Hyperion Evergrowing

Chapter 151: Appointment

Lucia felt cold. Even under the afternoon sun and surrounded by the raucous energy of the arena stadium her limbs felt numb and her skin was clammy. She had witnessed the fight between the tenth and ninth blades of the Academy, but in truth she had seen very little of it. Her gaze had been locked on the woman with golden hair, the point all other details had faded into the background.

Hearing stories and rumours was one thing. But finally laying eyes on the woman was like reaching the base of a mountain and finally seeing just how far there was to go. And how unprepared you were to even attempt the ascent. Her heart pumped loudly in her ears, the sound drowning out all else. She tightened her hands into fists in her lap and fought down a sudden bout of nausea.

That’s weird. She thought, unable to stop the trembling in her hands. I haven't felt like this since- Her mind reeled, unable to finish the thought. Her vision went blurry and suddenly the past year became real. All the sleepless nights, the days without food, the struggle to keep living, to keep Roy alive. One way or another, it would all be over soon. The realisation made her heart beat even harder, made the world close in around her, tightening like a vice and threatening to never let go.

Lucia stared down at… not the cause. Maybe the catalyst of everything that had gone wrong. Hera wasn’t an enemy. Hopefully. Lucia could only pray that she wasn’t, even if… even if- She couldn’t think about it. It was too painful.

And then Hera, possibly the strongest person she had ever personally seen, turned and looked in her direction as if perceiving her stare. The projection from the arena’s shields were no longer in effect, so Lucia couldn’t see the woman's face, nor the precise direction she had looked, but it was enough to make everything go very still and very quiet.

It took her several seconds to realise she was being tapped on the shoulder by Roy. Her brother’s excited and happy expression slowly faded as the seconds trickled by and she didn’t respond. Lucia blinked, and looked up at his concerned face, his sunken features were less pronounced after several days of full meals and repeated healing.

“Sis. Did you see?” Roy asked, his eyes wide.

“Y-yeah. I saw. Pretty… Pretty cool, huh?” She said, forcing a smile.

Her brother frowned, her response hadn’t been what he had expected. She tried again, her smile a little more genuine as she saw the concern written over his features.

“It sure was. People on that level have lots of attributes, so everything they do is really quick and strong.”

“I bet they have like, a million in each one! I wanna be that strong too! Do you think I can? Can I sis?”

She reached out and wrapped an arm around his back, shifting in her stone seat to get a little closer. “Of course you can, Roy. You’re amazing. You can do whatever you want, and I promise to help you do it.”

The little boy kicked his feet happily and started retelling the events of the fight, though his story was limited to what he had actually been able to see. He also made up several parts. Apparently there had been a dragon swimming in the grey water and the tentacles had been its fingers.

Lucia felt herself slowly calm down as she watched the arena get swept clean by several pairs of people running around with large rake-like contraptions attached to wheels. The remaining puddles of foul liquid seemed to vanish in a flash as some sort of enchantment activated in the machine’s prongs.

Ella stood and excused herself, rapidly shaking Leif’s hand and thanking him for bringing her along, then the first year departed with a wave to Lucia and Roy, running off to go report to her supervisor where she had been. The stadium settled down after the showmatch. The following events were segmented team bouts between second years, the displays of power and skill were far less impressive and garnered a significantly reduced amount of attention from the spectators.

A quartet of girls two rows down seemed particularly enthused about a match happening around the midpoint of the arena, so Lucia found herself focusing on that one over the dozen or so others.

About an hour in, Roy announced he needed to pee. So Lucia picked herself up out of the chair and guided him up along the outer limits of the arena to where she had spotted a pair of doors labelled as restrooms. Around ten metres away from where they had been seated the force of the mixing aura’s pressed down onto both children.

Though far less chaotic and oppressive than it had been during their arrival, Lucia found herself involuntarily tightening her grip around Roy’s hand. He had been shielding us the entire time. She realised, turning back to where Leif was seated. The masked man was lounging back, one leg over the other with his arms behind the two neighbouring seats, both of which were empty. Like always, she had no idea what he was really thinking.

Leif turned to face her, making Lucia realise she had been staring. Her orange human eyes met the healer’s burning slits of golden light. He tilted his head as if to ask if she needed help, the expression somewhat comical due to the mask. Lucia shook her head and led Roy to where he needed to go. The aura’s mixing in the air around them weren’t exactly pleasant, but neither were they actively being targeted or suppressed. It just took a little more concentration to put one foot in front of the other and inhale and exhale, instead of the process of walking and breathing being something she could do without thought or effort.

She and Roy waited in line for around ten minutes, then her little brother darted into the male restroom. Lucia sighed and stood off to the side, more than happy she didn’t need to be present. Roy was a surprisingly independent child in some ways, and utterly dependent in others. Lucia supposed a year of hardship had accelerated her brother’s maturation. It made her angry. He never should have needed to grow up so fast. It wasn’t fair. But nothing was fair, was it? Maybe it was time to stop pretending like the world was otherwise.

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Her brother wobbled out a few minutes later, proudly announcing that he had washed his hands with the running water the restroom apparently had. That was interesting, but she supposed in a place as wealthy and magically inclined as the Academy, it wasn’t overly surprising. They had once had such things in their own home. Lucia wondered if Roy even remembered.

