The Flesh of Titans

by Victoria Mercier

  ​“They found a new source to fuel the runes,” I said.

  ​Lotian kept a close look at them. His expression didn’t foretell anything good. The black tiled floor, walls and ceilings looked to have been expanded.

  ​“More than that, Flare.”

  ​He said nothing more as we reached a T-intersection with two Dragon Soldiers posted there, their faceless attention on us. It itched me to show them what I thought about this. All of this was an act. And attacks on me acted as an excuse. In that sense, it looked even less likely that Mirenne stood behind this. But she did. Selene admitted it. Now I had Mirenne and Atrax looking at me from their damned tower. How many agents traversed these corridors now?

  ​Lotian must have the same thoughts because he squinted to each side whenever someone passed us. Mostly shocked or hurrying students. Soldiers resembled statues.

  ​After an additional twenty minutes, we found Lotian’s room. His secret deal to move me over, a sort of, succeeded. I was allowed to stay in his apartment but with some conditions. Our personal assistants were to be with us at all times, and we had to sleep in separate bedrooms. I was happy to take anything at this point.

  ​A tiny harpy apparition flew into the view as we entered the apartment. It was not spacious at all.

  ​“What the fuck?” Lotian swore as he saw his place. “They took away all my extensions! The living room should be four times this large and there should be a dining room and … fuck me, they must have pushed over the limits. I won’t be surprised to find other students sleeping in bunk beds. There is only so much the magic can do.”

  ​“It’s so good to see you, Flare,” Rebecca lied.

  ​“What happened while I was gone?” I asked her, not expecting an answer.

  ​She wrinkled her tiny but sharp nose, “I don’t know … all the personal assistants were put into a slumber and woke up an hour ago with all the new information…” I saw on her face a grimace of fear and pain, and then she sputtered the words, zapping away from the living room, “it’s bad.”

  ​You don’t need to tell me, little one, I hoped she received that mental message.

  ​“Shit,” Lotian shoved his bag on the floor. “They disabled our ability to communicate mentally.”

  ​“What? How so?”

  ​“I was speaking to you in my head for a minute and you didn’t receive a thing, did you?”

  ​I shook my head with a growing horror in my stomach. They had prepared for me this time. I should not come back. Fuck. I was in their mercy but they had none. I shed my jacket and dropped on the sofa.

  ​“We are fucked, aren’t we?”

  ​Before Lotian answered, he walked around the living room watching the magical system he had told me about earlier. His personal assistant was invisible to me. If there even was one. I didn’t sense anything in the vicinity.

  ​“The runes are solid but they went further than that and I found some glyphs. They’re rarely used because it’s hard to maintain them.” He turned toward the small extension which acted as a kitchen. “I could disable them…”

  ​“But?”

  ​“The room is spellbound. I can’t use magic, Flare.”

  ​“But you’re the fifth year. Isn’t this against the rules?”

  ​“Don’t get too attached to the rules, they aren’t here for us, but them.”

  *

  ​At least the faculty didn’t schedule any classes for that day. We were given leave to learn about the new Academy. At 6 pm everyone meant to gather in the common room for the official proclamation from the director. I contacted Simona and Rust right away via Rebecca. With one common room, privacy was out of the question. We had to take the chances, as I needed to hear from their mouths that everything was fine.

  ​We set up a meeting just before 6 pm. Everyone would be there. Crowded places are easier to keep a low profile.

  ​Lotian accompanied me. We agreed to stay together as often as possible. No one could predict what next would come my way. More werewolves? Or infernal beasts? I could only guess. Wearing casual clothes, we hoped to mix with the crowd. There were two issues here. Firstly, Lotian was larger than anyone else, his blood made obvious who he was. Secondly, we shared hair color and it turned out that having a rare color, times two, drew attention.

  ​“The corridors are spellbound as well,” Lotian murmured.

  ​“What?” I reached to my inner fire and found with astonishment that I couldn’t pull it out. “Fucking hell. We need to find a way…”

  ​Lotian squinted, his forehead creased as he made a stupid expression of focusing on something. Then he murmured, “we have a tail.”

