It was the night before Levi’s first sparring session with Professor Bertrum. He was nervous. Levi personally excelled at using summons and spells to be adept at magic. Bertrum specifically mentioned that he would not be allowed to use combat spells or any of his familiars. They would have to be defused and watching. Levi knew the benefit of this would be worthwhile in the long run he just wasn’t sure of why he had to do it now—laying in his bed at midnight not able to sleep as the negative thoughts were swirling in his head.

Then, something pricked at his senses. The same feeling he got at the summoner’s guild in Arvendon. Getting out of bed, he followed his senses to where it was. Anza and Serenity were following him as extra protection. This time his senses led him to a lecture hall he had never been in. Clearly people hadn’t been in here for a long time as spider webs had taken over the entire hall. Levi looked closely at the webs and noticed that there were small strands of mana in each of the webs, he wondered if the spiders were magical here too. He chuckled as he thought of purposefully getting bitten so he could get spider powers, after all magic was real so why couldn’t superheroes be?

In the corner, he saw chaos magic manifest before him. Dark gray storm clouds with red lighting swirled in place. Something was glowing midnight red in the eye of the storm. Levi watched patiently as it was forming in place. He was not as scared as he was before, but the room did not help his nerves. There was something about the space that was creepy, the hair on the back of his neck had been slowly rising the longer he stayed in the room.

It felt like there was someone or something watching him. He turned around and there was nothing there. He conjured an orb of fire to provide some additional light in the room. Levi instantly regretted doing that. All around him were incorporeal figures staring at him. They were all human-shaped and wore hooded versions of the summoner’s robes he had been told to wear here.

“What the hell man,” Levi exclaimed. Holding his fist up in a fight position. “Hell nah.”

“Levi Winters,” the figures all said at once, stretching one arm towards him.

“Of course, you know my name,” Levi said softly.

“Levi Winters,” they repeated.

“Man, what?” he said.

“You must learn.”

“Learn what?”

“The truth.”

“Do tell,” Levi said.

“Mistakes of the past do not always lead to right moves in the future.”

“Ooo kay…”

“Chaos and order will fight. One wins, and one falls. One is from afar. One is from near. If not stopped, one will raise the power to wipe all from existence. One will rise to change the way magic is viewed.”

“That sounds like a prophecy if I’ve ever heard of one.”

“Do not share what you have learned. You must return to Arvendon to understand the mistakes that you have been tasked to fix.”

“Mistakes? Like from the letter from Veluvius dude?”

“Just as you say.”

“What even are you?”

“We are the ghosts of the failure of M. Veluvius, the ones who were victim to his mistakes. Be warned Levi Winters, the road ahead is one that is dangerous and daunting. Failure is likely but you must overcome.”

“Nope, that’s not creepy or a lot of pressure at all… not one bit. What about my team? Am I just to disappear or ask them to follow me blindly.”

“Lady Vendular, Lady Onyx, and Mr. Washiro cannot find out until after graduation.”

“Fine, is my danger soon?”

“Extremely,” they all said. Just like that, something from behind Levi gagged him, and everything went black.

“Professor Bertrum,” Piper said. “How can I help you?”

“Have you seen or heard from Levi?” the professor asked, slight panic in his voice.

“Not for a couple of days. I have been studying for exams. Why?”

“He’s missing, didn’t show up for the sparring match and hasn’t been seen around the guild and that is very unlike him.”

“A couple of days?” Piper repeated slowly. She had found it odd that he made no attempt to reach out to her. She knew she was busy but even some dinner time was something that he loved to push. She had been so busy that she didn’t even stop to think. That was strange that there was no trace of him whatsoever.

“Yes,” he responded. “There is no aura residuals of him either, it's like his existence was wiped clear.”

“What about Anza or Serenity? They weren’t big on fusing.”

“Nothing,” Bertrum said. “If you do not know I will go report back to Professor Egret, she is asking Anna right now.”

“I’ll go with you,” Piper said.

“Your exams, Lady Vendular.”

“Can wait,” Piper cut in. “My boyfriend is missing.”

“Professor Egret,” Anna said. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“We believe Levi is missing,” Egret said by way of greeting. “Do you have any clue where he could be or if you have heard from him?”

“That is not good, very not good.” Anna said. “No, I haven’t.”

“Very well. I will report to professor Bertrum on what you said. Hopefully Piper knows something,” she said.

“I’m coming with you,” Anna said. “That’s my friend.”

Levi woke up blurry eyed with two elves in front of him. They were pale skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes. They were wearing leather armor and had short swords on each of their hips. They looked at Levi coming to.

“Wake up,” one of them snapped. Levi shook his head and tried to focus on the elves in front of him. He was hanging by his arms, and his legs were spread out. He was inside a ritual circle that had forced his familiars to fuse with them. Levi’s senses were dulled as the ritual circle hummed with a dim white light.

“What’s going on,” Levi's gravelly voice said.

“It doesn’t matter what is going on,” the other elf said. “You are captured.”

