Chương 48: A Glimpse of The Recent Past

Sint felt like she really needed to start getting over being constantly amazed by Ryland. No, no, no. Not amazed. Shocked. That was the far more appropriate term. Everything he could do—everything he did do—was certifiably insane. A being like him had no business wandering around in any old academy doing who knew what. A mage of his calibre had to have some kind of unfathomable, unthinkable ulterior motive that would explain the real reasons why he was here.

It didn't matter if he was being open about finding himself or whatever it was that he had said. That was a load of wild buck crap. There had to be more. The worst bit was that, from the moment she had met him, she was constantly on her toes about it. From their very first meeting at the Entrance Trials, she had smelled his soul. She had sensed the atrocities etched into his being, the horrors he was capable of perpetrating. Ryland's actions had allayed her fears that he was a tyrannical monster.

And then he had gone on to wipe out that cataclysmic monster—Titan-ranked, if that odious man fired by the High Academ could be believed— with next to no effort. Inconceivable power. Even Sint's supervisor, "merely" Exalted-ranked, would never have been able to deal with that sort of monstrosity so effortlessly. Would never have been able to forcefully modify the spell circle running the Trials by her mere presence alone to manifest incredibly powerful obstacles.

Once more, over the couple of weeks of orientation and classes, her emotions had cooled. Ryland had done nothing outrageous or alarming. Not really. She certainly wasn't about to admit she had been keeping track of or secretly stalking him or something. Sint had merely remained reasonably aware of his movements from a very safe distance. Yes, that was it. And then he had blithely stated that he was going to start researching Calamities. Sint was excellent at controlling her reactions.

She had stifled her misgivings and parted amicably with him after the Trials. She had blanketed her concern during their little trek through her department's storage area when he had recognized otherworldly things she had no clue about. She had even contained her incredulity at his announcement at the seminar. Even when Ryland had casually torn open reality right in front of her eyes, creating rifts in spacetime, she had still tried not to vacillate on just how much she could actually trust him.

The casualness with which he had been pulling things from his fractured portals just hammered home to Sint the point that he could be pulling anything he wanted out of them. He had literally ripped off a demented creature's tail spike. That was insane! Her mentor's exuberant reaction meant Sint couldn't really find fault with what was going on.

And even if she did find fault, she was the one who had started this whole mess by second guessing herself, calling the suspicious part stupid, and trying to make up for it by finding a way for Ryland to get what he wanted. Even worse, a tiny part of her felt good about it. She needed to learn to extend her trust a bit more. That was what the Hunters of Revorel kept telling her. She had started to give actual credence to that line of thinking. Ryland was a good exercise in that regard.

Up until he summoned in a Calamity. Normally, with how Sint remained cautious and careful, she was good at moderating her reactions. But this situation broke all restraints. The crack in reality was spewing purple mist that immediately dug into her being and started spiking through her soul.

"Ryland." Sint could hardly feel her own voice.

"What have you done?" A small, thinking part of Sint realized she had just skipped over her reaction to the fact that Ryland had summoned a Calamity of all things. Who in all the Realms did something like that? Forget insanity, this was so borderline ludicrous, Sint's brain just jumped right over the quagmire of that consideration because it threatened to start breaking her mind. Much easier to consider the fact that they were in potentially fatal danger. Sint's magic was already flaring, of course.

[Rupture] was primed, ready to be unleashed. The only reason she hadn't fired it off already was because High Academ Tyra had remained calm enough to rival Ryland's equanimity.

"Ah, the Realm I've strayed to is infested with an unexpected Calamity," Ryland said.

"A Calamity." High Academ Tyra erected powerful barriers around herself and Sint.

"Which one is this…?" Sint could sense the wariness in her voice. Bad enough that they were facing a supposed Calamity. Even worse, this wasn't one that the High Academ knew about. Sint was really starting to feel like she needed to tear her hair out or something. The sheer helplessness that stabbed into her heart left her feeling utterly petrified. This was a Calamity. What in all the Realms was Sint, a lowly mage who was barely Gold-ranked, supposed to do about it?

Forget her, what could even High Academ Tyra do about it?

"The Calamity of Dreamlife," Ryland said without hesitation. He sounded like he recognized it, which just made Sint's suspicions entrench themselves even deeper." Dreamlife?" the High Academ asked, hushed.

