BANG, BANG, BANG!
Frey quickly awoke from his death-like slumber, slamming his head against the table's bottom.
“Oh, what the hell happened.?”
Frey grabbed at his head, it was pounding like an entire snare band was playing a deafening tune within the confines of his skull. He rolled out from under the large mahogany table; looking around he noticed the utter mess that the group had caused. Boot was curled up like a cat on the table's center, and EJ and S’kelt were both laying their heads face down on the table, like two school children bored of a class and just seeking its end. Akara was on the floor, her chair had completely tipped over and she had a glass filled with some kind of alcohol in her hand, the contents of it spilling across the hardwood floor. The orchestra in his head began to play louder and louder as he stood up, as did the ruckus being made at the library’s dungeon door. Frey hobbled up the staircase, and made himself aware of Oltrox lying unconscious in his large velvet chair. As he turned the doors lock and began to open it the door was forced open by whomever was trying so badly to enter.
Frey fell to the ground, causing his body to ache, and his head to throb even more so than it did before. The one that had been the result of all the ruckus was Saat, the satyr, and the student that was wanted for murder within the building.
“Ah, Saat, what the hell!?”
Frey shouted at him, as Saat slammed the door back to its shut position, and slid the lock back to its familiar place.
“Not so loud lad, I need to talk to ya’s”
Saat had a nervous aura about him, and seemed to almost be pleading for just a listening ear. Frey surrendered.
“Alright, fine. What do you need to say?”
Saat began to pace back and forth.
“I didn’t do a thing Frey, I dn’t harm a fly. Let alone a teacher at the school. It’s a setup I tell ya, by the damned director, Claukwith is a menace and just tryin ta put the blame on someone else!”
Frey interrupted him and began speaking his own questions.
“Saat, if that’s really true, what do you even want us to do?”
Saat came back in a blaze of glory with a hardwinded response,
“Frey he wouldn’t dare harm ya lads, students under Oltrox can’t be touched by the director. He’s too scared of em.”
All of the commotion from their shouting match must have woken up the others; Saat had shrieked as Boot threw herself up the banister, revealing her cat-like movement as well as the fact that she was still slightly doped up on whatever substance she had been eating. She let out a yawn, and stretched her body like that of a simple house cat. She spoke in a sympathetic yet tired tone.
“I believe him Frey, we’ve been with their party for pretty long periods of time, and wasn’t he with us whenever the murder supposedly happened?”
Frey nodded his head, apparently agreeing with the same conclusion that Boot had come to. A sudden clapping caused a head turn from all three in the group, Akara had been standing behind them, completely juxtaposed with how Frey had seen her previously, she was now more well groomed, wearing her strange jacket and bracers.
“Claukwith was the name you just said, right Frey?”
Frey nodded his head as Saat made his way to this unfamiliar face standing in front of him.
“The name’s Saat, and yours is?”
She gave a sly smile and then let out a laugh,
“The name’s Akara.”
Her sly and bubbly demeanor had completely fallen as she spoke, to Frey and Boot this was like a completely different person; the way she acted was completely foreign to them, she spoke again, but this time to her compatriots.
“Frey, Boot, wake the others please. I know of the issue and I think we should get involved as soon as possible.”
Both of them began acting immediately; in a strange way, taking orders from someone who they had just met, and who had no authority over them. Frey woke S’kelt and EJ from their eternal slumbers. S’kelt being a bit more communicative than EJ, who more than likely still held a grudge over being shot in the leg. Boot made her way to Bluts room and gave one of her signature optimistic knocks.
“Hey Blut! We could really use some of your help here!”
There was no response. He was either completely ignoring her or had been in too deep of a sleep to realize what was happening. Boot had remorse within her heart, after what he went through, losing what was probably his closest friend, he must be distraught. She decided it was best to leave him alone for now; as she went to walk away Blut spoke from the other side.
“Wait, did we have any of that bread that the new girl made left?”
Boot immediately perked, and gave a large smile. 166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJQPFRzQUB
“Yes of course!”
She immediately ran into the kitchen and grabbed a large piece of the chocolate bread that had been made, and carried back to Blut’s room. She knocked on the door.
