Lapsa ran to the window nearest to Topaz's room. He opened it, and poked his head out, all the guards outside went to the explosion in the courtyard.

Lapsa took a deep breath and began climbing onto the window ledge, he grabbed onto the bottom of the window itself to keep himself steady.

He then gathered the wind elements to his feet, Lapsa made a few little hops before doing an actual jump powered by the wind elements.

This jump brought him to the roof of the manor. When he landed, he looked back and properly saw what was happening. He saw a cloaked figure being chased by countless guards.

"Oh Cronix, I hope you survive this." Lapsa stopped wasting time, he went to the spot just above Topaz's room window, and gathered more wind elements, before jumping off the roof.

With the wind elements slowing down his fall, Lapsa landed on the ledge of the window. He grabbed one of the pieces of the broken shirt Cronix gave him.

On it was a formation with eleven lines on each side, but after weighing his options, he quickly put it away,

It'll be a waste to use it here, I only have seven pieces, besides it'll bring too much attention.

Lapsa frowned, but he had an idea, he again gathered the wind elements at his feet and jumped back, using the winds he then propelled himself forward against the window.

He slammed against the window, but that didn't do much, however Lapsa didn't stop. He jumped back again, and this time using more wind elements slammed against the window again.

A small crack appeared, but that wasn't enough. Lapsa jumped back up onto the roof using the wind elements, after landing, he stepped back four meters and ran full speed off the roof towards the direction of where Topaz's window was.

Using all the elements he could gather, Lapsa concentrated them all into one ball at his feet, before exploding that ball to propelled himself against the window. This time the impact was too much for the window to take, so it shattered into countless pieces, and Lapsa tumbled inside.

He quickly stood up, brushing off any glass sticking to his body.

Okay, now I just need to find the bag...

Lapsa scanned the room, there was nothing in sight so far, but he did spot a silver collar.

Well, the bird isn't here, but I could give him the collar...

He grabbed the collar, before looking around the room for a bit, and checking the drawers. After checking a few drawers, he found a small bag.

Lapsa checked inside, there he found the book on formations and some other items. Lapsa grabbed the bag and grinned.

Just as he was about to leave, the door handle shook, before bursting open, he was then suddenly face to face with Onyx.

...

Cronix ran for his life, there were more than fifteen guards after him, and they were all quickly shortening the distance between him and them.

Cronix gathered the water elements and formed a wall with them, before freezing it. Thanks to the event in the mental expanse the previous night, it was a lot easier to freeze the water elements.

Of course this only bought him a few seconds of time, before they were immediately broken, Cronix sighed, and grabbed his last remaining formation imprinted on his old broken shirt.

He threw it back and began running even faster, the explosion stalled only a few guards for another few seconds, but nothing Cronix did had a huge impact.

But the biggest problem of all the guards were the ones talented in the wind element, who always easily caught up.

Cronix looked back for a moment to check on the guards in front of him, he exhaled when he saw them a few meters behind him, but when he shifted his attention back to in front of him, his pupils shrank.

In front of him was a flawless one star Caster of the wind element, the guard smirked, before they gathered the wind elements and shot it towards Cronix.

But before the wind even came close to Cronix, a rock wall sprang up from the ground shielding Cronix from every bit of the blast.

The guard frowned, they heard the sound of running, but they didn't have any time to even turn their head, before a knee slammed into their jaw.

The guard was knocked back, and was sent tumbling away. Cronix ran up to Cayden, who looked at his handy-work with pride.

Cronix didn't waste any time, he grabbed Cayden by the arm and continued running, "Do you know how much longer this will take?"

Cayden shook his head as he ran next to Cronix, lifting up walls of rocks behind them every moment he could.

But even with Cayden now here, their luck ran out as a huge bolt of lightning broke through all his rock walls and stuck them. While Cronix was okay thanks to his cloak, Cayden wasn't, he instantly stopped in his tracks, and collapsed.

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Cronix slowed down when he saw Cayden collapse, he debated whether to continue running or not. Cayden falling did have the potential to buy him the time he needed.

Oh, what's the point in running, if they capture Cayden, I might as well be dead!

Cronix ran back, but by the time he got there, he was already surrounded on all sides.

In the room with Lapsa and Onyx, they both only silently stared at each other stunned. Onyx's eyes were slowly drawn to Lapsa's hands, where the silver collar was located.

Lapsa panicked, he slowly backed away towards the window where he entered, but Onyx said one word that brought complete fear to Lapsa, "Stop!"

Lapsa had no choice but to obey, as a formation at the back of his neck activated. Onyx actually looked surprised, "So you're one of ours, father left at the wrong time."

Onyx sized Lapsa up, he still couldn't see any of his real features since the dark element was still covering them up.

"Say, why are you here, and who are you? Oh, and give me the silver collar." Lapsa had to follow Onyx's command, and he tossed him the silver collar.

"I'm here for a book and I'm..."

Onyx cut Lapsa off, "What book?"

Lapsa was about to answer when another explosion appeared near the courtyard, Onyx shoved Lapsa aside, he wasn't worried about him at all since he was only a three star Caster.

Unfortunately for Onyx that was a mistake, Lapsa took out seven pieces of clothing, obviously torn up from a shirt, and threw them at Onyx.

Onyx felt them hit him, and frowned. He turned around only to see Lapsa gather magical energy and shoot it at him.

