Chapter 36

Ashlara returned to camp a few hours later. I lay in my tent, staring up at the canvas ceiling, turning the night over in my head and wondering if I’d made a mistake. The flap hung open. The fire had burned down to embers. The moon had already set. Even so, I could see her clearly when she came in.

She glanced toward my tent, hesitated for half a heartbeat, but said nothing. She crawled into her own tent and closed her eyes.

The next morning we broke camp and set out again. I didn’t mention the night before, and neither did she. She didn’t seem inclined to talk about anything at all, so we walked in silence. She made a point of not looking at me.

At noon we stopped for lunch and sparring. That, at least, seemed to help. The familiar rhythm of movement and impact loosened something in her, and by afternoon she was willing to resume my Drath lessons.

By the following day things had mostly settled back into a sort of normal. We talked as we walked - or rather, I talked, and she listened, offering the occasional comment or answer.

I asked if she knew any songs from her childhood. She nodded, but refused to sing and. I didn’t press and I didn’t blame her. Singing without preparation or accompaniment was hard enough, and even I struggled with a guitar in my hands.

That night I checked in at home before returning to camp. Three days out, I was fairly certain there was no practical limit to the distance. It didn’t feel any harder than stepping in from just outside the house.

Early on the seventh day we split up. Ashlara set camp along the river northwest of town. I continued south, through the gates and into the city. The guards barely looked at me this time - just a nod and I was through.

That annoyed me. The first time we’d come here there had been questions. Scrutiny. Explanations demanded. Now, alone, I warranted nothing at all.

It was afternoon, and despite having spent most of the journey thinking about how to approach this, I realized I didn’t actually know where to start. I didn’t know anyone in the city. I didn’t know how one found short-term work, or whether “quests” were even a thing here. They certainly weren’t back home.

In the end I headed for the university. It was the only place where I knew anyone at all. Nanders would remember me. Logers… maybe.

Having been there once, finding the entrance was easy enough. I approached the semicircular desk and smiled at the woman in red robes behind it - a face I didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” I said. “I was hoping you could help me. I’m looking for Professor Nanders. Do you know if he’s in?”

She returned the smile. “I’m not sure, but he has an office on…” She opened a large ledger and flipped through it. “Fourth floor. Office forty-three. The stairs are over there.”

I thanked her and headed up. I spotted the lab before I reached the office and decided to check there first. I opened the door, knocked lightly, and peered inside.

No one was visible. I was halfway to closing the door when something clattered, followed by a stream of muffled curses.

“Professor Nanders?” I called.

“I’m quite busy,” his voice replied, unseen. “Office hours are between nine and noon.”

I stepped inside and shut the door. “Are you too busy to talk to a man from another world?”

There was a pause. Then a heavy thump, followed by distinctly unacademic swearing. A moment later his head appeared over what looked like a barrel with table legs bolted to the sides. He stared at me, then scrambled to his feet.

“You’re back-”

“Seth,” I supplied, offering my hand as I crossed the room. “I don’t think I actually introduced myself last time.”

“Oh! No, no need to apologize,” he said quickly, shaking my hand. “Have you reconsidered participating in my studies? I would dearly love to observe how you respond to various forms of magic - mana capacity, biological samples, bloodwork - oh, and Void exposure in particular-”

“I actually have a few questions,” I interrupted. “I’m happy to help, but things have… changed since last time.”

“Oh?” he said, interest sharpening. “Changed how?”

“That’s part of what I wanted to ask you about. After I left - maybe a few days later - there was some sort of incident in town. What can you tell me about it?”

He hesitated. “You mean the… dragon attack?”

“That’s what they’re calling it?” I asked.

He nodded. “I wasn’t present, of course, but apparently a red dragon was living beneath the city! Preying on children! Taking them off the streets and storing them in its larder! Horrible business. Dockside still has a rather large hole, from what I hear. Not that I venture down there.”

I clenched my jaw. For a moment I couldn’t trust myself to speak. Those fuckers were going to get off scot-free. At least the ones we didn’t kill. I was sure they made themselves out to be big damned heroes.

“What happened to the children?” I asked at last.

“Oh. I’m not certain. I assume they were returned to their families. Or placed in an orphanage. Something of that nature.”

“Is there an orphanage in town?” I asked.

“Oh yes - well, I don’t know where it is precisely. But the chirurgeons would.”

“Where would I find them?” I pressed.

“You’ll find them in the northeast. Big white building. Columns out front. You can’t miss it,” he said.

I nodded.

“If I may ask,” he added, “what interest do you have in that? Aside from, well, a dragon secretly living under the city.”

I ground my teeth, weighing how much to say, how much he’d believe, how much of the narrative of lies to right. “My… daughter was taken. Just before the attack. She’s safe now. I wanted to make sure the other children were ok.”

His expression softened. “I see. I’m very glad she’s alright. That must have been dreadful.”

I nodded, and left it at that.

“I have a couple more questions, if you have time,” I said.

“By all means,” he replied. “It’s not every day I get to speak with a man from another world.”

“Thanks. I don’t really know anyone else in town, and I don’t know how this sort of thing works here. Is there somewhere I can go to look for work? Something short-term - guarding a caravan, collecting rare items, or slaying d-” I hesitated, the word catching in my throat, then **** myself to finish. “Slaying dragons. That sort of thing.”

The phrase made my stomach turn, but I didn’t know another way to say it.

He considered that for a moment. “I’m afraid that’s not my area of expertise,” he admitted. “However, one of my students mentioned something about quests. I believe there’s a place people go to post or accept that kind of work. If you like, I can ask him. I should see him tomorrow.”

I thanked him. “That would help. And - one more thing. Could I take the magic exam again? Actually, before that… could we look at that mana-testing device you showed me last time? As I said, things have changed a bit.”

