supposed to help the Mill with the issue, but she’s disappeared!"

“When did you last see her?” Evan asked. The boy put a hand to his heart. He then regained his composure.

“I last saw her last night. I woke up and noticed she was gone. The only trace I’ve seen of her since then was her deck in the mouth of one of those eels-” He stopped once he noticed another boy step out of the shadows.

“Duncan?”

“Hey, I couldn’t help but overhear- you’re very loud-” Duncan spoke.

“That’s a lot coming from you.” The ice wizard said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Duncan glared at the tall woman.

“You talk a lot, boast about magic feets, but you can't live up to your big words.” He crossed his arms and looked away from her.

“I could totally beat you in a wizard duel-”

“Oh, you want to fight again?” she laughed as he looked directly at her. He backed away again.

“Can we please focus, my sister is missing.” Artur pinched the bridge of his nose. The two wizards backed away from each other, and Artur looked up.

“What were you about to say, Duncan?”

“I was going to say that maybe I could find her if you all could find her deck. If she’s still alive, I can sense it with her deck by doing a ritual.”

“What Ritual?” Artur spoke.

“I’m not surprised you don’t know it, it’s a very advanced spell.” he chuckled at the diviner.

“I need both her deck and some other anchor. Artur, you remember the undead near the mill?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, I noticed the Rotting Fodder were using storm magic-”

“How in the world are they using storm magic?” Aika asked.

“They were wearing strange amulets with storm energy. If you can get one of those and Susie’s deck, I can cast the spell.” They nodded, and the group split up. Evan and Aika would find Susie's deck, and Tasha and Calder would get one of the storm amulets.

Polley stood right by the door to the headmaster’s office. Her hands fidgeted as she wondered what she could’ve done to be called in. She slowly breathed in and breathed out. Then she knocked.

“Please come in.” She heard the headmaster speak from inside the building. She let herself in. He looked up, and his eyes widened.

“I’m glad you could come in Polley, please sit down.” She did as he told her and sat in a chair in front of his desk. His desk had piles of paperwork and other clutter she couldn’t name.

“Let’s get down to business. By any chance, have you met our latest students?” Despite speaking to her, he had his head focused on a book in his hand.

“The two that saved Unicorn Way? Yeah.”

“Well, as successful as they’ve been, I fear they may need more help for the journey they will have to endure.” He laid the book down and looked at the student in front of him. “You have one of the highest scores among your classmates, I think you could be of great help.”

“What about Duncan or Malorn? Surely they must be better for this kind of thing.” She knew for sure that they were doing better than her, they always had to help her catch up when Malistaire was still their teacher. There is no way she'd be anything but a reliability to the new students.

“They are ahead of you, but both of them unfortunately were very busy. Or at least Malorn is, Duncan refuses to speak to me.”

“Because of the Malistaire incident?” She said without thinking. She saw his long face and immediately regretted talking.

“Regardless, you are a brilliant student in your own right and I believe you could help our newcomers with the current problem.” Polley was about to protest when he spoke again.

“I believe that this journey won’t end in Wizard City.”

Calder ripped out the amulet from the undead foe’s neck before kicking him to the ground. Tasha stared at her in awe. The woman then pulled out her wand and defeated the enemy with an ice beetle.

“That was so cool!” The younger girl jumped in excitement. Calder gave a smug grin.

“How about we go back to that necromancer.” She chuckled. Tasha followed her back to the cliff, where Duncan waited.

“Took you long enough.” He rolled his eyes and took the amulet from her. She glared at him, but he ignored her.

“What’s taking the other two so long-”

“Get back here, you stupid eel!” Evan shouted as he chased after an eel down the hill.

“That eel has her deck!” Tasha pointed at the eel.

She summoned an imp. The tiny creature played his violin and zoomed towards the eel. The music makes the eel stop moving, and it floats towards Tasha.

“Thank you!” She swiped the deck out of the eel’s mouth. In his attempt to stop running, he made a misstep and dropped to the floor.

“Oh my Bartleby!” Aika finally got to the hill. She ran down the stairs. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He sat up and rubbed his head. Aika helped him up. The group then gathered around Duncan.

“If I’m right, and I usually am-” Calder and Evan rolled their eyes.

“Whoever’s enchanting these storm amulets also kidnapped Suzie. They probably have Suzie imprisoned close by.”

He waved his staff, and it produced a floating image.

“Suzie! I can see her!” Artur shouted. Suzie was stuck in a tower in the vision. “But what is that horrifying thing with her?”

A scarecrow with fire illuminating from his eye sockets was towering over Suzie. Suzie was in a fighting position, her wand being charged and about to cast a spell. The concerned brother looked away from the image to see if Duncan was going to say anything, but his face said it all.

“That’s the Harvest Lord! He’s a powerful spirit from the Underworld who harvests souls of the innocent!” Everyone stared at the vision, hoping to get a clue of where she was.

“It looks like she’s in Galvanost Tower! Let’s go!” Artur shouted.

Polley walked out of the Headmaster’s office. She sighed before seeing someone hanging out near the entrance. A young girl in black clothes. She looked like a death student, but Polley didn’t recognize her. She was about to go past her when she heard the girl cry.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked. The girl wiped her tears and looked at the young woman.

“Can you help me?” The girl said. Polley nodded.

“I’m Penny Dreadful and I just got here. I just dropped some missing pets off to the Pet Pavilion and I thought I could just join class, but apparently not only is class already over, but my enrollment application is missing! Is there someone I can speak to?”

“I just got back from talking to the Headmaster, maybe I can check with him?”

“Can you? That’d be great!”

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” She turned around and headed back into his office. As she stopped right in front of his door, she turned back to see the girl earnestly waiting. She then knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

“Can I please come in, Headmaster?”

“Back so soon?” She was let in.

“There’s a student outside that says she’s missing her application. Her name is Penny Dreadful.”

“Of the Marleybone Dreadfuls? Why, I taught her parents. Wonderful students. Let me find her application…” He pulls a pile of paper out of his desk. “Let’s see… papers to grade, budgetary proposals, a live frog-”

The frog jumped off the pile and onto the chair in front of Polley.

“Duncan Grimwater’s ‘ode to Malistaire’ 1-5…” She grimaced after hearing that. “Ah, here we go!”

Her face lights up. He picks up the paper and stamps it. He then searches through another pile of papers.

“Since you two share the same class, can you help her catch up?” He pulls some papers and hands them to the student. She nods and leaves. She met up with the new student and explained the situation to her.

“I just got enrolled and I’ve already got homework.” She laughed to herself. She looked up at the older student.

“You’re from Marleybone too, right?” Polley’s ears perked up.

“Yeah.”

“So we have two things in common!” She let out a soft giggle and then there was a moment of silence.

“If you’re willing to help me, maybe we can do it real quick! It can’t be harder than fighting a zombie, right?”

Polley gave a nod in approval. Penny looked down at her paper and any excitement she had in her face dropped at that very moment.

“‘Battle Tactics of the Undead’… huh… guess we will be fighting all the zombies.”

The group of wizards in Triton Avenue arrived at the tower where Suzie was captured.

“So how should we enter the tower-” Calder smashed the door open before Evan could finish speaking. She entered to find the scarecrow from the vision tower over Suzie tied up in a room filled with gadgets and storm energy.

“Ah, another soul to harvest.” The Harvest Lord turned around to face Calder. She stood her ground as everyone else came in as well. “Like flies to honey.”

He laughed until he saw Tasha and Evan enter the room. He bent his body in order to further examine them. He then jumped, which made his body come back up.

“My dark master warned me about you. Ha! Imagine the reward he’ll give me when I present your souls!” His laughter filled the room as the door behind them slammed shut. There was no backing out now.

“Help!” Suzie shouted from the back of the room. Before she could say anything else, a zombie reapplied her gag.

“Suzie!” Artur rushed towards the zombie and got hit by the undead’s spade.

“Gah!” Evan quickly summoned lightning bats to stop the zombie from hitting him any further.

Calder and Tasha rushed in next. Calder cut Suzie free from her bonds and Tasha performed a heal on Artur. Suzie immediately used her freedom as an advantage and summoned a storm shark to take care of another zombie.

“Thank you.” Suzie said in between breaths. Calder nodded and they went into battle.

Duncan summoned an undead minion to try and take care of the Harvest Lord, but the scarecrow quickly took care of that minion. He then tried to use a firecat on him, but Aika summoned a shield for him, reducing the damage taken. She then summoned a fire elf, which shot an arrow through the Harvest Lord’s chest, but he did not go down. Tasha took down a zombie with a Leprechaun.

The wizards slowly overwhelmed the undead allies of the Harvest Lord until it was just him versus the group. However, he wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. He summoned lightning from the outside to attack the group. Duncan and Suzie were the only ones not able to evade the strikes.

“This is so stupid.” Duncan managed to let out before the Harvest Lord tried to light him on fire with his arms. He was able to roll out of the way just in time.

“I agree.” Evan huffed and summoned a lightning snake. It wrapped the undead in its body like a constrictor, trapping the fiend. He clenched his fist and the snake hugged him tighter and tighter until the lord gave his final speech.

“I am beaten, but my master’s dark plan is nearly complete! Triton Avenue is doomed!” He then laughed until his head popped off from his body and the flames that once ignited from inside his head went off.

“I know what he’s talking about.” Suzie said. “I overheard his plans. He diverted the energy from the Tempus Nexus to enchant the amulets his minions were wearing. After he finished, he directed the flow back on itself. The Nexus will explode and take Triton Avenue with it!”

“What should we do then?” Evan asked.

“Let’s meet up at the Nexus.” Suzie leads the way towards the Tepus Nexus. She led them to a teleporter with a blue glow. Without hesitation, she went to it, disappearing in front of the group. Her brother went next, then Duncan, and then the others, until it was only Evan and Tasha.

“Are we sure this isn’t dangerous?” The older brother spoke. His sister shrugged.

“They went in with no issue, it should be fine.” She said as she stepped forward onto the portal, taking her as well. He sighed. He held his breath and stepped forward as well.

He successfully transported with no issue, but he was face to face with the Nexus. It was a large pole surrounded by a light brown metal spiral with a small metal box at the bottom that Suzie and Artur focused on.

“The controls, they aren’t working!” The girl shouted. “I can’t set it right!”

“What about professor Balestrom?” Artur said.

“What about him? He isn’t here?” Evan’s eyes fixated on the Nexus. Sparks from the machine were flying everywhere.

“No, he’s right, someone needs to teleport to him. He knows more about storm magic than anyone.”

“Evan and I can go.” Her brother offered as he stood up.

“Okay, I’ll try to keep the box stable. Hurry!” The other wizards gathered around the box to watch Suzie as Artur went up to Evan.

“I know you’re new, but you know how to teleport, right?” He whispered to the fellow diviner. He shook his head.

“Fine, I’ll show you how.” First, the boy waved his hand at the ground for a few seconds. A faint “x” showed up on the ground.

“That’s to help us get back quickly.” He then looked directly at Evan and grabbed his hand.

“Now, let’s go. Think about our classroom and we’ll be there.” He closed his eyes and thought about his desk. When he opened his eyes, they were in the classroom, right in front of the person they needed to confront.

“Hello-”

“The Tempus Nexus is going to explode. We need your help!” Artur cut the professor off. The frog professor leaped off his desk, grabbed something, and hopped back on.

“Ring it against the metal of the Nexus three times and the feedback loop should end.” He handed a key to Artur.

They then ported back. Artur dashed towards the metal box Suzie was working on. Together, the diviner siblings got the Nexus to work again. Sparks stopped scattering everywhere, opting to contain itself in the Nexus.

“Triton Avenue is saved!” Suzie shouted. She pumped her fists into the air. The other wizards fed off of her positive energy, even Duncan. As they exited the area, they ported near one street, still filled with rotting fodder.

“What are we going to do about the undead?” Evan pointed at the street.

“Without the Harvest Lord leading them, we can probably handle them.” Artur rebutted. “For now, you four should report all of this.”

He looked at Aika, Calder, Tasha, and Evan. They nodded and left. As they headed towards the exit, they saw arches of lightning decorate the sky above the streets. Aika and Calder were familiar with the sight, but the two Earthlings stared up in awe. As soon as they arrive back in Olde Town, they report everything to Sergeant Muldoon.

“We have solved the crisis on Triton Avenue, nothing’s going to explode!” Tasha gave a thumb up to the guard.

“I should hope not!” The older man said. Evan laid his face in his hands.

“Hey, you’re back! Can I see your notes?” Penny said. The fellow necromancer nodded and sat down next to her. “I’d say it’s done, thank you!”

She held a smile of relief.

“I can turn it in for you if you want.” Polley offered.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that, but thank you.” She put her homework in her bag. The two watched the streets of Unicorn Way for a while.

The street that was once a danger for any student was free from the undead. Penny could appreciate the beauty the streets held, but Polley couldn’t help but have her mind somewhere else. The free streets reminded her of the heroes of Unicorn Way and made her remember about her meeting with Ambrose. Could she help defeat Malistaire? Or whoever was causing the chaos in Wizard City? If those four couldn’t defeat them, then how could she help? She continued to think before Penny interrupted.

“Have you met Malistaire?” The younger necromancer looked at her.

“Yeah.”

“What was he like?” A moment of silence filled the air.

"He… He was a fine professor, albeit very grumpy sometimes." She chuckled to herself as memories flooded in her mind.

“He was… a lot nicer than people assume he is-” An image of Duncan popping up in the air interrupted her.

“Hey, can you come to Triton Avenue?” He looked straight at her.

“Isn’t that place filled with undead?”

“Maybe…” His eyes darted away. “But it’s really important, I swear!”

“Alright, give me a minute.” She stood up as the image of Duncan disappeared.

“Before you go-” Penny stood up and held an envelope in her hands.

“Would you mind taking my letter to Prospector Zeke and asking him to deliver it to my parents next time he’s in Marleybone?”

“Of course!” She smiled at the young girl before taking the envelope out of her hands.

Evan, Tasha, Aika, and Calder walk out of the Shopping District. As they go to the Headmaster’s building, Aika looks to her right and sees Polley talking to an older redhead.

“Who is he?” Tasha looks at the man.

“Oh, that’s Zeke, he’s not here very often, but he sells stuff when he is here with his wife over there.” Aika replied.

“Oh, okay!” She continued to walk towards the Headmaster's office.

Aika followed the rest while still keeping her eyes on the necromancers for a moment. She still remembered what happened earlier that day. Was she following them? She couldn't think of any malicious intentions the girl could have, but she didn't know her that well despite both taking secondary in life. Her gaze soon returned to the office as they entered the gate. The group let Ambrose know about the events that took place that evening, and then left his office.

“So… where are you guys from?” Calder wrapped her arms around Evan and Tasha’s shoulders.

“Did we not already tell you?” Evan looked up at her.

“I don’t think we’ve told her specifically.” Tasha looked at her brother and then back at Calder.

“I’d like to know as well.” Aika spoke behind them.

“Ah, okay…” He scratched the back of his ear as Calder let go of the siblings. “We’re not from this place… we’re from a planet called Earth.”

“Oh, what is it like?” The pyromancer edged closer towards the boy.

“Uh… not great.” He laughed under his breath. "We're just a total mess, I guess."

"What about your worlds? We don't know where you guys came from!" Tasha tried to change the conversation.

“Sure!” Calder spoke out first. “I come from Grizzleheim. We’re warriors that sail the skies and endure the winter!”

She flexed her arms as she spoke of her home country. The siblings then looked at the pyromancer, waiting for her to answer.

“I come from Mooshu. My world hasn’t known war since I’ve been around. We have warriors, but we’re peaceful.” She placed her hands on her chest and held a thoughtful expression.

She looked up to find themselves in Ravenwood. The other three seem to realize quickly as well, as Evan prepares to leave the group.

“I need to check something. See you guys tomorrow.” He waved and walked towards the boy’s dorm rooms. The pyromancer then looked at her tall friend.

“There’s still a bit of daylight out. Want to go for a walk?” She gave a sweet smile to the redhead.

“I would like to, but there's trouble tomorrow and I must save my energy.” She gave her friend a tight hug.

“See you tomorrow.” She rubbed the shorter girl’s head and then headed to the girl’s dorm room. She watched the redhead leave.

“I guess it’s just us then?” Tasha looked up at her. Her friend smiled and nodded.

“Let me get changed first!” She ran off to the girl's dorm rooms, with Aika following her. Before the pyromancer could enter, a pelican interrupted her. It gave her an envelope. Before she even opened it, she sighed. She held onto it as she entered the dorms and entered her room to change as well.

Tasha waited outside her room as soon as she finished getting changed. When Aika left her room, she opened the envelope. Aika wore a yukata with green and yellow flowers. As Tasha observed her yukata, she noticed the envelope in her hand and the coins she pulled out.

"Oooh, what's the money for?" She hugged her arm. The pyromancer jumped a little and pulled her arm out of the younger girl's grasp.

"Uhh… a present…" She looked at the message in the envelope and back at her new friend. "I need to change plans, I'm going to get a haircut."

"But I just got dressed- Can I come, anyway?" Tasha pleaded. Aika looked down at her, remembering how she and her brother hadn't been to the Shopping District.

"I-I guess…" she reluctantly spoke as she put her money and letter in her pockets. "Alright, let's go."

She held her breath as she and the life wizard left Ravenwood and entered the Shopping District. As they did, she spotted the necromancer again. However, she looked preoccupied with something, so she didn't pay attention. Finally, they walked to a building with a red roof and red tents. It had signs outside the door with the words, “Magic Mirror Shop”, on it with a picture of a hand-held mirror. Tasha's eyes lit up with interest.

