When classes had finally finished, Káel retired to his room, since there was nothing of interest he knew of, nor cared to attend. He tried calling the dragon Puff a number of times when it awoke, and during the first few times it simply looked around confused for the said 'Puff', and he was forced to clear up the fact that he was addressing the dragon.

          When it finally clued in, Káel could have sworn the dragon went a little misty eyed at being bestowed a name, since its previous owners never cared for such a thing. When he inquired into the dragon's actions however, it regained its indignant aura and with a humph, slithered under his bed.

          Káel had pinned down Ray by chance when he spotted the Blond's backside as he chatted with Samanthra in the lobby, five younger students stacked with leather bags and their guardians hovering around him. After interrupting the casual conversation he cryptically asked Ray how his ride home was going, and if he could help with speeding it up. Samanthra wore an understanding, yet strangely worried smile at the question, but Ray was intent on putting down his offer, putting its status on 'it's gonna take awhile'. 

          Truvius had gone who-knows-where after class ended, saying something about never being too ready for a test. So in terms of company, Káel had a dragon, and a might-as-well-be-imaginary friend named Phantom.

          "Soooo, what're we gonna do now?" Phantom said, watching Káel toss the rock between his palms in boredom.

          "I don't know, there's nothing to do."

          Phantom sighed dramatically, pretending to sit on the corner of Truvius's bed. "Say, where'd you find my rock?"

          "In this weird room, but it's gone now."

          Phantom perked up at the answer, his shoulders curling in as he leaned towards Káel with his gloved fingers lightly tapping each other. "Gone?"  

          "It's a wall now, I can't go in there anymore," Káel replied, his bland gaze failing to infect Phantom's strangely growing excitement. "Not like I want to with that other thing down there."

          "Oooooh, so there's a thing now?" Phantom questioned, even Puff stuck his head out from under the bed to get a better ear on the story.

          Káel sighed at the two. "Alright, when I was forced here me and Vera-"

          "Who?" Phantom cut in.

          "Vera, the red haired chick."

          He snapped his fingers in understanding. "Ah, the touchy one."

          Káel shrugged at Phantom's response. "Yeah I guess that's one way to describe her." 

          He then retold the short story about how they found the room full of strange treasures, detailing what he could remember through the spike of fright that had washed out most of the encounter, the tall black shadow being the most vivid thing on his mind.

          Phantom became more and more intrigued as the story dragged on, until Káel finally ended it and he jumped up enthusiastically. "And you said there was nothing to do! Let's go check it out!"

          Puff warbled in agreeance, and they both turned their heads in perfect synchronization to meet Káel's solid scowl.

          "No."

          "Come on! You don't just have that angry Firehead with you now, you have a ferocious bundle of fluff, and a friend that can't touch anything!" Phantom cheered, in a way that Káel couldn't discern between sarcasm or seriousness. Nonetheless, Káel refused to crumble with his enthusiasm, folding his arms like a strict parent that had lost all hopes in controlling their children. Phantom dragged the silence as he held Káel's gaze, an idea noticeably striking him as he dipped his voice to a mocking coddle. "You can lead us to the wall, right? Or are you too scared?"

          Káel smirked at the cheap trick, leaning back on his bed with a relaxed sigh. "I am too scared, thanks for asking. I think I'll take a nap."

          Puff warbled, the mysterious statement causing Phantom to burst into barking laughter. "You're so right." He glanced at Káel, crouching to whisper in Puff's ear as the dragon fell into a fit of snorting chuckles.

          Káel lifted his head to watch the two, knowing full well that they were making fun of him. As if his classmates weren't doing enough of that already.

          Puff warbled again, this time drawing out Phantom's laugh as he smacked his knee. "You're right! You're soooo right!"

          Káel groaned as he got to his feet and approached the door. "Fine. good luck trying to get in."

          Phantom gave Puff a thumbs up while Káel fiddled with the door. "I can walk through walls genius."

          After a couple of wrong turns, he came across the familiar wall, the room still as empty as every other time he'd seen it. Phantom enthusiastically walked through the area he pointed at, and Puff immediately shoved his floppy ear against the wall.

          Knowing how stupid he'd look if he was caught, Káel surveyed the room and its connecting corridors cautiously before putting his ear up to the wall as well. He couldn't hear anything, and Puff wasn't responding to anything either, but he remained there for a couple more seconds until Phantom's arm shot out of the wall followed by his head and flamboyant hat.

          "That's a fantastic hidden pathway! Although it could use some dusting and new lighting."

