Sorcery and Scholarships

  Keisha went to lean on the wall beside him. "To me it sounds like you're as prepared as you can be, even without us. Why are you still concerned?"

  "The Sinistrals contacted someone other than the mercenaries. What bothers me is that we have no idea who. Someone who isn't playing by normal rules, like the Gashadokuro - except not even like them. Whoever they were, they got someone inside the university to open a back door and they might have someone else. We can't predict what they'll do."

  "So you're preparing against an opponent you know nothing about."

  "Exactly."

  "I'm sorry I can't do more to help. But we'll use your key and do the best we can, I promise you that." Keisha wasn't sure what else to say and Doyle had retreated into himself. So she nodded farewell and began to leave. When she reached the door his voice stopped her.

  "I'm sorry." He drew a rasping breath. "I didn't want to do this to you. I just have so few places to turn."

  "You don't have to apologize for doing what's necessary."

  She flew down the stairs, feeling a strange mixture of apprehension and exhilaration. Until she discarded it, Keisha hadn't realized how seriously she was considering the idea of standing aside, letting events take their course, and escaping. But now she had Aki and Doyle relying on her, and she never abandoned her commitments. She'd do what was needed to honor them.

  Whatever was necessary.

  Chapter 16

  She began looking at her cell phone's clock at 11:30 and looked at it again every few minutes until Aki took it away from her. Keisha admitted it was probably better not to get worked up, considering the exact timing wasn't important. But it felt bizarre to be simply hanging out like it was any other night when there was a battle about to begin.

  They'd hidden themselves in Ax Hall toward the end of the day, assuming it would be locked later. For a little while they'd tried to study or talk, but they were too tense. She found herself wishing that she had brought blankets or a pillow, since at least sleep would prevent her from worrying.

  But then Aki was checking the time and Keisha began to be concerned. She didn't really think they could have been deceived about everything, but it was possible that something major had happened. Perhaps the battle had been stopped, though that was overly optimistic. When she extended her senses she immediately took a sharp breath.

  "There's so many of them." Aki was staring numbly, as overwhelmed as she was.

  Dozens, hundreds of tunnels snaked through the realm. Some in subspace, some shaped causality, others she could barely sense. Tunnels crossed violently and some were torn apart by invisible forces. Presences were appearing out of nowhere or shaping themselves from the ground. Yet all of them were muted, as if felt from far away.

  "Where are they?" Keisha glanced down at Aki, who shrugged weakly.

  "It's someplace here, but not here. I don't think this is the kind of thing they teach students."

  "Maybe these are the defenses Doyle was talking about. If the battle had really been in the same space as the campus, it would have involved everyone."

  "So if they're all far away, does that mean we can just go to the Omphalos without any trouble?" Aki frowned. "What about the person Doyle said would meet us?"

  "I'm not sure what..."

  Her voice trailed off as Keisha realized they were not alone. When she turned she saw someone approaching them in the darkness. It was a short Arab woman, dressed in simple white pants and shirt. Though Keisha knew that she could be dangerous, her appearance still made her relax.

  "Are you the person Doyle mentioned?"

  "He sent me to take you the first step of the journey." Her voice was deep and quiet and her dark eyes watched them without blinking. "You should be insignificant enough that you will not be noticed, even though the battle has already begun. Please follow me."

  Aki glanced at Keisha and fell in behind the woman. "I thought the vault was in this building. Where are we going?"

  "You having been living in a false mirror of this realm since this morning. They have split Axis into parallel dimensions and when the battle is done, they will discard the destroyed realm and restore it from the rest. If you were not here, you would notice nothing."

  It was troubling that this sort of magic was possible, but as Keisha monitored the faint energies she realized a full battle was beginning and she had more immediate problems. And despite all the pressing concerns, her mind still had time for distractions.

  "Are you a friend of Doyle's?"

  "An ally, perhaps. I have no part in this battle but I will assist you for his sake."

  "Will you give us your name?"

  "When humans try to say my name they call me Victoria. It is a pleasant enough name."

  Keisha blinked and considered the woman more carefully. There was a faint glamour around her. No, it wasn't faint, she saw only a fraction of it because it was far larger than any glamour she had ever seen. It would have been impolite to try to pierce it, though she was curious. She might learn soon enough, since they were approaching the front doors of the building.

  When the doors opened, Keisha and Aki staggered. There was a battle going on right in front of them, yet there was nothing. It would have been so easy to sense nothing, but her mind could not forget what it knew to be true and so the paradox tore at her. Eventually she managed to let it fade to the back of her mind and was able to focus again.

  At the bottom of the stairs, Victoria glanced up at them. "Withdraw all of your power within yourself, both to remain unnoticed and so stray magic does not destroy you. Once I remove my glamour, we will ride toward the plaza and cross between realms. It will be necessary to pass through the battle, but on the other side I will be able to leave you in the real Axis Hall without anyone noticing you."

  "Understood." Keisha did as she was told, wondering what they would ride.

  "Stand fast."

  Victoria covered her ears with her hands and then ripped off her head.

