Tired, Cale stood under the warm water. The next day had dawned and the residents slowly emerged from their hiding places. Cale hadn't noticed much of the commotion. After the High-Magicians made sure they had defeated the creatures, he had literally fallen into bed. He hadn't been this exhausted in a long time. He had just talked to his friends for a few minutes, but for the first time he really said he was going to sleep because he was tired.

Sleepily, he washed the detergent out of his hair and stopped the water crystal before emerging from the shower and slowly began to dry his hair. He was alone. When he had gotten up, it was already afternoon and all he had found was a note on his bed, probably from William. On it, he had written that the group was going into town to help with the cleanup. He then simply lay down again, so that it was now already evening. Cale rubbed his hair dry and straightened up. For a moment, he looked at himself in the mirror. He had seen his face in so many lifetimes that sometimes he didn't even recognize it.

Grinning, he walked from the bathroom to the dressing room and slipped into some comfortable clothes before heading back to his room. His bed had become quite a mess, but what bothered him most was the stale air. Using magic, he opened the large windows and made up his bed before his grumbling stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten in over a day. With his hair still slightly damp, he walked down the stairs through his study and over to the kitchen. He wasn't very hungry, so he merely began washing and chopping fresh fruit before putting it in a bowl and sitting on the faucet in the entryway.

As he gazed silently out the window and tossed a piece of apple into his mouth. He didn't realize how weird the emptiness felt until just now. His plan couldn't have gone any better, but now he didn't know what would happen next. Exarion was alive and many of the creatures had died, which had to be a great loss for the dragons. As he ate his basket of fruit with relish, he imagined scenes in which he would fight a dragon. Perhaps his intuition would catch up with him in this life, even though he hoped to himself that it would never happen.

Cale turned as he felt two people approach his door. Something was strange. One person's mana was lower than a mage's, but why would a normal person be out in the Magistrat? All the guests were already out and his friends should not be back yet either. Who would pay him a visit at this hour?

When the two people arrived in front of his door, he wanted to go up to them to open it, but the people on the other side seemed too much. A knock sounded before Grischa opened the door. Next to him stood Aaron, who looked wordlessly at Cale. All at once, Cale lost all the colors in his face and dropped the bowl, along with its contents, to the floor. The sound of broken porcelain filled the whole room, but Cale got over it and ran towards Grischa.

"By the beard of the Eldest! What happened?", he interjected, running toward Grischa. Panicked, he began to scan Grischa's entire body before Grischa grabbed his hands and stopped him. "What's wrong with your mana, Grischa? Are you tired of living?"

But Grischa smiled weakly instead of answering him.

"You're alone, aren't you?", Aaron chimed in as he closed the door behind him.

"Alone?", Cale repeated in irritation, at first not understanding what Aaron was trying to say. However, when he understood that he was talking about his four guests, he confirmed the statement. "Yes. I am alone. I would suggest we go over to my room, just in case."

Aaron merely nodded. Wordlessly, Cale clasped Grischa's arm and pulled him through his office to the 2nd floor, followed by Aaron. As Grischa dropped on his bed, Cale knelt on the floor in front of him and reached for his hand. His pulse was relatively calm, but his lack of mana was eating him up from the inside. This was the first time Cale had seen anything like this, so he had no logical explanation. Mages generated their mana all by themselves, but why did Grischa's mana pool remain almost empty?

"Explain to me what happened", he finally raised, but directed the question to Aaron, not Grischa. Aaron, who had taken a seat on the only chair in Cale's room, contemplated the variety of books for a moment before turning his attention back to the two mages.

"Admitted, I have no idea. Earlier Grischa came to me and said that he wasn't able to generate his mana. When I tried to give him some of my mana with mana transfer, it vanished into thin air. With no residue. I didn't dare try it via any other means, which is why Grischa said we should try you before going to a healer."

In disbelief, Cale stared first at Aaron and then at Grischa.

"Is that true?", Cale anxiously chimed in, receiving only a blunt nod from Grischa. Cale's heart beat faster. He began to tremble as he looked at his friend's pale body and tried to calm down. In vain. "When did this start?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"I noticed it this morning after my mana pool didn't fill up overnight. I can feel my body generating mana, but it's just dissipating, like Aaron said."

Cale fell silent for a few seconds. His mind was in chaos and he tried to sort out the little information he had. Something was wrong with Grischa's mana circuit, that much was obvious. But what had happened?

"What were you doing on the battlefield yesterday", Cale suddenly spoke up sharply. For a mage to suddenly lose the ability to generate mana was not normal. The only thing that came to Cale's mind was the increased fight against creatures.

"Nothing special. I was using my magic normally, like I usually do. Do you think it could be my Igrikum?"

"I doubt it very much. You really haven't tried any weird stuff?"

