At the announcement, Arielle’s brain instantly went to work.
Plutarch was last seen in the library. That was also where she had first accessed the information about the Drift and the Church of the Wayward. It had appeared to be from a journal or some type of notebook that might have been left behind.
There was a chance that the notebook was with Telip.
Or that it was nestled in some other part of the library that she had not searched yet.
However, she was almost certain that it was in neither of those places.
She thought perhaps the notebook was somewhere in the abyss, with Plutarch.
But she didn't think that Orion was powerful enough to pull information out of the abyss. After all, if it was, it would have pulled out a lot more than what she had gotten.
And if the notebook was in the abyss, then didn't that make it part of the abyss? Or not?
Or perhaps there were different sections of the abyss, and maybe it was locationally dependent. For example, the In Between could have been a section of the abyss, localized to the ruins of the Helleron Forest. That was where Cornelius Draco was trapped. He'd mentioned a door, but she didn't think that had anything to do with it, so she'd discontinued that trajectory of thought.
In any case, while Cornelius was trapped in the abyss at the ruins, perhaps Plutarch was trapped in the abyss at the school.
If she could access it somehow...could she find him?
And do what?
She didn’t know. She’d been so wrapped up in discovering if her theory was true and finding the Unmaker that she didn’t really know what her end goal was when she found him.
It was like a compulsion that she sometimes couldn’t control.
But at the very least, she did want to help free the people in the abyss. She might not have minded it much in the short time she was there, but that would likely change if she spent years there like they had, especially given how the time on earth contracted in comparison. Cornelius had been begging when she saw him, his desperate words likely a plea for freedom.
He had also used some of his strength to help her get out of there.
Maybe for that reason, that plea touched Arielle's heart. She could free them.
“Arielle?” Woden spoke up, distracting her from her thoughts. “Did you have any more questions for me?”
She was in the process of shaking her head when she thought about it again. “Do you know anything about the abyss?”
“You mean in a literal sense or a poetic one?”
“Literal.”
“Hmmm.” He paused to tap his small shears on his jawline. “I guess so. I know that, ever since the demise of the Vaelors, the Lis have a monopoly on most of the abyssal spells and spells that access alternate domains in the same universe.”
“Do you know if the abyss is layered?” she asked.
“I suppose,” he said, with confusion, and then he turned and said. “You know who would know more about it is Valeria. You should discuss this with her.”
Arielle had thought as much and had only asked Woden first just in case he could give her more information.
Now it seemed all roads led to Professor Valeria.
“Thank you,” she said.
“No problem. I have a feeling I'll be needing you soon so you can repay the favor."
He winked, and she nodded and began to walk away when he spoke up again, "Oh, and the Church of the Wayward…I remember now. Plutarch was the one who told me about it. Like you, he was preparing a report on the Unmaker and wrote a paper mentioning something like that."
"Can I have it?" she asked eagerly.
"Probably, but I think it’s lost somewhere in all the mess in my office. Give me the afternoon to search for it, and return tomorrow, okay?”
"Okay," Arielle said slowly. Somehow, she had a sneaking suspicion that he might not find it in his office at all, but she simply nodded and stepped out.
Her next stop was the library to confirm her theory. In the Helleron forest, there had been a convergence of orbs, particularly Vacu, and the distinct presence of the Drift that told her that there was something abnormal about the stones.
It had been the same way in the temple now that she thought about it.
But the orbs in the library showed no such thing. They still drifted around pretty normally, with the only slight excess being that of Luxa, which made sense seeing as how they were on the second floor of the Luxarium and Luxa tended to be more plentiful the higher you climb.
But there was no unusual convergence of Vacu. No sense of the Drift's presence.
At least not on this floor.
She glanced up. The restricted floor might have that. That might be where Plutarch disappeared. He was a senior, which meant that he had access to it, but Ari didn’t and wouldn’t for some time.
“Arielle!”
She turned around to find Lyra rushing towards her from the back of the library, the twins and Maus in tow.
“You’re back.” Lyra beamed, her arms extending before dropping as though barely restraining herself from hugging her.
Arielle nodded.
“What happened? I thought you would be gone a lot longer.”
“Elric’s feeling better.”
“He is?" Her expression brightened. "Oh, Ari. I'm so glad. I was so worried."
"What was wrong with him?” Louis asked.
