(Feydon’s point of view)

The taste of bile still lingered in my mouth when I came to. I was alone in a medical room with almost nothing in it. There were a few CAD devices on the counter, my uniform was neatly folded next to them. Other than that, there was only a holoscreen in the corner.

Someone was speaking outside the door, but the voice was too low and muffled for me to make out.

A throbbing ache in my chest reminded me why I was here.

At first, I’d wanted to curse Gavin for what he did; then I recalled the rush I felt while fighting him. As soon as the action started my concerns were forced aside. The moment Gavin charged towards me, it was like time slowed down. I could see his moves as if he were moving at half speed. My reactions also felt faster than usual.

Compared to Emilia, fighting Gavin felt like fighting a clumsy oaf. He was big and definitely powerful, but his emotions strongly affected his form and maybe even his judgment.

“…an attack on our beloved Pyro.” The holoscreen broadcast, that I normally ignored as background noise, drew my attention. “As a show of his mercy and grace, Pyro spared the assailant’s life and granted him a public trial…” She continued on, but I didn’t process the rest of what she said.

Why would someone try to kill Pyro?

I couldn’t fathom it. Who would want to hurt the man that restored balance and peace to our land? Without Pyro we’d still be at the mercy of hungry beasts, unable to stop them from crushing our cities and consuming us by the thousands.

All that aside, whoever attacked Pyro must’ve been either a brave fool, or foolishly brave. Aiming to become a hero was ambitious enough, but actually trying to kill one… that was another thing entirely.

Each of the twelve had earned their place at the top with their mastery of magic and grand feats that no ordinary person could accomplish. Killing a hero, especially Pyro, would be like killing a god. It simply wasn’t possible.

“Glad to see you awake, lazy bones.” Emilia chimed as she flicked my forehead.

“Ouch,” I yelped while rubbing the spot. I hadn’t noticed her entering the room so I was a bit caught off guard by her appearance in front of me. “What was that for?”

“You looked like you were daydreaming so I thought I’d get your attention.”

That’s because I was.

“Haven’t you ever heard that you should wake a person gently?” I shot back.

She crossed her arms and frowned. “That doesn’t apply to your fantasies.”

“It wasn’t a fantasy, I was thinking about that broadcast. They said someone attacked Pyro.”

“I heard,” she said as her merriment turned pensive. “It’s unsettling, and things are pretty tense around campus. I’ve heard the issue is already resolved though.”

“That's well and good, but if it happened here, at the school, doesn’t that mean a spirit reaper was on campus?”

“You didn’t watch the whole broadcast, did you?” She asked as she sat next to me on the medical table. “It was Gill Emerson. They’re saying he acted alone and he did it because of a personal grudge.”

A grudge? That makes even less sense.

The words of the strange man in the cave echoed in my mind. I had forgotten to mention his reference to Gill when questioned by the MCI.

I’d been more focused on trying not to get myself in trouble and forgotten about the rogue mage‘s words.

When Emilia said Gill, it all came rushing back.

There was a plot, and Gill certainly wasn’t working alone.

“Something else on your mind?” Emilia asked after a few awkward moments.

“No, I was just thinking about Fin. I wonder if he’s heard.” I lied, thinking it best not to tell her what the mage said.

It was possible Fin was involved in the plot, it was also possible he wasn’t. I didn’t like the guy one bit, but I couldn’t imagine what he must be going through and I didn’t want to make his situation worse by giving enforcers a reason to suspect him if he wasn’t actually guilty.

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(Fin’s point of view)

From the moment I woke up I knew something was wrong because there were three enforcers in the medical room aside from the MCI. The holoscreen in the corner was shut off and I noticed that the mage conduct investigator had already taken my comm device and was reading through my messages.

Two of the enforcers were standing guard next to the door and the other was seated right next to my bed, though none of them seemed to be paying particular attention to me.

When one of the enforcers by the door realized I was awake, he spoke. “Fin Emerson, please remain in bed.”

The other enforcers took note that I was now awake and the MCI placed my CAD on the counter. I recognized him from a few interactions we’d had at the enforcers main office.

