189 - Reevaluation: Final Test (Patreon)

Elric didn't like how the priest was looking at Arielle. He didn’t like it one bit. 

He didn’t know what it was that caught the man’s attention, because Arielle had performed that test as well as she could. She’d given herself the right amount of speed, and she’d failed enough times to be believable. She had been averagely exceptional. 

Yet, something had shifted in the man’s expression. He’d been focused on her the entire time, and when Elric had glanced over, there was a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

There might be a hidden part of the test that Elric hadn't noticed. Or maybe the man had extra insight and could see into Arielle’s cores already. But if he could, there would be no need for the test. He would already be able to tell how overdeveloped her cores were, plus the extra core that she kept hidden.

Only one way to find out.

As the man turned, heading toward one of the doors, Lord Antigones called out, “Wait just a moment. What is the meaning of this? Why must this final test be performed in secret, away from us?"

“And what did you mean when you said she has the most exceptional cores you’ve ever seen?” Master Cullen said. “I’m sure the girl is skilled but…surely you’ve seen better?”

Elric winced.

That was the exact type of statement that would get Arielle in trouble, and he really wished that the Priest had not expressed that, especially in front of the council members.

The fact that he had done it, even knowing Elric wanted to keep the truth about Arielle's cores from the rest of the council, could only mean one thing.

It was a threat. 

If Elric refused to go along with him, he would give more hints as to the true nature of Arielle’s abilities. Perhaps enough to earn her a suppression.

Right now, he didn’t seem inclined to answer any of the questions and simply continued walking until he reached a door. He stopped then and gave Elric a questioning look.

“What is going on here, Elric?” Lord Antigones asked.

Elric shook his head. “I’m not sure. I guess I’ll find out and let you know.”

Lord Antigones held his gaze. Clearly, he knew there was more to this than met the eye, because of the head priest's assertion that Elric did not want the rest of the test out in the open.

Elric only gave him a harmless smile.  

Meanwhile, Arielle had trekked down from the altar and was now standing next to him, giving him her signature questioning look. The trust in her gaze sometimes scared him. It reminded him of how much she didn’t know, and how much she relied on him to navigate this new world of theirs.

If he made a mistake, if he steered her wrong…

It would be over for her, and it would all be his fault.

He looked up and met Gio’s gaze once more. Gio looked relaxed, leaning on one foot, with his arms crossed, as though he didn't have a care in the world. But he'd also seemed relaxed while fighting a legion of demons. 

That was the thing about Gio: one could never predict when he was ready to pounce.

Or perhaps he always was.

Elric wondered if he truly would try to break Arielle out of here, if need be. 

Gio was the type to want chaos for chaos's sake, and that made him prone to taking on fights that he really did not have to. Not to mention he was still curious about Arielle, if nothing else, and he might believe he had enough social standing to get away with a jailbreak.

But a suppression on someone like Gio would be torturous. It would be an instant death sentence.

Would he be willing to give his life for Arielle?

Gio smirked and gave a subtle tip of his chin that could have been a nod or a dare.

Elric wasn't sure if Gio was answering the question he'd only posed mentally, and he also wasn't sure if he believed him. He had his own agenda, after all.

Nevertheless, Elric took Arielle by the shoulder. Together, they followed the man through the doors. 

The hallways were darkened, the only light coming from small, flickering spirit lanterns held in the hands of the statues that were half-melted into the wall. They were disciples and guardians and various helpers of the Primordials. Arielle stared at them with keen interest as they walked by, and Elric wondered if it was because she was admiring the statues themselves or if there were essences that she could see.

They finally reached the end where a staircase led downwards.

An immediate ghostly draft made Elric shiver, like phantom hands were trailing the back of his neck. The lower they went, the colder and staler the air got, the sounds of their footsteps echoing.

At the bottom, they were led through another hallway with stone walls that resembled that of a cave, and standing coffins lining the way. At the end, an eyeless maiden was carved from granite, her hand out, her mouth opened in a half-scream. Upon reaching her, the head priest touched the tip of her finger, and stone walls shifted aside to reveal a door that opened automatically.

