Chapter 37

The Dungeon of the Mage’s Academy

Sani

Sani had heard many different rumors about the “reformation cells” of Horath. Several of her compatriots in the wild order had been placed in these cells to either rot or “reform,” though it seemed that reformation was just a semantic twist on the term brainwash as far as Sani could tell. There was one thing that Sani had to admit in the positive though, these cells were not damp and musty like a normal dungeon, instead, they were pristinely clean and humming with magical energy. Every single one of the cells had a magical mirror that ran a constant loop of the Mage’s Academy propaganda about magic. After about twenty minutes Sani already wished she could plug her ears up. The first time around she had found the misinformation in the propaganda almost comical for how bad it was, by the seventh time though the humor had run its course and then some.

Sani was restrained in place, not exactly an unexpected development and far from the first time she’d been in a situation like this. She’d been restrained in jails all across Surren, including those in her home of Presidia, she’d learned long ago what to do in such a situation and how to steel her resolve against things like the repeating propaganda. She focused herself on a singular thought, breaking out and finding Vella. Where Sani had the life experience of this situation, Vella was still green, new to the life of a rogue. She worried how the propaganda might be getting to Vella and worried about how long she could hold out before she spoke to a member of the academy and spilled their secrets.

With each passing loop of the propaganda Sani’s concern grew. After long enough she began to talk to herself. She found this actually helped her focus, even if it did make her seem a little crazy. “When is Kraevos going to make his move?” she mumbled aloud. She had long ago learned to keep track of time in a situation like this, letting her magic flow to a small plant in her braid that grew at a very steady pace to track the passage of hours. With how haphazardly the plans had changed before getting to Horath, Sani was beginning to wonder if Kraevos had underestimated the defenses within the reformation cells.

When it reached four hours of time Sani grew frustrated enough to take matters into her own hands. “Guess I’ll just do it myself,” she muttered before concentrating on the plant hiding in her hair. “Grandios!” She spoke, and the plant's roots began to crawl and sprout, twining down and breaking the chair that she was restrained in. The roots lashed down and into the floor, cracking the stone and crushing the wall that formed the front of Sani’s cell. “Parves,” she uttered and the plant began to shrink, returning to its dormant form in her hair. She chuckled as she walked over the rubble, checking the hallway for any guards, “Nobody ever thinks to check the hair.”

She quickly darted from room to room, peering in to see which of the cells were occupied. Though she wished to find her friends, she was happy to see that none of the other cells had inhabitants at this time. At least no one else was undergoing the reformation and would get caught in this mess. At last, she heard whistling coming from a nearby cell and was pleased to see Kraevos, or more aptly his newest form, sitting and whistling the time away. As she looked around, hoping to find a key or some other lock device to avoid straining her plant, she began to hear voices behind her as guards approached her location at last. She turned to find two men in academy robes running down the hall after her, both beginning the hand motions for a spell incantation. One let loose a ball of fire that splashed the wall next to Sani. Lunging backward to avoid the flames, Sani was hit in the chest with a gust of wind that only sent her tumbling back further. As she regained her footing she looked as the men began to chant, preparing their next spells. One of them held his hands up, a swirling disk of magic atop his fingertips, “By the order of Headmaster Agrust, I command you to return to your cell!”

Sani certainly had no intentions of doing anything of the like. Instead, she placed her palms on the floor and smiled before yelling out “Discutios!” The plant from her hair shot roots into the floor that quickly surged and snaked forward toward the guards. As the roots began to lash out the two men dodged, rolling to the right to avoid the plant. With a loud crash, the roots smashed the wall across from the guards, destroying most of the cell.

“You missed,” one of the yards taunted back at Sani. As he finished his words a wave of lightning washed over him and he dropped unconscious to the floor. The second guard turned in time to see Kraevos, returned to his normal form, stepping over the rubble as he unleashed another blast of electricity to take the guard out. Kraevos stood triumphantly over the two guards, looking down the hall to Sani.

Sani laughed and looked back at Kraevos, “I wasn’t aiming for them, just to be clear. I just figured I’d kill two birds with one stone, free you, and take care of them.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“I believe we can say that worked rather well,” Kraevos replied with a smile. “Though I must say I am surprised, I expected to be freed quite some time ago. I thought your patience would have run out hours ago.”

Sani stomped over to Kraevos and punched him on the shoulder, “I was following the plan. I believe a certain ancient mage I know said he would take care of the whole breaking us out of the dungeon part.”

