“Where are you both going?”

The moment they stepped off their side of the bushes, the masked one immediately noticed the two similarly-dressed individuals. Black hooded cloaks over the entirety of their body and a red mask over their face. At first glance, it does seem rather good for identification but there are times when the members of the group itself doubts if the one underneath is their comrade at all.

Seeing the two unknown figures looking towards the students marching in and out from the entrance into the dorm nearby, he needed to ask.

“Don’t you think the intruders might be inside? If they’re students…” with confidence, one of them answered. The voice sounds like a female but the other remained mute.

“I see” the male-voiced enquirer said before tilting his head and looking at the mute masked one. About the same stature with the one talking but the air around them is simply…

“You don’t want to keep a threatening air around you. Huh… I know having guards in the same outfits is a good idea if any of us gets attacked but you people really need to keep your bloodlust elsewhere. We’ll look around here some more. You can go right in. Try to catch the intruders as quietly as possible though” with that reminder, he sent the two of his comrades away. He turned around and went back to scouring the reason why the vent was broken in the first place.

As if everything isn't already puzzling enough for the two of them, the students’ reaction to their disguise only serves to deepen their worries. To think that the dorm residents would bow their heads to them as they pass like they’re some gods walking amidst the mortals is…

Disturbing.

“I’m starting to think that there are a lot more people with god-complex than I know…” Aediva said, noticing how her voice distorted by the mask. And she thought the mask was just an ordinary mask. Now she knows it is a charmed mask specifically made to obscure the ones wearing it.

“These masks… Should we try and get at least one of it out of here?” Zielle asked.

“We can think of it later when we get a much clearer picture of what exactly are they doing in here” Aediva answered as they looked around. Aediva pulled at Zielle’s cloak and immediately they stopped. In the brief moments of silence, they heard it.

Something scuttling above them and they hope it’s not just a really large rat.

“We don’t have much time. It’s the matter of time until they find their comrades that we’ve knocked out. They’re aware of the weakness of their own garbs. So we need to get Cath and book it” Aediva said, audibly sounding as if she is in pain - possibly the one she had been holding in for quite some time now with the place literally sucking the life of every least unprotected being in its grounds.

“I understand. Are you sure you can keep going? I could ask help but…” Zielle said, the hesitation seems odd for the one who’s already out of breath but Aediva dismisses it right away with a shake of her head.

“What about Arthur and Eden?” Zielle asked, instantly noticing the flinch she felt from Aediva’s fingers that’s holding her cloak.

“They’ll be fine. I can’t exactly save them if I fall first now is it?” there was somewhat of a laugh in Aediva’s words even if she was struggling to even keep her legs steady at that moment. Zielle gripped at Aediva’s hand, nodding her head.

“If you feel like falling, I’m right by you. Now, let’s follow the sound we heard from the vent. I don’t think it went too far ahead of us” Zielle said, turning to her back and quickly leading Aediva down the hallways that gradually and noticeably turned dead empty. The feeling of impending doom weighs heavy on their bodies and twice more for Aediva.

Their bodies were clashing with their intentions, begging them to stop in their tracks and turn around as their hearts pound loudly til their ears deafened by the sound.

As soon as they turned to the next corner following the scuttling noise in the walls, they were greeted with the sight of multiple individuals wearing the same red masks. One in particular is heading straight at them.

Aediva gulped and tried her best to straighten up as she tailed after Zielle who is absolutely a natural at playing a new role. While for her, silence suits her better. As if her nervousness and the urge to pounce on every member of the cloak she sees like it was the most natural thing to do.

Maybe it’s the revolting scent she kept smelling on them or maybe it was just some simple feral urge to destroy each and every one of them.

Destruction.

“You do not believe in magic. Only destruction and chaos. A creature trying to wear a porcupine’s quills trying to protect herself” Aediva honestly doesn't know why those words of the Black Mirror surfaced from the depth of her mind but maybe… Maybe there is some sort of truth to it. This magic is starting to feel like bullshit to her and the gut feeling of wanting to destroy everything in this place and rip whatever is beneath the castle to the surface.

Aediva looked ahead with an effort to at least look like she wasn’t showing any sign of discomfort to anyone around them. Yet the one who seemed to actually pass beside them stopped - an abrupt action that took both Aediva and Zielle by surprise when that tall, imposing individual turned to look at them.

With the mask, it’s impossible to discern someone’s face underneath. With the voices distorted by the magic of the mask, the only thing that remains for the likes of Zielle and Aediva to know those unknown groups is their behavior that is vastly different from the two of them.

And thus why, is it so weird to say that Aediva felt like that weird towering individual right beside them, who is looking straight at them for no discernible reason, seemed different?

He smells different too. It smells… comforting. With a light tug at her cloak, Aediva snapped out of her stupor and followed Zielle who hastily walked away with her. Aediva didn’t bother wanting to look back. There’s not even a sound of a foot tapping on the cold marble floor and that means that odd individual is still behind them.

