The smell of ash and smoke wafted through the air, as the unfolding scene was engulfed in flaring flames and burning walls.
Elias's eyes struggled to adapt to the intense curtain of smoke, only managing to take in the rough image of a dilapidated corridor present before him.
Exquisite paintings of different artistic styles and structures had now been set ablaze, with the walls caving into themselves to create a scene of fire and destruction.
A look of confusion was etched onto his face, almost as if he didn't understand why and what he was doing in the burning corridor.
His breathing was becoming slightly impaired, as the flames continued to increase in intensity as they threatened to consume the entire passageway.
Elias hurriedly moved his hand to his nose to guard against the suffocation but was immediately shocked to see the state his hand was in.
His fingers were dyed red with blood, and his entire hand looked pale and unhealthy, almost as if he had stuck it into the body of a dead and decaying corpse.
This immediately caused him to recoil back in fear, his figure a stumbling mess before making contact with something behind him.
He turned nervously to meet the image of a figure hanging lifelessly in the air, its decapitated body perfectly suspended by dark thread-like binds entwined around its form, almost like an insect caught in the middle of a dense web of spiders.
Bright crimson blood flowed continuously out of the empty area above the neck, painting not just the binding threads, but also the entire corridor in an eerie shade of red.
Elias's eyes widened in horror at the gruesome scene, before coming to the realization that the threads seemed to be stretching towards his other free arm.
He looked down to see them connected to the fingers of his right hand, the sudden awareness bringing with it a rush of recollection and memories.
He remembered engaging in a dire battle with his life on the line,
he remembered almost being killed multiple times over,
he remembered winning the fight through the skin of his teeth,
And he also remembered how he had severed the head of his attacker clean off.
The arrival of these memories caused an upset to arise around the entire space, almost as if they were a catalyst waiting to emerge.
The corridor quacked and the flames flared up, causing Elias to lose his balance and stumble onto the floor with eyes wide in horror.
The flames bent into a spiral, merging into the seemingly endless blood that continued to flow out of the headless body bound in the sky.
The newly emerged ocean of blood and fire drowned Elias like a raging tide, causing his screams to ring out as he fought to endure the burns from the flames and the trauma from the blood.
His body was broken down into a mess of puss and burnt skin, with the blood taking the opportunity to flow into his body through the opened wounds, almost as if it wanted to drown him from the inside out.
It took a lot of resilience for Elias to eventually emerge from the raging tide of blood and fire, before realizing that a pale white head had rolled in front of him at some point in time.
Elias was about to tuck tail and run before the head suddenly opened its eyes wide, revealing a bloodshot set of eyes that were burning with malice and anger.
"Why... WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL ME!"
The voice that came out of its rotten lips was eerily grating, carrying with it a sensation that seemed to want to overtake the heart of its listener.
"AHH!!!"
This haunting encounter spiraled Elias into a fit of fear, screaming with all his might as the anguish consumed his mind.
The scene suddenly blurred and shattered before he finally realized that he was sat up in bed, drenched in pools of sweat as he struggled to regain his breath.
Lars was in front of him with an urgent look of worry on his face, as the darkness of the night was pulled back by a single stream of silver moonlight coming through the slightly ajar window.
Elias finally realized that it was just a dream, a haunting nightmare based on the gruesome events he had experienced during his past weekend commission assignment.
He fell back in bed tiredly, ignoring the questioning glances of his brother as his dichromatic eyes stared directly at the roof of his quarters.
It was dark and hazy but his eyes seemed to make out a subtle shade of crimson on the walls, a detail which seemingly disappeared into thin air once he closed and opened his eyes.
He chuckled sarcastically, before remembering a passage from the Gospel of Salvation of the Church of Grace which perfectly described his current situation.
'Even if on the outside one might appear okay and free of pain, the mind and heart are not so easily tricked.'
...
After handing in his letter to the Administrative Department to be sent to his family, Elias weakly made his way toward the lecture hall for his morning class.
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He wasn't able to sleep after the events of last night, particularly because he had to spend a lot of time convincing Lars that he was fine and that it was just a simple nightmare.
Lars was quite convinced that Elias needed therapy and counseling but the latter felt like it would be quite the hassle, especially because he was aware that all of the professors were undercover Apostles which meant that it could open him up to some unwanted risk.
He decided to deal with his mental trauma on his own, even if he wasn't really aware of the method of doing so.
He slowly made his way into the lecture room, once again drawing the attention of his classmates who spoke with hush tones and murmurs.
Elias ignored them and walked to his seat, welcoming the cherry greeting of Aamiya who rose to welcome him.
She reached for his arm and sat him down gently, before inspecting him with a gaze of care and concern.
"Eli you look unnecessarily pale today. Is everything okay?"
'This girl... Her acting skills always seem to surprise me. Well, I guess I'll play along, at least it doesn't seem like her concern is necessarily fake.' Elias smiled at Aamiya softly, not making any moves to push her away. "I just had some trouble sleeping. I'll be okay after a light nap, there is no need to worry."
Aamiya hesitantly acknowledged Elias's explanation, making him promise to get a light nap during their free period after lunch.
Their light-hearted interactions made most of the boys around them green with jealousy, while the girls were giggling and gossiping amongst themselves.
Elias ignored all of the unnecessary attention and focused on greeting his team members, starting with Damien and ending with Yves.
