"I think it will be fitting," Vitaly said. "If it's you who draws the magic circle in the Stars Room. After all, you're the one who wrecked the ceiling last time."

I took a white piece of chalk and drew the circle like Vitaly explained. Sadly I wasn't the best at drawing geometric figures, but the result was not too bad. It closely resembled a circle, and it was nine feet wide.

Vitaly opened up a book and showed me some symbols. "Draw those symbols here, from number one to number nine," he said. "In the same position as the stars you see on the ceiling."

Well, that was one mystery solved. Now we finally knew what the Stars Room was for.

"We have a Hierophant," Jeff said, thrilled, looking at the circle. "A Jurist, and an Englightener. We only miss an Aeon."

"That would be me," Vitaly said, embarrassed. "I am an Aeon."

"So you're non-binary?" Raegan asked, impressed. "Can you create the Void?"

Vitaly hated to be bothered by impertinent questions, so he waved away those matters with his hand. "Brady and I will help Jeff and Raegan space-shift and then the three of you can enter the portal," he added.

"Seriously?" I scoffed. "I don't even get to do it?"

"Well, it's never been said we need one of each. We can have two Hierophants I guess," Brady said, which didn't make me feel a lot more useful.

"So, are we leaving this afternoon?" Jeff asked.

"No you're not," Vitaly replied. "This afternoon you're going to the herbalist's shop."

"I've been there before, to buy roots of panacea, but won't the owner report to my grandfather I went there?"

"If your grandfather hasn't come back to school to check on you," Vitaly said with a cold look in his eyes. "It's only because I sent him letters that faked that you were staying at Thomas Johnston's. You're welcome."

"You know how to fake the President's signature?" Raegan asked, eyes wide. "Can you take me off the Hand-list?"

"I'm there too, what's so bad about that?" In Vitaly's eyes, there was a mischievous gleam. "But first things first. Go to the herbalist shop and ask for the things I reserved last week. The owner, Annika Smirnov, is a friend of the family. Russian side."

When we left, Raegan said, "You know, when I lived above ground, it used to snow this time of year. I wonder if it's snowing now."

"Aw, shut it," Jeff replied.

"You know," she bit back, "You should be grateful. I've changed a lot, lately. A few months ago, I would have never thought I'd be about to space-shift with the two of you instead of showing up to the annual Winter Reunion of the Magic Senate."

"You did change," Jeff replied wisely. "A few months ago, you didn't even shower. Perhaps you would have made a different impression at the Reunion."

Raegan rolled her eyes but she didn't look offended. I high-fived Jeff.

"I can't wait to find the old woman's shop," Raegan only mumbled.

We did find the shop, but Annika wasn't old at all. She had elfin features and I couldn't really tell if she was young, or the same age as Vitaly, or neither. She had high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes and pale pink hair. She smiled at us.

"Come in! I have a few products I want you to see."

Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger, I was in a tiny shop underground waiting to receive samples of magic potions that could cure the wounds I might get during my first quest the day after. I loved my life.

The shop seemed to be Annika's house. There were tables, chairs, even a fireplace. Annika made us sit near the fireplace.

A woman sitting on a couch with a tiny black cat in her arms jumped up to greet us.

"Hi, I'm Karine," she said. "I'm Annika's wife."

We introduced ourselves to Karine.

Annika came back from the warehouse and showed us a few ampoules.

I grabbed one that contained something yellow and sticky.

"That is an antidote against the wounds of nature that belong to other worlds," she explained. "After all, you're going to change the world, as I heard it. Your quest will be in another dimension."

Then, she showed us an ampoule containing a dark blue liquid. It was the same colour as her eyes.

"This cures most wounds. It won't make you impossible to kill, but almost... pour it on the body part where you were wounded and this will heal it nicely."

"I thought panacea could do all of that and more," I said.

