Chapter 48- The Next Day

Drake woke up early the next morning. The sun was out and his door was lying on the floor. I wonder who I should tell about that… Drake thought. He jumped out of bed, threw his shoes on, and walked out to the front of the Duel Academy building. Everyone else seemed to get there at the same time.

"What a coincidence!" Keith said.

"I don't think there's a such thing as coincidence." Flynn said. "At least, after that ordeal we just went through, I don't."

"Everyone feel okay?" asked Drake.

"I feel pretty good." Flynn admitted.

"I still feel lousy…" Julie said.

"I'm fine." Keith said. There was silence for a while. The door of the main building opened up. Professor Bentz stepped out.

"Oh, hello. I didn't expect any of you to be up this early. What happened last night, do any of you know? And have any of you seen Chancellor Jacobs? I've been trying to find him from hours." He said.

They all looked at each other. "We do." Drake said. "But we had better find some chairs, because it's a long story."

"We can go to my office." The professor said. "It's this way." He lead them up some stairs, down a blood-stained hallway, and into his office. There was a blood spatter on one of the walls. He seated himself behind his desk and gestured to them to seat themselves across from him. They did so. "Alright, what happened last night? I remember that I couldn't sleep, so I was reading a book here, and this huge beast walks into my office, picks me up out of the chair, and throws me up against the wall. That's all I can remember until a few hours ago, when I woke up here. Do you four know anything?"

"Yes, we know everything." Flynn said. "Or, at least, we do now."

"Please explain."

For the next hour, the four of them told the tale of their adventure through the Shadow Realm. Professor Bentz didn't interrupt them, but he did look rather skeptical. When Drake was speaking about his duel against Jacobs, Bentz raised his hand to stop him. "Why would Chancellor Jacobs do this?"

"No clue, we never asked him." Drake admitted.

"Why should I believe any of this? All of the reports I have read deny the existence of the Shadow Realm. Can you prove any of this?"

Drake looked at Flynn. He was the smart one, after all. "I don't know how we can… the only one who can is Matt."

"And I'm supposed to believe it about him, too? About being some kind of superhuman, almost?"

"Well, I guess." Drake said.

"Yeah, he seriously was! Just ask him." Julie said.

"Not right now. Just keep talking for now."

Drake finished the duel, then told about the Vault of Souls and the remainder of the previous night. Professor Bentz got up, pulled a book from his shelf, and laid it in front of them. "Do you know what that is?" He asked.

"No." They all said.

"That's a book listing all the reasons why the Shadow Realm cannot exist. I've read it twice. A very knowledgeable man wrote it. Do you honestly believe that you can convince me otherwise?"

"No." Keith said. "But we can still try."

"That is true. I cannot say that I believe any of your stories. I need proof. I want to believe you, but it just seems to fantastical to believe right now."

"Here, then." Flynn said. He pulled out his AK rifle. "That's the exact rifle I've been using since I picked it up in the Shadow Realm." Bentz reached across and picked up the rifle.

"How do I know that you didn't buy this somewhere?" He asked, looking down the barrel. "You could have bought it and had it brought here."

"True, but there has to be some measure of trust here."

"Do you have anything else?" Bentz asked, and set the rifle on his desk. Flynn tried to take it, but Bentz stopped him. "Not yet. Until I know that your story is true, I cannot let you have a weapon back."

"Anyone got any ideas?" Drake said. "I've got nothing but the few cards I got from Matt."

"All I've got is a ton of wounds…" Julie said. "Especially those from those darts… the purple marks around them never went away."

"Let me see." Bentz said. Julie held out here bare right arm. There were ten small groupings of purple dots. Bentz smiled. "Now there is no way that I can deny your story. There is no earthly disease that would create such markings, nothing in this world would do this. I accept your story as true, despite all my prior doubts." He handed Flynn the rifle. "You might need it."

"I doubt it, but I'll take it in case I do." Flynn said.

"In the meantime, I need to alert the staff to this development. They won't doubt me. We need to appoint someone else as Chancellor. You four can rest for the rest of the day, I'm giving you it off. Julie, you should probably go to the medical wing to seek treatment for those wounds."

"Matt already treated them." Drake said.

"How? Julie said the spots haven't gone away."

"Yeah, but he neutralized the disease."

"With what?"

"His own blood."

"That sounds like it wouldn't do anything."

"It did though, I swear it did."

