I returned to my room that night holding the scepter in my hand. Once inside my room it floated ominously as I had expected, so I locked it in the closet so I could get some sleep. My dreams that night were turbulent and confusing, full of haunted scepters, cursed kingdoms, and my confused imaginations of fake magic.

When I awakened the scepter was making soft knocking sounds on the door of the closet, which had probably caused at least half of my nightmares. I looked at the closet in frustration. Why did it even matter if magic was true or fake anyway? Alvis and Reginald seemed to know a lot more about it than anyone else, but I had already called that emergency meeting. I couldn’t just charge in and demand information outside of my field.

Or was it outside of my field? With my new task, I wasn’t so sure. My eyes once again wandered to the closet where I am sure the scepter was waiting for me. I slowly got up and walked over to the closet and cautiously opened the door. With a flash of silver the staff flew into my empty hand.

Hold on, silver? I carefully examined the staff and saw that it had completely transformed into a regal silver scepter with a radiant blue diamond encircled by what appeared to be dragon wings. Upon closer inspection the whole dragon was curled around the gem. It was silver like everything else, except for it’s gleaming blue eyes. The detail was also incredible.

More surprising was the fact that the dragon did not appear to be attached to the rest of the scepter by anything, as if it were floating above its nest. While it was beautiful the change in appearance confused me. I glanced back into the closet to see what haused it only to freeze in shock.

The safe in which I kept the dragon tears was open, and the door was hanging on a single half broken hinge. The dagger shaped vial that should have been inside was simply gone. The closet door was also damaged from the scepter’s incessant banging. But what had happened to the dragon tears?

I glanced again at the blue diamond the silver dragon was coiled around. It was a beautiful and familiar shade that I had only seen in one item before.

“It can’t be,” I muttered to myself and reached up to grasp the dragon. I was able to remove it from whatever force kept it hovering over the staff and examined it more closely. I gently brushed the dragon’s tiny face and my finger came away wet. The glittering blue eyes were not gems, but liquid.

“Dragon tears,” I whispered, and instantly felt overwhelmed. As soon as I released the dragon it floated back to its place at the head of the scepter. “This is insane.”

After deciding that I needed more information on what this meant I called Silas Toll to the palace. Perhaps it was an impulsive decision but I wanted an expert on at least one of the rare items to give me some answers.

Silas arrived shortly after I called him with an air of curiosity and his usual business smile. “Was your journey successful?” he questioned.

For a moment I had forgotten the purpose of my trip to Beraud, but it was as good a place as any to begin.

“It was,” I replied, “Not only were negotiations successful, the king of Beraud gave me a gift.”

“What kind of gift?” Silas asked. His tone and face were carefully controlled, but I noticed the sharp glint of a curious businessman in his eyes.

“This,” I replied, and gestured to the scepter I had propped up against my window. The scepter took the invitation to fly into my hand and I flinched slightly. “The scepter itself is an incredible magic tool, but this morning it appears to have merged with the dragon tears you gave me.”

“Merged?” Silas asked and stepped forward to examine it closer. “I suppose it is a merging, but an incomplete one. I say it is incomplete but it was clearly intended. It was a clean merging leaving the individual qualities of each item completely separate while sharing benefits. A perfect combining of sorts, depending on your perspective.”

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“So it hasn’t ruined the tears?” I asked.

“Not at all. If anything, it has enhanced them,” Silas replied, “You said that the king of Beraud gave you that artifact?”

“This scepter? Yes,”

“He must have been incredibly pleased or not realized what he had in his hands. This is a top tier artifact that seems to be able to learn and adjust to its master and environment.”

“So it did this to adapt to me?” I clarified.

“More or less. Perhaps it sensed you uncertainty and bound itself to something you held dear or found important. This artifact seems rather attached to you. If I may ask, what does it do?”

“From what I have heard it unlocks real magic,” I explained, unable to keep the frustration from my tone.

“Real magic? And Avlis is willing to allow this?” Silas asked.

For some reason his surprise bothered me. “Why wouldn’t he?” I demanded.

