It has been about a week, and I am currently finishing up the chaotic beginning paperwork for the trade hub territory. Alois was going back and forth between territories, and Maximus was staying with Wayde and some others at the dye territory to keep it running. Caleb was also split between both keeping all of the magic running.

More importantly, in front of me was an invitation from the headmaster to have the rare opportunity to meet his summon- by his summon’s request.

Suspicious. Absolutely, definitely suspicious. 

However, I would not risk turning it down. I wasn’t the only one who had received the invitation either. All of us did. By all of us, I mean the leaders of our faction. Alois, Caleb, Keane, Maximus, Wayde, and Autumn. The invitation also states that ‘Alois knows the way’ and ‘good luck’. 

I couldn’t get the princess’s words out of my head as I looked at it. Was I overreacting? I also couldn’t overlook the fact that I may be being fooled and the princess could be the one manipulating things somehow. I almost wish she hadn’t told me anything. 

I was still a little surprised about Caleb and Keane’s reveal, but not as much as Autumn was about me. The way he is reacting now makes me feel bad for keeping it from him. Now he runs away whenever he sees me and I have to deliver messages through Keane. At least those two are close? I don’t know if I should be concerned or not because Keane is a capture target.

Hopefully Autumn doesn’t cause a scene in front of the Headmaster.

I push the invitation aside and pick up the last stack of paperwork. Luckily this one is small. Whoever had this territory last made a huge mess of things and the people that are really in charge were not happy to have more students come in… Hopefully I have at least proved to be more competent.

“You ready to go?” Alois asked from the doorway.

I set down my pen. “Might as well. I was almost done and paperwork like that isn’t really my job in the first place.”

“Wayde is definitely better at it,” Alois agreed with a smile. 

“Where are we headed?”

“To Nobility, obviously,” Alois said, “Where else would the great base of the Headmaster be?”

“Good point.”

Caleb was waiting by the magic gate that led to Nobility and once we stepped through it turned out we were the last to arrive. 

“What took you so long?”

“She was doing paperwork like an obsessive monster. I was scared to interrupt,” Alois replied with a smile.

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That was unlikely. I had never seen Alois be scared of anything, especially if it involved getting attention.

“So where exactly are we going?” I demanded.

Alois looked at the ground. “Somewhere about there,” he said, pointing at a seemingly random spot.

“Underground?”

“Well, I am not so sure where the end is but I know where the entrance is.”

“The entrance to what?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Alois promised, his usual smirk returning. 

And there he goes with his usual avoidance technique. I had tried asking Caleb what was up with the eyepatch since he was clearly in on it, but he had taken a magic oath of secrecy. Somehow this mysterious ‘entrance’ and wherever it ended up seemed to have a similar level of secrecy. Was the Headmaster hiding a secret weapon?

We all followed Alois to the headmaster’s office, but it was empty. Since it clearly wasn’t the end destination, I wasn’t surprised. Then Alois opened a surprisingly simple secret passageway that led to a staircase lit with magical torches. 

“The next part is complicated, so make sure to listen to what I say,” Alois warned.

“Complicated how?” Keane asked warily.

I was glad I wasn’t the only suspicious one, but Keane gave me chills for some reason. Probably something about that past he would not go into details about.

“Simply put, its a maze,” Alois said, “There is entrance to it in the capital too, which is why the actual underground maze could exist anywhere.”

“The entrance doesn’t need a strong mage to activate it?” Caleb asked in interest.

“Not that I can tell. You can take a look at it if you want. It is right at the bottom of the stairs.”

Caleb brushed past Alois and went right down. I peered after him, but the stairs turned a corner so I could not see the bottom. Still, I was also curious about a gateway that didn’t need a powerful mage to activate. Had someone insanely powerful managed a high level magic loop or was it something different entirely?

Unable to hold back, I also slipped down the stairs. After turning the corner I saw Caleb closely examining what appeared to be a perfectly normal doorway. However, I could feel the powerful magic coming from it long before I reached the bottom of the stairs. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Caleb muttered, “There is no way the headmaster did this, but I would love to meet whoever did.”

“It could have been one of the founders,” I suggested, “Doesn’t the head of every important position possess an artifact?”

“Yes, and this is great, but nowhere near the level of an artifact,” Caleb explained, “Even though the method is different it is nothing more than a permanent gateway.”

“No offense to you two magic nerds, but isn’t the headmaster waiting?” Wayde interrupted as he reached the bottom of the stairs himself. 

Wayde was followed by everyone else.

“Right, we can look at this on the way back,” I conceded.

Caleb still looked reluctant, but moved aside so that Alois could take the lead. “Are you certain you know the way?” he demanded.

“Of course,” Alois said, “I have been running through this stupid thing almost daily since I was ten.”

Was that some form of headmaster training? No wonder candidates for the position were so scarce.

“Anyway, follow my directions exactly and this won’t be much different than a normal walk through a corridor,” Alois continued, “But if you stray… the traps in here can get pretty nasty. They sort of have to be.”

“Is the Headmaster’s relic inside here?” Caleb asked. 

“Yeah,” Alois answered honestly. His eyes… well his eye stared somewhere far away as he remembered it, “It is easier if you just see it. Trust me.”

With that, he led us through the maze. It was just like he said. As long as we followed Alois it wasn’t hard at all to get through the maze. I couldn’t help but hear some disturbing noises down the passages we passed by. 

The end of the maze left off at a large room with a set of dramatic double doors on the other side. Alois walked right up to said doors and pulled them open. As we approached, I froze in place.

The space beyond felt like it didn’t exist in reality. There was no doubt about it. This was a place beyond reality itself that matched the name Pavilion of Eternal Dusk nicely. The floor was like the smooth surface of water, rippling gently with every footstep as it reflected the perfect sky frozen at dusk above. The vibrant colors of sunset seemed to have faded, but still clung on, and the crescent moon also shone dimly from behind the misty edges of clouds. A few of the brighter stars dotted the scenery like freckles.

“You made it faster than I thought you would,” Headmaster Osmond greeted with a smile, then stepped aside to reveal a woman behind him, “This is Michelle, my summon.”