"My expulsion?" Elwin exclaimed, mouth agape. He had his suspicions back then, but to hear it confirmed was...
"That seems to be the case," she replied. "Rise and stand, everyone. What we shall discuss next requires a change of scenery to keep the shadows at bay," the professor continued in her clarion voice, clearing her throat and leading the kismets out of the archway to the forested steps below.
The chorus of birds entered their ears the moment they stepped out, reminding them that despite some thousands of years of tumult they'd been led through, the world was still very much alive and alright next to them. The mellow late afternoon sun brushed their heads on the gardened footpath some way below; beyond, they could see the lush valley and shoulders of green hills and mountains embracing the city of Utopia proper, and further into the grand horizon, the faint glimmers of the rising rim of a colossal crater that demarcated the borders of the Republic of Serien. With the wind in their fabrics and cool mists from the waterfall below wafting up to their nose, whatever news that would come next could be better defended against.
Elwin herded the flow of words, with Isaac looking at him rather worriedly, along with Mirai. Katherine had her arms folded as she strolled, looking at the moss between the cobble.
"So, professor," Elwin began, "...all the lengths that Lucian went to make my life a nightmare at the Academy – it was a mission given to him by Professor Thales – I mean, the demon? The Mora?"
"It appears so. The Mora disguised itself in the form of the Master of the Waters since the year's beginning to exact its plan."
"But just why? Why did the demon have a special interest –" he paused in his stroll, revelation striking his skull. My father's mission...! The time when the package dropped from the wall and the haggard man-turned-thief saw it two winters back... "What else were you able to find, professor?"
"When Lucian's efforts to undermine you became fruitless – namely in the face of your victory against Ursus – the Mora in disguise threatened Lucian to emerge victorious in the tournament at all costs – all the better by eliminating you. If we the professors had been aware of the Mora's plans sooner, we could've been able to put a stop to it."
"So why didn't you?" asked Katherine, brushing the ferns aside from her face.
"It is my fault alone," Professor Aionia paused, stopping to turn to them all with her head held low. "While I can sense the presence of Mahanai's servants as the Encarnacion, I am limited in this perception to only when they alter a part of their body, because their transformations strike the ORI in a profoundly disturbing melody – or if I make direct contact with their flesh. While I can perceive the traces they leave behind, this particular Mora was able to cloak itself impeccably. If it had transformed very far away, and remained in its transformed state in my presence without altering itself, then I wouldn't have been able to know. This is what I believe had happened. For this, I give all of you my deepest apology," she solemnly explained, bowing forward with her hand over her heart, her brows contorted in what could only be abject guilt.
"No, no, not at all, professor!" they stuttered in unison. "I mean, it shouldn't be on anyone that the demon – the Mora – found a way to exploit a fundamental limit," assured Elwin.
"But could it really have stayed as Professor Thales the entire time?" asked Mirai. "What if the demon in its disguise ran into the actual Professor Thales? Then it would've been, well, a disaster. Right?"
"For the demon, yes. It would've been soundly destroyed where it stood, but it would've tried to injure other Artens in the vicinity before perishing by Professor Thales' Mashurmastra."
"Soundly destroyed? Professor Thales is that strong?"
Professor Aionia nodded. "As the saying goes, never underestimate an old man in a profession where most men die young."
"Oh..." Elwin paused, his thoughts stung by memories Professor Thales's past involvement with the Ministry of Order. Did that mean the Order fought Mahanai's evil?
"On judgment of this fact, the Mora likely did not prowl Aeternitas for long in the specific disguise as the Master of the Waters. Still, by judging its access to information, it did prowl Aeternitas for most of the year but spent most of its time disguised as something or someone else."
"How was it able to transform itself as Professor Thales without alerting you? Did it travel far out?"
