"Go away." The irritated Spirit demanded for the fourth time.

"No chance" Cal vigorously shook his head. "you've seen what's out there. Total anarchy."

"In here" The Spirit's voice, dripping with malevolence, reverberated throughout the temple. "is a being beyond your understanding rapidly losing its tolerance of your presence."

"And I can deal with that." Cal disregarded the grumpy attitude. "I can't deal with the fancily dressed yet rabid creatures who have taken over campus."

"They're brats with clipboards."

"That's a gross simplification." Cal responded, mirroring the words spoken by it in their last encounter. "Care to expand on that?"

"No." The Spirit gruffed, crossing its arms over its chest. "Go, stay in your room if you have to."

"That's not an option." He refused, leaning against a pillar.

Cal could admit to himself when he was wrong. Admitting it to other people? Namely, Alice whose warnings he'd also laughed off?

Not a chance. Even if this Quinquennial, whatever they called it, turned out to be more than he bargained for.

"Run past them" The Spirit argued. "none of them can catch you."

"In broad daylight? Cal scoffed. "I'm trying to be subtle."

"Subtle? Ah, we see. You're an idiot."

"Hey!" Cal raised his voice "I'm at least average intelligence."

"We agree." The Spirit nodded with its eyes closed. Rubbing its chin in thought. "Nui was right, your race was a mistake."

"And yours is extinct" Cal bit back. "Wait hold up, you knew Nui?"

Logically, he understood this thing was old enough to have interacted with the gods. That didn't stop it from being jarring when it brought one up in casual conversation.

"Not in any way you can comprehend." There was a strange air about it as it seemed to reminisce.

"But you did. Was he your creator or are you a natural born?"

To Cal's knowledge, there were two types of spirits.

Naturals were those who could come to life anywhere the magic was dense enough. After the Fall, they ceased to be born. For those existing, the concentration of magic in the world was thrown into chaos and many found themselves tied to lands unable to sustain them. They either slowly withered away or were killed by ambitious parties.

The other grouping was created by the gods and said to be more powerful than their counterparts. By all accounts, they had gone down with their creators.

Cal couldn't peg which category this one fell under.

"Have some class, we've smited people for asking such intrusive questions."

"Too bad you already blew your best shot at that."

A few strands of hair drifted to the floor, having been cut by a blade of wind. Cal hadn't moved, knowing they'd not harm him.

The Spirit's voice followed.

"Your lack of self-preservation is truly astonishing."

Cal wasn't impressed by the childish display.

"What's astonishing is thinking that would intimidate me. We pretty much tore the building apart last time and that was with you reinforcing it. We're fellow monsters, if we went at it for real there's no telling what would be left standing. Unless you want to try that again you can drop the theatrics."

The two parties stared at each other, unblinking.

"I did know him, in ages past. Always a contentious one, he could never be satisfied."

"Weren't they all?" Cal didn't know much about the dead god, only that it was the youngest of them. "What caused them to go crazy on each other in the first place?"

The surroundings shuddered. It came off to him as more of an involuntary motion than the prelude to another attack.

"Shit. Too soon? Sorry."

He apologized, conscious that he may have overstepped. Perhaps time didn't heal all wounds.

"Has anyone ever told you, you're rude for a human." It responded, the atmosphere eased but it sounded more tired than before.

"Plenty of times, usually not to my face. How about you?"

"Never" the word was emphasized with a loud crack whose source was not readily apparent. "to our face, that is."

"You're rude" Cal felt privileged to be able to provide a new experience to such an old existence.

"Delightful." The Spirit drolled "We'll forward that to our complaint department."

"While you're at it, you should put up a suggestion box. I got some myself, let in some natural light, and chill with all the fog. Do that and this place will be a lot more inviting."

The Spirit snapped its fingers and the few torches that lit the area were snuffed out.

"Has it occurred to you, that our intent is the opposite?"

"I try to see the best in people, or Spirits." The Spirit's cloudy eyes appeared in his thoughts "I understand if you have trouble with that."

"You're a thousand years too young to pass a lie by us." It ignored his joke. "Now unless you want to help with the extra work you put on us. Leave. If you need to hide so badly do it in the library. That place is off limits for recruiting."

"Really?" Cal perked up. "If you're nodding I can't see anything because you took out the lights." The Spirit had already gone incorporeal, Cal was just messing with it.

Its response was a violent gale that swept him off his feet. He tumbled towards the entrance, stopping just short of it.

"Fine fine." Cal dusted himself off. "Thanks for the help." He waved goodbye to the darkness.

