Nathan blinked his eyes and the white slowly faded away. What was before him instead was a open, grassy field that laid in the middle of a group of large buildings. The buildings were dark and gloomy. In the center of the field stood what looked like a large dead tree. To Nathan's earthling eyes, it looked like a haunted college courtyard.

"Well this place isn't very welcoming...", Dawn said, putting her hand on her hip. Nathan nodded an agreement.

"So, how are we suppose to find this thing that doesn't belong here?" he asked. Dawn shrugged and shook her head. She sighed and looked to Ai'Shun.

"Look for it?" Ai'Shun said with a shrug, getting an annoyed glare from Dawn. "We could see if there is anyone around here who knows of any rumors or stories of something strange." Ai'Shun suggested, providing a better answer.

However, before they could do anything else, they heard the sound of an eerie bell. At the sound of the bell, doors began to open and people began to walk out, all carrying bags. They looked pretty human, except they carried themselves with a slouch and had dead faces, almost like zombies. A couple of the people stopped nearby in the courtyard, so Nathan approached them with the intent to ask them some questions. Dawn and Ai'Shun came with him.

"Hey, guys?", he started. The people looked at him with dead eyes and began to yawn. "Have you heard of anything weird recently?", he asked, not sure how to really ask what he wanted.

"You have time to question people about rumors?", one of the zombie-people asked. He was a young male with messy, black hair. "What about finals?"

"What?", Nathan questioned back. Then the group of people began walking toward one of the buildings.

"Finals, we all got them this week. I haven't slept in like five days." The person yawned as he answered.

"That is unhealthy", Dawn muttered under her breathe.

But the man heard her. "You gotta do what you gotta do. I can't waste time sleeping. We all do it, stay up all night studying for our tests."

"So you haven't had time to hear of any strange things?", Ai'Shun asked, getting back to the question Nathan asked.

"Well there is one thing I can think of." The black-haired man stopped and turned toward the new comers. The rest of the group continued on its way. "They say that this book was found during an excavation near here. I heard nobody can open it, not even those here at the college. But If I were you, I would focus on these finals. Failing could get you removed from society and by the looks of it, you guys really need to buckle down on studying."

"Okay, will do. Thanks for the tip!" Ai'Shun said. He waved as the man hurried to catch up with his group.

"What the heck is up with this place?", Nathan asked. He took another look around at the dark architecture and dead faced students.

"That's not important," Dawn said, "We just need to find that excavation site and check to see if that book is what we came here for. Then we can continue on." She began looking around the area to see if she could find an exit. "I don't think this place will be of much help to me anyways."

"But what about Amaire? What if she is here?", Nathan asked.

Dawn stopped what she was doing to look at him. Her purple eyes showed a bit of annoyance. "I am here to find the person from Null and move on. This place has no interest to me and can't help me what so ever."

"But I am only here to find Amaire!" Nathan shouted. "You can't even 'move on' without me anyways!"

The taller woman took a couple steps toward Nathan until she was directly in front of him. "We can't possibly search each and every single world for a person who might not be there!" The two of them were glaring at each other intensely. Rage filled Nathan, and many curses filled his mind as he struggled to figure out if he should stay with this terrible woman to find the stupid book or if he should just go his own way. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by Ai'Shun.

"Hey, not to get involved in your... discussion... or anything, but I think we have a bit of a problem here." Nathan and Dawn snapped out of their stare down and looked toward what Ai'Shun was pointing at. Five men were running towards them with gun-like weapons in their hands. One of them was shouting at them, "What are you people doing here!? Take out your student IDs!"

"Do you think they will shoot us if we don't have an ID?" Nathan asked, his voice a bit high from panic.

"Just run, idiot", Dawn said as she took off with Ai'Shun following quickly behind here. Nathan stalled for a second before he also ran. They quickly followed Dawn through the campus. The group ran out of the courtyard and into the maze of buildings. The guards, as Nathan guessed they were, were following them with their guns pointed, shouting something about trespassers.

"Do you even know the way?" Nathan shouted out at Dawn as she turned toward yet another building.

"Of course not, idiot!" She screamed back. She lead them down another corner, but again there was a building in the way. Just then a bullet flew by pass Nathan and the others.

"They are shooting at us!" He screamed. Dawn took another corner, but still no luck. Just then Ai'Shun grabbed Dawn's arm and pulled her against the wall. He looked at Nathan expecting him to do lean against the wall as well. Not sure what was going on, Nathan decided to trust him. Ai'Shun began to whisper under his breath. Nathan's heart kept beating loudly against his chest as he saw the guards turn the corner. He looked desperately at the young, shorter man that had finished whispering. Ai'Shun placed a finger on his lips to tell Nathan to keep quiet.

The Guards ran on by them and kept running until the turned another corner looking for them. Nathan and the others stood their a couple minutes longer until finally Ai'Shun let out a sigh of relief. Dawn and Nathan followed his lead and also relaxed. "What was that?" Nathan asked.

Ai'Shun smiled brightly at him. "Oh that? I just did a quick invisibility spell to hide us." Dawn and Nathan just stared at him dumbfounded. The white-haired boy blinked up at the two staring at him. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, not right now," Dawn responded shaking her head. "Right now we have to find a way out of here."

"But this place is a giant maze, and who knows where there might be guards.," Nathan said, "How are we going to do that?" Just then a clever thought came into his head. "Wait we can use that invisibility spell to find our way out, right? So whadya think Ai'Shun?" He beamed proudly as he looked to the others, but that smile only lasted a second.

Ai'Shun was shaking his head. "No, the spell is designed for stationary things, if we were moving it wouldn't work anymore." Nathan asked him about any other spells, but Ai'Shun told him that magic wouldn't help in this situation. "There are just too many unknowns right here for me to work any spells that wouldn't get us caught."

That's when Dawn spoke up, "Hang on, I think I have an idea."

---

Amaire woke to find herself in a dark room. She couldn't see much of anything in the pretty empty room, except for the glow of two yellow eyes.