Christmas was fast approaching. One December morning, Angsanian Towers awoke to find itself blanketed in snow, and the Great Lake frozen over with a fresh layer of ice, with a furious ShapeShifter, who was a whale today, under it. However, the ShapeShifter disappeared to the depths of the lake for a minute, only to come careening back up as an orca, smashing the ice layer to bit and changing form to a huge owl once he was out of the water. The weather steadily became colder and colder. Nobody could wait for the holidays to come. While the Evgenis common-room and the Main Hall roared with blazing fires, the draughty corridors made the students feel like they were encased in ice. Even worse than this was Kiew's lessons (or, more accurately, torture sessions) down in the dungeons, where the students would huddle as close to their cauldrons as possible as Kiew refused to light any other fires ("That is an unrequired waste of materials,")
"I feel so sorry," Kyae began one day in Brewing, "for the people who are staying at the castle over the holidays because they're not wanted at home,"
Procus, who mashing scarabs, ignored this. Yi Xiang and Jian Hao chuckled. After the match, disgusted that Ravikumar had lost, Kyae had gone back to teasing Procus about how he had no real family.
It was true that Procus would not be going back to 13, Sycamore Point for the holidays, as it would be placing himself under the tyranny of Uncle Satrid, Aunt Tulip and Hao Jun again. When the list for people who would be staying at the castle for the holidays went around, Procus had been one of the first to sign up. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he had ever had. Adi and Vignesh would also be staying at the castle, Adi because his parents were going over to Alaska to visit his eldest brother, Sam, who worked with magical beasts like dragons, Alpine horses and such and Vignesh because he would be leaving at the end of term and wanted to maximize his time in the castle.
When they left Brewing that day, they found a huge oak tree blocking their way. Huffing and panting from behind it told them that it was being carried by Dave, who, despite what he may look like, was actually blessed with superhuman strength.
"Hey, Dave. Want some help?" Adi asked.
"Nah, I'm fine, thanks for asking," Dave replied, his voice somewhat muffled by the branches of the oak that he was carrying.
"Will you move along?" Kyae drawled from behind, "Or are you looking for a job as Keeper as well, Putra. That cabin must be like heaven after what you've known as a home,"
Adi drew his wand and practically bellowed a curse at Kyae just as Kiew came up the steps.
"PUTRA!"
Adi ungratefully and unhappily cast the counter-curse on Kyae.
"It isn't his fault, Professor Kiew, he was provoked," Dave said, poking his friendly face out from behind the tree, "Kyae was insulting his family,"
"But as it is, Dave," Kiew hissed silkily, "fighting is against the rules. Twenty points from Evgenis and be thankful it isn't more. Now move on, the lot of you,"
Kyae, Yi Xiang and Jian Hao trampled past the oak, dislodging countless acorns, leaves and sticks as they did.
"I'll get her one day, oh that I will…" Adi growled, eyeing Kyae's departing figure with hate.
"I hate them both. Kyae and Kiew," Procus said flatly.
"C'mon, cheer up, you two! It's nearly Christmas! Tell you what, come with me look at the Main Hall, it looks a treat," Dave said, heaving up the oak as he did.
The Main Hall did look spectacular. Boughs of mistletoes hung at regular intervals on the walls. Six other humongous Christmas trees stood around the Hall, decked out with bells, house color hangings and baubles, with fairies flitting around all the trees. The four long house tables were draped in the four houses' banners and emblems; the sword for Evgenis, the skull for Ravikumar, the shield of Low and the wings for Sherazee.
"So then, when do your holidays start?" Dave asked the four as they left the Hall.
"Tomorrow," Patricia replied, then, in a more business-like tone, continued, "which reminds me, we have a free period now, so we should probably be in the library,"
"The library?" Dave echoed, "Right before the holidays? Bit overboard, don't you think?"
"Oh no, we're not studying. We've been looking for Vita Alchimia ever since you let the name slip," Procus explained cheerily.
