It looked like the entire Academy had gathered up in the main hall. It was packed. For the first tie, Michael saw more upper year students than first year ones. Everyone not in their first year at Gnosis seemed to be seated according to their factions, Michael begun to see. Oh, the upper years still mostly claimed the hall’s wings, leaving the center of it for the freshmen, but if you knew enough facts, you started to get the picture.
Bob sat with Michael, with a core of young martials gathered up around them. It amused Michael to no end that his own Ascentionalists had to form the second ring around them. Which was probably the reason his faction looked sour and the Martials looked proud. Still, hat was politics and Michael had not time for politics this evening.
In one of the wings, he saw Erea and Alex sitting with more senior martials, the two having had waved at him. He saw Melissa too, but didn’t make contact with her. She looked dour and reserved. The people around here looked bookish, so Michael thought they were more likely to be Artificers then her true shadowy faction. He still gave them a subtle glance every once in a while.
So, yes. It looked like the entirety of Gnosis was there that night. Well… maybe not everyone. Michael saw a few figures that looked a lot like badly made illusions. Placeholders. And he knew that not even Regitris could manage to convince the most sullen and stubborn members to attend, student or otherwise. But looking at the reflection on the ceiling, he saw an immense crowd, flickering light denoting auras of every kind.
And his lycan friend?
He was on the stage. Which wasn’t an actual stage, it actually being the place where the teachers and professor and high rollers ate. Their own private section. Yet for tonight, they had cleared it, perhaps as a sign of respect. Nine lycan’s stood there, all of different ages. They were quite a way’s away, but Michael thought Micah looked rather uncomfortable. Or maybe he was just bored with how long this was taking. After all, a true celebration would be held this night and Michael could bet his friend would be interested in that. But first, the excruciatingly boring traditions.
“I believe we are about to start.” Bob said.
“Why do you think that?”
In response, Bob just pointed at a tall figure walking towards the stage, hand on the shoulder of another lycan.
Huh. Guess they really wanted at least ten of them on display.
Or perhaps they wanted all of them, but that’s all she managed to get. And it was a she. Michael had half expected for Regitris to be the master of ceremonies for this… thing. But not, perhaps the magic over nature elf wasn’t the best person suited to the task. No, indeed, the tall woman walking on stage right now was the better fit.
Ravena took center point, as the last lycan got in line. The hubbub died down immediately after she took down the hood of her dark green cloak. Michael had to say this for the Naturalists’ head. She was something. The dark blue swirl of color on her cheeks had changed to lines. Almost like eye-shadow, they pulled under her eyes and draped down her cheeks, in twin narrow bands. She could be described as beautiful, true, but even more than the elven unnatural beauty, Ravena could also be described as terrible. Tall, dark and powerful. Not even thirty years old, Michael thought, though she must have been much older than she looked.
I wonder if Regitris ever tried his hand at her.
“Welcome, students and member of Gnosis both. I am Ravena. I am first among those who cherish nature above all else here at Gnosis. And for those keeping track, I am not the focus of this night’s celebration.” She smiled.
A few polite chuckles could be heard throughout the room.
“This day is known to us as Moon Day. To the ones it honors, it is known as Change Day. A fitting name perhaps. Ah. I see some among you that have changed your expressions. No, do not school your face back into a polite mask. My eyesight is better than that. And I do not forget. But neither will I take action. What use would it be to me or those on stage to light anew the embers of wrath?”
“She’s a much better speaker than I thought.” Bob muttered.
“Got jokes too.” Michael said. “Better than Regitris in that regard.”
“No. Instead I will remind you all of why we celebrate. Of why we gather here today to look upon the members of a species, gathered up on this meagre stage. So that both knowledge and gratitude will endure for at least one more year.”
She gestured at the ones behind her and Michael saw a couple of polite smiles and nods, but that’s it. It didn’t look like any of the lycans were having a great time. He supposed being the focus of a celebration officially intent on gratitude, but which also reminded others of your horrifying past and reminded yourself of the social stigma you carry couldn’t ever be described as fun.
Then again, the risk of reverting to a more primitive, monstrous, hated form of your species probably also puts a dampener on how nice you could be feeling.
It was this last though that have Michael the chills. He tried to ignore the feeling, ignore the paranoia, but… No. It couldn’t happen like this. The things that happened until now, the team finding a bunch of artifacts, them running into a golem, Gnosis itself leading him to a secret faction meeting… ok, so maybe they weren’t coincidences, but if it was something dubious, then it only affected him. It hammered away at his luck and fate. Michael… really hoped nothing would happen with Micah. Book or not, he just… no.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Thankfully, Ravena’s voice carried him back out from his thought.
“…barbaric. Savage. Yet they were forces of nature themselves. No, do not think I am trying to salvage their reputation. My own faction fought against them. I say this only for you to understand that those standing behind me, their ancestors, their race… they fought against their own kin, even at a disadvantage. Even after they undertook a ritual that changed them completely. That made them weaker. After all that, they still fought. They have suffered. And suffer still.”
Her last sentence was spoken with a cold voice, her smile having died and her eyes piercing a point in space. Michael followed her gaze and noticed she was more or less looking at Regitris. Who was in the back, sitting at a floating table, surrounded by high mages of his faction. His eyes were also cold.
I’m guessing there’s something more here to uncover.
