MARIN

Marin waited for the rest of the class to arrive in the observation room. Throughout the appraisal, Marin could see who was going against whom. She was able to see Syn and Behngi fight Callo and Alyviah. Professor Niall took on the responsibility of doing an almost play-by-play of what was happening. Once more and more of his students entered the room, he started to let loose.

Ozyid, Olyza, Chlora, and five teachers were inside the room. Shortly after Marin’s arrival came Badnel, Drakon, and Flair.

Flair pointed at Marin angrily, “It’s your fault! You distracted me instead of just leaving!”

Marin looked confused, “I only told you what I think you needed to hear.”

“You’re a liar! You fucking tricked me and let that little goblin sneak up on me!” Flair whined.

Niall sidled between the girls before things escalated any further. “Flair, my brilliant student, I cannot condone violence, especially when Marin doesn’t have her protection. I personally don’t think that Marin was acting deceptively. However, even if she was, working with another student is not against the rules. As long as she left promptly.”

“Teacher, that isn’t fair. She lost, and she stuck around. You can’t work together with someone else if I can’t hit you.”

“Those are good points, and everyone’s performance will be under ethical review to ensure everyone acted safely and sportingly,” Niall warned.

This warning was enough to draw heat to Flair’s cheeks. She knew she was in the wrong when she enacted lethal magic on Marin that had to be dispelled.

On the screen pulled up by Granite Guardian, everyone could see Alyviah and Callo fighting Syn and Behngi.

“My money is on the Cryomancer. Callo has very advanced control.” Kaira said.

Aeren crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Teachers can’t bet, and the Dean would have your hide if he were here.”

“My metaphorical gold on Callo, then,” Kaira said with a smirking side-eyed glance. Marin couldn’t help but admire the Pyromancer’s beautiful enchanted red robes that seemed to flow in a spiral all around her body.

“Then I put my metaphorical money on Paris,” Aeren responded. On the screen, Phia was now being defeated by Paris. Marin couldn’t judge good swordplay, but the top-ranked of their class seemed like he knew what he was doing.

“Yeah! Fucking get it, Paris!” Flair said. Marin shook her head. She knew that Phia losing earlier would result in a worse outcome for Flair. Flair was unwise to root for Paris, but Marin knew she did it to spite Phia.

Kaira kept the game alive and asked the professional rogue, “Rietta?”

“Likely Paris,” Rietta stated. “It is Niall’s class, however.”

Niall watched closely as the final confrontations were drawing up. “I agree. Paris is promising, but Callo is demonstrating control I would expect from a Junior.”

Granite Guardian watched the four students on the board closely before speaking up. “Aellaria has displayed the talent of a professional alchemist. The two top students of this class aren’t Paris and Callo, maybe one of them, but Aellaria is certainly going for the win.”

Kaira laughed. “Gran, you’re delusional. The talentless girl that snuck into Spire and tricked Niall into letting her stay is surely going out this year.”

Marin heard Flair give out a soft chortle at Kaira’s comment but didn’t hear her say anything.

“It looks like Behngi will fight Paris while Aellaria fights Callo. Maybe Behngi will surprise us—Wait. What was that?” Niall asked.

Marin saw that one of the feeds became inactive. Gran stepped forward and tried to pull it up. “Hmmm… I will try to get the last moments.”

On the wall, everyone could see the ongoing fight between Behngi and Paris, and then shortly after, a second feed of the last moments before the magic faded. The teachers and students watched as Callo blocked off the escape from the room. Then, the images just suddenly stopped.

“It just goes out... Maybe it wasn’t properly enchanted?” Granite Guardian suggested.

Rietta’s brown eyes glared at Gran. “I personally check my enchantments. Could it be that your tile failed the enchantment?” Rietta countered.

“It could be. Should we do something?” Granite Guardian said.

Rietta smiled, having had the critique of her competence rescinded. “We will interfere if we see anything from their vitals that worries us.”

Niall let out an awkward grunt, and Rietta responded. “I will send Cryonolon to be close. An intervention at a bad time could cause a fatal mistake.”

“Understood. I am going to get closer so I can scry. Fatal mistakes are inevitable with freshmen.” Niall said before hastily leaving the room.

On-screen, Paris defeated Behngi and continued through the only open door of his arena toward Aellaria and Callo.

Seeing Professor Niall worried made Marin anxious herself. Aellaria could handle herself, but accidents happened, especially with a sword involved.