"You've been WHAT?" Dave shouted, "Now, it's none of your business what Foreks' guarding as I told you earlier,"
"Well, yes, it is quite boring and so far, fruitless," Vignesh said conversationally, "but we're still looking,"
"Unless, of course, you want to save us the trouble of that and just tell us who it is?" Procus picked up eagerly.
Dave looked furious and shook his head. Slightly disappointed, Procus headed with the others to the library.
***
Where was Vita? She wasn't in Greatest Wizards of the Twenty-first Century, nor in Recent Outstanding Magical Achievements.
Patricia looked through a list of titles of books, while Vignesh and Adi started pulling books off the shelves at random and Procus wandered over to the Forbidden Books section. He thought that maybe there was a chance of Alchimia being in there. But to get in there, he would need a special signed note from a teacher, and he was never going to be able to get one of those. Those were books full of Dark Magic, only to be read by older students taking advanced Defensive Arts. They were full of titles like Secrets of The Darkest Arts, Immortality, How to Get There and The Lost Arts, a Comprehensive Guide.
"What are you doing, boy?" Madam Tay, the vulture-like librarian, snapped at Procus.
"Nothing," Procus replied quickly.
"Then better get out!" she snapped again.
Procus, wishing that he had come up with a more acceptable excuse, reluctantly left the library with the others. They had already agreed that they wouldn't ask Madam Tay for help, even though she could probably find Alchimia for them. There was always a chance that Kiew or some other teacher may hear it, and then they would be in big trouble.
They had spent at least a month of fruitless searching. Today was the last possible day for them to be able to search the library together. After lessons, they came back to the library to search for Alchimia again, but to no avail. Defeated, the four went back to the common room.
***
"And don't forget to send me a falcon if you find anything, okay?" Patricia reminded the other three for what felt like the millionth time the next morning. The Angsanian Express was due to take students home in about half an hour.
"We know, we know," Vignesh replied, clicking his tongue exasperatedly.
"Okay, but really don't forget to mail me if –" Patricia continued, unperturbed.
"WE KNOW!" Adi bellowed at her.
***
Once the holidays started though, Procus, Adi and Vignesh were having too good a time to think about Alchimia. Since not many people were staying at the castle, the common-room was much emptier than usual. They also had the dormitory to themselves. They would while away the hours in front of the fire, lazily reclining in the squashy armchairs by the fire, brainstorming ways to get Kyae expelled. None of these would actually have worked, but they were anyway fun to talk about.
Adi had also started to teach Procus and Vignesh wizarding cards. The cards were exactly like Kin collecting cards and Kin Trading Card Games cards, except that all the cards, which all had photos of characters like Merlin, Shakespeare and such, would have a small, somewhat holographic little figure pop out. Procus was playing with the deck that Zuhair had lent him. He wasn't that good of a player yet, and the holograms kept on shouting different bits of confusing advice at him, like, "Don't use that card, use that one!" or, "Use the first ability and sacrifice him, not him! He's expendable but he's not!"
Procus went to bed on Christmas Eve looking forward to the events of the next day but certainly not expecting any presents. So you can imagine his surprise when, for the first time in his life, he actually got presents in the morning.
"Look at this! I got presents!" he cried upon waking up the next day and seeing the towering pile of presents at the foot of his bed.
"Well, what were you expecting, manure?" Adi said, sniggering.
"How do you guess this stuff?" Procus asked in mock admiration. Clambering over the bed, Procus began unwrapping his presents.
The first one was from the Suns. An attached note read: We received your letter and enclose our Christmas gift. When he unwrapped it, he discovered that it was a lone sock.
"Hmm. Quite friendly," Vignesh joked.
