Arielle's heart caught as the words began to spread across her page.
Symbol of the Lost.
Church of the Wayward.
Abandon hope to all who enter.
Your soul will be renewed.
He's following me.
He wants me to find him, or die trying.
I should have left it alone.
Her breath quickened.
It was written in a similar handwriting to the coordinates of the Black Market, but how were those things linked? Unless...the Abyssal Drift had sent someone else to Elfheim, and they had also gotten rewards that they then needed to sell.
The Elf princes had acted like it was a one-off fluke, but perhaps this other person went to a different part of Elfheim.
Or another realm entirely.
Who was it? Who had written that down?
She kept the spell active by feeding it essences, and wrote out some of the other symbols that her teammates had found.
The inscription Riorke had seen yielded some results, a symbol drawn next to a question in identical handwriting:
Hemeniech - Where is he?
Where do things go when they're lost?
After the afterlife, what's left?
The passage that Cuthbert had written didn’t yield any results.
Godfrey’s ‘eye’ drawing was replicated, next to the words:
A secret passage where the truth lies.
The more we look, the less we see.
The stories we tell are the ones that destroy us.
The clues he leaves are to his own detriment.
If I find him, do I live or die?
Lacey's story also did not yield any result, nor did Cedric's recollection of the temperature differences.
When she was done, Arielle stared down at her page, now filled with words and scribbles that were all in the same handwriting.
As she read through the page again, her suspicion grew.
The Church of the Wayward.
Symbol of the Lost.
She'd never seen that mentioned in the Vacu Paradox, nor any of the Vacu-focused books she'd read in the library.
To confirm, she wrote down the words, using Orion to search for more references.
She only got a repeat of what had already been found.
She did that for everything else, wondering if she could get the same information somewhere else in the library.
The answer remained no.
None of what had been written belonged to any textbook in the library.
This person had not gotten the information from here.
So where had they gotten it from? Furthermore, who were they?
She finally terminated the spell and used [Ear Shot] to try to listen upstairs, to see if she could catch faint sounds of conversation. Even after expanding her range, she barely heard anything. If someone was there, they were very quiet.
She was interrupted by a system alert.
NEW SPELL DETECTED.
Name: Unknown
Tier: Adept
Experience Points: 3
Would you like to name spell?
She waved away the alert distractedly, going back to her thoughts. She would worry about whether or not to record the Orion spell in her grimoire later.
Right now, she needed to know who had written this. They could explain what had happened to her and how she'd ended up in Elfheim. It wasn't just Prince Aerendyl's spell. There was more to it.
She sat there for as long as she could, waiting while occupying herself with attempting to link it all together.
Was this Church one that worshiped the Abyssal Drift? Was he renewing people's souls?
Did he want to be found or not?
Was finding the Abyssal Drift linked to destruction or something similarly terrible, or was it merely a pointless exercise?
It had felt like the latter for some time. Arielle had almost resigned to ultimately failing her assignment, as horrible as that sounded. But now that she'd seen this, she was filled with a new vigor.
She stayed there for hours, past dinner time, reading stories of the Unmaker again.
Her brain began to feel heavy from all the thoughts it carried. Her eyes too. She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but a clearing of the throat had her jerking up, her eyes flying open.
The librarian with short curly hair and pleasant features was standing next to her.
“It’s late, dear,” she said. “I admire your passion for learning, but you really should get some sleep. Dozing off at the table is a sure sign that you’re too tired and you’re probably not going to retain any of the information anyway.”
Arielle blushed. She couldn't believe she'd fallen asleep in public. Had she drooled?
“Thank you,” she told the librarian as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. As the woman turned away, Ari carried her spell book and got to her feet. Before she left, she asked, "Excuse me, miss?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know if anyone's up in the restricted section right now?"
"Hmm. I think Telip has been up there the longest. He just left a few minutes ago."
Ari's eyes flared. Telip. Of course.
Of course, it had to be him.
He was a Vacu-user, someone the Unmaker would also be interested in. Was he being haunted like she was? Could he possibly know some things that she didn't?
How would she get him to tell her?
She pursed her lips. After this afternoon, she wasn't as confident in her persuasive skills, nor was she as comfortable with her lying skills as before.
But...she may not have to lie. She may just tell him that she needed help for Professor Woden's assignment, and he might help her because he was kind and liked to help first years.
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At the same time, he tended to ignore conversations or questions he didn't like, so Ari had to tread carefully.
She would do it at the next CPR club meeting. Lyra could help her phrase the question as pleasantly and as non-suspiciously as possible.
At least she'd had one success today for her troubles. She'd found where to sell her gems.
Obviously, approaching a criminal enterprise had to be done with tact. She would need to change her appearance or mask herself in some way so that they wouldn’t know who she was, and the crime could not be traced back to her. She would also need attack and protective spells in case they tried to cheat her or steal from her.
But all in all, she wasn’t worried. Brom went to the Black Market all the time. How hard could it be?
Once she sold the gems and the gold, she would be rich.
She spent the rest of the week planning for her excursion and training Lyra and Maus.
