Chapter 24

Nate walked into the center of the village where all the other students and instructors had gathered. They were preparing the mass teleportation spell that would take them back to the Academy. As he arrived he was met with a few confused stares from both the instructors and the students.

“You said that was everyone!” the scarred instructor barked at another instructor. “We damn near left a kid here. Go make sure we’re not missing anyone else!”

Just then Ahri came walking from the same direction as Nate. She waved at him and walked by without intruding upon their conversation. Amelia noticed the beautiful woman waving at him, and she smiled. “So, you've found someone?”

“What do you mean? Found who?” Nate asked.

Amelia gestured to Ahri who was walking towards the group of students. “Oh, no. Ahri’s just a friend.”

“If you say so.” Amelia shrugged as if it didn’t bother her.

After a few minutes, the teleportation spell was prepared, and that’s when Amelia decided to make her exit. “Now that I know you’re alive, I’ll come visit you sometime.” She promised as she walked away with her kid in tow.

As Nate watched her walk away he couldn’t help but stare at her seductive figure. He felt long suppressed feelings begin to stir.

“Look at the ass on her.” Ahri said as she approached him from behind.

“Hand’s off, she’s married.” Nate failed to hide the disappointment in his tone.

“Oh well. She’s a dime a dozen, am I right? I’ll set you up with someone if you’re starved for some action.”

Nate appreciated Ahri’s efforts to cheer hip up, but he couldn’t deny his rekindled feelings for Amelia. Still, she was married so he would have to find a way to move past it. “I just might take you up on that offer someday.”

Ahri wrapped an arm around Nate’s shoulder and turned him towards the other students. “Trust your big sis, I will find you someone to make you forget all your troubles. Now, what’re you going to do when we get back?”

Nate had thought about this very question before. He knew he was set up to fight Mendell so he assumed Master Andrea had set up some kind of surveillance to capture the fight to use against him later. Otherwise, why would he go through the effort of injecting him with the serum?

“I’ll say it was a friendly spar.” Nate whispered after some thought. They were near the other students but not close enough to be heard whispering. “It’s not like they know he died. And there’s no corpse so no evidence.”

“Not bad, but that’s not necessary. Don’t even mention you fought with Mendell at all. Deny, deny, deny.”

“But surely Master Andrea sent someone to observe me?”

“Is that who’s trying to set you up?” Ahri’s nose flared in anger. Her intense expression surprised Nate. “Don’t worry, I took care of the man they sent to watch you. He can’t be used against you. All Master Andrea has are assumptions.”

“Thanks… you didn’t have to do that.” Nate felt moved by her devotion. He decided then he would reciprocate her dedication to him. It was only fair. They had to look out for each other since they were the only half-demons on campus.

…

“Well I have to say, it’s not often we have two council meetings about the same person in such a short period of time.” Annabel Yep, the Chancellor of the Academy started off the session.

Nate was standing before them, on trial, again. He was standing before the same council that had determined his fate a month ago. The only difference was a lithe, androgynous man who stood in front of the crescent shaped table of the council members, standing opposite Nate.

A grumpy-looking Grandmaster Oakley, sat on his chair with a smug Master Andrea seated beside him. “This better be worth my time.” The Grandmaster said acidly. “I’m tired of having to defend my family in this courtroom.”

“Is it a surprise the child of that traitor would cause us so many problems?” Master Andrea replied arrogantly.

“Enough!” Annabel said taking control of the conversation before it devolved into another battle. “Master Andrea, you called this meeting, please, get on with it.”

“Very well.” Master Andrea cleared his throat as if he was about to make a grand announcement. “This arrogant young man has violated the rules of peace-keeping instilled by the Academy. During the field trip that took place yesterday he attacked a human by the name of Mendell, killing him.

Now we were ordered to include the other factions into the instances of cross overs and we’ve done that. But to make sure there is no fighting amongst the factions we must enforce the rules! This young man broke the rules, and therefore must be punished accordingly. Otherwise no one will respect our authority!”

Grandmaster Oakley was the first to voice his opinion. “That’s preposterous! And quite frankly, I grow tired of your accusations against my family! I will stand for it no longer!”

“Gentleman, please!” Annabel interrupted. She turned to Nate. “Is this true? Did you attack Mendell?”

“No.” Nate responded.

“There you have it.” Oakley said.

“You deny this accusation?” Master Andrea asked Nate who nodded his head. “Your penchant for lying is noteworthy. I suppose you think you’re free and clear after killing the man we had tailing you. Fortunately, we have Inquisitor Citlali here with us today.”

The androgynous man stepped forward. Nate observed the man more carefully. Inquisitors were essentially mage police. They were very close in power level to the Grandmaster. Some argued they were even stronger since they often travelled to the NetherRealm and had a wealth of combat experience. The Grandmaster had experience too, but because of his age people didn’t think he was as powerful as an inquisitor anymore.

“Inquisitor Citlali, please clear up this situation for us. Delve into the mind of this miscreant and bring forth the truth!” Master Andrea shouted.

