“I’m not surprised to see Chester Price back here again but mister Greygate, this is a shock,” Madame Miura said, rewrapping the bandages on his wound beside me in the infirmary.

“Sorry,” Silvian mumbled. “I’ll try not to make a habit of it,” he glanced to me, “unlike some people.”

Madame Miura looked about at the other students that rested in the infirmary. “It’s a miracle Banecliff showed up when he did, it’s honestly quite the blessing no one was killed.” She offered a small smile to lighten the mood. “Did you see the bunny ears he was wearing when he did it? That must have been his costume for the party.” She flushed slightly. “It’s a shame we only got to see it in such an unfortunate circumstance.”

Silvian sat up slowly. “I was unconscious but I heard he destroyed the beasts using some kind of rock. What exactly was it?”

Madame Miura’s mouth tightened into a thin line. “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

Silvian furrowed his brow in his typical brooding douchebag manner. “Why not.”

“Any information about the object in question is...confidential.”

I knew what it was, obviously.

The thing Banecliff had used was about to become a MAJOR plot point in the novel.

It was called a Heart Stone. There were four of them, each holding great power over a class of magic. One for the Mental arts (that’s the one Banecliff used), one for Offensive magic and then finally one the Alchemic arts. The fourth stone was the most powerful, containing a combination of all three. 

These stones were incredibly powerful on their own but together they could make whoever had them all powerful. That’s why the Dark One wanted them so badly. He knew if he could get his hands on them he could flip the scales in his favor for his final fight with Owen Thorn.

Banecliff had found and retrieved the Mental arts Heart Stone to protect the students after the dragon attack and the Dark One (having a hunch the stone had been discovered and brought to Hemlock) purposely had his disciple unleash the hellhounds to force Banecliff to reveal he had it in his possession. 

But now the hellhounds led me to another question. Who the fuck had released them? There was no way Silvian could have done it since I was beside him all night. So then who could it be? Who had become the new blackend?

I swallowed hard. Banecliff had told me to make sure not to mess with this timeline but I had just completely changed the villain of the series. There had to be repercussions to that, right? And then as if answering my own question my gaze fell to my hands and I noticed something rather unsettling. You wouldn’t notice it at a glance but the tip of my pinky finger had become ever so slightly opaque. I stared at it closely, as if unable to comprehend what I was seeing.

And then it hit me.

By messing with this timeline I wasn’t destroying their world.

I was destroying myself.