          "It's there?"

          "What do you mean it's there? Of course it is! Pathways can't just disappear." Phantom fully stepped out of the wall and patted off his clothes. "Hold on, there has to be a way to open it..." he trailed off as he looked to the ceiling and froze.

          Puff warbled questionably at him, while Káel looked for whatever had drawn his attention to the barren stone carved ceiling.

          "There's someone watching us, but they're not entirely there... You just sit down and act like you're doing something, I'll look for a way in."

          "Fine. But you're NOT opening it," Káel hissed, strolling over to one of the walls and sitting down at its feet to retie his shoe. Puff didn't help when he grabbed the lace from Káel's hand and maniacally attacked it, as if it was a duel to the death between the furry dragon and it's flimsy spaghetti shaped nemesis of snake-like flexibility.

          Káel gave the ceiling a couple of wary glances, wondering what could be watching him, while keeping an eye on Phantom who was looking over every nook and cranny of the secret passage, sometimes shoving his head through it to get a better look at the other side.

          "Question. Are you just lost again, or do you really like that wall?" a voice cut in.

          Phantom pulled his head out of the wall and looked to the ceiling, while Káel mouthed an oh as he realized the identity of his spectator. "I'll go with option B, something about boring stone walls really gets to me."

          "Veeery funny," Tia sighed. "Seriously though, why is it that every time you come into this room you put your ear up against the wall like you're listening to something?"

          "Why is it that every time I put my ear up against a wall you're magically here?" Káel retorted.

          Tia failed to respond to Káel's accusation, leaving an awkward pause of silence in her wake. The last thing she wanted to do was confirm Mr. Mudelin's accusation of stalking him, she was just following orders. So the silence drew on, until Káel revived the conversation.

          "Who are you anyways?"

          "Tia?"

          "Ok, correction. What are you? A human, some sort of robotic speaker thingy?"

          "I don't know what a robotic speaker thingy is, so I can't confirm that one, but I used to be a human."

          Káel gave the ceiling an uncomfortable look. Used to be?

          "Judging by your face, Earth doesn't have soul enchantments. Not a surprise, considering how uncivilized that planet tends to be."

          "Oy," Káel cut in, feeling slightly offended by Tia's abrupt insult towards Earth.

          "Anyways, to put it simply for you, I'm a soul that's been enchanted into this building to control its basic functions, and act as security."

          Káel scoffed, swaying from the task of tying his shoe to stare at the ceiling. "What? Am I doing something suspicious?"

          "Well, you're listening to walls, and parading a rare and especially ferocious breed of dragon around with you, while talking to yourself..."

          Káel narrowed his eyes to hide the seed of panic cutting into his gut. "Are you following my every move or something? Cause, that's creepy."

          "What- no!" Tia screeched. "I'm collecting informatio-err... surveying the school for suspicious activity!"

          "Well don't waste your time on me, unless tying your shoe is against the school code," Káel retorted, wincing as Puff bit his foot trying to catch the shoelace. 

          "Yeah yeah, ok I'm done," she said, followed by a long pause of silence.

          Phantom crawled out of the wall and looked to the ceiling once more. "That enchantment, Teetee was it?"

          Káel shook his head.

          "Well whatever she's called, she's still watching you." Phantom gave the wall one last look before sighing. "Whatever opens this door has to be somewhere in this room."

          Káel gave the ceiling a disappointed look. "Tia, why are you still here?"

          The room remained silent while he had a staring contest with the ceiling.

          Thinking back on his time in the school, which didn't sum up to much, he tried to remember any authoritative figure he could threaten the spying, whatever it was, away with. Fortunately, his choice hit the nail on the head. "Tell me, what would Lady Samanthra say about you stalking a student without a given reason?"

          "Ok! I'm sorry! Please don't tell Samanthra that!" Tia blurted blowing her cover within a split second of Káel's threat. "I'm just trying to figure out what your lineage is, and other information useful information on you."

          "Forget I asked, that's even creepier," Káel replied, wrestling his shoelace out of Puff's iron tight jaws. "Not to mention, I already told you everything I know, so don't waste your time on me please."

          "I'm also making sure nothing unfortunate happens to you," she mumbled, "because, depending on your lineage, you could be one big bullseye."

          Although he'd heard hauntingly similar words before from Vera, it still made him uneasy to hear it. "Well, have you learned anything?"

          "Huh?" Tia's tone rose to entertainment. "Oh, well, Samanthra might have, but until it's been confirmed I can't tell you much."

