It was weird waking up alone in the dormitory, but I preferred things that way. I headed out alone to the canteen, my mind rattling with all the events of the previous night, with one clear aim. As I got my food, I noticed a weird mix of stares and murmurings. All the regular soldiers were eyeing Marcus and me, wondering why we were still here. Whereas the Arknights were busy whispering to one another and looking over at us. I didn't doubt Sir Atticus had already filed a report on what happened yesterday. But he didn't know the complete story. I sat opposite Marcus, who was enjoying his breakfast. "Atticus wants us to report to him at o-nine-hundred hours," Marcus said, finishing his orange juice.
"Good, I want to speak to him," I replied. I picked up a piece of toast and gazed at Marcus, wondered how I would proceed with my next question. "I also have a question for you," I added. Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell the others that you had killed a demon?" I had been thinking about it since I had woken up. It had only dawned on me I had killed a demon too. So why hadn't Marcus mentioned it to the others?
Marcus chewed his food as he contemplated the question. "It's kinda an unwritten rule that Squires shouldn't have killed demons before being an Arknight," Marcus explained. "It's taboo."
"How comes?"
"Well, we're not supposed to go on missions at our age, so how would we encounter one? Besides," Marcus said, finished his food, "Killing your first demon after becoming an Arknight is like a rite of passage kinda thing. Looses all meaning if you've killed loads already. Or worse, too dead to become an Arknight."
I nodded. It made sense. We were in a weird situation where we had to face more demons in our lives more than we usually should have. I had only managed to kill ghasts at this point, but the fact I killed at least one was a good start. I perked up a little. "Well, that is one thing you outshone Sir Atticus at," I said, "you've already killed a demon before being an Arknight." Marcus eyed me with a look that reminded me who I was talking about. When spoken aloud, it was clear Sir Atticus had probably killed a demon before coming to the Mantle.
We headed over to Sir Atticus's office. The main Mantle building was busier than I had ever seen. A proper demon incursion into the city was nothing to scoff about, and people were flying down corridors with reports and intel for other members. I also noticed a lot more armed Arknights marching around the place. I didn't like how everyone was suddenly on alert. We knocked on Sir Atticus's door and entered at his command. Sir Atticus was bent over his desk, reading a map with stacks of reports next to it. He didn't even look up to tell us to be at ease. We sat down, and he finally looked up. "As you can see," Sir Atticus pointed to the load of paperwork to his sides, "last night has left a stir in the Mantle. A lost ghast or two was never something to worry about. But this was a strike group. I need to know everything that happened."
We told him what had happened. That the attack came out of nowhere, and we had done nothing to cause it. I informed Sir Atticus what the creeper had said and how we had defended ourselves till he had arrived. Sir Atticus stroked his beard. "I don't like it," Sir Atticus said. "This Fallen wants you, and we still do not know what your prophecy is." Sir Atticus sat back. "I'm afraid to say until we hunt down this Fallen, I can't let you off base," Sir Atticus said. I nodded. That wasn't the end of the world. I now had my contact with the outside, so I wasn't completely alone anymore. "If that is everything, you two are dismissed. You've earned a rest."
Marcus got to his feet, but I stayed seated. Sir Atticus frowned at me. "There was something else, sir," I said. Something had been gnawing at me since the conversation yesterday, and it had to be discussed. Anything weird that involved me had to be taken a little serious. "Last night, I was talking to my friends about our trial," I continued, looking up at Marcus. Marcus sat down again and nodded at Sir Atticus. Sir Atticus peered over at me, giving me his full attention. "And I described the person who ran our trial. However, the others didn't have the same description."
"How different are we talking?" Sir Atticus said slowly.
"Totally," I replied. "Like they saw an old, bold man. While I saw this young woman with long silver hair and purple eyes."
Sir Atticus stood up suddenly, making his desk rattle and sending countless reports to the floor. He was glaring at me. "Are you sure?" he said in a low voice.
I nodded. "One hundred percent. She looked at me when we had our lineup." I thought back to the look that stuck in my head all these years. The lingering eyes that had once given me hope, but now I wasn't so sure. "Was she a witch?" I asked. The witches had the same silvery hair, but why would they want to be involved in our Arknight programme?
