Chương 66: Ill Fated Meeting

The Churches of Vyrd are one of the oldest institutions in existence. Unlike many religious cases, there was no real schism when the Old Church and the New Church separated. In fact, going by other historical events, it was downright peaceful. Even now, to the present day, the two institutions work together tremendously well. The Old Church continues the olden traditions while the New Church performs new rites and rituals while continuing to respect the old ways.

Even their leaders continue respecting each other, maintaining a cordial relationship at every level of the hierarchy. The only major difference, the only possible point of contention between the two Churches, is the pinnacle of faith. For while the Old Church believes in the unknowable, unreachable power of the Great Gods, the New Church is adamant that divine power is much closer at hand. It is the New Church that has found the manifestation of true power.

It is the New Church that has reached the Incarnation of Faith. Excerpt from Church History, Volume Eight Korian L. The big meeting between Ryland and all the big Academs and dignitaries of Arcoryx was to happen a day later. He didn't think too much of it. Of course, he wasn't careless about it. Ryland understood intellectually that it was important. But that didn't mean he needed to be concerned or worried. For the time being, he focused on his duties as a sub-Academ.

It felt a little odd to just walk around the academy campus as though there hadn't been a threat of a Calamity bursting free, causing havoc several degrees worse than what the last Living Mana Incursion would have done. Ryland himself remained unbothered. He had dealt with it. Therefore, it was no longer of further concern to him. But that wasn't how the academy was supposed to be treating the issue. Ryland remembered well the huge hullabaloo that the Living Mana Incursion had caused.

In response to an even worse threat, they should have been sounding the alarms, tightening security, and barricading themselves in the fortified halls, at the minimum. And yet, students strolled between classes, Academs gathered for lunch, and the general atmosphere was perfectly normal. It felt a teensy bit surreal to Ryland. Things had been a lot different during the Wars. He met Alaric in a conference hall in the southeast region of Arcoryx Academy. Unlike Ryland, the Headmaster appeared anxious.

His academy robes weren't ironed, his beard and hair were somewhat dishevelled, and he was clearly trying to suppress his jitteriness. Was he that nervous about Ryland meeting everyone else in his full capacity?

"Have you gone through the speech I prepared for you?" Alaric asked, trying and failing to hide the tension in his voice. Ryland raised an eyebrow.

"You sent me a speech, Headmaster?"

"I did." Alaric's hand twitched like he wished to tear his hair and beard out.

"Clearly, you missed it, somehow. And knowing you, you aren't lying about it, because if you had simply discarded it, you'd make sure to tell me about it too!"

"Indeed." They began walking towards the meeting chamber. Even Alaric's footfalls were a little awry.

"How exactly did you send the letter, Headmaster?" Ryland asked.

"It doesn't matter," Alaric said.

"But if you really must know, then I sent it via a Winged Envelope." Ryland briefly recalled receiving a missive like that at some point earlier. It was a new Glyphtech he hadn't interacted with before. Rather neat to have letters with the capability of flying all over the halls. Soon enough, they were passing through large doors and into the chamber where the meeting was to take place. Ryland entered with Alaric leading the way.

The meeting room was a large chamber with translucent, crystalline walls that lived up to Arcoryx's title as the City of Glass. Concentric rings spread out from a central dais, with the current group of Academs and other dignitaries—consisting of Church clergy and some Warden Mages—now sitting around the smallest ring in the middle of the large chamber. The seats spread in a circle around it were placed higher up the further they went, reminding Ryland a little bit of amphitheatre seating.

Besides all the navy-robed mages and the handful of others in various getups, his eyes fell on a couple of people who stood out—a grey-haired man in silver robes holding an iron staff, and a woman in golden-white robes, a fancy headdress, and a blindfold. It was these people that Alaric seemed to be paying the most attention to. Ryland didn't need long to figure out who they were. The High Warden of Arcoryx and the Oracle of Androvia.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't just their presence or appearance that had caught Ryland's attention. He wasn't fully unleashing his Inscribed Glyph of Insight, but even without it, his body naturally sensed the sheer presence of the Oracle's manasoul. It was a feeling he had noted from Alaric, and even more intensely when he had exposed that Flourinus Order operative, Valorous. He didn't recognize either of them beyond their roles and their names, of course. It had been so many years now.

Though, he wondered how well they had known their predecessors, who would have had no problem recognizing Ryland.

"Remember," Alaric hissed.

"This meeting is ostensibly about your request to incorporate field trips into your curriculum for your Intuitive Magic class." Ryland arched an eyebrow.

