Chapter 52

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

Myles was almost always sweating when he was working the aether forge. It made sense for him to be. The forge put out intense flames that were able to melt metal. Not only was his forge hot, but there were also dozens of other forges, each manned by a pair of students.

Myles had grown accustomed to the heat though. The job shop he had worked at had the same level of heat. From what Myles could tell, heat had a tendency to bottle itself up, lingering in place for far longer than just about anything else. Most people would find it uncomfortable, but Myles embraced it. It was just one of those things that had to be. In any case, it beat trying to scrape runes into metal with the tip of a spear.

“Myles?”

Myles turned towards Jane. She had seemed withdrawn throughout the session, studying from the aether index rather than discussing ideas with Myles. It wasn’t uncommon for Jane to become withdrawn. She did that on occasion, sometimes choosing to work alone. Something about this was different though.

“What is it? Did you find something?”

They had been working on coming up with a solution for evaluating the exact dimensions of their aether wells. So far, they had made little headway.

Jane shook her head, her hair which had grown longer in the last few months was thrown around with the rest of her head. “No. I was just thinking that you’re fairly religious, right?”

Myles found himself somewhat taken aback by the question. He didn’t consider himself all that religious. Back in Verrith, he had certainly spent quite a bit of time within the church, but very little of it had been spent practicing the Deprios faith. With a start, Myles realized that he hadn’t even stopped by the church in Maston. “I wouldn’t say I’m overly religious.”

Jane shook her head. “Never mind then.”

Myles couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. Jane had been quiet ever since she had woken him up that morning. Now she was suddenly asking him about how religious he was.

Myles leaned against the table where Jane was studying. “I think that it might be a good time to check out the church here now that you mention it. Care to join me?”

Jane hesitated for a moment as if weighing with something. “Yeah. That sounds like a plan.”

After that they turned back to their research. The problem with measuring an aether well’s dimensions was a simple one. Aether wells existed within the aether space of a person. For all intents and purposes, they were separated from the outside world with the exceptions of the lower connections.

It wasn’t too difficult to measure the amount of mana evoked. Even with commutation, it would theoretically be possible to test for quantity. As far as Myles could tell though, those approaches were entirely useless for finding the dimensions of an aether well.

As Myles’ thoughts grew more frustrated, he found himself becoming distracted. His mind couldn’t help but wander to their upcoming trip to the town’s church.

The church of Deprios was synonymous with religion in the province. Not only did the churches teach most of the province’s children, but they were also centers of community. In Verrith, Myles had met most of his co-workers from events held at the church even before he had started working.

The church had another side to it though. No priest would teach an uninducted more than the very basic tenets. What the people worshipped was not for the people to know. The church taught blind faith in the truest sense. The people prayed to Deprios, but only those of the church had any idea what that meant. For everyone else, Deprios was a symbol, a force or being of some kind that they hoped would look over them through the worst times.

Myles and Jane left earlier than usual that evening. There was no church on academy grounds, so, their trip took them into Maston itself. It was remarkable how little Myles had seen of the town. He had been kept incredibly busy, almost always working towards improving himself. Still, they found their way with little trouble. They were traveling through the nicest area of town where the roads were wide and street signs were plentiful and well maintained.

Maston’s sole church was located at the edge of the city, right on the water’s edge. It was a straightforward building with few adornments. The symbol of Deprios, a single feathered wing was emblazoned on the front of the wooden building in black paint. The rest of the building had never been painted.

A rough brick pathway led from the main road to the church’s entrance. On either side of the path, high fences blocked off Maston’s graveyard. It was a striking message. For all the emphasis on blind faith, it was clear to everyone who had ever entered a church that death was a core component of the Deprios faith.

Each and every tombstone in that graveyard would be engraved with writing, sacred writing in script of the church’s own design. Only those who had sworn their lives to the church could read what the message said. Reading it wasn’t the point though. Those who the writing applied to would know what it said.

Myles had only had two of his own lines sculpted into gravestones. One had been set on his father’s grave when he had been a small child. The other had been carved into his mother’s grave. The two messages were vows made to the dead, promises to fulfill the wishes most dear to them.

In spite of the graveyards surrounding the church, the space was an area of happiness and community. As Myles walked with Jane along the pathway towards the church, a group of children ran around, chasing each other, smiling and laughing, their parents looked on while chatting quietly together. In the early evening, warm lights came from inside the large windows set in the church walls, the sun was setting, lending a pink glow to the air.

“Should we head inside?” Jane was looking at Myles for confirmation.

With a nod, Myles led the way into the church. They were barely a handful of steps in when a young woman ran up to them wearing the signature outfit of a sister, a simple, comfortable looking black dress emblazoned with the symbol of Deprios in red. A red band encircled her right arm. “Are you students from the academy?”

Myles returned the smile. “Yes. This is our first time here. I’m afraid we’ve been caught up in our studies.”