The next one was from Dave. It was a square package, from which quite a fair bit of growling and snapping was issuing. Cautiously, Procus unwrapped it. He had a brief glimpse of what might have been either a very large brown rat or very small dog with two glittering gold eyes and snout before the whatever it was jumped onto his face and started trying to bite him. With a yelp, he began trying to wrench it off his face. With the help of Adi and Vignesh, he eventually succeeded. Wrestling it to the ground, he clamped its mouth shut with a long expanse of some strong fabric that had come with it in the package. He had no idea what the purpose of that might be, and he wasn't exactly willing to find out.
Still panting, Procus flung open his bedside table and tossed the still snarling whatever it was into it.
"That was… well, mental," Adi panted after the thing had been safely stowed away.
After he regained his breath, Procus turned back to the last two packages.
"I think I know who that one's from," Adi said, turning slightly red as he pointed at the bigger of the two packages, "I told my mother that you weren't expecting any presents and – oh no," he groaned. Procus opened the package and found a comfortable-looking flame-red sweater with an intricate pattern of KeyBalls knitted on it, as well as a sizable amount of home-made fudge.
"She's knitted you a Putra jumper," Adi explained, unwrapping his own package and pulling out another blue sweater, "Every Christmas, she knits each one of us a special jumper… and mine is always blue… she knows I hate blue,"
"So who d'you reckon that last one's from?" Procus asked, pointing to the last, small package. There was no name, nor any note attached to this one. A small, square package, it seemed to radiate power.
"Dunno," Adi replied.
"Open it," Vignesh suggested.
Procus did. Inside was a thick strip of gold carved into a helix that looked small enough to fit around a person's arm. A silver clasp held the two halves of the helix together. At the top of the helix was a bracelet-like structure in which were embedded six gems. Procus picked it up and began spinning it around slowly to closer inspect it. It was surprisingly light. The six stones were a sapphire, a clear topaz, an aquamarine, a ruby, an amethyst and an opal. Words were carved on each spiral. Together, they read,
Eht Ytinu Helix
"Eht Ytinu Helix…" Procus murmured, thinking. Vignesh was also reading the text on the helix, but Adi had frozen in place at the sight of the helix.
"What's up?" Procus asked him, slightly alarmed.
"If that's what I think it is, then it's really rare and really, really valuable," Adi said, trembling.
"What is it?" Vignesh said impatiently.
A beam of sunlight hit the emerald on the helix, reflecting right onto Adi's face as he replied.
"A Power Helix," He whispered.
"A what?" Procus and Vignesh asked simultaneously.
"A Power Helix," Adi began, "They're some of the most powerful and dangerous objects that any wizard has ever, or will ever, make. From the stories I've heard, there were once loads and loads of them, made by some powerful wizard a number of years ago. Anyway, some villainous guy went and destroyed almost all of them so there were only three left," he paused to take a breath and, seeing the expressions on Procus' and Vignesh's faces, said, "Don't look at me like that. I'm not a history book, or Patricia! Anyway, all the gems embedded in the Helixes have powers. All I remember is that sapphire gives mind-reading abilities and clear topaz gives the power of invisibility,"
"Do you think that will actually work?" Vignesh asked skeptically.
"Only one way to find out, isn't there?" Procus said, excited. Undoing the clasp, he slid the Helix onto his arm. The metal felt slightly cold on his arm. Nothing felt different.
"Try tapping the gems," Adi suggested.
Procus tapped the clear topaz, and almost instantly, he felt power surge through him. Judging by Vignesh's gasp and Adi's delighted yell, it had worked. He looked down at his body, or at least, what had been his body. He had turned completely invisible and undetectable. Not even his shadow was showing.
"Look! There's a note," Adi shouted, pointing at a slip of paper that had fallen out of the package. Procus picked it up and began to read. It was written in a long, flowing hand that Procus had never seen before.
This belonged to your ancestors. It was in my possession for a very long time. It is time it is returned to you. Use it well.
Merry Christmas!
That was all. Tapping the topaz again, Procus became visible.
"My father's…" Procus thought out loud.
