Grant awoke to the sound of absolute silence.

He had gotten used to the ever present movement outside his door on account of his servants working through the night on various duties, but the utter silence was deafening. Grant sat up on his bed and casually called for someone to come answer his questions about the silence, but after a minute no one came.

Through the window near his bed he could see the moon high in the sky, it was late into the night, likely just before midnight. Even this late in the night there should be someone running back and forth for one of a dozen reasons. That was the nature of a castle.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. The last 24 hours had been a whirlwind of interrupting commotion.

The first was the sudden leaving of two members in his class, the first being the merchant’s son Albert. The other being the maligned Andromeda. Albert’s reasoning was at least understandable. By his own words there was “trouble” in the south. Something his family had to urgently deal with and that included himself.

As it usually went, Andromeda shirked any possible concept of respect or decency and just did as she pleased. Without so much as a word she just up and left for parts unknown and for reasons unclear. What was more frustrating is that Evelin claimed that neither Albert nor Andromeda had officially dropped out. This sudden departure of 40% of their class was just something they were supposed to ignore.

That was not all, only a few hours after that some kind of commotion took place in Alice’s remote home. Apparently she was attacked, but managed to repel the unknown attacker. By her own words the attacker was a Medea who Alice claimed to be one of the killers of King Alderaus. No one had been able to verify this fact because a body could not be found.

Of course, the fact that yet another student was attacked, and a member of the nobility no less, in the space of a month the college was on full lockdown.

The entire country had barely had a moment to breathe before there was another uproar, scores of staff and former students either resigned in fear or evacuated the premises. The original staff and student base had numbered in the thousands, but it seemed that the halls were now barren of life save for the few two brave or too invested to leave their work behind.

Unsurprisingly, Alice was among those who left. Departing soon after the attack with her father who was already on the premises. He didn’t blame her for it, though he would not be so quick to leave as she was.

What was more surprising was Rigur. He claimed a similar case to the other mages and said that he didn’t think the college was a good fit for him going forward and left not long after Alice. A shame, of all his fellow students Grant had a small hope some connection might one day be made there, not a strong desire, but one nonetheless.

That meant that among the most recent class of Cylas, only one remained, and that was him. A concept that both pleased and disappointed him. The fact that this college and its robust history was shattered in only a single year and that its alumni had so little faith in it was depressing. Smelling blood in the water, the military that had had tentatively made their presence known for these past few weeks descended in full force to try and secure the college's secrets.

All this together meant the college had essentially ground to a halt in 24 hours. His teacher was among the many who left, and many of the supporting faculty like the librarian and resident archivist were gone as well so he couldn’t even self-study well. He didn’t even spend much time in the college for most of the day because of all this, instead electing to stay in his study and review documents.

The day led into the night, and he turned in early. Which led him to know.

Pure silence.

He stood and walked to his wardrobe, assembled a simple night outfit and left his room, or at least he tried. The door would not open, furthermore the doorknob would not budge at all. It wasn’t simply stuck, it felt like one solid object from door to knob.

Then the space behind him shifted. He turned around slowly, knowing already to not make sudden movements. That feeling of having space and time itself gnarled like a twisted tree branch was a sign of incredible technique.

“Lord Varloe I presume?” The stranger said. A woman’s voice. She was sitting in a previously unoccupied seat in the window and was bathed in moonlight. The light in the room made her hair seem to be silver.

“Yes?” Grant said. When he locked eyes on the intruder he saw a strange, yet somehow familiar sight. Her eyes were glowing.

“I hope I didn’t disturb your sleep.” The stranger said.

“Don’t pretend to care about that. What are you doing in my home?” Grant asked.

“Before I say my piece, we should be properly acquainted. I already know your name so it would only be fair for you to know mine.” The stranger said.

“By all means, it's not as if I have much choice in the matter.” Grant said.

“You have a fair point, I’m sorry about that. It’s just that the situation calls for me to be less than polite. Anyway, my name is Eliza Sapatise.”

“Well then Ms. Sapatise, will you answer my question?” Grant asked.

“With pleasure, I need you to tell me about a fellow student of yours. An associate of mine tried to speak with someone else about this student and that ended with them being crushed under several hundred tons of stone at the bottom of a bay in Farrin Fellborough.” Eliza asked. Grant connected the dots and realized that this aligned with what Alice claimed earlier. She said that the woman she fought was among those who killed the king.

“You can’t expect regicide to make many allies, what makes you believe I will be any more forthcoming?” Grant said.

