When the haze of sleep started to clear, Eris’s face scrunched through a tired groan. There was knocking at the door. It wasn’t soft, but rather a firm and insistent noise that resounded clearly in the silent room. That alone would have been enough to get Eris up and moving, but something else was odd. Her pillow was… weird. Soft on top, yet firm and with structure deeper inside. Very warm, too. It was also… moving?
Eris cracked open an eye only to look up and see a mane of poofy hair starting to shift in the dim light of the room. Immediately, all of last night’s escapades suddenly washed into Eris’s mind. Alex and Jaxie. Eating Bailey’s pussy. Bailey fucking her with the dildo, and then the cuddling…
Eris’s face was quickly heating with red when the knock repeated itself before being accompanied by an official-sounding male voice.
“This is Marrix faculty. Open the door.”
Eris awkwardly sat up, staring wide-eyed at the naked Bailey she had been laying on. “Err- uhh… one moment!” She called towards the door.
As Eris rolled out of the bed and scrambled to get some clothes from her still-packed satchel, Bailey sat up and stretched like a lazy cat without a care in the world. In fact, she leaned back on her elbows, nudity bared to the world while Eris fumbled her way into a shirt and some pajama pants. When she opened the door, a man in the dark blue uniforms of the Syndicate was standing just outside. Slightly too old to be a student, so definitely as he said- a member of the faculty. His eyes naturally drifted over Eris’s shoulder to the extremely naked blonde, but they respectfully went back to focus on the more dressed of the two.
“An emergency assembly for all of Marrix is being held at each sector’s auditorium in one hour. Attendance is mandatory.”
Eris raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
“That will be explained during the assembly. One hour.”
“Okay… thank you?”
Eris moved to close the door, but the man held out a hand and halted the action. “You, Eris Kadell, have also been summoned for a meeting regarding your Gifting. I need you to come with me.”
Eris’s heart went cold in her chest. “What?”
“I am taking you to the Dean’s office, post-haste. Put on your shoes and I will escort you there.”
Even if Eris was able to take a thousand worries from her head and stuff them in a safe at the bottom of a lake, there were still more than enough left over for Eris’s palms to get clammy. She was being summoned about her Gifting? How did the Syndicate find out? Wait, did they find out? There shouldn’t have been anything that gave it away- at least, not that Eris could immediately think of. Did Jaxie or Alex tell on her? No, they wouldn’t do that behind her back… right?
But what other choice was there? For the Syndicate to single out Eris for this conversation, and then some emergency assembly… they had to know something. The only way for that to happen…
All she could do was stand there and stare at the man for several seconds while Eris tried to choke through feelings of betrayal.
“Miss Kadell, this is not a request. You have been ordered to appear by Professor Kull, and I will take you there by force if we are not on our way within twenty seconds.”
Eris stammered, eyes wide and heart in her throat. She wanted to say so many things and ask so many questions, but her voice didn’t seem to work. At least, it wasn’t saying the words she wanted to say.
“But… I don’t have underwear on?”
That seemed to be of little concern to the man. The only thing he waited for was for Eris to quickly pull on a pair of socks and her shoes, then slide her key ring into her pocket. After that, Eris followed anxiously behind the nameless man as they strolled out of the building. Although it was still dark in the dim light of early sunrise- perhaps six in the morning- there was activity. It wasn’t the normal buzz of life that Eris would expect from the early-birds at the military school, though.
It was concerned faces painted across students, many of whom who’d obviously been woken up far before their preferred time. Furthermore, there was substantially more security looming around than Eris had seen so far in these last two days. Instead of one or two soldiers standing at posts at either end of the dorm neighborhood, it looked like there were two officially-decorated graduates flanking the doors to every single building. They weren’t all that much older than the students themselves, but their official uniforms, the weapons held at their sides, and the all-business expressions on their faces more than made the difference clear.
Eris was led out of the dorm neighbourhood and towards the monorail station. Many people were boarding the one that travelled inwards to the center of the city, since the auditoriums in each sector were in that direction. Instead, Eris and the man stepped onto the one heading outwards- to the offices and other official buildings acting like a ring around the edge of the city.
