Alan and his friends wandered through the hall of the library building. They were moving through it slowly and quietly, as not to alert anyone of their presence. They carefully approach the corner of each hallway they explored and peek around the corner, making sure they didn’t accidentally bump into Cid or anyone else. They were fortunate that every hall was empty. But, there was one problem, they had lost track of Cid.

Sere: “Where did he go?” she whispered.

Alan: “He might be in the main library. Let's check that area next,” he whispered back.

They started heading towards the main area where the books are all stored, all while checking each room along the route. Every door they tried to open was locked. The automatic locking system of the university library also affected the door on the inside as well. They assumed that if it was locked, it meant that Cid wasn't in that room anyway. Based on what they had learned about the gum in the latch method, it didn’t seem like Cid could just open any door.

They continued along until they finally made it to the doors of the main library area. The doors had an extravagant design similar to the front door of the building. Beyond those doors were shelves of books and study rooms.

Alan slowly reached towards the door and pulled on the handle, trying to be as quiet as possible. Unlike all the other doors they tried to open on the way here, this door easily opened. He then quickly examined the latch of this door. Just like the other door they used to enter the building, there was gum forced into it, jamming the door bolt.

Alan: “It's that gum trick again.”

Jafar: “He must be in there somewhere then.”

Sere: “Must be.“

They then entered the main area of the library.

It was dark. The only source of light was from windows and some lights that were embedded into the floor, creating slightly illuminated pathways through the library to walk along. A design to help prevent people from tripping and seeing where they are walking.

The darkness that was around them had a strange feeling to it. It felt more ominous, like Alan and his friends were being watched.

They slowly walked along the rows of bookshelves, making sure to peek around every corner before walking forward. Looking down the aisles, Alan didn’t see anyone. It was too dark to see to the end of the other side.

Jafar tried looking down the rows of bookshelves with his binoculars, since they had a night vision function to them. The binoculars gave a green tint to everything he looked at through them. As they were moving along, Jafar saw something move.

Jafar: “Wait a second, I saw something,” he whispered to friends.

Alan: “What did you see?” he whispered back.

Jafar: “I think… I saw someone walk by.”

Sere: “Was it Cid?”

Jafar: “I don’t know, they were moving too fast and I couldn’t make out any details, but let's try heading down that aisle where I saw it,” he whispered, pointing to the direction he saw movement.

They started heading towards where Jafar suggested, doing so as quietly as possible. They eventually came to the end of the aisle. It opened out into the center of the library. It was a wide open space with rows of tables for students to sit and work at. Above there was a giant glass skylight with a giant decorative chandelier hanging from it, letting in the natural moonlight into the area. The light that shined through the ceiling made this section of the building a lot brighter and visible here then the rest of the library.

Carefully looking around, they saw what looked like a student in the black and gray robes of the Grayscale collage. It was a girl with dyed purple hair. Beside her was a blond-haired male student wearing the red uniform of the Lionheart collage. Both of them were standing in the center of the library under the moonlight.

Alan didn’t recognize the girl, but he did the other person.

Alan: “I think that’s… Craig?” he quietly mumbled.

Sere: “Do you know one of them?” she quietly whispered.

Alan: “Not personally. He’s a senior in the Lionheart college, but I don't know much more than that. Never talked to him, just seen him around.” he whispered in response.

Jafar: “He must be meeting Cid here. Otherwise, there is no way those two could have gotten inside.” he whispered back.

Alan: “Yeah, let's wait and see when Cid shows up.”

Alan and his friends were confident they couldn’t be seen from where they were. So, they decided to stay put and watch while crouching down from around the corner of the bookshelves they were hiding.

A few minutes went by and Sere was first to notice something off about these two people. They were just standing there, doing nothing. They didn’t say or do anything, just stared off into the distance with a blank stare in complete silence. Neither of them didn’t even make the smallest attempt of idle chatter in the time they were being watched. It was weird to watch for Sere, and made her feel a little uncomfortable.

Sere: “Why are they just standing there doing nothing?” she whispered.

Jafar: “Shhh, I think I hear footsteps.”

Sure enough, the sound of footsteps could be heard from someone. Looking towards the aisle from where the sound was coming from, they waited with bated breath at the approaching person. Stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight with the others, was not Cid, but a man in grayscale robes with black hair tied up in a short ponytail, and a light complexion with a sharp look in his eyes. It was a person that Alan and his friends were all too familiar with. Someone they had all talked to recently at one point.

