After Alois and I sat on the couch, Alvis surveyed us.

“It was him, wasn’t it?” he asked, “That phony headmaster who thinks too much of himself.”

I nodded.

“The Pavilion is very precious to me,” Alvis explained, “In order to prevent it from being used for evil I set up a few countermeasures. One of them was in the case that someone committed murder inside, they would be forever banned from my Pavilion and any surviving victims would go back in time by three days and appear before me.”

“Three days?” I asked, “but in that case we haven’t even met.”

“Perhaps not but I know of you,” Alvis replied, “Fill me in on what happened in the past three days, but keep in mind that you cannot appear before yourselves.”

I started with the issue with Lann, and how the next morning Alvis had appeared and taken him away, then later how she had met Alvis in the garden and ended up hiring him.

Alois spoke of what he was doing. Business with the Headmaster, little pranks, and my asking to see Mich- Mickey in the pavilion.

Alvis nodded along as he listened to our story. “I thought as much. It seems I will be busy for the next few days,” he told us, “Try not to go out too much while I am gone. You are in Beraud and the opinion towards Tethia is rather varied here.”

“What are you going to be doing?” I asked.

“First I will report to the king what Prince Lann has been, or will be, up to. Then I will travel to Tethia to pick him up while the king arranges to have Lann become the Grand Duke of Gaia. After that you and I need to have a little discussion, otherwise you never would have gone to the Pavilion of Eternal Dusk in the first place.”

Alois looked around. “I know we aren’t supposed to meet ourselves or go out while you are gone,” he began, “but what can we do?”

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“You can go to the Pavilion and prepare, or read any of my collection if you are bored,” Alvis replied, “Once the three days are up we are going to have to act instantly because Alois and Cassandra will have vanished and a desperate man will be moving fast to bring his plan into action before anyone can stop him.”

“Why would he be so desperate?” I asked, “If we vanished we can’t tell anyone about him, even though we already have.”

“Because he won’t know where you have gone, and because he will realize very quickly that he has angered the Pavilion,” Alvis explained.

“What do you mean?” Alois asked cautiously.

“Those who betray the laws of the Pavilion begin to lose everything they gained there. First, time will begin to catch up with him. Every moment spent in the Pavilion will suddenly add on to his current lifespan and he will age. Next is magic. The Pavilion has a naturally high concentration of magic. It is hard not to absorb any, and he has been collecting it on purpose.”

“He could die,” I whispered.

“The change will not be entirely sudden,” Alvis assured me, “and that is why he will be desperate. He will want to destroy the Pavilion before the Pavilion destroys him.”

“I will need to be very careful to watch my step from now on,” Alois breathed, “Not that I was ever planning on using the Pavilion for murder or anything, but shouldn’t there be some kind of warning?”

“There is,” Alvis told him, “I kindly left a guidebook for my successors to follow, but it was conveniently lost after a few generations.”

“They got rid of it?” I asked.

“Yes, they threw it out,” Alvis confirmed, “Quite literally.”

Alois ran a hand down his face. “Idiots. They were all idiots,” he muttered, “and now I probably won’t be able to become Headmaster ever because I was the apprentice of an idiot.”

Alvis smiled. “We both know that Osmond is no good, but what about being the apprentice of a real Headmaster,” he offered, “I have been keeping an eye on you, and I think you would make a perfect Headmaster. You are just the Headmaster that Tethia needs to restore the true position and deal with the traitors who tainted it.”

“Thank you,” Alois replied cautiously, “but even if you say that, there are only three days. Once that Headmaster is taken care of they will need to find a replacement and after his crimes come to light they won’t trust any of the candidates he chose. Besides, three days isn’t long enough to learn anything.”

“If that is your concern why don’t I take my position back and let you be the first in several generations to use the Pavilion for its intended purpose,” Alvis proposed.

“Do you mean the simulation?” I asked, “but you told me that only you could work it, and you will be busy dealing with other things.”

“Not really,” he said, “It only takes a moment of real time for you to experience those two years. How about it? Are you two ready?”

“I will try it,” Alois agreed.

“Wonderful,” Alvis replied, “Then watch closely right now so I can show you how to access the real purpose of the Pavilion.”

A gateway of some kind opened from nothing revealing the Pavilion, but as I watched, the perfect mirror of dusk rippled and became the capital of Tethia.

“Good luck,” Alvis said as he gave Alois a push toward the ovular opening. 

I watched in trepidation as Alois disappeared into the Pavilion and the opening closed behind him.