Chapter 48 – Floor 3 – Agate Academy

"Do you remember when we first met?" Clico turned around, and Lavilin was in front of him on the deck. Visions of The Demon plagued Clico after the dungeon break, but he tried to ignore them.

"It's all in my head." Clico told himself.

"Ignoring me? When we last fought, I placed a portion of my soul into your mind with a skill. It is actually me standing here! Whenever you see Nillvia or I, it is actually us." He smiled. Clico continued to pretend not to see him.

"Do you like my dungeon?" Lavilin's shadowy figure paced back and forth.

"One day you'll grow to love the dungeon as much as I have. Emelia, Aventi, Stern, Nillvia, Lavilin, and Clico, the Agate Academy rising stars. How long has it been since we were all together?"

"Don't speak their names!" Clico yelled at Lavilin. Kiln, nearby, realized Clico was yelling into the mists and hurried over.

"All you do is yell and complain at me. You've never tried to understand me. I opened the dungeon because I had to. We've always been friends. I wish it could've been different, but fate has not been kind to us. It's time you remembered how it was before I had to open the dungeon." Lavilin was then sucked into the mists of Floor Three along with the rest of the Labyrinthian.

Suddenly, Clico was no longer on the ship but back at Agate Academy from his youth.

Lavilin was gone.

Clico looked around confused. Teenagers, children, and teachers walked about their casual business, but no one acknowledged Clico. It was as if he had been transported to the past.

"Where, am I?" Clico looked around, but he was no longer on the Labyrinthian. Looking at his arms, he was transparent. Around him, children and teenagers walked past and through him as if he wasn't there.

Clico wasn't actually there. He body was like the mist, intangible and invisible to the people of the academy. Had he been projected there in real time, or was this the past? Lavilin's presence was gone. It was likely this illusion was because of the dungeon, along with the visions of Lavilin.

Going up to person after person, Clico tried speaking to students and teachers to no avail. Soon enough however, it became apparent what was going on; he was reliving a moment from his past. Some of the students were even recognizable. He was back at the famous Agate Academy of Magic. The question now was:

When he was?

Searching through his thoughts, he decided to go to retrace his steps of where he would be as a youth.

"Eros is showing me the past, instead of letting me reexperience it." Clico realized.

As he entered an old classroom, he saw his younger self alone in the back of the room. Unlike his classmates, Clico was born with a rare physique. Clico was born Auraless. Individuals cursed with an Auraless physique had no Aura Gland, and thus, they could not produce, see, nor control aura naturally. Since the Natural Path was the easiest for beginners, it was harder for him to grow.

In order to enroll in Agate Academy, Clico relied on his own scientific inventions that were powered by aura credits to operate. During the entrance exams, Clico scored at the top of his class, but he blew all of his resources to do so. From then on, Clico could only learn the principles behind using natural magic in his rudimentary classes, which was the primary magic taught to first years.

Unable to produce this kind of magic, Clico's reputation and rank amongst his peers dropped significantly. The others would torment him and ridicule how an auraless failure could join the prestigious academy. Teachers and students alike hated him, but he was able to stay apart of the school due to his work ethic.

Before and after classes, Clico would study relentlessly, and after classes, he would work at a repair shop in town where he would save up to energize his inventions during the practical midterm and final exams using his self-made Artifacts.

It wasn't enough financial support to score highly, but he could pass despite the rejection from his peers and teachers. The first semester Clico enrolled, he was popular and seen as a rising star, but reality was shattered when everyone saw his decline due to his physique. Although the seven paths of aura were all valid, the natural path was often seen as the foundation for finding your true path. Without a proper foundation to build on, it was seen as impractical to teach someone with a different need and style .

Clico watched himself as the lesson began. The condescending looks of his peers were like daggers. This way obviously the second semester of his first year when his very existence was a disgrace to his peers. Young Nillvia was at the front of the classroom and didn't care about the politics. Everyone else however, was watching Clico with disdain. After the class, Clico's younger self left in a hurry.

The students around him murmured in contempt. Even those with low natural aura potential were seen as trash. They would likely never be strong wizards. In the same way, someone with no aura potential could never be a powerful wizard. Nillvia flinched at their conversations and left as well. The real Clico stayed.

"How can someone at the bottom of the rankings be allowed to stay?" One kid asked another.

"How would I know?" The younger version of Stern shrugged.