It was Sorin Black. Professor of the Grayscale college and teacher of Arcane Law.

Alan and his friends were all shocked to see the Grayscale professor here.

Sorin briefly looked around, scanning for something, before approaching the two students with the blank stares.

Sorin: “Well, what do you have to report?” he said, directed at the two students.

Craig: “The subject was safely extracted. The doctors didn’t have the time to properly examine the subject, so no one should be none the wiser.

Purple hair girl: “And, the subject is on his way here.”

Sorin: “Good. Did you figure out who’s killing you?”

Craig: “Unfortunately, no.”

Sorin: “For fuck sake. You guys are so fucking useless. We need to find whoever is doing this, or I’m screwed.”

Hearing this conversation, a memory resurfaced in the back of Jafars mind. A key detail he overlooked at the time. It was when he was listening in on Sorin and Pitters conversation.

“They shouldn't be able to smell the formaldehyde either, so hopefully we’ll be in the clear and the Scefer’s won’t suspect anything.” The memory of what Sorin said to Pitter echoed in Jafar’s mind.

“How did he know that there was no smell? Formaldehyde has a very distinct and pungent scent. Pitter didn’t mention anything about the smell. That should have been the first time hearing about the formaldehyde in Edward too, and yet he assumed there was no smell. Like he knew…” Jafar quietly thought to himself.

Jafar's look of contemplation shifted to that of realization.

Jafar: “Guys, this is bad. I think I just figured out something major.”

Alan: “Shh, quiet, they're still talking.”

Sorin: “Anything else to report.”

Purple hair girl: “Yes. I hear someone whispering from over there,” she said while pointing towards the direction where Alan and his friends were hiding.

Sere: “Crap.”

Sorin: “Why the fuck standing here then! Go get whoever that is!”

Alan: “Time to go!”

Alan and the party quickly got up and started to run down the aisle they came from. They were all running at full speed now with Alan leading the way, not worried about being discovered at this point.

Jafar looked behind himself to see the Lionheart student, Craig, running after them. Craig raised one of his hands in the air. He mumbled something, and what looked like a floating ball of mud appeared just in front of him. The shape of the mud warped and hardened into a wicked looking spike, before being launched right towards Jafar.

It was too quick for Jafar to react. He could only watch as the spike came flying at him. It was only a few inches away from Jafar's face, before a mostly translucent barrier of energy immediately formed between him and the attack. The earth spike and the energy shield clashed and made a strange resonant sound, before the spike bounced off the shield and lodged itself into a nearby bookshelf.

Hearing the familiar sound of a ward being hit, Alan looked behind himself to see what happened. Seeing the attack that was just made against his friend, he slowed down and let the other two pass him. He then chanted something and turned backwards, before launching a massive gust of wind out of his hands at the pursuing Lionheart student. The other Lionheart student saw the wind magic coming at him, and braced himself, but couldn't resist the attack and was sent flying backwards into the darkness beyond where Alan could see.

He then turned back to his friends and picked up the pace to keep up with them.

Jafar: “HOLY LIGHT! They're actually trying to kill us. That attack would’ve killed me if I didn't have a ward,” he yelled while running.

Sere: “Less talking and more running. We’re almost— Oh fuck.” she said as she slowed down her pace.

They all stopped running. Blocking their path was the purple-haired Grayscale student, who somehow managed to get ahead of them and cut them off. She had a black stare as she gathered a bunch aether into a ball of water floating in front of her.

Trained as she was in combat magic, Sere could tell, based on the amount of aether that was being gathered, the Grayscale girl's next attack would be powerful enough to punch through the ward Alan had given them. Taking the initiative, she prepared her own countermeasure.

Sere: “GET BEHIND ME!” she yelled, while gathering her own aether for a spell.

As she yelled that out, The purple haired girl released her magic onto Sere and her friends. The ball of water expanded until it was as wide as the aisle they were standing in, and came flying at them. There was no way for any of them to be able to dodge the approaching attack. It was too quick to run backwards, and too wide for them to move to the side with the bookshelves in the way. It looked like they were finished, as the attack was probably too powerful for the wards

With Sere advance aether control, she was able to construct her own spell fast enough before the water attack hit them. Using a very advanced technique, she mixed the elemental forces of vitos and earth within herself. She then clapped her hands together and unleashed an extremely complex barrier spell right in front of her.

