The Arcturus company likes to think of itself as one of the highest and most well-versed mercenary companies there is to hire in these lands. It’s no wonder they've been hired to guard the wondrous Caltriax academy, home to many young students studying and learning how to perfect their magic ways.

The students take their classes in the day, living in the Equitus Spire the rest of the time. The mercenary guards have their own living quarters in the Thorn Spire, although they work in shifts to guard the students day and night. There are a few classes held in the evening, extra curricular ones which both students and guards are able to attend since many of the guards have magical abilities of their own.

Any relations between guards and students aren’t forbidden per say, but definitely frowned upon. Mercenary captain Varin keeps his troops in line, but some slip through the cracks of course. So it isn’t a surprise to find a purple tiefling guard making her way into the dorms, making it look like she’s just on her way to do her assigned patrol route, before quickly sneaking her way towards the stairs.

When she turns the corner, she doesn’t expect to find a cute black-haired human girl with large glasses, who quite literally bumps into her. “Oh, Elyza. Hi”

Elyza just gives her a once over, her expression obviously saying much more than words ever could because Chell, the girl in question, looks sheepish before smiling shyly. “I’m just going to the library. Couldn't sleep so decided to do some late night reading...I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Elyza gives her a grin, laughing softly to herself as she steps aside and lets Chell past. “Go on then. Just be back before I can ‘catch’ you.”

Chell nods excitedly, hurrying down the hall and out of sight before Elyza can say another word. She shakes her head slightly, a small smile still on her face as she proceeds. Chell is cute, in like a nerdy bookworm way. Not really Elyza’s type, but they get along well enough when they bump into each other while Elyza is patrolling. It definitely isn’t the first time they’ve met like this.

Elyza makes her way up to the next level, smirking to herself confidently. It's almost too easy to sneak past the Tabaxi stationed to patrol the fourth floor. She watches him pass from where she’s hidden around a corner, easily managing to sneak past the path he’s just crossed to get where she needs to go.

Just as before, Elyza manages to sneak past the dwarven man on the fifth floor as well, having to wait for him to move out of sight before very quietly giving her signature knock on the door she’s looking for. As if on cue, the door opens quickly, Elyza basically being dragged inside the room. Once inside she blinks a few times, her eyes adjusting to the light interior compared to the pitch black of the corridors.

A human girl stands before her, her long brown hair spilling over her shoulders. Her blue eyes looking at Elyza with a look of wonder and awe. “You’re here. You actually came” she says softly, a small flush rising to her cheeks as she realises how silly that sounds.

Elyza just smiles at her, relaxing slightly as she closes the gap between them. “Of course I am. You think I'd miss our date? Especially after that adorable letter you left, Miya?”

Miya looks away, definitely flustered if her pink cheeks are anything to go by. “I didn’t think I- you flirt with a lot of girls, I didn’t think I was special enough…”

Elyza seems to falter for a moment, the flirty comment on her tongue dying as she looks at Miya. She is known for flirting, it's what she does best. Being able to twist anyone she likes around her finger to get what she wants. It’s how she made it so long in Pyke, her charm and wit perfected so no one could see through her. She left that life behind, coming here trying to kid herself that she could change, be better than she was. Hoping she could change so she doesn’t turn out like him.

Miya seems to sense her moment of inner turmoil and looks up at her with her big beautiful blue eyes. So clear and pure, no one’s ever hurt her before. Elyza knows its wrong, but she keeps going, leading her on like this means something. She smiles, knowing it doesn’t reach her eyes as she cups Miya’s face and rubs a thumb across her cheek bone.

“You’re beautiful Miya, I’m lucky to have you.”

They spend the night together, hours later lying in a tangle of blankets and furs. Elyza normally isn’t one to stay, but the way Miya is nuzzled into her neck and clinging to her keeps her put. She runs her fingers through the younger girl’s long brown hair, finding it oddly calming. Her mind is far away, thinking about anything and everything, when the thought comes to her that her shift will be over soon, and she’ll have to head back to the Thorn Spire to rest. Just as she’s about to speak, she hears Miya’s slightly muffled voice.

“Elyza?”

Elyza hums in reply, opening her eyes to see Miya has now moved her head and is looking at her, trying to make eye contact the best she can from their current position.

“Will I see you again?”

She doesn’t reply, not immediately. She just looks, searching Miya’s eyes trying to gauge how sincere she is.

“Of course you will, i’ll be around”

“No, I mean like this...will you come see me again?”

Elyza knows its wrong to string her along like this when Miya obviously really likes her, and Elyza is just using her as a distraction, something she can easily get. But she nods and smiles, moving to kiss Miya, hoping she can crush the tiny feeling of guilt in her stomach with something else.

About an hour later Elyza leaves, just as the morning sun is coming up and the other night guards are heading to bed as she should be. It isn’t hard to sneak out and pretend she’s been at her post all night.

As she arrives back at her living quarters, she finds the tabaxi man waiting for her, arms crossed as if he’s just caught her sneaking back in.

“Yes Vale?” she asks after a moment of them both just looking at each other. His expression darkens slightly as he takes a step towards her. She takes a step back instinctively, falling into line like she was always taught. She mentally kicks herself for it, giving Vale a hard stare as she steps back up to him.

