Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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Suhara was sealed inside a reflective box. The substance was impenetrable, not even her yells could be heard through it. The walls slowly caved inwards, attempting to either suffocate or crush.

Frey had activated her intangibility blessing, and pushed against the silver wall futilely. It wasn't letting her in. "I can't get through this thing!"

"Hit the rock things up there!" Tricks yelled and pointed up at the sky. "If we can take em out, that might free her!"

Flames erupted from the soles of Desyi's feet. The blast launched her into the air towards the cube ghost. Her arms glowed with a dazzling yellow, and they radiated with enough heat to warm the entire crowd.

Turquoise rays of light shot out from every ghost. They struck Desyi from several angles. She wailed in agony as the energy permeated her body. The pain caused her consciousness to slip away, then she began to fall from the sky. Her arms left a trail of fire in the air as the heat enchantments wore off.

"Shit! Desyi!" Tricked yelled out with concern, and pulled her pearl wand out.

"Do not interfere," said Seventy-nine. “This is justice.”

Tricks aimed her wand at her fallen friend, casting a quick spell to catch her. Then Desyi fell onto a batch of air with a pillowy consistency.

Now that everyone had seen the clear threat of the ghosts, most of the crowd panicked. A stampede of students ran towards the rooftop doors, trying to get away from the floating shapes. People pushed and shoved, and soon began to jam up the doorway.

Rilane commanded the students to retreat calmly. Her orders were aided with a thin yellow mist that descended on the frightened children. They were still afraid, but their reckless urgency was purged by the teacher's mist.

Helanna tried to stay by the silver box, but Deledy urged her to leave with the crowd.

"It's too dangerous up here!" Deledy pushed her novi towards the door. "Get down into the school, we'll take care of it."

Norman pulled out two vials of liquid from his satchel. He swallowed the potions, and then jumped up and over the ghosts in a single leap. He ascended too quickly for any of the spirits to strike him with lasers. Two small pins on his sleeves flew out. They grew in size until they became long iron spears in his hands. When he started to fall, he thrust his gray spearheads into one of the cylindrical ghosts. The spears weren't able to pierce into the stone, but the spirit got pushed down.

The spirits aimed and fired several rays towards Norman, but the light was blocked by a white barrier. Frey had cast a protective blessing around Norman.

The pyramid ghost separated from the other shapes and flew over the evacuating students. A cloud of sharp needles formed around it, which began to bombard the roof.

Before any of the needles could hit anyone, Hawkshire stepped forth and conjured a large pink veil overhead. The needles weren't completely halted by the barrier, but they were slowed to the point where it looked like they stopped. By the time one of the needles made it through the dome, all the retreating students had already filed out of the roof.

Rilane held an oval crystal to her lips, and spoke into it. "Invasion on the roof, spirits. Seven in total."

What appeared to be liquid gold coated over Deledy. A halberd formed in her hands out of the golden substance, before she flew up towards the spirits. She hacked her weapon into the pyramid ghost, and turquoise energy began to escape from crack that was formed by the strike.

The pyramid faded out of existence, it was forced out of the mortal realm.

Meanwhile, the cylinder spirit that Norman downed was crushed under Frey's fist. It also disappeared after its defeat.

A swirling blue portal opened up. Wenlia stepped out from the portal and onto the roof. She was followed by a group of other teachers and administrators.

Rilane ran up to Wenlia and pointed at the silver box. "There's a student trapped in that structure. She’s being crushed!"

Wenlia nodded, and ran up to the reflective wall. She placed a hand against the smooth surface, trying to sense what was on the other side. "This is made with dimension magic," she said, "shouldn't be a problem."

Blue energy flowed out of Wenlia's hands. She cocked her arms back, and then stabbed her fingers into the silver box. They punctured through the substance, and she was able to tear it apart.

Suhara was gone.

“It’s empty!” Wenlia yelled out as she gestured to the empty box.

The remaining ghosts had put up silver shields, blocking the barrage of attacks that came from the teachers that just arrived. A volley of silver spears and blades started to rain down onto the roof.

“Enough of this,” said the headmistress.

