ADAD Chapter 21: At the end of the assignment

 The years passed by in a flash. Gorgon was now a dotted landscape with trees and grass growing freely where there was once sand. With Mustafa's mana, it was easy to make the change. With the animals, he conjured, they had plenty of blood and livestock. The friends went to the teleporter, and waited for the array. Harvey was saying his goodbyes, even though he didn't want to. 

"You will write every day, won't you, sweetling?" Mustafa asked, cupping Harvey's face into his hands. 

"I will send you so many letters, that you will be sick of me," Harvey promised. Their faces neared one another, and the wizard kissed the Fey on the nose. Harvey giggled, and then heard the call of his friends. "I have to go." 

"One hundred and fifty years will be a long wait," the wizard said, with a sigh. "But you are worth it. In that time, I will make Gorgon worthy of you as its co-ruler. So, you better take on a ruling elective." 

"I will. Thank you. For believing in me, for caring," Harvey murmured, and they broke apart. He went to the teleportation site, just in time for the array. In the blink of an eye, they were before the white castle of Orestria. 

"Is your report ready?" A pixie asked, as she leveled Anastasios with a hard look. 

"It is. I take it that headmaster Piers is waiting for us?" The vampire prince asked, and the pixie nodded. 

"Don't make him wait," she said, and the group was off. Harvey walked with his shoulders slumped. Darius noticed that, and fell into step with his friend. 

"Hey, Harv, it is not like Mustafa is going to forget about you," Darius said, and Harvey sighed. 

"He won't forget, but it would have been nice, if he could have come back to Orestria with us," Harvey told him, and then looked at Anastasios. "Can't you arrange something?"

"Sorry, Harv. But Mustafa is Gorgon's ruler. He must stay in there, and rule," Anastasios said, and Harvey sighed again. 

"Hey, don't be like that," Prisila said, and looked at Harvey. "It is not like you won't write and go on the mirror. Gorgon and Orestria are in the same time zone. You will be able to talk to him as many times per day as you'd like, without caring if he is asleep." 

"I suppose," Harvey murmured, and they found themselves before the headmaster's office. Anastasios knocked, and he heard an "enter" from inside. 

The headmaster hadn't changed much, in the past twenty-eight years. He still wore his black robes with silver trims, although, Darius saw that he had more silver in his hair. 

"Ah, if it is not the wonder team. After you decided to work on your mastery together, many other students asked me for the same privilege. I have to say you had a positive impact on this academy," headmaster Piers said, and they all arranged themselves before the desk. Anastasios took the folder with the report about who did what, something they had been working towards during the years, and placed it on the desk. 

"Gorgon now has a mild climate, all thanks to runes and scavenging other realms for soil," Anastasios began to give his report. "We installed a ruler in my place, who has previous experience in ruling." 

"Yes, you did a good job. I have been keeping an eye on project Gorgon. I know all about your progress. You all get a pass in the mastery you applied for the project. Now, there are two ways in which you can move forward," the headmaster said, and they all looked confused at him. 

"Headmaster, shouldn't we be picking the next mastery now?" Prisila asked, and the headmaster chuckled. 

"You may pick a new one, that is true. Or you can get hands-on experience in a field of your choosing. For the next 150 years, I mean," the headmaster looked at them all, and sighed. "To think, you are all fifty years old. Young Harvey, you feel different." 

"My soulmate shared his immortality with me," Harvey said, a soft smile on his face. "He didn't want to lose me." 

"Can we pick any field?" Darius asked, and the elf nodded. "Even bounty hunting?"

"You may pick bounty hunting, but only in the Realms of the Forgotten Times," headmaster Piers told him. "You will find that there are plenty of bounties to keep you busy here." 

Darius looked at Anastasios, who nodded. 

"We would like to be bounty hunters for our practice," the vampire prince said. Darius's dreams were his, and Anastasios's dreams were Darius's. 

"I want to tackle the ruling mastery," Prisila said, and her brother and her destiny brother looked at her with raised eyebrows. "What? If I make a good enough job of it, I can stay and rule. Why should I hand over my work to someone else?"

"You may indeed, Miss Vicente. I take it you will be taking your soulmates along for the ride?" Headmaster Piers smiled knowingly. Prisila nodded. 

"Noah and Timothy are coming. Can I have a couple of days, to get someone from the rune house to come and lend a hand?" She asked, and Harvey looked at her with wide eyes. 

"You don't think I can help?" The Fey asked, hurt to his core. 

"You will take the ruling elective, and go to Gorgon to be with your soulmate!" Prisila stated, and then Harvey looked at the headmaster. 

"Can I? I mean, I already did an assignment in Gorgon," Harvey asked. 

"You may go, and rule for 150 years. Just like your friends here may go and be bounty hunters for 150 years," the headmaster told him, and a smile blossomed on Harvey's face. 

"Thank you," he bowed to the elf, who nodded. 

"Well, if this is all?" The elf asked, and they all nodded. There was nothing else they thought that could be discussed with their headmaster. "Then fill in these forms, and happy final years of studying. You will still have to go through your other classes, but you may take them from your locations." 

That was nothing new to them. They all had teleportation runes on hand, and knew to send off their assignments on time.