"Panacea can cure you mostly from diseases, like cancer for instance," Jeff explained. "Or wounds that are not so deep. I'm sure the liquid in this ampoule works better on the deep wounds, the ones that would fester if you don't cure them."

I was starting to feel nauseous, though I'd never admit it. Why couldn't this be a quest where you used intellect instead of strength? Not that intellect was my forte. It was just how I'd told Edgar — I relied on it, but it betrayed me. My hyperactive mind was too overcrowded and I lost focus too easily.

The Reapers still hadn't found us, technically, but they would eventually. And there was more — I'd tried not to think about it, but there's only so much time you can keep the thought that you're about to enter a new, unknown dimension away from your mind.

"This one can be useful too," Annika said, showing me another ampoule. It was enough to get my feet back on earth.

Whatever the third ampoule contained looked slimy and green.

"This can give you your energy back," she explained. "Physically and Spiritually. Use it when one of you has no strength to go on."

At first I wanted to make conversation with the two women, but I was starting to get anxious. However, we thanked Annika and Karine from deep in our hearts for the ampoules they gave us.

Since there were three ampoules, we decided to keep one each. I stuffed the one with blue liquid in the pocket of my military jacket, hoping not to break it.

When we left the house, Raegan said, "Well, that was reassuring. Let's hope everything goes well."

"She seemed like a good friend of Vitaly," Jeff commented instead. "Assuming our teacher didn't pay firsthand, she gave us everything for free."

That evening, Edgar was sad and withdrawn. It looked as if not going to a quest he'd been selected for was making him lose his mind. I knew him well enough, by now, to know how sad he was that he'd messed up.

I wondered why he wasn't even talking to me, when recently he had begged me to come back, and asked me to do the blood bond. He had probably been half crazy from exhaustion.

Still, he had meant it. And that had changed things between us in ways I was just beginning to understand.

He finally approached me after dinner. "Ryan..."

"Of course I'll be back," I smiled. "If I'm not back, it means I failed everyone. You know I could never do something like that."

He looked puzzled for half a second. Then, he smiled, a little mockingly. I felt my heart roll over in my chest.

"This wasn't what I was about to tell you, but nice try," he replied. "I was telling you that I finally managed to convince Vitaly to go with you."

"One goodbye less," I said, and in that moment, a weight on my chest lifted. "I hadn't noticed it before," I added, surprised. "I wasn't afraid of the quest. I was afraid of goodbyes."

"Do you really think that we have to say goodbye to them?" Edgar asked. "To Vitaly and Brady?"

"I don't know. What made them change their mind, anyway?"

"I told them the truth of my magic and Vitaly says they're confident that now my magic isn't tied to anyone, anymore."

"They?"

"Vitaly uses neutral pronouns as well."

"I'm happy you're coming along," I said.

"Are you? Really?"

"Well, yes, I mean, now you made me scar my hand for nothing," I grinned and stroked the scar on my palm. "But at least I don't have to say goodbye to you. It wouldn't have been easy. You're not easy... To talk to."

"So is it my fault? That you can't find words?" Edgar asked, but his own voice broke mid-sentence.

"Hey, what do you think of this rule?" I asked. "There will never be a goodbye between us, because we will always come back."

"Come back... from what?"

"From everything they put us through," I replied.

"I didn't know we were friends, Griswold. But I like that rule, so I shall keep it."

"Hey, I told you. I am not your Griswold."

"I think I have to decide. You should have thought about it when you decided on the nicknames."

"Hey!" I repeated, this time louder. "I would have never, ever named myself after a stupid literary critic..."

At that moment, Vitaly Malinov opened the door to our room. "Griswold and Poe," he said, to my humiliation. "Come to the Stars Room where we can space-shift."

Everything was prepared for the quest. We were wearing some of the best clothes we had at the Academy and we packed others. We had food and drinks, though Vitaly insisted that we could probably find ways to eat and quench our thirst even in the other worlds. Brady, however, was not convinced, for he said that other worlds tended to be uncharted territory.