“Work accident,” Arielle parroted. “But he’s recovering.”
“That’s great but also kind of a shame,” Louis quipped. “If you’d been gone longer, they would have had no choice but to postpone your core stabilization trial. Not that you have anything to worry about, except maybe the surprise trial later.” He sighed. “That’s the one I’m anxious about. It’s supposed to happen next weekend, and I still don’t know what it is yet.”
“I heard they’re going to take us to the Valley of Monsters,” Maus said. “You know, second years start fighting level 100s and below. Maybe they plan to show us our potential future, and that can spook a few people."
"Nope," Landon said, "A third year gave me a hint and said, it's some kind of evaluation. So I think we'll probably have to cast a bunch of spells, no breaks, until we burn out so they figure out where our exhaustion point is.”
“You think that's enough to get people to quit?"
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"Yeah, if your mana exhaustion point isn't high enough, it probably means that you won't make it past adept tier in your entire life, and for anyone who only wants to become a master or archmage, that feels like a waste of time and resources when you could be doing just about anything else. Also, they might use that to predict what our future as mages would be like. For example, some people want to be warriors but may not grow cores strong enough to become one. So maybe they might just discourage you that way."
"You don't need strong cores to become a warrior," Maus said. "Just look at Riorke."
"His cores might be strong," Lyra said. "Just untrained."
"Anyway, we shouldn't worry about that yet," Landon broke in. "There are still the rest of the trials to concern ourselves with."
"I just know I'm going to be sick after core stabilization," Louis said. "Not that you have to worry about that, Lyra, after you got it waived, you lucky duck."
Lyra blushed, but she looked pleased. That reminded Arielle that she still hadn't found a solution to Lyra losing her cores by her birthday.
That was coming up in a little over a month. She needed to prioritize that, along with the notebook and Inara’s blood spell.
She wondered if Lyra's curse was somehow linked to her blood, binding her by blood magic. Or was it an oath? Perhaps if she could figure out the origin of the spell, she could break it before the deadline.
She would also need to learn more about the Tree of Life to do that.
So much to do, so little time.
"Thank you for that, by the way," Lyra said to Ari. "Llywyd giving me that waiver was thanks to you."
“It was mostly you.” Arielle had been honest when she said that her rune would not work for anyone who wasn’t Lyra. "So you don't have to keep thanking me."
Rather than look happy to be freed from her burden, Lyra frowned.
“What’s up with you?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You have that expression you typically get when you’re particularly bothered.”
“I’m not bothered. I’m just thinking about…something. I have to go talk to Professor Valeria.”
“You might have to wait," Louis said. "I heard that the professors are having some kind of meeting right now.”
“I just met Woden in his lab.”
“Yeah, it was an impromptu meeting. Valeria got called out during a trial, and she put the rest of them on hold. We’ll have to wait until she's done." He jabbed his thumb to the back of the library. "You can sit with us. Maybe some of your genius will rub off on us."
Arielle didn't truly want to. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts, but she allowed Lyra to lead her to their table anyway, chattering the whole way.
The group talked and talked, seamlessly shifting from one topic to the next, from theories about tests to holiday plans, inside jokes making everyone else laugh except Arielle, because she didn't understand them.
Even though she was not excluded from the conversation, Arielle felt very much on the outside looking in, simply because she often had to concentrate to comprehend some of what they were saying, and her concentration was on something else right now.
So much had happened and she hadn't had time to absorb any of it. Elric had nearly died, and she'd fought a demon and stolen a notebook, and Cornelius and Plutarch were trapped in the abyss, pleading to be released from whatever deal they had signed.
Was their entire physical body there, or just their minds?
Speaking of which, what happened to her physical body when she went on the Drift's adventures? At first, she had imagined that her body left with her, but neither the dean nor Woden commented on it at any time when she was found.
She had again assumed that this was due to time being contracted and her disappearance only lasting about a millisecond.
After all, the elves had seen her physical body.
But her meditation into the abyss had not involved her body either.
It was all so confusing.
When another burst of raucous laughter broke her concentration, unbidden irritation flagellated her, and she couldn't take it anymore. She got up, startling the group.
"I have to go," she said, with a short, stiff smile as an apology.
“Arielle.” Lyra blinked at her. “Are you okay? Truly."
She nodded. “Yes. I just have to go.” She didn’t really want to spend time sitting there talking about the next exams. While exams were important, there were a lot of other things that were also important.