“I know what you were up to last night”

Elyza simply scoffs at him, rolling her eyes. “What are you talking about”

He seems to squint at her slightly before leaning in just the slightest bit “I heard you. I know you weren’t at your post”

“I was. I was there all night. You must be losing it finally, Vale.”

He gives her one last hard look over before backing off. “Don’t make a habit of it. We all need to pull our weight around here”

Elyza watches as he leaves, breathing a sigh of relief as she hears his footsteps fade. She knows he’s always like that, always weird and creepy. She shrugs it off, starting to take off her armour and ready herself for bed.

Suddenly, there’s a sharp knock at the door. “Elyza! Get the hell out here right now!”

She knows immediately who it is and scrambles to get the door open. Sure enough, Captain Varin is standing there, a face full of thunder as he all but glares at her. “You! With me, right now!”

Varin doesn’t say a word to her, just marches her out of the Thorn spire and back towards the Equitus. She knows better than to ask questions, knows it will not end well for her. So she stays quiet, and before she knows it, she’s being lead towards the common room of the dorms. He gives her another harsh look before he opens the door and leads her inside.

Elyza doesn’t know what to expect when she walks in, but is sure isn’t what she’s met with. There stands Trizzi Vastres, an adorable red tiefling with short curly white hair. Elyza hasn’t exactly gotten to know Trizzi, but she’s seen her around a few times. She may have a slight crush on her, but she’d never act on it. She isn’t that stupid.

On the other side of the room standing near Trizzi is a young human man with curly black hair. A...a mouse who stands about 3 feet tall, wearing a white shirt and black shorts. Elyza vaguely remembers seeing him around the academy, but thought it must have been some sort of illusion. Apparently not. Next to them is a weird blue lizard looking thing in a long blue dress. And at the end of the group, very much seperate from the others is what Elyza can only describe as a weird sunburnt looking elf with long black hair wearing a suit.

Everyone seems to look at Elyza as she enters, most of them looking with intrigue and confusion. She still doesn’t say anything. Just stands there, hands behind her back as she looks to Varin for further instruction. He’s moved to stand beside Trizzi now as he looks over the group, still looking incredibly pissed off.

“Right, listen up. A student has been found dead, we suspect a murderer is among us. Chell, a young human girl. Dark hair, big glasses. Yeah, we found her in this floors library with a knife in her throat.”

“What?” the curly haired man asks sounding incredibly shocked, his eyes immediately darting to the mouse beside him as they share an almost horrified look.

“Here.” Varin holds out a bloodied steel dagger, the pattern on the base recognisable instantly as a standard issue for the military guard.

“Right now we have no idea who’s done this. The Archmagi are coming down hard on this, they need someone to blame for an innocent girl’s murder. Unless we know who did it, the heads will expel all of you to be safe.”

“But we didn’t do anything wrong!” the mouse pipes up, his voice sounding somehow exactly how Elyza imagined it would.

“And so you say. But you all live on the same floor as her, you all know her” He says pointedly looking towards the four students in the room.

For a moment Elyza thinks she might be about to get away with abandoning her post as Varin’s anger seems to be mainly directed towards the students. That is until he turns towards her, eyes like daggers piercing into her.

“And she was killed on your watch! You’re just as guilty as far as we’re concerned.”

Elyza grimices slightly at the loudness of his voice, opening her mouth to try defend herself but then shutting it immediately as she sees the look he’s giving her. He seems to collect himself and sigh softly. The frown seeming to be permanent on his face as he looks up to address them all once again.

“As of right now, you’re all suspects. I suggest you quickly find out who the killer is or you’re all fucked.You have 24 hours.”

And with that he leaves the room, leaving pretty much everyone in shock if their faces are anything to go by. Trizzi is the first to move, her nervous energy even more apparent today as she quickly tries to give them all more information.

“Erm, we have compiled a list of people who last saw Chell, the poor girl: Jorin the guard who watches the stairway, Kervos was last seen with her in the library yesterday, and Vale, the Tabaxi from the Gahren company who patrols at night. I wish you all luck, but I must go now, I've got a lot of paperwork to do unfortunately.”

Soon enough it’s just the five of them left in a room alone together. The shock of the murder of one of their friends seeming to hit most of the students hard. And Elyza, well she’s never felt so guilty in her entire life. Chell was alive and well when she’d seen her no more than eight hours before. What the hell could of happened?

The tall woman seems to clear her throat, grabbing everyone’s attention before she speaks, her voice almost like silk with an accent Elyza recognises immediately. “So, it seems we have a murder to solve. I don’t know about you lot, but I don’t exactly want to be expelled over this.”

“How can you be so calm about this Cornelia? Chell was our friend, and now she’s dead.” the black haired man says with a tight frown, his expression seeming to be mirrored by the mouse somehow.

Cornelia seems slightly taken aback by this, but soon collects herself and just looks back at him. “She may have been your friend, but not mine. I don’t even know who you people are.”

“Cariston, Cheese, and Naliah.” The mouse- Cheese says as he points out who’s who. “We’ve all been living together for the last year at least, how can you not know?”

“I stay in my room, go to classes. I have no interest in making friends.”