  ​We reached the entrance to the common room and found ourselves in the queue once more. Five Dragon Soldiers were checking every person with a measurement tool.

  ​“What’s that?”

  ​“Something to tell them if we possess forbidden artifacts. Just act naturally.”

  ​As our turn came, two buzzing pear-like devices touched our thighs and arms.

  ​“Are we going through this each time we want to enter the common room?” I asked aloud.

  ​“Yes, Flare,” Rebecca replied to me, while the assholes in the black and red armors didn’t even look up.

  ​“Clear,” A soldier intoned.

  ​Another soldier gestured to us to move along.

  ​Lotian grabbed my forearm sensing my boiling rage. We went past the soldiers and as we got out of their earshot, he hissed, “don’t let them provoke you or else Mirenne and Atrax will get what they want.”

  ​Rage could be blinding and so I pulled my had out of his grip and snarled warningly at him. Lotian only shook his head as if I was a child! I clenched my fists trying to not punch him in the guts.

  ​“Flare?”

  ​I spun and all the anger dissolved like the snow on the desert. Simona’s slim figure in the long fancy dress welcomed me with a warm embrace. She looked gorgeous.

  ​“It’s good to see you,” I murmured into her firm breasts. “I’m sorry.”

  ​She waved away my words. Rust’s embrace felt tense and rigid. I sensed something wrong but couldn’t place the feeling. Was she pretending that everything was fine?

  ​They greeted Lotian and we chose a table. Now, that was the proper common room. It was the size of the football field. Five exits led to five sections. It was no longer possible to move directly between sections.

  ​“How are you, Flare?” Simona asked as we followed Lotian to an empty table. Only a quarter of this place was occupied, but soon the students would flood the room.

  ​“I made a mistake coming back,” I replied truthfully. “All these changes… ah, never mind.” I saw the pupils of Simona’s eyes narrowing to tiny points. Their light blue color darkened. I hadn’t wondered about her clothes when she had wrapped her strong arms around me but now it got me thinking. Such a dress costs money. We’d arrived at the Academy without a coin to our name. Everything I’ve had came from Lotian, what about Simona?

  ​“Listen, it’s not your fault.”

  ​In truth, I wanted to hear something along the lines but one glance at Rust said that things weren’t anywhere near good as Simona had made me believe. None the less, I decided to play along. What happened to her?

  ​Lotian picked a large round table near food stalls. There were ten seats by the table and only four of us. My objection bounced off my demi-dragon without reaction.

  ​“Get the seats, I’ll order food and drinks.”

  ​“He doesn’t know what I want,” Simona said, uncharacteristically for her. There was an air of pretense about her. Strange.

  ​“Rust, how do you feel? I feared that … they’d kill you.”

  ​He shook his head, remaining silent. So, he reverted to the Wastelands-himself, and then he stilled completely. It was a warning. But of what, I learned five heartbeats later.

  ​“Flare!”

  ​Without turning I replied, “Vesal
ius.”

  ​He came down on the seat next to me. That was Lotian’s place. I didn’t mention it though. Next to him appeared Oceania. She wore a black toga that looked archaic and yet on her it added delicate feminity to her predatory shapes. Vesalius’s dark jacket and pants mismatched with his usual outfit.

  ​“Flare, how are you?” he asked a little stiffer than normal. “We were worried. What happened to you?”

  ​“It depends what the official version says,” I said. By now I knew that the higherups wouldn’t tell the truth unless it was for their advantage.

  ​I waited.

  ​The corner of Vesalius’s lips quirked up a little and he turned to Oceania whose attention was elsewhere. This entire meeting was a setup. I explicitly said to Simona via Rebecca that I didn’t want to meet Vesalius or Oceania. I couldn’t trust them anymore. Elleria, Red Marks and Children of Entropy were mere pawns. Who knew what was going to be the next move of Mirenne and Atrax?