As she left the library, unaware of all those who watched her, she only glanced back at the restricted upper section.
There were currently three options for her to get access.
One, she could ask Valeria to give her a pass. Some teachers gave students temporary passes, but it required supervision, which meant that Valeria would need to come with her and watch everything Arielle did and might have questions if she did something strange. Arielle wasn't confident that she was a good enough liar to get out of that situation, and though she liked Valeria, she wasn't sure she trusted any of the staff to keep her secret. It made that option less attractive for her.
The second way to get access was through Telip, but of course, Telip hadn’t spoken to her since the rune incident. She had been meaning to apologize to him again, but she simply had not had the time, and something told her that if she apologized and asked for a favor right away, he would not be too happy with that.
The third option was to, of course, sneak into the restricted section herself.
She was fairly sure she could manage that, but she would have to figure out a way around the dean’s defenses first. After all, the first time she’d snuck around campus, he’d effectively caught her, and she still wasn’t sure how.
So far, the first option was the easiest, but that would depend on how her conversation with Valeria went.
Arielle planned to complete some meditation while waiting for the professor to be done with her meeting.
However, stepping out of the Luxarium, she saw something.
Something that seemed monumental.
Vacu rushed towards the Luxarium in unprecedented quantities. The last time she’d seen anything like that, it had been with Telip creating a portal.
Was he doing the same thing now? Wasn’t she supposed to help him with that?
She paused and analyzed the stream, noting that it was a lot larger than last time.
It just kept rushing by in higher and higher amounts, and now, she got apprehensive. There was not enough of the other essences to balance it out.
He was likely creating a portal, but could his runes really handle an incursion of Vacu that big, with nothing else to stabilize it?
Arielle felt a sudden sense of urgency and rushed back into the Luxarium, taking several steps to the second topmost floor.
She heard voices and bodies moving past her as she dashed down the path.
However, she eventually got blocked by a taller fourth-year girl.
“What are you doing here?” she said. “First years aren’t allowed to be on this floor.”
“Telip..." Ari was a little breathless from running. "Where is he?"
The girl cocked her eyebrows. “Why should I tell you?”
Because I'm pretty sure he's creating the largest portal I've ever seen, and I'm worried he can't handle it.
However, she couldn't explain to the girl how she knew that.
So she simply took out her wand, cast [Levitate], which swept the girl behind her to the other side of the hallway.
Ari heard an indignant gasp as she dashed off.
"[Call To Hand]!" the girl called out.
“[Space Null],” Arielle said.
One other student came at her, and she cleared them from her path, deactivating their spell with [Space Null].
One large boy caught her from behind in a snug bearhug, lifting her and trapping her wand arm against her side.
He was freakishly strong, so much so that she couldn’t move.
"Let me go," she demanded, wiggling her legs.
"Not so fast, first-year," he said, and his voice sounded familiar. He was one of Selena's friends, the one who joked around that last time she and Selena talked. "This is a restricted area, especially today."
"Leave her alone," Selena's voice rang with clear command, though it held more than a hint of annoyance. "You might hurt her accidentally and earn a demerit. Besides, Telip probably called her to help."
“Are you sure?”
“Do I look unsure?”
The boy cleared his throat and reluctantly let go of Arielle. She immediately rushed toward the door of the room where the Vacu was fervently rushing through.
Selena was instantly there, in her way.
"You can’t go in there just like that," she said. "He’s working on something, and you might distract him. Wait for him to come out and get you, instead."
Ari couldn't wait. This particular room had no windows, so she couldn’t see what was going on, but she had a sinking feeling that Telip was in trouble.
"He's in trouble,” she told Selena.
"Did he tell you that?"
"Yes."
"You're lying."
Drat. "Yes, but he really is in trouble.”
“How do you know?”
“I can’t say. Just trust me." Perhaps Selena was the wrong person to be asking for trust. After all, they didn’t know each other that well, and several people had cautioned her against Selena.
But Arielle didn't want to make this a fight against Selena because while she could win, the other girl would be much harder to dispatch.
Selena frowned and narrowed her eyes. She gave it a few seconds of thought before she reached behind her and opened the door as quietly as possible.
And then swung it wide when she saw what was happening.
It was Telip, caught in a vortex careening toward a massive portal that reached up to the ceiling.
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