Archive of Our Own

Jade understands that his hobbies and interests aren’t very common to many‌ people. He is completely okay with this notion; in fact, he almost relishes it. It’s the reason why he has the pleasure of meeting so many… interesting people, and why so many interesting people have the pleasure of meeting him. He so does hope he makes a forthcoming and warm impression on his underclassmen, upperclassmen, and fellow colleagues alike. Jade wouldn’t want to displease them in any way possible.

There are many who would refute that notion, but the key word here is “would", not “could". The impression he has on others helps with that a lot.

On the topic, something had recently piqued his interest on campus, and he couldn’t imagine going about his day without finding out exactly what it was, so here he was, pleasantly overhearing a conversation from said classmates.

“Wait, wait, so that was true?” One of them hisses, Scarabia ribbon the same red as his anxiety. That missing kid was ID’d as the same kid on the shores?” he asks, voice tinged with anxiety.

“You’re not supposed to say that out loud!” The other hushes, Ignihyde blue. Scarabia Elfcup jolts and slams his hands over his mouth. “I only know because one of my older sisters was involved in the investigations. They keep identities anonymous for a reason, y’know! The wrong people can’t go knowing this!”

“Wrong people…?” The first lowers his hands. “What do you even mean by that…??”

“I’m! Saying!” the Ignihyde dorm member insists, dragging them both to the ground in one fell swoop, “they’re thinking it’s someone on campus that did him in…!”

“What??” The Scarabia student clutches his hands tighter, looking like he was about to pass out from sheer overwhelm. “And you told me this so easily?!”

“Yes, because unlike half the bozos in our class,” he juts out a hand at the current group of people spending their history break time ogling at magazines picked up from the convenience store, “you actually have a good relationship with the profs! Surely a star student wouldn’t risk that by offing another student, especially knowing your type… Plus, you can barely hold a grudge. I’ve tried to provoke you so many times by now; I genuinely might as well have been the person you killed. And I’m not dead yet, so.”

“T-that’s true, but– what was that last part?” He glares daggers into the Ignihyde student. “So when you– my lunch! That was on purpose?!”

“Yes, because you–“

It was at this point that Jade became very, very interested in this turn of conversation. He steps into view for his classmates and greets them with a pleasant smile. “What’s all this about a missing student?”

Like deers caught in headlights, both students turn to look at one of two of Mostro Lounge’s intrepid bouncers. Neither of them speak for a good, hot minute.

One of them eventually gets the idea that they need to say something, anything at all, or they can expect worse to happen to them, so the Scarabia student slightly bows his head as he greets Jade. “Um, it’s one of our friends… I’m– haha, I think I’m still trying to process what happened…”

Seeing what the Scarabia student was trying to pull, the Ignihyde dorm member tries to join in as well, “Um– yeah. It’s personal for him, so he might need some space… but remind me to fill you in later, yeah?”

With the return of their professor and the Scarabia student using both his crocodile tears and Trein’s favouring of him to his advantage, he slips away with the Ignihyde dorm member in tow. 

Good deeds don’t go unpunished.

… is what Jade would say, except he doesn’t see those two students for the entirety of that day, or the day after that.

Instead, Jade gets a call to Crowley’s office.

A knock resounds from the door frame. Without announcement, a small woman with an air of authority slinks into the room, holding a briefcase by her side. Her patch denotes her as a part of the investigative forces on Sage Island. To Jade’s surprise, she smells like her magical reserves are small, almost unnoticeable to the untrained senses.

She looks at him up and down, and nods her head as courtesy. “I know what it looks like, but my magical reserves weren’t enough to get me admitted to a mage’s high school when I was still in school. It’s a good thing my job is somewhat unrelated to manifesting magic.”

Crowley beams at the woman. “Leech, I’d like to introduce you to Miss Ornyx! She has been helping us with this case for the past couple of months, and will be happy to lend her assistance to solving this case as well. If you have any questions, please direct them to her.”

Jade gives a curt bow to the investigator. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Ornyx.”

“Likewise,” she replies. “But please, call me Courtney. I’m not that much older than you.” She turns to Crowley. “I’m also not sure if I’ll be frequenting the campus that often. Most of my work needs to be done off site, and I’m not sure if we can move the tools here. Did you need me to watch over the student body?” She raises a staunch brow at the principal.

Beads of sweat forming under his mask, Crowley quickly raises his hands in turn. “No, no, of course not! Nothing of the sorts! However,” Crowley gestures to the Octavinelle student, “he is a potential suspect. I’ve agreed to allow him to assist in the investigation to clear his name,” his two classmates from the day prior are to thank for this little bit of misfortune on Jade’s day today, “but wouldn’t it be easier to ensure he doesn’t tamper with any evidence if you kept watch over him?”

Courtney narrows her eyes. “Get a cameraman then.” Jade has to stifle a laugh. He was still smiling as pleasantly as ever. “Besides, he won’t be tampering with any evidence, because I didn’t agree to this so I won’t be giving him any physical evidence and I’ve already photographed and collected the evidence I needed at the crime scenes. The area’s only taped in case some student gets the wild idea that it would be fun to use places where the dead reside as the perfect sort of setting for creepy rituals. Stupid Constance,” she mumbles under her breath. “Anyway, he can enter the area now that you’ve let me know. This should be easier with a mage from the school anyway overseeing this.”

She turns to look at the merman. “I can give you some photos and wavelength scans of the magical energy of the area when we first arrived. If you can scout the area for any traces of magic I missed or research if the scans match anything, that would be a huge help.”

Courtney bows again. “The Boardmen will be here in about a week. We’ll reconvene with any new findings by then.”

The Boardmen were a council that overlooked the relations between the public on Sage’s Island and the schools situated on it; at least, that was their unofficial job. Officially, they help manage the schools on Sage’s Island. In the past, it was commonplace for citizens to riot against large gatherings of mages. Their presence was partially for the students’ protection, yes, but also for the citizens’. The shareholders, or members of the board, were comprised of many individuals with diverse interests in mages and the public’s support alike.

So, old money. Not that Jade was unfamiliar with it. But their interest in this particular investigation, among the many crimes that occur on Sage’s Island, seem to be specific.