  ​“The official version doesn’t mention you, Flare,” Simona said. “The reason for the changes in the Academy comes from the conflict between Red Mark and Children of Entropy and outside influence,” Simona explained. I sensed a tiny bit of resentment. “Maybe nothing in this is about you? Have you considered this? It may be that you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  ​I forced my stare away from the table, from her. I found that Lotian was coming back and brightened. I needed some help here. I didn’t want to fight Simona at our reunion. Material shuffled and I noticed Oceania pulling her toga lower showing the top level of her cleavage. I made a connection between her look from the canteen and Lotian, on the day of Red Mark’s attack on me.

  ​My demi-dragon’s presence loomed over us before he even approached the table.

  ​“If I knew that you’d invited more friends, I’d order extra food,” Lotian said not exactly in a happy tone. He put down platters filled with cheeses, fruits, and fancy-looking bread. Lotian took a seat next to Rust which put four seats between him and Oceania. The tension between these two was palpable.

  ​“I haven’t seen you around for a while, Lot,” Oceania said to my demi-dragon. She called him Lot. What was that supposed to mean?

  ​“Things’ve changed, Oceania. I hope you noticed.”

  ​Oceania’s hair darkened to indigo. She possessed a strange ability. I guessed that the color of her hair reflected her mood and so the darker it got, the madder she was. Fast like a cobra she raised and slapped the table. “That’s not what you promised me!”

  ​I felt as if her slap just reached my face. What did he promise her? I questioned him in my head, and not only our room was spellbound but the common room as well. I noticed that some heads turned. Oceania and Lotian were widely known throughout the Academy and other students paid attention to what these two were doing.

  ​“Are you sure that you want to go over this right now?” Lotian asked, suddenly looking uncomfortable. Terror spread throughout my body like an infection. Simona and Vesalius didn’t seem surprised and Rust has always held impassive expression. It couldn’t be. Did my friend betray me? Simona who had always stood by my side, now worked against me? I closed my eyes, seeking something that could silence my rage. We were spellbound and fucking good because otherwise, my fire would teach Simona a lesson.

  ​“Why not?” Oceania asked. “Your new girlfriend should know how much your words are worth.” Her voice was drenched in venom. And so in the end, I’ve been right about her since the first moment we’d met. Judging by Vesalius’s expression, he had his hand in this as well.

  ​“Fuck you guys,” I rose. “Is that your fucking plan? Drive a wedge between me and Lotian? It won’t work!” I snapped, oblivious to all attention we’ve gathered.

  ​Oceania squinted at me, “don’t get so worked up. You stole him from me! I have the right to say how I feel,” she noticed students rudely watching her and she added louder, “what the fuck are you looking at, losers? Mind your own business.”

  ​“I don’t care,” I told her. “Come, Lotian.”

  ​“It’s almost 6 pm. In a few minutes, the official starts—”

  ​“Fuck off, fairy,” I snapped at him. “No one asked for your opinion.”

  ​“Flare, wait,” Simona’s hand grabbed my arm. “This is one big misunderstanding.”

  ​“Get your hand off me, Simona. Do it or I will do it for you,” I warned her and knew how hard my words hit her. Her white teeth ground and she slowly took her hand off me. “I’d told you, I didn’t want to meet them and you still brought them here.”

  ​Wisely, Vesalius didn’t pick up the challenge.

  ​“Ves and I are together. Where ever I go he goes.”

  ​It was my turn to get rocked by the revelation. The ground shifted below my feet. Simona and Vesalius Black were a couple. Wasn’t his father rich? That would explain Simona’s fancy dress. I blew the hair out of my face. I realized that I didn’t know what to do.

  Chapter 10

  I returned to my seat. My knees were weak, my heartbeat loud and irregular. If I just made a mistake by suspecting my best friend to conspire against me, I’d never forgive myself. I thought that the week off at Lotian’s mansion had healed most of my mental wounds.

  ​I pressed my hands to my thighs. Still, one thing wasn’t right. Lotian has assured me many times that the rumors about him and Oceania had been false. Their conversation here spoke of something else.

  ​“Had you been together?”

  ​“No.”

  ​“Yes.”

  ​That went smoothly.

