Chapter 64 - Consequences.
Thick clouds drifting across the sky covered the sun in places, so that the light broke through in shafts that reached down to the training grounds where the arena stood.
In the middle of the cloud of dust and rubble that had gone up, the students were climbing out into the light, coughing and limping, while Alvazar hauled himself up after Aren's blow had sent him into the amphitheater where they had all been sitting earlier.
Ilau crawled out covered in dust, his lip split, looking around him.
A heavy, wet cough turned his head, and he saw some of the students hacking up blood while others had their arms and legs broken. A scream brought him round the other way, where a young man with horror in his face held his shaking hands over a leg with the bone standing out of it through torn flesh.
Ilau tried to push himself up on his hands but froze at once, then lowered his eyes slowly and saw his index finger bent back the wrong way, at which he let out a shaking, frightened breath and his hand began to tremble.
Shock sent a ringing rising in his ears, while the rest of the noise thickened into pressure and drove his breathing faster and faster.
A sudden grip on his shoulder brought him back, and Gen's face was in front of him.
"Hey! Are you all right?" he asked, and Ilau, silent and open-mouthed, shifted his eyes to his own finger.
Gen saw it, and his thick brows drew together at the bridge of his nose, and then he turned back to look at the arena.
Aren stood in the middle of it, half turned toward Magister Voren, who was armed with a magical sword, while Eveline lay off to one side, getting her breath back and moving her eyes between the two of them.
Aren turned and took a step forward, and Voren raised the magical blade higher.
"I SAID DO NOT MOVE!" the magister shouted, and Aren stopped where he stood.
"I only protected her."
"YOU ATTACKED STUDENTS!... For that... a fitting fate is waiting for you," Voren answered, pointing the blade at him.
Aren's eyes narrowed and his hands closed slowly into fists with a creak, and the magister swallowed and gripped the hilt of his blade harder.
"You bastard..." came a voice from behind him, and Aren turned to see Gray back on the arena, covered in dust and dirt, his breastplate caved in and the photocyte in it cracked.
He tore the breastplate off his chest and threw it aside, then took from his pocket a photocyte the size of an index finger, cased in a thin metal frame. Feeding energy into it, he materialized a one-handed magical blade in his hand.
He made a blade out of a crystal that small... and the magical edge looks very dense... of course... he's a Lumière... which means it all adds up... he's Level III, Aren thought, looking over Gray, whose face held nothing but aggression.
He turned his head to the magister and then back to Gray, aware that both threats stood on opposite sides of him.
Gray raised the blade and leveled it at Aren.
"I will rid the republic of filth like you myself."
Aren spread his arms out to the sides and lowered his face a little, his eyes staying fixed on Gray.
Gray's face twisted with fury at the insolence of it, and he set his teeth and threw himself forward with a snarl, closing the distance fast, while Aren brought his left foot forward and bent his knees a little.
Aren slipped aside all at once, turning his body with the movement as Voren attacked from the opposite side, and sprang back out of Gray's swing.
Both opponents came at him from two angles, together and by turns, while Aren evaded every attack with ease, giving ground a little at a time toward the edge of the arena.
In the next moment Voren and Gray thrust at him at the same time, and Aren covered both forearms in an energy sheath, crossed them in front of him and swept them apart, knocking both enemy blades away to either side.
The momentum carried Voren and Gray on, so that for a moment the two of them were level with Aren's shoulders on either side, and he caught both by the face and drove them into the stone floor of the arena.
He dragged them along the surface with a grinding crack and swung them forward, and both bodies flew off the arena and came down on the sand.
The students had frozen in shock, watching what was happening, while the magister and Gray came up off their knees with their blades still in their hands.
Aren sprang with a powerful drive and landed between the two of them, throwing up a cloud of sand. Gray swung his sword through it immediately, and the magical blade cut nothing but air.
He dropped his eyes and saw Aren crouched low, looking up at him with eyes glowing in a blue aura, and in the next second Aren slammed a fist into his face.
