"Who is that guy?" Vera seethed, still burning at the strangers knowledge and jabs at her even as they walked towards the forest trail.

          Ray chuckled dismissively, still drawn to the overhanging towers of black mere minutes from loosing a shower of droplets on them. "He's an information broker, shopkeeper, advertiser and distributor of... contracts... He's a great guy. Don't worry, I don't think he meant to threaten you, he was being blatantly honest."

          Vera sighed, relaxing her face to fatigued indifference. "I guess most of the information on me isn't really guard-worthy, I just don't like people creeping on me."

          "Don't worry, he didn't creep on you, someone else did," Ray said, his smile souring Vera's lips even further.

          "Thanks for that," Vera replied sarcastically.

          Another crack tore through the sky with an echoing roar, and Puff dug his claws into Káel's shoulders. Like the highly intelligent creature he was, he had accepted their fate, waiting for whatever monster the booms originated from to show itself and eat them.

   —————  

          The group returned to Cobalt with their own personal puddles, their shoes slapping across the polished flooring as Cinder perched on Puff's scruff like a miserable bundle of wet red felt. When they had reached the silver dorms, Vera stopped everyone to take her coat and shoes off, lagging their journey enough for Puff and Cinder to have a short and indecipherable conversation that ended in Puff shooting a blast of fire at the small bird and engulfing it in hot flames.

          "Puff!" Káel exclaimed, taken by surprise at the dragons actions.

          Puff licked his lips and looked to Káel questionably, as if he hadn't done a single thing wrong, and Káel looked to Vera, who didn't seem to see a single thing wrong with what had happened.

         Truvius looked at Káel's horrified expression and leaned in to talk to him. "Puff's drying her off, it's impossible to kill a Phoenix with fire."

          When the flames died down, there sat Cinder, dry and cheery at her friend's assistance. "Thanks Puff," Vera said, rubbing his forehead then shaking the wet droplets off her hand. With a small farewell, the group split to their rooms, and when Káel reached his room, he found Jeremiah. Thankfully still asleep on his bed.

          He awoke the cat by sliding the letter into his collar, assuring the frowning feline he didn't expect him to leave immediately with the roaring sky and rattling windows. 

          Then, Káel sat down on his bed with nothing to do. 

          Phantom had barely made a sound since Káel had ignored his pleas, but he also hadn't stopped staring at him with an extremely annoyed posture, which had done its job in wearing down his comfort levels.

          Truvius was in the study room again, so Káel grabbed a loose piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled on it. 

You gonna do that forever?

          Phantom looked at the paper, and unfolded his arms. "Trust me, I'm patient, you on the other hand, have a test coming up."

          His face sunk to defeat, without Phantom he'd be dead for the science test; so that subtle threat was really working.

         He scribbled another word on the paper and held it up. 

Fine. 

          Then he scribbled a couple more words and held up the paper to him. 

But you're gonna promise to help me with every test until I get back to Earth.

          "Deal. It's your education."

          Káel grabbed a fresh piece of paper and spent a couple minutes doodling on it, drawing a scene with labels. After a couple minutes, and a lot of erasing, he held it up to Phantom.

          Phantom stared at the cartoony drawing of a cloaked boy holding a small rock, and talking to a bunch of trees with a pile of dirt labeled Ceptrum. Then he turned his head to Káel who was still glaring at him. "Your trees look like depressed triangles."

          Káel crumpled up the piece of paper and chucked it in the trash, then grabbed another sheet and scribbled some words on it. 

There. Happy?

          A crackle of thunder shook the building, shaking the windows like a set of maracas as the wind howled. Phantom did an impressed whistled. "Nice storm, anyways, I don't remember Zalius ever using that Ceptrum, or my name as a password... How strange."

Who's Zalius? 

          Káel scribbled, looking at Phantom with curiosity.

          "Remember that dear friend I mentioned? That's him, the only Whitecrown with a half-decent head on their shoulders, and the heir to the throne. I wonder what happened to him after I got shoved in a rock..."

