Before she could think, her Maleficium training kicked in. It wasn't very impressive, but it was enough to make the glass bounce off her harmlessly. As if she had been incredibly lucky, if she didn't know better. Emile had drilled the defensive reaction into her, stressing that it wasn't efficient but it might be her only defense if she was caught off guard. Seemed like he was right.
Except now there was magic everywhere, much of it deadly. For the moment she was the only person in the large hall, but that changed as a portal opened in midair. Several people dropped from it, already preparing offensive magic.
"Where the hell is the Omphalos?" the first man said. Another just gestured at her and attacked. This time she was ready with a polished defense, focusing her power into a wedge that would just nudge harmful energy aside instead of blocking it.
The first attack sent her reeling and shredded the wedge. Next time she could do better, but she doubted she would get the chance.
Except Keisha was running from the opposite entrance. Aki blinked, trying to figure out what she could possibly do. The attackers made the same mistake.
Keisha's palm broke the first's nose and he went down immediately. A woman stabbed with a knife, but her forearm was caught in a block that sent the knife spinning. Then Keisha was a whirlwind of movement, taking down the startled group before they could mount any kind of serious defense. Aki reminded herself to breath.
"Holy crap. What was that?"
"Don't tell anyone." Keisha stepped closer and continued to search the room. "I'd rather everyone think I only know Propitiation, but my real specialty is Homuncomancy. It makes all those self defense classes a lot more useful."
Aki blinked. "I'd say that's a weird name, but... again, holy crap. I want to learn."
"Well, we certainly don't have time now."
Around them, the bodies suddenly slid across the floor and vanished. If there was a dimensional tunnel, it disappeared too fast for Aki to see it. "What's going on now?"
"If they're injured or inactive they go back wherever they came from. I assume it's so none of them can be taken alive for questioning, which is good because I can't afford to pull any punches." Keisha flexed her fingers and watched Aki speculatively. "More of them will be coming and it won't go so well if I can't surprise them. Have you learned any actual skills yet?"
"Manifest Arts, mostly. I can back you up."
This time it was Keisha's turn to look confused. "I don't really associate that field with combat."
"That's because they don't want to advertise how dramatic it can be. Just wait, if any more of them drop out of the sky I'll show you." It would have been nice if more had come then, but the hall remained empty. In a sense she was glad, because she didn't want to risk-
Another tunnel. Just as the portal opened in normal space, she raised her hand toward it and focused. In the past she had always been worried about making controlled contact, producing a safe and reasonable effect. Knowing she probably wouldn't kill any of them helped, but she thought she might give it with everything she had anyway. Aki linked as much as she could handle and pulled it down in the real world.
Fire flooded from her hand, a molten stream that scorched the air and engulfed the portal. For a moment she feared she wouldn't be able to stop, but the fire vanished as soon as she lost the link. It left her dizzy, but she was able to turn and grin at the other woman.
Both of Keisha's eyebrows were midway up her forehead. "Well, that's... a classic."
"Isn't it awesome?"
"Just don't point at me."
As she opened her mouth to say more, Aki realized there were more tunnels. This time they weren't going to create such simple portals. She and Keisha didn't need to talk to go back to back, tracking the potential attackers as best they could.
The air rippled beside her for just a moment before there was a man rushing at her. She unleashed a burst of fire that left her feeling scorched. He stumbled, but wasn't pulled away. Aki took a step backward, watching the flames dissipate. Each blast was going to be more difficult, and she was afraid another wouldn't help. Now the man was grinning and walking toward her-
A fist to the side of his head sent him down. Aki smiled gratefully at Keisha, who only nodded. There were a lot more people in the aether nearby, and at this rate things were going to go poorly.
All at once they were gone, their paths spiraling away and leaving only chaotic trails. Aki tried to sense and see if there was any more fighting nearby, but her nerves were shot and she didn't trust herself. Still, it seemed like all the enemies were gone.
She almost yelped when someone appeared in the doorway, but it was only Eron Roshal. He raised his hands carefully, as if to make sure they wouldn't attack him. Maybe they looked like they might. Though Aki was afraid she would collapse any moment, there was a crazy kind of energy running through her.
"Mr. Hall destroyed the channel they were using. It's over."
Keisha folded her arms. "At least until they find another channel."
"No need to worry, this was a onetime thing." Eron walked closer and then dropped into a chair wearily. "There are already a bunch of professors working on strengthening security so that nothing like this can ever happen again. Please stay here and don't talk about what happened. There's no need to make people panic when they're all safe now."
"Oh, our lips are sealed." As she spoke, Aki glanced at Keisha. The glance they exchanged left little doubt they were thinking the same thing. If someone had been able to break into Axis, someone else might find another way. And even if no one did, someone out there was willing to launch an assault against the university.
None of them were anything close to safe.
Chapter 9
Time stretched out into eternity. Aki counted the number of tiles on the ceiling twice, got different numbers, and started to count again before she realized what she was doing and mentally slapped herself. She should be listening to the lecture, and she was, but everything was moving so slowly and it was hard to stay engaged.