"If you insist. I should talk to Matt, too…hmm… I've got a lot of work to do. See you four later. And get some rest." He stood up and left. Drake stood up.

"We should go talk to Matt." He said.

"You're right." Flynn said. "I'm curious as to why he wasn't here before us."

"Yeah, usually he would be here long before us." Keith said. Everyone stood up and walked out of Professor Bentz's office.

"Which dorm is he in again?" Julie asked.

"Gold, of course." Drake said.

"Of course. Stupid of me to ask. Which room?"

"He lives four doors down from me." Flynn said. They turned the corner and saw the gold dorm- or gold mansion, as it should be described. Drake had never seen a bigger housing complex. Flynn walked up to the front door and opened it. "Make sure you stay by me. They don't like the 'lesser dorms' coming here."

"I would guess they wouldn't." Keith said. Flynn climbed a set of stairs (marble stairs, Drake noticed) and walked down a hall. He passed his own smashed-open door and continued down the hall. Matt's room was open, and he wasn't in it. Nothing was. It had been picked clean except for the bed, lamp dresser, and nightstand.

"Where is he?" Drake asked.

"He's gone." Flynn said.

"There's a note on the bed." Keith said. He picked it up and read:

"I'm leaving. Don't try to find me at the base; I blew it up. The press will get out here and find this out, mark my words. And the Egyptian government still wants my head, so I'll have to clear out of here. Julie, your spots will go away in seven days. Sorry I couldn't do any more. If you ever need to contact me, check the back. Don't contact me unless it is absolutely necessary. The government might trace it, and that would be no good. We'll see each other again. I promise. –Matt."

"Check the back." Julie said. Keith turned it over.

"I says ' Under that is 'phoenix.' Then it says 'password box.' What do you think it means?" Keith said.

"Let's see this website." Flynn said, and flipped on Matt's computer.

"You get computers in this dorm?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, It's nice." Flynn opened up the internet browser and entered the website. A blue screen with many lines of text came up. On the upper right side was two links to "Register" and "Log In." "Let's try that." Flynn said, and clicked the link marked "Log In." A new screen came up, showing two empty boxes. One said "User Name." The other said "Password."

"That's gotta be it." Julie said, reached over Flynn's shoulder, and typed in "Phoenix." She reached to click okay.

"Wait!" Drake said. "He said to only do that if we really need him."

"Oh, right." She said. She deleted the password.

"We'll just have to keep it in mind in case something else happens." Flynn said, and pocketed the note. "Well, we really should get some sleep."

"Yeah." Drake said. "See you guys." Each of them went to their own dorm. Drake slipped out of his shoes again and fell asleep almost instantly.

-------------------------------

Matt stood on the cliff over looking duel academy. Brooklyn was behind him. He had seen the other four speak to Professor Bentz.

"Brooklyn!"

"Yeah?"

"We're done here. We need to get out of here before the heat gets here."

"Yeah. I know. How are we getting out of here?"

"I called in an airlift."

"Other Matt?"

"Yeah." Matt surveyed the entire island. "We'll be back, you know."

"I had guessed as much."

"At least, I'm pretty sure we will be. They'll call me eventually."

"Phoenix?"

"Yeah. Those fiends won't be left alone… some power-hungry fool will hear this story on the news and try to dig up the key."

"Where did you put that, anyway?"

"It was in the base when I blew it up. So right now it's buried underground, waiting to be dug up. I hope that no one finds it." A helicopter flew in next to them. A kid who looked about Matt's age was flying it. "Hello Matt. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to get us out of here. And thanks for the webspace, it was useful."

"Of course." He said. "Get in, I don't want to stay here too long."

Matt jumped into the helicopter. Brooklyn was right behind him. "Let's go, then. Drop me off at the Point of Solitude."

"Right." Other Matt said. He turned the chopper around and began to fly away. Matt leaned out of the hold of the helicopter, his cloak billowing in the winds created by the chopper's rotors.

"Farewell, all. I shall return."

The End…?

Notes from the Author: Yes, in case you're wondering, all of the Mpire Cards are of my creation. And yes, is a real website. It is actually owned by a Matt. No, the Phoenix thing doesn't actually do anything. Thanks to all who read and reviewed this as I was writing it, specifically Kareaborg, Writer of the Cards, and aceofspades. As for a sequel, I'll do one if I get enough demand. I've left this open-ended one purpose. But I might not… it all depends.