It had taken his suggestion of monitoring the comings and goings of people poorly. The important part is he got it to agree, mostly. It was going to try and that's all he could ask.

It truly was doing his job for him. Cal was going to miss it when he left. It was freeing, to be able to talk so openly. Sans Federation matters of course.

It was somewhat similar to interacting with Millie, Mask, and Albert. Somewhat, there was something different about it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He shrugged the thought off, attributing it to weird Spirit stuff.

The outside of the registration building was mercifully deserted. He didn't let that lull him into a sense of complacency and augmented his senses. The world getting brighter, louder, and more alive. He sorted through the deluge of information

He breathed a sigh of relief. The coast was clear. He forwent the regular paths, opting to either cut across the grass or take roundabout trails. He walked with his head down, hands in his pockets.

It worked, for a while.

"Hi!" Someone fell into stride beside him. He was pretty sure they'd jumped down from a tree. "I noticed you didn't have a club pin. Have you thought about joining the wine aficionados club? We're the premier wine club on campus and boast a collection of bottles dating back to the thirtieth Emperor's reign!"

"No thanks" Cal tried to brush the student off. "I don't drink."

"Yet." The student cheerfully corrected "You don't drink yet. Now come on, our club room isn't far. We'll show you all the perks that come with joining."

The 'we' was no slip of the tongue. Cal had already discovered several presences concealing themselves further up the path.

The student's hand went for his wrist, intent on dragging him along. Cal's right hand left his pocket, clutching something. He flung it into the student's face.

They gave a cry in shock as the heated pocket sand proved super effective. Cal bolted off the path. Gaining as much distance as he could before the student's accomplices figured out what was happening.

The altercation did not go unnoticed and they soon gave chase. Others joined them, unaffiliated with his previous assailants if the altercations that broke out were any indication.

Predators all the same though.

He wasn't planning on sticking around while they sorted out their differences, vaulting into the trees he used them for cover before he reached a building that he scaled.

Cresting the roof, he froze as half a dozen eyes met his. The building must have had dampening wards active.

He slowly backed away, trying to forestall any reaction.

One of the students who had been adjusting a telescope spoke up.

"Hi, are you interested in joining the Astronomy- "

Cal didn't let him finish, he spotted a pile of papers on a desk and hurled a ball of fire towards it.

He sprang away, hearing frantic shouts behind him. They didn't follow.

Did he overreact?

No. It was not only daytime but that those telescopes were pointed AT campus, not the sky. It had been a lookout nest.

He scanned the buildings and landmarks in the distance. Orientating himself back in the direction of the library.

He was getting close. Close to safety.

—

This had been the busiest he'd ever seen the library. Which wasn't saying much since his grand total of visits numbered one. Even so, the nervous energy everyone carried themselves with told him this was not the norm. His eyes roamed the floor, most of the seating areas were already taken. He noted some students seated in peculiar locations behaving strangely.

This was ridiculous.

For lack of better options, his steps carried him to the only section of this place he'd visited before. It was as desolate as it had been before, meaning there was one other person here.

"Mia." Cal greeted, sliding into a chair opposite the student engaging in her favorite and maybe only activity.

"Callum." She returned.

He thought that would be all he'd get out of her but was shortly proven wrong.

"Skipping?"

"Yep, my route to class was blocked off so I ditched." It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. One he felt well justified in taking. He'd already made it through most of his classes today and it wasn't like math was treading any new ground for him. "Honestly, I was prepared for the same around here."

"Prohibited."

"Heard about that, thought it might be just the building but it's nice to know there's a radius."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Research?"

"Refuge only, this time." Cal said while laying his head down on the table, cradled in his arms. "What I want to know is, where everyone's supposed nobility went? They're acting like animals."

The edge of her lips quirked upwards. However, she stayed silent in the face of his complaints.

"Any clue how long this madness will last?"

"Week."

"That's something at least." he grumbled into his arm. He considered closing his eyes and entering his trance, ultimately deciding against it. Too many potential hostiles about.

"I'm not even worth many points, why go through all that effort."

The club system, in his opinion, was overly complex. Every student had a point value based on their grades and ranking. The more points a club had the better accommodations, budgets, and privileges they were granted. As a new student, his should be at the lowest value.

"Purge."

Right, apparently every five years they culled any club unable to meet minimum membership requirements.

"I find it hard to believe so many can't find the three people needed to survive."

She looked uneasy as she flipped a page.

"Do anything fun over the weekend?" Might as well see how much water he could get from this stone.

"Read."

"Cool." Cal wasn't one to judge how she had fun. "I saw a movie in the city."

His perception was still augmented enough to notice the slight shift in her posture.

