“The attack you stopped wasn't the main attack. It was just a distraction.”

That was the sentence that had rung through my head, for the last two days. It shocked me when I heard, and even now, I can't really believe it. But, I have to, because it is true, and I can't change that.

“What do you mean, it was just a distraction?”, I asked, flabbergasted at, what she had said.

“I mean, what I said. Harming the Illusion Class isn't the goal. It was keeping me preoccupied, and not being able to stop them.”, Morgan explained.

Then, what was the main goal?

“What happened?”

Morgan sighed, exhaustion clear on her face.

“They took something from the Vaults. Something that the school has had for a long time. Something older than most.”

“What is it?”

“A Hound of Tindalos”.

Morgan didn't explain, what it was. She claimed that I wouldn't like, what I would be told. I tried doing the ´Safety of Elora´ trick again, but it didn't work.

“Jack”.

After having explained, Morgan had said that she had some other duties to attend to, and promptly teleporting away, before I got the chance to ask anything else.

“Jack!”

I wonder, why she didn't want to say what a Hound of Tiindalos was. After getting out of the infirmary, I tried over going through my Monster Encyclopedias to see if I could find it, but there wasn't anything about it, except for a few obscure mentions of it.

“JACK!”

The loud noise throws me out of my daze. The noise came from the mouth of Maxime, who was beginning to look quite annoyed?

“Yes?”

“Do you want a hit?”

Wait, what?... oh, yeah. We were currently playing Blackjack, and it seemed to be my turn. I look down at my cards.

A king of Spades and a nine of hearts.

“No, I do not”.

“Do try to pay attention”, the guy after me said.

“Of course.”

Back to the problem at hand. I need information about the creature, but none of my books have a definite explanation about them. Morgan, the one person I know has the answer, refuses to tell me. How do I do It?

Maybe, you could try asking Maxime? Does she know about them?

Maybe…

“Hey, Maxime?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask a question?”

“Will you focus on the game, if I answer?”

“Yes.”

“Then, shoot”

“Have you ever heard of creatures called the Hounds of Tindalos?”

“How have you heard of them?”

It wasn't Maxime that said that. It was one of the older guys to my right. One of the people that didn't introduce themselves.”

“I read a few mentions of them in my books. What do you know about them”.

“I know a lot. What do you have, that would make it worth it to tell you.”

“Oh, for fuck's sake, Titus, just tell him, what he wants to know, so we can get on with the game”, Maxime said.

“... Fine. They are serpent-like creatures, known for their abilities to drain all bodily fluids out of their victim. They were known as being one of the more powerful creatures that walked this earth, but that doesn't matter much now. They were exterminated a long time ago.”

Well, that explained jack-shit. I knew they were powerful and that they were not something you would usually see out in the wild. The serpent-like appearance and their ability to Drain was new, though, so there was something gained, at least.

“Anything more you can tell me about them?”

“Nothing from the top of my head.”

“Did that satisfy your curiosity Cause I think we would all like to continue”, Maxime said.

“Yeah, we can continue.”

I proceeded to lose everything I put in.

Elora´s class was finally over for the day, and it was time for Eros to take over for his shift. Now, I could finally get over to Metis, to see if she knew anything about the creatures.

Before I had the chance to leave, though, I was stopped by the call of my name.

“Jack, Elora Wolfbane´s bodyguard, do come over here, now”, Phil, Elora's teacher, shouted, with his creaky voice.

I wonder, what he wants.

He probably just wants to thank you for, you know, protecting his students.

Probably.

After walking over to him, he leads me into the classroom, which was rather surprising. When, I looked inside, from the doorway, it looked like a plain-old classroom, like the ones you would see in most colleges. But, when I took a step, it revealed to be much more. What I thought had just been a small classroom, turned out to be a massive hall, filled with several massive machinations that I really couldn't understand.

Phil looked at my reaction and snorted, before going over to a panel, which had a couple of different colored buttons. He pressed one, and, when I looked back at the hall, everything was gone.

Illusions, most likely.

But, what would be the purpose of these things you can only see?

Maybe, they can, though.

What do you mean?

We both know illusions aren't our field of expertise. There is most likely a way to make Illusion physical. You know, like the concept of Hardlight?

Makes sense.

“So”, Phil said. “You most likely know, why I called you in here.”

Because he wants to thank us.

“I wanted to… thank you for your efforts, -”

Called it.

Shut up.

“-but I know simply expressing gratitude Is pretty much meaningless.”

This is beginning to sound a little juicy.

I couldn't agree more.

“Therefore, I have a gift.”

He reached into his bag, which he had at his side, and pulled out- Drumroll, please.

*Drumroll*

… Did just say *Drumroll*? No, matter. He pulled out… a necklace, with a weirdly shaped star on it. The same star as the one on the book that Morgan was reading.

“I know it doesn't look like much, but, trust me on this, it is quite the prized possession for an adventurer like you. You see, this little thing”, he said, pointing at the star. “Help with resisting most rudimentary illusions. It also helps with a few other things, but those don't matter.”

Those other few things sound a little too important to not mention.

He reached out the necklace towards me, and I took it.

“Thank you”, I said.

“You're welcome. Now, that that's dealt with, you should get back to your little mistress before she gets away.”

“Of course.”, I said and began to leave the classroom.

Before I got, though, Phil said something more.

“Oh, and please don't mention, what you saw, when I fought the monster in the dungeon. It's supposed to be a secret.”

Well, that explains the necklace, at least.

Now, time to meet Metis.

I look over at Elora.

Before that, though, I need to switch with Eros. I don't think it would be the best idea to bring Elora to Metis.

We quickly got over to her room, with the help of a teleportation-pad, where Eros was luckily waiting outside the door.

“You're late”, Eros said to Elora, with a playful voice.

“Jack´s fault”, Elora said, hugging Eros. I do hate the fact that I heard her say something about making it up to him. “I'll go inside now.”

She went inside, and closed the door, leaving me an Eros outside.

“So”, Eros said, with a smile on his face. “Heard that you had quite the adventure in that dungeon.”

“You can call it that. I personally call it a giant mistake. Way too many chances for Elora to get hurt”, I said.

“Wouldn't want that to happen.”

“So, anyway, how is it going with that Light Magic of yours”, I asked.

“It going great. I've been mostly focussing on the Healing Aspect of it all, but I do know a few Offensive ones.”

Good to know he has been practicing it. Wonder why he's focusing on the Healing. I thought he was more the attacking kind of guy.

“Great to hear. Got to go now. I have a class to get to.”

“Of course.”