That light was so intense that the entire dormitory was illuminated in an instant.
The Magic Guide Spirits sleeping soundly in their little beds were startled awake almost simultaneously.
One pair of nimble eyes after another snapped open, heads turning toward the desk.
The commotion in the bedroom stirred Dark from his hazy sleep. He barely managed to pry his eyelids apart, only to be blinded by the piercing glare.
"What's going on?"
Once the initial confusion passed, Dark snapped alert and sat halfway up.
The source of the intense light was obvious. Once his eyes adjusted to the glare, he could see at a glance the Magic Guide Card standing upright on the desk.
"Drifloon?"
Dark's heart leapt. He immediately threw off the covers and got out of bed.
The early spring night was cold, but fortunately his pajamas were thick enough.
He stepped into his slippers and reached the desk in just two or three strides, his hand reaching for the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
The quicker-reacting Magic Guide Spirits scrambled off their beds one after another. Gatomon even snatched up her sword and leapt down, a mere afterimage flashing past before she was already at Dark's side.
Behind her, Sylveon and DemiDevimon arrived in succession, watching that glowing Magic Guide Card with considerable caution.
The surge of magic power radiating from within that Magic Guide Card gave everyone an extremely bad feeling.
It was at that moment that Dark's fingers made contact with the Magic Guide Card.
Yet in that very instant of contact, it was as though he'd been electrocuted—his fingers snapped back violently. "Sss!"
"What happened?" Gatomon flipped up onto the desk, asking urgently.
Dark's gaze darkened slightly, but all he could answer was, "I don't know." He truly didn't.
"Drifloon's" transformation had come without warning, and the touch just now had yielded no useful information whatsoever.
The face of the "Drifloon" card was a sheet of blazing white, revealing nothing at all.
If it had been "Leomon" that changed, he might have had some clue.
Thinking this, he suddenly noticed that Leomon was anxiously watching from inside its Magic Guide Card, yet had not gone into voluntary dormancy the way "Meowth" had.
"It's alright." Dark reassured Leomon, adjusting the angle of the stand slightly so it could see the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
Then he summoned the "Magic Guide Scribe" and had it use Normal Summoning to summon "Leomon."
He himself drew out his Mana Pen, preparing to probe further.
"Mya!"
"Busy busy!"
"Ba-chi ba-chi..."
All the Magic Guide Spirits gathered close, watching the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card with worry in their eyes.
Their cries made Dark all the more cautious.
He infused only a thread of magic power into the Mana Pen and carefully approached the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
At the moment of contact this time, that electrocuting sensation did not appear.
This put Dark somewhat at ease.
He directed the magic power to flow out from the pen's tip and make contact with the Magic Guide Card.
And in that very instant, the magic power suddenly began to tremble—a faint but extremely high-frequency vibration surging back up the shaft of the pen.
Dark's eyes flashed. This time he gripped the pen tightly and poured in more magic power.
In almost an instant, that vibration was completely swallowed by the flood of magic power.
Dark successfully forced the magic power into the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
Afterward, he immediately felt a heat and softness within the Magic Guide Card, like magma.
"Driiii..."
A pained moan from Drifloon echoed back out of the Magic Guide Card.
Dark's heart pounded, but he forced himself to stay calm and continued exploring with his magic power.
Yet magic power perception was actually very hard to translate into concrete impressions. He groped around inside the Magic Guide Card for a long while, only able to sense that the environment within the card was in some extremely perilous state—like the interior of a volcano on the verge of eruption, an indescribable oppressiveness.
And the Drifloon dwelling within seemed trapped in the very center of the crater, weakened and powerless from the scorching heat and thick smoke, despairing and in agony.
"Ah!"
Dark wanted to press deeper still, to investigate the bottom of the "volcano," when suddenly a sharp pain shot back along the magic power.
He instinctively cried out and abruptly staggered back a step, cold sweat covering his whole body.
...
"Mya?"
Sylveon anxiously coiled around Dark's arm, and the other Magic Guide Spirits grew tense as well.
In battle and in daily life, they might be able to offer Dark enormous help.
But in a situation like this, one involving magic and the magic guide arts, they were powerless.
This inexplicable turn of events tonight left them somewhat at a loss.
"Eee-vui..."
Eevee tilted its head up, its little face scrunched into a knot.
By rights, it should have been the one among all the Magic Guide Spirits most versed in matters of the magic guide arts, yet even now it was utterly helpless.
