Chương 124: Chaos Before the Break

Lyra was in their room when Arielle opened the door. Ari moved slowly, her mind heavy with all the things she'd seen, the discussions she'd had. While she walked in, Lyra had her wand pointed at a plant, but she did look up at her and say, "You had your test, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"That's the exact look I had on my face after it was over." She dropped her wand hand and turned fully to face Arielle.

"How did it go?"

"I failed," Ari said. Disturbance and shock rippled across Lyra's expression.

"Really?" Arielle nodded.

"That's surprising." She walked over, and her arms extended automatically towards Arielle before she caught herself and dropped them.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I was so sure you would ace it." Arielle had made the same assumption. She'd been indifferent about taking the test at first, but she did think that, were she to take it, she would pass, mostly because she didn't believe she was that delusional about her future. After all, she didn't have extravagant dreams. But as it turned out, that was the problem. Truly, she wasn't as bothered about failing the test as she was about what it revealed. Now she was left confused and unsettled.

She went over to her bed to lie down, and Lyra came closer.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lyra asked.

"Do you want to talk about yours?"

"No."

"Me either." Arielle might want to talk about it eventually, but right now she was still digesting everything that happened, picking through it in her head. The vision was clear as day in her mind, juxtaposed with the dean's interpretation of it. She had to think about how to move forward in a way that circumvented that outcome, because the last thing she wanted was that terrifying future to come to pass. The problem was that she didn't even know where to begin.

Also, now that she was here, there was something else nudging at her mind.

"Lyra," Arielle said.

"Yes?" She sat up. She forced herself to stare into her best friend's eyes and said, "I can't tell you about some of the things I do after I go to the dean's office." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't–""And you can't help me with any of that," she said.

"Not because you're not capable, but because it will endanger you, and I don't want that to happen."

"I don't understand. Endanger me how?"

"I can't tell you."

"Are you in danger, Arielle?" A slow but growing alarm reflected in her tone. Ari didn't want to lie. She nodded. Lyra gaped.

"Seriously? How? Why? Wait…" She held up her hand before Arielle could say anything.

"You can't tell me, right?" Arielle nodded again. Lyra appeared contemplative, her eyes sliding shut and her lips silently voicing thoughts. Then she opened her eyes again, squaring her shoulders before she asked, "Does it have anything to do with…demons?"

"Tangentially," Arielle responded. After all, part of her current problem, that she couldn't share with Lyra, was that the demons had crafted a ritual circle to capture the dragon and awaken an ancient giant. Not to mention that those Overlords she'd met might still be lurking, waiting to get their revenge on her. Vittoria had assured her she was protected on campus, but when visiting her family back in Fenway, that would be the most likely time for them to strike. Lyra paled at Arielle's admission.

She didn't say anything for a while, struck with shock. Then she swallowed thickly, and her gaze dropped.

"I understand." That was followed by an even longer stretch of silence. Arielle waited for Lyra to recover, and Lyra's eyeballs moved fast within her skull. Then finally she took Arielle's hand and said, "Can I do something to... make it better?" She lowered her voice.

"Maybe we can get you out of this." Arielle shook her head. She was about to affirm to Lyra that she didn't need anything from her and there was really nothing Lyra could do to get her out of the trouble she was in. But then she remembered what the dean said. Lyra wanted to be needed. Being her friend wasn't enough.

"I do need something," she said, and Lyra squeezed her hand harder.

"What do you need?" She leaned in, speaking in a hushed tone.

"More of my blood?"

"No," she said.

"Maybe you can make tea for me every once in a while when I'm studying. It helps me."

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"I can certainly do that. I can also have my family send in special leaves, with a priestess' blessing. That might help with the symptoms."

"That's not necessary," Arielle said.

"Just the tea is fine. I'll let you know if I need anything else."

"Of course." Lyra's voice softened.

"I'm so sorry you're going through this. I didn't think... I mean, I heard what was said but..." Ari nodded, wanly.

