Was I dead? Am I in the afterlife? I slowly opened my eyes to get a look at my surroundings. Some sort of transparent yet shiny force field surrounded me. On the ground where I would have landed was a sizable crater. And Master Verum was standing a few feet away with an irritated expression on his face. All I could say at this point was,

"Hi?"

"Jaune, what do you think you're doing? Did you even think this through, or were you just being an idiot? You could have been killed!"

That was kind of hurtful, but he did have a point.

"I'm sorry, Master Verum. I just wanted to get out of here to go look for Nocte and Cinder."

I said this trying to look as sorry as I possibly could. It wasn't hard, seeing as I was actually sorry. I did nearly die after all, and only survived because Master Verum was there to save me. Speaking of which, didn't I jam his bedroom door?

"If you're wondering how I got here so fast, you can stop it right now. The security spell you tripped when you opened the door to the roof woke me up. I knocked down my bedroom door and ran over here to make sure you didn't die from the fall. Speaking of which, you're fixing that door tomorrow."

Master Verum leveled a stern glare at me. All I could do was nod and then hang my head in shame.

"Let's go back inside now."

"This is pretty amusing. How about you two stay outside for a bit?"

We both turned our heads in the direction of the new voice. A figure stood at the edge of the clearing. I couldn't see his face, due to the fact that he was wearing a black cloak with the hood up.

Upon seeing the guy, Master Verum narrowed his eyes. He extended his left hand and to my surprise, a weird looking sword like the ones Nocte and Cinder had sparred with once appeared in it. It had a boxy guard and a grey shaft, looking very much like an oversized key. What had Nocte called it? Oh right, a keyblade. Master Verum went into some sort of defensive stance, sparing a moment to tell me something.

"Jaune, go back inside the castle. Now."

"No Jaune, stay. I wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun. Here, let me give you something to do while I deal with this chump."

The black-cloaked guy casually flung out his hand.

Seriously, what is up with that guy? Does he need cough drops or something? His voice sounds a little off. Never mind that, I have to get back inside the castle. I turned towards the front door, only to be greeted with the sight of these strange-looking bear-like creatures coming out of nowhere. They had these weird white bone-like masks on their faces and glowing red eyes.

There were four of them. They looked pretty angry. And hungry too. I would have run back into the castle by now, except for the fact that they were between the doors and where I was currently standing. With only my sword, I don't think I'm getting past these guys.

I glanced back at where Master Verum was to see him engaged in a battle with the black-cloaked guy. A whole variety of spells were flying everywhere: Thundagas, Blizzagas, Firagas, and a whole bunch of other spells that I don't feel like getting hit with. That means I'm on my own for the moment.

I turned back to the bear-like creatures only for one of them to take a swipe at me. I managed to throw myself back in time, only receiving a minor scratch on the breastplate I was wearing. Pulling out my sword, I watched them for a bit, waiting for one to strike. Soon enough, one of them broke from the group and charged at me. I sidestepped, ducked under its claws, and quickly stabbed it in the throat, pulling back before it could attempt another strike. The creature stumbled around a bit before falling to the ground, and disintegrating into dust-like particles. As I watched this happen, I noticed the other three creatures move closer together. Looks like I won't be able to use that strategy again.

A loud cry interrupted my battle. I turned around to see what it was. I wish I hadn't. What I saw filled me with absolute horror. Master Verum was on his knees in front of the black-cloaked guy, with these dark spikes impaled through his chest. Without thinking, I rushed towards the two, letting out a shout.

"MASTER VERUM!"

"Jaune…Get out of here…don't let him get you…"

That was all he could say before falling on his side. An indescribable fury rose in me, unlike anything I had ever felt before. I ran at the black-cloaked guy, sword in hand and ready to make him pay.

"DIE!"

The black-cloaked figure simply looked up to see me bearing down on him with my sword. Unfortunately for me, I was too furious to realize that this guy had managed to take down Master Verum without much effort. So, when I reached him he casually smacked me to the ground with one hand, and followed it with a kick to my chest. That knocked the breath out of me, and I was unable to react fast enough before he grabbed me by the collar and hoisted me off the ground.

"Hm. You don't seem very strong. You didn't even finish with the little friends I gave you to play with."

I was still filled with rage at this point, and replied with one short sentence.

"I'm going to make you pay for this."

The guy only laughed, before flinging out his hand behind me.

"Yeah right. You aren't strong or skilled enough to do that yet. How about I send you on a little trip so you can get stronger? Maybe then you'd give me a good fight."

He proceeded to throw me through the air. I caught a glimpse of what looked like a black portal hanging in the air before going through it. I fell into a sea of darkness and lost consciousness.