Grandmaster Oakley was ready to strangle Master Andrea. “You think you can do what you want? What right do you have to invade my grandson’s basic human rights based on your hatred of my family!”

“That has nothing to do with it! The last time we were here we ordered surveillance on him. Yet on the day of the field trip, the man ordered to surveil him ends up dead and Mendell is nowhere to be found. Do you think it a coincidence?”

“You seem to know a lot for someone who wasn’t there.” Nate spoke up for the first time. All eyes turned on him yet he stood expressionless under the focused pressure of their attention.

“I was tasked with providing surveillance, and when my subordinate ended up dead I projected myself there. I saw the whole thing! I saw you transform into your demon as well, do you deny this?!” Master Andrea capitalized his statement by pounding his fist on the table.

There were several surprised looks from the council members. Even the inquisitor, who looked bored up until now, turned to Nate with a look of curiosity.

“As I recall, you all wanted me to gain control of my demon and I’ve done that. As for fighting with Mendell, I’ve done no such thing. Mendell might be a mad scientist but he had his reasons for doing what he’s done, I don’t begrudge him for it. It’s not my place to, not after what I’ve done.” Nate said showing a bit of remorse.

“There you have it.” Grandmaster Oakley said. “Case closed.”

“Absolutely not! You would have us take his word for it? We must delve into his mind and know the truth!”

Just then, Master Andrea looked at another council member signaling him to speak up. “I agree. The surveillance we ordered on him was disposed of so we don’t know the truth. At this juncture, we can only comply to Master Andrea’s demands.”

This prompted an argument amongst the council members. Nate just watched them all in amusement. They wanted to break into his mind? As if he would let them.

I’ve spent the last ten years locked in my own mind, holding my spirit together through sheer mental ability. Now you think you can break through it with your flimsy efforts? Nate thought to himself.

Unbeknownst to Nate, Inquisitor Citlali was watching him with a bemused expression. The disdain on Nate’s face was plain to see but the council members were so wrapped up in their arguments they failed to notice.

Finally, they came to a decision. Unsurprisingly it was Annabel who delivered it. He learned she was the neutral member of the council so she was often the spokesperson for all of them. “Due to the extenuating circumstance, we have no choice but to acquiesce to Master Andrea’s demand. Inquisitor Citlali, you will only delve into Nate’s recent memories and confirm whether or not he had a hand in Mendell’s disappearance.”

Grandmaster Oakley visibly shook with anger but he was out voted. He had no choice but to accept it. Master Andrea was smiling from ear to ear, satisfied the Inquisitor would reveal everything and give them the right to banish Nate to the NetherRealm.

Inquisitor Citlali began to chant and thirty seconds later there were tendrils of mental energy trying to invade his mind. Nate learned in school that Mages were not capable of using mental energy like demons could. Instead, they could cast a spell that exchanged mana for mental abilities.

Nate easily deflected the tendrils that came snaking towards him. He felt like a parent slapping the hand of a greedy child reaching for the cookie jar. After a few minutes of this Inquisitor Citlali snickered. “Okay, how about this?” The man spoke in a voice slightly feminine.

The tendrils of energy pulled back. Nate was wary of the man who seemed laid back despite his failure in invading Nate’s mind. Nate poured all of his mental threads outward and towards the Inquisitor just to be safe.

The Inquisitor’s mental threads were gone and in their place was an awl spinning above the Inquisitor’s head. Nate blinked his eyes trying to clarify the disconnect. His brain was seeing the awl, yet his eyes couldn’t see it. When Nate creates the God’s Spear, it becomes visible to the naked eye, yet this man clearly created a tool with his mental abilities but it remained invisible.

The awl slowly moved towards him. Nate pushed against it with all his threads but the awl was resistant to it. When it was above his head it came drilling into his mind. Nate gathered all of his mental threads frantically trying to block the awl.

He managed to block the awl, but as it began to spin and penetrate his mind, he knew he had to do something else. An image of Mendell’s shield flashed into his mind, and he began shaping his tendrils, weaving them into the shape of the shield.

Closing his eyes, he focused on that image. The shield was rectangular and about the size of his torso. It was two or three inches thick and gold all over with a bronze piece of metal at the center of the shield. With that image held firmly in mind, he let the mental threads do all the work.

He felt like his brain was being squeezed as mental energy poured out of him. The threads bent, twisted, and wove together until the shield was created. It settled over his head, protecting him from the awl that seemed tiny in comparison.

Once the shield was established the Inquisitor smirked. “You look ridiculous.”

Nate’s shield was invisible to the naked eye like the awl was, but somehow the inquisitor could see it. It lie atop his head like a plank. It was then Nate thought a helmet of some sort would fit his needs a lot better, yet he was already committed to the shield and didn’t know if creating a helmet would work like the shield did.

The awl began to move at a fast speed as it tried to penetrate his mind, but it was unable to get past the shield lying on top of Nate’s head. The Inquisitor nodded his head approvingly. “Crude, but effective.”