Jade’s own interest in fulfilling this particular request shoots up a little more.

It was still daylight outside when Jade found himself at the foot of the library tower. The students still left around here were students too absorbed in their suffering– sorry, studying– to notice anything like another student investigating the schematics of recent murders on their campus. He figures the best way to start is to use something the investigator, as a near-magicless person, didn’t have: access to academic journals and materials to compare notes with the graphs generated by the manaspectrometer.

There was a lot of material on the wavelengths outputted by different magical signatures through a manaspectrometer in just this one section of the library alone. The reading would be overwhelming to many, but Jade understands it was important enough that he isn’t seen as some horrible killer to the rest of the student body if for nothing else but Mostro Lounge’s sake. Azul can deal with the repercussions himself, and he would gladly allow him to deal with the repercussions, but the only result of that would be any amount of work Azul deems “fair” to be piled onto Jade’s person instead, as “punishment.” He’d go through grueling labour either way, so it’s best to take what he could into his hands as early as possible instead of waiting for Azul’s input.

He’s in the middle of reading the third book on a pile of what has to be at least thirty when he hears a voice from above him.

… Above?

Thwack!

The banging onto the closest shelf is the only warning the merman receives before looks up, just in time for his face to meet with the flailing arms of Kalim al-Asim.

“I’m so sorry!” he manages to make out across the now jumbled pile of books in front of him. Never a dull day, but Jade isn’t complaining. The Octavinelle student smiles at the other to reassure him. “I messed up and turned in the wrong direction, then I thought I was getting back onto the course, but there’s no way the library is the meet-up place! I’m going to get another lecture from Vargas again…”

“Hello to you too,” Jade chuckles. “I’m sure you can find your way back again. Vargas will forgive you if you ask for a remedial lesson.”

“That’s the thing, I’m hosting another party this weekend!” Kalim pulls his head into his hands. “On top of Vargas’ lecture, Jamil will definitely throw me twice over into the ringer for missing it.”

“If you’d like, I can accompany you?” Jade suggests to the Scarabia dorm leader. He couldn’t sit down and organize the books again. Getting out also meant he had a chance to visit the site himself to examine the mana signatures, or redo another manaspectrogram. He didn’t mind it much, however… “Of course, for my assistance, I do believe it’s fair if you did a small favour for me as well.”

“I’m cool with that!” The heir replies. Jade must have made a look that escaped him, because the other continues, “No, really, I get it! Just ask and I’ll see if I can get it done.”

Jade gestures at the pile. “If you may…”

“Oh! Yeah, of course!” Kalim reaches down to pick up one of the books, handing it off to the merman in a smooth motion. This wasn’t the book that Jade had initially been reading, but it also was a book he had yet to read, so he accepted it nonetheless. “I’ll help you organize the rest of this, but you can get back to doing what you were doing before! It’ll be like they never fell in the first place!”

Jade bows his head in grateful humility. Kalim was always so kind– unlike the rest of the students, who would need more than a little persuasion to do any task that required any sort of difficulty on their part– it was a little breathtaking. Definitely refreshing. Did Jade really end up on land just to meet eyes with the lakes, personified in human flesh? Could he drink from him as well and feel his innards swell up with a puff?

…But that was neither here nor there.

He turns the book given to him forthright in his hand. Opening it up, he finds various manaspectrograms like the ones in every other book. However…

Jade stares at the manaspectrograms displayed in the photo. The ones in this book show the patterns that closely resemble the one in the photo, but he’ll need to take some clearer graphs when he has the chance to go around the area. Since they’ve taped it off, no one should have tried to use magic there, so the mana signatures shouldn’t be too far off. But only one graph isn’t helpful when an average needs to be approximated.

“I found what I needed,” Jade talks to the side, voice within ‌earshot of the other teen. “I’ll just take a few moments to check this book out, and then we can…”

He looks up– not at the ceiling because of some falling second-year this time, but at the display of the books arranged in front of him. There was… how did the stacking even end up like that? It was as if multiple Towers of Pisas, lopsided and about to collapse for the second time that day, were clinging onto each other for dear life.

“See, this is how I like to stack my books,” Kalim explains, “partly because there’s no worry over whether they go slightly out of order that you get the urge to try to push one of them in, but also! Because you can style it up into pretty designs!”

That was surely a design. Jade attempts to pull a book out of the stack; to his astonishment, most of the tower keeps its shape with only the bottom where the base of the stack was shaking only a bit. “Is this another sculpture?”

“No, it’s just an organization method!”

Eventually, they did find their way out of the library where the crime scene of misplaced books was left behind, and visited the shores where Jade could take the manaspectrograms himself. It was largely uneventful yet peaceful.

“We should go on another stroll again!” Kalim shoots him a wide grin. “This was really fun!”

Jade smiles softly. Out of habit, it’s hidden behind the gloved hand he fashions to his mouth once or twice that day. “Yes, I would like that very much.”

‌

Jade closes the door behind him.

The graphs and notes sit idly on Crowley’s desk.

“So,” the principal starts, “it’s a Lich…”

According to the newly generated manaspectrograms from Jade’s work, the patterns from the graphs seem to best match the mana signatures of the undead & malign magic. The peaks and troughs are large enough that it can be safely categorized as a Lich.

In general, Liches were known as creatures of the undead. There were synthetic Liches and naturally born Liches, but in general, a person had to die some sort of horrific death to be revived as a Lich. They weren’t normally seen around humans because their work involved manipulation of the dead; a forbidden magic.

It was strange that the Lich would kill anyone in the first place. But this was the only other evidence they had that pointed to any culprit whatsoever.

Crowley places the graphs on his table. “I can contact Miss Ornyx to let her know about any ongoing investigations, but before the Boardmen come, I’d like to take the time to find the phylactery belonging to the Lich!”

That was another thing about Liches; to tether their soul to the mortal plane, they use an object containing the remaining fragments of their soul. Bringing any harm to a Lich– any harm that would threaten them, at least– doesn’t just mean damage to their corporeal body. To hold any leverage over a Lich, they would need to have its phylactery to force its hand into ceasing its actions.