"The only possible way, yes. I surmise that it crept into Aeternitas as an unassuming member of the culinary or groundskeeping staff at the beginning of the academic year. It then spent a few weeks observing the movements and schedules of the professors and Artens, discerning every detail to ensure that it would not make any mistakes. After it was sure that it knew everything – especially about Lucian and Professor Thales's movements and habits and quirks, it likely planned a day in which to appear in front of Lucian. Before doing so, the Mora took the effort to exit Aeternitas, travel very far beyond Aienwater to where I could not detect its transformation, and disguised itself with the visage of the Master of the Waters. It then made the long journey back to Aienwater and into Aeternitas, avoiding the real Professor Thales for it had managed to discern his daily routes. It then ensnared Lucian, and after seeing it successful, sojourned back out beyond Aienwater, and transformed once again into a member of the culinary or groundskeeping staff. It would then continue to monitor Lucian's progress over the course of the year, and should more coercion or a change in strategy came to be needed, it would repeat the same process of traveling far out, transforming as Professor Thales, and back in again. This is the only strategy that could have worked."
The kismets nodded slowly. Such meticulous and pernicious planning on part of the Mora struck in them the fear that perhaps, there were other motions at work that they didn't yet know about.
Elwin was the first to part the heavy silence, beginning their pace again.
"Professor, you mentioned that the Mora ensnared and coerced Lucian by – levera- how do you say it again –"
"Leveraging," added Katherine.
"Yes, leveraging Lucian's past. How exactly? I mean, it sounds to me like Lucian's past would have damaged him and his sister if it was exposed by the Mora. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone to the lengths he did just to kill me, right? And Robert told me in his letters that Lucian had burn marks on his body. Did the Mora do that?"
"According to Lucian's testimony, no, Elwin. The Mora did not coerce Lucian through physical means. The burn marks on Lucian's body were from further in the past when he was little. It involves his father and his sister, and encompasses details too cruel and sensitive for innocent ears, hence why Lucian is now under the protection of Aeternitas."
Elwin remembered that he had never actually seen Lucian's bare torso beyond the folds of his uniform.
"What happened? Did his father burn him? Him and his sister?" Elwin gulped, grimacing at the grisly possibilities that could've haunted his arch-rival, tightening his fist. He wanted the answer, a solution to why Lucian had tormented him the way he did, whether it be something his own father had done to him, or a mission forced upon him elsewhere, or anything, really. Ever since waking up, Elwin wanted to demand that Lucian come to him in person and explain everything. He wanted to make Lucian seek his forgiveness – or rather, tell him enough that Elwin could decide whether to absolve him or condemn him. The fact that he had no gall to appear before Elwin after all he'd done, Mora or not, and instead bank on the benefit of a proxy like Professor Aionia to tell his story, corroborated Elwin's dim view of him. Elwin wasn't getting the closure he wanted.
"I cannot say with precision, Elwin. Lucian confided in me that he will open up his past to you in person when he feels he's ready – and as part of the protection that he wanted for his testimony, he made it so that no one else can reveal this information but himself." Professor Aionia sighed at length, palming her forehead and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Huh?" remarked Elwin, stopping so abruptly in his tracks that his kismets bumbled into him. Talk about taking responsibility for his own actions! Elwin thought, mouth agape. "Lucian wants to tell me himself?"
"Yes."
"Did he explain why?"
"He did not. But it appeared evident to me that he places quite the weight on doing so. It's likely he does not want anyone to alter or misconstrue the details."
"Well, that's..." Elwin trailed off, unsure how to think. Lucian was defying his expectations, just like back in the temple-crypt when he saw the scars of time in his eyes. That moment had stirred in Elwin heavy discomfort. Hearing Lucian's desire to tell Elwin his own story stirred up that discomfort even more now: because if Lucian wasn't just an envious bully who Elwin could beat by moral virtue alone, then who was he? Elwin shook his head, lips pursed. Only the sounds of the waterfall below and the chorus of oblivious birds graced the kismets and their Tanaar in that forested garden.
"I guess... if that's what he wants," Elwin nodded, closing his eye. Despite this, there was still an answer he could seek right now, so he quickly carted the conversation forward.