"Good evening, Magic Mirror." The older girl spoke as she opened the door. As the younger girl walked in, the mirrors mesmerized her with images of different hairstyles. She stared at the images while Aika went up to the sentient mirror in the middle of the room.

"I just need a couple of inches cut, please." She pulled gold out of her pocket and put them on the front desk. She then sat down on a chair in front of a mirror. Tasha moved her eyes away from all the images for a moment to watch the shop owner do her magic. Aika's hair glittered before a couple inches of her bob was removed.

"That's so cool!" The younger girl looked at the older girl. Aika looked down at her.

"Do you want to give it a try?"

"Won't that cost money?"

"You can preview hairstyles in the mirror without changing your hair." She got up from the chair. Tasha immediately sat down and tapped her feet in anticipation.

"How do I get this to work?" She whispered as she viewed herself in the mirror. "Hmm… ponytail!"

Her eyes grew as she watched her hair glitter and then transform to a short ponytail. She touched her hair.

"Longer!" She watched her ponytail grow longer. She giggled and shook her hands excitedly. Aika gave a sweet smile as she watched Tasha magically experiment with her hair. She changed her hair to twin buns, long curly hair, and braids. The pyromancer's heart grew as she watched the girl's joy. Her reactions made a usually mundane activity much more lively and happy. Finally, the girl asked for her short hair back and left with her friend.

Chapter Text

"I believe there's a surge of death magic coming from the Haunted Cave that's making the undead appear in Triton Avenue." Duncan said Polley.

"Isn't that street filled with the undead?" She said. The two were currently in Triton Avenue, which just had one of its current issues solved. The undead, however, still roamed the streets.

"Yes, but the Harvest Lord is gone because of me, so hopefully it'll be easier to get across!"

"I feel like I've missed several chapters of a book, you defeated who?-" but before she could finish, the boy had started running down the hill.

"Duncan!" She followed him to the cave. She felt the rain stop as she entered, but still felt cold. The breeze added to the chilly feeling within her. They were inside the Haunted Cave, no gate in sight.

"This certainly explains all the undead, but who could have done this?” Duncan said. Polley walked closer to her friend as he pondered. They edged as far away from the streets as possible.

"If only Malistaire was here…" the girl whispered. Duncan frowned.

"Everyone else is convinced that Malistaire is behind this. Someone has to be impersonating him." He then looked directly at her.

"You believe me, don't you?"

"I… I would like to believe it isn't him." She held her arms and looked away from him. It didn't help, for she just happened to lock eyes with a zombie. She thought for a moment before looking back at Duncan.

"Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"If you defeat those field guards, maybe I can examine their auras and find out who summoned them.” he pointed to the floating scarecrows exploring the streets.

She took out her wand and got off the sidewalk. She looked back at Duncan to see that he hadn't moved and was giving her a thumbs-up. She stuck out her tongue in return.

The necromancer summoned a ghoul and attacked one of the field guards. She continued attacking until Duncan called for her.

"I saw something dire in their auras. They're minions of Lord Nightshade."

"How did he get free?"

"Someone must have broken the seals from the old tower to free Lord Nightshade and the Harvest Lord." He looked far down the street.

"If we can get closer, I may be able to sense echoes of the ritual that opened the tower. Let's go!"

They both marched down the sidewalk until they got to the tower. The tower was at the edge of the cave. A hole at the wall of the cave resembling teeth loomed over the dark tower. A gravesite sat next to the tower as well.

The two necromancers met up on the bridge in front of the tower. Duncan took a moment to sense the aura around them. Once he opened his eyes, Polley saw terror fill his soul.

"This… can't be. I can sense the portal, and the spell that opened it. I'd recognize the magical resonance anywhere- Malistaire!" She was dumbfounded. She had truly hoped that somehow, he wasn't behind everything that's been going on, even if all evidence pointed to the contradictory.

"He's… turned on us all!" He dropped to his knees. He stared out at the void behind the castle as she joined him on the ground.

She watched the despair on his face grow. She looked out at the void too, wishing she knew what to do. Then she had a thought.

“Duncan.” She grabbed his hand, immediately getting his attention.

“We need to report this to the Headmaster,” she said. He pulled his hand away.

“You do it.” He then walked away.

During a quiet afternoon the next day, Ravenwood classes finally ended for the day. Evan ran out of class. He waits outside of the life school for his sister. When she finally came out, she immediately spotted him and ran up to him.

"Hey! Are you ready for whatever the Headmaster has for us?"

"Sort of, but can you help me really quick?" He took her hand and pulled her out of Ravenwood and in front of the Headmaster's office.

"You've probably already noticed, but I just found out yesterday that our phones still work here! I even charged it with one of the outlets in my dorm room." He pulled out his phone and showed her his screen. Her eyes lit up as she read the text messages.

“Phoebe!" She almost grabbed his phone, but he pulled it away from her, holding it above his head.

"My phone!" He looked down at her.

"Actually…" He brought his phone down. "I do need your help recording something."

He handed her his phone. She immediately unlocked it.

"I feel like I should be concerned that you know my password." He let out an awkward laugh. He then backed away and pulled out his wand.

"I'm trying to show Phoebe a spell, just record it for me, okay?" She nodded. She hit the record button as he started getting ready to perform magic. The phone captured him summoning a lightning bat. As she was about to stop recording, he invited her to switch places.

"Hi, Phoebe!" She excitedly whispered to his phone. She pulled away from it to cast her own spell. Once she was done casting a fairy, he stopped recording.

"How's Phoebe doing?" She grabbed his arm as she stared at his screen.

"Fine, other than the fact that she's been freaking out over where we've been." He sent the video to her.

"I've been trying to convince her all morning that we haven't been kidnapped." She looked at the screen and Evan didn’t push her away. She read through some of the messages and Phoebe was really worried. This was the first time in a while she had to consider what was going on back at home.

"I hope she didn't call the police yet." She said.

"Not yet, but it seemed like they were considering it. Hopefully, the video at least calms them down." He stared at the messages alongside her.

"She seemed to find the concept of magic a lot more questionable than even I did."

"She wasn't the one teleported to a strange world." She tried to make a funny comment. "Hmm…"

"What is it?" He looked at her. She let go of his arm. Before she could say anything, Calder rushed in and hugged the girl.

"What's the matter, little cub?" Tasha looked up to see a familiar head of red hair.

"Nothing!" She forced herself out of the ice wizard's grasp. She looked at the exit gate and saw Aika walk in after Calder.

"Good evening, are we ready for whatever the day has for us?" She said to all three students. They agreed and headed inside the office.

"Headmaster Ambrose, we're ready for what we need to do." Aika said as she entered the office. The elderly man let them all in as he continued to write something.

"Please wait a minute, I'll teleport you to Cyclops Lane myself. The street right now is too dangerous to just enter as you did with Triton Avenue." He put his pen down and stood up from his desk.

"Some of you may have already heard, but the cyclops had a rebellion and are causing chaos on the street. We were forced to close the street off to Olde Town indefinitely until we can get the situation solved." He started messing with his crystal ball that was held by a stand. Soon, the globe showed an image. Trolls roamed a yellow cobblestone road while eyes on the walls observed.

"Wow, that's freaky." Evan said under his breath.

"Trolls?" The ice wizard looked at him.

"No, the eye on the wall there. I would not willingly live there." He chuckled awkwardly. When he stopped, Ambrose continued.

"There should already be some students there. You will meet up with them and you all will deal with the problem." He messed with the ball again and a different image appeared. Two students stood on a gazebo decorated in a similar way the fairgrounds in the commons are decorated, one was a girl and the other was a boy. The boy wore a yellow hood that hid his light skin. The girl, compared to him, had darker skin and wore greek armor.

"Let me prepare the teleportation spell-" There was a knock on the door. The four students immediately looked at the door. The man went and opened the door himself, revealing a brunette necromancer. Her face turned into a nervous expression.

"D-Did I come at the wrong time?" She held herself as she looked at the other students in the room. "Malorn told me you called for me, so I-"

"No, no, you came in just in time!" He moved out of the doorway, encouraging her to come in. She walked in. She could see the mixed expressions on everyone's faces, making her want to walk out. She looked back to see the Headmaster close the door.

"Now, let's get back to business." The elderly man went to one of his shelves and searched through scrolls. Meanwhile, one of the teenagers finally spoke.

"I remember you! I saw you on my first day! Hi!” Tasha's facial expression changed from thinking to excitement.

"Hello." She waved her hand. "So you guys are the heroes of Unicorn Way?"

"Yep. And Triton Avenue, I guess," Evan said.

"Triton Avenue?" Polley looked at him. She couldn't help but remember the events that took place yesterday with her and Duncan.

"Yeah, we defeated the Harvest Lord."

"Duncan said something about defeating him, was he there?"

"Yeah, he helped a bit." He crossed his arms. Polley stood there, wanting to say something. She scratched at her arms nervously, but nothing came out. She eventually gave up when Ambrose started chanting a spell to teleport them to Cyclops Lane.

They appear right in front of the two students that were seen in the globe. The two were arguing. They seemed to almost ignore the group until the boy in yellow noticed them.

"Oh good, professor Drake sent us more assistants." He interrupted the argument, making the girl look towards the group. Then she looked back towards him.

"Oh, don't think you're going to let another group of students run off-"

"Come on, that was one time!"

"One time, and we lost-"

"We were sent by Ambrose to help,” Aika spoke up. The two conjurers finally stopped arguing and the male went on to introduce themselves. The boy was Nolan Stormgate and the girl was Selene Argyris.

"Let's see how useful you are. Professor Drake put me- I mean us in charge of thwarting the cyclops rebellion-"

"However, our thwarting has been unsuccessful." Selene interrupted Nolan. "Professor Drake originally summoned trolls and minotaurs to stop them, but they teamed up with the cyclops."

"Why did the Cyclops rebel?" Evan said.

"We don't know, that's something we're hoping to find out. You five go fight some trolls to find information. Nolan and I will fight some Warhorns."

"Uhh… but shouldn't someone stay- Ah!" Nolan attempted to speak, but his ear was pulled by the tall girl next to him.

"F-Fine, let's go."

The two groups split up, the five wizards going to the street with trolls. Calder was the first one to attack, summoning a snow serpent to attack several trolls. The rest of the group other than Aika and Polley joined. The pyromancer was about to step off the sidewalk, but she noticed the necromancer was nervously looking out and not moving.

"Are you going to move?" She said. The brunette turned to look at her.

"In a minute…" she said and looked back out at the streets. Aika shrugged and went out with the other three students. Polley continued to hesitate.

She was reminded of that day Triton Avenue was overrun with undead, and how she was hesitating again. The only thing different was that her friends weren't in danger. She held her wand in hand, but there was a mental wall for her between the danger and the safe zone. She moved her foot on the cobblestone road. She stayed frozen, not able to move another inch, but one of the trolls ran after her and almost hit her with his club. She dodged it and lifted her wand. She summoned a dark sprite, which flew over the troll and absorbed his energy, causing him to fall.

“Huh?" She noticed an envelope drop from the troll's clothes. She picked it up, noticing a wax seal she couldn't recognize.

"I found something!" The group looked at her waving the paper in her hands. The group got on the grass to discuss it, and eventually found that it was the only information they could find. They went back to the fair area, finding the two myth wizards looking stumped.

"We found an envelope from one of the trolls!" Tasha said. Polley handed the letter to the female myth wizard.

"Strange, minions don't normally know how to write." She said as she broke the wax seal without effort. She unfolded the letter and read it while Nolan looked over her shoulder.

"By the handwriting, a cyclops wrote this. They never dot their 'i's." He said. The girl continued reading but soon stopped reading to pinch the bridge of her nose, holding the urge to punch the boy in the face.

"Great Artemis, the students YOU were supposed to look over were kidnapped!" She snarled at him. The students on the ground looked up in shock, while Nolan's face turned. Selene read the room and continued.

"It's also clear here that the cyclops have a master looking over them. That master must be the reason they've rebelled."

"We must act immediately! I think our best course of action is… to tell a grown-up. Someone should report the situation to Professor Drake, while I- we remain and bravely hold the line. How about… you,” Nolan said.

He pointed towards Evan. He sighed, this being the second time he's been forced to leave the mission to report to one of the professors. He reluctantly agreed as he teleported to the Commons. It took him a minute to recognize the setting, still not used to teleporting, and he walked over to the entrance in Ravenwood.

"Where's Professor Drake again?" He whispered to himself. He knew he had to go to the myth school, but he genuinely didn't remember where the school was located. He turned left and passed the life school. The yellow building loomed threateningly over him, as his only memory of this teacher replayed in his mind. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he knocked on the door. He was let in and the teacher swiftly spoke.

“What do you want?" He said.

“The trolls and the minotaurs you summoned are revolting! They kidnapped some of the students you sent there!” The tall man sneered at the mention of the kidnapped students, not pleased at the situation. He then quietly took a piece of paper from his desk.

"Here. Take this message to the robe shopkeeper, Victor Dark wood. Be quick, time is of the essence here!" Evan took the paper and ran out of the school.

He struggled with finding the shop for a minute, but once he saw the store with a red robe on its sign, he knew he was going to the right place.

"I have a message from Professor Drake!" Evan shouted before the man near the counter could repeat his typical mantra for customers. He ran to the counter and slapped the paper on it.

"Yes, yes, I've been expecting you." The shopkeeper spoke before he went to the back, beyond Evan's view. He came back with a package.

"Cyrus' laundry: clean, pressed, and folded correctly… no matter what he says."

"Laundry?!" He took a look at the paper he had just put on the desk. The paper was just about laundry. He crumpled the paper and took the package with a scarlet face. He calmed down by the time he got back to the classroom, but he was still pissed.

"That certainly took you long enough." He took the package out of his hands. "No doubt he folded my robes improperly as well."

"The trolls are revolting and you're making me get your laundry?!" Evan said. He knew he was speaking out of line at this point, but he was too pissed to care, just wanting to get back to his friends and sister before anything happened to them. The professor shook his head at him.

"That is a problem and it must be dealt with harshly." He took another piece of paper out of his desk and he wrote some things before handing it to the boy.

"Take this message to the Headmaster. That should resolve things to my satisfaction." Evan rolled his eyes as he took the paper and stomped to the Headmaster's office. Once he was let in, he handed the note to Ambrose. The Headmaster readjusted his monocle as he read Professor's Drake note.

"I will NOT expel you from the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts!" The elder man shouted. Evan was taken aback.

"I realize Professor Drake takes particular umbrage at the 'trolls are revolting' joke, but this is simply too far."

"That wasn't a joke! The trolls and Minotaurs have teamed up with the cyclops who are rebelling!"

"Oh dear, he must remedy this at once!" He replied. He noticed Evan's irritated facial expression and continued to speak.

"Professor Drake may seem callous, but he is not his brother. Impress upon him the severity of the issue and he will help."

“I thought I was pretty clear on how severe the issue is.” Evan could feel smoke coming out from his ears. Ambrose sighed.

“Cyrus has been a great teacher, but the last few years I noticed he's been more… tempestuous,” the headmaster said. Evan refrained from rolling his eyes the best he could.

“Ever since Sylvia Drake passed away, may she rest in peace, both Cyrus and Malistaire have been acting differently. Cyrus has always been tough on his students, but the complaints have been increasing over the years since her passing.”

“Maybe he needs therapy?” Evan suggested.

“Hmm… I made an offer to both of them, but both of them refused. Maybe I should have pressed them more…”

“Really?”

“You might've heard about this, but they were raised in Dragonspyre. It's a culture known for its draconian laws and huge pressure to conform and join the military. It's no doubt that they were raised to get over grief instead of processing it.”

“And why didn't you press them,” Evan asked.

“It's hard to get them to do anything that isn't required, and grief counseling is volunteering.”

“But-”

“It would be best to discuss this later. I will also talk to Cyrus, but now you need to clear things up,” Ambrose ended the conversation. Evan sighed and left the office.

He went back to the myth class and spoke before Cyrus could rebuttal.

"The trolls are REBELLING and the cyclops have some students hostage, you have to help!" Evan begged. Cyrus had a quizzical expression on his face, making it apparent he didn't believe the boy. However, instead of spatting at him, he paused and his critical face became more of a pondering expression.

"Wizard City is old and holds many ghosts with strange powers not commonly practiced today. It's not impossible such a spirit may have enthralled my minions. However, General Akillies would have neither the means nor motive to summon one," He said.

“Would Malistaire be able to summon one?”

"Yes, he would. Have you met him?"

"I-I fought his minions on my first day, along with my sister and the Headmaster." Cyrus looked at him in a way that made Evan wish he could swallow the words he just spoke. However, Cyrus spoke instead of reprimanding him.

"All I can do is guide you. Whatever my brother summoned to disrupt my magic will be with Akilles. Find it, destroy it, and save the students." He sighed.

"Also, make sure young master Stormgate doesn't get swallowed by his own Humongofrog again."

Evan wanted to turn around and leave, but a question immediately popped up in his head.

"What about Selene?"

"I have faith that she wasn't the one who let the students get kidnapped." The teacher rolled his eyes. Evan didn't say anything more, leaving the classroom as fast as he could. As he left, he realized something.

"I didn't leave a mark for Cyclops Lane, dang it!" He wanted to curse so much, but he left Ravenwood and asked the Headmaster to teleport him back to Cyclops Lane. As soon as he got back to the group, he mentioned everything Cyrus said.

"I knew deep down he cared! And he's trusted me- US to save Cyclops Lane." Nolan had a giddy smile on his face.

"We know General Akillies has whatever is controlling the minions, and the kidnapped students are likely with him. How are we going to get to him though?" He said.

"We have this pass from the warhorns" Selene showed a paper pass to the group.

"I know where the general's tower is, I'll show the guard the pass, which should let us in."

