Chapter 142: Administration

It felt weird to be back at the Academy after everything that happened, Viv thought. Her steps carried her past the entrance and the uncaring gaze of the guards, then through the familiar entrance garden and to the administrative building. No one gave her a second glance. No one paid much attention. The reason was simple. Viv had a disguise.

 

Abenezigel had prepared thoroughly, though it had now become clear that he lacked the sort of vision that could lead to a great plan. She now wore an amulet that masked her more prominent features, her eyes and peculiar skin tone. For everyone watching she would appear as a brown-eyed, dark-haired mousy young woman of Enorian origin, pretty much a second class citizen. Although it took more than what Abe was capable off to bullshit an inspection skill, the amulet also bore a disturbing and most likely turbo illegal charm that made the inspector dismiss her. In short, they still saw all her information. They just didn’t care. The guards didn’t let her through because she was a student here but because she was uninteresting and harmless. As Viv opened the door to the administrative building, she was fully confident in her heart that this little trick would come back to bite her in the ass sooner rather than later.

 

Pissed her off a bit, that did.

 

Between the amulet and the gravity harness she wore just in case, she was confident Elunath would not start looking for her until after she completed all her errands.

 

Few people remained in the lobby so late in the morning. Darla, the head admin, gave her a dismissive glance at first, then her gaze zeroed on Viv with laser focus, confirming Viv’s opinion that there was more to the prim woman than what was obvious at first glance. Darla straightened in her white uniform and placed a hand behind her back in a gesture even Viv found threatening. The elemental witch raised her hands, then slowly removed the amulet.

 

Viv’s appearance returned to normal, sans the wings as she wanted to keep that a secret until forced to reveal them. Darla gasped in shock.

 

That made the next three seconds very awkward as Viv was forced to wait. Behind her, a student filling a form looked on with some curiosity.

 

“Oh… Oh, it’s you!” Darla sputtered.

 

She gave Viv a look over.

 

“Well, most of you anyway.”

 

“Har har. I assure you it’s only temporary. I would like to re enroll for this semester. Unless there is a problem, of course.”

 

“Well, the student register lists you as ‘most likely dead’ but seeing as you stand here without trying to eat my face off, I will assume that the rumors were exaggerated. Enrollment for the next semester is done with a simple signature. I will also update your student chit and there is the tuition fee. Fifteen gold talents and seven silver please.”

 

Viv grumbled about rising prices. The Academy asked for a low fee from first years but then expected people to make money for themselves, even if it meant spending weekends recharging wards for rich families. Viv could afford it. It was the principle of the thing.

 

Her business concluded, Viv made her way to her dormitory where she expected to find Ereska. Her nice dress meant that students took her for a relative or a runner, though many frowned as she passed. The Academy was an exclusive place for mages and she didn’t register as one. Many resented the intrusion in their sanctum.

 

It was the first time she realized what it meant to be a non caster in no position of authority. She was a nobody. The low rung of a highly hierarchical society. Her presence was barely tolerated on the assumption she would not be there if the authorities had not decreed it acceptable, and even then only temporarily.

 

Her mind wandered. Was she not the same, dating only casters and acting high and mighty? How bad was it, really? What if she had appeared in this world not through Emeric’s intervention but by some mishap like, presumably, plenty of others? How many outlanders had died in the Hallurian wilderness or slaughtered by parochial villages who could not trust a stranger before Nous’ blessing could give them an edge? She shook her head as the path led up to the remote stone building where she had slept so many nights. It was not a good time for what ifs.

 

It turned out that Ereska wasn’t here. Viv easily tracked the aristocratic mage to the nearby library. Ereska was working on her ‘thesis’, a way to generate mana from artificial dams to increase grain output. She no longer attended classes. Viv had to flash her chit at the librarian who would have pushed her off on her ass in an instant. Even Ereska looked at her with haughty annoyance when she dared interrupt.

 

“It’s me, Viv.”

 

“What is the meaning of… impossible. Really? Prove it.”

 

“You snore when you’re drunk.”

 

“HUSH! Not here. Come.”

 

The now much taller woman dragged her to a rest area where a nasty glare reminded a group of first years they ought to be studying and not gawking.

 

Viv removed her necklace. Ereska gasped as well. She also placed a hand against Viv’s shoulder, going through the tightly controlled cloud of mana that formed Viv’s aura.

 

“So much mana. Maranor’s tits.”

 

“Language?”

 

“Not now. And your eyes… Incredible. A black mana elemental caster. I… don’t think there are any records of one.”

 

“Nope. I’m the first.”

 

“Fascinating. And… but wait…”

 

Ereska finally frowned.

 

“Did… the transformation fail on your legs?”

 

“It’s temporary! Temporary! Is everyone going to comment on it?”