Before anyone could say anything else, the door was flung open and Bill and Charlie Putra sauntered in, both wearing their sweaters as well, which were blue and red, with the letters 'B' and 'C' knitted on them respectively. Procus hastily stuffed the Power Helix out of sight. He didn't quite want anybody else to know about it yet.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Hey look! Procus' got a jumper too!"
"Hmm," Bill mused, holding up Procus' jumper and observing it, "Procus' is better than ours, though. She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family,"
"Why aren't you wearing yours, Adi?" Charlie demanded, noticing Adi's jumper-lessness.
"Yeah, Adi! Put it on! They're nice and warm!"
"I hate blue," Adi muttered as he reluctantly pulled the jumper over his head.
"What's all this noise?"
Jack Putra stuck his head in at the door. Evidently, he too had been in the midst of unwrapping his presents as well, seeing as he had a lumpy sweater on his arm. Bill and Charlie immediately seized it.
"J for jerboa-head!" Bill exclaimed.
"Come on, put it on! Even Procus' got one," Charlie said.
"I – don't – stop," Jack said thickly through the sweater as the twins pulled his jumper over his head.
"And you're not sitting with the other head prefects today either. Christmas is a time for family!" Bill shouted, practically in Jack's ear.
With that, Bill and Charlie marched the complaining Jack out of the room, pinning his arms to his sides.
***
Never in his life had Procus ever seen such a Christmas feast as the one he saw that day. Huge turkeys lay on silver and gold platters along the length of the table, while a mixture of gravy and cranberry sauce gave off a sumptuous aura that filled the entire hall. At the center of each house table, a huge gingerbread house sat, with two live gingerbread men, much like the ones that were scurrying around the hall, inside it. Wizarding crackers and roasted beef and chicken lay at regular intervals along the tables. But these crackers were nothing like the feeble Kin crackers that the Suns sometimes bought. When Procus pulled one with Bill, not only did it pop, it went off with a bang like a cannon while from the interior burst a jet-black top hat and several live, squeaking white mice that immediately scurried away. Up at the staff table, Professor Foong had exchanged her usual pointed witch's hat for a wide-brimmed caramel-colored hat and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Bhim had just read her.
Deliciously sweet puddings and eggless cakes followed the turkey. When Jack nearly broke his tooth in a gold Galleon embedded in his slice, Adi began excitedly and fruitlessly digging about in his slice for a Galleon. Procus watched Dave get redder and redder as he had more and more wine, finally kissing Professor Foong on the cheek, who, to his intense surprise, giggled and blushed, her hat crooked. By the time Procus, Adi and Vignesh left the table, they were laden down with various items that had come out from wizarding crackers, like trick wands, Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans and new wizarding cards. The white mice had disappeared, and Procus had a nasty feeling that they were going to end up as Punishment's Christmas dinner.
Procus and the Putras spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight in the grounds. Bill and Charlie were reprimanded for bewitching several snowballs to follow random people around, hitting them in the back of their heads, then dissolving immediately. Finally, gasping and panting, they returned to the warmth of the Evgenis common-room, where Procus managed to lose spectacularly to Adi in a game of wizarding cards (He suspected that he wouldn't have lost so badly if Jack hadn't tried to 'help' him so much).
After a delicious tea of turkey sandwiches and apple cider, everybody felt too sleepy and too full to do anything but watch Jack chase Bill and Charlie all over Evgenis Tower because they had taken his badge.
It had been the best Christmas Procus had ever had. But something was still bothering him. Not until he was in his four-poster bed that night did he have time to think about it – the Power Helix and whoever sent it. Adi, with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost at once. When he was sure that all the others were asleep, Procus quietly took the Power Helix out from his bedside table, where he had been keeping it. He ran a light finger along the sturdy but light material, looking for the engraving. He eventually found it, but then, he discovered another engraving, this time on the inner side of the Helix. He traced it with his finger, putting it together.
