Evaline:
Rowan exhaled sharply. "Let guess... that ssage must have been from Marcus."
River gave a single nod. "It was."
Of course it was. Who else would have the nerve... and the stupidity... to summon an entire secret group after sothing like Carson’s incident?
River continued, his tone steady as always. "Everyone in the group received the ssage. And when they arrived for the eting, Marcus told them Carson wasn’t dead... but soul dead."
He stopped just enough to let us process the information. Then he went on, "Marcus told them how he overheard so of the elite warriors talking about two patrolling warriors found unconscious earlier that morning... also soul dead, just like Carson."
"Elite warriors were talking about it?" Rowan asked, frowning.
Oscar shook his head imdiately. "They weren’t being irresponsible. They were discussing the case privately in their camp. Marcus was sneaking around outside and overheard."
That... sounded exactly like sothing he would do considering the kind of group he was part of.
River continued, "He heard them saying the council and academy were keeping the soul-death cases confidential. And even though being soul dead didn’t an the victims were entirely gone... there was no known cure."
A cold chill ran through .
Marcus must have known how that information would hit those students - panic, fear, confusion, guilt. The perfect soil to plant whatever lies he wanted.
"Wait." I leaned forward slightly. "All of this still doesn’t explain how he turned that into extorting money."
If they were offering anything else, maybe I would have believed this Great Evil nonsense. But the mont I learned it was money, I knew he tricked them.
I looked at River, then Oscar.
"How? How did he convince that many students to hand over money?"
Oscar straightened slightly, rubbing his forehead as if preparing for the absurdity he was about to recount.
"The students confessed that Marcus told them there was this... Great Evil... after their group," he said. "And unless they found a way to keep this Great Evil happy, it would co for all of them next."
I blinked.
"You are kidding," I muttered.
No one laughed.
Of course no one laughed.
Oscar went on, "Naturally, they didn’t believe him. They told him he was bluffing."
"That’s normal," Rowan murmured. "Even scared students have limits."
Oscar nodded. "Exactly. They were suspicious and scared after Carson, but believing so Great Evil was specifically after them? They weren’t going to swallow that easily. So they all decided to walk out."
My brows lifted. "So then?"
Oscar sighed.
"The mont the first student stepped out of the old classroom they were using it as their eting spot, he fell unconscious."
I straightened instantly. "What?"
Oscar nodded. "That’s right. He opened the door, barely stepped forward, and boom... collapsed to the floor."
A ripple of unease ran through .
Kieran’s eyes narrowed. He had been silently taking in everything so far, but it seed like even he had reached his limit.
"And Marcus," Oscar continued, "imdiately declared that it was the Great Evil’s doing."
Of course he did.
I folded my arms. "Did no one try to help the kid?"
"They did," Oscar said. "Or at least Marcus pretended to. He shook him, slapped him lightly... but nothing worked. Then he dropped to his knees and started begging the Great Evil to release him."
I stared. "Begging?"
"That’s not the best part," Oscar said dryly. "He started offering whatever he had in his pockets. He emptied everything on the floor - candies, a few trinkets. Nothing worked."
"And then?" Kieran asked.
"And then," Oscar said, "he emptied the money from his wallet. The mont the notes hit the floor, the unconscious student twitched."
My eyebrows shot up. "Twitching isn’t waking."
"No," Oscar agreed. "He didn’t wake. But Marcus pointed dramatically at that twitch and told everyone it was proof the Great Evil wanted money."
I buried my face briefly in my hands.
Rowan muttered, "Unbelievable."
Oscar leaned back. "Still, the group didn’t buy it. A third-year girl walked toward the door saying she wasn’t scared of Marcus’ theatrics. The mont she crossed the threshold... she collapsed too."
My jaw almost hit the cold floor. "What the-?"
Oscar continued, "That’s when panic really sat in. Marcus played terrified, kept insisting the Great Evil was angry. He begged the others to offer money. But no one moved. They were too shocked."
"So what changed?" I asked quietly, already dreading the answer.
Oscar’s voice turned tight. "Fear."
He rubbed his temple. "The students were so rattled by the second collapse, by Marcus’ hysterics, by Carson’s case, that logic vanished. They started crying, panicking... and finally, one student pulled out his money and placed it on the desk."
"Then another," River said. "And another. And another."
Soon, apparently, they all emptied whatever cash they had.
"Marcus then told them all to step out into the hallway and wait," Oscar added. "They did. And within a minute... both unconscious students walked out of the room."
My heart stuttered.
"They woke up?" I asked.
Oscar nodded. "They looked confused. Terrified. Claiming they didn’t rember collapsing. And when the group went back inside the classroom-"
"The money was gone," River finished.
I inhaled sharply. "So the Great Evil supposedly accepted the offerings."
"Exactly," Oscar said.
I leaned back, utterly stunned.
"And from that day," River said, "the students have been offering a fixed amount every two months to keep the Great Evil satisfied."
"And Marcus?" Rowan asked.
"Apparently," Oscar said with a grim smirk, "he ’heard’ what the Great Evil wanted and acted as the middleman. Very generously."
I let out a stunned breath.
"Millions," I whispered. "He collected millions through this... elaborate scam."
River nodded.
Oscar shrugged, exhausted. "The students were scared. Superstitious. Traumatized. And Marcus played every emotional string he could."
"And the ’unconscious’ students?" I asked. "Were they in on it?"
River shook his head. "We did interrogate those two and it seems like they were genuinely unconscious. Both of them have also been paying their offerings as well. Jasper also ran a check on their bank accounts. Nothing suspicious so far. They also don’t seem close with Marcus or anything. But we can’t completely declare them innocent yet."
This only added to the confusion. "Then why did they fell unconscious and then woke up once the offering was made? Don’t tell it’s really to do with the Great Evil."
"Maybe he drugged them or sothing?" Rowan provided his thoughts but even he didn’t seem much convinced with his theory. Why only those two? And how?
"Not drugged," Oscar corrected almost imdiately. "More like a spell device. A pre-set trigger."
I looked at him, confused. "What do you an?"
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