Kassius and Gwin opened the door to the next room, with weapons raised, expecting a fight. However, they found everything but a fight. The room was not empty like the others, in fact, the room was stacked and filled to the brim with books and shelves. He had never thought of it, but this would be what Kassius thought Gwins’ room would look like. As they walked in the room, they saw nothing out of the ordinary, checking every book silently, keeping their senses and reflexes at their peak. They skimmed through the piles and shelves of books seeing if anything reacted to their touch. As Kassius scanned through the room, he saw Gwin tense up as she scanned through the book filled shelves. He knew that she was fighting the urge to read even one of them. With tremendous effort on Gwin’s part, they made it to the other side without anything popping out to fight them or harm them in any way. Breathing a sigh of relief, they both went for the door, a surprisingly wooden door with a metal frame.

  Before they could even reach the knob to open the door, the torches on the sides scorched up, turning brighter and slowly changing into a cool blue color and dying down to normal. A thud and clunk of metals colliding and gears grinding was heard shortly after, Kassius and Gwin turned to see a flow of blue and white light on the ground filling the straight line on the ground, outlining the room. Small embers shot out of the lights forming a phrase in the air.

  “Begins with K, and never sure.

  Poor is rich, and rich is poor.

  Once you have the answer I seek.

  The unthinkable will be what you speak.”

  “A riddle?” Gwin said, with a slight hint of happiness in her voice.

  “This would be something you would be happy about” Kassius thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

  Gwin recited the riddle over and over again, committing it to memory. Kassius followed her lead but nothing seemed to come to mind. To him, the riddle just seemed like gibberish, even if it was in english.

  “Got any ideas, Kassius?” Gwin asked.

  Kassius shrugged his shoulders, earning an eye roll from Gwin.

  “Are you even trying?” Gwin asked, slightly annoyed at Kassius.

  He knew that Gwin was just joking, he hoped she was. She sighed then approached the center of the room.

  “Well I don’t have any idea either, it doesn’t even make any sense.” she said, frustrated.

  “There must be something in these books.” she said, looking and scanning the books. She turned to Kassius and gave a small smile.

  “It’s worth a try, right?” she said. Kassius nodded and joined her to search the books.

  As Kassius opened one of the books, it was blank. He wondered if it was just his imagination or some sort of hallucination. He closed, and opened the book again, and still, he saw nothing. He then grabbed the next book he could find and opened it, shocked to find nothing as well, not even a drop of ink.

  He turned to Gwin to tell her, but when he did, he saw her seemingly reading through one of the books.

  “How are you reading?” Kassius asked. It took Gwin a moment before noticing Kassius, dumbfounded at what she was doing.

  “Did you say something?” Gwin asked.

  “How are you reading…..nothing?” Gwin looked at Kassius confused.

  “Nothing? What are you talking about?” she looked genuinely confused.

  “There’s nothing in these books. It’s just blank papers.” Kassius said, showing the book he had to Gwin. She still looked confused at him, as if he was going crazy.

  “Um Kassius? Are you okay?” Gwin asked, concerned.

  Kassius now looked as confused as Gwin. He looked at the book again and there was still nothing he could see on the papers. He looked all over the book, every page and the covers, to see if he was going crazy. To his relief, he saw that there were labelks in the spine of the book but it wasn’t much. All he saw was a silver letter on the spine, a letter S. A thought began to form in Kassius’ head.

  “Could you read anything on the cover, or the spine?” Kassius asked.

  “There’s nothing, Kassius.” Gwin answered.

  Gwins answer confirmed Kassius’ thought, the books indeed were clues to the answer but it wasn’t in the pages, it was on the spines.

  “The spines!” Kassius said enthusiastically and dumb smile formed on his face.

  Gwin looked towards him concerned and confused.

  “I can see the labels on the spine, and you can see the writings on the books, maybe those are connected.” Gwin changed her expression from confusion to focus.

  She took out a pair of glasses and started tearing through each of the books on her side, startling Kassius. She read one book and then another and then another. Kassius looked at the slightly frightening sight of Gwin reading intensely. He might’ve thought she was a beast if not for the glasses she wore, the special glasses that she had made. He couldn’t help but feel that Gwin might’ve made those glasses with this kind of situation in mind, he didn’t put it past her.

  She paused for a moment and murmured to herself. She looked up and read the riddle once more, then returned her attention to the book. Then her face lit up, and her mouth widened with a smile.

  “Kassius, bring that book over here.” she said urgently, as she put aside books from her pile.

