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Wow looky. Two updates in one pandemic!
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Six filled chairs before her, Samanthra had a rope around everyone's neck now, and the look on her face meant loosening it wouldn't come easy.
"The tip Raymond Peterson provided was proven correct, the room recently disturbed, and an ancient ritual and its used ingredients present." She stopped, focused on the chair at the end of the line that contained a shivering Talli. Spared from the weakest link by ignorance. "Ms. Fray, were you aware of this room's existence?"
She pursed her lips, staring up at the headmaster like a deer in headlights. "N-no..."
Vera frowned as Samanthra took one step to stand before her, the same question lingering in the dead air. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"She's lying," a voice boomed, its roof centered echo signalling Tia's presence.
Samanthra took the information silently, taking another step to stand in front of Káel.
He didn't dare to lift his gaze, staring ahead as the world around him gripped his throat. There wasn't a point in lying, Tia could tell, and thinking on his feet was getting harder by the second as his mind drowned. "Yes..."
"He's telling the truth."
Samanthra finished her walk, receiving the same answers Káel expected from who was left. Aside from making some candles, Alestra was adrift in the wind to their entire scheme, and would likely never speak to any of them again.
After a few seconds of thought, Samanthra went back to staring at Talli. "Ms. Fray. Do you know why you're here?"
She silently shook her head, looking along the line of her friends without an answer.
"She's telling the truth."
"Ms. Fray you are excused."
Samanthra watched Talli hurriedly leave, snapping her fingers for the door to slam behind her. Despite the small sense of hope Káel had that she would spare the rest of his friends, Káel knew by Vera's whitening knuckles that this conversation was seconds from going downhill. Fast.
The door shifted behind them, a new guest coming through, arms filled with familiar objects that fueled Káel's anxiety. It was Mr. Lightwood, a scaly blue journal rested atop the textbook Truvius had stuffed all of Káel's one sided conversations in.
Samanthra silently placed the two objects upright and in view of her guests on her desk, waiting for Mr. Lightwood to silently take a spectator's corner.
"About three hours northwards of here there is a stretch of black Lumi the size of a small town. Nothing grows there, and the black ruins were not the work of nomad dragons." Samanthra started, her rhythmic steps starting up again.
"Kanaski," Truvius muttered, his expression not the only one that seemed to know the story Samanthra was telling.
"The ruins were the work of a single man, who, thought himself versed enough in ancient lumience to make the rules himself," Samanthra continued, her gaze flicking to Káel for a split second. "His intentions were to cure the town of bloodspots, a sickness as contagious as it is deadly. His intentions were to help."
Her footsteps stopped, a wall of dark green robes blocking Káel's vision.
"He went through with the illegal spell, as he had time and time again. Helping people with various spells that their modernised forms could not yet achieve. But this time, as he recited the spell, he claimed to have said one word wrong."
Káel felt a lump clogging at his throat. Phantom had already told him what happened when you messed up ancient spells.
"Three hundred and sixteen people died that day, the wrath of Diadamourn curing them of their lives. The caster, punished as being the sole survivor."
The silence Samanthra kept was deafening. A spear of words crafted to kill just one person. One person who had excused their actions as steps to help others. Fixed a Zodraic Battery to help Ray. Tried to use it to free Puff.
"I've seen too many people to count that though they were above rules, very few of them survived the fall."
Ready to use it to free Phantom.
"Not only is it dangerous, it's selfish."
All so he could get back to Earth.
Káel could feel something on his cheek, the stuffy cloud drowning his lungs easing out of his eyes instead, fear and guilt indistinguishable as he took everything to remain rigid and staring forwards.
"Káel. Did you practice ancient lumience in that room?"
Káel bit his tongue.
If he gave them this question, Phantom would be next.
"Oh Tesirus have mercy this is ridiculous!" Vera boomed, shooting to her feet with all the air of a wolf defending her cubs. "I know a trap when I see one, you all have nothing to ground your claims so you're trying to squeeze a confession. Bring out the proof, or my father will have a word."
