“You could burn them,” Corona helpfully supplied, finally making his presence known.
“Must you bother me right now?” he asked, gazing between the sky and the duo training.
“You’ve been boring me,”the spirit declared. “I’m growing hungry. You would love to see them burn, wouldn’t you? Watch as the flesh melts straight off their bones….”
“Stop,” he commanded. “I will do nothing of the sort.”
“Then enjoy this!”the spirit yelled. Piers immediately felt arush of heat go through his body.
Piers let out a loud shout and flung himself off the fence, back inside the monastery. One of his arm restraints snapped off, crumbling to ash in front of him. Piers crossed his arm over his chest, feeling a force flow through him. Oh yes, he wanted to torch everyone everywhere and—
“Yes…. Embrace it!”Corona cooed, attempting to take control of his vessel.
Piers cried loudly in pain, standing quickly, using all his energy to bolt inside the main building. “Sound the alarms!” he yelled. He suddenly he felt no more control and could only sit back, watching Corona’s destruction.
THE sound of bells rang loudly though the forest, managing to permeate even the farthest corner. Generally Aless was happy to hear them—the tollinggavehim the time sense to take Corin off the grounds and still have him back in time for breakfast safely, and he had already told Corin to stop practicing the spell—but wasn’t it a little bit early for breakfast? He pondered, perhaps he and Corin had started late, or—
“Oh no,” Corin muttered. “We have to go back, Aless!”
Aless raised an eyebrow. “That isn’t the breakfast bell, then?” he asked, sighing. “I’m certain if it’s a threat we’re safer out here than in there.”
“No, they’ll be counting on us—but you don’t know what that means?” he asked, practically shaking. “Something bad has happened, it’s calling an emergency meeting… Zephyr be damned—”
“Hey,” Aless interrupted, pulling Corin into a hug. “I promise it’ll be fine. Take a deep breath and explain it to me. If it’s not the breakfast bell, what does that alarm really mean?”
“It means there’s an emergency meeting for the guardians,” he answered. “We only had one once before, when Far East’s military was wandering really close to us…. All clan members are required in the dining hall.”
Aless pulled back from the embrace. “I suppose I’m required to attend them, am I not?”
“I’m sorry… we really should go,” he answered, flushed.
Aless shrugged, ruffling Corin’s hair. “I suppose so,” he answered, looking down at his student.
He suddenly felt an energy pulling him toward Corin. Aless looked down at him, his pupils beginning to dilate. It was that energy again, he noted, and he suddenly couldn’t resist, leaning over, pecking Corin on the lips.
He instantly pulled back and coughed awkwardly, looking back to the now bright-red apprentice.
“For luck,” Aless explained, beginning to approach the monastery again.
Corin followed a few steps behind, watching Aless in total silence.
“HASN’T your research yielded anything yet?” Cyril asked, gazing between the four guardians sitting at his table. The lack of restraints on Alvah wasbeginning to take a toll on him physically, and with more and more breaking per week, he had to wonder if his clan would be able to survive.
“We’ve had the scribes working for years. Do you seriously think I wouldn’t tell you if I knew anything new?” Kateline answered.
Piers rested his head on Selena’s shoulder, grateful the guardian was letting him without a single word of public protest. “So they’re just going to break?” he murmured, still feeling overwhelmed from the earlier incident with Corona. “We’re gonna live our lives as feral beasts.”
“We are not,” Selena insisted, looking around the table. “We can find something, we just—”
“We’ve been looking for years, Lena!” Piers snapped. “Look around you for a damned second. No one here besides you can house one of the damn things without near insanity. This doesn’t even affect you—why are you even pretending to care?”
Selena flushed, lowering her voice. “Would you like me to leave?”
Piers buried his face in the crook of her neck. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” he answered. “I’m tired from earlier.”
“Understandable,” Kateline replied, looking to Cyril. “There was nothing in the forbidden documents?”
