Chương 77: Something Wrong

Something was very wrong with Arielle Blacksoil. It was more than what Graham had initially thought. He'd been operating under the impression that Arielle was a talented student mage, more talented than the average genius. She had a lightning-fast casting speed and exceptional focus, but everything was within the fringes of normal. He was wrong. Now he knew her talent was far beyond normal. She had cast spells with her eyeballs. He could sense it from the motion of her pupils during combat.

The second she had looked at his feet, he had stumbled. She had somehow messed with his speed without even saying a word. Then there was the fact that he could not touch her at times. At least on three occasions, his hand had nearly made contact and then jerked away, subtly pushed by some micro-forces. It had to be a spell, a master-tier spell or a spell that someone with outlandish levels of focus would be able to do. And she had cast them without a word. Only Master and Archmages could cast silent spells.

Arielle was neither. So what was she? He stared at her now as Woden walked into the room. She seemed to have completely gotten over the fight, even though she had lost nearly three times. He had hoped that losing might fire her up, but it didn't seem to have much impact on her zeal.

The fear of losing her friend was a significant motivator, but even then, he'd had to push her harder than he'd had to push anyone else, to get her to take the fight at least semi-seriously and stop over-analyzing everything, even things that shouldn't matter in the moment. And now it was all forgotten. She didn't even savor the victory beyond that initial smug comment. There were some, like Selena, who were driven by the need to be the best and the fear of being less than the best.

Arielle, however, was not one of them. She didn't enjoy losing, but she also wasn't completely affected by it. She liked being good at things, and conquering challenges but she wasn't consumed with thoughts of being the best or even a fear of mediocrity. That was why she was so hard to figure out. The fight had not gone precisely as Graham had wished. In the end, she had used more instinct than logic to shove him out of the circle.

Though he wasn't exactly sure how she'd formed half those spells, it was exactly what he was looking for from her. He could have dodged that last blow, but he'd allowed it so they could move on, because he had overall succeeded in introducing the concept of a primal battle drive to her. She was still thinking too much, though.

She also hadn't taken several openings that he'd given her because she was too deep in her own head to see it, and she was still playing by whatever imaginary 'rules' she had set out in her mind. She was too much of a rule-follower and too much of an over-rationalizer. That was the problem. However, today was a start. He would focus all her next sessions on growing her instinct, until the point where she could beat him truly. The next part of this was to test her will to survive.

They should be on their way there now. Yet even as Woden stood there, Graham couldn't stop thinking about the silent spells that Arielle had cast.

"Graham?" Woden said.

"Can we get a move on?"

"Give me a second," he said. After each battle, his body kept score of all the moves he'd made and every strike his opponent had landed. Later, he would go through it in detail, highlighting her strengths and weaknesses. But he wanted to sense it now that it was still fresh. His fingers clenched as he felt it again, the rejection of her wrist. In slow-motion, he felt the pulse in the air and the trajectory of his hand after he had tried to touch her. It jolted straight out. Like a repelling magnet.

He stared at her. It was said that Arielle had copied Phineas' mass anchor spell using an echo sigil, but that was a one-time use tool. It would not explain how she was able to repel him now. Arielle Blacksoil. What was she exactly? She blinked at him innocently cocking her head.

"Are you alright, Professor?" No. He was not alright. He was wondering how she had done something impossible. Such a guileless look hid untold powers and probably dark secrets. The only person he'd ever met who had defied the laws of magic had been someone who learned their magic from demons… but that wasn't Arielle. She didn't seem remotely like the type to seek power in such a way. So how did she do what she did? Was she some sort of reincarnated legend or something? Was she half-elf?

He was both excited and terrified to find out. Woden cleared his throat loudly.

"I have a lesson in an hour," Woden said.

"So we should get a move on."

"Right," he said.

"Arielle, we're going to be taking a field trip to the second part of this exam."

"To where?"

"The Helleron forest. Have you heard of it?" She nodded.

"I'm not surprised. It's only one of the most famous haunted forests in all of the lands." It was located in former Vaelor territory, a Kingdom abandoned long ago by its king and its citizens.

"About twenty people have gone missing there," Arielle mentioned. She said it like she was sharing an interesting tidbit, but also with a thread of concern.

"What are we doing there?"

"Woden needs our help retrieving his pet Stymphalian." Woden gave Graham a droll look, clearly not appreciating being involved in this ruse. Professor Graham wondered what the Dean had told him to ensure his participation because he certainly didn't look happy about being there.