Onyx didn't move nor do anything, there wasn't really anything a three star Caster can do that could hurt a flawless five star Caster.

But Onyx miscalculated, the magical energy wasn't aimed at him, but the clothes on the floor, and the formations on both sides of each piece of clothing exploded.

Onyx was shot outside the window, the explosion also hit Lapsa, and knocked him out the room through the door frame. When he landed, he saw a presence looming over him, but he didn't have the energy to care.

Riley looked at the body in front of him, he was stunned at its sudden appearance. The dark element covering Lapsa's face was slowly disappearing, leaving Riley a full view of Lapsa's face.

Riley's face darkened, with Lapsa's face revealed he was easily able to put two and two together,

Damn it Cayden!

But Riley knew he couldn't linger here any longer, he grabbed Lapsa and left the third floor.

...

Cronix held Cayden, as they hid in the fields, there was a dark element blanket that was keeping them hidden, but neither of the two knew how long this would last.

Cronix sighed, "You really had to blow up one of your stars?"

Cayden weakly laughed and said, "Did you have any better ideas? Besides, I would've destroyed that star eventually, I can't keep a flawless star here."

Cronix was about to say something, when Cayden put a finger to his lips.

Cronix was confused at first, until he heard a sudden noise above the sound of crickets and whispering.

Cronix's eyes widened, light couldn't enter the dark element blanket, so he slowly got on his knees and raised his head out of the blanket. He saw a group of guards creeping through the fields in front of them.

Cronix lowered his head back into the blanket, before Cronix could tell Cayden his findings, Cayden grabbed his hand.

Using Cronix's hand he pulled up five fingers, and pointed at the guards Cronix saw and in another direction near them.

Cronix frowned, and whispered, "What?"

Thankfully the crickets were covering his voice.

"There are five guards in front of us and behind us." Cayden whispered back.

Cronix looked behind them, "How do you know?"

"I can hear and smell them." Cayden's voice was getting quieter and quieter as the guards got closer, "Oh, Lapsa what did you do?"

Cronix's face suddenly turned ugly because one of the guards was walking straight towards the blanket. Cronix helped Cayden shift more to the left, before he shifted more to the right himself.

The guard passed right by them, but not before stopping right in the middle between them, the two boys froze, the guard looked around, "Feels weird." They muttered before moving on.

But even after they left neither moved even the slightest bit, even if the dark element was shielding them.

"We need to get back to the room." Cronix whispered very quietly for no lingering guards could hear, but he was confident in Cayden hearing him.

Cronix slowly stood up, the dark element still covering every part of his body, Cayden struggled to stand up besides him, but he managed.

Cronix stood beside him, and used his arm to help him walk. The two moved at a slow pace, but that was fine, a fast moving dark object would be more revealing than no dark elements at all.

"Stop moving and crouch." Cayden mumbled, and Cronix immediately followed his directions. A few seconds later another group of guards appeared.

"I thought I saw something here." One of the guards told the rest.

"Seriously! You wasted our time, if they got past us because we left our post, you're dead." Another one of the guards yelled.

The guard flinched, but they could only say, "Yes, sir."

Cayden and Cronix waited for ten minutes after they left, before they had the confidence to stand back up and continue walking.

Once the two made it to the end of the field, Cronix stopped, "We might be screwed."

Cayden frowned, "Why"

"You see that over there?" Cronix pointed to one of the slave residences, "The guards are checking if anybody's missing."

"Oh sh... Wait, we'll be fine, there's someone who's going to help us." Cayden's frown was replaced with a smile, "Now let's go before we miss this chance."

Cronix was confused, but he listened to Cayden and stood up.

"Oh, you should uncast the dark elements." Cayden said.

Cronix frowned, and asked, "Why?"

Cayden didn't give any answer, "Just do it."

Cronix sighed, and released the dark elements from his control. Cayden began walking on his own, putting on a brave front.

The two casually walked to their room. Cronix was nervous, when they made it to their room door, he was about to quickly open it, but Cayden stopped him, "Open it casually."

Cronix didn't understand what Cayden was doing, but again he listened, when he opened it his pupils instantly shrank.

"Took you long enough to get here Cayden, mind telling me where you were?" In the room was the stern man Cronix saw when he first came here.

Cayden frowned, "Head Butler Orten, weren't you supposed to leave for the main family."

"Things change all the time Cayden, and now that I'm here, mind telling me where you were?" The stern man replied.

Cayden's frown quickly reverted to a smile, "Why asked me, when you could ask the person I was with?"

Cronix's eyes narrowed, what was he implying? The stern man's focus shifted from Cayden to Cronix, "Do you mean him?"

"He means me." Another voice joined in the conversation.

Cayden smiled, "Young master Riley, could you please advise Head Butler Orten where we were."

Riley sighed and turned to the stern man, "They were with me, do I need to give you any further details?"

The stern man smiled and shook his head, "No need young master Riley, I'll take my leave now."

But before the stern man left, he stopped right next to Riley, "You don't happen to know where Lapsa is?"

"Do you mean the Cloud Jumping Squirrel? He's in my room still completing his tasks." Riley responded with an annoyed tone, "Are we done?"

The stern man seemed satisfied with that response and left.

Riley watched him leave, and mumbled, "What a snake."