Chương 91: Fork in the Road

"How could it have shut down this fast?" Evan was still standing in front of the low stone pedestal. One hand remained on the array pillar. The pale-cyan patterns that had just gone dark around them were now completely dead. No response. No sign of restarting. Rowan raised his head. Beyond the Transit Area— the wind was changing. Thin streams of pale-cyan Returning Wind rose from distant stone paths, gallery pillars, and gaps between the buildings. This wasn't the same natural flow of wind as before.

They were gathering. The first gray-white silhouette appeared beside the outermost stone pillar. Then— a second. A third. Rowan's eyes narrowed. Faster than before. And— different. The first patrol True Echo that had stopped them in the teaching district hadn't even been fully solid. The Dual-Phase True Echo near the spell-practice court had already worn a complete set of protective gear.

But now— the nearest gray-white silhouette had barely finished forming, and its old-style battle armor was already clear enough to make out the individual plates. Pale-cyan wind patterns lit beneath its feet. Then earth-yellow. Higher up— a third phase fluctuation flickered into existence. Rowan's grip tightened around his blade. Three-Phase. More Returning Wind was gathering in the distance. The longer they stayed here— the more dangerous the things emerging became.

"Evan." No response.

"We're leaving." Only then did Evan look up. Rowan glanced at the completely dead transit array.

"What other way is there?" Evan opened his mouth. His gaze dropped back to the empty slot. He paused.

"... South." Unlike every time before— this time— he didn't immediately start moving.

"Head south first." Rowan had already turned.

"Then let's go." The Returning Wind behind them suddenly tightened. The first True Echo finished solidifying. Its short staff rose. Rowan and Evan charged down from the array platform at the same time. But the True Echo didn't pursue. The next instant— the stone corridor ahead of them suddenly softened. Rowan's pupils contracted. The hard gray-white stone walls seemed to lose their solidity in an instant. Their surfaces sagged inward. Then— thick streams of gray-white stone slurry began running down both walls.

"Dodge!" Evan threw himself sideways. A glob of stone slurry grazed his shoulder and splattered onto the ground. Smack! The moment it touched the floor, it hardened back into solid stone. More slurry dripped down ahead. Rowan shifted his footing. A glob of gray-white liquid brushed the side of his boot. He had barely registered the cold, sticky sensation when— Crack. It hardened. Even the mana flowing around his ankle seemed to seize for an instant with it. Rowan's step suddenly grew heavy.

He kicked the edge of a nearby stone step, smashing the hardened mass off the side of his boot. Evan wasn't doing much better. Half his cuff had already been encased in a gray-white shell. Still running, he grabbed the fabric and yanked hard. Riiip— The cloth tore free along with the stone crust. Neither of them stopped. But gray-white slurry continued pouring from the walls. The path behind them was being sealed shut piece by piece. Rowan glanced back.

The Three-Phase True Echo was still standing exactly where it had been. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it All it was doing was holding up its short staff. And the road ahead was already under its control.

"Move!" They burst out of the corridor. Then continued south along the outer stone gallery. After running another dozen steps— Rowan suddenly spoke.

"Evan."

"What?"

"Back there, you said the eastern route should still be open at this point." Evan's stride slowed for half a beat. Rowan didn't look at him.

"You know when it's supposed to shut down?" Silence hung between them for a moment.

"I can't explain it right now." That answer was obviously nowhere near enough. But this wasn't the time to press him. Rowan pushed the question aside for now and kept moving south. The eastern teaching district was fully waking up. Tall windows that had been dark when they first entered were now lit by rows of magical lights. Pale-cyan figures appeared at the ends of the galleries. Some were still only silhouettes. Others were almost completely solid.

The indistinct patrol True Echoes that had once been everywhere were actually becoming less common. In their place— complete armor. Weapons. And increasingly distinct phase fluctuations. An explosion suddenly sounded in the distance. Behind a high wall— two candidates burst from another gallery. One of them turned and cast a spell. Flames had barely spread when— a solid True Echo walked straight through them. The two candidates turned and fled. The high wall soon cut the firelight from view. Rowan kept moving.