 

“You’re two heads shorter.”

 

“I know. I noticed.”

 

“And almost completely flat. Like a boy.”

 

“Cut it out.”

 

“Still, I am delighted to see you again. You could have sent news, or did Elunath not permit it?”

 

“That is why I am here. I did not take Elunath’s offer. He is not what he said he is… and I will make him fall for that.”

 

Immediately, excitement left the mage’s frame. Her slanted eyes grew keen and narrow. Viv had her attention.

 

“Elaborate.”

 

“Elunath keeps sex slaves.”

 

It took a good fifteen minutes for Viv to recount her entire experience, not because she gave much detail but because Ereska’s sharp mind latched on the terms of the contract and would simply not let go. Their stats meant that Viv’s recall was perfect, which meant swearing on Neriad’s name that she wasn’t lying a mere formality. Her mana was drained and a soft golden glow surrounded her raised right hand in a soft halo.

 

“By all the gods light and dark. That is… The Academy exists exactly to protect young mages from such predatory practices! How could Dean Tallit not know?”

 

“How did you not know?” Viv countered. “How did I not know? Exclusively female mages recruited at the end of puberty? We were being naive.”

 

Ereska slouched against the wall. Ereska never slouched, and she seldom swore.

 

“And you say he hunts after those who have no choice?”

 

“Or little choice. People from very poor backgrounds usually.”

 

“The local nobles always pick those up when their powers fully manifest. Elunath is a liar! Of course, anyone with talent would be nurtured as much as possible. Casters are too valuable to be left raising a brood of fishermen. Poppycock. He is lying to entrap promising prospects. Arg! Wait until I tell everyone. You will tell everyone, yes?”

 

“I suspect Tallit will find me before long. I want to see Tod as well.”

 

“I will walk you to the medical faculty.”

 

Ereska was not fully absorbed in her outrage. She agreed to spread the word to her friends and the noble families as much as possible. The old guard wouldn’t give two shits about what an archmage did with poor strangers but younger nobles had a natural aversion for forced marriages and old men going after much younger partners.

 

“I know what you think. Most of us will not care what Elunath does with peasants and coal burners. After all, the higher classes have been abusing their powers for generations and will continue doing so as long as mankind is mankind. But Elunath is not preying on fishermen, he is preying on mages, my dear. It will be enough to raise quite a few eyebrows. Oh, I still cannot believe it.”

 

It was now Viv’s turn to question Ereska, not least because she had not expected the cold woman to adopt this cause with such fiery passion.

 

“Be careful not to poke him too much. I can hide. You, on the other hand…”

 

“Oh do not worry. If I criticize Elunath then suddenly disappear, the clans will be in an uproar. If he wants to stay here at all, he will not escalate. I regret to say that the same will apply in reverse. Never will the council of elders oppose his practices, no matter how despicable they may be.”

 

“If everyone knows him for what he is, that is enough.”

 

“It is not!”

 

“It is enough for your part in this,” Viv amended. “Perhaps we can prevent future entrapments as well.”

 

“You have a plan,” Ereska stated.

 

Viv spared a glance at the mage, tempted. But no. Ereska was a daughter of Helock. Viv couldn’t trust her with more, couldn’t risk her with more.

 

“I have and you should not get involved. Breaking his grip on Helockian society is a daunting enough task, don’t you think?”

 

“Yes. I suppose you are right. I should be on my way. I will be heading home immediately. Ugh, I still cannot believe my ears! Disgusting. Goodbye and good luck.”

 

Viv walked through the far gate leading outside of the Academy’s walls and to the plateau above Helock where the medical faculty welcomed the sick who could make their way there. On her way, Viv was confronted to her new reality.

 

“Get in fucking line, wench.”

 

“I’m a student,” Viv replied to the thug outside with patience and understanding. Couldn’t betray her return with a casual dismemberment.

 

She dangled the chit in front of her.

 

“The fuck is that?”

 

A local guard stopped the thug before Viv could explode. Apparently, they accepted outside help to keep the unwashed properly lined up in stressful situations. Viv did her best to shut off the stench of filth, disease, and outright rot spreading from the mass. She was pretty sure the old man in a wheelbarrow dragged by a crying girl had been dead for at least an hour. After more than a month of bed rest and earth series watching, the return to reality was giving her whiplash.

 

“Hello, could you please let magister Tod that I am here? My name is Viv.”

 

“Magister Tod is busy at the moment. Please wait in line and we’ll be with you shortly,” the staff lady at the front told her without a glance.

 

Viv was not familiar with her but the staff rotated between all departments so that wasn’t unusual.

 

“I expect him to be busy. I just would like him to know I’m here,” Viv calmly insisted.