“It was strange,” Cyril said. “I gave you the notes around the situation, but most of it wasn’t in Common or Ancient.”
“Did you figure out what language it was?” Kateline asked.
“It’s a form of Centrallian, I believe, but I can’t figure out which one,” Cyril replied. “See if one of your scribes can decode it. We have plenty from Central.”
“It’s our next step, then?” Kateline asked.
“Exactly,” Cyril agreed.
Selena looked between the two, trying not to stir the guardian on her shoulder. “Master Serac still doesn’t know this, does he?”
“It has been tightly guarded, do not worry.” Cyril answered.
“Good,” she began, “because if he—”
“Stop,” Piers commanded, drawing the entire room’s focus back on him. “Just for today, stop. I’m sick of hearing this.”
Selena blushed. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “It’s just—”
Suddenly the door burst open, revealing Serac’s vessel in all his glory. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he panted, pulling the door closed behind him. “I had to run to get here in time. What happened?”
The guardians murmured amongst themselves.
Aless cleared his throat. “Let me guess, more information I’m not allowed to know.”
“Sorry,” Kateline answered, giving a weak smile. “I’m afraid so.”
Aless sighed. “I rank the same as you, I deserve a say in what goes on.”
“For now, this isn’t an option,” he explained, “but since you’re here I’d like you to stand by me as I address the clan. Kateline has to run off and follow up on our discussion, and I’d rather not force Piers up there.”
“I don’t even know what happened,” Aless insisted, “and is Piers okay? He doesn’t look good.”
“You’ll find out soon, I promise,” he insisted, turning back to Kateline. “You’ll head off, then?”
“I’ll report my findings as soon as I get them,” Kateline replied, walking over to the door and sliding out, attempting to draw as little attention to her exit as possible.
Cyril looked toward Piers and Selena. “And you two?”
“I need to take a nap.” Piers answered, beginning to lift himself up with limited success. Selena sighed, grabbing his arm and hoisting him up. “Join me?” Piers requested.
Selena flushed bright red. “That’s really disgusting, regardless of—”
“Not like that,” Piers insisted. “Just in case Corona blows up again. You can calm him better than anyone.”
Much to Aless’s amazement Selena nodded, moving his arm around her shoulder and allowing him to prop his body against hers. They didn’t match Kateline’s subtle exit, drawing large amounts of whispers from the students and scribes as they walked through the dining hall.
Aless sighed, turning to Cyril. “So, just how long are you planning to keep me out of the loop?”
“I promise, if things get serious we’ll tell you.”
“Serious?” Aless asked. “They’re already serious. I just saw my best friend in a state of near death and yet no one will tell me a damned thing.”
“Believe me,” Cyril insisted, “they will get dramatically worse.”
“YOU’RE late again,” Adelle pointed out, chuckling as Corin scrambled to take a seat, “and to an emergency meeting? I’m beginning to think your studies are distracting you, Corin.”
“This isn’t the time,” he responded. “What
happened? Is everything all right?”
Adelle sighed. “It was pretty scary for a bit. Master Corona’s spirit came to the surface. Master Zephyr was close enough to incapacitate him fairly quickly, but he managed to do some damage to the main temple andgive a few of the apprentices some light burns.”
“I can’t believe it,” he muttered, remembering Selena’s words to him earlier in the week. “How did that happen?”
Adelle shrugged. “We don’t know,” she replied simply. “All we know is he was calling for help when he flung himself into the main hall. They’ve been meeting ever since. Well, I suppose some of them, anyway. Master Serac was absent.”
The entire day had overwhelmed Corin and it had barely just begun. First Aless had kissed him, now Piers’s restraints had snapped….
Corin looked toward the door to the guardians’ meeting room. He knew Master Selena had mentioned the problem with the restraints was serious, but he never thought it would cause as huge a panic as it did. Corin flushed. He had put it off long enough—he needed to know what was happening with the restraints.
