“A Storm of Controversy: Aodhán Brystion's Rain is a Miracle—But at What Cost?”
The recent storm conjured by renowned student and champion candidate Aodhán Ashoka-Brystion has left many in the kingdom reeling in shock, awe, and alarm. This was no ordinary display of storm magic. Infused with a strange tranquility and heightened perception, the rainfall granted temporary, yet unprecedented abilities to sleepers who found themselves under the colossal storm cloud, which was indeed very large for an awakened who is still at the evolved class. However, while some hail this event as miraculous, others warn of its potentially dangerous consequences for the kingdom…
Fennir Aldwright,
The Arcane Observer
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Principal Zatya sat in her office with her head in her hands, fuming silently. She should have ripped Aodhán from the cloud when she had the chance, but she had simply wanted to give him a chance to explore this part of his abilities and, of course, gain some insights into his potential as well.
She hadn't been too concerned about the rain until Aleran mentioned its conductivity value and declared it a carrier. Still, it hadn't really seemed to be much cause for concern at the time, and she had simply settled down to watch things play out, but now, by the ascendants, she regretted it.
She had drilled Aleran immediately after Kaelith pulled Aodhán out of the storm, and now, twelve hours after the whole incident, Zatya was completely swarmed with messages and missives from all over the kingdom, all requesting to speak with Aodhán. Her table was a mess, filled with a huge pile of envelopes, most of which were from a thousand prominent nobles within the Kingdom, and even as she glared at the pile, Kaelith added another, muttering, “This one is from the Duke Solaris.”
“Of course it is.” Zatya scowled and massaged her temples. “I let him explore one time. Just one time, and he creates a fucking alchemical disaster.”
For the past twelve hours, Zatya had been running helter-skelter, declining interview requests and ignoring another urgent request from the Awakened Council. All for this ungrateful wench of a project that she wished she could discard.
Sighing, Zatya glanced at the architect of the disaster, and despite looking the other way, Aodhán tensed, sensing her attention, which was nothing short of amazing for someone still in the evolved class.
Slowly, he turned to glance back at her, but her scathing glare sent his gaze away immediately. She wasn’t buying his excuse that he had had no idea what he had been doing either, because she would be a fool to buy such crap. It was high time she reminded Aodhán who really held the strings in their arrangement, but that could wait for another twelve hours.
Right now, she had a pile of paperwork to deal with. Glancing to the side where Professor Aleran stood with two beakers, each filled nearly to the brim with crystal-clear water, Zatya asked. “Explain to me again—no, summarize it, Aleran. I don’t have time to listen to you drone on for hours on the properties of each beaker's content.”
Professor Aleran grimaced and replied. “These beakers contain samples of Aodhán’s…rain, one from before the calming effect and the other from after. We do not know exactly which skill Aodhán used, as he has refused to disclose—”
“Get to the point, Aleran. How does this tie into the conductivity thing.” Zatya cut him off, and Professor Aleran scowled.
“The point is that from the test we ran on the first water sample, it is relatively ordinary aside from its excellent purity and conductivity. However, due to its high conductivity value, I informed you that it was a carrier, which means exactly what the word is. It can carry and conduct things from one point to another. In the case of the second sample, the rainwater served as a medium, carrying magical properties from the cloud to the people below."
“What are these magical properties?” Zatya asked impatiently, glaring at Aodhán, who stood silently in one corner of the office, entwining a bolt of lightning in between his fingers.
He didn’t look up this time, and Zatya returned her attention to Aleran, who responded, “The rain was infused with clarity and heightened perception, granting whomever it touches a high sense of perception and mental clarity. The effect is, however, very weak, and from the reports we have gotten so far, only effective on sleepers and awakeneds below the first milestone.”
Zatya massaged her temples again and sighed. “This is a disaster.”
“It is.” Agent Kaelith nodded. “It might not seem like much now, but people are already thinking ahead. What Aodhán did was a mere experiment. From his account, he didn’t even use his willpower, yet he transformed sleepers, albeit briefly, into something more. What happens when he employs his willpower, his seals, or even opens himself up to the origin plane? What effect would his rain have if he employed all three at once?”
“Stop giving the boy ideas, Kaelith!” Zatya shouted, before turning to glare at Rahim. “Take him out of here. I want him far away.”
Rahim nodded silently, and the next moment, he and Aodhán disappeared from the office. As soon as they did, principal Zatya got up and began pacing. “How potent is this ability?” she asked.
