Aria stared out of the laced window squeezed in between two bookshelves in her brother’s office.

The colourful window looked like thousands of tiny glasses glued together to make a pattern in which the sky was painted in vibrant colours.

The ticking clock read three o’clock in the afternoon. Many thoughts raced through her mind in the stillness that persisted.

That boy, the one with the grey eyes, kept lingering in her mind. Even now, as she looked out the window, she recalled the poor state he was in as her brother and the others returned to the Witches’ Lodge.

Grendel barely patched him up. Both she and Gwydion cast spells so that he’d heal faster. It was a miracle he made it out of the cave alive.

She shouldn’t have let Logan have his way back then. What if something bad had happened to the kid?

Not to mention that their endeavour to figure out what was going on yielded nothing. Trollemor succumbed to death before they could interrogate her.

She turned around; her long and wavy hair became one with the vibrant colours that reflected off the laced window.

Logan sighed audibly across the office and snapped her back to reality. He looked small and dejected from where he sat behind the desk and kept sighing over and over again. She exchanged a knowing gaze with Gwydion.

They had been in his room for the past two hours already, and her brother kept sinking further into the chair instead of addressing the elephant in the room. Someone had to break the silence and speak up. The druid beat her to it.

“The pupils are not safe here anymore, Logan.”

The headmaster raised his head slightly with a dismayed look etched on his face, refusing to respond.

Aria, “He’s right, brother. This has to stop!”

“I opposed my role as a deity to run this place, Aria! You know that better than anyone! I can’t destroy what I built with my own sweat and blood! You’re asking for the impossible!”

Gwydion, “I’ll help you figure out what’s going on, but Lárhus gotta go on a break first.”

“A break?”

“We’ll be the only ones who’ll know why – you, me, and Aria. No one breathes a word to the Council unless you want us to.”

“You want me to shut Lárhus down?”

“Temporarily.”

Aria, “Please, brother! Think about the kids! Think about Elise!”

She paused before continuing, deliberately slowing down to make her brother digest the gravity of her words.

“Something’s not right. The ogres in Sál have gone berserk and the trolls are not much different! No matter how I twist and turn this in my head, all these things seem to be related to the missing children. We must go to the bottom of this once and for all!”

“Then so be it,” Logan said, rising to his feet and heading for the green door. “It can’t wait, can it?”

As the headmaster disappeared out of sight, Gwydion met Aria’s eyes.

Even though she did not form any words or address him, he could still see that she was thankful. Before the awkward silence could persist, he nodded towards the door and spoke up.

“You better follow him, Aria. He might change his mind on the way down…”

Aria nodded and walked out without looking at him. She wasn’t embarrassed or anything like that, just… She just hated him. She hated everything the druid did for her. Just like that day a thousand years ago.

***

All the pupils were gathered at the dining hall when Logan announced that, due to some undisclosed events, Lárhus would temporarily close.

An apprentice in the front row let out a cheer as the headmaster carried on his desolate speech, happy to hear the sad news that almost made Logan bawl his heart out right then and there.

Everyone sniggered but not for long. Logan glared at the druid-to-be, who dropped his head with flushed cheeks. Before he dismissed the children for good, he cleared his throat and carried on as if nothing happened.

“Your parents have been notified and know the prevailing circumstances. All you need to do is to pack your things and leave as soon as possible. Each one of you will get a letter as soon as Lárhus starts running again. And, last but not least, I hope that you won’t miss—”

No sooner did Logan say ‘miss’ when all hell broke loose. A growing chatter emerged out of the blue as the apprentices fought to storm out of the dining hall and pack their things at the dormitories.

Elise was right, Hain thought as he observed the milling crowd going berserk. This was nothing like his first day at Lárhus. No, this… this could only be described as Hell on Earth.

The youngsters pushed and shoved one another without a second thought. Some tripped while others were pushed up against the dark-coloured walls so that the torches lining the walls fell one after the other like dominoes.

The dormitory teemed with pupils.

Hain stood in the corner, trying hard not to stand in anyone’s way. It felt like an eternity passed until silence returned to the dormitory.

But the chaos was not yet over. Two apprentices got into a quarrel at one point and a bloody fight broke out in the doorway.

He sneaked into his dorm before the fight grew any bloodier. The bed to the left was already made and as smooth as butter. His roommate already left it seemed.

Sighing, he sat on the bed until the chaos in the corridor let up. When he was sure no one would barge into his room and make a scene, he lifted the mattress and tucked the emerald necklace under his cloak.

A smile appeared on his lips as soon as he caught a glimpse of the greenish glow. But it did not last long as a thought hit him. Where was he supposed to go now?

He couldn’t return to Mazheven, not after Barken the Teeny threatened to take him off for good last time. At the same time, Aderbaal was the only place he could return to.

