If the teens slept in a little longer than they were usually allowed, who would tell? Well, four of them slept in. Milora and Nagan, meanwhile, woke up with the sun. Not really seeing the point in going back to sleep, Nagan carefully crept over to Milora's bed, sitting at the foot of it while they talked for an hour, waiting for the others to wake up. At least this allowed them to snicker at how the rest of the squad slept.

Az had woken up when Nagan got out of the bed, but he only groaned something under his breath—something along the lines of, "You and your stupid wakefulness..."—before turning to face the wall. Deciding it was still too bright, he tossed Nagan's now unoccupied pillow over his head and promptly went back to sleep.

Gath and Aitor proved to be the most ridiculous, but neither of them seemed to mind. Or if they did, they weren't aware of it. Aitor's pillow had been unceremoniously shoved off the bed, and he used his arm as a pillow instead. Somehow, at the same time, his body curled into a fetal position with his feet most undoubtedly pressed up against Gath's legs. They didn't know how Gath didn't wake up to that, but maybe he was used to it. He did have many other siblings, after all. Gath slept relatively normally, flat on his back, until they realized he had somehow wedged his leg between the wall and the bed. His arm flung out across the unknowing Aitor.

At first, they honestly thought Carth was awake. He slept on his back like Gath, but instead of his arm flung off to the side, he had it covering his eyes. It was almost as if he was blocking out the light. One leg was bent and propped into the air, and it was this that made them think he was awake. He was not, they realized after trying to talk to him. It turned out, his leg was simply resting against the slope of the ceiling.

They were both surprised when Carth gave a sleepy reply after Milora wondered if they should wake everyone up.

"Carth? How long have you been awake?" Milora asked.

"Um..." Nagan saw Carth's throat bobble as he swallowed thickly. "Maybe a few minutes? I feel like I woke up a while ago, but then I dozed off again."

"You must've," Nagan said. "We tried talking to you, but you didn't respond."

"Oh, great. The thief's awake."

Nagan made a sound of indignation. "I gave it back!"

"Not before I noticed it was gone."

Carth moved his arm that was over his eyes, sending a small glare at Nagan. He then swung his legs over the side of the bed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He looked...tired, Nagan noted, as he watched Carth rub the sleep from his eyes with a heavy sigh.

"...Did you sleep alright, Carth?" Nagan found himself asking, surprised at the amount of concern in his voice. "Do you feel sick?"

"No, I'm not sick," Carth replied snappishly, but both Nagan and Milora knew that was a normal response. "I'm just..."

The early birds waited for Carth to continue, but he never did. Instead, he stood, grimacing when his hip joint cracked, and began waking up Gath and Aitor. Nagan moved to do the same, taking the responsibility of waking Az. He was less nice about it, however, simply ripping the pillow covering his best friend's head away. It didn't take long for Az to slowly turn, giving Nagan a murderous glare. Just a regular ol' Tuesday for them.

"Get up," he said. "We've got work to do."

"You six really are soldiers," the innkeeper said as he came around to collect their now-empty plates. He then quickly passed them off to a boy around the same age as them. The boy disappeared into the back. "So what are y'all doing out here?"

"We're here to investigate a couple strange occurrences that have been reported in this area," Gath replied. "The Council is trying to keep us away from the front, you see, but we're here because they need more people there. With us younger Dragonmages, we can take care of the more minor problems while more efforts can be put towards the front. Have you heard anything strange, by any chance?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, I had Old Gamger—one of the farmers that regular this tavern—complain to me about strange people snooping around the outskirts of his farm. He didn't want to look into it, he cares too much about his head to try anything daring, but he swore up and down that they were up to no good. It wasn't like it was on his land, though, so he didn't really tell anyone until now when we had another stranger pass through."

"What did the strangers look like?"

"Dunno, he didn't say. As for the final stranger, I didn't see him in person, but they said he was a dark fellow. I doubt he had anything to do with the first strangers, though. People just don't like people with dark skins here since the War of the Millenium and all, and not to mention now this war. People's minds just don't change that easily. I, however, am grateful for all strangers who keep my business running."

