"So, you're finally awake?" I say as Arthur regains consciousness.
Immediately he stood up, "What the hell Fayden! I could've died there!"
"You didn't did you? Besides I healed you so why are you so grumpy?"
"Why? WHY?! You cracked my jaw and shattered my arms!" He yelled.
"They're fixed aren't they? So stop your whining."
"Doesn't matter if they are healed, you still almost killed me!"
I shrug "I had to knock some sense into you,"
"And that justifies going into second phase?!"
"Yep, it did." I say in a cheery tone, before turning serious, "Now, I believe you owe an apology to Tessia."
The malice in my tone causes him to gulp before nodding.
"Great as long as we're in agreement." My voice back to its cheery state.
"Y-Yeah."
"Well I'll be seeing you then." I wave before exiting the room.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Eventually I find Nathan in my next class.
Looking closely I notice he doesn't exactly look healthy, in fact he looks like he's gonna drop dead any moment.
"Psst, Nate,"
"Huh?"
"What is up with you? You don't look so good." I ask, genuinely concerned.
"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine." He looks at me incredulously.
"Yeah, you look half dead buddy."
"I do?"
"Yeah,"
"Strange, I feel fine though." Even if he says that, I notice his eyes wavering and his voice breaking ever so slightly.
He's lying.
I sigh, "Just...be careful okay?"
"I will."
The rest of the day passes without incident, but its the night when something most peculiar happens.
As I traverse the corridors with Nathan, we see an earth affinity battle mage student attacking Arthur.
And before either of us can interfere Sylvie transforms.
"Wha-A Dragon-How did- Weren't they- I don't-"
"Okay Nathan, calm down." I pat his back
"Calm? How can I be calm after seeing a freaking Dragon!"
"....okay fair enough, I'll explain later. Now let me see whats up with them."
He nods hesitantly.
"What happened here Ar-"
I was interrupted by Claire who was rushing towards us, "Arthur! What happened here?"
"I have no idea, he just started bursting with mana before he went complete batshit crazy and attacked me."
"Thats certainly odd..." I comment.
Claire doesn't respond as she checks the students back, revealing a protruded spine with letters written in blood on them.
"Holy fuck!" I jump.
Claire gives me a look, "Language!"
"...This guys spine is almost ripped out and has runes written in blood on them and you're worried about my language?"
She sighs, "He's not the only one."
_________________________________________________________________________________
After we take the student to the infirmary and I coax Nathan into waiting for us in our dorm room, we make our way towards the Directors office.
"There were more cases?" Arthur says.
I roll my eyes, "No shit Sherlock."
"Just one more," Claire began, "While you were still recovering."
"Do you know what happened to him? His mana output was abnormally high, and lets not forget the runes..." Arthur asks her.
"Did he take the mana equivalent of Steroids or something?" I comment, snickering all the while.
Both Arthur and Claire glare at me.
"Please take this seriously Fayden," Claire pleads.
"...fine."
Killjoys.
She nods appreciatively, "I'll debrief you two, along with the rest of the team in our next meeting."
She proceeds to knock at the door.
"Come in," The Director speaks.
The door opens to reveal...two of the Lances standing in front of Director Cynthia's desk.
Lance Bairon and Lance Alea if I'm not mistaken.
Claire grabs Arthurs arm and shakes his entire body.
Boy am I glad she didn't pick me, to shake around like that.
"Th-The Lance's Bairon and Alea in the flesh!"
"You're way too excited about this Claire," I retort.
"How could I not be excited! They are the Lances!"
Great, now she's shaking me around like some teddy bear.
"These students are members of the Disciplinary committee, and the most promising mages this generation has to offer." Director Goodsky introduced us, seemingly unaffected by Claires behavior.
"Um...M-My dream is to one day become a Lance." Claire speaks. (I feel sad writing this...*sniff*)
Lance Alea smiles at her while Bairon ignores her, "As I was saying, please make the appropriate measures as soon as possible," (Bairon's a rude little bitch ain't he?)