Its actions near the school suggest the phylactery is close, though its exact position is unknown.

“Principal,” Jade starts, hand at his chest in a show of presentable humility, “surely you can’t expect a student to find something like that on a campus as large as yours?”

“Well, the school is big,” Crowley remarks, a little too proud, “but I think you’ll have no trouble finding the phylactery. I’ve called ‌another student to help! And to keep you accountable. He should be coming in any–”

The door burst open, no knock or announcement, but a bright and lithe little wave. “Hi Principal Crowley! Did you need me for something?”

Jade wasn’t sure who else he was expecting to find at the door, but there he was– Kalim, with books in his hands as if he was just about to run to another class before getting called on by the P.A. system.

“I believe your family used to be involved in the curation of magical artifacts,” Crowley gestures to the merchant-heir. Kalim nods his head, which the principal takes as a cue to continue. “Would you be able to employ some aid to retrieve the phylactery?”

As anticipated, Kalim didn't need any convincing or explanation from Crowley to accept the request.

“Do you have any idea how we can find the phylactery?” Skeptical, Jade had asked Kalim when they stepped outside the office. “Some servants from your house may be able to help, but I’m not sure if they will be here in time before the Boardmen come in.”

“We can probably get them here fast enough!” Kalim had replied. “But I don’t think we need to? If I’m remembering things right…”

Meeting the Scarabia mirror in the mirror hall, Kalim had stopped to brush off some dust against the edges as if the mirrors could get dirty in the first place at all. A foreboding feeling pitted itself in Jade’s stomach.

“After all, it should be in our storage room.”

And then, the man holding him by the knot of his dupatta kicks him into the Sea. Kalim tumbles into the waves.

His body and consciousness flit in and out of going under, and he has to sputter water from his mouth and nostrils to keep himself afloat. The clothes on his back and arms and legs and head threaten to drag him further under. Like all sensible people with a desire to live, Kalim did his best to throw them off his person. But when the Sea lays its stakes on something, it claims it, no matter how many currents it needs to push through its system of living beings and veins of pressure.

He struggled for as long as he could, but his body had given out a long while ago. At last, the depths take him to a place far, far away from anyone who could hurt him. If there were a better example of the Sea’s mercy, Kalim couldn’t think of one. He didn’t tumble onto rocks or smash into small decrepit coves; it was a primarily smooth journey into the abyss. Welcoming.

For the first time in his life, he finally feels at peace in the hearth of an embrace. There is no one here but him and the Sea, and soon, there will no longer be him at all.

His small arms still feel so, so cold.

Like a newborn spawn reaching for its progenitor, his hands flay out towards a direction in front of him. They grasp at something hard and pointed.

Then, his consciousness finally gives out as well.

“See, I know that gem is around here somewhere… Could you help me look? It should be on a little golden figaro chain…”

This was an interesting turn of events. A few months ago, Jade would have found himself in the same position– “searching” the “storage room” of one Kalim al-Asim under a sweet guise, a means to add fuel to the burning dumpster fire that was Jamil’s inevitable breakdown.

Now he was here again, tasking himself with finding the Lich’s phylactery to prove himself innocent, back in the middle of said heir’s “storage room”.

He reaches into the nearest pile of gold, fishing out a red gem on a golden partridge eye chain. He looks up at Kalim, who is currently climbing his pile to reach into the middle of it. “Kalim. Is this the phylactery?”

“No,” the heir calls out from the top of the pile, “but that looks close! I don’t think it’s outside of this storage room, so I guess we’ll keep searching here… You can keep that one if you want, though, Jade!”

Jade stares ahead with a slight in his smile. He leaves the gem on the ground behind him, having no use or need to keep a priceless jewel on his person. He’s not that interested in wares that he has access to anywhere. He knows what he’s always wanted, and that hasn’t changed thus far. It still hasn’t changed, despite everything. “Why do you want to find the phylactery, Kalim?”

With how this entire thing started from a private discussion, the little heir has made it clear that he understands the ramifications of presenting such evidence to the Boardmen. If a connection between him and the possible existence of a Lich is discovered, he knows exactly who will get the blame for everything that has happened at their campus so far. The only thing he has going for him right now is the benefit of the doubt that the phylactery isn’t in his possession. The principal’s call to the office should have scared him a little– for all he knew, they might have snuffed out who the culprit was. So why did he only mention this fact to Jade himself?

Months ago, Jade was very, very comfortable with the idea that he could comfortably observe and poke at Kalim’s buttons from a distance. All the social power the heir has aside, Kalim wasn’t one to trouble other people if he was bothered by something. It’s why Jade had always found it fun to provoke him in the first place. There wasn’t a lot that Jade could get away with on school grounds, particularly with a lot of his other classmates, without overstepping his “careful” demeanour and image. A better way to put it– he could do a lot less that would get on others’ nerves a lot more. People were easy marks; defenseless, too.

But Kalim is different. Jade could test the bounds and limits of cruelty against a person who represented its complete antithesis– stout belief in the humanity of others, and unwavering resolve in his own humanity as well. He’d chase after his own feeling of glee if he could– the glee that comes from making people “lose their shit,” if Jade can be excused to phrase it that way, and still remaining the bigger person at the end of it when the other eventually attempts to force karma’s hands. 

That was months ago, Jade wonders. Time and time again, people who shared his brother’s affinity for being unpredictable have proved him wrong. With the murder mystery on campus, and this sudden delight coming to him on what was basically a silver platter– he couldn’t help but hold his breath.

He understands Kalim’s inclination toward the ideals of humanity. Still, something doesn’t add up.

During winter break, he understood that Jamil was responsible for his actions, but was that the same for the situation here? Even moreso, if Kalim was truly responsible for the murders, rather than protecting the evidence, he’s giving it away freely…

It isn’t below Kalim to feel guilt for something as small as not mentioning the phylactery in the first place, no matter how bad he is at apologizing for his small miscomings. Maybe this is his way of making it up for his forgetfulness.

So why open up to just Jade?

Before long, Kalim had moved a little closer to where Jade was standing, half-sitting and half-leaning against the pile of gold near them. The heir runs a hand through his hair, seemingly taking the time to collect his thoughts, not noticing the other next to him in the midst of doing the same.