“Less than worrisome.” Professor Aleran replied. “The sleepers who were affected had their perceptions increased to tier 2 or 3 at most, while some didn’t even notice any difference in their usual perception.”
Principal Zatya frowned. That was lower than she had thought, but still very worrisome. Just like Kaelith had said, Aodhán hadn’t used any of his buffs to do that. If he did, could he increase the perception of sleepers to tier 10? Tier 15? And how much more powerful would the skill become when he steps into the advanced class?
“Oh, this is bad.” She muttered to herself. The potential of that skill alone sealed Aodhán’s participation in the war, and their enemies definitely wouldn’t want that. The skill painted an even larger target on Aodhán, and Zatya just knew she couldn’t protect him alone. She had to get Ascendant candidate Lightus involved once again.
As frustrated as she was, though, a part of her was proud of Aodhán for continuously growing stronger with each hurdle he overcame. He had exceeded all her expectations at this point. However, Zatya would have preferred he gained all these skills in secret, far away from prying eyes, so she could mold him perfectly.
It was frustrating that her plans for him kept getting derailed, and she nearly broke something when her chip beeped for the umpteenth time with another message from the Awakened Council. She nearly dismissed it, thinking it was another interview request, but when she noticed the urgent tag attached to the message, she opened it, and her scowl deepened.
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Section 18, Article 5: The Awakened Accountability and Public Safety Act (AAPSA)
18.5.1—Unlawful dissemination of magic into public domain.
No awakened, regardless of rank or status, shall willfully or negligently infuse their magical abilities in such a way that affects the natural order of things without express permission from the awakened council. Even if accidental, any wide-scale dissemination of magical abilities through naturally occurring forces (e.g., floods, weather patterns, and environmental shifts that affect the general public in any manner is considered a breach of magical safety regulations. The involved awakened shall be subject to investigation, and if found guilty, shall be punished according to the law.
Zatya let out a deep breath after reading the message and sagged. “It’s out of my hands now; there’s nothing I can do. If the council is pulling the law into this, then they definitely mean business.” She trudged back to her seat and chuckled snidely. “They only remember the laws whenever it favors them.”
Kaelith, who had been drafting yet another press statement, looked up and asked. “What are you going to do? I mean, this is partly our fault for not pulling him from the sky immediately he began.”
“I know that, but at this point, there’s nothing we can do.” Zatya took a moment to think before shaking her head. “He’ll just have to face the consequences. Fines and magical restrictions are the most common punishments for these kinds of offenses. We might share in the blame, but this wouldn’t even have been an issue if the rain had remained ordinary, and that is not my fault.”
Professor Aleran sighed and dropped the beakers. “Is there nothing the academy can do? If Aodhán goes into the council’s custody, then it paints a picture that we are incapable of controlling him, a mere student. We can’t allow that to happen.”
Zatya blew out a breath in frustration and said, “There are a few things we can do, but I don’t want to. I don’t believe this was unintentional, and if Aodhán doesn’t want to be my project anymore, then he doesn’t get to have my help either. Whatever the consequences of his actions are, they will not be deadly. Besides, the council would still tread carefully considering mine and Ascendant candidate Lightus’s interest in the boy.”
Professor Aleran glanced at Kaelith before speaking. “Can’t we just tell the council that you gave Aodhán permission—”
“To do what?” Kaelith snorted. “To commit a crime? They won’t even believe us, and that will affect our reputation even more. We can’t risk it.”
“But it’s true.” Professor Aleran argued. “This could have all been avoided had you—
“Kaelith’s right.” Principal Zatya cut him off with a warning glare. “We can’t afford to do that. We can’t afford to make any mistakes this close to the tournament. But you’re right too, Aleran. I should have pulled that boy out of the sky immediately he summoned that storm cloud.” She closed her eyes to think for a moment before proceeding. “There’s not much we can do now that the council has dragged the law into the matter, but we can try to appease them before they slap us with another infraction because I’m sure there’s another in this sordid mess. In the meantime, I need to speak to Professor Dubois about something very important if you gentlemen will excuse me.”
Professor Aleran and Kaelith left the office, and a moment later, Faelar Dubois teleported in, looking so smug that it took almost all of Zatya’s willpower not to bash the woman’s skull in.
Faelar grinned evilly and tsked, gesturing to the pile of paperwork on Zatya’s desk. “My, my, that’s a lot of paperwork for a minor infraction. What has our favorite troublemaker done this time?”
“Don’t pretend to be ignorant.” Zatya scowled. “As much as I detest you, I cannot deny that you’re a smart, intelligent—
“Oh, save the compliments, Zatya.” Professor Dubois cut her off with a snide smile. “We both know you’ll have to grovel if you want me to intervene and save your pet.”