This made it very distressed.
"It's alright."
Dark patted Sylveon's ribbon-like feeler, using it to soothe himself a little.
Then he pondered for a moment and murmured, "Drifloon has been affected by some special power, but I have no idea what. That power made it feel pain, fear... it made a Drifloon feel fear..."
"Let's go find a professor!" DemiDevimon suddenly said.
When in doubt, find a professor.
DemiDevimon was clearly quite adept at troubling others.
Dark looked up at DemiDevimon, and couldn't help but recall Pandora's words about "not relying too much on the professors," but he cast the thought aside without hesitation and said resolutely, "Let's go!"
...
Dark moved fast. Once he'd made his decision, he immediately gathered all the Magic Guide Cards into his card case, and on his way out he grabbed "[Paradise]" as well.
With no Magic Guide Spirit left to watch the dormitory, he generally wouldn't leave "[Paradise]" behind.
After tucking "[Paradise]" into his card case too, Dark took his Mana Pen and the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card, quickly changed his shoes, and headed out.
Behind him, the Magic Guide Spirits all swarmed out in a single rush.
Magic Beast: Ditto transformed into a half-humanoid shape, cradling the Trash Slime.
The "Magic Guide Scribe," floating in the air, held the "Leomon" Magic Guide Card pressed between its pages, still summoning.
Gatomon and Sylveon guarded Dark's sides, one on the left, one on the right.
The rest of the Magic Guide Spirits followed behind.
"Ba-chi ba-chi."
Shuckle cried out fretfully.
Dark reached out with a beckoning gesture and drew it back into its Magic Guide Card.
And so this whole family set off in a grand procession toward the stairwell.
"But which professor should I go to? Or would it be better to find Sister Carian?"
Dark deliberated as he walked, quickly descending the stairs and arriving at the common room.
The magic lamps in the common room sensed his arrival and lit up automatically.
Without pausing at all, he swiftly crossed the common room and reached the door, then... suddenly realized it was already the dead of night!
"What time is it?"
Dark whipped his head around to look at the clock on the wall.
The clock's hour and minute hands nearly overlapped—there was hardly any time left before the twelve o'clock curfew.
His expression changed at once, and he yanked open the great door of the tower.
"Creeeak!"
As the door opened, the night wind howled inward.
A few of the Magic Guide Spirits quietly shivered.
The Feathered Serpent Golem guarding the tower snapped its eyes open in an instant, an eerie glow welling up within them.
Feeling the Golem's gaze, Dark raised the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card slightly and said in a low voice, "Going to find a professor. Emergency."
The Feathered Serpent Golem's gaze flickered faintly, and it actually closed its eyes slowly.
Dark immediately let out a sigh of relief and charged out across the bridge in great strides.
He knew that after curfew the Feathered Serpent Golem still would not let him back in, but midnight hadn't arrived yet, and this was merely going out—there was room for negotiation.
As he walked, he observed the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
The light this Magic Guide Card released was no longer as intense as before, but the frequency of its flickering had grown very fast, giving off a sense of great urgency—as if something were brewing, and if he couldn't respond in time, the future would become irretrievable.
This made his sense of urgency grow heavier and heavier.
From being jolted awake by the sudden burst of intense light while asleep, to now walking out of the tower, not much time had actually passed.
He was practically acting on every thought the moment it came, with little room for deliberation.
"Sister Carian, Professor Silf, Professor Lily... Professor Kazel it is!"
At the most urgent moment, Dark ultimately chose Professor Kazel.
He picked up his pace and rushed toward the dormitory where the professors lived.
The cool wind howled past both sides of his body. The castle, near midnight, was terrifyingly quiet—if not for the many Magic Guide Spirits following him, it would have made one's hair stand on end.
"Beep—"
"Unauthorized unit detected!"
"Executing arrest!"
The "Heavy Cavalry" Golem that suddenly appeared ahead made Dark frown.
"Gato—"
He was about to order Gatomon to end it quickly, when a violent gust of wind suddenly swept past his side.
Leomon, only just materialized from the summoning light, surged forward with ferocious speed.
"Leave it to me!" Leomon's steady, dependable voice rang through the passage.
Dark abruptly ducked his head and dashed swiftly through the gap.
That "Heavy Cavalry" was instantly tackled to the ground by Leomon!
...
Before long, Leomon returned to the formation.
Its magic power had not diminished by much.
But whether it had smoothly crushed the "Heavy Cavalry" or merely thrown it aside, Dark did not ask.