“Well,” Kalim starts, “I had actually wanted to find it because a member in my dorm was really worried about all of these events happening on campus so far. I’m… Jade– is it okay if I talk to you about something?”

“Anything,” Jade answers. “I’m happy to listen.”

The Scarabia dorm leader lets out a sigh. “You’ve heard a bit from Crowley that my family was involved in exploration & expeditions to uncover ancient artifacts.”

“Pillagers?” Jade did hear a bit about the Asim family before, but not extensively enough to draw any conclusions from the stories. He knows they were pioneers of travel and used water currents to move to different lands and continents, before settling on the land of the Scalding Sands and expanding the waterways from there.

Merfolk didn’t normally involve themselves in the affairs of pirates and explorers; humans’ destination was never the bottom of the ocean, but another continent to lay their stake on. In order to move across the surface of the sea safely, however, many of them found themselves asking for the sea’s blessing to part ways with land.

That kind of relationship between merfolk and humans has endured for hundreds of years; territory wasn’t vastly disturbed for a while. It wasn’t until humans started entering a new manufacturing era that strict regulations had to be enforced to protect the peace of the sea. Many other races closely attuned to the natural environment and mana of the world respected the cyclical system of taking from and giving to nature. Humans? Not so much. Mana tended to flow through humans less freely than beastmen or fae.

It was also why, despite all their numerous other blessings, the Asim family in particular never had easy access to mana, whether through bloodline or finding marriage with mages. Kalim and his mother were the few exceptions.

“That was a long time in the past; we haven’t done things like that in a while, so I was really surprised when I got the call from the principal to help out. I mean, why is all of this happening now of all times? But then I remembered that my family keeps shipping items from home to here. All the time! I don’t need all of it, but…”

“… Do you perhaps think that an item from a recent shipment reacted to a Lich in the waters around Sage’s Island?”

Kalim shakes his head as he shrugs. “If that makes sense? It means that I have to take responsibility for what happened. I have a duty to protect my dorm members… I know we had that phylactery shipped sometime this year, but I didn’t think much of it until Crowley showed the symbols. I remember playing around with some of them for a bit, and the phylactery showed those same symbols near its crest if you add a little magic to the surface. It was cool, so I remember how it looks, but… that’s about as useful as I can be here, haha…”

If it really was a recent shipment, it would have to be near the top of the pile, especially if it was already opened and out of the box.

Kalim brightens up. “Why don’t we just apply magic everywhere and see which one reacts to it with symbols?”

Jade smiles. That would be interesting, seeing as how many of the artifacts in the room were magical, and most likely would react in very specific ways to the magic applied as well– but he wasn’t here to indulge in amusing himself too much. “Something such as that could potentially trigger an array of unwanted magical reactions from these artifacts. We’ll need to tread lightly.”

If they couldn’t cast a general spell over the room to scan for the artifact, maybe a more specific spell can decrease the risk of blowing up this wing of the dorm?

“This particular Lich… seems to have a strong penchant for water,” Jade wonders aloud. “All of its victims have been found near the shore, with native aquatic life from the deeper parts of the sea clinging onto them. The phylactery may react to a water spell, but its exposure to the rest of the artifacts will need to be in very minute amounts.” Oasis Maker is useful in most situations, but if Kalim were to use it here, it would definitely cause an additional unwanted reaction to the other artifacts. “Something like that is hard to pull off on a larger scale. It would be time consuming to cast a spell on the artifacts one at a time, though…”

The artifacts in the room were gold, so rust wasn’t a concern, but accidentally tripping the magical properties of the wrong artifact was. It was a little like how laser treatment worked. One large beam targeting the area at a high intensity is risky, with a higher chance of destroying other healthy cells in the area. A few beams at low intensity targeting the same area in short periods of time will limit the amount of exposure to other healthy cells. Magic manifests as light, so a similar logic would apply here.

Near him, the heir takes a long look around the room. With a small flourish, he pulls out his dorm staff, a determined look sitting on his face. “Jade, I think I can try something, but… can you give me a bit of time?”

“Will you use Oasis Maker?” Jade puts a hand on his chin. He’s heard from Azul that it can be used indoors– after a mishap with the unique magic during a dorm leader meeting in Crowley’s office - but he’s still a little skeptical. “It might not have the precision needed–“

“Just trust me, Jade!” Kalim beams up at him. “It won’t take too long, I promise.”

Jade gives a slight bow and stands back. This isn't his room– hell, it isn’t even Kalim’s. It’s just a storage room, so why was he so concerned? In spite of his thoughts, he offers a smile. “Take your time.”

With that, Kalim takes it as a cue to begin. 

He chants his unique magic under his breath, closing his eyes and lifting up one leg to rest on his other, seemingly out of habit. He’s assumed the same pose in their spars before, but this time, it felt different.

A large bubble of water starts to form above them in the middle of the room, below the chandelier and barely missing contact with the jewelry stacked highest to the ceiling. It churns in the air, creating smaller bubbles on the surface, reacting to Kalim’s cyclical movements of his arms. It wasn’t uncommon for dance to support spell-casting– as long as the motion was cyclical, consistent, and repetitive, anything can be used to support spell-casting. Following the flow of the mana instead of fighting against it with sharp movements kept the spell alive.

What Kalim couldn’t clearly manifest into words, he sure did have many other ways to support his spell-casting. But Oasis Maker is a different problem because the input of magic didn’t have an effect on how much water was created in the output. Another factor needed to be managed to control its output. It wasn’t easy, and visualization, which he understands Kalim is already weak in, could only help a little. Just using Oasis Maker to create a smaller bubble than the rivers or lakes Jade has seen made with the unique magic was already a feat.

Kalim’s soles tap lightly onto the ground, sounds muffled but still creating ripples in the water above them. He turns and steps and turns, navigating around the room with all the grace and elegance befit of the Asim heir. Every time he looks as if he comes close to tripping, he catches himself with another step, and Jade is mesmerized. The tangy smell of iron in the air seeps into his pores. There was no music except for the rattling of Kalim’s protection-spell blessed bracelet, and the gold coins hanging from his headdress.