"Indeed. Most forms of defence against it are entirely ineffective. The nature of its insidiousness just isn't something that most mages are equipped to deal with." A sardonic little smile warped across his face, there and gone again. Sint blinked. Had that bastard actually smiled in the face of a legendarily unfathomable monster that stood at the highest echelons of magical power?

"Coincidentally," he said.

"I believe my mentor would have been invaluable here."

"Heldon?" The High Academ didn't need long to consider it.

"I suppose I can see it. But we're not Heldon."

"That we are not."

"Would you two kindly stop with the exposition and do something about this?" Sint said.

"I can already feel it starting to affect me…" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Oh in the name of the… Sint mentally cursed herself a thousand times. If she survived—no, when this was all over, she'd replay this moment in her head and cringe and die. How dare she snap at her own advisor like that? What was wrong with her? Maybe she could blame it on the vapour. It was tugging on her soul, digging around in her spirit as it tried to find something.

She felt like she was being pulled inside herself somehow. The longer this went on, the more the vapour clouded the entire chamber in amethyst glints.

"I've been trying…" Ryland had his hand outstretched towards the rent, but nothing was happening.

"Ah, it seems it's now holding the rift open. How curious."" Curious?" Sint couldn't hardly believe her ears. The fact that the Calamity was more or less hijacking his magic was merely curious to him?

"Can you handle yourselves for a moment?" Ryland asked.

"I must close the rift before things devolve any further." Well, at least he was sounding serious now.

"Go on," the High Academ said.

"We'll be fine. It's just the dregs of a Calamity after all. Isn't that right, Sint?" Her hands dug inside her cloak before wrapping around the comforting handle of her stiletto.

"Yes, ma'am." Great. Now she was lying to her mentor too. Sint didn't get to see much of what Ryland did from that point. The billowing purple mist thickened, the air around her and High Academ Tyra turning redolent with glinting purple sparks and the strange scent they had begun carrying with them. She swallowed. It felt like the vapour was slowly breaking through her mentor's barrier." [Eternal Bastion]."

The familiar spell anchored around both Sint and her supervisor, creating a solid blockade between them and the Calamity. Planes of nearly transparent light warped into a protective encasing in the shape of their bodies. Now the vapour could no longer get through. An almost shameful surge of relief washed over Sint, mixed with a bit of awe. She had seen just how effective this spell was at the Entrance Trials. But it was capable of standing up to a Calamity as well? That… that was ridiculously strong."

[Fortitude's Embrace]," the High Academ incanted, her spell taking effect right after Ryland's barrier came into play. She was glowing with magic now. Her robes and frizzy hair fluttered, her eyes shining white. Lines of glinting ivory and azure outlined her body with ever-growing power. Sint could feel that she was standing next to a High Academ of Arcoryx Academy. Ryland's barrier was not only supremely powerful with how it seemed to be preventing even the Calamity's deadly grasp. It was also smart.

The High Academ's spell went through [Eternal Bastion] and affected Sint as well, those same luminous lines of mana now running all over her clothes and body. Sint gasped. Her whiskers were stiff and buzzing. This sheer stolidity she had been gifted by her mentor felt like it was turning her very soul solid. A sudden burst tore through the room. Sint's breath caught in her chest. What was going on? Alarm ran through her body with riddling, crippling potency. Why was the purple haze thickening?

It was bad enough to draw a curse out of even High Academ Tyra.

"The Calamity—" Her words were broken. Distorted.

"It's smell—" Distorted…" [Rupture]," Sint cast desperately with her Soul Glyph of Distortion even as she backpedalled away from the mist taking on a monstrous form. Her spell did nothing. Of course. This was a Cal— The world snapped. The strange scent like burning candles clogging her nostrils intensified. Sint thought her mouth had opened in a scream. Except, she was standing back in her homeland. Wide plains stretched in every direction.

The sky was an expanse of golden light, pink clouds gently drifting across its calm surface. A soft breeze that swayed the white grass made her feel so, so homesick, Sint felt tears start pricking her eyes. What in the Realms was going on? How was she back here? Back home… back in Revorel. Back in the presence of her family.

"Come Sint," her elder brother said, still so tall she was sure he'd touch the sky one of these days when he jumped too high.