"Do the High Warden of Arcoryx and the Oracle of Androvia normally sit in on meetings to discuss course curriculum?" Alaric sighed.

"They don't, but normally, we don't have someone like you teaching a class."

"Fair enough." The ring of mages maintained their focus on Ryland as Alaric took his spot at the very head of the ring. Hmm. When was the last time he had been under this much direct scrutiny? Perhaps when he had been answering for the Calamity that had ravaged Golmere. It was just that the gathering that had confronted him back then had been far more dangerous. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Although, with how the Oracle was looking at him, he would do well to remain wary. At least there were a few friendly faces present. Well, more or less friendly. High Academ Tyra waved at him, while High Academ Soto's expression was almost calculating. He was giving the High Warden and the Oracle surreptitious side eyes. Sedian and Marvainn were both staring at him almost expectantly. Ryland didn't recognize the rest of the Academs present, but one thing was obvious—everyone here at the very least knew of him.

"Greetings, sub-Academ Ryland," said an older dragonkin High Academ. He was one of those Ryland had seen trawling through the academy.

"We were here today to discuss your agenda of introducing trips beyond the walls of Arcoryx City as part of your curriculum for your Intuitive Magic class. First of all, have you conferred about the matter with your mentor?" Ryland considered the question. Ostensibly, Alaric had said. While on the surface the meeting was entirely about the issue of field trips, the unstated goal of the meeting was about judging him.

As such, whatever he replied to the gathered mages would tell them far more than just his intentions for his class.

"I have," Ryland said.

"High Academ Heldon wholeheartedly approves of the idea."

"Does he now?" said another professor. He seemed sceptical.

"He's not the sort of person to express wholehearted approval for anything, given his… limitations." Ryland smiled widely.

"Indeed. Just goes to show, doesn't it, how highly he thinks of the idea?" A weird ripple passed through the little congregation. Three of the Academs grumbled to each other. Alaric shot Ryland a surreptitious warning glare, which he returned with a soft nod and a hidden smile. The Headmaster was right. He should probably not be having fun in this little meeting. Or at least, he should appear not to.

"Oh, come now," High Academ Soto said, leaning forward in his seat.

"The bureaucratic processes of integrating such a wild idea are immaterial in the fact of its actual implementation mechanisms. Don't tell me, sub-Academ Ryland, that you expect the academy to shoulder the cost of transporting your pupils to whatever random destination you choose?"

"On the contrary," Ryland said.

"I will take my students wherever we go myself." That reply made nearly everyone in the room stiffen. Tyra straightened in her chair, though she remained silent and her expression was neutral. Alaric didn't add his voice to the matter either, though he was starting to look a little concerned. Even Soto had stiffened at the straightforward reply. Yet again, he glanced at the Oracle and the High Warden, clearly the chief guests of this occasion. What was his angle here?

"And how would you ever do such a thing?" Soto asked.

"With my rifts," Ryland said, his Soul Glyph of Rift flaring the next second. There was immediate alarm, from Tyra and Alaric mostly, but they continued remaining silent when all Ryland did was create a window-sized rent that opened onto a chilly slope.

"I thought I'd take them to Sundermount on our first trip." The Oracle's eyes glimmered gold behind her blindfold.

"Very intriguing…"

"Intriguing?" Soto scoffed.

"What is that supposed to prove? That you can craft a mere window to peek through? This hardly constitutes an actual field trip." Despite his dismissive tone, most of the mages present were on the Oracle's side. Everyone besides High Academ Soto was staring at the rift avidly, though not everyone was enamoured. Alaric still maintained his concern, and the High Warden's expression had grown severe.

"The point of safety remains," the High Warden said. His voice rang with authority.

"Even if you can manipulate your… rifts to accommodate traversal by living people, I remain wary of the effects of such forms of travel." The sharpness of his voice made the rest of the mages blink. Several looked a little embarrassed at being taken in by the rift.

"Yes, quite!" Soto said eagerly, latching onto the Warden's concern.

"This is highly dangerous. We would be foolish to subject our dear students to this without proper precautions."

"Yes," the dragonkin Academ said.

"This is hardly enough to justify a field trip. I'm afraid the academy can't sanction—" Ryland cleared his throat.

"If that isn't enough, then… I could simply take you all on a trial run for my intended field trip." Before anyone else could respond, the Oracle leaned forward and clapped her hands delightedly.

"That sounds like a wonderful suggestion."

"But Your Eminence," the Warden said quickly, the severity of his expression quickly giving way to rising alarm.

