When Ray started hearing the beginning of Van's story, he had a hunch. Only he was hoping it wasn't true. The person Van was talking about was Gary's sister. The same Amy Ray had met back in the village.

The first person to have treated him like everyone else, and in a way, it was Ray's first friend. When Ray heard the name come out of Van's mouth he didn't know how to feel.

When he first found out about Amy's death from Gary, he always thought if he had met that person, he would immediately get his revenge.

And apparently, here he was talking to that very same person. Right now, though Ray just felt confused and conflicted. He had promised the Queen he would protect Van and at the same time, he had promised Gary to help get his revenge.

Either way, it was too soon to decide what to do and he would just have to listen to Van's words and hear him out.

"Hey Nes, what's wrong,

" Max asked as he could see Ray just staring at the ground.

"Did you know her?

"

"No, I thought I might have done but I don't.

"

"Anyway things are starting to make sense,

" Said Max.

"I remembered an incident involving Amy, but when things happened everyone was told to keep their mouth shut. To not let word get out about it outside Roland. In the end, it was quite lucky that it happened to a family with no backing.

"

"Lucky.

" Van croaked out with tears in his eyes.

"What was so lucky, she was unlucky by the fact she had met me.

"

Max felt bad about what he had just said, he had forgotten that this Amy person had meant a lot to Van he had loved her. The crying was awkward and Max looked at Ray for help but when he looked at Ray even he seemed to be acting strange.

A few moments later and Van manged to recompose himself to continue the story.

"The incident, everything had happened in the practical assessment. For the practical assessment, groups were formed up in teams of five. The assessment was only for the lower-class students so Blake would be unable to protect us and before we had left on our journey, he had wished the two of us good luck. The assessment teleported you to a hunting ground that at most was meant to contain intermediate beasts but we were unlucky that day and somehow an advanced tier beast had appeared. Amy was skilful in magic, she was the strongest one out of all of us there, she had managed to do a lot of damage but the beast was still too strong and in the end, I had decided to help and step in, and that was when I had made the biggest mistake ever.

"

Max looked slightly confused, he had no clue where this story was going to go.

"I cast magic and destroyed the beast when I shouldn't have, we should have just run away and waited for the teachers. After the beast had died that's when they had come, another three of the same advanced tier beasts. In the end, Amy cast a protection spell and encased us in a gold bubble, it trapped the four of us inside. The bubble was practically unbreakable but she remained outside. I had to watch her getting ripped to shreds with my own eyes while we remained safe in the magic she had cast. Eventually, the teachers came and dealt with everything.

"

"Wait you can't say it's your fault then.

" Max blurted out,

"The beasts killed her not you, I understand why Blake would be upset with you because you promised to protect her and maybe you blame yourself but accidents happen.

"

Honestly, although Ray was upset that Van had lived while Amy had died, what Max said was true. The story so far had nothing indicating that Van was at fault. Ray couldn't help but think there was more to the story.

"But It is my fault and to explain I would have to go back to the start, you see, ever since I was younger, I had been called a freak. My magic you see, is cursed. There was a reason why I had never ranked up with Blake and that's because I never once used magic during out tests. When I was younger, I had quickly found out for some reason my magic seemed to attract beasts.

"

"I've never heard of such a thing.

" Said Max.

"It's true though and I hadn't told anyone,

" Van replied,

"There is something else you guys need to know. The truth is I'm the prince of Alure kingdom. The first son of the Queen.

"

Max once again nearly fell out of his seat hearing these words. There were just too many surprises in one day for the young lad.

"When I was younger and practised magic in the palace, beasts would come out of nowhere and attack the palace but my guards would always be there to protect me. I found this out myself fairly quickly. When I did, I banned myself from using magic hoping to one day find the cause. I was adamant about coming to Roland, the top magic academy in the kingdom. I had heard of a mad professor that dabbled in forbidden magic hoping he might be able to help me but he had already left the academy when I arrived.

"

"So when you killed that beast in the assessment, you think it was the reason why three more had appeared?

" Max asked.

"I'm positive.

"

The group sat in silence for a while, Max was trying to take in all the shocks he had received and Van had become depressed after telling the story, while Ray was deep in thought.

He wanted the revenge of Amy to be easy, as clear as night and day. If someone had just killed her for a petty reason then he could get his revenge but it was much more complex than that.

Ray had also never heard of a case like Van's before were using magic would attract beasts but at the same time, it didn't seem he was lying.

In fact, Ray was more inclined to believe he was telling the truth. The divine being was also looking for Van and so was the shadow. The reason must have been linked to Van's magical powers.

There was also only one person Ray could think of to talk to this about and that was Lenny, judging by Van's story the mad Professor he was talking about was Lenny. He was the only one well known enough for practising forbidden magic.

With everything said and done. The lunch bell had rung indicating it was time for the three of them to head back to class. They sat in their seats as usual and waited for the professor to enter the room but instead of their homeroom teacher Del, this time Springett had entered.

As soon as she did, she couldn't stop staring at Ray and Ray couldn't help but shake this bad feeling he had about what was about to happen.