“I can tell that much,” Levi said. “Why did you sneak up on me?”

“It was not that hard, you were talking to yourself, staring at a corner. It was creepy, especially how creepy that room you were in was.”

“What do you want with me? I’m no threat.”

“On the contrary,” a familiar voice said. “You are a threat to the entire kingdom.”

“I know you from somewhere,” Levi said. “But not sure where.”

“I’m Piper’s brother you idiot,” Kai said.

“Daddy send you to try again?” Levi asked.

“My father has nothing to do with this,” Kai lied. “I am doing this on my own.”

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“Dude, you’re a garbage liar.” Levi said. He could barely keep his eyes open, let alone to look at the brother of his girlfriend. Kai walked up and punched him in the gut. Levi coughed up some blood as Kai stepped back, laughing.

“It doesn’t matter; you’re never going to see the sunlight again,” Kai said, laughing and walking away. “I’ll be back to check on you later. You two, make sure he doesn’t leave.”

“How is he?” Trey asked Kai.

“Still alive, surprisingly, and holding on. He looks weak, though.”

“Good,” Trey said. “The King mustn’t know we took matters into our own hands.”

“That means we’ll have to kill him or keep him trapped forever,” Kai said.

“A necessary risk to save our world from the evil he brings,” Trey said. “Now, we must wait for Piper to reach out to inform us that he is missing. I will send you to go search for him.”

“Understood father,” Kai said. “Father, if I may ask, why are we going against Uncle? Didn’t he say he wanted the same thing?”

“He did. When two ambitious men want the same thing for different goals, one will end up with nothing. We have been behind the Onyx house for far too long. I love your uncle, I do, but it is time for the Vendulars to run the kingdom a kingdom. Killing the man who was responsible for the ultimate demise of the world would shoot up above the Onyx family.”

“I see,” Kai said, looking at his father with admiration. Kai had always wanted to be just like his dad. His whole life, he did everything he could to gain his approval. He went to the local guild, had a similar fighting style as his dad, got the same class evolution, and even got the same tattoo as his dad. So, when Kai heard that his dad wanted him for a special mission, he absolutely jumped at the chance.

What bothered Kai the most was Piper. She had always won the approval of their without even trying. She was the poster child. There was never anything that he could have done that would rival Piper. This led to jealousy and a deep-seated hatred for her. He hadn’t known it was there until she left for the guild in a different city. Her father raved on and on how proud of her he was that she was making the right decision. He never did that for him.

Kai loved that Piper brought home a guy who was so obviously evil. It was made all the better when she openly defended him in front of their grandparents and her dad. His father was not happy the day they left. Kai thought back to that day.

After Lord Leandro scolded him, Trey stormed home and began planning to kidnap and kill Levi. Trey called Kai together, and they began forming a classic Vendular assassination plan. This time, it would require outside help.

“We’ll need to get a ritualist to create a trap ritual that suppress any of his magical abilities,” Leandro said.

“At the guild, there were a couple of elves who were good at ritual magic and stealth,” Kai responded.

“Check how much they would cost if we required their services.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I can’t believe Piper would side with him and go against her own family. He is not even that good-looking; is she that blinded by lust? Leandro is wrong, we cannot let our daughters make the decision we must grab them and bring them home after we show the world that we have captured the most dangerous being alive.”

“Piper has always gone after any men who gave her attention,” Kai said. “This is not surprising.”

“But to go after men and to go against your own family is a much different thing. I am extremely disappointed in her and I wish that she would see the light soon enough. I am also disappointed that she is not an assassin. Pointlessly learning magic spells. That is not our way. She showed such potential, but now she has squandered all of it, such a shame. Go find out about the two elves and report back.” Kai did as he was instructed and left.

Trey sat in his office space. It was the place where he had a small token of all of his assassinations and where he plotted the next ones. He poured himself a glass of amber liquor. He sighed. Where had he gone wrong? What had caused Piper to be so different than when she left only nine months prior? The change shouldn’t have been that much different. With a shake of his head, he wanted to be sure that Piper would come back to the family and learn her lesson never to choose someone over the family again.

Levi was horribly uncomfortable standing with his arms extended above his head. By the time a magic user reached 3-stars, their bloodstream was mostly filled with mana streams. For this reason, his arms were not numb or tingly. He could likely stand in this position for days before needing to adjust. He was just tired and could tell his mana was slowly draining just faster than he could replenish.

Levi looked around the ritual circle. After doing so many rituals and summons he had become quite the knowledgeable ritualist. The ritual circle was poorly made, and it was a miracle that it even worked. Levi suspected that it didn’t really work to the full ability since he was able to replenish his mana. He looked around to see what the room looked like. It was a larger-than-standard ritual room. There was a ritual circle etched into the stone that someone had used chalk to craft this ritual. He hung on the ceiling by magically reinforced chains. There was the protective glass room that was standard with all ritual rooms.

