For some reason, he felt more nervous going to the Research Department than he had when attending classes. He found himself scratching the inside of his palm, a nervous habit he had mostly gotten rid of.

“Nervous?” The Archmaster spoke beside him.

Emilio bit his lip and nodded, not even trying to put up a false bravado. “Yes.”

“That’s alright,” the man chuckled. “You don’t have to know anything, you don’t have to do anything more than what you’re capable of. We are all here to learn, aren’t we?”

Emilio nodded again, sighing. He wished the Archmaster’s calm reassurance helped. But it didn’t. But the man’s steady presence beside him helped him keep his calm, despite the fact that he was humming some odd tune and kicking at the ground every few steps like an overexcited child.

It was when he had reached the door of the Research Department that he remembered something.

He slapped his forehead and turned to the Archmaster. “I forgot to tell Balsea I might not be coming to the Student Hall for dinner. I completely forgot! I have to tell them or they will keep waiting for me!”

Archmaster Loren put a hand on Emilio’s shoulder. “Calm down, young man. I will have someone inform him.”

Emilio paused and looked at the man suspiciously. “You?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. The man had just had him called with a gods damned broadcast. What if he relayed this information on a broadcast too? There was no real harm but it would be so embarrassing,

The man chuckled and waved a hand. “Don’t worry! I’ll send the message privately. Now go on! Those researchers are waiting for you!”

With that, he was pushed inside. He stumbled a bit but the man grasped his arm in the next instance and helped him stand straight. “Let’s go, let’s go! Tanya told me to bring you to her last because she needs you te longest. Already getting in on the work, are you? Attaboy!” He ruffled Emilio’s hair.

Emilio barely held back a flinch at the sudden hand reaching out for him. And he quickly jerked his head away. “I am not a child, Archmaster. Please do not touch me again.”

Archmaster Loren paused, something flashing across his face for a split second before he grinned at Emilio, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Alright, alright! Now, let us eliminate the least likely ones, shall we? To Spatial Magic!”

And it was indeed the least likely.

He had absolutely nothing to do with spatial magic, except feeling and being swept away by the pressure those temporary vortexes and portals created. These were the unstable portals people had to use before the Academy Researchers thought to combine Runes, Enchantment, and Spatial Magic around 500 years ago.

“What are they trying to do?” He whispered to the Archmaster as the researcher went back to work, disappointed that they wouldn’t get a new test subject lab helper.

“Oh, they are trying to create Portal Crystals. Someone had the idea of creating portable Portals for a select few, such as Knights and Royalty, and they have been working on that for the past few months. That’s the project for now.”

“Why … why only for Knights and Royalty?” He asked.

The Archmaster chuckled. “Well, we can’t hand them to everybody, Can you imagine the disaster that would bring?”

Emilio sighed and nodded. “I can imagine. Still, there should be a bar in using them limitlessly or capriciously. Or maybe a way to monitor how it is used? Considering the power struggles in the Royal family, it would be very easy to use the crystals for something malicious.”

“Well, aren’t you a smart little cookie?” The Archmaster smiled and turned to everyone. “Well, you heard him. Start researching how to monitor its use as well! Take help from the Runic Department if needed. Come on, Emilio!”

And then he was dragged again, this time to Enchantments.

Once again, a bust.

He could do nothing there.

But he had to admit, watching the researchers do intricate enchantments on inanimate things, watching as those things came alive in a swirl of magic and colors, was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

The next few were useless as well.

Elemental Magic.

Illusion Magic.

Transformation Magic.

Runic Magic.

After Runic Magic, he was dragged into the Department of the Arcane Languages.

“Why are you dragging me here now?” Emilio asked, exasperated. “This has clearly nothing to do with me. It is useless and I would be embarrassed all over again! Let’s just go to Herbology where I can actually work!”

“Oh, don’t be so negative!” The Archmaster said. “I am just bringing you here to rule out all the possibilities, all right? Even the unlikely ones. And the Arcane Languages is very close to the Runic Department so we might as well just get this wrapped up!”

Emilio groaned as he followed the man.

There were only a handful of members in this small space that was home to the Arcane Languages Research, unlike the others which had at least a dozen, along with some student interns and graduate apprentices. But this space seemed to be occupied by what looked like a few downtrodden men, most of whom were aging.

One of them seemed older than the rest, judging by his balding head. He was observing some stone tablets on his table when they entered, some sort of goggles in his eyes as he tried to discern the carvings.. He took one look at them and let out a world weary sigh.

“If you are going to do this farce here, Archmaster, please do get it over with as soon as possible.”

Emilio could not help but shrink his neck a bit. Even though this man was the only one to say it out loud, he was sure many of the others felt the same, especially as the news spread of him going to every department to find something that would work but failing.

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The Archmaster put a hand on his back. As always, despite the man’s lackluster behavior, his presence was at least reassuring.

“Go ahead, look around. Touch the stones. Carefully, however. See if you can find anything,”

Emilio stepped forward and then hesitated, He looked up at the man who was staring up at him, the expression on his face disapproving.

“May I?” he asked softly.

The man glanced at Archmaster Loren for a moment before sighing and pushing his chair back. “Be careful. These are old stone tablets and must be handled with care.”

Emilio sighed softly and nodded. He reached forward and placed a finger on the tablet.

Immediately, he heard a faint whistling in his ear. Nothing more. He frowned. It sounded muted. After a moment, he had a realization. He closed his eyes and willed his mind to open up to the sounds of nature.

He heard the whistling increase and there was a steady but rapid thump thump thump in his head. He felt as if he saw vague images, silhouettes of humans and animals, darkness, light, and the steady thrum of the earth beneath and around him. It all passed in a flash, like some sort of lightning bolt that hit his mind directly.