“I’ve only seen Chell a few times in passing, never really talked to her.” Naliah, the blue lizard girl says quietly, seeming like she doesn’t exactly want to be involved in this conversation either.

Cheese seems to ignore her comment altogether as he seems way too shocked at Cornelia. “We had a party a few months ago and made cupcakes and everything for you.”

“Oh. Is that what those were for?”

“They were friendship cupcakes Cornelia! how did you not know?”

Elyza just watches them for a moment almost in amazement at how the hell these idiots are supposed to be powerful enough to even still be at this school. Elyza has seen her fair share of stupid people in her time, but these guys really take the cake, arguing over such trivial shit.

“If you’re quite done.” she says, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “We only have a day to solve this, don’t you think we better get a move on?”

“She’s right” Naliah says after a short tense silence. “We better go over what we know” Elyza makes her way across the room to gather with the group, noticing the pout on Cornelia’s face since she didn’t get to win her argument.

“Elyza, by the way” she says, giving Cornelia her signature wink that normally will make even the sternest of girls swoon. Cornelia instead just rolls her eyes, deciding helping the group will be miles better than being flirted with by the academy’s flirtiest tielfing. Instead of deferring her, it brings a smirk to Elyza’s lips. Looks like she has a challenge ahead of her if she really wants to pursue it.

They discuss their options, what they know, trying to figure out who the hell would want to hurt poor Chell. Chell who was quiet and kind, always helpful and cheerful. Figuring out the motive is the hardest part. Was it a coincidence? Or did Chell get herself in some kind of trouble. They manage to narrow it down to a few options, those being: Visit the library, interview people who last saw her, and just ask around to see if anyone saw anything.

“Trizzi said there was a guard that found her. Jorin, right? Maybe he can tell us something?” Cariston asks them, obviously thinking about more than just that by the look on his face.

“Yeah, it’s somewhere to start at least.” Naliah replies, already looking towards the exit. “I think I heard Trizzi mention he was in the infirmary.y”

Without much more discussion, the group move from the dorms, heading downstairs to the infirmary. It’s a short walk there, one spent in silence. There are several other students roaming around, everyone seeming on edge and the rumours already spreading by the stares they’re all getting.

There are several whispers and conversations not being had as quietly as they should be, but Elyza doesn't pick up anything too important. Just some gossip about Jorin being blood soaked and crying as he reported the crime. Whispers of secret lovers and other crazy intentions behind the murder. She knows to ignore gossip mostly. Some of it can be good fun when it's all to do with affairs and such, but not when it surrounds something like this.

They arrive at the infirmary without issue, Cariston seeming to lead the group into the room, where sure enough Jorin is lying in a nearby cot, propped up by some pillows behind him. He notices them arrive but doesn’t give them an indication he’s happy to see them which is strange because from what people know of him he’s normally a fairly happy guy. Although, the fact he found a student dead less than an hour ago might have something to do with that.

“Hi Jorin. We’d like to ask some questions” Cariston leads with, giving the rest of the group a quick glance as if to ask them to step in and help. Cheese seems to happily take the invitation and starts asking questions.

“You were the one who found Chell, what were you doing in the library?” Cheese asks as he tries to stand up as tall as possible to have a look at the man obviously still in shock.

“I, uh. I always do a quick check of the library before the start of my watch. I went in there as usual, but that’s when I saw the blood”

“I heard you were covered in blood when you reported her death, is that true?” Cornelia says with a pointed tone, drawing a few looks from the others. Elyza is impressed more than anything that she picked up on the gossip she’d also head. So far Cornelia hasn’t exactly come across as the most perceptive person.

“I, uh- of course I was. I saw her lying there and tried to see if she was okay, hold her and shake her awake. I-I thought maybe she’d fallen and hit her head. That’s w-when I saw the dagger” He breathes shakily, his eyes filling with tears at the memory “I-I’m sorry. Who could have done something so terrible to her? She was liked by everyone. I just can’t-” he cuts himself off with a sob, his head in his hands as he cries.

Elyza has seen a lot of people lie. She lived around people who lied for a profession for many years. She wants to say this guy is just a really good actor and accuse him and try get this solved now. Everything points to him, whoever has done this has planned it out very well. It is incredibly hard to deny murder when your hands are soaked in blood. But she knows Jorin didn’t do it, she can just tell. She could just accuse him, but it wouldn’t be right, she owes it to Chell at least to find her murderer.

“Come on, lets leave him be.” She says, turning to walk out the room. The rest of them, especially Cheese, seem to give her a strange look but follow her. Once outside the room she leans against the wall, looking over the rest of the group. “He’s telling the truth, he didn’t kill her. We should probably go to the library to see if we can find anything.”

“How do you know? He looked guilty to me.” Cornelia says with a shrug, not seeming overly bothered if he is guilty or not.

“I think she’s right. He seemed too upset for it to be him. Would he really be in shock if he’d done it?” Cariston pipes up, looking over to Cheese and Naliah for back up. Cheese simply nods in agreement, where as Naliah doesn't say anything, just looks at the ground as if she doesn’t have anything to say on it.

“Guilty or not we need some evidence.” Cornelia says plainly, already turning to walk back to the Equitus spire. “And we sure as hell aren’t going to find it standing here.”