  As he walked towards his side the lights on the ground shot up abruptly. Kassius attempted to walk through it only to feel an intense burning on his foot along with a cool freeze.

  “Oww!” Kassius screamed out in pain.

  Gwin ran over to the middle and studied the wall of light.

  “What the hell is that?!” Kassius asked, holding his foot on the ground. Gwin hovered her hand over the wall of light, less fazed and more fascinated.

  “It couldn’t be…” she said trailing off.

  “What do you mean?” Kassius asked, bringing Gwin back out of her thoughts.

  “Quickly show me the inside.” Gwin said, ignoring Kassius’ question. He hesitated but opened the book towards her and she nodded.

  “You said that had an S right?” Gwin asked, Kassius nodded.

  “How about these?” Gwin held up two books. Kassius squinted to get a clearer view of the labels on the book.

  He could barely make out the outlines of the letter, but he knew what he saw, a C and an A. Gwin then held up the other two books she had put aside, and Kassius saw an O and an H. “Chaos?” Kassius said, instinctively. The sound of the word shook the room, and the lights turned back from a cool blue to fiery orange blaze. After a few moments, the shaking slowly stopped and the door opened on its own. The wall of light that had surrounded Kassius and Gwin remained for a moment, until Kassius’ side grew dim of light and the wall disappeared into the air to form more words.

  “A task for two you have accomplished, but only one may move

  Forward, for with the other, both may perish.”

  Kassius and Gwin looked at each other through the light, grim faces on both of them. “I guess….” Kassius struggled to speak but Gwin interrupted him.

  “Don’t even think about going without me.” she said firmly. She reached for the wall and recoiled from the cold and burning sensation, similar to Kassius.

  “Gwin, stop. You’re gonna hurt yourself before you get thorough.” Kassius reasoned with Gwin.

  He looked towards Gwin trying to feign a reassuring face, to tell her everything will be alright, but her face was still filled with worry.

  “Look, there had to be a reason for all of this. And this might give me an answer.” he said, seemingly begging.

  “Kassius, you could get hurt.” Gwin pleaded.

  “So could you.” Kassius responded. He pointed at the phrase, still floating overhead.

  “If both of us go, there is a high chance of both of us not getting out.” Kassius argued.

  “You’re trusting writings in shabby ruins?!” Gwin yelled, annoyed at what Kassius was saying.

  “I can’t risk your life for something I need to know.” Kassius argued, making Gwin silent. A long silence fell between them before Kassius spoke again.

  “I’ll be back, Gwin.” he said.

  He didn’t know what else to say to her , what other words he could use to reassure her. He was fully expecting her to argue even more but she stayed silent for a little while more.

  “Fine.” she said, turning her head up to look at Kassius.

  “You better come back.” she said firmly.

  “And take this.” she tossed a rock towards Kassius, it was the light rune they had been using. Kassius gave a smile and nodded. He turned to, what he hoped to be the final entrance of the ruins, and took a deep breath. He might finally get some answers to his endless number of questions.

  If he could even answer one of them, just one, that would’ve made this whole thing worth it. He readied himself for any possible danger. He gripped his blades tight and marched into the entrance.

  —

  Kassius walked down a flight of stairs holding the light rune in front of him to shine his way. His blade was at the ready, just in case anything had appeared from the darkness. It seemed like he had been walking down for hours, as he had yet to see an end to the stairs. He did his best to keep his cool, failing every other minute. Besides the fact that he couldn’t see a few feet ahead of him, he still didn’t know what to expect, he didn’t know what was waiting for him at the end of this path, if there was an end. Kassius surprised himself with the amount of time he was able to keep the rune lit, considering his skill with magic. He felt proud that he was able to do that much, “At least I wasn’t so useless” he thought to himself.

  Another few minutes seemed to pass, and Kassius grew tired. After the fight with statues, the horrible voices, and the less than pleasant riddle room, Kassius barely found any strength to tense up and stay alert. He was tempted to sit down ,but he pushed himself to keep going, thinking that if he sat down, he might end up lying down and sleeping, even if it was the uneven platforms of the stairs. Just when he had begun to feel like laying down on the stairs, a sudden feeling he could barely describe came to him. It startled him awake, even though it wasn’t a painful feeling. It was as though some invisible force was pulling his heart. It wasn’t his curiosity that made haste to the end, it wasn’t even the desire to get to the bottom of all this, it was this feeling pulling him in, getting stronger and stronger as he walked forward. He was so focused on this pull that he didn’t notice his surroundings changed until he was right in the middle of the place.