“I have your food, Blut!”
She stood with the food, and the door slowly creaked open; Bluts bloodied hand reached out and grabbed the plate, causing Boot to gasp.
“Oh by Sunne! Blut are you alright? What happened to you when you went out last night!?”
Blut quieted her with a shush through the wall.
“Don’t worry yourself over me Boot, I’ll be fine. Thank you for the food.”
She attempted to argue against this but he yet again shouted slightly louder through the wall. 166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjowlAMCyP0
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be out tomorrow.”
She dejectedly looked at the wall, yet turned and walked away despite this. As she walked away Blut spoke up to her.
“Thank you for the help Boot. Please keep this between us though.”
She smiled, and gave a slight nod to the door, before running to the rest of the group.
Arriving at the top of the stairwell, the others stood waiting for her. Oltrox still appeared to be unconscious from the previous night.
“Shouldn’t we y’know.”
Boot motioned towards the sleeping beholder, however Frey shook his head as an objection,
“It’s best if we don’t wake him. Beholders don’t like to be interrupted during their naps.”
S’kelt nodded his head in agreement.
“Indeed, after seeing how upset he was when he discovered Frey, I’d prefer not to be on his bad side by waking him.”
The party appeared to be in a unanimous agreement against waking him, and they turned to Saat, Akara being the first to speak.
“Alrighty Saat, you’re not safe in the rest of the school and the rest of the city in general. I suggest you stay here for now.”
He nodded his head and walked down and sat at the table. The party began to walk up the stairs and into the academy's main hallway; the halls were empty and Akara looked around nervously before making her way up to the building's second floor, the rest of the group following her. As they reached the summit of the stairs a small click sound was heard, and it rang throughout their ears.
“You have entered an off limits area. Proceeding forward is prohibited.”
Frey continued walking forward, the message going in one ear and out the other. Causing Akara to give a confident laugh, shielding some insecurity that laid within her. The hallway was empty, each classroom vacant of any joy, or person for that matter.
“This makes me uneasy.”
EJ said, holding his stomach as pain shook his entire body. S’kelt responded in turn with a hard hit to his back.
“Keep moving EJ, we can’t falter now.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4eQhED4BL
EJ steadied himself and breathed deeply, and continued forward.
The teacher's old classroom had nothing noteworthy in it; it was more than likely cleared out just days before. Akara immediately began to mess with things and moved around pieces of carefully put together evidence. The crime scene had been thoroughly examined by the authorities, leaving nothing for the party to scavenge. Boot had already begun looking around but could find a single thing about the actual murder, it was wiped clean.
“What the hell!? Where’s all the evidence!?”
Akara walked over and placed a hand on Boots' head in an attempt to calm her down, causing a slight purr out of her.
“Calm down Boot, there's no need to get riled up.”
Frey held a paper up in the air and let out a victorious shout.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2u35V55z3
“FOUND SOMETHING!”
Everyone's heads quickly turned, Frey was holding up a small, well made dagger. The blade's handle was wrapped in red cloth, while the blade itself was made of gold. S’kelt walked up, grabbing the dagger and inspecting it.
“Why the hell would someone use a gold dagger to murder someone?”
Akara walked over to stand beside S’kelt and reached into her deep pockets, pulling out a small piece of folded paper; she unfolded it, the words scribed on it looked messy and rushed. They were foreign and no one in the group was able to comprehend it in the short time it was held out. She began speaking some incantation in a language that no one was familiar with.
“Dammit I really wasn’t wanting to use that scroll yet…”
The Scroll was erased from existence turning to an ash like substance, as if it’d been burned. Akara’s head jolted back and her eyes began to glow as they stayed locked on the ceiling; EJ went to grab her, causing her to fall limp on the ground. She laid in a dazed trance for a couple of seconds before turning to the rest of the party.
“What the hell was that?” 166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7RRDmvNtz
Frey asked, concerned.
Akara continued to lay there grasping at her hair, and tightening the grip on; she was almost ripping her own hair out, and a single tear shed out of her eye and down her face.
“It.. it was a scroll, telling me the lore of the object. I’ve seen everything.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyzf2sSXZE
She paused, attempting to collect herself and her thoughts; she went to speak but was interrupted by Frey.