"Yes," she said.

"Very sad." Lyra gave her more murmuring pats and eventually backed away to go make the tea. Arielle had more time then to think about what the dean had said. About her circle getting wider. About the fact that she should help a lot of people with her power. She just didn't know how she would manage that. She already felt overwhelmed as it was with all the things she had to do. Her extracurricular roster was full to the brim.

How on earth was she supposed to take on even more responsibility without completely breaking? Also, what the dean warned her of sounded remarkably similar to what Vittoria had also told her. So was Vittoria's way the answer? Should she become a masked vigilante like Vittoria wanted? Ari went to sleep thinking about it, and about the giants and bodies split apart. Most of all, she thought about a powerful whisper cold enough to chill her very bones.

"You have defied the heavens and brought hell upon us. This is your punishment."

It was only a few more days till they could all head home. Arielle spoke to her mother and siblings a lot in that time. They told her they would discuss the 'newfound wealth thing' when she got home and could no longer escape from the conversation. Arielle was dreading it, but she knew there was no way to truly avoid it forever, not with her family. They were stubborn. She couldn't tell them the whole truth, but she would have to tell them something so they would let the topic die.

Her mother said she would prepare a feast for her return, filled with all Arielle's favorite foods. Ari told her that was unnecessary, but Mother insisted. Celie also informed Arielle that she was taking measures to ensure she would be protected while at home. She didn't mention exactly what Arielle would need protection from, because she knew that part was a secret never to be written in the messaging scroll. Ari said, 'Thank you,' and assured her that she would be fine.

Ari also spoke briefly to her father and asked him about the Mossgiant situation in the Southern Border. He remarked that it was mostly unchanged except for the fact that the Mossbornes had negotiated an early release for their warriors and the dimensional instability was now manned by a mixture of new volunteer Mossbornes and mercenaries they could now afford. Arielle described what she had seen of him, fighting mossgiants in her vision.

After she was done, her father did not respond for some time, and when he did, he told her it was eerily similar to an event that had happened in his past. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Which was strange. She wondered how the Dean's spell could have known about it when Arielle herself did not. It had not read it from her memories; neither did it predict her future. It spoke of another person's past.

That made it a truly powerful spell, and it was doubly strange because the Dean had cast it without much effort, though it was undoubtedly Archmage Tier. No wonder Elric had remarked that Dean Octavius could have been an Archmage if he wanted to, but he preferred not to be. Arielle wondered if that had anything to do with his brother's obsession with power. Perhaps the dean didn't want to be like him. Ari would ask Elric, but he was currently in the demon realm.

The last time they spoke, he said he would be there for at least a few weeks tracking the Overlords. She remained worried about him and was looking forward to when he got back. A couple of days after her surprise test, Ari sat on Vittoria's couch, taking a break from her meditation, while Vittoria also took a break from interrogating the new demon hybrid. Inara was in the kitchen cooking and playing with the dragon, while the two lounged. Vittoria broke the comfortable silence.

"I found a way to break the ritual."

"You did?"

"Yes. However, once I break it, it will set the dragon mother free. If it becomes violent, we will have to kill it."

"No," Arielle said instantly.

"We almost have the cure. Professor Woden assured me."

"And this professor of yours, he's sure it will work?"

"Yes." That was partially a lie. Woden had warned that everything he'd done had been based on speculation from an unproven theory mixed with the instructions of the shaman, which he'd used to make soothing medicines for his Phoenix. There was a chance it was all nonsense, but there was a chance it might work too. Ari chose to remain positive. If Vittoria knew that Arielle was lying, she didn't point it out. She regarded her with a cool expression instead.

"Arielle, I want you to prepare yourself for the event that this potion doesn't work," she said.

"And we might have to try our best to kill the dragon the second we break the ritual. It will recover its strength quickly and wage war otherwise. Things can go downhill very fast." Arielle nodded, but she still added.

"It will work. I think it will." Vittoria didn't look sure, so to change the subject, Arielle said, "I had my surprise test."

