Standing before those mahogany doors, my heart races. So the headmaster of a school we weren’t sure even existed, somehow knew that I was coming? The whole thing seemed strange and surreal.

A nervousness falls over me as I suck in a breath. Who is the man waiting on the other side of that door and what does he want? Are all enrollees brought to the principal's office before they can become a student? It takes me several minutes to realize that the breath I sucked in, had been the only one.

“Sai,” Senza says in my head. “Remember to breathe.”

“Yeah,” I say as I exhale. “Easy for you to say, you’re not the one who has to deal with whomever is on the other side of this door.”

“I’m here though, am I not?”

I nod and not wanting to stall this any longer, I reach for the door and push it open.

The room is not what I expected it to be. While it is rather large, it is also dark and filled with book cases. The headmaster’s personal library? I stroll in with Senza still on my shoulder. There is a long, short table in the center which has stacks of books, scrolls and parchments scattered across its surface. Other stacks of books which need to be shelved are sitting by several of the bookcases. I pick one up and swipe the thick layer of dust off its cover with my jacket’s sleeve.

“Oh wow!” Senza says. “That is… an old book.”

“Breaon and Nalia, Truth of the Valarian War,” I recite the title. The book is old and tells the story of two people I knew to be war heroes but this… this book seemed to be telling a completely different tale from the one I grew up hearing.

“That… that isn’t how the story happened,” Senza says.

“How do you know?” I ask. “Were you around back then?”

“I…”

Before he can answer, there is a sound in the back that can only be described as a short yelp and a falling bookshelf. I place the book I picked up back where I found it and without looking back, walk cautiously around the line of bookshelves. My eyes fall on the one that had apparently fallen over and the form struggling beneath it.

“He…help…” he says as he places both his hands on the bookshelf and tries to lift it. “Do you mind?”

“Yeah,” I say as I rush over. I take hold of one side of the bookshelf and proceed to push it with all my might. The thing was… heavy. Still, with the help of the man beneath the bookcase, I managed to stand it back up. After taking a few, much needed breaths, I turned to the man and I couldn’t help it, I gasped.

“Shhh,” Senza says. “He cannot see through the glamor I placed upon you. I would rather we keep it that way.”

The man who had foolishly allowed a large bookcase to fall on him, was my bookworm of an uncle, Milo Treigha. He vanished from my life roughly ten years ago. We didn’t even know he was still alive and I’m surprised I can even remember. He is a short, twig of a man with messy blonde hair and sitting on his nose, is a pair of eyeglasses. Milo lifts a hand and I grasp it, pulling him to his feet.

“Thank you,” he says as he walks around me to the table.

“Eh… you’re the headmaster?” I ask when he says nothing else.

Milo is focused on a pile of documents on the table, written on parchment paper and hand drawn maps. Though it is only the corner of one page, I swear I saw something about the war. Many dead… and hordes of… then I notice my mother’s name, General Lesse Treigha. My breath catches. But remembering where I am, I make sure to exhale.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Yes I am,” he says. “You can call me Braeon Valara.”

I frown.

Braeon was the name of my favorite hero and a name that I saw on the cover of that book. That was a little… pretentious. I understand making an alias for oneself. God knows that I did and until people figure out who I actually am, I will continue to use it. But it was a name I came up with on my own. As far as I know, it belongs to no one but myself, whether they be real, fantasy or someone in the far distant history of our world.

“You are… Christina Bellhaven?”

“Yes but… how did you know-?”

He waves a hand at me and I stop talking.

“We know a lot of things,” he says. “Including who each and every one of are students were, are and will be?”

“Past, present and future?” I ask.

“Ah! Yes! You are very smart!” he reaches under a stack of books and I watch horrified as it topples when he pulls out a single, leather and unlabeled book. My uncle Milo - because I refuse to think of him as Braeon - opens to an empty page. “I need your signature here and then for you to put on this cuff.”

He hands me a black wristband with a line of runes scribbled across the top. I look at the empty page and then back at him. “Do you have a pen?”

“Oh!” Milo says. “Actually, this requires a completely different kind of ink.”

“What?”

“I think he means, your blood.” Senza says.

“My… blood?” I cringe at the thought. There are very few things in the world I can’t look at. Very few things my mind has a problem processing. Blood happens to be one of those.

“Your blood,” Milo continues.

I watch as he opens a small, square, black box which appears to have a short, this needle sticking out of it.

“I… I don’t think…” I say as I take two steps back.

“Nonsense!” he says. “It will only be a prick. It won’t hurt. Now hold out your hand.”

I do just that, but turn my head away and close my eyes. His hand closes around my wrist and I feel him pulling my hand towards the needle. Don’t fight it, don’t fight it, don’t fight it. Those words repeat in my head, over and over again. I should not fight it, this is the only way. A contract must be made.

“There,” he says. Milo guides my hand to the paper and presses my now, bleeding finger down.

I watch with both awe and horror as the fingerprint vanishes from the page.

“W-was that it?” I ask.

Milo nods. “It is,” he says. “Now you need only to put on that cuff.” he motions to the piece of black fabric still clutched in my other hand.

I look at it for a moment and then back to Milo.

“A contract has already been made Sai, the cuff as he calls it, is only meant to aid you in fulfilling that contract. You’ve got nothing left to lose.”

“Alright,” I say as I slip it around my wrist.

At first, nothing happens. Then after a moment, the runes light up. They remain bright for another minute, before the light gradually fades and they become dull once more.

“There!” Milo says. “Now I think you should go to the auditorium. I know its late, but the ‘passing’ is not yet finished and the house assessments are going to start right after that.” he turns away as if he wants to get back to whatever it was he was doing. As if in second thought though, he turns back to me. “Tomorrow new students and those who have not yet gone through assessments, are allowed to skip their classes.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go… go!” Milo waves me away.

I waste no time in escaping from that room. Though I’m glad to see my uncle again after such a long time, I can’t help that ever growing pit in my stomach that tells me something is not quite right. How does Uncle Milo of all people, become the headmaster of a secret, yet renowned school? And why has it been several years since I have seen him?

Exiting the headmaster’s library, I find Shue in his human form, sitting on the bench, reading. “Ready to go?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. He hops off the bench. Not stands, because that would have required his feet to be touching the floor in the first place. And leads me back to the elevator. “This school isn’t as bad as it was before but… I think you still shouldn’t have come here. It’s still…”

“Dangerous?” I ask.

“Yeah…” Shue says as he presses the button to go down. “Now that you’ve got that cuff, you’re essentially trapped like the rest of us…” he looks towards me. “I don’t know what I can do, but if you need help…”

“I’ll ask,” I say.

A soft bell dings and the elevator doors open. We step through.