Gray blocked it and kicked back, catching Aren's guarding forearm and sending him skidding back across the sand.
What physical strength..., Aren thought, straightening and moving aside again out of Voren's attack from behind.
Tch... that's the second time he's struck at my back...
Gray took up the attack again straight away, swinging his blade from varying angles and in different combinations, while Aren only slipped the strokes and read the pattern of his fighting style.
Gray sprang back suddenly, drawing Aren's brows together, and then Aren saw a massive shadow growing around him and rolled aside as Alvazar came down on that spot with his whole weight.
Aren had not yet come up off his knees when Gray closed and swung the sword at him, and he arched his back away and let the magical edge pass in front of his face, then carried his body forward on the same momentum into another roll that brought him up behind Gray.
Gray had only turned around when a blow to the face staggered him, and a kick to the body followed and threw him back.
Alvazar sprang at Aren in an arc, clawed paws thrown out ahead of him and a deep roar in his throat, and Ursus's enormous magical paw met him, swatting the beast away with force enough to send him to the far end of the training grounds.
"GO!" Voren shouted, and the students gave their commands one after another, and every beast rushed Aren together, coming down on him in a wave that closed from all sides.
Aren frowned, his fists closing and his eyes narrowing, and a tremor ran through the earth across the entire grounds as dozens of magical creatures buried him in a single moment and threw up a thick column of dust.
The students, Voren and Gray stood waiting.
Eveline shifted her weight onto her stomach with difficulty and braced on her elbows, holding her head up and watching the fight, while Rexy landed by her shoulder.
"Ar-en..." she said quietly.
A blue light began to build inside the cloud of dust, and then an energy blast broke out and threw every beast away in all directions, so that each of them slammed into the walls around the grounds, and some came near to hitting the already wounded students by the amphitheater.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Voren, who had shielded his face with his hand, lowered it and raised his eyes.
Aren was rising slowly off his knees, with arcs of electricity crackling outward around him, and behind his back a pair of giant membranous wings opened in full majesty, made of translucent blue magical energy.
The students' faces had frozen in horror as Aren let the wings disperse little by little, and then he worked his neck loose with a distinct crack.
Voren exchanged a look with Gray and gave him a nod, and the two of them went at Aren together.
Gray attacked first, and his blade met Aren's magical shield, and in the same second Voren tried to cut through it.
Aren dropped the shield and pulled his body back, letting the magister's blade and Voren himself carry past in front of him, then kicked Voren in the back so that he went face down into the ground, and slipped Gray's blade.
Gray had not straightened up from the miss when he felt a grip on his leg, and lowering his eyes he saw a spiked tentacle of energy wound around it, which then yanked hard enough to bring him down to the ground. Aren turned his whole body and hurled him into the amphitheater, holding him by the leg with the tentacle.
Voren got to his feet and closed his hand on the sword, turning to Aren, whose face was perfectly composed.
The magister lunged with a snarl and swung the sword, but Aren caught his wrist, held it a moment, then drove his knee up and broke the elbow backward, and the magister burst into cries of pain.
The sword dropped, and Aren let go of his wrist, and the magister backed away several steps, groaning and holding his twisted arm.
Aren began walking slowly toward him, and Voren retreated at the same pace, a tremor going through his whole body, until his back met a stone wall.
Aren's face came to a stop directly opposite Voren's, his eyes looking straight into the magister's, still glowing with that threatening blue aura.
"W-w-who are you..."
Aren gave no answer and went on looking at him, until Eveline's voice came from off to one side.
"Aren!"
He turned and saw Eveline coming down off the arena, holding on to its edge, while Rexy flew up to his shoulder and looked at him with worry in his little face.
"Aren... please... don't... let's just leave... I'm asking you," Eveline said.
Aren brought his eyes back to the magister and held them there a few moments longer, and only then turned and started toward the girl.
