It was mid afternoon and another hot day in the beast glades as Arthur and his friends rode back into the outpost they started from. It had been nearly a week since their final dungeon, and Claire and Lilia were driving the wagons up to Feyrith's uncles business to return them.

The ride back to the outpost was nothing less than peaceful, with them completing a few small ingredient quests along the way to get a little bit more fun in. After Claire regained consciousness, she was very surprised to see her uncle sitting beside her, while she rested in an actual bed at the Inn, several hours after they exited the dungeon. Kaspian had been told in great detail everything Claire had done and accomplished over their travels, and felt no greater sense of pride in his niece for how far she had come.

After returning the beast's and wagons they all made their way through the outpost to the teleportation gate as a wave of nostalgia came over them as they remembered how they were last time they were there. Yes it had only been two months, but they all felt they had grown tremendously in that time, although to everyone else they still looked like a bunch of kids. With the exception of Arthur and Elijah, they all originally felt that the beast glades were a terrifying place, where just stepping foot in there was a danger to their lives. Now however they realized that despite the dangers it held, there was also a beauty in the untouched wilderness.

Where when they began they were all teens wearing armor and having their weapons out at the ready, they were all now wearing more comfortable clothes, with their weapons in their dimensional rings. Although for some the change was a necessity, as Kathyln's dress had two slashes down the back, essentially making it only trash now.

Even though everyone felt they gained something from this time in the beast glades, Arthur felt he gained the most. He had finally unlocked sound magic, he had made memories with his friends that he would treasure forever, and he opened his heart to Tess, something he would never have been able to do as Grey, only more so distancing himself from his past self.

As for his sound magic, unlocking it was one thing, being able to use it was another. As lightning and ice magic were at first, his sound magic was unstable and difficult to even try to use. Unfortunately school was still out for three more weeks, so using the academy library to teach himself about sound magic was out of the question. He had considered asking director Goodsky for help, seeing that she was a sound mage herself, but he quickly dismissed that idea, as every time he tried to get her help with something she tried to use it as leverage to get something out of him, and the last thing he wanted was to owe her anything. Ultimately he decided on reaching out to Pasta Bloom. Seeing as the retired Lance seemed to like him the last time they met, and because he was also an augmenter, Arthur decided to write him a letter asking for some insight into sound magic that could give him some better control, and sent it off as soon as they arrived at the outpost.

The friends entered the teleportation gate without issue, since they don't check Adventurer cards on the way into Xyrus, and were within the city where they left from. Not much to their surprise, there was a Sapin royal carriage waiting, to their surprise, there was also another.

"Prince Curtis, Princess Kathyln, welcome back to Xyrus," a guard said as he bowed.

"Thank you," Curtis replied, "what's with the carriages?" Curtis was pretty sure he know what was going on, but decided not to assume anything.

"All I've been told I can say is that they are for you and your friends," the guard replied with a smile.

"Well, at least we don't need to worry about getting a ride home," Curtis replied, and everyone began loading into the carriages, with a third special one they didn't notice just for Grawder, that looked like a fancy wagon without a cover.

The carriages rode through the city of Xyrus, showing people going about their daily lives. Arthur sat sideways in his seat so he could look out, as Tess was beside him doing the same. She decided to then lean back into Arthur, who to Tess' delight, wrapped one of his arms around her waist and held her. Curtis and Lilia were riding with them, but were seated normally. Seeing Art and Tess like that, Curtis decided to wrap an arm around Lilia's shoulder and pull her in closer.

After a little while the carriages finally stopped at the Helstea estate, but not at the front door to the home. The doors to the carriages opened and they all started climbing out.

"WELCOME BACK!" All of their parents and a few others yelled in unison.

They were all so happy to see their families again, and all split up to go see them. As Arthur walked to his family he remembered Elijah and looked for him, not wanting his best friend to be alone. He was surprised, and happy as he saw him giving a hug to a burley, elderly dwarf, that stood just a few inches shorter than him, who Arthur could only assume was his guardian Rahdeas.

"Welcome home Brother!" Ellie cried out as she suddenly took him in a tight hug.

Arthur quickly raised a wrapped cloth to avoid it getting crushed by the hug.

"Welcome home son," Rey greeted as he tousled Arthur's hair.

