For a second, there is complete silence. Then Kadezna physically recoils, bracing his feet apart on the floor in a fighting stance. This particular southern spirit has inhabited an ancient castle for almost as long as the castle has stood; nearly four thousand years. The spirit is known for its brutality and territorialism. Not even the best of the Order dare tangle with it. None who enter the spirit's grounds leave alive. Not even one.
The spirit is so good at killing that the Wildfire Cult is known to use it as an executioner. If one of their ranks decides to rebel, they are thrown onto the castle grounds and sealed inside. They are never seen or heard from again.
The Assessment is quite literally impossible. It is a death sentence.
Someday you're going to take on a spirit that won't be so easy. Of course.
Kadezna stares at Ashnix in shock for a moment, not quite believing his ears. Ashnix returns his look with veiled pain, like he is somehow sorry. Kadezna does not believe that for a second. There is no way that assessment didn't go through Ashnix before it was approved.
At the thought, a sick sense of betrayal slides down Kash's spine. He expected this from the other white cloaks, but not from Ashnix; who has always been by his side. Not from Ashnix, who has always been Kash's friend. From Ashnix who was almost like a father to him...
For a long moment silence reigns in the place, ringing in his ears, his heartbeat so soft in his chest he thinks for a moment maybe it stopped. Numbness seems to hold Kadezna's emotions at bay. For a moment, he is floating, suspended, about to take a fall he knows he will struggle to recover from. Then, with shocking suddenness, the silence is shattered. To Kadezna's own surprise, a low laugh escapes him. And then a louder one. They're going to kill him. They're going to kill him in the most cowardly, dishonest way their slimy brains could concoct.
"Cowards," Kadezna chuckles, getting shocked looks from everyone present. "Why don't you skip using the spirit and kill me yourselves?" The words are, Kadezna realizes, very emotional and very unlike him to say. He has never spoken that way to the White Cloaks. He has never spoken with such hatred to anyone.
Ashnix stares silently at his hands where they are placed on the table. For a very long moment, everyone stares at each other, looking back and forth between Kadezna and the white cloaks. Finally, it is Reshna, seated on the far right of the table, who rises and growls, "How dare you to speak to us that way. We are your superiors. You have no right--"
"No right?" Kadezna interrupts her, staring at her with disbelief. That quickly, the numbness is completely gone, taken over by a burning, raging hatred of the likes Kash has never experienced before. "To protest you sending me to my death?"
"You can always turn the Assessment down," Resha suggests sweetly, her short blonde hair swinging into her eyes as she once again seats herself.
"I'm not going to," Kadezna replies to her, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his chin. He knows, logically, that accepting this Assessment means willingly walking to his death. However, his wounded pride will not let him turn from the challenge. So instead, he tells all the white cloaks present, "In fact, I'm going to accept your Assessment. I'll survive. I'll make sure I do just to spite you."
Reshna stares at him for a moment, before snapping, "Then you all are dismissed. Good luck on your Assessments, apprentices." With that, without hesitation, she stalks off the raised dais and disappears into the depths of the Wing. The other white cloaks, with the exception of Ashnix, follow her lead, casting Kadezna venomous glances. Quickly, not wishing to stay in the same room as the furious Kadezna, the other mentors grab their students and usher them out the doors. In a surprisingly short amount of time, Kadezna finds himself alone with Ashnix and his own mentor.
Vara rises from her position behind Kadezna and murmurs, "Now you know why I am so angry. I'm sorry, Kash."
Kadezna appreciates that she did not try to approach him. He has always done better on his own, operating as a loner. Physical touch was quickly discovered as a hated action of his. He would rather be left alone.
Softly, Kash sighs and places his head in a hand. Betrayal is still slithering around in his stomach, mixing with numb disbelief. The anger, as fast as it came, is gone, leaving him feeling a little hollow. Somehow he went from having a future to knowing he will die within the next twelve hours. It is not that he didn't expect the white cloaks to try something like this... he knew it was coming. They hated him, from the moment Ashnix brought him to them. It was the severity of their hate for him that surprised him. The severity and the fact that Ashnix backed them up. That Ashnix, Ashnix, would side with them... the thought hurts more than Kadezna would like to admit.
"I shouldn't have accepted," Kash murmurs, dropping his hand back to his side.
"You wouldn't have had anywhere to go, Kash, without the Order. Now you have a chance. A chance to live somewhere, to further yourself at the college," Vara tells him. Then immediately ruins the effect by adding, "But yes. It was very stupid of you to accept."
"You're not allowed to help me at all, right?" Kash questions, already trying to come up with a way out of his situation. How do you defeat an ancient, angry spirit who has been alone for years and kills whoever enters his domain? How do you defeat raging evil? Maybe, if he had a partner, they could tag team... but he is not allowed help and with a spirit as powerful as this, he could bring an army and have no more luck than himself alone.
