As Raise and Place made their way back to their dorm, they were stopped by someone.
The figure sent to check on Place had arrived.
"Excuse me?" Raise asked.
"He's here to check on me." Place stated.
"And he is?"
"No idea as to his personal identity, but he belongs to a secret order."
"Is that all I'm getting?"
"Yes."
Place stepped forward and nodded to the figure.
The figure moved forward, gliding across the path as he scanned Place from all angles.
Various coloured mists started emerging from his body and wrapping around Place's.
"Hng." Place frowned in discomfort as the mists entered his body and moved about. Foreign energies inside his body was not a good feeling.
"You good?" Raise asked, watching from the side.
"Nothing to worry about." Place reassured. "He's just using these energies to see if something inside me reacts badly."
"Won't that harm you?"
"Slightly, but he can heal any damages if that happens."
The mists emerged from his body after a minute, and the figure seemed satisfied.
It nodded at Place, and then glided away.
"How are you feeling?" Raise stepped closer and asked.
"I feel fine." Place rolled his shoulders. "Just a bit of unpleasantness, it will fade within a few moments, let's keep walking."
***
A few minutes earlier, in Obithal's study.
The box on the table lit up once again.
However, unlike last time, when only a single gem lit up, this time, a red glow emerged from all of them.
It sent out an alert, and a minute later Obithal teleported into his study.
He silently strode over to his desk, wondering what had prompted Place to send an 'Urgent' message.
'Hopefully nothing bad.'
He sat down on his chair and opened the box.
He picked up the letter, closed the box, and slid it back to the side.
For a few seconds, he just sat there, holding the letter and running his mind through recent events.
Then he let out a sigh and started to pay attention to the letter.
"Oh?" He let out a surprised sound as he read what his son wanted to tell him about.
"Oh..." He let out a worried one as he read further.
He let out a sigh, and summoned his uncle.
"What happened now?"
Uncle arrived shortly after, and the first words out of his mouth were of irritation, and with good reason.
It had been rare for Obithal to call him, he used to do it maybe once a month or so, but recently, he had been calling him quite often, and with one reason.
His grand-nephew.
Obithal raised the letter, then handed it over.
Uncle took it and started reading.
A few moments later, he paused and looked up.
"How did he learn about this? This should have been a closely guarded secret!"
"He answers some of that." Obithal gestured to his Uncle to keep reading.
Uncle looked back down and started to read the rest.
"Oh dear..." He muttered as he read through the letter.
"Any idea as to what is going on?" Obithal asked once he finished.
"I have... one. I hope it's wrong." Uncle frowned as he stared into nothing, trying to remember something.
"I need to consult some books. I will return to you when I have reached a conclusion."
Uncle started to channel his magic to teleport away, but suddenly paused.
"Contact all our men outside and tell them to stock up on everything and stop all current activities that involve any travel, and those that are in hostile territory? Tell them to establish towers and be prepared for anything."
Obithal's face grew more and more solemn as his uncle spoke instruction after instruction.
"Is it that grave a matter?" He asked.
"I hope that I am wrong, but recent events show some clues, and that information that Place just sent... Send the instructions now, I will be back within an hour or two."
With that said, Uncle teleported out.
Obithal moved immediately, calling people and preparing some letters.
'Anything that had Uncle acting like that...' Obithal planned some extra instructions.
Something was going to happen, that much was certain.
***
"You got into a fight?" Place asked as he watched Zandre and Otis walk into their room.
"It's the first day..." Raise looked at his long-time friend, who had a button torn off of his uniform, and blood on his hands. "How did you even manage to piss someone off that much?"
"Um, actually..." Zandre started to explain, but was cut off by Otis.
"I didn't, it's all his fault." Otis clapped Zandre's back, who didn't even flinch at the impact.
"What happened?" Place asked, he had insisted that the two of them move together for a reason.
'Make sure that he does not wander off alone anywhere.'
"So there was this stuck-up brat." Otis started. "He was bullying one of our fellow first-years, and Zandre wanted him to stop."
"And you," Raise picked up the story, knowing his friend all too well. "Seeing an opportunity to beat up a senior with a moral reason, jumped on the opportunity." He concluded.
"I was helping a fellow student and protecting him from harm." Otis said with a smirk.
"This senior," Place asked. "What was he like?"
"A real pile of cowdung," Otis stated. "Arrogant as Alrid, he was shouting profanities and spouting degrading comments like, 'Commoners like you should stay in the ditches.', and 'Go and till some fields for me.', and some more that I won't say."
"I see..." Place frowned, he hadn't thought about students like this.
'Seems like I need to get a look at all the students.'
As soon as Place made that mental note, thoughts from beyond crept into his mind.
'Thing?' He questioned, then focused on the message.
'SHITSHITSHITSHIT'
Place flinched back from the 'volume' of the thoughts being thrown around.
'What's going on?'