“Where are you going? I thought we didn’t have class today?” August asks as he’s chomping down the lunch that Zachry made.

“I have a life outside of school you know…” Zachry replies.

August makes an overly dramatic surprised expression as he almost chokes on the food, “I wouldn’t dare think such a thing.”

“Anyway, I’m going somewhere with Valencia. Could you guys keep an eye on the library while we’re gone?”

‘They’re going on a date?!’

“Of course,” August answers resolutely.

“...Okay. And you Jasper?”

Jasper lies on the sofa facing down completely still dying of boredom. 

“Yeah, sure… why not,” He mumbles uninterested.

“I’ll join…” Clover says as he descends the stairs.

“Wonderful. We’re leaving the library in your care so please don’t destroy the place.”

A little while later, at the library, Jasper wanders around, still bored out of his mind. August and Clover are upstairs reading books.

‘What’s so fun about reading books?’ Jasper thinks as he takes a book from the shelf.

‘It’s just some words on a page…’

“Hm? What’s this?”

A slim white book catches his eye as he’s walking past. He takes it from the shelf to get a better look. Engraved on the cover are glyphs intended to be the title.

Jasper traces the glyphs with his finger, unable to discern their meaning. He opens the book and to his surprise all the pages are blank.

“That's weird… Don't these things usually have words in them?” He says dumbfounded.

“Jasper…” 

A faint disembodied voice calls out his name. 

“Who’s there?” He asks as he tries to find the owner of the voice. 

It was neither August nor Clover, and Jasper was sure of this. He heard the voice as clear as day as if the person who said it was standing right beside him. And it belonged to none of them. 

There was no one else in the library apart from them. Jasper gets a troubled look on his face as he feels an otherworldly presence making itself known in the library. 

Suddenly a few books fly off the shelf and hit the floor. After witnessing that, a single thought crossed Jasper’s mind.

‘Ghosts.’

However, his troubled expression immediately changed to an expectant one as another thought crossed his mind.

‘I’ve never fought a ghost before…!’

He’s positively beaming as cold energy starts to swirl around his hand.

“What are you doing?” 

Another voice asks, however, this one is much more lively and familiar. Looking to his left Jasper sees August looking at him weirdly.

“And why are all these books on the ground?”

“You didn’t feel it?” Jasper asks as the cold energy dissipates.

“Feel what?” 

A while later, after having explained everything that had happened. All three of them are now present downstairs where Jasper was standing.

“I know you’re not going to believe me but I swear to god it was a ghost,” Jasper adds as he finishes explaining everything.

“Not going to believe you?” August starts by quoting Jasper, “We live in a world where people can breathe fire and charge batteries with their asses. Anything is possible.

“...I for one want it to be a ghost. But where is this weird book you mentioned?” Clover asks.

‘He’s weirdly assertive recently…’

“Here it is.” Jasper pulls it from the shelf and hands it to him. 

Taking the book from Jasper, he looks at it for a minute. He traces his fingers on the book cover, trying to discern the language of the glyphs on it.

“...Well, it’s not a book made on this continent. And these symbols are similar to the Wudong language but they seem to be more graphic.”

“And how are you so sure?” Jasper asks, skeptical of his words.

“I am fluent in almost all forms of communication, but not this one…” Clover answers plainly.

“We can probably use some of the other foreign books to cross-reference similar symbols,” 

August says as he takes the book from Clover, but he pauses after getting a closer look at the glyphs. He holds the book closer to his face as he squints his eyes.

“I know some of these symbols…”

“You do?” They both asked in sync.

“Yeah, you know how they tell us that ambient aether manipulation was created 600 hundred years ago right?”

“Yeah… Where are you going with this?”

“But that’s the thing, in some historical texts and even in old paintings, there were depictions of as far back as a thousand years ago. And in those same texts, they talk about a dead language and show these symbols.”

“So basically what you’re saying is that these glyphs, ambient aether manipulation, and the dead language are all connected?”

“Of course they are. Think about it, the symbols would be the written form of the dead language. And if my theory is right the language of the commands we say when using ambient aether manipulation should be the oral form of the dead language.” August rambles on like a madman as he connects the dots.

“But can you read it?” Jasper asks

“Can I read it?” August mimics, “That’s like showing me a picture of a young Cindy Crawford and asking if I’d fuck her. Of course, I can read it!”

“Then do it.”

“I advise against reading a dead language aloud.” Clover tries to dissuade August from reading the title of the book. However, his words fall on deaf ears as August starts to read.

“Protinus… et deorsum… vatis imperium manet.”

The moment the final word left his mouth, a sparkling mist enveloped the trio. The mist revolves around them like they’re in a tornado. However, the experience is fleeting as it disperses moments later.

They find themselves in a dark and empty corridor. The walls of the hall are barren with no windows. However, a putrid scent permeates the air. Jasper grips his stomach and retches after inhaling the scent. Clover on the other hand is seemingly unbothered by the scent.