 

That was fine. This was the emergency service of an overcrowded hospital. It was only natural that people could be curt. She wouldn’t raise her voice, she would remain calm. Many people were suffering much more than she was. Just take a step back and breathe.

 

The wood of the lobby groaned under her grip. It cracked. The staff lady looked up in silent alarm, then saw the splintered crack snaking towards her.

 

The guards shifted.

 

“I appreciate that you are very busy and I do not expect the magister to rush out to see me or anything. My request is simple. Make the magister aware of my presence then he can decide what to do. Look, you’re here to filter people out. I got it. I’m the person who regrows limbs.”

 

“You’re not magister Ashra.”

 

Viv blinked. Apparently they’d managed to make the spell work without her! That was great news.

 

“I’m her assistant. The other one? I haven’t been there in over a month.”

 

“Suuuuure, I’ll let him know but if you’re trying to fool me…”

 

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The wood creaked even more. The staff lady suddenly remembered that little detail. Viv’s pleasant smile was growing more strained by the second.

 

“Don’t make threats, pretty please with a nice slice of permonn on top.”

 

The message was sent in record time. In the meanwhile, Viv sat down to wait.

 

“This is a place of healing, little lady. Please don’t make trouble,” an old guard told her with a fatherly tone.

 

Viv sighed. There was so much impatience in her, suddenly. Rage thundered in her brain at the slightest frustration and it was all she could do to keep it at bay. Even her enhanced mind struggled to keep a lid on the constant need to put people in her place.

 

“Not going to be an undercover agent for very long, that’s for sure,” she grumbled to herself.

 

“VIVANE!” a familiar voice yelled.

 

Tod was an ancient black man with a majestic beard, rail thin and with a permanent sore throat. It felt strange to see him hurry down a nearby corridor with a panicked assistant in tow. She stood up and saw the confusion on his face, and damn the subtlety, she removed her amulet. Her eyes put a stop to Tod but he recovered quickly. Much more quickly than the guards, in any case.

 

“You made it. You are alive!”

 

“Yes, magister. I heard you managed to regrow a limb without me? Well done.”

 

“Examination room. Now.”

 

“Errr, I was just here to — “

 

But Tod had turned away without waiting for confirmation, leaving Viv with no reasonable choice but to follow.

 

“Ashra and a bishop of Enttiku and it takes them six hours. For an arm!”

 

“Hey it’s a proof of concept. I’m sure you can refine the process.”

 

“Young lady, this is the heart of learning on Param. If we can’t do it, no one can, and we can’t. Not without Ashra developing her understanding of change.”

 

“Just be patient.”

 

Tod stopped to glare at her. The effect was lessened when he met her eyes and flinched.

 

“Not going to get used to that. In there now, young lady.”

 

“I’m really just here to ask questions.”

 

“I’m very old and in charge and your medical practitioner, That means you do what I say.”

 

“Fine, fine.”

 

They entered a freshly deserted room. The linen on the bed was still damp and the scent of soap and alcohol barely masked that of dream weed, a local intoxicant.

 

“Hmph. Sit down so I can have a look at you.”

 

Tod cast several spells in quick successions, passing his gnarly hands over the still dressed form of Viv with increasing puzzlement.

 

“Well, congratulations. According to my measurements, you’re perfectly dead.”

 

“I”ve heard that before.”

 

“And inexplicably shorter!”

 

“Heard that one too. I’m fine, really.”

 

“I could write a treatise on elemental anatomy if you give me a bit of your time.”

 

“Wouldn’t that be of… very limited use?”

 

Viv withstood a two minute rant on science and the necessity of understanding first before considering practical applications.

 

“And you’d better not forget it! And why did you disappear on me? When are you coming back? We have a waiting list of amputees. Veterans from the latest Hallurian adventure. Well?”

 

“About that. I’m going to be busy for at least a few weeks.”

 

“Doing what exactly?”

 

“Blood feud with Elunath after he tried to sign me into becoming his sex slave.”

 

Tod glared but then that was his normal state of being when he was thinking about something.

 

“Explain.”

 

Viv did so, sharing the details of the contracts. She swore on Neriad, sent the golden god some more mana in prayer and got him to back her word again. For the longest time, Tod didn’t react.

 

“Young Tallit knows?” he finally asked.

 

“I can’t be sure. I’ll probably see him afterward.”

 

“If he knew and did nothing I’ll be very, very cross. The Academy stands for freedom of mages to pursue their craft for themselves and offer their services to those who deserve it. I know we’re competing with the ambition and greed of local rulers. We can’t do anything about those! But a poacher and sexual predator in our own gods-accursed city? Wait. You are going to declare a vendetta?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Another glare, this one more cautious. Viv was growing used to Tod’s different flavors of evil eye again.

 

“I assume you have a plan.”