71 - The Return (Patreon)

Vittoria did not answer immediately, allowing Arielle to study the scrolls some more.

It was covered by an extremely segmented spell containing about twenty similar-looking components linked together and also linked to a central complex glyph. There were parts of it she didn't understand, but she got the general idea behind the spell. Most of the components were either shielding or detecting, and the interesting thing was that he achieved it with Vacu essences. Typically, a spell made to conceal or detect information was done with a Massa-Luxa lattice, and the substitution with Vacu here should make the spell more unstable....which was probably exactly the point.

Even the slightest intervention would cause the entire spell to break down, but that would trigger the secondary, more stable part of the spell, which was the self-destruct complex that sat at its base.

Or at least that's what Ari assumed it was. 

The sheer amount of Vacu and Calor surrounding it told her that it was extremely destructive.

The curse twisted around the scrolls, arranged in several interlinked layers that communicated with each other. She guessed that was meant to counter or at least account for the various ways that one could access the hidden details in the document, ultimately triggering self-destruct if it could not be prevented. 

“I don’t understand,” Arielle said. “Why not just destroy the document if they didn’t want anyone to read it?”

Vittoria got up from her seat and walked over before she answered, “Because destroying it outright is risky. It would warrant further investigation, and there’s nothing the sect hates more than being investigated. At least this way, if someone tried to tamper with the spell and it got destroyed, they could claim that whatever Elric did was the reason behind the destruction."

“Would that work?" Arielle asked. "Elric is an Archmage. Why would anyone believe he would make a mistake like that?"

Vittoria gave her a weak smile. “Have you learned about the different branches of the world authority yet?"

She nodded. There were two world-ruling bodies that every government on every continent had to answer to. 

The first was the Celestial Assembly, which was led by the Celestial Council.  They ruled on important magical matters like essence quotas, punishment for magical crimes, interdimensional battles, and so on and so forth. Then there was the Lower Court, which dealt with the more mundane laws like international trade, wars, and such. 

“There’s always a power struggle in both the upper and lower courts,” Vittoria said. “Technically, each sect and noble house is supposed to have equal representatives on both, however that’s not how it works in practice. For example, if you’re from a house that does not have multiple mages of import, you may only have one representative on the assembly. Newly formed sects must also first prove themselves worthy of being part of the assembly before they can have a representative, and membership can be revoked for grievous crimes or if a family falls into significant disrepute. And it doesn’t have to be the council member themselves doing the wrong thing. If a high-ranking relative causes damage to the family name or if the noble house falls into enough debt, you can get members voted out of the Celestial assembly, never to be replaced, and your house percentage reduced."

“I see.” Arielle vaguely wondered if that was the punishment Anne had been scared off when she had readily apologized for her mother’s crime. It was explained to Ari later that Emilia’s actions in interrupting the friendly duel had brought great shame to their family. Emilia would already face punishment for it, but if Arielle and the headmaster chose to make a case for dismissal before the council, the entire Earthbinder family could suffer as a result. 

Knowing that it would have affected innocent people, maybe including Elric, Ari was glad that she hadn’t pursued that route. Anne's apology was enough for her anyway. 

"Is Elric on the council?"

"No," she said. "He foolishly refused to be one of his family's representatives, thereby diminishing his own power as well. However, the one who created this spell is a prominent member of the council, and he outranks Elric as well."

"Who is he?"

“He is Archmage Yseult of the demonic sect. The sect currently has only one representative in the assembly, thanks to their many violations over the years, which have dwindled their numbers. However, the council cannot afford to simply let them go or suppress their magic on a large scale. Their work is vital in keeping the demonic realm from invading us. Demons are by far the most dangerous threat we have to face, especially with the more intelligent and malicious Archdemons. The Demonic Sect helps us stay ahead of their plans, and they’re the only ones who can do what they do, thanks to their special relationship with the demonic realm. That is why they get away with all the things they get away with, as much as the council likes to pay lip service to impartiality.” Her face tensed. “Though he is the sole member of the demonic sect left on the council, Yseult enjoys an outsized significance and has alliances cutting across various sects. He also has an alliance with the High Ascendant himself, one that I don't understand. That does not mean he can never get in trouble. The bar of unacceptable behavior is just much higher for him, and it means that, as long as he has a plausible explanation for whatever trouble the sect causes, and as long as he continues to be a useful tool for the Ascendant, he will continue to get away with anything but the most grievous of crimes."

