Chapter 2:

Classes had ended and Aster and his three friends entered the Head mage's office. "How's it going sir?" Ace asked upon entering. Crowley looked up at them and nodded.

"Ah, thank you all for coming. I'll get right to the point." He told them, coming around his desk. "Now that the Heartslabyul incident is behind us... I wanted to give you a proper debriefing on the matter. If you're to become mages, you need to fully understand the malady that befell Mr. Rosehearts." Crowley informed them, and Aster wasn't surprised by how serious the Head mage was.

"You called it, 'overblot,' right?" Deuce asked.

"Yes, that is correct."

"My brother told me a little about that." Ace said, scratching the back of his head. "He said it could happen to anyone who builds up too much blot. Sounds like Cater was pretty much on the nose with 'berserk' mode." Ace admitted.

"Yeah, but what is blot, anyways?" Grim asked, curiously.

"Ah, indeed, for your sake and Aster's, it would behoove us to start with the basics." Crowley decided. "I shall teach you all you need to know." Crowley smiled. "Charity, thy name is Crowley." He internally grinned victoriously as the chuckle that left the magic-less boy. He had really been neglecting his charge over the past several days if he missed hearing the boy chuckle.

"Now, blot is a form of waste that is created as a byproduct of using magic. Just as cars run on gasoline, and in the process, expel dangerous gases as exhaust. Casting spells consumes magical energy and in the process, expels blot." He informed them.

"That doesn't sound healthy." Aster muttered with a frown.

"Quite. Research into the nature of blot has been conducted since time immemorial. And yet, we still understand little about it. All we know for sure is that it is terrifically toxic and excessive amounts can wreak havoc on a mage's mind and body."

"I guess that's why granny was always nagging me to not over do it with the magic, huh?" Ace asked. "Here I thought she just didn't want me to break stuff."

"Power and peril are two sides of the same coin." Crowley told them. "Even the greatest of mages cannot cast spell after spell without consequence."

"So you're telling me I'm gonna get sick if I keep using magic when ever I want?" Grim asked, sounding a little scared. He didn't want to do to Aster what Riddle had. Nor did he want to be incapacitated in such a way.

"Not necessarily..." Crowley said with a shake of his head. "Hm. Perhaps a demonstration would prove more efficient than a mere explanation." Crowley decided. "Ghosts, assemble! I have a job for you!" He called out, making Aster tense with his friends.

"Huzzah! You summoned us, Head mage?" A ghost asked as a couple of them joined the group.

"Not these guys again!" Ace cried, remembering his last run in with them.

"Would you be so kind as to help me put these young students through their paces?" Crowley asked.

"This seems like a bad idea." Deuce said, on edge considering the conversation they were just having.

"Yeah okay. We'll go a round or two with them." the lead ghost agreed with Crowley.

"Good. But Aster is off limits." He added for the ghosts who nodded. "Now students, ready your magical pens. Prepare yourselves for a special lesson from your Headmage!" Crowley said jovially. The spar went rather smoothly. To keep things fair, Aster didn't participate, just keeping tabs on the three mages and letting their instincts to lead them. The end result were a few burns and some cuts. But that was all and Aster congratulated them on doing so well without him.

"Hey, what's the deal Head mage? What's fighting ghosts got to do with blot?" Grim asked. Aster's eyes were closed as he concentrated on the magic in the surrounding area. But he couldn't figure out what the reason for the Head mage's sudden lesson had to do with the discussion they had been having.

"Direct your attention to the mage stone on your collar, Mr. Grim." Crowley said. Aster went up to Grim to check it as Ace and Deuce looked at their own mage stones. Sure enough...

"My mage stone looks all grungy! And it won't rub off!" Grim cried.

"Precisely. That inky black stain is the by-product of spell casting known as blot."

"This is capital G- Gross!" Grim replied. Aster looked worriedly at the three mage stones before glancing at Crowley and biting his lip.

