Chapter 2
"Gathering Information"
Back at the dormitory Sarah and her friends went to her room, she took out her bag and opened it, she was looking for the article about the Dark Matter and she found it and showed it to Michael and Maggie. She pointed out the resemblance of the drawing in the article with the crystal on the temple's pedestal. It was the same, Sarah concluded that the crystal ball in the pedestal was the dark matter, she couldn't believe she had found it.
- "But what do you plan to do?" – Maggie asked.
- "Remember Professor Farland told us not to go there again, they could expel us if they find out" – Michael said.
- "Don't worry we won't make a move, at least for now, we'll lay low until I think of something" – Sarah replied.
On the next morning, they attended their potions class with Professor Firebrand who talked about the basics of potion making, the classroom was very big, it was a round room and a little dark, the walls were of black stone and hardened steel to contain the explosion of a wrongly brewed potion, there is also a shower in case a student caught fire. On the middle of the room there are several big cauldrons for three students to work on each, the ceiling reflected the night sky no matter the hour, the windows were boarded so no light came from outside, the only light in the room came from the torches, this was the reason why Professor Firebrand's skin was so white, he hardly ever left the room, for there was always something he had to work on, there was also a cooling room to keep the ingredients fresh, for toad eyes don't last long in normal temperature. Sarah turned the pages of her potions book, there she found a very good potion that could help her, the temporary invisibility potion, but like everything it had a catch, if an antidote is not made and it is not taken one hour after drinking the potion, the drinker can never become visible again.
Michael and Maggie were reluctant when Sarah talked to them about the potion, they wanted to find other ways to do it but overtime they found that there was no other way.
On the next day Sarah and Maggie went to the library to drop off the "Where to Find Special Potion Ingredients" book, the entrance of the library was a big wooden door of about 45 feet, a little unnecessary in it's size, it had gold crusted in shapes of dragons and birds, and wizard hats, wands, etcetera. The library was very big, upon entering it gave you the feeling that you were too small almost tiny, it seamed like the library of a giant. On the entrance there was the librarian's desk, which was made from ebony, you could tell for its black colour and the wood's fortitude, and on each side of the desk there were stairs to go down into the library's first level and also there were bookshelves with the top student requests. After dropping down the book, Sarah and Maggie went down the stairs and went through the centre aisle, there were like 40 aisles in the library and the bookshelves that were on the walls stretched up to the ceiling, the others were smaller, but they all concentrated in general topics in Magic and Alchemy. On the end of the room there were stairs that reached a second level which could be seen from the entrance, and that level contained books that were out of bounds for first and second year students, Sarah knew they had to look there for answers to the Dark Matter, she knew that if they looked there they would find them. Sarah told Maggie to watch out for any professors or the caretaker mister Gorelot who was always wandering around the school, he was a very weird man, he always seamed mad for some reason, nothing ever seamed right with that man, everyone thought of him as a creepy man, and with good reason, he was always eavesdropping on everyone, quite a nosy fellow. Sarah went up the stairs until she reached a golden gate which warned "No students under Third Year Allowed", she did not mind it and opened the gate and went inside, she looked at the categories in which the books were placed, she saw "Old Methods Of Torture", "Ancient Runes", "Perilous Potions", "Dark Spells", "Dark Age History", until she found "Dangerous and Legendary Artefacts", she took out the tome where all the artefacts starting with the letter "D" were listed but then she saw a book that was placed at the bottom that didn't have to do with the section, when she opened it she saw a picture of a deformed man, with sharp long nails, black robe and armour, and deep red eyes, she read the foot note of the picture which read "Dark Lord Morbious, the most powerful dark wizard defeated by the great witch Athala", she started reading about him.
The article read: "According to the legend Morbious lived thousands of years ago, he was one of the four heroes that found the Dark Matter and took it from it's resting place in Crystalaria, home and Empire of the Dwarves, to the ancient Temple of Power for safekeeping, but Morbious was seduced by the dark crystal for its powers, he took the dark matter to his fortress on the base of Arkya Volcano to use it to boost his power and kill all those who stood in his way, he killed the founders of the Magic Council and sought out to murder his three friends. In a battle that lasted almost a month, the great witch Athala took the crystal and cursed Morbious, sealing him in his fortress forever, with Morbious defeated Athala took the crystal again to the Temple of Power and with a powerful spell she created a barrier to protect the crystal from falling to evil again, soon after she mysteriously died and the Academy of Athala was erected and founded on her name, no one knows exactly what happened to Morbious, if he died or he's still alive and sealed in his fortress never to return, but it is said that he is sealed away and with only the power of the dark matter can he come back", Sarah closed the book and opened the Artifact book and turned the pages to where the dark matter was spoken of, but the page was missing.