Gath didn't really know what to say about that. "Ah, well, that's good to know. Can you tell us where that area is? I think that'll be a good start to our investigations."

"Oh, sure, I can do that." The innkeeper turned and called to the back. "Boy!"

The same teen from before appeared at the doorway, drying his hands with a towel. "Yes, uncle?"

The innkeeper waved him over. "Forget about the dishes. I need you to lead these folks to the Sunglare Circle."

The teen didn't look at all upset at the fact that he didn't need to do the dishes. "Yes, sir."

The sun was high in the sky by the time they got to a clearing between the trees. Nothing unusual stood out to them at first. Red, orange, and yellow leaves scattered the ground, dulling grass swayed in the wind, and the air was damp because it had rained a little that morning. But as they got closer, the young mages began to realize why certain people may have been interested in the area.

The clearing was in a perfect circle, and there was no evidence of trees ever growing in the space. The ground was completely flat and free of roots. Whether or not it was because the trees had been removed long ago, they wouldn't know, but that wouldn't explain why no other trees had grown since then. And more than that, the closer to the center their eyes traveled, the more decay they saw. Only dirt laid in the middle.

"No one step in the circle," Carth commanded, but it was more to the innkeeper's nephew rather than the rest. The mages had already taken a step back. "Aitor, follow me. Nagan, you and Gath circle the other way as Aitor and I go right. None of you enter the circle until I say so, even if you see something. And Icarion, I want you and Milora as backup if anything were to happen. Are we clear?"

He received a variety of positive responses, and they each split off to do as they were told.

"What's so important about not stepping into the circle?" the innkeeper's nephew asked. "A lot of us come here to play football after the adults shoo us off the streets. As far as I know, nothing has happened to us."

"Nothing that you know of, at least." Az turned to look at the nephew. "Do you mind if I scan you for anything? Nothing too invasive, I'll just need to touch your upper back, but I just want to make sure nothing has attached itself to you or if you're missing something. Have you been feeling odd at all lately?'

"I don't think anything is different?" He glanced at Milora. "Will I have to take off my shirt?"

"Not at all. Is that permission for me to scan you?"

"I mean, I suppose it wouldn't hurt." The nephew paused after angling his back to Az. "Unless it will."

Az muttered an incantation before placing his hand between the nephew's shoulder blades, his hand glowing a soft green. The nephew twitched when he felt Az's hand, but he soon relaxed.

"Does that hurt?" Az asked. He knew it wouldn't, only if he was realigning circuits, which the nephew didn't have in the first place.

The nephew shifted a bit more before stilling. "...No. But it kinda tingles. Is that normal?"

No. "Yes." He must be nervous. Az tried not to shudder after being met with no magical circuits to be seen. He had worked on many mages, but never on mediocres besides what he read in books.

Milora, thankfully, drew the nephew's away from him, allowing him to focus on making sure the other was actually ok.

"Why did your uncle call it the Sunglare Circle?"

"Oh, that's just what we've called it for years. Since it's just outside Old Gamger's property line, he's always told us stories to try to scare us from being here. He doesn't like the noise. But he would say things like strange lights would shoot out of it at night or the rays of the sun would come down and grab us if we entered, dragging us to be burned in the heavens. Not that we actually believe that sort of thing, but we actually think it got its name from a mage that came by here centuries ago. Nothing much more than that."

"Hm..."

Milora jumped when a green vine suddenly shot out into the field. The nephew saw it as well, and Az had to grab his shoulder to keep him from jerking away.

"What was that?" the nephew exclaimed.

"Probably just Aitor," Az explained hastily, barely holding onto his concentration. "He's probably checking the reaction of the area using something sentient but non-living before one of the others starts walking around."

"What?"

"Never mind, but I assure you, nothing bad is happening."

They all watched—Az less so—as Carth cautiously stepped into the circle, giving a few small bursts of magic to test the air. Nothing. Carth, however, furrowed his brow. He then looked ahead across the clearing.

"Drae vak!"

A red beam crackled across the field, but it fizzled out before it reached the trees. Someone yelped behind the treeline before a long line of foreign curses rang into the air.

"What the hell was that for, Carth!" Milora heard Nagan shout from somewhere in the woods. There was another red light behind the branches before fading.