"You see, Woden here goes to the forest all the time, to study exotic animals, but he has his Stymph for protection. They went into a cave, but the bird got trapped by something. He wants to go back to find it and is enlisting my help. The bird is very dear to him. It was his late mother's, and it has been with him for most of his life."

"When did this happen?" Arielle asked.

"A few days ago."

"It's probably dead," she said matter-of-factly. Graham blinked. Well. Though she likely didn't intend it, if Woden truly had lost his pet bird, that would have been a cruel thing to say.

"It might be," he said.

"But Woden isn't willing to give up, and I have agreed to help him. I wanted you to keep watch while we go into the cave and alert us if you see anything coming."

"That's it?" she frowned.

"That's it." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. It was such a blatant, not well-thought-out lie that anyone else might have seen through it instantly. But he knew Ari wouldn't question it much. She didn't seem to understand much about deceit, and she had an outlandish level of trust in authority figures.

"Okay," she said. That was a surprise. He thought she would need more convincing. Helleron was nicknamed the Nightmare Forest for a reason, and even some skilled mages dared not approach it. Arielle didn't show a single care for that.

"You don't have to," he told her.

"I want to get the point," she said. Ah. Anything for the point.

"It could be dangerous, is what I'm saying."

"It can't be that dangerous if Elric approved it." That was the thing. Had her cousin approved the test? At least this part of it? This hadn't been the original idea. His original idea had been this: A duel to awaken her primal instinct or to see if she even had one. It was why he hadn't just beaten her outright.

That would teach her nothing other than that he was faster and better at duels than she, not because he was more powerful than her, but because he was better at playing the game he'd set the rules to and had more experience with. A loss would have merely been a loss. Arielle would not look too deeply into it. However, he wanted to get her riled up, give her the feeling that she could win if she only gave it her all. If she did everything she could.

He had won the first two rounds so that she would put her all in the final round, throwing everything at him until she won. And that was what she'd done. Kind of. Then Phase 2 was about introducing an element of danger to refine that instinct. He had wanted to take her hunting. That was the way they did it in his clan. To awaken the primal drive fully, they took young boys and girls into the forest to hunt the great white raven.

What they wouldn't know until they got there was that they were also being 'hunted' at the time, by masked warriors who were simply other members of the clan. The addition of the threat, and the need to win would lead them to become purely instinct-driven after about a week or two. But Dean Octavius had changed everything.

"Take her to the Helleron forest,' he'd said earlier today.

"And leave her there." Graham had blinked in shock.

"You're not serious."

"I am. Don't worry. I've already made preparations." Preparations? How did one make preparations for leaving a student in the Nightmare Forest? Was that what he had spent all day yesterday doing?

"She's a first year." They didn't use these sort of trials until third year at least.

"I know. But she's not like any other first year we've ever had. She didn't grow up in ascendant society and she doesn't know how easily the mighty fall. If she doesn't understand the danger, she'll eventually get herself into something she cannot fight her way out of."

"And does her Guardian approve of this change?" Graham asked the dean.

"More or less."

"You did ask him, didn't you?" The dean stared at him and gave him a wain smile.

"She'll be safe. That's what's important." Graham didn't know about that. He trusted Dean Octavius, who was the most dedicated dean he had ever met. But wasn't leaving Arielle in the forest a little too far? He understood that they were trying to make her get a good sense of her own mortality, but what if they went too far in the other direction and made her too afraid, and furthermore untrusting of her educators?

When he'd brought up the concerns, the Dean had merely shaken his head, as though there was something he knew that Graham didn't.

"This is the only way," he'd said. Professor Graham was apprehensive. Maybe it wasn't about safety. Maybe he simply didn't want Arielle to be observed for some reason. After all, according to the dean, that had been Erlic's condition for agreeing to the tests. It was why Graham had sent the rest of the students from the halls. But she was alone in the forest... he couldn't leave her there. He decided that he would stick around and watch over her.

He would observe from afar whatever test Dean Octavius planned on putting her through. No way he was leaving his student in a nightmare forest, as much as he trusted the Dean. He made the decision a split second before he nodded.

"Let's go."

The Nightmare Forest was darker than the one at Fenway. It was also cold, and Arielle wished someone had told her to bring a cloak on the way here. They arrived at the end of a path, in front of the yawning mouth of a small cave. She couldn't see far into the cave as it was darker than the forest itself, which was a shade of grey-blue perpetual twilight induced by the tightly packed spruce trees. A fine layer of mist hung through the trees, catching the weak shafts of light and dampening them.

