When they had come for him they knew what he had done.
Bryn may have gotten rid of their bodies but he hadn't cleaned up the crime scene, He hadn't swept away Trey's ashes nor did he wipe up Gilbert blood.
It was obvious that they would come looking for him eventually with all that happened, but it had never occurred to him where they would put him.
“Why in the hell does a school have an actual dungeon?” Bryn mused aloud as he flicked an errant stone at the door to his cell, it flared to light as the stone impacted it before rebounding back in to the wall besides him.
The small cell was made up of old block stone whilst the door was segmented bars, but in opposition to the seeming simplicity of the cell, when triggered, runes not too dissimilar to the ones that he was reading in his specialist class revealed themselves upon the stone blocks whilst a blue barrier appeared between the metal bars.
It had been a few hours since he had been arrested and brought here, The Vice-principle and Eduardo had escorted him part of the way but they had left him after giving him a disappointed look.
“Tch” Bryn winced as he thought back on that, he was disappointed in himself as much as they were.
Bryn knew that what he did last night was exactly what the world was afraid of.
He had only been a Hero for less than a week and he had already lost control twice!
It was becoming fairly obvious that even if he got through this current tribulation, then his future was still going to fraught with the constant danger of losing control, especially with his new mask.
At least before he could feel it coming on, now though, he wouldn't even realise he wasn't in control until the deed was already done.
Bryn perked up from his musing as he heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside of his cell.
With the metallic jangle that came from a key ring holding too many keys, the door opened and in walked a member of the disciplinary corps.
“Get up, It’s time” one of them said before allowing Bryn to move in between the four of them.
Bryn was slow as it wasn't only his hands that were shackled but also his feet, a necessary precaution in an academy that trained Heroes that weren't always 'good'.
The group of five made their way through the halls of the academy, only it was an unfamiliar area that Bryn had yet to explore, few students were about but Bryn was surprised to see a number of adults that could hardly pass for teachers.
Bryn figured they were probably in the guild palace, a place off limits to most students.
The disciplinary group led Bryn to a set of large wooden doors, the first pair opened the doors wide whilst Bryn continued to wall past them and in to the room beyond.
The room was fairly standard, built to replicate a normal courtroom only the box where he would be held was in the centre of the room whilst two tables for the defence and prosecution was in front of it.
Bryn was happy to see that Solomon would be acting as his defence but he was surprised that he wasn't the judge.
As Bryn looked to see who would be passing sentence on him, he understood why Solomon wasn't acting as the judge, or at least one of them.
They were students, maybe a bit older than him, but there was no doubt in his mind that they weren't anything but students themselves.
It brought an entirely new meaning to being judged by his peers.
Bryn was loaded into the 'Dock' and the shackles around his feet were locked to a bar in between his legs.
The Disciplinary members moved off to their own positions whilst Solomon moved over to speak to him.
“How are you doing?” He asked gruffly whilst looking him up and down.
“I'm Fine, the cell lacked a few amenities but other than that It was alright” Bryn tried to joke but the two of them knew that he was just trying to cover up his unease.
“Good, if you can joke about this then you're fine” Solomon said before motioning to move away but Bryn called out for him before he could.
“Wait, who are they?” Bryn asked as he pointed with his shackled hands to them three judges.
“Them, they're the ones that are going to decide your fate” Solomon said as he motioned to each of them individually, “The one on the right with a stoic face is the head of the Disciplinary Corps, she is responsible for enforcing academy rules and presiding over all adjudicator and making sure all Duels are done according to academy rules”
“The one in the centre is the centre is the student body president, He was voted in by the various factions of the academy by a popularity vote, he is in charge of every student at the academy and the head of the disciplinary corps reports to him”
“The one on the left is an independent advisor elected by the academy, a person who the teachers have faith in to act on behalf of the academy and its interest, when necessary he has power equal to that of the student body president” Solomon said before moving back to his table, a motion that signalled that they were ready to start the trial.
“Alright, let’s get this thing started” the president said before motioning for the Disciplinary head to begin.
“Bryn Lockhart, you are accused of breaking and entering, theft, and double homicide, How do you plead” she said and those that had come to watch began to whisper amongst themselves.
