It was almost a surreal experience, what had happened that night when they infiltrated into the dorm grounds. It was dark and gloomy, every lives were sapped away by an unseen forces.

Believe what you see. Whatever those shady people did, it managed to fool everyone - including those who had seen the actual carnage behind the scenes. The people, both students and common civilians flooded the place, waves of guests from all around entered through the large gate acting as the main portal way.

She remembered the rows of marble pillars she settled on her own under the watchful gaze of the dorm students before. She remembered the rather tacky decorations from that night. However what she sees now was an entirely different view.

Soft colourful petals flutter about in the air, gem-like decors sparkling under the clear sky. Stalls filled with cheerful-looking vendors from both students and outsiders. Arrays of things on displays that unfortunately went ignored by the one particular girl who had just arrived at the place. A complete opposite of the one creature on her shoulder and the twins who looked around with bewilderment.

“Wow. In less than a week?” Zielle said to Aediva who looked around without a trace of smile on her face. In fact, she had not been smiling in earnest ever since the day they made the mana potion. Well, her mood had been bad after Cypher happened at the lab. Only speaks when she interacts first, otherwise she would be silent. The whole week at the dorm, she had been brooding on her own.

Neither Zielle nor Zayen is capable of telepathic link since it’s a talent they both lack. Zielle stepped right beside Aediva, gaining a bit of her attention when the brooding young lady glanced at the half-fae.

“It’s no good if you keep frowning like that. I know we're in enemy’s territory but if we want to get both Eden and Arthur out of here, you have to start looking like you don’t know anything about this place first” Zielle said to Aediva whose eyelids fell languid as she sighed without as much verbal reply.

“Very well. I guess we're splitting up from here?” Aediva asked when Cath suddenly tapped on her cheek.

“Oi, Aediva! Let’s go and take a look at the food stalls! I’m hungry!” the feline monster chirped rather cheerfully - only to be responded with Aediva’s annoyed sigh while Zielle giggled at Cath’s antics. Honestly, she would not be surprised at all if Cath just doesn't know what situation they are in.

“Dammit Cath, all you can think of is food, sleep and nothing else” Aediva said, shaking her head at the energetic fluff who jumped off her shoulder and went running on all fours towards where the people seemed to gather.

“There’s no need to rush everything. Although… I do find it weird that the mana disparity returned to normal” Zielle said, noticing Zayen’s scowling face as he tailed after them.

“Zayen? Everything alright?” the older twin asked.

“I should be with Young Master…” Zayen grumbled and instantly Zielle looked away from her brother and towards Aediva who looked a bit bored now.

“He’s doing fine,” Zielle said.

“I don’t give a crap” Aediva replied.

The crowds were awfully loud and sounding a bit too festive like it was a truly normal event. Seeing how Aediva had enough with babysitting Cath, Zielle was the one to look after Cath who was trying to get every food he could find at the rows of stalls in his mouth - of course, at the expense of the group. Zayen himself turned irksome and cannot hold in his voice anymore by berating Cath that ended up with a rather noisy argument between the young man and the black-furred monster.

Zielle let out an annoyed sigh and at the end of the farce, both Zayen and Cath got smacked on the head - rendering them silent as they walked in the crowds towards the castle. Past the many marble pillars that Aediva honestly don’t remember putting up for the students of that dorm and the beautiful chic stalls. The soft pastels and red colours of the fresh flowers around them didn’t really make her feel soothed like the flowers in Blackhorns’ garden.

She gulped the dry lump in her throat and stopped in her tracks when seeing those around her. Children running around with balloons and sweets in their little hands, mothers soothing their babes in their arms, men and women both old and young mingling with each other at the spacious square. The students of other dorms looking around, some probably have the same intentions as her and the twins, some stuck in their own world with little to no care for their surroundings. She noticed a few of the young ones cowering for some reason as their eyes looked around like they are in a horror maze but Aediva brushed it off as common children nervousness around strangers.

The distant ringing of the clock tower’s bells from the main school castle made her look to the direction of the sound.

“Hey, look! The parade is starting!” the crowd turned riled when they heard the tooting of the trumpets and the thrumming of the drums from afar at the main street leading straight from the castle to the main portal gate.

The petals rained down much more in quantity as the music of the parade turned louder - drawing most of the attention of everyone that was present. Aediva looked at the many lives around her with a conflicted look.

