The Sixth School Book Ii Ch 005

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All Characters in the story are 18 years of age and above...

***

Even after Olivia had gone off to deal with their tail, his teacher never stopped moving. It spoke to the mental fortitude that she had that she continued to walk for another hour or so despite the pain. She hadn't said much since they left the airship, but Greg couldn't help but feel wordlessly chastised by her. They had wiped away almost every last trace of their existence from the town, gotten a headstart on their pursuers, and remained on the run for the last six months. Yet, for all this, she still hadn't let her guard down. Even after she'd pointed out their pursuers, she didn't assume they were safe, she kept them moving through the streets of Ethavel in what Greg now recognized had been a counter-tracking exercise by his teacher.

In the end, they climbed into one of the carriages that acted like this world's version of a cab. Greg was now fluent enough in the human tongue that he recognized that what his teacher said to the coach driver wasn't actually an address but rather a code. From the way the man's eyes slightly widened before he caught himself, Greg grew only more certain of this. The man gave a firm nod to his teacher before they all got in and the carriage started moving at a steady clip. Greg expected his teacher to collapse into the comfortable leather seats of the carriage after the strain of the previous hour. The woman, however, calmly sat upright in her seat, her gaze turned to the window as she watched the city go by. Greg wanted to ask her how she was doing, but exposing her weakened state when she was so valiantly masking it would have been counterproductive, so he too turned to watch the city.

'It's done,' Olivia's mental voice reached him just as a mote of light entered the carriage through the window and sunk into his glabella. It didn't take long for Olivia to relay all that had happened and Greg couldn't help but be left speechless. It never ceased to amaze him just how unreasonable people could be in a world where strength dictated everything. All he'd done was look at a girl and in response the Governor's son had sent men after him, probably with the intent to harm. It made him feel rather uneasy about the one guard who got away from Olivia. Still, it was a pointless thing to worry about since, without a tail, the Governor's son would have no way of tracking him. With a sigh, he remained quiet and continued to gaze out the window.

The trip didn't take long considering the size of the city. Soon the carriage turned down a nondescript alley. Greg immediately grew nervous at this. Looking at his teacher who'd remained calm as if this was expected, Greg remained calm. When the carriage came to a stop a short while later, the healer was once again the first to step down from the carriage, nothing about her giving away the fact that she was in pain. Turning to the driver she offered a small bow. "May the shroud cover you," she said.

"And you as well," the man returned the bow before turning to look forward once more. With a click of his tongue, the horses began pulling his carriage once more and before long, he turned onto the street on the other end of the alley. Greg couldn't help but notice that the man hadn't asked for any payment, and neither had his teacher offered any. Still, despite his burning curiosity, Greg decided that he would ask when they were in a safe place.

His teacher watched the carriage till it had left the alley before turning to the wall to their right. Walking up to the wall, she first studied the bricks for a long while as if she was trying to solve some riddle. She finally reached forward and tapped on a brick. As soon as she did so, a number of the bricks before her lit up. The healer didn't even pause for a second before she tapped on one of the glowing bricks. The bricks lost their glow just as another set lit up. Again, the healer pressed on another one among the ones lighting up. This repeated around ten times before there was a click from the wall.

"Keep calm," the healer's calm words were all the warning they got before he felt the sensation of his body losing its solid form and being sucked through a straw. Having already experienced teleportation several times before, Greg realized that the warning had probably been for his mother and sister. He had no idea if Lothar had ever teleported before. As it turns out, the teleportation wasn't the only thing coming. A strange feeling covered him in the process of teleportation. Greg had run his hand through a cobweb before so he knew how it felt, only this time, the feeling was all over his body. In the short time between one teleportation point and the next, Greg felt like threads had been weaved together all across his body. When they became solid once more, he could feel both his mother and sister clinging tightly to him. They, however, were making a valiant effort to remain calm as they had been asked to do.

"Follow."

Not wasting any time, his teacher calmly called back to them as she walked down a set of stairs. It took a second for Greg to realize that they were on a raised platform in the middle of what seemed like a public square with people moving all around them. Looking closer at the people, Greg was reminded of the stereotypical depiction of ghosts from back on Earth as they all seemed to have a sheet draped over them, only theirs was grey instead of white. The covering of the sheet, however, was all-encompassing, lacking even eyeholes to see through. Yet somehow the people didn't bump into each other. Greg remembered the feeling of threads being weaved around his body and suspected that when others looked at him they only saw a form covered in the same sheet. The only people whose form Greg could see clearly with no covering were the ones he'd arrived with.

"Let's go," he urged his mother and sister who stood frozen by him. They all began moving through the crowd, following after the healer who'd never stopped moving.

Wherever this place was, it was the size of a large campus from Greg's measure of it. It was large enough that a decent number of buildings had been built here and people in the thousands moved about in it. They didn't walk for long. Soon they entered a building that turned out to be a lodge. The rooms offered ranged from single rooms barely furnished that cost a few silvers for a night, to luxurious rooms that cost five hundred gold coins a night. In typical fashion, his teacher went for one of the better rooms, picking three of the ones that went for a hundred gold coins a night. One room was for Lothar, the next one for his mother and sister to share and the final one would be the one in which Greg would be carrying out the procedure for the next week.