Farther south— the gaps between the buildings began to widen. They crossed a sunken courtyard. Just as they climbed the stone steps on the other side— Rowan slowed. Ahead— beyond two intersecting galleries— a familiar figure was walking north alone. Not fleeing. He wasn't even moving particularly fast. The exact opposite of every other candidate rushing toward the outskirts.

"Severin!" Rowan called out. The figure ahead didn't stop.

"Don't go that way!" He still didn't look back. Severin merely raised his left hand. Gave a casual wave behind him. As if to say he'd heard Rowan. Then kept walking north. But Rowan's gaze had stopped on his wrist. The motion had pulled his sleeve back slightly. A pale-cyan spiral of wind patterns showed beneath it. Still glowing. Rowan's step faltered. The Returning Wind Sigil. It was still there? He glanced down at his own left wrist. The outer pale-cyan patterns had long since vanished completely.

Only the Silence Seal remained. Evan was the same. The same was true of every other candidate they had encountered along the way. But the one on Severin's wrist— hadn't disappeared. Rowan looked up again. Severin's back was already receding into the distance. He was heading north. Toward the Inheritance District. One of the most dangerous areas in all of Mirrorheart Academy right now. Yet he didn't seem to have any intention of leaving.

"Rowan!" Evan was already ahead.

"Coming." The two continued south. They had barely crossed the next stone gallery when— rapid footsteps came from the left. Someone burst out. Fast. The instant he saw Rowan and Evan— he raised his shortsword sharply. Rowan had already turned sideways. Evan stopped as well. The two sides stared at each other for a moment. Only then did the man seem to recognize them. His shortsword slowly lowered.

"Candidates?" He was breathing hard. Rowan looked him over. Part of the man's armor had cracked. A long scrape ran from his right shoulder down toward his chest. Half his left sleeve had been burned away. His face was covered in ash. And his mana fluctuations were extremely weak. The man looked familiar. Then Rowan placed him. Once he confirmed who they were, his gaze immediately shifted past them toward the way they had come.

"You came from the east?" Evan nodded.

"Can you still get out that way?"

"No." The man's expression sank.

"That route's gone too..." Rowan caught the word too. He looked at him.

"You went west with Adrian's group earlier, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you over here?" Rowan glanced toward the stone gallery behind him.

"I remember there were quite a few of you when you left." The man was silent for a moment.

"We got split up."

"Something happened in the west too." He glanced toward the direction Rowan and Evan were heading.

"You're going south?"

"Yeah."

"I'm coming with you." Evan had already started moving again.

"Talk while we run." The man immediately followed. The three headed south together. Rowan asked,"What happened in the west?" The man swallowed.

"A Tier 2 True Echo." That was not good news. Rowan's gaze sharpened.

"Tier 2?"

"Yeah."

"Not one of those patrol True Echoes."

"A combat True Echo." Evan's expression changed too. Three-Phase True Echoes had already begun appearing in the eastern district. That was troublesome enough. A Tier 2 had already appeared in the west.

"How did you run into it?" Rowan asked.

"At first, things were fine." The man ran beside them, still not entirely able to steady his breathing.

"The first ones that appeared were only Tier 1."

"There were a lot of us. Adrian was there too. We could handle them."

"Then someone messed with something inside one of the inheritance facilities in the west."

"I don't know exactly what they took."

"But after that, every array pattern nearby lit up." He paused.

"And then that thing came out." Another explosion rang out in the distance. The shock traveled through the stone gallery, sending dust trickling from the cracks in the walls. The man instinctively glanced back. Nothing was following them. Only then did he continue.

"Adrian told everyone to split up and run." Rowan asked,"Where is he?"

"No idea." The man shook his head.

"Everything fell apart once we scattered."

"The last time I saw him, he was taking a few others farther west." Alive. At least he had still been alive then.

"Then how did you shake the Tier 2?" This time, the man was silent for several seconds. As though trying to decide how to explain it. Finally, he spoke.

"Someone broke her Silence Seal." Rowan's steps faltered. Evan snapped his head around as well.

"Destroyed it?"