She jumped down from the wooden balcony of the gazebo. She stared down at the boy still on the gazebo, letting him know not to follow them. The rest of the group sneaked by the sidewalk to a tower with a singular cyclops guarding the entrance. The female myth wizard confronted him.

"I saw you defeat the warhorns, but can you defeat Akilles himself?" The one-eyed man spoke before she could even show him the pass.

"I hope so, he hasn't been the same since that undead monster came in. I'll be honest with you, it scares me. Can you save General Akilles from himself?"

"I believe we can." She replied.

"Then go inside. And good luck." The five passed the guard and walked up the steps.

"My plan is simple, I will only say it once." The myth wizard said. The five other wizards made sure to pay attention.

"Cyclops have a code of honor, if you beat them in battle, they are bound to do something for you. I will challenge him in order to get him to free the students."

As she finally finished speaking, she pushed the door open.

"One of you comes to face me at last. Know this: I seized Cyclops Lane, but it was not my choice." The one-eyed man's voice boomed across the building.

"We have come to challenge you, General Akillies! We beat you, you must let the students go!” The girl commanded. The students still held behind bars were cheering for her.

The man accepted. The myth wizard pulled out a spear and cast a wooden construct while the others joined the battle.

Evan observed the room and noticed an eyeball floating on a pedestal, figuring it must be related to the eyes on the building walls. He sneaked around the battle to get to the back. As he was about to touch it, he felt something unbearably cold wrap around his neck.

"Stop!" The ghastly figure threw him away from the pedestal. Evan looked at the cloaked shade in terror, his body shaking too much to pull out his wand.

"What are you?!" The menacing figure revealed his bird-like face under his cloak.

"I am Sisyphus, I cheated the immortals out of death, and now I'm a shade that was stuck in the underworld until Malistaire freed me," He said. Evan thought he had heard of this story before, but he couldn't put a finger on it. He finally dared to pull out his wand, only for the ghost to pull it out of his hand.

"How dare you-" He was hit in the face by a spade. Evan looked over to see Polley running towards him.

"Get up, hurry!" She pulled him up.

The ghost tried pulling her away, but she summoned a dark fairy. Evan looked over to see the rest of the group fighting the cyclops, who was kneeling in pain. He attempted to get up, but his strength gave out and he dropped his hammer. With the last bit of his strength, he spoke once more.

"Destroy the crystal, and the ghost will be forced to go back to the underworld!" Calder was the first one to respond by running to the pedestal. She spotted the ghost coming at her from the corner of her eye, so she slammed into the pedestal, causing the ball to fly to Aika.

"Noooo!" The ghost yelled. Aika caught the eye. She saw Calder summon her axe, and threw it back to her as the ghost got close to her. As if the girls were in sync, Calder chopped the ball in half.

"Noooooooooooo!" The shade evaporated out of the living plane.

Aika ran up to hug Calder, congratulating her on defeating the boss. Tasha ran up to Evan to check if he was okay. Selene went to talk to the kids behind bars, letting them know that they'll be free soon. Polley walked to the general.

"Why did you do all of this?" She asked him as she kneeled before him.

"I was honor-bound to Malistaire for saving my life from a rogue optometrist. I took Cyclops Lane as a distraction for Malistaire's plan- whatever that is." Her stomach dropped.

She was already aware of Malistaire doing all of this, but for some reason, hearing about it from a direct source just made the whole situation worse.

Just then, Selene finally found a switch. All five wizards looked over to see the steel gate of the student's prison lift off the ground.

"Thank you for freeing, Selene!" A storm wizard in the room said. The wizards cheerfully ran out of the building as Selene went back to the group.

"Let's get back to Nolan and report this to the Headmaster." The others agreed and headed back. The warhorns walking around the streets looked at the students, then went right back to patrolling the streets. They passed by the cobblestone road with no trouble. After telling Nolan about defeating the cyclops, they guided the students back to Ravenwood.

"Sergeant Muldoon!" The myth wizard shouted from behind the gate. He noticed her, and she told him everything that had happened, including how Cyclops Lane was finally safe. He then flipped a switch.

For the first time in several days, the gate between the area and Olde Town was opened. The students cheered as they went past Olde Town and into the Commons. When they went to the Commons, the former captives left for Ravenwood while the six students went into the Headmaster's office. They let him know everything, including Malistaire's involvement.

"Hmm… We already got a report from Polley and Duncan about Malistaire's involvement with Triton Avenue." He said before pulling out a pile of paper.

"Malistaire feels free to carry out his ultimate plans. Hopefully, we can catch up with him before then. Selene." Selene, who was paying attention to the reports on his desk, looked up at him.

"Cyrus and the Olde Town guards reported that you handled the situation in Cyclops Lane well enough, you will need to join this group tomorrow for Firecat Alley."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll also need you to come back to my office later tonight for an important mission." She nodded.

"The rest of you, get prepared for tomorrow. You all will be skipping class tomorrow, I'll let your professors know beforehand so you can pick up tomorrow's assignment today."

With that, he pushed all the students out of his office. Unlike the day before, the sky was orange and pink, indicating that it was getting dark.

"Is it even worth waiting for the professors to get message from Headmaster?" Calder said.

"We can probably just go in and ask for them, I doubt they'll mind if we let them know the situation," Aika replied. Calder sighed in reply.

"Ugh, fine." She rolled her eyes. Aika giggled and took her arm and guided her to Ravenwood. Polley sighed.

"We don't have a professor." She whispered to herself and left. Finally, it was just the two siblings. Tasha leaned up towards him.

"Did Phoebe reply?" She asked. Evan shrugged and pulled out his phone.

"Yep. Can't repeat anything she said without Ambrose or Cyrus painting a bullseye on my forehead." He said.

"Cyrus?" She tried to remember the name, but nothing came up. He ignored her. He opened his phone to see a barrage of messages. As the two read it, the messages mostly held skepticism to anger for not responding.

"Does she- Does she think I have the editing skills of a god?" He furiously started texting.

"You should've checked your messages earlier." She gave her brother a smug smirk, knowing very well that it would piss him off. He groaned.

“Very funny, if we ever get back, I'll let her know that you're the reason I lost my phone." He rolled his eyes. He pressed send and switched to camera mode, where he filmed himself casting a wand hit. He sent that and put his phone away.

"I'm going to see if my professor has anything, I hope things are easy tomorrow."

"I doubt it will." Tasha said. She went along to see her professor. After they got their notes and assignments, everyone bid farewell and departed for their dorms.

Later that night, a couple of students left their dorms and went to the Headmaster's office. Selene was one of these people. However, the rest of the students she couldn't recognize, the only thing she could tell was that they were all balance wizards. They barely fit in his tiny office. They waited until he came in from Gamma's office with Arthur Wethersfield, the balance professor.

"Everybody, welcome! As some of you may know already, Krokotopia has been having a crisis lately. Our Balance professor has offered to bring some of their students here temporarily." Ambrose said.

He went on to explain that Krokotopia has had a resurrection of the old monarchy, caused by the Marleybonian excavators, who have been attacking citizens and he's brought these students to help bring them in. After he was done recapping, he brought the students back to Ravenwood and spoke to Bartleby.

"Are the Krokotopian students here yet?"

"Yes," He replied. He then revealed an entrance into himself and let the group inside to see the Krokotopians.

It was mostly kroks and manders, anthropomorphic crocodiles and lizards, that were orange, purple, and blue. The exception was one human kid among them. The balance wizards welcomed the newcomers before directing them to Ravenwood. Ambrose introduced them to all the school buildings and introduced them to Arthur, who brought the new students to the dorms.

"Help the girls into their new dorms and go to bed, tomorrow is going to be a long day," Ambrose said to Selene, who followed his order.

Chapter Text

Five students woke up and met in front of Bartleby. The only one missing, Selene, was getting stuff prepared in her room. She watched the group meet under the tree.

The girl thought about yesterday, and how the cyclops mentioned ‌Malistaire was planning something. Firecat Alley can't be the end. After putting on her gear, she went down the steps to think about what the former teacher might have planned. She has never been that close with him, despite being taught by his brother. She couldn't name a reason.

As she got out, the group had already left Ravenwood. She hurried out of Ravenwood and rushed to Ambrose's office, interrupting him from giving a spell to Polley.

“Headmaster, I think we need to go beyond Firecat Alley," She said.

"What do you mean, Selene?" He replied.

"Malistaire has been behind everything so far, and general Akilles said that these attacks were just a distraction. We need to find out what he is truly planning," She said. The elderly man brushed through his white beard as he thought.

"You're right. I know these assaults on our city streets are related. Someone is working for Malistaire. I may know who is behind this, but to be certain, I'll need to access the old library archives," He replied.

“So we should go to the archives?” Selene said.

"Unfortunately, the archives are locked. The key is in the Olde Town tower. Even worse, the tower is haunted by a horrid ghost named Foulgaze."

“We can handle that.”

"What about Firecat Alley? The guards cannot stop the fire elves, and the elves could damage the town if they left." Aika countered. Being a pyromancer, she was more than aware of fire elves and the destructive properties of their arrows, and their current chaotic behavior didn't spell good news.

"What if we split up?" Calder suggested. She grabbed Aika's hand. "I'm on your team!"

She let out a giggle. Merle agreed with her suggestion and split the group in two. Aika, Calder, and Evan would go to Firecat Alley, while Selene, Polley, and Tasha would go to Foulgaze's tower. He then teleports the Firecat Alley group to the fiery street. Aika led them down a hill till they stumbled upon a giant Fire cat statue made in obsidian, where a soldier called out to them.

"Can you give an old soldier a hand?" The three students turned to see him sitting under a tree with autumn leaves. They gathered around him and helped him up.

"I'm Private Quinn. The Fire Elves were rehearsing the song 'Recollection' from 'Firecats!: the musical' when-"

“We know that the fire elves have gone wild. We're here to help." Calder interrupted him. The man looked down, unsure of what to say. Then an idea popped up.

"Once, a fire elf saved my life with an arrow. His name was Feebo. He said we'd be friends forever because their magic connects everything they touch. Maybe if you bring me their arrows, we can find out what happened to them."

Aika nodded, noting that it was plausible. The three head up another hill to see the fire elves roam the streets.

"This is probably the worst time to ask, but is there lava down there?" Evan asked as he pointed to the ground. A bright liquid-looking matter flowed the cobblestone below the students.

"Yeah, but the ground is enchanted. You won't get hurt." Aika replied.

"Are you ready to fight the fire elves?" He nodded.

The three ran close to the fire elves and started attacking. Aika set fire shields for the two wizards as Calder and Evan battled until they got a handful of arrows.

“Okay, what do we do with this,” Evan asked.

“Hmm… Gretta Darkkettle might know something,” Aika said. Calder nodded but Evan just looked at her confused.

“She used to teach Alchemy. I know where she is,” Aika continued and led the two to Gretta Darkkettle’s apartment.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group, Polley, Selene, and Tasha, had gotten into Sapphyro's tower and fought Foulgaze.

"Take a good look, wizards, because this Foulgaze will be your last," the ghost menacingly said before summoning his first spell. A snow serpent summoned spit at Tasha, which pushed her down. Polley picked her up as Selene attacked. She summoned a bat that vomited on the ghost, causing him to be blinded.

"Polley!" She shouted, gaining the necromancer's attention. The girl summoned a chain that wrapped around the ghost's head.

"Wow!" Tasha said. "Where did you learn that?"

"Ambrose gave it to me this morning." She said as Selene went up and intimidated the ghost.

"What? No, I don't serve Malistaire." The ghost replied to her probing. Polley and Tasha remained silent. "I serve Lord Nightshade, keeper of the darkness."

"Don't play tricks with me." Selene threatened the ghost with her spear.

"I think he's telling the truth." Polley said. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. "I- um- When Duncan and I reported that this was Malistaire, we found his magic in the Haunted Cave, which is where Lord Nightshade's old tower is. Maybe he revived him and used him to summon the minions."

While she was speaking, the ghost had enough and started thrashing ‌to escape the chain.

"Bah! While you were busy playing. I found every book on the Order of the Fang and sent them to my master! Wizard City is doomed!"

"Can you get rid of him or something?" Selene tightened her grip around her spear. Polley started whispering an enchantment.

"No!" The ghost pathetically begged for mercy before he disappeared from reality.

"Yeash, that was dark." Tasha opted to look away from the sight.

"He didn't die. His spirit is resting now." Polley tried to calm the girl's nerves. Selene put her spear away and spoke once more.

"Let's go to the Haunted Cave." She said and walked to the door, being followed by the two wizards. Meanwhile, the other group had finally barged into the witch's house.

"Gah- wha?! How dare you interrupt an old woman from her stories?" An elderly woman in purple robes looked at her front door to see the three students. She stood up from her desk and grabbed her broom.

"Did Ambrose send you to banish me? Well, I'm not going without a fight!"

"Stop, we need your help!" Evan shouted before being jumped by a black cat. Aika attempted to get the angry cat off of him as Calder explained the situation to the woman.

“Witch, we are not here to banish you!”

"So, they need the witch's help?" She grabbed her cat off of Evan's face. The kitten purred in her arms, satisfied with the cuts on the poor boy's cheeks.

"First off, I'm one hundred percent not that witch. Or any witch, for that matter. I'm an alchemist. Now, what are we working with?"

Aika explained the curse upon the fire elves while handing her the arrows they had collected. Gretta chuckled. The woman put her cat down and picked up a glass jar. She sprinkled magic dust on the arrows as the kitten jumped on her back.

"Ah, looks like the root cause was a banshee's wail. And I recognize these melodic signatures… Bastilla Gravewynd," she said. Evan looked at both of the girls by his side, only to get shrugs from both of them. The elder lady sighed before explaining that Bastilla was a prima donna of the Fireglobe Theater many years ago, before she died a tragic death by an elf costar.

"She had a bitter relationship with the Fire Elves, especially fellow actors. I'd heard that she had a thriving Underworld theater career, but apparently, she's decided to return with a vengeance."

"Great, but how do we break the curse?" Evan was ready to leave, him breaking eye contact with the woman to stare at the cat on her shoulders.

"You're new, aren't you?" Gretta mocked him before going to her desk and shuffling through her shelves.

"A banshee's curse works like an auditory virus. Rehearsals for that musical must have served as the perfect way to infect the masses. To reverse the curse, you'll need to record Bastilla's voice onto a Herkimer Stone." She pulled a stone out of her desk and handed it to the boy.

"It's likely she's either in the theater or in her old house- the Diva's Tower. I suggest the tower first, I'll mark it on your map."

"Map?" Evan said. Aika chuckled at his response before pulling her spellbook out and flipping through the pages before it landed on the map for the entire street.

"Uh..?"

"You know our spellbooks can hold maps, right?" Calder said to him as Aika presented her map to the older woman.

"Not even a little bit." He replied.

Meanwhile, the other three had finally entered the Haunted Cave. Polley stayed silent as she led the two other wizards down the street until they laid their eyes on the infamous tower. They crossed the bridge as she finally spoke.

"Here's his old tower." She said as she observed the infamous structure. She couldn't think about the ghost, however, as her mind was on the exact moment she and Duncan found out that Malistaire was guilty.

"You guys ready?" They all entered the tower.

The wraith stretched its black wings at the three wizards ‌to intimidate them. Tasha was the first to attack, using a leprechaun. The bright rainbow blinded the ghost, allowing Polley to use her new spell. She summoned the chain, but the undead used his staff to block it. The faint chain fell to the other side of the room onto a black chest with a skull on it.

Selene summoned a troll, which ran up and slammed its club upon the wraith's skull. It fell to the floor. Polley successfully chained the spirit, making it ready for probing. While Selene yelled at the spirit, Tasha looked at the chest.

"The books on the Order of the Fang? I have not these things. I collected them as gifts. Gifts to the one who freed us, to the necromancer concealed safely in my domain, in the Nightside, where no mortal thing can see him." He said.

"I know how to find Nightside." The necromancer spoke, and she sent the spirit away. "We need to fight some field guards and take their heads. Their fiery gaze will help us find it."

"Are you sure this can't lead to him?" Tasha spoke up as she pulled a part of a broken staff. It was made ‌of wood, not native to Wizard City, and the two students could sense the fire magic in it. Polley took it and examined it further.

"I don't know if this is related to Malistaire or not." She couldn't recognize the materials, no matter how hard she tried. Even the quality of the red paint felt different.

"You found this in that chest, right? Is there anything else in there?"

"I only saw a letter, but I couldn't read it." She responded.

"A letter, huh?" Selene went towards the chest and pulled out a piece of paper. The paper was yellow and rotting with age, but still readable.

"Draconian?"

"Do you know what it says?" Polley asked. Selene looked at her.

"I think I know someone who does. Either way, let's go find Nightside first."

Meanwhile, the tower made ‌of grey and orange bricks loomed over the other three in Firecat Alley. Evan glanced at the grass that's survived in such a hostile environment and was left to wonder who's been up keeping them as they entered the tower. The room they entered was empty. It was far from silent, however, as they could hear someone singing from one of the other rooms.

Aika took the stone and walked towards her voice. When she finally saw the spirit, the stone in her hands glowed blue. As the spirit continued to sing into her vanity mirror, the stone's glow intensified until she heard a sound come from the stone and the glow turned green. The sound also alerted the ghost.

She hid behind the doorway, hoping the ghost didn't see her. The pyromancer heard her heartbeat in her ears, making her panic and look back into the room. She felt something cold wrap around her ankle before it pulled her off her feet. They heard her scream from the living room. Calder ran first. Evan hesitantly followed her to see the ghost had Aika in chains that were keeping the ghost to the mortal realm.