Ellie then released Arthur as their mother came in and held him in an even tighter embrace. "Thank you for coming home safe."

"Art, what's in the cloth?" Ellie asked as she saw it moving on its own.

"I was thinking of giving it to you as a late birthday present," Arthur replied, almost teasing.

"Brother dear," Ellie said, sounding as sweet as can be.

Arthur laughed a little then gently placed the cloth in her hands. It was heavier than Ellie expected, but she still held it carefully, and began to remove the cloth.

"Awww, it's so cute!" Ellie exclaimed as the little bear was revealed. "Is he really mine?" Ellie asked.

Before Arthur could answer the bear's eyes began giving a faint gold glow as it stared into Ellie's eyes as it bonded with her. When the glowing subsided a golden emblem signifying their bond appeared on her collarbone.

"Looks like he decided that himself," Arthur replied with a chuckle.

"What are you going to name it?" Alice asked with a smile as she watched her daughter cuddle the small beast.

Ellie held him out and stared at him for a moment as she tried to come up with a name.

"How about, Boo!" Ellie announced with confidence. Boo gave a little howl in approval.

"Boo?" Arthur questioned as he remembered the beast's he fought that were probably its family.

"Well just look at him," Ellie stated as she held Boo out to her family to see his face. "Doesn't his face just look angry? Grrrr."

"Ok, Boo it is," Rey said as he and the rest of his family chuckled a little.

"My, he looks like he'll grow to be quite big," Director Goodsky said as she walked over. "I'll have to make sure we'll have plenty of room for him."

"What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked as he tilted his head slightly.

"Oh dear, did I come too early?" Director Goodsky said as she put the tips of her fingers over her lips, as if she said something she shouldn't have.

"Brother, do you notice anything different about me?" Ellie asked, directing his attention back to her.

"Hmmm."

Arthur looked deep in thought as she looked at his sister. He had already noticed what was different, but why say that right away.

"Did you get taller?" Arthur asked as he patted her head. "Or perhaps it's that you're doing something different with your hair." Arthur tousled her hair a little.

"Hey!" Ellie swatted his hand off her head.

"Hahaha," Arthur laughed. "Congratulations on awakening."

"Thank you," Ellie replied with a proud smile.

"Yes, it was quite unexpected. To think she would awaken at nine years old," Director Goodsky said, sounding amused as she shook her head. She then looked at Rey and Alice. "It seems Leywin children awaken early." She then looked back to Arthur. "Unfortunately this happened just a week ago, and it's too late to enroll her in my school."

"It's ok Ellie," Arthur said as he gave his sister a side hug. "This way when you do go you can already be ahead of all the first years."

"My thoughts exactly," Goodsky exclaimed. "Even though Xyrus Academy has to for Eleanor, she shouldn't have to wait for Xyrus Academy."

"What? I don't follow," Arthur questioned.

"I've simply decided that since Eleanor can't attend my school this year, I will instead provide her with a tutor to give her a head start," Director Goodsky explained.

"That seems awfully generous of you," Arthur commented suspiciously.

"Arthur!" Alice scolded.

"No no, with our dealings this past year Arthur has every right to be suspicious. However there is no need this time. I'm simply looking out for dear Eleanor here," Director Goodsky said in Arthur's defense.

"And why are you doing that?" Arthur asked.

"As Director, part of my job is to look out for the well-being of my students. You have created quite the reputation for yourself as quite a prodigy, and I have no doubt that people will be looking at Eleanor the same. I just want to take some of that pressure off of her," Director Goodsky explained.

"I see. Well I am concerned that a tutor could expect the same from her, and push my sister too hard," Arthur replied in concern, sounding more like a parent than a brother.

"I considered that." Director Goodsky then smiled. "So how would you like to be her tutor?"

"Me?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes you. You've already proven yourself as an exceptional teacher, and as of now I have no need for you to teach any other classes. This way you can ensure that Eleanor progresses at a good pace, without any unneeded pressure. I'll even give her limited access to the school grounds, as well as send her a carriage, so she can come to you on the days you decide to work with her."

"Please big brother," Ellie begged.

"What the hell? I'm not her parent? Why is this pressure being put on me to decide?" Arthur thought to himself.

"Ok Ellie, I'll be your tutor," Arthur conceded.

