(one month later)

Verne Teverine was troubled. Usually when that was the case, he would do drills and spar until his head was clear. However it was growing increasingly obvious that being ‘troubled’ was the default emotion nowadays. Still he tried doing what he does best and picked up the practice sword to go through the motions of Sekrelli stances. The day was early and he would want to work out some of the tension before the dreaded Academy wide meeting scheduled later that morning.

The Gate crisis has grown out of control. Day after day, he worked with Professor Yepla to provide support for the emperor. That meant sending out well trained manus students from the Academy and pretending they weren’t now soldiers in all but name. The manus department of the Academy historically had the trouble of defining the purpose of its students. They would study basic runeology, history, perhaps other topics of their choosing, but their main vocation was martial arts. Their education was to prepare them for positions such as captain of the guard or to be a commander of a small army, as those enrolled were usually the sons of wealthy noblemen.

But now that a real crisis had come up, these sons of noblemen were being sent to die. Of the people they’ve sent to help with the increasing amount of Gates opening near the Heart, not a single one has returned to the Academy. Dori, the young blond man that accompanied them when Camaz went out east to find Aris, was sent out a few days ago and had reportedly died a gruesome death to the Unseeing.

Verne has yet to tell Professor Camaz about Dori’s death and only confided in Laell. He also didn’t want the professor to know that Dori volunteered to deal with the Gate as he felt shame in abandoning the mission with Camaz, even if it was to help a fellow student. Verne had tried to convince him that he had nothing to prove, but Dori insisted. Since they were short on people already, they had no choice but to send Dori to the Gates.

Their numbers were dwindling because people were beginning to abandon them. Verne didn’t blame them. Nobody signed up for this when they attended the Academy. They weren’t meant to be sent to the front lines and be treated like fodder. The young men that joined the department had dreams of leading an army.

To be honest that wasn’t what weighed most heavily on his mind. He understood that the Caelisian twins were different. They were both powerful in ways he’s never seen before. But the stories they had been telling him and the things that they claimed… Verne found it difficult to believe any of them. Perhaps back when they were exhausted from travel he would listen to their words but now he found it all incredulous.

Clearly monsters came out from the Gates. And how can Ral claim to be able to close them when the top runists in the empire are unable to find an enchantment to do the same? Then the stories of the siblings meeting the Parts and speaking to them… just the idea of talking to the gods is strange enough, but was Verne to believe Aris actually killed one? Verne gritted his teeth and drove the training sword into the side of a tree trunk harder than he intended. In truth, he avoided thinking about Aris at all.

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He knew she and Laell had managed to recreate the talismans the Bringers wore. Verne had first hand experience with such talismans and knew that they worked as a ward against abilities, but he wasn’t ready to accept that they prevented a pure blooded Gaian from turning into a monster. He doubted anyone was ready to accept that. Except that wasn’t the information that was telling them with the onslaught of Gates opening closer and closer to the Heart.

“How many times does it have to happen for you to get it?” Aris had demanded to him and to the many other people who don’t believe her. “Bodies are missing because they turn into Unseeing. The Unseeing dissolves into nothing after the Gate dissipates or closes.”

There are corpses left behind of people who are Gaian. But Aris was right that there were many bodies that have seemingly disappeared.

“You can’t just keep sending people out like this,” Ral had told him and Yepla. “You’re sending them out to die. At least try using the talismans.”

Professor Yepla didn’t comment, but Verne knew the unspoken and uncomfortable truth: nobody trusted the Caelisian siblings and were suspicious about their insistence to use the talismans. Which was silly because Laell was the one to recreate it. Aris was functionally blind and unable to make the intricate markings.

Verne slashed at the tree again with a less than graceful method. Bits of bark flew off and several leaves drifted down from the impact. It wasn’t so much how different their beliefs were that bothered Verne, but rather he was afraid all of this will lead to him having to choose a side. He liked being Ral’s friend - the red headed Caelisian was easy to talk to and didn’t treat him like a Sekrelli noble. And Aris…

Well, he would prefer it if she wasn’t his enemy.

He gave another lunging attack to the tree he decided to take out his frustration on. Ral had tried several times to convince him that he and his sister had no reason to lie to him. Perhaps that was true. But Ral didn’t understand precisely what was at stake. The slightest breeze would sway public and political opinion on the twins and it would be a force no manus or rune could stop. Claiming that monsters came from pure blooded Gaians would be the one thing that ruins them.

He did a few cool-down exercises, content that he at least got something out of giving the tree a thrashing.

Often Ralos would comment on their sparring: “How is it that you have a response to all my attacks?” he would grumble in a good natured way. The question confused Verne as he responds to attacks how anyone would. It was like asking how he knew to raise his foot to walk up steps. Perhaps his own personal dilemmas were similar to Ral’s question. How was he supposed to have a response to all these questions? How was he supposed to know what to do?

Maybe, for once, he should take his own advice. The solvent flows, life happens and he’ll have an answer when the time comes.