"I am only allowed to provide you transport to the area and watch from a distance," Vara confirms. Her spirit whines and wags its tail in condolence, sorrow pouring from its eyes.
"If only there was a way to... to contain this spirit somehow," Kadezna mutters to himself, staring intently at the ground between his boots. There has to be a way to do this. There has to be a way to remove this spirit and survive... there has to be...
Somewhere, deep in his consciousness, a memory stirs. The memory seems to voluntarily, without Kadezna's conscious effort, float out of the black fog of his missing memory and land squarely in his thoughts. The memory is vivid and clearly depicts a long broadsword created of a milk blue substance. The white in the blue swirls in the memory, clashing against each other like angry spirits.
Kash blinks, surprised by the sudden recall, finds himself staring at Ashnix, just a few feet in front of him. Kash takes an involuntary step backward, his eyes immediately assessing the possible threat Ashnix poses and, more importantly, the threat of the spirit sitting on his shoulder. The glowing golden hawk betrays no emotion, head tilted to blink through golden eyes at the apprentice. It is below the spirit that Kadezna's interest snags on, however. The small card that is peeking out of Ashnix's breast pocket. The card that allows Ashnix, as head of the Nest, to access the weapon vaults. Even the really old ones.
Very suddenly, Kadezna realizes that he has a plan. And one that might indeed save his skin.
"Kash..." Ashnix says softly, staring at the wood between the two of them. Kadezna returns his gaze to Ashnix's face, snapping himself out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry. I... I want you to know that I vetoed their Assessment order. They voted unanimously to overturn my veto."
Kadezna takes a moment to process this thought, the raging emotions in his chest calming ever so slightly. It still hurts, however. The apology does not make the betrayal simply vanish. Finally, after a long moment, Kadezna murmurs, "It's fine."
"You should have turned it down, Kash. You know as well as I do that if you enter that castle, you're going to die," Ashnix whispers, his voice hoarse. "Please, Kadezna. Rethink this."
Kadezna smiles, his eyes on the ground. Part of him is touched by Ashnix's concern. Most of him is raging in fury, chanting at him: do it, do it, do it. Prove them wrong. Prove. Them. Wrong. He betrayed you horribly, overturned or not. It does not take long for Kash to lose sight of the touching emotion provoked by Ashnix's concern. It does not take long for the blood to be rushing into his head, his heartbeat fast and loud in his ears. Act, act, act. Do something. Prove them wrong. The little voice is raging in Kadezna's ears, pushing him, taunting him.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself and push that voice down, Kadezna raises his head and smiles at Ashnix. Raising his arm, he clasps Ashnic on the shoulder, unsettling the white cloak's spirit. "I'm not going to let them bully me out of this. I'm doing this Assessment," Kash says firmly, holding Ashnix's eyes.
Ashnix smiles sadly and replies, "Well, I commend your bravery."
"Thank you. For everything," Kash murmurs, dropping his hand. On their way by Ashnix's pocket, Kadezna's fingers close on the access card and easily slip it out of its holder. Then, his arm returning to his side, Kash slips the card under his own brown cloak into his pocket. If the white cloaks are going to play dirty, so is he. "I need to get going. If I'm going to figure out a way to remove that spirit by sundown, I need to get my hind end in gear," Kash tells Ashnix, trying to lighten the mood and give himself an avenue of escape before Ashnix can realize that his card is gone. He feels very false, forcing bravado. In fact, he is quite scared and more than a little anxious. The less of that he shows, however, the better.
Without waiting for a response, Kash skirts around Ashnix and quickly makes his way to the door, then out of it. Once in the hall, Kadezna hesitates ever so slightly. Part of him is telling him to go marching back in there, throw the card at Ashnix and say that he's changed his mind. He's not going to take on this Assessment. This part of him no doubt realizes that he's going to die.
However, Kadezna quickly pulls himself out of the momentary lapse. It defies all logic, but because of the insult the White Cloaks have issued him, he is going to do this Assessment, and he's going to survive. For the two years he has spent at the Order, they have shunned him because of his blood. His supposed heritage. Yet he has made a point to be nothing but kind to all of them. This is the final straw. If they want to fight this way, then Kadezna's going to give them a fight.
The terror and anxiety melt back into that shaking fury, steeling his determination.
I am going to do this. I am going to prove them wrong. Kash tells himself. I am going to do it.
You're going to die, his self-preservation counters logically.
Be quiet. I will do this.
Swallowing hard, Kash forces himself forward. Down the long hall and take a right, down into the basement yet again. From there, the door to his immediate left leads into the armory. After opening this, Kash cuts straight across the center of the room to the small, iron door set in an alcove in the back right corner. To the door's left, near its handle, is a small, electronic lock. There is a small slit in it to read cards. Cards like the one Kash swiped off of Ashnix.
"Kadezna, what in the world are you doing?"