Circles form in the steps below Kalim and the air in front of him as his arms draw the ellipses of the magic circles’ aura rings. Intricate patterns similar to his tattoos spurned in the air within the wards as well. It was a rather complicated formula for what should have been a simpler spell, but Jade’s unsaid query is answered moments later as the last of the rings are drawn into the air.

With a stamp of his staff, the rings stabilize and shift into rotations. The large water bubble splits into smaller droplets, not unlike rain. However, they don’t fall to the ground; rather they suspend themselves in midair and meet with the smaller artifacts that look close to be phylacteries.

Looking around the room, Jade spots it; a soft, light blue glow surrounding symbols and insignias decorating the ice-blue phylactery on a golden figaro chain. He fishes it out from within the pile, making sure the crackle of the gold is loud enough and swiftly silenced after to alert Kalim that the phylactery was found. With a quick press, the phylactery breaks under his shoe. Moments later, the rings drop, and the heir turns on the spot to face Jade, running to him with an exhausted but steady glee. “Did you find it?”

Jade holds the remains of their spoils up. “Yes, this seems to have been the phylactery.”

“I’m so glad!” the dorm leader says, although his hands are on his knees as he bends over to catch a breath. “I wasn’t sure if that would work, since I was kind of visualizing stars in the sky to make those raindrops look really tiny, but I’m glad it did! It– owow–“

He accidentally touches a droplet in midair; Kalim wasn’t joking when he said he imagined them to be like stars, because from what Jade could see from here, it burnt like one too. “Agh- that wasn’t what was supposed to happen! It’s fine, it’s fine, but I really have a long way to go…”

“Nonsense,” Jade replies. “It did what you needed it to. I’m more surprised at how you managed to work Oasis Maker into a versatile unique magic. Anyone else, and it would definitely be more difficult than this to use.”

“You think?” Kalim scratches the back of his neck as he beams at Jade. Too bright. “I’ve never had to use it much before NRC! I’m just working through the motions. My mom taught me a bit to make it easier to handle, though, so I’m really grateful!”

Kalim moves to hold his hand over his stomach, clutching at the front with the hem of his coat over it. The smell of iron gets stronger. Before Jade could ask, Kalim is already out the door and waving his byes to Jade– something about making his way back to his room first to pick up some sheets, and then to school in time for his club’s meeting. Jade goes in the opposite direction to the mirror, making headway towards Crowley’s office.

Behind the closed doors of the storage room, another phylactery sits, forgotten– the red one on the golden partridge eye chain. In reaction to the water droplets finally dropping around it, three small, red insignias glow on its crest.

Behind the closed doors of Kalim’s room, he lets go of his coat.

With a grimace, he lifts the shirt from his stomach.

A chunk of skin and some fat sloughs off with the shirt.

… It hurts. 

“–and that’s why I really, really need your help, Dorm Leader, because I don’t want to die!”

Said dorm leader raises his arms up in attempts to soothe his fellow second year dorm member to, unfortunately, no avail. 

“You won’t get killed!” Kalim says. “Jade isn’t that type of person. He can be a little straightforward–“ the second-year dorm student in genuine tears because he can’t fake his tears where the hell does everyone even get that from has to raise his head at his dorm leader’s words, not because he feels comforted, but because Jade is the furthest thing from straightforward and that’s what scares him–“but he wouldn’t do something as stupid as that, I promise!”

“If he’s not the type of person who would kill someone, then who in Twisted Wonderland even– hic– is??” the dorm student slinks back into Kalim’s desk, wetting it with tears. He is actually so, so dead. He’s so, so sorry, Momma. “Nevermind, don’t answer that! Please– hic– there are so many people in our school who would–!”

Kalim shakes his head. “There’s not much we can do, so worrying about it won’t help at all. If you get scared, I’ll just get scared, too… I don’t want you to die…”

The dorm student looks at his dorm leader with glistening eyes. There was genuine concern in his facial expression that Aqil would surely never get from anywhere else. See, this is why he went to his dorm leader to vent instead of his classmates, or sevens forbid, Crowley, who will just escalate the situation and give Jade even more of a reason to try and kill him. “I’m– I promise I won’t die! I won’t… I’m sorry, I’m sorry– hic– I’ve been so stressed since this morning… and Constance! That lying son of a bastard! Of course I didn’t really know that student except for the few times he pranked me; I quite clearly made that part up when I told Jade that we were friends, but Constance just kept on praising me for faking my tears so we could avoid him even though I genuinely thought we were going to die right there and then! I couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes today after that… I’m so pathetic…”

“You’re not pathetic, though! Aqil, you’re really sensitive, but that also means you’re a lot more attuned to what other people are feeling than normal. And that’s a good thing!” Scarabia’s dorm leader pats the spot beside him, and Aqil scooches his seat over to the space made for him. Looking at the desk on the other side, it was pretty wet, thanks to how much he’s been crying. He appreciates the drier spot to rest his head properly on instead of crying and screaming incoherently into the expensive rosewood. “Lots of people here think that no one would genuinely want to express their emotions properly. I think? That they think you put energy into it because you want to. But clearly you don’t; sometimes, you just feel overwhelmed, right?”

Aqil nods his head. “Like I’m drowning.”

“Right. There’s nothing wrong with feelings like that. You just need to put them into action!”

“Mmhm…”

“Which you already did by coming to me! So that’s good on you, Aqil!” Kalim offers a quick hug to his dorm member. Aqil is still overwhelmed from venting his heart out, but he wills himself not to flinch at the sudden contact. Comfort is something he genuinely needed right now. “I’ll do my best to arrange protection for you and your friend if you’re still worried about what might happen tomorrow. But if you still feel scared too, how about sparring with me to practise defensive techniques? It might help!”

Aqil nods his head quickly. “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Dorm Leader…! I’d love that a lot.”

Despite everything that went down during the holidays, Aqil loves being a Scarabia student, if not for the small moments of peace like this. His dorm leader is the kindest person he’s ever had the pleasure to meet, refreshing in the sea of students who are all one bad day away from biting his neck off.