She tilted her head. "However, one thing the Ascendant can do is limit his independence and leash him if he becomes too much of a headache. Yseult does not want that to happen, so it's a delicate game of keeping up pretenses and avoiding too many complaints for now."

“I see,” she said. So many follow-up questions peppered her mind. What was this leash that the High Ascendant had? Elric had mentioned something similar before in regard to them using Arielle, but he’d mentioned core suppression. How did that work? The same way the Hybrid did it?  

Also, was Yseult's word that much more important than Elric's? Could truth spells not be used to uncover who is telling the truth?

Above that, there was one more thing that was more important for her to know. “Why are the demonic sect the only ones who can do what they do?”

Vittoria sighed deeply. “That’s too complicated and bloody a story for me to get into right now. I won’t have time to tell you, because I have to take you back to campus soon. You’re saying you can bypass the curse on the scrolls?”

She glanced down at it again and nodded.

“Are you sure? You have to be, because one wrong move and we lose everything."

Before she gave another affirmative, Arielle studied the spell some more, this time focusing on the intricacies of how the spell worked. 

The fact that it was a bloodline spell made her a little apprehensive. There could be something in the base layer of the curse, the destructive layer that she didn't understand. She was even apprehensive about using Orion on it, but she could ensure that her orbs surrounded the spell, without touching any part of it.

She activated Orion and boosted her focus so she could see the actions of the orbs.

As she’d thought, the Vacu was barely stable and there was something extra about the Vacu-Luxa complex that bothered her. 

Additionally, she didn't understand why some parts of the spells were linked together for no reason, and why there was a two-way link to the base. The first one was the spell feeding into the destructive base, but why did the base need to feed into the rest of the spell too?

It took her nearly a minute to understand. 

I see. The spell was highly reactive. Her initial plan was simply to break the 'self-destruct' feature of the spell, which wouldn't work.

All aspects of the spell, including the detecting components, communicated with each other, and if she attempted to break even just one bond in the self-destruct complex, it would trigger a different self-destruct mechanism baked into the spell in a different direction.

How clever.

She was impressed. He had really covered his bases here. In order to prevent that, she would need to break the spell at all the juncture points simultaneously.

That would be difficult for any mage who couldn't see what they were doing. It required surgical precision and fine motor control. 

Essentially, it would be close to impossible for anyone who wasn’t Arielle. 

“I’m 97% sure I can do it," she said. 

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. “How did you come to that number?”

“Because the odds of me making a mistake at one juncture point are less than 0.01 percent. It increases exponentially with each juncture point, and I also have to ensure that I do it all at the same time. Per my calculation, it adds up to a 97% probability." 

“Juncture points?" She cocked her head. “Have you seen the spell form before?"

Ari shook her head.

"Then how...Never mind. No time. Do it. I must see this.”

Arielle nodded. She didn’t close her eyes, simply held out all her fingers, ensuring she moved slowly enough so that she would connect to all the relevant orbs at the same time. If she were off by even a second, it would destroy the scroll.

She cultivated the connections equally, and when she got close, she hesitated for a second, savoring the contact.

It felt good to be able to do that again. 

She’d hated it when she tried to connect to them and couldn’t. That loss of control had felt….cold. Lost. Terrible. 

She'd felt adrift without her connection to the outside world, without the blanket of comfort that she'd spent her entire life with, the only things that had truly understood her when no one else had. 

It had been terrifying, perhaps more so than death. 

The thought made her pause. 

Losing her orbs scared her more than death? That was…interesting.

Why?

No time now. She would contemplate that later.

When she had achieved all the connections, she tugged them all hard, all at once.

The spells disintegrated with a hiss.

“Done,” she said. 

“Seriously?" Vittoria's eyes were like saucers. "That fast?"

“Yes." She handed the scroll back to her.