The sister gave him a gentle touch on the arm. Not feeling the gesture, Myles realized he was commuting pure mana. It had become a habit that he kept up at almost all times of the day. He hastily stopped commuting mana, returning it all into his aether well. Jane seemed to notice and followed suit.

“I’m Sister Liza. If you would like, you are free to use the prayer room in the basement. We’ve had a number of students come in the last few days.” Sister Liza stepped towards Jane, laying a hand on her back in a half hug. “It brings me no joy to see so many sad faces. I hope some prayer and reflection will help to settle your hearts.”

With that, Sister Liza was off, making her way around the church’s main building, greeting and laughing with the people of Maston.

Myles was able to find the basement easily enough. The prayer room as it was called was a simple room with no adornment. Its main feature was the quiet. None of the noise from those talking above reached down here. Small metal inlays in the wall allowed for a constant thin coating of pure mana. It was a practical use and Myles suspected that Sister Liza’s duties included keeping the constructs supplied with pure mana.

Myles held the door, letting Jane lead the way inside. Instead of moving to take a seat on the ground, Jane hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure of what to do. As soon as Myles moved to take a seat though, Jane moved to follow.

Myles spent some time in the room. It was a nice thing to be left with his thoughts. There was plenty he had to sort through. The thing that weighed on Myles most was the death he had seen in Hydrabridge. There was the youth that had been gored to death by ogren mere feet away from him. Then there were the men who the enaira had killed in front of his eyes. In spite of the foreman’s misguided plan, Myles couldn’t claim the man, or his followers had been wholly evil. In his mind, Myles knew that they had been trying to do something good, at least in their own minds.

Myles could relate to the men more than he wanted to admit. Like them, he had only been given a set number of choices growing up. Myles had worked in the job shop for far less time than any of those men had been mining. Even so, he had felt frustration. Frustration that he couldn’t become more. Would Myles have been able to keep moving forward with that frustration building constantly inside him for years? He wanted to think so, but it was hard to say for sure.

After a while, Myles made to stand back up, but he saw Jane still looking deep in thought, a bitter expression worn on her face. Not wanting to disturb her, he settled back in, this time delving his aether well rather than his mind.

It was late when the pair finally made to leave the church. The crowd above was gone completely.

“A file has been placed with the reaper’s name on it.” A deep masculine voice whispered above them, barely reaching Myles, but stopping him in his tracks, nonetheless.

“I can’t believe it. Its terrible. How could they?” Sister Liza’s voice cracked with emotion. “She’s so young.”

The deep voice spoke again. Myles held Jane in place. “You feel for the girl?”

Sister Liza took a breath. “In some small way I can relate to her. I think all she really wants is to be accepted, to live a normal life.” She continued in a frustrated whisper. “I’ve seen her patrolling outside town.”

The man gave a grunt of assent. “I saw her out there tonight. She was killing monsters that had drawn too close to town. I would guess she’s saved lives in just the short time she’s been here.”

“Please tell me that you’ve not come to kill her.” Sister Liza’s voice had a note of pleading in it.

“It might be best if I did. She can’t be allowed to become a second Salen.”

Myles slowly moved up to the edge of the staircase, commuting pure mana once more to keep his steps silent. Looking around the corner, Myles saw a powerfully built man, in his early thirties. There was nothing especially noteworthy about the man’s appearance except a fair number of scars that crossed along his arms and neck.

Far more important than his appearance was the white band that looped his arm. On the band, the symbol of Deprios was painted in crisp black lines. The band being fashioned in such a way left little doubt to his identity. A paladin of Deprios. Myles had never seen one in person before. They were said to be powerful arcaners. While many of those who swore themselves to the church’s service were taught to become arcaner’s, the paladins were given the unique privilege among the church’s servants to engage in combat.

Sister Liza stepped towards the paladin. “If you’re not here to kill her then…”

“There is to be a meeting tonight.” The paladin pulled on his white band, yanking it off. “I aim to infiltrate it. If I know who to look out for, I may yet be able to save her.”

Sister Liza breathed in. “There have been rumors lately. They say dangerous people have been seen nearby.”

The paladin nodded his head, pulling out a plain red band and pinning it around his arm in place of the white. After that, the man spoke, but somehow despite all of his other words being audible, he seemed to speak just a bit too quietly this time for Myles to pick out the words.

“Be safe.”

With that, the paladin turned and left through the front door.

Myles felt Jane lean into his shoulder. “We need to follow him.” There was a form of steel in Jane’s voice that Myles hadn’t expected, but he found himself agreeing with her whole-heartedly.

What he had heard implied that someone wanted the reaper dead. Myles had only ever heard that name used for one person. When Rufus had attacked Reah, he had named her reaper. That detail had been one of the few things Myles had been able to get across to Jane in the morning.

The paladin might find them out with wind mana if they followed. Myles knew full well that was a possibility, but in that moment, he felt the risk was worth it. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he did nothing now and she ended up dead.