He does end up passing out in his dorm leader’s room out of sheer exhaustion from his emotional outburst and misses his classes for the next day, but that’s a minor detail and not worth mentioning at all.

“It always feels like a festival whenever you’re here, Kalim.”

Those were the words his dad had told him a long, long time ago. He still remembers it, even if it was a passing comment left in the midst of a surge of energy, boisterous laughs and clinking glasses in such a party that was enjoyed by the entire estate. He loved hearing those words, because to Kalim, it meant that his way of life was affirmed. Making others happy, being entertaining, and enjoying life beautifully was properly recognized by the head of the estate and complimented on. Even with the high of the banquet in his heart and heat in his chest at the moment, he felt pure bliss hearing this from his father the most. So naturally, it was one of many words he remembered from his father.

After today, he wonders how many times his father had found him “entertaining” in other contexts that concerned Kalim’s way of life.

Do people find entertainment in suffering?

… Normally, whenever his thoughts arrived in that dark, muddy place pushed back into the crevices of his mind, his head would start to hurt and he’d be discouraged from thinking about anything of the sorts any further. But lately, he’s been starting to find that the migraines that have plagued him since he was a kid have gotten less and less harrowing, receding ever since he’s stepped foot in Night Raven College.

Kalim doesn’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing yet.

No matter how he feels about his current state, his dorm student came to him with a problem, so he needs to find a solution. Absent-mindedly, he picks off another abrasion from his skin. He finds he’s been getting more of these recently, but he’s not even sure where to begin with healing them properly, because he’s been getting too many of them in too many different spots that it’s difficult to keep track of. It’s easy enough to hide from Jamil, especially since they started accumulating after the holidays, but Kalim is definitely hoping that the wounds properly heal before he really needs to put some effort into hiding them.

The most he can offer his student is protection, but even then, Kalim can’t guarantee it in the student’s classes. In the first place, he doesn’t even believe Jade was interested in the conversation to scout out any potential witnesses to eventually… y’know. But clearly it was scaring Aqil, and Kalim isn’t the type of person to sit around idly and do nothing when someone needs help, so he needed to do something.

He wishes he could better protect his dorm members. He doesn’t want to see someone he held dear to him look so scared. All he can do is offer protective services straight out of pocket, but his dorm student already refuted against escalating it to anyone else in fear that Jade might find out. What should Kalim do…?

He finds himself pacing around outside of the storage room, fiddling with his bracelet. It was late enough at night that the only person he could imagine outside still working was Jamil, but he tended to keep to himself– if he did follow Kalim, it would be silently, and something Kalim isn’t supposed to generally know about. They’ve both always had a bad habit of keeping tabs on things and people around them since they were children, oft bordering on obsessiveness, but the recent incidents may have shaken them up a little more. He doesn’t mind it. It does make him feel less alone. But clearly, it was a concern enough that his classmates could be killed.

Kalim finally opts to stop in front of the storage room door. Surely he can find something in there that can help protect his dorm member? The Asim family naturally had access to a lot of artifacts with magical properties, some ancient in nature, while others recently blessed by powerful travelling mages they commissioned. His own bracelet was blessed by his mother. There has to be something in there!

He opens the door and closes it shut behind him. 

Courtney stares at the broken blue-gemmed phylactery hanging on the figaro chain. Jade sees her cold expression falter. “This isn’t… Are you sure this is the phylactery?”

Meeting with the investigator a week after their first conversation, Jade could get a better look at the Boardmen lined up in seats on the platforms above, against the walls. There were about 13 members, masked with animal masks, not dissimilar to Crowley’s. Unfortunately, this gives Jade even more of an incentive to not look like a fool here.

“It reacts to magic and lights up in the three symbols described,” Jade explicates. “I’m not sure why this wouldn’t be the phylactery.”

She shakes her head. “Normally, the phylactery is charged with negative energy,” she mumbles under her breath. “It’s broken, so maybe it released it…? But…”

Jade turns the gem in his hand. A clean cut drew through it. Even so, there should have been traces of negative energy attached to it. The phylacteries work like anchors for Liches, tying parts of their souls to the mortal realm. It wasn’t unheard of for positive energy to be attached to the phylactery instead, but even artificial or synthetic Liches, normally born from mages who regularly practise dark magic in search for immortality, taint their souls far enough that the anchor would be stained in their corrupt energy. Natural-born Liches die from a horrid death, so their souls would reflect negative energy as well. 

It was strange. But to Jade’s knowledge, there were no other phylacteries in that storage room.

“You’re sure you didn’t see another one?” the investigator asks. “Twin phylacteries are rare, but not unheard of. It’s what happens when there’s a lot of energy built up in the soul, so much so that it needs to be split in two containers to keep it tethered to this world. Mages who die from natural but horrific deaths can generate twin phylacteries due to their magical reserves. It’s way more likelier than just finding one charged with positive energy.”

A tall, lanky man in a crocodile mask leans in, sitting atop on the council seats with the Boardmen. Crowley looks back at the man, his masked expression slowly going from curious to worry. His eyes weren’t visible, but the sweat dripping down his neck and bitten lip sent a message. The tall man speaks up. “There are worse problems if that’s the one that broke.”

“What do we mean by ‘worse problems’?” the investigator asks. “Either way, if it broke, it should have let the Lich move on to the afterlife, right?”

The counselor shakes his head. “That’s what’s supposed to happen if it's the only phylactery belonging to the Lich. If you are right, and there are two phylacteries, what we just broke was the phylactery that anchored the positive energy of the soul to this world. That energy moved on, but the negative energy is–”

“–still here.” Courtney’s eyebrows furrow into bushes.

“Yes,” the counselor says, a bit miffed at the interruption.

Courtney stares for another few long seconds at Jade. The silence is insufferable. 

“…There would be a noticeable change in demeanour or mana signatures if that’s the case. It looks like you’re off the hook. But are you absolutely sure you didn’t see another phylactery?”

Jade tries to recall the few hours ago that he could. He was almost certain that he didn’t see another phylactery. When he tries to remember any exact details, all he could come up with was the blinding gold in the room, the raindrops settling into stills in the air, and Kalim.

