~third person pov~
"if I find about..... what, dear Ace?"
Ace stops cursing and turns around slowly, almost as if hoping it isn't Crowley.
"Ah! Headmage Crowley...!" Ace chuckles nervously and glances at the broken chandelier.
"YOU. TWO. AGAIN. What have you done this time?!" Crowley yells blatantly ignoring [M]'s presence.
"Myaaahhh.... Everything's spinning..." Grim whines from [M]'s arms. the winged male pats Grims head but then stops when he remembered the situation he was in.
"Burning a statue wasn't enough for you? Now you've destroyed a chandelier?!" Crowley puts his hands on his hips and furrows his eyebrows(? like wtf he has a mask on but whatever)
"Enough. All of you are expelled." Crowley says finally. Ace and Deuce go through the five stages of grief in two seconds, while [M] just hangs his head in shame.
"Whaaaaaaat?!" Deuce and Ace shout at the same time.
"Headmage, please! Give me a second chance! I can't get expelled from this school! I need to be here!" Deuce exclaims his expression full of despair.
"Then blame yourself for your own foolish behaviour." Crowley crosses his arms and glares at the two Heartslabyul students.
"I'll pay for the damages! However much it costs!" Deuce says determined, [M] glances at him a small feeling of guilt erupting in his stomach.
"That chandelier is no mere light fixture. It is a magical chandelier. Its candles are powered by a magical energy source enchanted so that they will burn for eternity." Crowley says putting a hand on his chin.
[M]'s head tilts as if an interesting thing had been said. It had obviously. But like whatever.
"It was created for us by a legendary artificer. Possibly their finest creation."
dumbass why put it in a school full of teenage boys?
"It has been here since the school was established, and I imagined it would be here forevermore." you imagined wrong.
"Considering its historical value, I would estimate its worth to be no less than a billion thaumarks." how does money work in here I'm so confused.
"And you intend to repay that sum?" Crowleys gazes at Deuce awaiting his reaction.
"A.. A billion marks?!" Deuce said physically recoiling.
"B-but I'm sure with your magical talent, sir, you could snap your fingers and fix it right up!" Ace says sweating nervously. [M] scoffs and looks at Ace.
"Ace, everything has its limits and I'm 95% sure that magic has its limits as well." [M] says glancing at Crowley. The Crow man in question only now realised that [M] was here too.
"Mr [L/N] is correct. Magic has its limits. Furthermore, its magestone - the figurative heart of any magical artifact - is cracked. A magestone cannot be easily replaced." Crowley says glancing at the broken chandelier.
"I fear the candles of this majestic chandelier will never burn again."
[M] heart sinks, he hated ruined art, even if it was his fault he felt as if he needed to do something. Ace shakes his head in shame and Deuce straight up looks mortified.
"This is bad... " Ace mutters to himself looking beyond hope.
"What am I going to do?! What am I going to tell my mother...?" Deuce says running a hand through his hair.
[M]'s attention snaps to Deuce, his mother? [M] memories fly back to his mother and how he was absolutely terrified of her. Maybe Deuces mother was like his?
"Crowley..." Crowleys attention goes to [M] as he speaks. "There has to be a way to fix this right? We can just replace the stone, if that's possible?" Crowley raises and eyebrow.
"Yes... thats possible..." Ace and Deuce look up from their puddles of shame and look at the two birds (hehe I can do this now).
"The magestone that powered this chandelier was mined from Dwarfs Mine. lf you can acquire a magestone with the same
properties, it may be possible to repair it." The two Heartslabyul students faces light up and they glance at each other.
"Then I'll go find a magestone!" Deuce exclaims putting a hand on his chest. "With you permission, sir!" Deuce added quickly.
"I should caution you that I cannot promise there yet remain magestones to find. The mines were closed quite some time ago. It is quite likely that all of the magestones have already been mined." Crowley put a hand to his chin and thought for a while. Deuce's determination didn't falter and he looked at Crowley as if challenging him.
"I will do anything to avoid expulsion, sir!" Crowley eyed Deuce up and down then looked at the rest of them.
