“Villin?”

Silver looked around her. She was in a well-decorated room. In front of her was a massive wooden door that was nearly fifty meters tall. There were hundreds of engravements within the door, depicting many of the past headmasters fighting their opponents. In some cases, they were humans, other times creatures.

The workmanship truly was astonishing.

The fifty-meter high room was around twenty meters wide and forty meters long. On both sides of the room were a number of pedestals holding all sorts of curious objects. Oddly enough there were a large number of swords, there were also things such as spears and hammers. Mostly cold weapons that most would call ‘outdated’.

Still, seeing these objects shut Silver up. She had no doubt each of the weapons here was of great historical significance. 

Still, after looking at these objects for a moment, her gaze scoured the room once more. She was sure herself and Villin entered the door at nearly the exact same time. At most there would be half a second between them and half a second shouldn’t be enough to cause any problems.

Seeing how he was nowhere to be found, Silver wasn’t too worried though. She assumed the headmaster himself sent him somewhere else, perhaps he didn’t want Silver to witness their conversation.

After nothing happened after a few minutes of waiting. Silver cautiously approached weapons showcased in the room. She found herself gravitating towards a spear in the corner of the room. The spear looked ancient, a simple wooden shaft with a stone blade at the tip.

Yet, there was something about it. Looking at it closely, the spear seemed to be made out of different kinds of wood. The wood near the tip was a very light brown, looking at the bottom of the spear, it was more of a reddish-brown instead.

Looking closely it seemed that every twenty centimeters the kind of wood the spear was made of changed. Silver looked at it with intrigue as she tried to figure out the purpose of this phenomenon.

“The Spear of Lugh. An ancient weapon held by a king that believed himself akin to a God. One of the first magi in this continent’s history.” The voice was as quiet as it was loud. It was impossible to say where the voice came from, or what volume it spoke in.

Hearing this voice, Silver immediately lowered her head and turned towards the closed door leading to the headmaster.

“My apologies headmaster. I promise you I had no ill intent, I was simply admiring the craftsmanship.” Silver sounded ever-so-slightly panicked when she spoke. She had met the headmaster once and she knew he was not one you wanted to offend. She also knew he wasn’t one to forgive.

“I understand. The boy you came with, Villin, was it? Why did he not come alone?” the voice shifted as it seemed to become corporeal. The voice came from behind the massive doors and it was said loudly, the booming voice went as far as to hurt Silver’s ears.

“My apologies headmaster. I thought at the time I was supposed to come with him, I didn’t realize tha-”

“I am not talking about you, Silver. I sensed three souls coming through the portal, not two. The boy’s body seemed to have been holding two souls. Have you been hiding something from me, Silver?”

As soon as this was said, Silver began sweating. She felt a great amount of pressure being exerted on her mind. “N- no headmaster! I wouldn’t dare lie to you!”

The pressure eased somewhat, Silver could feel a gaze, being directed at her but she didn’t dare raise her head without being allowed to do so.

The silence felt as if it lasted for hours while in reality, only a few seconds had passed.

“Then, tell me. Who is this Villin? I hadn’t really found the time to ask about him before. Why don’t you tell me about his path?”

Feeling the pressure lessen slightly, Silver had an instinct. Something was telling her to raise her head, and so she did.

Just a few meters before her was one of the most powerful magi on the continent. The man looked old, ancient even. His face was bony and he looked as if he could die of old age any second.

Then there were his eyes. No matter how Silver tried she couldn’t look at them, her mind simply refused to register whatever was there.

Once more she felt an odd kind of compulsion, this time she felt that she needed to sit, and so she did.

She knew that she wasn’t in full control of her body. If the headmaster willed something her body would follow. Silver half-expected to fall to the ground while trying to sit but she found a chair had appeared beneath her. When she looked back to the headmaster, she found he was sitting in a chair too. He had a cup of tea in his hand that he was leisurely sipping.

It was then that Silver recalled the headmaster’s question and so she quickly began talking about Villin’s story.

“Villin is mortalborn. Over two years ago, I was told to go find him and explain magic to him and his parents. They seemed very accepting even though Villin seemed somewhat scared. A month later I came back to check up on the family and make sure they were still alright with sending Villin to The Academy. I found that Villin’s parents had been brutally killed. We suspected either the western continent’s spies or the vampires to be the perpetrators but the killers still haven’t been found.”

When she got to this point, the headmaster asked a question. At this point, his voice seemed completely human again. His tone was kind and the volume was perfectly normal, he seemed like any old man at this point in time, “Why would the western continent or the vampires kill Villin’s parents?”

Hearing this question, Silver thought for a moment before responding, “Perhaps they wanted to weaken our younger generation?”

“Tss, if they wanted to weaken us they would’ve killed the boy himself not his parents. If anything, it seems that it would be something that would benefit The Academy, wouldn’t you say?”

Hearing what the headmaster said, Silver was speechless as she tried to find a response she could give.

“It wasn’t us though, it was the western continent. The question is, why?” the headmaster seemed to be deep in thought as he took another sip of tea “You may continue.”

Silver nodded as she recentered her thoughts, she couldn’t leave anything out.

“I took him in for a month, until the beginning of the school year. In this month he read a number of my books and he learned some of the basics when it came to enchanting. After this, he went to the first grade of The Academy, he showed himself to be extraordinarily talented. He performed amazingly in almost all of his classes, especially enchanting.

“In this period of time, he also met those I believe he considers his friends. These are ‘Kayley Alius’ of the once-great Alius family, ‘Amelia Blackwood’ who is also mortalborn, and finally, ‘Rein Bellua’ of the declining Bellua family. I also believe this is where Villin met professor Crumb.”

Silver paused for a moment and looked at the headmaster. He seemed to be patiently listening to her, something that seemed like weird behavior considering what she knew about him.

“Then, Villin and his friends competed in the advanced tournament. Villin’s scores were the best The Academy has ever had. Yet, they declined the offer to head towards the second grade and soon, Decorus attacked The Academy’s first grade.

“The attack was horrifying, killing nearly seventy percent of the students that were here. Luckily, it seems that Villin and his friends managed to escape. They took professor Richard and managed to escape through the hall of horrors, making their way through the hyperloop within the treasury.”

“Do you know what they took?” the headmaster asked as casual as could be.

Silver shook her head, “No, we were told not to ask about these matters since it went against The Academy’s rules.

The headmaster nodded as he gestured for her to continue.

“For a time, they were lost within the mortal world. We don’t know much about what happened. All we know is that they became a lot closer and stronger. The fallen magus Gerry Allius later left them at the interschool tournament. We also know that they lied about what happened. They claimed Amelia had lost her eye in the fight with Decorus, but when looking at the wound, it became clear the eye was taken with medical precision. It is unlikely the loss of an eye came from a spell.

“Then, Villin and his friends managed to make their way back into the second grade. It was only then that the boy’s true skills were revealed.”

It was then that the headmaster put his hand up for a moment, stopping her from continuing. “Tell me first, girl, how do you know so much about the boy. I doubt he told you about all of this.”

Silver swallowed for a moment before responding, “It was an order from one of the teachers. Professor Edgard Messen told me to keep an eye on the boy’s actions even after he would enter The Academy. I did as he asked since I wasn’t a teacher yet and I am sure he had his reasons.”