"Professor, why did the Mora have its attention on me? It's the reason why Lucian went out of his way to torment me at Aeternitas, right? Probably doesn't explain why Lucian hated me long before Aeternitas, but at least explains the swords above Lucian's head since the start of the year?"
"That's also my question too," added Isaac, beginning his pace again. "Why only Elwin, and nobody else?"
"I cannot answer that, for I do not possess the knowledge," admitted Professor Aionia. "But I surmise that there must've been a reason it was drawn to you. Elwin, did your father task you with a knowledge or mission that would have threatened Mahanai and his servants? That aside, I see no evident cause as to why the Mora would have honed in on you."
Elwin paused, his mouth agape. His father did indeed warn him about there being a great enemy who many people did not know, and tasked him to rescue the Epitomic Forms from the graves of time in order to defeat that enemy. Only he didn't reveal exactly what the great enemy was and what it entailed – perhaps so that even if his letter fell into unscrupulous hands, they wouldn't know who he was talking about. However, in the eyes of the Mora, the only enemy that Carl spoke of could be its King, the King of All Ends. But no... his father did not leave any such information in his will, and his mother and brother must have kept the letter a secret. For the Mora to have known, it must have seen his letter, and the only way it could have been would be... the haggard thief from Gaya? Not at all – the Astral Knight – Maximus – returned the package to Elwin fully intact. Just when could the Mora have seen it? Just –
The first day I arrived at Aeternitas, when I left my luggage in the care of those at the skycraft! That's when the Mora must have seen it, that's when it must have snuck into Aeternitas!
But what to do with this information? Professor Aionia and his kismets looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.
"Yes. My father indeed gave me such a mission," Elwin declared. His father told him only to reveal the contents of his letter to those he could trust with his life – they were his kismets now, and his Tanaar, the Encarnacion herself. "Two winters ago, I discovered a time-capsule that my father had left in the wall of our house. I found a letter inside, which cautioned to me that there were enemies in existence that we could not fathom. He surmised that the only way we could defeat those evils for good, to erase them forever, is if we re-discovered and reforged the Epitomic Forms."
Professor Aionia opened her mouth in astonishment, but closed them quickly, pensive. "Did he entrust to you any findings and research of his own into those Epitomic Forms, gleaned from his expeditions?"
"Yes," replied Elwin. "The letter and his various essays, diagrams, notes, and calculations should all be in my –" he trailed off, wondering where in the world his luggage was. He had completely forgotten about it.
"In your luggage? It's safe in storage at the Chancellor's quarters," assured Professor Aionia. "May I peruse them later?"
"Of course, nothing would make me happier! In fact, all five of us can look at it together!"
"And on this subject... do you want to reforge those Epitomic Forms?" asked his Tanaar, facing Elwin in the eye fully with a subtle smile upon her countenance.
Elwin lowered his head, tightening his fist. "Although I had to find the proper meaning for my name to begin my journey, I feel it's only the beginning. I want to reforge those lost Epitomic Forms and contribute to our fight against evil."
He looked up again, burning resolve in his eye.
The rest of the kismets took in the revelation with mouths agape. They had been so busy with studies and the tournament that Elwin had no opportunity to tell them, nor had it surfaced to his will to begin with, especially in the face of the urgent threat that was Lucian.
"Professor," quizzed Elwin, "is what my father said indeed true? That the great enemy is Mahanai? He said in the letter that his forces caused the strife of twenty-five years ago."
"Without a doubt," nodded Professor Aionia, closing her eyes and grimacing. "That twenty-five years ago refers to the war between the Republics and the Blood Syndicate. The Blood Syndicate was the product of Mahanai's servants."
"So everything my father mentioned was true... he also mentioned that those same forces – Mahanai's forces – are also putting something sinister into motion in the present."
"Appears to be the case, given the lengths they've gone to conceal their involvement with Lucian and their eyes on you," commented Professor Aionia.
"Right! If the Mora wanted me dead, then it could have just, you know, done it anytime..." Elwin remarked, shaking his head. "But it didn't. I'm guessing that it would've alerted you? It was afraid of you as the Encarnacion?"