  He looked around to see towering stone pillars on both sides, lamps hanging down on them , illuminating stone images. Kassius slowed down to look at the stone images but he could barely make out what any of the objects were, he couldn’t even tell if they were people, animals, or just objects. On his right he saw what looked like a gigantic lion overpowering some sort of person. He squinted, hoping it would make the image clearer, but it didn’t. The “person” looked more like a monster now, a hairy one, or a barbed one, and the lion looked more like a wolf, losing the mane as he squinted. He was confused, wondering how an image could look like two completely different things, but he turned his attention back to the pulling feeling as it pulled stronger now. “I must be getting to the end.” he thought. He raced down as fast as he could, nearly tripping on some steps, until he saw the ground and a very well lit area. He was finally out of darkness but he didn’t feel any better where he was.

  The area was big, and it was shaped like a half circle, with a big stone platform in the middle. Without the stone platform, it would look like a stage or an arena, similar to the Roman colosseum. Kassius walked down the few steps that were left in front of him and turned a full 360 degrees, taking in the stone scenery around him. He could almost imagine a crowd of people sitting in the outline of the half circle, he even saw that the stones were carved to form bleachers, at least what would count as bleachers in ancient times. He proceeded further down to the open area, with the stone platform, noticing the wall of fire that surrounded the entire place he was in, in the far edges. He turned his attention towards the stone platform and saw worn out writing on the sides. It was unreadable as most were either scratched off or blocked by cracks. He noticed his pull again and stared at the writing on the platform. He leaned in closer, reaching out his hand to touch it.

  “Ah, who would have guessed that it was you.” a voice echoed through the place. Kassius jumped up and turned to see where the voice had been coming from, but he saw no one.

  “I would have expected Auralius, or even Miss Irene, to have caused such a commotion from above.” the voice continued in a monotone and formal voice.

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  “But I guess the younger generation did have some backbone after all.” Kassius looked to every corner of the place to find where the voice had been coming from.

  Due to how big the place was, however, the voice echoed all throughout the place, Kassius couldn’t tell where the source was.

  “Do calm yourself, dear boy, you might hurt yourself.” the voice said.

  A lot louder now, as if the person was just a few feet away, behind Kassius. He turned around and saw a man, dressed in a formal vest and black tie, covered in a long black coat, and a monocle on his left-eye. Kassius would not have recognized him if it weren’t for the clean appearance and the monotone voice. It was Professor Kalahan.

  “Professor?” Kassius said in disbelief.

  “And you must be the boy that received special attention from the headmistress and our dear combat instructor.” Professor Kalahan said. Kassius heard a hint of disgust in his voice as he said that.

  “Why are you here? How did you even know–” Professor Kalahan interrupted Kassius.

  “What did you think was my purpose in Baelvaire, boy? Teaching? Bookkeeping?”

  “I was the one escorting guests, and you unruly children around the castle.” he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, especially when he said “unruly children ''.

  “I was satisfied with it, even if I was required to babysit anyone who came through those infernal doors. It gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the island in addition to the school grounds.” he began, as if preparing for a monologue.

  “I was in the perfect position to serve my lord, however, I was met with some complications, namely Miss Irene and that boor, Auralius.” he said begrudgingly.

  “Those two have been constantly watching me, so much so that I have not been able to accomplish my duties. Until tonight.” he paused and reached his arm into his coat. Kassius stood anxious, gripping the handle of his spirit blade, prepared to pull it out.

  He saw a red glow in Professor Kalahan’s coat, as he pulled out to reveal a glowing red crystal, the Catalyst. Kassius’ eyes widened and realized what was in front of him, or rather, who was in front of him.

  “You were the one who attacked the Sentinel.” Kassius said.

  “You were the one who escorted Eva and I to Miss Irenes’ office.” Kassius’ voice is getting louder. “You were eavesdropping on us!” Professor Kalahan’s face showed a small but menacing grin. “Good to see that you kids are capable of some level of intelligence.” he said smugly.

  Kassius had never gripped his blade as tight as he was gripping at that moment; he didn’t expect to see Professor Kalahan in the ruins. He wasn’t expecting something easy to deal with but Professor Kalahan always seemed docile, incapable of violence unless provoked. At the moment, however, Kassius felt uneasy around Professor Kalahan. Whether it was the Catalyst glowing brighter than before, or Professor Kalahan himself, Kassius felt that there was something wrong, like an uncontrollable power.

