"James, give me the staff," I said holding my hand out to him. I saw his grip tighten around it.

"Give it to Seto, James, you don't need it," Phil told him. James stepped back from me as I stepped towards him, I was not going to let him leave here and I'm prepared to do what I need to to ensure he doesn't leave here like this. There is no telling what could happen if I let James run away with the staff. I'm not letting a repeat of Merlin happen.

"James, please. Give it to me, I don't want to have to take it from you," I begged him. I don't want to have to fight James, he's my friend and friends don't fight each other. But I could tell, I could see...he was not going to give it up willingly. Whatever is going through his head, it's winning him over. In a split second, James pointed the staff towards me and fired a spell at me, it hit me square in the chest and knocked me back several feet and into a wall. I slid to the floor, the breath knocked out of me.

"James!" Phil shouted. I touch my chest, feeling a sting of pain hit me, and see blood on my fingers.

"Crap..." I mumbled under my breath. Whatever James hit me with hurts a whole lot. My eyes flickered up seeing that James had started walking slowly towards me. Phil looked back and forth between us, he wasn't sure what to do. "P-Phil, don't intervene. We don't know what would happen if you touched the staff."

"But you--Are you okay?" Phil asked me. I didn't answer, my eyes were trained onto James. How do I break him out of whatever trance he seems to be under? How did Reed break him out of his trances before? Well, this is different from whatever James was under before, the staff has gotten into his head. I know how it feels, the power in that staff is immense, I can't imagine how tempting and/or addicting it feels to an athar wizard, wizards who crave more power. James stood in front of me, looking down at me and I didn't move. I just stared at him as he pointed Nicholas's staff down at me. Phil started rushing towards us. "No, James, don't!" he shouted as the staff started to radiate a reddish aura.

My eyes looked at his, and I saw the troubled expression, his hand to his face like he is conflicted and my hopes renewed. I reached out and grabbed the staff and I flinch when I felt a surge of dark power hit me. What happened to the light energy in it? What happened to the good side of the staff? "Do it," I told James and I saw the man flinch at my words.

"Seto!" Phil shouted.

"Stay out of this, Phil," I told him. I focused my power on the staff, hoping to cancel out whatever effect or thing has taken hold of James. James suddenly pushed the staff forward, pressing the top of it against my chest as he stared at me. I grabbed ahold of the staff with both hands. "James, let go."

Phil grabbed James' arms which made the man look at the earth wizard. "Let go of it, please, brother. You don't need it. Seto is our friend, not the enemy," he said. I slightly pulled on the staff and slowly but surely, James let go of it. Phil pulled James away from me as I let the staff clatter onto the ground with a hold of it.

James breathed heavily as he stared at his hands. "W-Wha...was..." he mumbled. Then he looked at me. "Seto, are you--"

"I'm fine, I'm okay, how are you?" I asked him since I knew he could see the aftermath of him blasting me into the wall with the staff. But James didn't answer me, he just looked away from me, almost like he was ashamed of himself.

"We need to get out of here, are you okay?" Phil asked me. I nodded as I pulled myself up to myself. My chest ached and there was still some bleeding but I'm good, most of the pain is gone. But I need to make sure to never let any of the Fyre Brothers hold my staff ever again. I know I let Shiro, Violet, and Tiffany hold it before, and they were fine, it must just be because the Fyre Brothers are athar wizards that it affects them. "James--"

"I'm fine!" James shouted as he pulled away from Phil suddenly.

"James, you don't need to blame yourself for this, it isn't you--"

James looked at me. "Don't try to make me feel better about almost purposely killing you, Seto! There is no excuse for that!" he shouted at me. There was something odd...James isn't the most emotional person I know and that is because of the athar ritual and such. But this, he looks almost afraid and ashamed, two emotions that I would never associate with the man.

I tried to reconcile him, but Phil just came between us with his hand on James' arm. "Let's go find Shiro and Riley so we can get out of here," he suggested. I nodded, it is probably for the best to talk about this later. As we ran down the hall, I had pulled out the red cloth and secured the staff to my back yet again. I winced as my chest burned.

"Seto, you okay?" James asked me.

"Y-Yeah, just burns is all," I told them.

"Stay behind us, we'll handle this," James said. I could tell he felt guilty and I was almost tempted to say I can handle myself but given what just happened and the cuffs making me feel weaker, I think it is best if I let the four handle this. I don't want to make James feel worse.

I slowed partially, keeping behind the two Fyre brothers. And as we ran, I felt the presence of a certain goddess in my head. 'Seto, you shouldn't tempt fate like that,' she spoke to me through our mental link.

I smiled a bit. 'I know, but I had faith in James that he would overcome whatever grasped a hold of him,' I responded to Ianite.