“Yet, I will not bore you with the sadness of the present. Even though it is very much real and those behind me suffer from it. After all, we might disturb someone other than lycans and that would just be a shame, wouldn’t it?” the woman said, grinning viciously. “No, what I will say is this. Today we honor them. We hoor the lycans here at Gnosis and everywhere else. And like every year, for them, we bend one of our rules. You all know that Gnosis sits in a realm of its own. There is no sky and no moon. No starts, because of this. Yet once per year, we bend our rule. We allow a vision of the moon. For those who swore away their past under its light. Lycans. Turn!”
The ten lycans on stage turned, as the wall behind them turned transparent. And Michael saw the sky behind Gnosis, dark as it was, begin to light up. A light was rising above the horizon, slowly, but much faster than in the real world, given the relatively small size of this realm. It took only a minute for the full moon to be seen completely in the sky. It looked just like the one from Kelunad’s memory, only… realer. Different than the one from Earth, but much more real. Material. Its light touched Michael, like he didn’t think the genuine artifact could.
“Thank you for your time, lycans and Gnosis both.” Ravena said, voice solemn. “Now, I believe I saw a few of you dozing off. Wake up! Tonight, we eat and drink and be merry! For lycans! And for the Change Day!”
“For lycans!” a number of voices went up, including Michael’s and Bob’s as well.
The woman and flinched. Only Michael’s eyes caught the movement at first, but in moments he heard a lot of murmurs around him. He saw what she was seeing. And what sh0e was seeing…
No.
No, this isn’t fair.
“Bob.” He said and pointed.
All the lycans had stopped. More than stopped, they had just… frozen. Some half-way turned, others mid-step. Micah himself had turned all the way, hands in his pockets. But other than this, they all had one more thing in common.
They all wore expressions of pure fear.
“What is that?” Bob asked.
“No idea. But it can’t be good.”
Ravena seemed to be deciding on something, her eyes glancing between the lycans and the crowd, before she finally decided and acted. She flicked her hand and a barrier emerged, separating the scene from the hall. It was enormous, but…. weak? It seemed so. It certainly only blurred the image.
But if the crowd hadn’t spotted the odd event, outside a few exceptions, they had certainly spotted that. The sound turned from murmurs, to chattering, to almost yelling.
“Silence!” a voice boomed, commanding.
All sounds died down. It wasn’t even a Spell, but they did. Michael saw why in a second. The head of his faction was striding forward and he looked not at all like a nice old elf. He was clad in different layers of magical solid light, reminiscing of an armor. Auras warred with each other to cloak him and his hands glowed with enough intensity to make them unnoticeable, except as crackling white halos.
“All students will return to their rooms. All professor will aide them in doing so. Faction heads and mages of influence will also help. Once the hall is cleared, it’s exit will be sealed with the strongest Spells you know. I would appreciate haste.”
People started to move, some even running, spurned by the powerful elf, but a lot were dragging their feet. Especially the Martials, who didn’t look like they wanted to take orders from Regitris.
“NOW!” he bellowed, a lick of magical flame splitting a nearby table.
That got them moving. Yet Michael couldn’t help, but worry for Micah. He moved, but is eyes were still on the blurring shield. Inside he could see Ravena moving. But not much else.
“Michael.” Bob suddenly said. “Look!”
Bob was pointing at… the ceiling. Why would he-
Of course!
The ceiling was a mirror. A magical one. Michael looked and… his heart nearly stopped. He saw the auras from the ten students. Not from Ravena herself, who must have cloaked it. But from the lycans. Micah’s magical energy looked alright, if a little on the small side. Most of them looked good. Except for one. One of the students had a magical aura that kept growing and growing. It looked to be flickering, like a a column of fire. And it looked vaguely like a wolf.
At least it’s not Micah.
He wanted to mentally slap himself the second after. Yes, it wasn’t his friend that was probably turning into a werewolf, but some poor soul was. And Micah was still in danger. Ravena looked to have been trying to get the other lycans to move, before giving up. Each time she tried, the aura ‘sparked’ and her Spells failed. She was not simply layering Spells over herself and the changing lycan.
Unfortunately, while Michael could see and process this and not freak out too much. Others didn’t either. But a young redheaded girl in his year seemed to be more easily frightened. She saw where quite a few mages were glancing, looked up herself and screamed.
“Werewolf!” she shrieked and pointed.
Which caused more people to look up and… well. The stampede that followed was hard even for Bob to stand up in. It was only thanks to him that Michael didn’t get swept up.
“Narh!” Regtris bellowed. “Have them clear the door. We can’t afford a clog. We need them all out as soon as-“
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. A monstrous roar was heard and the next thing Michael saw was Ravena flying thought her barrier, breaking it to pieces. She landed at Regitris’s feet, from where she unceremoniously stood up. Unhurt, but clearly warry.
“We have a werewolf.” She said.
“I have noticed.” Regitris replied.
This… this was bad. The hall still had about a third of its students inside, though more were getting out every second. Yet, those that remained were guarded by a veritable mage wall of experienced magic users. And in front of the, the heads of two of the most powerful factions stood guard. They were still safe. These were still Regitris and Ravena. They would-
A second roar came and Michael saw both their magical protections wink out of existence. Even in the back of the hall, a lot of shield and Spells simply died out.
What… what was that?
He got his answer a second later. Stepping through the now crumbling barrier, Michael saw a real to life werewolf. And behind him he saw the lycans, standing in a half circle. Micah too.
And he saw them kneeling.