It read: Evgenis Fidelitas
He ignored this. He could puzzle about it later. For now, he had to try it. Procus suddenly felt wide awake. The whole of Angsanian Towers was open to him with this Helix. He slid the Helix onto his arm and gently tapped the clear topaz. He was instantly invisible. As he was leaving, he heard Adi grunt in his sleep. He hesitated. Should he take Adi and Vignesh? Something held Procus back. His ancestor's… this first time, he wanted to use it alone. Without any more hesitation, Procus crept out of the dormitory. When he opened the Darkflight, it squawked indignantly, "Who's there?" and beat its wings. Procus didn't answer. He was already striding down the corridor.
Where should he go first? Procus stopped, his heart beating faster and faster every minute. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section. He could read as long as he liked. Which would be the time it took to find Alchimia. He set off, double-securing the Helix.
When he arrived at the library, he found it in a state of pitch-darkness and silence. He carefully crept through the eerie and dark halls of the library. Every sound seemed a hundred times louder, and Procus nearly jumped out of his skin when a floorboard creaked loudly under his foot. When he reached the Restricted Section, he drew out his wand and lit it. He hoped that the light wouldn't be noticed. As an extra precaution, he tapped the sapphire, listening for any thoughts, or, well, people coming. When he heard none, he bent over, directing his wandlight towards the books.
The fading, peeling gold titles of the books did him no good. They were all written in some foreign languages that Procus could make not head nor tail of. Well, he had to start somewhere. Holding his wand closer to the books, and a large, thick leather-bound volume caught his eye. Yanking it off the shelf, he opened it.
A high, loud and screechy scream rent the still and silent air. The book was screaming! Hastily, Procus brandished his wand at it and yelled out a Silencing Enchantment. It didn't work. Slamming the book shut, he shoved it back on the shelf, the echo of its shriek still reverberating around the library. He heard Zafran's thoughts before he heard or saw him. Frantically putting out his wandlight, he stowed his wand back inside his robes and ran, nearly colliding into Zafran's outstretched arms as he dashed out of the library.
It felt like the night that he had first met Foreks all over again. He dashed left and right, up and down stairs, zigzagging crazily with no idea of where he was going. When he had been running for a good ten minutes, he stopped, slumping against a wall, trying to regain his breath. After doing so, he summoned a ball of light in his hand, still straining his ears for any signs of nearby or approaching people, as well as listening for thoughts of any nearby people. After locating where in the castle he was, he extinguished the light and was just about to head back to Evgenis Tower when two things happened that stopped him dead in his tracks. He had glanced down to check whether his invisibility spell was still working, and, to his dismay, it wasn't. He was just about to stroke the clear topaz again when he heard two pairs of thoughts coming from the nearest doorway. Instinctively, he darted behind a stone pillar, reactivated the topaz, and crept towards the source of the thoughts. Soon, he heard a pair of voices, one of which sent dread all the way into his bones. Knowing what he was about to see before he saw it, Procus crept through the doorway.
Kiew had Pascal pinned to the wall with one hand, his ignited wand in the other.
"It's time for you to decide where your loyalties lie, Pascal," Kiew snarled at Pascal, using the cold, biting tone that he usually used for cutting remarks.
"B-bu-but I-I-" Pascal stammered.
"Silence," Kiew hissed venomously, fixing his icy glare on Pascal, who looked ready to faint. Before either could say any more, Zafran barged in through the door.
Procus nearly leaped out of his skin. He hadn't even heard him coming through his thoughts! Procus just about managed to jump out of the way. Punishment was not with Zafran, presumably trying to find troublemakers. The sapphire's power must have expired, seeing as Procus could no longer hear the thoughts of the people around him. Without stopping to listen to what Zafran was saying, Procus snuck out of the room as quietly as possible, and, once he was out of earshot, ran off.
