Liliana groaned, rubbing at her eyes as the words on the page in front of her began to swim. She was curled up in a corner of the couch in the study room she and her friends had, unofficially, claimed as their own.
Summer vacation felt like years ago now, though it had hardly been a month. However, since getting back from the month long vacation classes had gotten notably harder. As the days ticked closer to the end of the first semester, everyone felt the pressure pushing down on them.
For the first years, this would be their first tournament and their first ranking. It would mean a drastic change in their classes. According to both the professors and the older students, the first ‘culling’ would cause a major shakeup for the upper ranked classes.
While the lower ranked classes didn’t generally see too much of a change, S, A and B classes would be shuffled around as those who got in based solely on levels and not wit were shifted to lower classes. It was apparently accepted by the majority of later years and professors that the students in each class starting their second semester actually belonged there.
It grated Liliana that so many saw her, by token of getting into class S with her levels, as nothing more than a privileged placeholder. Looking at the majority of her class, though, she could see why that was a popular assumption.
The closer they got to the 10th of Symber, the more she could see it. As the tests got harder, the homework more extensive and the teachers more ruthless in their grading, Liliana watched as her classmates slowly frayed at the seams.
Training was becoming downright vicious as students who had gotten in through their levels tried to compensate for failing grades in the one class they thought they could do well in. The aura of desperation was becoming so heavy Liliana could taste it in the back of her throat.
Even Liliana could feel the stress pressing on her, though she was handling it better than some. Partially thanks to the new coping mechanisms she’d gained from working with Healer Sybil. Liliana still saw the Psyche healer every weekend to keep Silas happy, and if she was honest, because she wanted to.
Her mind had never felt so clear as it had since she began working with the Psyche healer. And she could admit having a clearer, healthier mind on top of the reduced nightmares meant she was doing better in classes than she was before.
Learning how to organize her memories, so she wasn’t bombarded with traumatic memories at some minor trigger, made her daily life far easier. By extension, it made her time in the Academy easier when she wasn’t walking on eggshells to avoid the minefields in her mind.
However, even with the aid of a clearer mind, the classes were still hard. Liliana wasn’t sure if the professors were trying to break them or help them anymore. Based on the amount of breakdowns she’d witnessed from her classmates, four today alone, she was starting to lean towards thinking the professors wanted to break them.
“Lili? Can you translate this for me?” Marianne asked, drawing Liliana from her thoughts.
Liliana nodded, and a book rocketed through the air towards her. She grabbed it and flipped to the bookmarked page. Marianne had discovered that Liliana could read far more languages than she’d originally admitted to. Liliana had been lazy about hiding that aspect of her boons in her pursuit of knowledge about any and every beast she could get.
Marianne hadn’t questioned it too much; rather, she’d been excited at the fact that she had a friend who could translate any text she found and therefore help her with her essay writing. Liliana mentally bemoaned the loss of the Internet and online translators that would free her from this responsibility as she read over the text.
“Draconian?” Liliana asked curiously.
Most beasts didn’t have a written language that they used, or if they did, no one had found them, which was more likely. However, Dragons had their own spoken and written tongue that was well known, likely because they ended up dealing with humans enough to warrant the need for the purpose of treaties and agreements.
“Yeah, it’s for the treaty between Xedrot and Celeste.” Marianne clarified, naming their second queen.
It would be about the treaty that outlawed the hunting or killing of natural born beasts and included certain species as protected. One of those species being Flowered Serpents. Liliana knew a good amount about said treaty even before coming to the Academy, having read up on it when she, Alistair, and Emyr went to the deal with the village that had broken the ancient laws.
Liliana shook her head, thankful for the sessions with Healer Sybil that locked away the darker memories she would have once attributed to that trip. Now she could remember the good times on their own, without the rest of it. Meeting Jason’s family, bonding Nemesis- even if that couldn’t necessarily be called a good memory, Liliana still treasured every memory of gaining her bonds.
“Xedrot Guardian Of The Glens hereby offers Celeste Clarise Stella Summerwarden protection when called upon during a time of need and a cease of hostile actions under the agreement…” Liliana narrated the words she read mentally to Marianne, hearing her friend quickly noting down her words as she translated the section Marianne needed for her essay.
When she finished, Marianne let her keep the book and Liliana set her Soul textbook to the side as she continued reading the account of the treaty from the perspective of the dragon. [Threads of Control] moved as she read, writing down her own essay.
Her fine control of the skill had grown in leaps and bounds through necessity. With the amount of homework all their teachers assigned them, Liliana often felt the need to have extra hands just to finish it all. The skill meant she did, functionally, have those hands.
However, it forced her to learn how to multi-task mentally, something made far easier with the newfound mental control she had. Though she doubted Healer Sybil had intended her to use what she learned in their sessions for homework, but then again, Healer Sybil wanted her to focus on school rather than ‘adult concerns’ so the woman couldn’t complain.
Healer Sybil also hadn’t intended Liliana to try to use her new skills to cheat in her classes, but much to Liliana’s disappointment, the wards on the classrooms prevented mental communications. Liliana supposed she was lucky she didn’t get punished for the attempt at least, though she would’ve been far more relaxed if she could communicate with her friends during tests.
