In the school library, Joseph, Theo, and Kaeli sat at a reading table in the back corner, attempting to hide from the curious stares of other students.
Joseph had his head resting on the table, his mind racing through the implications of Kaeli's public revelation. His attempt at a normal school life had lasted less than a day before imploding completely.
Theo sat beside him with his hand pressed to his forehead, trying to process what had just happened. His expression was tense, troubled.
Kaeli sat across from them, her face flushed with embarrassment at her impulsive action. She had broken operational security in the worst possible way—publicly, in front of witnesses, in a place where gossip travelled at the speed of whispered words.
"Sorry," Kaeli said quietly, her voice small and contrite.
Theo looked at her in open anger, his jaw clenched. He didn't say anything, but his expression was eloquent. "What do you do?"
"Sorry, I can't control my emotions when I hear that great Lord Ikzalious studied here."
"Don't call him lord"
"Sorry again."
At a far table, a group of students had their heads bent together, whispering urgently. Their eyes kept darting toward Joseph's table, clearly discussing what they had witnessed.
"Hey, do they belong to a cult?" one student asked, his voice low but carrying in the quiet library.
"I think Joseph is a bishop in some church," another suggested, warming to the conspiracy theory.
"Bishop? But didn't Joseph say that he and his family worship none of the Lord's?" a third student interjected.
"How can that even be possible?" the first student demanded. "Everyone worships at least one of the Lords."
"I don't know much about it," the second student admitted. "But I heard them talking once about believing in one God who created three worlds and the Lords, but by the time the Lords died and—"
The conversation was interrupted by a new revelation.
"Wait, do you know who that girl is?" one of them asked suddenly. "The one who knelt to Joseph? She's a cousin of Inspector Richard."
The table went silent. The implications of that connection—to someone in the police —made everything suddenly more serious.
"What?" the other students whispered, shock rippling through their small group.
The rumours were already spreading like poison through the school's social network, growing more distorted with each retelling.
Suddenly, a teacher entered the library, her footsteps echoing sharply across the tile floor.
Joseph, Theo, and Kaeli immediately stood up, their posture shifting to proper student respect.
"Good evening, Madam," Joseph greeted her formally.
The teacher surveyed them with mild suspicion. "Good evening. Is Kaeli here?"
"Yes, Madam," Kaeli stepped forward.
"What are you doing here?" the teacher asked, though her tone suggested she already suspected the answer.
"Studying, like the other students," Kaeli replied smoothly, gesturing to the books on the table.
The teacher seemed satisfied with this explanation. "Very nice. Now come with me. The headmaster wants to see you."
Kaeli's expression flickered—surprise, concern, resignation. She gathered her things and turned to Joseph and Theo.
"Okay, goodbye. And also... sorry," she said, bowing slightly before following the teacher out of the library.
As she left, the watching students erupted into fresh waves of whispered speculation, their theories growing increasingly elaborate and increasingly wrong.
In the corridor, Kaeli and the teacher walked together, their footsteps synchronised on the polished floor.
"How was your first day?" the teacher asked, her tone suggesting genuine concern.
"Good and bad all together," Kaeli replied honestly. "Complicated."
The teacher nodded knowingly. "Remember, you were hardly wounded last night. Your father wanted to make sure you were recovering well before allowing you to attend classes."
"Oh, tell my mother who sent me to school today," Kaeli said, a hint of irony in her voice. She hadn't wanted to come—Richard had insisted, arguing that normal life was part of her recovery.
"Thanks to our healers. Now he is totally fine and working to repair the headquarters."
They walked in silence for a moment, the weight of what Kaeli had been through hanging between them.
Suddenly, they both glanced at the window and were shocked by what they saw.
Meanwhile, Richard pulled a wheelbarrow full of bricks down the street.
Two Order members walked beside him, helping push. To anyone watching, they looked like regular construction workers.
Richard was sweating heavily. His face was red from the effort.
Some people on the street noticed him.
"Inspector Richard! Why are you doing labour work?" they asked.
Richard smiled. "Just helping the workers. We all must build our city together."
The people saluted him. "You are a true hero, sir!"
Richard nodded and kept walking.
One of the Order members leaned toward Richard. "Sir, can we ask those people for help?"
"No," Richard said firmly. "They cannot know where our headquarters is. It's too dangerous."
The second member asked, "Sir, what do you tell humans? How do you hide your mage powers?"
The first member answered, "He's a police officer. That's why people respect him."
The second member nodded. "Ah, I see."
"What about you?" He asked the first member. "What do you tell people?"
"I work as a barber,"
The second member smirked. "That explains why you have no hair."
"What did you say?" the first member asked angrily.
"Stop talking," Richard said tiredly. "Both of you. No more jokes."
He was exhausted.
Richard looked for a place to sit.
He found a bench and collapsed onto it. His hands were covered in blisters. His muscles ached badly.
He closed his eyes for just a moment.
He needed rest.
One of the members suddenly looked up.
"Sir..." he said, his voice shaking with fear. "Sir... what is that?"
Richard opened his eyes.
He looked at the sky.
His blood went cold.
A black hole appeared in the sky.
It was not a metaphor. It was real. A void in reality itself.
The darkness spread like a tear in fabric.
It grew larger.
And larger.
Richard stood up slowly.
He stared at the hole in the sky.
After some time, the lunch period ended. The library emptied as students dispersed to their afternoon classes.
Theo and Joseph left for their respective classrooms, separating at the corridor intersection with nothing more than a nod of understanding.
Joseph entered his classroom and immediately sensed the shift in atmosphere.
Everyone was talking about him.
His classmates turned to stare, their whispers following him to his desk like pointed fingers. The cult theory, the bishop speculation, the connection to his family—it had all crystallised into something that marked him as fundamentally other.
Finally, one classmate asked him. "Joseph asking, but which lord do you and your family think stronger?"
He nervously answered a few direct questions with vague non-answers. "I don't know anything," he said, his voice small. "My family just follows different beliefs."
But the explanation satisfied no one.
Joseph sat at his desk and turned his gaze toward the window, looking out at the city stretching beyond the school. The afternoon light was beginning to shift, painting everything in shades of amber and gold.
For a moment, everything was normal.
Then, the sky changed.
A dark hole appeared in the air—a void in reality itself. It spread like ink bleeding through fabric, growing larger with each second. The darkness was absolute, containing nothing, reflecting nothing. It was a tear in the world.
Joseph's entire body went rigid with shock.
Suddenly, two beams of pure energy erupted from different points in the city below. One was the colour of spring leaves—a brilliant, living green. The other was the deep blue of ocean depths. The two beams met in the air above the city, clashing with a sound that seemed to crack reality itself.
The impact generated a shockwave that shook the windows of the classroom.
Other students screamed. The teacher rushed to the window. The entire city seemed to pause, holding its breath.
Joseph stared at the phenomenon, unable to look away.
What was that? A dream? Reality? A vision?
He had never experienced a shared vision before—not with his classmates also witnessing it. The power radiating from the two colliding beams felt ancient and terrible, reminiscent of the clash of titans from mythology.
Below, in the city, alarms began to sound.
Joseph's hand trembled as he gripped the edge of his desk.
Two beams. Green and golden. Colliding in the sky above the city.
Two very strong mages are fighting.
They were fighting. Right now, above the city, they were fighting.
And Joseph—sitting in a schoolroom, trying to be normal, trying to be invisible—knew exactly what that meant.
The larger conflict had found its way to the city.
The war had come to his city.
And his secret was already spreading through the school like a contagion.
Everything was falling apart.