The summoning circle pulsed once then twisted and unraveled into a swirling black portal right in the courtyard outside the girls' dorms.
Suddenly, multiple pitch black humanoids living shadows with glowing white eyes burst from the portal like a flood. They darted into the halls of the dorm, fast and silent, surrounding Zara and Opal from all sides.
The exits were blocked.
Zara glanced at Opal. "You know any mist type spells that can boost a lightning AOE spell?"
Opal gave a shaky nod. "Yes… but I haven't learned how to erect a barrier yet."
Zara clicked his tongue. "Tch. Great."
He scanned their surroundings, mind racing. If I throw out an area-wide spell, Opal's caught in it. Too risky.
"…Screw it. I'll just rip these creeps limb from limb."
He stomped forward, reinforcing his fists with stone. Opal stood at his side, electricity crackling from her fingertips.
If they were going down they were going to make it hurt.
But before either could strike
"Ice magic: frozen wonderland."
A cold breeze swept through the corridor, instantly flash freezing every shadowy creature. In seconds, the entire swarm was locked in thick crystal-clear ice, unmoving and silent.
Zara blinked. "Yo… what just happened?"
A familiar voice called out from the hall's entrance. "You're welcome, by the way."
Mark stepped forward, flanked by Mr. Coraline, who walked with his usual calm, arms folded behind his back.
"Mark, what took you so long?" Zara asked. "They grabbed Jessie and got away!"
Opal frowned. "And what's Mr. Coraline doing here? Is he going to help?"
Coraline shook his head and gave a faint smile. "Afraid not. Teachers aren't allowed to intervene in student conflicts. But I do wish you all good luck."
He turned to Mark with a knowing look. "Remember what I told you."
Mark nodded silently. With that, Coraline walked away, leaving the trio behind like a man who'd just finished a casual conversation.
Opal and Zara exchanged glances, clearly wondering what had happened between them but now wasn't the time for questions.
Zara slapped Mark on the back of his head. "Quit spacing out we've got to find Jessie!"
"Ow! Alright, alright!" Mark rubbed the back of his head. "Where did they go?"
Opal pointed. "Through the main hall."
"Then let's move. Maybe they left behind a trail or clue."
The three of them dashed across the campus. The main hall's main doors were locked tight at this hour but that didn't stop them. They followed the same route the kidnappers must have used: scaling the ornate stone wall to a window that hadn't fully closed.
One by one, they slipped inside, crouched along the rafters, then climbed down the curved stone wall into the center of the grand hall.
The search had begun.
Zara and Opal scoured the main hall, searching for anything a shoe, a button, anything the kidnappers might have accidentally left behind.
Mark, meanwhile, sat cross legged in a calm meditative pose in the center of the room. He inhaled slowly, focusing his mana into the ground and air around him. Then, he fused it with electricity.
Back at the mansion, Mark had studied ancient texts that suggested lightning magic held properties similar to light. Some lightning users had even manipulated light itself to create sensory magic. With that in mind, Mark had developed a technique one that worked like a weak infrared scanner, allowing him to detect the faint heat signatures left behind in the form of footprints.
Soon, glowing prints appeared across the floor, leading toward the eastern wall.
"Hey! Zara, Opal over here!" Mark shouted.
The two rushed over. Opal's eyes lit up with wonder. "That's amazing, Mark! How did you even come up with that?"
Her eyes shimmered, admiration flooding her expression. It wasn't just awe in her gaze anymore it was something warmer… something bolder.
She bit her lip slightly while smiling at him, not even realizing she'd done it.
Zara, watching from the side, raised an eyebrow. His face twisted not with disgust, but something else. Jealousy.
He scoffed and looked away, muttering under his breath.
They followed the glowing footprints, which led directly to a giant, ornate painting near the back of the hall. As they stepped closer, Mark noticed the faint glow of a handprint pressed onto the surface.
He raised his hand and touched the painting.
Mana.
"I think it's either a hidden door or a portal. It reacts to mana," Mark explained. "Let's pour our energy into it. I'll go first follow after me."