Chapter 12
THAT night Corin pulled the hood of his robes up, doing his best to make his scarf into a makeshift cowl. The less people could see of his face, the better.
He felt rebellious, a feeling he was unfamiliar with to say the least. He wondered if Aless’s presence had anything to do with it. First he’d lied to Master Selena about where he was in the mornings, now he was sneaking out after curfew two nights in a row…. Corin wondered if he’d start breaking into the temples and stealing things, giving a small smile.
He quickly examined the room, ensuring his bunkmates were asleep. He quickly opened the door, sliding out.
He was thankful his barrack was close to the stairs. When he attempted to take an early night, he’d be victim to the loud noises of clan members trying to make curfew, or people trying to arrange future meetings before they collapsed. However, with only Master Selena’s room to pass, Corin felt a sense of relief.
When he finally climbed up the stairs, he took a moment to examine the main hall. It was normally bustling with life—filled with scribes darting from room to room and pupils experimenting with spells. However, in the darkness he could see the sheer magnitude of the main hall, each step of his echoing down the halls.
He approached the library quietly, trying to step on the balls of his feet. He took another deep breath—he couldn’t believe what he was doing. He quickly checked to make sure thedoor wasn’t locked before tugging it open and entering quietly.
Corin generally spent very little time at the library at the best of times. He had been raised in Central and taught to read his native tongue. His knowledge of Common had improved drastically since he joined the clan, but he still couldn’t read it. Even learning all the new characters had taken him a long time, and was partially the reason he never looked into a position as a scribe.
He scanned the room quickly, flashing between the large, towering bookshelves and the piles of scrolls, seeming to have been thrown around at random. Tables were covered in parchment and quills, not put away from the day’s work.
Corin suddenly flushed bright red. What had he been thinking? He had no idea what he was looking for! Did he think he could solve the mystery in one night?
“Now, now, what do we have here?” a voice teased, and Corin instantly regretted his decision to sneak out past curfew.
He turned to find Kateline poised on one of the shorter bookshelves, a leg draped down idly and a scroll on her lap.
Corin took a deep breath, lowering his head; he was in trouble for sure.
Kateline was clothed in the same outfit as earlier in the day, and Corin almost wondered how she wasn’t uncomfortable. She had on her typical dark-green, cropped, long-sleeved shirt that showed off her entire stomach, and she wore it with a pair of loose, matching pants tucked into short black boots. Overtop of the entire outfit was a long, sleeveless brown sweater with a tie at the front, similar to the ones Master Selena always wore.
Kateline frowned, rolling her eyes. “Speak your name, Scribeof Zephyr. I won’t punish you for your curiosity.”
Corin pulled away his scarf and lowered his hood. “I’m sorry, Master Kateline.”
“Now isn’t this a surprise,” she commented, hopping down from her shelf and giving a lazy smile. “Corin, I would not have expected to see you of all people breaking curfew.”
Corin flushed bright red. “I’m sorry!”
“I really don’t mind, you should know that by now,” Kateline replied, shrugging, “but what does bother me is that you skipped researching this morning. Now, maybe I should report that to our dear Selena?”
Corin felt tears begin to well in the corners of his eyes. He was never rebelling again, never breaking a single rule; oh Zephyr be damned, Master Selena was going to murder him as soon as she found out!
Kateline suddenly began giggling, leaning over and playing with his hair.“Relax. Piers already filled me in,” she explained, leaning back against her makeshift seat. “I am curious as to why you are here, though. You’ve never taken an interest in the research projects before.”
“I-I…. I didn’t mean to break curfew.”
Kateline rolled her eyes. “Look, I don’t mind you being here at all, so stop apologizing. I’m not going to tell Selena either, you don’t need to worry. I’d rather solve your problem and get you out of here. You’re overworked as is—you need your sleep.”
Corin still felt this was still a terrible idea.“Thank you,” he answered, averting his eyes from Kateline’s.