“That might be a question better asked to Alvis himself. If you find yourself drowning in mysteries you have two choices,” Silas advised, “Ignore them, forget them and move forward, or find the answers. Once you have decided your path, take action. Doing nothing will only serve to frustrate you further.”

Hearing those words allowed me to relax as my apprehensions vanished. “Thank you,” I told Silas.

“It is my duty to serve my loyal customers,” he replied with a smile, “As for the transportation methods we spoke of earlier, most of them are ready for a test run. Shall I inform you of the results?”

“Please,” I replied.

Silas bowed and left the office.

Now that Silas was gone I thought about what he said and stood. Alvis already dumped the majority of his work onto Alois. There was no reason I should allow him to rest so easily when he was hiding so many secrets. If I was to be betrayed by a second headmaster I wanted to find out sooner rather than later. Luckily I did not have any pressing tasks as I had carefully cleared them all for my trip to Beraud.

It took me a while to locate Alvis. He was not in the Headmaster’s office, nor was he with the king or queen. I eventually found him closely observing Keane while he worked in the medical research building.

“Alvis,” I called out, my voice surprisingly calm, “We need to talk.”

“Ah,” he muttered and smiled bitterly, “I knew this was coming. Very well. Follow me.”

He got up and headed for the exit. I was momentarily confused but quickly kept pace with him. “Where are we going?” I asked cautiously.

“To the magic division. As the most likely successor to the Head Magician Caleb also needs to know the truth. You still have the chance to back out. The truth may be frightening. You may regret knowing.”

“I am willing to risk that,” I replied with determination. I was already steeling myself for some sort of ridiculous explanation since it was Alvis I was dealing with.

Reginald and Caleb were waiting for them when they arrived at the magic division. “Things happened exactly as you guessed,” Reginald acknowledged, shooting Alvis a glance, “Shall we get this over with?”

I looked over at Caleb who shook his head with a slight shrug. So he didn’t know what was going to happen either.

They stepped inside the building and into a room before Alvis locked the door. “All of the answers you seek lead to the deal the first Head Magician made with the first King of Tethia,” Alvis explained and pulled out a contract, “Back then, magic was so rare it was barely heard of. Those who could use magic were feared as monsters and hunted down. However, the king was different. He asked Yuki to lend him his power, and founded the kingdom of Tethia. However that wasn’t all.”

I looked down at the contract then back at Alvis. “Impossible.”

“I am afraid it is quite possible,” Alvis replied, ‘The king learned of our immortality and asked Yuki for a favor. He knew Yuki had endless overflowing magic and asked that Yuki share it with everyone within Tethia.”

“And then they made this contract,” I continued for him and glanced again at the terms, “The position of the Head Magician is really to distribute Yuki’s magic with the help of the artifact of creation.”

“That’s right,” Alvis replied, “I am certain that Osmond realized the implications when he found out the truth. If the Head Magician is in charge of distributing magic, they could purposely leave out those they hate and deny them access to magic. Not to mention the fact that if Yuki ever goes mad his magic is everywhere in Tethia, in everyone. All of Tethia is at his fingertips.”

“But Yuki is always sleeping,” I pointed out.

“Yes. Yuki prefers his dreams to reality, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible.”

“So that is what Silas meant,” I realized.

Alvis chuckled. “Silas is far too intelligent for his own good sometimes.”

“Then before I leave here I must know something,” I pressed and approached Alvis, “What are your intentions towards Tethia?”

“I think that is an answer you don’t want to hear, but for now be comforted in knowing that I consider Tethia precious and will protect it.”

“If… if Osmond had not killed Mickey in the Pavilion, what would have happened to him?” I asked.

“That was up to you,” Alvis replied, “To be honest, I didn’t expect him to panic and make such a grave mistake. I wasn’t going to get involved, but I will never forgive those who taint my pavilion regardless of their reasons.”

“I should head back,” I decided and quickly unlocked and left the room. My mind was filled with more confusion than before, but this time about the past. All along this fake magic everyone in Tethia was using was just Yuki’s magic. There had to be exceptions. I paused.

“Autumn,” I muttered. Autumn was a beastkin, making him a magical creature. It was possible that Autumn’s magic was his own and not Yuki’s, but how could I find out?