And what about his grandmother, Enis? Surely, she’d beat Barken to it and kill him herself the very moment she spotted him.

No, he couldn’t return to Aderbaal. Besides, once he returned, he might never be able to come back to Salwodor – not without the druid, that is.

Perhaps Gwydion would let him stay with him? He shook the thought away as soon as it crossed his mind. There was no way the aloof druid would let him stay here in Salwodor with him. They didn’t even know one another!

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As soon as he stepped out, the chaos began all over again like a recurring nightmare that kept replaying for the umpteenth time.

He barely made it out of the dormitory in one piece. When did the apprentices return? He thought they had all left already….

A flock of apprentices stormed out of the gates on either side of him. Had he not anticipated that would be the case and braced himself, he would’ve tripped and got trampled on just like the ones collapsed on the floorboards right now.

But he couldn’t bid farewell to Lárhus just yet and give up his dream of becoming a wise man.

All he knew in this miserable life since he was brought into existence was the Teachings of the Past and Present. He was born to become a druid, he just knew.

Moreover, where was Elise? He couldn’t just leave and risk never seeing her again.

Only the Heavens knew what awaited him beyond the borders of Salwodor. Although he hated to admit it, she had become a dear friend in such a short time.

But he couldn’t see her anywhere. No matter how many times he searched the hallways, she eluded his gaze.

Did she leave already? Then again, why wouldn’t she? They barely knew each other and she had more friends to bid farewell to than poor him.

Halfway across the rickety bridge, as the timbers swayed on the rippling moat filled with whispering fish, a sudden cry reached his ears from within the moat and sent chills down his spine.

He thought it was a hallucination at first and carried on, but then it happened again and drowned out the fish’s sorrowful tunes.

Unable to take another step forward, he looked around himself in vain. All the other apprentices were gone and he was the only one left.

Doubling over with pain, he covered his bleeding ears as the shrill shrieks grew louder and louder within the moat. They sounded like wailing children, thousands of them, screaming their heads off to reach him.

It then stopped. Why did it stop?

Relaxing, he stared into the clear moat and crouched down to see the source of the wicked screams.

His heart raced out of control and his breath became irregular and shallow. What was going on?

Unlike the hot weather, the moat was as chilly as the crisp snow back in Aderbaal.

Just as he thought it was all over, a pair of glowing, hollow eyes emerged from within the moat and coloured it crimson.

He backed away and almost tumbled into the moat behind him, but not before the decaying thing came alive and whispered something – something he heard before.

“You’re not him…”

Scared witless, he was about to make a break for it when something grabbed his ankle and pulled him into the moat with a blaring cry. Yet he was not soaked wet nor inside the moat and drowning when he flung his eyes open.

Huh? Heaving after air, he blinked repeatedly and looked around himself. He was on the wooden bridge, on his fours and staring into the bewitching moat filled with whispering fish.

“Hey, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…”

It was Elise and Jhaan. They hadn’t left Lárhus, after all. Perplexed to see them and a tad confused by the hallucination that felt too real, his eyes darted around the hushed vicinity before landing on the two friends.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine. I thought you already left.”

“No, we couldn’t,” Elise said. “Dad wanted to speak to me, you know, about the things going on. This is, after all, the first time Lárhus ever needed to go on a break.”

Jhaan, “Break? More like closed for good.”

“No, it’s not! Dad said—”

“Hey, I…” Hain didn’t know where to begin. It was time to bid farewell to those two. “I’m actually leaving for Mazheven. I… I might not make it back here again.”

“What do you mean?” Elise said.

“It’s a long story. All I can tell you is that once I leave Salwodor, I might never come back.”

“Then don’t go!”

Jhaan and Hain, “What?”

After making sure they were the only ones nearby, she gestured to them to come closer.

“I know a secret place you can stay at.”

Jhaan, “What nonsense are you talking about? There’s no such place at Lárhus!”

A knowing smile crept on Elise’s lips. “Come on, you two! Like, how many times am I going to say that I’m a special friend!”

Jhaan’s eyes briefly drifted to somewhere behind the school building. “Wait a sec! Don’t tell me you’re thinking what I am thinking!”

But Elise feigned ignorance.

“So? What do you say, Hain? Do you want to leave or stay?”

Jhaan kept making funny faces at him and shaking his head. But this question was easy to answer. Of course, he wanted to stay here, but at what cost? Why was the elf so adamant about making him say no?

“I- I’m not sure. What if I get caught?”

“You won’t! I’ll make sure no one finds out – as will Jhaan! Trust me!”

Jhaan shot his eyes open and shook his head like he could not believe his own ears. “You’re really…!”

