Chapter 1 – The Shattered Dream

"It cannot be helped. We had no idea it was coming..." snarled a deep voice through gritted teeth,

"This was a poor effort on your part. Remember it was I who gave you this power," said a pair of ominous glowing red eyes in the darkness.

"M-my part!? Are you saying that you could have foreseen it coming?!"

"That's enough!"

A flash of white and a shockwave flew through the air from the pair of eyes, briefly illuminating the source - a giant scythe and dark robes enveloping the pair of eyes which were like burning coals etched into the blackness. The first voice grunted and a few thuds were heard.

"Have you no common sense that if you attacked all of them head on like that, then of course this would happen?!" raged the voice from the darkness.

The clouds suddenly shifted and the moon became visible for a split second, illuminating the scene in the Forest of Silence in full. Three hooded figures stood before another, a giant scorpion.

"W-what are you saying?" the Scorpion King said, surprised.

"I am saying, you FOOL, WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" The voice suddenly grunted in pain.

"I... I'm afraid I still don't understand."

In his mind he clearly saw that it had been his partner who had launched the initial attack, but decided to stay silent.

"It does not matter anyway. their school is in complete ruins. If there's such a thing as a 'perfect opportunity', it would be now," the voice calmed down slightly.

"Come, we must reform the Dark Oracles, and then find Dr Victor. Only then can we be assured of our victory. The schools will pay for what they did to your family. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve yet..."

A flash of purple, and then all was still again...

"Wake up!"

"Wake up already!"

"You're going to be late!"

Magics grunted in his sleep. That dream... it had been so vivid... he wanted to remember more... but this voice nagging him isn't helping at all.

"I said, WAKE UP!"

"Fire Blast..." muttered Magics in his sleep. A huge fireball whirled out of his hand towards the direction of the voice, which suddenly screamed something inaudible. The spell collided with a pink shield conjured up at the last second, and the impact threw the two of them away. Magics fell from his sleeping spot and onto a barbed something, which nearly depleted the shield of his armour.

"WHOA! I'm up, I'm up!" Magics yelled, flailing around slightly helplessly and shooting off spells in all directions.

It had been three years since that day Christina had unleashed the Wraith Lord on Kasmari - by accident. Both schools had been utterly devastated in a pyhrric victory against the Wraith Lord, and the repairs were still only half done. Magics looked around the Owl Campus, for which the Headmaster had great plans. "We must seize this opportunity," he had said, "to rebuild both campuses into something more wonderful than before." Before they knew it, large construction trucks had already entered the campus with various construction materials.

Nobody knew what happened to the Wraith Lord. As the final blow had been landed, there had been a flash of purple, and everything went quiet... For these past three years Magics had doubted that the Wraith Lord was actually dead, but just going with what everyone thought at the time was far simpler... Besides, he wasn't so sure himself. At least everyone had compromised into continuing with their training in case of another attack. That was good enough for now, and so far everything has been silent...

Classes were no longer held individually, but in the Gym as a whole - the perfect place, given that combat practise was all they seemed to do these days. Still, it can't hurt to be on your guard...

Magics wandered aimlessly about the campus, past rushing figures busying themselves with the construction, thinking about his dream...

A small, red seed hurled itself towards Magics, exploding at his feet and set him on fire - with his shield already reduced from the barbed something, which he had discovered was a giant fallen tree branch, he collapsed and was teleported to the gym. A voice behind him sighed with exasperation, and a figure in a pink bubble-like shield started to run towards the gym.

"Dragon Lushen has taken down Owl Viewtifulboi! The score is now tied at 372 each!" the announcer cried enthusiastically, while the gym broke into cheers.

Magics intended to steer himself towards the voice, but before he could do so, he was kicked from behind, and landed on his face. A figure pinned him to the ground, flipped him over, and held a small red marble-sized object in his face.

"This is the thanks I get for trying to wake you up?!" Kilai was furious.

"Nobody asked you to..."

"Watch where you're sleeping next time!"

Magics was secretly glad nothing worse had happened to him. DayBunny was still on the Nurse's healing pad from the last time he decided to cross Pypski. He shoved Kilai's hand away from his face, and stood up.

Kilai dropped the Fire Seed in surprise, which fell to the floor next to them both...

"I want one of those shields..." grunted Magics as he got up from the floor, having been teleported a second time in the last ten minutes.