I heard nothing but silence for a few seconds before she responded one last time to me, 'Nicholas had faith in Merlin too, and look where that got him.'

My jaw clenched, I should have known she would say that given her relationship with Nicholas and what happened. I know the three gods don't want a repeat of what happened between Nicholas and Merlin to happen to me and the Fyre Brothers. But...I do have faith in them, I believe that they can be better than Merlin. It will just take time.

I closed my eyes for a moment, talking to Ianite one last time for now. 'Yeah, I know. But the difference between now and then is that we know more. Nicholas didn't know what was wrong with Merlin, he...he was at a disadvantage and I refuse to be consumed with fear of the people who have done nothing but help me since I arrived here, I sorry Ianite, but these are risks that I'm willing to take for the sake of my friends,' I told her, hoping she heard my words. Though I do have a feeling that I'm going to be scolded by Dianite and/or Violet since this is an incident that we can just look over. We have to talk about it.

"By the way, how are we getting out of here?" I asked as it occurs to me that we have drawn a lot of attention to ourselves.

"How about we take a plan from your book and just walk out the front door?" Phil asked me.

"Wait, really?" I questioned him. He usually hates that idea and yells at me for it about it being suicidal and ridiculous.

He just shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, why not? Our exit route is most likely blocked with guards, so...the only semi-logical route is the front door."

"Let's do it," I said. It didn't take us long to find the others, they had beaten the last of the guards by the time we showed up. But of course, they had questions as to why I was injured and the guilt on James' face was clear as day. I blindsided their questions to the problem at hand, which was our escape.

We ran to the doors and pushed them open. But as soon as we got outside, we were met with a force of mage soldiers that were prepared to stop us. I stared at them, there had to be about twenty soldiers and two councilmen, Zorro and Jed.

"What? None of your knights here to stop us?" Phil asked the councilmen.

"Unfortunately no, they are away on business right now. But we don't need them to stop you when we can do it without their aid," Zorro said.

I lightly laughed. "You should have brought your knights," I retorted. I looked at the others. "We need to split up, make for Nicholas' lair, they won't be able to enter without prior clearance anyway." The others nodded but I caught an uneasy look on James' face. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, we know, you're a Guardian, after all, so you will be fine. It is us that we are worried about," Riley said.

"What are you talking about? You all can fly, I cannot," I said before I stepped out in front of them, knowing I would have to make my escape on foot while they have the option of the skies for their escape. 

"Stop talking! You're not getting out of here alive!" Jed shouted.

"Are you sure we should leave you to this, Seto?" Phil asked me.

I nodded. "I'll be fine, go on ahead," I told them. I could tell that they didn't want to fly on without me and I was touched by that, but we really should split up to stretch their forces and to make it easier for them to lose us. "I have my teleporting/warp spell. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, that's what you said before you left to come here to convince the Magic Council that they can change and look at where we are at right now," Riley pointed out.

I just sighed in response, my eyes looked at the soldiers. "I'm going to warn you all now, you can't win this fight. Even with these cuffs on my wrist weakening my magic, I am still capable of casting high-energy intensive spells," I lied. Honestly, I don't know how much magic I have access to but I should just lie and tell them that the cuffs are hindering me in the least bit.

"How? How can that be? Those cuffs are strong enough to cancel access even from Elite Wizards," Zorro asked me.

I just shook my head. "Did you seriously not listen to a word I said before? I'm not like you or the Elites, I used to be close friends with Nicholas. My magic pool is much larger than anyone's on Vienna, except for the gods of course since their power is said to be limitless." I said.

"You are stronger?" Jed asked me.

I nodded. "Yes, I am, you can't win against me. So get out of our way and no one gets hurt," I said hoping that they would listen. But even with the hope that they would listen, I knew that they would not since they prepared to attack us.

I felt a hand pat my shoulder and it was Phil. "You tried, Seto, at least you tried."

I lifted my arm. "Let's get out of here, Arkana Varpo," I chanted before I felt my feet leave the ground and I teleported to the open inner gate, on the other side of the small army worth of soldiers.

"What?!" I heard Zorro shout as he turned around to look at me. Phil, James, Riley, and Shiro took off with this flight magic while I ran out into the noble district. The four stayed close to me as I was being chased down by guards. I used my warp spell a lot, I imagined myself up on the roof and I appeared up there with the guards confused about where I had gone. I ran across the rooftops with James and Phil flying overhead.

"So, what's the plan to lose them?" Phil asked me.

"Split up, scatter them and hide. We'll make for the lair at nightfall after things settle down," I told Phil and James. They both nodded in acknowledgment of the plan.

"See you tonight, Seto," Phil said before he and James left to tell Riley and Shiro the plan.

