The Magician’s troupe were then led inside one of the Elevators and taken back to Inanis Orbis. Instead of returning to their dorms they were brought into a hospital-like area where their injuries were treated, with the use of magic of course. During this time Sylvester surrendered the golden book and the strange card to his professor Bridget Bishop.

After that they were all gathered into a relatively large room where they were told to sit and wait for the headmaster. It looked like a convention room of sorts since there was one big table in the middle surrounded by chairs and a white board at the wall directly in front of the table.

Bridget and some staff then left the four youngsters alone and soon they found themselves with some privacy again.

At this point no one was speaking up or even attempting to utter a word. Now that the adrenaline has gone, all they could feel was a downpour of exhaustion and a very rocky roller coaster of emotions that has only recently caught up.

They were all very shaken, their eyes often darting into something faraway. Except for Sylvester, who had been keeping an eye on his friends with a worried expression.

Truth be told his travels with his parents has had him go through a few close calls, and right now he was the least affected by what they went through. This behavior of his was something that Rossa immediately realized as she gathered her will to speak.

Placing her right hand over left and squeezing it with great force, Rossa spoke up and brought out words Sylvester did not expect.

“I’m sorry.” She suddenly muttered, much to everyone’s confusion.

“What are you apologizing for, Rossa?” Sylvester asked in a perplexed tone. This isn’t something he expected her to say at this very moment, but he had an idea what she was going to say next.

His eyes then darted over to her hands were now trembling as her face continued to sour.

“I’m sorry everyone, for being weak.” She continued. Artian and Estelle wanted to butt in and counter her words but Sylvester gestured for them to stop.

“I’m sorry. I thought of myself as someone who was capable and of merit, confident and proud of my own skills and abilities. And yet, I couldn’t do anything! Maybe this is why I was so easily replaced.” Rossa said as her tears started to flow down her cheeks.

“No wonder I lost the favor of the Goddess! No wonder I was never able to use her blessings! I am useless, I am unworthy. I- I.” Her tears were now dripping towards her shaking hands, as words flowed out uncontrollably from her mouth.

Her mind was now swept by waves of irrationality, her emotions surging without control. Fear, sadness, insecurities, mixed together into an ugly cocktail that poisoned her very being. It didn’t make sense for her to blame herself, but in that moment, she was trapped in a cage she created in her own heart.

As she wanted to push out more words, a warm feeling suddenly came over her soaking wet hands. Glancing over who it was, she saw Sylvester right in front of her with gentle blue eyes and a kind smile.

“Rossa, you did well. Things were way out of our control and even then you somehow managed to maintain a calm head. You even saved my life.” Sylvester said, but his words only seemed to intensify her unwarranted guilt.

“Three times, Sylvester. I saw you almost die three times!” She answered back with a pained voice. Her continued sorrow prompted Estelle and Artian to stand up from their seats and move closer.

“You saved us, saved me. Meanwhile I could not even fix your wound! I’m useless, I’m a failure. No matter how much I work I put into, it will always be the same.” She continued.

She always thought of herself as someone capable and strong, yet when faced with such great peril she found it frustrating that she was reduced to nothing but fodder.

However, Rossa wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

As more tears continued to flow she felt a hand on her shoulder and then suddenly she found herself wrapped up in someone else’s arms. Her mind didn’t immediately understand what was happening around her, only when equally pained cries fell on her ears did she immediately know who it was who hugged her.

“Rossa, don’t say that! We were all in danger. We all almost died. But we are alive right? We survived! That’s all we need to think about right now. Please, don't be so hard on yourself.” Estelle’s voice rang out as she herself was bursting into tears.

“At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that we managed to scrape through and fight another day. It may have been a pathetic showing, but at the very least, we are still breathing aren’t we?” Artian chimed in.

Sylvester then let go of Rossa’s hands and simply let the two girls let their emotions out. After all, crying is a good way to let out huge amounts of stress, and after such a harrowing experience like that, a lot of tears will expectedly be shed.

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However, while some let their inner turmoils come out in the form of flowing water, others try to bottle up inside and use it as motivation. Preferring to not show their weak sides to others and silently vowing to grow, to move forward.

Sylvester then glanced at Artian’s hands and saw them tightening up into fist bulging with veins and beet red. Knowing exactly his friend was feeling, he opted to try and offer him a bit of reprieve.

“Dude, it's okay if you wanna cry.” Sylvester joked as he opened up his arms. Artian’s hands then relaxed as he swatted off Sylvester, while letting out a laugh.