The crypt had low vaulted ceilings, with heavy columns and checkered floors. Crystals dotted the walls, forming different constellations.

There were also several robed priests in the room, who did not look up at their arrival. They continued their tasks, some sitting on benches and praying, others kneeling and meditating over the crystals. They were those who were wiping the floor with a rag in straight lines, others standing in circles with their hands extended, a glow emanating from their bodies.

Elric jerked as, without warning, they all rose and immediately moved in tandem as though obeying a silent order. 

It was a little disconcerting to watch their coordination, as though they were all following a script that was only known to them.

Five of them began to touch the crystals, muttering to themselves, causing them to glow. Twelve stood in a star, a circle and a triangular configuration, and began to hum.

The ground where the altar should be peeled away, and a star-like contraption rose from it. It had leather harnesses with buckles at the tips, and they snapped open once it was done rising.

"What on earth is this place?” Elric murmured, and he half expected the other priest not to answer, but he turned around. 

“This is the final testing room,” he answered, which gave Elric exactly nothing. "It is where we will see if indeed she is what I think she is.”

Elric's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained an unaffected tone as he asked, “And what do you think she is?”

“An anomaly,” he said.  “A hybrid I’ve never encountered before.”

Elric’s stomach tightened. He glanced around the room at all the robed individuals; none of them seemed to be paying particular attention to their conversation. They had their eyes closed, continuing their chant. 

“She’s a human," Elric said in a low tone.

“I didn’t say otherwise,” he said, shrugging. “She is mostly human, but there might be something else within her. I’ve never seen another human with cores like that. Most with anomalous cores tend to be hybrid in nature, so I’m assuming she is too.”

“Anomalous?” Ellric said. “What do you mean? I thought her cores were simply overdeveloped.”

“They are. But it is why they are overdeveloped that we must pay attention to. They are far too refined for her age. Even if she trained all her life, they should not be that refined, especially without help from the system. They are not attached to any external oaths or rituals either. Her cores are a natural consequence of what she is, but what that is…I’ll need to investigate more to know.”

"I see." Elric remembered the rumors about Mossbornes being hybrids. Of course, he’d never believed in such a thing. It was just another excuse for small-minded snobs to mark them as savages, as less than human thanks to their strength and endurance.

But now he wondered...

Arielle was a Mossborne. She was not adopted. Her mother had insisted that she gave birth to Arielle herself, and Elric had no reason not to believe her. Besides, while she didn’t bear a strong resemblance to her parents, there was enough of them in her to signify a blood relation.

However, no Mossborne had ever had what Ari did. On the contrary, Mossbornes did not foster magic well at all, and those that did tended to lose their powers as they aged.

So why hadn't the same thing happened to Arielle? Why had her cores grown stronger? Why could she see essences when that was a skill only the very ancients were rumored to have?

“I see you’re curious about her too,” the man said, and Elric instantly snapped into himself. 

He cleared his throat. "I just...I think you might be mistaken. Is it just the refinement that makes them anomalous?”

“No. To explain in detail, I would have to share decades of research and explain the nature of the cores and how they develop in human bodies. The overdevelopment is just one sign. The other one that interests me is that her cores are also far too active, and seem in constant motion. Most humans have static cores that only act whenever they’re interacting with a spell. Hers are not like that. I’ll need to understand why.”

He gestured to the black contraption where some of the priests were waiting. 

Alarm shot through Elric.

“You want her to get in that?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

The thing looked like a torture device, with so many restraints that it made him anxious.

Arielle stared at him. Once more, he was reminded of the fact that she was entrusting her entire life to him. 

"Are you certain there's no other way?" Elric asked.

"I'm certain."

“If anything happens to her…”

“Do not worry,” the priest said. “No harm will come to her. She simply must perform the test as genuinely as she can. And I will know if she’s faking it by deliberately reducing her ability to trick me. That is unacceptable, mage. Do you understand?"