“...I told you not to read it aloud.” Clover accuses.

“Holy fuck. It smells like something died in here,” Jasper says as he pinches his nose shut.

“Because something did,” August replies as he points to the ceiling.

“Damn… that’s rough.” Jasper voices as he sees what’s above them.

Rotten corpses, presumably human, are hanging from the high ceiling with their insides falling out.

“I feel like I’m going to like it here…” Clover says silently.

“Of course, you would… Where the hell are we anyway?”

“Why don’t we find out?” August says as he gestures to the end of the corridor. 

At the end of the corridor is a large double door. They walk toward the large door, unsure of what awaits them.

Suddenly, a wall of white flame-like energy appears before them, blocking their path. However, no warmth can be felt from it.

“It looks like we found the culprit for that,” August states, referring to the many lynched corpses above them.

“What business does thou have within these sacred halls?”

A disembodied spectral voice booms throughout the hall, drowning out all else. And on the opposite side of the white fire, two ghostly silhouettes rise from the ground. Wrapped in white cloth, the grey-skinned apparitions appear to glow ever so faintly. 

“We strongly urge thou to return from whence thou cometh.”

“And what if we don’t feel like it?” Jasper questions.

With a glow of the eye, the female apparition vanishes. It reappears behind Jasper bearing a crescent sickle in hand. The sickle swiftly moves toward his neck but a familiar blue straight sword blocks its path.

“Then thou shall meet thine, maker.” It says answering his question.

Jasper welcomes the challenge with a wide grin as the air around him becomes frigid. It moves back through the air, untethered by gravity, and lands a few feet away from him.

Jasper wastes no time as he sprints toward the female apparition. However, her male counterpart appears before him, blocking his path.

“You want in on the action as well? Fine! I’ll take you both on!” He yells in a frenzied manner.

“I shall humble thine ignorance.”

A glowing white sigil appears in the male apparition’s hand as he starts to chant, “Squander thine freedom. And suffer in eternal damnation. Phantasmal blight!”

A stream of white fire bursts forth from the palm of his hand. However, a translucent wall appears before Jasper and completely seals off the other side of the corridor. Effectively blocking the fire.

“Who’re you going to humble with such a weak attack?” August asks with a cocky expression.

“And who art thou to question us?”

The female apparition appears from the ground behind August. He expected that she would do that and kicked her in the stomach. But weirdly enough it felt like he kicked the air.

She floats backward to make some space between them, but before she could land Clover moves toward her. 

And in his hand is a curved, single-edged sword. Reacting just in time, she blocks his blade with the sickle.

“I have never fought a phantom such as yourself before…”

“It shall be thine first and last.”

The sickle gets engulfed in the white flame as she forces him back. And appearing from the ground is the other one. Now both sides are on opposite sides of the hall, with the phantoms still guarding the door.

“A weapon would really be nice about now…” August says as he’s looking at Clover.

“Fine…” Clover caves, “Here.”

He pulls a concealed blade from his pants and throws it to August.

“Would you like one as well?” He asks Jasper as he’s pulling another from his coat.

“Nah, I’m good.”

Jasper charges three arrows and releases them from his blue great bow. The female specter vanishes, leaving the male to deal with the arrows.

 He draws a ring of white fire in the air and shoots down the arrows. The flaming ring flies at Jasper at a frightening speed. But August swiftly moves in front of him and cuts it in two with his sword wrapped in his red aura.

The great bow shatters and reforms into dual viking axes. As they both rush the lone phantom.

Just then, the other phantom appears before Clover and attacks him. But like clockwork, he steps back, dodging the sickle. And thrusts the sword through her neck. 

However he felt nothing, it felt like he had attacked the empty air. That is exactly what he did, as the phantom vanishes.

“Of course physical attacks do nothing. They are phantoms.”

Over on the other side of the hall, blue and red energies clash with a pure white flame. Although it’s two against one, the phantom is holding his own. 

With another chant, he summons multiple balls of white fire and hurls them at August and Jasper. August simply cuts through them as Jasper evades the incoming attacks with little to no effort whatsoever.

His axes shatter and form the great bow as he fires three consecutive arrows. In the same instance, August dashes toward the phantom.

“Thine pitiful attempt of an attack shall be annulled!” 

The phantom clasps his hands as a large ring of light appears on the ground around him.

“Grant me the blessing of thine righteous flame!” He chants.

A rampaging tornado of white fire springs forth from beneath his feet and blocks Jasper’s arrow. As for August…

“Don’t make me laugh!” The blade of this sword gets wrapped in a violent red aura as his eyes begin glowing fiercely, “No matter how you are strong you are, I am always stronger!”

With a downward slash, he breaks through the white tornado.

“Thou art correct, but thou art but a mortal.”

Suddenly, a sickle engulfed in white pierces August’s chest. The female apparition appears behind him and pulls out the sickle.

“You bitch…” He says while coughing up blood. He falls to the floor, unable to stop the bleeding.

“And so too, thine companions shall follow.”