When Eris returned to the room and stepped inside, Bailey was gone. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of Jaxie and Alex seated on the bed.
“We were woken up for the assembly and wanted to talk beforehand,” Alex said.
“Where’s Bailey?”
“Princess had to go check up on some ‘overnight brews’ or something and make sure they were stable before the assembly,” Jaxie said. “Apparently you got called to the principal’s office?”
Eris nodded. “It’s just like we thought. The Gifting isn’t working anymore. They figured out I was the last person so they wanted to ask me if anything weird happened during mine.”
Jaxie pursed her lips. “You lied to them, didn’t you?”
“...Yeah.” Eris tucked her head in shame and sat down on the other bed. Jaxie leaned forward and took Eris’s hands.
“I’m not going to say that was the smart thing to do, because it wasn’t. Hey, look at me.”
Eris tilted her gaze up to meet Jaxie’s piercing blues. She looked intense like always, but Eris was able to see the softness deep inside.
“The smart thing would be to tell the Syndicate about you so that we can all work together on this problem. There’s only so much we can do on our own while hiding the truth. But…”
Jaxie ran her thumbs over Eris’s knuckles.
“I understand that you’re scared, and I understand why. You’re the world’s only chance to stop the Hollow, so keeping you safe is the only thing that matters. If that means the Syndicate has to be kept in the dark for a little bit while we try to figure things out, then they’ll just have to deal with it.”
Eris remained silent. Alex muttered from beside Jaxie. “We were already operating under the assumption that the Gifting wasn’t working, so we had a pretty good idea that’s what the assembly’s going to be about. Looks like we were right.”
The Artificer buried her face in her hands. “The Syndicate’s been fighting the Hollow for four hundred years with no progress, and now they have to tell everyone that the only weapon they have against annihilation is about to run out.”
“Yeah,” Jaxie huffed. “The world’s neck-deep in Shit Creek and we’re about to dunk our heads in the water.”
Leyla let her hearing shift through the muffled transition as the conversation ended, becoming distorted and popping her ears before it cleared up again. As always, it made her entire head itch- like she washed her face with fire ants. She sneezed and wiped her nose with a handkerchief before sliding it back into her breast pocket. Additionally, she slipped a small notebook and pen into another pocket- the entire conversation recorded for safekeeping.
“I understand that you’re scared, and I understand why. You’re the world’s only chance to stop the Hollow, so keeping you safe is the only thing that matters. If that means the Syndicate has to be kept in the dark for a little bit while we try to figure things out, then they’ll just have to deal with it.”
Leyla drummed her fingers over her crossed arms and let her head rest back on the brick wall of the dorm. Jasmine Kerrot and Alexandra Qualley. Both of them came from Kelshiir just like the girl, and this instantly proved that they were in on the entire ordeal. You’re the world’s only chance to stop the Hollow…
She pursed her lips and thought. Not ‘we’. Not ‘us’. ‘You’. Eris specifically was who Jasmine was referring to. They weren’t even talking like it was a matter of information that Eris had. Eris didn’t just know something that could change the course of the war- she had something. She was something. Leyla sighed and started walking away from the building towards her next target.
Dorm number eleven. Room twenty-two would be the first one on the backside of the third floor, so all Leyla had to do was cast a quick glance upwards while she walked past and held her thumb over the leather band on her wrist. The curtain was drawn, but that wouldn’t matter for what she was doing.
Immediately, Leyla’s ears popped, her face felt swollen, her sense of balance was thrown so far out of whack it almost made her stumble, and her entire auditory perception of the world shifted. She kept her eyes on the path ahead of her, walking as straight as she had been until she looped back to stand in the gap between dorms eleven and twelve. Meanwhile, she listened.
She could hear the general commotion of the outside, but it was highly muffled through the window of the room. No shower was running, no steps were being taken, no breathing was breaking the silence. The room was completely empty.
No matter how many times she did this, it was always disorienting at best. To have the entire world around her go silent as she listened somewhere else? She was glad when the surge of discomfort happened again while her sense of hearing returned to it’s normal location. Immediately, she began walking back around to the front of the building. In no time, Leyla was through the doors, up the stairs, and outside the door to room twenty-two. It was locked.
A jagged projection of force materialized, hovering in the air just in front of the lock, completely invisible to all except the woman who conjured it. It inserted itself into the keyhole and Leyla went to work. Syndicate locks were fairly high-quality, but that meant almost nothing to Leyla. There was nothing quite like being able to adjust the exact shape and size of her picks at will while she shifted her force projection in the lock.
