“So, were you planning on telling what Lurgica is?” Syllis spoke, irritatedly. It was odd, being dragged to a place she knew nothing about.

Clyde raised a brow at her question. “Do you not know what Lurgica is?”

“Am I supposed to? I’ve been living in the outer ring for years. This seems like a pretty upscale place judging by the place we’re standing in.”

The secare nymph made a point. Surrounding them were tall buildings. The buildings were made of limestone chunks, they were different from the wooden buildings on the surface or even some of the brick manors in Aklilan.

These homes and facilities needed different material, the taller the construct, the sturdier the material needed. Limestone was perhaps the sturdiest material they had to work with.

They were trudging through the heart of Asanoch, the passerby donning expensive clothes. Women wore loose fitting dresses in deep, muted colors as they walked arm in arm with men that were fitted with long black coats.

“You can’t use that as an excuse.” Clyde placed his hands into his pockets. “Even people outside of Asanoch know what Lurgica is.”

‘Then it should be pretty damn easy to tell me…’

“What is it then?” Syllis groaned, her nights sleep did not lessen the effects of her fatigue. In fact, it only seemed to let her fatigue finally catch up to her.

Clyde turned the corner before facing Syllis. He opened his arms as if praising the building behind him. “Lurgica is the home of all the talented kindred in Asanoch. Some students even transfer in from outside, they have special dormitories for that.”

“You brought me to a school? My last experience in school wasn’t the most pleasant one…” Syllis let her voice trail out.

The story she told Clyde about Joan from before had been a total fabrication, but she wanted to uphold it. Despite her break from school being due to circumstances beyond her control, she did not necessarily want to go back.

The only aspect of school that Syllis enjoyed were the combat classes that she had once a week. She was indifferent to the rest of it and even hated certain parts.

‘What purpose do I have to be here? Sure maybe I could spar with a talented kindred but they will come to me once the rumors spread.’ Syllis thought back to the previous night.

“Well, I had to come. This school is unique, and technically it’s a magnet school.”

Clyde gestured for Syllis to sit down on a nearby bench.

“I have a few minutes before I have to head in so we’re going to do a quick lesson.

“This school is a magnet school which specializes in all things anathema. This includes: bonds, rituals, history. It even includes the topic of fable rifts themselves.

“Lurgica was made because several surrounding schools had troublesome students once the upper-class began buying anthema to transfigure for their children. So, they decided to build Lurgica.

“Here’s how it works. Students attend their ‘primary school.’ This is where they learn their math, language, science and history. Then, kindred can head over to Lurgica, the school provides carriages for them. Which is why it’s in central Asanoch. This tempers the students because they are barred from Lurgica if they let up in their studies or cause trouble in class.

“Not that this matters because by this age, we don’t need anymore general education. So as of last year, I am enrolled solely in Lurgica.”

Clyde dumped a ton of information on the secare nymph. He took a few deep breaths after finishing.

‘That is… A lot to listen to all at once. So this place is purely for kindred. That certainly makes it a lot more interesting.’

“Alright, so where do I go to enroll?”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Syllis’ decision to enroll was out of pure convenience. It would take time for the rumors about her to permeate through Asanoch. There would be no new kindred to spar with while she waited. An entire month of purely battling with Clyde sounded boring, so she wanted to expedite the progress.

Clyde showed her into the medium sized building. It was still massive, but compared to the titans that surrounded it, this building was of medium height. They walked past statues, apparently dedicated to several of the school's most prominent students over the years.

Eventually, Clyde dropped her off outside of the administrators room. It was time for him to go so he bid her farewell, leaving the nymph on her own.

‘I wonder who the administrator of such a place could be?’

Several knocks rang out through the hefty door, reverberating off the tasteful walls. A woman’s voice then called out, or perhaps a very feminine man’s voice.

‘Very much a woman.’ Syllis mused as the woman cracked the door slightly.

Syllis was greeted by a woman of average height. Her skin was a spectral white color, almost akin to a nymph. Though, her hair was not any of the sea-colored shades that were expected.

She also lacked several physical characteristics. The woman did not have the gills that were easily used to identify nymphs. Her figure was also curvy, which was uncharacteristic of nymphs who had evolved to be aerodynamic.

After letting Syllis into the room, the woman retreated back behind the comfort of her desk. It had piles of papers, far larger than the stacks that Clark had.

“Please take a seat. Oh, and my name is Veria.” The woman quickly added, as if forgetting to say it before.

Veria tied her dark, ash colored hair up into a ponytail, leaving her bangs to hang. She slid on a pair of equally dark glasses and clicked her tongue, searching for a particular page in a thick stack of papers.

Veria finally picked up a piece of paper she had shuffled out of the stack. She adjusted her glasses slightly before opening her mouth.

“Syllis, secare nymph, secare human, seventeen years of age. skilled in wielding a partisan… Why did your previous school include such an odd phrase in your file?” The woman lifted her face from the page and inquired.

“You have my file? When did you have the time?” Syllis was confused.

Veria left an odd first impression. She acted contradictingly. Who was apparently the administrator of the school spoke rather casually to a potential student. As well as having Syllis’ file before even meeting her.

‘Unless Clark told her that I would be coming…’ Syllis held disdain for this possibility, the fact that one person could predict her exact movements was not a pleasing possibility.

“Of course I have your file. I sent someone to grab it as soon as I found out you were coming.” Veria clarified.

Syllis spoke to confirm her theory. “So Clark told you I would be coming.” She spoke matter-of-factly.

“Who’s Clark?” Veria spoke entirely seriously, not a hint of sarcasm or anything of the like in her voice. “I foresaw you coming. Prophesied it or something like that…” She continued flipping through the file.

‘What the hell is going on!?’ Syllis held back her urge to laugh. ‘This is so absurd. ‘I prophesied it.’ Is that her bond or is she just messing around with me?’

“Sorry, what is happening right now?” Syllis asked, desperately looking for an answer to this bizarre scenario.

Veria once again looked up from the file. “My bond gives me advice for the future, a crude form of foresight. It merely told me to get the file of someone by the name of ‘Syllis.’”

‘Seriously? What an absurd bond.’

Syllis nearly scoffed. She had thought obscure bonds like Aura’s and Clyde’s were weird, but Veria was on another level. Her bond did hold the core of a prophetic bond but it lacked the stereotypical aspect of it presenting an image to the kindred.

‘Maybe it tells her in more detail or something? Then again, how could you provide more detail than with an actual scene?’

“Alright then, so do you know why I’m here?” Syllis questioned the woman, hoping to gain further insight into her peculiar bond.

“Nope, but I can make some educated guesses.” Veria lifted her face from the page once again and took a moment to ponder.

“Firstly, the only reason I would need your file would be to look at past misconduct and if you were enrolled then I would already have your file here. Secondly, I would not need your file if you were attending Lurgica as a secondary school, the primary handles that. So, based on this, you are here to enroll in Lurgica as your primary.”

After finishing, Veria locked her deep blue eyes with Syllis. They speckled with a myriad of what seemed like stars within.

‘Maybe the rich just have access to high quality anathema? Do they pay talent to cultivate anathema for them to then transfigure?’

Syllis had not paid much mind to the exchange of anathema. It was dangerous to wait on transfiguring anathema, one could not just instinctively know whether they would be able to fend off the next assault. Especially because anathema was unstable and did not grow a set amount between onslaughts.

‘Seriously… Just how can all of these nobles have such high quality and unique bonds?’ Syllis mused within.

Even though Syllis did not answer Veria, her face seemed to have spoken all that needed to be said.

“Come with me.” Veria spoke in an even tone, beckoning the nymph to follow.