Hermilinet Caverns

Hadrian and Charlus trailed closely behind Bwezani as they sped through the large school. Stepping over the occasional Auror and Necromancer bodies that littered their path.

After a minute of running, they arrived at one of the staircases that they needed to exit from, however, the stairs seemed to have been blown off.

"To prevent the children from escaping, I presume.", Charlus sighed annoyedly.

"We'll have to go the long way round!", Bwezani declared, "We can't apparate from here."

"Tsk.", Charlus clicked his tongue as he grabbed Hadrian and Bwezani.

"On 3!", he announced.

Bwezani looked down the large pit that once had stairs to bridge the gap, and gulped worriedly.

"3!", Charlus shouted as he pointed his wand beneath their feet.

"Arresto Momentum!", he cast, slowing down their descent. Charlus then carved into the air with his wand, causing a rune formation similar to the one he used on the necromancers to appear.

Their descent fell to a lull, slowing down even more.

Bwezani slowly left Charlus' arms, sighing with relief, before turning back to him.

"What happened to 1, and 2?!", he said, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I didn't say, 'On 1, 2, and 3!', I said 'On 3!'", Charlus replied.

"He did say, 'On 3.'", Hadrian added.

"But you're supposed to-"

They landed.

"Enough talking, let's go.", Charlus said, "Lead us to the nearest apparition point!".

Bwezani took off, with Hadrian and Charlus in tow. They arrived just outside of the school, after 5 minutes of sprinting.

Immediately after reaching the apparition point, Charlus went straight to Bwezani.

He adopted a stern expression, as he tapped Bwezani with his wand once, before flicking it in complicated patterns.

"W-what are you doing?", Bwezani asked, fearfully.

"Placing a tracking rune spell, and a head combustion rune spell on you."

"Oh.", Bwezani responded, before shrieking, "What?!!"

"From what my grandson has told me, there is no one in any authoritative position that can be deemed as, 'trustworthy.'", Charlus explained coldly, "So you will forgive me for taking precautions."

Bwezani sighed and nodded reluctantly, "I'll apparate to the caverns first, you follow along."

"Just know...", Charlus cut in as Bwezani was about to apparate, "...If my wife is harmed, there will be nothing you can do to stop me from laying waste to every scum that lays in your caverns."

Bwezani met Charlus' eyes and shrugged tiredly, "I will be out of a job by the time the day is done, whatever you do is of no concern to me."

He then closed his eyes momentarily, before apparating away.

Charlus clutched Hadrian's shoulder, looking towards him and asking, "Are you ready?"

"Mhm." Hadrian nodded in affirmation.

And off they went, to Hermilinet Caverns.

"Umph!", Hadrian and Charlus landed behind a giant rock, smacking against its base as they fell.

"Shh!", Bwezani hissed from behind them, "You don't want the guards to hear you, now do you?"

Hadrian and Charlus pinned him with a glare.

"Why did you choose a large piece of rock as a landing pad?", Hadrian asked, irked at Bwezani's antics.

"There's an anti-apparition ward placed around the caverns, this is just where we ended up.", Bwezani explained.

Charlus peeked his head around the giant rock and saw that just in front of the caverns, stood a trio of Necromancers, standing guard.

"We'll have to find a way around them.", Charlus muttered, "I can get in through the entrance. Headmaster, Hadrian - you two will have to find some other way."

Hadrian pondered for a few seconds, before remembering the new ability he had gained, "I think...I can get in too."

Charlus peered at Hadrian with a puzzled expression, "What do you mean, son?"

"The...' thing' I did to hide from Limbani when he was talking to that man in his office."

Charlus made an 'o' face, as he remembered the 'thing' Hadrian had told him about.

"You think you can do it right now?", He asked.

Hadrian closed his eyes and thought desperately about wanting to blend into his surroundings. Trying to recall the sensations he'd felt in that state when he'd accidentally entered it before.

Slowly, his form flickered - dissolving into the shadow cast by the giant rock.