***
When he stopped this time, however, he had no idea where he was. A torch crackled on the wall next to him. Procus was starting to feel panicky now. Looking around him, he could see nothing else but a suit of armor and a doorway. He knew that there was a suit of armor down beside the Low common room, but that was a good four stories below him. He reached to stroke the sapphire again but missed and instead touched the ruby.
Instantly, an odd feeling began to creep up on Procus. Starting from his shaking legs all the way up to his trembling hands, courage and adrenaline flowed through his veins, calming him and clearing his head.
Wow. So that's what the ruby does. Procus thought.
Procus once again assessed his surroundings. There was really nothing around but the torch, doorway and suit of armor. He was still deciding what to do when he heard someone's thoughts, alarmingly close by.
Curses! Where has that whoever-it-was gone from the library! Not even Professor Kiew was able to find him or her! ARGH, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER! Came the horrifying thoughts of Stultus Zafran. Procus heard footsteps coming down the corridor, and, without another thought, despite the ruby's courage, sidestepped straight through the doorway.
Procus stood as still as possible, praying that the topaz's effect wouldn't suddenly expire. Once the footsteps and Zafran grumbly thoughts were long gone, Procus turned around to inspect his surroundings.
***
He was apparently in an unused classroom. The chairs and tables had been pushed aside and stacked neatly at the sides of the classroom. This had been apparently been done to make space for something in the center of the room. A long sword, with half of its blade buried under a pedestal, as though someone had stabbed it in, which was in the shape of a seven-pointed star. At each point of the star, a different symbol was engraved. They were a ring of fire, a droplet of water, a depiction of a gust of wind, a mountain range, a leaf, the sun and a crescent
Procus was no longer scared, even though he had accidentally stroked the ruby again, deactivating it. Something about the sword, with its glittering hilt and wickedly sharp blade, seemed to attract Procus. Like a bee to honey, Procus began to walk towards it. When he was about twenty steps away from it, he noticed a small gem, barely bigger than a quail's egg, embedded in the sturdy-looking material of the pommel, which was pulsing multiple colors at once. Blue, yellow, green, violet, white, clear and so on so forth. Procus didn't stop, he just kept walking. When he was ten steps away from it, he saw engravings on both the pedestal and the sword's blade. The one on the sword said:
The Sword of Thgil
The one on the pedestal was harder to read, as the lettering was smaller. Squinting, Procus just about managed to read it. He wasn't sure, but he thought that it said something like:
Eh ohw sdleiw eht Drows fo Thgil slortnoc eht dlrow
Procus could make neither head nor tail of this. When he was about seven yards away, his instincts suddenly screamed at him to stop. He didn't. Once he was close enough to touch the blade of the sword, it started glowing and humming. Unexpectedly, a black mist burst from the pommel of the sword which wreathed the sword, giving it a majestic and eerie look.
"Illuminos," He muttered, and a luminous ball of light materialized in his right hand.
He was about to direct the light towards the mist when he suddenly felt like he was being watched. Whipping around, Procus flung the ball of light onto the nearby wall, from where it bounced all around the room, lighting up every corner. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary though. A sudden suspicion flashed in his mind. Extinguishing the light, Procus drew his wand and moved it in a long sweeping motion across the room while muttering out a spell that would reveal anything hidden there to him. When he saw nothing, Procus turned back to the sword and the mist, calling forth another ball of light. Leaning in so close to the mist that his nose nearly touched it, Procus peered in.
He had a brief glimpse of what looked like a map before it was gone, and slowly symbols started materializing in the mist. Procus squinted at them. He could not quite read them. They looked like english, but in an odd, twisted sort of way. They weren't completely unreadable though. However, whenever Procus thought that he understood the code, the symbols shifted and configured into a new code. Procus knew he should be going, but something about the symbols mesmerized him. He kept staring at them for what must have been about half an hour.
A sudden clattering sound from outside jolted Procus back to reality. Frightened, he extingushed his ball of light.
"I'll be back," Procus whispered to no one in particular.
