Hunter sat alone on his bed in his dorm room, clutching the Cloak Silver had given him. He felt a mix of curiosity and frustration as he examined the silky fabric, looking for clues to its purpose.
"What are you?" he muttered to the Cloak, hoping for a response. "Come on, I know you do something. Why else would Silver give you to me then?" He caught himself talking to the Cloak out loud, feeling foolish and desperate.
A sudden hoot at his feet made him jump, tossing the Cloak aside. He looked down and saw Spyro's owl perched on the edge of his bed, staring at him with its large, yellow eyes. The owl was a small, brown-feathered bird with soft and fluffy feathers. It had a small, curved beak that it used to catch prey and long, elegant wings that allowed it to fly swiftly and silently through the air. A small knot on its right leg held a piece of paper securely.
Hunter slowly got down on his knees and reached for the owl's leg. The owl tilted its head and let him untie the knot. The paper fluttered down from the owl's leg, landing softly on the carpet with a faint rustle. Hunter picked it up and unrolled it. He recognized Spyro's normally tidy handwriting was messy and uneven. He slowly tried to read the handwriting. After translating the seemingly foreign writing he read:
The whispers are getting louder. Meet me in the Jade Winglet Hideout. I found a few things and I want to show them to you. P.S. Remember the Cloak Silver gave you? It has to do something right? Bring it. Maybe we can figure out what it does. P.S.S. Meet me AFTER Curfew. I don't want anyone to drop in randomly.
Hunter looked up from the letter, his eyes wide with surprise and curiosity. He glanced around, looking for the Cloak. He spotted it on the floor, where he had thrown it. He wondered what Spyro had found, and what it had to do with the Cloak. And why did he want to meet after curfew? That was dangerous. What if they got caught? Would they get detention?
He checked the clock on the wall. It read 9:52. He felt a surge of panic. The curfew was at 10! He only had eight minutes to figure out what the Cloak did and how to use it. He grabbed the Cloak and held it in his hands. He racked his brain for any ideas.
Maybe It could create whatever I needed, whenever I needed it. He tried to imagine a map of the school, showing him the fastest way to the Jade Winglet Hideout. Nothing happened. What if it could make a secret passageway to where I needed to go? He tried to say a magic word. "Reveal passage!" Nothing happened. Maybe it can make stuff disappear, he thought, That would make sense. And didn't Silver say it could "Conceal me from the Dark Master's gaze?" He tried to wave it around, hoping for something to vanish. Nothing happened.
He felt his anger rising. He yelled at the Cloak, "DO SOMETHING, YOU DAMN CLOAK!" He balled it up and threw it at the nearest wall, hoping to break it or make it work. The Cloak unfolded itself from the ball and slid down the wall. It landed on the floor with a plop, looking innocent and harmless.
Hunter took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. He walked over to the Cloak and picked it up. The shimmering silk of the Cloak glinted in the light as if mocking him. He looked up at the clock again. It read 9:55. He only had five minutes left. He felt a surge of desperation. He looked at the Cloak, thinking hard. Then, a sudden realization dawned on him. "Duh, it's a Cloak. Put it on, you idiot," he scolded himself.
He wrapped the Cloak around his chest, draping it over his shoulders. He looked down at his body. It wasn't there. He touched his stomach. He felt it, but he couldn't see it. He smiled. He had figured it out. The Cloak made him invisible. He was right, after all. It did make things disappear.
He threw the Cloak by his bag and dashed around, looking for things that could help him, just in case. "Okay, let's see," he said, scanning his room. "Portable cauldron, no. The random shield that I have in here for some reason, no." His hand rested on his journal. He picked it up and stared at it. "…You never know I guess…" he muttered as he threw it near his bag.
Spreading his hand he scanned the rest of his books until he found a book titled "Book of Spells: by Miranda Goshawk". "Oh, definitely this." He said tossing the book aside.
"You want to learn spells if you want to catch up." I'm pretty bad at magic so this definitely would help, He thought. He grabbed his wand and dashed toward his bag.
He grabbed his bag, packed everything but the Cloak sang the pack over his right shoulder, blew out the candle, and went to the door. He slowed as he reached it and pulled the Cloak over his head. He pushed the door open and peeked out. The hallway was empty, and Hunter stepped out and closed the door behind him. I hope no one will notice that me or Spyro am gone… He thought, turning around, Now to the Jade Winglet Hideout.