Kraevos paused for a moment, “Oh… I did, didn’t i?” he let out a full belly laugh, “Must have slipped my mind while I was watching that woeful document about how amazing I am.” Sani groaned as Kraevos continued to laugh, clearly enjoying himself mightily. “So where is Vella, I assume you found her before me?”

“That was the plan, I just happened to find you first. Those guards found me before I could get to her. I swear I was actually planning on doing this quietly,” Sani replied.

Kraevos looked down the hall where he could see the rubble that was Sani’s original cell, “I question your definition of quiet.” After one last laugh Kraevos let his face return to a more serious look, “But we must turn our attention to Vella, we have to find her before the reformation programming has an effect.”

Both Kraevos and Sani began to march down the hall, checking each and every cell as they went. The hallway went on for quite some distance, seeming to be as long as the main walkway of the Mage’s Academy. Unfortunately, Sani’s happiness about the empty cells faded as they reached a stretch of full cells. Each one had a brainwashed young mage with dull, glazed-over eyes and blank expressions on their faces of the reformation program.

At last, Kraevos yelled to Sani from several cells away, “I’ve found her!” Sani ran across the hall to the cell Kraevos was standing at. There, sitting peacefully in the cell was Vella. She was sitting comfortably in a chair, with a table in front of her and Precia’s journal in her hands glowing brightly. She seemed perfectly content to continue reading, unaware of anything going on outside her cell. There was no magic window playing the propaganda or anything of the like in her room. Kraevos placed his hand on the cell wall and uttered, “Intrabis.” The stone slid away and Sani and Kraevos were able to walk right into the cell.

Vella turned around and smiled at her friends, “Hi guys,” she said peacefully.

Sani turned her head in confusion, “So… um… what’s going on here Vella?” she asked, looking for some sign of struggle or coercion. “How come you’re not watching the propaganda? For that matter, where did all of this come from, didn’t they take your things when they brought you to the dungeon?”

“Well yeah, of course they did,” Vella replied. “And the propaganda did start, but it didn't stay on for long,I don’t think I even saw the whole thing. I was sitting here for a few minutes, trying to block it out, and all of a sudden it stopped. The book was here and the room sort of changed. My restraints dissolved and the table popped up. So I figured while I waited for the two of you I may as well read what the book was trying to show me.”

Sani continued to look at Vella, utterly perplexed by what was going on, “So, no brainwashing, no nothing. You’re still yourself?”

“As far as I know,” Vella replied. “Not like I know what happened either. One minute I was alone and the next the book was here for me. I swear it’s all Precia’s journal.”

Kraevos stood flabbergasted for a moment before he approached Vella and took the book, examining it. “Most odd,” he began. “I don’t doubt that the book has significant magical power, but to act on its own like this is beyond my understanding.” he turned to Vella with a very serious look, “Vella, did you summon the book?”

Vella looked back at Kraevos and shrugged, “If I did, I don’t know how I did it. I was just focusing on not being here, trying to think of what might help me get out. I thought about the book and then poof, it was here.” Kraevos’ eyes grew wide as he listened to Vella. “The book plopped itself open and kind of urged me to read a few different things. I learned a lot of interesting things in the past couple of hours.” Vella grabbed the book and opened it to a page that as before, only she could read. “Like this one, this one’s interesting.”

Both Kraevos and Sani looked at the page, but neither could see a thing, “What does it say, Vella,” Sani asked.

“Actually the pages I read are mostly about this place. What I was reading was telling me about some of the different people who had been here and a lot of the different rooms in the Mage’s Academy. It’s sort of a history of the place, except it’s completely up to date. It even talks about the current headmaster.”

Kraevos looked to Vella and then to the book, “What color are the letters, Miss Vella?”

“It’s sort of a purple hue,” Vella replied. “It shifts sometimes between blue and red, but it stays at purple the longest.

Kraevos thought about this for a moment, pondering the meaning of the colors of magic before Sani interjected. “So if you’re the only one that can read this, is there anything in there that can help us? Something about that room Kraevos needs?”

“Actually, yeah, there’s a lot of stuff about Kraevos and how he built this place, even about the room I think he’s leading us to.” Vella pointed a finger at Kraevos, her tone growing more serious, Before I get to that though, I think it’s time that Kraevos was honest with us about what we’re doing here.”