"I know it's not everyone's preferred medium. They do pose some advantages that good old books don't so don't write them off so easily." Cal didn't mention the one he'd happened to watch was trash. "We ended up going for ice cream on the way back. It wasn't bad."

Cal found himself referring to both the day and the dessert. Cheesy movie aside, the day was peaceful.

No classes to sit through.

No emergency deployments to quell budding beast waves or squash upstart cultists.

No one yelling at him or trying to force unreasonable requests his way.

Simply a nice trip to the city.

She had nothing to say to that.

Cal eyed the taciturn girl. The pin on her collar was something he'd noticed previously and the source of today's anguish.

"Going out on a limb, I'm guessing you're part of some book club?" he asked unsurely. It didn't look like a book.

"No."

"Wow" Cal couldn't think of any other that would better suit her "thought those would be your people."

Cal left her room to elaborate. Predictably, none came.

"I was pretty set on not joining any but at this rate, I might need a smoke screen."

He'd considered joining the shadier clubs Anne told him about but if they were willing to let him join he doubted they were up to anything nefarious. Outright rejecting him also wouldn't be any damning evidence, not everyone was out there press-ganging students. Besides, the worst he heard was some minor smuggling. Something to look into sure but if Anne was right it was recreational drugs and performance boosters, neither of which were his department.

An idea took shape in his mind.

"You wouldn't happen to know if there's a black market for some of the bigger name club pins do you?"

She looked up and their eyes met. She gave a slow nod, closed her book, and rose.

"Follow."

Cal dumbly complied. He wasn't banking on that working.

"Hold up" he stopped them when they reached the main floor "they have spotters." He said gesturing to some students stationed in key areas.

She took a couple of moments before leading him in another direction and down a staircase. They descended into the basement, it wasn't that much different from the other floors although it did seem a tad more disorganized. They continued taking a convoluted route and Cal was starting to suspect they'd gotten lost until she stopped in front of an unassuming bookcase.

Without preamble, she tapped one of the spines and the shelf slid inward. Revealing an unlit passageway.

Guess the call earlier to check if this place had a basement was more on point than he thought.

Cal was given little time to ponder further, following the creepy girl into the ominous unknown.

"Couple questions. One, do these run all over campus?" He imagined the Spirit had to know about them. It wouldn't have hurt if the thing gave him a fyi about it. "Two, are you going to murder me?"

"Yes."

"Know any other shor-wait. Was that a yes to my first or second question?"

"No."

"Ha ha" Cal responded dryly. "Keep your secrets then. In any case, shouldn't you be the one worried? If horror happens to not be your cup of tea, this is usually the part where the deranged man kidnaps the female lead."

"Weak."

"You, me, or the genre?"

She didn't reply and Cal dropped it. They took some twists and turns before ascending steps and walking out of a tree.

He looked back, sticking his hand through the bark. There was barely a hint of magic. Had he passed any other on campus and been none the wiser? Troublesome.

It wasn't the end of their journey and they went on to walk a decent amount.

"You're good at avoiding people aren't you?" Cal stated, having noticed their path change every time there was a hint of possible interaction. It was cleaner? More practiced than what he attempted earlier.

Their destination turned out to be one of the more unique buildings on campus. Shaped in a U it was covered entirely in glass. At the center was a garden with a small fountain.

They entered through a side entrance and went up some stories via a floating platform. Worked as well as an elevator, if not as safe.

They approached a room and Mia entered with Cal behind her.

"P-president" Benjamin greeted Mia with widened eyes. He'd been bent over inspecting something when they walked in. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"Pin." Mia said in way of explanation, pointing at Cal.

"I did not anticipate the matter being resolved so quickly." His eyes traced over to Cal. "or with whom"

"I think there's a mix-up here." Cal cautioned, not wanting to be drawn into anything. "I'm not looking to join anything, I only need something to keep the wolves off my back."

"That works well." Benjamin wiped his hands on a towel. "We had somebody graduate last year. We now require one additional member to maintain our club's active status. There are no requirements. Your name on our roster will be all that is needed."

An enticing proposition, if Alice had not warned against that exact thing. Something must have shown on his face because Benjamin went on.

"There are no ulterior motives at play here. You have my word"

That was supposed to mean a lot around these parts. Cal wasn't naive enough to trust anyone at their word. However, Benjamin wasn't just anyone. He was a high-profile student. Problematic associations aside, he left a positive impression on Cal and didn't come off as the dishonest sort.

Cal moved his attention from the man to Mia. Who had seated herself on a stool and ceased to acknowledge their existence. He couldn't picture her caring enough to pull anything.