Sir Atticus shook his head and began pacing his office. "No. Witches wouldn't dare come near the city without permission. Plus, their eyes aren't purple." I hesitated, trying to remember why that was important. Sir Atticus spotted the confusion on my face. "It's one of the first signs of a lost soul."
"So this woman was a demon mid-transformation?" Marcus asked.
"Could be," Sir Atticus said, thinking deeply. "But, they usually run away as soon as the Halo burns them. She wouldn't stay unless she was powerful enough to overcome it." I shivered. I didn't want to imagine what a demon with the power to shrug off the Halo's power could do. Sir Atticus turned to look at me. "We are going to need to do the Aurelian trials again."
"Why? I'm already a Squire, sir," I pointed out.
"Because we need to find out if something else is afoot," Sir Atticus responded. He was looking a little manic now. "If your result doesn't calibrate with your previous score, then we know it has been altered."
I nodded. The plan made sense, and from what I remember, the trials weren't difficult at all. But there was one problem with the plan. "Sir, I've come a long way since my trials, and so won't my score be different. How will we compare me now to me at eleven? How will we know if I would have passed?"
Sir Atticus chuckled. "Simple, we need a control. Someone who passed the first time." We both turned to Marcus, who groaned.
The next day we prepared for the Aurelian trials. It was strange, as we had to be the only people in history that would do it more than once. There were no repeats or retries. You had one shot, and that was that. I thought back to my first trials and how awkwardly they had gone.
There were three parts to the trials: mind, body, and spirit. The mind was an analysis of our critical thinking, our knowledge, and intelligence. Next was the body which focused on physical exercise. This had gone badly for me last time (it was the thing I blamed for not making Squire the first time). The last test was by far a more interesting one. To test your spirit, they brought you into a dark room and you had to hold a node. You were then told to think of things: the Divine, families, angels, friends, and our very soul. The node then measured your divine connection. It was more therapeutic than anything. Still, I wondered if mine would be different now.
We headed to the classroom for the examination side. Marcus stood silently outside, waiting for Sir Atticus with the test. "Do you know who got the highest score of our year?" I asked casually. The tension was weirdly thick with just the two of us. Marcus seemed just as competitive as ever, but there was more to him now. Would he try to prove he was just as good as me? Even though there was no question, he was clearly better.
Marcus snorted. "I got the highest score." I eyed him sceptically. "Don't look at me like that. I had 'the great Sir Atticus' as a mentor. How could I not?"
"And you swear your trial wasn't interfered with?"
"Trust me," Marcus said, grinning at me. "If Atticus had interfered, he would have meddled twice as hard to stop me becoming an Arknight." It was an odd comment. I would have thought any parent or guardian would want a child to follow in their footsteps, let alone being an Arknight. However, if you had seen the horrors of war with demons, you might think otherwise.
I faced the same wall Marcus was staring at. He was taking this so seriously; I kinda wish I had never brought it up. "So you're worried about your high score," I said, not turning to look at him. I heard him snort. "I'll try not to beat you too badly then," I whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "you know, Nexus and all that."
"Shilling says I beat you."
"Done," I replied as Sir Atticus opened the door to the classroom. Marcus and I sat at other ends of the rooms and took the test laid out in front of us. The test was filled with puzzles and moral situations. The point of the test was to strain the mind and push it to its limits. They gave us just an hour to finish a forty question test. Time was against me. I tried my best, moving through the questions at a speed I would never have to dare to at school. Even for the Aurelian trial, they had suggested taking our time. But I had a point to make. Conundrums and riddles were my forte, and I knew this was where I would get my edge over Marcus. His strength was on the field while mine was on the paper. I was kinda grateful Marcus had made it a challenge. Otherwise, I would have just tried my best and coasted through rather than push myself to the limit. Sir Atticus blew a whistle when the time was up and scooped up our papers. We didn't say a word as we marched to the field.