Vittoria took it slowly, awed. "What spell did you use? And how did you use it without earning yourself a [Hidden Ability] Marker?"

Arielle bit her lip, her gaze straying to the high corner of the room. "It's a spell I made myself. It's called [Spell Breaker]. It's merely at an adept level, but I can–"

Vittoria laughed.

"I sense you're lying to me," she said. "Don't worry. I'll bully it out of Elric. The two of us are going to have a very long discussion when he comes back to visit."

Arielle was relieved that she wouldn't have to continue her lie, although she felt sorry that she had inadvertently implicated Elric. She thought he had told Vittoria already about most of her peculiarities.  

Ari’s eyes went to the scroll again. She was curious about one thing and she knew now how to activate Orion without needing to write the words down first.

Now she simply thought it and said it in her head. "Cornelius Draco."

It wasn’t likely she would get a response.. She didn't think her investigation into the Church had anything to do with this. 

As expected, the search yielded no result.

"Arielle," Vittoria said, waving a hand in front of her face. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," she said.

"Alright," Vittoria said. “Thank you for your help, but I must return you to campus now, or Elric will have my head."

“When will I see you again?” Arielle asked.

“Soon,” she said,

"Will Elric be there this time?"

"I'm almost certain he will be." She touched her shoulder, and they both disappeared.

***

When they appeared back on North Base, it was evening. 

Ari didn’t know what time it actually was, as it had been near midnight in Vittoria's home on a separate continent. 

She didn't have time to ponder it because Dean Octavius was staring out at the ocean, clearly waiting for them. 

“Ah." His voice was mild, though his gaze was sharp as he turned, his bow stiff. “I’m glad you saw fit to return my student at a reasonable time, Archmage Vittoria. You should know, Elric's fervent plea was the only thing keeping me from reporting this incident to the authorities."

"You mean the council? There's not much they can do to stop me."

"Except suppress your cores."

"Is that a threat?" Vittoria chuckled. “If you don’t want your students kidnapped, your predecessors should have found and plugged the backdoor access I created all those years ago. You left them open, so I assumed that you didn’t mind.”

Octavius didn’t smile at all. “You do not take my students without my permission, Commander.”

“Actually, Dean, I recently discovered the concept of free will. It means I can do whatever I want.”

The Dean's gaze went frosty. “I see. It appears the tales about you are wrong. I had assumed you were too honorable to use your strength to bully the innocent. I suppose that was naive of me to think."

That got Vittoria to stop smiling. For the first time, something resembling remorse appeared in her gaze.

“I apologize for my actions and my flippant words, Dean Octavius," she said in a softer tone. "As you have no doubt heard, I am half-mad now and when I heard that Elric had a talented niece, my curiosity got the better of me."

“Elric told you about her.”

“Yes. We met in passing, and he mentioned her."

The Dean did not look like he believed her.

She did not look like she was overly concerned about his lack of belief.

"Why not tell Elric before you took her then?" Octavius asked.

"He didn't know?" Arielle stared up at the woman in a new light, gasping her outrage. "You implied he was aware."

"He did become aware, after I sent you off to fight. He attempted to come to my home to apprehend me, but I didn't let him and explained calmly that I would return you in one piece when I was done with my test. He was still angry. Said some very hurtful things. Then he luckily got called in for an urgent quest, or I'm sure he would have raised hell in my desert."

Arielle frowned at the woman. The past few hours had made her forget about her initial dislike and distaste when they met. Now it came back in full force.'

"I'm on my way to explain things to Elric right now, or whenever his quest is over” she said. “First, I have to hunt down a hybrid." She patted Arielle on the head like she was a dog. "I'm sure we'll see each other soon, Arielle. After I'm done settling your cousin's wrath."

"Elric's going to be mad at me because of you," she accused. 

"No. He won't blame you for it, he’s not unreasonable."

"Still. You upset him unnecessarily."

"It was necessary. I wouldn't have had to do that if he hadn't lied to me."

Arielle crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not sure I want to see you anymore."

"Too bad. You don't have a choice."

