“Typically, I’d toss you out on your ass,” Whisp said, rubbing her forehead. “But anything that gets both you and your students out from under my hair is a good thing in my books. The reports Stormsword brought back from Forsad indicated that Damien and Sylph were both at least the strength of Year Four students if not more. They’re still sorely lacking in variety and a few other things, but I fail to see what you think they’ll gain from testing out the other schools.”

“The very thing you pointed out – variety,” Delph replied, crossing his arms. “Damien and Sylph need combat experience, and they’ve trained together so much that they already know each other’s abilities as if they were their own. Nolan is focusing on runework, and Blackmist doesn’t specialize in that. As for Loretta, there are better water mages at other schools. The same holds true for the other students I spoke to you about.”

Delph’s claims were a bit of a stretch after the training Damien and Sylph just gone through, not to mention Damien’s trip to the Void and Sylph’s special training with the professor, but the two of them kept quiet.

“So you think the students of the other schools would be better sparring partners for them?” Whisp asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why not the higher ranked students at Blackmist?”

“We both know that isn’t possible,” Delph said. “Aven and Cheese would be the only two worth their time sparring against, and they’re too busy to help. As for the other Blackmist students – don’t make me talk about where they’ve gone. I believe you’ve already banned me from speaking of it.”

Whisp sighed and grabbed a wineskin from below her desk, taking a long swing from it before wiping her lips. “Fine. I was just asking so I could explain what happened to the actual Dean if he swung by. This will make my job about a hundred times easier anyway.”

“Don’t we get to make our own decision?” Loretta asked, crossing her arms below her chest. “I mean, you haven’t even checked if we wanted to try out other schools yet.”

Whisp cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t know your name, girl. But you’re one of Delph’s students, right?”

“I am, and my name–”

“Then you shouldn’t be used to making your own decision. Delph does what he wants to,” Whisp said, glaring at the professor. “And, frankly, the students you associate yourself are menaces. All of them. I trust you’ve gathered that already, and the world is in need of such talent, but that doesn’t mean I want to be the one that has to deal with it. If sending you off lets me get rid of Damien and Sylph, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

“Gee, thanks,” Damien said.

“Don’t give me your snark,” Whisp said, rolling her eyes. Her lips turned downward and she peered into her wineskin before tossing it aside with a disgusted sigh. “Delph, get out of here for a few minutes. I’m going to talk with Damien. Alone.”

“He’s my student,” Delph said, crossing his arms. “I’m allowed to listen to–”

Whisp snapped her fingers. There were four sharp pops and everyone other than Damien vanished. Ether surged to Damien’s fingertips.

“Where’s Sylph?”

“Relax,” Whisp said wearily. “I sent them all into the arena. Delph is a meddlesome bastard, and I don’t like him. Granted, I don’t like you either, but it’s time we had a talk without him influencing it. We both know that you’re far more than a normal student, so I’m going to drop pretenses and talk to you like an adult. How does that sound?”

“Fine by me,” Damien said slowly. Whisp almost sounded responsible, which was a first for the alcoholic dean-in-acting.

“Good. I only care about one thing, and that’s keeping this school together until Dean Happenstance returns from whatever garbage he’s currently doing. I’ve long since realized that you and Sylph are… dangerous to that ideal. I haven’t removed you from the school because I can recognize your strength and no prodigy is born without a few casualties. However, things are getting a little too serious for me to ignore. I don’t understand the situation, and I don’t know what we’re really up against. Something tells me that you do.”

“I know more than you do,” Damien said slowly. “But, in the theme of being honest with each other, I’m not going to tell you anything that would get Sylph or me in a dangerous situation.”

“That’s hardly a surprise.” Whisp rubbed her brow and shook her head. “I know you’re strongly related to the Corruption, especially considering how you know Sylph. I’m also relatively certain that your Companion is more than just an unknown monster from the Plane of Darkness. But – I’m not going to pursue any of that. Right now, I don’t give a shit what or who you are. I just need to keep this damn school in one piece. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Delph already knows how to fight the Corruption,” Damien said, choosing his words carefully. “And I’m not in a trusting mood, Dean Whisp. I can assure you that we’re doing everything we can to fight the Corruption, and if there’s anything you could do more than what you already are, Delph or I would tell you.”

