Herald sighed, opening the door, “If you are lying, I will find out.”

Stairs led into the darkness. Herald started his trek down. Reaching out as I followed him, I held the door open until Valentine put his hand on it.

“If he isn’t?” I wondered, cheerfully hopping after him.

The world was a bit fuzzy, and everything was just really great right now. I was alive, my plans to get into the Academy weren’t ruined, and I didn’t even remember the ride I had to get to the Academy! So I didn’t have to remember any of Aphrodite’s bullshit.

“Then both of you are going straight to the infirmary, and the staff are getting lectured on the importance of rest and recovery,” Herald replied.

We walked further into the basement, magelight appearing next to Herald as he continued downward.

The infirmary?

“Huh? Why the infirmary? I’m better at healing than they are,” I said confidently as I followed Herald into the dark, hearing footsteps behind me.

Glancing back, I saw Valentine walking, Kairos behind him.

Herald sighed, “If you just recovered from a soul injury, using magic is highly dangerous. I would not recommend it.”

Herald shifted as he walked, the stairs ending. He waited for me to reach him before continuing to walk down the long halls.

“Well okay, I’m still gonna,” I muttered.

I chased after him, walking next to him in the darkness.

After several minutes of walking in the cold and dark, we arrived.

The door creaked as it opened. Light fell on the horrors of the open room.

It reeked, the scent of iron extremely strong. With all the puddles of blood around, I realized practically none of it had dried.

Plop. Plip. Plop.

Blood dripped from the ceiling, some trailing down the chains that were hanging around the edges of the room. The magical circle on the ground was fully soaked in blood, the blood forming ichorous black lines on the shadowed ground.

“Wow it looks like the room of a serial killer,” I pointed out plainly.

Some mounds of indiscernible chunks laid around, looking less like vomit and more like bits of flesh with how blood-soaked and pink they seemed in the low light.

Herald slammed the door shut, putting his back to the door and closing his eyes. He looked pale. Then his eyes opened, a look of righteous fury overcoming Herald’s face.

“Silas,” Herald announced sharply, his voice once more echoing around the Academy, “Come to the basement and follow the trail of blood. Now.”

Silas arrived much quicker than it took us to arrive. Herald glowered up at him, “Look in that room and tell me this poor girl faked her injury.”

Ooh! Was I about to see Silas put in his place?

Silas opened the door. After a long moment wherein Silas just stared at all of the blood and vomit, Herald spoke. His voice was trembling. Whether that was in rage or not, I couldn’t tell.

“You are hereby suspended from your duties. You will go in front of the entire student body and mention that the rumors you have been spreading were malicious and untrue,” Herald snapped, voice raising hotly, “I will be speaking to the board about this. And you,” He turned to Professor Lance, voice raising into a shout that echoed throughout the halls, “What the hell were you thinking dragging a student to my office without even letting her have time to put on shoes after such a grievous injury?!”

Five minutes later Valentine and I were being yelled at by several different people about soul exhaustion and appropriate recovery times, standing side-by-side against the wall next to Valentine’s soulmancy room. I was just enjoying the fact that I was leaning against something, basking in the feeling of resting.

I didn’t even know half these people.

“Okay!” I called out loudly, the scolders all going quiet.

Finally. Jesus. You would think that yelling would put all that blood back in my body, or something. Anyway, now that Herald believed me I could do the exam, right?

“So can I do the entry exam n—“ Silas’ hand hit me on the top of my head, “Ow! You’re abusive and mean, Silas,“ I whined, holding my head as I looked at Silas.

What was that for?! The novel never mentioned him being abusive!

“You are not taking the entrance exam,” Silas refused violently, eyes glassy with tears, “It will be scheduled for next week.”

Next week?

“Huh? But that’s a long time,” I complained, “Why can’t I just do it now and get it over with?”

Valentine carefully tucked a purple lock of hair behind his ear, “I am equally as confused. Percy is clearly able to…“ Valentine trailed off at the looks he was getting.

Several magical circles appeared, many people looking quite ready to devolve into violence.

“Ah, apologies. It seemed I misspoke,” Valentine corrected, raising his hands in surrender.

The magical circles faded.

“Okay, how about we reschedule it for tomorrow, instead? That way I’m well-rested and don’t miss orientation,” I suggested, turning the ire back to me.