"Sit down Ms. Strylaz, or have you more to provide for this discussion than bringing your father into every argument?" Lady Samanthra boomed, quelling some of the fire in Vera's eyes as she dipped back into the seat.
"This isn't a discussion," Vera growled, drilling into the side of Káel's head and smacking his arm for some attention so she could throw a handkerchief at his face. "You look ridiculous. We're not here because of you, it's that blonde Iraxxus spawn pointing fingers and abusing his power."
"Káel had prior knowledge of that rooms existence, he has in fact known about it since the start of school. I've caught him venturing into it, and the forest many times. In one such incident he was collecting pixie dust, a common ingredient for ancient rituals," Ray spoke up, holding Vera's glare as Samanthra ignored their impenetrable beam of hostility.
"So I've heard Mr. Peterson," Samanthra said, her displeasure now landing directly on the elite. "I was quite happy to hear you detail every incident in which you caught Mr. Williams in that room, and your suspicions that he was practicing illegal magics. I was even happier that you decided to hijack you duties as not only an elite, but a role model for the students of this academy, and postpone bringing these stories and suspicions to me when they occured."
Ray dipped his head, knowing better than to take a bite at the headmaster like Vera had.
"Clear insubordination aside, I would like you to provide me with the device you used capture the other issue that we will be discussing."
Káel's heart sank as Ray sifted through his pockets to pull out a phone. One of the few things that allowed the world to see Phantom.
"Uh oh," Phantom muttered, retreating from Káel's corner vision to sink into one of the walls and hide.
Samanthra raised the phone up, turning the lit up screen to Alestra first. "Is this image familiar to you in any way?"
She stopped, taking in every detail of the mysterious picture Samanthra was showing her, before popping a shrug. "No."
"Ms. Cabernon, you are excused," Samanthra replied, raising her hand to stop her from completely leaving the chair. "The construction of pixie baits is completely legal, but distributing the product to someone without a license is not. Please consider this going forwards."
"Thank you." She dipped her head respectfully, quickly departing from the room.
Samanthra drew in a deep breath, looking at the device with a twisted frown. "It's died."
"Oh no, let me..." Ray cut in, rising from his chair to turn the phone back on and tutor Samanthra on the earthly object. "You need to keep tapping the picture when it starts to fade, or it falls asleep."
She flashed the picture so Káel and his friends could see it, a familiar figure clad in red, staring over the side of a couch Káel was passed out on. The backdrop was Ray's room, evidence he had snapped after rescuing Káel from the certain death of pixie dust poisoning.
"Have you three seen this creature before?"
"In books," Truvius muttered, barely able to look Samanthra in the face as he pinched at his hands. "But I read a lot of books..."
As soon as Tia confirmed Truvius was telling the truth, Samanthra skipped over Káel to stare down Vera.
"Same with the books..." She motioned at the phone. "And weird artifact things of course."
Think.
Káel felt Samanthra shift her attention to him.
There was a way out.
There had to be.
"Not answering will be held with the same weight as being guilty," Samanthra continued, but her face was filled with worry.
Káel stopped, his racing mind fleeing to the advice of his uncle.
A question was a question. It wasn't the truth, and it wasn't a lie.
It was just perfect
Káel gave her a flinching smile. "How can I be held guilty for something without evidence? That device can easily be tampered."
Ray glared, pulling a mini phone looking device out of his pocket and pressing the play button. It played a couple snippets of his one sided conversations, and part of the fight he had with Ray in his room. "And if that's not enough, I have accurate data on all the places he has ventured to. Last night for example, he went into the forest."
The crushing stress of defeat thickened into a sticky mass of hatred.
There was only one way he could know so much.
It was all obvious now.
Káel slowly reached for his sleeve, running his fingers along the bellyside of his arm.