"Yeah."

"Completely." Rowan stared at him. Destroying the Silence Seal— meant automatic disqualification from the military exam. Not dropping in rank. Not losing a quota slot. Disqualification.

"She got herself disqualified?" The man pulled at the corner of his mouth. As if he wanted to laugh. But couldn't.

"Any later than that—""and none of us would've gotten out alive." Rowan understood. Military exam eligibility. Or your life. Once it came down to that, there wasn't much of a choice.

"She had something else on her too," the man continued.

"The Silence Seal must've been suppressing it before. She couldn't use it."

"The moment the seal broke, she pulled it out."

"I didn't see what it was."

"All I know is that once she activated it, the Tier 2 True Echo was trapped." Evan asked,"How long?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen seconds."

"Not long."

"Long enough for us to run." Rowan's gaze shifted. Something capable of restraining a Tier 2 True Echo, even briefly. She had been carrying it from the start. And she not only knew the Silence Seal would suppress it— she also knew exactly how to break the seal. That didn't look improvised.

"Who was she?" Rowan asked.

"Don't know." The man shook his head.

"She barely talked."

"All I know is, she seemed to know exactly where to break the seal."

"She didn't hesitate at all." Rowan touched the seal on his wrist. The dormant Aether Core still gave no response. After that, none of them spoke for a while. Only footsteps remained— along with the intermittent boom of spells going off in the distance. They ran a little farther. Ahead— pale-cyan Returning Wind began gathering again. Rowan sensed the fluctuation and looked up. On an arched bridge spanning the stone road— a True Echo was taking shape. First Phase. Wind. Second. Fire.

Then— a third fluctuation spread from its chest. Rowan tightened his grip on his blade. Three-Phase again. Worse— this True Echo was forming even faster than the one back at the East Transit Area. The candidate who had fled from the west instinctively tightened his grip on his shortsword.

"There weren't this many before." Beyond the bridge— another thin stream of pale-cyan Returning Wind began rising from a crack between the stones. No one needed to answer him. Mirrorheart Academy was still waking up. Faster and faster.

"South." Evan turned first.

"Take the lower route." A stone staircase descended beside them. All three charged down. Behind them— the Three-Phase True Echo had just finished forming when a low, heavy boom sounded from above the bridge. Boom! Chunks of broken stone tumbled down behind them. The sound of cracking masonry chased the three all the way into the passage below. The staircase kept descending. After passing through two low halls— the surrounding architecture began to change in earnest.

The tall lecture halls and galleries gradually disappeared. In their place were lower, broader stone structures. Thick walls. Few windows. Rows of fenced enclosures began appearing along both sides of the road. Some had collapsed. Others remained shut. Farther away— wooden racks stood exposed to the wind. Dried, unidentifiable plants still hung from them. The smell in the air changed too. Medicinal herbs. Damp earth. And an increasingly distinct animal reek. Rowan looked up.

At the end of the road stood a cracked stone marker. The ancient writing across it had become too blurred to read. But beyond the marker— rows of low buildings stretched deep into the wind mist. Evan slowed slightly.

"Resource District." The man looked around as well.

"This is the southern district?"

"Yeah." Evan nodded.

"We're here." But Rowan's attention was quickly drawn to the right. A large beast pen stood there. Or rather— what had once been one. Both heavy barred gates had been bent completely outward. A broken chain as thick as an arm lay across the ground. The break was fresh. There was nothing inside. Only a line of enormous footprints remained in the mud. They led from deep inside the pen— out onto the stone road— then vanished into the wind mist ahead. Rowan crouched and examined one.

The mud around the edge of the print hadn't fully collapsed yet. Whatever had made it— had left not long ago. The next instant— from deep within the southern district— a low, drawn-out roar rolled through the buildings. It wasn't particularly loud. Yet chains in several nearby beast pens trembled at once. All three of them stopped. The candidate raised his head.

"The things they kept here..." He didn't finish. Farther away— a second roar sounded. This time— much closer. Rowan slowly stood. His hand closed around the hilt of his blade. Inside the wind mist ahead— something was moving.