This was the challenge I was dreading most. We head out to where Sir Atticus was waiting with a timer. There were two things you found out here: your strength and endurance. And the worst part was they put them together. Marcus and I bent down in the mud and waited for the command to start. I didn't look at Marcus as I needed to focus. He was definitely going to win this section, but I would give him a run for his money. Sir Atticus blew his whistle, and Marcus and I started doing press-ups. Once we failed to make three press-ups in a row, we had to move to the next challenge. I lasted longer than expected, even though my arms ached after more press-ups than I had ever done at school. But as I moved to the next position and started doing sit-ups, I noticed Marcus was still going. He lasted far longer than I had thought possible. We would do lots of physical exercises during our training, but I guess we never were pushed to our limit. Marcus joined me in sit-ups, just as I had my third failed. I lay there for a moment, taking a moment to rest my aching muscles. I had lasted much longer than the eleven-year-old me had done during the whole trial, and I still had three exercises to go.
After burpees, squats, and mountain running, I collapsed on the floor and let my body rest after pushing myself well beyond what I could ever have imagined I could do. Even if I lost to Marcus, which was likely seeing how he was still on burpees, I was proud of all I had achieved. The last part of the trial was running. It seemed odd for such a simple thing, but we were asked to just go round and round in circles. You were meant to get faster at each lap, but most clocked out before reaching a third fail. Endurance was vital here, and I was ready to beat my last score of four laps around the four-hundred-meter track. I lined up with Marcus, and Sir Atticus blew his whistle again. We set off at a similar pace. I remembered Marcus and Sir Atticus during the beep test. There was no point going fast at the beginning; I needed to keep my strength. Round and round, we went, focused on maintaining speed. After a morning full of excursive, however, my muscles were already weak. However, I pushed forward, trying to reduce Marcus's lead as much as possible. I considered seeing if my power could strengthen my body but that seemed like cheating so resisted the urge to let the power flow. Marcus soon pulled away as I fell behind. By lap seven, I was done. I sat down next to Sir Atticus and rested as Marcus just kept going. Half a decade in the Arknights had made him almost superhuman. I wondered how much longer it would take me to reach that level. Marcus finished with twelve laps and collapsed next to me. He looked up at me and grinned. Out of exhaustion, I just grinned back.
Sir Atticus was marking the results down on his clipboard. "Right, you'll have lunch and then your last test," he said.
Marcus sighed. "Time to win some points back then," he said, sitting up and stretching. I wasn't too sure about that. I remembered the last trial of spirit, but mine hadn't gone to plan. "What did you score in your last spirit trial?" Marcus asked.
"I got four," I replied. It was a score out of ten system. I had no idea how they calculated it, but it involved a node you held onto while you answered questions. After training with Sir Petra, I imagined it had something to do with the flow of power.
Marcus frowned at me. "That's definitely not right," he said. "I was a six, and I barely understand blessings. You should have a nine or something."
"Maybe, it was the mystery woman who took my test," I explained. "Plus, it did this weird thing. When I touched the node and thought of the Divine, the node sparked, but she just said that was normal."
"That's not normal," Marcus said. He looked concerned. The more I spoke about my trials, the more I realised something was very wrong. I had asked no one else about their trials at school. It was a bit of a taboo subject as most people were salty after not getting picked, me included. But now, it seemed so stupid. Why hadn't I questioned anything back then? I thought back to my eleven-year-old self. I would never dared ask a question like that last year, let alone while being a little kid. All I knew is I had to finish the trial and prove once and for all I was an Arknight.
After lunch, we headed to the Matrix for the final trial. It was quiet and dark, giving it the perfect environment for the trial. Marcus went in first, and I sat outside waiting. The minutes dragged past. The test wasn't very long, but I was more nervous about this test than the other two. I was a Prophet, so I must have some spirit in me. An angel wouldn't bind to me if I didn't. Still, I wasn't sure if that was for a good reason or a bad reason.