Whisp considered Damien for a few moments, then grunted. “Very well. Do you want me to approve Delph’s request?”

“I’m not sure,” Damien admitted. “I am almost certain all the training I need can be done independent of where I am, so I don’t think this is for my benefit.”

“Yes, I suspected as much. He’s using my suspicion of you and Sylph to try and mask something else,” Whisp said. “This was all a show, by the way. Delph put in the request to have you, Sylph, Mark, Nolan, Loretta, and several other students transfer to different schools nearly a month ago.”

“Figures. Then – wait, you do know her name,” Damien said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Loretta. You know her name.”

Whisp laughed. “I have a reputation to keep, Damien. As long as most people are under the impression I couldn’t care less about this school, then it is doing well. But I have a very, very close eye on any student associated with you and Sylph. You seem to have a knack for… influencing them.”

“Whatever you’re accusing me of, it isn’t my fault.”

“I hadn’t accused you of anything,” Whisp said with a wry smile. “But it sounds like you have no issue with Delph’s request. Watch yourself, Damien. I don’t like you, but I like Delph less. He’s playing at something, just like he always is. This is why he was removed from the frontlines, even though he was one of the most effective mages we’ve ever had.”

“Was he really that bad?” Damien asked. “I mean, he’s a scheming prankster, but aside from a few situations where he’s seriously endangered me and Sylph, it feels like he’s trying to help.”

Whisp’s eyes darkened. “Delph has never failed a mission. He’s been sent deep past the frontlines and stolen artifacts of incredible strength from the monsters, often fighting off entire miniature armies on his own.”

“That sounds like a good thing.”

“It would be, if he didn’t kill every single mage he ever worked with but one,” Whisp said. “Dredd is the only person that has gone on a full mission with Delph and lived. Every other mage that has gone with him on the front lines has died. If we were to rank the causes of death to mages on the frontlines, Delph would be in the top ten. He’s killed more men than most monsters ever will. If you have any amount of trust that he will keep you safe, lose it or you won’t survive this war.”

Damien’s hands tightened. The Delph he knew was manipulative, but he was struggling to match him up to the person Whisp was describing. Still, with the actions the professor had taken as of late, he wasn’t about to dismiss her words either.

“Thanks for the warning,” Damien said. “Is there anything else?”

“No,” Whisp replied. “They’ll be back here shortly. Just give it a few moments so I don’ have to repeat myself.”

She tapped a gauntleted finger impatiently on her desk. No more than a second later, her door exploded. Whisp flicked a hand and a swatch of purple energy painted itself across the desk before her, blocking the fragments of wood as they shot through the air.

Damien, who had already hardened his mage armor, allowed it to return to normal as the dust faded and Sylph straightened up, her arms bristling with blades. They slowly retraced back into her as she realized that Whisp and Damien were just talking.

“Everything okay?” Sylph asked, slightly winded.

“We just talked. I’m sorry I didn’t come after you,” Damien said. “She said you’d all been sent to the arena.”

“We were,” Sylph said. “Delph took the others and said he’d teleport back to Whisp’s office, but I don’t trust him, so I just ran here.”

“That quickly?” Whisp asked, her eyes widening slightly. “Your speed is actually somewhat impressive for a student.”

“I was very motivated. We seem to have a bit of a problem with professors trying to kill us as of late. Where’s Delph?”

“Right here,” Delph said, stepping into the room behind Sylph. Loretta and Nolan trailed behind him, both looking rather bedraggled. “We had a little trouble teleporting back into your office, Whisp. You might want to fix that.”

“I assure you, Delph, that the wards I put up were very intentional,” Whisp said dryly. “I’m not sure how you got past them the first time, but I can see they’re now properly functioning.”

She looked down at her desk and started to shuffle through papers. At the same time, Delph glanced at Damien and winked. Whisp jerked her head up and glared at Delph as she very pointedly pulled out several slips.

