Chapter 558: Ad Cinis

It was the contract.

Kyanite led everyone to the room where the Disciplinary Committee kept their contracts, and sure enough, the contract protecting Arc’s identity had been turned to ashes. As the "Holder" of the contract, Kyan had suffered the most from its destruction, though Raven wasn’t far behind as a result of some particular quality of her blood magic that Veng didn’t share. The teachers quickly confirmed that all signatories experienced some degree of pain simultaneously.

Much of what was discussed over the hours-long investigation went right over Arc’s head, but it soon became clear there wasn’t enough evidence to bring any particular suspect forward, especially because the Disciplinary Committee’s room had been locked the moment Kyan left, and there were no signs of entry.

And of course, Arc dreaded the moment the rest of the family found out, an inevitability with Cory and Sylvia involved.

The last thing she wanted was to be pulled out of college and kept against her will. That would all but ensure her aspirations to be a Dragon Knight burned to ashes.

All said, she went to bed in a very dour mood, not expecting that during her worst class, her spirits would suddenly soar through the roof.

"Before we begin our class," Professor Char said the moment everyone quieted down, "We have an announcement from the Knights regarding a new opportunity being opened to the city’s colleges. Knight Captain Bait." At first Arc thought she’d said "Bates" but then she spied the nametag on the Knight in their dress uniform.

Who names their kid "Bait"?

Instead of giving a big speech, the Knight simply handed the Professor a flier of some sort and smiled strainfully.

"I suppose I’ll be reading it then," the Professor cleared her throat. "To all mages and mage aspirants. The Knights shall be working with the Ministry of Health to establish a new wing whose purpose is the rapid treatment and retrieval of those requiring hospitalization. Applicants will be permitted in the Sky Tower during the weekend of..."

Arc couldn’t believe it. This weekend, she would have a chance to bond with a dragon! She was so excited by the prospect that even after the Knight left, her mind floated on thoughts of flying, and she missed everything that was said until the Professor was calling her out by name.

"Miss Gale, are you ignoring me?"

"Huh?" Arc came to as Owyn poked her. "I’m listening."

"Come here. Class is over, and I wanted to speak with you."

Sheepishly, and noticing the classroom was practically empty, Arc strode down, followed by Owyn.

"You can leave," the Professor said to him.

"I’d rather he stay," Arc said on a whim, remembering how the Professor had behaved just yesterday.

"Let me rephrase that," Professor Char said, "Leave, Owyn. This discussion is over a private matter."

Arc barely got the first sound of protest out before Owyn interrupted, "Okay, Professor." He looked at Arc with concern. "I’ll just wait outside." He stepped outside and shut the door.

Not liking the Professor’s attitude, Arc was about to announce her own departure when a visible seal bloomed into existence over the door.

Immediately, Arc’s heart jumped into her throat as her mind went back to the terror of having a chandelier fall at her. She started to charge her body with mana, ready for a fight, but instead of attacking, the Professor went to sit in the bottom row.

"Sit down, there’s no need for that," she chided. "What I want to talk to you about is your magic."

"What about it?" Arc remained standing. "I have no idea what I did. But wait... You seemed to know something about how it worked."

"I do indeed. And I might be able to help you develop your potential, assuming you’re interested." She gestured for Arc to sit, and this time Arc took a seat one space across from her. "I’m surprised your father left you untrained for so long..."

At that comment, Arc responded tetchily, "Aren’t you busy being a Professor and all? And for that matter, what is it you think I can do?"

The Professor regarded her confidently for a moment, adjusting in her seat to face Arc more directly. "Tell me... do you see the chords?" Arc tensed. "The ones that connect people to you. Objects too. Do you feel the pain of the world?"

"I... I call them threads," Arc said. How does she know?

"And when you were intangible, did you see them then?"

"I..." she tried to think back, and realized, "No, I didn’t."

"That, my dear, was because at the moment you saw your death coming, you instinctively knew how to save yourself. I know you’re wondering how I know this, and the answer is simple: I knew someone who could do what you do."

"Who?" Arc asked.

Char smiled. "Perhaps I’ll tell you sometime, if you were to become my apprentice." She stood, a signal that the meeting was over. "Please think about it. We can start as soon as next week if you decide quickly."

Later, over a post-class snack in the cafeteria, as Arc made plans with Owyn, Raven, Veng, and Snow to visit the Sky Tower, she also told them about her encounter with the Professor.

"So what are you going to do?" Raven asked.

"I think... I might say yes," Arc admitted.

"Oh beans!" Snow shot up. "I’ve got to deliver the bowls! Arc..."

"I’ve still got them," Arc patted her storage bag before standing to depart.