Elric held his gaze, studying the arch of his eyebrow, and the quiet threat of his tone. 

Dismay sank in his gut. It was just as he feared. The head priest knew that Arielle had faked her results and knew that she had failed on purpose.

One word from him and her life could be over.

He turned to Arielle once more, and she was once again looking at him in question. 

Elric nodded. 

With a quickening pulse, he watched Arielle step up into the contraption, holding her hands out so that the manacles could be buckled around her wrists and elbows. She looked fairly concerned, worry furrowing her eyebrows, but she let them strap her in anyway, compliant even after they stepped back outside of the circle etched in the ground.

At least the leather didn't look particularly strong. Elric could probably break it with a variety of spells.

He glanced over at the exit and thought of the possibility of his having to break Arielle's confinement and run with her if things looked like they would go south. His brain ran through a few scenarios, and he stood near the head priest, just in case he had to take the man hostage for their escape. He didn’t know the head priest’s true ability, seeing as how he was good at shielding it, but he talked with too much confidence and audacity to be truly powerless.

Nevertheless, self-preservation could make anyone compliant enough, provided Elric could figure out what it was that the man was afraid of. 

Alternatively, he could simply hold the other man in this room for long enough for Arielle to escape and find Gio. 

Hopefully, between him and Vittoria, they could get Ari somewhere safe, somewhere that they couldn't reach her.

Elric knew that if he went that route, that would be the end of his life.

But there were worse reasons to die.

***

Arielle wished she knew what was happening.

Apart from the restraints around her wrists and ankles, there were several Vacu elements in the room that made her nervous. Not to mention the glowing crystals that caused Luxa to hover over them, with more probably buried in the shiny black stone walls of the cathedral.

It reminded her of the core stabilization trial she'd had with Llywyd.

She wondered if that was what this test was.

It was hard to tell even as the crystals' glow intensified. Most of the orbs controlling the spell were hidden in the very walls so Arielle could not break them easily. The priests began to chant in tandem, in a language she did not understand. The scent of incense and mist filled the room.

The free essences around her began to float farther and farther away from her. 

It is like the core stabilization trial, she thought with relief.

"Form any of the master-tier spells that you did earlier," the head priest called out.

Arielle looked to Elric.

Technically, she should not be able to form that spell without a wand and especially not with her hands restrained. Yet, she knew she could even with the orbs at the other side of the room.

She wouldn't do it if Elric told her not to.

She saw his jaw clench, but ultimately, he nodded.

She reached out and grabbed the essences with her gaze, forming the shape of the master tier golem spell.

But then something happened.

A sharp pain spiked inside, and her cores withered suddenly, triggering an ache like nothing she'd ever felt.

Arielle screamed. 

"What is this?" She heard Elric demand, but her vision unfocused at the pain of her cores being crushed under phantom hands. She fought back, struggling against her bonds, trying to prevent the inevitable. 

Was this it? Was she being suppressed?

It hurt. 

It wasn’t like Llywyd's test at all. That was mere discomfort compared to this. This made her feel trapped, like something was being ripped out of her. Her cores were getting smaller and smaller, contracting even as they tried to expand once more. It was a pain that was difficult to describe, an ache, an infernal itch, a bone-deep discomfort as though her very being was being torn into, things being taken out of her without her permission.

As tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes, she watched Elric attempt to cast a spell, but the orbs stayed in place. They did not move, likely restricted by one of the spells that the priests were chanting.

Elric bolted for her, but some of the priests moved to stand in his way. He grabbed two of them by their necks and tossed them away like sacks of potatoes.

While that happened, Arielle thought of an escape spell. Something that could get her out before her cores were gone completely. 

She breathed through the pain and panic and searched her mind. Fear clouded her judgment, making it harder for her to figure out a spell that would get her through this. Something simple that she could cast with a smaller core.

Something that would set her free.

[Air Slice].

