Harlan was uncomfortable being inside the facility again, but he found it to be only a bother, not enough to fill him with dread as the thought of being back once would.

Sepul was directly involved in the testing, the interviews, and then his discharge.

All in all Harlan was out before dinner.

What made him uneasy was not that it was so fast, it was that he could feel Sepul was in turmoil about something and he couldn’t decipher what it was.

“Harlan.”

“Yes?”

“Do you intend to return to the academy immediately?”

“I wasn’t gone as long as I thought I was, and I’ve not changed too much. I can control the output of my spells pretty well after all of that splitter training, so I am fine.”

“And what happened between you and Lugh?”

“A disagreement on morality.”

Sepul knit his brow.

“I think it is best that you do not explain what happened, I have seen where your morals can go.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

“Then I shall send you directly to your room, you may walk to the dining hall from there. Make any excuse you like.”

“And if I made no excuses?”

“Don’t do that.”

Harlan stepped through the gate and it closed behind him, he expected Sepul would’ve come through.

He could only shrug his shoulders then ask the ghost some questions as he walked.

“Can you lie to me?”

“No.”

“Was that a lie?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to steal my body or in any other way harm me?”

“Not a chance. Even if I did get your body I can already tap into your senses and it feels repulsive to me if I try to actually puppeteer you.

I believe I am not supposed to want to have one.”

“Do you want another name?”

“Just call me Eliza, it isn’t a big deal.”

Harlan stopped walking, it was a big deal to him.

“Or I can change my name.”

“Thank you. And hey, you don’t like Eliza either, she was a monster, right?”

“She was just a person, one who did some bad things and had bad things happen to her.”

Harlan was sure he knew where this was going.

“I’m not saying you can’t hate her, just think about what she did and why.”

“You mean me, I have done bad things and yada yada yada, I get it.”

“No need to get testy over it, I’m just saying.”

“I’m not really looking for a passenger to judge me.”

“Would you rather I keep it to myself until we can’t agree to disagree like with Lugh? I’m not going anywhere and I am not going to be quiet, if you don’t want to listen then don’t, but I’ve been waiting years to talk with you and I have already seen somebody destroy themselves by being inflexible and scarred by loss.”

Harlan wanted to tell her to be quiet, but he also understood that she was right, he didn’t like it, but he was his mothers son and the ghost was intimately aware of her faults.

“Do you have her magical knowledge?”

“I’m not giving it up unless I really need to. No shortcuts, remember?”

He entered the cafeteria and instantly he felt eyes on him, most didn’t think being gone was too strange.

But as the Golden all stopped eating others began to look where they were looking.

People thought his new eyes were odd and unsettling, his old ones had an appeal to them, these just looked like he was angry at all times, and people knew that an angry Harlan was not someone to be around.

“Wow, you know how to clear a room.”

“Are you going to comment on everything?”

“Probably. I’m not a shy one year old, I’m technically 41.”

“I thought you weren’t her?”

“You know what I mean. I have decades of memories.”

When he sat with the others they asked the same question everyone asked.

“What happened to your eyes?”

Ximena wasn’t there however.

“I’ll explain later, where is Ximena?”

“She took a mission.”

Yara felt that she needed to be the one to explain.

“Oh? Good for her.”

“She was hoping you would be back, but they couldn’t put it off and got a replacement since she was so sure you would say yes that she put your name on the list expecting you back 2 days ago.”

“Who went in my place?”

“Delmet. I know that look you are about to get, so don’t. He wouldn’t hurt her, he has too much pride in the Golden to do that and it would reflect very poorly on his family if they ever found out.”

“Gods, what a prick, I’ve met enough people like him to know he probably volunteered. I bet he has a crush on her.”

“Did he volunteer for the position?”

“Yes.”

Yara was a little confused that he knew that immediately.

“Does Delmet have feelings for Ximena?”

Now she was worried.

“Harlan, can you read minds now?”