They made their way back to their seats, only to find Leif engaged in conversation with an official. Both men were standing on the outer walkway, and the healer had his academy token held in one hand. For an instant Lucia feared the worst, but when Leif beckoned them over and the official dipped into a short bow she relaxed. Though not as quickly as Roy who waved enthusiastically.

“I’m meeting an old friend.” Leif said. “You don’t have to come, but I’m also not sure you should be left alone.”

“Will there be food?” Roy asked hopefully.

The official nodded. “Meals can be brought to the residence. Assuming there isn’t some already there for whatever reason.”

“There you have it. There will indeed be food.” Leif said.

“Sis! We should go!”

“I…” Lucia said, swallowing down a lump in her throat. She didn’t want to be alone on the archipelago with just her and Roy. She was fairly confident the Academy was infinitely safer than the streets of Kartinth, but it wasn’t like attaching themselves to a surprisingly well connected healer was a bad idea. Her thoughts came to a screeching halt when the official spoke up

“Blade Hera won’t be available for another hour or so. There is a meeting between Academy higher ups that she is currently attending. But there is no harm in taking you, or any you wish to bring along with you early.”

Hera? What? Why is she sending someone to invite Leif to her residence? How does he know her? Lucia’s mind raced, ideas and possibilities swam through her head. This is too unlikely to be a coincidence? Right? What are the odds we run into somebody trying to contact the same person we are? Does Leif know? Did he always know but was pretending not to?

“-and she lives on Lutum? I had somewhat expected all the Blades to live here on Pellus.” Leif asked.

Lucia blinked, the conversation had moved on without her noticing.

“That is correct, sir. Lady Hera prefers the quiet of the third island. And it is hardly an inconvenience to use the teleportation hub to quickly get to wherever she needs to be on the archipelago.” The official said.

“Sis.” Roy whispered. “Isn’t Hera the person who knows what happened to mum and dad?”

“Quiet Roy.” She hissed, squeezing his hand to emphasise her words. “But yes, that's her.”

“Isn’t that the lady who fought in the arena?”

“Yes, Roy. It's the same person. Just… just keep quiet about it like I told you. We need to be careful.” She finished, her voice as low as possible so her brother could hear, but nobody else.

“-And how is she? Things weren’t looking great the last we saw one another.” Leif asked.

“The Academy has the greatest healers in the world on standby. No expense was spared.”

“Best in the world, huh?” The masked man grunted, turning to face Lucia and Roy. “So-

“We’re coming.” Lucia blurted. “I mean… if that's okay. Um, can we please come?”

“You saw the match, did you?” The official asked with a smile. “I can understand being excited. It isn’t every day you meet one of the pillars of the civilised world.”

===

The plazas of mosaic stone were as vast and intricate as they were empty. That wasn’t to say that there were no students and Academy faculty walking their lengths or gathering in groups. It was that the sheer scale of the courtyards made it seem as if they weren’t present at all. A single plaza within the inner halls of Pellus was larger than the entire Twin Heart guild compound, and there were several plazas connected in a checkerboard pattern, the spaces only broken up by covered walkways and small, curated gardens.

Leif had associated what he had seen of the Vin estate with opulence and wealth. He now knew that assumption had been… not incorrect, but lacking in scope. Relative instead of absolute. Two lines of fountains flanked the wide path leading up to a massive structure that towered above the surrounding structures and courtyards like a fortress. It was angular, built with a more utilitarian purpose than the ancient displays of architecture that they had passed leading up to it.

It was also, to Leif’s inexpert eyes, far older. If the modern Academy had been built within and around the ruins of a civilisation long forgotten, then the building they now entered must have predated that civilization by centuries, or perhaps millennia. The interior of the structure, the portal hub for the Academy, was far newer than its exterior. The designs of the inner walls and tiled floors reminded Leif of the arena.

He asked the Academy official who was guiding them through the well guarded chambers if they were built by the same people. But the man apologised and admitted that it was something he had never looked into. The innermost room was protected not by the black uniformed guards that littered the teleportation hub, but instead ten massive statues, their marble blades pointed upwards, the light from the room's open roof filling the space with a warm orange glow.

Three smaller chambers lay equidistant from one another around the outer ring of the room, the familiar ripple and distortion of permanently activated portals shimmering within. Leif had only ever encountered portals like these once before, the undead dungeon below Pherin having maintained, or potentially created one using a portal link between the depths of the Mythhold and a largely destroyed temple on the surface.

Leif wasn't overly familiar with the permanent gateways that you could both see and walk through and the temporary teleportation circles that needed to be activated using mana shards or an equivalent power source. The only thing he was comfortable with saying for certain he understood about teleportation, was that it required an anchor before use, or some sort of pathway in which to follow. His own [The Amber Path] skill used both principles, and every step he took left behind a short lived anchor he could use.

The portal to Lutum was decorated with the laurel and fist symbol Ella had described, and Leif had spotted on the shoulder or chest of several students back at the arena. With a slight warping of reality they stepped through, appearing in an almost identical building to the one they had just been standing in.

“This way, if you would.” The official said, gesturing towards the exit. “The Lutum campus is far more spread out than those of the other islands. We will take a brief carriage ride to Blade Hera’s residence.”

“Of course. Lead on.”