"I will if I block the backdoor access point. Can I?" She turned to Dean Octavius, who watched the exchange with burgeoning interest and traces of amusement.

"You can't," Vittoria said. 

Arielle stared at her, and that made some of the other women's confidence falter.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. Again. I'll talk to Elric, and I'll make things right, I promise. Okay?"

Arielle wasn't sure if that would be enough or not. She would wait for Elric to tell her.

"Okay," Vittoria said. "Now I must go. I have a hybrid to hunt. Toodaloo." Her portal opened once more and swallowed her before she was done getting the last word out. 

Afterwards, Dean Octavius sighed and gave Arielle a pitying look. “I apologize, Arielle. Our campuses are safe for the most part, but we don't yet have the mechanism to keep someone like her out. Especially since she used to be a student before I became Dean, and knows the inner workings of our security system. We will work on it, though."

"It's okay," Arielle said. "I don't blame you. I'm sure you did your best."

The Dean smiled. "Thank you. Now come. Let's get you back to campus."

***

After Arielle returned to her room, she finally let herself think about everything that had happened. 

She felt drained. 

Lyra wasn't in their room, and it was one of the few times Arielle was happy for it. She wanted to decompress and go through the events of the day. It had not hit her while she was in the heat of it, nor directly after.

But now it was sinking in. 

She could have died today. 

Everything would have ended. 

No more family. No more friends. No more spirit orbs surrounding her, offering constant comfort. 

She thought that would elicit an emotion in her beyond sadness. She would be devastated if she never got to see her family or her friends again. Just the thought of it made her want to weep. 

Sadness, not fear. 

The fear of death was still noticeably absent. 

It was odd. 

She lay down and flashes of what had happened echoed in her mind. The memory of the hybrid suppressing her cores and severing its connection to the spirit orbs made her feel ill. It made her palms sweat, her stomach jolting against her skin. 

Imagine if she could no longer see them. If her world lost color and she could no longer talk to her lifelong friends. If she lost all contact with them. 

Ari did not dream, but if she did dream, that would be her nightmare.

A shiver filtered through her body as the nightmare played in a loop.

How could she keep it from happening again? She wanted to figure out a way not to feel how she'd felt when she’d lost her orbs and almost lost her life.

She thought of him squeezing her neck despite her efforts, her life fading, her soul falling through thousands of portals into what she was assuming was the underworld...

It did not fill her with the same heart-racing terror as losing the orbs did. 

That was not normal.

Ari knew she had a lot of ‘abnormal’ responses to things, but this was not even normal for her. 

She thought back to the first time she'd almost died when she was a child and had nearly drowned in that bog. She was sure she had been afraid at first. When she scrambled and tried to swim, she hadn't just been fighting pain; she had been fighting to live. She had been afraid of dying. 

Then, in an instant, that fear was gone.

Like a switch, it had turned off. Only silence had surrounded her, and she had welcomed it. 

That was strange. She had not had any other near-death experiences, so she didn't realize how strange it was until just now.  

It was not logical. 

Just the other week, she'd been preoccupied with thoughts of the wastage that came with killing other living things. But she had never considered her own death a waste. Why? Was it not a waste? Was there something she'd discovered subconsciously about dying that her physical mind did not remember?

Was death not an end? 

Souls of the Dead, Anchors of the Living.

The Church's motto slid into her brain and for some strange reason, it settled there.

Before her brother had pulled her out, had something happened to her?

She didn't know. How was she to know?

The door opened and closed, and she glanced over to see Lyra entering.

“Hey,” Lyra said. "You're back late today."

She nodded. "Yes. I was busier than I thought."

Lyra nodded silently and went to the privy. A few minutes later, she came out in her night clothes and lay on the bed. Neither girl said anything for the rest of the night as they were occupied with their thoughts. 

Arielle did not know when she fell asleep, but she woke up to the sound of retching. 

The sun streamed in from the windows, hitting her in the face as she stumbled out of bed and ran to the privy.

She spotted Lyra over the bowl, vomiting.

“What’s wrong?” Arielle asked, concerned. 

“Nothing. Just nerves.” Her roommate gave her a watery smile. “Happy Severance."