Niall was no longer there to fill the silence, and everyone just watched the three remaining enchantments indicating the three remaining students, hoping nothing wrong would happen.

After minutes like this, chaos erupted. Marin didn’t understand. The information on the wall wasn’t something she had been taught. All she knew was something terrible had happened.

Rietta was the first out of the room, sprinting. Aeren and Kaira followed. Granite Guardian began calmly herding the eight students toward the dorms.

Flair immediately broke out of line. “Fuck that. What's happening? Is my Callo okay?”

Marin added, “What about Aellaria?”

Gran sighed and gestured for the other six students to go to their dorms. “Flair, Marin, come with me.”

Gran led the unlikely pair to the teleportation rings and then to the infirmary.

AELLARIA

The Electromancer in the Senior class was named Angel. She was gently guiding Aellaria toward the infirmary. Aellaria was too distraught to think much of anything and followed her shepherd without fuss. The halls of Spire felt different, and Aellaria felt raw and frayed. Something about being led around like a toddler by the healer brought peace to Aellaria and made her nervous. Nerves that she wouldn’t act on. Right now, everything was strange.

As Aellaria entered the infirmary, she saw Behngi and Phia sitting in the waiting area. Alyviah, Paris, and Syn were on nearby beds.

Something fired in her mind. Aellaria saw the five students but felt an emotional attachment to Syn and Behngi. She didn’t know why. Syn was a Pyromancer who slept in the men's dorm. Behngi and Syn were friends. Syn was ranked in the twenties, but Aellaria fought Syn. She looked at these two people and knew they were supposed to be friends, but she only saw a collection of facts, and few memories were attached.

Behngi walked over to Aellaria, who was sitting on her bed. “Aellaria, are you okay? What happened?”

“Are we friends?” Aellaria asked. She knew there was an emotional bond between her and Behngi, but she couldn't understand why for the life of her.

“Is she okay?” Behngi instead asked Angel.

“I don’t know. I think the Electromancer may have hurt her in the fight. I will need to diagnose what is happening inside that head.”

Aellaria shifted stubbornly to get up. “No, no… not in my head. I took a health potion. I will be fine.”

Marin entered the room with a panicked expression. Aellaria saw the simple-looking girl. Her square face. ‘That is my roommate Marin… My roommate. She means a lot to me.’ Then Aellaria realized what the Callo thing had been doing. He had been stealing Aellaria’s most precious moments. Stealing them so that Aellaria wouldn’t exist anymore. Aellaria knew that Marin meant a lot to her. ‘But… I don’t remember a single thing about her.’

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Aellaria remembered what the Callo imposter had said. “Aellaria is boring… Goodbye, Aellaria.”

“Let me take your hat for you…” Angel said calmly before gently plucking the wide-brimmed hat from Aellaria’s head and setting it on the empty adjacent bed.

Marin was by her side, focusing on Aellaria. Her face was painted with sympathy. Aellaria just looked at that concern and felt broken. None of it mattered anymore. All Aellaria wanted at that moment was to understand why this person cared for her. Could any memories in Marin’s head bring Aellaria back from killing the real Callo?

Aellaria laid back, defeated. She needed a rest. If they found out about Zenithor and his secrets, she would accept her punishment for her crimes.

Distantly, Aellaria could hear someone screaming. Flair. Angel began using her magic to check the health of Aellaria’s wrinkled skull meat, then came back even more concerned.

“Aellaria. Honey, please lay on your side.” Angel ordered.

“Okay,” Aellaria responded and rolled to her side.

“Aellaria, what happened to your head?”

“The cold,” Aellaria responded.

“Umm… okay. You’re sure it wasn’t electricity?” Angel asked, but Aellaria just wanted to be done with it. Aellaria looked at Marin. Marin was holding her hand.

“Am I going to be okay?” Aellaria asked the person who cared.

Marin nodded her head but asked, “What happened to you?”

“I killed Callo,” Aellaria said with a sob. She started to cry. It was all too much. All she could think about was the boy that Lilium loved. The boy who saw the light behind the shimmering curtain. The only person who knew the pain of losing Lilium.

“You are going to be okay, Aellaria,” Marin said. Aellaria could feel Marin’s hand squeezing hers.

Aellaria responded with deep sobs of anguish. She gasped for air as her lungs and heart battled for room in her chest. Then she felt Angel’s sleep spell hit her, and the last thing the conscious Aellaria felt was Marin’s hand around hers.