“Normally, I’d assign schools to the students myself. But, at this point, I really couldn’t care less and I’d imagine you’re going to waste my time until I give you what you want, so I’m going to cut to the chase. Where are they going?”

“I figured I’d let the students decide,” Delph said, pushing Nolan and Loretta forward. “What do you think?”

“Greenvalley,” Nolan said without hesitation. “It’s got some of the best runecrafting teachers in the kingdom.”

Loretta scratched her chin. “Doesn’t Kingsfront have a lot of great healers? I’ve been wanting to look into that. I know it’s pretty difficult to transfer into Kingsfront, though…”

“I can try to pull some strings,” Nolan offered. “I’m not the heir anymore, but I’ve still got a fair number of connections.”

“No need,” Whisp said. “I’ll handle this. What about you, Damien?”

“Mountain Hall. I have some unfinished business there.”

“I hope that doesn’t mean you plan to burn the place to the ground.”

“No promises,” Damien replied, only half joking. “But if you’re sending me somewhere, that’s the only place that’ll be half useful.”

“Mountain Hall it is. I never liked the bastards anyway,” Whisp grumbled. “And you, Sylph? The same?”

Sylph glanced at Damien. He raised an eyebrow, then gave her a small nod.

“Actually, I’d like to go to Kingsfront as well,” Sylph said. “I’m looking into get into artifact hunting, and Kingsfront has many of the leaders in that field.”

“Suit yourself,” Whisp said with a shrug, making several other markings on the paper. “And what of the others, Delph?”

“Send Reena to Goldsilk and Mark to Flamewheel,” Delph said. “They’ll learn the most there.”

“No, send Mark to Goldsilk,” Damien said.

“Whyever for?” Whisp asked, cocking her head to the side. “Goldsilk specializes in mental energy and light magic. Mark uses neither. In fact, he’s probably about as opposite to that as you can get.”

“It would be beneficial for him to learn the other side of the coin,” Damien said, crossing his arms. “He doesn’t need to learn how to fight better, he needs to learn how to control his powers more.”

Whisp glanced at Delph, then smirked. “Sound reasoning. Done. That aught to terrorize them for a bit. Anything else, Delph?”

“I suppose that wraps things up,” Delph said with a shrug. “I’ll ensure the schools are notified. Everyone will have to be ready to leave by the end of today. Sound good?”

He vanished through a portal before anyone could respond. Whisp rolled her eyes and flicked a finger. Three portals snapped open behind the students.

“These will take you back to your rooms,” Whisp said. “Go. I expect to hear nothing but great – or terrible – things about all of you. No half measures.”

Sylph stepped through the portal and Damien hopped after her. The last thing he saw before the world went purple was Nolan and Loretta both stepping through one of the other floating disks.

Damien emerged beside his bed. Sylph had already flopped down onto it and was in the process of scrunching his sheets up.

“Sorry,” Syph said. “I wanted to come with you, but–”

“You don’t have to explain,” Damien said with a laugh. “It’ll suck that we aren’t right next to each other, but this isn’t forever and it won’t change anything. You’ve got your own dreams to follow, and I’m only going to Mountain Hall to figure out what happened to Quinlan. It won’t be too long.”

“Right,” Sylph said with a relieved nod. “It’ll be a bit strange. Aside from you falling through that portal with Second, we’ve basically been in the same spot for the last two years.”

“I’ll just have to learn how to do those long range portals,” Damien said. “I’ve already done one, so it’ll just be a matter of mastering some extra stuff.”

Sylph cocked an eyebrow. It didn’t have to be said that learning the Void enough to safely cast portals like that again was not a simple task, but she didn’t question him.

“Why’d you intercede for Mark?” Sylph asked, changing the topic as Damien sat down and leaned against her. “Do you really think he’s going to learn that much more at Goldsilk?”

“No,” Damien admitted, rubbing the back of his head with a flush. “I think he just would have preferred to hang around Elania. They looked pretty happy training together, and I don’t think Mark has had a lot of that in his life.”

Sylph burst into laughter. “How romantic. Maybe you’re the one reading too many of Henry’s novels.”