Again, she stopped in her tracks when seeing a bunch of people in odd outfits - at first glance, they looked like the adventurers in the storybooks or mercenaries.

“What are you looking at?” Zielle asked, turning her head to the same direction Aediva’s looking at.

“Oh? Now that’s a rare sight. They’re adventurers” the green-haired girl said in realization.

“Adventurers? Like the ones in the story books?” Aediva asked as Zielle looked at her with a smile and a nod.

“Yep, like the ones in the books. We might live in a modern technology-driven era now but adventurers are a legitimate profession that anyone can do. Given they have the qualifications of course” Zielle explained.

“If it’s a profession then it must mean that people still need them…” Aediva murmured idly.

“Even with the developing technologies, there are still things that our handy gadgets can’t settle for us. Adventurers explore ruins and help tremendously with the monster populations everywhere else but the large cities, that are still mostly unprotected by magic barriers. It must be fun. I always wanted to feel the thrill of exploring unknown ruins and uncharted territories. Don’t you think it’s fun, Aediva? Imagine if we go out as adventurers and found some new floating islands somewhere. Or across the large seas, fighting mean dragonids” Zielle chirped cheerfully and for the first time that week, an honest smile appeared on Aediva’s face as she chuckled.

“I never took you as the kind to think of adventures… You surprised me” Aediva said as Zielle let out a mirth laugh.

“There we go. No more Ms. Brooding. Here, why don’t you eat this candy I bought earlier?” Zielle said, opening the wrapper of the small round candy before popping it into Aediva’s defenseless mouth. Immediately Aediva’s face contorted like it was being wrung like a rag and Zielle let out a boisterous laugh.

“Puih! Puih! Zielle, what the hell?!” Aediva exclaimed as her body shivered from up to down from the taste of the candy she spit out to the ground. She wiggled her body as she looked at Zielle with betrayed look for what her one female friend did to her.

“Hehe~ Really sour was it? It’s a random-flavoured candy. 90% of the time, it’s sour! Perfect sweets to prank people~” Zielle chirped as Aediva shook her head.

“Don’t you dare do that to me again or someone’s gonna get flung so high--”

“No promises~” Zielle interjected Aediva who immediately tickled her, making Zielle laugh.

“Stop! Stop! I’m sorry! Hahahaha!”

Aediva stops and steps away with leftover laughter - feeling a little light-hearted now that Zielle somehow managed to cheer her up a bit. Aediva sighed and turned around. It was at timing too when she bumped into someone and unfortunately, with her role that is akin to a pillar due to her insane strength, the one who she was bumped onto fell to the ground with a grunt.

“I’m sorry!” Aediva apologized, reaching her hand and immediately those silver-eyes widened at the sight of the familiar purple-haired lady. Her orange eyes glaring straight at her the moment she realized who she had stumbled upon.

“Ms. Meyusine…” Zielle gasped, frowning when Rachel slapped away at Aediva’s hand and stood up herself. The female lecturer’s nose scrunched up like she was smelling shit right in front of her.

“You. And Ms. Mythey. Zielle, am I right?” Rachel said with her usual haughty voice. Zielle nodded meekly while the one who had collided with the female lecturer was blatantly ignored.

“It’s been quite some time since we last saw you, miss! Have you been well? The event is an absolute blast!” Zielle commented with cheerfulness and energy, pretending to not notice how Rachel turned away from Aediva. Hearing the comment from the student, Rachel smirked.

“Of course. It’s prepared by the students of my dorm! If it’s less than this then I’d willingly drown myself in shame” Rachel proudly announced as Zielle clapped with a wide smile on her face.

“As expected from our Magical Alchemy lecturer!” Zielle said as Rachel huffed in delight.

“As much as I’d like to stay and chat with you, Zielle of Kazbelius, I have to go” the female lecturer said with a cheerful smile of a femme fatale.

“Aww, that’s a shame. You’re always a delight to be around with. Where are you headed to, Ms. Meyusine? Maybe you’d need a pair of hands to help you if it’s an errand” Zielle offered but Rachel shook her head.

“It’s absolutely generous of you but it’s a personal affair I had to settle quickly. Well then, ciao” with that sentence, the older female left - seemingly calm but it was clear she was rushing somewhere. Zielle’s eyes turned serious the moment the woman’s visage disappeared from her sight.

