Helianna stopped asking about the runes, and focused on helping Isela heal and prevent infection while they returned to The Academy. It took several days to get to the port, which were substantially awkward between the three of them. By the time they returned, Helianna was desperate to sleep in her own bed without the other two’s presence nearby. When they arrived, they were immediately split up to deliver their own reports, with Helianna speaking with her instructor.
She avoided giving him certain details, such as her own powers or her discovery of the runes. Aside from that, she gave him as much information as possible, both positive and negative. She was concerned about him somehow identifying she was hiding something and when he didn’t provide any facial expressions, it made her nervous. The longer the report took, the more nervous she got, but she kept it carefully hidden, not wanting to lose her composure. Once she was done, he finally addressed her.
“I appreciate the high level of detail, but it wasn’t necessary. In the future, provide the important details and then I will ask for more if I need it. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now. What was your biggest mistake over the two missions?”
She immediately opened her mouth to respond but stopped herself. The biggest gripe that she had with herself was failing to maintain her false persona, but was that her biggest mistake? Ultimately, it wasn’t even a single mistake, but a collection of mistakes. She created a persona that was too difficult to maintain. She then let herself get flustered so quickly and lost her persona. And finally, the worst of all? She never recovered. It took her over a week to remember she was supposed to use a persona and by then she was too late. Were any of these her biggest mistake, though?
Probably not. She had also failed to hide her sovereign magic, but that had turned out well in the end for her. Besides, that was something that she had no idea she even needed to worry about beforehand. She had not known other sovereign magic could make her own magic react. Additionally, she figured The Academy had been watching them, but Helianna and the team had always tried to be extra careful in hiding her magic and she wasn’t sure her instructor knew about that.
She also nearly failed to stop the duke, only surviving because the knight stopped attacking her. She didn’t think she could’ve beaten him, but that felt partially out of her control. Whatever they had used to detect her was technology beyond what she knew existed. As she thought that however, it immediately left a sour taste in her mouth. She had gotten mad at Zane after the rescue mission for the team not accounting for surprises like that. Since strange technology seemed to be a common mistake so far, she’d have to be more careful in the future.
Despite all that, she still didn’t think it was her biggest mistake. That problem had been that the knight was a much better fighter than her, which was less about mistakes and more about experience.
Her biggest mistake probably had to do with rescuing the other two. Not only did the team underestimate the level of defenses and technology the town had, but they didn’t plan ahead. They had gone in assuming that their abilities would give them such an edge that they didn’t have to worry. That was probably it. That’s what screwed them over so bad anyways.
“We didn’t plan well enough for the rescue and assumed our superior power would make it easy.”
“That was a mistake, a pretty big one at that. But it wasn’t your biggest mistake. That was simply a symptom of your biggest mistake.” She paused for a few moments to think.
“I didn’t communicate enough with the team leader?”
“Closer, but not quite. You tried to become a part of the team. They are not your team. They have known each other for almost their entire lives and know each other better than you ever could. You cannot meld with them as you might expect and can never fully trust them.
Trying to do so also removes one of your greatest abilities. Your individuality. Each of them is highly capable at one thing, whereas you can do everything on your own if necessary. Your ability to do this is one of your greatest assets. Falling under Vir’s leadership removed that from you. It also meant that when he didn’t come up with a plan, you followed him instead of creating your own. Your plans may be unusual and harebrained, but you still always have a plan.
And lastly, this was the biggest issue, when he didn’t plan and then started making stupid decisions, you were too invested. Have you heard of the sunk cost fallacy?”
When she shook her head, he continued.
“It’s when you refuse to abandon something because you have become too invested in it, even when it’s obvious that abandoning it would be more beneficial. You fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and it's something you should always keep in mind in missions. It is the number one reason that assassins die.
At that point, it had become a suicide mission and if I hadn’t stepped in, several more of you would have died. You should have cut your losses and left them to their own consequences. Live to make another plan instead of desperately holding onto the current one.”
“Wait, you stepped in?”
“I did. I did as little as I could, but the fact that I had to step in is a failure in itself. And just as I am aware of your failings, The Academy is aware of theirs.”
“What were those things?”
“The weapons? We have a much more advanced team figuring that out right now.”