Solomon remained silent whilst merely looking at Bryn, his response was clear, what happened next was up to him.
“I... I plead guilty” Bryn said and the room burst into motion, the people in the gallery were no longer whispering but gossiping without remorse, some even began to shout out and condemn Bryn as the monster they thought he was.
Bryn recognised a number of them, especially the girl with tears in her eyes. It was Trey's girlfriend and the rest of his team.
Only Solomon, for some strange reason, smiled.
If anything, he seemed relieved.
“SILENCE!” The president demanded and the room shut up.
“For the crimes of breaking and entering, theft and double homicide, you have confessed to the crimes and have been found guilty, you are sentenced to ...” “Wait” Solomon suddenly called out and disturbed the president from sentencing, something that irked him to no end.
“Vice-Principle Solomon, Do you have any words to weigh in on this matter?” He asked in displeasure, no doubt wanting to pass sentence so he could be done with the trial and gone from here.
“I believe I do; I would like to ask a single question to the accused?” Solomon asked to which the president consented.
“And what is that question?”
“Why? Why did you kill them?” Solomon asked to which the president scoffed.
“Isn't it obvious, he was robbing them and got caught” he spoke but Solomon held up his hand, “I wasn't asking you, I was asking him” he said before pointing at Bryn.
The president was annoyed by Solomon essentially telling him to shut up, but he knew he had no recourse against it so he motioned for Bryn to speak.
With all eyes on him, Bryn told them everything,
“I killed them because they killed me” he spoke and it was fairly obvious that his words had an effect on the crowd.
Whether it was shock or disbelief was for each of them that bore witness to decide.
“Explain” the independent advisor spoke for the first time much to the chagrin of the president.
“Two days ago, when I was on the way back from Rosewater, I was challenged to a Duel by Trey, and it was presided over by Gilbert, only they gave different names at the time”
“Wait, Gilbert isn't one of my people” the Disciplinary head spurted out in mild irritation.
“No, no he is not, but that did not stop him from claiming to be one, nor did it stop him from attacking me whilst acting as one” Bryn said and a look of muted anger appeared of the disciplinary heads face.
“Lies” the president said but before Bryn could say another word, it was Solomon that rose to his defence.
“I'm afraid to tell you that his every word so far has been true, it was my people that found him that night and it is the reason why we were able to know what happened to the two students today, if they hadn't died, then they would have been the ones on trial today”
“Did you know about this?” The president asked the disciplinary head to his side, “No, I did not” she said in a tone that displayed her anger.
“During the duel Gilbert attacked me from behind, he stabbed me in the back whilst I was facing Trey, I went down but they were interrupted by Vice-principle Solomon as he sent someone to investigate when he noticed something was wrong, they were able to rob me of my equipment but they were not able put me down for good” Bryn said whilst rubbing the phantom pain in his chest.
The three conferred for a few moments, Bryn and Solomon shared a look to which he gave Bryn a reassuring nod.
“We have deliberated and understand that the victims have offended you, but revenge is no excuse for murder, or was it that you simply sought to take back what they had taken from you and the loss of life was just a by-product of your actions” She asked with intrigue.
Bryn thought for a second before shaking his head, “I think you are mistaken; I didn't look for them to retrieve what they took, I meant to kill them, or at least I think I did” Bryn said with uncertainty.
“You think you meant to kill them?” the independent advisor asked as he cocked his eyebrow in amusement.
“It's Complicated” Bryn said knowing that his words made little sense.
The independent advisor leant forward for the first time since the trial began and spoke, “I think, giving the circumstances, that you best try to uncomplicate it for us then”.
Bryn stayed silent for a few seconds whilst he gathered his thoughts, the president was unhappy about this but the other two were more than willing to give him the time he needed.
“You know who I am?” Bryn asked to which the three nodded.
“Then you know about who my father is and what he did” he said to which they nodded again.
“Many people have theorised and guessed as to why he did what he did, debated whether it was intentional or not, but one of the most prevalent theories is that he lost control of his [Bloodline], that he went mad”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Well, I can tell you here and now, that that theory is probably true, and that I too, share that [Bloodline]” Bryn said before the room went into hushed whispers forcing the president to restore under again.
