Arran collapsed to his knees staring at the sword tip sticking out of his chest in shock. The scene around him was something straight out of nightmare; the battlefield littered with dozens of bodies in every direction. Some killed with blades and enchanted bullets but most were burned, crushed or simply torn apart with eldritch power. The final clashes between Arran and the most powerful attackers hadn't even spared nature, the ground was filled with craters massive trees reduced to splinters. Power of this scale was far beyond what human practitioners were supposed to be able to achieve, even with a lifetime of dedication, let alone a student barely past his first year at the mystic academy should posses. The Sidhe attackers who thought their force, led by six of the vaunted asuras, was complete overkill had been slaughtered to the last.

After the initial shock faded Arran attempted to remove the sword but to his horror a strange energy emanated from the blade disrupting his soul and will preventing him from summoning more than a trickle of power. After the attempt at removing the blade failed Arran looked again at the object of his demise before slowly turning his head around, praying he wouldn't find what he expected. As his view shifted a figure of a young man around nineteen or twenty wearing the signature black and silver uniform of the academy came into view. He was thin, slightly below medium height sharp angular features and before the last ten seconds a man Arran trusted with his life. Feelings of denial, betrayal, anger and sorrow rushed through him he looked past the backstabber and received another blow. Slightly behind but clearly on the same side was a beautiful girl, one he had pulled out of the gutter five years ago granting her a future with status, wealth and power, yet she too had betrayed him.

A coughing fit came over him as he opened his mouth to speak the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. As the fit passed Arran spit the remaining blood out of his mouth and took a ragged breath before in a rasping voice, barely more than a whisper, forcing out a single word "why".

"Isn't it obvious" Darius, the male traitor said in a harsh tone. "look around you, dozens of Sidhe attacked from every direction. They even had six asuras, it should have been enough to kill us a thousand times over, but you crushed them like it was nothing" he said in a voice filled with anger and something else Arran couldn't identify. Even more, confused by the answer Arran responded: "you'd rather we died". "You still don't get it do you," Darius raged his voice rising nearly to a shout, "You're a high adept, already close to attempting the first shattering. I don't care how gifted you're supposed to be no one could reach that point this at our age naturally".

Pausing from his rant the traitor stepped forward and reached into the small pack on Arran's back pulling out two exquisitely crafted disks. they were obsidian black covered in a complex layer of silver lines forming a very special Aether circuit. "These can guarantee success in a shattering and support one through the entire ourobouros cycle, but instead they’re hidden away in secret vaults in the name of research only to reappear when you or some other scion of the high families attempt to enter the ouroboros cycle. Just like I'm sure you used all sorts of goodies to progress so quickly" Darrius continued. Arran sneered as responded, "pathetic jealousy you think I'd use something like that. Anyone that uses that won’t complete more than five cycles and will never progress after becoming a master."

Not waiting for Darius to respond he continued "I don't deny the high families aren't above using a toy like that to help the more useless family members but the gifted ones would sooner cut off a hand than use that thing". "Bullshit," Darius interrupted "there hasn't been a new addition to the High families in decades because you lot a monopolizing all the resources and knowledge if I had the same support you do I'd be as strong or stronger than you". "Spoken like a weakling," Arran responded with venom. "Even the high families haven't produced a high master in over a decade. The path to reach that level is brutal and several of the practitioners that showed the potential to walk it were killed by the Sidhe. They have been adapting. The old ways of suppressing them are getting less effective and their numbers are increasing. One of their favorite strategies is targeting our most gifted through their cultists while they are still young. They almost got me when I was only ten. I'm sure that's why they were willing to work with you when you contacted them".

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After finishing his retort, Arran launched into another coughing fit spitting out even more blood. He could feel his lungs filling up, his vision was beginning to blur he could tell he wouldn't last much longer. "Self-important to the end," Darius sneered. Arran smiled up at his would-be murderer, "they'll know the second I die, in fact, they knew as soon as I was fatally wounded," drawing another increasingly painful breath he forced himself to continue. "This was supposed to be a clean run the sidhe settlement was detected by satellite and wiped out with missiles. the route was scouted by drone ahead of time. That's why they let a bunch of first years go through the ruins with no supervision. No one expected us to find shattering disks in that place. the settlement was small".

Darius laughed "we are too far away for anyone to help you and by the time they get here I'll be gone and so will any evidence. The other groups met the same ambush we did but none of them have your power. So, they're all dead and the Sidhe should have already set off a chiikka swarm to cover their own tracks which will also cover ours." Darius said with a smug grin before continuing, "the only uncertainty in my plan was whether or not you could take out the sidhe ambush. The force they sent was even stronger than I expected. Obviously, I didn't tell them you were a high adept. if they had been able to kill you, they'd have killed us too. Fortunately, you were even stronger than Helen said". As he finished the beautiful girl stepped forward and took his hand. "Ahh, so you told him," Arran said looking at the girl "how did you find out?" he asked, "only my parent's, Jax and the chancellor were supposed to know". Helen gave him a cold look before responding, "please I've been sleeping with you for two years how could I not, still you ended up being even stronger than I realized. I didn’t think even high adepts had that kind of power".

Arran grimaced at the answer, "After everything I did for you what caused you to betray me, him?" Arran said glancing over at Darius. Her expression grew even colder, "what I should have been grateful and loyal after you recognized my talents took me in off the streets had me fed given pretty clothes and a nice room and had me trained a practitioner?" Helen said with venom. "I was at first until a year of proper eating, medicine and aether training filled me out." She said "At that point I worshipped you a little effort and I really would have fallen for you. The couple weeks after we started sleeping together were the happiest of my life. Till I found out that you were still hooking up with a half dozen other girls. That’s when I realized I meant nothing to you. That I was just another one of your little whores."

Arran looked at her, "did you think you were going to be more," he said. "your psionic and spiritual talents are decent compared to most, but to me and my family its nothing. At any time you could have said no and walked away. You could still have even attended the academy it was your choice to stay even when you knew the cost". Helen's frozen expression betrayed nothing, but a single tear rolled down her cheek. After finishing His latest retort Arran collapsed to the ground propping himself up on his elbows. Darius sighed and looked at Helen "forget about him he's dead and no-one will ever know how or why. As for us, we need to get out of here before we run into any more Sidhe or worse a rescue party. The chiika swarm will handle any evidence and we can disappear without worry". After finishing he yanked the sword out of Arran's back and began walking away with a gentle tug Helen followed him. As they walked away Darius glanced over his shoulder and grinned at Arran who was lying prone on the ground no longer support himself. As he watched them walk away Arran attempted to summon the power to save himself but even with the disrupting blade removed he was too far gone and couldn't focus. As such, Arran scion of the great House of Wren, possibly the most gifted practitioner humanity had ever birthed, and a talent they desperately needed lay helpless watching his murderers walk away. As his vision faded, he held on to one thought. You two will not get away with this. You thought you knew all my secrets but I have one remaining and it will be the end of you. With that darkness consumed him.