Ray didn't know where he was from sheer intuition, and being able to avoid him for weeks on end was no coincidence.
He knew where he was, every second of every day.
A nauseous chill gripped Káel's stomach as his fingers stopped, the smooth skin interrupted by a grain of a bump stuck deep into his flesh.
The syringe he'd stuck in that exact spot was never a translator.
"It's a simple yes or no dear."
Káel clenched his teeth harder at the blatant lie.
Trying not to crucify your friend was anything but simple.
Nothing about this was as simple as a yes or no.
The easiest thing to do right now was put on a mask.
And make a play.
Káel steeled his senses, missing a beat would crack the act wide open. He skimmed the various props in Samanthra's office, shelves filled with books and polished artifacts, a desk stuffed with paperwork and tools to help her process it... paintings... windows... curtains.
He needed a better view.
"Have you ever considered that maybe I'm just insane?" Káel started, paying the headmaster's unconvinced squint a warm smile. "Isn't it more convincing than me being kumbaya with some random Novan?"
Before Samanthra could pull a reply, Ray cut right into the conversation. "He's not insane."
"Oh yeah?" Káel replied, rising from his chair and keeping himself from smiling as Ray took the bait. " And what gives you the right to decide? The guy that ripped me from my home and made an active effort to keep me miserable every second of every day! What gives you the right to even talk about me?!"
Samanthra breathed out a sigh. "Káel, no one is calling you crazy."
Káel forced out a laugh, drifting past Samanthra to stand in the middle of the room and take the spotlight. "Oh I know. I'm calling me crazy, its none of you guys doing it. Maybe Truvius caught me talking to myself, and instead of admitting I'm just straight from the looney bin I made a play out of it! Showed him pictures. Made it seem like something was following me when in reality all that was there was the walls," Káel started, moving towards the shelves to dust at a few of the covers. "When in reality, maybe it's just a bunch of voices in my head telling me what to do."
Samanthra was still clearly unconvinced, his friends watching the scene unfold in awkward silence, and Vera even letting out an audible sigh.
They thought he was effectively digging their grave deeper.
Káel looked at Samanthra's desk, the glinting edges of metal hiding in a flurry of paperwork.
The key prop was there.
He could sell the act.
"I don't think you understand the severity of Mr. Peterson's allegations," Samanthra boomed, stopping again as Káel raised his hands to keep her back.
"Probably not. After all, I am just some ignorant, powerless, random kid from Earth, who's too savage to understand your higher society's values," Káel replied, his sarcasm growing with every word. "If that's the case, poor feeble minded little me is bound to fall under the evil influence of a Novan, I'd practically lick their boots in a heartbeat! Right? That's what you're all probably thinking right now!" He forced another chuckle out of his throat, the sensation becoming more natural by the second. "But hear me out."
Káel could feel his heart thudding in his throat as he reached the desk. Everything was banking on this moment. He just had to keep himself from chickening out, make it one swift motion to kill two birds with one stone.
He felt the bump in his arm again, memorising the spot as he rested against the large wooden structure. "I can prove it. I'll show you what the voices are telling me to do right now."
It was going perfectly. The skeptical glares had melted to curiousity.
Curiousity and fear.
Káel sucked in a breath, hoping to hell Lumi had a healing spell for this.
With a swift motion he snatched the letter opener off Samanthra's desk, flattening his arm on the cluttered surface to drive the blade exactly into the spot where he'd felt the bump. A bite of pain ripped through his arm like a tsunami of razors, the tip of the blade a red hot poker as he dug out the small metal grain.
The pain fuzzed his vision with tears, a rough force pulling him back and ripping the blade from his hands. Ray had practically flown from his chair to stop him, squeezing his arm just above the pooling gouge to cut any circulation.
But the act wasn't over. Káel could see the effect in the room, everyone out of their chairs in various stages of running to help him. Ray had reached him first however, which left everyone else as mortified statues.