“Shut up dude.” The two then shared a laugh before their mood immediately became serious.

“Hey, wanna go for a jog later?” Artian asked.

“Sure, I kind of wanted to blow off some steam anyway.” Sylvester replied.

Another silent pause then dawned between the two, only for Artian to break it soon after.

“I want to get stronger soon.” Artian said as he stared at the crying figure of Estelle. He did not need to express it in more words, but Sylvester understood his feelings.

“Me too bro. I don't want to rely on Dark magic anytime soon.” Sylvester replied.

“Seeing it for myself, I can say that Dark magic fucking sucks.” Artian commented.

“Yup. It sucks.” Sylvester agreed without hesitation.

Outside the room however was Leonardo and Mona Lisa who both didn’t really know when the right time to enter would be as they were still hearing loud cries from within. Leonardo quietly stood in front of the door as he patiently waited for this to calm down inside.

“Just be patient Leo. This is just how things tend to go.” He said as Mona Lisa moved closer to him, with a tablet on hand.

“Therapy sessions have been prepared for all of them right?” Leonard asked Mona Lisa for confirmation.

Mona Lisa was carrying a tablet on her left hand while carrying a metallic case on her right.

“Yes, all is in order. Taking care of their mental health is part of our job after all.” She replied.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Hopefully they will calm down a little bit since we there’s a huge mess we need to take care of. But this does take priority over all of them.”

10 minutes came by and finally things calmed down. Letting out a sigh, Leonardo then knocked on the door before letting himself in. He then saw the two girls huddled close together while the two boys sat on the floor close to them.

From the outside it looked like it was just a normal group of friends hanging out, it was quite heartwarming. Which is why it hurts him a little inside to know what they just went through. However, he also knows that he can do nothing, for the life of a mage is a life of strife.

Steering himself to flash a smile, he then let out a loud greeting towards the youngsters in the room.

“Greetings to you Magician’s troupe!” Leonardo declared as he continued to walk towards the side of the table that was in front of the white board.

“First of all, I would like to say that I am beyond glad that all of you came back alive and well.” Leonardo said as Sylvester and friends fixed themselves accordingly as they sat straight on the chairs directly facing the headmaster.

“I would also like to apologize for there seemed to have been some difficulties on our side as well.” Leonardo said in a dejected tone, prompting Sylvester’s inquiry..

“Difficulties?” Sylvester said in a curious tone.

“Yes, or rather, our failure to be exact.” He continued. “You see, my dear students, we were able to mobilize the task force that was going to be sent to assist and bail you out in record time, less than a minute to be exact. And because this was an emergency we had no choice but to directly bring them to the site of the distress signal.”

Once this information was revealed, Sylvester and his friends all froze up as their minds were forming a picture of what Leonardo was implying.

“Wait, one minute?” Artian asked. “So you should have arrived almost immediately! Before Sylvester even engaged that Lich in battle.”

“Yes, that is what should have happened. But as you all know, Professor Bridget arrived fashionably late and so did the Church people.” Leonardo said as he then called for Mona Lisa to hand him over the tablet to which she obliged.

“Wait, so what exactly happened?” Rossa asked. “We were fighting for more than just one minute, surely they should have arrived earlier.”

“Yeah normally that is what should have happened, but as it stands, something interfered.” Leonardo said as his face turned serious.

“Interfered? How?” This time it was Estelle that asked questions, with her voice seemingly agitated over the implications.

“Did time slow down for us or something? What happened?” She continued.

“We don’t exactly know what happened, but time slowing down is simply just one factor among many.”

Estelle’s eyes widened from within her ski goggles. Dealing with time is an absurd feat, even with magic. She remembers that is even considered as Taboo since messing with time can and will lead to great consequences, recalling the words of her and Artian's mentor.

"Altering time is but an over complicated way of ending your own life."

Sylvester’s hairs suddenly stood out on end as he already knew the thing that caused this very frightening anomaly.

“That masked thing.” Sylvester thought inside his head as his expression grew serious.

“In fact, Sylvester seemed to have come face to face with that thing and was handed over a rather curious book if you recall.” Everyone’s faces suddenly went pale, for even in their moment in victory, it seemed that they were still in danger.

“Yes, I did meet it. In fact, it asked me for a favor.” Sylvester suddenly declared.

“Favor?” Leonardo said in an intrigued fashion.

“Yes, it asked me to give it a name.”

“Then, what did you call it?”

Sylvester made a half smile and leaned back on his chair.

“Masked Entropy.”