"What's the club?" He posed the question, if it wasn't too offensive. Maybe this could work.

In lieu of explanation, Benjamin gave him an odd look and slowly swept his hand across the room.

Belatedly, Cal recognized he was standing in the kitchen. He probably should have noticed that beforehand.

He couldn't help it and chuckled to himself. Benjamin frowned at his antics.

"Sorry." Cal held his hands up in appeasement "I find it funny that this past weekend someone told me I should join the cooking club and here I am. One crazy coincidence."

"I see." Benajmin's face eased. "We're actually the culinary club, I'm not aware of any cooking club however I can see where the confusion could arise."

At the side, he noticed Mia get very still.

"President?" Benjamin asked, having noted the same.

"Inquired about an advertisement in the paper. Said it was cooking. Apologies." The delivery was lengthy, with Mia speaking at her usual pace. Her face had a tinge of red at the end.

"That's….no harm was done. Please remember next time time." Mia buried her nose deeper in her book. "As I said, we're the culinary club. With my rank, we're afforded the resources needed to operate comfortably. Which is why we don't require anything from you. I am curious, you said someone recommended us? Even among the sponsored students, we are not an attractive proposal to most."

"I know my way around a kitchen." Cal didn't cook for himself often these days, only when he was in the Waste. It wasn't terribly difficult. All you had to do was follow instructions and contrary to popular belief, he could accomplish that without issue. When he wanted to.

"Or A kitchen." Cal commented after taking in the rest of the room. It was in a different league compared to the cabins' and he wasn't sure what some of the appliances were meant for.

He was easing into the idea, he could use a hobby.

"Bastard. Right." Benjamin nodded to himself. "As a member, you would be free to use the workstation and ingredients as you see fit. Provided you allow them both the proper respect."

Fair enough. He understood how annoying it was for someone to waltz in and make a mess of your kitchen.

Cal didn't reply. Instead walking to what he presumed was the pantry and opened it. Wow. These guys were well-stocked. He moved to one of the fridges next, making a sound of satisfaction once he saw its contents.

"To your liking? The magic preserves the perishables for long periods. It allows me to keep everything I need on hand. If you have a specific request I can see about sourcing it."

If the madness was to continue the whole week, he was liable to slip up against an overzealous recruiter.

"Let's be clear on this. If you try to screw with me I will find a way to beat the everliving shit out of you."

"I do not doubt your resolve, however, it won't come to that."

Cal searched his face for any trace of deceit, finding none.

"Sold." Cal turned to face the man. Holding out his hand. "Keep your word and we'll be golden."

"Welcome" Benjamin grasped his hand and shook it. He removed a pin from his pocket and handed it to Cal. "Keep this on your person at all times."

Cal inspected it. It was the same as Benjamin's, his eyes drifted to Mia's. Hers was altered, being a duller color and smaller in size.

"Presidents have distinct designs" Benjamin supplied.

That made sense. Cal pinned it to his collar, now realizing it was meant to represent a tiny plate.

"I will begin the paperwork" Benjamin moved to a cabinet, pulling out a stack of papers.

"You mind if I whip something up?" Cal had been craving something. He was certain, with the sheer variety, he'd be able to get it on campus but tracking it down seemed like a pain and there was a sense of satisfaction in doing it himself.

Benjamin looked at him for a minute and then agreed.

Now to see how well his memory held up.

—

Cal landed quietly on the balcony. From outside he could see the lights were on already. Entering the room, Alice sat at the desk with piles of paper. At this point, it was a frequent enough sight for him. The girl seemed to work all the time.

Her eyes landed on him immediately. More specifically, on his collar.

Cal braced himself for ridicule.

"Yep, laugh it up if you want. I didn't last a day."

A smile began to form, it halted and twisted into something akin to confusion.

"That's Benjamin's club?"

Figures she would know that. She wasn't the only one either if his walk through campus was any indicator.

Students were prohibited from having membership in multiple clubs, that didn't stop others from poaching. Only, their targets tended to be smaller and less established than themselves. It's why he asked for a bigger name pin, it would complicate matters if he were caught with a fake. He thought that unlikely as their memberships were large and subject to lots of change at the moment.

Cal wasn't sure where his new group stood. He did know that the silver circle acted as a sort of bug repellant, all the pest steering clear once it was in view.

"Yep." Cal confirmed. "The paperwork is done and everything."

It took far longer than he'd expected, running through his normal class schedule and into dinner. Not that dinner was a problem, with having the equivalent of an industrial kitchen at his fingertips and plenty of time.

"Culinary, if I recall. Obligations?" She inquired tersely while clearing some of the mess.