"How dare you upstage my comeback performance?" The ghost cried. Calder fought the ghost as Evan grabbed the Herkimer Stone before the banshee's chains attached to his hand. He struggled against the chain, but fell and was rescued by Calder cutting his chain. Evan got back up and aided Calder. He summoned lightning bats and encouraged her to break Aika free as he distracted the ghost. The ice wizard could cut her chains off and pull her away before the banshee wailed one last time before her chains fell and she disappeared.

"Are you okay, Aika?" The redhead held the rescued girl in her arms. The girl hugged her in return. She hid her face in her shoulder and Calder petted her head while Evan examined the stone in his hands. Will everything be okay?

"I'm going to ‌bring this back to Gretta." Evan said. Calder nodded while Aika laid in her arms. The diviner stepped out of the tower and walked back to the woman's house again. Afraid of upsetting the lady and getting attacked again, he knocked. Once let in, he quickly explained the situation and watched the lady work on the Herkimer Stone at her alchemy table at the side of her living room. In the end, she came out with a sparkling potion in a lab bottle.

"The Curative Intonation Potion will work similarly to the initial curse, so you'll need to administer it to an influential fire elf." She handed it to Evan as she spoke of an elf named Alicane Swiftarrow.

"He's the most famous fire elf actor alive. Once he's cured, explain to him that it's up to him to pass the cure on to his people."

"But where is he?"

"You'll likely find him in the Fire Globe Theater. Now, give Alicante a good thwacking!" She said before proceeding to push him out of her house. Aika and Calder waited outside.

"How are we going to get into the theater with all of that?!" He ranted as he pointed out towards the air. They were currently in a dip on the sidewalk, but they could see the army of fire elves guarding the theater at the end of the road.

"This could be a stretch, but do you think the guard knows anything? Maybe he knows a secret entrance,” Aika said.

“I suppose we have no other choice,” said Evan.

The group headed back to where they last saw the guard. Thankfully, he did have an idea.

“I have seen the elves go through the back. Let's find that.” He led the group of wizards to the theatre, sneaking around the aggressive fire elves, and found a back door.

“Please be careful,” he said and then opened the door.

They snuck around the building until they reached the stage area, which resulted in all the fire elves inside spotting them. The elves immediately shot arrows at them. The wizards dodged them, but the building caught on fire.

"You are just in time, this is your final act!" One elf in the audience announced before cackling. He had the most elegant costume out of anyone there.

“I'll give Alicane the cure, distract him!” Aika ordered Evan and Calder.

Calder immediately summoned a blizzard. Snow and ice hit many of the elves in the building, only leaving Alicane and a couple of survivors. The two wizards took care of the remaining elves while the pyromancer ran towards Alicane. Evan summoned a storm snake that distracted Alicane.

While the fire elf dodged the snake's advances, the pyromancer snuck behind him and forced the potion into his mouth. Alicane Swiftarrow shivers, and his maddened eyes soften. As he regained clarity, he remembered everything.

"Did Private Quinn send you?" He said. The three students surrounded him. Aika explained everything, including the Banshee's curse, and how he had to cure all the elves.

"I shall deliver a performance for the ages, then. To the streets!" He then started singing, curing the elves within the building. The wizards followed him out of the building, where the elf started curing all the afflicted individuals in front of the building.

Right when they were about to greet the guard, another fire elf suddenly appeared. It looked up at the three wizards with a friendly smile as he spoke.

"Thank you for freeing Prince Swiftarrow. Your deeds here will long be remembered by the elves!" He then danced around Private Quinn.

"I'm glad you helped my friend, Prince Alicane. Please tell Headmaster Ambrose about how the curse has been broken." The three nodded and left Firecat Alley. Calder held Aika's hand. Meanwhile, the other three had returned to the commons wearing pumpkin heads. They were still searching for Nightshade.

"I feel stupid." Selene complained. She completely wasn't familiar with Wizard City holidays, but even she knew ‌she looked like a kid looking for candy.

"Where did you learn this spell?" Tasha tried to immediately change the subject.

"It was a lesson from Malistaire." She replied. "It was an exercise on being able to empathize with the undead by seeing through their eyes."

"Do you really need a lesson on that?" Selene questioned.

"He said that he had students forget ‌the undead weren't soulless beings like our spells were." She spoke as they passed by the lake in the commons. Everyone near couldn't help but stare at the three, but ultimately ignored them.

"People think we actually summon the undead when we cast a spell. We have the ability to, but he taught us not to do so. Pyromancers don't summon real fire elves when they use the spell. It's the same for us."

"Then why is he doing that now?" Selene turned her head towards her. She kept trying to look out for Nightside, but now she was completely invested in the conversation. Any kind of answer would've been nice.

"I… I don't know." She felt tears come out of her eyes, but submerged the urge to sob. "I wish I knew why. Everything changed after Sylvia left. Why did she have to leave?"

"Sylvia?" Tasha asked.

"Has no one mentioned her before?" Polley asked. Tasha shook her head. Selene went back to looking around for Nightside. "She was the life professor before the current one. She was also Malistaire's wife. A couple years ago, she got sick and…"

She looked down at the girl. Memories of her time with Sylvia at her age played in her head.

"She passed away. After that, the school hired Moolinda. Malistaire... looked really lonely during that time… everything changed after that." She looked away as tears poured from her eyes with little resistance. She looked by the rainbow bridge, where she saw some kind of light behind the waterfall. The sobbing girl suddenly stopped walking. This alerted the two other wizards, which looked in her direction and saw the same thing. "Is that a door behind the waterfall?"

The two followed her down the road to the front of the bridge. The light was behind the waterfall, and it was in the shape of a door. Tasha was the first to go through. After getting soaked, she was on a dirt path in front of a door with death insignia and two stone gargoyles on the sides of the door. The two other wizards finally came through and observed the door as well. They knew they were almost there. The three took off their pumpkin heads and went in, immediately being greeted by a tree familiar to Polley and Selene.

"Mortis!" Polley shouted and ran towards the tree with a skull-like face. The tree had no leaves, and its branches were darker and drier at the ends, adding to the tree's dead look. Selene was used to his appearance, but Tasha was concerned.

"That's the death school's tree. He's meant to look like that." Selene whispered to the small girl ‌to comfort her.

"What is it doing he-'' Tasha attempted to respond, but she looked around and saw a building that was sinking in the ground. The windows were busted, and the building was tilted. It had a similar structure to her class building, but it had death insignias all over the crashed and broken building. The area looked abandoned. Alongside the school building, they also had a small tower complimenting the building, which was also tilted.

"It's good to see you again, Polley." His rough and ghastly voice filled her eardrums once more. She never thought she'd hear him again.

"I'm so glad you're okay- but why are you in Nightside? Why is the death school here?"

"Malistaire, in his rage and sorrow, stole us from the Grandfather Tree. He feigned an explosion and shifted the very land upon which the school sits here, to the Nightside." Polley felt shivers down her back as she looked around the small area they were currently in. The area looked dead. What if it wasn't, though, and Malistaire was just hiding?

"Is- Is he here?"

"He is in the school now. You must fix what he has broken." She nodded and walked towards the building. She placed a finger on her lips to tell the two wizards behind her to be quiet. The Necromancer went up to the aged wooden door that was so nostalgic for her and struggled to open it. Her palms sweated. She placed her ear next to the door to see if she could hear him.

"Master, what about this book: 'the Order of the Fan was born of… um…' some word that starts with k…" She heard the voice of a confused man. The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Malistaire's.

"Give me that!" She heard another demanding voice reply. She knew whose voice this belonged to, as her whole body shook and she wished it was anybody else.

"”Krokotopia”, you dunce, I knew that already. I've been scouring the place for ages. I came back here to find WHERE in Krok…" He paused as if something had interrupted him.

"Oh… I see. Yes, this book does indeed have the answer I seek." It seems like something he liked interrupted him. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good for anyone in Wizard City. She hastily opens the front doors and lets herself in, interrupting Malistaire from talking to his henchman.

"Mr. Drake, you need to stop whatever you have been doing!" She shouted. The two in the room immediately turned to look at her. The two wizards behind Polley stayed outside.

"I already knew that coward was already sending children after me, but you too?" He sounded angrier than he was when scolding the henchman.

"What are you doing?" Polley looked up at him with a melancholy expression. She just wanted an answer. Memories flooded of the many lessons he taught her about not disrespecting the dead, just for him to bring dead tyrants back to torment the people living in Wizard City. He was a good man in her memories.

"I'm reviving Sylvia." He replied. He stepped closer to her, his figure loomed over her.

"We both know she shouldn't have died the way she did. Come to Krokotopia with me and help me bring her back." He held out his hand. The student's eyes were already still red from crying before, but she cried again. She wanted to run into his arms and mourn Sylvia with him.

"Mrs. Drake…" Her arms fidgeted, as she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. She remembered the old life professor's gentle blue eyes that reminded her of her mother's. While she was sick, she only saw her one time. She always tried to ‌get into his house to see her, but once he finally let her, she was bedridden, but she sounded like she was at peace. That she had already accepted that she was going to die.

"... Sylvia wouldn't want this."

"... Fine, I'll do it myself." He said before he teleported out of the room. She fell to the floor. The two wizards finally burst into the room to see Polley sobbing on her knees in front of a man with a hunchback.

"That was very dramatic." The man said. He stroked his white beard with one hand and held his lantern in the other.

Chapter Text

Polley sobbed on the floor as the two other teenagers stared awkwardly at the remaining man in the room. He removed his black nails from his long beard as Selene spoke.

"What happened to Malistaire?" She grit her teeth, her face turning red.

"He just left. Are you looking to enroll in the Death School?" He replied in a tone that implied there wasn't a girl crying on the floor.

"I'm tired of people playing games with me, I swear to-"

"Do you know that we're in Nightside?" Tasha looked at him and looked out the window, which revealed the dark skies.

"I thought it was darker than usual." He scratched the back of his head before looking back at her. "I suppose I should get out more often."

"What happened to the Eye of History?!" Selene squinted at him, ready to summon her spear.

"My master started bringing me books to study, but that's pretty much it." He shrugged.

"I didn't see him with the eye." Polley finally spoke. She kept her face towards her knees, not bothering to pick herself up. "Maybe he's already used it or gave it away."

"Then what do we do?" Selene groaned and stomped her feet. "We don't even know his plan!"

"He's trying to revive Sylvia." The two wizards looked at her in horror. She finally brought her face up to reveal her eyeliner melting off her eyelids through her tears.

"Wh-What?"

"He's trying… he left for Krokotopia." She couldn't look at either of the girls in the eyes.

"What great Artemis could be in Krokotopia that would revive Sylvia?" Selene turned her furious gaze towards the man in the black tunic and hood.

"He was looking for the Order of the Fang. We've read everything to find them. Turns out they're in Krokotopia, in a great…" He scratched his chin as his eyes looked up‌ to remember what he wanted to say. "... Something that begins with S."

Selene pulled at her hair and groaned at the situation. Tasha was still astonished that someone she had barely met was going to raise the dead. It sounded fake. This was only possible in movies; horror movies never went well and resulted in the world collapsing. She held a tight grip on her wand, the stick that looked like a toy now.

"Should we go tell the Headmaster?" She said. In truth, she just wanted to see if her brother was okay, her mind spiraling with awful visions inspired by what little she knows about the undead from fiction. Selene nodded before helping Polley up on her feet.

"You should probably tell the Headmaster the Death School moved. Don't want the students to miss class." The man said as he waved the students out of the building. Tasha and Selene held Polley's hands as they guided her towards the office in the hope ‌of solace. They stepped into his office to find Aika, Calder, and Evan talking to him.

"Evan!" The little sister shouted before running up to him and forcing him into a hug.

"What happened?" Evan said as he returned the hug. She didn't answer him, opting to just dig herself deeper into his chest with his school symbol on it. He looked up to see Polley wiping her face with a handkerchief and Selene standing next to her, watching her for a moment, before finally speaking to Ambrose.

"We found the Death School and Malistaire in Nightside, but he left before we could get him to stop. He has been doing all of this to get books to revive the old life teacher. He's probably in Krokotopia as we speak!" The myth wizard said. The older man looked at her, agape.

"Amazing! I cannot believe the Death School fell into Nightside and survived!" He adjusted his monocle as he went towards his desk. Polley's red, puffy eyes watched him shuffle through books as her mind filled with thoughts about her now evil mentor. Aika could see the empty look in her eyes. "I'll manage shoring up our passage to Nightside so we can resume proper Death Classes. But we must contend with Malistaire."

"What in Krokotopia could revive Sylvia?" Aika spoke, looking at the three students closer to the door before looking back at the elder man.

"He mentioned something like, "Order of the Fang'" Polley replied. Ambrose brushed through his beard as he thought. He pulled a book out of his desk.

"What's Krokotopia?" Evan asked. Tasha finally let go of Evan to pay attention to the conversation.

"Krokotopia is a world of the Spiral, like Mooshu and Grizzleheim." Aika explained.

"Then we must go to Krokotopia." Ambrose said. "But first, you'll need a key."

He went back to his desk and scrambled through his drawers until he pulled out a beige key with a pyramid on the key barely visible with his fingers grasping the item. He also pulled out a wooden key with a tree symbol and handed both keys to Evan. The Headmaster then told them to wait in the library for someone to help them through Krokotopia. The six wizards settled in a small room with a round table.

Evan held the keys in his hand. Tasha looked at Polley, who was holding her head down. Aika and Calder were having a small chat. Selene was observing everyone while she was frustratingly tapping the table. She was looking at the necromancer in particular, wondering if she should do something.

"Polley, do you want to talk?" Aika said. The brunette shrugged as she hesitantly picked up her head.

"I just don't understand. Why is this happening?" She whipped away her tears.

"Didn't you already know that Malistaire was-"

"He would've never stood for this!" She interrupted Selene. "Wha- Why is… Why is he trying to revive Sylvia?!"

Tears drained out of her eyes as she grabbed her hair.

"I'm really sorry…" Aika spoke up. The girl looked up at the fire wizard. "I can't imagine what you could be going through. Maybe you can talk to him again after we stop him."

"I just- I just don't understand why he changed!" She half-heartedly covered her face with her arm while one of her hands stayed in her hair, threatening her ponytail to come loose.

"I'm really sorry, but can someone explain what's going on?" Evan said. He still had one key in his hand as he spoke. "Who's Sylvia? What's Malistaire's deal?"

"She was the old life professor." Aika spoke first. "Sylvia was Malistaire's wife. A couple of years ago… she got sick and died."

"You used to have Sylvia, right?" Calder asked. The girl nodded in reply.

"I believe me and Polley shared a secondary life class. However, she also had Malistaire, so she's having it rough right now." She continued while looking at Polley. The necromancer laid her hand over her mouth as she listened to the conversation. The circles under her eyes looked more apparent at that moment.

"What about Malistaire?" Evan continued. "Polley is insistent that he would've never been for 'this’."

"She told us earlier about that. She said he held entire lessons about sympathizing and not summoning the dead." Selene answered. "We actually found Nightside because of a spell from one of those lessons."

"So he's trying to revive his wife even though he was against reviving the dead? How does that work?"

"I think he just wanted someone to help him." Polley finally spoke again. She moved her hand off of her mouth. "He already lost his homeworld and then he lost his wife. We all thought he was going to be okay, but I guess everything got to him."

"But wasn't he-" Before Evan could respond, someone new came into the room. All six wizards turned their heads to see a boy with brown skin in Egyptian clothing. "Hello?"

"You are going to Krokotopia, correct?" The boy asked. The group nodded. "I'm Darius. The Headmaster summoned me to help you traverse my homeland."

He pulled a key out of his coat pocket. The key looked exactly like one of Evan's keys, with the little pyramid symbol on it. The boy then led them out of the library and back to Ravenwood. They stopped in front of the giant tree in the middle of school grounds, the Grandfather Tree staring at the group of seven. Evan and Tasha wondered, confusingly.

"Bartleby, can you please open up?" Selene said. Without a word, the tree opened its 'mouth', which revealed a wooden staircase inside him. Five of the students went in right away, but the two Earthlings hesitated. Tasha got over her shock and went in. Evan followed her. The stairs weren't very long, but as soon as the two got up, they were in an open area covered with trees. Healthy, green leaves gently flew around the room. They stepped on a green carpet with vines as they walked forward towards the group, who were waiting in front of a wooden door.

"This place keeps surprising me no matter how long I stay here." Evan whispered to himself. As if on cue, Bartleby spoke inside the room.

"The Spiral Chamber lies inside me, at my very heart. Keep walking and I will tell you more." The two kids froze for a moment, still shocked by everything they were witnessing. Tasha then ‌walked down another set of stairs to follow the group of five, with Evan following.

"The Spiral is the magical thread that holds together our universe. There are countless worlds in the Spiral- Wizards City is just the first!" Evan looked up to see the leaves from the trees inside Bartleby cover his roof. When he lowered his eyes, he saw the Ravenwood flag hanging on top of the pedestal that held the singular door in the room. The room circled around the door.

"To reach another world, a wizard must use a Spiral Key. To use a Spiral Key, you need a Spiral Door-" The boy brought out one of his keys and stared directly at the door. "Like the one before you. It is a magic doorway that can open to anywhere!"

"Are you volunteering to open the door?" The new boy asked. Evan looked down to see he was holding the beige key. He walked forward and put the key in the keyhole before hearing Bartleby speak to him once more.

"I chose you two for a reason. And while my mind is fogged and my memories vague, I trust my past judgment." Evan looked over to see everyone else while he turned the key. It seemed like Tasha was the only other person aware of Bartleby speaking. "You are destined for great things. Yours will be an incredible journey, Evan and Tasha. Now it is time for you to take the first step."

Evan then unlocked the door. He opened it to see the interior of a building made of bricks. A scaly orange man with enormous eyes and a friendly smile greeted him.