He started toward the hideout and when he turned a corner froze dead where he was, hearing footsteps. Where are they coming from? He thought, panicking. As they got louder, Hunter's panic only grew. It sounds like they're coming from…Behind me. He slowly turned to see Tsunami pacing back and forth and looking in Hunter's direction.
What? He walked towards her and stopped a couple of paces from her. He waved in front of the founder's face. Hello, He thought half annoyed, half intrigued. I'm a student out of bed, Why am I not getting detention? He hadn't been to detention before but had heard some stories of it. Supposedly, the teacher who gave you the detention gives you a chore of their choice. It could be as hard as polishing the trophy/artifacts room, or as simple as helping sign a bunch of books.
"There you are," Tsunami said suddenly, startling Hunter. "I've been waiting for you, Ignitus. Where were you?" Hunter whirled around and saw the giant red and orange dragon, who looked annoyed to be there.
"Well, it's hard to keep watch for students breaking the curfew and heading somewhere simultaneously, Tsunami," The DADA teacher replied. "Why did you want to meet me, anyway?"
"It's about the Jade Winglet," Tsunami remarked, surprising Hunter. What did his winget have to do with anything? "You know as well as I do that they can not run around the continent again."
"Oh brother, TSUNAMI. They're not going to run again. The only reason they did was because of Darkstaker."
"Yes, but the only reason they did that was because of-" She paused and looked at Hunter. Uh-oh. She reached out at him, just inches from the cloak. She grabbed at the cloak, but right before that Hunter stepped back. She flexed her claws as if to reassure herself that they were still there.
"Tsunami?" Igntus asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she replied, shaking her head slowly. "I thought I heard something, but I guess not. Anyway, about the Jade Winglet…"
Time to go. And he restarted his journey to the Hideout, as Tsunami restarted her statement. His mind wandered back when he was face to face with Tsunami, and why she didn't seem to see him. Then it hit him, Oh Moons, I'm an idiot. I'm Invisible, duh. After what seemed like hours to Hunter, but was short minutes, he reached the door.
Ok, let's see, He thought. Password, Password. He thought hard. He remembered a conversation with Qibli the day he showed him and Spyro the Hideout. "Well, what do you think?" He had asked.
"I like it." Hunter had replied. "Just one problem, what if someone stole the scale?"
"Oh, They won't even be able to get in here. It's a double lock. The Scale and a password. We just haven't set up the password yet."
"Oh. What's the password going to be, then?"
Please work. He tapped the Jade scale on the door and whispered, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus." The spot where he tapped the scale gleamed and he pushed the door open and peaked inside. The room was like a gigantic library, with Books changing depending on your needs. Hunter sometimes walked in and out of the room indefinitely until he found the book he wanted. Looking back, it probably would have been faster to go to the library, He thought, embarrassed.
Looking further, he saw Spyro pacing back and forth. The Royal Purple and Bright Orange Dragonet became more paranoid the longer Hunter didn't show up, he observed. Well, I can fix that. He thought. Hunter spun around and closed the door. Spyro jumped mid-pace and glanced around. "Who's there?"
Hunter grinned. Scaring or startling Spyro was fun, but it wasn't a pastime. He unveiled the hood of the Cloak. "Relax. It's me." He said to reassure his friend.
Spyro let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Moons, I thought you were a teacher or something enchanted to keep students in bed," He let out a laugh and shook his head at his paranoia. "And your… Just a head."
"What?" asked Hunter, looking down to realize that only his head was visible. "Oh, that," he said as he unwrapped his body from the neck down, revealing his lower half.
At this, Spyro just hung his mouth open, saying random things like "Uh?" and "Wha?". Eventually, he managed to string together a sentence. "How…? You were just invisible."
Hunter shrugged. "I don't know how it works either. But I'm pretty sure it's enchanted or something. How I got here in the first place. Anyway, what's up? What did you find?"
"Well, I'll show you. Come on." He said waving a claw, a sign that told Hunter to follow.