What was with them? I didn’t even know them, they should be fine with this!

“An excellent—“

Valentine switched his words as the attention turned back to him, a spear of Earth slamming next to his head.

“A horrible idea. Truly wretched.”

I sighed, watching as the world twisted around me. My vision went dark. I yawned as my eyes closed. Well dealing with their yelling sucked, and I doubted I’d convince them like this, so…

“You know what? I’ll have this argument when I wake up.”

My awareness immediately vanished. Sleep overtook me the very second I decided not to stay awake. Never have I ever slept so soundly.

When I woke up, I was very disoriented. I glanced around, not recognizing anything. What?

Oh. The world was sideways. I sat up, looking at the room. What I was seeing still took a few seconds to register.

There were a lot of beds, with light wooden drawers and stuff. The beds were white, and the night-stands were a light brown. In the bed next to mine, Valentine was passed out.

On the dresser next to me, a lot of flowers, cards, and other colorful things were placed.

Next to me, chilling, was Kairos.

“Hey Kai,” I greeted with a yawn as I put my legs over the bed, feet hanging toward the ground, “How long has it been?“

It was a very foreign feeling to watch him kneel, putting shoes on my feet. I felt like I was a little kid again. The floor was made of stone brick, each brick having one or two spells engraved into it.

Kairos’ hair was a lighter cyan in the sunlight streaming through the large windows. His eyes looked almost amber in the light, the honey-brown only appearing in the shadows of his iris as he looked up at me.

“It has been three hours, your highness,” Kairos said.

Your highness. What a… word. I never thought I would miss my name. It was safer not to use it, though, right? There was an entire arc in the story about the Fae and names. A la The Doctor, it was safer to keep my actual name hidden.

But I still hated it. Be it Percy or Iris or your highness or princess, none really fit. Princess just flat-out sounded like an insult to me.

I sighed lightly, getting to my feet. Kairos stood before I could drag him to his. I stared up at him, realizing just how close he was.

I sat back down.

Leaning back, my hands reached back to support myself. As I looked at Kairos now that he was at a more reasonable distance, I thought.

Three hours… is that how long I usually slept? How did Kairos even survive trying to match that sleep schedule?

Usually…

I shook my head, standing up. Before I could get too far, a hand appeared on my arm.

“I have been ordered to keep you on bedrest,” Kairos muttered.

The sound of a door opening in the distance reached my ears. I wanted to look, but I was busy staring at Kairos. What?

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Wasn’t he pretending to be my servant? When he wasn’t, he was his own boss, so who ordered him? The king? Weren’t kings not allowed in the Academy? What the hell?

“By someone with higher authority than me?” I wondered curiously. Disbelief was evident in my voice.

To him at the moment, only the king had higher authority over him. What the hell did this person have on Kairos? Even I didn’t know anything I could use as blackmail against him.

“By me,” Someone called out.

Turning, I looked at a man with long green hair and pink eyes. He was in a black suit with a silk emerald shirt matching his hair on underneath his blazer. His strides were confident.

“Who are you?” I asked incredulously, then hesitated.

Wait…

Memories of what happened slowly filtered in.

My voice was flat, “Oh. Herald. Right. So can we do the exam now? I’m fully rested.”

It was still weird that he was able to order Kairos around. What sort of authority did he have? I thought he was like the vice-principal or something.

“It has been three hours. Professor Lance is still asleep,” Herald mentioned randomly.

His footsteps were silent as he walked closer. The man’s face was serious, his light pink gaze almost creepy.

“Correct,” I agreed hesitantly, “What does that have to do with anything? This is how long I usually sleep.”

I think. Kairos would correct me if I was wrong, anyway. Glancing at Kairos, I saw he was silent. Herald felt larger than life as my attention turned back toward him.

“That indicates an issue with the soul,” Herald sighed as he continued walking toward me, “Have you told Professor Lance of this?”

“Pfft, no,” I scoffed. No. Wait.

Oops.

I didn’t mean to say that.

My gaze turned away from Herald before his expression could change, innocently resting on Valentine’s unconscious form.

I was still acutely aware of Herald as he grew closer. My entire being resonated with the striking vibes of Importance Herald gave off.

Purple hair was splayed out around Valentine on the white bed, and the blue and white suit he wore was rumpled. He looked tired, even while asleep.

Awareness came over me as Herald stopped before me.