"Hmmm.... Very well, then. I will suspend your expulsion for a single night. But if you fail to return with a magestone by morning, then you are all expelled." Crowley put his hands on his waist and sighed.
"I understand, sir. Thank you very much for this opportunity!" Ace sighs and looks at the enthusiastic Deuce.
"Fine, then. Let's hurry down there, find a magestone, and get this whole thing done with." Ace puts a hand on the nape of his neck and sighs deeply through his nose.
"You should be able to reach the Dwarfs Mine instantly by using one of the gates in the Mirror chamber." Duece hand did a weird motion as if to salute but then stopped halfway through the motion.
"Yes sir!"
"Myah! Wh- ? Where am I?!" Grim stirs from his slumber and looks up at [M], the winged male looks down at Grim and scratches behind the felines ears.
"Grim... you're awake." [M] says glancing at the duo, who were starting to argue with each other again.
"you're going to wish you hadn't woken up soon."
•
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Mirror Chamber
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•
The duo, [M] and Grim stand infront the mirror that would send them to the Dwarfs Mine, the [H/C]nette looks around the Mirror Chamber finally getting a good look at it.
It gives off a dark academia vibe to him and honestly looks kind of like his library back home, with the big arches, dimly lit lanterns and the spidery windows.
"Dark Mirror! Take us to the Dwarfs' Mine!" [M]'s attention swivels to Duece as the navy-haired boy commands the Mirror.
The Mirror starts shining and the light covers the whole mirror, the surface or the actual mirror becomes like still water. Ace sighs and goes through the mirror first creating ripples in the surface.
Duece follows shortly after glancing at [M] briefly.
"Do we just go through...?" [M] mutters to himself an unsure look on his face, Grim just meows in response cuddling further into [M]'s arms.
The Avian takes a deep breath and steps through the mirror, lukewarm water surrounds [M] as he travels through the mirror. It's an odd feeling, [M] thinks as the water rushes past him and tickling his wings.
•
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Dwarfs' Mine - Silent Woods
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•
"
Finally you're here. I was about to leave you two lovebirds." Ace says, putting a hand on his hips.
[M] raises an eyebrow and tilts his head slightly glancing between the duo. Deuce's face flushes and he looks away, not making eye contact with [M]. Ace scoffs and walks towards the forest, barely a few metres away from the group.
the group looks around at the surrounding woods.
The light barely reaches them as the trees block out almost all sunlight, the thick trees giving off an almost empty vibe, although that's not possible because every so often the Avian heard animals scuttle about, the hoot of an owl, leaves twitching and dancing in the wind, birds communicating with each other... and the creek of the old cottage infront of him..
Perfect.
An old cottage that looks creepier than his own living space, his Chateau.
"So this is the Dwarfs' Mine.. Long ago, this Mine was flush with magestones." Deuce finally speaks up. The other two glance at him and go back to staring at the cottage.
"Urgh.. who knows what lurks in there now?" Grim says shifting his weight on [M] head. The duo look at [M] and Grim and frown.
"Why's he on your head?" Ace asks glaring at Grim. [M] just shrugs and stares at the cottage.
"Ugh whatever. Let's see what the people in the cottage have to say." And with that Ace walks towards the creepy cottage.
Deuce and [M] look at each other.
"It looks abandoned."
"Don't tell him that."
"ok"
The two plus the feline follow after Ace. They stand infront of the door and stare at the handle.
"Ya think it's locked?" Grim asks, from [M] head.
Deuce reaches for the handle and rattles it twice.
"It is... Now what?" Deuce says looking back at the others, Ace shrugs and leaves to look through the low window.
[M] picks Grim up from his head and hands him to Deuce to hold.
"..Hm..?" Deuce takes Grim and looks up at [M].
"Hold him while I try something." Deuce nods and tightens his arms around Grims squirming body.
[M] stands infront of the door and raises his leg. The Avain sends a swift kick to the door, the door flies off of its hinges and into the cottage.
"What happened, I heard a crash-!" Ace runs back around to the front and stops himself when he sees [M] standing at beside the fallen door.