He brought him to a table and Hunter ditched the Cloak on a chair, hoping that it wouldn't turn invisible and disappear, never to be found again. Spyro pulled out his bag and pulled from its depths a piece of parchment and a container with strange symbols and runes that Hunter couldn't even begin to guess what they meant. What intrigued him the most was the symbol at the center of the container, the largest of the runes. The symbol's central motif was a radiant starburst. Surrounding the starburst were intricate patterns of intertwining lines and curves, reminiscent of what Hunter recognised as ancient, no, that can't be right. Ancient Nightwing knots and runes, Embedded within the patterns were strange glyphs and symbols. How's that possible? He thought. The Nightwings abandoned dark practices before the Scorching. Is that container somehow OLDER than the Scorching?!
"What is all of this?" He asked Spyro, casting the thoughts away. "And what does it have to the Cloak?"
"Well, I don't know," He said, scratching his head. "All the notes I found said that The Magic of old and the Cloak of Legend are the keys… whatever that means."
"Well, what can you gather from this?"
"Well, The Magic of Old part seems a little odd. I assume we just go outside the hideout and a book will appear that says what Magic of Old is."
Hunter gave him a look. "You know that I walked in and out of the Hideout and found the book I wanted after, like, 100 times, right?"
He nodded and groaned at the same time. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe it would be faster to ask Starflight."
"Right, like a 2-year-old Academy is going to have a book on forgotten magic that's nonfiction. Yeah right."
"Hey, it could happen! And when I read the Cloak of Legend part, my brain went immediately to the Cloak Silver gave you."
"So you think that the Cloak is old enough to be Legend?"
"Yeah. Did you get a better idea? I'm all ears."
Hunter did not have an idea, So he just opened and closed his mouth. Then a certain Sandwing walked in.
"Oh, hey guys," Qibli said. "What's up?"
The two whirled around. Hunter's mind raced as the Sandwing started towards them, still waiting for an answer. Then Spyro spoke up "Trying to figure out something I found. What are you doing?"
"Couldn't sleep." He replied with a wave of a claw. "Sometimes I can't. So when I can't, I explore. This place is HUGE. Been here since it started and have barely scratched the surface. Anyway, what did you find?"
Before Hunter could swipe the container and parchment off the table and into his bag, Spyro stepped aside. As Qibli stepped closer, Hunter stepped aside too. He mouthed "What in the Moons are you doing?"
He shrugged and mouthed back, "He seems trustworthy enough."
"Don't you remember what Silver said? If we tell anyone 'The Dark Master's Minions will be all over the Academy!'"
"So? We won't tell him everything, just enough."
"This is not how we operate, you know. You're supposed to be the worried one, not me!"
Meanwhile, Qibli was examining the parchment and the container curiously. He picked up the parchment and muttered what sounded like "No freaking way this is that," to Hunter. He pulled out his wand, taped the parchment, and said "I Solemnly swear, that I'm up to no good."
The parchment came to life as if ink had spilled on it. It now read,
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP"
Hunter looked at Qibli with a puzzled expression, "The Marauder's Map? What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.
Qibli grinned widely, "It's a magical map that shows the entire layout of the Academy, including secret passages and hidden rooms. It even shows where people are in real-time," he explained. "Man, I've been looking for this thing for forever. Can't believe you just stumbled on it, Spyro."
"Yeah, I found it in the library. Don't know why you were looking for it, but thanks I guess?"
The library? Hunter thought, Why would it be there? And why are my thoughts so loud? "Can I see?" He asked Qibli, shaking off the thoughts once again. Later. He decided. I'll ask later.
"Sure." He handed the Map to Hunter. Qibli wasn't lying about the Map showing the entire Academy, Hunter thought as he scanned it. "Wait, why aren't we on the Map? Where's the Hideout on here?"
Qibli shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it didn't get put on the Map? The Hideouts are pretty new."
"Wait, What? Do the other Winglets have Hideouts too?"
"Pretty sure. Why would we get special treatment?"
The container caught Hunter's eye. This time, however, It glowed a Royal Blue. He asked, "Guys, What's that glow on the container?"
Spyro and Qibli exchanged puzzled expressions. To Spyro, it didn't glow at all. It just was there, looking not at all shining or glowing.
"Glow?" He asked eventually, "I don't see a glow."