  “You’re pretty brave to come here, boy.” Professor Kalahan said.

  “Or should I say foolish?”.

  “I’m perplexed, however, as to how you were able to find this place, let alone get through the numerous rooms on your own.” Professor Kalahan raised his brow looking at Kassius like he was some sort of creature he had never seen. Without thinking, Kassius spoke.

  “I guess when you have eyes, it wasn’t that hard.” Professor Kalahan’s blank expression became one of annoyance, frustration. Suddenly Kassius regretted talking. “Do not test me, boy.” he said menacingly. “You do not know who you are dealing with.”. Kassius stood frozen with fear, completely at a loss at what to do. He tried his best to show a brave front but the look on the Professor’s smiling face meant that he wasn’t hiding his emotions very well..

  The Professor walked towards Kassius and examined him. Kassius wanted to push him away or step further away from him, but he didn't know what the Professor would do, he didn't even know if the Professor intended to hurt him, or even kill him.

  "I'm not sensing any energy that would suggest you are one of us." He said disappointed.

  "It's possible that you may have just stumbled upon the entrance by accident." He began to pace, moving away from Kassius.

  Kassius didn't know what he was talking about, his mind was too preoccupied about what he should be doing. He knew he needed to take the Catalyst from Professor Kalahan, but he had it in his coat.

  "Maybe he could've...... But why would he....." Professor Kalahan's words became a blurred murmur.

  Without any other option, Kassius decided to summon his blades and put himself into a fighting stance. Professor Kalahan remained unfazed by Kassius.

  "Do you honestly believe you could match my strength? Let alone defeat me?". Kassius remained silent, keeping eye contact with Professor Kalahan, more out of fear that if he blinked, the Professor could easily finish him off.

  "Put the blades away, boy. Before you get hurt." Professor Kalahan said. Kassius didn't listen, keeping his stance and attention on Professor Kalahan.

  "I mean it, boy." his voice growing impatient. Kassius felt his heart racing and his muscles tense, if he kept this up he might end up regretting it.

  Despite that, Kassius kept his stance. Professor Kalahan let out a deep sigh of disappointment and began to reach in his cloak for something.

  "I have no qualms over killing a child, but I had hoped that I would accomplish what I meant to do without blood staining my hands." Professor Kalahan said, as he pulled out a ragged book out of his cloak.

  As he took it out, it began to emanate an uneasy aura. Kassius couldn't see a physical aura, but he felt the air around him become cold, freezing cold. The book began to float on its own and open, as if the Professor had been using some kind of telekinesis to control it. The book flipped through its pages rapidly and stopped in the middle, then the Professor plunged his hand into the book and pulled something out of it. First, Kassius saw a handle of a sword, abnormally long for any sword he saw, then he saw the hilt of the sword. Finally, Kassius saw the glint of the blade but he was shocked at how long it took for Professor Kalahan to pull it out of the book. When he finally did, the blade was an abnormally long samurai sword, emanating a white mist around it. The sword could easily be taller than Kassius, it was a six foot long blade at the very least.

  Kassius' heartbeat raced faster than it had ever done before at the intimidating sight of Professor Kalahan.

  "Yes, boy. Tremble at the sight of my cold blade. This is true power." he said menacingly.

  He gave Kassius an evil grin as he took up a fighting stance as well, guarding his head with his long blade and pointing the tip of it towards Kassius. Kassius took a deep deep breath and controlled his breathing, in an attempt to calm himself. When he believed he was calm enough, he put his blades on his sides, ready to guard and attack.

  A long tense silence fell between the two, both of them waiting for the other to strike first, keeping eye contact with one another. After another moment of a standoff, in a split second, the Professor lunged towards Kassius and swung his samurai sword with a horizontal slice. Kassius barely managed to duck away with how long the sword was. The sword made an audible swish sound, as if cutting the air itself. He reset to his fighting stance, and charged at Kassius with the tip of the sword. He jabbed his sword at Kassius with lightning speed. Kassius exerted every ounce of energy and effort to dodge the Professor's attacks. With all his attempts, however, he was still cut multiple times by the cold sword, from his shoulders, to his sides, his hands, and his knees. Kassius made an attempt to duck further away from the Professor to create more room for him to move and catch his breath. Just as he was about to stand back up and recover himself, he felt an intense pain throughout his body. He fell to the ground and dropped his blades. When he checked the spots that he felt pain, he saw the wounds being enveloped by ice, becoming an extremely dark purple color. Kassius attempted to pull the ice out but, as he touched, he recoiled from the sheer cold of it. Before he knew it, his wounds became too numb to feel anything, but cold.