It comes to no surprise that their destination leads to a dead end. The sound that they have been following for quite some time ended up being an actual rat. As they expected.

But the feeling of dread and nervousness hasn’t truly disappeared.

Where the hell is Cath?

Aediva wish she could rip the place apart but their end of the road also bears an unexpected result. It seems like the deeper they go, the more they find those masked people and unlike those outside, these are behaving differently. Not like scouts, not like guards, but scholars.

A lot of them had files with them, some with piles of books being carried around and honestly, the two girls won’t be surprised if it’s actually the Gallows. Aediva and Zielle had to refrain from speaking at all with how close many of the masked people around them. They saw, in horror, what they witnessed.

“Ms. Rachel. I’m sorry for disturbing you but--”

“What is it now, Daniel? I told you I’m busy. The preparation for my project does not complete itself”

Aediva and Zielle sucked a long breath in as they watched the Dorm Leader of Efren Dorm himself and the purple-haired bitch who always harassed Aediva in class. As they refrain to speak, both Aediva and Zielle only look at each other as they move a bit closer to an earshot range of the Dorm Leader and the Dorm Warden’s conversation.

“Are there any more students who hadn’t been to the Gallows? By now everyone of your dorm’s students should be in and had their mana collected” Rachel asked.

“As you instructed, Ms. Rachel. Everyone had been sent to the Gallows at least once for the past three weeks” Daniel answered, his voice as firm as Aediva remembered. Rachel tapped her pen on the file in her hands and she turned to look at the red-haired male student with a satisfied smile.

“That is wonderful news. All that’s all I need to hear. By the end of this project, my project will definitely make Efren dorm students stronger. Now leave. I’m busy. Ugh, why do I still have to plan for classes?” with a cryptic conversation and a grumble, Rachel left Daniel alone while the two eavesdropping girls only turned confused.

Project? What project? Mana? Making students strong? Why is Daniel just complying with everything? Something’s truly off and Aediva immediately felt like barfing.

They walked away and at that point, it felt like they’re just ghosts being ignored by people. To the point that it actually made the two forget that they are infiltrating the base full of mysterious people belonging to a group they don’t know about. So it came as a terrible shock when someone actually approached them for an idle talk. Aediva turned frozen solid at the new arrival and Zielle ended up being the one to strike a conversation with the guy - or at least, that’s how he sounds like.

Aediva inhaled deep, the odd smell of the mask has been completely adapted to and it was then when she heard something behind her. Or rather, behind and underneath her.

Flashes of light made her blinked and turned away, but something felt strange. The unknown light that flashes was not in her face, it was in her mind. And in the lights, she saw it.

Arthur. And an unconscious Eden?

Aediva was forced out of her stupor when she heard the blaring noise of the siren and dear gods, it hurt her ears so badly that she had to cover her ears. The splitting headache probably didn’t help either. The vision in the light and the suddenly shifting air around them.

“It’s an emergency! Something happened in the capsule room! A fire broke out!” someone shouted from the end of the room but the masked people didn’t seem bothered by it after a push of a button on one of their control panels. It was not until the one announcement that rang close to each and every ears that they quickly panicked.

“This is an emergency broadcast. We found one of our lead guards and a lot of other scouts unconscious. Five of them are stripped from their cloaks and masks. Initiate Protocol Pale and you’re allowed to open fire to anyone who failed the protocol.”

Zielle and Aediva completely turned dumbfounded at the broadcast that apparently came from their masks and seeing the people around them start to unmask themselves in rapid succession, they were overcome by silent panic. Especially when everyone suddenly turned their heads at the same time towards them both. The passive look in their eyes quickly turned dead hostile.

“Z, run” Aediva said.

The moment they heard the sound of magic bullets from the wands of their assailants being fired off, they were both already scrambling like a pair of rats exposed to heat. With everything going off way too fast, both girls didn’t have much time to process anything but run for their lives.

Their cloaks off their backs and as she scrambled away from where they came from, she heard something running above her too. The sound of a panicked voice was all too familiar. A step away from her pursuers is enough for Zielle to create a wall in between her and her relentless assailants. She looked up and threw the rock she formed on her palm towards the vent above her and with a yelp, Cath fell right into her arms.

“Zie--”

“Shush. Now quietly into the hoodie and don’t let anyone see you” before Cath could even finish calling her name in his panicked yelling, Zielle silenced the feline monster and shoved him into her hoodie with terrifying efficiency. Although as long as it works, she really has no complaints. Her adrenaline ran wild in the chase and oddly enough she felt as if she was missing something.

“Oi, where’s Aedi--”

With a loud screech on the marble floor as she forced her legs to stop, at Cath’s unfinished question, Zielle realized.

Aediva is gone.