120 - Uncertain Breakthrough

The door opened before Selena could touch the handle, as was customary for the Dean’s office. She walked in, already guessing what she was called in for, but wondering how he would approach it.
“Selena,” Dean Octavius said, with a warm smile as he put down the scroll he was crafting. “Please. Have a seat.”
“You called for me?” She sat comfortably, crossing her legs and staring at the other man. He outranked her, but not for long. Soon enough, she would graduate and outrank him and no longer have to sit here while he lectured her about one thing or the other.
“Yes,” he admitted. “How are you feeling?”
“As well as possible,” she responded.
“That’s good. Now I’m sure you knew this was coming.” His tone was soft, yet admonishing. “You know I hate to do this, but we must discuss the unauthorized movement off campus.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he said. “Now, you’re nearly graduated, so I don’t think any punishment is warranted here, but we do have to maintain the rules. I feel I may have excused it more than a few times for you, but I don’t want you setting a bad example.”
“Oh, you mean as Arielle Blacksoil did?”
“I sent Arielle there myself,” he said. “She thought she had left something behind, and I kept watch over her the entire time.”
“And then?” Selena challenged. “After that, where did she go? I know she didn’t sleep here.”
“And how could you possibly know that?”
Because she had felt her tag connecting, trailing Arielle. She knew that Arielle had been at the cave earlier that day, and had gone somewhere else after. It couldn’t be teleportation because Ari did not have a hidden ability marker. So, likely, the demon had taken her.
The tag wasn’t yet advanced enough for her to know exactly where Arielle had gone, but when she had met Ari in the cave, she did not have the tag anymore.
It was either the tag had dissolved on its own, or she had somehow managed to break it. But Selena would feel it if it was broken, and she had felt the tag for a little bit after, so it was confusing.
She had managed to create the tags, after much effort, but she did not have enough expertise to truly track them or to keep them lasting a long time. All she knew was that Arielle had left that cave and gone somewhere else for a period of time before she returned.
Then she disappeared again.
Selena was working to create another tag, and this time, she would ensure that it was stronger and would give her more information. But of course, she didn’t want to tell the dean any of that.
“I went to her room,” she lied smoothly. “I wanted to apologize for a misunderstanding we had earlier. I was told that she was not on campus.”
“Yes. I took her off campus to prepare her for her private testing.”
“So she agreed to it?”
“Maybe,” he said, and Selena narrowed her eyes. He was giving her that look that she hated, that felt like it could see right through her skull. Selena was determined not to give him anything.
Or perhaps she would give him something else to think about.
“You know what they’re saying about her, right?” Selena said.
“What who is saying?”
“People,” she answered. “There are rumors that Arielle has been consorting with demons, or at the very least associates with them.”
“And where did those rumors start from?”
Selena shrugged.
The rumors were still in the budding stage, because one could not rush such things. Yet it had been really easy to spread. The entire school was curious and confused by Arielle Blacksoil. They were impressed with her, but with such feats also came envy and suspicion. Where did her powers come from? Elric was an Archmage, but he’d never been so exceptionally talented. Neither had any of the Earthbinders except the Legendary. Arielle’s parents weren’t even from the main line, so her talent seemed to be heavensent.
Or possibly, attained from the depths of hell.
It was always easier to convince people of evil than it was to convince them of the divine.
All it had taken was a few hypotheses in a few ears, and now people were taking it, adding onto it, and word was spreading about the mysterious, possibly clandestine reason behind Arielle Blacksoil’s talent.
“But you can understand why people would be suspicious, can’t you, Dean Octavius?” Selena continued. “Her origins are murky, her powers strange, and once…I think I saw her close a portal with her eyes. Isn’t it interesting?” She held up her hand. “I mean, I’m not saying I believe the rumors, but it’s certainly something to watch for, isn’t it?”
Dean Octavius didn’t speak for some time. He continued to stare at her, his eyes scanning, glowing with aged wisdom.
