It was very surprising. The moment the huge dome closed the gaps between us and the outside world was when the moment I realised that all hope was lost. Everyone started panicking, some of them ran all over the place and tried to break through the invisible wall. But of course, not a single of them were able to escape from the grasp of our now, ex-principal. Escher summons his army which consists of Imps, Spies, and Cyclops. We managed to hold them off for a while. But it wasn't enough.

During the confusion, most of the students including our top students were immediately captured by them. All that’s left was me along with Sonozaki who managed to get away from all of the chaos. We ended up hiding inside the office. To be more specific, the principal’s office. We’re not just hiding from Escher’s army, we’re also trying to find some clues about Escher.

“You got anything, Blax?” asked Sonozaki as he continues to flip through several documents.

I scratched my head and said, “Nothing. Just school files.”

“We’ve been doing this for an hour and not a single one has any relation to our principal’s past?”

I continued to check the files and reminded him, “We’re running out of time, Sonozaki. Sooner or later, they will find us here.”

“I know that. But what else can we do in this situation?”

This situation made me notice something, “Somehow, this reminded me of that war.”

“I know. Many kinds of memories were made that day. But we don’t have the time to remember the past right now. Not when things changed.”

Sonozaki sounded very full of remorse. He has been through a lot, that I can tell. But for all that was right and wrong, I had to ask him something. I’ve been meaning to ask him ever since he called us to go to the square. Something was not right, I thought.

“Hey, Sonozaki. Can I ask you something?”

Sonozaki wilfully replied, “What is it?”

I slowly walked towards the principal desk and asked, “What have you been doing for the past few weeks?”

“What are you talking about?” Sonozaki continues to go through the files as he replied so.

“I saw you were with Zone. Trading secrets, I presume.”

Sonozaki stopped his search and replied, “Of course I would trade secrets with him. Who else has information other than the information broker?”

“What we’re you discussing?”

Sonozaki looked a little displeased by me but then he decided to reply, “You got me.” Sonozaki turned toward me and answered, “We were discussing about the principal.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He went on and told me everything he knew about what he and Zone discussed for weeks. Apparently, the principal was trying to make something. That sounded very sketchy from the way they got the information. Zone has always been on the neutral side of things. He only does it for the money. But sometimes, he does it because he believes that such an information would be too important to keep for himself.

“Now that’s something you don’t hear normally from a principal.” I wondered about the shift in tone of our now ex-principal.

Sonozaki shrugged, “That’s what Zone heard from the phone. I’m not sure if he lied to me but I’m sure something like this is not to be messed with.”

“So you’ve been observing the principal ever since…” I concluded.

“Compared to what everyone believed. Our principal has something more than meets the eye.”

“And we saw that today.” I finished.

“But I’m afraid there’s more, Blax.” added Sonozaki.

“What is it?”

“Have you ever heard of a thing called, The Hydra.”

“Hydra? You mean, the sea monster where its head will be multiplied every time its head was cut off?”

“Yes.”

I was confused, “What about it?”

Sonozaki begins to explain to me, “You see. That thing actually exist. And it’s one of the Chaos Beast.”

“Wait what? And what is this Chaos Beast you are talking about?”

“You see, The Hydra was a beast long forgotten throughout the ages. And for a very long time, it has been extinct. Until one day, someone discovers an ancient cube. To be more specific, it wasn’t a complete cube. It was only a part of it. It needs to be completed. Like a piece of a puzzle.”

“Where are you going with this?”

Sonozaki continued, “As I was saying, that guy founded out that the ravenous Hydra can be summoned if the cube was complete. That guy begin to study more about the mysterious relic to the point that he built himself a place for him to study so that no one can disturb him. He even placed some Gargoyles statue to make it more intimidating. His name was Corris.”

“Up to this point, I still can’t figure the connection between what is going on right now.”

Sonozaki assured me as he invited me to sit down, “Corris studied the pieces of the cube so damn long up until he died from overwork. At the last few days of his life, he managed to uncover the second pieces of the cube but much to his surprise. He wasn’t able to recover it in time. It was revealed that the cube was hidden inside a forest nearby.”

“Then what happen?”

“As the study place continues to rot for hundreds of years, it slowly became a ruin which was now known as The Corris Ruin.”

“Hold on just a sec, isn’t that the ruin that was next to our school?”

“Exactly.”

“What about the cube?”

“This is where our story intertwines with what’s going on right now. Our Principal was tasked to uncover The Chaos Beast back from its slumbers. And now, he is on his way to find the cube that was hidden inside the ruin and the forest.”

“Are you serious? We gotta do something about it then.”

”Yes. I know that. That’s why I told you the story. A story about the cube.”

That was a revelation. Now that I’ve heard it all. I began to wonder, why Escher was tasked to awaken The Hydra? Is The Hydra going to do something when it wakes up? But from the sound of it, I could guess that it is only a means of obtaining power. I mean, I don’t really know what is a Chaos Beast but I do know that it is a beast. Meaning that, it will only lead to destruction. We must stop him before its too late.

“What are waiting for then? We should head to the ruin and recover that cube at once.” I headed toward the exit.

Sonozaki stopped me, “There’s one problem about that. There’s no way the two of us can handle Escher’s army.”

“What are you talking about? We’re one of the best in the school. We can do this. As a matter of fact, we can also try and rescue the others as well.”

“If you think so, I guess.”

We decided to go to the ruin to find the cube. But, not until I finished asking him. There’s only one thing left that bothers me…

“Sonozaki, why did you called us to go to the school square? You even said that all Stardust members have to go there. Who asked you to go to the square?”

Sonozaki looked unfazed by the question as he begins to touch the principal’s desk.

“You see, Blax. As I was busy, looking up for clues about our principal. I ended up trapping myself into a corner. The principal caught me red handed and do you know he did to me?”

“Don’t tell me…” I was about to come to a realisation but I got caught in the moment and then it came to me.

Sonozaki flashes behind me and said, “Nothing personal. But, you’re friend is now chaorrupted.” He kicks me and sent me lying to the hard cold ground.

“Sonozaki…” I tried to get up the confusion but his kicks were feroucious.

“Your friend are long gone. He’s chaorrupted and you can’t do anything about it!” Sonozaki puts his legs on top of me. “That goes the same for everyone around here!”

“No…it can’t be…curse you…Escher…” I tried to fight him back but to avail at all.

It was a futile attempt for me to try and get away from him. Every time I moved, he flashes in front of me and kicked me to the ground. The office was all messed up now. Sonozaki continues to plummet me to the ground until I was out of energy to even fight back. I did fought him back but not a single of my attack hit him at all. It was all futile.

As my vision slowly fade away, I classify myself as obsolete in the eyes of Escher’s army. I was carried away to an unknown area. It didn’t took to long until I was released from their bindings. It was then I noticed that most of the Stardust were all there with me. Except for the other four of course…

I raised my eyebrows asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

TO BE CONTINUED