Marcus soon left the room and wished me luck. I took a deep breath and walked into the chamber. Somehow it was darker than where Sir Petra's trained me. The curtains and blinds covered the windows so completely that not a single ray of light came in. There was just a rickety table in the centre of the room, with a candle being the only light source. On the other side of the table was Sir Petra, clipboard in hand, glaring at me as I approached. I already could imagine what she would have said to me if this was just a training session. "Sit," she said, and I quickly took my seat. She put down the clipboard and stretched her hand out. On her palm was the node. It was a simple pyramid-shaped object which glowed a light blue colour. I took it and lay it flat on one hand's palm, and gripped the top point with my thumb. Sir Petra didn't acknowledge the fact I had remembered that and turned to her clipboard. "Right, I will say a few things, and I want you to relax," Sir Petra said, reading off the clipboard. She already sounded bored. "Just let your feelings flow as I say these words. Mother. Father. Sister. Brother." She said word after word, and I just sat in silence. As she said words I could relate to, the node glowed brighter in my hand. However, my mind was racing. I was waiting for the right word to come up that had caused the spark before. It was when we moved to the holy words that I braced myself. "Divine. Angel. Arknight," Sir Petra continued. I had expected something, but nothing happened. No spark this time. Not even when she said Prophet did my node glow. I was worried maybe I had forgotten something. Hearing the last word, "Spirit," I relaxed. I guessed I was not as remarkable as I had thought.
Maybe I had just had a faulty node, and this was all a big misunderstanding. Perhaps I had dreamt up this woman.
Sir Petra tapped her mouth with her pencil. I leant over to hand back the node, but she didn't take it. She eyed me for a moment. "Demon. Ghast. Creeper," Sir Petra began again. I stared at her. This was definitely not part of the exam. In the light of the single flame, Sir Petra looked mad. "Reaper. Goliath. Fallen." At the word Fallen, the node flared up like I had never seen it before. Something inside my soul was pushing through, like a wave smashing into the dam. This excited Sir Petra. "Fallen. Fallen," she said faster and faster. The node glowed brighter than ever. "Vale," was Sir Petra's next word. Somewhere the node grew even brighter, and I felt my soul pushing at me to release the flow of power. Sir Petra's eyes shot up to mine and hesitated. Finally, she said, "Koralax."
Power blasted through me, flowing to the very edge of my fingers and toes. My vision went blurry. What was happening? This had never happened before, and why was this happening? I didn't have long to think as the Divine power rippled through my mind, overcoming any thought at the moment. I gripped the node, its edges cutting into my fingers. For a split second, I couldn't see anything, just total blackness. I stared at this new void and saw stars glint and shimmer in front of me, just out of reach. I did not know where I was or what was happening.
Then, in the distance, a faint figure emerged. They were just a silhouette. I blinked. They had this golden aura around them like nothing I had ever seen before. Was it an angel?
The figure looked human-like, and they seemed to focus on me. They were coming closer and closer. I couldn't move. My body frozen in time. From behind, I heard a roar from a beast I couldn't imagine. I turned my head slowly to see something also coming at me. It was on all fours and charging straight at me. It had wings and corruption flowing around it, almost consuming it. But I could see its eyes. Its red, infernal eyes. I looked forward again. The golden being was moving faster and faster. The beast bellowed as it charged towards me. I swung backwards and forward, stuck to the spot. The beings were almost upon me, and they were going to collide right into me. I shut my eyes and screamed.
I felt an electric shock and something when bang in my hand. I dropped the burning node onto the table. Blinking, I looked up. I was back in my room with Sir Petra. She was standing up now, dead still. I looked down at the node that lay on the table. It was still sparking, but the light had gone out. I was panting, my mind trying to muddle through what on earth had just happened. Sir Petra regained herself and approached me. "Are you alright, Sara?" She asked softly.
I nodded, though I didn't know if that was true. My mind was still trying to grasp what had happened. That hadn't happened the last time. I had never seen such a sight. Two ghostly beings with so much power colliding into me at the centre of a void. "What happened?" I asked.
Sir Petra came round and put her icy hand on my head. "You froze like you were in some kind of trance. Then a second later, the node sparked, and you screamed, bring you out of it." She checked my pulse. "Are you feeling well?"
