12 The Lab

Persephone

As the sun passed its zenith we started to head for Ash's lab. Xavier was still reluctant to go and expressed his concern before leaving, but was still forced to come. I thought it was strange that Xavier was so strongly opposed to going, but didn't have a reason to be against it. I shrugged it off as pointless. We approached the magic guild and saw a figure outside waiting for us.

"Hey, Ash. I hope you don't mind, but I brought my companions."

"Oh. Hello there. I'm probably going to have trouble with your names. It would be awkward to call everyone 'you'." He said cheerfully.

With that Mordred stepped forward to introduce us, "This is Persephone. Ash, Persephone. Persephone, Ash. The blond is Solskin. Ash, Solskin. Solskin, Ash. They're both wonderful, but they're not who you're really here for, right?" Mordred chuckled heartily, "This is our resident grinch, the one and only-"

"Xavier." Ash interrupted. "At last we meet. You have no idea how long I have been searching for you."

Xavier gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He glared at Ash and remained silent. He looked ready to attack Ash.

"Anyways, now that you know our names, why don't we get to your lab?" Mordred said excitedly. Ash smiled genially and started walking to the back of the building.

"While the front entrance is where our libraries, private study rooms, and lecture halls are, the back entrance only leads to the laboratories. I'm sure that you will be pleased with our equipment. It is of the highest quality."

"Back in Shiria, the stuff I had to work with was crap, to put it mildly." Mordred said.

"I'm sure that you made do regardless. We have actually just found a very promising lead. Shall we start our research?" Ash said. We approached a surprisingly old-looking door which Ash unlocked and gestured us in.

"Welcome to my humble laboratory, please enter."

"I can't wait to get started," Mordred said excitedly.

Mordred

Once we were inside, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite Ash's assurances, I was worried that the lab would be subpar due to the terrible condition of the door. But it was clearly a premier research facility. Books were neatly arranged across the multiple tables. Magic circles were drawn on a large piece of canvas that took up an entire wall. I gasped in admiration of the scope of research being conducted into other dimensions.

"Hello, Mordred. You look as horrible as ever."

A young elf was sitting on a table in front of us. He was tossing balls of light around the room. A hood covered most of his face, but a few stray strands of blonde hair stuck out.

"How have you been, errand boy?" I sneered before catching myself. It wouldn't do to get wrinkles because of someone like Emmyth.

"I am doing great. How are your studies? Have you found a way to return to your magical 'Earth' yet?"

"Stop being a prick, Emmyth. Go prepare the circle. We have a interesting new subject - er, person - to check." Ash called from across the room. He was already busy flipping through many books.

Xavier stopped. "I did not agree to have magic cast on me."

"Come on, Xavier. It's harmless. Besides, with the three of us here, nothing could go wrong. Trust me." I asserted.

Xavier shook his head adamantly. He stood up, his eyes sweeping the entire room, and turned to leave. With his brisk pace, he was already through the door before I could tell him to stop.

"What a sourpuss. Ash, I'm sorry about today. I'll try to bring him back, but don't expect much."

I chased after Xavier, which took a considerable amount of time. By the time I caught up, I was out of breath. "Why… did... you run?"

Xavier stared blankly at me. "I have a bad feeling about your friend."

"Don't worry about it. I've known him for almost 9 years now. He's an odd one, but harmless. Trust him if you trust me."

Xavier snorted and continued to walk away. I kept pace with him and extolled the benefits of working with Ash. But they all fell on deaf ears, Xavier's mind was already made up. We returned to the inn and Xavier went straight to his room and didn't come back out. After testing the door knob, I found that it was locked. I sighed and returned to my room to study.

Solskin

"Well, this is extremely awkward." Ash shouted from across the room, breaking the long silence.

Persephone and I sat at a nearby table, debating our next move. After staring into the lovely brown carved patterns on the table that resembled various objects, Emmyth came to us and began to perform various tricks, trying to impress us. After a while, I realized he was just trying to hit on Persephone. She also came to the same conclusion. After quickly stating that a cleric of Thanatos can not marry, she left.

As I got up to excuse myself, Ash called out, "Tell Mordred that I can meet him again tomorrow. Thanks for coming, even if it was only for 5 minutes."

I nodded and left. Persephone slowed down to meet up with me. We made some idle chit-chat as we slowly walked back. We passed through an open courtyard as we neared the inn. I saw Xavier looking out the window. I waved, but he seemed lost in thought.

"That went… poorly." I sighed in disappointment.

Persephone nodded in agreement. She crossed her arms and nervously tapped her fingers against her arm. "Look, I think there is more to this. Xavier is definitely hi-"

Persephone started to choke. I turned around quickly and drew my sword. A black hand was curled tightly around her throat. She gasped for air as she clawed at her throat. Her veins grew black and her skin paled. However, her eyes turned hard as she looked past me. There an unfamiliar emotion on her face: rage. I quickly turned to see what she was staring at.

There stood a familiar sight, a man wreathed in eerie black smoke. My legs turned weak with fright. Two piercing yellow eyes glared at me. On the man's cheek was the well-known crown of the Three Kings gang. There was something different about the symbol. It was moving. As his skin turned black, red lines spread out from it. It formed a large rune, covering one half of his face.