"Stop gossiping you guys! If you keep worrying about the invalid, you'll take away from your own studies." The younger version of Emelia lectured the complainers and rabble rousers.

"Yeah, whatever Em. Someone like him will never make something of himself. It's a disgrace to the Academy." The younger version of Aventi scolded.

"What do you know? You're just mad you dated him the first semester before realizing he was Auraless." Emelia shot back.

"Shut- Shut up!" Aventi stormed out of the room. The Upper Division of Agate Academy was all young teenagers, but at this point, they were all around 14 and 15, in their second semester of their Freshman Year.

"Don't you think you went too far Em? Why are you defending that trash?" Stern asked angrily.

"Clico isn't trash. You all judge him because he's Auraless, but you all forget that there is more than one Aura Path. You all seem to forget!" Emelia rolled her eyes at Stern.

The older Clico nodded in the back of the room. At their young age, the Natural Path seemed to be all there was, but the world was much larger outside of Agate Academy.

Mercenaries and weapon masters used the Scientific Path that Clico was currently on to use advanced Artifacts in combat. Besides the Natural Path, the Scientific Path was actually more common and available for those without formal training. It was more of a hierarchy and elitist mentality to look down on someone who wasn't talented in the conventional Natural Path.

For these rich and privileged kids, being unable to use the Natural Path was disgraceful. Even if Clico learned the Runic Path or Scientific Path as planned for the advanced students, he could never be the strongest in the class without the Natural Path. Even if his aptitude was in the other paths, some thought it to be wasteful to use resources on Clico when others could use the Natural Path lessons more effectively.

Leaving the room, Clico followed his previous self. There was no particular reason for him to be sucked into Floor Three's illusion, but he knew he was in good hands. Even if he couldn't escape this illusion himself, 21 and the others had a way to get him out before arriving to the Fourth Floor.

"I wonder how many others were taken into illusions?" Clico wondered.

In reality, there were nine others.

Omira was in a coma along with Elos and Ciphe because of their overexertion of their auras on the Second Floor. Because of this, their minds were more fragile and were sucked into illusions.

Apart from them, White and Moti, Trike, Zirene, Utone, and Anaxmai couldn't help but stare too long into the mists, passing out and taken into the Illusionary Realm. Realeh had a packed med-bay, and everyone else on the ship went about their business, trying not to look into the mist for too long.

***

White and Moti were actually taken into a shared mist illusion where they were trapped in the training room without any food or water.

"How long have we been stuck in here?" Moti was parched and hit the ground weakly while lying on it.

"Days now… Why hasn't anyone come?" White groaned. After another three days and three nights, 21 opened the door.

"Looks like the two love birds were trapped together with one another, huh?" 21 laughed and the two got up to chase him out of the storage room.

Upon leaving the room, the two awoke in the med-bay, confused. 21 and Realeh stood over the two.

***

None of the others, apart from Omira, required 21's intervention. Omira refused to speak of her illusion, even if it were Clico, but some, were still asleep.

"What about the rest of them?" Realeh asked the mysterious prophet.

Trike, Elos, Ciphe, Utone, Zirene, Clico, and Anaxmai still lay asleep.

"They don't need our help. Elos and Ciphe are just tired from Floor 2. Once they regain their strength, they will naturally break out of their illusions.

Trike is using the illusion to train, believe it or not.

Zirene and Utone are sensitive people who stayed in the mis too long, but they will overcome their illusions themselves.

As for Clico and Anaxmai, their personal demons are surfacing in their minds. If I entered their minds, it would only make their situations worse." 21 explained to Realeh.

"Will they be okay?" Realeh asked with concern.

"Only time will tell…" 21 said cryptically, but he walked away unconcerned.

***

Clico ran after his previous self to catch up. Running through Agate Academy's training forest, a figure spoke from the shadows.

"Come on, you'll miss out on my favorite part." Lavilin appeared and disappeared. Clico tried to ignore the illusion.

They did fight briefly before Lavilin embarked on his dark path. Desperately, Clico didn't want to believe Lavilin left a sliver of his soul in him to torment him, but it wasn't out of character. Logically, he was likely suffering from PTSD or some sort of related mental injury. Running past the ghostly Lavilin, Clico kept running.

Lavilin laughed as Clico ran by.

"I'll see you soon, in this illusion, and in real life!" He yelled and waved under his black mask. Shadows surrounded him, and he was like a shadow that could speak. His red eyes pierced through his darkly cloaked garments.