I wandered across the grounds of the camp for ages.

The sun was still up high in the sky, and I doubt that lessons could have continued after the blood and injuries, after all, this camp was supposed to be known for honing powers, and not violence.

"Joshiah!" 

I turned around, coming face to face with George.

"Oh- Hey, You got anything, mate?"

I nodded towards the direction he had came from, "Y'know from looking for clues?"

"Well... Not too much," George shrugged, "But... I did find this"

He opened his hand to show me a dense formation of black and gray on a piece of fabric that looked withered and burnt.

"It could be two things," George explained, holding up two fingers, "One, it could be left over usage of a power, most probably Darkness. Or, two, It could be Corpse Dust"

I looked closer at the piece of fabric.

"Don't inhale it though! It's poisonous from what I've heard from the books"

I sneezed, jumping away from it, "Imagine that I'm allergic to this, wouldn't that just be unfortunate"

I looked up again, "Where did you get this?"

George peered at the fabric, "Ah... Well I found it on the stone wall... Too bad it's burnt by the substance, otherwise we could have known the color..." He trailed off, shrugging again, "But, I dunno, this is my first time doing any deductive reasoning"

There was screaming from the further end, and it wasn't from just one person.

People were rushing by us, trying to get to somewhere safe from what it seemed.

"Run!"

"Who was that?"

Voices raced past us as everyone scattered.

"We need to go," George tugged at my arm, "It can't be good if even the higher-ups are running"

We followed the crowd, but George dragged me towards the mess hall.

"Up there," He pointed at the roof, "Just get some momentum and we can make the climb"

George backed away, and then sprinted at the wall, kicking off the wall of the mess hall and then turning around to latch onto the nearby building before jumping again to land on top of the roof.

"Hurry up!"

I jumps straight up, latching onto the overhang of the roof. George grabbed my arm and then pulled.

We both landed on top of the roof with a thud.

"Was this really necessary?" I asked gesturing to the cabins, "We could have just gone there-"

He slapped a hand over my mouth, and pointed down, "Shush!"

The higher-up named Rowan was in a battle stance against a masked individual, wearing a mask and a hood that covered their entire face.

"Come at me then!" Rowan yelled, "You picked this fight!"

I looked at George who was watching this very closely, "No, Joshiah, I know what you're thinking. We can't help him, we'll only put ourselves in danger"

The masked person, remained silent.

Rowan lunged forward, clearly trying to get close enough to put his power to use. The masked individual stayed put as Rowan got closer.

Rowan's hand was glowing green as he charged, leaving an imprint of green in the air.

The masked individual sidestepped Rowan with ease. Rowan fell forward, struggling to catch himself.

They then twisted his arm behind his back in a way that shouldn't have been physically possible. I felt George cringe as a crack echoed.

"Oh god," George said, his knuckles were white from gripping the roof, "It's pretty clear that this battle is finished-"

Apparently the masked individual was not finished with Rowan.

They threw a hit at his spine, before throwing him across the forest floor. His body skidded to a stop and the individual stared down at him.

The teachers were starting to come out now, with surprise at the sudden violent tendencies of a student.

There were five teachers in total, the wood-reading, the crystal healing, battle instructor, the spell casting, and the magical creatures.

They surrounded the individual, knowing that anyone that was going around beating people up wouldn't come quietly.

Surprise, surprise.

The masked individual came prepared.

The individual whipped out five pieces of paper.

I choked down a laugh, "What are they gonna do with those paper, it's not like they can just use paper to subdue teachers"

George whacked my arm, "Shush!"

Well, I learned something else today. In fact, you can use those kinds of paper to subdue a teacher, I just didn't know.

One thing was for sure, they knew how to aim.

Each of the papers were aimed at the head of the person, and upon contact they collapsed, no trying to overcome it; they just fell.

The masked person suddenly looked up, looking around until their eyes found us, up on the rooftops.

My heart suddenly jumped to my throat.

No... How did they know we were up here?

They looked at George in particular, they stepped steadily until they were right in front of the mess hall.

They raised their hand, which they didn't seem to realize was covered in blood. They paused surveying the blood as it dripped onto the ground.

They then looked up, and drew a swift finger across their own neck, leaving a red line straight across. They looked for about a couple seconds more before they fled.

I turned around to ask George what it was about when I say him tugging his collar self-consciously.

"You alright, mate?" 

"Wha-? Oh yeah, of course I'm alright," George waved it off, "I'm perfectly alright, thank you very much"

"Are you sur-"

George sighed, "Of course I'm sure, but we should check on Cole, just so y'know, if he wakes up and does something stupid"

"Aight"

I should have noticed the presence of something more sinister right there and then, but I didn't. 

I should have noticed that the cooing inside my head, was not from my subconscious, but from something more.

Something that I wouldn't know.

Something...

...

...

. 

.

.

Something that wanted to end this camp for once and for all.