A cool evening breeze blew through the school yard. The air had finally cooled down a bit, and the last remnants of the midday heat were slowly disappearing into refreshing winds. The sun had already been half swallowed by the horizon, and a moon was getting more and more visible at the sky. Velvino looked at his pocket watch. It was a small magical devise, working similar to regular pocket watches. The only difference was that this one was a lot more precise and more robust. ‘We can close the doors now.’ He looked at miss Velona and Mr Vonstadt. ‘Time for the patrol then.’ Vonstadt reached into a pocket inside his robe. As his hand came out again, it revealed some shining keys. Some of them were silver, some of them were golden, but all of them looked very expensive. ‘If they have enough money to show off like this, maybe they should just increase our pay!’ Miss Velona had said it, but all three shared that opinion. Nonetheless, Velvino forced himself to oppose of that statement. ‘We already get paid quite well for professors. Wasn't the wage one of the reasons to come to this academy?’ He was right there. Compared to most other institutions, the amount of money this academy invested into their staff was enormous. And still, seeing mere keys made of such precious materials awoke the greed in them. But Velvinos statement was enough to remind them of how good they actually had it, and they abandoned the topics. Right as Vonstadt reached to lock the doors, they heard something. It didn't sound like any fighting, but since it came from outside the building, it could very well be a culprit. The three mages had immediately assumed a defensive formation, ready to fight anything if needed. The sounds were coming from one of the paths that connected the school yard to the many smaller gardens. Velona got ready to cast an attack spell if needed. It was that very moment they saw some silhouettes appearing from behind one of the trees. At least one of them seemed familiar… ‘Am I hallucinating, or is that one in the front Mr. Stellox?’ All of them watched silently as the running silhouettes slowly came closer. ‘Yes… I think you are right…’ It didn't really matter which professor or student has appeared from behind the tree, they would all have had to go through a severe questioning. Until the moment they proved to be harmless, none of the three professors would have let their guard down. But Stellox… neither of them could imagine him having anything to do with the dark mages. Now that they had gotten closer, Velvino could even recognise some of the students' faces. ‘I think they are safe.’ he said while changing his position back to normal. ‘I am sorry-’ Stellox was breathing heavily. ‘What are you doing at this time?’ asked Vonstadt. Before Stellox had the chance to gather his breath, one of the female students answered the question. ‘We were experimenting and forgot about the time. We didn't mean to be late for the lockdown…’ Velona took a closer look at her. ‘And why was Mr Stellox with you?’ This time it was him who answered. ‘They needed help with some of the details. And as a professor, it is my duty to help them with their thirst for knowledge!’ Vonstadt looked disappointed. ‘It is one thing for the students to forget about this sudden new rule, but you are a professor! You should have reminded them. You even were at the meeting! How could you forget?’ Stellox looked a bit embarrassed. The same went for his students. Velvino took that opportunity to say something. ‘Now now, no need to go so hard on them. It is the first day after all… And I am pretty sure we weren't that different when we were that young.’ Velona looked at him. ‘You do know that Mr Stellox is older than us, right?’ ‘I meant when we were as young as the students of course!’ He only now realized how dumb his statement has sounded. Vonstadt took a deep breath. ‘Anyways. Since you are here now, why don't you go inside?’ He smiled. ‘Mr Stellox?’ ‘Ah, yes, of course Mr. Vonstadt! We will be right inside. Thank you.’ Stellox with the students in a line behind him entering the building reminded Velvino a bit of ducklings following their mother. Judging by Velonas face, she had something similar in mind. After the door closet behind them, Vonstadt locked it. This time without any interruption. ‘Now then.’ Velvino looked at his two companions. ‘Ready for the patrol?’ Vonstadt nodded. ‘You are right. Let us go. We've had enough delay for now.’ They started their tour around the academy. First, they checked the nearby parks. Since the southern dormitory was very close to the main gate, intruders would most likely take a path through these parks. If they tried that, the professors would either see them, or sense their trails of dark mana. At least that was the theory. Since there weren't any traces in the secret room, they couldn't be sure they would leave some here. When one of the teachers had commended on that during the meeting, Cloffing had explained that the room had most likely been cleared from them, and that such things took a lot of time. Time intruders wouldn't have. But since they still didn't know for sure that that's how it was, they didn't know for sure if the dark mages would really leave traces. It was all just a theory. Velvino wondered if this patrol was just a big waste of time. The chances were unbelievably slim that they actually found an intruder. And even if these mages really could be tracked down, what if they hid among the students? That was the most likely case, considering they had already slipped in enough times to build a room. Without anyone noticing that. And there think that they had collected this amount of books… It was pretty obvious that all this patrol activity was just for show and to give the students a feeling of security. That was the reason no one objected to this plan. If panic broke out, the academy would be done for. It would take decades to recover the lost trust in this institution. No, this story couldn't get out of the school. ‘Hey, are you done over there?’ Only now Velvino realized just how deep in thoughts he had been. ‘Yes. No traces of any irregular mana over here.’ Although none of them were mana experts, they were still at the level of professors. And that meant something at this academy. It wasn't easy to get a job as teacher here, they had proven themselves countless times. If there was anything abnormal with the mana flows around here, they would notice. ‘Good. In that case let us check at the main path next. We are progressing pretty well. We may get it done by midnight!’ The excitement in Velonas was was loud and clear. Vonstadt softly smiled at the two of them. ‘Indeed let us do that.’ The three of them had known each other for a few years by now, and although they had spent most time together, Velvino still didn't understand everything about his two colleagues and friends. Especially Velona could be very rash and unpredictable at times. Of course, she was still a great person, but it made him question just how good he knew her sometimes. It was totally different from Vonstadt. Although he seemed distant to new people, he was actually quite caring and nice. Velvino looked at the sky. It was beautiful. There wasn't a single cloud up there, just the moon, thousands of stars and this unfillable emptiness. Somehow, it reminded him of old times.