The first tumbler stuck in the ‘open’ position, then the second. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth followed shortly after, and the seventh slid into place as the latch unlocked. Leyla opened the door.
Although Leyla placed everything exactly where she found it, every item in the room, every piece of clothing in the closets, and every book stuffed in the duffel bags was examined and Inspected. All of it was perfectly standard. Nothing jumped out to her as notable or incriminating. Neither Alexandra or the second-year roommate of hers, Nadine, had anything of interest. Disappointed but not surprised, Leyla left.
Jasmine’s room yielded far more interesting results. Leyla used one hand to hold up the contraption that had been hidden in the duffel bag stuffed in the closet.
Lustful Wooden Dildo
A well-crafted wooden dildo. Imbued with the essence of Lust.
Provides a Minor boost to Pleasure.
Additional effect: Sharing is Caring
If used on another person, the user receives a portion of the recipient’s Pleasure.
Additional effect: Matching Set
Only active when the Lustful Wooden Dildo is attached to the matching harness. Any pleasure bestowed from Sharing is Caring is experienced as if the Lustful Wooden Dildo were a real appendage.
Leyla blinked multiple times. What. The. Fuck?
There was too much to unpack there. ‘Pleasure’ written like it was a stat bonus? ‘Imbued with the essence of Lust’? There were two enchantments on it, so it couldn’t have been made by anyone lower than seventh level, and it was between two different items which made it even more complex. Was this an item from the Obelisk?
It handed out some real wacky pieces of gear sometimes, so that could be an option. How did Jasmine get her hands on this, though? Nothing even close to this level of complexity would come out from the Obelisk for anyone who wasn’t most of the way through their second year, so Jasmine would have to have bought it from someone else. Her roommate, Rebecca? Perhaps, but that didn’t explain the odd effects that didn’t follow the pattern of anything else Leyla had ever seen.
Leyla pulled a small notebook from her pocket and scribbled down the description as best she could before placing the dildo back where it came from. There wasn’t anything else that was noticeably interesting in the room, aside from a stash of birth control potions in the nightstand, but that was far from a common occurrence. In fact, it made Leyla chuckle. Those concoctions of Miss Geriege had a way of ending up anywhere. She’d even seen a few discarded vials stuffed away on the shelves in the library.
Leyla left the room exactly as she found it, then looped back around to dorm seventeen to listen in the room of interest. No noise met her ears, prompting Leyla to climb the stairs. Just like with the other rooms, there was nobody around to notice her sneaking in since they were all heading towards or already at the assembly. Leyla only opted for the rooms of Alexandra and Jasmine first, since she knew they were already absent.
Now that it was empty, Leyla was able to sift through with ease. Of course, the first thing that caught her attention was the doorknob and the lock being present. The exploits of Miss Geriege were infamous, along with the ‘freeuse room’. Obviously, the arrival of Eris prompted the reaffixing of the door’s security. Not that it remained closed for very long- Leyla was inside in a matter of seconds.
Much to Leyla’s disappointment, there was almost nothing of interest in the room. Eris had yet to properly unpack, so almost all of her belongings were still in the duffel bag by the bed. Naturally, Leyla stared in a bit of awe at Miss Geriege’s closet. There were notebooks piled almost waist-high, but the rest was filled with a truly obscene assortment of sex toys and other… tools. A curious Inspect made Leyla’s eyebrow raise. None of them had any effects even remotely similar to the one hidden in Jasmine’s bag. None ‘Imbued with the essence of Lust’ or giving a bonus to Pleasure. That all but guaranteed that it must have come from the Obelisk.
Or, it was made by someone truly unique. Someone who was ‘the world’s only chance to stop the Hollow’, and someone who lied directly to the faces of both Leyla and Professor Kull to keep a secret.
Leyla narrowed her eyes and left the room. While this assembly was primarily about updating the student body about the state of the war, it opened up a convenient opportunity for Leyla to look for all the information she was instructed to find. That meant nobody was even in eyesight when she marched over to the CDF and picked the lock to Eris’s workshop.
Tables full of tools and partially-constructed projects. Shelves lined with materials having been pulled from the basement. Workbenches covered in sawdust, cut leather, and iron plates. The small icebox was filled with individually-bagged portions of oatmeal that were obviously intended to be sold, and absolutely none of it raised any kind of suspicion when Inspected. So, she turned her attention to the notebooks sitting on one of the workbenches.
