"What am I supposed to do with this thing?"
In his Asa Academy dorm room, Dex sat on his bed. In his hand was the 'Aurora Crown.' His eyes kept staring at the crystal, as if pondering something deeply confusing.
Even though Dex had successfully stolen the crystal, he didn't know what to do with it. He had stolen it just for fun.
He wasn't a villain who stole for evil purposes, and he wasn't a hero who stole for the greater good. He stole simply because it was thrilling.
Initially, he had intended to steal a weapon, but seeing this crystal reminded him of the crystals his mother used to decorate their home with.
"But if I leave it here, they'll know I was the one who stole it."
Dex grew more confused about what to do. He didn't want to be known as the thief who stole the item, nor as the kind-hearted hero who returned it.
Even though he had stolen it, he didn't know the function of this crystal. This wasn't like a game that described items. The holographic display only showed an item's rank.
Dex sighed, his thoughts wandering.
*Is there an artifact that can bring the dead back to life?*
A painfully naive question. Deep in his heart, even though he had accepted his family's death, a sliver of hope remained, though he knew it was impossible.
Dex yawned. Though it wasn't visible, he knew it was already dark outside.
"Maybe I should just return it."
Dex walked out of his dorm room.
Just as he opened the door, he saw Rachel, who had just returned from the Healing Room.
Even though he didn't know Rachel well, she was still his next-door neighbor.
"Are you okay?"
Rachel remained silent, ignoring him. Instead of an answer, Dex received a sinister glare, as if he were a nuisance.
Dex could only shrug as Rachel passed by without a word. The door to her room slammed shut. "So friendly," he muttered to himself. However, dealing with that weirdo wasn't his priority right now.
He slipped out of the dorm, his shadow stretching under the moonlight. From behind his Crow Mask, Dex observed Asa Academy, which felt silent, guarded only by patrolling guards whose patterns he could memorize with a single glance. Being the Thief Crows gave him one advantage: he knew every dark corner, every unsupervised route.
With nimble movements, he climbed a drainpipe, moving across the rooftops like a silhouette merging with the night sky. His target was no longer the heavily guarded treasure vault—not after the last theft—but the Headmaster's office. The least likely place to return a precious crystal, which made it the perfect spot.
The Headmaster's office window, it turned out, wasn't properly locked, protected only by a defensive magic array that Dex easily bypassed. Dex slipped inside. The dark, dusty room greeted him. He quickly placed the Aurora Crown behind a stack of old books on the farthest shelf, hidden but eventually discoverable.
He was halfway out the window when a voice froze him in place.
"So, it's true."
Dex flinched and turned slowly. Behind the door stood Rachel, her eyes narrowed, staring at him with a gaze sharper than a dagger. How had she gotten here without making a sound? He hadn't sensed her presence at all.
"I wasn't following you, if that's what you're thinking. I just happened to see someone in strange clothes jumping across buildings in the middle of the night," Rachel said, her voice flat, without a hint of accusation, which made it even more eerie. "I just felt... something was off. And it turned out I was right."
Dex tried to smile casually, though his heart was pounding. "Then you're in the wrong place. I was just... enjoying the night view."
Rachel wasn't provoked. Her eyes, sharp even in the darkness, shifted from Dex to the bookshelf behind him, as if they could see through the wood and spot the hidden crystal.
"You're returning it, huh?" she said, not a question, but a statement. As if she had known everything from the start. "Why?"
Dex fell silent. Saying he did it just for fun was too dangerous an answer to give to someone like Rachel. He could sense there was something more to this girl than just being an ordinary student.
Rachel stepped closer, and for the first time, Dex noticed something glinting behind her uniform collar—a small crystal pendant emitting a faint, familiar glow.
"You know what the Aurora Crown is, don't you?" Rachel hissed, her voice almost like the night wind. "It's not just jewelry. It's a key."
Dex stared at her, his previous confusion now mixed with a dangerous curiosity. "A key to what?"
A thin smile appeared on Rachel's lips, an expression that did nothing to warm the atmosphere. "Judging from your reaction, it seems you don't know. To something that even the most powerful heroes and villains don't fully understand. And you... you almost threw the key into a dusty storage room. I was worried when I heard the crystal was taken by a thief. But it seems Fate is on my side."
She looked Dex up and down, her gaze full of assessment.
"Perhaps we need to talk, Thief Crows."
Dex froze. Every instinct he had as the Thief Crows screamed that this was a trap. Rachel wasn't just some weird student who happened to pass by. She knew too much. She wasn't the emotionally volatile girl from this afternoon.
She was completely different from this afternoon, as if something—or someone—was controlling her.
"Talk about what?" Dex asked, trying hard to keep his voice relaxed while his mind raced. He glanced at the window, calculating his chances of escape. In his hand, he held the Aurora Crown, which he had retrieved.
Rachel followed his gaze. "Don't. You won't even make it to the drainpipe." There was a flat tone in her voice that made the threat feel very real. "I'm not your enemy. At least, not yet."
She extended her hand, not to attack, but to reveal the crystal pendant around her neck. Its faint light pulsed in sync with the Aurora Crown hidden behind Dex's hand, as if the two were greeting each other.
Her eyes never left Dex. "It's half of a larger picture. The other half is with me. Hand it over, and you can go."
Dex sighed inwardly. This was far more complicated than he had imagined. His curiosity, which had always been both a curse and a blessing, began to stir.
"Okay. Take it if you can," Dex finally said, loosening his crow mask slightly so Rachel could see his wry smile. "But not here. Somewhere more... private."
Rachel considered it slowly, with an almost imperceptible nod of agreement. "I know a place."
She turned and walked out of the office without looking back, as if certain Dex would follow. And for once, the Thief Crows, who always worked alone, with a mix of wariness and curiosity, indeed followed the steps of this mysterious girl into the darkness of the night.