He turned around, and yelled out.
“Who’s there!?”
The sound of leather shoes, like that you’d see from a well dressed man attending a ball. Walking into view was Claukwith, his eyes squinted with anger.
“What are you all doing here!?”
He barked out the question, his imposing aura causing the group to feel slightly more inclined to answer him in a favorable manner. EJ leaned down in a bowing manner,
“I apologize sir, we were just exploring the rest of the building, as well as giving our new teammate here a tour.”
EJ motioned towards Akara, who was still struggling to catch her breath from using the scroll; she looked at Claukwith and her eyes widened.
“Yeah, I’m sorry as well. I wasn’t told we were to avoid this place.”
He continued to stare before moving to the side; Claukwith made sure to keep his gaze locked on them as he motioned them to leave.
“This place is off limits, quite frankly it's a damn murder scene. I suppose it was possible that the glyph that we set up to warn students before they entered could have been tampered with.”
He began to scratch the underside of his mutton chops, and then squinted at the group.
“You all are being given a chance to leave, please make your way back to Oltroxs’ room for the time being.”
The group began to walk out, Akara was basically being carried out by Boot as she was still exhausted from using the scroll.
The party hastily made their way back to the domain, as they entered Boot tossed Akara into a chair and the rest sat at their large table. Oltrox was still in his comatose state, it was like nothing could awaken him. Saat had followed their orders, having not moved an inch from his original position. He had a look of longing plastered to his face as the group all took seats at the table.
“So what did ya’s discover? Ha-ha.”
He ended the question with nervous laughter and a sense of uneasiness, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer or not. Akara was still holding her head in both of her palms, unable to communicate with anyone, so Frey decided to be the one to give the news.
“They’ve completely cleaned up the crime scene.”
The room fell silent, Saat became dejected and grabbed at his face.
“Why? Why can’t we find a single piece o’ evidence?”
Akara suddenly moved and placed her hand on his shoulder,
“Don’t worry Saat, I have an idea.”
The group helped Saat to one of the extra rooms in the library; he had been too emotionally drained to even carry himself there. Afterwards the group went back to the table and began plotting. Akara had been rubbing her chin the entire time, if she had a mustache she’d surely be twirling it like a supervillain; S’kelt began rapidly tapping his foot,
“So what’s the idea Akara?”
She turned, facing him,
“To be entirely honest I’m not sure what we can do here.”
Frey raised raised his eye and leaned forward in an attempt to further push his presence
“So did you just tell him that to calm him down?”
Akara stayed silent, nodding her head. The rest of the group stood in silence, before it was broken by Boot.
“What if we workshop some ideas together then?”
She asked with such excitement in her voice that it was impossible to not smile at her childlike glee. EJ spoke up with the first idea,
“What if we just kept Saat here? I’m sure that Claukwith will just give up after not finding him.”
The idea was immediately shot down by Boot
“Wait but then his group would be at a disadvantage and would get way fewer points.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADtytMIfw7
Akara began scratching Boots head before scolding her like a parent would,
“Quite frankly the fairness of this competition should be of far less importance compared to his life.”
Frey was knocking his wooden bat against the ground over, and over, attempting to pop an idea into his head.
“What if we just tried to find him and confront him?”
S’kelt shook his head and shouted a little louder,
“Nonsense, that’s suicide.”
EJ agreed with S’kelt and gave sound reasoning for once,
“If we try to cut the bastard off in the open then we’ll be pinned as the bad guys.”
None of them could come up with a solid idea, each and everyone one had some sort of flaw; they couldn’t just leave Saat here, that’d be torture, and fighting Claukwith in a public space would be both social and combative suicide. As they were about to spit out another idea a door in the hallway opened; Akara haphazardly spoke out, 166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIZzopWPAb
“Saat it’s not safe out here, please go back to your room for now.”
The presence behind them didn’t move, and just took a deep sigh of disappointment.
“You all are forgetting a very crucial detail when it comes to engaging the director.”
The party froze and turned around, Boot being the first to let out a shout.
“BLUT!”
