Tatiana smiled at the five figures waiting at the meeting table while she and Commissioner Arrietti took their seats at opposite ends. Gertrude Collins sat with her hands folded on top of her legal pad, looking every bit the teacher's pet with her blue and pink post-its flanking her legal padlike two brightly colored watchtowers. Kharon's senior teacher, Mrs. Jane, sat similarly with her hands folded, but without any paper in front of her. Yet Tatiana had interacted with the mild seeming woman enough times to know that she was wickedly sharp; anything that she heard, she remembered.

Beside Mrs. Jane was Brethren Zod, the Weaver representative chosen amongst the non-human teachers that would be present at Kharon Academy. From their few interactions, Tatiana had found the Weaver surprisingly useful for planning, if a bit unpredictable. Oftentimes, the young spider provided a perspective that greatly challenged the human's preconceived notions about teaching. Naffur was currently out helping Vye with a Raid Boss problem, so Ajax was present to represent the interests of the Order Ducis, opposite the Weaver. Perhaps it was somewhat racist of her, but Tatiana found it very amusing how much the cockroach man and the spider detested each other. Even though Ajax was originally a human transported into a monster's body, the body seemed to have steadily influenced his behaviors. She made a mental note to be careful about letting the two argue.

The final figure at the table was the smallest ogre within Wolfram's cohort of scribes, hunching his shoulders to not take up more space than he needed. At two and a half meters, the act of him slipping through the door was mildly impressive.

As she sat and pulled her chair in behind her, Tatiana glanced one more time at Commissioner Arrietti. The man's face was creased in a deep frown. Inwardly, Tatiana shook her head. She didn't doubt that the man was even now examining his every memory to search for any evidence of the creeping corruption that Tatiana referenced as an example. she could have waited until after this meeting, but Tatiana had figured giving him some time to reflect was better than springing the issue on him once she had him in her office. But Tatiana hoped that he wouldn't now let the issue distract him from the meeting; the man simply took his work way too seriously.

He would probably kill me if he found out, but I wonder if I can secretly set him up with a woman to help him ease up a little... Tatiana organized the papers in front of her and then set them down on the table. Then she cast one last critical glance over Elmer Arrietti, making note of his attire and how he held himself. Heh, who would have thought that my experience running a high-end escort service would come in handy like this...

But she let those thoughts go for now. Instead, she cleared her throat. "Alright, we all know why we are here. After his discussion with Miss Collins, the Ghosthound made it clear that we would need nine Keystones for Kharon Academy. We currently have six that fit the criteria that he set. Miss Collins, if you’d bring everyone up to speed?"

Gertrude Collins nodded smartly. "As per the Ghosthound's instructions, the Keystones are to be ideological issues or outcomes that the student will spend their study at Kharon Academy learning to address. These will be more general than majors at a university. Although I communicated how focusing so much on the negative might not be a good thing..." Gertrude paused so Mrs. Jane next to her could press her lips together. "...he remained firm.”

Honestly, I never understood a teacher’s need to frame everything positively. Tatiana dragged her fingers across the wooden table. We don’t live in a positive world. But luckily, Randidly gets to take the heat for this decision...hehe, and Mrs. Jane is the type to hold a grudge.

"So these are the six Keystones we now have: Indulgence, Ignorance, Weakness, Tragedy, Helplessness, and Emptiness. These are the issues that our students will address."

"There is quite a bit of overlap between them," Brethren Zod commented while his two front legs bobbed against the edge of the table. "Should we not seek to make all of the different Keystones distinct?"

Tatiana nodded. "Ideally, yes. But I don't think it's an issue as long as we keep it as minor a crossover as possible. After all, the same methods can be used to solve many of our world’s problems. But since their study will be informed by the whole of methods to address each issue, the Keystones should still shape distinct followings. But the fact is that we still need three more options. So if anyone has an idea-"

"There's another issue," Gertrude added. She made a small note on a pink post-it and very purposefully stuck it to her pad before she continued to speak. "It’s the creation of the Keystones. Randidly- excuse me, the Ghosthound, said that he wouldn't help with the details of their creation. So we will need nine individuals to help source the Engravings Neveah will be making for the Keystones. So..."

"So if you feel strongly about one flaw in our world, please feel free to take responsibility for a related Keystone," Tatiana finished. Then she drummed her fingers against the table as she considered the issue. Her gaze touched on all of the people around the table. "Don't force yourself; there are plenty of powerful image users on Kharon now. We can get outside assistance if we need it. But also, the people here are the ones who understand the spirit of Kharon Academy the best. We are the ones who can give the most insight into its shape."

Then, as she considered the thoughtful expressions of the surrounding people, Tatiana noticed that Gertrude Collins was making several notes on a blue post it. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Also, considering the fact that we need three more Keystones, anyone who has an idea should share. We can hopefully generate one or two more in preparation for the meeting with the Ghosthound at the end of the week."

Commissioner Arrietti rubbed his chin. Tatiana made a mental note to gently press him later, to see if he had a concrete idea. And after toying with the post-it note in front of her, Gertrude looked up with a determined expression. "Well actually... I did have an idea. I just... I don't know what word to use to sum it up. But if I had to pick one... I guess truth...?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Everyone looked at her. The ogre scribe shifted slightly and spoke in a soft voice. "Did you say truth?"