"Fine," I said, taking my hand out of Sir Petra's grip. "Listen, when you said Koralax, the Divine's power flowed through me like never before, and I was in the place, well... non-place, really. And these two beings were charging at me." I looked at Sir Petra. She had gone a little pale in the candlelight, her harsh exterior gone. "What was that? It didn't happen the last time."
Sir Petra straightened herself up, and her face relaxed to its usual scowl. "You are not the same person you were when you were eleven. You've changed. We have opened up your soul to let your power flow and in doing so got used to connecting to angels." Sir Petra picked up the node and examined it. "The node connects to your soul and lets your power flow more freely. In your case, too freely. I believe you saw a vision, child."
"But what does it mean?" I asked. I was panicking. The eyes of that hellish beast were still burnt into my mind.
Sir Petra sighed. "I don't know, but I bet it has something to do with your conduit to an angel." She picked up her clipboard and scribbled something down. "Take this immediately to Sir Atticus. He will be in his office with Marcus." I nodded and took the paper, not even glancing at it. I ran to the door and swung it open. "One more thing," Sir Petra called from behind me. When I turned back to her, she was by the flame again. "Tell Sir Atticus you glowed for a moment."
Her words perplexed me, but it had to be important. I spirited from the Matrix and across the complex to the Mantle. Officers and soldiers stared at me as I ran as fast as I could into the building. It didn't take me long to charge through the corridor and bang on Sir Atticus' door.
"Come in?" Sir Atticus's voice came from inside. I wrenched open the door and slammed it behind me. Sir Atticus was sitting at his desk, his legs up and Marcus' paper in his hand. Marcus was sitting on the chair opposite. Both of them looked stunned. "Sara, are you alright?" Sir Atticus said, instantly straightening up.
"No, sir," I said, handing him my paper. In my urgency to get him, I hadn't looked at it.
Sir Atticus took the form and studied it. My heart pounded as I waited for his verdict. He looked up when he finished reading. "What happened during your spirit trial?" He asked.
I explained the whole thing, what I had seen when Sir Petra had said Koralax and how the node exploded in my hand. Sir Atticus just nodded as he took in my wild tale. Marcus looked dumbfounded and just as confused as me when I go to the end. "And then Sir Petra had said I had started glowing and looked frightened," I finished. I looked hopefully up at Sir Atticus, wanting to know what was going on. Sir Atticus didn't respond at once. He seemed to take time to digest this information. "Why does glowing matter, sir?" I said, pressing him for an answer.
"Its a technique we have lost," Sir Atticus said. "Very few use it and those that do live mainly in the Terra Kingdoms." This seemed peculiar. Why didn't more people use this ability? It would certainly give us an edge over the demons.
I wanted to know more, but Sir Atticus cut across me. "But this is not the time to go through that. We have more important matters at hand." He tapped a finger on my grades. "I think we can safely say someone manipulated your score."
"How do you know, sir?" I asked.
Sir Atticus gave a small smile. "Because if an Arknight had seen eleven on a Spirit scoresheet, we would have to investigate," Sir Atticus replied. "No one gets eleven. And if there was an investigation, we would have found you as Prophet long before." He sat back in thought again. "So the question is, who is that woman?"
"Is there any way to find out, sir?" Marcus said. "No records of who did the examination?"
"Oh, there are records," Sir Atticus answered. "I've asked Otto to pull Sara's school results out from the Matrix while I did your test. I'm hoping he will be back soon."
There was a weird feeling in the room, a mix of anticipation and worry. We were about to find out who had sabotaged my result and stopped me from preparing for my destiny. But the question that was running through my head was why. Why would an Arknight want to prevent me from joining the Order? And how would they know to stop me if they didn't know about my prophecy? Marcus broke the silence. "Can we know who won, sir?" Everyone looked at him. Sir Atticus raised an eyebrow. "We have a bet," Marcus stated bluntly.