Bwezani looked on in amazement, whilst Charlus smiled proudly.

"Alright, Hadrian. You can come out now."

Hadrian's specter like figure emerged from the shadows, slowly gaining its solidarity as his features became more defined.

"This means I can come with you, right?", Hadrian affirmed expectantly.

Charlus nodded, before turning to face Bwezani, "Ah - I think it'd be best if you brought your Aurors here. We'll need their help, we're not taking all of them alone."

Bwezani nodded resolutely, "You can leave it to me."

He then proceeded to apparate away from the Cavern's entrance, and to where ever the Auror's were stationed.

As soon as Bwezani left, Hadrian turned to Charlus and said, "Grandfather...I'll have to kill - won't I?"

Charlus didn't look at Hadrian for a few seconds. He stared off into the distance, before answering.

"...Yes.", Charlus replied. "....No.", he then added on.

"Which is it?"

"Neither, at the moment.", He responded, adding to Hadrian's confusion, "You're in a position where you could leave, use your shadow ability, and travel that way..."

Charlus pointed off into the direction that the tracking rune last picked up Bwezani's signal.

"Or...you could go in there.", Charlus said, gesturing to the cavern with a head nod, "To save Dorea, and your friend, you'll have to kill. No doubt about it, son."

"...I've done it before.", Hadrian stated.

Charlus chuckled mirthlessly, "That doesn't count, Hadrian. You weren't fully conscious when you were in your dragon form, you said it yourself."

"...I understand.", Hadrian nodded.

Charlus ruffled Hadrian's hair, and said, "You'll be fine! You have your old man with you, after all."

Hadrian smiled, before focusing and shifting into the shadows. He then watched as Charlus stabbed his wand in front of him, carving runes into the air.

A more-transparent-than-not rune formation formed in front of Charlus.

Charlus entered the formation and vanished completely into thin air. The only hint that he was there, was from the imprints in the sand caused by his shoes.

Hadrian traced Charlus' steps as he brandished his wand in his pseudo-shadow form.

Two quick movements from Charlus and Hadrian's wands produced two cutting charms that ended up beheading a pair of the guards.

The last of the guards, now alert and ready to attack, smacked his palms together and shouted, "Ethei!".

The spell caused a shockwave of air that pushed Charlus and Hadrian back. To make it worse, it had launched the sand into the air, obscuring their view.

The necromancer turned and started running into the caverns, obviously put off on fighting enemies he couldn't even see. Unfortunately for him, he didn't even make it past the entrance before Charlus had whipped his wand out and launched a spell.

"I've got him.", Charlus' voice shouted out, as a stasis rune formation wrapped around the fleeting necromancer.

Hadrian sifted through the shadows, arriving beside the man Charlus had trapped.

"Where are they?", Charlus demanded.

He slowly turned his wand, releasing the formation that was locked tightly around his head.

"Intera Mortem.", the necromancer whispered, "Ha..ha-!"

His eyes rolled to the back of his head, as his life force spilled out into the air.

"Tch.", Charlus scowled. "Looks like there's no point in interrogating them."

"I can see you now.", Hadrian commented, "The spell wore off."

Charlus sighed, "Yes, I'd thought it would. It's a little challenging to keep up an invisibility rune spell and attack at the same time."

With that, Charlus instructed Hadrian to help him levitate the corpses (and heads) to behind the large rock they had landed on. When they were done, they turned to face the Cavern.

Hadrian and Charlus both looked at the large entrance, which was essentially a large, gaping hole in a mountain.

"We're going in.", Charlus declared as he brought back the invisibility rune formation, and stepped through it once more.

Hadrian went back into the shadows, and 'walked' into the cavern alongside Charlus.

Charlus stepped softly, trying to quieten his footsteps, which was hard to do when small, loose stones littered the floor. It was also pretty dark, which was ideal for Hadrian's ability, but not for Charlus.

They stalked through the cave's tunnels, on the lookout for other guards.

Suddenly, their prowling was disturbed by a loud blaring alarm, ringing throughout the cavern walls.