"Void user. As expected. Don't you know what this means? The first Void user in over five-hundred years, here, in our academy."

  "..."

  "I expect you will give him the support that he needs. Keep him out of any major alliances, though I predict you won't have any problems with that. You will have your chance to test him during the Duels."

  "...Yes, any degree of force will be allowed."

  

  As the Demi-Plane generator powered down, Night could see only see ninety of the original kids left from the start. But the landscape had changed nevetheless.

  The white and yellow halls were so large Night thought he could have fit his house in it. Maybe 3 of them. The marble columns were lit with those white orbs he had seen floating about in the magic-shops - Not that he had ever dared to go into one before. The ceiling was too high to make out, even higher than that of the makeshift hospital.

  Art jabbed Night in the stomach. "...We made it?"

  "I guess. Holy crap, this place is-"

  "Notale?"

  Night had barely walked five steps into the place when one of the guards approached him. "Lirous wants to see you," the man said in a monotone voice.

  A series of 'oohs' went up from the crowd. "That was fast, wasn't it, Void user?" Chalice jeered.

  "Not as fast as your dad when he went out to buy the milk," Night shot back.

  Art lingered behind him. "...You do know she can beat you up, right?"

  "But there has to be a few rules about that, right?" Night took an involuntary step back. "You can't let kids go around-"

  "Yeah, there are." Art hissed. "But her dad owns this place."

  "Oh-" That. How could I forget? Chalice moved forward, walking down the hall. Crap, crap, crap-

  Night withdrew, following the guard faster than he was called.

  

  The guard guided Night to one of his offices. Their walk was ghost quiet, save the thumps of leather boots on marble floors and the distant chatter of people.

  Night had been led away from the main crowd by this random man. He couldn't get a good look at the guard from the back, but he could see a few things. Shining silver armour, an old, probably never used, longsword at his belt. A pouch, too, with-

  Night tore his sight away as the man's shape seemed to have a hole in it, before returning to normal. Screw that.

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  "Notale?" The man's gaze almost pierced the veil of Night's thoughts. Looking down, he realised he had stopped. He nodded, faked a grim smile, and resumed his walk.

  Stopping at one of the carved ironwood doors, the guard turned and opened it. The small sign on it, in white and black marble, read:

  'A45'.

  Opening it, the man stood by and indicated at the entrance. "Notale."

  Night glanced at the door, then back at the guard, then back at the door, before stepping inside.

  The room's interior looked almost identical to the white halls on the outside. There was a desk at the back of the same white marble as the walls, one empty chair behind it, two empty chairs in front of it. There were no windows. The entire space was lighted with half a dozen orbs of white floating idly next to the ceiling. The only source of darkness was a black painting hung left of him, depicting a black throne within some black cathedral.

  "Night?"

  Lirous was sitting on the chair, fingers laced together. But...

  "Why don't you take a seat?" Lirous smiled. "We have quite a bit to talk about."

  The whiteness of the room was starting to get to Night. The halls were white and windowless, and so was this room. Like some sort of insane asylum. Bet they underpay their janitors. "Yeah. So, I just wanted to ask, are all the halls here white? Or is it just-"

  Lirous shook his head. "Hah, no! This is just the Administrative Quadrant. The other areas are of... Different colours," He said in a measured tone. Unnerving measured tone. "Why, is your magic type displaying a bad reaction to it?"

  That. "No, I'm fine, thanks." Night looked around the room again. Nothing but white. "So what did you want to talk to me about...?"

  Lirous leaned forward. "We understand you have gone through some things, Night. That was one of the reasons why we brought you here..."

  Bullshit.

  "...But we should also let you know you have a target on your back."

  Night blinked. "What?"

  "You are the first Void user to enter this academy in over... Well, ever, actually." The old man pondered. "The last one didn't go to an academy. Do you know why?"

  Oh yeah. Shoot. "Yes, I heard-"

  "The first Villain to ever reach a noticeable level of power was a Void user," Lirous said. "The Kingdom's scribes call him-"

  "The Traitor Almighty, I know." Night finished. "But..."

  Lirous gave him such a look of pure annoyance and condescension that Night slumped in his seat. I'll shut up.

  Taking a breath, Lirous continued. "Before that, no Void users were ever recorded. And after that, all Void users became Villains, in one way or another."

  Night shoved his hands in his pockets. The urge to tear his hair out was getting stronger with every syllable that man said. "Look, I know this may seem strange, but what if I'm not a Void user? Maybe I'm a, I don't know, Ink-"

  "Inks can't teleport," retorted Lirous. "And that's the magic type of the rich kids. You don't consider yourself one of them, right?" He raised an eyebrow.

  Bastard. "How do you know I'm not something else?" Night asked.

  "When you cast your little teleport - terribly inefficient execution, by the way," Lirous shuffled some papers, "Our magic detectors picked up the type immediately."

  Night shrugged. "What if you're wrong?"

  Night thought the previous stare was terrible. This glare proved him wrong. "You think I'm wrong?" The white-robed man drawled.

  "...No." Suddenly the room wasn't looking so bright anymore.

  Lirous sighed. "Good. You'll be the first Void user to train to become a Hero." The unnerving smile returned. "Don't you know how famous you will be?"

  "...That's not really what I'm interested in, but," Night glanced around. Can I say no? "Okay."

  Lirous stood up. "That's settled, then. You can join the rest on the orientation. You wouldn't have missed much, maybe just the canteen and a few classrooms." He waved his hand, and the door opened by itself.

  "Okay." Night stood up and moved to the doorpost. So that's it? But-

  "Oh, yes." Lirous was now standing directly behind him, when Night was sure he hadn't heard a noise from him. "Please get a new pair of boots. We can't have you spreading soot all over our corridors."

  Night looked down. Black footprints were left stuck on the floor where he had walked. "Sure, but, um, I don't have any-"

  "We'll pay for it." Lirous muttered with a tone of dislike. "Janitors are too expensive."