Why was there so much security? I get that we may have engaged in so activities that were legally questionable—but this was an academy, this was a school, a place of higher learning where overly ambitious students scribbled down lecture notes and pretended they weren’t sleep-deprived. Not a high-security fortress designed to keep out everyone except maybe a rag-tag team of forr criminals grouping up more ti to pull off the biggest heist of their lives.
I exhaled, pressing my back against the cold stone wall of the stairwell as another patrol passed just outside the door. Too many guards. Too many damn guards.
I glanced over at Ronan, who stood unnervingly still, staring at nothing, just happy to be here, I’m sure.
I had to voice my thoughts, I had to see how Ronan would respond.
"Ronan, if I ask you a question, will you answer like a normal person?" I proded carefully.
"You have just asked a question Caidan."
"No, I an a different question." I sighed in frustration.
"I understand. I will answer to the best of my ability." Ronan replied Ronanly.
"Why is there so much security?" I muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. "Isn’t this supposed to be a school?"
Ronan’s head tilted slightly, then, as if on cue, he spoke with an eerie smoothness—in a way that had way too much polish for soone improvising.
"The Arcanis Grand Academy is the most prestigious institution of magical learning in the known world, founded on the principles of innovation, discipline, and intellectual pursuit. Producing the brightest minds of every generation, its alumni have gone on to revolutionize magical theory, war strategy, and arcane application across all fields of study. Due to the highly valuable nature of its research and the significance of its restricted knowledge vaults, its security asures are among the most advanced, rivaling those of royal treasuries and high sanctums across the continent."
I blinked at him.
He blinked back.
There was a long pause, and I tried to process what the actual hell had just co out of his mouth. Was this what he considered as speaking like a normal human? There had to be an explanation, and guards be damned, they could wait while I figured this mystery out, or at least untangled a small thread of it.
"... When you’re not tagging along with , what do you even do?"
Ronan stared at , face blank as ever. "I try to split my ti evenly between observing people and reading the nearest literature."
I squinted at him. "You read that academy stuff off of a brochure, didn’t you?"
"Yes."
Of course, he did. I guess there wasn’t much I could do about that. Besides, who knows what kind of obscure knowledge he might be able to obtain from wherever the hell he goes to read—the gift shop?
I rubbed my temples. "Ronan, that was way too clinical of a response. You sounded like one of those people handing out pamphlets at the city gates or a tour guide."
He blinked again as if genuinely trying to understand what part of that was a problem. "It was an accurate summary."
"Yeah, yeah, but you’ve gotta—" I waved vaguely in his direction, "—deliver it like a person. Say it with so personality, you know? Less like a recruitnt officer and more like a guy who doesn’t sound like he’s about to sell on tuition benefits."
He stared at for a mont, then, with the sa eerily smooth cadence, he repeated...
"The Arcanis Grand Academy is the most prestigious institution of magical learning in the known world—"
I smacked a hand over his mouth. "Stop, stop, we can work on this later, just please stop." I needed my wits about if we were going to escape, and I couldn’t very well expect to keep them if I tried to understand Ronan.
Ronan blinked, then slowly nodded.
I sighed, lowering my hand. "You worry sotis."
"You do seem concerned," he said. "Would you like to reassure you?"
"No thank you, maybe we’ll figure you out so other day."
"I understand."
"Alright, fun little detour aside, let’s focus on not getting caught and possibly executed. I still haven’t figured out if this school’s got the death penalty for robbery, but I’d really rather not find out."
Ronan tilted his head. "It’s unlikely the school would execute even their most troubleso students. However, indefinite magical imprisonnt—"
I groaned, holding up a hand. "Nope. Not helping."
"We should begin heading downstairs. Once we reach the ground floor, our avenues of escape increase significantly." Ronan said out of the blue.
"Uh, okay. Good idea, buddy. Let’s get started, shall we?" I started heading down the stairs in no particular worry, at least until Ronan continued, his eyes that weird shade of magical blue, like when he located the artifact for us.
"Perhaps a bit faster. There are four security personnel heading directly for this level of the stairwell. I estimate, 5 seconds until arrival?" Ronan quickly caught up to and was actually in the process of pushing past. Was he trying to leave behind? I’m no distraction for your getaway.
I grabbed him by the arm, and he almost pulled away before turning to see I had an idea. We were starting to get this teamwork thing down, or at least, he was starting to know when to follow my lead and I was sotis risking my life by letting him make any decisions at all.
With one hand on Ronan’s hand, and another on the guard rail, I leapt over the side. Before gravity had a chance to tell I’d fucked up, my gaze flicked down to the floor before. Just as my body started to descend, I used my ability.
[Shadow Dance Activated.]
[Mana: 45/100.]
Darkness wrapped around us, folding the world away, and when I blinked again, we were on the ground floor. I cracked open the door and peered out into the hallway. It didn’t look like there was much going on, but I wasn’t going to risk it. There were only a few precious seconds left to use my free cast of Shadow Dance.
Ronan, ever the walking anti-fun machine, simply muttered, "Your mana is depleting at a rapid rate, this is not sustainable." Ronan’s eyes were still blue, which explained why he could see my mana, at least I assu that was the explanation.
I reached out for Ronan while keeping my line of sight on the opposite side of the corridor. To my surprise, he reached out and grabbed my hand, and as soon as I felt contact, I took us through the shadows again. When no ssage appeared about mana usage, I sighed a breath of relief.
"Alright, in here, quick," I drug Ronan into the nearest room and shut the door behind us.
The room we ended up in was dimly lit with magical light, lined with shelves overflowing with books, scrolls, and strange trinkets that seed to hum with latent energy. A study of so kind, maybe a professor’s personal research chamber. It couldn’t have been to terribly important, as it wasn’t locked. The scent of aged parchnt and burnt wax filled the air, along with the faint acrid bite of old magic.
Ronan took one look around and then turned to . "This is a dead end."
"No shit, Sherlock." I pressed my ear to the door, listening for any signs of pursuit.
"My na is Ronan." He responded indifferently.
Footsteps echoed faintly down the corridor, distant but thodical. They weren’t running. They weren’t searching frantically. They knew we were here.
That was worse.
I pulled away from the door, grimacing. "We’re not getting out the way we ca. Ideas?"
Ronan didn’t hesitate. "Break the window and descend the outer wall."
I looked past him, spotting the narrow, barred window near the ceiling. "Yeah, sure, let just phase through solid tal." I crossed my arms. "Any ideas that don’t involve us getting impaled or arrested?"
Ronan considered this. "Bribery?"
I stared at him. "With what money?"
"... Ah."
"Yeah, that’s what I thought."
The tension in the room thickened as I turned back toward the shelves, trying to find anything useful. There had to be another way out—so ergency exit, so hidden passageway. These old buildings were full of weird little secrets.
Then, just as I took another step forward, everything grew so overwhelmingly heavy.
It wasn’t the guards, it wasn’t movent in the hallway, it was inside the room.
I tensed imdiately, my instincts tearing at my mind before I even processed why. Ronan noticed it too, his posture adjusting, head tilting slightly like he was viewing sothing unseen.
The faint aura of magical light grew brighter and brighter until it was blinding, and then... darkness. All-consuming darkness surrounded us for what felt like an eternity before the faint glow returned to reveal a chamber many tis larger than where we were just a mont ago. I suppose chamber was a vague enough term for it, because the shadows weren’t revealing enough to show the walls, just a general barrier of darkness, light only showing enough to illuminate Ronan, myself, and...
From the darkest corner of the room, a figure stepped forward.
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