They make their way towards the library, even more people seem to be staring and whispering at them this time. It seems everyone now knows that they're suspects, it isn’t the sort of attention Elyza really wants honestly.

As they’re walking past the laboratories, a worried looking halfling girl with light brown hair spots them and seems to almost jump out in front of them. “Oh, uh, Hi there! My name’s Beree. I uh, I kinda have a problem. Could you guys help me out with it?” she says skittishly, her voice a higher pitch than expected.

“Oh, yes of course. How can we help?” Cariston asks happily, seemingly forgetting they’re in a hurry to solve a murder.

“So, uh. I was just doing my work in there and, uh. There’s no way to say this apart from I think my components came alive?”

“How did they come alive?” Cheese asks with a bit too much eagerness. “Can we go in and see, oh this could be interesting!”

“Wait, Cheese-” Cariston starts to say but Cheese speeds off through the door before anyone can think to stop him.

“We’ll be back” Cariston says to Beree, going in after Cheese. The rest of the group look at each other, Elyza sighing to herself softly before following suit, as do the rest of them.

Inside the room there seems to be a hell of a lot of dust in the air, obscuring the tables and workbenches. At first, it just seems like someone was using something which produced this much dust, that’s when they hear a voice coming from the dust.

“Who are you?!”

“Great, the dust is talking to us. Just how I wanted my day to go.” Cornelia mumbles to herself, receiving a small smirk from Elyza in response. The others, mainly Cariston, seem more worried by the voice. But before he can say anything, Cheese replies to it.

“I’m Cheese and these are my friends. Why are you here, what are you?”

“Why does that matter? We’ve come here because we want to. There is death about, we know this.”

“What do you mean you know about death? Our friend Chell was killed, do you know anything about that?” Cariston chimes in, taking a step forward. Elyza isn’t really paying that much attention, assuming this is all some sort of really elaborate prank, that is until she sees something move in the dust. She by instinct goes for her longbow on her back, her eyes scanning around the rest of the room.

“Yes, we know she died. Such a wonderful thing, isn’t it? She died, and now you all should too!”

Before anyone can react there’s a sudden burst of air and the dust flies towards the group. Elyza already ready to fight jumps out of the way and shields her eyes, feeling dust batter against her face. She opens her eyes, immediately looking around to check on the rest of the group. She meets Naliah’s eye and nods, hoping she’ll understand what she’s trying to say. She nods back at her, taking a step forward toward these creatures.

Elyza closes her eyes for a moment, looking right at the creature when she opens them again. she knocks an arrow into her bow as if its second nature and fires at the ugly long nose poking out of the dust. She watches with a smirk as it hits and the creature shrieks in pain.

Cariston seems to hold his hand forward and the creature seems to hold its head, whimpering as it starts to crumble in on itself before there’s another burst of dust. Elyza gets ready to shield her eyes again but the dust doesn’t travel very far. She looks around, seeing cheese rubbing dust from his eyes, Naliah seemingly growling as another creature appears out of the dust and starts to move towards them.

Elyza takes a few steps back, getting ready to shoot again, when Naliah summoning a sword out of thin air makes her stop. She watches for a moment, completely dumb struck on how the hell she managed to do that.

“Disgusting creatures!” Naliah grunts as she slashes through its dusty body. She then looks surprised, looking around at the rest of the group as if she’s seeing if they heard her speak. Her eye catches Elyza’s again and they both share a confused look for a moment before a bolt of fire hits the creature beside her. The same as the last one it seems to shrivel up and then burst into dust violently. Naliah isn’t prepared for it and chokes a little, stumbling out of the cloud but still keeping her footing.

Suddenly Elyza hears a small yelp of surprise as one of the creatures emerges from the dust and swipes at Cariston. He quickly lifts his shield and manages to deflect it, its long claws scraping loudly against the metal.

Elyza doesn’t see another creature emerging beside her before it’s too late. She goes to move out of the way but its claws catch her and she grunts in pain as it tears into the skin of her arm. She turns around angry, ready to shoot this thing in its ugly face when a flame slams into it. Elyza glances back to see Cornelia with flames surrounding her, as she readies her next attack. Naliah also seems to have joined in, wailing on some other poor creature that decided to try to attack her.

The creatures seem to be never ending, appearing then disappearing again into the dust, making it impossible to keep track of them. Cariston gets surrounded easily, the dust swirling around him as claws swipe at him. He tries to spin around to face them but they’re faster than he is.

“Cariston, move!”

Cariston’s eyes widen as he hears Cornelia’s demand and barely has enough time to raise his shield before a cone of fire explodes where he’s standing. The creatures surrounding him yelp in pain as the flames glow and flicker, burning them as they try to retreat into the dust once again. Elyza feels a surge of adrenaline and joy as she watches it happen. But then it quickly turns to dread as the smoke clears and Cariston isn’t standing.

Time seems to slow down as she sees the shape of Cariston’a body slumped against the floor, scorch marked shield lay forgotten beside him. Naliah and Cornelia both seem to notice too which seems to spur them on to keep fighting. Elyza’s stomach drops as she realises it's up to her to help him.

She rushes over, it not catching up to her actually what she’s doing until she’s crouched down next to him laying her hand on him as it glows with a soft white energy. She stops, her eyes widening as she just stares at her hand. She tries to take deep breaths to calm the hell down and help.