  ~ ~ ~

  There was no chance to scream, since Aki was driven past shock or horror into stupefaction. She had only a moment's glimpse of the severed head before the air wavered in front of her as the glamour dissolved.

  Before them stood an enormous suit of armor, the color of dried blood. It was removing its helm, under which there was nothing. Victoria placed her helm - head? - underneath one arm and gestured for them to follow.

  Given the shock of the transformation, Aki hadn't even noticed the wagon parked at the bottom of the stairs. It seemed to be made entirely of human bones without anything binding them together. The central hub of each wheel was a skull and the spokes were femurs, but the rest was a mix of unusual bones she hadn't realized existed.

  "Well, I see why you approached us with a glamour." Her voice sounded weak, even to her. Keisha glanced at her and nodded, while Victoria vaulted into the driver's seat without looking back. She took up a set of dark reins that traveled directly into the ground.

  "Hurry." Her voice was far deeper, outside of human range and no longer recognizably female. Aki nervously climbed into the back of the wagon, which was surprisingly high. She realized that it might be a trap too late to do anything about it, since Keisha was in the wagon with her.

  Blue light shone from the eye sockets of the skulls and the wheels began moving. For a moment they barely rolled forward, then blue sparks shot from the wheels and the acceleration knocked Aki to the bed of the wagon. The bones seemed to give way before her and for a terrified moment she thought she would fall through, but they cushioned her fall and then became firm again.

  An instant later they were twisting through space, no doubt to the alternate campus. When her head stopped spinning Aki managed to pull herself to the side of the wagon. They were on the far side of the plaza, the wheels locked so they spun sharply to change direction.

  All thought of the wagon left her. In the first instant she was struck with more magical power than she had wielded in her entire life. She would have been s
ent flying if the pressure had not come from every side. Keisha was barely on her feet, eyes locked on the scene before them.

  Between them and Axis Hall was the battle. Most of it was human-shaped figures, some firing magical surges from guns, others clashing with swords at blurring speeds, and some tearing into one another without weapons. But there were bizarre forces coming from every side, and the longer she looked the stranger the things she saw.

  Someone summoned an enormous phoenix, burning over one of the buildings. Yet as it charged, a green flame licked against its wings and the creature's fire began to shift green. It started to turn on those that had summoned it, red and green flames battling until a dragon-like head of purple flame emerged from its tail and snapped down on the neck.

  As the multi-colored flames rained down she was already staring at other sights. A group of Jotunn were firing at a man she thought was a fey, only to have their bullets vanish. The air in front of the man was rippling like the surface of a lake in rain, and suddenly the air was rippling around the attackers and they were disappearing.

  Aki wanted to keep watching but realized something was wrong: she didn't see a single faculty member anywhere. It seemed that Keisha was asking the same question, barely heard over the roar of the battle.

  Underneath Victoria's arm, the helm shifted. It took Aki a moment to realize that Victoria had shaken her head.

  Despite how much she had seen, they were only just across the plaza. Without warning the ground tore open in front of them. Aki had only a glimpse of a four-legged body and a serpent's head before Victoria jerked the reins and their wagon skidded sideways without warning. This time she was ready enough to catch onto the side and wasn't thrown, though she felt like vomiting from the sudden movement.

  Then they were further away, instead skirting the edge of the battle, so she looked back. The beast was as tall as any of the buildings, its body dark and feline except the pointed tail, a snake's neck, and a head that mixed the two. Aki couldn't help but glance toward Victoria.

  "Don't tell me that thing's a fey."

  "Someone managed to summon a Mishipeshu." Even the helm was looking toward the battle. The creature tore through its opponents before several dark blurs struck it on the side. For a moment one of the grey and black blurs transformed into something like a tiger or leopard. "But it faces several Mngwa. It will not live long."

  They looked tiny compared to the Mishipeshu, but Aki wasn't going to argue with the suit of armor driving them. When she looked back she discovered they were heading directly toward the Mer Building instead of Axis Hall. She looked back to the battle instead of questioning.

  The air tore open and a dark claw reached out to grasp one of the attackers. It was gone a moment later and smashing into reality elsewhere. On the third time, someone slammed the crack closed and the hand shattered into purple liquid that ate through everything it touched.

  One power suddenly caught her attention. Someone was using Manifest Arts, but with a dozen links to some realm that was deep and dark. Aki managed to find who was doing it and was surprised to see Professor Cora standing at the edge of the battlefield. She wore the same clothes as always, and brushed her hands off on her pants when she was done.

  An ocean descended upon the battlefield. The deluge tore through the apartment building and hit the fighters like a wall. Aki's knuckles were white on the edges of the wagon, yet somehow they skimmed on top of the waves, the sparks hissing against the water as they moved.

  Other professors were appearing now. There were two comets, one made of Light and one of Darkness, and she realized they were Gastion and Leora. As the water faded, one of the combatants who had stood his ground twitched as thorny vines erupted from his body. When he collapsed he revealed Tierdrial behind him, gliding on a giant blue lily.