“Are- are we really suppressing technological advancements?”
“Of course we’re suppressing some tech. It would be stupid not to. Think about it. If anybody could harness the power to wipe out a city without the training or self-control to stop it, how do you think that would go?
The original mission you went on? That is why you went. The duke was developing a way to simulate a meteor strike. Do you realize how damaging that can be? He could raze cities easily and it wouldn’t stay confined to his own mages for long. Before you know it, slinging meteors is the basis for war and every time someone uses it, miles of land is destroyed and becomes uninhabitable for a significant period of time.
Of course, once that becomes the basis, then they seek out a way for a meteor strike to become obsolete, creating an even bigger and deadlier weapon. Before long, entire countries are being annihilated in a blink. We contain their advancements to keep them safe. It may seem cold, but without us, the world would be a disaster.
And let me ask you this. How much do you know about the world before The Academy rose to power?”
“Not much.”
“Before we took control, it was a lawless and dangerous world where large swaths of land were destroyed and genocide occurred regularly, just as I mentioned earlier. The safest place on the planet were the island continents simply because almost nobody wanted to fight over such pitiable land.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Much of the rest of the world was scarred and useless. The meager scraps only made people more desperate and you couldn’t trust anyone. We prevent that. We stand at the top to lead people forward and in the right direction. Without us, civilization would crumble under its own progress. Do you understand?”
Despite the sick feeling in her stomach, she nodded. “I do.” She wasn’t sure if she was being idealistic, but she just couldn’t truly believe that. Sometimes progress has its hiccups, but she couldn’t imagine technology being so ruinous that it prevents progress itself. It’s the person who wields the technology that matters, not the technology itself. And in her opinion, people never change. A singular person can, but as species, they don’t change, especially not just in a few years.
What made more sense to her is simply that when they centralized the most powerful people in the world, ithrax, into one location, advancements sped up a lot. Regardless, she didn’t like this. Coupled with the fact that they were continuously using sovereign magic on their own people to influence their mind via their own clothes and most not knowing, she couldn’t help but feel betrayed. She knew it was somewhat illogical given that they hadn’t done any of it to her, but her mental image of The Academy was now ruined. And her instructor going on this impromptu lecture felt a little too defensive for her.
The Academy had always been the ones that stood up for what was right, impartial to the politics of others. They were the peak of scientific discovery and prevented global disasters on repeat. Now? It looked more like squashed scientific discovery, holding all the power. They ignored politics simply because they controlled them. She couldn’t tell if she was being melodramatic and overreacting to the overload of information or if it was a justified reaction. Instead of thinking about it further and stressing herself out, she went straight to her room and went to sleep, without even washing off.
She slept like a log, not waking up until afternoon the next day. She then finally cleaned herself off, feeling disgusting from travel and unpacked her small trunk. She then went down to get food, but immediately retreated to her room afterwards, wanting to be alone. She spent the rest of the day in her room, relaxing while she could. She knew the next day, she’d be right back to work.
Work returned to normal, but she wanted to hear news about the team she traveled with. It wasn’t till nearly two months later when she heard news, and it was the worst kind. They had attempted to leave and escape The Academy. The other nulls couldn’t understand why they might escape, but Helianna instantly knew and wanted to do the same. The results of the team’s escape made her hesitant however. They completely failed and were captured quickly.
In punishment, The Academy had killed every last one of them. Forcing one to spawn of the null. However, as soon as they respawned, they were killed again so the next person would have to respawn off the null as well. They did this one by one so the entire team respawned off the null, crippling their mana reserves for life. This also served as torture for the poor null that they respawned off of, simply collateral damage for the punishment given to the team.
Helianna was horrified at the punishment, but found she was the only one. The other nulls blamed the whole thing on the team, despite The Academy forcing the punishment on an innocent null. Of course, she also was starting to agree with the team about leaving The Academy, which was its own issue.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. Because she had been with them on her most recent mission, The Academy wanted a debrief from her on their behaviors and intentions. She had been expecting her instructor to be the one debriefing her, but found herself with an unfamiliar face. It was a short human man with clear elvish ancestry. His ears were long and bright red along with the rest of his skin, which contrasted with his green eyes. He had a thin, but chiseled face that she was certain impressed many women he found.