“Do you want me to follow her?” Zielle asked, directed to Aediva but after a few seconds, there was still no answer. Zielle turned her head to look at Aediva who looked blankly at the ground, frozen.

“Aediva?” Zielle called, holding Aediva’s shoulder - successfully snapping Aediva back to her senses. Those wide argent orbs look at Zielle’s mint-coloured ones. It was a look that Zielle cannot describe and now that she thinks of it, it’s the same look that Aediva had that time in the basement level before they were chased by the group led by Rachel.

“... We…” Aediva spoke, her voice shaky. Her eyes finally blinking.

“We have to go to the dorms now,” Aediva said.

“Aediva?”

“It’ll be too late if we wait for the parade to finish its round. Get Zayen and Cath. We’re going to have to get Eden and Arthur--- No, everyone out of here!” Aediva said, almost running away herself when Zielle grounded her with a firm grip around the wrist. Her eyes looking at Aediva serious.

“Aediva! Do not panic!” her voice firmly told the girl who looked paler than the whitest paper of her notebook.

“We’ll go. But you’ll have to tell me what you saw earlier. It was another vision isn’t it?” Zielle asked. Aediva gulped, nodding weakly.

“... It’s a Golem” that mere statement made Zielle’s eyes go wide.

“They’re planning to unleash the Golem and it’s almost ready” Aediva said and Zielle inhaled deeply before letting go of Aediva’s wrist.

“Let’s go” she said and the moment they started running, some of the crowds started shouting at them as they ran - the speed of the wind past many people.

“WAIT! YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO ENTER THE DORMS YET!”

“OPEN DAY OFFICIALLY STARTS AFTER LUNCH!”

Aediva and Zielle each growled and turned livid when they were stopped by a bunch of students.

“We got a phone call from a friend” Zielle tried to bluff.

“No students are allowed in the dorms at this time. Everyone’s either in the parade or other duties outside of the dorms.” That bluff easily got swatted away by the one student in the group blocking the door.

“Please turn back. No students or other visitors allowed in yet” another student said, pushing both Zielle and Aediva away roughly. The two girls looked at each other, turning a bit dumbfounded. As they thought, until the parades are over, they wouldn’t be able to go inside easily without anyone noticing. Zielle whipped out her phone and called Zayen who promptly answered - as expected by his sister.

“Zayen, do you see any sort of entryway into the dorm?” Zielle asked, whispering.

“Tch. These lowly humans could sense me even with the invisible potions?! Oi, human! I thought you could guarantee no one would notice me if I use this potion?!”

Aediva growled at the sheer stupidity of that statement. Wait, isn’t Zayen practically screaming right now? The idiot.

“He need to learn to keep his damn voice down. But let me guess, he’s being chased?” Aediva’s sarcasm quip made Zielle let out a defeated sigh, especially when Aediva’s question was answered when Zayen started screaming in the call moments before it was cut off.

“Clearly we aren’t getting in silently” Aediva said, her eyebrows furrowing when she noticed a familiar pair walking towards them. For a moment, her eyes went wide and thought of their way in until…

“Senior Fay? Senior Hanzel?” Zielle called out to the two doe-eyed senior students who smiled at them. Something’s off.

“Ah, the two of you… We need to talk” Fay said, her voice monotonous.

“You wanna go inside early right?” Hanzel asked. Zielle and Aediva glanced at each other. Zielle herself was unsure of whether to answer that question. It was then when Aediva answered for them both and with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Yeah. Arthur and Eden, remember?” Aediva said. For a second, Zielle almost panicked until she looked at Aediva glancing at her briefly.

“Of course. You need to help them right? I placed them somewhere those people can’t reach them easily…” Fay said.

“I know you did…” Aediva replied, watching with a lenient-looking gaze as both senior students turned to the group of students and after a while, beckoned at the girls to follow them with smiles on their faces.

“Aediva…” Zielle called.

“Our battle has already begun. It’s not too late to turn back now” Aediva said with a straight face. Zielle shook her head.

“Friendship is supposed to be forged in fire, right?” the Kazbelius first-year said, responding with a stare from Aediva before she carved a smirk on her lips.

“It better be fire that burns our enemies instead of us.”

Eyes looking at the senior pair waiting for them at the entrance, Zielle and Aediva walked forth into the enemy’s den.