Breakfast with Debo was nice, but now me and Morgana were off to his carriage, a literal horse drawn wooden carriage that got transported with him to this world.

"I'm gonna bet there's a hole in the ground exactly where the carriage was," he said with a scary amount of nonchalance. "What do you think?"

"We just got in the car, could you not scare me like that? Why would there be a hole in the ground, anyways?"

I started the car and got on our way to the library—where his cart was last parked—pulling out from Debos driveway.

"Tell-tell sign of evil, that's what it is. They use pools of water as you would a huge spinning blade—to devaste."

"I saw that yesterday… yeah. I was more asking why they would blow up your carriage, though."

"Don't ask me, I say it's a huge waste of resources. But that's their style, anyhow, to not leave a trace. You should see the surface of Mars in my year, it's a bunch of craters like the moons."

Oh yeah, Mars does have two moons… that sounds interesting to see. Too bad I never will.

"I don't know what we'll find, but I'd guess they towed the thing for parking illegally. No idea what they'd do with the horses, though."

I was mostly hoping he was wrong, crossing my fingers on it.

"Towed...? Ah—to drag away, no?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I just have no idea where they'd take it to."

I was starting to see the holes in my idea and was nervously biting a fingernail.

We were close, and I was on the edge of my seat.

There were cops as we rounded the street leading to the library, so I pulled over right there. "Stay here," I told Morgana, getting out of the car. In case they knew his face from yesterday, they'd be looking for his distinct hair.

I walked up to the scene. The whole place was blocked off with yellow caution tape.

A cop came up and stopped me, saying, "This place is off limits today."

"What happened here?" I peered over him, he was shorter than me so it wasn't hard.

There was a crater in the middle of the parking lot, and cops were going around collecting scraps of wood off the ground.

I saw a body bag, I was certain, and I felt my stomach get upset.

"I'd just move along, check the news tomorrow, it'll be plastered everywhere," the short and stout cop said, motioning me to get away.

I slowly nodded my head, turning around and heading back, thinking of what this could mean.

Not good things, I was certain.

I opened the door to my car and got in.

"Well?"

"You were right, there was a crater where your carriage was, and they had a body bag, probably for the horses, if not your servant as well."

"Damn, and that was my favorite servant, too! He was a good man… always snuck me out to the brothels without a word of resistance."

I held my tongue, the one that wanted to call him an inhuman bastard.

Was that all the man was too you? I guess I really couldn't understand him, after all.

"You predicted it, so what does this mean? What has it meant in the past?"

"In the past, this was just another sign of war, war on a war ravaged planet. To put it another way, it doesn't mean much when it happens at all times, everywhere and everyday."

"...Then why did you predict it happening here?"

"Because there's that Priestess and Apostle in this town, you fool!" The pun wasn't intentional, I assure you he didn't know me as The Fool.

"So you're saying… Wait, what exactly was in that carriage that was so important they had to blow it up!"

"You are on the right path, but not quite there yet. Nothing was actually in it, but they did not know that. All they knew was I was from future Mars."

I put my left hand on my right cheek, thinking. "They were only trying to deplete your resources…?"

"Most excellent. They see me as a risk. Probably a very high risk. So there's no doubt who is in collaboration, is there?"

Of course, it only stands to reason… "That damn Priestess, she told The Hierophant, the one you call an Apostle, I'm sure of it!"

After all, a Hierophant was a word for a religious figure, much like a Priestess is, and an Apostle is as well for that matter.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

In other words, they're connected, in the same group together like I am with Jade, Sophie, and now Morgana.

"Any bright ideas?" I asked.

"Strike before they can, as in right this minute. Their base of operations seems to be that mansion we came to yesterday."

My own school? "I would have noticed, I think. I go there five days a week…"

I would have noticed… right?

Morgana was giving me a look that seemed to say 'would you really?'

I started the car and went that direction.

- - - -

It only took a couple of minutes to get there, but the ride was a silent one.

We both got out, and I headed to the back to get my bokken, a traditional wooden katana.

I keep one on the back of the car, just in case I need it, I have ever since Jade told me she was being stalked... that first day I met her.

I gripped it tightly, really feeling the weight of it, knowing I might have to use it if Morgana's prediction is right.

"What will that do?" He laughed.

"It's more than capable of killing someone, let alone disabling them."

"Killing, you say…if you're afraid of killing someone, you should stay here. You haven't seen enough battles, I can tell. Although, I can also tell you've seen a few."