“Since coming to the academy, under the guidance of Vice-principle Solomon and Professor Blackwell, it has been brought to light that it is not the entire [Bloodline] that is the problem, but the [Mana Attunement] that comes with it”
“There is something...wrong with it” Bryn said but he was worried about how much to tell, these were secrets that would put facts to the rumours spread about him.
“How So?” the advisor asked again, intrigued at the answer.
“When I first unlocked my Mana, there was an incident in which I went for lack of a better word, mad, I entered a state not too dissimilar to my father at Hong Kong” he said to which a worries look appeared on most of the people in the room.
“But it was quickly dealt with by Professor Blackwell, she placed a seal on my Mana so I could only use so much of it at a time and that seemed to keep it under control” Bryn rushed to say to ease the fear being conjured within their minds.
“So, what changed?” he asked again.
“After the attack I was left with only I single piece of gear left and yesterday, during techniques, I was taught how to use it and It turned out that within it was a power that could affect my [Bloodline] and eliminated the negative effects of my Mana, or at least that was what we thought”
“'We', What do you mean by 'We'” The disciplinary head asked as he focused on that point”.
“Me, Vice-principle Solomon, Professor Espinoza and Professor Blackwell, as soon as I realised what it did I went to them for advice, they turned off the seal they placed on me and I demonstrated the new power and it appeared that no matter how much Mana I had access to that it no longer affected me, that I was free of this curse, but we were wrong” Bryn said as his mind went back to what happened.
The advisor contemplated Bryn's words for a few seconds before asking a question, “let me ask you this, do you believe that if the seal still remained, that you would have killed them”.
“...I don't know” Bryn answered honestly to which each person in the room reacted in their own way, “but” Bryn continued, “I believe I would have done it differently”.
The judges talked amongst themselves now that all that had needed to be said had been, they would make their decision and he would have to abide by it, one way or another.
After a few minutes, the three judges were done.
It was the Disciplinary head that spoke.
“The 4th rule of the academy is quite clear, that no matter what either side has done, there shall be no murder committed by students outside of official duels”
“...however, as per the defendants testimony, not only did the victims act against the defendant, they had knowingly impersonated a member of the disciplinary corps in the attempt to rob and murder the defendant, furthermore the defendant has admitted to being under the influence of a power through no fault of his own, a power that was contained and controlled until being released without proper due care”.
“By a judgment of Two to Three, This court finds the defendant not guilty due to being influenced by a power beyond their control, however, the threat that the defendant represents cannot be ignored, it is our judgment that the seal be reinstated and the influence measured to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defendant is in full control of his future actions” she advised before those in the galley that wanted him to pay started to curse at both the judges and Bryn.
The president rose and left as quick as he could whilst the Disciplinary head tried to regain order, the independent adviser merely looked on as the Disciplinary corps unlocked his shackles and led him out to a room where the seal could be reinstated without an audience.
Solomon was waiting for him in the room but he was not alone, both Eduardo and Professor Blackwell was there as well.
“You kill two people and what defence do you give, 'It was all Professor Blackwell's fault” Professor Blackwell complained from where she was sat.
Bryn went to apologise but when he noticed the smile on her face he stopped.
“Don't worry about it, you were right, I should have done more tests to make sure nothing was wrong before I let you go” she said as she got up and walked over.
“I'm sorry about this” she said sincerely before reaching for his hand and reapplying the seal so it would only let a half of his Mana though.
“how do you feel?” she asked to which Bryn let out a relieved sigh.
“Better simply for knowing the seal is in place otherwise no different than five minutes ago” Bryn said as he observed the glow of the seal.
“What happens now?” Bryn asked as he looked around the room and noticed the two rings he had taken from Trey and Gilbert on the table.
Solomon noticed his gaze and before Bryn could reach out to take them, he took them himself.
Bryn gave him a confused look that asked a question without saying any words.
“you may have been judged not guilty by them, but do you really believe that you are innocent, that you deserve to profit from your actions” Solomon said before dangling the two rings in front of Bryn.
Bryn thought on Solomon words and looked away in shame before gathering his resolve.
“You're right, just give me what is mine from them then do as you please with the rest” Bryn said but Solomon merely shook his head.
“As far as I'm concerned there is nothing in here that belongs to you” He said before turning to walk away.