Zatya leaned back in her chair and smiled. “On the contrary, I didn’t call you here to beg and grovel on Aodhán's behalf. He committed a crime; he will pay for it. However, I would like to warn the council that the boy is not just any random awakened. He is an inheritor, one who has piqued the interest of several powerful benefactors, the most prominent of whom is Ascendant candidate Lightus. They would do well to tread carefully.”
Faelar scowled, not enjoying the reminder one bit. The awakened council was a body of Mythics and although that was enough to put the fear of the ascendants in 90% of the population, calamities were technically above the law. Sure, they had their own governing body, but it was more in name than any serious activity.
To anger a calamity was to invite, well, a calamity upon oneself, and even the awakened council wasn’t exempt from their wrath. The fear of angering Ascendant Candidate Lightus wouldn’t exactly stop the council from carrying out their sentence, but it would definitely prevent them from taking things too far. That was all Zatya could do for Aodhán, excluding asking the calamity to intervene in the matter, and that would only exacerbate things, inviting more attention on Aodhán than she was willing to allow. Couldn’t Aodhán see that she was doing all this to protect him? If not for her, he probably would be dead by now...
Pushing aside the thought, Zatya took a moment to enjoy Faelar’s annoyed expression before gesturing to the seat Kaelith had vacated. “Sit down, professor. I believe you have news for me concerning the mission.”
Faelar gritted her teeth and grudgingly sat down. “In light of the new circumstances, the council wishes to amend our deal. We will deliver on our promise of the Black Forest if he does succeed, but the council has refused to fund the advancement of your professors. There will be a written agreement stating that no undue harm will come to Aodhán from us. He will be interviewed and interrogated just like any other awakened—"
“I said no interrogations.” Principal Zatya began, shaking her head, but Professor Dubois spoke over her.
“In return, the awakened council will be much more lenient with his sentence.” Professor Dubois leaned back and folded her arms. “We both understand how disastrous Aodhán’s action was as well as its potential ramifications. Forceful conscription wouldn’t be absurd in this scenario. It would be in your best interest to take our deal.”
Zatya gritted her teeth in annoyance. She had seen this coming a mile away, but at this point, there was nothing she could do about it, or at least, she couldn’t think of a way out of this. If the council interviewed Aodhán, it was only a matter of time before they found out his true identity, and she couldn’t let that happen. However, whether she agreed to it or not, the council would find a way to interrogate him. It was the way of things. The fact that they were even offering something in return was a sign of goodwill, one she suspected would be the last.
Zatya leaned forward and asked, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but from my understanding of the law, I believe this is a very minor crime, especially since it was done without any malicious intentions and no one got hurt. However, since this happened under my jurisdiction, aren’t I the one who’s supposed to be held accountable?”
Faelar shrugged. “That would be the case if you were the one who gave Aodhán the permission to do what he did. But we both know he was acting of his own volition.
“How do you know that?’
Faelar laughed mockingly, “I’m in this school for a reason, Zatya. I would think you would have figured that out by now.”
Zatya scowled and shook her head. “It’s my fault for thinking you can be redeemed.”
“If anyone needs redemption, it is you and your filthy obsession with creating weapons for a war still far in the future.” Faelar replied snidely, but Zatya ignored it and asked instead.
“When you say more lenient with his sentence, what exactly do you mean?”
“A fine.” Faelar replied immediately. “A large fine, but it’s better than the alternatives. Also, he has to be the one to pay it himself. No one will be allowed to pay it for him.”
Zatya sighed and pondered the idea for a while, trying to come up with an alternative that would favor her, but after an entire minute of contemplation, she finally agreed and replied. “Fine, he’ll be released into the council’s custody first thing tomorrow morning.”
Faelar grinned, enjoying the blissful taste of victory, but as she prepared to teleport to her quarters, Zatya added. “If any harm comes to my pet, I assure you that the council will regret crossing me. I wasn’t called the Bloody Season for nothing.”
Faelar shuddered, once more reminded that this woman she so casually needled was one of the bloodiest and deadliest champions of all time before her advancement to the Mythic class. Despite being in the same class, Faelar knew that Zatya could kill her before she even had a chance to blink.
Refusing to let her fear show, Faelar gave a mocking courtesy and teleported out before her trembling fingers could give her away, and it was only when she got into her quarters that she calmed down and muttered. “Fuck! I’m getting too old for this shit.”