"You don't know anything about me, then. I'm going. And we're not killing anyone!"

"You really haven't thought this out, have you? How else are you supposed to solve this?"

I could feel myself losing the blood in my face. That stupid, damned Magician, he never told me how I could 'balance the cards' in a peaceful way!

Actually, now that I think of it, how am I suppose to 'solve' even a single one of them… how could I overlook that?

"You're thinking, you don't know how to solve this, right? Blood will be spilled, that is the only way to solve this dispute, an age old tale of mankind… might is right."

"Just let me talk to them… We will defend ourselves if necessary, but try not to kill anyone if that happens, okay?"

With a plan this loose, it really was likely to end in a fight. At the time, I saw no choice but to at least investigate.

"Oh-ho! I've got to admire your resolve. Then listen here, I've got six 'strikes,' that's the short name of the magic I use. It takes around thirty seconds for one of them to come back, depending mostly on how many I've already used recently. I can use a maximum of five at once, do not be around me if I use five."

He put all five of his fingers out to demonstrate.

"Got it," I nodded decisively.

He pulled something out of his back pocket, handing it to me. "You'll be needing it more than me."

It was a dagger… very ornate, too, in a metal sheath. I pocketed it.

He was right, I really might find myself needing it, as much as I hated to admit it…

We both started walking, there was nothing else to say on the topic of prep.

"What're your senses telling you?"

"It says there's an illusion here… which doesn't mean I can tell where."

"Is the Priestess here, or anyone like her?"

He stopped and felt his temples.

"No one here like that, neither her nor anyone else. Tell me," we started walking again, "what's the story with the fourth floor?"

"Uh… I'm not sure how you mean that. What about it?"

He nodded his head, like that answered his question. "Surely you've been there, no?"

"No, but there's the main staircase and elevator that takes you there." I knew he must be trying to make a point, and was willing to follow along.

"There are not that many things up there," he said as a fact.

"...True. It's mostly storage, I'm told. Not many classes are held on the fourth floor."

"My theory is there are none held there, you've just never confirmed it yourself."

"You've seen something like this before? How did you even know to look into that floor specifically?"

"It's closest to the sky, the stuff of illusions. Moon and sun. But the moon especially."

"The sky, huh? What about the stars? How do these illusions work?"

"The stars are not significant in illusions, but good guess. Illusions seem as real as anything else, there are many types in function, but ultimately they cover something, the truth, their deceptions."

We were making our way up the spiral staircase, to the fourth floor.

"What about your magic?"

"Think of it as the innate energy of nature coming together in such a small space that it explodes. That's the premise, at least."

We stepped out at the top floor.

"I gotta say, this looks real to me," there were a bunch of boxes everywhere in the hall, and only the sun lit the room, coming through the French windows as if the lights had not been turned on for a long time.

"An illusion that didn't wouldn't be much of a deception, now would it? We're looking for anything out of place, I'd reckon it'll be fairly big for an illusion this size."

We walked through the fourth floor, searching. I'd never been up here but it was bare in comparison to the lower floors. It looked like someone just moved in, what with all the boxes.

I looked for the wall that'd have to be there for the soaking pool to have an open air skylight, but couldn't find where it should be.

The soaking pool, I guessed, would be right below here, where I was standing.

I found it downright unbelievable that they 'created' a fourth floor, but maybe it was because it was so public that it was a good place.

Right under your nose, as they say.

You'd never guess it.

Something caught my eye as I looked around the room—in my peripherals. I tried to emulate that same action again…

I saw it again, briefly—it was like a mirage in the corner of my eye.

But when I looked where I thought it was coming from, there was just another brown box.

"Morgana!" I yelled for him and waited.

"Yes? Oh, my! There's a lot of spiritual energy in here…"

"The soaking pool, which has an open air roof, would be right where we're standing."

"Interesting…" he trailed off.

"I saw something in my peripherals, coming from here, this box," I pointed at it.

Morgana went over and opened the mid-sized moving box.

He turned to me. "This is it, you found it. Are you ready?"

I peered over, looking at what was inside. It was—something darker than black, and seemed to absorb the light, like how coal does, but more significant than that.

"Uh—yes, ready when you are."

In a swift movement, he punched the flat black surface and I heard something like a wind chime as the world around me broke, shattering like a pane of glass…

We were on the roof, just like that.

But now it was night.