41 – Archmage Aeris

Nysari was a short, petite woman, and Tatiana might have mistaken her for a fourth-year student if she hadn’t known better—if she hadn’t been expecting a foreign noblewoman of not inconsiderable strength and influence. She had pale skin and red eyes, as any demon, and straight white hair that fell to her midback. Her robes were gray and unadorned. Notably, she had no crimson facial tattoos, which Tatiana thought odd for a demon of the First Blood, who normally adhered to cultural norms much more rigidly than commoners.

There was something just barely familiar about her, but she couldn’t place why, and dismissed the feeling.

“You must be the Keresi—” Master Aeris had begun saying even as he opened the door, but he cut off with a strangled noise. He stood frozen for a moment, then staggered backward, his face losing all color in an instant.

The development was so jarring that it took Tatiana a second to react. Master Aeris looked like he’d seen a ghost—or something far, far worse. Her skin went cold in confusion, and her entire body tensed. What could possibly provoke that reaction in humanity’s strongest spellcaster?

“Ah,” the woman said. “You recognize me.”

Before Tatiana could think better of it—her feet moving entirely on their own—she found herself standing in front of Archmage Aeris, blocking the demon. It was utterly ridiculous, her jumping to protect Master Aeris. But the expression on his face had made her move instinctively. She discovered that her staff was pointing toward the intruder, and she forced herself to raise it up and hold it normally. She had no clue what was going on, but she shouldn’t level a weapon at a stranger.

“Who are you?” she demanded of the woman, tone harsher than she’d intended. But the expression on Master Aeris’s face made her skin crawl from toes to scalp.

He looked afraid.

And…resigned?

“It’s time, then?” he rasped. “I knew this day would come. So soon, though?”

Tatiana’s heart pounded in her ears. What was this? The shift in atmosphere was so jarring as to make her nauseous. Anything that scared Master Aeris should terrify her—and it did, by mere implication.

“Who are you?” Tatiana repeated, forcing her voice steady. It shook anyway. “What is this, Master Aeris? What’s happening?”

The demon woman pursed her lips. Her red eyes were unconcerned. Bored, even. She walked in, ignoring how Tatiana’s staff jerked toward her. Tatiana knew she had been dismissed as inconsequential. And of course. Tatiana wouldn’t have stood a chance against this woman even if she’d just been a foreign demonic mage of the First Blood. Not…whoever she actually was, to make Master Aeris react like this.

“I didn’t mean to startle,” she said, closing the door behind her. The only thing keeping Tatiana from full-blown panic was how calm she sounded, and how nonthreatening. “I didn’t want to announce this meeting under my real name.”

“Lower your staff, Tatiana,” Master Aeris said, and for the first time ever, he sounded his age. Exhausted, ancient, the full weight of his six hundred years crushing down on him. “You don’t know who you disrespect, child.”

“It’s noble to jump to the defense of someone so readily,” the demon said. “I take no offense. I would praise her instead.”

That brought some of the life back to Master Aeris, but only a small, sad smile. “She’s a good one, yes. A bit rash, but one needs fire in their heart to survive this world.”

The woman considered him, then nodded slowly. “I can tell you aren’t pleased to see me,” she said, “but unlike what so many people are assuming, I have no reason to believe an Eighth Cataclysm looms.”

…what?

The words didn’t make sense in Tatiana’s head. An Eighth Cataclysm? Where did that come from?

It didn’t seem to confuse Master Aeris. Instead, the old man hesitated, hope dawning in his eyes, and some of that immense weight seeming to lift off his shoulders.

“Truly?” he asked.

“The Dragon King could fly down from the Sky-Pillar Range and raze the mortal lands whenever he pleases. An unknown horror might wake from a millennium-old crypt. A second Shattered Oracle is perpetually one over-ambitious glimpse away. There’s always an Eighth Cataclysm on the horizon, but I see no promise of one.”

Tatiana didn’t know why this topic had been brought up, but she didn’t find those words reassuring in the slightest. Strangely, Master Aeris did. He pulled himself back together, straightening his posture and regaining some of the color in his face.

“I see,” he said, relief palpable. “I…apologize for that unseemly reaction. Your presence is…a shock to the system, Lady Vivisari. I assumed too much. I’m glad to find you alive and healthy after all these years.”

Tatiana heard the words, but they didn’t fit in her head.

Vivisari?

Did he…mean a different one?

Or maybe she’d misheard?

The demon’s eyes flicked to Tatiana, and she said to Master Aeris, “I’m keeping to myself for now, so I would prefer my presence here kept a secret.”

Master Aeris glanced at Tatiana, blinked in surprise, and said dismissively, “Oh, yes, of course. She can be trusted. My word on it.”

It was flattering that Master Aeris would vouch for her without hesitation, but she couldn’t register that, because she stood, frozen, as her brain tried to process what was happening.

Vivisari.

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Surely not that one?

Not the Sorceress from the Party of Heroes?

But what else would have caused Master Aeris to react as he had?