Chapter 8: Darkness

"There's still one more, Riley." Alyssa guided her down the steps and made her way to an older, sturdily built boy. "I'd like you to meet Nick. Nick Anvilwrath. Sorcerer- a Balance wizard."

Nick turned around and smiled. "So you're Riley?"

Riley nodded. "That's right."

"A theurgist… interesting," he remarked. "We all thought they were completely wiped out."

"That's what I've been hearing from pretty much everyone." Wow… Nick actually seemed… pretty level. Not as hot as Ian, not like Grace- he could have easily been a normal person. He even had a normal color hair- tree-bark brown.

Nick chuckled. "Well, it's not exactly every day an entire school goes extinct." There was more than one glimmer of uneasiness in his voice.

"Schools? Like, high school?"

"Nah. School as in the category," Nick explained. "Nine of them. The three elemental ones- Storm," Nick jerked his head to Alyssa, "Ice," he pointed to Ian, "and Fire," he gestured to Jacob.

"Next are the three spiritual schools- Death, Myth- Valdus was a conjurer- and Life." He raised his eyebrows pointedly at Riley. "Then there are the Astral schools- they didn't have buildings in Ravenwood because it's such a rareity for someone to have a primary school in an Astral school. They're Sun, Star, and Grace here is a Lunarist, a Moon wizard."

A faint tinge of red appeared on Grace's cheeks.

"And in the middle of it all is the school of Balance- or, me." Nick tilted his head charmingly and gestured to himself.

Riley's eyes rolled back into her head, memorizing the schools as fast as she could. Storm, Ice, Fire, Death, Myth, Life, Sun, Star, Moon and Balance. It was a bit of a mouthful…

She remembered something else Nick had said. "You said there are buildings of each school?" Maybe looking at these buildings would help her memorize the schools quicker. She craned her neck to look over at the door.

Jacob's eyes grew when he saw what Riley was looking at. "Um, I wouldn't do that-"

Too late. She was already speeding off toward the door.

"Oh crap," Alyssa muttered. "Riley! No!"

The alarm was contagious. "Don't open the door!" Grace cried.

Riley threw her head over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Grace. Served her right, being Ian's girlfriend.

"Shoot!" Ian sped off after the theurgist.

She skidded to a halt once she got to the door, quickly flinging it open-

Her heart skipped over several beats.

Tendrils of sheer blackness suddenly flooded the chamber, from which many people screamed. Riley's violet eyes widened, instinctively taking a step back. Her head whirled around, barley able to digest this. Finally, she forced herself to look at what was beyond the door.

It looked like it had once been a beautiful place. Tall trees, cobblestone sidewalk, the outstretched sky.

But the branches of these tall trees sunk down- wilted. Gone. The sidewalk was barely visible through the misty darkness. The light blue of the sky was completely overcome by a hollow blackness. The very air itself was thick and damp- dark and contagious.

The only word Riley could think to describe it was dead.

Unable to bear the sight, she slammed the door shut before much of the darkness could seep through.

For a few moments, the only thing she could do was simply stare at the door, as if it was still open and she could see the remains of a formerly beautiful place.

"What happened?" Riley's lips could barely form the words.

Footsteps behind her. "Valdus happened," Jacob spat. "I think he summoned the Dragon Titan. That's the only explanation I can think of for… for this. That's the only way he could have killed all of the theurgists single-handedly."

Another voice. "Riley." She turned around to see Grace- she was too shocked at the sight to care that it was her. "The reality is, nearly the entire Spiral is just like this. Your homeworld, Earth, might be the only world that has been untouched by the darkness. So non-magical, so irrelevant, that the darkness overlooked it."

Anger churned at the bottom of her stomach. "Earth is not irrelevant!"

Grace was untouched, her brown eyes unyielding and unreadable behind the square-shaped glasses. "That's not the point. The point is, the Spiral is in terrible danger. There's only one way to free it from the darkness that Valdus, that traitor, helped unleash- the strongest of each school combining forces and expelling it. And since you're the only theurgist alive…" she trailed off to allow Riley to finish.

"...You need me to save the Spiral," she slowly realized.

Grace nodded briskly. "This is exactly why you're needed. To free the Spiral from corruption once again."

Riley didn't respond, letting all of this sink in for a moment. She looked at Alyssa and Jacob, Ian and Grace and Nick…

She didn't need to say anything. The silence told everyone enough.

"No! Don't hurt him!"

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"Valdus, everything's going to be all right! Run, just run!"

So that's just what he did. He ran, ran even though his legs hurt, even when he didn't know where he was going, even when he heard a cry of agony coming from his own house…

"Valdus. Valdus, are you there?"

The conjurer bolted straight up as if lightning had just struck him in his spine. His eyes enlarged, sweat soaking his face…

"Valdus."

He let his muscles relax slowly, attempting to slow his frantic mind.

That dream again… how he hated that dream…

No, not a dream. A memory.

"Hey- Valdus."

Valdus finally recognized the voice- Tarlac's voice. Had he…

"Sorry." At least he sounded calm. "What is it, Tarlac?"

"I've found him."

Valdus's breath was abruptly caught off. "A-Are you sure?" A bell pounded in both of his eardrums, affecting the stability of his voice and movements.

"Positive. This is him."

Tarlac never messed up. If this was him, than this was him.

James Sunthief. A theurgist. Arrested over ten years ago for killing an entire family save one person after going insane due to his daughter's death. Later executed.

But Valdus wasn't done yet. Almost, but not quite.

"What's his name? The location?"

"His name Joshua Romano- or Joshua Sunthief, the son of your family's killer. He lives with a foster family and brother in Italy, halfway across the world from where you are now."

A thin line that was Valdus's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Perfect. Thank you, Tarlac."

In Italy, Tarlac dismissed his thanks. "Did Sestiva find Legendstone?"

Valdus looked over his shoulder at the two sleeping forms- Sestiva and, after much persuasion, Alex.

"She did. And we persuaded him to lead us to what we need."

"Nice. I'll join you in California soon, all right?"

"Of course. Good work, Tarlac." The necromancer did not respond.

Valdus rested his chin on a balled fist and closed his eyes, at peace. At last, after so years of grieving, things were going right.

Joshua Sunthief. Within three days, his life would come to an end.