Chương 133: Secret to Some

It made sense that Acrypha's feat was difficult to believe. She had fought and defeated a literal Guardian of Rhel, an Empyrean-ranked mage that should have been unstoppable and invincible by all known laws of both magic and logic. She should have been obliterated within seconds. Instead, she came out the victor. Handily at that, too.

"I still can't believe something like that was going on in the middle of my final duel," Viren said. He hadn't believed it when he had first heard it, and even now, he was struggling to get it through his head. Acrypha had defeated an Empyrean-ranked mage. Sure, she had done it with Ryland's assistance, but still. That was an accomplishment that defied belief.

"What better way to cheer you on," Acrypha said.

"Than by walloping the jerk who was messing with your match?" Viren grumbled. His victory over Tezar had been so odd. He had felt triumphant in the moment, when he had finally overcome the Rhellian he had made friends with. But now, he couldn't help but question things. Which was silly because he had known there would be something odd, some form of tampering or cheating or something else along those lines.

Ryland was in a competition against that Guardian, who definitely wasn't the type of man to accept losses easily, if at all. They could have gone on assuming that Guardian Nesmel would choose to influence things subtly much as Ryland had done. But they hadn't. Or, at least, Ryland hadn't. Viren had been too busy trying to just focus on his bout against Tezar to be worried about what others might do.

He, like Acrypha, had placed his faith in Ryland to handle these sorts of interferences and other external issues, which he had. And he had done so very thoroughly as well.

"Well, you know I'm grateful," Viren said.

"But?" Acrypha prompted.

"But… I don't know. I guess it's silly of me to assume I overcame everything Tezar was throwing at me by myself, but I felt like I was doing well. Maybe I just got caught up in the euphoria of the moment, thinking that I was winning on my own. When I… really wasn't." Acrypha just struck him on his back hard enough to nearly send him crashing to the ground. Which would have been terrible because the ice cream he had gotten on their little celebratory trip after the tournament was quite good. He glared at her.

She ignored it.

"Stop beating yourself up about stupid things, Viren," Acrypha said.

"If you'd like, I could beat you up. It would save us all a lot of time and heartache."

"I'm going to poison your ice cream," Viren muttered.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said stop trying to ruin my ice cream!" Acrypha squinted her eyes at him, clearly suspicious that ruining ice cream was not what he had said the first time. They were indeed on a little trip to enjoy the day after the tournament. It wasn't just Viren and Acrypha, or even just the students from Arcoryx Academy. All the schools had come together to send their students out as one, in an effort to help them bond closer. Viren would have approved of it if it didn't mean encountering Tezar too.

He had been trying to avoid the older boy for a little while now. Things had been rather awkward since the moment their match had ended. The little forced handshake had made Viren's soul attempt to flee from his body entirely, and only his happiness at his triumph had kept him sane. Normally, Viren would have taken it as a simple betrayal.

He'd call himself stupid for not seeing the true colours of someone he had called a friend earlier, beat himself up about it a bit, then go on and entertain perfectly justified and doubtlessly heroic fantasies of vengeance. But with Tezar, that wasn't the case. Sometime during the middle of their battle—a point in time that Viren had later learned was when the Guardian had left thanks to Acrypha's efforts—Tezar had changed. His demeanour had shifted.

Where he had been competent and determined before, he had suddenly grown quite reluctant. Not timid, exactly, but just resigned and lacking any real drive. It was one of the things Viren secretly attributed to his eventual victory. And that change had made all of Viren's negative feelings towards Tezar melt away. It was as if some sort of strange switch had been flipped inside Tezar, allowing the older boy to feel and express emotions he had kept bottled up for most of the match. Viren couldn't figure things out.

With the sheer awkwardness between them, they hadn't tried talking through it either. Especially not when they were both avoiding each other. Unfortunately, confessing the problem to Acrypha wasn't really helping.

"No, it is helping," she said.

"You're just too afraid to take the step that would really help."

