The following explanation took a little longer than the first. When Damien finally finished, Quinlan shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it. So, she didn’t have a Void creature inside her?”

“Nope,” Damien replied. “It’s a Deathwight. Is that why you didn’t want Henry and I to just take care of it?”

“Yeah,” Quinlan admitted. “I was worried you’d try to kill her if you knew. Although I really didn’t think you’d come all the way here to help either. It’s a lot of work. Did you really choose Mountain Hall just because I was here?”

“Pretty much,” Damien replied. “You went missing and we need all the allies we can get in the coming months. There are a lot of forces at play, and they’re all going to come to a head soon. And, frankly, we don’t’ have enough people we can trust to just let you disappear.”

Quinlan laughed. “Thank you. I was terrified that Alina wouldn’t be able to survive even after all she’d gone through. A small part of me thought that it didn’t matter how hard I tried, I’d fail anyway. I’m not that great at runework.”

Damien opted not to tell her that she would have failed if the runes had gone off. There was no reason to completely invalidate all the work she’d done over the past years.

“Thank you,” Alina said, putting a hand on Quinlan’s. “I could hear little bits of what happened in the outside world. You were always trying to save me. I won’t forget that.”

“It’s what a sister should do,” Quinlan replied. “But… what should we do now? I don’t think you should go to Mountain Hall. I’ve been here long enough to know you’d hate it, even though I know you’d be strong enough to take advantage of all the benefits they’d give you.”

“You can say that again,” Xil muttered.

Quinlan glanced at her. “Ah. Damien said he picked you up along the way, right?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Xil said. “Some other students and I tried to jump him.”

Quinlan snorted. “That explains it, although I honestly would have expected him to be the one jumping you. That’s how I met them, anyway.”

“Hey, that was Henry, not me,” Damien said defensively. “And I believe you attacked him first.”

“Semantics,” Quinlan said, hiding a smile. “Damien, I think I’d like to speak with my sister. There’s a lot I need to fill her in on. Do you mind if we come back tomorrow?”

“Feel free,” Damien replied. “My main goal here was just to find you. Now that I have, there’s a month where I really don’t care what happens. I’ll just be training.”

Quinlan and Alina stood, bidding the other students farewell before heading out and back toward Quinlan’s room.

“Wait, what about all the classes you’re supposed to take as a transfer student?” Xil asked once they’d left.

“I might swing by one or two,” Damien replied. “But I highly doubt they’re going to be teaching me anything that I’ll actually be able to use. If they treat me like a Year Two, it’ll just be a waste of time.”

“But the classes give cultivation materials!”

“Eh, they’re useless now. I’ve already evolved my core.”

Xil’s eye twitched. “Seriously?”

“Yep,” Damien replied, deciding it would be best not to tell her how early he’d done it. He wasn’t trying to break the girl. “I’ll still check one or two out, though. Who knows, maybe I’m underestimating Mountain Hall and they’ve actually got something useful I can learn. For today, though, I’m exhausted. What are the chances that Hawk guy swings by my room today? I really don’t want to deal with anyone else.”

“The professors usually don’t visit students that often,” Xil replied. “At least, I don’t think they do. Maybe it’s different for transfers and the upper level ones. I only ever met my professors in class.”

“Good. Hopefully it’s the same for me,” Damien said. He pursed his lips. “Do you have a bed?”

“No,” Xil said, looking down. “I assume it was confiscated with the rest of my belongings.”

“Well, that’s annoying,” Damien said. “Because you can’t have mine. Can you go buy one? I’m not so cold as to make you sleep on the floor.”

“I don’t really have–”

Damien dug out a few gold coins and tossed them to her. He dug out a piece of paper and wrote out some instructions on it, handing it to Xil. “Here. You can keep what’s left over to buy whatever else you might need to live. Whatever you want, really. It doesn’t matter. I’ll be sleeping – don’t bother me unless something goes wrong.”

Xil swallowed, looking at the coins in her hand. She nodded and turned, heading out the door.

Henry, maybe you should keep an eye on her. Just to make sure nothing goes too badly wrong.

“Bah. Babysitting duty again,” Henry grumbled. “Fine. No training for you in the mindspace, then. Although that might be a good thing. The Void shouldn’t be rushed. You need to take it nice and steady.”

He slipped out of Damien’s shadow and shot under the crack in the door, a blur of darkness as he tailed after Xil, leaving Damien in his room.

Damien flopped back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, the exhaustion from the day finally setting in on him. He yawned and rolled onto his side. Somehow, he already missed Blackmist.

***

A knock broke Damien from his sleep. He grimaced, blinking and pushing himself upright. He threw the covers – which had somehow migrated up his body at night – and slipped out of bed.

Xil was sleeping in the small room he’d made for her, a small mattress beneath her. She didn’t have any blankets or other amenities, but Damien spotted a vial of magical herbs by her head.