He was my father’s favorite rookie, although he didn’t get along with the other rogue mage hunters. I didn’t know when he’d been promoted to MCI, I just hoped his personality had improved.

“Fin, boy I hate that name, what do you know about the laws of Vania?”

“What’s all this about, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Suspects always say that,” Cordavous began. Eyeing me, he said, “you might be the son of the SAFE enforcers director, but right now that doesn’t matter, because if I say you’re guilty, you’ll suffer death just like every other traitor!”

“So to clarify, you suspect me of treason?” I asked, then made eye contact with each of the enforcers in the room. Seeing their serious expressions I couldn’t help but laugh.

This must’ve been a joke. Any moment now my brother was going to walk in chuckling and send the enforcers away. He’d say, “I had you going for a minute. Good work Cordavous.”

The enforcers didn’t laugh and Gill didn’t come through the door.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“You guys really think I was part of some conspiracy? I told you everything already! You’re acting like I planned to get sent to that forsaken mountain, but it was Pyro that demanded we go. How could I have anything to do with that?”

The MCI shook his head. “I’ll ask the questions, you just need to answer. Understand?”

It was clear his personality hadn’t improved. I didn’t know why they suspected me, but I did know that I hadn’t broken the law so I nodded my head and played along.

“Good, so tell me about your brother.”

“Gill? What, are you a fanboy or something?”

The MCI wasn’t amused. “Quit being a smartass and answer.”

“Okay geeze, well he has brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. He’s lean, oh and his frost leopard is always with him. He’s 5”8’ I think. Anybody got the holocard? Pretty sure it’s got all the info you’ll want.”

Cordavous must not have liked that response; he hurried across the room and slammed his hand on the table next to me. If I hadn’t leaned back, he’d have also slammed his face into mine. “I don’t think you understand your situation.” He began, forcing his words through his barred teeth. “I’ll ask again, who’s your brother been hanging out with.”

“Ohhh, so that’s what you wanted to know.”

“Yes!”

I shrugged. “To be honest with you, I don’t have a clue. I haven’t actually seen Gill since he became a hero candidate and we’ve only exchanged a few messages as I’m sure you already saw.”

MCI smelly breath backed up. “So maybe you don’t know who he hangs out with, but from what I hear you were pretty eager to get back here after being rescued. Why was that?”

“I was worried about my brother. He sent me a pretty odd message. A few days ago. And judging from your line of questioning I’m guessing I was right to worry.”

“Hey bud, I’m proud of you for pushing forward. I know you’re on a mission right now so I’ll be brief. This might be the last message I can send to you and if it is then I just want you to know that you’re a little shit, but I couldn’t ask for a better brother.” The words sounded incredibly bitter coming from the investigator. “Is that the message you’re talking a out?”

“Obviously! Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on? Is my brother okay?” I asked, wondering if perhaps he’d gone and off’d himself or run away to the wilds without permission.

Please tell me he didn’t go rogue.

“Stop asking questions, I won’t warn you again.”

It was those words that set the tone for everything that came next. Three hours blew by before someone came to bring me breakfast. The MCI left for about an hour. When Cordavous returned it was another three hours of stupid questions, this time focused on my dad of all people! Why the MCI was asking about his boss was beyond me. The whole situation felt like a slap in the face and when it was done, I was going to tell my father everything and make sure Cordavous got his just reward.

When he finally left again, the guards changed shifts. A young enforcer, probably new on the force, replaced the guard by my bed. The two guards standing just inside the door left. There were two enforcers outside, but for a while I was alone with the young enforcer.

He seemed anxious, more so than me. He kept bouncing his leg so vigorously that the chair he was in whined in protest. He fumbled around nervously with his comm and kept looking at me with frazzled anticipation.

This was probably his first assignment. How he made it on the force was beyond me, but there was a certain determination in his eyes that I admired.

“Is it true?” He asked. His voice quivered as much as his body, which threatened to break the chair.

“If I knew what I was being held for, then maybe I could answer.”

The young man fidgeted nervously. “I… I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

“Then don’t.”

“Gill attacked Pyro and some girl, and now he’s being held for a trial and sentencing.” The words burst from his mouth like steam from a kettle. He relaxed.

