The kids again set foot on Academy grounds early Sunday afternoon.
As everyone else was busy unloading all the things they had taken with to the forest, Alyhtia volunteered to head to the Headmaster's office and report the information they had acquired from the old lady in the woods.
Karlyle wanted to accompany her but Blake wouldn't stop whining about all the things he and Damien then had to carry without a third pair of arms to help them.
So reluctantly, with a quick kiss on her lips, Karlyle let her run off to the main building where Mr. Damiano's office was.
Alythia knocked on his door several times but there was no answer.
So she cautiously entered, closing the door behind her, but the Headmaster was not there.
She leisurely walked around the spacious room and thought to just wait for him to arrive but no sooner had she thought it than a red light appeared right before her eyes.
"Izana..." she whispered as she stared at the flickering light.
It darted about the room and landed on a peculiar looking book – neatly packed away on a bookshelf standing against the wall.
Alythia strolled towards the bookshelf and put her hand on the book.
She thought Izana might have wanted her to read it, yet she did not have the faintest idea why.
However, the moment she removed the book from its proper place the entire wall began to vibrate. Alythia's eyes grew wide as she saw the shelf slide to the right – revealing a hidden passage in the wall.
Now at this point most sensible people would run out the room and first acquire some back-up (perhaps something like a powerful Dragon boy or even a Water Serpent) but no not our little protagonist – she was as brave as she was foolish and thus did not even consider such a thing.
Furthermore, the moment the doorway opened, the red light flew inside and our pink-haired damsel rushed in after it without a second thought.
The stairs seemed to stretch on for miles but our girl eventually did reach the bottom.
It was quite dark as there were no lights inside the gigantic space she had just stepped into.
The red light, however, though bright enough to guide her step never did light up more than a few inches in front of her feet. She thus needed to stay very close to it if she wanted to see anything at all.
As they reached what seemed like the middle of the room the light swerved to the side and guided the girl to a wall. It then flew up and stopped midway – in between the floor and the ceiling.
The girl glanced up and saw an enormous painting of a lady hanging against the wall. There were also candles and flowers stacked on the floor all around it.
It was a beautiful picture of a fair middle-aged woman with pink hair and blue eyes.
'Those eyes... they look like....'
"Damien" Alythia muttered.
She stared at the painting for a while before the light darted to another part of the room.
When she followed it she came across a large desk overflowing with spell books.
She picked one up and quickly flipped through it.
"It can't be.... these are dark spell books...."
Suddenly the red light hovering above her grew larger and as a result the entire room lit up just enough for Alythia to see.
There were millions of books that looked similar to the one she was holding scattered all about the room.
Alythia again glanced at the woman's painting.
She thought over what the old lady had said 'something that goes against the natural order....'
She let out a gasp.
'NO! Mr. Damiano is trying to---'
But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a deep voice echoing from behind.
"CLAUDO!!!" the voice yelled and Alythia saw dark shadows spring up from the ground.
The shadows, which encircled her, started folding over – imprisoning her in a dome like cell.
But at the same time the red light also enveloped her in order to keep the shadows from touching her skin.
Alythia jerked her head back. "Headmaster.... what is all this?"
"Oh this? This is what happens when an idiotic girl becomes too curious for her own good" he said, his voice tinted with amusement. "Ah Miss Ashwrith, I'm sorry you had to get involved in all of this... your father and I were such good friends, but that moron had to go and kill himself right after burning all the research we had done".
He let out a sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose in between his fingers. "Do you have any idea how far back that set me??? It took me years to recover all the information he had destroyed... that idiot grew a conscience at the last moment – WHAT A FOOL!!"
At this point the blond man was clearly agitated as he paced up and down the semi-dark room.
He looked at her, his eyes filled with bereavement "Tell me child... have you ever lost a treasure? A treasure so precious that you would do anything to get it back, even something as crazy a defying nature..." his voice trailed off.
"Headmaster stop" Alythia pleaded "This isn't right... Karlyle's jewel is part of him, if you take it he'll die!!"
The man let out a soft chuckle "Little girl, I don't care if a thousand people have to die... as long as I get her back I'd kill a whole nation if I had to"
Alythia's eyes grew angry "Izana will take revenge if you dare hurt one of his own"
A murderous laugh escaped from Diego's mouth "Izana? Hahahaha who is that?? He's nothing more than some made up fairytale"
The blond man shook his head the way a sensible person would shake it at a fool.
"Listen here girl" he continued "I have not time to debate with you on myths and legends. Your Dragon friend is the thing I'm really after. Ah but fear not, I have no reason to harm you... that is if you stay out of my way"
The man heaved another sigh and a big smile spread across his face. "Your foolishness will actually end up benefitting me. I would've preferred a little more time to perfect all the preparations but it seems that destiny had other plans"
Diego clicked his fingers and suddenly an image of Alythia appeared – floating right beside him. It looked so lifelike that Alyhthia was momentarily stunned at the high level this man's magic illusory skills must be to create such a convincing copy.
However, the fake Alythia looked a little different. She was full of bruises and cuts – there were even bloodstains all over her clothing. If anyone saw it they would think that she had been severely beaten.
"We'll see how quickly Dragon boy transforms after he sees this" Diego sneered before turning on his heel and heading to the door.
"What if he doesn't transform!?" Alythia yelled after him, trying her best to stall the man in any possible way.
Diego glanced back at her over his shoulder "Then I'll just kill him. Familiars revert back to their beast form when they die. Although it's not ideal, a dead dragon's jewel is still better than no jewel at all" he hummed as he made his way up the stairs.