I skid halfway down the rooftop, my eyes looking down at the street below to see that the guards haven't lost their sight of me. I do sort of stand out. I jump across an alley to another roof before I stop at the edge of it and warp down into the alleyway. I cannot blend in by racing across rooftops. I run through the alley which thankfully isn't a dead end and opens to another part of the district. I spot the gate that opens to the next district, which I think is the Academic District, home to Clilerra Academy of Magic. I couldn't help but smile, I was interested to see Fyre Academy's competition. So I jumped in with a group of people who were walking across, they looked like students given their uniforms. I pulled my hood up and we walked inside, and I couldn't help but be amazed by the sight.

Now, the Fyre Academy of Magic has a beautiful campus with buildings that look beyond cool. But Clilerra wasn't so far off either in terms of beauty or style. They did have to cluster things together since they don't have the open space and forest type of plot of land like Fyre Academy does, but they have made great use of the space they have.

There are buildings everywhere, with a few floating islands that had a building on them and/or wildlife on them. They reminded me of the Wizard Territory in Estir. Unfortunately, I couldn't admire the beauty for long given I was spotted since the group of students I tagged along with had moved on from me and I was by myself looking amazed.

I ran, pushing past students and what are probably professors. And I could tell that some of them wanted to help the guards and some of them attempted to stop me.

What I guess was an earth wizard had made the ground under my feet move and disconnect from the earth below. I caught my balance, jumped off the edge, and saw the ground was getting disconnected more so I just looked ahead. "Arkana Varpo!" I chanted which I teleport further along and felt the ground shake under my feet. I looked behind me to see the street was back in order like that never happened. Well, at least they attempted, it was kind of a pathetic type of help but whatever.

Then I ran into an invisible wall which made all types of pain hit through me before I fell backward and onto the ground. I groaned for a moment and sat up seeing a wizard who has her hand up towards me and her eyes glowing.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I know you think you are helping but you should--"

"You're being chased for a reason, so give up because I'm not letting you pass," she said.

"Get him, Professor!" a student had shouted. Professor? I got up to my feet, suddenly aware of the box that she had me in. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, especially since the student joined in on cheering their professor on. I could tell that she is using a weak shielding spell since she is depending on the fact that I have magic cuffs on that I have no access to magic.

"So you're an educator? Well, then, let me remind you on why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover," I said before I held my finger out and touched the invisible barrier. "Arkana Eksplodo." A mage circle appeared before the barrier was shattered within an instant.

"What?! How can you use magic with those cuffs on?!" she shouted as if I was going to answer her.

"I'm not someone that your Magic Council can contain," I said. I managed my way around her, breaking through her barriers but never attacking her head-on. There is no reason to attack her, I just need to get around her. But I could tell my lack of offense had angered her though I was too far away to hear her curses at me. I'm not blaming her for trying to stop me, I mean, I would do the same thing if I were her. It is just her fault for assuming that these cuffs were enough to hinder me powerless.

After running around more, I found myself at a dead-end in an alleyway with the guards blocking my escape. I let out a deep breath before I turned around to face them.

"Ha! Nowhere for you to run now!" one of them shouted. I could tell that they were ready for the idea of my warping my way out of this situation.

"You're just lucky I'm not allowed to use flight magic or else I would have been gone long ago," I told them and they readied spells and weapons at me. I stepped back, my hand touching the back wall behind me. I reach to grab Nicholas's staff, but in that second the spells fired. I was about to warp out of the line of fire but I felt a hand touch my shoulder and a purple forcefield appear in front of me, protecting me from all the spells. "What..."

Then I felt her presence, she was standing beside me with her hand on my shoulder. I looked at her in shock. "Ianite, what are you doing here?!" I asked her before she stepped out in front of me.

"Doing what I should have done for Nicholas," she said.

"Lady Ianite," one of the guards said which amazed the others. Ianite held hold of my wrist behind her back like she wanted to make I was still there. Her divinity was stronger than it was before, and why is it that when I sense her divinity it makes me sad? What exactly who I feel like if Notch hadn't gone out of his way to hide my divinity?

Ianite held my wrist tighter as she said, "Why are you attacking my champion? Return to your posts and I will forgive you misdeeds." And the guards quickly left, scrambling away as to not anger her. I almost forgot that Ianite has a good relationship with the wizards unlike the relationship between the wizards and Mianite and Dianite.

She turned back to me, I looked into her eyes. "You shouldn't be here, what if something happens--"

"Nothing is going to happen that I can't handle, but we need to talk. I'm not going to bother trying to convince you to leave the Fyre brothers, I'm aware of how stubborn you are. But...James attacked you--"

My eyes widen momentarily and I shook my head. "No, that was just an accident! James didn't mean to attack me, he--"

"He was blinded by the power of Nicholas's staff...surely you felt it when you touched it?" Ianite asked me. I opened my mouth to respond but I didn't know what to say. When I touched the staff when it was in James' hands...all I felt was dark power, dark energies, and none of the light energies that I normally only feel with the staff.