“It’s no trouble. I’m always happy for company,” she explained, “but I must ask, before we continue… why did you come here, exactly?”
“I wanted to find out more about Aless,” Corin replied, figuring it was a good cover up, if nothing else.
“So, the infamous exile has caught your attention?” she asked, flipping a lock of hair over her shoulder. “Hmm… what detail are you referring to? Really, Piers would be the better person to ask this, but I can probably answer your question.”
“He’s training me in the mornings,” Corin confessed.
“So I heard,” Kateline replied, shrugging. “I personally take no offense to it, but I will say that when you decide to announce your change in mentors to warn Selena well ahead of time.”
“I won’t abandon Master Selena,” Corin insisted. “It’s just… Master Aless has been so kind to me…. I don’t understand why Master Selena hates him so much—he’s always talking to me about things that aren’t even training, and he showed me his prayers! They were so—” Corin gushed, suddenly cutting himself off.
Kateline giggled. “Mhm. It sounds like you two are playing nicely,” she teased. “I’ll ask you again, why come here?”
Corin blushed and attempted to redirect her thoughts. “Why was Aless exiled?” he asked, staring straight at Kateline. That’d work for now, he supposed, though he did want to investigate the restraints, just later, perhaps.
“I’m surprised to hear you ask this,” Kateline said. “It’s against the rules to talk about it, but I don’t mind. Besides, that incident was how I received my position as Guardian of Petra.”
“You mean you’ll tell me?” Corin asked.
“I see no reason to keep it as a secret. It’ll become very relevant very quickly, I believe. I’m going to assume someone mentioned what we’re researching in here, is that correct?”
“Master Selena told me about the broken restraints during training,” Corin confirmed.
“Huh,” Kateline began, “now that isa surprise in itself. I expected Piers would’ve been the one to tell you, if not myself… Selena tends to be quieter on issues like this. You do realize how much trust Selena has put in you, correct?”
Corin sighed. “Oh Zephyr… she’ll hate me when she finds out I’ve been training with Aless.”
Kateline shrugged. “You already knew that and you chose to train with him. I
won’t come to your defense when she explodes,” Kateline warned, “but yes, you’ve heard the restraints we use have been breaking.”
“Yes,” Corin replied.
“Well, this alone is nothing new. They’ve been breaking for around twenty years,” Kateline explained, “but ten years ago, a week before Aless’s exile began, his restraints broke completely.”
“Completely?” Corin asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Every piece shattered to dust,” Kateline replied. “They were one of the full sets, too, which made it all the worse.”
“How can that happen?” Corin asked.
Kateline shrugged. “Out of all of us, Aless has the least mana. Don’t misunderstand, he is still immensely powerful, but he isn’t quite… how can I put this tactfully, at guardian level.”
Corin’s eyes widened. “How did he get his spot? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“The old guardian was ill, making Aless the best man for the job, as terrifying as that is,” Kateline replied, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. “With his training I can sense that his natural mana has increased, but at that time he was not prepared to accept a spirit. It only took him a moment of anger to allow Serac to gain enough strength to shatter the restraints.”
“So he went feral?” He asked.
Kateline smiled. “Exactly. In his rage he managed to kill three of the older guardians… as well as many scribes, apprentices, servants….”
“That many? How can you smile at this?”
“I was never supposed to become a guardian. Petra’s old vessel hadn’t even selected an apprentice, but he was never exactly fond of me. When Petra broke free, I found the old man’s body and took the restraints. I sealed Petra inside me while he was wandering the temple,” Kateline replied. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m not heartless. Aless’s rampage was a terrible thing, but it did lead to me receiving my position. I am grateful for that.”
“I don’t really understand. Why wouldn’t Petra’s old vessel have chosen you?” Corin asked.
Kateline shrugged. “Because guardians have a terrible habit of using their position to get things from young, attractive students, and I wouldn’t give the old monster the pleasure.”
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