  "Giving up so soon?" said the Professor, chuckling at the sight of Kassius in agony.

  "With all that defiance and bravado, I had expected a challenge."

  "Alas, you are simply a child." He raised his sword for one final swing down to finish off Kassius.

  With what remaining strength he had, Kassius grabbed the handle of his blade and kicked himself off the ground and narrowly dodged the attack. He forced himself to get to his feet and summoned a single blade, rather than his dual blade.

  "Your tenacity is impeccable, boy." the Professor said smugly.

  "But it will not last." "The sheer cold of the blade will freeze every ounce of blood and flesh in your body before you could even land a cut." Kassius breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath to combat the freezing he felt around his body.

  He fought through his pain and lunged at the Professor swinging his blade in every way he could. The Professor dodged his attack easily, in a show of confidence, he dodged one of Kassius' attacks and tripped him over.

  "It seems Auralius has much to teach you." the Professor said, looking down on him, and kicking him away as an insult to injury.

  "Why?" Kassius groaned, struggling to speak.

  "Who are you?"

  “"Why" You ask?" the Professor answered.

  "I am a proud and devout servant of a great lord." he began.

  "I am one of those who erased from history and scorned by those few who remember." his voice grew louder.

  "I WILL be the harbinger of a new era, a glorious era!" he yelled proudly at the top of his lungs. He pointed his sword towards Kassius.

  "And you, boy, will be the first sacrifice for that era." Kassius stood up, his knees trembling but standing strong. He looked at the Professor with a grim realization.

  "You're one of the Forgotten." he said. The Professor smiled, a maniacal smile.

  "A reminder that no matter what we do, that is what we are to this world, forgotten."

  "We resort to barbaric acts but we're simply branded as terrorists." He took out the Catalyst, its red glow even more intense than ever before. Kassius could feel the power emanating from it.

  "With this, we shall be remembered, and we will finally gain the respect we deserve."

  "With this, we will end the world order as you know it, reshape it as we see fit." the Professor said as he held up the Catalyst. Kassius felt a small amount of his strength return, and an idea formed in his head.

  He clutched his blade handle, but he didn't summon his blade, and he stood up once more. He felt his strength rapidly fading and his insides freezing over, and his cold blood in his throat. He swallowed the pain and endured a little more. In a short moment, Kassius felt some bravery in his chest as he looked at the Professor.

  "I won't let you do it." Kassius said briefly as he threw his blade handle at the Professor's hand holding the Catalyst, knocking it away from him.

  The Catalyst landed on the steps of the stone platform, and Kassius quickly limped to it. As he was just a few feet away, he leapt forward to reach it. Just as he grabbed it, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down to the cold blade impaled in his stomach, and he felt the adrenaline leave his body and the cold set in.

  "AAAAARGH!!" Kassius let out a scream of pain, as he was lifted up with the blade.

  "You insolent little brat." said Professor Kalahan enraged.

  "Did you really think you could prevent the inevitable? A mere child? An orphan?" he scoffed.

  He jerked the sword, making Kassius sink further down the blade and the blade impaling his body even further. Kassius looked down and saw his blood, dripping down and freezing as it touched the ground. He felt his strength draining and his vision blurred. He coughed pints of blood, unable to keep his throat from flooding with it.

  "Yes, boy. Soon you will die but for now it will be slow and painful, until you don't feel anything. Not even the warmth of your own breath.” Kassius coughed up more blood, as he attempted to talk.

  The Professor gave him a smug and evil smile. Kassius knew he couldn't do anything, he was out of options. If there was a way out of this, he couldn't see it. He wished that his friends were here, they have always helped him out of situations like this. As he remembered his friends, he was reminded that he could turn to no one for help. All sound had drowned, believing that he was close to death, if not already there. Suddenly, he heard faint whispers around him. He tried to keep his eyes open, enough to find where it was coming from.

  "Is that all you are capable of...?" a voice said, louder than the whispers but still faint in the muffled sounds.

  "W-who--" "Will you submit to this pathetic excuse for a death?" the voice said firmly. The voice seemed familiar to Kassius, and yet it also seemed different.

  "Will you accept your fate? Or fight it?"

  "F-i-...... ght" Kassius grumbled. The voice remained silent, and the red glow of the crystal shined bright, keeping Kassius awake and alive.

  "What is this?!" Professor Kalahan said, awestruck by the Catalyst.