"I don't think confronting him directly about it all is going to help," Viren said. She rolled her eyes.

"I haven't asked you to carry out an inquisition, Viren."

"Still! I think it's something sensitive, something he won't want to talk about."

"Well, I also didn't ask you to tie him up in a chair and force him to answer all your questions either." He stared at her.

"That is an inquisition, Acrypha."

"I know. I just thought you might not know, so I decided to elaborate in a way that wouldn't hurt your fragile little ego." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Viren scowled. Despite his recalcitrance about meeting Tezar again, the trip was actually quite nice. They enjoyed the sights and sounds on offer in the city of Zikavir.

Viren particularly enjoyed their Grand Fountain, a megastructure of metal and glass and water that had it flowing through multiple layers, platforms, and paths to be directed all over the city. They were part of the filtration process too, though that occurred along the entire length of the system with the help of Inscriptions rather than at a singular location like in other places Viren had seen. And then he was in Tezar's vicinity again.

"Go on," Acrypha said.

"Stop being a dumdum and just go talk to him. I think he just feels weird about the whole thing." Viren grumbled to himself for a few seconds before saying, "Fine, but you have to come with me." Acrypha groaned.

"Alright, but don't blame me if I start knocking heads around if you two don't stop acting like idiots." Viren decided to put her aggravating notions out of his head and just focus on his meeting with Tezar. The older boy had frozen upon seeing Viren. At least he wasn't running away as Viren approached.

"Uh," Viren said, suddenly feeling more awkward than ever before. He suddenly decided the best thing for both of them would be to just cut to the chase. It suddenly hardened Viren's resolve, and he stopped feeling as reluctant or awkward about things.

"Tezar. Why'd you decide to fight me in the tournament?" Behind Viren, Acrypha audibly slapped her forehead.

"Goes to show why etiquette training was necessary…" He didn't understand what exactly she meant by that, but he chose to focus on Tezar, who looked like he had just been accused of a treasonous crime.

"I… I don't know…" he mumbled.

"You don't know?" Viren walked right up to the older boy. Oh, yes. Focusing intensely on the questions he needed answered was the right way to go about it. That way, he felt too angry and too curious to feel awkward.

"You're the one who literally fought me. You're the one who stepped into the arena. You're the one who betrayed me. Betrayed us."

"I didn't betray anyone!" Tezar said quickly. Maybe harsh accusations were the right way to go too, because his awkwardness was now giving way to distraught anger as well.

"I had to do it!"

"Why? Why did you have to do it?" Honestly, that part was surprising to Viren. How was Tezar forced to participate? Viren was probably being a bit too arrogant about the whole thing. Without additional context, just because Tezar had faced off against him in a tournament didn't suddenly mean their friendship had to end. But context was important. Because context revealed just how much the Rhellian Institute had enjoyed winning over the other schools.

Context displayed just how much humiliation had become an important factor during the competition. Context proved that, by taking an active part in the tournament, Tezar had more or less intended to enforce Arcoryx's ignominy. Yet, Viren had expected Tezar to suggest something natural. Something along the lines of Tezar needing to participate because everyone was doing so, or that their matchups had been unfavourable to pit them against each other in the final round.

That Tezar had been somehow coerced into taking part in the tournament made Viren both perplexed and incensed. But Tezar was starting to look like he had said far too much. His face had turned pale as milk, like he had seen a ghost, and he was already starting to back off slowly.

"Tezar," Viren said, insistent.

"Tell me. What exactly did you mean when you said you had to? Who forced you to participate? Or are you just trying to shift the blame onto someone else like a coward?"

"No! I'm not a coward."

"Calm down, you two," Acrypha said as she got between them. She was right. Raised voices would just cause a scene, with some of the other students already looking over in their direction. Were they hoping for a rematch or something? Viren thought about punching them, then decided that would be terribly unheroic of him. Tezar took a deep, shuddering breath to calm himself.