Voren slid slowly down the wall, as Aren and Eveline met in the middle of the half-ruined grounds, with rubble, wounded students and their fliers lying all around.
"YOU!... STOP RIGHT THERE!" shouted Gray, up out of the rubble.
"I....I'M NOT...khh...DONE WITH YOU YET!"
Aren kept a cold look on him, then felt Eveline take his arm and grip it hard, and when he looked at her he saw her shake her head, her eyes on his and full of worry.
He let his breath out and started slowly for the exit, holding Eveline up as he went.
"I SAID ST—" Gray began, and a hand caught his shoulder, and he turned to see one of his friends, covered in dirt and dust, who pointed him toward the other students, cut up and in need of help.
He set his teeth and closed his fist, then looked down and saw that Aren and Eveline had already left the grounds.
Aren walked slowly along the street with Eveline, holding her up, while residents passing by turned to look after them now and again.
"This way," she said as they came up to one of the houses.
Eveline turned the key in the lock, and they came into a small entryway that opened straight onto a sitting room, with a bright kitchen across from it.
Aren helped Eveline sit down carefully on a chair while she held the small of her back, still feeling the pain from the bout.
"It's a good thing my father isn't home, there'd be even more trouble from him," she said.
"Why?"
"He and I had an arrangement... and if he saw this... I doubt I could have stopped him from going to the university."
Aren rubbed the back of his head, thinking, and then looked the sitting room over.
"Wouldn't he... be doing the right thing?"
Eveline raised her eyes to him and then lowered them again with a smile.
"Maybe... but... you have to understand, this university... I... my whole childhood I dreamed of nothing but studying there... learning new and astonishing things... new skills... and graduating as the person nobody ever saw in me... except my father and... my mother."
She reached back to her neck and drew out a pendant in the shape of a sun.
"When I started studying there... and ran into all... this... yes, it was hard... it's hard now too... and I really did wonder whether I had made a mistake... but then I understood, for myself, that no matter what, I will keep following my goal. Even if I have no friends. Even if I am the weakest of all of them. I was, I am and I will be a Conductor, and I will graduate as a qualified Conductor who will be of use to Helios... and my mother will see it... even from the heavens."
Aren stood in silence and listened, and Eveline let the pendant go and took hold of the small of her back again.
"Though now, it isn't clear what will happen... after all that, they'll obviously push the classes back, or suspend them altogether until every student has recovered... and what happens to me... and to you more than anyone... honestly, I don't even want to think about it..." Eveline said, and he stepped closer and crouched down, lifting his face to hers, and she saw a warm smile on it.
"Don't worry about me. I don't regret what I did, and I'm ready to answer for it if I have to."
"But you attacked students and a magister..."
"And they were tormenting you and hurting you on purpose."
"Aren... if only it were that simple... they... they'll find a way to put all of it on you."
"I'll manage somehow. In any case, I believe Aurelius will understand."
Eveline lowered her eyes, pressing her lips together.
"But your studies... Aren... the reason you're here at all... and now because of me..."
A silence hung in the room for several seconds, until Aren's restrained laughter broke it. Eveline looked at him again, thrown by the reaction.
"When you think about it, I don't really see much difference between what I get out of the lectures and what I get out of you in the library. And besides, what I learn from you is far more interesting to me."
Eveline could not find any words, and kept her eyes on him until a light flush came into her face.
"Do you really... think that?"
"I know it."
Eveline's lips parted a little and then turned into a smile.
"Aren... you're a dummy."
"Huh? Why is that?"
"Because. Just a dummy."
Aren raised his brows, and a memory flared in his mind for a moment.
Bright glare off the sun covered most of the view, and somewhere in that light was Elara's smile.
"Aren, you're such a dummy, i swear."
Aren went still for a moment, then lowered his eyes with a nostalgic smile.
"Is everything all right?" Eveline asked.
"Y-yes... everything's fine."
Eveline leaned in a little, mildly surprised.