The lower branches of each tree were bare and skeletal, protruding from trunks even to eye level. A heavy fog rolled in the distance, thickest over slabs of megalithic stones dug into the ground like ruins. The forest had no discernible scent, not even that of leaves or dirt. There was also a deafening silence, no birdsong or rustling wildlife, which was odd considering that the forest was supposedly filled with creatures for Woden to explore.

"We have to be careful here," Woden said.

"There are lots of beasts lurking around. Thanks to the interesting acoustics, you will not hear them coming."

"What type of beasts?"

"Birds of prey. Giants, insects, beastkin, occasionally. Even Shadelings."

"Shadelings?"

"Yes, a cousin to the shadowwraiths. Creatures of the dark that exist between time and space. Sometimes, when rifts happen, they escape and like to hide in cold, dark places. They usually stay dormant in the daytime unless provoked. But if they do capture you, they can possess your mortal body."

"What happens when you're possessed?"

"Your soul gets suppressed in your own body. Sometimes you can recover, but sometimes there's nothing even the priests can do. With time, the shadelings manage to snuff out your soul, and they become you for a while until, of course, your human body starts to fade. They're not as good at assimilating into human life like demons or ghouls. They're not even really alive. They're just emptiness looking for a host.

""I see."

"Another thing you should know," Woden said.

"Is that at some parts of the forest, usually near those stones, EPUQ's can get faulty. So anywhere you see those ruins, make sure you head in the opposite direction."

"Okay."

"We're going to go into the cave and will be back in ten minutes," Graham said.

"Stand here and warn us if you see something strange coming. If you don't hear back from us, do not come in. Just take flight and get out of the forest. Alright?"

"Okay," she said.

"Are you sure you're not scared?" Graham asked.

"Not particularly," she said. She had been in forests her entire life. This one was darker and more silent, but the rules remained the same. Respect the forest, and stay away from anything that looked like it could kill you.

"Okay then. Stay safe. And good luck, Arielle." He climbed into it first, and Woden gave her one last look as he climbed in after her, leaving Arielle standing there keeping her eyes open for any strange creatures. This whole thing reminded her of the last time she was in a forest looking for a lost animal. Heedy. She wondered how the poor dragon was faring now with the King's pet falcon. Did they manage to sort out their differences? She hoped so. The first howl had her head twisting to the side.

That was an animal call, wasn't it? What was it? A wolf? She had never heard one before. Very rarely, they wandered into the swamp, but Arielle had never encountered one in all her life. Would this be the first time? She peeled her ear back and used [Sensate] to enhance her hearing and her general perception so she could sense if the wolf was getting closer. She didn't know if it was the doing of the spell, but she felt a ghostly presence beside her. Like in the temple, although not as intense. The Abyssal Drift.

She glanced back at the beckoning mist, at the ruins. Was that where it was coming from? Was the Drift here? She wanted to go close, to explore it, but of course, she wouldn't. The professor's warning echoed in the back of her mind. She probably shouldn't go there even without warning. Even though she truly wanted to. She didn't even know why she was so drawn to it, and felt some excitement at the thought of the Drift's invite.

Perhaps because some questions could be answered there, maybe she could finally know why she was chosen by him. But she wasn't supposed to be looking for the Drift. She was supposed to be staying away from it. She tore her eyes from the ruins and frowned. Was it her imagination, or did it seem as though the forest had gotten darker? The mist was parting slowly, catching the droplets of light that were subsequently swallowed up in the darkness. It was moving. She was instantly apprehensive. Something was wrong.

"Professor?" she called out. There was no answer.

"Professor Graham? Professor Woden?" She got closer to the cave and yelled their names, which echoed in the hollowness within. She heard nothing in return. She clenched her teeth. Professor Graham had warned her not to come in after them, but what if they were in trouble? What if they had succumbed to the same trap as his pet bird? And what if that darkness was as menacing as it looked? She should leave before the darkness reached her. Instinct told her that, but she didn't want to leave her professors behind.

She climbed into the cave, hurrying down the narrow channels, using her hand to get a feel of it. She kept going until she reached what appeared to be a dead end. She splayed her fingers all across the cold stone, seeing no path forward. What was going on? Where were they? Had they been kidnapped? She needed to leave first, and perhaps she would find them. She went back out of the cave, but the darkness was now even closer, dramatically so. Something whispered within.

She thought she saw a wisp move across her vision and hoped it was an illusion. But this was no illusion. There were no spells here. Only a lot of Vacu. She needed to get out of here. However, when she tried to [Levitate], it didn't work. The orbs rushed to the EPUQ but did not get charged. Glancing down at her EPUQ, she saw that it buzzed intermittently, spitting out strange frequencies.

"Well," she said.

"This can't be good."