"Is there some way to get rid of it?" Crowley's gaze became more gentle.

"Yes, of course." Crowley assured the boys. "With sufficient rest, blot will vanish from the magestone. This is why a mage stone is so valuable to magic users. Not only does it aid in your casting, it also serves as a lightening rod of sorts, to prevent blot accumulation within the caster."

"I see. So when our mage stones start to get cloudy, that means it's time for us to ease off." Deuce said deep in thought.

"Correct." Crowley nodded. "Eat well and get plenty of sleep, and most of the blot will clear away." Crowley assured with a smile.

"Gotcha." Grim said, sounding as relieved as Ace and Deuce were looking. "So when I become an even greater mage, I'll be able to fire off spells left and right! After all, I do plenty of sleeping and eating."

"People vary greatly in their capacity for magic. However, save for a few key exceptions, there is little variance in most mages' tolerance for blot."

"What's that mean?" Grim asked.

"In essence, it means those who possess a great capacity for magic must be meticulous in their efforts to avoid accumulating blot. Like Mr. Rosehearts for example."

"So folks who know their way around magic gotta lay off once in a while." Ace summarized. "Seems simple enough."

"Correct. That said, it isn't anything mages at your level need to worry about." Crowley added before giving the boys a playful grin. "How very fortunate for you!" The two Heartslabyul students scowled at him while Aster chuckled off on the side.

"I... guess that's only kind of an insult?"

"Anyway, I think I get it." Grim said, surprisingly not getting offended at Crowley's words. "Use magic, get blot. Blot bad. Sleep and food good. But is that all it took to make Riddle activate berserk mode?" He asked.

Crowley sighed. "The accumulation of blot is significantly affected by the sorcerer's mental state. Anger, fear, panic, sorrow... harboring those sorts of negative energies hastens the accumulation of blot by a significant degree. This in turn leads to the dreadful state known as 'Overblot." He added. Aster's eyes widened.

"So that's what was happening!" he exclaimed in understanding, getting questioning looks from those present. He blushed.

"Aster, could you explain that in better detail for me?" Crowley asked. The boy nodded.

"Since I've arrived here, I could feel the magic of the world and people around me. It's how I've been able to give directions in battle. I've also been able to feel the emotions of others too, though not all the time. Usually when they're strong. The day before Riddle over blotted, I could feel a build up of negative emotions in the garden, including loneliness. It's why I was able to understand a bit about what he was going through."

"I mean, I felt the loneliness before then when Trey and Cater were telling us about the dorms. I didn't realize the significance of it then. The day of the duel, Riddle's negative emotions had just built up so much that I could barely stand. And then, there was the tainted magic in the air as well. Together, they just filled me with a sense of wrongness... Like that monster from the Dwarfs' Mine that we fought. The mine had felt, wrong, when it was there. It was the same thing I felt leading up to Riddle's overblot." Aster explained. Crowley frowned as he realized a few more things.

"Negative energies, huh?" Deuce said, before looking at his friend in worry. "How are you handling the feeling of so much magic?" Alicer shrugged.

"It doesn't hurt me unless it's tainted, or if there's just a significantly large amount of it. If that's any consolation." He supplied, the others nodding.

"Do you recall the giant shadow that appeared behind Mr. Rosehearts?" Crowley asked, They nodded. "Such manifestations are believed to be the result of a fusion between those negative energies and the blot. I'm afraid that's the extent of what current studies have revealed to us, however." Crowley finished explaining to the four students before him. "There remain many mysteries surrounding overblot. After all, not many opportunities to study and observe are available to us.

"Let's hope it stays that way." Ace said, shuddering at everything they had learned.

"It is fortunate that we were able to snap Mr. Rosehearts out of it so quickly. If that had been allowed to continue... It's a prospect too terrifying to consider!" Crowley cried, startling them. "Forgive me, lost my composure. In summary, the use of magic is always accompanied by a certain degree of risk. And I expect you all to keep that in mind. Even you, Aster." He added.