"Welcome, Effendi! You come to wondrous Krokotopia at a most dark time." The man said. Darius stepped up and talked to him as Evan observed him and the rest of the group entered the room. The man had a red fez and wore a tunic. His clothes weren't as surprising as his general appearance. Evan just barely got used to his anthropomorphic frog professor before this and seeing another person like that didn't surprise him less. His scaly tail and webbed feet indicated to the boy that he was some kind of lizard.

"We'll be talking to Alhazred about how we're going to solve this situation. Don't worry." Darius said. At this point, the Earthling realized he had been zoning out, missing the entire conversation. He tried looking away from the man to hide his red face.

"You'll need to speak with Sergeant Major Talbot if you want to ride the boat to the Krokosphinx." The man replied. The younger boy groaned.

"I don't need permission from some foreigner who caused all this mess to fix it." Darius replied. He then stormed up the stairs that tower over the group. The fellow wizards followed him up to be greeted by a small pond in a desert.

Evan's newly made dress shoes stepped on the sand, making some ‌grains stick onto it. It didn't bother him too much, but he couldn't help but feel bad for Aika, who had made these shoes for him a while ago and he finally got a chance to wear them today only to get them dirty. Darius was about to head to a boat, but he was interrupted.

"Greetings, youngster! You must be one of those wizards from Wizard City, where are you heading?" A black and white terrier dog spoke. He wore a red and white uniform that made him look like he was a military general from an older time. He wore an intimidating look on his face.

"I'm running an errand for my teacher who lives next to the Krokosphinx, and I need to bring these classmates with me." Darius faked a smile, hoping it would be enough to make the man leave them alone. The dog man sniffed.

"I smell nothing on you. What could you be doing for that old Krok?" He gave the boy a quizzical look. Darius wanted to sigh, but he held his tongue.

"We're going with him to help the current situation." He replied. "Alhazred would be displeased if he had to wait, so I beg that you don't delay me any longer."

He recognized how rude he was sounding, but he didn't care. The boy didn't want to get on his knees for the people directly responsible for the revival of the old kings just to solve this situation. He also just wanted to get back to his teacher.

"Hmm… very well, you lot may go." The man finally said. The group just left the oasis and on the ferry that carried a flag that Evan assumed was the flag for the country. As he and Tasha stepped on, they realized the boat was floating in mid-air. Evan wanted to step off the boat, but the force of the boat moving pulled him towards the wooden ground of it.

He sat up and looked over the board to see the boat flying in mid-air. As the bloat floated above the oasis, Evan's head spun from the confusion and his headache caused by his impact on the wooden ground. While he wasn't looking, the current situation also stressed Tasha. She looked below to see the grand pyramid standing high above the oasis and all the dog soldiers. She looked towards the other side to see the ferry heading towards another floating island with a Sphinx with a crocodile head instead of a human head, along with a prominent palm tree and a couple of white stone houses. The boat swarmed around the island, giving the group a good look at every detail. Finally, the boat floated next to the landing board. Five of the wizards immediately got off before noticing Tasha and Evan were still on the boat, Evan in particular sitting.

"You guys coming?" Selene asked. Tasha stepped out first before helping her brother up. They step onto the sand once more, following them to a dug-up hole in the middle of the island. They follow Darius down a ladder to be met by an underground room made of mud and brick, with a brick doorway separating them from a schoolroom. Darius went in first.

"Greetings Darius, I didn't expect you back so soon." An elderly crocodile spoke. The man wore a white tunic with a maroon red band acting as a belt and wore a gold necklace. Despite him being a reptile, he had a small white beard.

"We need to find the Order of the Fang." Darius held a slight smile, but he tried to keep calm with so many people in the room.

"Well, you have found it. What brings you here?" The elderly man replied. Darius talked about his short time at Ravenwood and the team's previous search for Malistaire. The crocodile tapped his walking stick with one of his sharp nails while hearing his student speak.

"I have not seen Malistaire, but I know why he sought us. Long ago we wrote the Krokonomicon. With the power of Life and Death. It could spell disaster in the wrong hands." Evan looked around to see the chalk writing on a blackboard with symbols he couldn't read. "The Marleybonians foolishly messed around in the Pyramid of the Sun and woke up the tuts. If he needs the Krokonomicon for any reason, he's going to strike now. We need to revive the Order of the Fang. Please meet Shalek the Wise in the Krokosphinx."

"Thank you, teacher." Darius then led the group out of the underground lair.

"Hmm… Tasha, do you think this place has too many similarities with Egypt?" Evan whispered to Tasha as they followed Darius into the Krokosphinx.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird." She said before shrugging. "I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that we're on a floating island."

Evan groaned at his sister's response, resulting in her chuckling at him. Being the last in line, they finally entered the Krokosphinx and were engulfed in a chilly atmosphere. They huddled together for warmth. Just then, they heard Darius speak.

"As some of you already know, the Krokosphinx was one of the three kingdoms in Krokotopia, the other two being the Pyramid of the Sun and the Tomb of Storms. Blue manders and kroks come from here."

"Kroks and manders?" Evan spoke. Darius stopped and turned around.

"Have you not been paying attention?" He replied and sighed. The group stopped as well.

"They're new to the Spiral. Give them a break." Aika spoke.

"Yeah, one cub was about to puke on the boat." Calder joked. "Maybe we should slow down a bit."

"Malistaire is about to steal a book and create more chaos and you want to slow down?!" Selene crossed her arms as she held a displeased look on her face.

"We don't need to slow down." Evan tried to reassure before he walked ahead. "I just need a bit more information."

"Fine." Darius said before sighing. He then made a brief description of kroks and manders for the two Earthlings as the group walked down the freezing entrance hall. Kroks are the crocodile people, like Alhazred, and manders are the lizard people that the group first saw coming to Krokotopia. They then got to the main room in the hall and met another krok. The younger boy introduced himself and the group, along with stating that they're here to help revive the Order of the Fang.

"While Alhazred and I remained awake during the Great Sleep, other members of the Order of the Fang did not. Now is the time to seek them out. When I last saw General Khaba, our esteemed military leader was holding back the Tuts so we could cast the Sleep." The krok was as elderly as Alhazred, needing a cane to hold himself up. "I only hope he has not suffered for his bravery. Go find the Mander Rami in the Hall of Champions."

The group then left for one of the halls. Darius guided them across the sides of the hallway to make sure they weren't caught by the blue manders wandering around the halls. Rather than the tunics the group had witnessed so far, these manders only wore a loincloth and chains. Evan could see a look of horror on the boy's face. They went to the end of the hall and greeted a green mander in a red tunic.

"I hope you've come to help, because this place is swimming with Tuts!" He said.

"We have. We need to find General Khaba." Darius said.

"Go, quickly. General Khaba is hiding in the treasure room up ahead." He pointed to the door behind him. The group followed his direction and found a dark blue Krok in old warrior gear.

"Tell me, Wizard… what events occurred during my great slumber?" He said. Darius told General Khaba about the Tuts' revival and their desire to rule over the manders again. "If only we had succeeded in crushing the Tuts earlier!"

He yelled out in frustration.

"We must prepare for battle! First, I need my sword. I gave it to Rami for safekeeping. Go to him and get it for me." Darius nodded and led the group back out. Rami was waiting for them outside the door and knew he couldn't help them.

"I am afraid that all I have left of the sword is this." He handed Darius a scabbard. "We must rebuild his sword. Odji Sokkwi has a Frozen Forge. Just defeat him and use his sword to form a new one."

He then gave the boy brief directions to where he was hiding. Darius leads them to the location while talking about general information about Krokotopia to inform Evan and Tasha. When they finally got to the door, Calder rushed in before everyone. Selene and Aika followed first before everyone else rushed in to see Calder had cut off the arms of one of the krok minions. Sand fell through their limbs before they slowly turned into sand and died. Before she could relish in victory, she had to dodge an incoming sword from a blue krok wearing warrior gear and elegant jewelry.

"You will not evade me, wizard." The krok yelled as the girl evaded him. She summoned a Frost Beetle, which launched its horns at the tut. The rest of the wizards joined, taking out the minions so that the ice wizard could focus on taking out the ancient king. "Prepare to meet your doom!"

He thrust his sword at her once more before Selene grabbed his arm and twisted it. Calder took his sword and stabbed him, making him fall into a pile of sand. She then took the sword to the white forge in the back, making sure to have her skin avoid the blue fire luminating from the forge. When she was done, she held up the sword triumphantly.

"It looks incredible!" Aika smiled brightly and took the sword out of her hand. "I'll carry it for you, let's head back."

The group headed back to General Khaba's hideout to greet a pissed-off krok. Darius explained that the sword was broken, and they had to make a new one with new materials before letting Aika hand him the sword. The man swung it a couple of times before complimenting the craftsmanship.

"With you wizards on our side, we are certain not to fail!" He exclaimed. "I must stay and rally our forces. Your help will not be forgotten. Go tell Shalek the Wise in the Entrance Hall that I am once again ready to lead our fight."

The group then left and met with Shalek the Wise again. Darius reported that General Khaba was well, and they helped him gain his strength back, along with his last message for the krok. Shalek replied by saying they need one more person, a warrior named Khai Amahte the Great.

"I'm concerned that our Mander ally, Ako, has not yet found Khai Amahte. Please go to the Grand Arena and help Ako." He said before giving directions on Darius's map. The group followed him into another hall as he relayed more information about his homeland, specifically mentioning the origin of mander and krok's skin colors.

"Wait, I don't understand something." Evan interrupted him while still walking. "If kroks are either blue, red, or purple, then why was Alhazred brown?"

"Alhazred is ancient, he was part of the kroks that didn't evolve to have that trait yet." Darius spoke. "Being brown or green isn't a common trait among recently born kroks. Same deal for manders."

"Was the previous mander also ancient?"

"He was likely affected by the great sleep. Alhazred told me about Khaba being close to a particular mander." Darius couldn't help but reminisce about the stories his teacher would tell him. Soon they find Ako. Darius introduces themselves and tells the orange mander that they're looking for Khai Amahte.

"Khai Amahte the Great is fighting in the Colosseum, but manders aren't allowed in. However, I've got an idea. Disguised as a gladiator, you wouldn't raise any suspicion!" He spoke before pulling out armor gear from one barrel behind him. "I have spare gear you can borrow, but I only have one."

"So only one of us can go?" Selene massaged her temple.

"Seems like it." Darius sighed.

"Can I go?" Calder volunteered, with stars in her eyes. Selene groaned.

In Ravenwood, a tall man made his way towards the Headmaster's office. He remembered one of his students being excused for the day, and he can't help but assume this was related, hoping that nothing happened to his student. Selene was one of his best students.

He let himself in to see that he was the last one there, mostly due to him being held back because of his crystal ball not working. He immediately saw some of the new teachers, Moolinda, and Arthur, back away. The man groaned. He also saw the temporary Death Scholar, Malorn Ashthorn, jump a bit. Meanwhile, Falmea and Greyrose seemed to be actually happy to see him and Balestorm seemed unbothered by his presence.

"Now that Cyrus has finally arrived, let's get to what I called you here for." Merle put papers he was fiddling with aside. "I pulled one of your students today for a mission, but I'm afraid to inform you ‌they will be gone for a couple of days. It has been revealed that Malistaire, the former Death professor, was behind all the chaos that's been going on for the last couple of days."

"Even Cyclops Lane?" Cyrus asked. Merle nodded. Malorn Ashthorn's face shattered at the news. He knew ‌Malistaire wasn't innocent, but hearing it out loud still hurt.

"I'm afraid to interrupt, but what does that have to do with our students?" Arthur spoke.

"I'm getting to that." Merle glanced at the Balance professor before continuing. "Today, your students found out that Malistaire's plan is far more sinister than we could've imagined. He is going to invade Krokotopia in an attempt to revive Sylvia."

"Are our students safe right now?" Falmea asked.

"They are unharmed, don't worry, Falmea. Your students have gone to Krokotopia to stop him-"

"Are you insane?!" Cyrus yelled. "You're making at least two initiates go after a master wizard. They're going to get slaughtered!"

"Tasha has only been in school for a few days. She's learned just enough spells to defend herself against someone who can't use magic." The life professor added. "She has no chance against Malistaire."

"It's not just her. Evan is exactly the same." The storm professor jumped off the ground as he spoke to gain attention. "Why did you send our students out on a mission like this?"

"They are with our best students this year. I believe ‌they will be okay. Besides, Bartleby recommended them-"

"Bartleby- Malorn, are you okay?" Falmea stopped herself when she looked over to see Malorn. He had been standing there, completely silent and still, with a look in his eyes, telling her ‌he wasn't entirely in the room.

"Mr. Drake is trying to revive the dead?" Malorn faced Falmea, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Maybe you shouldn't have brought one of Malistaire's students here." Cyrus snidely remarked. "And you shouldn't have made these students chase him. The only student I believe can go to toe with him is Selene, and she has had training under Artemis. Even then, I wouldn't recommend it. If I knew Malistaire was behind Cyclops Lane, I wouldn't have made her or Nolan go."

"Cyrus, it seems I have a lot more faith in our students than you do." Merle looked directly at Cyrus. "It also seems like you also don't trust my judgment."

"You're sending teenagers to do an adult's job. Of course I'm critical-"

"If Bartleby thinks it's for the best, then I believe it's for the best." Greyrose spoke up.

"Of course you say that, your student isn't an initiate." Moolinda talked back. "I'm genuinely worried about my student's safety, especially since Malistaire is a necromancer. They're going to need to rely on her more in order to defeat him, and she doesn't have the ability to defeat him."

"Polley and Aika both know a moderate amount of life magic, though-"

"Polley?!" Malorn sprinted to life, interrupting Falmea. "Oh Bartleby-"

"Malorn, it seems like you can't handle the current conversation. Please step into Gamma's office until I call you back." Merle pointed towards the door on his left before letting Malorn leave. "Now, let's continue talking. Please stop interrupting others."

He then forwarded for Falmea to continue.

"Polley and Aika know more about life magic, but I personally don't know if Aika should be going." She crossed her arms and looked away. "Or any of these students, for that matter. I'm willing to have Aika or one of my students replace me while I go-"

"I'll go as well and replace Selene," Cyrus spoke. "In fact, it honestly should just be me."

"Cyrus, I know you feel guilty over what happened to your brother, but you know very well that Bartleby is much wiser than all of us." Greyrose flew close to the man, whose silhouette overpowered her frame. "It's likely that Bartleby's plans are larger than all of us."

"Bartleby has lost one of his eyes, he's admitted that his vision is cloudy." Moolinda's ears twitched. "What if he's wrong?"

The room filled with so much tension, Merle felt like a full-blown fight was about to break out. He slammed his hands on the table before anyone could say anything.

"It seems like we can't talk right now. We'll discuss this tomorrow when we've calmed down." Merle silenced everyone from speaking. "I'll speak to Cyrus first, then I'll call all of you one by one. For now, it's getting late. Goodnight."

Chapter Text

"Can I go?" Calder volunteered, with stars in her eyes. Despite just being in a battle just a few minutes ago, she found the prospect of fighting a bunch of people fun. Selene groaned.

"You don't understand the rules of the Gladiators. You'll get caught immediately." Selene said. She then wondered for a minute before coming up with an idea. "Artemis has taken me to the Colosseum in Aquila a few times, maybe I should go."

"Artemis?" Evan asked.

"Artemis New Moon, she is an immortal from my world that raised me and taught me magic." She replied before taking the gear from Ako. The conjurer failed to notice a sad look in Ako's eyes, a look that Polley noticed and pointed out.

"I wish I could compete in the Grand Arena. I heard from my father that we're the direct descendants of Oka, the only mander to fight in the Grand Arena. I've dreamed of being able to fight in the Arena." Ako's eyes looked up as he imagined what he'd do if he got the opportunity. Darius looked at him with a sympathetic look.

"Let me help you!" The young boy said. "Mark the Arena on my map, I'll speak to the people who I need to convince to let you in."

"Darius, what about-" Selene tried talking, but Darius interrupted her.

"You can still take part in it and find Khai Amahte. This will just be a side mission for myself." He replied to her. He then took out his spellbook and let Ako mark it with a touch of his finger. "Alright, let's go."

He then led everyone out of the room and back to the halls. They eventually entered the Colosseum, being greeted by a loud krok on a podium as they stepped onto snow. Selene went up to the krok and asked to take part in the Arena. The krok looked at her with contempt in his eyes.

"Puny foreigner! You think you can take down actual warriors? Alright!" He said before laughing. "This should be entertaining! Who should you face first?"

"Khai Amahte the Great." Selene said. The announcer roared with laughter.

"This will get so many viewers! Let's get started!" He guided Selene to the Arena as the rest of the group found a place to sit to watch the fight while Darius waited at the podium to speak to the krok. He went back to see him standing there. "The next battle is happening over there."

"I'm here to ask if a mander can compete-" Darius was interrupted by the krok's fit of laughter.

"You want a mander to compete? You must be joking." Darius clenched his fists as the krok continued to laugh. "There was only one mander who has achieved that feat and I know no other mander will ever come close to his skills."

"What if the mander was a descendant of that mander?" Darius said with little thought. He tried to keep his facial expressions neutral, but his face grimaced and his fingers were shaky. He was close to snarling as the krok laughed again.

"Now you're really pulling my tail! Sure, I'll let him into the arena. But only if that mander had proof of such an outlandish claim." He grinned at the boy. The boy huffed before leaving to find Ako. When he did, he retold what the krok told him.

"Oh well, I should have known it was too good to be true!" The orange mander said before sighing. Darius probes him to know why it was impossible to continue, making him continue. "It was so long ago, I don't know if my family still has his gladiator mark-"

"I will find it if I have to!" Darius realized he interrupted the mander and took a step back. "I'm sorry, continue."

