That afternoon, I was called up to Midnight's office once more, mere minutes after exiting the final class of the day. Stretching, I began to make my way up, relieved that my soreness had largely been cured over many painful hours.
When I arrived, Midnight gave a knowing and friendly look as I slowly began to seat myself. The moment I did so, he began talking. He first confirmed that yes, he could not understand the language that I was speaking in. "I couldn't use any magic," he continued, a frown beginning to emerge. "No matter how hard I tried, I failed to cast any sort of spell. It was almost like everything just got gobbled up for some strange reason."
I sighed. "At least we can at least talk using our bodies." I knew that this form of communication had some flaws, notably the strong possibility that one might misinterpret the message. "And we can talk afterwards like we are doing now."
My principal nodded. "Yes." He blinked, shifting the subject. "So did you see or sense anything interesting?" Although he didn't explicitly point it out, he shifted some emphasis on the palace we encountered just before the two of us woke.
Rifling through my memories, I recalled the most important tidbits of information that I retained during our trip. "Well, there was this aura that I sensed while we were walking," I started. "I tried to tell you about it, but you didn't understand me."
"Oh, yes," Midnight realized. "I'm sorry to cut you off like that." He slowly shook his head. "...And I didn't sense a thing. That may have been the thing eating all of my spells."
"I also saw someone in all of the stained glass windows," I pointed out.
It seemed as if Midnight hadn't heard this bit of information. He grumbled something under his breath that I could almost decipher. Without warning, he stood. "Alright, I suppose we can separate for now." Midnight leaned against his chair and froze, though. "Did you see anything else?"
I thought for a moment but quickly said afterward that there was nothing of great importance. I then stood, causing us to say our goodbyes to each other before heading our separate ways. Before I could leave the office, however, Midnight stopped me once again. "Oh, I want to give you something," his voice chimed behind me.
"What is it?"
"Some pills infused with a spell," my principal explained. "They should eliminate most of the pain that you most likely felt after running for so long. I just regret giving them to you sooner." Midnight lowered his head. "After all, this was one out of few days that I skipped meeting with you."
Thinking back, I realized that no, Midnight didn't show up in the corner when I was heading to the first class of the day. I'd thought that something was wrong, but due to my excessive fatigue I couldn't figure out why. Saying a quick goodbye to Midnight once again, I opened the office door and stepped outside. It was then that I realized my formerly free hand was now clasping something. Peering downward, it was a bottle filled with glowing golden pills, their light shimmering as I shook the container. I looked back up and started descending the stairs once again.
I was on the field as the sun began to set, sitting up on the finely controlled grass blades. I watched the sun fall over the horizon, spent after practicing my magic. I figured that if I could control my magic from within my dream, a highly unlikely possibility, then it'd both benefit Midnight and I throughout our nightly quest to the labyrinth. I continued to sit, electing to practice my less physical spells.
With one spell in particular, I started to close my eyes, opening what Mr. Grey called my "mind's eye". With this, although it was fairly weak from my lack of magical experience, I could only roughly see where other people were not based on light entering my physical eyes but reaching out for my schoolmates' individual magical essences. Looking at them closely, the shape that they took on was akin to a swirling vortex, with the essences of smaller creatures rotating much more quickly than larger students. I inferred that this was to compensate for their less massive bodies.
"Urgh..." I involuntarily grunted, opening my eyes once again and holding my head on the palms of my hands. I shook my head. That particular "spell", although Mr. Grey refused to refer to it as one but rather an ability, would frequently result in headaches if I utilized it for an extended period of time.
I stood. The last parts of the sun disappeared as the world entered twilight. For a moment, I stared out into the hugely expansive and flat field. After getting my bearings, I decided to head back into the school and start retreating into my room, beginning to prepare myself for the night. With a jolt, I realized that I would be plunged into the labyrinth once more. Stepping through the massive double doors permitting access to the rest of the school, waves of both fear and excitement shook through my body.
To my dismay, I couldn't fall asleep that night. Whenever I would finally slip into unconsciousness, I would feel as if I were being booted back into my body, resulting in a jarring snap back to reality. After quite a few attempts at falling asleep naturally, I finally decided to do something about it. At this point, the moon was illuminating my room with slender fingers of light.
Yawning once again, I grudgingly arose and shuffled across my room and into the kitchen. It was then that I selected a small cupboard out of many, something that I felt was unecessary. Nevertheless, I began to sift through some bottles of medication; my parents hadn't given me much, just some capsules that relieved some common symptoms due to viral infections and a few others. Among these were sleep aid pills. I quickly grabbed this one particular packet that'd already been half-used, at the same time preparing a cup of water. In one swift gulp, I downed the tablet, also relieved that the glass had cured my somewhat dry mouth.
I proceeded to stand still for a few seconds, already feeling a tad sleepy. A minute or two of silence then elapsed before I finally decided to try falling asleep once more. However, I suddenly jumped backward and instinctively began to prepare a fireball, something that I'd been working on mere hours prior. I gritted my teeth, however, as I realized that Midnight had barged into my room.
Before the principal could speak, I started interrogating him from a spike of anger. "Why are you here?" Even though most of it had disappeared, I still manifested a pea-sized fireball inside of my clenched fist. "Isn't it against the rules to enter others rooms without permission?"
Midnight now bore a frown. "I'm deeply sorry for that, and I hope that you can forgive me, Feste." He quickly diverted the topic. "You didn't fall asleep even once tonight."
Still a bit hostile, I confirmed this and Midnight spoke once more. "...Could I cast a certain spell that would make you fall asleep faster?"
"Sure," I accepted. However, I thought my decision over. I recalled the several attempts that I made to enter the labyrinth. "Well, I've tried to do so before. In fact, I actually felt myself entering the labyrinth only to be cut off from doing so a fraction of a second afterward."