One day ago she had been fighting for her life, and now... Fetish Theory. With so many professors around after the attack, she hadn't even had a chance to talk to Keisha. They had arranged to meet after classes today, which was part of why she was distracted.
"It is crucial to keep in mind the primary distinction between Fetishism and other fields of study."
Professor Franz Barth wore the same grey suit every day, and students joked the shirt underneath was grey because he never washed it and the color had rubbed off from him. Apparently he was brilliant, but he had the most droning voice Aki had ever heard, without any change in tone or volume.
"If one happened to desire to create a fetish to warm oneself, that is entirely possible. Where the aforementioned principle becomes relevant is that you cannot simply endeavor to search for a way to generate heat. Even if one was successful in binding such an effect permanently, it would drain the implanted magical power in order to do so.
"Instead it is necessary, even critical, to create a static field to ward off cold. At this point one might raise the scientific objection that cold does not, in fact, exist as a separate entity, and the objection would be entirely correct. It is merely simplified rhetoric to facilitate the discussion of complex matters such as manipulating particle movement to create a scenario mathematically inclined to..."
She got the point and she wasn't sure how much more of it she could take. Apparently she wasn't the only one, because someone spoke up from one corner of the room. "Yo, Barth. Could you make a talisman thing to do something more useful?"
Franz paused and lifted his eyes from his notes. "This disruption is somewhat irregular, but I suppose I must endeavor to quench the desire for knowledge in young minds. What particular use did you have in mind?"
Someone in back snickered. "Magical Viagra!"
"I do not see why one would need that." That produced actual laughter, and Franz stared at his students. He didn't blink, in fact he n
ever seemed to blink, but merely continued after a pause. "The effect you speak of is possible in principle and in fact even this class should be able to understand the basic theory. What kind of fetish might be an effective target in attaining such an effect?"
"Cat ears!"
Another stare. "The creativity of your suggestions continues to leave me speechless. While there are inherent difficulties in such a target, it could be bound according to the fundamental principles I have been endeavoring to press upon you."
"What about a tail?" There was laughter all throughout the classroom now, only some of it contained. Aki wasn't particularly entertained by this one and considered going back to her hole counting.
"I somewhat doubt that would be practical, as the fetish chosen is already rather dispersed. A dual-focus is in fact possible, but the effect has been termed bipolar and is only appropriate for a very few purposes. It would be entirely unnecessary for the effect you have so studiously, even enthusiastically, pursued..."
When it was done, Franz shifted his eyes back to his notes and continued on the sentence where he had left off. The papers were yellow and likely hadn't been changed in years. Still, the distraction had broken the routine and Aki was able to concentrate a little better until the end of the lecture.
Then she was off to their meeting. The academic buildings were more or less in a circle around the central plaza, and beyond was student housing. She was used to turning left to the dorms, but for the first time headed right to the apartment complex.
Things were as crowded as usual after afternoon classes. Aki enjoyed seeing the variety of people on campus. There were humans of all types as well as plenty of fey. Less human-looking races probably had magic to hide themselves, but she saw several Jotunn that didn't see a need to hide their solid-colored eyes.
On her way into the apartment complex she had to brush past a woman standing in the opening. She had a sprite's pointed teeth, but her hair was bright yellow and moved sharply instead of slowly. Were there lightning sprites? Aki set the issue aside so she could find the room number she had been given. Her hand hesitated at the door, oddly awkward, and she forced herself to knock.
After a pause, Keisha's voice came from within. "Aki? It's unlocked, just give me a moment to disable the field."
There was a slight blur in front of her, so she took that as sign enough to enter. It was a nice apartment, with a kitchen area partially walled off from the main room, and a hall for bedroom and bathroom. Keisha was sitting lengthwise along a couch, scribbling something in a notebook. She smiled at Aki and shifted so that there was space beside her.
"Sorry we haven't been able to talk before now."
"Oh, I understand." She dropped onto the couch and stared around the apartment. "This is a nice place."
"I suppose. You live in the dorms?"
"Yeah. I hear some of them are alright, but between you and me that's like winning the lottery." Aki grimaced. "But I really don't want to talk about that. Why'd you pick the apartments? You're going to get all the nice scholarships, couldn't you afford the palace?"
Keisha rolled her eyes. "That would be assuming I do everything perfectly, and that's not a risk I want to take. That housing is for people who can pay for tuition out of pocket, or out of their parents' pockets. I suppose my caution has deprived me of the company of people like Bianca Manunta, but I will have to suffer without it."
"Oh, we're going to get along just fine." Aki couldn't help but grin. "Enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, right?"
"I'm sorry to bring this up, but you have me curious about the initiation. I didn't believe those who said you were just weak, since it felt like an attack, but I was still a little surprised to see you throw fireballs at will."
She winced. "Yeah, that. The professors say I was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It bothered me, but I was willing to let it go so long as nobody else was going to try to kill me... which I guess is no longer the case."
That brought silence between them. Keisha closed her notebook carefully and set it aside, then leaned back and stared toward the ceiling. "I was hoping we could pool what we know. The faculty seem to view it as a non-incident, but I think we agree this is serious."