Hunter moved toward and picked up the container. It opened seemingly automatically. Inside, it held a key with the same Starburst. Hunter took it out of the container, eyes as wide as Quaffles.
Spyro jumped up in surprise. "What?! How!? I Couldn't have been able to pry that open, and you pick it up and, Bam, it opens? Why couldn't I open it?!"
Hunter, confused yet intrigued by the key, shook his head. "I… I don't know." He stuttered, shakily. "It just opened."
Spyro and Qibli walked over to look at the key, shining with a strange, otherworldly blue glow. Hunter, at this point, had gotten used to the Dark Purple Mist. But now that the key was shining through the Mist like a ray of Sunshine that was dispelling the darkness of night. Hunter ran his hand over it. It was cool and heavy, despite looking like it was hot and light.
"Moons above." Qibli said, starstruck. "What is this thing, and who made it?"
"Hey, don't ask me," Spyro replied. "I'm just as confused as you, Qibli."
"Maybe…" Hunter was calculating possible reasons of who created the key and why. "It has something to do with the map?"
The trio glanced at the map, now sitting alone on the table. Hunter pulled out his wand. All the times something stupid had gone wrong via him trying to cast a spell attacked his mind, scattering his confidence. Well, let's hope I don't screw this up. He thought. And Please, for the love of God, Don't explode. He took a deep breath and cast "Accio".
The Map shot toward Hunter's free hand so fast that he thought that it had. The Map, despite how it got there, now rested calmly in the palm of his hand. For an unsettling few seconds, Hunter jokingly said, "Well, at least It didn't explode."
The trio burst into laughter. After a few minutes of them doubling over, wezing, and gasping for air, they regained their composure and looked over at the Map. The Map looked just the same as it did a few minutes beforehand.
"Well I don't see anything different about it," Spyro said in a tone that said 'oh well I tried.' "How about you guys?"
"Nope, I got Zilch," Qibli replied. "How about you, Hunter?"
Hunter squinted to see the ink, but it strained his eyes so much that he sat back in the chair that he pulled up. He sighed. "I need more light." He said. Taking a breath, he grabbed his wand and cast "Lumos". But even that, however, could not help the stain of his eyes. "Arg, Maxima!" He said, grabbing his wand and pointing it at the roof of the cave.
There was a flash of much needed light that filled the cave, but as Hunter set his wand down, his work finished, it disapted. "...Well, frick." Hunter said, a little burned out. His arm felt heavy and his mouth was like a desert in a heatwave. He set his head down on the table, making the table vibrate. He used his arm as a head-rest and looked up. The Key was now elumanting the table like a lamp with the Comforting Blue glow. Hunter decided to amuse himself before giving up. He picked up the key and took one last look at the Map.
Surprisingly enough, he found more than what the Map previously showed. Then his hand moved over to the library. It now had one new big area separated by a wall of ink and read, The Restricted Section.
Hunter sat up so quickly that Spyro thought that he had choked on air or something. "I found something in the Library!" He exclaimed, but only loud enough for the trio to hear. "The Map calls it The Restricted Section!"
"Let me see." Qibli said now out of his chair. Spyro followed up behind him. "...I don't see anything."
Spyro also did not see anything. Hunter scratched his head. "Huh. Weird." He mused.
"Well, I can see it clear as day…"
"So, what should we do," Spyro asked. "Go back to bed and do this again tomorrow night?"
Hunter thought for a few seconds. He looked back and forth at the Map and Key, to Spyro and Qibli. His eyes fell on the Cloak. The memory of Silver giving it to him flashed in his head. Find their secrets. Silver's voice echoed in his head. If you figure them out, we may just have a fighting chance of facing The Dark Master. "We find the Restricted section." He decided. And I will stop him. He thought fiercely. I will not let his plans come to be, whatever they are.
"But we don't even know if it exists!" Qibli countered. "What if we don't find anything at all? What if it's just a waste of time?"
"Well, someone created these for a reason. And I intend to find that reason." Hunter said while packing up. If Silver believed that it was his destiny to stop The Dark Master, he wanted to find out everything he could. And if it was a waste of time, bo-ho. He had all the time in the Realms to try something else. He grabbed the Cloak and turned. "You guys coming?"