A Special Day with the Mare

Here's the thing about mares. Looking at them critically, they were hierarchical classes that only serve to rank the students. In truth, a Sinus Fidei with the right qualifications can be assigned to a course that only Imbrium would mostly attend.

Frankly, the mares are simply there to mirror the statuses found outside the Academy walls. However, instead of being born to a specific class, the students all start at the same point, and merit will reward them with a higher rank.

This theoretical process is all good and all, but because of the weirdness that is the Test of Waning, the students have all become hostile to this way of doing things.

People ask, "Is it really a meritocracy if the gauge is highly ambiguous and suspiciously biased?"

Well, the anger at this injustice is all the more heightened by the benefits each ring member receives. Sinus Fidei gets a good amount of allowance each cycle and a roof to cover them whilst they sleep in the dormitories. For the commoners, it was already a hefty deal. I mean, one gets to learn and even receives food and shelter for it.

Alas, greed will always be a factor in such things.

When a Sinus Fidei ranks up to Frigoris, the allowance more than doubles and the dormitory provided becomes much, much better. When a Frigoris becomes an Imbrium, the allowance is comparable to the annual income of a minor noble family, and these allowances come every cycle, which almost always comes around twice a year. Likewise, the dormitories the Imbrium receive are more like lavish suites fit for the wealthiest classes.

However, when an Imbrium becomes a Cognitum, only legendary rumors could ever describe the treatment they are given. With only a handful existing per cycle, a layman could only imagine the benefits they receive. Maybe an allowance worthy of lower kings? A small castle for each member, perhaps? After all, the Academy does have a wide annex of castles and spires, with most probably left in disuse due to the years of decreasing number of talented mages.

On the other hand, I am both a Sinus Fidei and a Desiderii...

If what they have said is true and the Mare Desiderii is the fifth and last mare in the hierarchy, then I am an abnormality who belongs to the weakest and strongest mares at the same time.

But after moving on from the delusions of such grand thoughts, one begs the question: What benefits should I receive from a hidden mare?

And so, I am off to the Castle Desiderii today.

Well, they have actually told me to come today for a "special event", of which I have absolutely no idea about. Regardless, I was here to both learn more about the mare and to do some incognito research on Tabitha, Joren's mother.

Clutching the parchment on my hands, I used it as a guide and let my feet take me where I wanted to go.

I was holding onto the map Tora had given me during the Advancement Ball. While hardly anyone ever cares where a student of the Academy goes to, it was still important to keep a low head when it comes to the Mare Desiderii. Because I couldn't be found sneaking off to Castle Desiderii on class days (and much more, in broad daylight), I was given a map that showed an intricate network of underground passages only known to my fellow mare members.

However, because I couldn't immediately enter the subterranean passages through the Sinus Fidei dormitories (because there were none), I had to make my way to another building, hoping that I would find an entrance easily.

I had chosen a building which was older than most. It was considerably far away from the hustle and bustle of Academy life, but I felt that it was safer to sneak myself through the entrance inside this old castle than anywhere else. Frankly, its desertedness gave it a rather spooky feel...

I flinched as the branches of a nearby tree shook hard, revealing a black crow as it flew away.

I let go of my bated breath and shook my hands to release some tension. It was silly of me to still be frightened of such things. I had already braved through so many things. Power-hungry nobles, political schemes, and actual real-life assassins! What else should-

*CAW! CAWWW!*

I shrieked. Without even much thought, I had hidden the map inside my pocket and jumped through a glassless window, landing on the dusty ground with no problem and hurriedly hiding behind a rounded pillar. Right on the windowsill where I had entered through now sat a beady-eyed crow.

I glared at it. "Nasty bird."

It kept tilting its head at me back and forth, as though mocking me, or simply wondering what type of new creature I was. I couldn't blame it. I doubt this area of the school had been graced by human contact in decades.

I huffed, the sound echoing throughout the space I had entered. It seemed like a wide and tall ceilinged room that would have been used for holding plays or concerts. But as it was now, it was only a gaping room with ankle-deep dust and debris gathered in the far corners.

Not even bothering to take the map out again (I had long memorized the needed parts), I headed for the nearest set of doors and surveyed my surroundings. As I went, I banged open long unused doors and lit up long untouched candelabras with tiny fireballs. Soon enough, the eeriness of the castle had turned into a sort of empty melancholy. There might have been ghosts roaming around these halls, but even the ghosts have become too tired of their desolation.

Glad to realize that I wasn't as lost as I was a few minutes ago, I walked on with a fervor. Not even half an hour later, I had not only found the entrance to the underground tunnel, but I had also managed to figure out how to work the mechanism that kept it stuck.

When the gears started working and the otherwise normal-looking fireplace finally revealed a gaping hole where it just was, I forced myself to steel my nerves.