Selena stared back unflinchingly.
“Perhaps there is something more to this.” He spoke up.
Selena had to stop herself from smiling. She didn’t think it would be that easy. “What do you mean? You think she’s consorting with demons too?”
“No, not that.” He waved a hand. “That’s nonsense. But you…do you remember that conversation we had on the day of your first year surprise exam?”
Selena’s lips tightened. She knew exactly what he was speaking of.
Like other students, she had been warned that the exam would be physically and emotionally taxing. She had been told she had a choice not to participate.
But everyone knew that those who did not participate normally ended up dropping out or failing at some point. They couldn’t see their own limitations. Truthfully, she saw non-participation as an act of cowardice, evidence that one should not even be here. So, she had brushed off all the warnings and had told the dean she would be fine.
She would pass the test because she was the best.
He’d merely smiled, patted her on the head, and that was the last thing she remembered before everything changed.
It was impossible to tell that everything had been an elaborate illusion. Or perhaps it wasn’t. Perhaps he merely trapped her in her own mind.
Regardless, the test put her through hell. It dug into the depths of her soul and brought out the ugliest parts of her.
She didn’t know how he did it. It had to be an Archmage-tier bloodline spell he had used to unearth things long buried, even the night her entire family was murdered.
It should have been impossible for him to know how that happened, even if he searched through her memories. She had been an infant when it happened, and didn’t remember it either.
Yet he brought it alive in vivid detail, explaining later that the manifestation was caused by her deepest fear and her greatest wish.
To become powerful enough to stop what had happened to them.
To always end her enemies before they took her family.
The test had been a confusing, overwhelming experience, yet she had overcome it anyway.
She had proven to herself that her goal was attainable. And after, he’d had a conversation with her where he had told her that all the visions she’d seen represented her life path.
“You are constantly dancing on the line drawn amidst chaos,” he told her. “Your origins are tragic, your future bright, but also steeped in darkness. I see so much light in you, the capacity to be the greatest Archmage we’ve ever seen. You who have already overcome so much in your childhood will achieve even more. Yet, there are difficult choices you must make that will determine what kind of person you end up being.”
“I see.” Selena thought she knew what those choices were.

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For example, when she’d heard that a horde of trolls had invaded Eastern Pyronis and her soldiers were outnumbered, she’d snuck off campus to fend them off. The dean had let her off the hook for that, because she’d made the right choice, she thought.
She’d made it again when she had asked for leave for a semester to help them fight the Southern Rebels, and then again when she had led a small team to steal back an important totem from the enemy nation of Seizan. It had been her who had heroically saved them by slaying the hydra too.
She was always there to defend her people when they needed it, and that made her ascension swift and sure. That meant she was on track. She had made the right decisions.
Right?
“You’ve always been one of my most impressive students,” Dean Octavius said now. “The one I’m most sure will achieve everything she has set her mind to. Having someone else wield power alongside you doesn’t change that.”
She pressed her lips together. She didn’t like where this conversation was going.
And as it continued, she liked it less and less.
“I understand your fears, and your need to distract yourself from them. There’s a growing mess in Pyronis that becomes more complicated the longer you’re away, and perhaps there’s a part of you that feels less than equipped to handle it.” His finger tapped the scroll, the sound barely perceptible. “It’s easier to preoccupy yourself with unnecessary and unimportant things here on campus because here, you are a king who fully understands your domain. You can command and control as easily as you breathe. But there, you will be but a child surrounded by those with far more experience than you, who have splintered your domain and seek to preserve control. They want to use you as a puppet, and are far more underhanded and understanding of the political landscape. They could scheme to overthrow you without your knowledge, as you suspect they did your father. Here, you know who is friend and who is foe. There awaits a den of lions where you are the sheep.”
Her nostrils flared.
Her heart burned. She hated him for the words that came out of his mouth, hated it because they rang with a truth she didn’t want to acknowledge.