The knock rang out again. Someone was really trying to bang his door down. Damien’s eye twitched. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was too early. Not bothering to walk over to the door, Damien simply pulled it open with telekinesis.

Hawk stood on the other side, looking down the bridge of his nose at him. “How was your first day at Mountain Hall?”

Oh, for the love of – why is this bozo here?

“Suitable,” Damien replied. “I sparred with a few people. It was… interesting. I don’t suppose you’ve got anyone more advanced I could try my hand against? Beating up Year One and Twos doesn’t feel very beneficial.”

Hawk laughed. “Ah, that’s a drive for power that I haven’t seen in many of our own students. Good, very good. You would have done very well at Mountain Hall if you’d started here, Damien. I assure you, you haven’t seen the full might of our Year Two students yet. I believe Drew posed some challenge to you in the tournament, before he was unjustly killed. Surely you don’t believe he was the only talented one here.”

The professor didn’t seem very torn up about Drew’s death. If anything, he seemed more annoyed that Drew had died without winning the tournament.

“Then I’d love to meet them,” Damien said. “And I was speaking to Xil. She mentioned some sort of classes that I would be expected to take. What are they?”

“Combat and magic theory,” Hawk replied. “The standard courses that we give to transfer students to give them an idea of what its like at Mountain Hall.”

“I’ve already taken magic theory,” Damien said. “I don’t need it a second time.”

“Ah, that’s unfortunate. Hm. Is there anything you’d like to try out?”

Henry chuckled in Damien’s mind. “He’s being real accommodating now. He wants something from us. You think he gets some sort of credit for your accomplishments since you’re his transfer student?”

Doesn’t seem likely, I’d have only been here for a short time. I don’t think he can take credit for anything I’m doing.

“Then he probably wants you to do something. Maybe take out a rival professor’s student?”

That seems more likely.

“Honestly, I’m only interested in combat and new spells,” Damien said. “My magic is very specific, and even though I’ve got a few branches to study, I’ve focused entirely on Dark and Space. Do you have anyone that knows a lot about those?”

Hawk pursed his lips. “We do, but I doubt they’d be willing to spend that much effort on a transfer student, no matter how talented you are. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to completely change schools to Mountain Hall?”

“Not interested, sorry. My lot is with Blackmist,” Damien said. “If you can’t find a second course, I can just do the combat one and see how much it has to offer.”

“We can do that,” Hawk said. “Although I don’t imagine Whisp will be pleased that we shortchanged her student.”

Damien laughed. “Trust me, she won’t care in the slightest. I’ll just study on my own for the rest of my time. When’s the combat class?”

“Sunrise, one hour from now. It takes place in the arena,” Hawk said. “I’ve taken the liberty of moving you to the advanced section. I’m sure you’ll find some students there that will be more than a match for you.”

I highly doubt that.

Hawk turned on his heel and strode away without another word. Damien closed the door, not bothering to watch the man leave.

“I can’t believe he actually showed up to your room,” Xil muttered, rolling over and sitting up to poke her head out of her room. “Ah, sorry. I was eavesdropping. Professor Hawk is pretty loud, so it was difficult not to.”

“It’s fine,” Damien replied. “I don’t care. What do you know about the advanced combat class?”

“I think it’s a multi-year one,” Xil said, scratching her head. “I was never in it, but I think a lot of Mountain Hall’s best students are.”

“Interesting,” Damien said. “Maybe they’ll have something interesting there, then. I suppose I’ll go check it out so I don’t get the professor too annoyed with me. I’d rather not get kicked out immediately, Whisp might actually be annoyed at that, and it’s nice to not have Delph breathing down my neck.”

“Delph?” Xil asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Damien replied. “I assume you’ll be fine here when I leave? Don’t open the door for anyone. I won’t be able to save you if some idiots come knocking again, since I won’t even know you’re in danger.”

“Yeah,” Xil said, nodding. “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

“I’ll be back soon enough, then. Quinlan or Alina might swing by. You’re welcome to let them in if they do, and please let them know that I’m at class.”

Xil nodded her understanding and Damien headed out toward the arena. Students milling about the campus glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes as he passed, and more than a few muttered things under their breath.

Evidently, some word about him had spread. Damien just shook his head. It was their fault for attacking him.

“Venus didn’t,” Henry pointed out.

Let’s not think about that one. It was not my proudest moment.

Henry cackled and quieted down. Not too much time later, Damien found himself standing before Mountain Hall’s arena. Like Blackmist’s, it was circular and several floors. Within it, he could hear the sounds of spells and metal clashing.

He strode through the bottom entrance and quickly spotted a group of students standing in a corner. They looked roughly his age and, while there was no professor, it didn’t surprise him that an advanced class would want to meet early. Delph’s class had, after all.