"It's okay," Káel said, his cheery voice wavering with the bite of pain he was still getting over. "It's what the voices wanted. It's fine."
Samanthra rushed to her desk, ripping a wad of white cloth out and tossing it to Ray so he could start on wrapping the wound. "Lightwood!"
The teacher took the call, moving Ray away from Káel so he could place a quick sealing enchantment on the cut, slapping down a green net of healing threads within seconds as he fired off one spell after another.
"Lightwood, please check his mind for enchantments," Samanthra ordered, keeping her distance while the teacher grabbed Káel's head and muttered under his breath.
Káel stood still as he lingered on the spell, cracking an even bigger smile when the teacher shook his head at Samanthra. The pain ripping through his arm had cooled from Lightwood's spells, clearing his conscious to help keep the show until its end. He had to get out of Samanthra's office, but there was one last thing he needed to share.
One seed of truth Samanthra was looking for.
"Káel, I would like to know how this journal came into your possession," Samanthra said, her voice strangely soft for the setting as she held up Zalius' notes.
"Oh that? Zalius handed it to me," he replied, allowing Lightwood to take his wounded arm and start wrapping it up while he carelessly tossed his gaze around the room. "We're friends."
"He's telling the truth... or at least he thinks he is," Tia cut in, raising Káel's hopes as every shred of his improvisation fell right into place.
"Yeah." He shifted his gaze to Ray, gritting his teeth as Lightwood tightened the cloth. "Ray also has a Zodraic Battery in his room."
Samanthra sighed, disappointment twisting with fear as she took a cautious step towards him. "Káel, I'm trying to help you."
"And I'm trying to help you!" Káel snapped, motioning to Ray. "All of this is his fault!"
"He's not lying about the battery either mi'lady." Tia cut in.
Samanthra narrowed her eyes, giving the elite a sidelong glare. "Ray?"
"What? Of course I don't have one!" Ray retorted, motioning dismissively at Káel's bleeding arm. "You heard it from his mouth. He's crazy."
"Still can't tell with him," Tia said.
"I'll not take that as an excuse," Samanthra boomed, turning to Truvius and Vera who were still gaping at the scene. "Truvius, I'm sorry, would you be comfortable with watching over Káel tonight until we can schedule a proper psychological analysis? If not we'll have him stay in the nursing quarters, but I do not want to risk any incidents if he is left unattended."
Truvius hesitated. Fear washing his face as he locked gazes with Káel.
He'd fallen a little too hard for the act.
Káel tried to make it discrete, barely dipping his chin in a nod.
"S-sure..."
"Thank you," Samanthra sighed, turning to Mr. Lightwood and Ray and motioning for them to leave Káel some personal space. "Mr. Peterson, you are suspended from your duties as an elite until you clean up your act. Lightwood, I would like you to escort Mr. Peterson to his room and search his quarters. Thoroughly."
Ray tensed, his entire posture freezing with hostility at the order. "What?"
"Is there something you don't want my associate to find Mr. Peterson?" Samanthra said, her voice unwaveringly calm, and packed with the frigid ice of a teacher that had hit their fill of drama.
"No." Ray mumbled, shooting Káel one last set of daggers. "There isn't."
"Good, you two are excused."
Káel could feel Ray trying to lock gazes with him, but he didn't give the elite the satisfaction of a parting glare. Instead, he watched the two depart, Ray's steps stiffened with the pressure of a shaken bottle ready to burst.
"Everyone is to respect the confidentiality of this meeting," Samanthra finished, snapping her fingers to keep the doors ajar after Lightwood left them. "You are all dismissed."
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The entire journey back to the room had been silence, Truvius had nothing to say. He'd seen his friend, normal when he awoke, take the headmaster's letter opener and drive it into his arm to convince the room he was insane.
Káel knew it was convincing.
Truvius was terrified.