His brow furrowed. “Certainly. Right this way. It will be quite interesting to see how your mana has changed over time.”

He crossed the room and removed a sheet already in the machine. It was marked with a pattern that resembled a tree - an uneven trunk with thin branches spreading outward. The core looked smaller, paler than I remembered mine being.

He made a few notes, then fed in a fresh roll of paper. After lighting the candle, he gestured me into the box. “Hold still, please.”

There was a brief flash of light. I stepped back out and we moved around to examine the result.

“Oh. This is not right at all!” he exclaimed.

The paper showed a dark gray silhouette of my body - solid darkness, like a shadow on a wall.

“Huh,” I said. “That explains a lot.”

“What- how- I don’t- ” he stammered.

“I had a bit of an accident,” I said carefully. “Do you know what a Bonefire Sphere is?”

“I- yes. Of course. A truly dreadful device,” he replied. “What does that-”

“I kinda picked one up,” I said. “While it was on. And it nearly disintegrated my body.”

He stared at me, dumbstruck.

* * *

After a revelation like that, I couldn’t exactly stop there. I had to tell him what had happened.

Not everything, mind you. I left out the part about me being a god. And I didn’t tell him that Serah was a dragon - only that the dragon involved had been one of my companions. But the rest… I told him the truth. That the children had been targeted because they were orphans. That in some cases guards or others had killed their parents to make them so. That it was part of a plot to wipe out the non-humans in the city. That wizards - if not the university itself - had been involved. That the Bonefire Sphere had been used beneath the city. And that we had stopped them.

About halfway through, he walked over to a cabinet, pulled out an unlabeled bottle, poured some into a vial, and took a long pull straight from the bottle. The face he made was one of a man not used to heavy drinking. He offered me the vial, but I waved it away, so he drank that as well.

When I finished, he stared at me. “How did you even survive?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was **** for almost a month.”

“And your injuries?”

I smiled faintly. “I happen to know a very talented healer.”

He shook his head and began pacing. “This is… too much. How am I supposed to believe something like this? It goes against everything I know - everything I’ve been heard. Do you have any proof?”

I shook my head. “No. And I’m not asking you to believe me. Honestly, you’re probably better off assuming I’m insane and that none of this is real. The people involved are murderers. Some of them are in the city guard. Possibly the university. Who knows how far it goes. There’s no way to punish them or expose what they did. But I need to check on the other children - at least the ones who survived. I need to know they’re okay.”

“I could ask-” he began.

“No,” I interrupted. “Don’t. They’re dangerous. If they think you’re digging into things you shouldn’t, they’ll get rid of you. Just… keep your head down.”

He studied me for a long moment, then nodded. We sat in silence after that, neither of us quite sure what to say.

“So,” I said eventually, forcing a change in topic. “Can you administer the magic exam?”

He nodded, still a little dazed, and led me downstairs. Night had fallen by then and the university was quieter. A young man sat at the semi-circular desk, but he barely glanced up as we passed. Nanders brought me into the same testing room Logers had used and gestured for me to step into the circle.

Last time there had been a change in pressure, a subtle, creeping cold. This time my ears popped the moment I crossed the threshold. I turned toward him - and a spark leapt between us. We both flinched.

“What was that?” I asked.

His eyes were wide. Another spark flashed, brighter this time. The pressure inside the circle felt like it was slowly increasing, like my ears were about to pop again.

“Fascinating,” he whispered as another spark flared.

They seemed to be forming above the edge of the circle. I raised my hand and the sparks grew more frequent the closer to the invisible boundary it got.

“Fascinating,” he repeated, utterly transfixed.

“I’ll try to stop by tomorrow,” I said. “But it’s getting late. Can we start the test?”

He nodded quickly and handed me the first item - the seed suspended in amber. As my hand wrapped around it, thin roots spread outward through the stone, branching like fractures in glass. When it stopped, I handed it back. He took it with something close to reverence.

Next was the prism wrapped in a ring of gold wire. Light exploded within it, scattering colors across the walls. He scribbled notes furiously.

The dark lens came after that. My shadow stretched tall and distorted against the wall, twitching and flickering even though I stood still. One by one he handed me item after item, and each responded - some subtly, some violently.

Finally, he held out the smooth stone that glowed in his hands. The one that had gone dark in my hands. The one I’d taken as false hope of my magical talents.

I took it in my hand. It flared brilliant white, cracked cleanly in half, and went out.

“Fascinating!” Nanders exclaimed.

I stepped out of the circle and released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The room felt uncomfortably warm and sweat clung to my skin. “So,” I asked, “what’s the verdict?”

He continued writing for several long moments, paused to review his notes, then added more. I cleared my throat, which finally seemed to get his attention.

“Well,” he said slowly, “you display extraordinary potential. You show resonance with twelve of the thirteen schools. Your strongest affinities appear to be Radiance, Umbrance, Malefic, and Oneiromancy. The only school you don’t resonate with is Void.”

“Why not Void?” I asked.

“Void represents the absence of magic,” he explained. “Those who resonate with it cannot resonate with any other school. It is rare - and quite powerful.”

“Makes sense,” I said.

“If you applied to the university,” he continued, “I have no doubt you’d be offered a full scholarship.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “But I’m not ready for that. And… I’d like to keep these results private, if possible. I’ve already drawn enough attention to myself. Being from another world - and other things - it’s probably safer this way.”

He considered that, then nodded. “I’ll respect your privacy.”

I shook his hand. “It’s late. I should find somewhere to stay.”

He glanced around as if noticing the hour for the first time. “Oh. Yes. Of course.”

“I’ll try to stop by tomorrow,” I said again, then left the room.

Outside the university, I slipped into a narrow alley, made sure I was alone, and stepped into my demesne. I found Ashlara’s light and moved toward it.