Crowley chooses now of all times to step forward to meet with the merman. “Leech– if you’d let the benevolent person that I am to assist, I think I can help with this issue.”

Before he could say anything, fragments of a spell manifested before Jade. The writing and inscriptions looked familiar, but whatever image Jade tries to grasp at escapes him before it could brush his consciousness.

Another one of the Boardmen gasps at the runes. “Those are… but I thought only…”

“Was it deliberate?”

“But then why did he only bring in one?”

“There’s no mistaking the patterns, though…”

Murmurs spread throughout the room, some of which Jade couldn’t make out despite his heightened senses, mainly in fault to the migraine splitting near his temples and the buzz behind his ears. Crowley’s voice remains loud and clear. “You will need to let go of your head for a little while for this, Leech. It’s not a complex set of runes, but it is heavily layered, so there’ll need to-” A particularly hard tug of his cane, and the migraine increases in intensity, pounding beside and along with the vessels near the back of his neck. The runes in front of Jade fragment into smaller and smaller pieces, until the emitting light remains about the size of a tiny water droplet.

With a small gasp, it was then the tiny memory came back to him.

The real phylactery… He even offered to give it to Jade…! Why…

Thwack!

In the midst of his thoughts, the door to Crowley’s office slams open for the second time that day.

At the arch stands Scarabia’s vice dorm leader, pursed lips and a steady enough but disturbed look on his face to warrant concern. Beads of sweat– because no, what he was seeing couldn’t possibly be tears– meet their way down his neck.

Jamil’s gaze is locked on the broken phylactery.

There’s a saying that is well-spread across the deepest ingrains and crevices of the ocean. Its advice is rarely heeded because it is rarely ever heard by creatures who linger closer to the light, the parts of the sea where they can soak up the warmest colours. Jade has done his fair share of deep-diving, so he can’t say he was unfamiliar with the warning. But he supposed that now that he was on the surface where the reds and yellows and earthy browns could soak his skin, the words of the deep grew old and lost to him.

When he walked onto the grounds of NRC, by some stroke of pure luck, the words rang to him there, louder and clearer than ever.

The true voice of the sea is a song that one will never hear until water meets marrow, and a force that will never cease until its depths overwhelm thee.

For the next couple of days, Scarabia renders itself on complete lockdown. There wasn’t any official reason that Crowley offered to give the rest of the student body; Jade doesn’t even know if he met with any of the rest of the dorm leaders to talk about what happened. Azul either refuses to tell him anything or genuinely didn’t know either.

Jade can surmise the most likely reason for the lockdown. For one, Jamil would never be able to accept that the boy he protected for so long was about to die– for real– under his care. For all he knew, the cause of Kalim's deteriorating condition was because they had broken the wrong phylactery. He doesn’t find it below the Asim family to sue for something like this. Worse yet, he doesn’t find it below the Asim family to disown Kalim either. Keeping it secret was in his best interest. On the other hand, originally, the information about the Lich was to be kept as a secret for Crowley to use as any blackmail material to get the Asim family to continue to give him donations. But now, it’s hard to say what the principal would do if he pushed too hard. The dying boy was responsible for the deaths of others, so recompense was an option in either case, but the longer Crowley can keep this a secret, the more beneficial it is for him.

Old money. Greens and gold really do turn the human world around.

It’s too predictable to Jade. No one’s going to risk a golden hen like Kalim, no matter what happened or what he did. Too many people had too many stakes in the situation.

He really finds it troublesome.

In reality, there was a much simpler reason for the lockdown in Scarabia.

The dormitories at Night Raven College had both man-made and naturally occurring protective wards and spells, specific to their setting. Whatever they had done with the phylactery, in the coming days, it only made those protective wards stronger. That is, no one outside of its dorm members could enter Scarabia without getting torn to pieces by an invisible blade, and no one inside could exit Scarabia without getting shoved into the architecture by an invisible force.

No one dared to test it after the first couple of escape attempts and trespassers. 

There is one person who did try. The same Scarabian student he met on that first day - whether it was out of an apology to Jade for the false accusation, or out of concern for his dorm leader, he was granted permission to enter his dormitory.

So, on one night– where the chill of the Scarabian wind was enough to keep even Jamil asleep if only for a small while, sitting or having collapsed somewhere near Kalim’s door, and the students found another place to huddle near each other as they battled against sleep in fear they wouldn’t wake - Jade finds himself by the balcony of Kalim’s room.

Nothing’s happened to him yet. He must have mistaken him for Jamil again, a thought bubbles its way to his mind’s surface.

Looking at the heir, he looks worse for wear. Even though it was cold– and like a child who couldn’t regulate their body temperature properly yet, Kalim would get chills easier than most– he wasn’t wearing a blanket or any outerwear. He wasn’t even sitting on the bed’s fabric; instead, he was lightly suspended in midair, most likely due to a cantrip set by the vice dorm leader judging by the mana signature. That makes sense; the last time Kalim’s skin had rotted, it stuck itself onto the fabric like molting skin after a burn and peeled off some of his muscles with it. Besides that, other wounds have started to appear on his skin as well. In nothing but his binder & briefs, the wounds were more visible. It seemed as if his body had been rotting for quite a while now; some abrasions were old, while others newly kissed the surface of his skin.

He softly smiles. It doesn’t suit him at all.

Kalim shifts his head to the balcony, eyes barely open, sensitive to even the lantern shining by his bedside. “Jade…!” he gasps and smiles at him. The brightness of his smile has not dimmed despite everything. “You’re here…! Only Jamil usually stops by to visit; I was worried sick because he told me that everyone’s stuck in the dorm and no one can enter either… Has everyone been well?”

As well as they could be with haywire abyss and undead magic coating the dormitory, but that was beyond the point. “Your dorm members are all accounted for.”

“I’m glad!” He beams a little too hard, and the skin sitting on his cheekbone crackles and splits like fresh bread. “I think I’ll be in bed for a little while longer, though… I’m sorry I can’t go with you on another walk right now. I’ll make up for it after, I promise!”

“I’d like that very much, Kalim,” Jade replies. “If you’d like, we could have one of our walks right now?”