          Káel thought about the whistling arrows, and how the terrified boy had pulled him behind his cloak as a self-sacrificing means of protection. He then looked down at his paper, contemplating what to write next.

          "We should go check it out," Phantom said.

          Káel immediately drew a giant no on his paper, scrunching it up after Phantom got a good look at it. Jeremiah meowed, looking at Káel with a half tired half concerned look, while he slowly swished his tail back and forth.

          Phantom and Káel exchanged looks of realization. "Got any brainwashing spells?" Káel whispered, staring down his cat like it caught him robbing a bank.

          "Not unless you wanna fry all its memories. Maybe it won't say anything to your uncle if you bribe it," Phantom replied. "But then again, it's a cat, so it won;t say anything anyways."

          Káel quickly grabbed the catnip and showered Jeremiah in it, not risking the chance that his cat would find a way to talk. As Jeremiah rolled over in dazed euphoria, Puff warbled questionably at Káel's tactics, staring at the container of catnip with pleading eyes.

          "These aren't treats," Káel watched Puff's unchanging expression, as he followed the container with his eyes. "Fine, suit yourself."

          He grabbed a pinch, but that was all it took.

          Puff dropped to the floor, rolling in the specks of dried grass. The typical gesture lowered Káel's defenses as he went back to his dresser to stash the catnip away, oblivious until Puff latched onto his boot digging his fangs into the back of it, which in turn caused Káel to yell in shock.

          Truvius popped out of the study room to view the commotion, but Puff scurried under Káel's bed before he could get a look at him, amplifying his roommates confusion. "What's wrong?"

          Káel looked at the deep grooves in his shoe, and then his bed, cautiously stepping away from it. "Don't go near my bed."

          "Why? Did something attack you?" Truvius questioned, his gaze falling to Jeremiah with a wave of concern. "What's wrong with your cat?"

          "I fed him catnip."

          Truvius went to approach Jeremiah, but Káel put his arm out to stop him. "Don't go near the bed."

          Puff slowly peeked out from under the bed and locked eyes with Truvius, quickly scurrying back into the shadows. Truvius froze, watching the empty space cautiously. "What did you do?"

          "I fed him catnip."

          "What's that...?"

          Puff suddenly shot out from under the bed, in a high speed chase for his fluffy tail. Causing the dragon to run doughnuts around the room until he smacked into a wall and flopped over to groom it.

          "Is he gonna be okay?" Truvius watched Puff rub his face against the floor, taking small moments to lick the carpet.

          "It's temporary..."

          Another large crackle of thunder shook the building and Puff shot up, beelining for Truvius and latching onto his shoe.

          Truvius did what any normal person would do to with a crazed creature attempting to eat their foot, and yelped in fear, trying desperately to shake the dragon off his shoe. But Puff proved his resilience. "Help! Get it off!" he exclaimed, lifting his leg into the air so the dragon dangled off his foot.

          This situation felt a lot like déjà vu to Káel, Puff acquired the same insatiable and violent attraction to shoes when he'd whiffed in the paralyzingly flower, which gave him an idea. He pulled his boot off and tapped it on the ground to catch Puff's attention, and when Puff went to chase it he tossed it into the corner of his room.

          Truvius's face didn't relax, he stared at Puff while he violently attacked Káel's boot, then glanced at Káel. "What in the name of Tesirus is catnip?"

          "Something I'm not going to give him anymore."

   —————  

          It took a couple hours for Puff to exhaust his energy, and even when he'd fallen asleep hugging Káel's boot, Káel didn't feel like attempting to reclaim his property.

          Phantom hadn't spoken much, he seemed to be concocting an unknown plan in his mind, which was more than likely related to how he was going to convince Káel to explore the unknown path. Káel however, was ready to refuse any attempts he'd have at making him even go near that dirt pile, he was ready ever since he was forced to expose the secret.

          "So... Since going down the path doesn't suit your fancy, can we look up a bit on my friend Zalius?" Phantom said, throwing Káel off who was expecting another bout of pleas and whines.