My mind went crazy. “WHAT!” I shouted, praying he was lying.

With a calm even tone he added, “The scandal has already ruined your family. I really admired your dad… now it feels like my whole world is falling around me and I’m helpless to do anything about it. Have you ever watched your heroes fall?”

Still processing the revelation, I stared at him dumbfounded.

He dropped his head with the weight of depression. “No, probably not. I mean, your family is a family of heroes right. Not all of them literal heroes, but your father and his father before him have been the directors of SAFE… until this little debacle with Gill, but I mean even Gill—”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” Cordavous shouted when he returned to find the young man giving me “classified” information.

I wasn’t a criminal though and this involved my family! I had a right to know what was going on; the MCI had no reason to keep me in the dark.

The boy, who’s name I didn’t know, jolted up from his seat beside my bed. “I’m sorry sir, it’s just that he is next in line to run the force and he didn’t do anything wrong so I just thought—“

“Was next in line.” Cordavous belted forcefully. “And we don't know yet if he’s innocent or guilty. For now he’s still a suspect.”

The boy looked a bit disillusioned, but he relaxed his postur a bit and sat back down. “R..right. I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again.”

This was supposed to have been the best week of my life but instead I nearly died in my first mission and somehow I’d become a suspect in some grand conspiracy to assassinate Pyro.

My family name was now synonymous with traitor and I still didn’t have a clue why any of this was happening.

Now that the boy had already told me the most important bits, the MCI became a bit more talkative as well. Whether he thought it would loosen my lips or just because he no longer saw sense in holding it back, he said, “our intel suggests that your brother and the rogue mage you met, may have been working together.”

This wasn’t new information to me. The rogue had suggested as much himself, still… I didn’t want to believe it. The Gill I knew would do such things, though Cordavous claimed to have evidence suggesting otherwise.

“Gill would never do something like that! He’s rebellious, but not psychotic.” I rebutted.

I was starting to feel like maybe I’d been transported to an alternate reality where everyone behaved opposite to their real world personalities. Considering Cordavous was still a prick, and Pyro still a hero, I was forced to resign that theory.

“From what I can tell, it sounds like you didn’t know your brother so well after all. That or you’re trying to cover for him. Either way, we’ll investigate and see where the evidence takes us.”

I felt dizzy just trying to keep up and worried that something I said might eventually be used against my brother or even my father. But when I started to consider the possibility that maybe Gill really did do something, that’s when the nausea set in.

I didn’t know what evidence they had against my brother, but I couldn’t help but wonder if his last message was trying to warn me, trying to prepare me for what was happening right now.

Could Gill really be an assassin? If he is, then what drove him to it?

With no evidence to tie me to my brother's actions, MCI Cordavous was eventually forced to release me; but even so, that wasn’t the end of my suffering.

After being released, I learned that my father had disappeared and my mother, murdered. They suspected that my brother’s frost leopard, Siena, did it because the entire house was encased in ice and my mother had been mauled to death. That just didn’t add up to me, but again I had no evidence to refute the enforcers findings.

I didn’t even have a chance to grieve the loss before my comm device started chirping non stop with death threats, hateful messages, and on occasion a caring or even a sympathetic message. All of them came from strangers. I was grateful for the few expressing condolences and furious with the ones passing judgment before waiting for the facts.

I was innocent, my brother and father might’ve been too, but they’d already decided on our fate.

As I walked to my dorm it felt like everyone I passed gave me a malicious glare or suspicious glance. Some even spat insults and others whispered to their friends about whatever rumors they’d heard.

I held my head high and walked confidently, projecting as much strength as I could, but panic and fear were the only things I truly felt.

How could the whole world turn on me in an instant like this.

Before that mission, I was the guy everyone wanted to be. I had fame, fortune, good looks, my pick of the ladies… I was talented and my family status was almost equivalent to that of a hero, but all that was like a distant dream. Now, I was nothing. I wasn’t even sure I had a family left and it seemed like only a handful of people didn’t want to see me executed or imprisoned even though I had done nothing wrong.

Cordavous was a prick, but after the short walk down my dorm hall, I was starting to miss being interrogated. At least then I knew I was safe.