"The prey awaits." He moved off. Then paused when he realized she wasn't following.

"Sint, what's going on?" His concern was so real. So him.

"Sint," a deeper voice called from farther ahead. Her heart expanded like an overfilled water skein about to burst. That was… Father.

"Child? You're dawdling. The hunt can't proceed without you." Sint tried speaking but her words were garbled at first. A broken, sobbing mess. Her vision had gone blurry. This was bad. Bad.

"Sint…" Her brother had hurried over to her. He smelled of sweat and dried grass, and it jolted her so bad. Sadness and alarm warred equally over his face.

"What's wrong?"

"You." Sint did her best to marshal herself, to force the words to come out." You're wrong."

"What? I promised I'd let you have this hunt, didn't I? I apologized for the last one too. You really don't have to leave us. We're not trying to stifle you!" Sint tried to answer but another wracking sob was all she could manage. But she soldiered through it.

"I know. I'm sorry for leaving." She swiped the tears out of her eyes and off her face.

"But I made the right decision. I-I did."

"Wilderness got to her, Father." Her bother gave her his trademark lopsided grin, and it broke her heart again.

"Tell your little girl everything's going to be fine, won't you?" Her father arrived soon after, big and strong and wearing his enormous, beaded necklaces. The sight of him, so close again, brought fresh tears in her eyes. It was so stupid. She really had been gone for only a month. That was nowhere near long enough for her to be feeling the way she was. But the way she had left… the way she had abandoned them when they had asked her over and over and over to reconsider, when they had tried to placate her…

the way she had almost discarded them like they were everything that had been holding her back in life. They didn't deserve cruelty like that. She had treated her family so harshly, she had been so selfish in absconding Revorel without even giving them a proper farewell… Her heart was trying to wrench itself out of her chest the same way her tears were forcing themselves out of her eyes.

"What's wrong, Sint?" Father asked. He was always gruff and tough, but when the situation called for it, he could be so, so soft. And he was soft now.

"Come on, little Sint," her brother said.

"We're family." Sint smiled through the tears.

"Yes. Yes, we're family. And family… they're supposed to treat each other better." She sucked in a sobbing breath.

"Can you ever forgive me?" It felt stupid to be asking that here of all places. Here, in this fake vision, when she was being tricked. But Wilds be damned, this was all too real for her heart.

"Please?" Her father and brother both wrapped her in their burly arms. Sint was encased in the warmth of undying love. Family… was always family. She sobbed some more, but the tears were a little less soul-wracking now.

"I'll be leaving you," she said.

"Sint, what are you saying?" Father asked.

"I think we should just get back home, Father," her brother said.

"Call off the hunt for now."

"Is that what you need, Sint? Want to come back some other time?" Sint choked on her answer at first. In the name of all the Calamities, she'd have liked nothing better than to sink into her family's embrace and go back to the comforts of her home. There would be no Calamity trying to chase her there. No guilt for the way she had left clawing at her heart. But… But she had made a choice.

If there was one thing worse than her horrible departure, it was second-guessing herself to the point of going back on such a pivotal decision, especially when she knew the choice itself was right. It just could have been executed a little better.

"I'll try to visit when I can," Sint promised.

"But for now, I need to live my life. The world… the Realms. They're so much bigger than our Hunts. I've barely been gone for a month, and I've already learned so much. I… I need to make you proud. I need to make Revorel proud." They protested, of course, calling her silly. Telling her they'd always take care of her. That they'd always love her. Sint closed her eyes and let their love wash over her like the waves of the Ashen Shore. With every word they spoke, she found it easier to focus.

Question was, how would she be exiting this fake world? What in the world could she do to— A Glyph burned through reality, overwriting everything in existence. A Glyph that outshone the setting sun of Sint's world. A Glyph that sank into her like a warm shower, slowly but surely dampening her emotions, simmering them down to a gentle effervescence at the base of her soul.

A Glyph that finally revealed that her world was fake, with the way every iota of existence was breaking apart into spurts and fumes tinted the deepest of purples. Sint's worries started fading. She could almost start relaxing now. Ryland's voice echoed through the world as it began dissolving.

"I've let an unfortunate amount of the Calamity's substance enter the area. It's time I corrected that."