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Around midnight, they were finally done. They had checked every single spit there was on their given territory, had turned every stone and every stick. Now they were just tired. ‘Oh how glad I am that this is finally over!’ Velona seemed really tired. She was used to stay up with research until the sun got up again, there had been countless times when she appeared in lectures without having slept at all, but this time she was actually exhausted before even two O'clock. Well, that could be said about all of them. As Vonstadt unlocked the front door so that they could enter, Velvino himself couldn't help but yawn. When they stepped inside and locked the door again, all of them were more than eager to just fall down at their beds. ‘Ugh, why do all of the professors rooms have to be on the highest floor?’ Velona asked annoyed while climbing the stairs. ‘I don't know. Maybe the old staff wanted to show their superiority?’ It wasn't very logical, but it was all Velvino could think of at the moment. ‘Whatever it was, I am sure they had their reasons.’ Vonstadts comment was as passive as the most of his statements. When they finally reached the top floor, the fifth one, they were too tired to even say good night to each other. It was unusually quiet up here. Well, since the professors weren't allowed outside either, most of them probably decided to just go to sleep earlier. Velvinos room was in a different direction than that of the other two, so they splitted ways. It had been a long time since he was so happy to finally reach his doorstep. As he opened his door, a scream suddenly cut through his thoughts. He turned on the spot. It was Velonas voice. It didn't take a second for him to be fully awake again. He ran towards the direction the voice had come from. While running as fast as his body would allow, he cursed himself for not accompanying her to her door. Every second felt like minutes as he came closer to Velonas room. He finally reached the scene.

What he saw there wasn't expected. He looked left. Vonstadt just stood. He leaned his back against the wall, his head looking up. His face was… expressionless. Velvinos had never seen him like that. On the right, Velonas sat on the ground, holding back tears. She was unharmed, but she seemed traumatized. As his mind tried to figure out what happened, he noticed the strong smell of blood in the air. Just where did it come from? As he panickely looked around him, he finally saw him. A few Meters in the back, someone sat, leaning against one of the doors. His limbs just lifelessly laid there, his legs stretched from his body, his tight hand holding a small wand. But he wasn't holding it correctly. It was broken, as if he had accidentally used too much force on it. The clothes around his torso were drenched in blood. There was way too much… a small pool surrounded him. The blood was everywhere. Blood was running down his chin. It came from his nose, his eyes, his ears… It looked horrible. The door and the wall behind him were also covered in blood. It was slowly dripping down at some places. The worst part was probably his… the worst part was what had been his left shoulder. It was turned, twisted, broken, shattered, cut… It resembled minced meat. Some bones were looking out, but he didn't know which ones. The whole upper left had been twisted to a point of no recognition. Velvino closed his eyes… he couldn't see it. He desperately looked at the ground when he opened them again. It was then that he noticed some shining glasses on the ground. The blood on them made the gold look red golden. Although they were broken… Velvinos recognised them. ‘No…’ He forced himself to look at the corpses face. ‘No no no… nonono!’

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Velvino felt like throwing up. He couldn't believe his eyes. Who laid before him, was no one else but Stellox.