"I see. How did it go?"

"I failed."

"Did you?"

"Yes." She explained to Vittoria everything the dean had told her, and everything she had seen while in the trance. Vittoria was quiet for most of it, and when Arielle was done, she nodded.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Vittoria said.

"It's sort of what I have been saying as well. I like Elric, but I think anyone who has had enough experience in our world will tell him the same thing. His plan will not save you."

"Will yours save me?"

"I don't know, but I certainly believe it will give you a stronger leg to stand on. But more importantly, the dean is right. Your goals matter too. What do you want to do?" Arielle had had time to think about this question, but she still wasn't sure of the answer.

"I want to help people," she admitted.

"I don't want people to get hurt because of me, and I don't want to do nothing when I could have done something. My world is getting bigger, and I don't want to keep hiding from it." Vittoria ran a scanning glance across Arielle's face.

"That's good," she said.

"But also I'm scared," Arielle admitted.

"I don't know what I'm doing, and maybe I truly can't handle my world getting bigger. Maybe I'll be miserable in the life you envision." Vittoria smiled gently.

"I totally understand. In that, we are opposite, but similar."

"We are?"

"Yes. I truly despise taking orders and following the beaten path, but you might prefer it. I thrive in unexplored terrain, but that might be more difficult for you to go forward without a clear plan. However, we both seem destined for the very thing that causes us discomfort." Arielle nodded. A significant part of her might have preferred being a regular mage and developing normally.

If she were simply above average in skill, and could attend the academy with her friends, relate to their struggles, not keep secrets from them, and only have to worry about tests and exams… provided she could still see and communicate with her spirit orbs, she probably would have chosen that path in a heartbeat. But it wasn't an option she had.

"Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to this," Vittoria said.

"Only experience can answer your questions. And luckily, you have Elric, me, and the dean to guide you through those experiences. Trust us to know when things are getting out of hand."

"Alright," Arielle said with a sigh.

"Good. And in the spirit of that, might I make a suggestion?" Ari nodded, and Vittoria lifted her boots onto the side table, crossing her ankles.

"I think you should attend the Iverson ball." That was not what Arielle thought she would hear, nor was it what she wanted to hear.

"I would have mentioned it earlier, but you seemed very opposed to it," she said.

"I was going to let it go, but the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a good idea, especially now that you want to learn more about the ascendant society. This is the perfect way to do it. It's a good opportunity to meet the people who can make powerful allies for you. Lord Wesley is one of them, and he's tying himself up in knots trying to figure out why you're not attending. We certainly don't want to accidentally kick over the hornet's nest with him too.

Not attending raises a lot of problems and fixes nothing."

"I see," Ari said. She already felt an itch of discomfort at the thought of going to such a grandiose event, where she would be the center of attention as the guest of honor. The thought made her vaguely ill, but she recalled what the dean had said about things changing very fast. She could not keep on clinging to only things that made her comfortable.

"I don't know how to dance," she said.

"You don't have to," Vittoria responded.

"But if you do want to learn, I'll teach you."

"Okay." People danced at balls, at least in the storybooks. She didn't want to be the odd one out. If she was going to the ball, she had to try to blend in at least.

"Nice. You should write an acceptance letter and send it to Lord Wesley. Apologize for your earlier refusal of his gifts and talk him up a bit. In fact, I'll write it for you before you leave, and make it look like your handwriting. Have you thought of who you'd like to go with?" Ari shook her head.

"Who should I go with?"

"Whoever you want. Preferably someone you like and enjoy being around, male or female. It's likely going to be a long night." Ari thought about Lyra, but Lyra already said she was attending with her father. Ari's family was also invited, so inviting any of them was meaningless. So that only left Maus. She would tell him when they got back to campus.

"Alright, break over," Vittoria clapped.

"Back to meditating."