"We will tell you a few more things," Brady started out. "First, your ability to create portals will be required, Raegan!"

"Yay! I can finally make myself useful!" she squealed. I wondered when my turn was going to come.

"A portal, in fact, would help you get anywhere in this world, right?" Brady continued. "It works for other worlds too. Not in the sense it gets you between worlds — only space-shifting does that. But in the sense it can get you from one place to another even in a different reality."

"That's good, we might need that," Jeff muttered.

"And I did want to tell you something else about the future," Vitaly said, looking into my eyes. "Since I know the most curious out of you cannot fathom how you can both live in a world where we cannot tell the future, and in a world where there were such a thing as divinations."

Edgar held up his hand like a nosy student. "You said it yourself that there are rules the destiny follows and quests represent cyclical phases of tropes and..."

"Yes and no," Vitaly cut him off. "You're of course, mostly right. But there is actually an old story, from Set and his siblings, about a divination, and I'd like to tell it to you."

"Not another story about Set!" Jeff complained.

"Really?" Raegan arched an eyebrow. "Really, Jeff? Even now that we're about to go look for the Enemy Mirror?"

Jeff shrugged, still not too convinced.

"This story is a prequel to the Enemy Mirror," Vitaly continued. "It's called The Two Faced Prophecy.

Before Asclepius found out about the Enemy Mirror, Tyr began to grow suspicious of his brother Set, whom he thought would one day kill him. He travelled and found, at last, a reality where someone could tell the future. The name of this person was Avos and she wasn't happy to help the god. However, despite her fears, Tyr showed her how his powers helped balance the world. His power was justice, not goodness, but it was close enough in that time and age.

Figuring that she was doing nothing wrong, Avos told Tyr that he would not be killed by Set. Instead, one day, he would kill his brother.

That was the truth, according to her. She saw in her vision Tyr's quest to find something or someone that helped him defeat his violent brother, and she saw this outcome. But remember, Asclepius hadn't found out about the Enemy Mirror yet.

Then, Asclepius found out about the Mirror. The story tells that that same night, Avos had another divination in a dream and saw Tyr die by Set's hand. She couldn't understand how this could be, for she did not know that in the meantime, the object was retrieved by Set himself who, looking inside of it, saw Tyr as his biggest enemy and killed him. There were two possible outcomes — like Schrodinger's cat. But the Enemy Mirror made the other one become true."

We all stayed silent for a while. I thought it was a good story. I liked all of Set's stories. But this time, it occurred to me that, perhaps, those were a little more than stories. I mean, if the Enemy Mirror was real, what else could be real?

"This is a profound and reasonable explanation," Edgar said. "Thank you for telling us, teacher."

"Call me Vitaly," Vitaly replied. He was never exactly impressed with Edgar's politeness. I was — a little. Mostly, I asked myself why it was only me that Edgar liked to taunt.

"Now," Vitaly added. "Step on one of the symbols Ryan drew."

"Next time," Edgar muttered. "I hope we get someone who doesn't have a shaky hand."

"Hey! My hand wasn't shaking."

"So this chicken's scrawl is your usual penmanship?"

"Shut up, the two of you!" Brady told us. "The nine symbols represent air, light, darkness, death, rebirth, balance, fire, water and earth. Jeff, stand on the symbol for the air. You, Raegan, will take balance while Edgar takes light, Ryan takes darkness, I take rebirth and Vitaly takes death."

"The most important two," Vitaly said. "Because they literally mean death and rebirth of the particles in the two universes we're crossing. I gather you can imagine we could be up to nine, though we're not."

The symbols weren't easy to decipher — they all looked very geometric. However, mine was Edgar's opposite and he, quite obviously, found his in a matter of minutes.

"So," I asked. "What do we do?"

"There's a Mudra for it," Vitaly said, and showed us.