  ​The toxic silence that followed their contradicting admissions was broken by the influx of Dragons Soldiers and students. We were approaching 6 pm.

  ​Tables and seats quickly filled up while the walls and entrance were occupied by soldiers. It was such a disturbing sight to see so many of them in one place as if the real reason for this gathering was different than an official speech. Ignoring the cold fear in my heart I focused on the platform that appeared between the dragon’s and unicorn’s exits. Members of faculty bustled about casting spells and checking runes.

  ​“I’m happy it’s my last six months here,” Vesalius admitted. “It’s turning into a prison.”

  ​“It’s already been turned into a prison,” I said despite my vow to remain silent.

  ​His reply drowned in the static sound that came out of the microphone. One would think that with all the magic at their possession they could avoid such issues.

  ​Five deep armchairs appeared on the platform by the wall. A few moments later, the Heads of the Houses came through the exits of their sections. A murmur rippled the silence. These were the same Heads that had interrogated me. Then, an additional door between a dragon’s and an elemental’s sections come into existence and through it walked out Mirenne. The director and the dean of the Academy of Dragons. Her appearance sent a shiver throughout the gathering. From the neighbor’s table, I heard students who asked who was this woman.

  ​As she approached the platform her white dress rippled as if the winds rioted in the common room. But the air was stale. If the ventilation worked it did this in a very covert way.

  ​Mirenne stood tall, taller than any of the Dragon Soldiers she had passed. The Heads waited until she took the position before the microphone, only then they took their seats. Saaron’s cold eyes searched. I hoped he wouldn’t find us amongst a thousand students.

  ​“Dear students, you may not know me. I’m the current director and the dean of the Academy of Dragons.” She waited for the revelation to settle down in students’ brains. For many of them seeing the Pure was a difficult experience. It didn’t matter if you were a man or a woman, the inescapable gravity of Mirenne’s beauty pulled at everyone with the same merciless strength. It has already tugged at Vesalius and Simona. Lotian, Oceania and Rust fought it. I felt nothing. It had to be the unicorn’s blood in my veins that has made me immune to her charm. �
�It goes without saying that the Academy has changed. It is an unfortunate change but necessary. As some of you are aware, the unsanctioned and illegal conflict between Red Mark and Children of Entropy factions took a life of Aaron Kirman.”

  ​Rust and Vesalius winced at the admission. I forgot that Selene had killed him in the archaic tunnel.

  ​“Kirman’s dead?” Vesalius murmured. “How?”

  ​Perhaps the same question was on the tongues of many other students because Mirenne answered it. “He was killed by Children of Entropy’s top member, Tristran Fargo.”

  ​“Fargo,” Vesalius hissed. “That’s impossible.”

  ​Of course, it was a lie. My memory flooded with the sound of Kirman drowning in his own blood and utter shock on his face. I said nothing and instead, I focused on Selene who didn’t twitch during her mother’s speech. She looked glamorous in the silver dress, though her charm had nothing of her mother’s potency.

  ​“Both factions are banned from the Academy. Members that took the role in the conflict will face appropriate punishment.”

  ​I half expected protests, maybe even riots. Dragon Soldiers’ presence suddenly became crushing. Not that Mirenne needed protection in the hall filled with the spellbound students. It was a psychological maneuver.

  ​“In order to prevent further accidents, the board decided to increase the number of Dragon Soldiers in the Academy, as well as put limitations on your use of magic. As of today, you are allowed to use spells only in the classes with explicit permission from your teacher. This rule applies to everyone, equally. The Academy will no longer make exceptions for those with higher blood status.” They disarmed Lotian. Nix was no longer in charge of Dragon Corps and Dramer has been banned from coming close near the Academy. It left the two demi-dragons, Bastiel and fucking scumbag Saaron.

  ​“This is game over,” I said over the table. Lotian accepted my words with a stoic expression.

  ​“Last but not least, we have rearranged the Academy. Due to too many common rooms and unmonitored places, we have decided that the risk to our students had been too great. The modification cost us a lot but we believe they are mandatory to make our school safe. I wish you the best. Thank you.”