"Yay!" Ellie cheered as she gave her brother a hug.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I've given my disciple enough time alone with her family, so I should welcome her back as well," Director Goodsky stated then walked off.

—————————————————————

"Curtis, Kathyln," Priscilla Glayder said warmly as her children approached her with her arms outstretched. "Welcome home," she said as she hugged them both at the same time and kissed their cheeks.

"Goodness, look at you two," Blaine said as he hugged his two children after they were released from their mother. "I know it's only been two months, but you two look like you've grown so much."

"And who is this?" Priscilla asked as she looked at the little blue fuzzball of a bird eyeballing them all from Kathyln's shoulder.

"Mother, Father, this is Llyr and he's an ice falcon. Brother gave him to me as an egg after he and Lunaris defeated the boss from our second dungeon."

"You defeated an ice falcon? Nicely done," Blaine said to Curtis with pride as he patted him on the back. "Wait, Lunaris? Markus Aldwynn's son?"

"That's him. Apparently he and two of his friends were doing the same as us, and we ran into each other," Curtis replied.

"Speaking of Lunaris," Priscilla said as he pulled out an envelope. "This arrived for you yesterday, from Lunaris." Priscilla said as she held out the letter to Kathyln, while giving a small teasing smirk.

Kathyln quickly took the letter from her mother and put it into her dimensional ring. "Thank you mother."

"Anyway," Blaine said as he decided to draw away from Kathyln's unusual behavior. "Son, why don't you tell you mother and I about your battle with the ice falcon."

Curtis regaled his parents with the story of how he and Lunaris took on the ice falcon, leaving his father seeming like an excited child.

"How exciting," Blaine exclaimed. "I can't wait to hear more of your summer adventures."

"Maybe we can get the others and tell all the parents together," Curtis suggested, feeling a little embarrassed by all the focus being placed on him.

"Of course, of course. Different perspectives can make a story even more exciting," Blaine replied, eager to hear more.

"I hate to take away from you both, but I just realized something peculiar," Priscilla said, diverting attention away from the kids. "Did something happen to Arthur? I can't sense his mana core anymore."

"Oh yeah," Curtis chuckled nervously as he imagined how his father would react. "Umm, he made it to the light silver stage."

"What?!" Both parents said in complete shock.

"That was my reaction too. Apparently he got this elixir from somewhere and used it before our last dungeon dive," Curtis explained.

"An elixir?" Blaine said in confusion as he turned to look towards Arthur.

"Father no," Kathyln said almost sternly, brining Blaine's attention back to his daughter. "Arthur can't get more, nor can he get the person to make more. We already asked." Kathyln said in a partial lie. Technically, even though she and the others never asked, they already knew Arthur would have given them each one if he could, or would have at least told them where to get their own.

"I see," Blaine replied as he looked back to the Leywin family as elder Virion and Alduin walked up to them, Merial and Tess close behind.

He kept it contained, but Blaine's rage was building towards the Leywins, the Eraliths, and the Wykes. The artifact that brought the lances to the white core stage could bring any silver core mage to white, but their end strength was dependent on how strong of a silver core mage they were. At the time of the final decision to unify the continent was made, Varay was already at the white core stage, and was considered as the strongest of all the lances, since she was so powerful at the light silver stage. However Barion had only just recently achieved the mid silver stage. Blaine had no intention of using the artifact on Barion until he reached the light silver stage, or there was need for him to become a white core. The Wykes family however didn't agree with this plan, and highly pressured the king, saying having two humans at the white core stage would be an excellent show of strength when standing beside the other two races. This pressure continued for weeks before Blaine relented and used the artifact on Barion.

Now seeing that Arthur was at the light silver stage, and there ultimately was still no real need for Barion to be at the white core stage yet, he became internally furious when he saw the Eralith family being very friendly with the Leywins, as Alduin still had an available artifact.

—————————————————————

"Tessia my baby," Merial cried happily as she took Tess into a warm hug.

"Mother," Tess groaned. "I'm fourteen years old, you can't call me a baby anymore."

"You are our precious daughter, so you will always be our baby girl," Alduin replied.

"Just like you will always be my baby boy," Virion teased his son.

"Hmm, perhaps we could refrain from calling you our baby girl, at least in public," Alduin replied, thanks to his father, he now saw Tess' point.

