The two royal constables walked past the offices of other professors, arriving at the Elevator - a wonderful amalgamation of teleportation and mental domain. Every time someone entered, they could mark their required item / destination / person in the Academy sigil, in which case they would be teleported to the correct floor and routed through an optimal path. Or, they could project their intent directly, which led to the same thing, but controlled directly by the mage. Only authorized personnel could ever reach the critical parts of the Tower, and professors and staff loved not having students loitering around their residences.

Of course, the Elevator was broken, like other teleportation services. Where there once was nebulous void hanging in the air, now lay a dark entryway to stairs spiralling up and down.

"Ah, so the Gates hide the emergency routes. Genius really." Newman mused.

"That, among other things. Same as the Royal armory, we'll only reach the mundane sections this way. Truly dangerous things don't even exist on this plain."

"Quite fascinating. Remind me to investigate this later. Anyway, where are we headed?"

"I will head to the Hub Ring, see what's the deal. You... you head to the staff floors. Make sure there's no trouble, make friends..."

"The usual then..."

"Remember, never go lower than you have to. Climbing higher will burn through your reserves."

"How much are we talking?"

"For you, about two floors up and you'll need to rest... depends on the floor really. We part here."

Eller pointed to the bright rectangular window hanging in the sea of suffocating darkness they traversed, stepping down, following the wall by touch as it curved towards the said portal.

The scene beyond the window resolved - a hallways of pure white stone, too tall for the confused looking workers milling about, their mouths moving but no sound could be heard.

'Soundproofing intact.' Eller marked on the panel. No more words were exchanged. They had been partners for a long time, have developed a functional system. All communication will be through the shared display from hereon, assuming the communication didn't break down.

She sped up, running now, one hand touching the wall. Testing continued.

'Privacy wards okay.'

'No preceivable structural damage. No signs of intrusion.'

'Wards responsive to requests.'

'Authority levels intact. More data needed.'

Newman's notes appeared in a parallel column

'Floor mana levels stable.'

'Workers equally flummoxed. Need a tally of employees on this floor, and their whereabouts at the time.'

'No staff access to stairway? Following the two suspects. Initiating contact.'

Constable Kim forwarded the Academy staff records for the floor, then walked into the Ring.

It was a circular hall, at the heart of the Tower, well above the classrooms, public areas and storage, and well below the employee and staff quarters. It got the name from the three layers of metallic arches arranged in concentric circles. It was one of the few rooms occupying a whole floor of the Tower.

The outermost ring had 987, a number Kim always wondered about - the Wayhubs in the kingdom were a tenth that number. Each metallic edifice was twice as tall as her, just as wide, with a dark sheen in the dull emergency lights that had come on. A group of mana technicians in their telltale blue uniforms had gathered around in the distance, arguing.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

As she approached, she felt warm - literal heat emanating from a pile of molten metal pooled on the floor. The puddle had reached the two neighboring arches, twisting the pillars into jelly. Atleast the edges had solidified and didn't seem to be expanding.

"What's the condition? Who is in-charge here?" Eller demanded.

"We were discussing that, damn it. And who would you be?" A bearded man raised his voice as he turned to look at her.

"Professor Eller Kim."

"I apologize, Professor, Grumpy Joe is under a lot of pressure. He didn't mean no disrespect." Another technician

"Damn right I am. And don't call me that."

The man ignored the Professor, going back to his grumbling. Professor Kim didn't appreciate being ignored like that. She put extra venom in her tone to reply,

"Magician, I believe I asked you a question. Two in fact."

"Sorry, Professor. We are a bit busy. Old Grumpy and the team will take care of this soon, once we bring the right mold up here. The metal is pretty workable already. No reason to panic, none at all."

"Stop blabbering, Nitwit. Go help them find the damned thing first. And the rune stencils." He turned, "You say you a Professor? Are you good at rebuilding wards then?"

"Define good."

"The founder made these, so better be damned good. Otherwise we can expeet the cursed Southerners and their army marching through here the moment we get this up."

"I see. That's a national threat." She presented here badge, "All decisions go through me from here on. Get the Gate ready, but do not activate it. Now, why is the whole network down."

"It won't start. The space itself is frozen..."

She tried calling her weapons, but couldn't. Same with her armor and paraphrenalia.

'Mass spatial lockdown?'

'Take precautions. Can you access inventory, Newman? Escalate threat level to Violet?'

'I can, barely. Failed a couple attempts. Still Blue.' the reponse arrived after a few seconds.

"... believe it's a safety built into the rings. We'll know once we plumb the damned doohickey."

***

Mirror containment has failed. Cells breached. Requesting backup at DA231-5 from all available combatants.

- Vitaly Butler

***

'Dimensional anomalies at a laboratory, Newman. I'm heading there. Keep an eye out for monsters - wraiths, dokkebis, and other slippery entities.'

She threw a glance at the motley crew collecting molten metal in a crucible.

"Can any of you fight?"

"Why do we need to fight?"

"It's an emergency. A couple missing knuckleheads would not affect your cleaning operation, will it?"

"We ARE doing our part. Not my fault you-"

"Joe, please. Sick Boy and I will go. You take care, alright."

"... whatever."

"Madam, can we arm ourselves atleast? What are we fighting anyway?"

"Hope it's nothing. Professor Butler is already engaged. We are going to back him up."

"Praise the Sisters. The Alien is a scourge of beasts. He won't even need us." the one called Sick Boy murmured.

"Ah, you seem acquainted with him."

"Aye."

"Grab your weapons and meet me at the Elevator. Let's have a chat as we go."

She sent an acknowledgement to Vitaly and made final notes on the way.

More text appeared on the display.

'Is the breach intentional?'

'Has the foreigner finally turned coat?'

'Are there accomplices within the Tower?'