Bursting through the floorboards, a wide thick featureless wall made of pure steel rose up about 15 ft (4.5 meters). It completely filled up the width of the aisle in front of them and then some.

The water attack collided with the wall Sere had made. A loud boom echoed through the library. From Sere and her friends' perspective, the wall she made shook a little and some water harmlessly splashed over it, but it held and managed to block the attack.

After casting that barrier in such a way, Sere looked tired and sweat was forming on her brow. The magic she just used took a lot out of her.

Jafar: “Oh, light. Thanks for saving us, but we're trapped now. We can’t go backwards, Craig is still behind us.”

Alan: ““Wait, look there,” he said while pointing to the side.

From where he was pointing, the wall Sere made had knocked over a massive bookshelf. It now leans precariously against another shelf in the next row.

Alan: “I have an idea. Follow me.” he said as he ran over to the bookshelf he pointed to.

Alan immediately started climbing up the fallen bookshelf. Sere and Jafar hesitated a little bit, but ended up climbing as well, following behind Alan. As they were climbing, they could hear the sound of more spells colliding with Sere’s steel wall. They assumed it was likely the Grayscale student trying to break through.

Sere couldn’t help but smirk, feeling a bit proud about the barrier she constructed. She knew that the steel wall wasn't going to be broken through easily, not without some serious firepower.

Once Alan had climbed on top of the fallen bookshelf, he continued to climb onto the other shelf it was leaning against, until he was standing on top of it. Standing where he was, gave him a better view of the library.

He could see the center of the library from there and could make out a lone figure standing in the moonlight, who he assumed was Sorin. He could also see some flashes of light from this position coming from the other side of Sere’s wall facing the Grayscale student, who was attacking the barrier. Beyond those two things Alan couldn’t see much else, as it was too dark to make out anything meaningful.

Jafar: “Now what?” he said as climbed onto the bookshelf.

Alan: “Now we run to the entrance. Come on!”

Alan and his friends began running along the top of the shelves. It creaked with each step they took, as these shelves were not meant to be ran on, but thankfully it seemed to support their weight. As they ran along, the sound of spells clashing against Sere’s wall began to fade off in the distance. They were all feeling confident that they weren't being followed and that they wouldn't be blocked off again, like they had with the purple hair girl.

They eventually came to the end of the row of the book. Alan grabbed his friends and did the same thing he did with the building he stepped off earlier, jumping from the top of the giant bookshelves that were over 20 ft high(6 meters), then falling slowly with a spell meant to break falls from high places. Once safely on the ground, he put his friends down and they all continued to run.

They ran by several study rooms, eventually making it to the hallways. Continuing their pace, the main entrance library that they originally came through was in sight. They all thought once they got out of here, they would be safe. However, the entrance doors swung open to reveal a raging inferno.

 

 

Alan and crew stopped in their tracks, confused by what they saw.

It was almost as if looking into the gates of the fiery nameless abyss that the Church of Light warned about. In those raging flames was the silhouette of someone. There was too much fire to make out who it was. Without warning, the person ran through the door while still surrounded by flames, right towards Alan.

This person was impossibly fast. Alan was caught off guard and didn’t have time to react. The flaming person punched towards his chest. A slightly translucent shield appeared in front of Alan and made contact with this person fist. However, unlike the attack that was made against Jafar by Criag, this person's attack didn’t bounce off.

The shield provided by the ward cracked, then broke into thousands of pieces like glass before dissipating. The attack was too powerful and overwhelmed the ward, it didn’t even stop this person's momentum and the flaming punch continued towards Alan. The attacker made contact with Alan’s chest, the fire surrounding their fist burned through Alan’s clothing. The sound of flesh sizzling could briefly be heard from the impact.

Alan: “Aaagh,” he screamed out in pain.

Alan was then sent flying backwards from the force of the punch. He smashed against a wall with a loud thud along with the sound of wood splintering, leaving a massive indent where he landed. He was in intense pain and felt dizzy, and was having a hard time hearing things. He thought that maybe he hit his head and damaged his hearing, as the whole world seemed silent to him. His conscience began to fade as he saw his friends screaming and running towards him, all while the flaming person stood behind them.

As he stared at the person surrounded by fire, he got a strange feeling.

“Those…flames…look so...familiar.” Were his last thoughts as he lost consciousness.

Author Note: Be sure to check out the next chapter when it releases, for a big reveal!