image [https://i.imgur.com/PYdbt0D.png]
After seeing such a terrifying sight, Carmen eventually collected herself. She took a slow, deep breath and, against her better judgment, continued snooping around the room. She scanned a nearby table and found a thin binder with a few sheets of paper inside. Next to it was a small baggie of little purple pills, labeled “Corenium Sultite - Supplement 6.”
Carmen opened the binder and found multiple entries. The list was filled with names from many Harpy, Griffon, and even some Wyvern class students. She gave the list a thorough look and recognized some of the names, including Olivia, but there was something peculiar that she noticed. Of the 265 names listed, 82 of them were red while the other 183 were highlighted with green.
“Red for deceased, green for stable and flourishing. Just what the hell is this!?” Carmen whispered as she read a short excerpt that outlined the results.
Before she could investigate further, her snooping was interrupted by the sound of the door creaking open. Carmen quickly rushed back to her hiding spot and suppressed her presence, hoping no one would notice that she was down here.
She peaked through the opening again and saw Headmaster Quinn slowly hobbling his way down the steps. He reached the bottom and walked over to the table, picking up the binder that Carmen just had. Strangely, the Headmaster began to speak, as though someone were with him.
“Delandy, as much as I appreciate the help of the Watchers, this amount of student loss is a bit concerning. Is there any other way to go about this?” He said with a cautious tone.
Suddenly, a well dressed man wearing an all white mask appeared behind the Headmaster.
“Hmph, I didn’t take you for such a caring person, Headmaster Quinn. Losses are necessary for progress, surely you understand this.” Delandy replied with his typical energetic voice, finding the Headmaster’s feelings to be quite amusing.
“I’m aware of that, but still… These supplements you’ve given me are killing my students.”
Quinn glanced over at Olivia’s dead body as he pondered a few thoughts. His face slowly contorted once his eyes met with hers.
“This girl right here… She came to my office last week and told me that her body was feeling terrible. She asked me what was going on and if there was any way I could help… You know what I told her?” Quinn asked, turning his attention towards the masked man.
Delandy remained silent as he awaited the Headmasters response.
“I told her that she was fine. That she should just keep taking the pills and that her symptoms would pass with time. She took my word for it and never questioned me, never doubted me… And now.. Now she’s dead and it’s disheartening to know that I contributed to that.”
Headmaster Quinn’s voice began to shake as he replayed that moment in his head. Delandy annoyingly crossed his arms and stepped forward, not moved by his story at all.
“Headmaster Quinn, you didn’t force that student to take those supplements. She knew how weak she would be without them and so she relied on the oh so helping hand you extended to her. This girl's own desire for power is what led to her demise, nothing more. Don’t tell me you’re starting to have second thoughts.” He sternly replied, tapping his foot impatiently.
“No, I just-”
Quinn was swiftly cut off as Delandy continued to talk, disregarding his feelings completely.
“You’ve gotten the results you wanted, haven't you? You pleaded for our help to keep LaVeda afloat and thanks to us, you’ve accomplished that ten fold. Your earnings last semester were the highest they’ve been in over four years and yet you pout now? Director Selivus would be most displeased to hear how ungrateful you’re being right now.” Delandy added, his tone growing more serious.
“Ah, no need to inform him of such a blunder! Sorry, we will continue down the path that you all have so meticulously laid out for us, I swear! Forget I said anything!” Headmaster Quinn nervously replied, beginning to sweat from the tension and the heat of the furnace.
“Music to my ears! Everything will go smoothly as long as you continue to have faith in us.”
Delandy playfully tilted his head and placed his hand on the Headmaster’s cheek. Quinn awkwardly nodded, shaking slightly as this man caressed his face like he were a child. Once Delandy removed his hand, the Headmaster began to speak up.
“I’ll trust the process, but… Can you at least provide me with some kind of contingency plan if this does go south? I just really need some peace of mind right now.”
Despite Delandy’s prior reassurance, Headmaster Quinn still had a nervous tremble in his voice. It was clear that he still had significant doubts running through his mind. Delandy shook his head in disappointment and softly sighed before reaching into the inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket.
“Here, take this.” He said, handing the Headmaster a small leather pouch with a purple colored rune inside.
“What is it?”
“This is your contingency plan. Should the contents in this room be discovered and or compromised, simply force your Core Energy into that rune.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“What does this rune do?” Quinn asked as he examined the rock closely, holding it up towards the furnace to get a better look.
“It’ll give you time to make an escape. Everything else that transpires is of no concern to you. Simply disappear and we’ll handle the rest…” Delandy replied with a rather dark tone. Headmaster Quinn quickly nodded and agreed to follow those instructions with the utmost care.
“For your sake and this school’s, I hope you never have to make use of that contingency plan. Now, if that is all, I shall take my leave.”
Delandy stepped back and gave a swift bow, his body perfectly angled in every direction. When the Headmaster blinked, Delandy was nowhere to be seen, completely vanishing from the room.
Headmaster Quinn breathed a sigh of relief and after placing the pouch into his pocket, he took his leave from the room. Once he went up the steps and closed the door, Carmen poked her head out with a shocked expression on her face. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She quickly walked back to the table and picked up the baggie of purple pills, opening it up to examine one of them.
“They’re willingly giving students these pills to make them stronger, even though they’re unstable and deadly!? How sick can these bastards be?”