Reactivating the clear topaz, Procus headed back to the dormitory.
***
"You could have woken us!" Adi said indignantly to Procus at breakfast the next morning.
"Yeah, we would've wanted to see it!" Vignesh cried at exactly the same time.
"You guys can come today," Procus said, "so long as you're touching me, you can be invisible as well!"
They had gone and asked Dave about Power Helixes and their effects earlier on that day. Apparently, so long as the person wearing a Helix was touching another person, the effects would be shared. They had already tested it, using the sapphire.
Procus couldn't quite eat. He was too busy thinking about the sword.
"Procus, are you okay?" Adi asked, "You aren't eating anything,"
"No, I'm fine," Procus replied, still gazing into the fire crackling in the hearth.
***
Procus' biggest, and only, fear was that he wouldn't be able to find the sword room again. With both Vignesh and Adi beside him, it was a bit more difficult to maneuver around as it should be. For a while, they wandered around, unable to find the room.
Just as Adi began to moan that his feet were aching, Procus somehow lost track of where Vignesh was. Panic began to creep through him. Shushing Adi, he activated the sapphire and listened for Vignesh's footsteps or thoughts. When that didn't work, he and Adi began to retrace their steps.
Eventually, they came to a fork in the passage where Vignesh might have taken a wrong turning. They ran along the other passage, searching desperately for Vignesh. Finally, they found a panicked Vignesh looking for them. Procus deactivated the sapphire. He looked over at Vignesh, but something else caught his eye. A suit of armor was standing beside a nearby doorway.
He grabbed Adi and Vignesh and pushed them through the ajar doorway.
"This is it!" he exclaimed excitedly, seeing the sword and its pedestal. The seven symbols glittered ominously as they approached, and colors began to swirl inside the gem embedded in the sword's pommel. Once again, the black mist burst from the gem. This time though, it was wider than before, so that all of them could look into it.
The map flashed up again for a second and was immediately replaced by the symbols, which were of different colors this time.
"What do they mean?" Procus wondered out loud.
"They?" Adi asked, his voice quivering, "I don't see any 'they'. All I see is your body, collapsed on the ground and drenched in blood… Now it's been replaced with Vignesh's body… and now," he choked, "Patricia's… now my family… it keeps changing and above it all, I see – I see black dragons swooping and – and I see black hooded fig – figures laughing and swooping down,"
"WHAT?" Procus yelled, "How do you see al –"
Procus abruptly stopped when he heard a sound from outside. Vignesh quickly grabbed his and Adi's arms, activated the topaz and led them back to the common-room, none of them saying another word.
***
Procus was staring into the flames crackling in the hearth in the hall.
"Procus?" Adi said tentatively, approaching him.
No response.
"I know what you're thinking about. That sword. Don't go back tonight,"
Startled into speech, Procus asked, "Why?"
"Something isn't right about it," Adi said slowly.
Procus ignored him. There was something about that sword that just drew him to it. Unconsciously, he touched the Helix, which was on his arm. He had found out that he could make it invisible while he himself remained visible. Suddenly, his hand burst into flames.
"YYYYAAAARRRRHHHH!" he screeched, along with Adi and Vignesh. Thankfully, there was completely nobody else in the Hall, as they were most likely still sleeping.
"My hand is on fire!" Procus yelled again, quite needlessly, while Vignesh and Adi fruitlessly shot water at it from their wands. However, the fire just did not want to be extinguished. Adi found a large jug of cold water and poured it all on Procus' hand. The fire still stubbornly burned on.
It was at this moment that Procus realized that the fire wasn't burning him at all. In fact, it wasn't even hurting him. Slowly, he calmed down. When Adi and Vignesh saw that he was fine, they calmed down as well. Taking deep breaths, Procus, examined the fireball that was in his hand.
"How the ruddy hell did you do that?" Vignesh gasped.
"And why aren't you on fire?" Adi added.