But no, she had to study and take her tests like everyone else, without cheating. Well, mostly. Her memory was improving, and she did wonder if photographic memory was a skill she could learn. She doubted that could be considered cheating.
Desperate for any distraction from the mountains of homework she still needed to work through, Liliana picked up her Wind text book from the cushion next to her and she flipped through the heavily annotated pages, her neat, small script filling margins. She picked a page in the section they were going over in class today and read over it a few times before she closed her eyes and sunk into her mind.
A thick forest filled her mind’s eyes and Liliana traversed deep into it, the environment soothing to her where a few months ago it had been a raging sea full of riptides and whirlpools designed to drown her.
What a change two months and a Psyche healer could accomplish.
Liliana found what she needed quickly enough, trees widening until she was in a forest of thick redwoods, their trunks twisted into naturally forming bookshelves filled to bursting with tomes of every shape and color. Many were empty, waiting for something to fill their pages. Others were obviously already used, the chains wrapping around them denoting the ones filled with memories Liliana had processed and locked up.
Liliana picked up one such empty tome, and she pushed the memory of the textbook page she had just read onto it. Words filled the blank pages, and Liliana smiled softly as she replaced it. Opening her eyes, she blinked, readjusting to the real world. Closing the textbook, Liliana tried to recall the words, and while it wasn’t perfect, she could easily remember the gist of what she’d read.
Mentiumancy has reached level 27!
You’ve discovered the general skill Recall. Would you like to accept the skill?
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Recall: Psyche
Rather than simply trusting your mind to remember key facts and events, you’ve taken it upon yourself to manually imprint memories in your mind. This skill will make remembering and memorizing information and events easier. As the skill progresses, your memory will improve and your ability to recall events and information will grow until you can perfectly remember events as they happened.
Liliana accepted the skill easily, a bit miffed she hadn’t gotten it sooner. Then again, her work with Healer Sybil was focused not on preserving memories, but on putting them to rest. Accepting what happened and working through the tangled emotions and trauma connected to her memories.
Nothing they’d done had been with the purpose of strengthening the memories, though apparently the techniques could be transferred to that purpose. Liliana shook her head. It mattered little. A new general skill was nice, but it likely wouldn’t make a major impact anytime soon and she had a test in Telekineses tomorrow she needed to focus on, and four essays due as well. She didn’t have time to work on getting new skills or bemoaning not having them in the first place.
“I need to take a walk before I burn the library down.” Emyr said as he slammed his textbook closed an hour later, distracting Liliana from her most recently finished essay.
Looking at her remaining half written essays, and the many opened textbooks strewn around her, Liliana shrugged and stood with a sigh. Her back cracked as she stretched out a body sore from hours spent curled up with a book in her hands.
“I’ll go with you. Want to get some coffee?” Liliana asked her friend as she carefully made her way through the room.
She had to utilize [Wind Walk] a few times to avoid stepping on books or parchment. There were only five people in the room, but it looked like the library had thrown up over the room as they all frantically studied and tried to finish their assignments.
The past few weeks such sights had become commonplace for Liliana, and even their dorms weren’t spared the explosions of paper and books. Liliana would swear she dreamed of essays now that her nights weren’t taken up with nightmares.
“Yes, please.” Emyr said, voice tinged with desperation as he glared at his almost finished essay for Fundamentals.
“Can you get me some, too?” Marianne asked distractedly, as she switched from writing one essay to another.
The pair agreed and quickly made their way out of the room. Liliana stretched again when the door to the study room closed, more of her joints making satisfying popping noises. She set off towards the stairs to get out of the library when Emyr grabbed her arm. Liliana paused and tilted her head at Emyr, a curious noise escaping her as he tugged her into a pool of shadows between the mage lights.
“I know which study room Zir’elon and his posse are using.” Emyr whispered, eyes sparkling with mischief. Liliana paused, and a smirk grew on her face as she thought over it.
“It’s been a while since we had any fun,” Liliana murmured.
Emyr grinned at her, a sharp slice of white teeth in the deep shadows they were huddled in. Liliana looked around and saw no one was watching. She’d learned over time that while the dorms were very well monitored and were almost impossible to play pranks in, the rest of the Academy had varying levels of protection.
Classrooms and training rooms were well protected and monitored, but places like the cafeteria, hallways, and study rooms were less monitored. Before, the high concentration of students made it harder to do anything without someone noticing. With the impending end of the first semester approaching, everyone was too busy studying to spend much time wandering about. Which meant far fewer curious eyes to catch them causing mischief.
“Did you know that there're passageways behind all the study rooms in the library?” Emyr asked as he pressed the toe of his shoe into a stone near the bottom of the wall they were leaning against.
A small door, just big enough for them to squeeze into, opened and quickly the two of them slipped inside, the wall sliding back in place behind them as lights illuminated a suspiciously dust free passageway.
Liliana had known about these passageways, but she was unfamiliar with where Zir’elon and his ilk were, so she followed Emyr as he led them through the confusing labyrinth of passageways. The Academy emblem popped up often, hidden entrances to the study rooms scattered throughout. Easy escape avenues, or in their case, perfect options for spying and causing chaos.