“I’m afraid that it’s not that simple, we did not kill the king. I personally worked for the king alongside my partner. I cannot prove such claims to you now. But with your assistance I could prove it in time.” Eliza said.

“Be that as it may, you have no reason to believe I would help you on that promise alone. We both know how persuasive we can be.” Grant said.

“These are fair points, should I take this a refusal regardless?” Eliza asked. From her tone it sounded like she was being genuine but Grant didn’t have the luxury of believing it.

“I should be clear, I know little about the person you speak of beyond basic information.” Grant said. He was going to go along with it, not because he wanted to, but because the outcome couldn’t be worse than the alternative.

“Anything will be helpful, I assure you.” Eliza said.

“How much do you know of her? I don’t want to waste my time repeating information you may already have.” Grant said.

“So far, all we have is a general description.” Eliza said.

“Fine, then let me begin with the basics.” Grant said.

“By all means.” Eliza said.

“First, her name is Andromeda Noelle. On first glance you might suspect she is a novice mage, though I personally believe she knows more than she lets on. Despite my incredible disdain for her, it can’t be understated how proficient as a mage she is. She seems to master mystical arts and techniques in days instead of years and her supply of mana is unknown.” Grant said.

“She’s a mage? Really?” Eliza asked.

“Yes, and if she is to be believed she taught herself in a mere few weeks. I don’t believe that is the case, though her endorsement by the High Magister Ferdinand lends some credence to her ability regardless.”

“What can you tell me about her… in general?” Eliza asked.

“Like what?” Grant asked. He was confused about this person’s intentions. Going so far as to invade his home and subtly threaten him, but not being interested in strategic information like their target’s capabilities. It made no sense to him.

“I am curious about her general health, does she seem sick or in pain to your knowledge?” Eliza asked.

“Not to my knowledge, though I do not inquire into her health. Nothing about my interactions with her have led me to believe she is in any kind of pain.” Grant said. Eliza looked away in thought. Leaving Grant to try and figure out what her motivations were.

“Is there any other information about her that you believe is relevant to her. Anything is appreciated.” Eliza said. It finally dawned on Grant that whatever this person and her group are trying to accomplish, they are woefully out of their depth. Not even knowing basic things about their target meant that they were either working in an incredibly limited capacity or were incredibly incopetent. He felt less bad about sharing details, because as much as he hated Andromeda there was no way she would be tripped up by these fools.

“There are rumors that she is involved with the recently introduced Arch Mage White, and not long ago she was kidnapped by an unknown force. Apparently it was of enough concern that High Magister Ferdinand got involved.” Grant said. He experienced immense schadenfreude at seeing the Eliza’s face contort into a mess of panic and terror.

“T-Thats impossible…” Eliza muttered. This surprised Grant, it told him that she did have some knowledge of Andromeda. Perhaps he could dig a bit himself?

“Why do you say that?” Grant said.

“It has not been long enough for something like that to happen. I- Wait.” Eliza said, then she realized she was saying more than she should have.

“I should have expected less.” Eliza said. She reached down with one hand and took off what looked like a ring from her finger. She set it down on the table beside her and waited. Grant could feel the room shift, he felt a rise in the mana around him. He felt the air slowly become more tense. Heatless fire engulfed the room and bit at his skin.

The source of this sudden increase in mana was Eliza. He could visibly see her glowing eyes increase their intensity. Then as if to prove a point she reached over and put the ring back on. The mana in the room dropped instantly as both his and Eliza's bodies naturally absorbed the excess. In turn her eyes started to fade back to their previous brightness.

He had no earth clue what had just happened. Whatever it was, he couldn't risk her doing it again. Even a minute of that continued increase could lead to mana poisoning, and too long beyond that could be lethal.

“Look, I’m not sure what your intentions are by giving me the run around. I just want to find this girl- Andromeda… She might be my only chance to live peacefully again.” Eliza said.

It was clear to him that there was some manner of connection between Eliza and Andromeda. The glow in their eyes and the anomalous rings were one, but combined with Eliza’s implied knowledge of her history despite not knowing Andromeda’s name told him that it was not a simple one.

His instincts told him to press her for more details, but he knew that if he tried it would only anger Eliza. She was already suspected of Murder and definitely guilty of a break in so he couldn’t put it past her.

There was only one option that didn’t immediately endanger himself while still granting him the chance to learn more. He would work with them.

“Despite your less than perfect manners, I’ll take you up on your offer from earlier.” Grant said. Eliza breathed a sigh of relief and snapped her fingers.

In a flash of light they were both gone, and then the world began to move again.