"I don't know…" Procus said, trailing off uncertainly. Then, seeing the gold Helix on his arm, realization dawned. "But I think it may have been something to do with the Helix,"
His hand was still on fire. Unsure, he placed his finger on the ruby to give him courage. Unexpectedly, the fire on his hand went out.
"Okay, that is just freaky," Vignesh said when he saw Procus' completely not-burned hand.
"The ruby!" Procus practically bellowed, "It gives both courage and somehow summons fire!"
"Heavens above, keep your voice down," Vignesh worried, glancing cautiously over his shoulder at the entrance to the Main Hall.
"But Procus, you really can't go back to the sword today," Adi nagged again, as though nothing had happened.
Procus ignored him.
***
Procus found the sword room more easily this time. After all, he had found his way there two times before. There it was. The sword's metal blade gleamed ominously in the moonlight flooding in through the window. The gem on the hilt gleamed at Procus invitingly. Slowly, he approached it, and the mist began surging out again. Procus stared at its surface. There was nothing there to stop him this time. Except –
"Back again, Procus?"
The voice came completely out of nowhere and startled Procus so much that he impulsively smacked the ruby and sent a fireball hurtling around the room. Except that his plan backfired, and the fireball bounced straight back to him. He ducked at the last moment and the fireball careened past him, towards the sword. When it was about ten yards away from the sword, it suddenly changed course and was sucked into the gem. It glowed red for a moment, then returned to normal. Procus looked around the room for the mystery voice. When he saw who it was, he instantly felt very embarrassed.
Professor Foong was standing in a corner of the room. And Procus had shot a fireball at her that would most likely have wounded her. As I said before, he was really quite embarrassed.
"Pro – Professor, I – I didn't know that it was y – y – you," he stammered, going red as a tomato.
"No worries, no worries, you just acted impulsively," she said, brushing aside his mistake as though it had never happened, "It seems that being invisible has affected your sight,"
Procus was relieved to see that she was smiling.
"Now then," Professor Foong continued, "I see that you, like many before you, have discovered the Sword of Thgil, or, in other words, the Sword of Satiledif,"
Procus sucked in a sharp breath. He recognized that name.
"My ancestor?" he asked.
"Indeed. I also believe that you have, by now, realized what it does,"
"Well, it shows me symbols,"
"And it shows your friend Adi death," Foong added.
"How did you know?" Procus said, astonished.
"I don't need a Helix to become invisible," she said simply.
"Let me help you. The Sword is also known as the Sword of Destiny,"
"It shows us the future…" Procus whispered, thinking.
"Yes and no," Foong replied enigmatically, "It shows us only the most likely possible future. Whether this future comes to be or not, that depends completely on you,"
Procus didn't quite follow. Conversations like this made his head spin and make him want to stick his fingers in his ears and say loudly, "La, la, la, complicated magical objects, none of my business!" However, out of respect, he pretended to understand.
"Now then," Foong said suddenly, making Procus jump, "the sword will tonight be moved to a new home,"
She looked down at Procus, eyes twinkling again. "And I beg of you not to search for it again,"
Humbled, Procus nodded.
"Now," Foong said, raising her hand towards the sword, then flicking it up. Instantly, it disappeared. "I recommend that you activate the topaz once again and head back to bed. It is getting late. Goodnight,"
Procus was still staring at the space where the sword had been. He could not comprehend how it had Disappeared. Soon, what Foong said sunk in. As he turned to go, he suddenly thought of something and whirled around again to ask.
"Professor, can I ask you some – oh,"
Professor Foong was gone.
Once he reached the dormitory, Procus immediately stuffed the Helix into the deepest parts of his suitcase. Then, suddenly exhausted, he lay down on his bed and fell asleep, troubled by odd nightmares of Affan wielding the Sword and chasing him, his face constantly morphing, his red eyes boring into him like drills and sending sharp bolts of pain through his whole body.