partnership

After going through the portal, Riven put his armor set and everyone's weapons back into the system. He realized he didn't have much space left—only around ten slots remaining. Five of those were taken up by meat from the Aurex planet. he didn't even know if it was still fresh or not, but he kept it just in case.

"So what exactly is our plan?" Jude asked through the telepathic link, his voice nervous.

"We'll meet this headmaster. Plain and simple," Riven replied.

"Yeah, but a couple problems with that. One, what if the person doesn't want us to leave? We can awaken someone with one potion, and with a million units, we could make a lot of them. Two, what if they ask for our identities? It's not like we can just escape from here," Jude pointed out.

The group took Jude's words into account. Then Riven spoke up.

" if the academy comes looking for us We can just say they kidnapped us. We can have the others vouch for us, say they saw us get taken and were too scared to say anything."

"That could work, but it's not a guarantee," Jude said.

As they got closer to the massive black tower, they stopped at the doorstep. A man opened the door, letting them in. The group of five was shocked to see gold everywhere—gold desks, gold phones, even gold couches.

"Geez, talk about too much money," Leo thought, and everyone heard him through the link.

They approached the golden front desk.

"Hello there. How may I help you today?" the woman asked.

The black-haired man who seemed to be the leader stepped up and said a random assortment of numbers, just like he did on the phone. The woman made a quick call. On the other end, the man told Phineas about the group of five, that they were the ones selling the awakening potions. Phineas immediately asked to see them—but he wanted to see them alone, without others present.

The black-haired man led them to an elevator. Like the ones at the Academy, this one teleported them straight to where they needed to be. The group appeared in a well-lit room, with glowing gemstones instead of regular lightbulbs.

"Hello there. I don't know your names, but my associate said you go by The Glitched Society, was it? Well, I'd like to welcome you to the Storm Guild," said a yellow-haired man with a wide grin. This was Phineas.

Originally, Phineas was going to have his alchemists try to replicate the awakening potions—but now that the real creators were here, he no longer needed to.

"My associates also told me they saved you from being captured by the Ascension Group. Now, I don't know why they were targeting you or what they wanted from you, but I do know this—you can be very helpful to our guild with those potions."

Phineas, who had been behind his desk, suddenly blurred forward—blowing past the group, yanking off all their hoods—and then flashed back to his desk.

"What the—? You're a bunch of kids?" he said, confused. "You shouldn't even be here! Judging by your age, you should be at the Academy."

Riven then summoned Jordan's, Leo's, and Tessa's weapons.

Phineas raised a hand and waved it quickly.

"No, no, no! I don't want to fight. Not that you'd win—but still, I don't want to fight kids. What I do want is a partnership. But before that… how in the world did you escape the Academy without being spotted? And what are those cloaks that hide your face and voice?"

"Shoot… what do we do?" Tessa asked.

"The guy seems to have good intentions, but we can't take that for granted," Jordan replied.

"I mean, he already knows what we look like. The worst already happened," Leo said.

"No, the worst hasn't happened. The worst is him knowing our names," Jude added, glaring at Phineas.

"Yes, we're from Sigil Gate Academy. And yes, we found our own way out." As Riven said that, he pulled a portal crystal from his system space.

"Riven, what are you doing?" Leo asked through the link.

"I know what I'm doing," Riven replied back calmly.

Phineas watched intently.

"A portal? Where did he get that? No—real question is: where did it come from? It just appeared out of thin air. Did he create something that lets him store items? Is that his evolution?" Phineas wondered.

"We won't reveal who we really are. But if you want a partnership, we can provide one—under a few conditions," Riven stated.

"Okay, fine. Let me make the first rule: you give us as many of those awakening potions as you have, every month," Phineas said confidently.

"Okay," Riven replied. The group knew he wouldn't give them all of it, just a decent supply.

"Rule two: we can come through this portal whenever we want. You will keep it safe. If you give anyone unauthorized access from this side, we'll cut ties—and trust me, you can't make us." Riven reply.