Then, I took two candles and secured them to my belt, and lit up the third one in my hand. With that, I took a deep breath and wiggled down the hole.

I landed with ease, and using the map, the rest of the journey was easier, albeit a little bit dark. I tried to ignore the rodents, insects, and other slithering things that I passed through. I simply weaved through the tunnels like a gust of wind. Before too long, I had arrived right underneath Castle Desiderii.

In front of me was a set of stairs that spiraled up until it ended with a trap door. As I made my way up the short steps, I felt movement from above and upon looking up, I was showered with a thin coat of dust. The trap door opened outwards and two, bright faces looked down at me. They probably heard me coming, since I didn't bother masking my footsteps.

I shook of the dust from my hair as they started to speak together.

"You're here!" Tora said, obvious surprise in his voice.

"Eleftherion, you made it!" Norc said as well, offering a brown hand down to me.

I took his hand without hesitation and blew off the fire on my candle. Then, facing them on level ground, I bowed slightly and announced my arrival. "Eleftherion has-"

"Yes, yes, indeed!" an older girl interrupted my formal greetings, appearing from behind a tall stack of books. When I had a good look at her, I recognized her as the one called Heather.

"Hello there, Heather," I told her. "Where's Puntzer?"

"Oh, that cry baby?" she asked, although her face grew mellower at the mention of her son. "He's off to his father. It's his time to take care of him."

"O-Oh?" I let out. "I thought he didn't... have a father."

She snorted into laughter. "Everyone has a father, boy! Dear me, you look just young enough to still not know what a man and woman does at night... Pray tell, are you aware of how babies are made?"

I blushed dearly. "I-I am... aware..."

"Oh? You are?" Her eyes sparkled with interest as she bent down to peer into my face.

"Ah, enough of that, Heather," Tora reprimanded her slightly. "You're deeply troubling the boy."

"As I can see," she admitted, but with none of the guilt. "Oh, but I'm glad you made it here with no problems. The viewing is just about to start."

Tora nodded. "It's quite a feat for someone as young as you to have made it through the tunnels this quickly while still so young."

I shrugged. "The map was very helpful."

"As I made sure to make it, but..." he said, observing me with his snow-colored eyes. "You've done well to make it through the first hurdle as a member of the Mare."

"... So this was a test?" I asked.

"Not really," Norc answered as he scratched at his spiky, pink hair. "I'z rare for us to accept Sinus Fidei, so a few of us have actually been doubting your abilities. You've proven them wrong this time, at least."

I expected this so I didn't feel bad at all. "Well, I'd hardly call reading a map a challenge."

Tora laughed while Norc simply looked down at me with twitching eyes. Then, Heather told us, "Time is ticking. If we don't make it in time, the telly is going to lose its magic."

My brows furrowed, "The telly?"

She then took the candles from my hands and belt and placed them on the desk with the pile of books. "Yep. The teleportation circle, you know?"

My eyes grew wider and I had to look at Tora for answers. He told me as Heather led us out of the room, "You are aware we have a special event lined up for today?"

"Yes," I said. "You told me that in the Advancement Ball. I found it odd how it was held on a class day and how we would have to skip classes on just our second day."

He nodded. "I apologize for that, but I believe you would have no problem adjusting after missing a few hours of classes."

"You're right, I wouldn't," I admitted.

"Good," he said with a small smile. "Either way, what we'll be seeing today would be better education than most anything."

"Ho?" I asked, both with interest and anticipation. If this "special event" was even half as true as the words they were saying about it, then I should be enjoying myself today.

Heather led us around the castle, and soon I had recognized a few landmarks. I wasn't surprised when she led us back to the hall we had used to celebrate the Mare Desiderii's "Advancement Ball". However, the tacky decorations from the masquerade ball were gone. Instead, the hall was dimmer and there was only one noticeable sight inside: a teleportation circle.

It looked much like the circle used in the Test of Waning. Special stones were laid around the floor to form the shape of a circle. If a person with no experience with magic found himself in this hall, he probably wouldn't even notice that there was something magical occurring inside it.

"Where are the rest?" I asked.

"Already out there," Norc replied, but after a noticeable pause. "The telly could only handle five teleportation groups at once though, so we have to go before any of them decides to go back now."

"Hmm..." I hummed and looked at how the pink-haired boy wouldn't meet my eyes. "... They left me behind, didn't they?"

He yelped with enough vigor for me to know that I had guessed correctly. Tora then stood between us and held his hands up at me as though to console me. He said, "Apologies for that, Eleftherion. As was said before, a few of us still doubt your abilities. A couple of them didn't believe that you could make it through the underground tunnels..."