"You're a wizard, right? Maybe you can get into the trophy room and find his gladiator mark." He said, after taking a moment to ponder. "I know my family a while back donated a lot of our stuff to the Kroksphinx in order to make ends meet. Maybe some stuff from Oka is there."

Darius agreed, allowing him to mark his map. Meanwhile, Selene was introduced to a crowd of bloodthirsty kroks who had little hope of her survival. The only ones rooting for her were the people who came with her to Krokotopia. She noticed the siblings sat next to each other, and the fire and ice wizard were close as well, but the necromancer in pink seemed to be by herself. She wasn't really alone though, for the group sat relatively close at the back of the Colosseum. The krok's gloating caused her to move her attention away from the bleachers.

"I am the undefeated one, the only Khai Amahte!" He held his sword up in the air as he exclaimed his talent. While the audience was pumping up his ego, she observed the krok and noticed bandages on his knees. While she was observing, she just noticed the announcer call her.

"Huh?" She said before the audience laughed at her. Her fellow wizards groaned at the announcer trying to delay the match by embarrassing the conjurer. Aika couldn't focus on the crowd, staring at Calder, who was fuming.

"Calder, are you okay?" She grabbed her hand and rubbed her thumb against her knuckles.

"I'm just upset I can't fight. The crowd wouldn't make fun of me." She replied. Aika took a quick look to see the kroks surrounding them make fun of their foreigner friend.

"I don't feel the same way." She turned her gaze back to her friend. "These people don't seem to care who it is that's down there. They're pointing out her foreign status, not how intimidating she looks. I don't want to see you down there."

Calder turned to look at her. The sincerity in her eyes hit her in the gut.

"I've dealt with worse. I could handle it." She hastily replied. The girl sighed before looking back to see the battle actually starting. "Thank you, lava lily."

Aika's face burned at her nickname being mentioned. She had no time to dawn on the affectionate language by also watching the battle. Selene summoned a minion and summoned her spear, while her opponent immediately went on the offense by using a life attack. A leprechaun threw gold at her minion while she shortened the distance between them. Without hesitation, she stabbed her spear into one of his knees. Sand pours out of his fresh wounds as he yelps in pain before shoving her off, making her pull out her spear out of his leg.

Using his good leg, he kicks snow onto Selene's hand, holding her spear. Her hand retracted from the spear because of the burn from the sudden cold, and her opponent kicked her to the ground before she could react and fix her mistake. Khai held his sword to her throat. The crowd roared at the possibility of further bloodshed, the only ones not doing so being the young wizards.

"Why is sand pouring out-?" Evan said. His sister shushed him to keep him quiet. The boy was about to make a snarky remark, but Selene used her arm gauntlet to move the sword away from her, causing him to keep quiet in anticipation. The force from her arm caused him to drop his weapon. Before he could react, Selene got up and punched him in the lower jaw before proceeding to hit him with a series of boxing punches. She then kicked him in the stomach. He fell down, and she placed her foot on her stomach to keep him on the ground, shocking the entire crowd. The announcer declared Selene's victory. Selene helped him get up.

"I am humbled by your skill, wizard." Khai Amahte said. "Sadly, I accept defeat. It is clear that my days of glory are over."

"Can I speak to you in a minute-" Selene attempted to speak before being interrupted by the announcer.

"Foreigner, I wasn't expecting you to win." He said while carrying a chest. "Have this as a prize."

Selene recognized the chest, a similar chest being found in Lord Nightshade's tower.

"Where did you find that?" She asked as she took the chest.

"It was one of the few things we could find in the treasure room." He shrugged and left.

Meanwhile, Darius had finally found the treasure room. He found several Marleybonian soldiers pillaging the treasure room, one in particular taking a badge that looked familiar to Ako's description of the gladiator mark. He looked at it, then threw it on the ground. The boy picked it back up without a second thought, ignoring the chilling stares upon his back.

"Does that have some value, after all?" The dog behind him said.

"Is that all you people can think about?" Darius grit his teeth as he looked back at the dog.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected you people to understand. We are on a mission to find artifacts for the Marleybone Royal Museum-"

"And your 'mission' has put my world in danger!" He shoved the man without thinking. "You're the reason the tuts have arisen! We'll be lucky if our entire world doesn't fall victim to them, while you get to leave and take none of the blame!"

"How dare you assault one of the majesty's expeditioners?!" The man sneered. "You lowlife-"

"I. Don't. Care." He turned to leave the room, but was nearly shot by lightning. He turned around to see a beagle holding a shotgun, smoke coming out of the barrel. The wizard pulled out his wand and immediately responded to the attack with a scarab. The dog had to cover his face from the scarab's barrage of sand. Other dogs shot him too, but he summoned shields to protect himself, though he still felt tinges of electricity shock him from bouncing off his shield. His shield disappeared, and the dogs reloaded their guns. Quickly making up a getaway plan, he summoned a scorpion, which stung the men, and left the treasure room. He found Aku and showed him the gladiator mark.

“I will be able to enter the arena now! Thank you, wizard. I’ll never forget this!” He took the gladiator mark from Darius. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Uh… Maybe don’t show your mark to any Marleybonians.” He said while trying to hold his chuckle. Aku’s enormous eyes looked down.

“Very well-”

“Darius!” a redhead shouted. The boy tore his eyes away from the mander to see Calder, and the rest of the group behind her, waving at him. “What took you so long?”

“I just finished helping Aku.”

“Are you ready to rejoin us, then? We just got Khai Amahte to agree to work with us.” Darius nodded in response. While the group was walking back to the main entrance, Selene walked up to Aika and showed her the two pieces of the staff they’ve found so far.

“We found a piece of a fire staff before we left Wizard City, and they awarded me a similar piece from winning at the arena. They fit almost perfectly.” She showed by putting the two pieces together, leaving only small cracks from the pieces aging during their time apart. “Would you like to have it?”

She shrugged before shoving them into her bag. After another long silence, the group got back to the main entrance of the Krokosphinx and met with Shalek the wise again, who had Khai Amahte and General Khaba by his side.

“Now that we have recovered General Khaba and Khai Amahte, we must find the Golden Fang. We cannot afford for the tuts or the Marleybonians to find it now.” The elderly man made a hand gesture, letting the group know to follow them. The group followed him up some stairs before meeting a blue wooden door with black hieroglyphics. He spoke in his native language and the doors opened up for him. Leading the group in, he continued to talk about how the Golden Fang was guarded by three guardian spirits: the Defender, the Guardian, and the Protector. Each spirit holds a key that unlocks the door leading to the final spirit protecting the Golden Fang. He marks the location of each spirit on their maps before sending them off.

“It’d probably be good to split up.” Selene suggested. Aika and Calder immediately team up, leaving the other five to decide their teams. “Polley and the girl can come with me. Evan and Darius, team up.”

“Why can’t I go with Tasha?” Evan asked.

“You two are still very new. It’d be better for you guys to work with more experienced wizards.” Evan was tempted to fight her logic, but as he imagined her thought process, he couldn’t really come up with much.

“Fine.” He crossed his arms and pouted.

“Stop being a child.” Selene said before calling Tasha and Polley. The three groups then split up, with Selene’s group going for the Guardian.

“You know my name is Tasha, right?” She spoke once the three were in a hall by themselves.

“Yes, I just spoke quickly.”

Tasha looked over at Polley, who was silently examining the halls.

“You haven’t spoken much, do you want to-”

“I’d rather not talk right now, sorry.” Polley replied without looking at her. Tasha gripped the hem of her skirt as she held the urge to sigh in frustration. She quietly followed them until they finally got to the spirit’s room, where they were stuck solving the spirit’s puzzles.

Meanwhile, Evan and Darius had found the Protector. The spirit immediately started casting spells in self defense, forcing the two boys into combat. Darius put up a shield quickly and after it dissipated, he cast a scorpion while Evan ‌cast something. His eyes fell to the floor as his symbol combusted. He wanted to say something, but he got distracted by the spirit coming at him and screaming at him, causing his ears to ring with pain. Evan retorted with lightning bats. Darius then took the attention away from Evan, hitting the ghost with a barrage of spells. The storm wizard joined him as well, eventually defeating the spirit and getting the key.

"What was that?" Evan asked as they left the room and headed back to the elderly Krok.

"What was what?"

"My spell didn't cast at one point. What was that?"

"The fizzle?" Evan gave him a confused look. "You must be the luckiest storm wizard I know."

Meanwhile, Aika and Calder also got the key. The two celebrated with a hug. The pyromancer refused to let go, forcing Calder to be the one to break up the hug. However, she used her free hand to hold on to Aika's. The two walked back happily to see that the other two groups had got back with their keys as well, with Tasha and Evan breaking off from their groups to talk to each other. The girls showed their key to Selene, and she gathered everyone to confront the spirit guarding the Golden Fang.

“This is my domain! You will pay for your trespassing!” The Keeper yelled. The spirit cast a dark sprite to defend herself. Polley was first hit, and she started coughing, but she could still summon chains to try to capture the spirit. The chains went through it.

"Those didn't work on the guardian, why-" Selene attempted to scold Polley but was interrupted by her.

"It was worth a try-"

"Can we please focus?" Aika was summoning a fire elf as she scolded the two. The two girls kept quiet and focused on the battle, Selene summoning a minion and Polley putting death shields on everyone. The group eventually defeated the spirit and collected the Golden Fang. They met with Shalek the wise and presented the Golden Fang, and he lamented about having to use it again.

“Do you know why we had to cause the great sleep?”

“Because the Krokonomicon was stolen?” Darius said. The elderly Krok nodded.

“Yes. Krokhotep, the ruling tut of the Sphinx, last controlled the book. I discovered that he’s in the Emperor’s Retreat. Meet me inside and we will find a way to defeat him.” The students followed him into another door, where they were met with a hallway filled with Krok guards. "Just as I expected. He's being guarded by Sokkwi's men. We must sneak past them.”

He cast a spell, and the group became invisible. The group easily avoided confrontation with the guards as they traveled down the hall and into a cave with a frozen lake. Ancient boats were stuck in the ice and blue manders were stuck in chains. The elderly krok’s eyes were filled with sadness as he watched the shivering forms pick at the ice.

“Let’s free the manders from their bondage.” The kids followed their orders, destroying the chains with their magic. They returned to him and he told them about the person who likely enslaved them, Overseer Paniwi, and asked them to split up so they could defeat him and Krokothep. Darius volunteered to fight Paniwi first, then Selene volunteered to find Krokothep, and she invited Polley and Evan. Aika, Calder, and Evan went with Darius.

Darius and Selene's group separated at a hallway intersection. Darius led Aika, Calder, and Tasha, the latter was observing the hallways. It was just like the movies; high pillars with worn out paint, art that she wasn't sure was just art or hieroglyphics, and displays of fortune and wealth, such as water fountains. It was so familiar that it was kind of boring. Even the added crocodile motif didn't add too much in her mind, she remembered seeing animal heads on Egyptian gods. The ice element added though, for it contrasted with the general aesthetic of a pyramid in the scorching desert, but in the end it mostly just made everything blue and made the water fountains freeze. She eventually shifted focus to the people in front of her.

Darius was silent, but the two girls were making small talk. The taller woman was holding her friend's hand, while her friend's ears turned darker before she broke into a short laughing fit over Calder making a comment. Tasha just noticed they were getting close to the overseer's room when the group was surrounded by krok guards.

Calder acted first, summoning a blizzard before the guards could give out any orders. Aika followed with a meteor shower. The group then rushed into the overseer's room in order to confront Overseer Paniwi. The overseer grinned at his new guests while surrounded by guards that aimed their spears at the students.

"You fail to see just how outmatched you are!"

While the fight was happening, Selene guided Evan and Polley to Krokhotep. Evan considered himself more of a book-over-people person, but even he couldn't miss the looming cloud above the necromancer. She somehow made the freezing hallways colder. He wanted to say something, anything, and his mind thought about the icebreakers he could use, but none of them felt right for this moment. Even Selene, who he looked over to see her scratching her arm as if it would help keep her quiet. As they stepped in front of the throne room, Selene finally spoke.

"You've been almost entirely silent since we've last seen Malistaire. Do you need to talk?"

"Don't we need to see Krokhotep?"

"Yes, but if you're this moody, you may mess something up." She replied. Polley stayed silent for a moment before saying she just wants to complete the task. Selene reluctantly agreed.

The three rushed in to see Krokhotep and the princes Shalek warned about. Him and the princes wore the typical royal armor with blue accessories like arm braces, but they also held blue spears and Krokhotep wore a metallic beard like Osiris and what looked like a khepresh headdress except instead of a snake at the front, it had the ice symbol.

"Krokhotep! You will tell us where the Krokonomicon is or else!" The blue krok stood up from his ice-covered throne and menacingly glared at the myth student. She bared her teeth, refusing to back down.

"Don't provoke me, foreigner." He said before snarling, revealing his carnivorous teeth. She summons an earthquake, wrecking the throne room and causing the kroks in the room to attack the wizards. Evan focused on the princes while Polley aided Selene in defeating Krokhotep. As Selene had finally got him down, she asked Polley to summon chains so she could interrogate him, but she witnessed Evan getting defeated by one of the princes. The necromancer moved her head towards the two situations, not sure what to do. Selene was about to scold her when the krok knocked her off her feet with his staff, and Polley got hit by the other prince while distracted.

Evan held onto his side as he got up and summoned lightning bats to attack the prince. The prince fell into a pile of sand. Polley quickly summoned chains and was able to subdue Krokhotep. Selene struggled to get on her knees before she started to investigate him.

"Where's the Krokonomicon?" As she yelled at the krok, the rest of the group finally showed up.

"Evan!" Tasha ran towards her brother and summoned a fairy. Aika, Calder, and Darius ran towards the necromancer and conjurer, one of which was berating the krok beneath her.

"Why did you betray the Order of the Fang?" Darius looked down at the krok. Shalek appeared behind him, pushing Darius out of the way. “Sir?”

He unsheathed a sword out of his walking cane and held it against the Krok’s throat.

"Who has the Krokonomicon?" All eyes were on him now.

"You won't get it, she already-" before he could even finish his sentence, the elderly krok decapitated him and he turned into two piles of sand.

"Holy-" Evan said before covering Tasha's eyes. Everyone else either screamed or jumped back.

"We've been betrayed. Come with me." Shalek said before casting a spell that teleported everyone to the balance classroom. Polley fell to the floor and held her head. While everyone was confused, Selene and Darius looked to see Shalek informing the members of the Order of the Fang of what had just happened. Alhazred then called him up. He took Darius's amulet and opened it, revealing a golden scarab inside.

"This is the key to getting to the Tomb of Storms. You need to get into Krokopatra's tomb and get the Krokonomicon before Malistaire does." He handed the amulet and the golden scarab back to the boy. "We will focus on defeating the tuts here using the wisdom of Balance. You just need to keep the Spiral safe."

Chapter Text

The student put his amulet back on and nodded before leaving with the rest of the group. As they got back on the boat to the Oasis, he then spoke to the group.

"Um… I kind of had a confrontation with one of the Marleybonians. Can you guys cover me?"

"What happened?" Selene asked.

"I don't want to talk about it, I just want to get the Krokonomicon and being seen might cause us to get distracted." He replied. It took a moment before she nodded.

"There should be enough of us to circle you, especially since you're short." When they got off the boat, the six of them circled him and walked ahead. Calder, Aika, and Selene were on his right, keeping him from being seen by Talbot. When they finally passed the pond, he directed them across a bridge until they got to a tiny island with three obelisks with hieroglyphics and two golden scarabs on two of them, and one of them having an indent that was in the same shape. Darius placed his golden scarab into the indent and a magical portal suddenly appeared. The group hopped in and was teleported to the entrance of the Tomb of Storms.

"Did all of that just happen?" Polley whispered. Everyone turned around to look at her.

"I guess." Selene reluctantly answered. "That was a lot, though."

"I've seen worse, but that was sudden." Calder spoke up. Aika grabbed her hand, which caused her shoulders to tense up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm more worried about Polley."

"I-I just can't believe he just-"

"I can. He betrayed the Order of the Fang. They were fighting to free the Manders, and he gave the Tuts the Krokonomicon. It's amazing that they could do the Great Sleep at all, we could be living under their feet! My mom could-"

"I completely understand, but we don't have time for this. Let's get this job done first." Selene pointed towards the Tomb they hadn't entered yet. Darius sighed and nodded.

The group then traversed in and were greeted by green hues generated by the Well of Spirits that made the white walls green. Hieroglyphics in purple ink covered pillars that sat on top of the dark violet stone floor and a few clay jars with animal heads sitting on top sat on the floor. Evan and Tasha had a good idea what the jars were used for. There were three entrances, two being on either side of the walls, and one being under a giant statue of a tut.

"These two entrances must be the family tombs for the Ahnic and Djeserits, two famous Tut families." He said as he pointed out the two entrances on the side.

"There's not as much… treasure as I would've expected?" Evan said before pointing towards the statue. "What's the giant door under the statue?"

"I assume that's the Entrance to the Temple of Storms, that has to be where she is." He led the group past the well leaking krok souls and into the entrance. More hallways greeted the group.

"I am tired of walking." Evan said as he clenched his wand in an attempt to calm down.

Cyrus was summoned back into the Headmaster's office. The conversation from a few hours ago was replaying in his mind as he clenched his wand like it was a stress ball. When he entered the office, Ambrose was straight to the point.

"I know you're hesitant to support their journey, but Bartleby said that he previously chose them for something he couldn't remember and he believed they had to go."

"Are you talking about the whole group, or-"

"No, I'm talking about Tasha and Evan."

"I still don't understand how you could send two initiates out there. I know that some of our best students are out there, but it's such a foolish decision." He rubbed his temple. "How do you know Bartleby is talking about this issue and not something in the future?"