          "Hey! I might've found something!" Phantom yelled. "But I need some help cause I can't touch it, cursed solid objects."

          Puff's ears perked up, and he abandoned his duties of sabotaging Káel's shoelace, and ran over to Phantom like a cat expecting treats. He nervously eyed the two while they closely inspected a piece of the wall that at a closer glance appeared looser than the surrounding stone. Puff sniffed it curiously, then scratched at it, trying to dig his curved talons into the creases of the single brick of stone.

          "Hey! Don't you pee on that!" Tia yelled.

          Puff stopped what he was doing and turned his head with a pride shot look, as if peeing on walls was below his prestigious position in society.

          "Jeez, even the dragon is acting coocoo. I hope it gets better soon," Tia continued. "Anyways, I guess I'll leave this time, tata for now!"

          Káel waited a couple seconds before glancing at Phantom.

          "She's gone, now help me with this, your weak little dragon couldn't pull a flower from the dirt if its life depended on it."

          "I told you we're not opening it!" Káel snapped, looking around for other students when he realised his voice had carried.

          "I won't! I just want to satisfy my curiosity."

          "It's vandalism, and I don't feel like nabbing even more unwanted attention by pulling the school walls apart!"

          Phantom dropped his head to the side and cockily lifted his chin. "Is it really vandalism if it's supposed to come out?"

          Káel pursed his lips.

          Phantom shrugged passively, twirling around on his foot and grabbing his knees to look down at Puff. "Alright Mudbrain, keep scratching, it'll pop out eventually. Try not to make the scratches too noticeable." 

          Káel stormed over to the loose piece of the wall and jammed his fingers into the grooves. The piece shifted, but he couldn't get enough grip on it to pull it out. "I need something pointy..." He stared at Phantom and quickly dropped his flat lips to a frown at the idiocy in his words. Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out his necklace, pried at the piece of wall until he heard a pop, and the piece of loose stone swung open like a bank vault, releasing a thick cloud of white dust that blasted his ebony bangs.

          As Káel coughed and shook the dust off his face, Phantom formed an orb of light in his hand, holding it up to the small, dark vault to illuminate a polished white rock. It was sitting snugly at the back of the dusty opening, and held a smaller-in-size resemblance to the white, path opening rocks peppering the forest. 

          "Aww there's a Ceptrum controlling it? You don't happen to have one do you?"

          Káel stared at the glossy object with a confused frown. "A Ceptrum?"

          "That white stone. It's like a gatekeeper, and you need one to talk to it and ask it to open the door."

          "Talk to it?" Káel's eyebrows crawled up his forehead as he gave Phantom a glance laced with idiocy. "That's a rock."

          "It's enchanted skathead, and don't underestimate the power of rocks, they can be loathsome pains in the butt."

          "Whatever, you found the entrance, let's go." Káel rose to his feet and pushed the flap shut with his foot, patting the rest of the white dust off his knees.

          "You can't say you're not the least bit interested in going down there!"

          "I can actually, why don't you go in yourself? It's not like the wall's stopping you."

          "It's not, but I can only travel a certain distance from you."

          Káel shrugged. "Sucks to be you I guess." 

          He ignored Phantom's defeated hum, leisurely walking off towards the hall leading out of the room, when a student, the likes of which he faintly recognized from somewhere, walked into view.

          The student stopped immediately when he saw Káel, gretting him a questionable and slightly hostile look as his nose scrunched. He was standing properly in a purple uniform, with his black hair brushed back, and his head raised higher than normal as his chocolaty eyes scanned every feature of Káel, lingering on the film of dust still frosting parts of his hair.

          The familiarity was killing Káel, he knew the kid from somewhere. He looked about one or two years older than him, and a hint of disgust flashed across his face when Káel stared at him for too long.

          "You look like a Red Tailed Flumigan that just saw a golden watch, what business do you have here?" the boy spoke.

          He didn't recognize his voice, which added to the mystery, his focus so hardened on trying to remember who he was, he almost forgot to respond. "I got lost... who are you?"

          The boy blinked, his head pushed back in pure offense as he narrowed his eyes. "Are you a foreigner?" He scoffed at Káel's wide eyes, feeding off the silence as a smile slithered across his face. "I'll take that as a yes. I suppose that justifies your idiocy." Before Káel could argue the insult the boy somehow straightened even more, resting his hand over his heart in a motion to address himself. "I am Horus Floyd, it would do you good to remember my name, and the other nobles in this school, for they may not be as kind towards such questions."