“Um…” the little heir glances down at his person. His eyes clouded over in anxious worry. “I… I’d love to, but I wouldn’t want you to have to carry me…”

“It’s alright, I don’t mind,” Jade says. “If you’re worried about your current wounds or making any new ones, then I can use a small spell to form a tiny barrier around your body. That way, your skin will stick to you. It might even help to hold some of the skin up.”

“That would be perfect! Thanks, Jade, you’re amazing!”

It was beyond jarring to believe that they had released his positive energy from the phylactery they broke in the first place. Jade had almost believed otherwise himself.

Grabbing the slick from behind his ears and a small flourish of his magical wand, the small glob thinned and expanded into a coat to cover the dorm leader’s body, except for his head. In the corner of the room where the first aid kit sat, Jade grabs the wheelchair and helps Kalim onto it.

“How are we going to get out?” Kalim wonders aloud. “The dorm’s on complete lockdown…”

“Just relax,” the merman reassures. “I believe the protective measures will loosen its guards to let you leave briefly.”

Lo and behold, they manage to step outside of the mirror unharmed and into the mirror hall. It was dark and quiet because it was the middle of the night; students were either in their dorms at their curfews, or catching up on studying in a secluded place like the library.

Jade follows along their regular route outside of NRC’s grounds; to the greenhouse, then the bottom of the mountains that cliff the school, and then to the shores.

The still water eluded a calmness that didn’t exist in Jade’s bones.

Kalim looks at the sight and elicits a soft sound. It was admittedly breathtaking. In the night, the sky and the sea blended so perfectly together that the horizon where they met couldn’t be seen. It’s as if they were staring into a piece of the abyss, a piece unabashedly hidden from the world yet always sitting in plain sight. He doesn’t normally get to witness these sights from under the sea.

Jade purses his lips. He walks the wheelchair closer to the edge of the shore, and eventually, into the shallow waters of the sea. Kalim is still marveling at the sight.

In the merman’s hands sits a cuff and ball, chains and all with metal as heavy as condensed lead.

The heir yelps as the chair tumbles into the water, the merman following close behind him.

Quickly grabbing at his jaw with one hand to prevent him from biting, Jade bursts into the currents with a flick of his tail. The bubbles surrounding them were the only air that he could access here, but those were soon to dissipate like the light from the runes that had surrounded Jade. It was clear the heir was trying to struggle and fight against both Jade and the currents, but his efforts were fruitless. There was not much he could do in the water now.

Jade manages to wrap one of the handkerchiefs he brought around the other’s mouth, leaving more hands to fiddle with the cuff at his ankle. At this point, the water has completely washed off the slick and spell that clung to Kalim’s skin, leaving it defenseless to the tail that wrapped up and around between his legs and his neck. If Jade shifts his tail slightly, he can feel the others’ skin rip off even more, and oh, that was a delightful sound to hear.

The cuff and ball are stuck on the ankle now. Jade would normally drop the person into the depths after this, but he’s curious as to how he’ll muffle against the red-stained cloth if the merman were to shift his body a little deeper into his skin. He can drag him to the bottom of the sea himself this way as well, if for nothing else but the fact that he’s clearly survived many other attempts on his life before.

They sink faster due to the lack of strength holding the chain and ball. Jade is unperturbed.

Hitting the bottom of the sea with a thwump, Jade doesn’t leave Kalim’s side. The skin sticks onto him as well, and as much as he could have moved suddenly to rip it further, he thinks it better if he let the sting simmer instead. The bioluminescence from his own skin glows through the translucent layer of dangling skin of the other that sits on his person, creating a warm glow, barely perceivable at this depth, but there nonetheless. 

It’s a miracle the other hasn’t passed out from the sheer, overwhelming pain yet. It makes it easier to dangle the intact phylactery in front of the other’s face.

“According to the investigators,” Jade starts, “you’ve not only managed to give me the wrong phylactery, but on purpose as well because of a memory binding spell they had to undo for me to even recall this one. Would you like me to keep it?”

The heir couldn’t answer, because he was still trying to find his breath in the water, but that won’t come easily to him. “I would break it–“ despite the already difficult struggle to breathe, the other’s shaking head starts to shake harder– “but that would be too easy for you. Besides, I have no intention of letting you leave this world that easily. Do you understand me?”

Jade’s tail lets go of the others’ neck, replacing it with his hand instead to clutch at his jaw easier. “You can’t die. You have nothing to worry about, because this won’t kill you. It’s easier if you let me indulge in this for even a little. Why did you do it?” He– he couldn’t have heard that. His voice didn’t break just then. It was only the effect of the water current rushing past his head.

If Jade hadn’t used his unique magic all the way back in the holidays, maybe he could have gotten a straight answer out of the heir before. Besides, right now, it looks like he couldn’t even answer him anyway.

Kalim struggles for a little while longer until he slumps, finally passing out from the lack of oxygen. Jade doesn’t let go. He doesn’t know what type of closure he’s expecting to get out of this. He feels the others’ guts near his stomach; to a certain extent, his own body was helping to plug up the parts that spilled out of Kalim. The warmth of the blood glazes near the surface of his skin.

Beyond the corner of his eye, something wriggles in the depths of the water. He isn’t paying attention to it right now; many of the creatures that lived near this zone were harmless enough, especially to an eel merman such as himself. It’s only after some small, silent seconds and a strange sensation near his stomach that he realizes where the wriggling was coming from.

He pushes himself off of Kalim, his skin ripping further. It sticks to Jade like another piece of clothing. The other was barely recognizable at this point, with his parts looking as if they had melted off his person. Jade forces himself to look at the sight.

The source of the wriggling, black and colourless, sits in the middle of the innards of the heir. It pushes itself out, slowly, and slowly, until it dresses itself in the body’s leftover remains of bones and whatever could pass off as skin and muscle.

Its eyes have long since withered from its skull, having dropped somewhere above between the twilight zone and the midnight zone.

Despite wearing its spoils of victory, the thing pushes out further into the abyss zone. Its tendrils haven’t reached Jade yet he finds that, still, he can’t move.

A small mass meets his tail, brushing against the light glowing from his skin. It feels warm. Welcoming.

Then, it pulls.