I sighed. "And I tell you now, I'm fine with that. Their actions are quite understandable, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't keep me in the dark about such politics. If I am to be bullied, I would like to be bullied head on."

Heather snorted while Norc gaped at me. Tora only froze up in what appeared to me might be because of shock.

I coughed a little before saying, "Shall we?"

Heather finally allowed herself to laugh, saying in between gasps, "Hear... that? He said, 'shall... we?'"

Tora shook his head and then agreed. "Yes, of course. We must make haste."

Heather worked with the telly as Norc, Tora, and I stood inside. When the rocks began to glow with power, I asked belatedly, "How about you?"

Heather winked at me. "I'll be there right after you."

Then, the sickening feeling of teleportation struck my gut once again. When the dizziness and the kaleidoscope of lights died down to reveal where we were, I finally allowed myself to breathe.

Norc landed beside me and bent over. He didn't get sick, however. He only seemed to hold himself in that position to gather his wits. When I looked at my other side, Tora was calm, albeit just a little bit paler than his usual white pallor. He stared down at me in shock.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded my head. "Queasy, but alright."

He huffed a little, murmuring, "Why am I even surprised?"

Then, he grabbed Norc by his collar and dragged him out of the circle. I followed after them. Not a few seconds later, Heather appeared beside us, just outside the circle.

Unlike us, she looked in perfect health. "Hey there again!"

"Heather is a wiz when it comes to teleportation magics," Tora explained as he shook Norc, as though that would help him get better.

"I see," I muttered and then sneaked glances at the girl. Heather made quite an impression on me, especially after showing up with her little kid. Well, it wasn't weird to have girls as young as 14 having children, but that's usually if the girl was already married. Besides, these days, the normal age for marrying was around 16 to 18. Even as a princess, I had only been sent to marry at 18. But now, I saw her not only as a mother, but also as a strong magician. There was not one bad thing about her, really. She took care of her child while continued on with her studies. With that, my impression of her only became better.

She probably felt me looking at her, because she turned and stared down at me. "Feeling okay after the telly, boy?"

I nodded my head fiercely, mainly due to some leftover embarrassment after getting caught by her. "I'm okay!"

She snickered and then walked over to slap --- to pat --- Norc on the back. He then shouted and straightened himself, screaming insults as he massaged his affronted body part.

With Norc back on his feet, we decided to head on off to the area of the "special event".

When I first surveyed the surroundings, I knew we had somehow made it outside the Academy grounds. We were inside a forest, but of which I knew wasn't part of the Forests of Elara.

"I thought you can't teleport in and out of the Academy because of the magical barriers?" I asked.

Heather looked back at me in shock. "You know we're outside the Academy?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't feel the magical aura I felt once in the Forests of Elara. I could only conclude that this is an altogether different forest."

"Amazing," Tora mumbled beside me.

"Indeed," Heather agreed as her eyes shined. She looked like a predator who had finally found some juicy prey. "Don't you worry, though. We acquired special permission to travel today. Well, aside from that, you're very interesting, boy."

I pursed my lips. "Not as interesting as a girl barely twenty who could perform multiple teleportations at once."

She snickered. "Touché."

With that, the rest of our travel was done in silence. We didn't have to walk for long, though. The moment we teleported here, I had already sensed the presence of the rest of the mare members a few paces away. Anyway, they weren't really being silent about their presence, either.

When we reached the clearing, I was greeted by an uncommon scene.

Stumps of recently cut trees were all around us, the fallen trunks and branches gathered in a corner, stacked together in a precarious pyramid. The Mare members were boisterously talking with each other, a certain tenseness in the air.

Tora seemed to also realize that something was wrong. He headed off to the most noticeable figure in the clearing. Professor Kartik glanced at each of us before nodding towards Tora. He then led him away from us without preamble.

I frowned, staring at the chaotic scene around us. "What's happening?"

Heather sighed. "Something bad must've happened."

"To whom? Where?" I asked.

She raised her brows at me, as though surprised I wouldn't know. Then, she raised an arm and pointed right behind me. I turned around.

"... Oh."

The pyramid of branches and trees weren't there for no reason. From where I now stood, it no longer looked like a normal pile of logs, but rather like a wall to shield something. Through the gap, I could see a swirling vortex of pure, magical power. I was surprised how I never even realized that it was there.

I suppose I can blame the new surroundings for leaving me confused, but...

I now saw it, and felt it... and it called for me.

"What-?" I mustered.

"A portal," Norc replied with a sneer-like grin, looking at the vortex like he wanted to jump right in. "Those little troublesome portals that've been blighting the continent recently."

I gasped. I recalled the portals my brother had told me once in passing. Was this really one of them?

Then, I had a dangerous thought.

"Don't tell me-?" I asked, and then gulped down once. "We're going in there?"