Greg had expected his teacher to finally take a rest, but once again, he was floored by the woman's willpower as she ignored the bed and began to clear the space on the floor next to it for the formations they'd need. Having spent a whole week discussing this, they'd already made the necessary preparations for it. Greg thus wasted no time as he began pulling out one formation plate after the other. The formations themselves were largely for privacy rather than aid in the matter. Sound canceling formations, anti-scrying wards, and so on. They worked with quiet efficiency placing everything in a wide circle that they could easily operate in. When all was said and done, they both sat cross-legged in the center.

His teacher was naked, but with what lay ahead of them, Greg couldn't bring himself to look at the situation sexually. Like most people before an important undertaking, Greg couldn't help but wonder if he was ready for it. But just as his teacher said when she first suggested this course of action, they had been training for this for the past six months, there wasn't much new that delaying would allow him to learn. Greg thus forced down his misgivings and put on a brave face for his teacher even as she began to pull out the potions they'd need for the process. Some of them she'd bought from him, while others she'd already owned. Greg couldn't help his anxiety spiking when his teacher produced five potions instead of the three he'd been expecting.

The first potion was meant to impede mana absorption. Months of practice had made it clear that the process was much easier when he didn't have to fight his teacher's mana. The healer had already donned a ring that would drain her mana in a matter of minutes, this potion would keep her from naturally replacing what the ring was draining. The next potion would drastically weaken the walls of her mana core and pathways, making the whole process of dismantling them easier for Greg. The third potion was actually for Greg. This process would take a whole week, and he'd only be able to stop long enough to either take a drink of water or piss. Any longer than that and the whole process could start to unravel and fall apart like dominos falling over. This last potion would be responsible for keeping him both awake and clear-minded for the whole week.

"What are these last two potions?" Greg questioned, not liking being surprised with new items at the last minute.

His teacher smiled at him. "Relax, they don't change anything as far as the process is concerned. This first potion is called the wakeless nightmare," she stated reaching forward and picking the first of the two unknown potions. Greg's gaze moved from the vial full of an oily green liquid to his teacher, the arch in his brow wordlessly posing the question. "I know. Some alchemists have a rather nasty naming sense," she conceded with a shrug. "Still, despite the ominous-sounding name it's just a paralytic. The main ingredient of this potion is the venom of the tier-four red-back spider, also known as the swamp's kiss. The swamp's kiss is unique in that its only effect is to paralyze. It doesn't do any damage to any part of the body, let alone turn your insides to soup as most spider venoms tend to. After you are paralyzed and safely encased in a cocoon, the spider prefers to take a more physical approach to turning you into mush, if you get what I mean," she said. Greg couldn't help but wince at the image.

"When people managed to get hold of the venom and tested it, they found that it can paralyze the average adult for up to three days on the shorter end, and a week if one is particularly susceptible. But while the paralytic doesn't do any physical damage, one of its most insidious effects is that it doesn't allow one to lose consciousness in any form. So long as it's in your system, you can't even sleep let alone pass out. Now, if you are caught by the spider, you don't have much to worry about as it'll shortly thereafter ensure you go into eternal slumber. If you are in the hands of your enemies, however, you can be left unable to move or defend yourself while they torture you. You won't be able to scream, squirm, or beg while they do, but there are sick and twisted minds out there that take pleasure in the helplessness of others even more than they do hearing their victim's screams. There is only one difference between the spider's venom and this potion, the amount of time it's effective. The one in this vial is weak enough that the paralysis should only last a single month. At full potency, however, it can put one into sleepless paralysis for cycles on end. This last vial is the antidote" She explained placing the green potion down and picking up the last vial full of a clear liquid.

Greg didn't even try to hide the horror on his face. Some alchemists might have a nasty naming sense but this was not one of them. The name of the potion was just nothing short of accurate. Being trapped in one's own body and unable to move was already bad enough, but to even be denied the escape of sleep was the very definition of a nightmare. And as the name already implied, you were already awake, so there was no waking up from this nightmare! "Why would you even want to take such a thing?" he asked, looking at the vial like it was a viper about to strike. Given the fact that he was the one that was going to be working on the healer, it wouldn't make sense for him to be paralyzed. That left only his teacher as the only one to take the potion.

"You are about to subject me to one of the worst pains a mage can be subjected to, Roka. Without this potion, I'm afraid I'll be unable to remain still," the healer replied placidly.

Greg's eyes went wide as something clicked in his mind. It wasn't just her words, Greg remembered what happened when he picked the personal pocket space as a reward. Unlike the healer, he didn't get a paralytic, instead, some external force had taken hold of him and kept him from moving while it worked. He could even remember the pain. It had been horrendous and if he hadn't been distracted by Morpheus at the time, he suspected that the memory would have been more traumatic for him. Greg had looked at the formation etched into his spirit body over the months that followed and knew that as much as it hurt, the thing was superficial. Greg couldn't help but blanch in horror as he realized that what they planned to do with the healer wasn't in any way superficial. Her mana pathways were to her spirit body what blood vessels were to the physical body. Comparing what he underwent to what they were about to do was like comparing getting a tattoo to being cut open and having your innards pulled out.