Both were silent for the short trip, even after getting off the monorail, but that might have been mostly due to the fact that Eris was trying not to hyperventilate. If the Syndicate learned about her, then that means other people would too. Her secret was about to be revealed, and then the entire continent would know, and she would be targeted, and then she’d be captured or worse, and then-
Eris’s panicked string of thoughts was cut off by the man swinging open a door in front of her and moving out of the way to let her through. Eris gulped and stepped inside.
The room itself was fairly bland, at least for what Eris thought that a Dean’s office would be like. There was a single window off to the side looking over a courtyard that Eris and the man just passed through, a potted plant in one corner, and a corkboard hanging behind the desk. It had dozens of medals, awards, and even a few pictures all pinned up neatly. Other than that, the room was empty aside from the dark-wood desk in the center of the room and a few simple chairs. And, of course, the two people inside.
Professor Keiran Kull sat with his hands clasped on the surface of the desk, looking exactly the same as he did during the orientation. A suit the colour of blue midnight and hair even darker, contrasting sharply against pale skin. Up close, Eris was able to notice other details. A very lean build, hints of silver in the edges of his hairline, a bit of unshaven stubble, and a plain-looking silver wedding band on his left hand.
“Eris Limeen Kadell.”
“You wanted to talk to me about… the Gifting?”
“Indeed. Please sit.”
Professor Kull gestured to one of the open chairs in front of the desk, but Eris couldn’t help letting her gaze drift as she sat down; namely to the intense-looking woman seated beside the Dean. She was much younger than the Dean, maybe mid-twenties instead of late thirties, but no less battle-hardened. She gave off just as much of an intimidating vibe as the Dean of Sector Saez.
Light brown hair was tied back in an efficient bun, though a few strands still dangled free and framed either side of her lightly tanned face. She had a few darker freckles that would have made her look quite cute, if it weren’t for her overwhelmingly intense gaze. Eyes the colour of stormclouds were clearly taking in every detail of Eris, scanning her up and down like she was analyzing a threat. Furthermore, Eris’s own attention was drawn to the woman’s hands that were clasped on the desk in a similar manner to Professor Kull’s.
Her right hand only had three fingers. Only her thumb, index, and middle were present- the other two were missing and ended in a magically-healed stump. Additionally, a long, ugly scar travelled down the entire length of her right arm, from the elbow to the gap in between her middle finger and the stump that was her ring finger. If Eris had to take an immediate guess, it looked like something had cleaved the woman’s forearm longways during a battle right down the middle and took a few fingers in the process. If that kind of thing happened, the fact that the only ‘lasting damage’ was two missing fingers showed the incredible ability of healing magic.
“You are not in trouble,” Professor Kull began. That, of course, drew Eris’s attention away from the intimidating woman and back to the reality of the situation. Despite saying that she wasn’t in trouble, it only made her more nervous. If she had been in trouble, then it was more likely that this wasn’t about her being an Artificer.
“All we wish from you is to explain in detail the events of your Gifting. Everything you can remember.”
Eris remained quiet for a second before letting out a hesitant; “Why?”
Professor Kull’s expression remained unchanged, but Eris couldn’t quite find it in herself to meet his eyes. At best, she could look at his hands- he was idly twisting the silver band like it was an unconscious response. Eris had seen Mr. Kerrot do the same thing with his own wedding ring when he was lost in thought.
“It has been made clear to the Syndicate that the Gifting no longer seems to be functioning in any capacity. New applicants receive no bond when speaking the oath, and the Waypools seem unable to transport a person’s soul through the Stream for the trials. As a result, new applicants have been unable to receive a class or skills.”
Eris tried not to freak out. That part hadn’t been an assumption. Demeri- or rather, her ghost- really was gone. Eris was the last Gifted. The last line of defense against the Hollow. She tried to pull herself back together. What would a normal person do in this situation? One who didn’t already know?
“They aren’t working? Like… at all?”
The Dean made no movements, not even a confirming nod.
“Several individuals have attempted to partake in the Gifting over the last few days and all have concluded that the Gifting is no longer an option for the Syndicate.”
Eris remained quiet. Professor Kull stared her down.
“You have been summoned because our reports state that you were the last recorded person to partake in a successful Gifting. Because of that, the Syndicate wishes to know every single detail that you can recall about your trials in hopes that there might be some explanation as to why the Giftings so abruptly ceased.”
