Night fell upon the forest and the cottages were covered in darkness. Toan and Jinyu looked out into the darkness of the woods from their front porch. Toan spoke softly, breaking the stillness of the night air.

“Looks like Solaris and Ellie have both fallen asleep.”

“So it would seem. I honestly didn’t expect to meet Solaris again. How long has it been since all of this began?”

Toan leaned back against the house, seemingly deep in thought. “Well, it’s been around 5 or 6 months since we first met him and Romel, and they saved Ellie. It’s been 10 years since we met, and 11 years since I first learned of the legends of the extinguished races.” He finished with a sigh and smacked his forehead. “I was actually planning on taking you on a trip. We were supposed to arrive today actually.”

“A trip to where?”

“Just south of Allongade, the academy. Our unexpected visitor kinda forced me to forget. Don’t tell me you forgot…”

“Of course I didn’t. Our anniversary is tomorrow. I doubt we can do anything special though with company around.”

“Well, in either case, we can still see that place. It’ll just be more of family thing now I suppose. It’s kind of fitting in a way.”

“How so?” Jinyu questioned.

“Well, that place is where it all began, or should I say where ‘we’ began. Going there now as a family with the man who saved our daughter, and who is a member of a lost race, just puts things into perspective.”

“Indeed it does. I still remember the first day I set foot in that place…” Jinyu looked at the sky, as if in a daze, remembering the events of a decade ago.
 
At the insistence of her parents, Jinyu had enrolled as a student at Allongade Academy of Magic and Science, a prestigious elven institution of higher learning. She thought the name was a little unnecessary, considering ‘magic’ was a ‘science’ and they were regarded as one and the same.

She was to take courses on intermediate magical arts, which wasn’t something she was particularly fond of, but was the best of all the options she had there. After a bit of fumbling around for the appropriate area, she stumbled up a young male elf…

“You look lost” the man approached politely.

“It’s my first day here, and I didn’t come earlier to get acquainted with the place, so I suppose I asked for it.” Jinyu replied coolly

“Well, I came a couple of days ago to familiarize myself with the places I would be. Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

“It’s not like I’ll get anymore lost than I already am. I’ll gladly accept the help”. She told him the name of the area she was going.

“Oh, that’s right next door to where I’m going. At least you came somewhat early, or you’d be late. I’m heading there now. It’s a bit of a walk, but you’re more than welcome to join me.”

“Oh, thank you Mr… I don’t believe I got you name.”

“Oh, my apologies. My name is Toan.”

“My name is Jinyu. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Toan responded with a nod and smile, and the 2 went on their way towards their respective classes. They arrived with only a couple of minutes to spare, which was just enough time for Toan to fumble around with a question:

“Are you free after your lessons? If so, you wouldn’t mind going to lunch would you?” he stammered while shuffling his feet.

“Let me guess, you want to help me find where the rest of my lessons are? That’s fine, and yes, I’m free after this lesson. Shall we meet up here?”

Toan was astonished that he actually got a favorable reply, as he simply nodded and stared. Jinyu smiled and walked off for her first day of class. They would later meet up for lunch, and have light conversation. Of course, Toan made it a point to tell her where her classes were, if he knew himself. The places the 2 of them didn’t know of, they found together, and parted ways for the day.

Every few days, they would meet up and have lunch or dinner, as well as discuss the progress of their studies. After a while, they started studying together, and some months later, she was able to practice some of the more ‘harmless’ spells she’d learned on him. This was part of the subject of one of their conversations.

“You know, with you practicing healing magic on me, I must say my health has been quite good.” Toan laughed.

“Well, if it wasn’t, either you would be unspeakably ill, or I’d just be failing that miserably. I know my studies aren’t exactly progressing well, but I’m not that bad.” She giggled in reply.

“Well, I’m sure you’re doing better than me. I’m having difficulty simply staying awake in the history class I have. They are talking about extinct races, such as Flame Keepers and Moon Guardians. It’s not like I’ll need to know these things, since they are extinct. I however must admit, from what I was awake for, those races are extremely powerful. What could’ve caused their decline?”

Jinyu raised an eyebrow. “My father mentioned something those people once. I don’t exactly remember what it was he said, but it filled me with awe. Maybe we should check the library and see what they have on those cultures.” Toan answered with his now customary nod.

Over the next few days, they spent sizable portions of their free time in the academy library, sorting through the various books, finding all they could on the lost races. Then one day, they noticed something amiss.

“You know, I can’t find the last 3 books we’d found on the Flame Keepers.”

Jinyu tilted her head, as if in confusion, yet returned an understanding look “I know what you mean, seems all the materials on the Moon Guardians are disappearing as well.” They sat in silence for a moment before overhearing a conversation between some of the library staff.

“I don’t like the new headmaster. He’s strange, and some say he’s with a dark cult.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. My question is why he ordered us to remove the books on the guardian races.”

“Beats me. We’d best just do as we’re told.”

Toan and Jinyu looked at each other briefly, got up, and recovered as many books as they could about the Flame Keepers and Moon Guardians, and tucked them into their bags. They avoided the range of the staff and took their leave, quickly heading to any place other than the library.

They made it to their usual meeting place, a café on campus, and checked the contents of their bags.

Toan spoke solemnly. “You know, you didn’t have to steal the books too”

She gazed at him and replied “You didn’t have to steal them either. They were going to be destroyed. I think you know, just as well as I do, that something big may be going on here.”