Sir Atticus snorted. "Glad to see you haven't lost your competitive edge," Sir Atticus said, turning over Marcus' scores as well. He gazed down at them both for a second. "Well, with all things in order," Sir Atticus said slowly. Marcus and I leant in close. "And tallying up the scores," Sir Atticus added. I noticed the grin on his face. He wanted to pull this out as long as possible. He suddenly looked up and grinned. "Marcus won." Marcus smirked at me, and I shook my head. I had to remember to fish out a shilling from my purse. "Don't get too smug now, Marcus," Sir Atticus said, settling back into his chair. "It was close. Sara's spirit gauge brought her close. Still, I want to say I'm incredibly proud of you both." I looked at Marcus. He was blushing slightly and looking down at his feet. It was strange to hear affirmation from your teacher like this. A sense of pride filled me, even making my fear of the vision fade away. "You're a credit to the service. I'm sure you'll make fine Arknights." I beamed at Sir Atticus, and Marcus just gave a stoic nod.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Sir Atticus called, and I turned to see who was entering. It was Sir Otto. He slid through the door quickly and closed it behind him, checking the corridor outside. I frowned at him. This was odd behaviour from an Arknight. What was he afraid of? He turned around, sweat running down his face. Sir Otto looked pale and was gripping a file in his hand so tightly it had crumpled. Sir Atticus got to his feet. "Otto, are you ok?"
Sir Otto took a step forward. "I'm ok, it's just..." his voice trailed off as if he had forgotten how to speak. He shook his head and started again. "I found the school's file you were looking for. It was back when we still used paper. And, erm, you're not going to like it." He handed the file to Sir Atticus.
Marcus and I watched Sir Atticus as he took the file and began to read. He didn't react apart from staring at the sheets. "Sara's grades look average to me," Sir Atticus said, flipping through the pages. "Did you see who had signed off on it?"
"Yes," Sir Otto replied. "And that's the bit you're going to hate." He took a step backwards. Marcus and I exchanged a look. What was going on? We waited with bated breath as Sir Atticus turned to the last page.
Sir Atticus stared at the page for a few seconds. Time slowed down as we saw the realisation dawn on him. I braced myself for what was next. Sir Atticus slowly closed the file and walked to the door. As he passed us, he spoke in a low voice. "Dismissed." I didn't move. There was a tone in Sir Atticus's voice I had never heard before. There was pure rage there, true, but something else. The only word I could think of was pain. Whatever was written on that file had enraged Sir Atticus, and I didn't want to get in front of that. Marcus and I rose to our feet. Even Marcus didn't dare say anything or question Sir Atticus's orders. You don't argue with a hurricane. Sir Atticus threw open the door with such force I thought he would smash the glass in the frame. He turned to Sir Otto, who was back up against the wall. "Are the Masters in session?" He barked at him.
"Yes, the House is in session," Sir Otto replied. Sir Atticus nodded and then march down the corridor, parting people as he went. I stood there, astounded. What could be written there that would make Sir Atticus act like that? What could possibly be there? Sir Otto turned to the pair of us. "I think you should return to your dorms," he said, returning to his comfortable self. I opened my mouth to ask, but Sir Otto put up a hand. "If you want to know what was in that file Sir Atticus will have to tell you," he said, anticipating my question. "Now, to your dorms." He pointed us out of Sir Atticus's office.
Marcus and I begrudgingly made our way back. I grumbled to myself. I should know what was on that sheet more than anyone. It was my results, after all, and my destiny someone was messing with. As we enter the main corridor, I wondered if we should disobey our orders and head for the council chamber. However, Marcus was one step ahead. "I just need to check if I left my bag in the classroom, Sara," he exclaimed. He gave me a quick wink.
I smiled at him. "Of course, I'll come to help you look for it," I replied, making sure some of the passing people heard it. We made our way down the corridor. None of the clerks or soldiers looked up as with slipped down the hall. We tried not to catch anyone's eyes as we moved towards the Arknight only section. We passed through the doors with no problems and sped towards the meeting chamber.
We skidded to a halt outside the main entrance hall as Marcus put up an arm to stop me. I peered around the corner. Master Barak stood guard, a severe glare on his face. I backed away and pressed myself against the wall. "How do we get past him?" I whispered to Marcus. Marcus didn't reply. Instead, he pointed at himself and gestured for me to follow him. We went back down the passageway to a set of doors. Marcus tried them, and they opened with a click. He put his fingers to his mouth and led me silently up the flight of stairs. I realised we were heading towards the balcony seats. I remembered back when I first came here, all those eyes looking down at me. It would be a weird perspective to watch the protection of the realm being decided.