"Right."
"A lot of the facts are obvious and don't need repeating. I can tell you that while most people were alarmed, Mr. Hall didn't seem to be concerned. Apparently he thought he could cut off their tunnel quickly, but they were aiming for inside the building and so they almost killed some people."
Which raised the question of why they targeted Axis Hall, but Aki knew Keisha would have thought of that and didn't want to seem stupid. "Do we know anything about who they were?"
"That's another thing I happened to overhear. Eron Roshal called them Sinistrals, whatever that means. I haven't had a chance to look it up, but I assume between the internet and the library we can learn something."
"Yeah, let's Hogwarts this thing."
Keisha glanced over at her. "I never read much Harry Potter. Did they go around doing research?"
"Some of the time."
"Do people actually say that?"
"No... not really... anyway, I heard one important thing before you came in: they seemed to be looking for something called the Omphalos."
"Interesting." Keisha closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch. "The first guy I met suggested they were trying to get somewhere they'd need to break into. So it seems we know more about this than I thought. We have an organization and an objective. If we can figure out how to spell them, the names should be vulnerable to Hogwartsing, so we might be able to learn more."
"And maybe we can learn some valuable life lessons along the way." Aki sat back and thought about what they knew, but didn't come up with any meaningful conclusions. Still, it was better than knowing nothing.
Both of them thought in silence for a while before Keisha spoke softly. "There's something else I should probably tell you, so long as you promise not to tell anyone."
"Cross my heart and all of that."
"That phrase is a little more ominous now that I know about Maleficium." Keisha's face became serious, and she held eye contact with Aki. "I didn't come here entirely by choice. A former student found me before the representative did, tried to tell me not to go. He said they're using students as fuel."
"It seems like a normal university. I know people who've graduated from here."
"Oh, I'm not saying he was entirely correct. Roger seemed a little manic and he didn't have the best reputation here. But I have a good reason for believing him: when Mr. Hall caught up with Roger, he killed him for his Light Essence."
Aki sucked in her breath. She wanted to consider in silence, but Keisha looked defensive, so Aki hastened to speak. "I believe you. Actually, I had someone warning me as well. I haven't wanted to think about it, but he said to remember Axis didn't have my best interests at heart. I'm sure there are a lot of good people here, but..."
"Not all of them." Keisha gave a relieved smile that withered as she continued. "The problem is that the people I'm most worried about are in charge. Fredrick Hall, Pavel Tolstoy... the administration is getting something out of this."
"I agree that seems plenty grim, but surely if we're careful we can graduate safely."
"Assuming something else doesn't get in the way. There's another thing I haven't told you yet: when Eron said they had arrived, he said they were two months early."
"Meaning there might be another attack then." Aki flopped back onto the couch and groaned. "This keeps getting better and better. I don't suppose he said it like this was all planned on some big timetable?"
"No, he seemed worried. I think they had a reason to suspect an attack at a certain time, and I suspect it has something to do with this Omphalos."
"Seems likely. So what are we going to do?"
Keisha rubbed her forehead. "Find out as much as we can, I suppose. There's no point trying anything if we don't understand."
"Sure. We can research between classes and compare notes from time to time. Sound good?"
"Yeah. It's nice having someone else I can trust with all this." After a time, Keisha nodded to herself. "I don't know if we can trust him, but there's someone else who might have information. I've learned a little about one of the people who fought off the attack: his name is Doyle Kelly and he might be willing to help us."
"We need whatever help we can get." Now as a good time to bring up the idea that had been forming for a while. "There's someone else I think could help us with this. Blake Pr-"
"No."
"Come on, he's not so bad. He might be able to learn something from the Darkness faculty."
"He's an idiot."
"I promise, he's a lot smarter than he pretends to be."
"That makes him an intentional idiot, which is worse." Keisha didn't seem about to budge, so Aki sighed and let it go. She wouldn't tell him anything, since she didn't want to ruin things with Keisha. The silence was already much more uncomfortable than it had been before.
Finally Keisha spoke. "So what exactly brings you to Axis? This is all new to me, but people like you seem to have known about these things for a long time."
"It's not like I'm from a wizard family or anything, I just tried to do some research since magic seemed more interesting than my other options. It sounds silly now, doesn't it? But somehow I got an invitation to apply here and I'm hoping that will lead to a real career. I took Fetish Theory since there's a big market for magical talismans, but it's really boring."
"How does Manifest Arts fit into that?"
"Oh, that's just for fun." Aki grinned. "What's the point of learning magic if you can do something flashy occasionally?"
"I guess if we're going to be attacked periodically, it's a practical skill."
"What about you? You said you weren't thinking of coming here at first."
That caused a long sigh. When Keisha spoke her voice was soft. "I wanted to study law at New York University. I really should have gotten in, but because - no, there's no sense getting into that. Point is, all of this got in the way and now that doesn't seem likely."
Aki whistled. "Law school, huh? This would be a pretty big change. I'm surprised you're trying so hard here if you're not really interested."