"Welcome back Tessia," Virion greeted with a warm smile. Tess responded with her own smile and hugged him.

"It's good to be back Grandfather," Tess replied.

As they broke the hug Virion noticed the bracelet that was restricting her core was missing. "Hmm, I see your core isn't restricted anymore."

"Yes. It was removed a week ago," Tess replied proudly.

"Well it seems Arthur worked faster than we anticipated," Alduin commented.

"Well he was my disciple working with her after all, so of course they would exceed our expectations," Virion replied with some pride in his voice.

Tess smiled at the praise Arthur was receiving from her family and held onto the pendant of the necklace Arthur gave her.

"What is that?" Merial asked as she saw Tess' action.

"Oh, umm, Arthur gave this to me," Tess replied as she started to blush, and her mother looked more closely at it.

"Really?" Virion commented with peaked interest.

"Something looks off about it, did it break?" Merial asked.

"It actually has another piece that connects to it that Arthur's wearing," Tess explained as her blush intensified. She knew exactly where this was going, and even though she planned on telling her family later, she had no intention of stopping this now.

"Oh," a mischievous smile formed on Merial's face. "And what does this necklace look like when Arthur's half is connected?"

"A heart," Tess answered, her excitement and joy barely being contained as she just wanted to scream that She and Arthur were dating now.

"I think I need to go have a word with my former disciple," Virion said with a smile on his face that screamed he was about to have some fun.

"I'll join you father, I feel I need to have a word with him as Tessia's father," Alduin added as he followed right behind him.

"Come on, let's go make sure your father and grandfather don't make things awkward for you two," Merial said as she and Tess followed right behind them.

—————————————————————

The reunions of all the families progressed, and all of them were given a rare opportunity to see their friends' families for the first time.

Thanks to Lilia keeping in touch with her parents, they were aware of Theo joining them, and invited his parents as well.

It was easy to pick out his family, as his father looked as solid as granite, with a short military style haircut, and scars of his face, showing despite being a noble, his strength and skill was forged through battle. When Theo greeted him he stood only a few inches shorter than his father, and instead of a hug they took each other's hands. It at first seemed as cold way to greet family, but upon closer examination one could see this was no ordinary handshake, but a test of strength. They both squeezed each other's hands, trying to make the other release first. Theo's father's face remained stoic and unchanging, but after a few seconds a proud smile formed on his face, and he broke off the test and pulled his son into a firm hug.

His mother was quite the opposite of Theo and her husband. She had long blonde hair, a delicate frame, and stood nearly a foot shorter than them. After breaking the powerful hug with his father, Theo bent down and gave his mother a much more gentle hug, almost as if a normal hug from him could break her in half. Next came his little brother, who looked to be about Ellie's age and only a few inches shorter than his mother, and longer blonde hair pulled back like Arthur's but only tighter. The younger brother punched Theo in the stomach, resulting in Theo rubbing his stomach a little before they too shared a hug.

Feyrith's father and little brother were the only ones to greet him, no one knew why his mother wasn't there, but neither would they ask. Looking at the three of them was like looking at Feyrith's past present and future self all at once. His little brother looked much like he did when he shared a carriage with Arthur to Xyrus but with slightly shorter hair. While his father looked like what you would imagine Feyrith looking like in twenty years with his long hair pulled back into a loose ponytail.

Lilia's father of course hugged his daughter as tears of joy ran down his face, while her mother remained much more composed.

Claire's father was very composed and looked almost identical to Kaspian, but without glasses. He gave her a gentle hug while giving her a proud smile. Her mother on the other hand looked like she was just tolerating the dress she was wearing, and based on the scars that could be seen on her arms, would have much rather been wearing pants and armor, with her bright red hair flowing freely instead of held back in a braid. She hugged her daughter firmly, and instead of just a proud smile she voiced her pride openly.

After the teens were welcomed home everyone took a seat as the teens told them all about their adventures. Blaine made sure to sit by Rey, who also had Alduin on his opposite side, leaving him feeling very uncomfortable being stuck between the two kings. However after a few drinks the three of them forgot all about their statuses and became like teenage drinking buddies giving over the top reactions to almost every part of the stories.