He gasped loudly and pulled back, panting as he clutched his head.

“What … what on earth?” He gasped out.

“Emilio? What happened?” The Archmaster asked. Emilio looked down at the man and realized that he was sitting on one of the seats and the Archmaster was kneeling on the ground in front of him, looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

As soon as his mind was out of … whatever trance that was. He heard them.

“Ooh a worm!”

“Where’s the damn mouse?”

“So hot. Why is it so hot?”

“Go fly, go fly, I fly!”

He clenched his teeth and shut off his mind. It came almost naturally to him.

He let out a groan and clutched his head.

“Emilio, you must tell me what happened.” The Archmaster’s voice was calm, patient. “I cannot help you if I do not know what is going on.”

“I … I do not know,” he whispered. “I touched the stone and I saw … things. Vague … figures. They came and went. It was like … like … I was seeing a lot of things happening at the same time as if they … they were sped up.”

The Archmaster tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I did know your powers had something to do with nature. But I did not know that they would work on inanimate objects like stones. They don’t have any spirit or mana after all.”

“But…” one of the researchers spoke up, “... that stone does have a spirit.”

For the first time, Emilio saw a surprised look on the man’s face. It really was a novel thing. He had never thought that there would be something that the Archmaster didn’t know.

“It does?” Archmaster Loren asked.

The man nodded. “It’s faint. Subtle, Only those of us who have worked with buried archeological discoveries, especially ones like these seemingly useless stone tablets, can tell. Not all spiritless objects are like this. Some, after staying in a mana rich environment for a long time or somehow being exposed to the world’s energies in some way, can develop a semblance of a ‘spirit’. It’s not an actual spirit. The stone is not alive, It’s just those energies accumulated inside it making an imitation of one.”

“I see,” the Archmaster looked at the stone tablet curiously. “And exactly how long would be a long time.”

This time, the Head was the one who answered. “We don’t know. But in this particular case, we estimate that this particular stone tablet is more than five hundred thousand years old. How old it actually is, we don’t know. But we believe that this stone table contains the first written language, the first Arcane language, from which all others derived. This was lost in the passage of time when people forgot to write in pursuance of more territory and power. The knowledge of most Arcane Languages was lost and we had to recreate and relearn. In the world of magic, Modern Spellcasting, Enchantment, and Runes are a result of that.”

“Yes, yes, thank you for the history lesson!” The Archmaster waved it off. Emilio could not help but feel annoyed at that. That history was really interesting! “Now, Emilio, do you want to try again?”

Emilio looked at him before sighing and standing. He did not want to try again but he was curious. He walked to the table and looked at the stone tablet. He frowned as he saw the carvings. He did not touch it. Instead, he leaned down and scrutinized it.

“Forget it,” the Research Head grunted. “We have been trying to read that for the past five years now. All we got is ‘abyss’ and ‘return’.”

Emilio tilted his head.

“For this World I loved

I suffered, I fought, I sacrificed.

The World shall forget.

The Abyss shall not.

The day the Abyss awakens

So shall I

Your Salvation and Your Ruination.”

Silence.

Emilio blinked and straightened, before turning to the men. “That’s what is written on the tablet.”

Another long moment of silence.

“What the fuck?”

“That’s what is written on the tablet,” Emilio repeated, still feeling dumbfounded himself. “It’s ‘awaken’, not ‘return’.” He added helpfully, though he was sure he was just adding fuel to the fire. Damn, why couldn’t he do anything right?

“What the fuck?” The man repeated.

Emilio shook his head, frowning. “I … I have no idea.”

The Archmaster threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, this is fantastic. You continue to surprise us, Emilio Florian! And you didn’t want to come here!”

Emilio just had to turn and glare at the Archmaster. “This is not a laughing matter, Archmaster!”

At this point, he was on the verge of losing his mind. Talking to animals, communicating with plants and stones, and now somehow knowing an Arcane Language that experts hadn't been able to decipher for years? What next? Communicating with the Void? Ha! He was starting to feel like it would have been better if he had just not gotten this stupid power at all!

“Emilio, calm down.” The Archmaster’s voice was steady and his hands grasped Emilio’s shoulders. “It’s fine. You are just here to learn something new. Nothing more, alright? Now breathe.”

Emilio realized he had been letting out short, panicked gasps. He exhaled shakily a few times before looking at the man. “Can we -” he had to pause and swallow before speaking again, “can we go back for today? I … I feel exhausted. I can … come by myself tomorrow.”

So much had happened. In one day. How was he going to survive this for who knew how long?

The Archmaster let go of him and smiled. “Of course. I cannot have you withering away before you bloom.” He sighed. “Besides, there are only Beast Taming and Herbology left. You have already decided on Herbology and, as for Beast Taming, I am sure you will be able to work there. After all, you can talk to animals. Magical beasts should be no exception.”

Emilio nodded and trudged his way back to the Dormitories. The entire time, the Archmaster walked one step behind him. He didn’t pay much attention to it. Nor did he pay attention to the students once again pointing and whispering at him.

Balsea was already waiting for him with food ready.

It seemed that the Archmaster really had informed him somehow.

One look at his face and Balsea somehow knew something was wrong. They said nothing, just raised the packet in their hand and grinned.

“Hungry?”

With warmth in his heart, he sat beside Balsea and ate and chatted. Balsea did not ask him anything he did not want to answer. It didn’t last long into the night. Emilio tucked himself in soon, feeling exhaustion settle deep into his bones.

That night, he did not have the same nightmare he had been having for as long as he could remember.

Instead, he had a dream.

A dream that started out beautifully.