He had exited his room, he had a bandage covering his left eye and some of his upper snout, as well as his torso being padded in some kind of leather-like material. Boot ran to him and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace similar to that of a child seeing a parent for the first time in years; Blut reciprocated the hug before slowly pushing her away in order to speak.
“You all need to think about this in a more logical sense.”
Blut walked up to the table and slammed his hands on the table.
“I for one have never seen Claukwith go to his office, I’ve only seen him get there through that magical door of his.”
It was as if a lightbulb went off in Akaras head as she joined in and slammed her hands on the table.
“We just need to follow and corner him!”
Blut nodded, and the rest of the party smiled in turn. Blut whipped out his revolver, and loaded it with six bullets, the rest of the party looked at him, a look of concern plastered across all but Akara’s face, Frey pondered a question to Blut.
“You weren’t planning on using those on the director are you?”
Blut thought for a moment, before nodding. 166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfIIZmX7h3
“We can’t rule out the possibility that he’ll attempt to kill us so we should prepare with lethal force, just in case.”
S’kelt responded harshly before anyone else even had time to think,
“Anyone attempting to defend such a vagrant shouldn’t be involved with this mission, he lacks the honor and conviction to run such a prestigious academy.”
Blut nodded and began walking towards the staircase door; the others followed his lead, however Boot couldn’t help to think to herself how they would even track Claukwith down, nevertheless how they would be able to overcome him.
The hallways for once were filled with students; they walked throughout the halls and appeared to all be moving en masse to what was more than likely a new mission. The group attempted to sleuth out Claukwith from within the crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Well well, what do you all want?”
Claukwith said, and the entire group turned around. He stood with his hands behind his back, a look of confusion mixed with sternness covered his face. EJ immediately scratched his nose and shrugged his shoulders,
“Well Claukwith, it was nice knowing ya, but you’re rotten to the core.”
Claukwith immediately dodged to the left, shifting his entire body, the confusion on his face was now replaced with one of fury. He snapped his fingers, yet nothing happened. EJ however had a look of pure horror on his face, S’kelt looked disgusted and turned his head away. EJ pointed at an empty area above Claukwiths shoulders and asked,
“What the hell are those things?”
Claukwith clapped his hands, and EJ flinched in an attempt to cover himself from a nonexistent attack. S’kelt pointed at EJ,
“We need to take EJ down.”
He said it with the utmost certainty that it took everyone by surprise. Frey was the first to question this command,
“What’re you talking about?”
S’kelt responded swiftly and with hardened resolve,
“Claukwith has done something to him, we need to take him down.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgl0qG9ADZ1
EJ turned to face the party with nervous glee,
“S’kelt’s talking nonsense, he’s the one that’s under the control of Claukwith.”
Akara in turn summoned a blade, as green as radioactive waste but that burned as hot as a wildfire.
“S’kelts right, he’s not in the right state of mind.”
Claukwith simply smiled as the group was put into chaos; he turned around and began walking through the hallway, summoning an ethereal door to walk through. All he heard as he began stepping through was,
“Checkmate.”
He shuddered and turned around, Boot had shot a crossbow bolt directly at his shoulder, causing him to be pushed against the door.
“What the hell!?”
He screamed out at the group, as they rushed him, EJ shoulder bashing him through the door, and towards where it led.
The entire party collapsed into the directors office; the room was made of wood, and it housed a large amount of ancient items. Claukwith was obviously a collector of rare and ancient items. He grabbed EJ by his throat and dragged him to his feet, holding him there, with a sword to his throat.
“You all are traitorous! Don’t take a single step forward or I’ll execute him right here and now!”
Everyone else got to their feet, Blut and Boot both aiming their weapons at the director who in turn let out a whistle. S’kelt let out a yell, warning them.
“He’s sending more of those invisible cubes at us!”
He pointed forward and then laughed, as the incarnation of his willpower broke the cubic horrors before they could hit their mark.
Akara clapped her hands together and spoke in a diplomatic, calm tone.
“Listen director, I know who you really are, and what you really strive to accomplish.”
Claukwith narrowed his gaze for a moment before widening his eyes immediately
“You, you’re the damned anomaly from the nine hells I’ve been hunting!”