That was odd since none can rip a page without the librarian noticing specially in the restricted section, and whoever did it was trying to prevent Sarah from reading that article, Sarah went down the stairs to where Maggie was waiting and she found Michael there too. They did not say anything, by the look of Sarah's face they knew something she saw up there wasn't right, but they decided to wait until Sarah said something. They walked to Professor Farland's office and went inside, of course he was already waiting for them.
- "Not found what you were looking for in the restricted section did you Sarah?".
- "How did you know Professor?" – Sarah asked. - "Well dear child, after you left the temple I kept a closer eye on you, and after all I know everything that goes on in the school, I wouldn't be much of a headmaster if I didn't now would I?" – Professor Farland said looking out the window.
- "Then you know who torn the page about the Dark Matter" – Sarah replied and Farland turned to face Sarah.
- "I do not, these are dangerous times, the days grow darker and the fires of Arkya are restless, that is why we must protect the dark matter from falling into evil" – Farland said looking at the three of them.
Sarah saw the concern in Professor Farland's eyes, she was worried herself for when he referred to the fires of Arkya she knew he was talking about Morbious's resting place, the Arkya Volcano, Farland's sight was clouded, she realized that something had to be done to prevent evil from walking the wizarding world again.
- "Professor, Can you please tell us everything you know about the dark matter?" – Sarah asked.
- "Nothing I can tell you will be something that you don't know already, you read that the dark matter was in the home of the dwarves, but one thing you don't know is that it was created by dwarves and elves, but the dwarves took it for themselves and they tried to use it for their own purposes, but of course, the four heroes appeared and took the crystal from them, and then Morbious turned to evil and took it, but you must know that it is important that the dark matter stays where it is or it will be the end of our world" – Farland replied.
- "Thank you professor" – Sarah said and all three walked out of Farland's office.
It was late now and they went to the dinning room for diner and Sarah just stayed there looking at her plate, she couldn't eat, she couldn't get the article about Morbious out of her head, she was also thinking about who would have ripped the page from the book, and also about what Professor Farland said. Michael and Maggie were worried so when they got back to the dormitories they asked her about what she read, and she told them the whole thing, she told them she needed the ingredients of the potion, but Maggie reminded her that they had read that the ingredients they needed were in different places, some in Crystalaria, some in Santora, the elvish kingdom, some in Windlya, home of the fairies, some in Dragonia, the home of the dragonian people, and even some in Arkya. But there wasn't time to go looking for them, then Michael realized that they had their midterm vacation, exactly two weeks, Sarah and Maggie thought that was perfect, Maggie invited Sarah to spend her vacation in her house, after all she lived with her aunt and uncle, who were actually very nice people, and they lived right in Meadville, the wizard town not to far from Athala, it was the perfect opportunity to go looking for the ingredients they needed, Sarah accepted Maggie's invitation and both of them said goodbye to Michael, who told them he would see them in two weeks, Michael was gone and Sarah and Maggie took the road to Meadville.
Meadville was a great town, it almost seamed as if it was constructed by magic as was the Academy, it was very big for a town but the name stuck with it because the wizards loved it so much to change its name, the entrance to the town was a big black gate that stood between several big pillars, and also the whole town was surrounded by a very tall wall for it's defense. Sarah and Maggie walked around town, until they got to Maggie's street which was named Riverfall boulevard in honor of one of the heroes. Maggie's house was big, but not absurdly big as some of the houses far back of the town, Maggie an Sarah went inside the house and Maggie's aunt Deborah Peterson welcomed them, she was a thin woman with black hair and blue eyes and also beautiful, then Maggie's uncle Thomas Peterson came in who also welcomed them, Thomas and Deborah had a son, Richard Peterson, who was just one year younger than Maggie, he was a shy boy, although he wasn't a scruffy looking boy, he was rather good-looking.
Thomas and Deborah told Sarah that they knew her parents Jonathan and Dianne, and that they were actually good friends while they were in school, Sarah was pleased to meet them, she felt good in Maggie's house right away. After supper Maggie and Sarah talked to mister Peterson about going to visit Santora and the other kingdoms to show Sarah around, of course he said yes, but he told them not to say anything to Maggie's aunt because she would have his neck if she found out, they promised not to tell and went to bed.
They woke up early and packed some supplies for the trip and Maggie borrowed Sarah a broomstick and they flew together to the Republic of Santora, the famous elvish country.