It was early morning, and I was still asleep. Suddenly, Leo woke me up and told me it was time for training.
I groaned and asked him to let me sleep a little more. He didn't reply and pulled the blanket off my face.
Before I could react, cold water was thrown on me. I instantly sat up and shouted in shock.
ray stood there seriously and warned me to get up.I quickly said I was already awake.
A few minutes later, I got ready and picked up my sword.ray and I stepped out into the corridor.
The academy felt strangely quiet and empty. Something about the atmosphere felt off.
Suddenly, a man ran past us at high speed. His face was covered with a black cloth.
Right behind him, Professor Sebastian Crowe was chasing.He shouted at us to stop the man.
Without thinking, Leo and I rushed forward. We tried to intercept the masked man.
But as soon as we got close, he stopped. In the next second, everything changed.
An invisible force slammed us to the ground. I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried.
It felt like something extremely heavy was crushing me. Even breathing became difficult under the pressure.
ray struggled beside me, but he couldn't break free.The masked man stood there calmly.
Without hesitation, he turned and jumped out the window. Within seconds, he disappeared completely.
The pressure vanished instantly after he left. I gasped heavily, trying to catch my breath.
Ray rushed to the window and looked outside.He confirmed that the man had escaped.
I quickly went to Professor Sebastian and helped him stand. He looked completely shaken and terrified.
We took him to his room and gave him water. Even then, his hands were still trembling.
I asked him what had happened. His voice shook as he began to explain.
He told us he was the head of the library. There was a restricted section only Principal Valeria could enter.
He said he was responsible for protecting that place. No one was supposed to go inside it.
The masked man had entered that section. He tore a page from a book and escaped.
The room fell into silence after hearing that.
Ray went silent for a moment, as if thinking… and then he… calmly said we would do something.
I looked at Ray, unsure if we really could. The man had overpowered us so easily.
The professor explained that it was gravity magic. With this ability, one could increase the pressure in an area using their aura.
Anyone within that area would be forced down. That's why we couldn't move at all.
Leo quietly realized how the power worked.Ray then said he had an idea.
The professor suddenly sat in front of us.He almost begged us for help.
He said he was the only earning member of his family.Losing this responsibility would destroy everything for him.
Leo agreed to help him without hesitation. But he told him to keep this a secret for now.
The professor thanked us and left the room. Silence filled the space again.
I turned to Ray and asked about the plan. He took out a piece of cloth from his pocket.
There were blood stains on it. And I asked him where he got that piece of cloth from.
Then he said that he found it near the window, and that it belonged to that man.
Ray said it would be useful. I asked him what he meant.
He placed a thin string on the cloth. Then he tied the other end to my finger.
I asked him what he was doing. He closed his eyes and cast a spell.
A faint glow surrounded the string. Slowly, it began to move.
It lifted and tightened like something alive. It looked like a small moving doll.
I stared at it in shock. Ray calmly explained the magic.
Then Ray said that it was a type of magic used to find something. With this magic, if you place a string on something that has a living being's blood on it, the string will guide you to that person.
.Then he added one more thing. If the target died, the string would stop moving.
I looked at him and called him insane. Ray simply smiled and accepted it.
We didn't waste any more time. The three of us followed the string.
We left the academy and kept moving forward.We crossed forests and After hours of traveling, we finally reached a town. I stopped as I looked ahead.
There was a sign standing in front of us.It read — Riverdale town