"Why Aster?" Grim asked curiously. "He can't use magic, so he shouldn't be at risk."

"And I would agree with you, if he were a normal, non-magical mortal."

"What do you mean?" Ace asked in concern, subconsciously moving closer to Aster as did Deuce.

"What I mean, is that Aster is a beast master, as well as empathetic and a radar. These all mean that Aster is more in tune with others' emotions, magic, and pain. So to be in the middle of an other's overblot episode, he's made vulnerable and susceptible to the pain of others as his threshold has been demolished. In addition, he's feeling not just his own emotions and pain, but those of all his bonded that are also involved. As well as the one who's over blotted, and those that are over blotting are usually in great agony emotionally."

"It's why the emotions being released are so powerful as to take on a dark miasma. And he was bonded with you three, and Mr. Clover and Diamond before Mr. Rosehearts overblot. So in addition to the emotional and physical pain you five were going through, he was suffering his own, and Mr. Rosehearts own agonizing emotional turmoil." they all looked at Aster horrified as he looked away from them with a blush.

"It's no wonder, really, that he had collapsed at the beginning of Mr. Rosehearts overblot episode." Crowley finished. "And while you in turn can feel his emotions and pain, it's not as strongly as he does your own. That's why I expect all of you, including Aster, to keep what we discussed in mind. Understand?" Crowley finally asked.

"Yes, sir." they all agreed.

"Thus concludes your special lesson from the Headmage himself! How wonderfully kind of me! Now, off you go." Crowley told them, breaking the heaviness in the room, much to Aster's relief.

"Oh, aren't you forgetting something, Headmage?" He asked.

"Ah right, a means to return you home. Yes, I've been diligently searching for such a thing. I most certainly have not forgotten." He told them. "It is that I have been quite busy as of late." he looked away from the boy, who was fighting a smile at the man's antics. As much as he did want to get home, Aster still couldn't remember if he even had anyone waiting for him. He wanted to remember more before he returned, at least to know if he was going to be alone.

And he was having an unusual amount of fun here, despite everything that had been going on. He had friends he cared about who cared about him, and he was learning all about a new world that was more accepting of him than he had expected it to be.

"Your eyes got shifty all of a sudden." Grim supplied, returning Aster to the events in front of him.

"I- I'm certainly not lying! The October inter-dorm Spelldrive tournament is consuming a great deal of my attention at the moment." Crowley said. "In fact, I've a meeting with the assembled Housewardens immediately after this." Crowley told the cat, and Aster already knew something exhausting was about to happen.

"What's a Spelldrive tournament...?" Grim asked in curiosity, making Aster sigh.

"I never know what anyone is talking about." He muttered, and that got a reaction out of Deuce and Ace.

"Dude, Aster... You've never heard of Spelldrive?!" Ace cried, and it sounded like Aster had broken some unspoken law.

"It's a world famous sport! There's even a pro-league and a world championship tournament."

"You forget I'm not from this world." the boy said dryly.

"I ain't ever heard of it either." Grim added, making Aster feel a little better.

"Spelldrive is a sport played by competing teams of seven people. Basically players battle for control of a disc and earn points by driving it into the enemy team's goal." Aster's eyes brightened at that. "The team with the most points wins!" Ace finished explaining.

He frowned. "Actually, that sounds pretty familiar." he said as a fuzzy image of him in a large back yard surrounded by trees with some other people throwing a Frisbee around the yard with goals on either side of the clearing. "You know what? Count me in!" he grinned.

"You a big sports fan, Aster?" Ace asked with a grin.

"If you want, we can check out the school's Spelldrive League some time." Deuce added.

"Wait, I just realized that Aster would have a hard time actually playing." Ace suddenly said.

"Why?" Grim and Aster asked.

"You need magic to play." Deuce said frowning. "Not only do you move the disc with magic, but you use it to attack and defend as well." Deuce said.

