Even after they left the Pavilion and the maze, the group of them stayed together and found themselves gathering in the fourth floor library. There was a long pause of silence as none of them were quite sure what to say. They had just found out each other’s deepest secrets and had their own revealed in front of the Headmaster of Nobility and his summon.

“What should we do now?” Maximus finally asked, looking not to the eldest, Alois, or the genius Keane, but to Cassandra.

“First, can I ask why you seem to have so much faith in me?” Cassandra questioned, “You’ve always behaved oddly from the moment we met. What kind of person was I to you in the world from your memories?”

“You were incredible and fearless,” Maximus replied, “Had Tethia not fallen, I am sure you would have made a fine queen. You continued to defend your people and the artifacts even after we had lost. You defied ultimate power, and even took pity on the coward I was after Wayde fell.”

What kind of crazy superhuman was he describing here? Was she supposed to live up to that kind of prophecy? It was enough pressure to be some kind of love rival in Autumn’s game, but to Maximus she was some kind of hero and martyr? Cassandra already regretted asking. At least his earlier behavior made a lot more sense. He hadn’t fallen for a stranger, but the one who he believed would be his future savior.

“I only remember thinking you were an excellent princess,” Alois comforted, or at least he tried to.

“Can we even be sure the future you all remember is the same one?” Keane asked, “It is likely that Maximus and Wayde come from the same future, but it is always possible that there are many possible futures of Tethia that you could have been pulled from.”

“I never thought to check,” Wayde admitted.

Cassandra hadn’t either. “If there are multiple instances of worlds, Autumn and I might also just be from extremely similar places.”

“I wish I had known you were from Earth from the beginning,” Autumn complained, “Why didn’t you say anything when I told you about the game?”

“It was a rather sudden situation,” Cassandra reminded him.

Caleb heaved a sigh. “This is getting us absolutely nowhere,” he broke in, “We need some time to think, and it will be easier to plan once we see what comes of this new knowledge. Let’s meet up later once we know more about what is going on.”

“It should be easier to meet soon,” Alois mused, “After all, I would imagine all of you will quickly find your apprenticeships now.”

Autumn suddenly seemed to realize he was also included in this. “How would that work with me being Keane’s pair?”

“We don’t have to be together all of the time,” Keane reminded, “So long as we work in similar professions where we can partner often it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“How should we arrange our next meeting?” Cassandra asked, “There is no point in checking in if nothing happened yet.”

“We could just have some meals together,” Wayde suggested, “It would be less odd for us to meet often if everyone believes we are friends.”

With some sort of plan of action over, the group parted. Cassandra wasn’t even hungry for dinner or her beloved cookies. She barely convinced herself to change her clothes before falling into bed. Hopefully, that would be the end of excitement for a while.

It was, or at least the things that were happening were going into motion slowly enough that she couldn’t feel it. In the meantime, classes continued to pick up in pace and before Cassandra knew it, half of the semester had passed. During that time, Caleb had gotten an offer of apprenticeship from Archmage Reginald himself and accepted it. Autumn had yet to accept any apprenticeships but he had grown rather close with the librarian of Nobility.

Wayde’s apprenticeship was a rather odd case. Normally a Heart would be the apprentice of a prince or a guard, but Wayde became the apprentice of the Steward of Heart. The Steward of Heart was the steward that directly served the king and his purpose. There was also a Steward of Tear, Soul, Dusk, and Sage. The Steward of Quill was just called the Royal Steward as they served as the leader of all servants.

There had also been some progress with Yuki. Cassandra had been able to find small moments to visit him in the maze, but it became harder as classes grew in difficulty and she spent more time discussing things with her new friends. That is when Yuki began appearing in her room at bedtime and sleeping nearby. He continued to warm up to her until the fox eventually cuddled with her at night.

Yuki still disliked crowded places and would immediately disappear as soon as anyone approached. Even when she was alone, she almost always saw Yuki sleeping. She put aside thoughts of whether or not it was normal for foxes to sleep so much since Yuki was everything but normal.

It was right after the middle mark of the semester when all of the classes were starting to sink into a groove and become comfortable that the headmaster called all of the students to an assembly. The older students all seemed familiar with this, but they were all careful not to divulge what it was.

As they waited for the assembly to begin, Cassandra noticed Alois being cornered by some of those older students, at least one other being a Dusk. His new eyepatch look had settled in now, and no one really asked about it anymore. He had convinced the student body it was a fashion choice with a level of practicality, weaving some tales about night vision. That very eyepatch made him look more menacing with his frown than the group of students surrounding him.

Cassandra carefully made her way over to eavesdrop, this time on purpose. She needed to help if her comrade was in danger, after all.

“-broke the rules even if you won’t admit it. Why else would you be hanging out with a perfectly set up group like that?”

“How will the headmaster react when he finds out his own apprentice is a cheater?”

Alois scoffed. “Osmond knows about everything I do. I learned the hard way that I can't do anything without him noticing.”

One of the students moved to shove him but Alois just brushed them off. “Are you saying your cheating is sanctioned by the headmaster himself?!”

“I am saying there was no cheating. My friends know nothing about the announcement or the faction system,” Alois argued, “However, the rules say nothing against making friends and inviting them once the recruitment begins. Haven’t you been doing the same? You’re just jealous because I am better at it than you.”

The oldest student, the one Cassandra had recognized as a Dusk, was furious. “How did someone like you become his apprentice when he wouldn’t look at me no matter how hard I tried?”

“Beats me,” Alois said with a shrug, “I never planned to make it this far. If you are so confident, get Osmond to replace me. Apprentices can be demoted.”

Luckily the scene did not devolve any further as the group left Alois without any violence. He waited until they were out of earshot before staring right at where Cassandra had halfheartedly hidden. She immediately stepped into view before he had to call her out.

“Good morning,” she greeted, “I wasn’t trying to learn any secrets. I was just concerned.”

“I never thought you were,” Alois told her, “And I was careful with my words. You’ll have to understand I can’t tell you anything else until after the announcement.”

“Of course,” Cassandra assured. She wasn’t that desperate to get insider information. She figured he would be more than willing to spill all of the important details once he was able.

There was a commotion but the entrance as the headmaster himself entered the hall. Cassandra quickly returned to her place among the Tears to prepare for the announcement to begin. After all, there had to be a reason they had all been sorted by course like this.