The rays of the sunlight shine through a gap in the curtain and prompt Zachry to wake from his slumber. His eyes open ever so slowly as if not wanting to open at all. And with a yawn, he pulls himself upright.

Rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes he gets up. He makes a simple motion, and his glasses come flying out of their case. After putting on the glasses he begins walking to the bathroom. However, he moves as fast as a geriatric sloth.

The ominous sound of a cello fills his room as he looks at himself in the mirror. The tone of the cello causes the memories of the day before to come rushing through his mind.

‘Hati and Skoll? Apart from the heirs they are the strongest students in the academy. And they won’t come after us alone…’

He runs his hand through his hair, baffled by his current predicament.

‘Should I just let them do as they, please? No, if I have the power to help the students, shouldn’t I?’

Just then, he remembers Valencia’s words. Unable to come to a conclusion he forces the matter to the back of his mind. However, running away from your problems will always come back to haunt you in the end.

Elsewhere, the two students who attacked Zachry finally got discharged from the academy’s infirmary. And are now explaining yesterday’s events to another two students dressed in a red and gold variation of the academy’s uniform.

The students have an air of arrogance around them. Not to mention the fact that instead of the academy’s crest their uniform is adorned with the crest of house Ashfrey. Plus they haven’t even acknowledged their presence since they entered the armory-like room.

“So what do you think we should do?” One of the students asks having finished their report.

“Divide and conquer.” The female dressed in red says.

“Gather as many Squire-ranked students as you can and destroy them one by one. But leave August Stride to us. Now leave.” Says the male counterpart.

Hours later, they’re all at the library’s entrance waiting on Valencia alongside a partially recovered August.

“How’re you feeling?” Zachry asks.

“As good as new. Did you guys find out anything about the book?”

“I told her about the connections the book had with ambient aether manipulation,” Clover answers, “And now we’re waiting on her…”

The door to the library flies open.

“What are you doing here so early in the morning?” A sleepy Valencia greets them.

“Early? It’s already past noon,” Jasper replies.

“Come in, come in.”

The library is a mess. Books and papers are lying all over the place.

“Val…? Have you slept?” A concerned Zachry asks.

“Sleep? I don’t need sleep. I need answers. Sleep is for the weak and feeble-minded.” She says seriously.

However, it doesn’t take long for a smile to appear on her face, when looking at Zacchry’s expression.

“I’m just joking. I slept here and there.”

“And, did you manage to find out anything about the book?” Clover asks.

“Not necessarily. Follow me.”

They follow her to a concealed pathway that leads downstairs to a basement area of sorts. The walls of the room, similar to those upstairs, are adorned by shelves packed to the brim with books. The only other thing in the room is the desk and chair by the wall facing the entrance.

“I didn’t know the library had a basement,” Zachry says as he enters the room.

“Then the concealed pathway did its job well. This was where the library’s records were kept before my great-grandfather turned it into his study.”

“Shall we move on to the matter at hand?” Clover chimes in.

“Yes, yes. As you suggested I read up on ambient aether manipulation and found something interesting.”

“That ambient aether manipulation was present long before the likes of Cornelius and Seral Baal?”

“Y-Yeah… How do you know that?”

“I have a decent knowledge of the subject.”

“Anyways after that, I got stuck and started reading a bunch of other things. And that’s why we’re here.”

She pulls one of the books from the shelf and quickly flips through it. She finally lands on her desired page and hands them the book asking if the drawing on the page looks familiar. The drawing is of a grey-skinned individual wrapped in gold and black clothing

‘It’s a phantom!’ They all think in sync.

“How did you find out about this?”

“My great-grandfather was obsessed with the world’s demography. Meaning he recorded data on languages, races, religions, and other stuff. And in my boredom, I read one of his books about languages.”

“And you found the dead language?” Clover adds.

“Yeah, and I found the creators of the said language,” She says referring to the phantoms, “They’re called Luminarias”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. We fought them and they spoke our language.” Jasper says.

“Interesting. Did the ones you fought wield a sort of white flame?” She asks him.

“Yeah, they did. They called it Blanked flame or something like that.” He recalls.

“Blighted flame. The ones you guys fought were the lesser sub-species known as Eidos. They’re known for their radical beliefs and ability to reanimate the dead.”

“Alright, so the Luminarias created the language and are probably the creators of the book. Do you know where they are now?” Clover asks.

“His notes said they both vanished over 1500 years ago. I’m sorry, but that’s as far as I’ve got."

“Don’t worry you did more than enough,” Zachry reassures her.

“August you said you saw paintings of ambient aether manipulation. Can you describe one of them for us? Or where you saw them?”

“Clover’s right. Maybe It could give us some insight into what happened to the Luminarias or their whereabouts.” Zachry agrees.

“The only one I distinctly remember was the one I found in the ruins of an old church. It was a painting of people worshipping, what I assume to be their God. The supposed God was using a form of ambient aether manipulation to stave off monsters. And written in glyphs beside it were the words ‘Luna lepide scopulosque in argenteo suo gloriatur.’

“Do you remember where the ruins are?” Jasper asks.

“Yeah, off the continent on a desert island named Mundi.” He answers.

“We could go there if we request a leave of absence,” Jasper suggests.

“Let’s hold off on doing anything too radical. For now, let’s leave Valencia to translate what we learned from August and focus on the problem closer to home.”