          Káel made sure the study room door was closed, and grabbed a piece of paper to scribble on it. 

Where? The library?

          "Your friend might know, he studies enough."

Asking him might blow our cover, I think the library is the best bet. 

          Káel wrote, scrunching up the written on papers and throwing them in the trash.

          "Alright," Phantom walked through the door into the corridor.

          Káel grabbed all the books he'd taken from the library and followed him, throwing on a pair of sneakers Staz had packed, and leaving Puff, who jolted awake at the sound of the door slamming.

          When Káel found his way to the library, it was mostly empty, and the librarian was nowhere to be seen. This made it exceptionally difficult for him to hunt down a history book with the specific data he was looking for, but through intense searching and a couple paper cuts, he found it. It was in a gargantuan monster of a history book, regarding the Mauran region, which Káel assumed to be the province like place they were in.

          It took two hands to flip open the metal book, and a lot of scrolling pages to find the section he was looking for, then some more scrolling to find anything on Zalius. He was at the end of the Whitecrown section, nicknamed The Mad King, which Phantom immediately took a dislike to.

          Káel looked to the inked portrait of a young man with snowy hair and violet eyes, he held a striking resemblance to the cloaked figure from his dreams.

 Zalius Whitecrown, credited with the popularization of Ceptrums, and sparking the magic revolution. The seventy fourth king of Whitecrown was executed as a heretic and framed murderer soon after proving wrong the traditional belief of magic being the work of demons. His execution was passed by the Council of Kings, fueling the revolution into violent means of change, leading to an onslaught of civil wars and the fall of the Council of Kings. Zalius Whitecrown has been credited with shifting the demonic beliefs around magic, and replacing them with more civilized and accepting views and laws.

         "I wish those pansies that called themselves kings weren't dead, then I could murder them myself," Phantom growled, burning with rage at his newfound discovery.

          "The summary didn't mention you," Káel said. "Why'd they seal you in the rock? What'd you do?"

          "They thought I was a demon, that was reason enough for them. It was bloody hilarious watching half of them lose their minds when they thought they could kill me with their cute little arrows and swords," Phantom chimed, his joy suddenly dropping. "But in the end, I guess I just got him killed..."

   —————  

          Puff awoke, drowsy and disgusted by the unsavoury musk coming from the shoe he didn't remember falling asleep with. The storm had died down to a soft drizzle, and that jerk of a cat was glaring at him from atop Káel's bed. Thinking of Káel, Puff realized he wasn't anywhere in sight, the room was empty spare the dumb feline, and it was getting dark.

          Puff yawned and stretched, knocking the waste basket over with his butt, and causing an avalanche of scrunched up paper balls to fall out. He stared at one playfully, and smacked it so it went flying across the room. His friends would be back eventually, he trusted them enough to know that. so while he waited, he decided to entertain himself.

          He was enjoying his little game of batting the paper around, until the study room door creaked open and Truvius walked out looking around. Puff warbled a greeting at him, and he immediately flinched, before relaxing his face to a friendly smile. "Hey there Puff." He knelt down to pet him. "Where's Káel?"

          Puff did the best impression of a shrug he could, and batted the ball of paper at Truvius, hoping he'd join in on the game. Unfortunately his instructions weren't clear enough for the simple mind of his friend, because, instead of batting it back, Truvius picked it up curiously and uncrumpled it.

          Truvius read the large words scribbled across its surface. 

Asking him might blow our cover, I think the library is our best bet.

          His face twisted in confusion, it was Káel's writing, but who was the message for? He immediately thought about Vera's theory, she was right about the way Káel constantly looked at thin air like he saw something, but he needed more evidence before confronting him.

          He rose to his feet and looked around the room for more scrunched up papers, and his eyes rested upon the metal waste basket.

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Quality Quip #12:

'Everybody belongs to one of two classes: those who always know more than they tell, and those who always tell more than they know.'

~ Anon