Elise threw daggers at the elf before nudging him on the side so hard that he doubled over and groaned.

“Listen, there’s a hidden library beneath Lárhus. Only a few people know about it, so you’ll be safe there.”

Hain glanced at the gnomes standing guard in front of the gates. “Won’t they ask why we haven’t left yet?”

Elise beamed wide. “You keep forgetting that I’m a special friend, you know! Watch and learn. Both of you.”

She pushed her hair back and raised her chin high in the air as she made her way back to Lárhus.

Both he and Jhaan were left gaping wide as Elise said something to the gnomes and they went back inside Lárhus and disappeared from view.

“She’s…”

Jhaan finished the sentence. “… craaaaazy.”

They both exchanged gazes at that moment and burst out laughing. But there was no time to waste. Jhaan grabbed his arm and they sprinted to the back of Lárhus.

Elise joined them a few minutes later through the backdoor. She wore a huge grin on her lips, one that showed how proud she was of herself.

“What now?” Hain said. “Do you know where to find the library?”

Before he knew it, she sprinted across the blades of grass. Both he and Jhaan ran after her but failed to catch up to her. Was her feet made of feathers, he thought, how could she be this fast?

She came to a sudden standstill a few inches from the moat and pointed at something neither he nor the elf could see from where they stood.

“Guys! Hurry! I’ve found it!”

All he could see as he drew closer was a lump of rock in the middle of the evergreen grass. It looked rather out of place. What was it even doing here?

Weaving a spell, Elise used her deity powers to lift the huge rock off the ground. Hain grimaced and backed away.

A foul smell hit his nostrils and made him retch in place. Mustering up the courage to take a closer look at the source of the pungent smell, he inched closer with wary steps.

It was a well – a stone well. But why were they here, in front of this foul-smelling well? This didn’t look like a library. Not at all!

He was about to ask Elise why she brought them here when she squatted and looked into the hollow well with wide-open eyes.

The well was narrow and deep. They couldn’t see the bottom. But the smell was the worst part. It was a mixture of urine and fermented fish or perhaps the smell of the sea when it became one big sewer.

Even the rock that covered the well was teeming with green algae and blended so well with the blades of grass surrounding them, that it was hard to discern from a distance.

“It is really here!” Elise exclaimed as if even she did not expect to find the well. “I can’t believe it!”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is the entrance to the library I told you about! It’s really here!”

Hain’s face turned into one big question mark.

“Hold on! What do you mean? Entrance?”

“Hmm!”

“Don’t tell me we’re going in there?” he said, adding as Elise broke into a huge grin. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“The thing is, you’re going down there – not us.”

“Huh?”

Hain backed away. What was she droning on about? He? Going down there? That well wasn’t even big enough! There was no way he could cram into that well and reach the bottom without getting stuck!

And even if he somehow made it down there against all odds, there was no guarantee that he’d be able to hold his breath long enough!

Elise rolled her eyes as if she could read his mind.

“It’s not as deep as you think! Once you reach the bottom, you’ll find a trapdoor and—”

“How do you even know all this?”

“That’s because I’m a special—”

“All right! Stop it, already! I get it! You’re a special friend…” He couldn’t keep in the building tension. “But that wasn’t what I meant, okay?”

Elise pouted, visibly upset that he’d break her off like that and raise his voice at her.

“I read it somewhere, all right?” She paused. “It’s not deep. Trust me. The water level used to be higher and all that back in the day. Now, there’s barely any left!”

“Stil…” He looked at the elf to get some help, but Jhaan just averted his gaze and kept his silence.

“Do you prefer to return to Mazheven, then?”

“Of course not!”

“Then this is the only way to the library – at least, the only discreet way far away from prying eyes.”

“All right. I… I’ll do it. Just give me a couple of minutes, okay?”

“Do you want us to stay here? Just in case?”

Hain bit his lips and stared into the darkness below, which spanned far into the unknown from where he stood. He couldn’t even see the water at the bottom of it. Elise was right. The water level wasn’t high enough to drown him it seemed.

“No, there’s no need to. I- I got this.” He glanced at the deity and the elf in order. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll… I’ll be fine.”

Elise, “You sure? Maybe—”

“He said he got it, Elise. Let’s return home before your dad sends his gnomes to find us.”

The deity briefly peeked at the darkening sky. “So be it, then. Be careful down there, okay? I’ll find a way to send you some snacks and—”

“Leave already,” Hain interjected, “before I change my mind.”

Drawing a deep breath, he took the leap of faith and crawled into the narrow and tight well. As everything plunged into darkness, he watched the two friends have a chat before leaving for good.

Jhaan’s expression turned sour in a heartbeat. It looked like she told him something he didn’t like one bit and was now cursing her out within himself.