With a strain that made her veins pop out in her forehead, and her eyeballs ache, she reached out for the orbs, even as she saw Elric grab the Head Priest and shove him against the wall. A dagger flashed in his hand, and he pressed it against the man's throat.

"Release her," he demanded. "Now."

"Or what?" The priest asked. "You'll kill an old man?"

"Don't tempt me. What are you doing to her? This is not how a core suppression is done, so why are you torturing her?”“How would you know how a core suppression is done? Have you ever gotten one before?”

Elric’s voice was heated. “I know you think you’re untouchable because of your role in the system.  I know you believe you’re a titan. But you’re not a stupid man. There are six masters out there, who know that we're here. One of them is the strongest Archmage in the world, and quite famously a loose cannon. And he’s quite fond of the girl that you’re currently torturing? Do you think you’re going to get away with it? Do you think you’re that irreplaceable? Do you think your word carries more weight than that of eight of the council who could very well vote another to take your place ? We can at the very least, make things very inconvenient for you for the next few years? I’m sure you don’t want constant council checks do you?”

The priest did not respond and continued to stare at Arielle. 

“You may be strong, but you are human. So I’m going to give you five seconds to stop whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Make it twenty seconds,” the man said. “If it goes on past that, then I will consider releasing her.”

Twenty seconds? Arielle didn’t think she could last that long.

Also if Elric killed him, what would happen?

Would he be imprisoned? Would his cores be suppressed?

Arielle could not allow him to undergo something this horrific.

It took her a lot of effort to reach out to the orbs, but she had learned to do so in hell.

In the abyss, it had been even harder, and she'd been in pain then too, yet she'd done it regardless. Right now, she gasped for air while she grabbed them, the orbs trembling against her hold, yet somehow letting her form the spell and putting up no resistance as they had done for Elric.

It was made easier by the fact that [Air Slice] was a spell in her system Grimoire. It required less concentration from her, and it came together much faster and easier.

"[Air Slice]," she gasped.

It sliced her bonds open, and she dropped to the floor and crawled as quickly as she could away from the altar and the surrounding circle.

Once she escaped, her cores returned in a rush, growing to their normal size. She collapsed and coughed, hugging herself and rocking through the panic.

"Arielle!" Elric rushed toward her, picking her up off the floor. He hugged her, and his scent of earth was a steadying presence, one that grounded her and made it easier to breathe. She clutched him as the head priest moved into her view once more.

He raised his hand, and Arielle's energy and vitality increased. Her panic subsided significantly, and warmth rushed through her body, restoring everything back to its normal strength.

She actually felt a little better than when she'd walked in here. Physically anyway. Mentally, she was broken up. 

But also, she wondered how the priest could use magic when all the other magical components in the room had been restricted. None of the orbs had shifted from their positions. There had to be some other magic he was tapping into, some hidden battery or well. 

As Arielle kicked her feet to be released from Elric’s hold, her fascination poked through her horror at what just happened.

Elric, on the other hand, glared at the man and put her behind him.

"The aftereffects should only last for a few minutes,” the head priest said. “And eventually she will build a tolerance. Next time it won't be as bad.”

“Next time?" Elric gave him an incredulous look. “You must be crazy to think you’re going to get to do it again.”

“You won't have a choice,” he said. “Unless you want the dear council to know about her other peculiarities, including the curious little spare core she's harboring.”

Elric's nose flared. His face turned red. She didn't think she'd ever seen him look that angry, not even that one time he'd attacked the dean in the office.

The head priest did not seem to care, although the front of his robe was rumpled, and there was a single drop of blood on his neck where Elric had nicked him with the dagger.

"What I could do now," he continued. "Is to  tell them that she has truly remarkable cores, worthy of being a great master in her own right, and eventually an Archmage, but, there's nothing truly suspicious about her or the way she developed them. I could tell them that she will not be a threat to the High Ascendant. Or I could tell them the truth."

"Why would you hide it?" Elric asked.