"You should've taken Priest training then, instead of Elementalist," Kilai replied smugly. "It looks like they're coming out," she gestured towards the main area of the gym.

"Magics! Hey, Magics!"

Sahara ran towards MagicsOwner and Kilai nervously.

"Hey, Magics, have you got a moment?"

Magics looked somewhat taken aback, but agreed nonetheless.

"Anyway, Magics, I have to find Sturm, see ya!" Kilai yelled, as Magics and Sahara walked away. Magics raised his hand in a goodbye gesture, and Kilai vanished into the gym.

Sturm had been in solitary confinement ever since the incident, but was scheduled for release in a few days. However, all of his abilities had been locked away, and YoukiKonpaku still kept his staff as a 'momento' in his rebuilt dormitory room.

"Listen... Magics... there's something I've been wanting to tell you..." Sahara began nervously.

"S-something to tell me?" Magics looked somewhat horrified. "Y-you know, I'm not really interested in... that kind of thing..."

"Oh..." Sahara looked slightly disappointed, but then regained her composure. "No, I mean... did you have a weird dream yesterday?"

Magics looked a bit shocked. He tried to recall the dream, but the details were slipping out of his mind.

"I can't seem to remember... it seemed to be something about the Forest of Silence?"

"Yeah... I had it too, I wonder if anyone else?"

"Kilai doesn't seem to think so."

"I did," came a voice, as the majority of the spectators began to arrive. Magics turned to see Kari ShadowWolf approaching them. "A strange dream about the Forest of Silence... but it can't be. That was three years ago, I'm sure it isn't..."

"I hope so too..." Magics said, as some of the dream's details came back to him thanks to Kari.

"But it's strange... Nobody else seems to be having the dream except us..." Sahara looked perplexed. Maybe, she thought, it had something to do with them being Elementalists...

"We should probably tell the Headmaster," Kari suggested.

"Speaking of which, does he even have an office yet?" Magics said. The last time they heard, both of the Headmasters were still camping beneath the stars - the construction of the main building had been delayed.

"I think they're on the Dragon Campus somewhere," Sahara replied, as she ran back into the crowd. Magics and Kari had no choice but to follow.

They found both of the Headmasters at the gate of Dragon School, looking into the distance, and raced towards him - but before they could, someone else knocked all three of them aside, holding something in both of their hands. A closer look revealed it to be a slightly burnt pie.

"Hey, Kaly-" Sahara began, but too late. The figure had ran too far.

"It looked like something important came up," said a voice to their left. JapansAce stood watching Kalysto, toaster in her hand, wondering if she should throw it at the latter or not. "Think she can dodge this?"

"N-"

Before a word came out, the toaster was already out of her hand, hitting Kalysto square in the back, which made her fall over into her pie.

"Oops... bye!" JapansAce hurriedly ran in the opposite direction to Kalysto as fast as she could. Seconds later, a bright orange beam of light followed.

The three of them reached the two Headmasters looking out into the distance. However, before they had a chance to tell anyone about their dream, there was a roaring noise in the distance. A few minutes later, a hoverbike approached the school.

"Ah, so he's finally here..." the Dragon Headmaster remarked.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the rider dismounted his hoverbike and turned to the Headmasters.

"Ah, Dr. Sergei. Welcome!" the Owl Headmaster said enthusiastically.

"Yes, welcome," the Dragon Headmaster agreed. "We look forward to working with you."

The Headmasters then spotted Sahara, Magics and Kari.

"Ah, here are some of the students. We'd like you to meet Dr. Sergei. He'll be a new instructor in the coming semester, after all of the repairs in the gym are completed."

Dr Sergei looked at Magics, Kari and Sahara, and something seemed to sparkle in his eye.

"Headmaster, we have something to tell you-" began Sahara, but Dr Sergei interrupted her.

"I'm sure any questions can also be addressed to me as well? After all, I'm going to be your new teacher, and therefore I would like to get to know you better."

"I'm sorry, the Dragon Headmaster and I have some business to attend to with regard to repairs. I trust you three will show Dr Sergei around?" the Owl Headmaster asked, oblivious to Sahara. After all, Dr Sergei had a point. Bonding with the students was vital.

"S-sure..." replied Kari, not that there was any choice in the matter.

The two Headmasters then walked away into the campus, leaving Dr Sergei and the students alone together.

"Now... there was something you wished to tell me?" Dr Sergei asked.