"Ah, yes. But... like I said, that's just... a stand-in." Gertrude to speak more rapidly. "What I'm really talking about is something like destiny. We have helplessness already, but a sense of helplessness toward your life. Loss of control and agency. Or maybe something like avoiding a destiny that you don't want. That Path doesn't have to be true for you."

Mrs. Jane nodded very slowly. "I think I see it. And I think the word you are searching for is Certainty. You want to combat certainty. It's... a good option."

*****

They were standing about fifty meters away, but the sound of that ponderous volume of water crashing into the pool below had almost become ubiquitous at this distance. The crashing notes of water impacting water would have echoed outward to fill a larger space, if not for the fact that it was a constant production line of vibration. So the sound didn't echo, it just continued, constantly pushing against the eardrums of the listener. The noise pooled contentedly above like the water did below.

Randidly scratched his cheek, suddenly understanding what Tatiana must constantly go through with his wild and high-minded ideas. "You think this would be a good spot to take for the Kharon Academy?"

Tim Moss nodded seriously and pointed up toward the mouth of the waterfall. "It's flat up there, right? That can be where most of the school buildings are. Or over there, along the ridge.” Tim waved his hand vaguely, not having any actually viable options to point at in particular. ‘Then a town and houses and stuff can be down here at the bottom... well, maybe a bit farther away so they didn't hear the waterfall all the time. But like, it's really cool, right? Waterfalls are cool."

"Oh, yea," Randidly said hollowly. His senses were spreading out to cover the surrounding area and getting a gauge for how large the piece of land he would need to take in order to maintain a working waterfall. In addition, he was quickly able to determine how rocky the surrounding area was. Engraving could substitute for quite a lot, but still... "...It's very cool."

Encouraged, Tim's expression immediately brightened. "Plus, I've seen the Niagara Falls before; this is nowhere as big as that. So probably people won't mind if we take it away or something."

Randidly’s mouth twitched. This area is flooded with monsters that I don’t know if anyone would even notice that it was missing… People who live nearby might even thank us for ripping their neighborhood monster den out. But as Randidly glanced around, he did see a few crumpled and vine-covered signs that human habitation used to be present here. Likely before the System rearranged their world, there appeared to have been a large building at the base of the low hill on which they were standing.

The people who lived or worked in that building had undoubtedly developed a tolerance for the constant thrum of low thunder that echoed out from the waterfall. Randidly’s mouth twitched. Lucky, pre-System Perception bastards…

But that was Randidly simply projecting the sardonic amusement he felt as he considered the viability of using this area of land as the base of Kharon Academy and son developed a headache. It wasn’t the noise of the waterfall that stifled Randidly’s enthusiasm, despite the fact that he had earlier promised Tim that he could help pick the spot to draw him out of his shyness. The genuine reasons that he hesitated were two-fold.

First, space to build the Academy.

Randidly glanced upward at the waterfall in question. For about thirty meters above the ground, the water fell freely from a thin ridge where it geysered horizontally out into the air. But despite its height, the waterfall possessed immense power due to sheer volume of water that squeezed out through the cracked stone and into the air.

The smallish mountain in front of them was just one of a hundred in the surrounding area. None of the surrounding mountains were particularly large, but they pressed so tightly together that Randidly guessed that the source of the waterfall was snowmelt from the more massive Mountains only a short distance away. It probably flowed through the high valleys in the main portion of the mountain range, finally arrived here to crash gleefully down toward sea level.

But the area around the source of the waterfall was rocky and cracked. Most of the ground in the surroundings was sharply inclined. It was possible that they could level the ground to make a firm foundation, but how much space was available for the various classrooms and the auction hall that Randidly wanted to be present in Kharon Academy? They would need to take some of the surrounding mountains as well and have some of the construction be on the surrounding peaks.

Randidly did some mental calculations. A conservative estimate put the resulting landmass at about half of Kharon’s size. Which would certainly be able to house the 10,000 children that currently clogged Kharon’s parts, but it was… a slight wrench in their plans. All the careful drawings and projects that Tatiana had forced Randidly to make would have suddenly been for naught.

The second issue was less pressing, but still frustrated Randidly: with a pool of water and resulting river that deep, where would he put his labyrinth…? The landmass would also need to be thicker than his original estimates. The increased area would help generate enough power to keep it airborne, but still...

“What about you?” Tim asked, finally waking Randidly from his mental calculations. “Have you picked a spot for the other land we are choosing? I can give you some suggestions if you want.”

“I think I have spots picked out, but thank you,” Randidly said wryly, wondering how over the two hours of their tour of the countryside Tim had shifted from a shy pre-teen who could barely look at Randidly to an authoritative patriarch in the field of real estate. But honestly, Randidly appreciated the change. It helped alleviate some of his anxiety that he was shifting too far away from being a human.

Which was useful, just because Randidly was preparing himself to completely ignore that fear and throw most of his energy into a few days of intensive image training. Hearing the news from Vualla had lit a fire in his heart. Once more, he felt confident about his decision to move on to the Nexus.

That was the venue where he could grow most quickly and defend Expira’s future.

This world could get along without him just fine in the meantime. What Randidly needed to be ready for were the bigger threats coming down the pipeline. “I think I’ll just pick that valley of wildflowers we found and then that flat stretch toward the beginning. If we clear out the cactuses, it would be ideal.”

Tim looked at him in shock. “That first place was a desert. You are going to make people live in a desert? Think of how high their air conditioning bill is going to be! Dad always complained about stuff like that when we lived next to the desert.”

Randidly’s face twitched. “I think it will end up working out.”