Shocked, Bryn looked around for an ally to this injustice but he saw in the eyes of the other two that there were not on his side.
“This is unfair! They are mine and without them I'm defenceless” Bryn complained righteously to which Solomon turned and roared back, “Fair, you dare speak to me about what is fair!, you who snook into the room of children and killed them in the dead of night, you have no right to dictate to me about what is right nor do you get to complain about being 'defenceless', you fate is of your own making” Solomon sneered in contempt before brushing past Bryn's Shoulder on his way out of the room.
Bryn looked down at the ground in what appeared to be shame, but it was in fact a cold rage.
His eyes shifted to and fro as he took in his subtly took in his surroundings.
Off to the side, on a lone table was a dagger.
It was within range; he could easily make it to the dagger and drive it into the old man's back before he even knew what was going on.
With a sly smile, Bryn took a step towards the dagger and stopped.
His body was paralysed, he could not move.
“Did you get it” Solomon asked as he turned around to Bryn with a cocky smile on his face.
“I got it” Professor Blackwell said but her voice did not come from where she was standing but from right next to him.
Bryn watched as the image of the professor faded, only to be replaced with a large magic array that's centre was directly below his feet, and Professor Blackwell stood right beside him, another array within her hands only this time focused on his head.
The seal on his arm flared to life and started to rotate as the power of the seal increased, Bryn could feel the desire within his mind drop with every turn of the dial until he realised his actions and what he had planned and wanted to do.
He was able to recognise the masks desire for revenge influencing him, and it was at that point did the dial upon the seal stop rotating.
Bryn was suddenly realised from the spells control and Professor Blackwell had backed away with cheeky laugh, “You're can handle 30% so this entire situation isn't a total loss” she said.
Bryn wanted to ask what was going on but it wasn't hard to figure out.
It had all been a test, but unlike before, they couldn't just adjust the seal based upon his physical response to his Mana levels as there were none, they had to trigger it first, hence Solomon's words and actions.
“So, what you said before?” Bryn asked Solomon to try and figure out if what he said was his true feelings or not but in response to his actions, Solomon merely tossed the two rings in his hand over to Bryn who caught them.
“I apologise young Bryn but a little trick was in order for all of this to work, and as for what I said, whilst there is a little bit of truth in my words know that to be a Hero, it is sometimes required to sneak into the room of the strong in the dead of night to see justice done, it is only unfortunate that you had to discover this at such a young age” Solomon said with a shake of his head.
Bryn held the two rings in his hand and was lost in both their beauty and his thoughts “are these truly mine then, is that okay?” he asked as Solomon's earlier words came back to play in his mind.
“Bryn, do you remember what the school motto is?” Solomon asked but it took a second for Bryn to remember as it was said in a language foreign to his own.
“Para bellum, det illis infernum”
“..and what does it mean?”
“‘Prepare for war, Give them Hell’”
“yes, that is what it means in our language but I'm asking what does it truly mean?”
Bryn thought for a moment and remembered what professor Kane had told them all in class.
“Train your mind, body and spirit for war and when it comes, hold nothing back” Bryn said to which Solomon nodded.
“I'm guessing it was professor Kane that gave you that definition of the school motto” Solomon said to which Bryn nodded.
“Prepare for war, Give them Hell” “When the Headmistress proposed using that saying as the school motto, I asked her why, and you know what she said” Solomon asked rhetorically.
“She told me that it represented both her time as a Hero, but also her time as a child, you see, she was like many of the students here, her parents were notorious figures within the Heroic community and for that reason she was refused entry into any of the academies at the time, she had lost her parents at a young age and had little in the way of an inheritance from her parents but for enemies in which they left her many” he said before letting the words that rang true with Bryn to settle in.
“However, she never gave up, if they weren't going to teach her then she would teach herself, if they were going to get in her way then she would use whatever means to make them pay for it dearly” Solomon said as he raised his fist.
“Para bellum, det illis infernum, in her own words, it means 'as long as you deserve it, there is no such thing as an underhanded trick to achieve your goal”
“Those two rings contain things that you will need in the future, you're list of enemies only grows longer but your strength is still yet to reach the level of fending off a single person on that list” Solomon said as he gestured to the rings but his words had an underlying meaning to them which Bryn was able to pick up.