She leaned forward and bit out. “I am no sheep.”
“I know,” he said. “As I have said, I have not a single trace of doubt with you. And you should not doubt yourself either.”
Selena’s leaned back. Even as her temper simmered, her mind cut through. She wondered if he was right.
Had she begun doubting herself because of Arielle? Was that why the girl vexed her so?
“You are powerful,” Dean Octavius said. “But power is not everything. You must learn how to understand and command your most valuable resource. People.”
“I already know how to do that.” She was good at commanding people.
“You know how to do it with children,” he said. “You should pay more attention to the adults that will be your subjects soon. After all, the economic and political issues of Pyronis will be your burden to bear, very, very soon. Their lives will be in your hands. That’s a responsibility you should spend all your focus on.”
Selena rose, feeling the burn of doubt that peppered her mind like an itching discomfort. She didn’t want to stay here and listen to these things anymore. Deep inside, she knew that he was right, but she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit.
Nevertheless, there was that nagging thought that she had to reassert control over her domain. She would not let the elders control her. She would do what it took and focus her attention on that.
“I look forward to seeing who you become,” he said. “Queen Serena Gregor.”
She held her chin up, nodded once at him, and then left.

---

Octavius watched Selena’s departure, folding his hands underneath his nose.
Vittoria had warned him that Selena had expressed envy and far too much curiosity about Arielle.
Combined with what had happened earlier in the year, when they had sparred, Octavius was growing worried that Selena was going to be a problem.
The girl was hasty but not stupid. She was noticing things about Arielle, and she had enough power and influence to make life difficult for the young mage.
All she had to do was create enough talk around this demon-consorting issue to get the council’s attention. They were on high alert after everything that happened in the sect, and she didn’t think that even Elric and Vittoria would be able to stop it if Arielle were called in for questioning by the council.
Woe betide her if she ever had to meet the Ascendant. Then, she would be doomed.
Octavius began to think and plot.
He had managed to distract Selena now, and soothe her insecurity, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. In fact, he didn’t think it would last long at all.
They needed a plan.

---

“Dragons are the closest beings to divine that have ever existed,” Professor Woden started as Arielle tried to make herself comfortable in his cramped, disorganized office. She couldn’t. Her skin felt itchy just sitting here, but she forced herself to remain anyway, routinely rubbing her knee to distract herself and counting down time in her head, until it was over.
“They are immortal, said to be wise, even if we cannot understand them,” Woden continued. “While some special mages can learn dragon tongue, scholars posit that older dragons could even speak human tongue if they wanted to, but most simply do not find humans worthy of communication. To them, it must feel like talking to toddlers. There was a saying that dragons are actually deities who occasionally come to Earth to avoid their duties. Which is why they’re so lazy, spending most of the year simply sleeping.”
Arielle made some mental notes: dragons, likely deities, don’t communicate, lazy, sleepy.
If they were so divine, why did Vittoria seem so ready to kill one of them?
“Dragons aren’t typically confrontational,” he continued. “Actually, the former emperor of Pyronis once summoned a dragon and sought to use it to wage war on the other nations. Not only did the dragon refuse to play along, but it also ate all the goats on every empty field in the Kingdom, took a long nap, and then disappeared back to its realm. The King was so irate he destroyed every dragon motif he’d ever hung up, which was a lot. He was quite obsessed with them before that point.”
“You said dragons are immortal?” she said. “Does that mean they never get hurt?”
“No. You can certainly harm a dragon. You can also kill one with enough effort. Actually, one of the few times a dragon gets aggressive is when they’re threatened or harmed, which can lead to–”
“Agitation,” Arielle completed.
“Exactly. How do you know about that?”
“I’ve been reading. And my cousin told me too.”
“Ah, of course.”
“Is there a cure for agitation?” Arielle asked.
“No,” he said. “I think the mages usually just try to send agitated dragons back to whatever realm they came from, or kill them. Anyway, back to their history–”
“Why has no one attempted to make a cure before?”
