Chereads / The Story of Rhodan / Chapter 54 - Aion

Chapter 54 - Aion

Amy stared in disbelief at her door where she saw Ramiro on his perch seemingly looking innocent except for one thing; the rat is missing.

She stared at Ramiro with a displeased expression. "You ate it, didn't you?"

The bird, again, tries to look innocent.

She shrugged indifferently. Whatever, It's not like I have more use for it anyway.

She sat at the foot of her bed while looking at the drawing of the rat that Selim drew for her. He is quite skilled in anatomy, so she trusts his skills.

In the movie, it wasn't explicitly stated but he is implied to have an extensive knowledge on magic that surpasses even the most accomplished mages in the world. He probably did something to the rats. Planting spies is not something he is incapable of doing but why rats? Why plant them like this in broad daylight? Students often capture them upon sight and like to use them for spell practice or experiments, killing them. They don't last long and would make a poor choice as spies. Even if that is the case, that wouldn't explain the piles of dead rats in the walkway.

Ever since that asshole came here, I haven't been making much progress on my own goals. She thought impatiently.

She grabbed the ugly hilt and looked at her pet projects as they squirm but stopped and immediately panicked after seeing one of them missing.

"NO!!"

She looked around before turning to Ramiro but is quick to deduce that he didn't do it.

Her pet project was something she worked on since she was a toddler. The amount of time and effort she cared for them goes to waste if even one of them is missing. That box can only be open by her.

Ramiro flapped his wings frantically, but she ignored it. There is no way that he would eat it even if it looks like a worm because—

BBBBOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!

Amy nearly jumped with fright as she opened her window and Ramiro flew out. She appeared initially horrified but then switched to deadpan.

"Leon," she groaned and got up to check on the damage. He is quite destructive since he let the potion fame get to his head. Now, he is attempting to create something flashy just to further increase his pranks.

Amy's jaw dropped upon seeing the view in front of her. She was wrong. This escalates into something far worse.

In the direction of the stone building, she saw an extremely large black crystal appear in the middle of school grounds.

Amy felt her eye twitch. It is hard to differentiate if it is from stress, lack of sleep or in disbelief from this sharp turn of events.

Now that the reality began to sink in, she began to think of what to do next. There is no way all the mages, no matter how powerful let alone her and the students, could actually deal with this. Many lives will be lost before this could be contained.

Then a sudden thought occurred to her, she anxiously huffed out a breath then looked at the hilt using her deconstruction ability. It opened up like a flower and show a smaller, cryptex with thin ivory donut rings with tiny runes engraved onto it. On the bottom of the item, there is a singular rune, slightly bigger than the rest. It says "Aion". 

Without wasting unnecessary time, she grabbed a vial of the black crystal sample, and emptied it into the space where the power source is. 

Alabaster is devious, she knows that, but his plans are useless without the device. It is probably a way to get everyone to evacuate and take advantage of the chaos while he gets it back.

Well, you probably wouldn't expect that I know how to work this thing just because I'm a kid, right? She thought smugly while working on activating the device. Upon hearing the gears move and the ring began spinning, she finished one last thought, well... you're gonna meet its maker real soon. 

*

The first thing she did was look at the current time and date, her itinerary and schedule for this day and the next three months after. She initially planned to interfere on the night the intruder broke into Leon's room but had second thoughts for the sake of the timeline. As impatient as she is, she has no choice but to play the long game. She grabbed a pair of glasses from her small bag and put it on. The glasses help her peer from far away and through walls. She has been using a pair of ordinary glasses and enchanted them after a lot of research. Now...

Three

Two

One

Then a thin figure dressed in black broke in through the window.

From her angle, she couldn't entirely tell what Leon was doing or feeling but Alabaster on the other hand, was incredibly shocked, like he made a terrible mistake. Then Alabaster was knocked back and vanished before impact. Confused, she adjusts the glasses and now understood what happened to him. He hadn't vanished but shrunk to a size so small that he could fit in Leon's fist without harming him. He quickly kicked the knife out of sight then fix the window in a blink of an eye.

Then she saw Rufus and her past-self walk in, giving her deja-vu.

She looked away until the coast is clear. Leon shoved the unconscious, miniature Alabaster into a jar and closed it shut. He then put the jar aside on his desk to look for the knife he kicked aside. His expression is full of distaste as he examined the object. Amy admits that the knife is truly ugly and impractical looking, but anyone would overlook its appearance once they see its true value.

She pensively sighed before sitting back comfortably. This is going to be long, but she can't move from her spot until the right opportunity.

*

Seriously, how is he not afraid right now? He slept so soundly like no one ever broke into his room to begin with. 

She turned to Rufus's room who, unlike Leon, was wide awake.

It went on all night but she decided to get an early breakfast before any student would wake up and packed extra so she wouldn't need to come in and interact with anyone. She wore a disguise by changing her hair and eye color, magically adding freckles on her face and wearing the glasses. She looks like a regular, typical student. Though, she feels bad for basically bailing class, she could at least plan using the time she literally bought for herself.

While waiting, she is now thinking back to what happened before she went back in time. Someone broke the seal and released the sentient black crystal and already started spreading rapidly. After stalking Leon, more specifically the jar that carried Alabaster, all day, she finally could see Leon and Rufus in Leon's room. Thankfully, she bugged the room so she could overhear the conversation.