"Because she is more useful to me exactly as she is, without her cores altered in any way," he said. "I’m not a biologist, but her cores are the way they are for a reason." He looked at her. "I’m sure you know this story, but a long time ago, when the first Earth was destroyed, humans were sent to another Earth, one that they were meant to populate and rule with their magic. However, it is said that the earth was already occupied by another species when we got here. And those already had their own magical abilities. More than that, they could produce magic."

That rendered Elric silent. Arielle too.

"Are you saying..."

"I don’t know if perhaps she is a hybrid with one of those earlier species, or if there’s another reason, perhaps a genetic abnormality that causes her to resemble them in this way. That’s for a biologist to decide. What I know is that the major problem of our world is that there are no avenues for us to produce magic, and we must rely on what is here and what is siphoned," the man continued. "Human cores are different from others, with certain limitations. However, it might just be that we have not yet found a way around it.”

Arielle cocked her head. "I don't understand."

“Your cores are hyperactive even at rest. I pushed them to the limit to see if they would still be that way, and they were. You were able to create a spell even with everything else working against you. Even with cores that were in the middle of a suppression That’s a sign that perhaps, with some effort, you may be able to do more and we might be able to find a way to extract essences from them."

Elric's jaw slackened. "Are you insane?"

"No," the Priest said. "No, I’m not.”

Arielle remained silent. The dragon she'd met had said that humans did not produce essences because they did not meditate for years like dragons did and were not able to access their spirit path. She wondered if this priest knew that. What he was saying sounded antithetical to it, because it involved pushing herself to the limit, which to her was the exact opposite of meditating on a spirit path. 

If he didn't know, she probably couldn't tell him because then she would have to tell him how she found out. Not to mention she did not like or trust him very much, not after what he'd just done to her.

But if he did think that her cores could produce essences...what exactly did that mean for the spirit path? Would she eventually have to meditate for the rest of her life?

As much as she enjoyed meditation, she didn't think she could do that, and what he was proposing was...distasteful to say the least.

"You want her to become a lab rat," Elric asked, his eyes narrowing, brows lowering.

"That's one way to put it," he said. "Another way is that I want her to become a pioneer of what may become a new system and era of magical prosperity. A productive method of magic rather than a simply extractive one. One where the majority no longer have to suffer."

"And while you're doing so, you will poke and prod until you find out everything there is to know about her cores and how to overcome them. Right?"

The man didn't even flinch at Elric's sardonic tone. He simply effected a casual shrug.

"It is your choice at the end of the day. But I have to tell you it is certainly better than the alternative."

Elric's face went even redder at the blatant blackmail. Menace spat from his gaze, and he seemed to want to strangle the other man.

Yet he was not saying anything to oppose the proposal. Probably because he couldn't.

The head priest knew enough about her to report her to the authorities and have her cores suppressed permanently. And that was something she never wanted to go through. The physical and mental anguish was unbearable, like a hole was missing from the center of her body. She would rather die.

"Is it always going to be like that?" Arielle asked quietly. "If I agree to become a labrat?"

"No," the head priest said. "Sometimes the discomfort will be different. Sometimes it would be better. Sometimes it will be worse."

Arielle swallowed. She could not imagine worse. Even just a few seconds of feeling her cores slip away from her was agony.

But this was the price she had to pay for freedom. And to be fair, Elric had warned her that something horrible might happen if she got caught. She should have stayed with her head low as he'd asked. This was her fault. 

"How often?" she asked. "Will I have to be a lab rat? And for how long?" She hoped it wasn't for the rest of the time.

"Hmm. Perhaps a session or two a month to start with?" he asked. “I do not know how long.”

Arielle's nose flared. 

She didn't like this, but she didn't see much of an alternative. There was no other way out.

"Yes,” Arielle spoke up. “We have a deal."

"Arielle–"

"Good." The priest did not seem triumphant. He seemed resigned as though this were an inevitable conclusion. He held out his hand, his expression flat. "I will swear an oath. And you may call me Father Jade."