“F-Fuck. Shit.” She stammers, her eyes wide and her breathing erratic as her shaking hands make contact with his arm. She closes her eyes tight, feeling tears well there as images flash through her mind. She wasn’t strong enough, she’s never going to be-

The feeling of him jerking awake under her touch brings her back out of her own head. Her eyes dart to him as she tries to steady her own breathing again, giving him a hand to his feet. She notices the strange look he gives her as she quickly wipes at her eyes and readies her weapon again.

She fires off a few more shots, the rest of the group following suit until the dust in the room slowly starts to dissipate and no more creatures can be seen. It’s only as the room begins to clear that she notices Cheese isn’t standing with them.

“Cheese?” she calls out unsurely, scanning the room to see if he’s hidden by some taller object or something. To her surprise, he suddenly appears by the door, picking up some coins he seems to have dropped. He gives her a sheepish grin and explains he thought maybe the monsters wanted some gold so he tried to leave a trail to get them to leave the room. She simply just stares at him, definitely not going back on her statement that she’s stumbled across a bunch of absolute idiots.

“Hey guys, check this out” Naliah says, holding up some sort of wand looking thing she seems to have found in the corner. Cariston’s eyes light up at the sight of it and he hurries over, examining it for a few seconds before he starts to mutter a few words under his breath. Elyza realises he’s casting some sort of spell, but before she can ask what he seems to perk up again.

“It’s a rod of communication. That’s why we could understand those things, I doubt they spoke common.”

“Yeah.” Naliah says, nodding in agreement “I was not speaking in common earlier, yet that’s what came out.”

“We better get back to Beree and tell her about this.”

Outside the room exactly where they left her, Beree stands there looking even more worried than before, her worry turning to relief as she sees them all. “Oh, you’re back. What did you find, did you stop the weird voices?”

“We took care of them. They were a pain in the ass, got my jacket covered in dust.” Cornelia says, sounding annoyed as she brushes some dust off of her sleeve. “Found some weird rod thing as well”

Cariston holds up the rod as if on cue and a look of realisation crosses her face. “Oh, my rod of communication. It all makes sense now, that’s how they were able to talk. Thanks so much for sorting that out, I'm working on my thesis and needed the lab to continue. Here, take this. It isn’t much but it's a reward for helping”

She holds out a giant key sort of looking thing, telling them its a wand of knocking. If they point it at something locked, it’ll cast the knock spell and unlock it. She gives them a final thanks before heading back into the laboratory room.

Elyza has only been in the library maybe once or twice in the two years she’s been working at the academy with The Arcturus company. It’s normally filled with bright natural sunlight, lots of students writing and reading at the many desks set around the room. However, today it seems like a completely different place. The room seems darker than usual, the sky overcast with the sun struggling to peek through. There’s no life, no hustle and bustle. Just an empty room with a blood stain still very prominent on a desk to the right of the room.

They all seem to just stop and take in the sight, maybe a few of them having similar thoughts to Elyza. She doesn’t know, doesn’t really want to know honestly. She was feeling okay, feeling confident they could do this and everything would be okay. But seeing this, seeing Chell’s blood still in the spot where she was murdered makes her stomach sink. The guilt she’s managed to keep at bay until now comes creeping back, clawing its way from her stomach up into her throat until she feels she can’t breathe.

“I’m going to check the shelves and see if I can find any clues.” Cariston says, grounding Elyza slightly as she manages to take a deep shaky breath and nod. The rest of the group disperse, wandering over to different parts of the room. Cornelia mumbling to herself about how she's never even been in here before, what kind of weirdo enjoys being in a library.

Elyza finds herself walking over to the blood stained floor, her eyes wide and chest uncomfortably tight. If she’d been at her post, been actually doing her job rather than having a night of fun with some naive girl just because she could, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe Chell would still be alive and this disaster could be avoided, but maybes won’t bring her back. Elyza knows all too well that maybes and what ifs aren’t useful. They can’t bring anyone back, no matter how hard you wish.

“Is there a book missing up there? Look, there's a gap I think. “Cheese’s voice is loud in the silent library, drawing everyone's attention. Elyza shakes her head, trying to push back all the bad things running through her mind as she goes over to join Cheese and Cariston standing at a bookshelf. There is in fact a gap in the row of books, seeming to be the only one out of place.

“Our guy could have that book. If we found out who has it, we might find another clue at least” Elyza says to herself, more thinking out loud than anything else.

“Trizzi should have a list, right?” Naliah asks, also coming over to join them with Cornelia trailing behind her.

Cheese and Cariston both nod, talking about how they’re both never out of Trizzi’s office with how many books they check out. They all seem to agree they better go talk to Trizzi then and hope they can find another lead. Because so far, all they have is it wasn’t Jorin and that’s it.

As they’re all leaving the library, Elyza finds herself eyeing the blood stained floor once again. The guilt suddenly so unbearable that she actually stops and just stares at it once more. She's normally good at lying and keeping secrets, she spent many years being this unreadable mystery. But now, now she feels like she’s some sort of criminal. Guilty, so incredibly guilty.