"He wouldn't have recommended them if it was for something else."

"What did he specifically say?" He put his hand on the desk.

"I brewed up a potion to help him and his first message was vague. I had an idea, but there was no way to test it, so I gave him another dose during classes. He told me that those two and the students I chose had to go. If I had it my way, I would prefer sending you or going myself." He said while looking through older papers. "I didn't get to ask before I ran out, but I have to assume this is some kind of experience building journey."

"Do you plan on making more?"

"Yes." He led Cyrus to Gamma's office and grabbed a potion bottle. "I was going to visit Bartleby tonight and ask him some more questions. I hope you'll come with me and see for yourself."

He nodded and followed Ambrose to Ravenwood. The Headmaster poured the potion on Bartleby's roots.

Meanwhile, the group had traversed the Storm temple to find Krokopatra. After doing a test to prove their wisdom, they were let into her tomb and saw a purple krok with an elegant headdress with lavender feathers and golden jewelry jump out of her sarcophagus and unleashing storm spells on the wizards.

Calder quickly summoned a shield for Selene, who had gone ahead. Her spear collided with the ancient queen's staff, allowing the queen an opportunity to nearly bite Selene's head off. Unprepared, she backs up and falls down. Calder summons a Snow Serpent to protect her from being struck by Krokopatra's staff and Aika pulls Selene up from the ground.

"Do you need healing-" Aika attempted to speak before being hit by a bolt from the queen. She yelped in pain and held onto her shoulder. Calder grabbed both girls and pulled them away to create space away from the krok, who was summoning another spell.

"Die!" Darius ran in front of the three wizards and cast a spell. Sand covered the dust-layered stone ground and a krok head statue appeared out of the sand before opening its jaw and unleashing a swarm of locusts that attacked her. He then summoned a buff on Selene. "Attack her!"

Selene summoned a cyclops that slammed its club on her, causing her to lie on the floor, but before Selene could demand anything, the enemy spoke.

"Your triumph means nothing! You shall never possess the Krokonomicon!" She said with a grimace on her scaly lips. "I sealed the Krokonomicon in the Sarcophagus of the Souls long ago. Imagine the dark one's dismay to find those dogs had already taken the sarcophagus."

Darius held his urge to kick her in the face while Selene stayed silent and the rest of the room was in shock.

"I hope the Order enjoys your victory, hollow as it is…" Krokopatra's laughter echoes in the empty chamber, until silence reigns at last as she slowly turns into sand.

"How are we going to stop Malistaire now?!" Darius kicked the sand in frustration as tears threatened to release. "The book has to be in Marleybone by now!"

"I can get us to Marleybone." Polley spoke up. The room had all eyes on her. "I took my world key. I ha-have it on me at all times."

She shakingly held her key up for the entire world to see. The key was dark blue, and the handle was the queen's crown with a bone below it. The group let out a reluctant sigh of relief.

"I need to get my golden scarab back before we go." Darius ran out of the temple. The group followed him out as he ran into the portal and took out the scarab, turning off the portal.

"Let's port back to Wizard City so we don't have to confront the sergeant out there." Aika suggested and Selene nodded in agreement. Aika helped guide Tasha and Evan into the circle along with everyone else, as they performed the spell to teleport back to Ravenwood. When they ported in front of Bartleby, they immediately noticed the night sky. "How long has it been?"

"I think the sun was setting before we entered the tomb, but I don't think that matters right now." Evan said. Aika nodded in agreement and the group let Polley lead them in Bartleby and in the world door. The scenery inside Bartleby still memorized Evan and Tasha to where they almost stopped walking entirely, but they kept up after Calder called out to them. Polley used her key, and the group wound up inside a small church. They saw the row of chairs that sat in front of the exit, but the two Earthlings looked around to see the statues of saints surrounded by altars of candles and the beautiful glass art of fire hydrants and bones.

"Where are the crosses?" Evan whispered, but Tasha shushed him. The group walked towards the exit, following Polley.

"Strange, there's usually people here?" She looked around and her skin turned more pale than usual. "There's at least a guard or two. What happened?"

"Can you stop freaking us out, we're already in a horror-friendly setting." Evan said and Tasha shushed him again. "Sorry."

"I'm just pointing it out. What if Malistaire-" before she could finish her sentence, she heard someone scream outside. She rushed out and saw someone in prison clothes attacking a woman, and without a second thought, she summoned a wraith that held its blade against the criminal's throat. The criminal ran away, and her wraith disappeared. Not staying to hear the woman's gratitude, she rushed out onto the streets of Regent's Square and saw many more people in prison clothes causing chaos. The rest of the group caught up to her to see the scene of stores on fire and gangs fighting with each other. "Did something happen to Newgate-"

She said before her eyes bulged out of her head. The group just caught up to her and saw the sight of the police station on fire.

"I got to see my mum!" She shouted before running off to the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?!" Selene screamed at Polley's direction.

"My family is in danger!" She shouted before she disappeared around a corner. Selene yelled at the chaotic street only to gain no response except for the criminals to come at them. Calder wasted no time and summoned a blizzard, and the criminals had no defense when they got bombarded by snow and the blizzard caused the fires to be put out. Her spell expanded all the way to the police station.

"Let's hurry and see what's wrong." Selene ordered the group and led them to the station. The moment they come in, cops are too distracted with putting newly knocked out criminals in handcuffs to pay attention to the group's entrance. They rushed up the stairs to see one detective greet them.

"Did one of you cause this snowstorm?" The detective was a small bulldog with a white, brown, and black fur pattern. He wore a bowler hat and a black suit with a green vest over his white button-up shirt. Calder stood in front of everyone else and took the blame. "Then thank goodness you came! We need your help!"

"If you can help us negotiate with the museum, then we'll help." Selene crossed her arms.

"I'll do the best I can." He gave the group a smile. "The O'Leary's attacked Scotland Yard and they're heading for Newgate Prison. They intend to free Meowiarty: a most clever and dangerous thief. Please head to the prison and stop them if you can."

Selene nodded and led the group. As they rushed to the prison, they noticed ghouls walking on the rooftops.

“What are wraiths doing here?” Aika said.

“Malistaire must be behind this.” Selene replied.

After running over several rooftops, they ran down a ramp that led into a hole in the prison. The prison was littered with ghosts that the group had to avoid as they rushed up more stairs. Other than the ghosts, the building was entirely empty, no prisoners or police in sight. The first sign of life came when they got to the cell at the very top.

"Oy! Meowiarty's getting away!" A police officer yelled outside. The group ran up to him. "Meowiarty hot-footed it across the rooftops to the right. After him!"

The group followed his instructions and ran. When they caught up to him, they saw a sphinx cat with wide yellow eyes staring back at them.

"You want to catch me?" He placed his wrinkled paw onto his chest as he showed them an offended look before he smirked. He adjusted his suit before speaking. "You'll find I'm more than common street rabble. I have friends in powerful places. A shame you'll never meet them."

He then ran off. Police officers shouted where they had last seen him as the group chased him. The rooftops seemed to gain more and more distance. The wizards have to resort to jumping instead of relying on ramps in order to gain distance. Finally, they caught up to him again, talking with Malistaire.

"Let me introduce you to my good friend." He held his cane and pointed it at Malistaire, who rolled his eyes. He then used a spell and teleported. More undead appeared, forcing the group to run ahead to see if they can find them again.

"I have a feeling that he's in there." Tasha pointed to an old warehouse in the distance.

"You better be right." Selene spat before rushing the group to the building. She was right. The group encountered Meowiarty with Malistaire again. "Stop right there!"

Selene summoned a bat that flew towards Meowiarty, only for Malistaire to summon a shield to protect Meowiarty.

"I grow weary of this game you insist on playing." He purred as if he wasn't nearly hit by a wizard's spell. "I'm out of patience, but you're one of the constables. Even if you survive, you won't be able to follow me. Cheerio."

He waved at the group as Malistaire summoned two minions and teleported out of the building. The minions immediately started throwing spells at the wizards, giving them no chance to retreat without fighting, consuming more time they could’ve used to find him again. However, they defeated the two ‌easily and started rushing back to the police station.

"We're sorry sir, but Meowiarty broke out of jail with the help of Malistaire. He's also responsible for summoning undead everywhere." Selene pinched her nose as she groaned.

"By jove, you've uncovered the power behind the break-in. Our detectives are all busy, though."

"If he's working with Malistaire, he has to be working on breaking into the museum!" Darius said. "Malistaire wants a book that's there, we have to stop him before he gets there and gets the book! We might even get Meowiarty by going there!"

"Well, let's go then!" The detective led them out.

Meanwhile, Polley finally got to her house. She grabbed her house key and ran in, but slipped on the tattered carpet. The girl was in an empty living room and she cried on the floor in the fetal position as she cried for her mom and sisters. She already faced so much on the last day, but the possibility of losing her family did not make the burden better. She was so tired, and she wanted to wake up from this awful dream. Her eyes, despite being filled with tears, got heavy as sleep threatened to take over.

"Eliza! What are you doing here?" Her mother sat down next to her and hugged her.

"Mum, is everyone okay?" The girl muffled into her chest. The mother rubbed her back as another cat entered the room, not one of her siblings, but a cat she did not recognize.

"Who-"

"You don't have to worry about her, that lady just saved us from one of the escaped convicts trying to break into our house." Polley wiped her eyes as she got a closer look at the cat. She wore a green and purple dress and wore a green veil. The lady was a black cat, but she didn't look like any cat she knew in Marleybone. She was much taller and had a panther-like face. Despite her Marleybonian dress, she looked like an outsider.

"I've come from Mirage for business and I happen to stumble upon all this chaos. I know we're strangers, but I promise you can trust me." She held her hands out, helping both Polley and her mother up.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Ravenwood?"

"It's… hard to explain, but I have a feeling I'm here because Malistaire is creating this chaos." She grabbed onto her skirt.

"Your old professor?" She nodded. "What are you doing chasing after him?"

"Like I said, it's hard to explain-"

"If it'll stop all of this, I recommend you go out there." The tall lady laid her hand on Polley's shoulder. "I'll stay here and protect your family."

She looked into the lady's eyes. The cat pet Polley's head.

"I know a couple of spells. We'll be fine." Polley sighed. She hugged her mom and didn't let go for at least a solid minute.

"Go get him." Her mom smiled at her, and Polley couldn't help but giggle at her comment.

Watson led the group to the museum as they continued to explain the situation with Malistaire. When they were let in, they saw Polley arguing with a dog wearing formal clothes and holding a cane.

"I'm telling you, you have to let us see the sarcophagus. The Spiral is at stake!" She shouted, with no regard for her tone.

"I recognize you. You're from the cat family not far from here." The dog said. Polley backed away from her as she kept her hands to her chest. "If you pester me one more time, I'll report you to the police. Maybe you can meet your nuisance of a father-"

"Sir, that's enough." Watson spoke up and walked between the curator and the kid. "These kids have helped us take down loads of escaped convicts and in doing so they've asked they see the Sarcophagus of the Souls."

The dog placed his hand on his chest in shock, but replied immediately.

"The Krokonomicon has already been stolen."

"Who-"

"Meowiarty has stolen the Krokonomicon and locked himself in Big Ben Clocktower. He just ran into the Big Ben Clocktower-"

"That's enough. Let us go up there." Selene said. Watson pointed at the gate behind him and the kids rushed into the entrance without paying mind to the pompous curator, yelling at them. They rushed up the stairs until they wound up in the clock's interior. Evan and Tasha were the first to enter and were met with a furious Malistaire.

“You again! I don’t have time for this.” As he finished speaking, the rest of the group caught up with Evan and Tasha. The man glanced at the new arrivals and recognized Polley, who shrunk back a bit from his stare.

“Do you realize you’re too late? With the Krokonomicon, I have everything I need to finish what I have started.”

He held a death grip on the book with a dark red cover. Polley ran up and tried to pull it out of his grip, but despite his pale and thin figure, he was still stronger than her and pushed her off.

“I ask you one more time. Help me revive Sylvia.” Polley sat up from being pushed.

“You can’t. You have to know this is wrong!” She cried out. The other wizards aimed their wands at Malistaire, giving him no time to respond or even consider her plea.

“I can’t have you following me to Dragonspyre. Meowiarty, take care of them once and for all.” He disappeared right as Selene cast a minotaur. All there was left was the wizards, Meowiarty, one of Malistaire’s minions, and a golem. Selene commanded her minotaur to attack the wraith.

“It will be a pleasure to take care of these meddlesome wizards.” Meowiarty said before grabbing Polley. “Once I scratch you lot off our list, we’ll have no one to stop us!”

The necromancer glared daggers at him and whispered under her breath, summoning a wraith of her own who swung at the criminal mastermind with his scythe. He dodged, but the wraith cast his own spell, damaging the cat. She then summoned a skeletal pirate that slashed its sword at the criminal with rapid speed despite its skeletal form, not allowing the cat any time to dodge. He used his cane to block the sword. The pirate broke the criminal’s cane before Polley summoned a dark sprite that cursed Meowiarty, causing him to lose all energy and fall to the ground.

Meanwhile, the rest of the wizards were busy fighting the golem and the wraith. Tasha was casting life spells to weaken the necromancer’s minion while Selene, Aika, and Calder were fighting the golem, and Darius were buffing their spells.

“Inconceivable! How could mere children defeat me?” The sphinx cat said as he growled, looking around to see the wizards have also defeated the two minions. Just then, policemen showed up and put Meowiarty in handcuffs. A brown bloodhound wearing green plaid clothes and smoking a black pipe followed them into the interior of the clock.

“You’ve defeated Meowiarty and driven Malistaire from our fair city. Our thanks‌ to you, young wizards.”

“Sherlock Bones?” Polley said.

“Sherlock BONES?” Evan said and gave Polley a dumbfounded expression. Tasha covered her mouth as she giggled.

“Indeed, I am. Watson just told me everything you lot did. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.” As if being called, Watson appeared behind him.

“Indeed! Fantastic work! You should publish an account of the case. If you won’t, I will for you.” He said, before letting out a laugh.

“We can’t write right now. We have to follow Malistaire.” Selene said.

“Then you go chase him while we contain the rest of the escaped convicts,” Sherlock said before putting his smoke pipe back on his lip. The group left the clock tower, and the students left the museum.

“Wait, how are we getting to Dragonspyre?” Polley said. “He doesn’t even have a world key.”

“Neither does Cyrus.” Selene replied.

“Can I ask what Dragonspyre is?” Evan asked.

“Dragonspyre was Cyrus’, Malistaire’s, and Sylvia’s home. It was destroyed years ago. They went to Wizard City without a key. I’m not sure how he’s even going to get there.” Selene answered. Aika’s eyes widened.

“Emperor Yoshihito!” Aika said. She looked over to see Evan and Tasha looking confused. “The emperor of Mooshu. He has a key to Dragonspyre.”

“How is Malistaire going to get to Mooshu?” Evan asked. Aika pulled out her key and asked Polley to lead the way to the world door.

“It’s been a while, but I believe Malistaire might have a key he used to visit my family-”

“Why would Malistaire-”

“Let’s stop talking about this. We need to warn the emperor!” Aika shut down Evan before he could finish his question.

Chapter Text

Aika stepped in front of the group to open the door. Her key was red with gold accents, and the handle was a symbol unfamiliar to Evan and Tasha. She opened the door, which revealed the interior of a building that was only lit by moonlight, but the group had no time to ogle over the details as Aika rushed them out of the building, ran past a small village, a statue of a cow, and ran all the way to a red palace. They ran up the stairs to the palace door, but a palace guard stopped them. The guard was a white bull who wore red samurai armor and a matching red helmet that allowed his horns to be free.

“Akitame, we need to warn the emperor-”

“Of Malistaire?” the guard interrupted Aika. “I am sorry, but it’s too late. You’ll have to see the Jade Champion.”

Aika rushed in while the guard blocked the other wizards.

“Lady Kimura is allowed to see his majesty, but the rest of you must complete a set of trials.” Evan rolled his eyes.

Aika ran into a giant hall with stone pillars that lead to the emperor’s throne. She ran up and saw the emperor laying on a futon next to his throne. A guard with the same armor as the man in front of the door, other than his armor being covered in jade, explained the situation to her.

"The wizard Malistaire attempted to petition his benevolent majesty for the Spiral Key to Dragonspyre. His majesty refused. That foul wizard cruelly wounded him and fled through the gate to Dragonspyre. I… I could not stop him." Aika fell to her knees as he spoke. Was all the work she did to get to this point worthless? The emperor’s chest moved up and down, but as long as he was unconscious, Mooshu was in danger, and that's not acknowledging how long Mooshu has if Malistaire’s plan of reviving someone from the dead goes wrong. As her mind conjured the worst, she felt tension pressed on one of her shoulders.

"Aika, you're home at this time?" She tore her eyes away from the emperor to stare at the man behind her. He wore a green kimono and held a sword in his sheath. His hand that was on her shoulder let go and grabbed his waist while his other hand held onto the hilt of his sword. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were responsible for the emperor’s aliment."

"I'm- I'm not responsible, I promise!" Aika stood up and faced the man. She instinctively spoke in her native language, but she spoke so rapidly that the man above her gave her a quizzical look. The girl only stopped when he patted her head.

"Calm down." She completely froze, barely able to hold the tears in her eyes. The girl held her hands together to look proper and in a vain attempt to keep them from shaking as she looked at the stone floor to calm her nerves.

Just then, the front door opened. The girl looked over to see her group finally make it past the door. They were all exhausted, most of them wearing grumpy faces with eye bags, except for Calder, who ran past the Jade Champion and hugged Aika.

"Are we letting the village in now?" Her father said.