Akara laughed at what he said,
“Aw you’ve been looking for little old me? I’m honored.”
Her voice rang dry as she sarcastically gave the comment, once again summoning her verdant blade of fire, pointing it at Claukwith.
It looked like this would turn into an all out brawl right in the middle of the directors office, he spoke out to Akara with a strange combination of disgust and empathy in his voice.
“Listen Akara I know that you may not fully understand what it is that you’ve done, but please return home this instant.”
The party turned to face Akara, the room held an air of confusion with no one knowing what would happen next; everyone lowered their guards ever so slightly upon the directors words, all but Blut at least. He asked,
“What is he talking about?”
Before she had time to process a response Claukwith fired off one of his own,
“She didn’t tell you where she’s from, did she? She’s from the nine hells. As you all should know it is a breach of interplanar laws established by the Celestial isles and Mount Celestia for anyone to travel to or from the nine hells.”
Boot didn’t even think and screamed out at Claukwith with rage and anger in her voice,
“That’s BS, why does that even need to exist!?”
The director wasn’t the one to respond, instead Frey did.
“Tiamat.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdpMPkzadI
Everyone turned and faced him, confusion filled the room like a thick smoke, and Claukwith had the most arrogant look on his face.
“That’s correct, it is impermissible and the Celestials cannot risk letting Tiamat out of her prison.”
Akara grimaced and slashed with her green flame blade,
“You and I both know that's a lie director. She is trapped behind glass so impenetrable that not even a thousand adventurers could cause it to crack. The most prestigious general of the entire nine hells is guarding that dragon twenty four seven.”
Claukwith chuckled and grabbed at his mustache,
“You, she-devil, how could you possibly know that?”
She responded in short.
“Because, Bael, Archdevil and the head general lord Asmodeus’s army sent me to pierce the veil!”
Claukwith stepped back and shuddered,
“How the hell could I allow such a beast to enter the halls of my school? And threaten my students!”
He held his sword forward and motioned to the rest of the party
“Come on the rest of you, surely you understand that this horrid creature is nothing but a threat to our plane!”
The party stood in waiting, Akara for once looked fearful, fully expecting for this to be her end; however to her surprise, they began to form a bastion of defense around her. Blut placed a hand on her shoulder and cocked his rifle, aiming it at Claukwith; Boot blowing a bit of her dust out on Akara, casting the bless spell on her. Frey and EJ both stood to either side of her, the entire group prepared to fight tooth and nail for her, all but S’kelt that is. He looked at the group and then Claukwith
“While I cannot agree with Akara’s method for getting here, and I believe that she’s horribly unbearable. What I cannot at all stand is your blatant disregard for equality, you meandering mutt!”
S’kelt walked in front of Akara and crossed his arms, causing Claukwith to take a step back; he let out a sigh and then fixed his outfit,
“Well, fine then. I am not prepared to murder my own students, my loyalty to this school is greater than my loyalty to Krillek and his goons.”
The party seemed confused by this statement, and Frey was the first to ask,
“Who’s Krillek?”
The rest of the group awaited a response of Claukwith thought of the best way explain it,
“He is the vanguard of the Celestial Isles, he guards the large observatory built into its peak with his life. The Celestial Observatory that is built into the main island is like a portal room, it is the primary way of travel between all planes.”
They were lost for words, sitting, waiting; Akara grimaced and walked forward, pleading to Claukwith.
“Help us! Help us free my people Claukwith…”
He looked away, unable to look her in the eyes,
“I can’t, the celestials are too strong.”
She screamed back at him.
“THEN DO SOMETHING DAMNIT.”
She began to tear up, holding her chest tightly,
“You’re the director of such a prestigious school, and I know you have connections, so do something for once…”
The director looked down in shame, and gripped the hilt of his sword, he violently slammed his fist to the desk on his left.
“Fine then, I can’t help directly, but I can do this.”166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjbsF0RO5P
He quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to them,
“Go to the Celestial Isles, use this as an excuse, this will give you points towards the schools competition, you’re there for a checkup on my behalf. Good luck.”
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166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJerlE3GtT1