After looking to Snow for permission, she offered to let the others come with, but Raven had homework, and Veng had patrols. They set off, with Owyn bringing up the rear, as Snow led them through the sublevels of the school and to one of the undertowers, the pillar-like buildings beneath the cliff that the school rested on.

"Whoa," Owyn exclaimed as they opened an innocuous-seeming door to find an entire airship bay waiting for them.

"What is this place?" Arc marveled.

Snow explained that early into the Veiled Era, three airships managed to breach the veil, the Gra’Rhuel troop transport Sulei, the cutter Glass Egg, and the merchant vessel Cloud Harvest. Without any enemies, and given the crisis at the time, it was decided that the ships were more of a danger to the city below, and thus they were stored against some future need that had never come. That Cloud Harvest had carried records of the Glass Egg’s disappearance was crucial in establishing the difference between in-Veil and normal world time, at least back then. Now, their old crews had moved on from caring for the vessels, all of which made Arc wonder...

"Why are we meeting your, uh, fellow apprentices here?" Arc poked at some lever-thing as she stepped into the hold of the Glass Egg. It made something groan and go clunk, so she hurriedly moved it back in place, and, thankfully, the pipe stopped making sounds.

"This is where they train," Snow shrugged, right as a pair of blue-grey ratkin charged side by side up the stairs leading to the bowels of the ship.

"Alright, which one of you lugnuts..." "...pulled the emergency shutoff valve just now?" They spoke one after the other, right to left.

"I hope I didn’t break anything," Arc said apologetically.

"Just our heads!" the right ratkin said, both of them rubbing at spots between their ears. "We were both under the power plant!" the left continued. ""Scared us both to death!"" they concluded at the same time.

"Oh beans... We, uh, brought the bowls you asked for..." Snow said, trying to ameliorate the angry ratkin.

"What?" "That’s great!" "Who are you?" Right, then Left, then Right said.

"These are Owyn and Arcine," Snow said, gesturing appropriately, "Guys, these are Jin and Jan."

"Twins?" Owyn asked.

"Quadruplets," Jin, the ratkin on the left, said. "Our sisters aren’t into getting their paws dirty," Jan added.

"They’re Jun and Jen," Snow explained.

"You got the bowls?" "Givem!"

"Oh beans... Arc?"

Arc took the hint and dumped out her storage bag, depositing a loud pile of bowls before the quadruplets. Immediately they started chattering about the quality of the metal and grabbing at the bowls. The pair were dressed in overalls, which made determining their year impossible, but if they were apprentices alongside Snow, and not in the Disciplinary Committee, then they had to be at least third or fourth years in the Special Students program. Even if they were her seniors, Arc couldn’t just let them walk all over Snow.

"Hey!" Arc barked. "There’s no way a professor would want a thousand bowls."

"We weren’t lying!" Jin said. "Yeah! We promised her options!" Unfortunately, Arc could sense they weren’t lying, though they were feeling... evasive.

"You two can’t just make Snow do all your dirty work! Tell me what’s really going on here, or, as a member of the Disciplinary Committee, I’m going to have to report you!"

"It was just shopping!" Jan said. "Yeah! We’re the ones doing the dirty work!" Jin followed. ""Who else is going to fix these rust buckets?"" They glared at Arc. "Besides, whose apprentice are you?" Jan asked, wrinkling his nose.

Feeling their intense sense of justification was like a slap in the face for Arc, and Arc could sense Snow was about to try to get her to back down, but who else was going to defend her? More than anything, they’d just confirmed that they weren’t in the Disciplinary Committee, or they would have pulled rank.

Before she could ready her response, a wave of hostile intent passed over her as Owyn reached over and bodily lifted both ratkin by their collars. A weird cessation occurred in their thoughts, and Arc wondered if it was some freezing instinct like when a kitten got picked up by its parent.

Whatever it was, Owyn’s glare was scary as he chastised them both. "I don’t care who you’re apprenticed to, you don’t get to speak to my friends that way!"

The ratkin, recovering from their intitial shock, squeaked angrily as they started shouting back. Arc could feel them start to channel mana and that was when something strange and unexpected happened.

Owyn’s hands started transforming into clawed paws like the ratkins’, and fur grew and bristled into place over his forearms. Dropping them, everyone was too shocked to pursue the fight any further as they stared at Owyn, who, panting, regarded his arms as if they’d taken on a life of their own.

After a few moments, whatever was happening to them wore off, leaving behind reddened skin and sores.

Owyn met Arc’s eyes with a guilty look, and through his thread she felt a lot more than what he allowed on the surface. "I think we should talk..."