A huge cluster of green strings erupted out from Helsfur’s hands. They split into a series of webs and flung themselves at the spirits. The collection of strings breezed around the silver shields, and wrapped around the stone shapes.

One by one, the rocky shells of the ghosts began to crack, revealing the turquoise color within.

“Gravity manipulation detected. Eliminate source.” said Seventy-nine.

Turquoise rays fired off towards the headmistress. Before they reached her, the turquoise light began to diffuse. The light bent and skewed, completely missing their intended target.

The ghosts started to implode. As they got omnidirectionally crushed, a final flash of turquoise burst out before they disappeared. Seventy-nine was soon the final ghost. “These hostilities will be reported to the Third.” it said.

Then after a final turquoise flash, Seventy-nine was gone.

=+=+=

Suhara was fine. She had used her black bracelet to teleport to the dorm. After escaping the box, she rushed back up to the roof as soon as she could, but the ghosts had already been terminated by the time she made it up the stairs. Her friends were relieved that she was safe, and not too surprised by how she teleported.

“I was hoping that’s how you got out,” said Frey. “Though I wasn’t sure if the teleport would work. I wasn’t able to pass through the stuff with my intangibility.”

“Who would have thought ghosts were the revenge sort.” said Deledy. “I thought that was more of a demon thing.”

Hawkshire bent over Desyi, and was healing her with a flow of pink mist. He complained to the other teachers as he was performing his spell. “How were they able to locate Miss Ballad so quickly?”

“We underestimate them, that’s all.” said Wenlia. “It should be a while before they can recover and try again.”

“For now, clean up the mess here,” Helsfur commanded. “I have a few things to attend to.”

The headmistress left through the rooftop doorway.

Once Desyi recovered and regained consciousness, the all the remaining students left the roof together.

=+=+=

Suhara and her roommates were sitting in their dorm and eating dinner. The cafeteria was filled with students who were trying to ask about what happened on the rooftop, which made having a meal impossible.

The office had left a notice for Suhara. They ordered her to stay inside the Lyceum at all times in case the ghosts invaded again.

“I can’t believe I’m stuck here,” said Suhara.

“To be fair, those things are pretty dangerous.” Desyi absently rubbed one of her shoulders, where one of the turquoise beams struck her.

“Yeah, sorry you were hurt on my account, Desyi.” said Suhara.

Desyi went up and gave Suhara a gentle hug. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“That teleporting bracelet sure is useful.” said Frey. “Nice of Rales to just give it to you.”

“He still wants you to accompany him on that research trip, right?” said Desyi. “Why don’t you go? As a way to say thanks.”

“I’m on lockdown, remember?” said Suhara, “Couldn’t go with him even if I wanted to.”

"Oh whoops, already forgot about that, still a bit woozy." Desyi laughed.

=+=+=

The Entangled Archive was a realm filled with silky webs and countless books. Arkela Helsfur sat on a pile of dictionaries, and moved pieces of parchment around a dusty table.

Marlifa hung upside-down over the table. A thick line of webbing linked the goddess's feet with the gigantic labyrinth of strings that decorated the sky.

Most people recoil upon seeing Marlifa's form for the first time. Her figure was that of a woman's, but with a few frightening alterations. She had five eyes on her face, one pair over another and one in the middle of her forehead. A sixth and seventh eye hid on the back of her neck, and she had an eye on the back of each hand. Nine eyes in total, and each one was solid black.

Marlifa's skin was light gray. Her head was bald, but a crown of webs often rested on top, which resembled flowing white hair. A dress of threads layered over the goddess's body like a skintight cocoon. Four thick gray tendrils grew out from the goddess's back, which she was able to contract into her body until they were four stubs.

Helsfur didn't mind the goddess's appearance. She had liked spiders and insects since she was a toddler. The two had become good friends ever since Helsfur took on the position of headmistress in the Lyceum.

The headmistress pulled out several crystal balls from a bag, and poured them onto the table. She picked up one of the recorded memories, and began to scribble down a few notes.

"Since Intone spotted Ballad on the first floor, heading away from the stairs, the harpy is likely located somewhere down there." said Helsfur. "Let's work back from that."