Instead of taking the portal back to Blackmist, Delph teleported Damien and Sylph to his house. Damien almost didn’t recognize it at first. Large rends ran through the walls and books were torn to shreds. The couch was split in two, and scars pockmarked the ground. Damien and Sylph sat down on the remains of the couch while Delph gingerly claimed the miraculously unharmed chair across from them with a weary sigh.

“What happened on your end?” Damien asked. “It looks like you’ve been in a fight.”

“The Corruption attacked my house,” Delph said. “A bunch of the weaker ones and what I suspect was a Seed. It took everything Dredd and I had to keep them back without leveling the forest.”

“The Seed we fought was strong, but it wasn’t that dangerous,” Damien said with a frown.

“That one was already stone when you fought it, wasn’t it?” Delph asked. “To my understanding, they only turn to stone completely after they’re nearly dead. The one I fought was flesh and blood – well, acid, I guess.”

“So what happened?” Sylph asked.

“Dredd showed up and helped me scare the thing off,” Delph said. “We got a bit cut up, but there weren’t any serious losses. Unfortunately, we couldn’t kill the Seed either. There were just too many creatures attacking us.”

“Well, I’d say surviving generally means you came out on top,” Sylph said.

“That does add some context to what Second said, though,” Damien added. “He mentioned our protectors were tied up.”

“You spoke with that scary bastard again?” Delph asked, blinking. “Shit, he was at the Crypt?”

Damien and Sylph filled the professor in on everything that happened in the Crypt. When they were done, Delph rocked back and rubbed his gristly chin with a frown. What might have been sadness marred his normally unreadable features, but it faded as quickly as it had come.

“I’m glad I didn’t take that bet,” Delph said, rising his feet and walking to the other side of the room to leaf through a bookcase. “And you didn’t catch what happened to Moon after he attacked Second?”

“He was just gone,” Damien confirmed. “Second ran right after, so he must have done some pretty serious damage.”

Delph grunted. “Hopefully not at the cost of his own life. I was really hoping Moon would be an instrumental ally against the Corruption. Losing him now bodes badly for us.”

“All we can do is wait and see. What about the artifact we got?” Damien asked. “Second seemed interested in it.”

“It’s a map to what we believe to be a weapon vault beyond the frontlines,” Delph said. “I don’t think it’ll be of any immediate use against the Corruption, but it’ll be a big benefit if we can get our hands on it. But that does bring another question to mind. Second is outside the Cycle, so I’d think he’d have little difficulty getting his hands on powerful weapons and keeping them through the Cycles. What could be in a vault that’s strong enough to draw his interest?”

“I hope that was rhetorical,” Sylph said. “Because we have no idea.”

“It was, thank you very much,” Delph said. He rubbed his forehead and turned back to face them. “Enough about this. Dredd and I will look further into it on our own, then let you know what we find. Damien, is there any news about the Void creature that I inadvertently freed?”

Damien passed the question along to Henry, who responded with a mental shrug.

“It’ll be hard to know until it starts to make a move,” Damien said. “Henry seems pretty unsure of what it’ll do right now, but when it starts, we’ll know. It might be quite some time before that happens, so who knows. Maybe it’ll even help us fight the Corruption before trying to end the world.”

“Like we could be so lucky,” Delph scoffed. “Always plan for the worst. The damn thing will probably end up allying with the Corruption just to spite you.”

“Maybe we should start hunting the Corruption again,” Sylph said. “It might slow down Second’s plans.”

“No,” Delph said. “Let Dredd and I handle that. We can deal with all but the strongest of the Corruption, and I can hold my own against Second. You need to focus on training and being able to harness more of your powers. Both of you have the potential to become incredibly powerful mages that can tip the scales of this conflict, while Dredd and I have little left to learn from studying at Blackmist. It would be a much better use of our time to deal with the annoyances so you can eventually pose a greater threat to Second.”

“Business as usual, then,” Damien said with a shrug. “Fine with me. Both Sylph and I have some new magic that is going to take some time to master. We’ll find time to work on it between classes.”

Delph sat back down in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. “When’s the last time you took a break?”

“What do you mean? We’ve hardly got time for that,” Sylph said. “We have to get stronger.”