"No, we're just visiting." Calder talked back. She lessened her hug into her arm hanging onto her shoulder. She then looked over at the emperor’s throne to see the emperor laying down on the futon.

"I guess we were too late?"

"Malistaire has the Dragonspyre key." Aika replied. The rest of her group and the Jade Champion got closer to the throne.

"Is it possible to get to Dragonspyre without the key?" Evan asked.

"It's possible, but we'd need a ship-"

"That won't be necessary." The guard pulled out a key covered in rust red with a dragon printed on it. "I took the key from him right as he escaped."

He handed Aika the key to let her look.

"We need to go to Dragonspyre now." Selene grabbed her hand with the key, which resulted in Aika crying.

"Back off." Calder shoved Selene, who was still in shock over Aika's reaction.

"Daughter, have you been up all night?" The man in the green kimono grabbed her face and observed her eyes, which were red and droopy. Calder wanted to growl at him. The man looked at the other kids and noted their tired looks. "Come with me. You all clearly need some rest. We have extra beds for you at our house."

He grabbed Aika's arm and pulled her out of Calder's embrace, guiding the students out of the palace and towards an elegant, but small looking wooden home.

Aika tried to move her arm out of the armlock, but her father tightened his grip around her arm, which Calder noticed and made her want to push the father away. He guided them to a back door that led to a hallway and pointed the group toward a shoe rack near the door.

After everyone took off their shoes, they eventually arrived at a traditional Japanese Tatami room with a futon wrapped in green sheets. There was a small shrine with red drapes and incense, with a small red pillow for her to sit on. He finally let go of Aika to open a closet that was embedded in the wall and pulled out more futon mattresses, setting them up for all the kids before finally leaving the kids alone.

"Your mother is still at the palace. You'll have the house to yourselves." He said before leaving the room. Aika collapsed into her bed as Calder set her mattress next to her. Evan and Tasha set their mattresses close as well, while the rest put their futons wherever, as long as it wasn't too close to each other.

"Calder…" Aika mumbled, allowing only Calder to hear her. The redhead turned around to face her and dragged her arms around her head, pulling her towards her shoulder. Aika snuggled her face into her neck. She mumbled something that Calder couldn't really hear, it going one ear out of the other as sleep consumed her.

Evan groaned when waking up. He rubbed his eyes to see his sister on her phone, her thumbs vigorously tapping on the screen as if she needed to respond to someone quickly.

"Good morning." She didn't tear her eyes from her phone as Evan sat up. "Phoebe is mad at you."

"Why?" He pulled his phone from under the mattress he was sleeping on.

"She's mad you didn't respond to her for the whole day." She replied. Evan turned his phone on to see that he missed several messages.

"How are we even getting-"

"I stopped asking questions when I saw a plug outlet in a dorm room for a magic school." He wanted to roll his eyes but kept his eyes on the text messages. The first few were her questioning the video he sent, but it eventually became texts asking where he was and if he was not replying on purpose.

"Sorry, I had a really busy day. A lot happened." He started his text before explaining the events from yesterday, finally sending it when he got everything he could think of. He then started another text.

"Sorry for not replying btw, didn't want you to panic. I hope you're doing better." He pressed the send button as fast as he could. The trials he had to perform to meet the emperor came to mind, and he thought of leaving on a comedic note.

"Also, a statue of cow Buddha spoke to me." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he sent his last message. He finally put his phone down as he rubbed his eyes to fully wake until he heard someone talk from the other side of the room.

"Aww, they're so cute!" Polley held a hand over her heart as she looked at Aika and Calder sleeping together. Polley seemed to already have been awake for a while.

"I don't get it." Selene responded. She was preventively rolling her futon.

"They're cuddling, I just think it's cute!" Polley said. Tasha finally put down her phone and looked at the two wizards.

"They're what- aw!" Her eyes widened, and a smile grew on her face. "They're so sweet!"

"I seriously don't get it." Selene opened the closet and put her futon in it. "Aren't they friends? Is it wrong to-"

"I don't mean it in a weird way!" Polley hid her face in her hands as her face turned red. "I just thought-"

"Nnngh, what's going on?" Aika finally woke up before her face darkened when she saw how close she was to Calder. "I'm sorry!"

She tried to scoot away from Calder, who was just waking up as well. The redhead opened her eyes only for her face to turn pink when she saw the two girls staring at them and she followed Aika's lead in making some room between themselves.

"Ar-Are we ready to go?" Aika said.

"Darius isn't awake yet, but hopefully we can move soon." Selene pointed to a corner of the room where the Krokotopian boy slept.

"Great, what's the plan?" Calder asked.

"I was thinking of going to Ravenwood and asking Cyrus if he has any advice, or at least reporting everything that's happened to the Headmaster."

"What about the Emperor?" Polley asked. "I don't know much about him, but I'd rather not leave a world with a dead leader."

"She's right. We have to do something." Aika said. "The palace tries to keep everything on the down-low, but the emperor’s health directly affects our land. Demons will send plagues on our people and start wars."

"How do we help him, though?" Selene looked at Polley. "Maybe you can look at him. You study illnesses, don't you?"

"I do, but illnesses caused by magic are not easy to cure." Polley replied. Aika looked down at her blankets and pulled them over her shoulders.

"It's better to at least look at him, right?" Evan finally spoke to the group. He stood up. "Let's not waste time, let's-"

Before he could step off the futon, he felt something slam the back of his head, sending him off his feet. After his body hit the ground, he turned around to see an eggplant-shaped fruit that was purple with a red glow and with tiny white wings floating above him.

"How did they escape the palace garden?" Aika took the fruit in her hand.

"What is it?" Tasha stepped off her futon while looking at the window that the fruit came from.

"They're fruit from the palace, they're forbidden to be used by anyone outside of the palace. They only get these wings when they're picked off their trees, but the festival hasn't happened-" Her eyes widened. "Is the palace already in danger?"

"Should we hurry-" Polley was about to speak before Aika jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. The rest of the group followed. Only Darius was left behind, for he was still asleep. When Aika left the house, there was nothing on the streets that indicated chaos, but her heart pounded and she tightened her grip on the fruit as she ran to the palace. Passing the gates, she fell on her knees. The monks, guards, and nobles walked around outside the palace like nothing was wrong, the palace was undamaged, and it was as impenetrable as it always was.

"Aika, is everything okay?" Calder got on her knees and looked Aika in the eyes.

"It seems like it… b-but… I-" She took her brown hands in her pale, freckled-covered hands to calm her down. "I think we need to go back for now."

The rest of the group caught up to them right as they stood up, Calder still holding one of her hands. The ice wizard told the group that they needed to go back.

"That's fair cause…" Evan looked around before speaking up again. "I think we left Darius back at the house."

"Oh, Bartleby," Aika mumbled before walking back home with her group. They went back to her room, where several unkempt futons were still laid on the floor and the boy was still sleeping. The fire wizard sat back on her bed.

"We still need Polley to look at the emperor." Selene made the group focus again while Aika stared at the fruit in her hands, its wings flapping as it begged to be free. She jumped when she felt something large hug her.

"Sorry, just thought you'd want a blanket." Aika looked behind her to see Calder putting a blanket on her shoulders. She sighed.

"You're fine, thank you." She gave her friend a smile before looking back at her fruit. In a moment, her eyes twinkled, and she looked up at the rest of the group before speaking again. "I have an idea."

"What is it?" Selene responded.

"Maybe using the fruit will help him recover. It's used by foreign pirates to recover their health. Maybe it can help the emperor." She held the fruit out to show what she was talking about. "I'm sure I could make juice out of it."

"That could work if it recovers health, but does this house have anything for it?" Evan said.

"The palace has better equipment for it. There's a group of people that attend the garden every day."

"Including your mom, right?" Calder held her shoulder as she nodded.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to see her today…" She let a thought escape her lips.

"What do you mean?" Tasha asked out of curiosity before Evan tugged her arm. "I'm sorry!"

"It's fine." Aika sighed. The group heard Darius finally get up.

"What's going on?" He said while his eyes were droopy.

"We're trying to come up with a plan, but Aika is having issues." Selene replied.

"Do you guys mind if I talk a bit?" The girl asked. The group nodded, except Darius, who gave a weak thumbs up. Her bedroom was silent for the next few minutes, other than Aika using breathing techniques to calm down.

"As I said, I don't want to see my family. My family… is not very nice. I dread coming home every school break." She looked at Evan. "You asked why Malistaire would have a key to Mooshu. It has to do with my parents, but it's a long story."

"We have time… some time, at least." Polley said.

"Are you sure you want to talk about that?" Calder whispered. Aika nodded before continuing. The ice wizard held her hand, allowing her to squeeze it whenever she got anxious.

"A couple of years ago, during spring vacation, my father… hurt me terribly. It affected me when I came back, I fainted in class."

"In life class, right?" Polley said. Aika looked at her with wide eyes. "I think I remember that moment, though I never knew what happened after."

"Do you both take life as a secondary school?" Evan asked. Polley nodded for both of them, Aika was silent as she contemplated how to continue. Calder gave her hand a squeeze, calming her brain as she laid her head on her shoulder.

"When I fainted, I refused to say anything. I completely shut down, even for Sylvia. My parents had already instilled hiding their abuse from everyone, talking about how I can't bring them down to my level." She felt her eyes tear up, but she couldn't even bother to hold her sadness in as she spoke.

"The next thing I know, she visited my parents without me knowing and she became sick. I don't know what happened, but I can't help but think she's disappointed in me, wherever she is. If I had said anything, if I hadn't been a coward, maybe-"

"You couldn't have known your parents would do something like that, please don't blame yourself." Polley spoke up, sitting down to get on her level. "Your family is supposed to protect you! As far as I care, they're the scum of the Spiral!"

Evan was hesitant to speak at all, but something in his gut told him that he had to comfort her in any way possible. Meanwhile, Tasha immediately went to hug her. Darius followed suit, getting off of his temporary bed to hug her and Calder from behind. Calder herself used her free arm to pet her head.

"It's not uncommon for children to not want to out their parents if they did something wrong. As she said, your parents were all you knew for the first few years of your life and they're supposed to be there for you." Evan said.
"I obviously don't know the exact science of it, but… yeah, it's not your fault."

“This conversation is making me glad my parents abandoned me-” Selene unintentionally spoke out loud, not being able to stop herself from speaking until it was too late. “I shouldn’t have said that-”

Aika interrupted her laughing.

“Haha- I shouldn’t be laughing, I’m sorry.” She covered her mouth to stop herself, but it only resulted in her laugh becoming giggles. Selene could only laugh in response. Most of the room was silent, only filled with giggles from the two girls. Aika moved one of her hands and made a gesture to tell Selene to join the hug, but Evan and Polley shortly followed her.

"We should probably get ready to head out." Selene gave Aika a pat on her back before letting go.

"That's fine." Aika responded before standing up. The gang put away their futons, Aika helping with Calder's as they talked further.

"I can help you confront your mom if that's necessary." Calder said. Aika couldn't look at her for a minute, focusing her stare on rolling up the mattress. She finished putting the futon away before responding.

"I would appreciate it." She let out before looking Calder in the eyes. She let Calder take her arm, and they headed out, being followed by the rest of the group. The group is led back into the palace where Aika gives her idea to the Jade Champion, who gives her a nod in approval and lets her go out to the garden.

"Can Calder come with me as well?"

"Does she know anything about fruit cultivation?"

"No…" She looks at Calder, who was scratching her head.

"We cannot let foreigners into-"

"I know- I'm sorry." She says before looking at Calder again. The ice wizard ruffles her hair, causing her to smile.

"Go save the emperor." She said before Aika left. The redhead rekindled with the rest of the group who left the palace to discuss their further plans.

Meanwhile, Aika finally made it to the garden. It was a garden plaza, making it secret by hiding within the palace's walls, making it hidden from foreigners and from the public. Aika entered the plaza to find her own mother plucking the last ripe fruit from one of the garden's many trees.

"Mother!" She ran up and snatched it from her right as she let the Yum Yum fruit go. "What are you doing?!"

"I just noticed this one was going bad." The woman smiled as she pointed at the fruit in her daughter's hands. Aika looked down and furrowed her eyebrows.

"It looks fine."

"Are you telling me that I'm wrong?" The woman dropped her smile for an annoyed look. The girl kept her eyes locked on the fruit. She felt sweat drip down her neck and her hands shake, making it hard to keep her grip on the flying fruit. She observed the fruit to calm down and the fruit's red glow made her think of her best friend.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Without looking at her mother’s face. She turned around and left the plaza, her hands still shaking. While she headed to the palace's kitchen, the group left to look around the area. Evan and Tasha stayed by each other as they responded to texts from home while Polley looked at the front gardens and Selene was looking at the local town in front of the palace with Darius.

"Prospector Zeke?" The myth wizard spotted the middle-aged man. His eye lit up at seeing someone familiar and gave her a wave.

"Who is he?" Darius whispered to Selene.

"He's a regular at Wizard City. Come here." She dragged him towards the flower shop the man stood in front of.

"Heya there Selene, surprise seein' you here." Despite his long beard, his smile was apparent.

"Where's Eloise?" Selene asked.

"She's delivering a message we promised we'd send. Knowing her, however-" before he could finish, a middle-aged woman who looked about the same age as Zeke stepped out of the building. "Eloise!"

"Didn't release we were having visitors." The lady joked. "What are you doing all the way over here in Mooshu?"

"Long story. We should hopefully leave soon." Selene replied. The lady then looked at Darius and handed the bouquet she was holding to Zeke.

"You must be one of those Krokotopian exchange students I heard about. I've never seen you before." She gave him a smile. "How's Ravenwood treating you, dearie?"

"... It's okay I guess." Darius replied. The lady then turned to the myth wizard and continued to make small talk with her. Becoming bored, the boy turned back and headed to the palace to see the rest of the group. Tasha was by herself.

"Hello?" He tried to wave at her, but the girl was distracted by her phone. He sighed. The boy looked at her screen, but he couldn't really understand what was happening since the technology was so foreign to him. Tasha looked up to see Darius staring at her screen.

"I didn't notice you, my bad." She turned her phone off. "I was messaging a friend."

"Message? Like a letter?" Her eyes widened in realization.

"Yeah, pretty much. I would say this is a lot less formal than a letter, though." She shook her phone to emphasize her point before putting her phone in her pocket. "Weren't you with Selene?"

"Yeah, I got kind of bored." He said, followed by an awkward chuckle. "Do you think we'll be able to fight Malistaire?"

"I guess it's inevitable." She sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I don't know enough."

She looked to see him with a confused expression.

"I've only been at Ravenwood for like a week. I didn't even think magic existed a month ago."

"Sounds like you shouldn't be here at all." He spoke bluntly.

"Maybe." She pulled her phone and earphones out of her pocket and tuned out.

Meanwhile, Evan ended up running into Polley while exploring the palace area. She was looking up at one of the cherry blossom trees, entranced in the tree's pink petals. Evan couldn't really help but admire it too. He'd never seen a tree like it in real life, he was more used to the trees with green leaves that would turn orange and fall off in the autumn and winter. The most he's seen of it was in photos or shows he's watched.

It was hard for Evan to notice, but a petal had jumped off the tree and landed right on Polley's nose, making her squirm a little before letting it fall onto her hand. While the rest of the petals looked healthy, the petal in her hand had developed some brown on its edge. Her mind drifted towards Sylvia. Was the brown edge the start of the petal's slow death, or was it already gone? Did its fall symbolize its death? She was hesitant to let the petal go, just letting it sit in her hand for a while.

Naturally, her mind wandered towards Malistaire. She knew it was painful for him to let Sylvia go, but she didn't know how to comfort him since she was grieving too. The girl could only turn in her assignments on time as much as she could and visit him during study hours to give him company. By the time he disappeared, she was heartbroken that she couldn't help him. She felt like a burden. She knew it would be painful seeing Sylvia pass, but she'd never have expected her old professor to be so unwilling to let her go despite everything he had taught her about disrespecting the dead.

Before she could process what had happened, the wind blew the petal out of her hand, forcing her to let it go forever.

In a dead world filled with ghosts and ashes, Malistaire had entered the Tomb of his wife. He tossed the minions he made to protect her body aside as he went further underground until he finally got to her room. Her coffin, made of stone, lay barren. In front of the coffin was a female wraith whose glasses barely stayed on her face and the flowers on her head rotted. Her skinless hands held no scythe. If she had eyes, they would stare intently at Malistaire, who went up and grabbed both of her hands.

"My dear Sylvia… I've finally gotten the Krokonomicon. Soon we'll be together again." His wife did not respond. "If only people didn't oppose me, then I'd already free you from death. Come with me."

He held her hand and tried to drag her out of her resting place, but she could not leave. Malistaire dropped her hand and pulled the book out of his hand. No matter what, it seemed like the previous people he revived couldn't leave their resurrection spot; Nightshade didn't leave his tower, Rattlebones couldn't leave Unicorn Way and was forced to search its library for the content he was looking for, and Nightshade's minions faced something similar. However, he now had a possible solution in his hands. He flipped through the pages until he stopped at a particular page before he put the book back in his bag and prepared Sylvia for a ritual.

Just a few words and she could leave her tomb, though seemingly nothing else happened. He brought them to the old Drake house, which was barely intact from the war that devastated Dragonspyre. Lava surrounded it. The interior was rotten and smelt of ashes and volcanic material that threatened to enter his nose. He sat her down on one of the few chairs that hadn't crumbled due to time or fire. Next to that chair was a desk. He had already taken the time to study what he thought would help revive her, but it only made her able to leave her tomb, so he went back to studying it. He spent hours but found nothing that was useful. His eyes threatened to shut, and he had wondered how long he'd been awake, closing his journaling and hiding the notebook and Krokonomicon inside his desk before heading to his childhood room, with Sylvia following him.