A few odd things happened in the days before the break. People stared at her and turned away the second she looked in their direction. Students whispered and got quieter when she passed by. Someone she had never spoken to before asked her about the North Base cave and why the dean had restricted access, and Ari simply shrugged and said she wasn't sure. They didn't like that answer and kept asking more questions until Lacey came and dragged her away, telling her to ignore anyone who asked her that question again.

"Why are they asking me?" she asked Lacey.

"Who knows?" Lacey responded, but he didn't meet her eyes when he did. Then, once on her way to see Woden, Ari saw Lyra seemingly arguing with a group of first-year girls. When she approached, they all got quiet, and when Ari asked what they were talking about, Lyra simply said, "Nothing important."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Lyra said.

"Do you want some tea?" Lyra had been dutifully brewing her tea every single afternoon since their conversation.

"Okay," Arielle said, but the incident remained on her mind. At one point, she entered the main hall to find a group of onlookers watching Maus and Faulkey, who appeared to be in a standoff. Both boys were glaring at each other, but no one had their wands drawn. Still, Arielle was instantly on alert.

"What's happening?" Arielle said immediately, going to stand by Maus' side.

"What did you do, Faulkey?" Faulkey switched his angry gaze to her, and apprehension filled his face, though he covered it with his usual bluster as he stepped back. He swept past her, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.

"What was that about?" Arielle asked Maus, who shook his head.

"It was nothing." The answer sounded familiar, and it was getting a little suspicious that so many strange things were happening so close to the end of the term.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Just Faulkey being an ass as usual and spreading rumors."

"What rumors?"

"Don't worry about them," Maus said.

"It's just stupid stuff."

"Oh. Okay." Arielle was curious because this was the second time she'd heard of so-called rumors in the school that she didn't know about. Should she know? Did she care? Not really, but if the rumors were bothering her friends, she wanted to help them take care of it. Maybe she should ask Lyra again. However, every time she had attempted to do so previously, Lyra changed the topic and didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Also, Ari had so many other things to worry about, including the dragon's cure, so maybe she shouldn't be worried about this. But she noticed that though the fight hadn't happened, there was still an audience staring at her and Maus. One of them was Wulfric and his brother, leaning against the wall, books in hand. Arielle thought this would be the perfect time to announce to him, "I'm going to the ball, by the way." She had sent the acceptance letter to Lord Wesley, but hadn't heard back yet.

She nevertheless assumed she would be attending. Wulfric looked taken aback to have her address him. Surprise flared into his eyes, but it was quickly tempered by indifference.

"Okay," he said.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I thought you might like the news."

"I do not care."

"Oh. Okay." She didn't know what to say to that, but his expression eased a bit, and he scratched the back of his head.

"Unless you're asking me to accompany you, in which case, I may already have a–""Oh no," Arielle said.

"Don't worry. I'm going with Maus." Maus jerked beside her. She turned to him.

"Oh, sorry. I got busy and forgot to ask you. Did you want to go to the Iverson ball with me?"

"I..." Maus' face turned red as a tomato.

"I can't... I wouldn't... I'm not sure..." Ari had a moment of panic when she thought perhaps Maus didn't want to go with her after all, and she would need to find someone else whose company she enjoyed. But after he sputtered a bunch, he finally whispered, "I don't have anything to wear."

"It's okay. Lyra and I were going shopping anyway. You can come with us." Maus choked, and his mouth gaped open like a fish. He attempted to close it several times before he swallowed and managed a jerky nod. With that settled, Ari looked back at the Wesley brothers. She noticed that cold air was emanating from them. They weren't quite angry, but there was a tension as they walked away with their entourage.

"Did I do something wrong?" Arielle asked Maus.

"You did fine," Maus responded, appearing a little smug. It was a little confusing, but Arielle chose not to dwell on it any longer. Mostly, though, the days passed without a major hitch, with Arielle's only anxiety being the deadline for the dragon potion. Woden assured her that everything was on track, and it all seemed to be going well until the night before the last day of the semester. That was when they were all awoken by a bloodcurdling scream.