“I expect better from you, Sylph,” Delph said, his eyes narrowing. “No muscle can improve through constant work with no rest, and that includes your magical prowess. We spent all of this summer fighting the Corruption because we didn’t have a choice, but you’ve both been running at full tilt for too long.”

“Are you telling me that we’re training too much?” Damien asked, squinting at Delph as if an imposter had taken the man’s place.

“I’m telling you you’re training wrong,” Delph corrected. “And it’s an oversight on my part to have not noticed it earlier.”

“Well, I guess we can take a break this summer,” Damien said. “So long as Second doesn’t try anything crazy during it, that is.”

“Too far away.” Delph shook his head. “You’re wasting a large amount of your training by constantly pushing yourself like this. You’ll actually learn more if you do nothing too intense for a week and then get back into things.”

“That would mean we’d both get behind in our classes,” Sylph pointed out. “And Damien and I both still don’t have a full manifestation of our companions. We’ve got a lot of catchup work to do.”

“Something tells me you’ll be fine,” Delph said with a wry grin. “There’s a Quest Week coming up in a few days. Whisp timed it to happen right after the tournament. I want you to both take it off. Go do something that isn’t training. I’ll sign off that you’re doing a quest for me.”

“I don’t do anything other than train,” Sylph said.

“Then it’s a good time to learn,” Delph replied. “Maybe take up juggling. It’s good for hand-eye coordination.”

“I guess we can figure something out,” Damien said, rubbing the back of his head. He’d been ignoring it for some time, but he was tired. With two different threats to the Mortal Plane floating around, he hadn’t had much time to deal with it.

“Ooh,” Henry exclaimed. “We can read for a week!”

“I expect you to both be completely relaxed when you get back to school,” Delph said. “In fact, I’m kicking you off campus entirely. Otherwise, I suspect you’d both end up in the library.”

Henry and Sylph deflated at the exact same time. Damien had to keep himself from laughing.

“But–” Sylph started.

“Nope, denied,” Delph said, cutting her off. “Find Auntie tomorrow and have her teleport you somewhere. I’ll find out where you went and pick you up when the week is over. You can leave a few days early. Dredd won’t have any complains, and we’re your only teachers right now, so Whisp can’t say anything either.”

Before either of them could respond, Delph rose to his feet and cracked his neck. “Right then. You don’t have anything you need in your room.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Damien asked. “There’s my travel bag–”

A gray portal split open beside Delph. He reached inside it and pulled out Damien’s leather bag while quirking an eyebrow. Damien reluctantly took it from him and slung it over his shoulders. Delph reached back into the portal and removed a small package wrapped in brown paper.

“As I said, nothing you need,” Delph said, handing it to Sylph. “You’ve both got enough money to live rather well for a week too. Don’t stop doing your cardio training for an hour or so every day, but nothing more.”

“Alright,” Damien said, baffled by the complete change in events. “But–”

“Time to go,” Delph said. “Auntie shouldn’t be kept waiting. She’s a busy woman, you know.”

“She doesn’t even know we’re coming yet!” Sylph protested.

“Semantics,” Delph said dismissively. He strode up to them and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Have a fun trip, kids.”

Gray light enveloped them, swallowing the room. The last thing Damien saw was Delph’s mouth curling down in a frown as he turned, heading back to his pile of books. Then the light filled his vision and he was gone.

When Damien’s sight returned to him, he was standing in the center of the Treasure Pavilion. Sylph was an arm’s length away from him, and Auntie was watching them both from behind her desk with upturned lips.

“Damien, Sylph. It’s a pleasure to see you here again. Have you come to use some of your contribution points? You’ve both earned a fair bit of them. I was wondering how long it would take you to come around.”

“Actually, we’re here on Delph’s orders,” Damien said, rubbing the back of his head. “He’s ordered us to take a break, and he said that you’d teleport us wherever we wanted to go.”

Auntie scrunched her nose and shook her head. “Of course he did. Never asks me about the surprise teleportations, does he? Just sends his packages right on over.”

“Does he do this a lot?” Damien asked. “I’m sorry, we can go if it’s a hassle. I don’t mean to cause you difficulty.”

“Don’t speak nonsense,” Auntie said, sliding down from her raised chair and gesturing for them to follow her. “I can’t very well leave you to his ministries, can I? He’d probably make you run to wherever you’re going instead.”