"What happened to change him?" I asked her as I pulled my arm from her grasp.

Her eyes averted downward in a saddened gaze. "You...You faced a fraction of what Nicholas did when Merlin turned according to my brother. Arcanic magic isn't normal magic, Seto, you know this. You could compare the magic to that of god magic, the only reason you and the other Guardians are named gods is due to Lord Notch restricting you in your abilities to keep at the power level of wizards. Athar magic is a magic that constantly hungers for more power, whether you see it or not, the Fyre Brothers have a constant desire for more power. And James got a taste of what it was like to have almost the power of a god...you do understand what I'm getting at right?" she asked me.

I stared at her, I didn't like where this was going. "Are you saying that James could..."

"James could have gotten addicted to the feeling and might seek it out again...and this time your words might not be enough to calm him," she told me. I leaned against the wall, trying to think through this logically. She was right, James...James could do this again and words might not be enough next time to stop him. Her hand touched my arm. "You need to leave them before you put yourself in any more danger. I know it isn't James' fault, but he isn't going to be to help himself and out of the four of them, he is the most unstable."

I shake my head at her. "No...." I said before I turned my attention to her. "No...I can't."

"Seto--"

"You don't understand, the Fyre Brothers aren't with me because I need their power and skill, sure I say that is why but that...that isn't the real reason why," I told her. And she stayed silent like she wanted me to go on. I pull my arm away from her hand as my eyes looked away from her. "I don't need their power and skill, I need...their support. I may look well put together emotionally and mentally, Ianite, but trust me when I say that it is all a front I'm clinging to. I've stopped obsessing with getting my memory back since I can barely handle dealing with what I do remember. I seem to only remember the tragic and horrible stuff that has happened in my life, none of the good!"

Her eyes softened at me. "Well, we tend to remember our tragic moments better than the good ones. Why didn't you come to me with this?" she asked me.

"What do you think? The Fyre Brothers keep me put together and busy, meanwhile Violet wants me to confront my troubles head-on when all I want to do is hide in the corner and act like they don't exist. I'm just focusing on saving this world--"

"Seto, the longer you put facing your past off...the more painful it will become," she pointed out. I bit on my bottom lip, staring at her. I knew that she wasn't going to approve of my way of handling my memory problem. But I really am trying to avoid it for now and hate thinking about it. It seems like ever since coming back from Estir, things have gotten worse.

"Well, you're not the one with the massive memory loss and I highly doubt you ever have had memory loss like mine. So we are both just going to have to disagree since I'm not budging on my method of dealing with it," I told her.

She shakes her head at me. "But you aren't dealing with it, you're avoiding it. And it isn't just hurting you, it is hurting me and I bet your friends as well. I don't like the idea of you hurting," she said.

"Well, that's because I'm just your replacement for Nicholas! You just see me as some way to make up for what happened to him!" I snapped at her and the look at her face would make me regret my words once I was in a more calm state of mind but right now I was just irritated and mad at her for prying so much.

She stepped back from me, no longer looking at me but she held my gaze with an obvious look of trying to keep her emotions in check but failing. "You're right, I am treating you that way...but you don't have to lash your anger out on me because you cannot handle your feelings. Let's talk again when we are both in better and more calm states of minds," she said before she disappeared.

I slid down to the ground, forcing myself to calm down. And the calmer I became the more regret and guilt that I felt about how that conversation ended. Those words just came out of my mouth before I even thought about them.

But Ianite is right...at first, I was all about trying to get my memory back and helping the others to save their world...but now, it's like my priority for getting my memory back has completely vanished all because of what happened in Estir. It isn't like a whole lot of bad things happened in Estir, but it was the information load that I was given while I was there was just too much to handle and the constant nightmares aren't helping that case. I realize that I have changed a lot...but I just cannot handle thinking about the memories I do have since most of them are bad. It just seems like my life is surrounded by tragedies and misdeeds. And because of Notch, it's a life that I cannot escape from since the deity has made me immortal. So I'm going to be living in this hell forever and...I'll outlive all the others.

I never thought about that. The friendships that I'm establishing here aren't going to last for my entire lifetime, sooner or later...their time will come and I'll be left alone again. I shake my head, knowing I'm going down another dark train of thoughts, a train that Kala usually stops me from going down but since we are apart, she isn't here to stop me.

I never realized how much Kala helps me till now. It isn't just the Fyre brothers, Kala does help me. But I cannot handle thinking about my past right now, not when this world is at stake. I push myself up to my feet, not content with staying here any longer and it is getting dark. I guess I never noticed how long I had them on my tail, I better head back.

Wait...where was the lair entrance at again?