“Elyza, you coming?” Cornelia asks glancing over her shoulder. The rest of the group notice she isn’t following and stop as well. Suddenly, she has all eyes on her, and that’s when the panic begins to really hit.

“Okay, fuck. I...I have to admit something to you guys.”

“What is it?” Cheese asks, his little voice and big eyes staring up at her is almost too much to bear. They may all be giant fucking idiots, but they’re good. They're good, and kind. Everything Chell was too.

“I...I saw Chell last night. She was out of her room when she wasn’t supposed to be. She just wanted to go to the library. I let her go, I didn’t think anything would happen to her. I was supposed to be on guard, to be keeping her safe, but…”

“But what? It’s not like you knew this would happen.” Cariston says softly, a look in his eyes Elyza recognises as pity, and she absolutely hates it. She doesn’t deserve pity, she doesn’t deserve anything.

“I was supposed to be on guard, patrolling this floor and keeping you safe, but I wasn’t. I made...plans with someone. I abandoned my post to spend the night with her.”

She watches as her words seem to wash over the rest of them, some of them understanding a lot faster than others. Cariston has an expression she can’t read on his face. She decides that’s a lot worse than pity ever could be.

“So, let me get this straight.” Cornelia starts, the most emotion you’ve ever seen on her face. “You skipped out on your job, just to sleep with a girl?”

“It’s not- it wasn’t like that. Look, I’m sorry. I just took some time out of one night and this shit happens. Do you think I wanted her to die? You think I want anyone to get hurt and for it to be my fault?!”

She doesn’t realise she’s shouting until silence falls over the room. It’s deafening, everyone’s stares not helping the panic and guilt still bubbling in her chest. “I couldn’t save her. Maybe I could have, but it’s too late now. I...I just wanted to tell you, to let you know…No matter what, we have to find out who did this. For Chell.”

“We do, and we’re running out of time. You nerds better be right about this book thing.” is all Cornelia says before turning and walking out of the room. Everyone seems to look at each other before following her out. Elyza tags along at the back, still feeling like she isn’t forgiven, but honestly she doesn’t care.

The walk to Trizzi’s office is short, and within seconds of knocking on her door they hear scrambling from within. She answers the door looking a bit more flustered than usual, but seems to relax as she sees who it is.

Cariston does most of the talking, which he seems quite accustomed too. Trizzi is happy to help of course, inviting them into the office and telling them to ignore the mess. The mess, as she describes it is just stacks and stacks of books and papers. She gives them a sheepish grin as she has to move a few creating an even bigger pile to retrieve the log book from her desk. She tells them Kervos was the last one to have that book checked out.

Trizzi tries to ask them if they’ve found anything yet, but their lack of progress seems frustrating even to her. She tells them to be careful and good luck before going back to her work. With them all stood outside Trizzi’s office and the knowledge that kervos definitely has more ties than originally thought, it’s obvious where they have to go.

It’s Naliah who ends up taking the lead as they walk down the hall to Kervos’ room. She seems to have a strange determination in her stride as she’s several steps ahead of everyone else. Maybe she’s made up her mind that he’s guilty and she’s ready to beat the shit out of him, she definitely could after all.

After several hard knocks on the door and no reply or even movement heard from within, it’s obvious he isn’t in. Cheese immediately goes for the handle to try to open the door but is met with a stern look from Cariston.

“What?” he asks. “He might be a murderer, we have to investigate.”

Cariston just sighs in response. “I guess you’re right. I’d hate if someone went in my room without permission is all.”

“You’re not some crazed murderer as far as we know. So don’t worry, your precious nerdy books are safe in your room.” Cornelia says with a smirk, pushing down on the handle and then pouting slightly when it doesn’t open.

“Well, that sucks.” Elyza says dryly, looking around the group to see if anyone has anything else to add. No one seems to do anything, a few of them looking thoughtful before Cariston reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. Elyza watches in disbelief as he crouches down beside the lock and starts to pick it. There’s a tense moment where everyone seems to hold their breath waiting for the lock to click, but it doesn't.

“That’s one tough lock.” He mumbles to himself, standing up again.

“Can I try?” Cheese asks, already making his way over and taking the tools out of Cariston’s hands before he can reply. Cariston seems to watch in horror as Cheese just shoves the delicate tool into the lock and shakes it about a bit.

“Cheese-”

“-You’re doing it wrong, this is obviously how its done.” Cornelia says as she all but shoves Cheese out of the way and starts to wiggle it from side to side instead.

“Please don’t break it.” Cariston says quietly, looking like he’s completely given up. Eventually both Cornelia and Cheese realise it isn’t working and let Cariston try again. He spends a good twenty or thirty seconds, moving the tools ever so lightly. His eyes squinting slightly in concentration when- click.

The door opens finally, and they all pile in quickly, suddenly aware that they’re quite literally breaking into someone's room. Like before, each of them start looking around the room for anything that could be a clue. It doesn’t take long for Cheese to find the missing book from the library, which him and Cariston seem to be fascinated by. Elyza doesn't really care for the book, she doesn’t understand all the magic stuff they all talk about. Instead, she spends her time in the room looking everywhere she can think of until she finds another kind of book. Flicking open the pages, she realises it’s a diary.