"Did I... did I offend you with that?... Sorry, I didn't—"
"No, no! It's just that I... remembered something nice... everything really is fine."
She let out a small sigh and then glanced at Rexy sitting on the table.
"Get up already, it makes me uncomfortable having you down there while I sit above you."
Aren stood up, stretching his back and looking the house over again.
Meanwhile four Archons had gathered in the council chamber, seated at a single large marble table with special crystals set into it, cristocytes.
An energy link joined them to matching crystals in the chandelier, which allowed a simple but holographic image to be raised between them, a map of the whole republic with its cities marked on it.
Aurelius sat at the head of the table, studying the map, while the session ran its usual course.
"Four fifth-generation heliographs have been installed in four cities, one of them Anuxar," said Varian Lumière, Archon of Infrastructure.
"I hope Alveir is satisfied now," said Aurelius, and the others laughed quietly.
"I think he'll find something to complain about anyway, even though we've noticeably improved the quality of the transmitted information and simplified the maintenance as well," added Revareus Flare, Archon of Science.
"And what about installing them on our ships? Simpler maintenance and better communication would certainly please our captains," asked Aphira Ray, Archon of Trade and Intelligence.
"We're still working on adapting the design to vessels, though that was in our plans from the start. We only need some time," Revareus answered, and Aphira sighed in resignation.
"And what about you, Aphira?" Aurelius asked.
"Two vessels from Maris-Vitrum are due to arrive tomorrow, and among the cargo there are several new samples that we'll send on to Revareus and to Solum."
"May I ask you to tell Dexor that if he wrecks all the experimental samples again, he needn't count on getting any of mine," Revareus said to Aphira.
"Of course. I'll pass it on to him."
"Speaking of which, Lucia is late today..." Revareus said.
"She won't be here today. I received a short message from her saying she is very busy reinforcing the border watch," Aurelius said.
"All this since the beast god's death?" Varian asked, raising his eyes to Aurelius.
"That's right."
"Speaking of that, has anything been learned about what happened to the beast god?... Bringing down the Basilisk King is, to put it mildly, no easy task, and on top of that he hadn't left his lair in... how long?...five years?...ten?..." Aphira said.
Aurelius did not answer right away, while Varian kept his eyes on him.
"The circumstances are still being established, and for now the fact remains a fact. The Basilisk King was a kind of guardian at the borders, created by the first Archon. Now he is gone, and measures need to be taken," Aurelius said, while Varian's eyes narrowed.
"And one more thing..." Aphira began, then exchanged a look with Revareus.
"There are more and more reports that unknown anomalies are appearing at a growing number of points across Prime. That was Uro's personal report. I met with Revareus in his laboratory and..."
She exchanged a look with Revareus again, at which he nodded and turned to Aurelius.
"We began running pulse analysis through our heliographs to study the state of the unified field in Helios... and the heliographs stationed in Anuxar partially caught the area on the other side of the mountains," Revareus began.
"The other side of the mountains? You mean Valdrum?" Aurelius said.
"That's right. More precisely, their 'Great Forest' begins immediately on that side, where, as I recall, another beast god lives, Ursus, I believe."
"And what did you find out?"
"The field density there was unnaturally elevated...for some time... then, running a second pulse analysis a month later, we saw that the density had dropped below the normal threshold. I have never seen anything like it," Revareus answered.
Aurelius lowered his eyes to the table and began rubbing his chin, until the door of the council chamber suddenly opened.
Niavey came in at a quick step, and Aurelius's unease grew stronger when he saw the strained face of his adviser.
"Niavey, what is it?"
"Forgive my delay... but I have rather bad news..."
Aurelius shifted his eyes to the open doors, where Magister Voren stood off to the side with his arm bound and strapped to his body, and Gray as well, with bandages on his face and dirt on his uniform.
Varian frowned and rose from his chair when he saw his son, while Aurelius's eyes narrowed.