  Many of the fighters seemed to have been washed away, but only a few of those remaining were running. Too late Aki realized that a group was fleeing in their direction, blocking their path. One of them clapped his hands and a giant of mud tore itself from the earth, lurching toward them.

  "Hold on." After the rumbling command from Victoria, the wagon went faster. Victoria held the reins in the same hand as her helm and raised the other arm. From her hand a whip uncoiled sharply, shaped like an impossibly long spine.

  It snapped forward and the chest of the golem exploded. Though it started to reform, the wagon was already lurching to the side. Aki could only hold on for her life as they rode sideways on the wall of the Mer Building. Again the whip snapped out, this time coiling around the ankle of the man who had created the golem before launching him into the sky.

  Then they left the side of the building with an explosion of sparks and they were suspended over the battlefield. For an instant Aki could see all of it and she could not breathe, then the bones gave way beneath her and she fell into the mouth of a giant skull.

  At first her vision was filled with bones, then she hit a floor and could see again. The shock pulled her back into reality and she quickly looked around to find out where she was. They were inside the foyer of Axis Hall. After the chaos of the previous moment, it was impossible empty and peaceful. Though the battle outside was still terrible, it was muted within the building.

  They remained silent for some time, simply recovering. Keisha wobbled on her feet and gave Aki a queasy smile. "I'm torn between wanting to leave here forever and wanting to listen to everything our professors say from now on."

  Aki laughed weakly. "I'm trying to decide between finding the Omphalos and falling unconscious."

  But of course they didn't really have a choice.

  Chapter 17

  "You're sure you know the way to go?"

  "Not sure, but I think we're getting closer." Keisha bit her lip and focused on the realms around her. It was difficult through the feedback of the fighting, though the battle royal seemed to have broken into separate clashes. "Down this staircase. It should lead us to the vaults, and from there we can get to the Omphalos."

  "Won't that be a problem? I mean, presumably the vault has good security."

  "There must be some way in, or all this would be unnecessary. The door might be difficult, but-"

  "That door?" Aki pointed toward a set of heavy steel plates in the floor... blasted open.

  There was no need to say that someone was ahead of them. Both women glanced at one another and carefully edged down the stairs. Keisha kept her defenses as strong as possible and could feel the links to power hovering at Aki's fingertips.

  Below they found a hall lit by blue flames that hovered above rows of torches. Keisha might have found the anachronism odd if not for everything else that drew her attention. It was not what she had expected from a vault. Not that she had really expected piles of gold or anything so ostentatious, but she had thought there would be magical objects that were powerful or dangerous. There were rugs and swords and a row of computer servers, all of which felt ordinary.

  "I'm not liking the Raiders of the Lost Ark corner over there." Aki's voice was just above a whisper and she pointed toward one side of the hall with nothing but unmarked crates.

  "It's probably best if we don't see too much. I think the far end is closest to the Omphalos."

  Despite what she said, she found she couldn't help but look as they neared that side. There were several large glass tubes spanning floor to ceiling. One had a blue light glowing in the center, in another she could feel something seething, and the others seemed empty.

  There was an intake of breath from Aki. Keisha turned and immediately saw why: one of the last tubes was broken, glass scattered over the floor in one direction as if smashed from the outside. Just as she was considering if the intruder had a different objective than them, she sensed the presence and saw someone moving from behind a different tube.

  Jaden stepped into the light, but remained shadowed as Darkness coiled around him. He grinned and his eyes glowed brighter red. "It's finally mine. This is what I was meant to be."
r />   "So you got the Dark Essence you always wanted." Keisha raised her hands passively and edged to the side. "We're happy for you. Since we're not here to take anything, there's no reason we can't cooperate."

  "I don't think so." He let out a cackling laugh and she wondered about his sanity. Perhaps it was best to just take him out before he could figure out how to use the Essence's power. When Keisha started to flex her fingers, Aki's hand touched her wrist.

  "Don't fight him if we don't have to. There's something else inside him and I don't like it."

  When she looked, she couldn't sense anything aside from the Dark Essence and Jaden's own power. But there was real fear in Aki's eyes, so it was best to take the threat seriously. In any case they needed to put off any fighting as long as possible to conserve their strength.

  "Can you tell me what that thing is? Where did you get that power?" Aki spoke slowly and carefully, as if worried she would startle him. His eyes shifted to her nervously.

  "It's nothing. They said I could get what I always deserved, I just needed a little help to get here. I don't need it, not since I have the Darkness. I'm going to get rid of it, no, I'll go back and take all the rest of their power. Do you love me now, Aki, now that you see me as I truly am?"

  "Jaden..."

  "Bow to me!" His voice was a shriek. "I own you! You're mine, this world is mine, it's all mine!"

  Keisha sighed. "Well, I see we're not negotiating our way through this."

  She prepared to summon an aura of Light when someone else arrived. The presence was moving down the stairs and when she turned to look the back half of the hall was engulfed in shadow. There was someone walking in the Darkness as it advanced, quenching the torches as it came. When she looked closer she realized in shock that it was Blake.

  "Save your strength. This one's mine."

  ~ ~ ~