Tara pulled back her weapon and extended a hand toward Alastair. Alastair let out a small sigh as he took her hand. With Tara's help, Alastair got up off of the ground.

Professor Scilla approached them and asked, "Do either one of you need medical attention?" Tara shook her head no. Alastair responded, "I believe I might have broken a few ribs, sir." Scilla walked over to him and cast a healing spell. With the help of Scilla's magic, Alastair's ribs began setting themselves back into place. Even the bruising around his core started to dissipate. The process went by quickly. Before long, Alastair was back to working order. Tara patted him on his back and said, "You were pretty good out there! Its too bad that you had to fight me though." Alastair simply scoffed at the comment and walked off of the stage. Tara ran after him.

Scilla turned to the class, "Alright, let's continue with the nex-" before he could finish his sentence, a loud explosion went off in the distance. It was followed by a shockwave that shook the entirety of the training center. The students braced themselves while professor Scilla set off in the direction of the explosion. "Everyone stay where you are! Don't leave this spot unless I or another teacher tell you to!" he yelled as he exited the training center.

Celine ran from her spot in the stands to where Tara and Alastair were standing. "What do you think happened?" she asked. "I'm not quite sure. It was obviously not something planned, based off professor Scilla's reaction." Alastair replied. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't asking you..." Celine replied back. Alastair's face grew red with embarrassment. He looked away to hide his shame.

Tara looked at Alastair and chuckled a bit before she replied to Celine. "Someone might have messed up a spell. Maybe even a fight between two students. Whatever it is, I'm gonna go check it out." Tara started to make her way out when Alastair stepped in front of her. "We were told to wait here. I can't allow you to leave."

"Sorry to say, I don't think you can stop me." Tara said as she pushed past him. Celine followed closely behind her. Alastair watched them leave in frustration. He was conflicted. He wanted to follow the orders given to him by the professor, but he was also curious about what happened. He decided to chase after them, using protection as his rationale. The 3 of them left the training center.

As they stepped outside, a small crowd of students ran past them. They were running away from a thick cloud of smoke that had appeared in the direction of the academy entrance. The trio sprinted toward the rising smoke. More and more students ran past them as they made their way.

As they neared the entrance, they heard what sounded like beasts coming from their destination. "Tara, I think we should turn around," Celine asked of Tara. Celine was visibly shaken by the sounds they were hearing. "If you want to you can, but I want to check it out," Tara responded. Tara ran further in, leaving Celine and Alastair by themselves. Alastair saw that Celine was upset. "Don't worry too much about her, she will be able to handle herself. In the meantime, I will protect you from anything that might happen." Alastair reassured her. Celine didn't feel too confident about his words, but decided to take him up on his offer. She thanked him and they followed after Tara once more.

Tara arrived at the scene of the explosion. A massive explosion had tore through the academy's front gate. Where the gate once stood, a large portal had replaced it. A group of hellish beasts stood in front of it. Tara had never seen creatures like these before. They all looked to be amalgamations of different beasts all sewn together. There were even human components mixed in. Some of the beasts flew while others crawled on the ground. Just the sight of one of these creatures would make a normal person ill.

Tara was used to gruesome sights. She spent the majority of her life killing and butchering monsters in the forest near her home. Even for her, she was unsettled by what she saw.

As she scanned the area, she noticed a small group of teachers fighting off some of the horde. She was surprised to see that professor Scilla was not amongst the group. "Where could he have gone?" she asked herself. While she stood there pondering the whereabouts of her teacher, Celine and Alastair had finally caught up to her. The two had grown pale at the sight of the wretched monsters.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Miss Celine, stay behind me," Alastair ordered Celine. Celine followed his instructions and hid behind his back. Tara didn't even acknowledge their arrival. She was fixated on something she saw beyond the immediate threat. 2 hooded figures stood atop a building near the commotion. They were speaking to each other as they watched the spectacle underneath them. Tara didn't know why, but she could feel that these 2 might have something to do with what was going on. She felt the urge to chase after them. Before she could make her move, the hooded duo spotted her. The taller of the duo raised his hand and shot a bolt of fire in Tara's direction.

Tara shot her own fire spell back. The 2 spells collided in the air, canceling each other out. The collision of the 2 spells created a veil of smoke. Tara jumped through the smoke toward the spot where the hooded figures stood.

They had already disappeared by the time she arrived. Tara looked around, but couldn't see where they could have run off to. As she investigated their whereabouts, she found a small broken device where they had been standing. It was small, but intricate. It looked like a pocket watch, but clearly had traces of mana around it. There was even a small mana essence stone inside of it. Tara picked it up and placed it into her pants pocket. She turned to leave as professor Scilla landed next to her.

He looked even more disheveled than usual. His clothes were tattered and torn. His hair was damp with sweat. The wooden spear he had taken with him was replaced by a proper steel spear. He had clearly been fighting because the spear was covered from tip to tip in blood.

"Didn't I tell you to stay where you were?" he asked Tara. Before she had time to respond, he shook his head and said, "I guess it doesn't matter now. Head to your dorm and stay inside your room. Tell any student you come across the same thing. Do you understand?" Tara nodded in agreement. She knew that she didn't have any room to argue after already disobeying him once. She jumped down from the building and ran back to the spot that Celine and Alastair were standing.

"I just met up with professor Scilla, he told me to head back to the dorms. The two of you should do the same." she told them. They all agreed to head back together.

Tara walked into her room. She was deep in thought. She walked to her bathroom and drew a bath. She removed her sweaty clothes and lowered herself into the bath. The hot water stung as it made contact with her scrapes and bruises. The adrenaline from the day had finally began to leave her. As the pain washed over her, she thought about the scene she had witnessed.

"What were those things?"

She attempted to differentiate the different pieces that the monsters were comprised of. "Gnolls, orcs, goblins, even humans..." The thought of humans being stitched together with other species of creature made her feel sick. She dunked her head under the water for a few seconds. She lifted her head and pushed her hair out of her face. There was one other thought that came to her. The thought only came to her just now. She wondered why and how professor Scilla had found her.

She hadn't seen him since leaving the training center. She also never saw him at the scene of the portal. She wondered if the professor had something to do with the 2 hooded figures that she initially chased after.

She got out of the tub and dried her body. She grabbed her clothes off of the ground. The broken device she had found fell from her pants pocket. She picked it up and gave it a closer look. For the first time since she had originally picked it up, she noticed a few words on the bottom of the device. Time heals all wounds.

She read the sentence a few times, trying to make sense of it. The only connection she could make in her head was the fact that the device looked like a pocket watch. Other than that, she was stumped. She placed the device on a table next to her bed. She walked to her closet and put on some fresh clothes. She laid in her bed and closed her eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious pair. Something about them seemed familiar. She thought about everyone she had seen since coming to the capital. She wasn't able to figure out who they were, but something about them seemed familiar. Lost in thought, Tara fell asleep.

She had a vivid dream that night. She dreamed of the horde of monsters. They swarmed the academy and mercilessly killed many students. She tried to fight back, but was unsuccessful. As she was about to breathe her dying breath, she woke up. It was the middle of the night. She walked over to her window and opened it. The night air washed over her.

In the distance, 2 hooded figures watched Tara from a distant building. The larger of the 2 spoke to the other.

"Keep an eye on her. She might have some use in the future."

The smaller figure nodded their head in affirmation, "Yes professor."