"Doors open." [M] says blandly and points at the now open door, the trio's mouths hang open.
"hehe! I knew my henchman would come up with somethin'!" Grim wriggles out of Deuce's arms and stalks inside the creepy cottage, his head held high.
[M] shrugs and walks in the cottage, bending down slightly, after Grim.
"Why did I bother looking if the bird could have just done that?!" Ace huffs angrily and speed-walks inside, leaving the navy-haired boy outside on his own. Deuce snaps out of his thoughts and hurries inside.
•
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Dwarfs' Mine, Dwarf Cottage.
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•
"Bwah! I got a spider web on my face! Ptchoo! Ptchoo!" Grim coughs and struggles to get the web of his face, swatting his paws at his face.
The [H/C]nette sighs and walks over to Grim, crouching down he swatches the web off the feline's muzzle.
"Look how tiny these desks and chairs are. Did children live here? One, two... seven! it's like a clown car in here." Ace exclaims counting the chairs.
"Ace.." The Avain looks at Ace disappointed. Ace glances up at [M] and looks away. "It's DWARFS Mine.. Dwarfs probably lived here.." Grim snickered at Ace's perplexed expression.
"But.. maybe.. as early as the 13th century all the way to the 16th child slavery was a common accurance with poor families as the parents sold of their children to pay off their debt.." [M] shuffled and shook his wings gently. He didn't want another Ramshackle 0.2 dust incident to happen.
Ace and Deuce glanced at each other, unease pooling in their stomachs at what the Avain just proclaimed.
"okay... Well.. this isn't getting us anywhere. Of we're going to find a magestone, it'll be in the mines." Ace says putting his hand on his chin. "Let's head inside and take a look."
Ace sauntered out the cottage, with Deuce following closely behind.
"Come on, Grim. These people might be stupid but at least their heading in the right direction.." [M] said and pat his shoulder. Grim leaped up on the table and onto the Avians shoulder.
As they were leaving [M] spotted a small gas lamp hanging on a hook beside the small door. The Avain unlatched of the wall and flicked the switch to see if it still has gas. It does.
"ohh, my henchman is smart." Grim rubs his head against [M]'s cheek in appreciation.
•
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Dwarfs' Mine, Mine entrance.
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•
"You wanna go inside THERE? it's pitch black!" Grim said wobbling slightly on [M]'s shoulder.
"what, are you scared of the dark? pathetic." Ace chuckles and looks at the feline. Grim stutters over his words slightly.
"Myah?! I'm not scared of anything!" Grim exclaims. "I'm taking the lead. You all follow me!" Grim jumps off [M]'s shoulder and walks into the mine, his tail flicking slightly in fear.
•
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Dwarfs Mine, Interior.
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•
Inside the mine, gems litter the walls, glowing faintly, casting multi-coloured lights on the group.
[M] sighs gently and unbuckles the lamp from his belt, switching the gas on.
"Grim, fire please?" [M] crouches down to Grims level and holds the lamp infront of the feline to light. Grim shoots out a small fireball and the lamp lights up, sending a soft glow across the cavern.
"Huh. where'd you get that?" Ace asks, looking at the now lit lamp.
"Cottage." Ace nods and looks around.
"Huh? Hold up!" Duece says suddenly, Ace groans and looks over at the navy-haired boy.
"What now?" Deuce steps back and points down one of the winding tunnels.
"There's something there!" Two lights shoot out from the tunnel and stop infront of the group.
"Myah?!" Grim yowls, bolting towards [M]'s legs and hiding behind them.
The two lights form into a shape, a ghostly shape.
"Hee hee hee hee! Visitors! The first in ten years!"
"I wonder why?" [M] mutters, sarcasm lacing his tone.
"Do make yourself at home!" [M] frowns and his wings spread slightly making a sheild around Grim and himself.
"You can stay forever!"
"NO THANKS"
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Authors note~
Guess who's back!!
I'm sorry I was gone so long (°~°) I've been busy renovating my home.
but anyway enough about me~ I've been lacking motivation recently to do anything with social media and I've decided to take a small break, sorry. But once I get back I'll write a chapter.