Anton Berfil was a good teacher. The times he had helped his students were uncountable, even before he had taken the position of a professor. He could still remember the times when he himself was a student at this academy. The lectures that filled most of his days, the crowded cafeteria he used to visit so often and even the many long nights he had spent in studying groups. He could never forget the latter. He didn't use them to study his topics, but to help his juniors. He and his senior, which had only been one year above him, had put great effort into teaching them. It hadn't been Anton's idea, not his senior’s either. Back in his days, these study groups had still been a tradition at Prestillon. Sadly, that had died out a few years ago. Not because the students didn't like helping each other anymore, but because a few of the professors had started helping the students themselves. Mr. Stellox had been one of them. None of the professors organized the help among themselves. There were no scheduled evening lessons or long study nights. No, the professors just helped when there was the need for it. Sometimes that meant they were busy for several months in a row, and sometimes not. Stellox had been one of the busiest ones. Nearly every evening, he went into the gardens and park of the academy to experiment with his students. He had been known for motivating them to test out their limits and go beyond. This kind of motivation was the same Anton had had once. But over the course of all his years that motivation had slowly gone dull. All that stayed was the memory. But even that was slowly fading. Who once had been Anton's best friend and senior, who had motivated him to join the study rounds was now just a nameless person. Yes, Anton had forgotten his name a long time ago. When exactly had that been? Was it when he was so obsessed about his studies that he went a whole week without sleep? When he had been so busy finishing his book which was published 5 years ago? He was so proud back then. The libraries were filled with works of long forgotten mages, their names engraved in the cover of their books. Now he too had etched his name into this academy. Probably not only this one, since most of the books were copied and brought to other academies. But that wasn't what mattered right now. He looked up when the wooden door finally opened. Who stepped outside was none other than his former student Malow Hiss. It had been a long time since the two had seen each other. A bright smile could be seen on Hiss’ face. ‘How long has it been Mr. Berfil?’ Anton smiled back. ‘The last time I saw you was at your graduation.’ It made Anton happy to see Malow. He reminded him of his better past self. ‘I can see, you made it quite far at the ministry?’ He was referring to the ministry of magic control. ‘Yes’ Malow replied. ‘Although I still have a long way to go. Your teachings have helped me a lot out there.’ He looked out of a window, in the direction of the school gates. From here, the big gates seemed so small. His expression suddenly seemed a bit sad. ‘Back then, I didn't imagine the magic world to be so… cruel.’ With magic world, he referred to the magic institutions outside of the academy. Anton knew that feeling. He himself had gone out there after his graduation. The disappointment had brought him back here. ‘That’s just how this world works.’ He quietly said. ‘The strong consume the weak.’ Malow looked back at him. ‘Too good that I am one of the strong ones.’ What gave him the confidence to speak like that wasn't arrogance but experience. It was hard to get into Prestillon, but if you graduated here you were guaranteed to be at the top. Anton suddenly changed the topic. ‘What brings you here?’ He calmly asked. He had heard that Malow was among the men who had entered from one of the other teachers, but he didn't know why anyone entered in the first place. Malow hesitated for a moment. If his former teacher hadn't already been informed about this, then it was probably wanted like that. Nonetheless, he decided to share at least parts of his knowledge. ‘The headmaster called us for help.’ Anton was shocked. The headmaster himself did? He couldn't believe his ears. Was the situation really that bad? Malow, who saw how frightening his statement must have sounded, immigrantly corrected his little mistake. ‘Not to hunt the dark mages, but to help keeping an eye on a few of the teachers here!’ Anton seemed a bit better. It was only now that Malow realized that he had told his trusted mentor a bit more than he had intended. He cursed himself for that. It was exactly this loose tongue that had kept him from getting promoted so often. He wasn't much weaker than his captain, and so it would have been easy for him to secure a good position as a team captain himself by now. And all that at his age… His family at home would have praised him as a genius. But his ‘easy going behavior ‘ as his superiors and even juniors called it, had always been a hindrance. He looked at Anton with distrust. What if he had just doomed the whole operation? Then he remembered his time as a student. He had focused on the water and earth element, and most of his earth based lectures had been given by Mr. Berfil. He knew him, and he knew he couldn't be one of the dark mages. Now he also remembered that he wasn't on the list he was supposed to keep an eye on. The list! He still hadn't found Mr. Braf, the professor he had been assigned to. ‘It was pleasant to meet you again…’ ‘But you are busy. I know. Thank you for your time.’ Malow politely excused himself before finally continuing his search for Mr. Braf. As he disappeared in the staircase, Anton let out a long sight. He knew he wasn't supposed to hear what his former student had told him, but it was too late to unhear this information. He turned around, in the direction of his new destination - the cafeteria. It was already early evening and he started to feel hungry. It was unusual for him to eat that early, but he just felt like it. He was looking forward to today's menu. He was friends with one of the chefs, he had got him a job at this academy, and so he already knew that this dinner would have the rare honor to present the meat of gigantic blue crabs to the students and professors. Gigantic blue crab could only be found in the far eastern cliffs of this continent. Estillion was a very large contingent, and because the kingdom of Karvoc was located in the northern middle, it was very rare to see so foreign goods. That being said, it wasn't the first time this academy had gotten its hands on it. But the last time Anton had eaten this delicious rarity had already been over ten years ago. He wouldn't risk missing out on this opportunity. As he hurried through the hallways of the main building, he nearly bumped into Ms. Lendrar. She looked a bit pale, this couldn't have been from the shock of him nearly bumping into her, could it? She wasn't that faint hearted, he knew that. ‘Good evening Ms. Lendrar. Are you ok?’ She looked over her shoulder, as if she hadn't heard him. After she was done looking around, she finally focused on him. ‘Yes, thank you for your concern.’ ‘You don't look too good. You aren't getting sick at a time like this, are you?’ She forcibly tried to smile. ‘No no, I just wasn't used to lunch today.’ she said, hoping he would go on his way. The chefs had prepared southern food for this lunch, so her explanation sounded logical. To have two such exotic dishes on one day was also a rarity… Anton focused his attention back on her nervosity. ‘Are you really alright? I get that you are worried after what happened to Mr. Stellox. We all are. But that won't happen again.’ Lendrar bit on her tongue. She didn't have time for this. She put on a smile again. ‘Yes, I am sure of that. I will excuse myself now, I have somewhere to go.’ Anton just nodded. The whole staff, especially the professors, were skilled mages, but even they could get nervous. Even they could freak out. That was only natural. As he continued on his way, he got lost in his thoughts again. Not about the gigantic blue crabs this time, although they really were gigantic. What was on his mind this time was something entirely else. The dark mages had taken presence again. When this all started, he expected them to be caught within days. Or maybe even faster… The secret room had been exposed by one of the students, as the headmaster had said. They had told the professors and those had investigated the area. But if the dark mages made such a grave mistake as letting themselves get exposed by a student, then how could they have taken down Mr. Stellox? What was even worse was that he had heard rumors about Stellox himself having been involved with the culprits. How did all of that fit together? He had a bad feeling about this, but he didn't feel like he had the power to investigate further, especially with the headmaster handling things already. As he finally opened the door of one of the cafeterias, he had the thought that maybe he would regret this ignorance one day. But that feeling was gone as fast as it came. Anton was an easy man. The crab was enough to make him forget about his worries.

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Ms. Lendrar closed the door behind her. Finally she was back at her study. The enchanted walls were thick enough to keep any unwanted guest out. She sighed loudly as she fell down on her chair. What was all this? The meeting with Mr. Braf had already been dangerous enough, especially with the ministry officers around. Braf had said that these people were too incompetent to expose them, but Braf was always calm so his opinion wasn't worth much in this case. If only Stellox was still here… he was good at handling situations like these. She had feared the headmaster extremely since the murder had taken place. But that had changed now. Harms wasn't her biggest worry anymore. Someone… or maybe something had been watching her the whole day. Ever since she had the meeting with Braf. This sensation… She was frightened. She had felt the depths of darkness when she had met higher ranking dark mages, and the presence she had felt today was in no way weaker than the ones of the cold blooded people she knew. She felt the urge to speak about this with Braf, but they had agreed to keep their distance and stay low for some time. What was she supposed to do? She checked if she had truly locked the door again. The presence was gone. She was lucky. But even so she wanted to be sure, so she decided to skip dinner and stay inside her room for today. From here she would try to contact the capital again. The darkness of the night had already conquered these lands, turning them into a black nothingness as she finally gave up on her tries and went to sleep. She couldn't see the moon from her window, which was right beside her bed. There were so many clouds that not a single ray of light could fight its way to the academy tonight. No moon, no stars. Just darkness. She took one look around her room. She had managed to keep it quite organized and clean, something which was very uncommon among the professors. One of her shelves was the last thing she saw before she finally closed her eyes. Besides various potions which had been stored on it, there was one particular book. Its contents were troublesome, but at the same time they could save her. But should she risk it? She had to, before the mysterious presence would end her. Damn the agreement to not meet again. Tomorrow she would go to Brag and present her idea. That's what she made her mind up to, shortly before she finally fell asleep.