There was a tense moment or two before Yuki responded. “I activated the curse of the Pavilion,” Yuki answered, approaching cautiously as if scared Cassandra would run away, “He can’t come here anymore, but she can’t either.”

“What does that mean?” Cassandra demanded.

“For the rest of her life, she can never be summoned again,” Yuki explained, “Alvis can explain the rest. The Pavilion will send us there in a moment.”

Alois quickly hid the knife he had drawn from who knows where when Osmond had appeared. “The Pavilion will do what?!” he demanded.

As if to answer him, the Pavilion melted away to reveal Alvis’s private room in the Northern Wing of Teber manor. Alvis himself set aside the book he had been reading and looked them over, fixing his gaze on Yuki with a frown.

“Was there any bloodshed?” he asked.

“I triggered the curse before,” Yuki reported.

“Good job,” Alvis praised, then turned his attention to them. “I suppose you will be wanting an explanation.”

“We do,” Cassandra confirmed, still shaken, “What was that thing that possessed Osmond? What happened to Mickey? Why would the Pavilion send us here?”

“I don’t know about the others as I wasn’t there, but I can explain the last,” Alvis replied, “There is a curse that was once used in sacred spaces to prevent bloodshed within their grounds. I call it the Blood Cry curse. Any who sheds the blood of another within its premises will pay a heavy price. Witnesses will be sent directly to the caster, and the victim will be protected.”

That sounded like it was not only incredibly complicated, but powerful as well. Why place such a powerful curse on a place only to abandon it? Unless he never had.

“What kind of heavy price?” Alois demanded, “Will the curse know who the real attacker was?”

“This must be about Osmond and his possessor you mentioned earlier,” Alvis inferred, “To answer your question, both will face the curse as any other would. First, the foolish transgressor will be held captive by the Pavilion for three days while the curse fully binds itself to their soul or souls. Once they are set free into the world the cost will begin to take hold. I do not forgive any who abuse what is mine, so I made sure everything would return to its rightful place. Everything gained in my Pavilion will be taken back one by one.

Cassandra felt a chill at his words. “Everything?” she questioned, “But the Pavilion is beyond time.”

“Exactly,” Alvis confirmed, “Every hour they should have aged, and even those things that they learned on that borrowed time. Everything will be returned to its rightful place. You should be careful as well, young apprentice. He made that weapon with the Pavilion’s magic as well.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Alois immediately held out the dagger Cassandra had glimpsed before to Alvis. “Then take it. I don’t want to be in the Pavilion’s debt.”

“Keep it,” Alvis told him, “It’s already too late for you to avoid the Pavilion, but all will be well so long as you never abuse it. That is, if you believe my words this time. The Records won’t have this information for you.”

Another rush of guilt clenched Cassandra’s stomach. This was all her fault. If she had just believed Alvis the first time, she wouldn’t have dragged Alois and Mickey into this. At least it seemed like Mickey was alive, but she wasn’t about to push her luck and try to summon her again. First things first, she needed to apologize to the angered immortal.

“I’m sorry,” she told him, “I knew who you were from the beginning, yet I still doubted you. I’ll understand if you withhold information from me. Alois is the headmaster’s apprentice and needs to know what is going on. If you need me to leave, I will go.”

“No need for that,” Alvis assured, seeming almost amused now, “With Osmond likely to be out of the picture, you will need all the help you can get. The apprentice must step up and take the mantle. Very well. For your honest apology I shall assist you. I will reclaim my position as headmaster in your stead.”

Alois let out a breath of relief. “Are you really willing to do that?” he asked.

“Of course,” Alvis promised, then proceeded to shatter Alois’s hopes, “You still have much to learn before you become the headmaster yourself. You shall become my apprentice instead.”

“Surely you could find a better apprentice than me,” Alois protested, “I never even wanted to be headmaster.”

“You may change your mind after seeing what this position was truly meant to be,” Alvis told him, “Besides, I think you already knew it is far too late to back out now.”

Before things got too out of hand, Cassandra butted in. “Shouldn’t we figure out what to do about this first? No one but us knows what happened with Osmond, and even you can’t just demand your old position back.”

“I could, but you make a fair point,” Alvis agreed, “In this case, I believe we should talk to the one who helped forge that false artifact. Yuki?”

“It was Reginald, the Archmage,” Yuki answered immediately.

“False artifact?” Cassandra questioned.

Alvis nodded to the dagger in Alois’s hands. “That there. It is rather unstable and inefficient but it is a solid attempt at an artifact.”

“Why would Reginald help Osmond make an artifact?” Alois asked, also turning his gaze to the dagger, “Especially one he told me should be used to kill him.”

“So that was the plan? Clever, but it wouldn’t have worked. Not against our foe,” Alvis commented, “Is there anyone else you believe you should bring along for our adventure? Perhaps the owner of the Records or the apprentice of the Archmage?”

“Do we have time for that?” Cassandra asked.

“There is no need to rush,” Alvis reminded, “We have three days before Osmond and the fiend that possesses him return. Rushing to the archmage in a panic is not what we should be doing with that time.”

That was a fair point. Cassandra tried to calm herself and focus on the situation at hand. The major crisis was over. Yuki had saved them. On top of that, Alvis had offered his help. This time, she needed to listen to him. Who should they bring on an adventure to confront Osmond and seek help from the archmage? More importantly, why would Alvis ask them when he already seemed to have the answer.

“The Heroes of Tethia,” she realized, “Are you the one who-”

“Summoned you to Tethia?” Alvis interrupted, “I should have thought that was obvious. However, that is a story for another time. For now, we should gather our heroes and go on an adventure.”