"We mustn't—we mustn't be hasty."

"I am aware of your reservations about the matter, High Warden Rother," the Oracle said gracefully.

"But I will remind you that we have been the opposite of hasty." She smiled at Ryland. Her face seemed young, as did all Oracles', but the tiny veins visible on her lips—visible, perhaps only to Ryland—were proof of her advanced age.

"Isn't that right, Ryland?" Most of the other mages were looking between the High Warden and the Oracle with slight looks of confusion. It was clear that whatever strange disagreement existed between them wasn't something publicly known. That said, the Oracle's last words spelled it out very clearly for Ryland. Especially after he caught the look on Alaric's face. They were, rather obviously, disagreeing about Ryland himself.

"I certainly appreciate any forbearance I have been blessed with," he said pleasantly. The Oracle smiled. Behind her blindfold, the glow of her eyes intensified, which appeared to make the High Warden shudder a little. That made even Ryland's eyebrow arch just a bit. Well, if it hadn't been clear who was the one with the greatest political—and possibly magical power—here, then it was rather evident now. Although… Ryland faced Alaric. How did the Headmaster compare to the Oracle? He was Primordial-ranked, after all.

Was the Oracle even more powerful? Empyrean-ranked maybe?

"Ryland has my full confidence, Your Eminence," Alaric said. He looked a little like he was caught between a rock and a hard place, though he was doing admirably well to remind everyone that he was the Headmaster.

"And Arcoryx Academy is no place to carry out the inquisition of the Church." Ryland blinked. The other Academs present all froze, while the dignitaries—who were clearly attendants to the High Warden and the Oracle—all shifted uncomfortably.

"An inquest?" Tyra said.

"Headmaster, is the Oracle of Androvia present here to perform an inquisition?"

"Not on my watch," Alaric said. The Oracle remained unperturbed by her intentions now being out in the open. She simply sat back, steepling her hands before her, looking for all the world like a placid priestess about to pray.

"Fear not, Headmaster. I thought this meeting was merely to determine whether or not field trips are to be a sanctioned part of Arcoryx Academy's curriculum."

"Then perhaps we can get back on track?" Ryland suggested.

"I have no qualms about proving my rifts are perfectly safe. I've even almost developed a cure to the spatial sickness any would-be travellers might experience." Marvainn leaned forward, his rocky skin glinting a little alongside his crystalline eyes.

"A cure for spatial sickness via rift or portal travel, you say?"

"That's quite the development, sub-Academ Ryland," Sedian said. Her lone eye was even more calculating than Soto's now.

"No one has been able to find a proper cure for individual travel as far as we're aware. The only exceptions are the Teleportation Circles, but those bypass the issue by transporting a whole region of space via powerful Glyphs of Resonance."

"What sort of magic did you focus on, Ryland?" Marvainn asked with growing enthusiasm.

"Not that I'm asking you to spill all your secrets, but then, just telling us what Centreglyph you used won't reveal much. I'm just very curious. Is it a barricade Inscription? Or a Glyph of—" Headmaster Alaric cleared his throat very loudly.

"Sedian. Marvainn. Not now." Both High Academs looked very wounded but chose to subside for the time being. Yet, the looks on their faces confirmed that Ryland hadn't seen the last of either of them.

"Hmph," Soto said. No one clearly shared his belief, but he went on anyway. Now more than ever, Ryland was quite certain he was keeping up an act for someone's benefit. But for whom? The High Warden? The Oracle?

"I still think the whole thing is preposterous."

"I'll be happy to—and was going to—prove it, High Academ," Ryland said.

"Fine. Go on, then. Prove it."

"Yes," the Oracle said, almost with relish.

"Please, go on." Ryland looked to Alaric, who still appeared like he was being besieged on all sides. He wasn't exactly shaking his head in vigorous disapproval of the idea, though, so Ryland decided to proceed." [Translocate]," he incanted. The edges of the rift cracked, fractures snapped to life over the entire chamber, and reality cracked apart, all occurring within a single heartbeat. At the next beat, the empowered rift swallowed them all.

Depositing the entire seated gathering and their chairs right on top of a broken mountain, a chilly wind tearing through everyone present. Ryland smiled.

"Believe me now?" The Oracle rose to her feet, her blindfold falling to the ground. Around her, all the priests and priestesses tensed.

"Indeed, I believe I've found what I've been looking for," she said. Twin suns seared in the dark pits where her eyes should have been, thickening power rippling off her form.

"Let the inquisition of a Calamity by the Churches Old and New begin in earnest!"