"Do you have a phone I can use?" Hadrian asked.
"A phone?" Ethan asked confusedly, raising an eyebrow. He then remembered the phone he collected from Crystella, which he wanted to use to call Taegen in case of necessity.
"Sure," he said, reaching into his pocket and handing Hadrian the phone.
"You had that in there, and I didn't bother searching you for anything when I kidnapped you?" Hadrian said, looking a bit confused.
"It was almost as if they wanted me to get away," Ethan said. He then processed what he had just said. It was almost like they wanted him to get away.
The old man wanted to use him to get the Staff of Nox; he said his Master would be pleased with him. But no Master would be stupid enough to want a weapon that could drain their life force.
If he knew where the staff was, he would die once he held it, and no one would be able to hold it. Although it makes sense if the Master is a god because Nox's staff is made of pure darkness. But even still, there are only a select few who could use a weapon made of pure darkness.
What are they planning?
Hadrian puts the phone in front of Ethan's face, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Are you done using it?" he asked.
"Yes," Hadrian replies.
Ethan collects the phone and asks, "So, who did you call?"
"My manager... She will be coming later today." Hadrian replies.
"Okay," Ethan said. "I'm also going to make a call as well," he said, standing up.
-------------------
Taegen woke up to the sound of his phone. Who could be calling him at this time? He looked over to the other side of his bed and saw that his partner was still asleep. He then sighed in relief. He takes his phone to see an unknown number. He's very tempted to not pick up the phone.
"Who's this?" he asked, making it very obvious that he's not in a good mood.
"Sounds like you are in a bad mood, old man." He heard Ethan's voice at the other end of the phone.
Well, if you were woken up by the sound of your phone at..." Taegen pauses and checks the time on the table clock. The time is 3:16 am, "...3:16 in the morning, then would you be happy?"
"Probably not, but aren't you happy that I'm not yet dead in a ditch?" He heard Ethan ask.
Taegen sighed. "I know you are only calling me at this time because you just happened to remember me, right?"
"No, I remembered you twenty minutes ago; also, if you are not happy with a phone call, I could appear at your location in the next three seconds."
Taegen knew that was a bad idea. "A phone call is perfect," he said in a dark voice.
"Who are you with?" Ethan asked. Taegen could swear he saw Ethan giving him this weird smile whenever he was with someone. "None of your business."
"Did I interrupt your business?" Ethan asked.
"Ethan!" Taegen shouted in frustration; he realized he had shouted, then he turned to his side to see if his partner was awake. When he saw he wasn't awake, he sighed in relief.
"Hello? Are you still there?"
Taegen felt his veins twitch in frustration. "Why did you call, Ethan?" he asked.
"Do you know who brought me to Silver Field?" he asked.
"Yes," Taegen replies, stretching a bit. "His name is Hunter Ignea. A soldier in a human country army—I don't know which one—and a former student of Silver Field—what do you want from him?"
"No, not now," Ethan replies. "Taegen, you know everything about every hero that has ever existed, right?"
"Not every one of them, but most of them; why?" Taegen asked.
Ethan paused for a bit before replying, "Does this mean you know their villains as well?"
"Yes?" Taegen asked confusedly.
"Alright then," Ethan replied. "How many gods do you know that can hold the Staff of Nox apart from Nox himself?"
That is a weird question. Ethan was never interested in stuff like this; why is he interested now? "Why are you asking?"
"Is there something wrong with my question?"
"Yes, if you don't let me know what is going on," Taegen said, getting up from the bed as gently as he could to go out to his corridor.
"So I broke Hadrian out of the Curse of Restraint... I know, I'm amazing," Ethan said, and Taegen rolls his eyes. He waits for Ethan to continue his story, though. "But I met the Master of Hadrian's curse; he told me that the only reason I am there is to show them the way to the Staff of Nox, and everyone knows that death comes for those who hold the staff."
Taegen frowns deeply. "Go on," he said seriously.
"The Master of Hadrian's Curse mentioned to me that he had a master, and it was a male, and there were some elders as well, and I just thought then that the only reason they would want the Staff of Nox was to fully unlock the gates of the Dark Realm."
"But I would die once I hold the Staff of Nox; even though I know where the staff is, I don't have the power of a god, and I am not strong enough to hold the staff for approximately two minutes before dying a painful death."
"That's true." Taegen said.
"And the Master might not be a mere mortal because once I've found the Staff of Nox and faded away miserably, the Master must be the one to hold the staff or someone else, at the very least, so I want to know who might be able to do so."
"There are about four gods who can hold the Staff of Nox: the King of the Underworld, Hades, the Primodial God of Darkness; Erebus, the God of Death; and finally the Primordial Goddess of Night herself, Nyx. But let's not forget about their creations. Just like Nox, these gods created divine beings; there are several of them, and we don't know all of their names. Each of them has their own duty, and that is to assist their creator," Taegen carefully explained this to Ethan to help him understand that it might not be the gods that are the villains. Ethan has to understand this because it won't be a good thing to get on the gods' bad side.
The other side of the phone was silent for a while. Ethan, are you still there?"
"Yes," Ethan replies. "Is it possible for the divine creations to not do their duties in assisting their creators?" he asks.
"Yes," Taegen replies. "That's how some of the races of the Dark Realm were created: demons, dark elves, and vampires. As well as dark angels, the ones closest to the gods, but they fell for one reason or another."
"Alright, I don't have anymore questions," Ethan said.
Taegen stretched and yawned. "Okay, good," he said. "So when are you returning to Silver Field? Or do you want someone to escort you?"
"Oh..." Ethan said in a daze. "I'm not returning."
Taegen's grip on his phone tightens. "What?"
"Yeah, so, I'm not returning because the old man that was Hadrian's master told me that if I returned, there'd be someone else in the academy to kidnap me, and I don't want to spend the rest of my days fighting a punch of puppets," Ethan explained.
"What?" Taegen said.
"And just so you know, this was not part of my plan; I planned on returning to Silver Field Academy maybe tomorrow once I've explored a bit, but I don't think I will when I know that there might be some puppets in the academy threatening my peace of mind," Ethan said with false cheerfulness.
Taegen wanted to yell at Ethan through the phone, then Ethan said, "Besides, you would do the same thing if you were in my shoes."
Taegen gritted his teeth in frustration and said, "I'll see what I can do about your situation, but don't do anything stupid, alright?"
"Don't worry, I'm with Emily," Ethan said.
Emily, the girl he assumes is Ethan's best friend, the same one that caused a riot? "That's even worse," he said, feeling a bit tired.
"Don't worry, Hadrian is here with us as well; I think he's responsible."
Taegen heard a faint "What?" coming from the other end of the phone and sighed. Hopefully the gods would hear his prayer for peace for those around Ethan and Emily and his prayer for them not to contaminate Hadrian with their madness.
"I'm tired right now, Ethan," Taegen said. I'll talk to you soon, hopefully not in the middle of the night..."
"Got it, I will not call you again after a night of 'fun,' instead I'll be appearing at your location in the future."
Taegen stared at the starry sky angrily. "I hate you sometimes," he said.
"Aw thanks."
With that, Ethan cut off the call, and Taegen sighed. "It's nice to know he is okay."