"Why would you want to be awake for this?" He asked, unable to keep his voice from shaking. He no longer questioned why she would want to be paralyzed for what was about to come.

"Trust me, I'm not a masochist, Roka. If this was a physical procedure, I'd want to be passed out for the whole thing. But we are operating on my spirit body. Much as we are trying to rectify what is already broken, there is a very real chance that my spirit body could fall apart if it's forced to endure the torment passively. My will to live despite the pain is probably the only thing that'll keep it together. Counterintuitive as it may seem, keeping me awake despite the pain is our best hope," she explained.

Greg was silent for a long while trying to process this new revelation. A part of him couldn't help but think that he should have known this sooner, after all, he had gone through a m2abildly similar process when getting the personal pocket space. He even remembered his ascension to the first tier. The only reason his mind wasn't currently in fragments from that ordeal was because Morpheus had taken over and shielded his mind from directly feeling what was happening. Why all this time he hadn't taken the next logical step and assumed the same was true of his teacher, he couldn't for the life of him explain. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Greg found himself asking.

"Would it have helped to know for months that you'd have to essentially torture me in order to help me?" She asked with an easy smile on her lips. Greg had no answer for her. If he didn't know her so well, it would have been easy to assume that she was completely relaxed. Greg, however, could see the tension she was so carefully trying to hide. In the end, it was this that helped him firm his resolve. She was the one who was about to experience unimaginable torture and here she was comforting and encouraging him. It was pathetic, and worse still, unfair.

Clenching his jaws, Greg nodded at his teacher. "Okay then, let's do this..."

***

Calyn took a calming breath even as the carriage slowed down to a stop. This deep inside the city, Calyn knew that every inch of land was worth ten times its weight in platinum coins. You needed to be a mover and shaker in terms of wealth to even consider getting anything this close to the center. And yet, since passing the gate to the Governor's compound, the carriage had needed another five minutes before getting to the front door of the tallest castle in the city. It was a symbol of both the wealth and power that the Governor had occupied such a large portion of the city's center. Not that Calyn was complaining, the more powerful the family she was marrying into, the better for her in terms of merit within her own clan.

Despite the carriage having stopped, Calyn remained seated. She didn't have to wait long as the door was pulled open shortly by Deriel with Aunt Lina standing beside him. The two being there wasn't a mix-up but rather what was expected. Her fiancé being the one to open the door and receive her in his home was a signal to all present that this far, he found no fault with her. Her chaperone being present was a signal to all that nothing untoward had happened between the two of them. Taking Deriel's hand, Calyn gracefully stepped down from the carriage. The two of them then turned to Aunt Lina and offered a slight bow of respect as was expected of them. A small smile played on Aunt Lina's lips as she nodded to the two of them then stepped to the side allowing them to proceed.

There was a flight of stairs starting a short distance from where the carriage had stopped leading up to the two large doors that stood as the front door to the castle. Calyn wasn't surprised by the fact that there were people lined up on both sides of the staircase. This was, after all, the presentation ceremony. Strictly speaking, the presentation ceremony was for the prospective bride to be presented to the father of the groom. However, when the father of the groom was the Governor of such a large city as Ethavel, then it came as no shock that the ceremony would be made into a grand affair where all the most important people in the city would be invited. Every one of the people that lined both sides of the stairs were probably heads of powerful factions within the city, be they other clans, merchant groups, mage academies, or the senior priests and priestesses from the major religions on the continent of Farendel.

Assessing gazes landed on her from the moment she stepped off the carriage. As a scion of a major clan like the Sydrak clan, however, Calyn wasn't unfamiliar with large gatherings where important figures were in attendance. Far from being cowed by all the attention that was on her, Calyn held her head high even as she looped her arm around Deriel's and they started moving up the stairs toward the front door of the castle at the top of the stairs where the Governor of Ethavel stood. Even without being told, Calyn knew that there was significance to the positioning of the people on the stairs. The people present might be the most powerful people in the city, it, however, didn't mean that they were equal. Even at the very top of society, there was still a hierarchy among the people present. The people at the bottom of the staircase probably occupied the least important and influential positions of those present. Those standing higher up and closer to the Governor were the ones she needed to take special note of.

Not that any of that mattered at present. As their host, not to mention the father of the groom, it would be considered an insult if Calyn addressed anyone else before first speaking to him and offering her respects and gratitude for being received by the man. For this reason, Calyn calmly kept her eyes focused on the reedy man at the top of the stairs. The first thing that struck Calyn about the Governor of Ethavel was just how ordinary he seemed. You could walk past him on the street and never look twice at the man. Tall and a bit on the thinner side, he had a head of salt-pepper blonde hair that reached down to his shoulders and a goatee of the same color. He wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, but there was an air of gravitas around the man that Calyn was certain had drawn the eye of more than one woman.