The next morning I follow Silvia to Winterspring Academy. It feels good walking through the school grounds again. The first thing that draws one’s attention as soon as one walks onto campus is the big purple hemisphere window at the heart of the center building. The window is inside the Arch Lord’s office. Sometimes he can be spotted through the window staring down at his school. At the present moment, he’s not at the window. While we move towards the center building, I excitedly look around at everything. I recognize quickly that it all looks the same as before. I guess it’s kind of hard for a school to look different when it’s always covered in snow.

There is one thing that is different though. The secretary’s room right outside of the Arch Lord’s office is now Silvia Butterfly’s personal office. At her request he allowed her to take the room and bump the actual secretaries somewhere down the hall. It’s pretty evident to me that over the years Silvia has become the Arch Lord’s undisputed favorite. Honestly, I always knew she was and that I was second to her.

Silvia knocks softly on the door calling out, “Master Aerolyso. It’s Silvia.”

She then opens the door and steps in. She gestures for me to follow her and I do so. We stand in front of his desk and I wait to see if he will recognize me in my older appearance. I certainly recognize him, but he does look noticeably older and frailer than when I last saw him. His skin is a little more spotted and wrinkly, his posture is a little slumpier, and he has to strain a little harder to see out of his thick glasses. I guess he still looks relatively good for a 92-year-old though.

After staring blankly at me for a while, he finally says, “This is something that I have not seen in a long time – the two of you together. Tell me Souladonis, have you come back from the dead?”

“Not quite,” I answer. “I can never be truly alive until I restore life to Nadine. That’s why I’ve returned Master. I’ve come to challenge the gargoyle and to release Nadine from her petrification.”

“What exactly are you planning?” he asks, meshing his fingers together.

“I have an elixir with me that I know can cure the petrification curse. I’ll have my servant Katherine pour it on Nadine while I fight the gargoyle. They’ll escape while I hold its attention.”

“And then you escape too?”

I don’t answer his question. I simply stand gazing at him sternly.

“I see. You’ve always had a strong sense of responsibility and now your guilt demands that you atone with your life doesn’t it? You never had any intention of surviving this battle to begin with.”

Silvia whips her attention to me. “Souladonis, tell me that’s not true!”

I press my lips together in silence. Angered by my reaction, Silvia punches me hard in the shoulder. I don’t react at all to the impact. “What’s wrong with you Souladonis? Do you think anyone wants you to die for a stupid mistake you made as a child? Do you think that’s what Sidney would want?”

Again, I have no answer to give her. She pulls back her fist once more, but Arch Lord Aerolyso stops her from hitting me. “Leave us Silvia. I’d like to talk to him in private.”

Silvia yanks on her hair with irritation. Then stomping away she leaves the room, so that the Arch Lord can give me a piece of his mind. There are two chairs placed in front of his desk. He motions for me to take a seat and I obey.

“You’ve been gone for many years now. I presume that you’ve had quite an adventure.”

“Yes Master. It was six years ago that I left Winterspring. I’ve learned and experienced many things. Amongst them, the fact that Master Simon Bruhar was a death mage lord.”

Arch Lord Aerolyso shakes his head remorsefully. “I’ve been informed about Simon. He craved power and cared little for self-restraint. His obsessive lust for power and status was his downfall. I fear that you too are controlled by an obsession; not for power, but for guilt. Is it really your intention to die Souladonis?”

I sigh deeply and lean over, resting my arms against my legs. “For six years I’ve lived in a constant state of misery and depression, filled with guilt and an overwhelming urge to just not exist anymore. The only reason that I pushed on was because my life doesn’t belong to me, but rather to Nadine whose life I stole. However, two weeks ago something unforeseen happened. I ended up saving the life of a common village girl who then became my servant for three months in order to pay off her life debt to me. At first I found her annoying, but now I wish that I could stay with her forever. Yet I already owe my life to Nadine. I can’t just abandon her, but I know that if I go up to the top of the Forbidden Tower, I’ll have to fight the gargoyle. The problem isn’t that I don’t want to survive Master. It’s that I know I can’t.”

Arch Lord Aerolyso separates his fingers and raps them together pair by pair. I can tell that he’s in deep thought, so I don’t say anything further lest I interrupt him. Suddenly, his eyes light up with a brilliant idea. But then he shrugs his head and goes right back to thinking. Seeing him now reminds me of how he used to do this in the past. Eventually, he’ll come up with something meaningful to say if I just wait long enough. I tap my feet and think about Katherine’s flowing brown hair until he speaks again. “Unfortunately Souladonis, I can only think of one thing. It won’t help you survive, but it just might be enough to enable you to take the gargoyle down with you if it comes to that. How does that sound?”

It’s not what I was hoping for, but I’ll take anything that I can get. “Sure. If I destroy it, then no one else can repeat my mistake.”

“That’s the spirit Souladonis! Do you know what the opposite of Death Magic is?”

“Life Magic.”

“No. That’s what everyone thinks, but no. It’s not nor could it be the opposite of Death Magic. You see, Death Magic is a supernatural magic, so it’s opposite could only be another supernatural magic.”

I turn my head slightly to indicate that I’m not following him.

“There’s another supernatural magic. One that very few people know about. It’s the fourteenth magic discipline. I think you’ll like its name: it’s called Soul Magic. Yet being the true opposite of Death Magic, which takes life away from the target, Soul Magic drains the life away of the caster.”

Voicing my honest impression, I say, ”It sounds useless.”

He wags his finger in disagreement. “Costly, but not useless. The power boost that it grants a mage makes it by leaps and bounds the most powerful of all the magic disciplines. In fact, Soul Magic is the family secret of the Lenoir family. They were the original rulers of Âme Kingdom for over 400 years. About two decades ago, I was contracted to teach it to the then young Arch Lady Benedicta. I was sworn to secrecy about it and only taught enough to enable me to tutor her. Now that she’s an adult, she’s unquestionably the most powerful woman in the world. Being the current head of the Lenoir family, she’s the one and only true master of Soul Magic. I don’t know as much about it as she does. Nonetheless, I can teach you the basics. I’m not supposed to, but seeing as my former apprentice is locked into a death match that he can’t win, I’ll break my vow of secrecy this one time. However, if you do survive, then don’t tell Benedicta that I taught you Soul Magic. She’ll have both of our heads on a platter.”

I bow gratefully to Master Aerolyso. He then summons a tattered, aged piece of parchment and hands it to me. I read it over and over again until I get the gist of altering my mana energy into Soul Magic energy. Right away, I can feel its indescribably powerful effects, but I still don’t know if it will be enough to defeat the gargoyle. Either way, I will do what I must. Surviving is secondary to saving Nadine.

“I think that I’ve got it down now Master, so it’s time for me to go.”

“Good luck,” he says to me.

I move to his office door and open it. Before stepping through, I smile at my kindhearted master and say to him:

“Goodbye.”