There were no more obstacles on the road ahead. Just as he was about to reach the teachers' dormitory, the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card he'd been holding all along suddenly underwent a strange change.
The originally white light gradually kindled into a blood-red hue and began to converge toward its center.
By the time he reacted, the light emitted by the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card had already become a crimson pillar of light, as thick as the mouth of a bowl, shooting straight at the wall!
...
Dark halted in an instant. He followed the pillar of light with a hesitant gaze toward the castle wall, then quickly moved the Magic Guide Card and found that as the light pillar shifted, it always pointed in the same direction.
"Is this... guiding me toward some place?"
Dark's gaze sank, and he poured magic power into his fingertip.
The familiar "electrocuting sensation" swiftly came, but with a single exertion of force he crushed right through it, once again probing his magic power into the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card.
Yet this probing brought a sensation utterly different from before.
Gone was that pre-eruption heat and pressure; instead there arose a warm, comforting softness, as if he were in a mother's embrace—a touch so gentle it made one unable to resist a feeling of longing, sinking into it.
And the Drifloon within the Magic Guide Card...
seemed like an infant curled up in swaddling clothes, eyes closed, sleeping soundly.
...
From dire agony to comfortable serenity in a single instant.
The change between the two was so drastic that Dark even began to doubt his own perceptions.
The crimson pillar of light was gradually fading, but if he sensed carefully, he could still feel the guidance of the magic power.
He looked at the direction the pillar of light pointed, then glanced at the teachers' dormitory beneath the pitch-black night, and suddenly realized that the main event of Easter had probably truly arrived!
But what exactly was that "main event"?
And what did it have to do with "Drifloon"?
Why would the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card produce such an anomaly?
Dark abruptly turned his head and continued rushing toward the teachers' dormitory.
Whatever this thing was, discussing it with the professors would surely yield more clues.
He wasn't afraid of taking risks, and he was also very good at "watching the drama unfold."
If this matter hadn't posed any threat to "Drifloon's" safety, he might have followed the guidance of that pillar of light and gone off to explore alone.
But there were no ifs.
As he thought this, Dark had already arrived before the teachers' dormitory.
But just as he was about to take the next step, his whole body suddenly froze.
Because this footstep—no matter what—simply could not be taken. Something formless blocked his path, utterly sealing off any possibility of his advancing further.
"Gatomon!"
"Understood!"
The instant the words were conveyed—
Gatomon gave a soft cry and drew her sword from its sheath.
The cold light was clear and chill as water.
Her eyes focused intently. She brushed aside the Magic Guide Spirits around her and shot forward in an instant.
Drawing on the momentum built up from her charging stride, she brought down an astonishingly powerful sword strike with tremendous force upon the empty air.
"Bang!"
A thunderous sound rang out.
The air ahead suddenly trembled.
Ripples surged across the formless wall.
Dark's expression turned solemn as he discovered that the wall of air blocking his path, in the section where the ripples radiated, had formed an inwardly curving arc.
Rather than a wall blocking the front of the teachers' dormitory, it seemed more like a spherical barrier enveloping the entire castle!
And the dormitory building where the professors lived just happened to lie outside the barrier.
The sword strike Gatomon had brought down upon the barrier left not the slightest trace upon it.
Dark's heart sank rapidly.
"Within this castle, what on earth is happening?"
...
Looking down from the highest reaches of the sky.
Moonlight bathed the castle, with only a few spots showing a hint of distortion.
Not just the teachers' dormitory—all the dormitory towers had been shut out beyond that formless barrier.
The only tower that lay within the barrier was the Spiral Clock Tower at the very center of the castle.
The enormous hands turned clockwise within the clock face.
The friction of the gears grew ever clearer in the utterly silent night.
Atop the Spiral Clock Tower, having parked her pumpkin carriage at its summit, was the witch—the Guide of Fate, the Diviner of the Starry Eyes, the Witch of the Silver Moon, Medea Bartholomew—who was drawing back the curtain and leaning half her body out of the carriage window, gazing down at the entire castle with keen interest.
In her eyes the silver moon was mirrored, its radiance glimmering.
"Medea, is it about to begin?"
Another voice came from within the carriage.
Medea Bartholomew narrowed her eyes slightly, savoring the caress of the breeze, intoxicated in the throb of the night.
Her voice was as bewitching and alluring as ever.
"Yes. The axle of time and space has already begun to turn."
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