At some point while the teens were telling everyone about their summer, Arthur noticed Ellie had left with Boo. Normally he wouldn't worry too much, but with two boys close to her age there, he was on high alert.

After a few minutes scanning the room, and with some help from Sylvie, much to his horror, the young boys had appeared to have taken an interest in her. The three of them were off in the grass a little ways from everyone else. Feyrith's brother was showing off his water magic, while Theo's brother was showing off his earth magic, and Ellie looked completely amazed by what both of them were doing. Feyrith's brother reached out his hand to Ellie, for what reason Arthur wasn't sure, but before their hands could touch, Boo reached up and bit one of his fingers. In that moment Arthur felt a new found level of peace when it came to Ellie, for now Arthur knew he wasn't alone in his fight to keep boys away from her.

—————————————————————

The sun had set, and all of the families had already left with their children. In the back of the Helstea manor, Arthur, Lilia, Elijah, and Tess remained sitting around a fire pit. Tess was the only one who remained as her family left, as her parents and grandfather had an important council meeting in the morning, but promised they would come get her afterwards before returning to Elenoir together to spend time as a family. Tess was happy to have one last night with some of her friends, especially Arthur, as she would be gone for two weeks before she needed to return to Director Goodsky. She would then help make preparations for the new year as the student council President, and for her mentor to evaluate her skills and give additional training.

"Is it bad that I don't want to go back to school, and just run back into the beast glades with all of you again?" Tess asked as she leaned against Arthur with his arm around her.

"All of us?" Lilia asked with a teasing smirk. "Please, you just want to go back out there with Arthur."

Tess laughed lightly. "Well yes, but I really did have so much fun with everyone. Before Arthur I didn't really have any friends, but now I feel like I have so many. I just wish this summer didn't have to end."

"I know how you feel, but just because the summer is ending doesn't mean the fun times together have to end too," Arthur replied. "And besides, we can always do this again."

"That's right, it could be made into an annual trip for the student council and disciplinary committee," Elijah added.

"That's true, and next time would have different people too," Tess said.

"Oh that's right," Lilia said in realization. "The student council has two spots to fill"

"Two? I thought only one," Arthur questioned.

"Oh you didn't know? Clive was fired as the student council Vice President," Tess replied.

"Really? Why?" Elijah asked.

"Kind of because of Arthur. Director Goodsky got tired of him causing trouble with you and going over my head," Tess informed them.

"Oh, such a crying shame," Arthur replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, I was meeting with the director when his parents stormed into her office demanding she give Clive his position back and expel you," Tess said with a chuckle. "They actually threatened to stop pouring money into the academy if she didn't do something."

"Well clearly she didn't give them what they wanted," Arthur commented.

"Nope, she instead acted like they were annoying her and told them they were free to take their gold and leave," Tess replied, then started snuggling more into Arthur as she wrapped her arms around him. "Apparently with all the royal children going there, and the only quadra-elemental, noble families from all three kingdoms are trying to get their kids enrolled. Which means a lot of rich families are making very generous donations to ensure their kids get in."

"So no more Clive then," Arthur said with a satisfied sigh of relief. "That should make things a lot more peaceful."

—————————————————————

High above the beast glades was the floating castle, the focal point of decisions made for all of Dicathen. In the council chamber were the human and elf representatives sitting at one side of an oval table with Barion behind them. Opposite the council were the artifactor Gideon, and Lance Aya sitting beside each other.

"What is taking Dawsid and Glaudera so long?" Priscilla asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, but it seems just because they don't have any children to spend time with during this break, they think they can just make us wait," Alduin replied, annoyance clear in his voice.

"So Alduin, it's been nearly a year, when are you going to select a new lance?" Blaine asked to taunt his elven counterpart, as they were the only ones to have lost a lance.

"Oh I decided to let my father pick," Alduin replied with an amused smirk. "He's already made his decision, he was just waiting for him to enter the light silver stage before asking him, and wouldn't you believe it, he just reached it not long ago. So don't worry, we'll have a second lance again soon."

Blaine grumbled some obscenities under his breath, catching the two shots at him. The first being how Barion was made a white core too soon, the other was a hint at what they all already knew, that Arthur was their choice, and how Blaine had constantly failed to gain Arthur's loyalty.

