“I really thought I didn't need to come," Mine grumbled and opened the door tagged 'teachers' room'.

It was the same way he had left before. Tidy, clean, and with a flowerpot full of life that… wasn't alive anymore. The time can be merciless, and he perfectly knew that.

The bookshelves were slightly dusty, and the other teachers from the Heavenly Spells department certainly didn't have time to check the condition of the books or even the flowers Mine left there before going on leave.

For the rest, everything seemed as it had been before... except the teacher in there who portrayed a pensive expression.

"Right... how was that again...?" he sat on the nearest chair to recall last night's event.

[beginning of flashback] -------

Mine was at home, about to go to sleep. He had a nice dinner, which Addai cooked for him before going to his home with Umbra as a "farewell" act. The empty living room, the now silent ambiance... everything was back to the usual, and it wasn't good. Mine didn't know how bad he lived in such silence and loneliness.

Umbra's purring and kneading, Addai's pestering and bickering... he missed that. Still, he knew he couldn't rely too much on that parallel reality, and Addai was where he should be: in his own home. He needed to get used to his reality. Quick.

Changing the bedsheets was... interesting. He saw Umbra's fur floating in the air when he dusted the sheets and Addai's musky perfume he got used to it's scent. A smile, a silly one, skwtched on his face and the tips of his hair turned pink. 

The time for his meds were coming and it had been a while he didn't face any symptoms from the ordeal he had been through, but that night a sharp pain crossed his head, numbing his mind.

"Ugh… I need a painkiller," and he searched for the remedy in the bathroom cabinet.

He took it, then laid down on the bed, slowly feeling the numbing sleeping sensation take over his body until reaching a total blackout.

His soul wandered in the dreamland. He was sure of that. He felt light, and no more pains tormented him... until he heard stomping sounds.

He opened his eyes a little bit.

The room was dark, and he felt his stomach burning with hunger. His mouth was as dry as his lips.

Also, a woman was sitting next to him. This woman didn't look very well, but her eyes burned with a mix of feelings that made her aware of all the time. She rarely said anything and offered Mine small doses of something liquid that was salty and metallic at the same time and, while giving the strange liquid, she repeated:

"It's ok, _________. You don't need to look at me like that. Just drink and pretend to be passed out."

Then, Mine's vision blurred, and he lay down on the new floor.

Soon, grunts in a strange language filled his ears, and this caused him immense, almost torturous agony. When he felt his heart beats faster and faster and his ears hurt, the woman covered them with her hands and stared at the horizon, murmuring something that blocked out the sounds.

She was a kind woman, he knew that.

She was a trustworthy woman.

She was a... friend. Yes, she was a friend.

At a certain point in the dream, Mine was called by her friend, and she gave her a paper with something gold written on it.

"Call him," the friend said with some anxiety in her voice. "Only he can break this barrier and free us. Please, _________, call him."

Before Mine could say anything, words jumped past his lips like hurried rabbits. "I will, but I need to redirect some things first... otherwise, he will be tracked-"

And Mine shook his head to make the pain go away a little.

He couldn't think of anything else, and just trying to do so gave him a twinge of pain above his eyes, as if a troupe of mice were beating drums at their lowest rhythms.

“Argh...” he groaned.

…

…

…

…?

“______, ________,” something tried to call him, but the words didn't make enough sense to form something intelligible.

“?” Mine stared at the source of the disturbance and felt her headache intensify.

“Mine!” a familiar voice called to him from another direction, and he widened his eyes, turning towards the source of the voice.

“Who’s there?!” he shouted and tried to stand up, but as soon as his hands touched the muddy floor… he slipped, and oh, his head hurt, numbing his further actions.

“Save me! Mine!” the voice begged desperately.

“Who… who are you?!” he asked.

“It’s me! Mrs. Blanche!” she shouted, and Mine’s headache intensified. “I don’t know where I am, but please, help me!” she begged, and a glow made his eyes shut tight.

He didn’t know if he was hallucinating from too much pain, but it felt way too real to be a single and random hallucination. Still, he felt a hand on his chest and a gentle voice called.

“Mine?” the voice was sweet and delicate, just like an angel’s.

All Mine could see was the being's faint silhouette, nothing more, nothing less.

“I’m glad you’re fine,” the voice chuckled, “rest a little bit…” and thin, delicate fingers massaged his scalp and forehead.

Trying to keep his eyes opened, Mine asked. “… who are you…?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the gentle voice said with a smile, “just think that I am… oh! Your dreams guide! That sounds good, right?”