Maus continued on his upward trajectory, but Lyra was floundering again that Friday. Most of her spells, including the ones requiring Vitae, did not reach completion.
Ari activated Orion again as Lyra cast a spell, linking it to the aura charm for more insight.
This way, she didn't just see the aura.
She could see separate pressure points in Lyra’s body, where her internal energy passed through before it connected with the outer essences.
The flow was getting interrupted at junctures where the Vitae orbs clung closest to Lyra's body. This was what was causing Lyra to strain to connect to the outer essences, and the more it occurred, the more anxious Lyra got, which made everything worse.
Arielle watched it for a few more seconds, then spoke up.
“I think I know what the problem is,” Arielle said.
Lyra let her arm hang, defeat in every line of her body. “What is it?”
“Vitae is possessive over you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?
“Vitae is possessive over you.” Ari thought about the reasons why. She'd never seen it happen before, but it seemed that some of the external Vitae orbs were dedicated to Lyra, in an almost protective way. Like they thought the other essences would harm her.
Because Vitae was neither attracted nor repelled by other essences, it seemed to regard them as an entirely separate entity from itself. It did not see the other essences as friends, and while it usually ignored the rest, in this case, it actively drove them away from Lyra.
“Were you born in a temple or near one?” Arielle asked. If she'd grown up in a place near a lot of Vitae essences, then that might explain why it was so attached to her.
“No, but my aunt is a priestess.”
“Oh. Then she may have done something to you to make the Vitae like you more. They're clinging to you. That happens with some other people, too, but in this case, they drive other essences away."
"Huh," Lyra responded. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I'll take your word for it. So how do I fix it?"
Arielle brushed her chin. “Have you tried talking to it?”
Lyra rolled her eyes. “Arielle, please stop joking around.”
“I’m not. This is serious. Talk to the Vitae. Tell it that you appreciate its protection, but it's preventing you from utilizing your powers to their fullest, and you need to be able to commune with other essences, too."
Lyra raised an eyebrow. Her expression blatantly showed off her disbelief.
Arielle decided to prove it by speaking directly to the Vitae still lingering around Lyra's body, “Hello. I’m Arielle Blacksoil. It’s very nice to meet you. This is my friend Lyra. You must be very familiar with her and scared that the other essences will hurt her. Isn’t that right?”
They buzzed their agreement, drawing closer to Lyra, while Lyra looked at Arielle like she was crazy.
“Just try it,” Arielle told her. “Please. Tell them you're fine, and that you appreciate them."
Lyra hesitated, then heaved a breath. “I guess if it doesn’t work, I’ll know I tried everything.”
“Precisely.”
She inhaled through her nose, squaring her shoulders and staring blankly into the air. “Hey. I’m Lyra.”
“They’re over there, actually,” Arielle pointed out, and Lyra gave her a narrow-eyed look before he switched her gaze.
“Hello. I’m Lyra. I…I guess it’s nice to meet you. I'm fine, and I appreciate you.”
The essences buzzed louder than when Arielle had introduced herself, letting her know she was right. They really liked Lyra.
Arielle reached out with her mind, tugging them away as she told them, “Lyra needs to use other essences. If not, her cores will be suppressed.”
They didn't understand that, or much beyond the introduction. They got more agitated, fighting against her hold, and Arielle simply started humming to calm them down.
Until a dark chuckle interrupted them.
Faulkey stood leaning at the entrance of the study room, a mocking smile on his face.
Lyra stiffened, while Arielle regarded him dispassionately. "Can I help you?"
He shook his head slowly. "Just wondering if you've both gone mad."
"No," Arielle said simply, even as Lyra's face heated.
“Anyway, I wanted to get my last look at you. I heard that there's something waiting for you tomorrow for family day. A surprise."
“What is it?”
“If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise,” he said. “Just enjoy your last day with pleasant dreams. Tomorrow, we're going to prove how much of a fraud you and cousin Elric are.”
“Elric’s not a fraud," she said. Arielle was, but that was beside the point.
“Ha. We’ll see about it tomorrow.” His eyes gleamed as he walked away.
Lyra’s gaze had turned nervous once more. Arielle thought maybe she was scared that Faulkey would harm her.
When Arielle told her not to worry, she gave her a look.
"It's not me I'm worried about, Ari. It's you."
***
The school was alive with sound that morning.
It was Family Day, and the custodians had woken up early to decorate banners, roll out lush carpets, and hang hovering lanterns, with ribbons and silks arranged to portray a welcoming message.
WELCOME TO ERYNWALL, DEAR FAMILIES OF OUR ASCENDANT STUDENTS!
Rava and Garrick had also done a splendid job cleaning everything. The Luxarium gleamed a little brighter today, the statues repainted, the grass trimmed. Manalings had been eradicated from campus.
The visitors would be welcomed on the shores and escorted to the courtyard, the dining rooms, or the first floor of the main building.
Some auxiliary rooms were blocked off to them for security reasons, and Ari wasn’t allowed to take anyone there. But she could point them out while giving her family a tour.