He blinked at her. “What?”
“It would be a huge benefit to make one,” she said. “Not only would it save lives, perhaps you can offer it to the dragon, to attain their favor.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” he said. “Dragons don’t offer favor that easily, and we wouldn’t even know where to start with creating such a potion.”
“But you know dragon anatomy, right?”
“Somewhat.”
“And if you did create it, you would be rewarded for it. Right?”
“Undoubtedly. It would be a thaumaturgical breakthrough.”
“So why not at least try?”
Professor Woden stared at her closely, and she thought she saw his eyes gleam. Her heart pounded in apprehension.
She wasn’t supposed to discuss the agitation with the professor. Per Vittoria’s instructions, she was only supposed to extract as much information from him as possible, but not let him know why she was seeking it.
But he’d brought it up first, and it was a perfect opportunity.
What if she could somehow use this as a way to extract more than just information? What if she could get a cure from him? It would be much faster than doing it herself with knowledge she didn’t have.
“Any ideas?” he said, regarding her, his voice soft.
Arielle pressed her lips together.
Vittoria had advised her against this. But they didn’t have time. The dragon was dying, and the little one was hurt and clingy, and she needed to start working on the cure immediately without spending hours in Woden’s offensively untidy office and listening to him talk.
She wouldn’t, of course, give him the exact spell form she’d conjured for the snake, but perhaps as they talked she could coach him into the answer, and they could figure it out together. She just had to be careful not to give too much away.
You don’t know how to not give too much away, she could hear Vittoria’s voice in her head. You’ve only had one session with the dean.
True. Yet, she forged ahead anyway.
“I may have an idea,” she said. “Elric actually told me his friend was working on a spell for the cure.”
“Friend?”
“Yes. I think her name is Vittoria. She’s an Archmage too.”
“You mean the Commander?” He straightened, his jaw coming unhinged. “Commander Vittoria Di Santinael? The Golden Beast?”
“Yes. That’s her.”
“She’s back? I thought she disappeared from the council.”
She came back.”
“And you met her?”
Arielle figured it was easier to go with the truth. She nodded, leading Woden to release a notable gasp.
“Wow.” He seemed very impressed. “What an honor.”
“Yes. An honor.” Although Arielle didn’t fully understand what made it so honorable, she nodded. “If we could help her…and make a cure, I’m sure she would be grateful enough to give you some credit.” That seemed like it would be important to him and the rest of the professors here.
“I see,” he coughed. “Well, as you know, I have so many projects I’m currently running, but I wouldn’t mind helping the great commander.”
“I can help you help her. I know a lot about her research.”
“You do?”
Ari nodded. “She told me about it at length when we met.”
“Truly? She did that?” Woden cocked his head. “That’s hard to believe.”
Oh no.
Arielle didn’t know how to answer that, so she merely shrugged, as her heart accelerated. She squeezed her knee and prayed she hadn’t made a grievous error.
“I mean not to say that you’re not worthy of a conversation with her,” Woden said, appearing thoughtful. “It’s just that I’ve heard she’s very aloof and intimidating. And strange. The few people I know who have met her mention that she doesn’t often talk to people she just met, much less students.”
“I’m not lying,” Arielle said instantly, guiltily.
“I’m not saying you are, Arielle,” Woden said, placatingly. “And on second thought, it makes sense for her to take an interest in you. After all, so did Wesley, and you are a genius in your own right.”
Arielle blushed, but pursed her lips as she tried to think of something else to say.
“Yes, I would love some help,” Woden finally concluded. “Will you have time? I know that you’re working with Professor Valeria as well.”
She nodded. Professor Valeria had advised her that they would likely hear back from the lab after the two-month school break. She would prefer to finish this now.
Professor Woden immediately jumped into action.
“Good. Lucky for you, I have my afternoon free.” He got up and pulled out a scroll. “Let’s get started.”