It all started with Aurelius’s rather pathetic dinner.

  Aurelius had adjusted his schedule to fit the demands of his sessions with Sage Yeltz, eating a heavy breakfast during his morning break, skipping lunch, then enjoying his dinner at the truly wonderful afternoon hours of… 4:30 o’clock.

  What was truly wonderful about this schedule was the fact that his classes actually ended exactly at 4:30 on most days, meaning that Aurelius was left with a mere 20 minutes to finish up his… dinner and join Sage Yeltz for his sessions.

  The Tuesday afternoon was particularly worse, given that his History of Magic classes overran by 10 minutes. Therefore, he had rushed down to the cafeteria, expanding some of his magic to quicken his rather unimpressive pace.

  Now, Aurelius was stuffing into his mouth, a lovely, delicious, and rushed dinner consisting of pickled onions, Southern style carp soup and plain rice.

  Aurelius was not particularly happy with his dinner either, with the rice being drier than usual, presumably because it had been leftover from the lunch rush.

  Great, just another way to make his day a little crappier. Or ‘carpier’- He thought, his chuckle turning into horror as he realised that Mr. Tona’s horrible sense of humour might be rubbing off on him.

  The dining hall was mostly empty, with only a select few students grabbing a quick snack for their afternoons of study or leisure.

  That afternoon had particularly good weather too, with the Sun hanging low to bless the mountain view with its orange glow and few stray clouds to round out the scenery.

  It was truly a peaceful Tuesday. At least, until Aurelius stuffed his mouth with his next spoonful of carp soup.

  “Boom.”

  Aurelius turned to look out the windows of the dining hall, wondering what the sound had been.

  “Boom.”

  All students and dining hall staff stopped in their tracks as they peered out into the distance.

  “Boom.”

  Aurelius could hear the faint screaming now.

  “Boom.”

  And the smoke in the distance started to paint the sky, which was beautiful in its blue and orange hue mere seconds ago, with fire and blood.

  ???

  Alarm bells rang through the air throughout the city within minutes. Many were likely being rung for the first time since their construction.

  The Academy itself fell to panic in seconds.

  “There has been an attack of unknown nature on Tlacualtzin.”

  “Boom.”

  “The Academy is protected by wards and spells, and all students within its premises will be safe! All students are to remain calm and evacuate to the basements of the Academy immediately!” An announcement came down, thundering from the speakers lining the Academy walls.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “The Academy is protected by wards and sp…” It repeated, adding a layer of annoying noise to the whole scene of chaos unfolding in front of Aurelius’s eyes.

  Loud ringing of emergency bells started to go off, and in Aurelius’s peripheral vision, he could see extra wards and spells being cast around the Academy premises at incredible rate, likely the work of the Guardian Spirits.

  The Academy staff had also responded rather quickly in this strange crisis, with many teachers and professors popping onto the school grounds to guide the students and assist with the barriers.

  Gaggles of students rushed their way towards the Academy building, many evacuating from the dormitories, and reentering the school from the city.

  “Boom. Boom. Boom.”

  As Aurelius ran towards the main halls of the Academy, he could see through the Academy barriers, where citizens rushed towards the Academy eagerly to join in the safety of its walls.

  The staff were confused by this at first, but it took them little time to realise that the civilians could be evacuated to the civilian shelters located towards the back of the Academy next to the lake.

  In the distance, thick, black smoke was visible throughout the city, popping up one by one in succession.

  “BOOM.”

  Aurelius nearly fell in fear as the sound churned the air inside of his ribcage and punched against his eardrums.

  A bomb had gone off a mere 2 blocks from the Academy, the red flash of magic colouring the rubble it shot up into the air.

  “Fuck.” Aurelius swore, steadying himself as he approached the main hall, introducing new vigor into his steps.

  He saw the occasional flash of fear stricken classmates and acquaintances in his pathetic rush to safety, tightening his chest as he pondered a rather horrifying question.

  Was this related to him?

  He decided that it wasn't. That little voice in the back of his head is just some narcissistic ‘I’m the main character’ nonsense.

  And he promptly decided that he would have absolutely NOTHING to do with this whole debacle in any way. No sane person would go out courting death! Not even if they had some weird ‘time loop’ mechanic!

  However his dreams of non-involvement would be dashed as a thin line of geometric shapes materialised right next to him.

  And a hand promptly grabbed Aurelius by his collar.

  Aurelius almost screamed at this, unsure if he was getting assassinated by some fae or whatever other faction for his… existence or something!

  “Shut up.” The hand’s owner growled, lifting Aurelius's struggling body up effortlessly.

  “Did Quetzalcoatl give you any revelation?” The woman interrogated, her face filled to its absolute limits with anger and irritation.

  “NO! Let me go! This has nothing to do with me!” Aurelius screamed, flailing around the air like a freshly caught fish.

  “FOOL. What do you think will happen if it does involve you? What happens if the main target is hiding out with a bunch of other bloody students in an academy? Have you even thought that through?!” The sage spat, giving Aurelius a few small taps on his face with her oversized palms.

  “...Good point.” Aurelius conceded, as he ceased his pointless struggle.

  The sage took out a wooden stick from her pocket, and proceeded to snap it against her body, producing a crisp sound of snapping.

  With her seething rage, the sage snapped her fingers loudly, teleporting with Aurelius to an unfamiliar room.

  Setting Aurelius down, the sage drew the curtains of the room closed.

  It was a decently sized office, one with a familiar chalkboard, and walls lined to its brim with books and grimoires.

  They were in the sage’s office at the Commission’s tower.

  “Sit. Stay.” The sage instructed curtly, tossing the slightly nauseated Aurelius a bottle of water and pointing him towards the couch.

  Aurelius complied. He had zero desire to disobey this very straightforward command… other than how the sage had just talked to him like he were a dog.

  With a flick of her wrists, her wand materialised out of her hand, and with another crisp snap of her fingers, the sage was gone, presumably to assist in containing whatever was going on.

  Distant explosions were muffled in the confines of the room, churning Aurelius’s stomach with fear.

  What the fuck was going on?

  ???

  The Command Room

  “Situation?” Sage Yeltz asked the room filled with glum mages.

  “Bad.” Archsage Andrew replied simply, his face pale in horror. His contract was definitely getting terminated!

  “There are bombings throughout the city, each with sizable explosive yield.” A serious looking man replied.

  “We have not yet identified the culprit, but it seems wise to assume that it is the same ones that the Royal Knights had been investigating.”

  “We believe that evacuation and healing is the priority. And the churches will act as the on the ground command centers for both evacuation and healing.” He concluded, using magic to place pins on the location of churches around the city.

  This led a moment of silence around the room, as everyone digested the words that had just been spoken.

  “Hmm. Sensible. Sage Ray will assist in the evacuation effort with divisions A to D. The rest of the divisions will be under the commands of respective division leaders. Depart first.” Sage Yeltz commanded, the anger apparent on her face, yet her words devoid of emotion.

  The division leaders and other mages left the room, leaving Sage Yeltz, another sage and the two Archsages in the room.

  “What will you do?” Sage Yeltz asked, her voice filled with exhaustion, directed towards the two Archsages.

  Silence hung in the room for a minute with this question.

  Finally, Archsage Livia spoke, her words coated with intensity and juxtaposed by her sweet, sweet smile.

  “...Deal with the perpetrators.”