"The flashier the magic, the better- it's how players show off their skills." Ace added.

"But is it in the rules that you have to have and use magic?" Aster asked, tilting his head.

"No, it isn't." Crowley said. "It's just that no one has ever considered it because to have non-magical people playing it is unheard of."

"Then I'd like to try. After all, I can sense magic and use it to my advantage for dodging and making plans." he shrugged.

"Yes quite!" Crowley sounded pleased. "That is why Night Raven College is known throughout the world as a leader in the sport. This school has produced countless pro players. That's why our inter-dorm Spelldrive tournaments attract attention from even pro-league recruiters. Also, those simply looking for up-and-coming magicians use the event to scout hopeful candidates. Yes, the tournament is quite an affair." Crowley explained.

"The campus will be full of visitors and lined with various kiosks. And the main even will be captured by television cameras and broadcast world-wide." Aster's eyes were sparkling.

"Wow... That's incredible." He said breathlessly. "I would love to go to the tournament even if I couldn't compete. It sounds like so much fun!"

"It's broadcast throughout the world?" Grim sounded like he was in awe. "So you're saying that if I were to play in this tournament- and win, of course-" Aster rolled his eyes at the creature's confidence. "The whole world would see it!?" Crowley grinned.

"Of course! Players who excel at the tournament invariably attract great attention. Both from the pro leagues and public at large!" Deuce grinned at Grim.

"In your case, the magic would barely even matter. Just having a monster out there like you is sure to turn heads." Deuce added.

"Then it's settled! I'm gonna train around the clock, join a team, and become a legend." Grim cried.

"Alas Grim, you can't enter." Crowley said with a frown and apologetic look sent their way.

"Wait, what?"

"Did you not hear me speak the word 'inter-dorm' multiple times? Your dorm doesn't even have seven members. Therefore you couldn't enter the tournament." Grim gave a wail that startled all of them.

"No fair!"

"But there's plenty else to do, from tending to the grounds and selling drinks in the stands. Those who stand on the field are not the only stars of tournament day." Crowley tried to console.

"Not interested!" Grim shouted. "I wanna be on TV! I want everyone in the world fawning over me! 'Squee! Grim is so cool! Did you see the play Grim made?' You get what I'm saying?" Grim countered.

"Your delusions are oddly specific, dude." Ace replied.

"Well, if you can't field a team, that's that. Maybe next year, Ramshackle House will get some new members. But it's not happening this year." Deuce said.

"Oh yeah, Headmage, thanks for letting me work with Sam!" Aster said, remembering with all the talk of selling things. He had already worked with Sam a couple times that week since finding out about the Headmage's agreement to him working on campus. And he loved it. He listened to Sam's stories and had even gotten along with Sam's friends from the other side. And he was getting to know students from other dorms, including Ignihyde and Diasomnia, the two most reclusive dorms on campus.

"You're very welcome. However, you are to be careful and the rules are that you only work three or four days a week, your personal grades don't slip, and you don't walk back to your dorm late at night. Especially alone. If you begin to not take care of yourself, you stop working until you're back in shape. Also, if I have business or a job for you, I'll let Sam know myself so you can focus on whatever task I have for you. And Grim will be with your Heartslabyul friends when your working if he isn't with you. In addition, I believe Sam gave you a schedule for you to know what days to go in on and your wages." Crowley asked the boy seriously, the others watching on as the headmage took his job as Alicer's guardian seriously. Alicer nodded, not noticing the others looks of surprise. "Anyway, as I believe I've mentioned, I'm a busy man. I must be off." Crowley told them.

"Yeah, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to build up my dreams then crush them." Grim cried. Alicer sighed.

"How about we get back to our dorm and I make you a deluxe grilled cheese sandwich my style?" He asked, causing Grim to leap and him and give him a hug blubbering thank yous. Crowley smiled at them before making his way to the Mirror Chamber where the meeting was being held.