“Who are you? I was expecting my instructor.”
“He’s busy. He’s still helping deal with the aftermath of their insubordination.”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “So I’m here to get as much information as I can from you. Any information that I can get about their insubordination will be invaluable.”
“I figured that’s why I was here.”
“Yeah, did you come across anything that might indicate why they might have gone rogue?” Helianna immediately knew the reason, but had the perfect deflection in mind while she thought of a response.
“Hold on, can I at least get your name before we start this?” she asked, prompting a chuckle.
“My bad. The name’s Hass. I am the leading figure of a senior ithrax cell.”
“Well I assume you know my name, but just in case, it’s Helianna.” He nodded.
She knew the real reason that they left, which was the runes, but she did not want to reveal that she knew about them nor did she want to screw the team any worse than they already were. She also knew that she had already given an in-depth report to her instructor so there wasn’t much else that was hidden except for her own powers. Instead, she chose something that they probably already knew about but would look like her trying to give up information.
“There was something I thought odd at the time, but didn’t realize what it meant. It wasn’t even on our primary mission, but when we were rescuing the other team of ithrax…” She paused and he gestured for her to continue. “They sacrificed the security of the mission in order to get more information on whatever they had created in Shohlchester.”
“Guns,” he interrupted.
“What?”
“They’re calling the weapons guns.”
“Okay. Well we could’ve, and should’ve started the rescue while the guards were escorting those two out. The guards weren’t set up, they weren’t all there, you get the point. I actually tried to initiate the rescue, but Vir, the team lead, stopped me. He wanted to listen to the man in charge give his speech. He talked a bit about the runetech they were using, but a lot of it was hyping up the crowd and demeaning The Academy.”
“How did the team react to it?”
“I didn’t get a chance to look at the whole team as the rescue started immediately afterwards. I did see Vir though, who seemed, in retrospect, to be considering the man’s words.”
“You mentioned that the man was demeaning The Academy. How so?”
“I remember he called it corrupt, but the main thing he focused on was The Academy oppressing technology. He kept talking about how The Academy was holding the world back and that The Academy were tyrants trying to remain in control.”
“Was there any other runetech you saw aside from the guns?”
“Yeah, but not there. On our original mission, I came across some contraption that was able to detect me. It clearly used magic, but how they got it to work on a null, I have no clue.”
“How did the team react to this?”
“They didn’t. It wasn’t intentional, but I never told them.”
“What is your assessment on their reasoning for why they left?”
“I believe they had already been planning to leave. For how long? I have no clue. Far before we knew about the guns or level of technology, Vir was planning on listening and clearly wanted to learn more about their weapons. I mentioned in my initial report that the knight-like man clearly worked for some outside organization. I would expect that the team planned to leave for said organization, or something similar if it creates new technology. It clearly seemed to be their focus.”
“And what is your assessment of all the technology you came across?”
“Terrifying. I’ve spent the last few years learning that I’m untouchable with just magic and to never flinch when faced with it. These things? They could clearly do a lot of damage and after the sensor that saw me, I don’t know if they’ll hurt me as well.”
“Do you think they are too dangerous?” Alarm bells immediately rang out within her head. This seemed to be exactly what her instructor had been talking about. As much as she already hated guns, she didn’t want to stop the progress, albeit violent progress they represented. She knew that’s not the answer he was looking for though.
“I don’t know. They were terrifying, I’ll easily say that. Honestly, I’d need more information. I only really saw them used twice. One was in the first volley, when an unknown number shot Vir. That was not a good assessment, as I couldn’t tell whether it was closer to three or thirty that they fired. The second was when they shot one of the people we were trying to save. I didn’t see how much damage it did, simply that it slowed him down. I also don’t know how much training they require.”
“Give us your best estimate.”
“If they work like high powered crossbows, they might be too dangerous. If it doesn't require mana, then anybody could use them. If anybody can harness that kind of power with minimal training, then yes. I think it would be too dangerous.”
“Well, thank you for your time. We’ll let you know if we have more questions. Have a good afternoon.”
“You too.” He left the room, and it took all of Helianna’s self control to avoid melting in her seat in relief. Her heart had been pounding the whole time, but she was safe. She thought she handled that well.