Damien and Ne'em were now able to notice Yves as well, reducing the amount of awkwardness between them and allowing them to function as a proper group. Ne'em was even interacting a lot more than before, a testament to the fact that he was now viewing them as his friends rather than a bother.
Their interactions became a lot more fluid after Elias, Yves, and Aamiya revealed the details of their peculiar circumstances to them, a revelation that came as a surprise to Damien in particular.
He didn't act too surprised about both Elias and Aamiya's situation as he had some suspicions about the former while he took it as a given for the latter due to her success at such a young age, but he was thoroughly short of words when finding out that their elusive fifth team member was actually a member of the Lorrainian royal family.
Ne'em acted nonchalant about the entire thing, his shock only showing when it came to the topic of the both of them having to drink the princess's blood.
It took a lot of convincing for him to eventually give in, with Elias and Damien having to hold him down so he wouldn't gag and throw up.
Elias shook his head with a faint smile, before receiving a pre-packaged breakfast set of toast, eggs, and hot chocolate which Damien had saved for him.
It wasn't too long after he finished his meal that Professor Windsor arrived in class, prompt and ready to teach a class on the optional course of Advanced Numerology.
The class started in earnest, with Elias having to shelve his fatigue to pay attention to the lecture.
...
Elias and his friends could be seen moving through the campus, chatting leisurely amongst themselves as they made their way to their destinations.
The Advanced Numerology class had just ended a few minutes ago, so it meant that it was now time for the Departmental classes for some and the leisure time for others.
Elias was the only person who didn't have a class scheduled for the coming period, so he just decided to spend his free period in the Silent Archives rather than just lazing around.
He was walking with his arm locked into Aamiya's on one side while chatting with the stoic ice princess on the other. Damien and Ne'em were walking some distance in front of them, with the former's arms held tightly across the shoulder of the latter while they talked.
"Oh Yves that reminds me. You never did talk about the nature of your ice powers. They are really cool."
Elias took the opportunity to raise a question, as there were still a lot of things he was curious about when it came to the Third Princess.
Damien and Ne'em also slowed down to catch up to the trio, clearly interested in the topic about to be discussed.
Yves seemed to be contemplating whether to tell them or not, before deciding that it was no big deal since they were already aware of her biggest secret.
She then spoke with a neutral attitude,
"Well, it's nothing special. My cold trait originates from the royal bloodline that has been in our family for generations, one that existed as far back as before the Lorrainian Monarchy was even founded.
"It was said that the founding matriarch of our nation killed and drank the blood of a Winter Dragon atop Mount Ania during the era of war and chaos, thus granting her the ability to manifest abilities related to cold and freezing. This trait continued to be passed down to all of the female children under our house, thus becoming our family's official blessing and guideline."
Her ice-cold eyes glistened in the sunlight at the mention of the founding matriarch, almost as if she couldn't hide her awe and reverent respect for her.
"This blessing was later titled Frozen Heart by our founders and is one that grants us unrestricted authority over cold and frost. The royal family of Wessex wields something similar, but theirs is related to heat in contrast to ours which is cold."
The group listened with obvious interest, with only Aamiya acting like she was already aware.
Elias thought over the discovery, feeling like there were some holes in the explanation.
Based on what he knew, the Winter Dragon must have been some sort of Oddity or Mutated Beast, meaning that unless the Queen had somehow bound it to her soul through the method of Spiritual Tethering, there should have been no way for her to exhibit its traits by simply drinking it's blood.
This contradicts the principle of ether existing as a chaotic and uncontrollable concept, as the ether that grants the evolved beasts such advanced abilities shouldn't be so easily absorbed by an individual without ghastly circumstances.
At the very least she should have fallen into derangement and lunacy, even potentially losing her life on the spot by being ripped apart by the authority housed within the blood.
This explanation seemed at odds with everything Elias knew so far unless there was some higher level knowledge he was not yet aware of.
'A bloodline authority huh? Doesn't that mean that she can exhibit two different authorities as an Apostle? One from her Wisp of Blessings and one from her royal bloodline. How envious. No wonder the might of the royal families can't even be challenged by those of the church.
'But something she said seems quite odd. She only said that the Kingdom of Wessex has a similar authority, then how about the Kingdom of Berlin? Is it possible that the Croft family rose to power without any type of initial power backing, especially against two kingdoms with standings like Wessex and Lorraine? That's quite impressive.'
Yves had gone mute after her explanation, with Damien pestering her about extra details concerning her ability which she readily ignored.
Elias gazed at her cold silhouette, wondering if her royal bloodline was part of the reason why all of the members of her family appeared so cold and apathetic.
He remembered her sister—the Second Princess, exhibiting similar traits, with even the current Queen appearing so cold and flat whenever she appeared in public.
'I guess their bloodline also follows the rule of give and take. It gives them the powers of cold, yet it also dulls their emotions by making them appear cold as well. It acts as the role of Tribulations to Runic Invocations for Apostles.
'It is also quite ironic that her royal bloodline is related to frost and winter, yet she was designated to an Echelon of Faith related to fire and war. Such a mutually contradictory result.'
Elias went silent for a bit before chuckling, realizing that each member of his group was in some way a subtle representation of contradictions.
He laughed heartily, walking a fair amount of distance with the group, before splitting off at the intersection pointing towards the History Department.
His destination was the Silent Archives, as he still had a lot of inquiries to carry out after all.