"Okay. Rule three: you must always keep me informed about what's happening at the Academy every three months. Yes, I already have a spy there—but they might not know everything."

"Rule four: every month, you'll provide us with 200,000 units. You'll find a way to make it happen."

"100,000," Phineas countered.

"150,000."

"130,000."

"Deal."

"Deal. Now—I'm not letting you go immediately," Phineas added.

Leo and Jordan tightened their grip on their weapons.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're going to be part of the Storm Guild. You need to be here for now. Plus, I still need to give you your 130,000 units—and you need to give me awakening potions," Phineas said with a nonchalant smile.

"We never said we'd join your guild," Riven responded.

"Well, if your portal's going to be here—and if this is going to be your safe zone—then you are going to be part of this guild." Phineas was blackmailing them for membership.

"Tch. Fine," Riven muttered.

"Good. Now come with me," Phineas said, walking toward the door with a hop in his step.

As the man opened the door, the group put their hoodies back on—still unwilling to expose their faces to just anyone. He led them to a nearby apartment building and into a specific room.

"Emmett! You in there?" he called out.

"Yes, sir, Phineas," answered a boy who looked about the same age as the group.

"This is Emmett—my spy at Sigil Gate Academy. Truthfully, he was supposed to report today, but now that you're here, I can get an even bigger picture of what's going on."

Emmett and the group explained what happened on the world of Aurex—but they carefully left out certain details. Unfortunately, Emmett himself had been there during the werewolf fight. He knew about Joey's new power, and about Riven, Jordan, and Leo's involvement. He didn't know they were the students, but his words made Phineas's eyes harden.

"Darius… that fool. He knows what he did was wrong. Because of him, they'll most likely want those kids," Phineas muttered. He didn't mean for the group to hear it—but they did.

"Who are they?" Jude asked sharply.

"They're a group that neither you nor I want trouble with. Luckily, no one can tell who you are under those hoodies, so none of their spies should know you're here."

"Umm, sir… who exactly are these people?" Emmett asked.

"Oh, right." Phineas started closing the curtains.

Leo had already activated his Mute evolution the moment they entered Phineas's office.

"Take off your hoodies. If you don't—I'll do it myself."

Reluctantly, the group pulled off their hoods. When Phineas and Emmett saw their faces, Emmett immediately dropped to his knees.

"Thank you so much for saving my life. If it weren't for you distracting those wolves… I wouldn't even be alive," he said, bowing deeply.

Riven asked him to stand, and he did.

"Mind explaining?" Phineas asked.

Emmett described the students who held off the wolves—and defeated them.

"If that's true, then you kids shouldn't be here. If they find out you're with me, I'm in serious trouble. My guild is in serious trouble," Phineas said, pacing.

"They won't know we're here," Riven said confidently.

"How can you be sure?" Phineas shot back, getting aggressive.

"We stay in a training room. There's no supervision. We triple—no, quadruple—checked. No cameras. We also have people covering our tracks." Riven said knowing that Wren, Joey, and Nico are the one's who are especially careful

Phineas stared at him for a moment, then sighed.

"Fine. I'll believe in your confidence. But if anything happens, you five are out of here—and the portal is getting destroyed. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Also—add this one to your group. Since you're all going to be spies for the Storm Guild, you'll need to know each other. I trust Emmett not to betray you. His family's wealth depends on his loyalty. And if he betrays us… well, he knows what'll happen." Phineas said coldly, staring at the boy. Emmett looked away.

"Can you get another one of those hoodies for Emmett?" Phineas asked.

Riven huddled with his group, blocking the others' view. A cloak appeared in his hand, which he passed to Emmett. The boy quickly put it on.

"Hmm. That's helpful. I might need some of that too," Phineas said with a grin. "Now, there are two things I want to do with you five. First—I want to see how powerful you really are. We'll run some combat tests against other guild members. Don't worry—I know they aren't spies."

"And second," he added, "we're going on another outing."

"An outing?" the group echoed.

"Yes—an outing. What, you thought your school was the only place with portals to other worlds?" Phineas said, smiling wide. "Now let's head to the combat area."