Flicking through, the entries start long, ranging over several pages rambling on and on about classes and people. But then they start getting shorter. Slowly, one by one they’re shorter and shorter until the dates seem to span over months rather than days. They mention him being frustrated at his lack of progress, how he needs more power to succeed. The latest entry makes Elyza’s stomach sink as she reads it.

‘All the lessons, all the teaching, they don’t tell you the truth. It’s not learning that gives you power. Kalira, she showed me the truth. Its bargaining that gives you true power. That's how she gained her power. Now to learn how to use it. It keeps telling me it needs blood. The first only fed it for so long. Though now he serves me, and it granted me power. But I want more. I need more! Perhaps if I feed it a more gifted subject, it will grant me more strength. I have the perfect candidate in mind. When I graduate, I'm to meet Kalira and the rest of the cult on the fringes of the forest to the east. There our plans will unfold. But for now, I must grow in power’

“I, uh. I think we found our guy.” Elyza says, handing the diary to Cariston who’s frown seems to deepen as he reads. Everyone crowds around, trying to read over his shoulder. There’s almost a moment of excitement among them, that is until the words hit them, and they all start to understand exactly what this means.

This wasn’t just a one-off thing. This was planned, and there really is some psycho murderer among them. Elyza finds herself walking away from the group, the anger bubbling up inside her at the thought of this idiot killing an innocent girl, all because he has some deluded thought that he’ll gain power from it. It makes her feel so sick, and so fucking angry.

“Hey, this wardrobe is locked.” Cheese says, drawing Elyza back to reality. He pulls the door trying to open it but it won’t budge. Cariston comes over to try, getting the same result before he also tries to pick the lock on it. It’s a lot easier than the one on the door and clicks open after a few seconds. Cheese thanks him and opens the door, instantly recoiling as something swings out at him.

As Cheese and Cariston back up a smell of death and decay washes over the room. Elyza nearly gags from the smell of it, covering her mouth with her hand as she looks towards the now open wardrobe. There, climbing out with impossibly long limbs is a humanoid creature with white decaying skin. It’s hands are like claws, sharp nails scratching against the wood as it moves. It looks at them and gives this terrifying smile of razor sharp teeth.

ELyza’s first instinct isn’t to fight for once. It’s to run and get the fuck out of here. She takes a step back from where she is closest to the door, watching in disbelief as everyone seems to ready themselves for a fight. She just stares for a moment, it taking Naliah summoning her sword and running at the thing to snap her out of it. She quickly readys her bow and shoots an arrow, being careful not to hit Naliah who’s now slashing across it’s disgusting body.

"Oh fuck no" Cornelia says with a snarl, flames erupting in her hands as she glares at the horrifying creature. She throws a bolt of fire at it, watching as its skin begins to burn, but it doesn't react. So far Elyza hasn't seen Cornelia show that much emotion, but now she sees it clear as day on her face as she takes a step back, firing off more fire attacks at it. Fear, she's scared.

Elyza shivers in disgust as she watches this monster get hit by attack after attack, only for it to grin wildly, looking completely deranged. It strikes back against Naliah, her crying out in pain as its claws rip against her chest. She seems to wobble on her feet, but manages to stay up right. Elyza thinks about running forward to help her, but she honestly does not want to get close to this thing. Naliah growls and attacks it again with her sword, speaking in a harsh tongue that no one understands.

"Naliah, watch out!" Cheese shouts as he pulls something out of his pocket. Suddenly he throws his hands forward and a large puddle of grease appears beneath the monster. Naliah seems to slip slightly, but stands her ground. The creature on the other hand seems to shift and buckle to its knees before falling onto its side when it tries to move again.

Time seems to slow down as they hit it with everything they’ve got. The creature doesn’t stay down for long, seeming to find its feet and stay up. Elyza fires as many arrows as she possibly can into it while avoiding everyone else in the room. Cornelia seems to be trying to do the same with her fire magic, but the small size of the room and how crowded it is is not helping at all.

It slashes and bites at Naliah, Its sharp claws slamming against her shield as she snarls and manages to push it back. Just as its broken bloody body looks as if it’s finally about to give up on it, Its eyes go wide and it tries to rush past Naliah to take a swipe at Cariston. Naliah seems to say something else in that same language from before as she stabs her sword into the creature stopping it in its tracks. It makes this horrifying moan that turns into a soft gurgling as it starts choking on its own blood. As she pulls her sword back with a scowl, it drops to the ground, unmoving.

Elyza sighs a sigh of relief, finally being able to place her weapon away. The whole group seem to do the same, Elyza and Cariston both seeming to start checking everyone is okay at the same time. Their eyes meet, and for the first time that day Cariston doesn’t look so guarded and on edge. He smiles at her, making her stop what she’s doing for a moment. They seem to have some sort of unspoken conversation before she simply nods back at him.

Cheese, who so far seems to have avoided getting even a scratch on him, quickly starts investigating where the creature came from. Cariston tries to warn him to be careful while he quite literally has his hands full with healing Naliah, but if course Cheese doesn't listen.

He finds strange wards and spell tokens, things Elyza has never seen before in her life, but really that isn't that much of a surprise. Cariston seems to abandon his healing duty immediately to investigate them with Cheese. They talk quietly about what this all means. Elyza doesn't understand a lot of it, but she understands that Korves was doing really fucked up shit that they definitely did not teach him at the academy.