Today, she had breakfast with Lyra, who was telling her a lot of useful information.
It had begun with her giving tips for approaching Telip, and eventually it devolved into a detailed conversation about how Arielle's habit of ignoring Lyra and Maus when she got busy was kind of annoying and hurtful.
"You're supposed to still converse with us and not totally ignore us when your mind is somewhere else."
"It's not intentional," Ari said.
"I know. Still, it will be a lot easier to swallow if you can just initiate small talk every now and then."
"I don't like small-talk," Arielle said. "I'm not good at it."
"It's okay, we can practice. I say 'hello,' and you say, 'hello, how is it going?'"
"Hello, how's it going?" Arielle repeated.
“Good. Now, I tell you something like ‘I’m having a really bad day today.' What do you say in return?”
She thought about it and responded with a shrug. "Okay.”
“Okay?” Lyra frowned. “Don’t you have a follow-up question?”
“Not really.”
“You don’t care why I’m having a bad day.”
She thought about it. “It would depend on how busy I am."
Lyra looked like she was about to get irritated, but she smiled weakly. “Yeah, that’s not good. If I’m your friend and I’mhaving a bad day, I want you to care about it. More than you care about how busy you are.”
Arielle considered it. "I will try, but I'm not sure that will always be possible."
“Okay then, I want you to at least pretend you care and do it convincingly."
“How do I do that?”
One of the twins, who they were sitting with, snorted, and Lyra released a sigh. “Ask follow-up questions. Ask about how it makes me feel. Nod and tell me you understand, and then bring up a similar situation that happened to you, if you have one, and tell me how that made you feel.”
Lyra shook her head. “This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.”
“You should be teaching her how not to put her foot in her mouth,” one of the twins said. “There are going to be very important people on campus today. Clan nobles and sect leaders. A lot of people might have heard of her and might want to meet her, so you should be telling her how to treat them with respect.”
“Elric already covered that," Arielle said. She'd spent most of last night going through a list of dos and don’ts. She felt prepared to meet the elite ascendant families today.
“I just wonder what Faulkey was talking about," Lyra said. "He seemed far too smug.”
Arielle nodded vaguely and took another bite of her duck. Lyra nudged her.
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you worried?”
“About?”
Lyra exhaled. “Of course you’re not.”
“It might be a duel,” Landon said. “It’s probably going to be that. Someone is going to challenge you, and all the important elders will watch you get humiliated.”
“Why do they think I will get humiliated?’
“I don’t know. Faulkey probably thinks you will. They must think whoever is going to challenge you will be stronger, since you don’t have access to charms anymore.”
"Oh." Arielle struggled to search for something else to say. "And how does that make you feel?"
"Not in that context, Arielle," Lyra said as Landon and Louis laughed.
“I just wonder which of my brothers will be coming," Lyra said next. "They wanted to surprise me, so they didn't tell me. I hope it's not Yaco. I’m nervous enough for the closing performances.” That was what she and Maus had signed up for, a voluntary performance that students could put on, showing off their powers in a dance.
“You’ll do well," Arielle told her.
"You don't know that."
“I do,” Arielle had spent a lot of time last night calming the essences down and making them understand what was at stake. "You’ll probably be better today than you’ve ever been."
Lyra beamed. “Sometimes you’re really sweet, you know that.”
Arielle was pleased to hear that.
After breakfast, Ari went to her room to work on spells. While there, she received an alert that her exeat had been approved for the next day. Good. She was prepared.
At around noon, a knock came on her door, and it was announced that her family was here for her. She brushed her dress down, ensured her robe was neat, and then hurried outside to the courtyard to meet them.
She spotted Elric first, and a smile spread across her lips when she saw him…but it froze in place when she saw the two men standing next to him.
Her brother.
And her father.
Arielle almost didn’t recognize him. He was thinner than she remembered, his muscles striated even on his face. His skin was more weathered, scars ripping through flesh where they’d never been before, one of them slicing across his eye, which was thankfully undamaged.
His eyes were wider than normal, scanning across buildings as though searching for something, until Elric nudged him in the right direction.
When he saw Arielle, he let out a loud wail that alerted everyone else in the vicinity.
Tears welled up in his eyes, and he opened his arms wide.
Suddenly, Ari was running, dashing toward him, and he was running to her too, meeting her halfway. She jumped into his arms like she used to do when she was much younger, and despite how unpleasant it was, she held on.
He smelled the same.
It was a scent she recognized deep in her heart, even if her brain had almost forgotten it.
The beard he’d grown, roughly brushing against her skin, bothered her.
So did the choking sounds he was making in her ear. She ignored all the things that had her insides screaming because her father was finally home.
She was overwhelmed by all the emotions.
She wept loudly in his hair, making weird choking sounds too that were almost like screams.
He patted her back in comfort like he used to, though he cried too.
She forgot about time and place and how old she was, and by the time she pulled away, both of their faces were streakedwith tears, snot running down her nose.
"I suppose the surprise was successful,” Elric said, looking very pleased with himself.
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