When the six of us gathered in the positions and performed the spell, I understood quite literally why it was a kind of magic that required deep knowledge of the dark arts. Spells are physical too — hunches, body pain, anxiety... all of those things mattered. So I took it as the real deal when I felt a shiver unlike any other run through my body, and I had the peculiar sensation that the universe, as it was, was splitting in two. A part of it that was right, and that I wanted to keep living in a while longer, and a part that was just bad.

"Your guesses are right," Vitaly told me. "If you hadn't learnt how to master black magic, then you wouldn't have been able to separate the two realities. And if you don't separate it, no one knows what you will bring to the other world."

"And which world is it?" Raegan asked. "Do we visualise it?"

"You have to visualise the world where you could find the Enemy Mirror. If it works, then it will lead you to the right realm."

"Is it that easy?" I asked. However, I had my doubts it would even work — it probably wasn't as simple as it looked.

When Vitaly gave the sign, the six of us concentrated on our respective spells. I felt a head-splitting headache. Looking around, and seeing the pained faces of my friends, I could tell I wasn't the only one.

Then, I found myself in a different place.

At first I thought the spell had already worked, but then I noticed my friends weren't there with me. For some reason, I could tell I wasn't lost. It felt...

Well, it was a stupid thought. But it felt as if it was the inside of my brain.

"Who's to say that it's not?" I wondered aloud. The place had water everywhere, but my feet weren't wet. I decided not to get bothered about the details.

And then, I noticed that it was a library. The blue-ish shelves were full of blue-ish books. I tried to grab one, but the moment that I opened it, it closed back again in my hands.

"You're not supposed to read that," I heard Vitaly's voice say. "There are things we don't have to know forehand. Don't worry — your brain will get there when it needs to."

"What the hell are you saying...?" I asked, but the library disappeared.

I was back in the Stars Room, and in the magic circle there were two worlds.

What I mean is that there was a planet-like sphere that looked just like a miniature Earth, and another where the green and the blue were all wrong. And they were juxtaposed.

"What do we have to do?" Jeff asked. "Do we jump into that other world?"

"Wait for it," Brady said. And as he finished speaking, the strange Earth merged with the one we all knew, and it was the only holographic image in the circle.

"There's no need to jump, as you aptly put it," Vitaly added. "You'll get to that other place in no time. We call it KI."

Of course it had to have a name. Vitaly had been there before. It only made sense that he had catalogued this new world.

"Can you tell us a bit about it?" Raegan screamed. It was hard to hear over the buzzing noise that the holographic image made.

"It doesn't follow the same rules as Earth, but thankfully it's pretty close," Vitaly replied. "So it makes sense that you will sleep, eat and drink. It also makes sense that you'll get tired, be able to use your magic and there is gravity."

"Well, that's more than I was expecting," I said, the anxiety lifting off my stomach like a heavy load.

"However, it won't look like anything you've already seen, and you'll notice it soon enough," Vitaly warned. "It looks like... like some fairy tale village, it's a way to put it. But it's obviously much bigger than that. And technology doesn't work there, but it's not a problem for a common Enchanter. However, Barnes, I hope you weren't bringing your phone."

I huffed. "Of course I wasn't going to," I lied. I took my phone out of my pocket and I threw it out of the magic circle.

"Had you made any single mistake and let that thing end in the circle," Vitaly pointed out. "Consequences would have been irreparable."

And then, I understood what Vitaly meant about white and black magic. I'd never thought of the universe as good versus evil. Actually, I always believed in many shades of grey. However, at that moment, I could feel two forces swirling around me, one that felt just, good and just... right. The other force felt destructive, terrible and purposeless. I decided to banish it. I could feel that my friends were doing the same.

"Had you never learnt black magic," Vitaly said. "You would have never been able to control it."

I felt myself disappearing, and wished that Vitaly had at least told us some kind of 'good luck' or gave us other precious advice.

But then, the Russian Enchanter did say something, under his breath,

"I hope you remember every story of Set and his siblings. You're going to need them."