With everyone tended to and the creature definitely dead, they all instinctively know what they have to do now.

_________________________________________________________________________

When Trizzi is shown the diary, she pales considerably. She seems to just stare at the pages for a moment, looking lost in her thoughts as a tight frown pulls at her lips. Something about it troubles her dearly, which really it should. It’s probably the fact that one of her own students has been murdering his classmates for some greater being he’s decided he needs to grab favours for.

She makes them all wait in the common room as she finds Varin to show him the diary. They only have to wait about twenty minutes before Varin appears with a few of his men. Elyza recognises most of them and they seem to give her strange looks to what she’s doing there. She has no doubt the rumours have spread by now about her.

“So, you found this where exactly?” Is all Varin says as he flicks through the pages of the diary.

“In Kervos’ room, obviously. I mean, it is his diary” Cornelia replies in her usual manor.

Varin looks like he’s about to say something in reply to her disrespect, but he doesn’t. His mouth forming into a thin line as he reads through the last entry. “Well, this certainly does give some proof that he’s to blame. Do you have anymore?”

“There was this creature which he kept locked in his wardrobe. As soon as the doors opened, it attacked us. It nearly killed Naliah.” Cariston says with a pointed stare, obviously not backing down just because Varin has more authority. “Go to his room, see for yourself.”

Varin stares him down for a moment before he turns to his guards and waves them off. They take the hint and quickly make their way down the hall. There’s a yell of surprise as the first one enters the room. A few seconds later a very startled looking guard reports back that there is in fact a dead horrifying creature in the room.

“Well, I think that solves it then.” He says looking at the group. “Trizzi? Call him back.”

Trizzi seems to concentrate on something for a moment before she starts to speak “Erm, Hello Kervos. Can you please report back to the dorms, I need to see you.” She waits a moment, looking over the group “Well, he got that message. So, erm, I imagine he should be returning soon.

They wait. First about half an hour, then an hour. Time seems to go by at an incredibly slow pace. Elyza is just about to ever give up hope of catching this guy, when he walks into the room. He looks around, confused at first until it clicks exactly what is happening. He turns to leave again, but guards move to stop him. He turns around panicked, eyes darting around the room desperately.

“Don’t try anything, or we will harm you.” Varin warns in a stern tone. “Surrender. Now.”

Korvos’ face crumbles as he realises what’s going to happen and he seems to give up in that moment. Seizing the opportunity, the guards flank him and bound his hands behind his back. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t scream or shout like you'd think he would. He just lets them do what they want.

Elyza badly wants to plant an arrow right between his eyes for what he’s done. To Chell, to anyone else he’s hurt to try do something as stupid as win favours from a stupid higher being. She hates him, and she wants to use that hate to destroy him. But really, that doesn't make her any better than he is.

_________________________________________________________________________

Korvos was found guilty for the murder of two students at the academy, and was executed for his crimes. The academy hasn’t felt the same since, but it's getting better. Elyza has stuck to her patrols, keeping out of any dramatic business. She’s seen the students around, shared odd glances and smiles with them, but that’s it.

She’s heard rumours that they’re graduating early and going with Trizzi on some business for the academy. She’s also heard much more outrageous rumours that they’re only getting to go because they killed an army of demons, or that Cariston is sleeping with Trizzi. Elyza just laughs when she hears that one, gossip really can be a lot of fun when it's that ridiculous.

She doesn’t think that much on it all, happy for them that they’re getting out of this place. That is until she hears rumours that a guard will be getting chosen to escort them to the city they’re traveling to. She finds herself fantasizing about it while on the night guard, being able to leave this place and travel.

She’s traveled before, but long ago and she definitely didn’t enjoy it. She’s older now, in a much much better place than she was back then. She reckons she’d like the chance to get to go explore the world once again. Sure she’d be with a bunch of idiots who set each other on fire, but they work well together. If she had to have anyone watching her back, they wouldn’t be the worst people for it.

A few days before they’re due to leave, Elyza gets called into Varin’s office. She’s a bit scared she’s fucked something up and he’s going to scream at her. But as she walks in the room he offers her a drink as she sits down. She then nearly chokes on that very drink as he tells her that she’s going to be the one escorting them to Strasa.

She has questions, of course she fucking does. As far as she was aware, she was going to be living out the rest of her miserable life working with the company. But apparently, he has other plans for her. He mentions how impressive it was that they not only managed to work together and bring korvos to justice, but also killed that creature which he informs her is a ghast, which should have definitely killed them.

The job is simple: She has to escort and protect the kids as they travel to Strasa, after that she’s free to do what she wants. She can’t believe it. He gives her some money as a forward payment which she pockets eagerly, feeling like this must be a dream and she’s bound to wake up soon.

It isn’t a dream. She wakes up the next day, then the next after that, and it's still as real as ever. Until the day they leave, everyone standing at the gate with their bags packed and loaded onto the cart. Trizzi fussing about, checking everything is ready. It’s real, it’s all real.

She can’t help but smile as she boards the cart with the rest of them, ready to get the hell out of here and see what’s waiting for them.