"Perhaps we should just begin the meeting, and fill the Greysunders in later," Merial suggested, wanting to not only get to spending time with her daughter, but to also keep Alduin and Blaine from getting into an argument, again.

"Good idea," Priscilla replied, wanting the same things, then gestured to Aya and Gideon to begin.

"The tunnel your children had helped clear confirmed our suspicions. Operatives from the other continent were working in there, and worse, it appears the entire dungeon was created by them," Aya started off.

"Created it? But why? And how can you be certain?" Merial asked.

"First, are we even sure they are from the other continent?" Blaine added.

Gideon cleared his throat before speaking. "I've had some time to examine the belongings found with the bodies. Besides the fact that they were carrying some of the same exact gear found at the other suspected dungeons, there were artifacts among these. I haven't been able to figure out what all of them do yet, but one of them was identical to the suspected teleportation artifact recovered from the Xyrus Academy attack."

"As for how we're certain and why they created the dungeon, the tunnel your children went down provided all the proof we needed. Besides evidence of heavy earth mana usage, this one tunnel appears to connect to every other tunnel, and was filled with A and S ranked beasts. I believe their plan was to open this tunnel up to the other tunnels to draw adventurers in, then kill them with these mutated beasts before eventually letting them loose on the outpost on the surface. As for the why, adventurers ultimately account for over a fourth of Dicathens mages. If they were to lure them into a dungeon like this then slaughtered them all, they could wipe out a significant portion of our fighting force with minimal loss on their side, before they even send a proper invasion force," Aya explained.

The council members took a moment to allow this new information to set in, before Blaine spoke again.

"What do you suggest we do about this? Clearly we can't just leave these beasts alone."

"I recommend taking all the adventurers there, and launching a search and destroy mission. Completely wipe out all the mana beasts in the dungeon, not just the mutated ones, so they can't be used against us later," Aya replied.

The council members looked to one another and nodded in agreement.

"Very well, do what must be done," Alduin ordered.

"I also recommend we follow the same tactics with all other known dungeons," Aya added.

"All?!" Pricilla asked in shock.

"Yes. If they can not only turn these beasts more powerful and vicious, but also to a degree control them, this could become a major problem for us later down the road. It would be best to wipe them all out now before they get corrupted, and require the lances to handle," Aya explained.

"Very well. Work with the Adventurers Guild on this," Blaine accepted.

"I suggest we also assign a lance to oversee this massive operation in case a lance is actually needed," Alduin added.

Just then the chamber door swung open, as two figures walked in.

"That seems to be a sound idea," Windsom commented as he walked in, with an elderly looking man with three eyes followed to his right and a step behind him.

The two lances quickly took a fighting stance as Aya drew a short narrow sword, and Barion created a lightning spear.

Everyone in the room trembled a bit with the sight of the two men entering. If the man with three eyes wasn't enough to cause this, the ever so light pressure that was fluctuating from their cores that screamed they were holding it back was.

"Wh-h-ho are you?" Alduin asked as his voice trembled.

"I am Windsom."

"And I am Aldir."

"We are Asuras sent by Lord Indrath to guide you in the war with Aclarya," Windsom finished.

The council members dropped to their knees with their heads just above the floor.

"Bow damn it, they are deities," Blaine ordered.

Immediately the two lances and Gideon followed suit.

"Get up, there is much to do so we don't have time to waste," Aldir said as he approached the table and took a seat.

"Thank you, we graciously accept whatever aid you can offer. We apologize, our dwarf counterparts have yet to arrive," Alduin said as he and the others stood back up.

"That's because I disposed of the corrupt influence here," Aldir stated, as is third eye narrowed on the Glayders.

"Now before I take my leave and allow Aldir to begin, I need something from you," Windsom replied in a calm but commanding voice.

"Whatever you ask, we will do our best to provide it," Blaine said, sounding almost overly eager to do whatever they asked.

"Good, bring me Arthur Leywin."

Author's Notes:

Well it took a while, but my first TBATE fanfic is now complete. I wanted to thank you all for your support, especially those of you of the TBATE discord server, constantly showing interest and giving kind words of encouragement while I wasn't writing.

Now did you all catch what I said in the first sentence of my notes? 'My first TBATE fanfic'. Just because "Summer Break" is over, doesn't mean the fun has to end. Next week it will be time for "The Call to War".