Quietly, we opened the set of doors onto the balcony seats. There was no need to, as shouts and roars echoed from the main floor. Marcus and I got to our hands and knees and stalked to the edge of the stalls. We squinted through the gaps in the woodwork at the scene below. The gathering was a lot smaller than the Arknight meeting. The House of Masters was more sacred than the Council. Its members wore splendid uniforms and their grey hair sparkled in the lights. However, it was Sir Atticus who stood on the stage and held their full attention. "Whether you like it or not, Grandmaster, someone has tampered with the form."
Grandmaster Hera sat on her throne, musing like a spoiled cat. Anger bubbled up inside me. She had put me through so much, and there she sat on her little throne, lording over everyone. What I wouldn't give to fire a spear at her. "The fact it happened is irrelevant," she said, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "Why would an agent of Koralax seek out this one child and stop her from passing the test? Seems like a waste of time to me."
Marcus nudged me and jostled his head towards the other Masters. I spotted the looks on their faces: they weren't impressed with Grandmaster Hera's words. They looked worried. "Not relevant? Not relevant? How can you say that amid the biggest demon upset in the last hundred years?" Sir Atticus barked at Grandmaster Hera. I was very glad I wasn't on the end of his rage. It was mesmerising watching Sir Atticus stand his ground. "Not only do we not know of a demon prophecy, but the fact they've known about it for at least five years. All the changes we've seen have been since the death of Sir Heath. And his signature on a document four years later proves that."
Something moved in the depths of my soul. I didn't know how, but I knew that was the Arknight Sir Atticus had killed. The way he spoke, how he hesitated to say his name, it was too real. Plus, it explained too much. He must have been there on the night Meredith died. Sir Atticus had said the Arknight he had killed was not one of them anymore. Maybe Sir Heath killed Meredith and Sir Atticus killed Sir Heath. I understood his pain now. Sir Atticus' anger was because of old memories being brought up. What a cruel twist of fate that the Fallen was playing games with Sir Atticus by accident. I gripped the balcony. I wouldn't like the memory of nearly becoming a demon being forced on me again.
Grandmaster Hera considered Sir Atticus' words carefully. "How can Sir Heath be mixed up in all of this?" She purred. "As from your own testament, even you don't know what he was researching, only the cost."
"It was something to do with conduits between humans and divine beings," Sir Atticus said through gritted teeth. "But that's not the point."
"Then what is?" Grandmaster Hera asked.
"The point is, we're being played like fools," Sir Atticus retorted. "This Fallen or whatever has been manipulating the situation from the start. They must have an Oracle to get that prophecy which is worrying enough. And I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't planning an attack on the city right now."
"Nonsense," a Master sounded from the crowd. "Our patrols have spotted no demon activity."
"Precisely," Grandmaster Hera added, getting to her feet now. She put on a face of concern and sympathy that made me want to throw up. If these games didn't fool me, how could they fool the Masters? They just sat there and listened to her. "I'm sorry a part of your tragic past has resurfaced," she said, her voice gentle and full of glee. "Still, there is no need to put your need for closure on your Squires. Meredith was a great loss to us all. She was a fine Squire and the best with blessing we have seen since the Nexus. But that is in the past. For the Oracle, it is still just a theory, and not worth wasting Arknight blood for." She then addressed the House of Masters. "I put forward a counter-motion to do nothing."
I watched in disbelief as there was a resounding ey from the Masters. For the first time, I saw why Sir Atticus didn't trust the councils and why he had hidden me from them. If they were this blind, I bet the Fallen would have captured me long ago.
Master Rooke said nothing. He gazed up at his former pupil with pity in his eyes. But that wasn't needed as there was no shame on Sir Atticus's face. He glared at Grandmaster Hera. "On your heads, be it," he said in a low voice, and he marched out of the chamber.