Despite her short stature, Damien and Sylph had to jog to keep up with Auntie as she led them deeper into the treasure pavilion. They passed hallways of doors, most of which were closed. Through the few that were open, Damien saw rooms full to the brim with everything from weapons to jewelry.

They arrived at a small wooden door and Auntie pushed it open, revealing a small room with two arches that Damien recognized as an inert portal. Auntie strode up to it and brushed her hands off.

“So, where would you like to go? I can send you anywhere in the kingdom that isn’t warded or beyond the frontlines. Ladies first, Sylph.”

Sylph shifted uncomfortably. She glanced around the room and paper crinkled in her hands as she squeezed the package Delph had given her. “I – uh, do you know the Redfern forest?”

“I do,” Auntie said, her brow lowering. “You want to go there?”

“I suppose.”

“Why would you want to go to such a dreadful place? It’s full of monsters,” Auntie said. “Seems like a horrible place to take a break.”

“Wait, you’re going back to where you were raised?” Damien asked.

“Where else?” Sylph asked. “I don’t want to wander around a city for a week. I’d much prefer the nature.”

“Absolutely not,” Damien said. “As your friend, I’m not letting you wander off into that particular forest on your own while we’re supposed to be relaxing.”

“What do you want me to do, crash at Nolan’s house?”

Damien turned back to Auntie. “Could you please make a portal to Ardenford? We’ll both be going there.”

“Quaint little village,” Auntie said with a small smile. “Much better for relaxing in.”

She snapped her fingers and a spark of blue energy leapt from her hand and into one of the pillars. With a loud crackle, a hazy blue disk appeared in the air.

“There you go,” Auntie said.

“Thank you very much,” Damien said, inclining his head. “Come on, Sylph.”

“To your house?” Sylph asked. “I can’t intrude, that wouldn’t be–”

Damien grabbed her hand and reached forward, touching the portal. It sucked both of them in with a pop. The world warped and the dull grays of the tunnels shifted to the vibrant green of a grassy hill.

He and Sylph staggered out of the portal, which snapped shut behind them. A wave of nausea slammed into Damien. It was the worst reaction to a teleportation he’d had for quite some time, but he still managed to keep himself from retching.

“I think this counts as kidnapping,” Sylph said.

“You’ll live,” Damien replied. “Besides, my mom always makes too many pancakes. You can spare me from gaining ten pounds of fat.”

Sylph shifted her stance and glanced nervously up at the city on the hill before them. The wooden walls were aged from years in the sun and the chirp of birds filled the air. There were no clouds in the brilliant blue sky, and the sun shone overhead with just a little too much heat for comfort.

“Come on,” Damien said, starting toward Ardenford. “I don’t want to get cooked out here.”

“You never mentioned your hometown before,” Sylph said, keeping pace with him.

“There isn’t very much interesting here,” Damien replied. “It’s just farmland, really. Not much point talking about that in a mage college.”

There were no guards at the gate when they arrived. A young boy that Damien didn’t recognize ran past them, giggling as an old woman chased after him waving a spoon in the air. The woman paused as she spotted Damien and squinted at him.

“Damien?”

“Hello, Mrs. Hubbard,” Damien said. “You’re looking lively today. It looks like that hole in the school fence has still yet to be patched.”

“Bah, everyone’s always too busy and my back would never forgive me if I tried it myself,” Mrs. Hubbard said, a small smile cracking her stern expression. “You’ve gotten so tall. And thin. Is there an occasion for the visit?”

“Nothing bad,” Damien promised, and her features relaxed even more. “I’m just visiting, I guess. Got sent on vacation.”

“Vacation is good. You need to take care of your mind, and your mother was unhappy when you didn’t return last summer,” Mrs. Hubbard said. “I’d love to talk more, but Jeremy is going to get into the stables again. Please excuse me, and make sure to drop by the school again before you leave. I’d love for you to teach some of my students just how useful Runecrafting is.”

“I’ll do that,” Damien promised.

Mrs. Hubbard nodded and ran off after the little boy again.

“Come on,” Damien said, starting back toward his house. “If my mom finds out that I didn’t head right home after we got here, she’s going to be sad.”

Sylph nodded mutely, following a few steps behind him and taking in Ardenford with wide eyes.