Solomon noticed this and gave a chuckle, “even if you were under the effects of the mask's influence, you killed two people, people who had friends and loved ones, backers and masters, they may be dead but you have only led yourself into further danger”
It hit Bryn like a brick wall, he remembered stalking Trey, he remembered the team he belonged to and the girl he was with, He had no doubt that they would seek revenge for their comrade.
As for Gilbert, he had no doubt that he was In a similar situation, if not a more nefarious one.
Bryn clenched his fist with the rings still in his palm, his resolve to use them to further his strength broadening,
“Good” Solomon said as he noticed this, “Oh and for future knowledge, every teacher and adjudicator carries one of these” Solomon said as he retrieved a charm that was hanging from his belt, it was a cast iron sigils that depicted a black rose, “This is what gives us the right to adjudicate duels, if you challenge an adjudicator to produce theirs and they do not do so, then they are not an adjudicator and you are not required to accept the duel until a real adjudicator has been obtained, and before you ask, they are enchanted so it is a lot more difficult to fake them than it is the clothing of the disciplinary corps” Solomon said before putting it away.
“Now, Head back to your room as classes are already done for the day” Solomon said before following the other two teachers out.
Bryn remained there for a moment longer, he took in the room and the court as he followed behind them, he had no doubt that he would be seeing that room again in the future.
Bryn made it back to his room unmolested by those that would do him harm, it was still a bomb site after the happenings of the night two days back.
It took only a few minutes for him to clean it up.
He brought the desk chair before his bed and had a seat, in front of him was two rings.
On the left was the ring from Trey.
On the right was the ring from Gilbert.
*sigh*
“let's do this” Bryn said before picking up Trey's ring and putting it on.
Bryn looked through the ring for several minutes, every now and then he would pull something out from it and place it neatly on the bed before switching over to Gilbert's ring once he had looked through it all.
It took a while for him to check through both rings but he was eventually done.
He must say, the loot he had obtain from the lifesaving of two third years wasn't bad.
He could understand the lure of why people would steal.
Trey was a melee fighter that focused on head-to-head combat, his ring being only low tier, was only large enough to contain his primary gear, a number of secondary weapons, emergency supplies and camping equipment.
As for Gilbert, he was also a melee fighter but he was more like a rouge, he attacked from the shadows or when his opponent least expected it, something the Bryn could attest to.
He had a set of leather armour, six daggers, a set of throwing knives and supplies much the same as Trey.
Only two things were different, he had a number of vials that Bryn was sure, considering Gilbert's personality, were to ill effect, and surprisingly, he had an unused tier 2 token.
There weren't many students that could resist the lure of spending a token as soon as they received one after returning from a mission, very few students kept tokens unless they planned on using them to barter for goods outside of the system.
As for what quality and tier the equipment was of, Bryn was left without an answer, he had heard of people obtaining a skill that would let them [identify] items to know their purpose, but it was a skill that he did not possess, yet.
As for the actual gear, most of the stuff he had obtained was probably unusable by him.
One of the problems with buying gear straight from the system was that it perfectly fit the buyer, and neither Trey nor Gilbert were of a similar body shape to Bryn.
With the loot checked, he had one last thing to investigate.
He drew mana into his gauntlet and checked within he space to confirm his suspicion. Where there was one soul, there was now three.
Human Soul [Gilbert Flanagan]
Tier 2
Soul Rank: Red
Potential: Common
Death Contract: Compatible
Human Soul [Trey Jones]
Tier 2
Soul Rank: Red
Potential: Common
Death Contract: Compatible
Bryn had suspected that he had the ability to do as much, but now that it had been confirmed, he wasn't quite sure how to feel about it.
For now, he decided to take his mind off it so for the next few hours Bryn sorted through his newly acquired gear, checking to see what he could use, what fit, and what he would have to sell.
Sleep came hard that night, but it did come.
Only it was not to last.
Bryn was awoken by thump in the night, his door flashed with magic whilst voices that weren't there before now echoed from the other side.
Someone was trying to get in.
*Thump*
*Thump*
*Thump*
The door held but Bryn knew better than anyone, the barrier protecting it was not unbreakable.