Carmen gritted her teeth with anger and fear, still stunned that all of this was going on behind the scenes. She put one of the pills into her pocket and looked around.
‘And who was the Headmaster talking to? I couldn’t see his face.’
She continued to rummage through the papers on the table, finding documents about the progress some students made and autopsy information. As she got deeper into the rabbit hole, Carmen couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’ve got to tell someone about this. This isn’t okay at all.” She muttered under her breath.
In her panic, Carmen accidentally bumped into the nearby table and knocked off a couple of glass cups. They shattered loudly as they hit the floor, scattering glass pieces across the room.
Almost immediately, the door swung open and a group of three men rushed down the steps. They saw Carmen standing near the table, her face shrouded from the darkness of her hood. Even though they couldn't make out who she was, her physique was clearly not from someone amongst their group.
“Who’s down there!?! Identify yourself!! They yelled loudly, not pleased at all that someone was snooping around their space. Carmen, startled by their voices, quickly rushed up the steps towards them.
She shoulder checked the one closest to her, knocking him down the stairs with great force. The other two tried to block her exit, but she gravity manipulated them, blasting them through the door and into the wall of the hallway. Carmen jumped over the fallen men and ran as fast as she could, racing down the halls.
The men chased and yelled for her to stop, closing the gap and trying to reach for her hood. Carmen leaned forward and gripped the edge of her cloak, hugging it tightly so they wouldn’t see her face as she exited the building. One of the pursuers aimed his hands towards Carmen, causing multiple green colored chains to fly out from his palms.
Just as the chains reached their target, Carmen dashed to the side and leapt into the sky, flying away from them. She zipped around to the back of the building and over to the other side with deceptively quick speed. Within a few dashes, she had completely lost them.
Carmen swiftly made her way back to her dorm, flying through their open window. When she landed inside, Carmen quickly shut the window and pulled the curtains in front of it. She slowly poked her head over the window sill and saw the men running around aimlessly, having no clue where she went. Carmen leaned up against the wall and tried to catch her breath from the chase. Awoken from the commotion, Elise turned over in bed and sat up, wondering what all the noise was about.
“Carmen? Why are you sitting there?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.
Carmen looked over, still wide eyed about what she saw earlier.
“This school.. It’s.. It’s.. Killing students! Elise, we need to tell people now!” Carmen said, still trying to catch her breath.
Elise raised her eyebrows with surprise and confusion, not following Carmen at all.
“What are you talking about??”
“I saw Olivia dead inside of a bag below the Core Science building. But it wasn’t just her, there were dozens of dead students! It looked like a morgue down there!” Carmen frantically replied, slowly starting to regain her composure.
“Huh!? Are you serious? There’s no way you saw something like that here. Doesn’t make any sense.”
Elise shook her head and began to look a little irritated, wondering if Carmen was playing some kind of joke on her.
“I know what I saw, Elise!!! I’ve never seen that many dead bodies in my life!”
Carmen’s hands began to shake and the expression on her face caused Elise to realize this was no joke. Carmen proceeded to tell Elise everything she found down there, not leaving out a single detail.
“It’s because of these little pills. Apparently they artificially boost your resonance with the Core, but not everyone is compatible with them.”
Carmen took the pill out of her pocket and showed it to Elise, holding it up to the window’s light. Elise immediately recognized it and remembered the little baggie that Olivia had during the midterm.
“I’ve seen people taking these before, but I never knew what they were for or where they got them. Crazy to think that people are dying from them.” Elise said as she leaned back in disbelief.
“The Headmaster has been doing this since the start of the school year and we never knew. It’s so sickening.” Carmen remarked.
“Yeah, can’t believe that friendly old geezer would stoop so low to get more funding for the school. I can’t stand people like him.”
Elise couldn’t help but clench her fist in irritation, finding similarities to her situation with her greedy, gambling addict of a father.
“We’ve got to put a stop to this, no matter what.” Carmen said with a determined tone, quickly getting to her feet.
“For sure, but how? Who do we even tell about this? If the Headmaster and instructors are involved in all this, mentioning it to anyone on staff would be a huge mistake.” Elise replied.
Carmen leaned back and silently thought to herself, however, it didn't take long for her to come up with an idea.
“My sister… I hate to abuse my status as a member of the Royal Family, but surely Azhane can do something about this.”
At this point, Carmen was eager to leave. However, just as she got to the door, Elise stopped her.
“Hey! Where are you going!? You do realize that the men that chased you are probably running all over the place. Message her in the morning when all the students are out and about.” She said with a cautious tone, gripping Carmen’s arm.
“Wait til’ morning?? Are you crazy!? Elise, we’ve got to act now!”
“It’s not safe right now! If you go to the message center right now, they’ll find it suspicious and easily single you out. Use your head, Carmen!” Elise exclaimed, trying to knock some sense into her.
Carmen took a moment and remembered one of the many lessons that Varric taught her.
“In every situation, no matter how severe, always think and gauge everything through. The biggest mistake you can make is to rush into things without all the information. Bide your time and strike at the correct moment.” Varric would often say.
Carmen sighed as she walked back to her bed, taking a seat. She looked at Elise and nodded, assuring her that she wouldn’t rush head first into a situation this serious. They reluctantly went to sleep, feeling eager, yet incredibly anxious for the morning to come.