After about a forty five minutes rough drive through the city road, they finally arrived at the academy and the giant gates were opened for them as the soldiers on duty had recognized the vehicle that was approaching as the same one the academy owns.
Damien didn't stop the car by the car park but instead, he drove recklessly towards Master Chen's pavilion as that was the fastest means they could get to Master Chen real quick.
When he had finally driven there and stopped the car abruptly, Ashton managed to get Marcus on his back and with great haste, he began to run into the pavilion without stopping by the checkpoint to get checked. The guards tried to stop him but Damien quickly held them back and confirmed his identity as a student mage.
All Ashton could remember at that moment was the same route Damien had made him pass through the first time Master Chen had invited him to his quarters and as Ashton could sense he was getting closer to Master Chen's inner chamber which he had presumed would be his current abode, his voice calling into Master Chen hollered through out the space.
"Master Chen!" He called hoping he would sense the urgency in his voice and appear real quick and drop whatever he was doing and come from wherever he was at that moment.
"Help!" He shouted again. "I need help!"
Ashton finally got to the door of the inner chamber and he was really pressed to open the door but his hands were tied as he was clinging onto Marcus so he wouldn't fall from his back.
The door suddenly opened revealing the entities that were inside the room. The same tons of books that he had seen the first time he had been into that room were still gracing around the shelves of the room and standing a few feets from the door was Master Chen.
"What is the problem and why are you shouting this heavily in the middle of the night?" Master Chen churned the minute he saw Ashton's face after the door had magically opened.
Ashton, not minding to give Master Chen a candid reply, quickly made his way into the room without permission. His breathing was haggard but that was the least of his worries at that moment. He got inside the room and gently laid Marcus on the floor just below Master Chen's feet.
"It's Marcus," Ashton began to say, his voice laced with urgency. "M-My spirit guide told me his mind was poisoned and he might die soon."
"Is that why you're all restless?" Master Chen asked again, his voice low and condescending as if he had casted all his cares into the air.
"Eh?" Ashton exclaimed in disbelief as he never expected Master Chen to be as relaxed as he was. He had thought he would be as shaken up as he was and try to find a prompt solution to what was going on with Marcus but it seemed he was already used to what was happening.
"You should head back to your dorm and get some rest. You have just come back from a mission and I'm glad you have done well at it."
Ashton shook his head dejectedly and he raised his gaze at Master Chen. "What is wrong with you? Can you not see Marcus is slowly losing his life? Why are you not doing anything? Why are you concerned about me getting some rest when I cannot be at rest while knowing Marcus is still in this sickening state?"
"You do not speak to our Master in that manner!" A disciple mage scolded as he made his way into the room. "You should go back to your dorm, Marcus will be taken care of."
Some other disciple mages matched inside the chamber and they were quick to lift Marcus up from Ashton's laps. He was taken away into another chamber that was in the room they were in and Master Chen took a last glance at Ashton before walking away into the chamber Marcus had just been taken to.
Ashton heaved a sigh exasperatedly as he watched Master Chen leave too. All that was running through his mind was how to get Marcus back on his feets hale and hearty.
"You don't have to worry about Marcus. He will be fine before morning." Someone suddenly said, placing his hand on Ashton's shoulder.
Ashton turned around abruptly to see who had touched him and said those words to him. His eyebrows narrowed a bit as he tried to recollect where he had seen that person from. One thing was sure, he had seen him before but he wasn't sure when and where he had seen him from.
"You don't have to trouble your mind seeking an answer to where you have known me from." The mage subtly patted as if he had read the exact thoughts that were running through Ashton's mind.
"How?..."
"My special ability is reading people's minds, same as Marcus." The mage shushed knowing exactly what Ashton was trying to get at. "I'm glad you are still in this academy even after I denied you some extra time during your examination."
'Eh?' Ashton thought to himself and in that same moment, his mind flushed back to when and where he had seen this mage at.
"Pass all of your tests first and then you will finally find out the reason why I know your name." he recalled.
"You!"
"You didn't pass any of the academy's tests but you managed to keep your head up and etch your stay in this academy." The mage said with a slight chuckle.
"I would have passed one at least if you had let me write for a few minutes."
"So," the mage started again ignoring Ashton's words. "Have you found out the reason why I knew your name then?"
"Our system allows us to see other people' status?"
He nodded in agreement to Ashton's answer. "Now, what is my name?" He asked again.
Ashton fixed his gaze at him properly then the Mage's system status interface materialized beside him.
[ALLY HOST STATUS]
[Name: Whelki Manei]
[Age: 28]
[Class: Adept]
[Grade: Advanced rank]
"Whelki." Ashton finally replied.
Whelki nodded his head in agreement to Ashton's answer again and he said,
"You should head back to your dorm. Marcus will be back by tomorrow. You don't want to welcome him with a sickly face do you? The cause of his predicament will be discovered during his treatments so be rest assured he will be fine."
*SIGH!*
Ashton let out a sigh of relief as Whelki's words had comforted him a bit.
"I hope he doesn't die yet."
"He won't!" Whelki assured again. "Now, off you go. Your presence here doesn't help any bit."
***~°~***
Ashton eventually headed back to his dorm and once he was in, Alden and Ulysses rushed at him to find out what was going on with Marcus. He relayed the same words Whelki had said to him and they were both relieved.
"Guys," Ulysses called as they all were about to retire into their orbs for that night. Both Ashton and Alden turned at him. "What about William? He's not with us here in the academy."
The realization that William indeed wasn't amidst then finally dawned on them and they were a bit shaken up at the possibility that something was strange.
"Come to think of it," Alden started, his eyes narrowing a little bit. "William had gone out with Marcus trailing behind him but we didn't see him anywhere near the scene."
A deafening silence ensued among them for a minute as the whole story began to replay itself in their heads as they tried to fix the broken puzzle.
"It's best to not jump at any stupid resolve right now." Ashton announced hoping both boys were not thinking anything bad about William doing something bad to Marcus. "Marcus knows what happened best…we probably should wait till tomorrow and hear the plain truth from him. We don't want to paint anyone as bad yet when we don't know what had actually happened."
The other boys shrugged but they agreed to follow Ashton's words in the end. While Ashton had gotten inside his orb to take a night rest, his mind was flooded with different possibilities as to why that had happened to Marcus. He was indeed shaken up by the sudden event and he hoped Marcus would get back to his feet and whoop his arse a bit too.
The thought of that alone made a small smile creep onto his lips and soon, he drifted off to sleep.
***~°~***
"Hey, wake up!" A muffled voice called at Ashton making him lose sight of what he was dreaming about.
Ashton shrugged, turning away from the voice as he tried to resume where he had stopped in his dream but the voice wasn't going to leave him alone any time soon if he didn't wake up.
"Ashton! Wake up!" The voice called again and slowly, the voice began to clear up from being a muffled little sound to a high pitch call.
"Ashton!"
"Oh Ulysses…" Ashton called groggily as he was in between being awake and sleepy. "What is wrong with you?"
"Ashton, Marcus' death date has appeared on his death tablet."
"What do you mean by that?" Ashton asked jerring up a bit.
"The date that appeared is the 9th of Avil." Ulysses replied in haste.
"Okay…" Ashton yawned, laying back to sleep again.
"Ashton, today is the 9th of Avil. Today is Marcus' death day!" Ulysses finally dropped the bomb making the sleep in Ashton's eyes clear away in a blur flash.
"Marcus!" Ashton muttered, his eyes opening wide.