It was very weird that this was real. I felt like I was being accosted by Minerva McGonagall and staring at a long purple-haired Tom Riddle.

Looking back to Herald, I stared into his princess pink gaze.

There was something very foreign about his eyes. Even with colored contacts existing, none looked as realistic as that. A slightly deeper pink ringed around the outer edge of his iris, several different shades and flecks of light pink mixing within his eyes. Around his pupils, a small amount of yellow reached outward, growing orange at the edges of its attempt.

The sun spilled across his face, a shadow cast across the left side of his face. The windows were to my right.

Herald reached out, “I am not as skilled in soulmancy, however I could—“

Panic!

I took a step back at the same time Kairos grabbed Herald’s wrist. Clang. I glanced back as my leg slammed into the bed I’d just gotten up from.

My gaze returned to see Kairos flying back. My magic reached out, healing him even as he slammed into a wall. He choked, gasping, as he fell. I turned, aiming a spell at Herald the moment he went to take a step forward.

He didn’t get closer, his gaze focused on the spear spell aimed his way. His eyes flicked to the other spell still going on. I stared at his eyebrows.

“I doubt you can do two spells at once,” He mentioned, expression focused as he stared at me.

“Do you want to find out?” I threatened.

Herald hesitated, sighing. The man’s hands rose in surrender as he took several step backs. I stared at him for a long moment, then I dropped the spear spell. I only stopped healing Kairos when he stood up, swallowing as he wiped at his mouth.

I stared at the two men for a long moment. When Herald didn’t get any closer, I dropped my hands.

“Apologies, princess, I had simply wanted to help you,” Herald said, bowing slightly.

The man’s gaze never left mine.

“Know your place,” I responded immediately, “Attempting to use soulmancy on a stranger who doesn’t know you is something I, at least, see as an attack on my person.”

Herald’s expression didn’t change. He looked serious.

“My apologies,” Herald said again, “I had presumed us well-acquainted by now, seeing as I was there when you were born, and had been around as you grew up.”

My expression twisted. What? I’d never heard that. Even if it was true…

“Fuck off with that. I have amnesia. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. If the king wanted you to use soulmancy on me, he would have called for you.”

Herald stared intently at me. After a moment he turned to rest against Professor Lance’s bed, hands resting on the edge of the bed as he turned to me.

“One of the rumors I’d heard about you was that you were not Persephone, but a soul that had taken over her body. That you wished to take the Silver Kingdom for your own nefarious purposes,” Herald mentioned casually.

I sighed, staring at him for a long moment. His expression feigned being relaxed, but his eyes were dark. An idea came over me.

“You’re absolutely right. I’m actually not even from this world,” I agreed, gesturing at him, “Which is why I didn’t know how to read and didn’t know anything about magic when I first arrived.”

I nodded at my own words, ignoring the way his eyes grew darker.

“Since I’m dumber than a bag of rocks, I definitely want to take over the kingdom of Silver for my master.”

Herald’s expression sharpened, hands shifting where they laid on the bed, “Your master?”

I nodded, crossing my arms as I leaned against my temporary bed. My gaze flicked over, staring at the spell Herald began. It was an oddly white-ish color that seemed faded. It almost felt invisible or colorless to me. Like what I would assume a ghost looked like.

“Yes. The almighty man, you might have heard of him. He’s actually a god, can you believe that? At least I think he is. His official title is the god of bullshit and fuckery.”

The spell shifted, vanishing.

“He just loves taking souls that know nothing about magic and have no interest in power or wealth and shoving them into other people’s bodies.”

Herald’s expression lightened considerably, hands tightening on the bed he leaned against until his knuckles were white.

“Ah, is that so?”

The man stared at me with lidded eyes.

“Yup. Thankfully, my new family—outside of Aphrodite, the spreader of such rumors—is very sympathetic to my plight.”

I nodded wisely again.

“They even adopted me under a new name! They call me Iris. So those rumors are absolutely correct.”

I gave Herald two thumbs-up. He looked extremely unamused. The expression he gave me was one I’d only seen in shows.

“Which is why I stepped away from you when you tried using soulmancy. Not because it hurts like hell and I’m very much not in the mood to feel like I’m about to be shot up into the air, or anything.”

It was odd how relaxed someone’s face could be while still expressing a dangerous amount of rage.