Liliana had to wonder how much time Emyr was spending exploring the hidden passageways of the Academy to be so familiar with them now. She was only slightly concerned for the chaos Emyr would use the passageways for. At least this time she would be there to supervise or, more than likely, escalate.
“This one.” Emyr stopped in front of a stretch of wall that looked much the same as the many others they’d passed. Liliana trusted him to be correct, though. He’d never given her faulty information before.
“So how do you want to do this?” Liliana asked as her fingers tapped against the wall near silently. Her nails were getting long again. She had to file them often as they were quite a bit sharper than they used to be and she didn’t enjoy accidentally cutting herself on them.
“I’ll slip in through the shadows and grab some of their work and textbooks. If they catch me, open the hidden door here and extract me. Otherwise get ready to run when I get back.” Emyr said with a smile. Liliana nodded and bounced on the balls of her feet as Emyr melted into the shadows, vanishing from view.
Was this wrong? Probably. Was it technically bullying Zir’elon and his friends? Yes. Did Liliana care? Not one bit.
Liliana was not inclined to feel sympathy or pity for her enemies, and she had long considered Zir’elon one. His threats and aggression towards her and her friends made him someone she would happily see ruined.
She knew that could arguably make her a bad person, but she couldn’t find it in her to care much. She had long ago accepted that she would never be a shining example of virtue. She cared too much for revenge and ascribed a bit too strongly to the eye for an eye mentality to ever be strictly good. She’d never hurt someone who was innocent, but those who made the mistake of gaining her ire would find no mercy from her.
Liliana pressed her ear against the wall, holding her breath to try to hear better. The walls were thick, but she thought she could hear some low conversation through the stones. There were some confused and frustrated exclamations, but nothing that would imply Emyr had been found out. Liliana jolted, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her shriek, when Emyr popped out of the shadows, arms full of parchments and textbooks.
“Here, take these,” Emyr shoved half the stack at her with a hushed whisper and then the two of them took off down the hidden passageway, choked giggles trailing them as adrenaline surged.
When they had gotten far enough away and there were no sounds of pursuit they could hear they stopped, chests heaving as they panted, arms full of stolen goods. Liliana looked at Emyr, and he looked back at her. They held eye contact for a long, silent moment before they broke into laughter, both trying valiantly, and failing, to stifle the sounds, to not give away their position just in case someone had followed them. Liliana sank to the ground, body shaking with her smothered giggles as she curled over the papers and books in her arms.
“What are we even going to do with all of this?” Liliana finally managed to choke out between giggles.
“Let’s drop it off in front of the dorms.” Emyr said, and Liliana nodded.
She would’ve preferred to burn the materials, or to leave them scattered across the Academy so Zir’elon and his friends were forced to hunt down their missing items but that would take far more time, and they did still have their own homework to still finish. Something to consider for later, when she had more time instead of during an impromptu prank.
Emyr helped her back to her feet, and they set off, primarily using the hidden passageways and tunnels to avoid anyone seeing them with incriminating evidence as they made their way to the class S dorm. Liliana used [Invisibility] to place the stack of books and papers right next to the door to the dorm after ensuring no one saw her.
With the adrenaline from sneaking around flowing through her, she threw herself with more force than necessary back into the hole in the pavement that was the entrance and exit for one of the tunnels she and Emyr had ‘found’.
Zir’elon and his cronies would probably find their missing homework and textbooks when they retired to the dorm, but likely not before they tore up their study room looking for them. Liliana couldn't stop giggling as they headed back to the library and their own study room.
She could imagine how Zir’elon would look when he discovered his missing textbooks and homework, and she so wished she could watch. The mental images alone were enough to fill her with amusement and to fill her chest with laughter. Her mirth was infectious, Emyr chuckling as they walked.
High on the adrenaline from the successful caper, the two of them ended up playing tag through the tunnels and passageways to work off the excess energy. They arrived outside the door to their study room disheveled and red faced, laughter still bubbling out of them and eyes bright with happiness.
“What did you two do?” Marianne asked the second they walked in, causing the pair to freeze and glance guiltily back and forth.
“What ever do you mean, Mari?” Liliana asked, her voice dripping with false innocence.
“You did something. I can feel it.” Marianne said, eyes narrowing as Emyr and Liliana edged into the room, avoiding the princess’ gaze.
“Nope. We did nothing. Just a walk.” Liliana said, pushing down the urge to whistle.
“Is it going to be a problem?” Marianne asked with a defeated sigh.
“For us? No. Probably not.” Emyr said with a shrug as he sat back down next to Alistair.
“Good. Wait. Where’s my coffee?” Marianne asked.
“Shit. I knew we forgot something.” Emyr said with a groan as he tilted his head back.
Liliana stifled another giggle as she made her way back to her couch, listening to Marianne bicker with Emyr as she grabbed a textbook and sighed. The prank had been a good distraction, but it was time to get back to studying and homework.
Liliana couldn’t wait for the end of the semester and the tournament. She much preferred problems she could stab over mathematical equations and dry treaties.