Nikolai opened his eyes, and his senses awoke. His head hurt like he had been struck at the back by a mallet, and he could barely recognize the bland taste of his own spit as it had been diluted with the somewhat repulsive tang of countless medicines. His breathing was slow and ragged, and supported by an oxygen mask, while needles connected to drips stuck out of his arms as the rhythmic beeping of the monitor to his bedside filled his ears.

  He weakly glanced around as much as he could in his state, and came to the realization that he was in an ICU. However, something was wrong with him. He couldn’t seem to recall why exactly he was in such a place.

  What had happened to him?

  “You’re awake?” a husky voice said from his side and Nikolai glanced in its direction to see an aged but able man with a mustache and a goatee standing there, a cup of coffee in his hand.

  Nikolai’s eyes narrowed. A vague idea of who the man was brushed past his mind, but he couldn’t get a good grasp on it. The image was blurry—far too blurry.

  Who was he?

  “How are you feeling now?” the man said as he sat down on a stool beside the bed. Nikolai glanced at his oxygen mask, and the man nodded. He reached for the mask and pulled it down. Nikolai drew a sharp breath which led to him coughing briefly before he settled down. “Good,” the man continued. “You’re a lot better now.”

  Nikolai remained silent for a few seconds as he let his body become accustomed to breathing once again. Then he turned to the man and said, “How long have I been asleep?”

  He had wanted to ask the man who he was, but he felt the need to find out just how much time had passed while he’d been in the ICU instead. That intuitively felt more important.

  “Three weeks,” said the man as he took a sip of his coffee.

  Nikolai wanted to be shocked, but his body and mind lacked the energy for such a spike in emotion.

  “What happened to me?” he asked, and the man frowned.

  “You don’t remember?” said the man. Nikolai nodded. The man cocked his head and placed down his cup of coffee. “Do you know who I am, Nikolai?”

  Nikolai was taken aback by the man calling his name, but his blurry memories, and the fact that the man was the first person he had seen as soon as he’d opened his eyes, told him all he needed to know. Whoever the man was, he knew them—or, he had known them. In other words, whatever had brought him to lying in an ICU had caused him to lose his memories.

  “No,” he replied.

  The man sighed softly then knotted his fingers together. “What is the last thing you remember?” he asked.

  Nikolai turned his gaze to the led light staring down at him from the ceiling, and let his mind wander. The last thing he could recall was…

  “Heading to Prestige Academy for the practical examination,” he said with a wince. “Everything after that is blurry.”

  “I see…” The man rubbed his forehead at that reply. Nikolai turned back to him.

  “Who are you, and how do you know my name?” he asked. “Forgive me if that seems rude. As you can see, I just can’t seem to remember.”

  The man smiled. “It’s fine. My name is Im Ilseong. I’m the headmaster of Prestige Academy.”

  Nikolai blinked. It was the only reaction he could give.

  “If you’re here, does that mean I passed the exam and got in?” he asked. The headmaster nodded. Nikolai turned back to the ceiling. “I see.” He paused. “Then what happened to me?”

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  Headmaster Im Ilseong took a breather. Nikolai stole a peek at the man from the side of his eyes and noticed that he was contemplating on what to say.

  “I’ll tell you when you’re a lot better,” said the headmaster as he stood up from his stool. “Get more rest.”

  Nikolai turned once again to the ceiling. “What about my elder brother?” he asked. “Did he pay me a visit?”

  The headmaster took his time before nodding. “Yes,” he said. “But, as I believe you know, he’s a professor at the Academy, so he spends most of his time teaching. He does come whenever he has the chance though.”

  For some reason, Nikolai felt like that was a lie. But he didn’t push it.

  “Now, get some rest,” said the headmaster.

  However, at that moment, an image stirred Nikolai’s memories briefly, and in the aftermath, a name stood out in his mind.

  “Who’s Merlin?” he asked, causing the headmaster to halt. He turned and their eyes met. “Merlin, who is he?”

  ###

  “That is all he remembers concerning the situation,” said Im Ilseong, his hand on his steering wheel while his attention was split between the road and the call he was currently taking. “Only the existence of Merlin.”

  “So we won’t be able to extract anything about Club Spiral from him?” asked Kim Hyeonki, the Guildmaster of the Consortium guild, and the man on the other side of the call.

  “I’m afraid not,” replied Ilseong.

  “Do you have any idea why he lost his memories?”

  Ilseong paused for a moment. “I have a speculation, but it’s mostly a reach.”

  “Everything’s a reach in our line, Ilseong. Tell me.”

  Ilseong licked his lips. “I believe it’s because of the mana donation.”

  “Yes, your speculation is a reach,” said Hyeonki. “I do understand where you’re coming from, though. Mana is a part of a Mage, sharing their knowledge and life force, so it makes sense that ripping that out of them should cause memory loss. But mana donation has been going on ever since the Cataclysm. Nothing of this sort has happened.”

  “A mana donation on this scale has never happened before, though,” replied Ilseong. “He donated a lot in a short amount of time, almost killing himself even. It’s a miracle, if I’m to be honest, that he’s still alive. In fact, it’s a miracle at all that it only took three weeks for his mana to recover.”

  Hyeonki sighed. “All right. I’ve heard you. I’ll make more findings on it.”

  “Thank you,” said Ilseong. “About the mysterious drug, you were really unable to find any evidence when you raided the club?”

  “Do-Won turned the place inside out,” replied Hyeonki. “There’s nothing in the club that connects them to whatever happened to your student, I’m sorry. He must have headed somewhere else and put in that location to mislead the Academy in the case that he was found out.”

  Ilseong sighed. “I have a nasty feeling that this is related to the Blackguards,” he said. “If we can find out who sold Nikolai that drug and what exactly it is, then we may be one step closer to catching those bastards. They have been eluding us for years now. I have no idea how.”

  “They’re sly, Ilseong,” said Hyeonki. “We’ll have to be sly ourselves to catch them.”

  “I know,” said Ilseong. “At this rate, though, I’m afraid we won’t be able to stop the Cataclysm.”

  Hyeonki sighed audibly. “You keep saying that, and yet they cannot reopen the Primordial Tower without the First Eight Artifacts, which I’m in the possession of. The Cataclysm will not return as long as I am alive.”

  “They plot in the shadows, Hyeonki,” said Ilseong. “As long as we don’t know their next move, we cannot prepare against any possibilities. There has to be something we can do.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Hyeonki replied after a brief pause. “As for you, head back to the Academy and rest. You’ve been watching over that student of yours for over three weeks now. You deserve it.”

  “I know,” Ilseong replied. “Oh, by the way. One more thing,” he continued as he recalled a certain favor he had been meaning to ask of the Guildmaster of the Consortium Guild. “I need you to sit down with Merlin and talk with him.”

  “I suppose I have been wanting to do that, but I haven’t gotten the chance,” said Hyeonki. “Why, though, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “He’s complicated,” said Ilseong. “To help him grow faster, we need to understand what he can and can’t do. But I don’t want those old bastards above to find out about his full capabilities. I’m only able to keep him with me because I said he’s too unstable to be tested.” Ilseong took a second to pause. “And, most of all, from what I’ve seen him do, the boy has a large pool of mana. So much that he can use it to do some things even an S-Class Mage like me can’t.”

  “Absurd,” argued Hyeonki. “Don’t you think you’re placing the boy on a very high pedestal?”

  “I am serious, Hyeonki,” said Ilseong. “I really am.”

  Kim Hyeonki paused. “I see. So? What is your plan?”

  Ilseong took a breath. “I want to find out if there’s a possibility he can attune to a Hex.”