"No, I swear to you."

"But why... then..."

Cale felt an icy chill run down his spine as he clutched Grischa's hands. He suddenly saw before him not the 1st seat of the Magistrat, but his friend, who was about to erase his own existence. It didn't take a healer to realize that his pure mana mass was at an absurd low point, which was life-threatening for a High-Magician.

"Hey Grin", he raised seriously. "You've read the Chronicles of Creature Lore, right? Completely."

"Now what do you want with that stupid boo..."

"Did you, or did you not, fight an unknown creature yesterday?"

"Why do you...?"

"Just answer the damn question, Grischa!", Cale yelled. Surprised, both Grischa and Aaron flinched. They could feel Cale's concern abruptly turn to anger, so they kept their heads down. Grischa seemed to consider for a moment before daring to speak up again.

"I think so. I saw a human-like figure and killed it. Now that you mention it, I think it was when it split a group to the east."

"A human-like figure? Did it had... weapons?"

"Yes! How did you know?", Grischa retorted in amazement. But Cale merely stood up, made a drawing board and pen appear with his null magic, and tossed them to Aaron, who caught the items without comment.

"The Eldest had seen it in a vision. Describe it to us as accurately as you can."

"In a vision?", Aaron casually spoke up, but Cale just waved him off.

"You're asking me things", Grischa muttered thoughtfully. "He was taller than a normal human, about 2 meters, maybe 2.10. His physique was similar to us, but he had a skeletal face with rounded horns and strange, large headdresses like feathers. His whole body was dark red, almost a little patterned if I remember correctly. Like it was drenched in blood or had war paint smeared on its body. I didn't pay attention too much else, unfortunately, it all happened very quickly."

Aaron was drawing the described figure while Cale looked at his friend with wide eyes. A human-looking creature that had red skin to boot? This couldn't be true!

"What's wrong?", retorted Grischa when he noticed Cale's gaze.

"Take off your clothes."

"What?"

"Take your clothes off, or do you want me to?"

"All right, all right", Grischa threw back, untying his uniform before discarding his shirt and turning his attention to his pants.

"Do you have any idea what it was?", Aaron ventured to ask as he made the sketch. Cale made no reply as Grischa turned backward. The blood in his veins froze as he stared at the pale mark on Grischa's back. Mentally, he called all sorts of disasters into his head as he finally got stuck on his first encounter with Theorik. He had met the young man back in Winstest, but only because he had been saved his life by a stranger earlier. A stranger with the exact same mark on his shoulder.

"Caleb, you're scaring me", Grischa admitted, visibly nervous, so the young mage quickly averted his gaze and looked him in the eye.

"I must be mistaken, this can't be true. This..."

Cale couldn't stand the worried look on his friend's face, so he turned to Aaron, who was holding a rough sketch of the creature in his hands. The two council members were silent, waiting for a reaction from the 12th seat, but it took Cale a moment to really grasp that the situation was really happening right now.

The next moment, he jumped to his feet, not wanting to believe it. It couldn't be true. It didn't make any sense. It was impossible. Why? How could this happen?

Stomping, he walked over to the bookshelf next to Aaron and dropped in mana. In the next moment, the row of books disappeared and his hiding place revealed itself. He let his hands slide through the documents until he found the one he was looking for and pulled it out. He dropped it on the table next to Aaron and pulled out another copy before placing that one on the table as well and frantically began flipping through the pages.

"What's this?", Grischa spoke up from the bed, holding his clothes protectively in front of his body.

"The Chronicles of Creature Lore, Volume 6", Aaron read aloud. He reached for the first part and turned it in his direction, as if to check that he hadn't misread. But it was true, this was the sixth part of the book series by Zod Adenia. Perplexed, he stared at the title of the book and guessed what Cale was thinking about. "There's a sixth volume? I never knew that... wait, are these originals?"

Aaron only needed to open to a single page to recognize the style. Instinctively, the man knew this was no fake. His gaze settled on Cale, his usually emotionless face clearly showing the incredulity he felt.

"You're Zod Adenia, the author of the Chronicles?", he finally interjected, while Cale had long since flipped through the page of Part Two.

"What?", Grischa spoke up in surprise. He had come to a halt next to them and was also watching as the 12th seat literally skimmed the pages.

"Look for the creature, Aaron", Cale gave a forced quiet, completely ignoring the looks he just received from his colleagues.

"Wait a minute, Caleb. Are you serious? You're Zod Adenia? The Chronicles are yours?"

"Yes Grischa. Your oh-so-hated Chronicles of Creature Lore were all written by me..."

Cale stopped in mid-sentence. In his hand, he held the page he had been looking for. He let go of the book and take a step backwards, causing Aaron to glance at it said page.

"Kormandent?"