Toan could do nothing but nod in agreement. They parted ways that night with their ill-gotten gains from their library visit, each leaving several books of the 2 races at their homes.

Several days passed and they were never questioned about the books. They even returned to the library to secure any other books they could find, eventually learning that some of the most knowledgeable books of the races were moved to an ‘administration only’ section of the library. After resolving that they had done all they could, they stopped visiting the library altogether.

Not long after the library incident, the students noticed minor changes in their studies. Topics such as history had their scopes narrowed, as if almost to hide endeavors and occurrences in other cultures and groups. This upset Toan, who’d decided to attend to expand his overall knowledge of other people. The scope appeared to be narrowed to contain things that he simply already knew.

Likewise Jinyu noticed that the courses on magical arts changed as well. The focus shifted from the balanced learning of various elemental magic, to a less-than-slight shift towards the dark arts. This terrified Jinyu, who was not accustomed to the higher level dark magic, nor the various effects it had on things, whether it succeeded, or failed.

The pair had become much closer than their initial meeting, and teased each other often, with occasional flirting mixed in. They shared many things, including their stories and opinions. It was a given that they would share their grievances about school with each other.

They met at their café and ate lunch, while discussing the unpleasantries they experienced over the previous days. They decided to discuss their complaints with the headmaster, however, they were not at all prepared for what they found.

They approached the main building where all of the campus officials were. The building was normal enough, aside from the slight feeling of dark energy which an experienced mage could detect. Neither Toan nor Jinyu had the required level of magical awareness to notice, so they entered, unaware of any danger.

The feeling inside was much different than that of the outside. The friendly and pleasant administration they’d become accustomed to over the last year and a half or so had been replaced by rude, ominous, and far more unsightly beings. Though they were still human in appearance, they seemed to have personalities more befitting of goblins or orcs. Their twisted humanoid figures were clearly the result of overexposure to, or accidents of, advanced and dangerous dark arts.

This very sight made Jinyu tremble and Toan cringe as they made their way towards the center of the building. They passed through the long, darkened hallways as chills ran down their spines. Jinyu shivered, taking Toan’s arm and leaning on him for support. The pair walked on, amidst the curious and questioning stares of the administration. Despite the stares they were receiving, it seemed nobody had the intention of stopping and asking them what it was they were doing.

The closer they got to the doors of the headmaster’s office, the more danger they began to feel. The sense of a presence around them was noticeable even to those without magical awareness at this point. They came to the tall, beautifully engraved double doors that marked the entrance to the chamber. The gaps of the doorway flickered with an eerie purple light as Toan slowly raised his hands to push the door open.

The door slowly parted ways just slightly, creating just enough of a gap for the 2 of them to peek into the room. In the room stood a shriveled, elderly looking creature, amongst various magical artifacts and settings. In the back of the room was a shrine with various markings and symbols. Jinyu recognized some of the symbols from the previous weeks of classes; it was suited for specialized communion spells.

The figure stood slouched over the shrine which had a large pot-torch on either side, which was the source of the flickering purple light. From the figure, the voice of an old man could be heard, muttering some ancient text of some sort. Jinyu again recognized a portion of the words spoken and let out a gasp which seemed to reach the old figure’s ears. The figure turned around, revealing the face of a man who shouldn’t be as old as the voice implied. “Who’s there?!” the voice croaked.

Toan and Jinyu instinctively took a few steps backwards. Toan then grabbed Jinyu’s hand and turned to run. “We’re leaving”. They turned tail and ran as fast as their elven legs would carry them, appearing as little more than a passing blur to those caught off guard.

They quickly escaped the building and took refuge behind the menus at their favorite café.

“What… was that?” Toan whispered from across the table. Jinyu was still trembling as she searched for words to reply. Toan moved over to her side of the table, placing his arm around her. She calmed down a few moments later and was finally able to answer.

While still hiding behind her menu, she whispered “It was a spell to check something’s alignment to a certain magic type. In his case, it was most assuredly dark. Based on the level of complexity of the incantation he was reciting, it must be something quite large. It was as if he was checking the magical alignment of a region or continent.”

“I have a feeling that this place isn’t exactly ‘safe’ anymore.” Toan muttered. He then turned to the waiter who was waiting patiently, albeit with a curious look, and order 2 glasses of herbal tea.

Their tea arrived minutes later as they continued their conversation with a tone that was just above a whisper. “I don’t think I can stay at this academy anymore” Jinyu muttered.

“I can’t say I disagree with you.” Toan replied. “I won’t be able to sleep well here at all. I’ll be leaving tonight most likely.”

Jinyu glanced over at him. “Me too, but I can’t exactly return home to my family after having dropped out. I don’t know where I will go.”

“You could… come with me…?” Toan babbled as he looked down at his tea.

“Hmm, I just might.” She replied with a smile. “But first, I need to steal another book from the library.”

“Eh?” Toan scratched his head as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door, leaving him with just enough time to leave the money for the tea behind. After a very brief trip to the library, in which Jinyu stashed 2 books in her bag, they took their leave. They each went to their own room and gathered their few belongings, the largest of which seemed to be the books they’d permanently borrowed.

The pair vacated the academy that night, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and that place as they could. Some days later, they found a cottage not too far from where they found themselves living currently, and settled there for a few years. During which time, Ellie was born. They would eventually move to the Xine village, where Ellie would grow up, and eventually be saved by some people who would have a large impact on their futures, and the fate of their world.