  Kassius regained his strength in an instant. He felt the ice in his body melt away along with the ice on his wounds. He expected to still feel weak from the wounds, but when he moved, he couldn't feel any pain, not even the sword that was still impaled in his stomach.

  "What?!" Professor Kalahan looked at Kassius, perplexed and infuriated.

  When Kassius reached to touch the blade and pull it out, the blade began to melt, breaking the blade. Kassius dropped down and melted the blade in him as well.

  "How are you doing this?!" the Professor growled.

  "WHAT ARE YOU?!?!!" He screamed, all of his confidence and bravado fading, and replaced by fear and anger.

  Kassius felt every move he made, yet he didn't feel himself controlling any part of his body. His body picked up his blade with his right hand and kept the Catalyst in his left hand.

  "You are not fit to bare such a powerful tool, hand it over!" the Professor yelled, as he lunged at Kassius with his broken sword.

  He made a huge swing at Kassius, and in the blink of an eye, Kassius felt his body hold up his arm that held the blade handle and the sword was stopped. A bright white spear appeared in his hand. The spear was engulfed in a white flame, like a fire rod. To his surprise he couldn't feel any heat from the spear, nor could he feel any burning sensation in his hand or arm. Kassius' body pushed back with the spear and the Professor was flung back a few feet into the stone bleachers. He looked in awe at his strength and power, wondering where this came from. Before he could look in amazement further, Professor Kalahan recovered himself from the stone rubble, ragged from the hit, a far reach from his usual clean image. Kassius' body made a fighting stance, his knees were bent low and the front end of the spear was anchored on his other arm, pointed at the Professor.

  "You dare?!" Professor Kalahan said, with eyes burning with rage, losing the composed formal demeanor he once had.

  "YOU DARE?!!" He raised his sword and he hovered his hand along the blade, restoring the broken end and encapsulating the blade in pure blue ice.

  "Be an obedient, boy, and DIE!" Professor Kalahan lunged, getting off the ground with so much force that the floor beneath him cracked.

  Kassius' body planted his feet, and his right side stepped back, holding the spear over his head, with his arm arching, ready to throw the spear. As the Professor grew closer and closer with incredible speed, Kassius’ arm bent farther and farther. Kassius took a breath and closed his eyes and focused all the power that he felt on his arm and on his spear. Without knowing how incredibly close the Professor was, Kassius threw his spear in the direction of Professor Kalahan with tremendous force, enough to create a shockwave from leaving his hand.

  The spear left his hand, an instant clash of two weapons, then the sound of flesh pierced and stone cracks and rumbled. Kassius took a moment to breathe before opening his eyes, and saw the destruction that was left from the clash of his spear and Professor Kalahan’s attack. A few feet away from him, was a scorch mark and a small crater, with his blade hilt in the middle of it. On the other side of the crater, was a gash leading to the cracked wall past the stone bleachers, a trail of blood leading to it. The small image of a body, with a pool of blood in place of the right arm. Professor Kalahan lay bleeding and motionless from the blow of the spear. Instantly, Kassius’ newfound strength faded, and all the pain from his wounds flooded back all at once, making him collapse to the ground.

  Despite the pain, he was able to sigh in relief that he was able to stop Professor Kalahan. Now that all has settled, he decided that now would be the best time to rest. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard the sound of rocks shifting and a figure in the distance came into his view, the same place where Professor Kalahan had laid dead. “You little brat!” the Professor said growling and gurgling with blood. Kassius watched as Professor Kalahan limped his way aggressively towards him, his eyes red with blood and rage. “Give me the crystal!”he demanded, forcing his words out of his mouth. Kassius tried to move but he had no strength to endure through the pain of doing so. He could do nothing but lie there, helpless to the deranged maniac about to kill him.

  He slowly inched closer to Kassius with the malicious intent evident in his eyes, then he stopped and looked at something past Kassius.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked. If the person or thing responded, Kassius didn’t hear a response. Hearing became a challenge as his hearing started becoming muffled.

  “What can you–” Kassius’ hearing was drowned out as if something had been clogged in his ears, as a figure of a man came into view followed by a familiar dark cloak.

  "The man had to be Auralius" Kassius, thought to himself, even if he couldn’t see his face nor hear his voice. He couldn’t hear anymore of the conversation between the two, nor could he see what was happening between them. Kassius was barely able to make out much of what was happening as his vision began to fail him. The last thing he remembered was blood splattering on the ground, and then darkness.