“And this other world, what is it called?” Herald wondered, eyes still sharp.

The Demon King knew of Earth, I mused, glancing outside. So I couldn’t use that… if I called it dirt that’d be a bit too on-the-nose.

“Why would I tell you that? Names have power, and I quite love my planet.”

I shrugged, tilting my head as I looked at the man. His knuckles were still white as he clutched the bed, and his eyes were sharp. The vibes of importance had faded, if only slightly, but I felt… something.

It felt like this man was my judge, jury, and executioner. Like he would be deciding my fate.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, especially with my being in the middle of mocking him.

“Anyway, I’d love to tell you more about my master’s plans, but he actually didn’t tell me them,” My hands rose in a “what-can-you-do?” manner, “You know the god of bullshit and fuckery. Who can really tell what he’s up to?”

My hands dropped as I stared at Herald. The green-haired man stared evenly back at me. I found myself swallowing. The way he made me feel…

I’d never felt this way before.

It wasn’t a feeling an instructor at an educational facility could inspire in a student.

How intimidating.

Herald sighed as he stood up, “As much as I appreciate your story, I do not enjoy being mocked.”

The tension snapped in a second, rage overcoming the man’s impressive aura.

“Dude Aphrodite fucking melted my face because of her stupid fucking tantrums,” I snapped, glowering at Herald with a scowl, “Would you rather I punch everyone in the face when they say stupid bullshit like that?”

With how he made me feel, I felt like I wanted to punch him in the face, too. He shouldn’t make me feel like I was lesser than him! We were equals!

Herald hesitated, then he sighed heavier, walking toward me. His stride was relaxed. I didn’t get any vibes of danger from him, anymore. I relaxed too, sighing out the stress I’d built up.

“I do not like that all the rumors I have heard of you seem to go against everything I am able to observe of you.”

I sighed as heavily as he did, looking up at him. Did he believe me?

My voice gained a whining tone when I complained, “I know, right?”

The green-haired man reached out. I looked at his hair, not meeting his gaze as he brushed my hair behind my ear.

“It really is a shame that such a beautiful woman has to endure such suffering,” He murmured.

My gaze unfocused as my eyebrows scrunched. What? That made it sound like it was only a shame because I was beautiful.

“Don’t be too sad,” I said, reaching up and brushing his hand away from me, meeting his gaze the moment he wasn’t touching me, “I’m ugly on the inside.”

Before I could react, the void appeared around me.

“I wouldn’t say ugly. A very good liar, maybe,” Herald said.

I stared at him. Huh. We were the same height. That means Persephone was around 5’2, right?

“Look, dude, I told you the truth. You’re the one who got annoyed like I was mocking you.”

“Yes, speaking of your master wasn’t mocking at all,” Herald muttered, his expression borderline murderous.

I shrugged, “Well someone had to put me here.”

“It wasn’t Valentine?” Herald listed off randomly.

Valentine? The guy I was blackmailing?

I scoffed, grinning, eyebrows raising together. What a stupid thought.

“What? No,” I chuckled, relaxed, “Man, you know what I’m glad about?”

Herald’s stare scoured my form. He seemed really intent on his observations.

“What?” He asked distantly, more focused on my soul than on my words.

That was fine, though. I would tell him why I was glad anyway.

“The Academy laws. So long as I’m accepted as a student, I’m protected from the Silver Kingdom’s ire,” Pink eyes trailed up my form, meeting my eyes, “Even if I’m not, I can just run to some other kingdom so long as I’m not found guilty of anything regarding Academy law.”

It was something a great many fugitives took advantage of. Like beast-people who were persecuted in the Kingdom of Rage. Or elves who were persecuted in the Kingdom of Shadow just for existing. It was like three different character’s backstories.

“Murder alone is enough to have you sent to the kingdom of Silver to be executed,” Herald refused, murderous look not fading, jaw remaining clenched as he glared at me, “As well as attempted theft of authority.”

Before we could talk more, both of us were torn from the void Herald had put us in.

I staggered, blinking, continuing the conversation, “Well, yeah, but I can swear on my magic that I’ve never done either of those. I didn’t kill anyone, and I do not plan to be holed up in that castle with fucking Aph. Fuck that, I’m leaving to be an adventurer or whatever the moment I’m done with my goal.”

Looking down, I saw Herald on the ground. With a knife in his hand, Kairos stood above him.