ZENITHOR

Zenithor woke up in his workshop. When Aellaria left this place, she left his body. She had left his destruction. There was no destruction now. No dust, not even a single broken vial. The table where the Aellaria body had been was gone, too. All that was left were two chairs. One of the chairs was occupied.

Lilium sat in the chair opposite him. She still had the blue streak in her hair—this was the Lilium from the day Callo rebuked her advances.

Zenithor sat down, facing his daughter. “We have to reconcile this. You are making me lose control. You are going to ruin my investigation.”

Lilium shook her head. “This wasn’t an investigation. If my last act thwarted your plans to kill my former classmates– then I am doing the right thing.”

Zenithor responded. “You aren’t Lilium. You are a snapshot of who Lilium was from the context of Callo and the emotions imprinted on your locket. You don’t know who deserves what.”

“I know Callo didn’t deserve what you did. Callo didn’t deserve death for turning me down. It didn’t even matter his reasons.” Lilium retorted. She crossed her arms and leaned back into the wooden chair.

Zenithor countered by leaning forward. “You don’t know that Lilium. Callo’s rebuke could have instigated the problems that plagued you when you…” He trailed off.

“When I killed myself?” Lilium finished.

“If that is what happened, you don’t even know that,” Zenithor countered, adding, “I am your father. You will let me conduct my investigation.”

Lilium smiled, knowing she had the upper hand. “You know that never worked on me. I can see most of what you know. You are wrong. What did the imposter mean when he said you killed your wife.”

Zenithor looked Lilium in the eyes and then looked away. He couldn’t lie to Lilium, not even a memory of her. However, that didn’t mean he had to tell the truth.

“What happened to mother?” Lilium asked. “I was too young. You said she had a mental condition.”

“Shortly after you were born, your mother degenerated cognitively and then died,” Zenithor said.

Lilium shook her head. “I won’t have you running around doing your murder spree. I will keep letting Aellaria connect. Then she won’t let you either.”

Zenithor leaned back. “You were always good at ruining my plans and getting your way. Even as a baby– You were always finding ways to get around my defenses.”

“You can’t change the subject by talking about me as a baby,” Lilium said. “I don’t care what I did as a baby. I care about what you are doing now. I care about what happened to my mother.”

“I don’t want to talk about Celia,” Zenithor muttered.

“Fine, then I am going to kill Aellaria myself. The last thing I want is your unstable rampage because of what happened to Mom, because of what happened to me.”

“You can’t kill Aellaria. I won’t let you.”

“Dad, I hate to break it to you, but I am better at killing myself than you are at stopping me from killing myself.”

“That's not funny,” Zenithor said, but he cracked a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Lilium said. “But it hurts seeing you out of control. I miss my dad. The man who always had answers. The one that loved me even when I made mistakes.”

“I am in control. I won the midterm appraisal,” Zenithor said, his arms crossed with fake pride.

“I know you regret killing Callo. You were wrong. I saw it. I can feel your regret and pain.”

“Fine, I’m not in control. I make decisions that hurt me. I get excited, anxious, or enraged. I make choices that hurt those that don’t deserve it. What do you want me to do about it?”

Lilium stood up, still wearing her wide-brimmed hat. She walked over to Zenithor and leaned down, hugging him. “I want you to be right, Dad. I want to see you feel your feelings, but make the right choice. I want Marin to be successful. I want Aellaria to be her friend. Did you feel it?”

Zenithor started to actually remember Marin—the lottery apprentice who puts everyone else before herself, even when she needs help. Zenithor remembered Marin holding Aellaria's hand when it felt like everything was coming apart. And then Zenithor remembered it again and again. Zenithor was surprised that it was what he wanted, too. He wanted the crass young mage to become a master sorcerer. He wanted Marin to get everything she wanted and deserved.

“I felt it,” Zenithor admitted. He hugged his daughter back. “I’ll do my best, but you know I need the truth.”

“Then find the truth and help Marin. Be the person you are supposed to be and not the one you want to be seen as.”

“Lilium, why did you do it?” Zenithor asked. Tears in his eyes, his hands shaking against the memory’s back.

Lilium pulled back from the hug and looked Zenithor in the eye. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there when Lilium thought those thoughts, and it’s not like you’ve been an open book about it either.”

Zenithor didn’t like losing. He had never lost as much as he did when he found Lilium. It hurt him viscerally to fail, and he failed as a father. He sought Lilium’s comfort again, but he couldn’t see her. “I will do better.”

“Promise?” Zenithor heard from all around him.

“I promise,” Zenithor responded to the quiet, empty memory of a room.