Levi saw some movement and assumed that it was the elves keeping guard in the back room. Levi had no idea how long he had been taken or in this position, but he knew it was not just a few hours. Levi tried to communicate with his familiars. He could feel that they were still fused with him in all their realms. He closed his eyes and began meditating. His image changed and it was his soul projection into his soul realm. He flew to where all the familiars had their habitats.

Vapor appeared next to him.

“Are you alright, Levi?” she asked.

“I am now,” Levi said. “Glad that we can still communicate.”

“We can,” Serenity said flying over. Anza was in toe. The rest of the familiars all appeared around Levi.

“What the hell happened?” Levi asked.

“When the ghosts were talking to you, they were using a significant amount of mana and had a powerful aura sense. It was essentially blocking us from sensing anything else,” Serenity explained.

“Were they a trap?”

“No,” Vapor said. “They were genuinely surprised that you were kidnapped.”

“Right,” Levi said. “You’re like them.”

“Call it cousins,” Vapor said. “I was able to communicate with them after you were taken until they put you in this ritual circle. I was then forcibly fused and sealed inside your soul. Thankfully you have created lovely habitats.”

“How do we get out of here?” Levi asked.

“We cannot see what you see,” Serenity said. “What is out there?”

“A poorly made ritual circle, two elf guards 3-star but different classes. A rogue and a sorcerer? I’m not sure, but they aren’t ritualist, that’s for sure. I definitely can’t take them by myself. Fighting 3 or 4-star monsters is one thing. Fighting two 3-star magic users is another.”

“Just so,” Serenity said.

“I believe,” Levi said. “Dameion is our best bet. Since he is a stealth specialist and nearly undetectable. If I can somehow diminish the ritual circle low enough that he can defuse. He should be able to drain the mana in the circle much more and slowly drain and transfer the mana to me.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Vapor said. “Look who is thinking like a proper magic user.”

“Thank you,” Levi said proudly.

“How do you know the circle is poorly constructed,” Serenity asked.

“I can feel my mana replenish slowly. I have a feeling that it’s not supposed to do that, but completely cut off all the magic in my body.”

“I see,” Serenity said. “Not having to chant spells could also work to you advantage.”

“Forsure,” Levi said. “Any idea how long I’ve been trapped?”

“No,” they all said.

“Damnit,” Levi swore. “I’ll run some subtle tests, but we’ll have one shot at this and will have to make it count.”

Levi opened his eyes again to see the elves were still hanging out in that room. He conjured a small orb of chaos to see if it could affect the ritual circle just enough. They were going to have to re-do the circle anyway; rituals didn’t last forever. To his delight, he was able to conjure different orbs. Staring at the circle, he saw no physical evidence of change. He did see that one of the elves had left and one stood up to watch Levi intently. When they returned, they walked slowly up to Levi and put another hood over his head. Levi felt all of his power get restored. He decided to hold his breath in case the hood was laced with something. To his surprise, it worked he was, that was until he took several elbows to the face that forced him to breathe, and he passed out.

It had been several days since Piper and Anna found Levi had gone missing. They were told to sit and wait for others to help. They had sent multiple letters home and were getting ready to journey back when Kai arrived in Arcross. He gave his sister a big hug and Anna a smaller, awkward half hug.

“How are you holding up sister?” he asked.

“Not great but okay,” Piper responded.

“Losing a teammate is never easy,” Kai nodded. “And how about you Lady Anna?”

“We lost a friend,” Anna said. “I am pissed.”

“Right, of course, I apologize. Show me where they think he was taken.” Piper nodded and started her way to the summoner’s guild. Anna was walking at the same pace as Piper and glanced over. Piper and Anna shared a look of common understanding. Something was going on with Kai and they were not sure what, but he was acting differently.

In the guild Kai had pulled out a wand used for tracking. This was a specific tool used by assassins to help understand the patterns of their targets. He traced all over Levi’s apartment and found some slight traces that normal ritual magic wouldn’t pick up. Playing along, he led the team into a lecture hall that had not been used for many, many years.

“This place is creepy as hell,” Piper said.

“It is,” Anna agreed. Kai silently nodded as he continued deeper into the creepy lecture hall. His wand stopped right at the spot where Levi was taken. It was no longer sensing anything else. The trio all looked around the room to see if there were any clues left behind. Piper saw a small chest hidden behind the podium on the stage. She walked over and picked it up; she was unable to open it. Piper was a smart woman she knew a lot of things; in this moment, she knew one thing for certain she could not tell Kai she found this chest. She put it in her inventory immediately and pulled something else out.

“Find something?” Kai asked.

“I thought I did,” Piper responded. She held up her wand over the webs. “These webs have mana running through them, but I think that’s just a magic spider.”

“Good eye,” Kai complimented.

“Uh, thanks,” Piper said. “Well, this was worthless. I’m going to go back to my dorm and think about something, Kai will you be staying at an Inn in town?”

“Yes,” Kai said.

“Meet for breakfast?”

“Sounds good,” Kai said. “I’m going to stick around and see if I can trace more.”

“Thanks brother,” Piper said. Anna and Piper walked out of the creepy lecture hall leaving Kai by himself.