"None, they needed a name for the roster." He responded as she was stacking a pile of loose papers together, she paused a moment.

"A prudent move." She set the pile aside "This will allow you to focus on your studies while providing you an adequate shield."

That she didn't dictate what to join or if he could, was a surprise to him.

He pulled out a chair and joined her seated.

"I can't take the credit, I sorta stumbled into it." He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a bundled cloth, and placed it on the table between them. "The perks are nice."

She reached over, loosening the string that held it together. Half a dozen cookies emerged. Baking them proved to be a simple affair. Keeping the others from eating them all was the real challenge.

A hand gingerly reached for one. He watched her eyes brighten upon biting down.

"I've heard of Benjamin's talent" She reached for another after finishing off her first. "Most of which is told in an unfavorable light. These pursuits are frowned upon in our society. She bit into the next, polishing it off before continuing. "I think that foolish. Properly done, such task can be done with an air of nobility."

He felt her biased in that regard.

"I don't know enough to give a solid opinion of my own. Although, I should probably mention. Benjamin didn't make these, I did."

The third cookie was granted a longer lease in life as she froze mid-bite. Cal leaned back, crossing his arms. Unimpressed with her reaction.

She caught herself, completing the bite and setting the unfinished cookie down. With the level of intensity that it held her focus with, Cal was preparing for it to combust.

"You already said you liked them." Cal quipped while taking one himself. "No walking that back now."

He ate his without care, crumbs falling on the table. It failed to provoke a reaction and he was left sitting there awkwardly wondering if he should head to his room already.

"Apologies, I had no intention of disrespecting you." Slowly, she picked up it. Turning it around, she examined it.

Cal felt his stomach sink. He had a premonition that the conversation he'd been pretending not to have existed was going to be brought to light once more.

"I've been avoiding this. The next step. You must understand, that's unlike me. Or perhaps you don't." She sighed. "I'm being incoherent. Allow me a moment to gather my thoughts more fully."

He reluctantly waited. Eventually, the cookie was raised and joined its other half.

"Mother always extolled the importance of understanding another's perspective. I find wisdom in her words, perhaps by learning more about you my misplaced anger will fade. I've been waiting, for you to speak on it. Yet we've lived together for weeks and I know next to nothing of your past. Where did you learn to bake? Did you work in an inn? A bakery? Or was it your mother? Did you even have one? Where did you grow up? Was your name always Callum or was that forced on you as well?"

Her words tumbled out, the delay between them decreasing.

"Questions of this nature have plagued me. I've taken every opportunity to run from them." She took a breath, shifting in her seat to better face him. "That's enough of that. Tell me, who are you Callum Ardere."

No one. He wanted to say. She was moving too fast for these types of questions. They'd only known each other for a little over a month.

Cal scratched his head, trying to figure out a way forward.

"I was told not to talk about that stuff." He'd let her come to her own conclusions on who'd instructed him on that.

"I understand" In Cal's humble opinion, she didn't. "Let's start off simple." She grabbed another cookie. Holding it up for both to see. "I've not tasted a type like this. Where did you learn to make them?"

"It's just a cookie made with cinnamon sugar." Cal had been surprised to learn the Empire did not have snickerdoodles. It was an obvious combination to him. He chalked it up to Imperial incompetence. He politely ignored the fact that he'd never seen them in the Federation either. "As for where I learned it, I had to do a lot of cooking for myself growing up."

Thank the Ancestors he had his previous life's foundation to fall back on. Otherwise, he would have starved. Well, more than he already did.

Her face remained unchanged, he got the sense she wanted him to continue. She was destined to be disappointed.

"Where did you learn how to fight?" She pressed her next question.

So much for simple. Cal figured this was the only answer she was really after.

"Let me make it clear. I don't know how to fight. I know how to not get hit. You defeated yourself. All I had to do was get out of the way"

"You cannot face multiple prodigies and claim that" She slid further, sitting at the edge of her seat. "Someone must have taught you."

Taught? Huh, wouldn't that have been nice?

"I didn't have anything like that" The truth flowed smoothly from him. "It was do or die." He did plenty of both.

"Did your mother teach you?"

He clamped down on his instinctive reaction, loosening his jaw from where his teeth had been grinding.

"I like to think I'm fairly easygoing, but I do have buttons. Buttons you really don't want to press. So I'm just going to say this once, don't ever bring Her up again."

In a way, She had taught him. He'd returned the favor and there was a lot of learning growing up. Mainly that he couldn't kill Her and vice versa.

"I'm tired, headed to bed early." He left to his room.

It was still daylight.