          "Ok then..." Káel muttered, ready to get out of the unsavoury situation he'd landed himself in with a simple introductory question. At least he remembered the boy standing before him now, and understood why Phaeron made it a game of teasing his power.

          The boy stared at Káel with a strange burst of expectation, his frown returning when Káel failed to bow, or even introduce himself. "Now then, since you asked me a question, it is only fair that I ask you one. What name is it you go by?"

          Káel soaked in the venom of his tone, squaring his shoulders without realising his subconscious act of intimidation before it hit his tone as well. "Káel. Nice to meet you too."

          The boy raised his eyebrows patronisingly, every move he made leaked of pompous prickliness. "Aren't you that boy who outran a unicorn while saving a dragon of all things?" His gaze fell to Puff's scowl, quickly answering his question. "I must say, looking at you, I was expecting a little more." He raised his hand to cut off Káel before he even opened his mouth. "Don't worry, I completely understand. You're a foreigner after all, and all that fur would fool the average commoner into thinking it's civilized enough to keep as a pet. I'm surprised the school administration hasn't confiscated the savage yet though."

          Phantom snorted, causing Káel to jump a little at the sound. "I'm surprised the school administration hasn't confiscated him yet."

          Káel sucked his lips in to hold a laugh, but Puff was already snorting uncontrollably at the statement, causing Horus to step away with a flash of fear at the dragon's actions.

          Horus quickly straightened up again, glaring at Puff as he nervously toyed with his cuffs. "The library is a three minute walk from here, I'd recommend looking up on Nomads from The Eye and Latos, perhaps you'll think twice about this beast." He sized Káel up, despite being even shorter than Truvius, causing Káel to sigh from the familiar gesture. "Tell me, what region do you come from?"

          "Huh?" Káel froze, he'd completely forgotten to make up an alibi. "Uhhh."

          A voice cut through the hall, and unlike Horus', the owner of this one was burned into Káel's mind, like it would be for the rest of his cursed life. "He's from the Mizer Islands, you know how those island folk are, uninformed at the best of times."

          Horus flicked his attention to Ray, who was leaning against the wall intently eavesdropping on their conversation. As opposed to Káel, the noble's eyes deadened to exhaustion as he tossed away his posh front with a sigh. "Typical, interrupting a conversation you're not a part of. I'm sure he can answer for himself." Horus slowly folded his arms, the grin plastered to Ray's face putting him on edge. "What business do you have here? You can't possibly be up to anything good."

          "Oh, well actually, I was taking a rather exciting walk. Shall I tell you how I tilted every picture I passed on my way here? Or would you like to see for yourself?" Ray said with a sly grin.

          Horus shot him a deathly glare, and Káel could have sworn he saw the corner of his eye twitch. "For your sake you'd better be lying, you know what happened last time you did that."

          "The punishment was well worth watching you lose your mind trying to reach all those paintings," Ray sneered, easily engulfing the boy in his towering shadow that held more than simple teasing to it. "A truly priceless moment."

          Horus turned to Káel, his dead frown worthy of a play sending chills straight through his eyes and up his spine. "If I were you, I'd choose my friends more carefully. Especially someone like him." 

          With that, Horus quickly excused himself, walking down the path Ray had come from.

          "Don't worry, I only tilted three!" Ray called, grinning at Káel as he ruffled his hair. "Don't mind him, he's just an avid mirror kisser that's stuck up higher than the clouds. You'll meet a couple people like him, but not nearly as bad." Ray chuckled, his smile falling a little at the cloud of dust nesting in Káel's hair that he'd disturbed.   

          He looked over Káel's shoulder to the empty room, his confusion evolving to curiosity. 

          "What were you doing here?"

          Káel slid his hands into his pockets, greeting Ray with his signature glare. "Nothing." 

          Káel was surprised to see Ragdoll wasn't with Ray, and for some reason he had that large pair of goggles on his head again, messing up his curly blonde hair even more. 

          "Oh?" Ray's cheeky smile popped across his face as he looked down at Puff, causing the dragon to back away slowly. "You agree with him? Cause I don't."

          The dragon stopped and looked at Ray in contemplation, then behind it at the wall.

          Phantom slowly nodded at the Puff out of Káel's view, giving the dragon a thumbs up while he weighed the pros and cons. 

          Káel on the other hand, watched him like a scolding parent. His panic-widened eyes glued to Puff's mischievous smile.

          "Don't you dare."

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5/19/2018