Director Goodsky nods, and the two white core mages walk towards us, or rather the door.
Bairon simply walked past us, casting me and Arthur a single glance.
Alea on the other hand pats Claire's shoulder, "I'll be rooting for you." (I think I'm gonna cry...)
Both of the Lances are leagues beyond me, I'm certain even the giant exoskeleton wouldn't be enough to take them on.
"Now, my secretary mentioned something urgent has transpired. Why don't you three take a seat and elaborate?" Director Goodsky gestures towards the couches.
"Sure, but did something happen? I'm sure two of the most powerful mages in Dicathen won't just pop in to say hello."
"Yeah, seems like it was quite important."
"Nothing to be concerned about yet," She waves it away, "Lance Bairon was once a student at this academy, and his brother now attends it, so he just brought the news in person." She explains.
"Wow...I didn't think I'd ever meet them in person." Claire is still star struck.
"I just wish they came bearing better news...but enough of that, please tell me what happened."
And so Arthur went over everything that happened, from him being confronted by Lucas, Charles and Marcois to being attacked by one, with his mana fluctuating strangely and abnormal abilities.
"And you said that Marcois had bloody symbols engraved down his spine? I see..."
I glance at Arthur, who glances back at me.
'She definitely knows something'
She sighs, "As Claire said, Marcois isn't the first case and he certainly wont be the last."
"Do you have any idea what was wrong with Marcois?" Arthur asks.
Judging from what he said, it gives you power in place of taking your sanity...
"Unfortunately neither the medics, nor the artificers know what exactly it is. We have reached out to the mage guilds to send some researchers to coordinate with Gideon and a few of our own staff on this matter. Hopefully we will find out more about it soon." She answers before turning to Claire.
"Claire, we'll continue to have the DC officers patrolling in between classes, and I'll get more staff to assist during the night as well."
"Understood." Claire nods.
She turns towards us, "It's a good thing you are back Arthur. And you could help them during their patrols Fayden." She points out.
"Bold of you to assume I don't do that already."
Claire turns towards me incredulously, "You do?"
"Just because I don't let myself get spotted doesn't mean I'm not there." I reply.
Void stepping helps as well.
She nods, seemingly accepting my claim.
As such we begin to leave.
But I stop at the door and allow the others to get out of earshot, "You know something don't you Director?"
"What makes you say that Fayden?"
I give her a deadpan stare, causing her to chuckle wearily.
"I'm afraid I cannot speak anything on it even if I wanted."
"Am I to believe there is something restricting you from doing so?"
She remains silent, and that's enough of an answer for me.
"Alright then, I won't bother you any longer." I say before leaving towards my dorm room.
.
.
.
Opening the door I see Nathan impatiently pacing in front of the door.
As soon as he notices me he stops, and rushes towards me.
"Alright, what was that all about back there?" He asks.
"Alright alright, calm down. Sheesh, not like I'm gonna up and die anytime soon."
For some reason my comment made him wince slightly, almost imperceptibly.
"I am calm."
"Could've fooled me." I mutter before closing the door and settling down on my bed.
"So, where to begin?" I ask rhetorically.
"From the fact that your brother has a dragon mana beast bond of all things?" Nathan suggests, although is that sarcasm I detect?
"Yeah, about that. Remember when I said me and my brother came across two mana beasts fighting for territory?"
He nods.
"Yeah, so one had an iridescent egg with it and the other had a new born cub."
"Lemme guess the cub was Zeke and the egg was the dragon?"
"Yes, and her names Sylvie by the way."
He nods once more before sighing, "What else are you hiding Fayden."
Things better left unsaid.
"What makes you so confident I'm hiding anything else?"
He simply stares at me, his expression being the epitome of 'really?'
"You hurt my nonexistent feelings Nathan." I place an arm over my chest, feigning pain.
"Good." He comments before getting ready for bed.
"You're mean." I comment.
"To borrow a quote from you, 'deal with it'" He shot back.
"Damn you." I grumble, before slumping down to my bed.