A smidge of relief leaked into Eris’s mind. Did this mean that they didn’t know about the whole Artificer thing yet? Maybe Eris hadn’t been discovered, after all. Seeing her way out, Eris explained everything that happened.
A workshop with prototype wings that needed to be tested. Working extremely late on a commission so she could refuse help from her friends. Then, setting off a chain reaction of untold scale to try and destroy the Hollow after it had already won. The entire time, Professor Kull and the woman listened intently with their unrelenting gazes. Of course, Eris neglected to mention her little trip to that black abyss with the shimmering spirit, the tidbits about her being the last Gifted, an Echo, or an Artificer.
“Was there anything else that happened during your Gifting?” The professor asked. “Anything that might explain why the Giftings stopped working?”
“...Not that I can think of?”
The Professor’s eye twitched. Eris couldn’t really blame him. The Syndicate’s one and only weapon against the Hollow wasn’t working anymore, and the last person who used it apparently had no idea why it was broken. Part of Eris really wanted to tell the truth- to lay her cards out on the table. The Syndicate deserved to know- they needed to know. If she had a chance to be the key in destroying the Hollow- no matter how small- that was information that the Syndicate should have.
However, right now, she was sitting behind the near-impenetrable shield of the Syndicate. No other governments or facets of humanity were allowed to interfere with any dealings of the military organization holding back the end of the world. But, if she were to suddenly have a power that let her make things like the Obelisk- something that seemed to rewrite the laws of reality itself, then who’s to say that nobody would be at least a little bit interested in getting that power?
Even if the Syndicate was the biggest shield in the world, there was no reason to pick up that shield and test to see if it was enough to keep her safe, when she could just as easily keep herself from being a target in the first place. If anything bad happened to her because she put herself in the way of danger, then that was the Syndicate’s one and only chance taken away. Everything resided on Eris’s shoulders, so she had to play this as safe as she possibly could.
“That is unfortunate, but the Syndicate thanks you for your information regardless. You are dismissed.”
Eris looked inquisitively at the Dean, then the woman beside him, but ultimately bowed her head and stepped out so that the soldier could bring her back to her quarters. When the door clicked shut, the stern woman- Leyla- turned towards the Dean and offered her first words in the entire meeting.
“She’s lying.”
“Yes,” Keiran ran his thumb back over the ring, instantly causing the tingling in his hand to vanish. It had been slowly buzzing throughout the meeting, only ramping up to full strength with the young girl’s final words. Keiran removed it, opened the top drawer in the desk, and placed the ring back into the velvet-lined case. When he was done, he grabbed the case for his real wedding ring and slipped it back onto his finger.
“Everything she said was true, but evasive in nature. That last part was a deliberate lie. Something happened during her Gifting. Because of that, she already knew they weren’t going to work anymore, and presumably knows why.”
“If we know she was lying, why let her leave? She is bound by oath to the Syndicate- by Grihm, she shouldn’t have even been able to lie to us!” Leyla looked agitated. Keiran huffed.
“Then you understand why I am hesitant. The oath we all speak disallows us from acting against the betterment of the world. The fact she was able to be dishonest about such a serious issue means she truly believes the best course of action is to keep whatever secret she has to herself.”
“Keeping information from the Syndicate is never the best course of action.”
“We can’t make that assumption,” Keiran leaned back in his seat, contemplating. “If Eris knows something we don’t, and truly believes the world is safer by not telling us, this becomes far from a simple matter.”
Keiran clasped his hands in thought for a moment.
“I’ll file a report to Konderlacht explaining the situation. In the meantime, you keep a close eye on Miss Kadell. Don’t make yourself known, but find out what you can learn about her and ensure her safety in the meantime. Who is her roommate?”
Leyla shuffled through a few papers before raising a curious eyebrow. “Apparently, it’s Miss Geriege.”
“Hmmm…” Keiran rubbed his chin. “Interesting. I’ll have others keep close tabs on Miss Geriege along with any other individuals that Eris interacts with commonly. If any of them know anything, one will let something slip eventually.”
“Are you sure that we can wait for eventually?”
Keiran let out a deep, long sigh.
“I think we’ll have to.”