Now Káel was on his bed, a new letter from his uncle splayed above his face as he read the words under his breath. His uncle had a paravelt, a temporary ticket to earth. But unlike a broken zodraic battery, he was somehow reluctant to share the harmless artifact in the mail. As soon as he finished the piece he scrunched it up, slamming the pile down onto his nightstand with a heavy sigh.
He could see Truvius flinch from the movement, his roommate ripping his attention to the nightstand to make sure nothing else happened. Káel hadn't heard him flip a page of his notes since they sat down. He was pretending to read them, or struggling to as something else haunted his mind.
"There was a tracker in my arm. That's why I... did that thing."
Truvius perked at the words, pretending to watch his notes again. "Okay."
"Okay." Káel tapped his fingers, the silence bugging him more than it usually did. "I think I'm going to go visit my uncle."
"Come again?" Phantom cut in, crouching over Káel's bed with his fists on his hips. "You just tried to open up your wrist like a letter, they're watching you like a hawk. Not to mention, do you even know where your uncle is? Who he is?"
"No, but I know someone who might."
"Soren? Are you forgetting you'll have breakers watching everything you do?"
Káel scoffed. "Except when I'm in my room."
"Yeah, fat load of use that is to you."
Káel grinned. "There's also the windo-"
"And if you get caught? They'll discover me in an instant. Then they'll find all those damn books that blow the stuff I do way out of proportion, and you'll be chilling with the High Council of Lumi, which has an odd Council of Kings ring to it, don't you think? Or maybe you'll keep acting like an insane teenager and they'll send you off to a psychocamp instead!"
"I won't get caught, that's the plan!"
"Well it's a dumb plan!"
Káel scrunched his nose. "Well you can't stop me."
Phantom sighed. "Even if you're not caught, and you get the dumb branch, how are you going to do the ritual? Hmm? They'll have detained your friends again for questioning the moment they find you're missing, and you'll be captured the moment you step into the town, let alone the scho-"
"Then I'll skip the town and go straight for Zalius' tree, we'll do it there. I won't even come back here."
"You need the materials in that room they've probably ransacked! Even if you grab them now it takes a couple hours to get to the tree, they'll have discovered your missing in an hour, tops. And I don't think you can outrun a pack of Molves."
Káel went silent, feeling Truvius' attention on him as he bit at his cheek in frustration.
Phantom softened his tone as Káel's expression turned to hopeless sorrow. "Just wait it out, this investigation will stop in a month or two, then we can think of something."
"I'm not waiting any longer, I've spent months on this stupid planet! I'm going back home, and I won't let anyone destroy you, no matter what!" Káel snapped, jumping from his bed to walk right through Phantom. "I just need a plan."
"Plan is, bed time," Truvius cut in.
Káel sighed. The entire encounter had left him abuzz, he wasn't tired or hungry, and felt as if he could run for days. But everything about Truvius had changed.
He was making sure to speak softly, keeping his distance. Gingerly dealing with Káel as if a slip would make him blow into a catastrophic and irreparable mess.
The trust of friendship had been lost.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go to bed," Káel replied, rubbing his eyes and faking a yawn.
Truvius looked at his attire. He had changed out of his dirty uniform into jeans and a t-shirt. "Odd pyjamas"
"I forgot to put my other ones in the closet before I went out today," Káel replied, grabbing his sword and carefully balancing it against the wall. "Man I'm beat."
"You're actually going to bed... right?" Phantom muttered, his shadow looming over the covers Káel pulled above his head. "Is that a yes?"
Káel heard Truvius wish him goodnight, grabbing one of the slips of paper under his pillow to write on before his roommate dimmed the lights.
As the room was cast to darkness, he got a final flash of what he'd written.
Big and bold enough to see from the foot of his bed when the time came for him to place it on a neatly folded uniform.
I quit.
Don't forget to:
COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)
Quality Quip #45:
'Crazy people don't know they're crazy. I know I'm crazy, therefore I'm not crazy, isn't that crazy?'
~ Jack Sparrow