"There's a lot you don't know and won't understand, Viren. There's a lot I can't say. This is our way of life. This is something that had to happen."

"What?" Viren asked.

"Betraying people is your way of life, is it?" Tezar let loose a frustrated huff.

"That's not what I meant. It goes a lot deeper, Viren."

"Then stop speaking in riddles and just spill the beans already."

"I can't. I—" His pale face gave way to a sudden ruddiness, and he started looking like he was being choked. Sudden alarm made Viren start towards Tezar, but the older boy got away from both Viren and Acrypha very quickly.

"Wait, Tezar!" Viren shouted. Tezar just gave them a complicated look, filled with remorse and anger and more that Viren was way too inexperienced to figure out just then. And then he quickly left. Well, so much for not causing a scene in the middle of it all.

"Come on," Viren said, turning away with a little growl.

"I want to punch some ice cream." Ryland was glad he finally caught up with Yulkaviel again. That sudden challenge from the Guardian had distracted him from the specifics about their little discussion. Now, however, they had plenty of time to catch up. Or, Ryland did. Yulkaviel was quite busy with his duties as the Second High Adjutant of Rhel. Still. The old elvhenan had made some time for their chat, which Ryland appreciated. He made sure to express his thanks to Yulkaviel.

"I am still astonished you handily beat a Guardian without even moving from your seat," Yulkaviel said, shaking his head.

"It shouldn't be surprising since I've heard some of your feats, but still. Nesmel is a Guardian. There are few on the entirety of Rhel who can confidently claim to be capable of beating him."

"Well," Ryland said.

"I'm certainly not Rhellian." Yulkaviel stared at Ryland for a long while.

"Is that really true?"

"It is! I was born on Vyrd, in the nation of Androvia, to be exact."

"I'm aware. I was merely curious if one's birthplace is all that allows one to claim from whence they came. If you spend a significant enough amount of time, should you not be able to claim that you are from there as well?"

"I do see your point."

"But you don't quite agree?"

"I certainly don't disagree. But it's likely a topic I am ill-informed about. You see, I tend not to care about belonging and residing, certainly not particularly about permission, when I have the ability to go wherever and whenever I want."

"…that is also a very valid way of looking at things." They were walking towards one of the two Teleportation Circles at the opposite ends of the Rhellian Institute. The Second High Adjutant was leaving the institute for business elsewhere, so he wouldn't be a part of their next occasion—the field trip to the Crypts. Ryland had caught him on his way to the Teleportation Circle.

"I was wondering if I should go on the field trip," Ryland said.

"But since you've confirmed the piece will be there, I must go. Especially since a High Adjutant will be delivering it." Yulkaviel frowned briefly.

"It's certainly quite the ostentatious showing. But perhaps they all consider it to be a matter of great import." If nothing else, Yulkaviel's statement revealed that he wasn't privy to every single matter on Rhel. Even he wasn't fully trusted by the Demiurge. And that was the thing. For if the First High Adjutant herself would find Ryland at the Crypts and deliver the piece of himself, then it was clear the Demiurge considered it an important priority.

"Why the Crypts, exactly?" Ryland asked.

"Do you know much about the place?" Yulkaviel asked back.

"Although, if you did, you probably wouldn't be asking that question."

"Which suggests I might find out why or how when I get there myself," Ryland said thoughtfully.

"Indeed. But just to give you an answer—the Crypt possesses suppressive properties in case things go wrong."

"Well, that makes a good deal of sense." In all fairness, the precaution was perfectly plausible. Ryland's pieces did tend to have ways of growing beyond anyone's ability to control, save for Ryland himself, of course. For now, he bid farewell to Yulkaviel as they arrived at the Teleportation Hall housing the Teleportation Circle and focused on his own matters for the time being. He was quite certain that he was not allowed to fall behind on his thesis work regarding the Calamities, so it was time to get that done.

There was no telling how much the trip to the Crypts was going to keep him occupied, after all.