Felix chuckled when he saw their expressions. He reached for the door and pushed it open.
"Come in."
The three of them stepped inside.
Felix's office was a mess.
Notes and loose papers littered the floor, some pinned together with clips, the others were half-crumpled as if abandoned in the middle of a thought.
Books were stacked in uneven towers against the walls, many left open with scribbles crowding their margins.
The back wall was completely covered by a massive board filled with diagrams, symbols, fragmented titles, and strings of connected ideas drawn in different inks.
Lines overlapped lines, forming a web that looked more like a battlefield than research.
Shelves lined the sides of the room, packed with strange equipment, sealed containers and tools Dominic couldn't name, and artifacts humming faintly with ether.
Sevran swallowed.
He couldn't help thinking that he was, in fact, dealing with someone very weird.
Dominic and Gaudia, on the other hand, looked almost energized. Their eyes moved quickly, taking everything in.
Even without understanding most of it they could tell that none of this was random. Every note and mark on the board had purpose.
These weren't a mess. This was real research.
"What is an Archetype?" Gaudia asked.
"And what do you mean by 'we're in this together'?" Sevran followed immediately with tension in his voice.
"Yeah. That too," Gaudia added.
Dominic stayed quiet. He was already involved with Felix.
Felix moved behind his desk and dropped into his chair, leaning back as he studied the three of them.
"Relax," he said. "I don't mean anything dramatic or dangerous for you."
He gestured lazily with one hand. "All it means is that you witnessed something strange. A Labyrinth creature that should've stayed dead came back to live. That makes you involved by default. Information and events, that's all. I'm not taking you hostage or swearing you into some secret cult."
Gaudia and Sevran visibly relaxed. The tension in their shoulders eased.
"But," Felix continued, his tone shifting slightly, "if you want to be involved further, then that's a choice."
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "If you work with me, you'll be delving deeper into the Labyrinth's secrets. There are weekly evaluations. Tests based on what you understand about the subjects of the academy."
The three exchanged looks. This was the first time they'd heard about it.
"The scores from that test will accumulate," Felix went on. "They matter. A lot. They affect how you graduate, where you're placed, and how the academy evaluates your worth."
Sevran frowned slightly. Gaudia's eyes sharpened.
"If you work with me," Felix said, "I'll give you lessons you won't get anywhere else. Real lessons. Not watered-down theory. Your understanding of the Labyrinth will deepen fast and that will put you ahead of most students. I can guarantee higher scores if you actually put in the effort."
That made Sevran hesitate. He had been the most opposed to getting involved with Felix, but this… this was tempting. Gaudia felt the same pull.
Whatever the reason for the two of them entering the academy, graduating with high evaluation would be important.
Dominic smiled faintly knowing that he would gain far more than just money by working with Felix.
"You don't have to decide now," Felix said. "Just think about it. For now, let's focus on this."
He nodded at Dominic's hand.
Dominic stepped forward and handed over the stone. Felix took it and turned it slowly, examining the blood-streaked surface as he walked toward one of the shelves filled with equipment.
His eyes gleamed with quiet interest.
"Let's see what kind of trouble you really are," Felix murmured to the stone.
He stopped in front of a tall metal apparatus bolted to the floor near the shelves.
It looked nothing like standard academy equipment.
The frame was made of dark steel etched with fine ether-conducting lines that pulsed when Felix approached.
Several articulated arms extended from its sides, ending in different tools. Crystal lenses, thin needles, engraved plates, and ring-shaped clamps vibrated as ether flowed through the device.
At its center sat a circular platform surrounded by rotating glyph rings that slowly turned on their own.
Felix placed the stone on the platform.
The moment it touched the surface the glyphs brightened, reacting as if recognizing something.
"Huh…" Felix muttered.
He adjusted a dial on the side. One of the articulated arms lowered, releasing a lens about the size of a palm.
The glass was layered. The surfaces of each layer were inscribed with microscopic sigils. Cold blue ether flowed into it, causing the lens to glow faintly.
Felix leaned in and peered through it. At first, he stayed relaxed, curious, and focused.
But then his posture stiffened.
"That's not possible," he whispered.
He adjusted the lens again, rotating the glyph rings faster. Ether surged through the machine, filling the room with a low vibrating hum.
Dominic, Sevran, and Gaudia watched in silence and expectations.
Felix's eyes widened slightly.
Through the lens, the stone was no longer just a solid mass. Inside it, ether wasn't dormant or static like it should be in a relic. It was moving. Circulating and having a structure.
Not randomly. It formed patterns.
Layered ether veins spiraled inward toward a dense core, folding over each other in precise repeating sequences.
At the center was something that looked disturbingly familiar for Felix.
"No way…" Felix muttered with disbelief.
"What is it?" Dominic asked. He stepped closer to the apparatus. Sevran and Gaudia followed.
Felix didn't answer.
He stood there in silence, staring at the stone as if it might change if he looked away. That silence stretched, became heavy and suffocating.
"Hey," Sevran said sharply. "Don't just stand there. Tell us!"
Felix finally turned.
The color had drained from his face. His usual easy grin was gone, replaced by something unsettled expression. His eyes trembled, not with fear exactly, but with the weight of recognition.
"It's… it's really an Archetype," he said.
Gaudia's brow furrowed. "You still haven't answered my question about it earlier," she said. "What is an Archetype?"
Felix looked at her.
The look alone told her the answer wasn't something she would like.
Before Felix could speak, Dominic did.
"It's a power that exists inside the Labyrinth," he said quietly. "Something far more dangerous and mysterious than normal ether phenomena, Signatures or Bloodmarks. Even Arcanists don't fully understand it."
He swallowed. That's what Felix had told him when they first met months ago.
Sevran and Gaudia turned to Dominic. Shock spread across their faces, their expressions blank and stunned as the meaning of those words settled in.
An Archetype.
Something even the academy didn't truly understand.
Now, somehow, it was sitting on Felix's worktable. And the three of them were involved with it.
—