Mark channeled a small surge of mana into the painting. It shimmered, and the surface rippled like water. He stepped through
and suddenly felt nothing beneath his feet.
"WHAAAAAAA!!!"
Mark screamed like a terrified child as he plummeted through open air, a massive cavern yawning below him.
Focus!
He calmed his breathing and summoned a controlled burst of wind beneath his feet, slowing his fall into a gentle glide.
As Mark's feet softly touched the ground, Zara and Opal came tumbling through the portal next.
Zara quickly activated his wind magic, slowing his descent.
But Opal she hadn't learned how to do that yet.
She flailed as she dropped like a stone.
"Ahh !"
Zara reached out to grab her, but his hand slipped.
"Damn it!"
Mark's eyes widened. He kicked off the ground and dashed into the air using his wind magic again. He launched himself toward Opal's falling body, catching her in his arms midair.
He cradled her gently, like a groom carrying his bride across the threshold.
Opal's face turned scarlet.
Mark slowly descended to the ground, the wind under his feet soft and steady.
He didn't think much of it. But Opal couldn't stop staring at him, flustered beyond words, her heart pounding like a drum.
Zara touched down beside them, rolling his eyes. "Tch. Showoff."
Mark chuckled, pretending not to notice Opal's flushed face or Zara's side glance.
Mark, Opal, and Zara stood quietly, their eyes scanning the strange world they had fallen into.
Surrounding them was a vast forest, thick with overgrown vines and trees twisted around the shattered ruins of a once great castle. Cracked towers leaned against the canopy, and crumbled stone bridges stretched into nowhere.
Above them, the sky glowed with a surreal light.
Mark blinked. "Wait a minute…"
He looked up. There wasn't just the usual two suns that hung over Moonvale's sky there were three.
Zara furrowed his brow. "What the hell is this place?"
Opal's face suddenly turned pale, eyes wide in recognition. "No way… this is the Jade Isles Dimension."
Mark looked over. "The what now?"
"It's a pocket dimension created by the Academy," Opal explained quickly. "It's used to test whether students are ready to enter the second year. I read about it once in the head archives. This place… it's dangerous. Everything here is enchanted or corrupted monsters, traps, magic anomalies. We need to be careful."
Zara raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "If those 2nd year losers we stomped in the dorms passed through this place, I'm not worried."
Mark, on the other hand, wasn't taking any chances.
He held up his hand and began channeling lightning magic. Sparks danced around his fingertips as he released an electrical pulse into the air. It bounced off everything nearby trees, rocks, ruins sending information back to him like magical sonar.
Within seconds, his eyes sharpened.
"There's a lake nearby," he said. "And… under that lake, there's a castle. Fully submerged, but sealed inside a magic barrier. It's keeping the water out."
"You think they're down there?" Zara asked, now serious.
Mark nodded. "I can sense several mana signatures moving inside. One of them is definitely Jessie. That's where they're keeping her."
Opal looked toward the distance, nervous but determined. "Then we need to get to that lake. Fast."
Mark clenched his fist, embers flaring off his hand around it. "Let's go get her back Opal hop on "
Mark knelt down and patted his back, motioning for Opal to climb on.
"Hop on. We'll get there faster."
Opal hesitated for half a second, then bit her bottom lip, a slight blush spreading across her face. Without a word, she carefully climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Zara stood to the side, internally dying from secondhand embarrassment.
One's completely oblivious, and the other's both thirsty and shy... What a combo.
Without another word, Mark took off a pulse of wind magic burst from beneath his feet, propelling him forward at supersonic speed. Trees blurred past, the ground cracking with every step as he carved through the forest like a living storm.
Zara wasn't far behind. He charged his legs with lightning magic, streaks of electricity sparking along his body as he surged forward in pursuit.
The two blazed across the strange landscape of the Jade Isles Dimension, locked in silent urgency.
Their friend was waiting and they didn't know what they could've done to her already.
time was running out.