"Just testing something. I'll tell you later," Carth called back nonchalantly before focusing his attention on something in the dirt.

Not much happened after that. Carth continued to study the ground, later waving over Gath to join him, while the rest of them stood by. Minutes went by, and even Az had long been done with scanning the nephew. Nothing was out of place, just as he had hoped, meaning that whatever was happening here wasn't affecting the locals. Az, however, couldn't help but feel that the air was somehow...different here. He couldn't deny how his circuits felt almost sluggish, but there was a part of him that felt almost rejuvenated. Almost as if—

Az straightened. "Carth!"

Carth jumped and turned to look at him, fumbling with the pencil that he had since pulled out along with a notebook. "What?"

"Can I come out there for a minute? I think I know what this is."

"Yeah, sure. I think we're drawing the same conclusion, anyway."

It only took a few seconds for Az to stride into the clearing. "Carth, I think—"

"That there's no magic here?"

Az blinked, staring at Carth in alarm. "What?"

"You first."

"Well," Az took a second to pull his thoughts together. "It's not as if there isn't magic here, but I would determine it as if it's been exhausted if that makes sense. Although, there's actually a fair amount of Infiniti magic here."

That caught Carth's attention. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It's almost as if normal magic is less here—if that's even possible—but there's a large amount of Infiniti magic here." Az grimaced. "But I can't access it, unfortunately. I haven't found my affinity yet. We might need to request a fully trained Infiniti come here instead if we prove that the Kinsmen have been here."

"I think we have most of our proof right here."

Carth motioned to the circle around them, the part where no grass grew. Nothing really stuck out at him, at first, until he realized there were strange patterns in the dirt. It was almost as if someone had carved into the ground a bit ago, but it was recent enough that they could see it at all. It was a miracle they could see it, even, after most of it had been washed away in the rain or trampled over if what the nephew said was true.

"Are they runes?'

"I think so. None of them are clear enough to be sure, but I can make a couple guesses on what they represent." Carth snapped the notebook shut before tucking it back in his pocket along with the pencil. "Let's gather everyone up."

With a wave of his hand, Carth motioned for all of them to meet back where Milora and the nephew sat. However, once he got there, a rustling to his right signaled to him that a moderately angry Time Mage was approaching.

"What were you trying to do?" Nagan demanded.

"I was testing something," Carth replied, doing an almost placating gesture to calm Nagan down enough to actually listen to him. "There's something muting magic in this area. Did you see how a basic drae vak didn't even reach you when it should have?"

Nagan paused and his fists uncurled at his sides. "I thought you ended it early."

"No, I fully intended it to reach you."

Nagan bristled once again. "You were going to hit me for the sake of discovery? What if it actually did?"

Carth rolled his eyes. "You had your shield up and would've been fine. Do you want to know what's out there or not?"

Nagan grumbled something under his breath, but he complied and stayed quiet.

The teens listened as Carth explained what they saw and what he thought the runes said. Expulsion, draw out, and what may have been either light or transform were the clearest ones, leaving others that could've meant things like void or fade. Either way, none of them sounded good. If anything, when combined with how their magic was visibly weaker when that should've been impossible—environment wasn't supposed to affect your magic unless you were an Infiniti—something just didn't seem right. They couldn't really confirm anything, however, unless they had a real Infiniti with them.

"But that's still not gonna be enough to actually get someone out here," Nagan said. "Something strange is going on here, and I don't want to give the Council any reason to brush this aside."

"I-I-I ag-gree. M—Maybe-be there's-s s-s-some—one el—lse here?"

"Someone...else to talk to?"

Aitor nodded. "I-If they've n-n-n-not-ticed any-any-anything-g."

"My uncle probably knows more people who can tell you something," the nephew offered, having been largely silent during the conversation. "He knows a lot of people and has heard many things. People like to talk when drunk."

"I mean, we don't have much else to do besides that," Gath said, shrugging before turning to Carth. "What do you think?"

Carth nodded. "Let's go back to the inn."

•______________________•

Me, 2am in the morning: Please...just end the chapter and let me rest, I'm begging you—

My brain: and tHeN—