“… it’s cool,” Mine chuckled.

Oh… he was hallucinating.

Wherever he was, the surface seemed to be made of fluffy, cool clouds. A calm mist slowly filled the room. It was fresh and smelled jasmine and lavender - a pleasant smell.

He must've been crazy, but it felt so... good.

“I’ll be here until it’s safe,” the gentle voice said and walked away, and a ruffling of sheets could be heard. “Let me cover you. Your arms are cold,” the being covered Mine’s body with a soft, silky sheet.

“Thank you…” Mine couldn’t help but be thankful.

“That’s nothing,” the voice chuckled, but soon the chuckle turned meek and… melancholic. “Mine, if you had to do a duty, would you fulfill it even though you didn’t want to?” it suddenly asked, but the words were somehow way lighter than it really was.

“…” Mine paused, felt the softest texture of the pillow, and sighed. “I don’t know… I just want to live peacefully,” he voiced without much thinking.

And Mine had a peaceful night.

[end of the flashback] -------------

The dream… the first half of it was… disturbing. The second half seemed to distract him from the first as if it was a kind of escapism.

Was the message veridic? Was that really Blanche?  What was happening?  Whose was that gentle voice he had never heard before?

Many questions were left without answers, but Mine was willing to answer them.

“Something is fishy…” Mine pondered. “If that person was really Blanche… then she’s in real danger… but why did she contact me?”

Something was off.

Taking some papers from the stack near the collective printer, Mine wrote a title on each paper. Five papers were connected but empty.

Mine locked the door to the staff room and put up a "Do Not Disturb" sign before filling out the papers. The first to be completed would be number one, "Preliminaries":

First, Blanche had been missing for a long time - a matter of months - and no one was sufficiently moved by what had happened.

Second, they hired a new teacher, Addai, who would not replace Blanche's classes, so her subject remained vacant until Ajal took charge of them.

Third, Soleil and Abannak were too calm about Blanche's disappearance and the rumors of the so-called “Wishing Well” that had stopped claiming new victims for mysterious reasons.

Fourth, Mine was, for some reason, out of the investigation even though he was one of the teachers who always participated in important missions, not only because of his name but also because of his Chronos skills that worked as neutralizers…

“... They’re hiding something,” he pondered, erasing a typo.

If they were hiding something… what would it be?

What benefit would it do to hide something of such magnitude from Mine, being someone who could help with any kind of mission of any nature?

That flea behind his ear bothered him, and nothing seemed to fit.

He needed more clues, whatever they might be.

“Ok, let me put together all the clues I already have,” Mine took the fifth paper.

He started doodling. The mentions of the well, the event before the train incident, Blanche's disappearance, the well's routes, and the rumors coming from the students... but things didn't add up at all.

He barely had any real, reliable traces of that "Wishing Well," imagine Blanche's traces?

“If I could investigate the fragments I have... but the only suitable time... is at night," he grumbled.

A risky move. The university was oddly watched by many security cameras and mana detectors, so the investigation would be more complicated than Mine thought.

“It’s nearly impossible to do it alone,” he grumbled even more.

When everything seemed lost, a message appeared on Mine's cell phone, asking where he was going to have lunch...

...and then he remembered that this certain someone could be helpful.

"/Can we stroll at the Herbology Center before lunch? I need to check a request I made with Lydia, and I also ordered a sample of the plant you were looking for. She already sent me the pictures, and they're stunning/” Addai sent with the pictures attached.

“…” Mine stared at the message, hoping Addai would erase it and pretend nothing happened so Mine could fulfill his attempts to call for Addai’s help.

But it didn't happen.

The message was still there and waiting for an answer.

Going to the Herbology Center before lunch would surely distract him. Still, declining could lead to Addai's delay - because he would still go to Herbology Center anyway - and their lunch would be damn rushed, or it wouldn't even happen because Mine would be too hungry to wait for him - almost ascending to another dimension from hunger.

Lunch needed to happen. He had to talk to Addai so he could get an investigation partner.

On the other hand, if he accepted, the success rate of "hiring" him as a partner would decrease tragically, as Addai would certainly distract him enough for Mine to only remember the plan when it was too late.

Mine needed… to focus…

…

Since when was Mine easily distracted around Addai?

This discovery - although almost insignificant - made him realize that Addai was the solution and the problem. That also only corroborated the thesis that Addai would be the source of all the new issues that arose with Mine...

“Foolishness,” Mine blushed and unlocked the cellphone screen again.

He hesitated for a few taps. Writing, erasing, writing, erasing again.

“/?/” Addai texted.