One was empty, one was completely full, but the one that Leyla immediately went for was the one with only a third of the pages having been written on- recency was usually better for this kind of thing. Leafing through, there were diagrams, instructions, notes, and numbers that Leyla couldn’t make any sense of. However, thumbing through to the more recent pages yielded far more interesting results.
Abstract of Eternity (Obelisk???)
Durability: 17%
A monolith that serves as a gateway to distant realms. Created by Balzonest Exxinter, Ymetri Faraday, Nasha Ignes, Phrom Ladana, Rallan Oje, Ihxal Wb’bami and Vojemala Ywer. Made from white marble, the souls of the creators, and a concoction of Zhuul Somnere.
Additional effect: Collusion
Unauthorized individuals may not use the Abstract of Eternity.
Additional effect: Convergence
Authorized individuals may forcibly transport targets through realm connections.
Additional effect: Confinement
Delegated prison realms are one-way only.
Leyla narrowed her eyes and read it over a few more times. The ‘Abstract of Eternity’... with ‘Obelisk’ written beside it in brackets. A gateway to distant realms? That certainly sounded like it could be the Obelisk, but nobody could Inspect the damn thing. Nothing made by any of the old world Artificers could be inspected by anyone.
Anyone, except apparently for this damned redhead.
Leyla gritted her teeth and thumbed through the next few pages until the next thing caught her eye.
A penis.
Or rather, a drawing of one. A crafting diagram with measurements and even a close-up view for a hook where it conjoins with a familiar-looking leather harness and can be secured even through… rough movement. The real kicker were the notes quickly scrawled beside it.
imbued with lust?
pleasure?
sharing pleasure & matching set b/o jaxie?
sex items more powerful b/o connection to lust?????
There was no doubt- this was a diagram and notes about the dildo that Leyla found in Jasmine’s room. Did that mean Eris made the thing? She just got her class a few days ago; to make something that had two enchantments on it should have been impossible. Of course, it should also have been impossible to Inspect the Obelisk, but Eris may very well have managed to do that, too.
Leyla wasted no time in pulling out her small notebook and copying everything incriminating into the paper. Word for word, every letter was transcribed and jotted down. Leyla even leafed through the notebook that was completely full, just to see if there was anything notable. There certainly didn’t seem to be, so it wasn’t long until Leyla was leaving the workshop, locking the door behind her, and swiftly walking back towards the monorail.
Two items- a dildo and a notebook- and overhearing a simple conversation. Still, it provided an abundance of extremely noteworthy information. Leyla pulled up her sleeve just far enough to check her watch- the assembly would be ending soon. Military updates never take long- it was the aftermath that left things a little messy. Still it meant that Professor Kull would be returning to his office posthaste.
Leyla let her fingers rest on the ugly scar travelling down her wrist and paused. Eight months. Eight months and she could still feel it. She could still wiggle her ring finger and pinky. She could still feel her fingers flexing. Following the line running up her palm, her eyes tore the mask off the truth. A fleshy nub of a pinky reaching the first knuckle, and a ring finger that didn’t even have enough left to hold its namesake. Leyla sighed and dropped her hands. There were more important things to think about on the short ride back to Professor Kull’s office- namely the lying redhead.
Leyla arrived first, standing resolutely outside the Dean’s office. It wasn’t a long wait. Professor Kull arrived in short order, raising a curious eyebrow at Leyla.
“That was fast, even for you.”
“They didn’t think anyone would be listening. They also didn’t hide their secrets very well. May we speak inside, sir?”
The Dean nodded. A moment later, they were sitting on opposing ends of the desk. Leyla procured her small notebook, carefully removed the pages she marked on, then slid them across the desk in batches.
“This is a conversation I overheard between Eris Kadell, Jasmine Kerrot and Alexandra Qualley in Eris’s room. This is the description of an… interesting item that I found hidden in Jasmine’s closet. Lastly, this is an item description that I found written in a notebook in Eris’s workshop, presumably about the Obelisk.”
Professor Kull looked over the pages curiously. He took a glance upwards while reading. “Initial hypothesis?”
Leyla cleared her throat.
“Based on this information alone, I believe that Eris Kadell isn’t an Artisan like she claimed.”
A moment of silence followed. Professor Kull sighed. “Leyla, please save the dramatic pauses for a children’s story.”
“Sorry, sir.”
“Forgiven. Continue.” Leyla swallowed as Professor Kull looked back down at the pages.
“I believe that Eris Kadell is an Artificer.”