“No, I’ll expla-”

“Do not tell people about me.”

“Why”

“If I said I wanted you to respect my privacy, that would be enough, right?”

“You are in my head, you can know what I am thinking and what my body feels, but yes, I’ll respect your privacy.”

“Harlan, you were saying?”

“Right, no, don’t worry about it.”

“How about we have one of our after dinner talks, and you can explain everything.”

“I’ll explain most of it at least.”

They spoke of little events around the academy, apparently some classes had been canceled and some teachers had to leave because various creatures had entered a frenzy on account of something that happened.

News had not yet reached everyone about the blackout in the woods, while Tole had a communication station, it was being watched very closely and information was being carefully kept out of the hands of people.

They knew that keeping everyone from talking was impossible, but if you threaten jail time then enough people will avoid talking about it that it becomes more of a rumor.

A merchant could tell people about the blackout, but then if those people visited the area and the locals said they had no idea what they were talking about it would be considered an oddity, not a fact.

Harlan’s amulet lit with pale blue soullight, he didn’t recognize who was calling however.

He put up another veil and answered.

“Harlan, this is Hirum Selvis.”

“How did you get my signal?”

“Marigold had your amulet, she gave it to me. I need to speak with you, I have an opening in 30 minutes. I expect to see you then.”

“Very well.”

Harlan was putting the amulet back when he realized that didn’t actually make sense.

The amulet itself didn’t actually hold enough of his soul to give out his contact, it needed to be in his hands.

He wondered, and found the only answer was that she had taken out his connection to the crossroads and then handed that part of his soul to the headmaster.

If she really did want to talk in another 10 years, he would have a million questions for her.

Harlan dropped the veil.

“Who was that?”

“The headmaster, I guess we will put off our talk. I’m going to just wait outside of his office until my meeting.”

“Alright, but before you go, I like your eyes.”

“Thanks.”

“Come on, give her a chance. Eliza found that being together with another person helped her.”

“How did that work out for her?”

“If she kept at it she might’ve gotten better, instead she decided to wallow in self-hatred because she didn’t immediately become what she wanted to be.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Thinking and reacting are your only two modes.”

“I’ll think about that too.”

Harlan hadn’t actually seen the office from the outside before.

There was a large double door carved with figures that Harlan now recognized as the 6 gods and in the middle of them all was Aarde as seen from space.

What Harlan thought was odd is that he could see a giant wall of fog, this was something he had been told about before, but at the very edges of the circle he could also see what could be more land, or could be just some decoration.

Harlan studied the door from his seat until he saw Mary come out of the room.

“Oh, I didn’t expect to see you here, did you do something?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Well I look forward to it, have a nice evening.”

“I might come back after… oh, right, I actually do have other plans.”

He had completely forgotten about his meeting with Aria and Selen, though he was only seeing Aria tonight.

Selen hadn’t gotten back to him regarding the elders wanting amulets from him or his more casual meeting with her as a teacher.

A few minutes after Mary walked away a secretary that Harlan hadn’t noticed before, a Tytoan man, told Harlan to enter.

The headmasters office seemed larger and more imposing than last time, most importantly was a large scale that seemed to pull Harlan’s senses towards it, he couldn’t tell if it was drake or wyvern.

“Calm down, step away from the scale.”

“What is…”

“Stop looking at the scale, you aren’t here for that.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Harlan, please, sit.”

The chair was very comfortable, he didn’t remember it being like this last time.

“Do you know why I called you here?”

“Well, last time I was here you talked about me being a godly plaything, and now I have made the choice to hop right into the maw of that mess.”

“I wouldn’t quite phrase it as such, but yes, you are now the champion of darkness. I received a file from the kingdom about what you can do, but I would like you to have a session with Mary.”

“I was already planning to talk with her about this.”

“Good, good…”

He leaned back in his chair and tapped on his desk.

“What are your thoughts on getting a mission permit? Ximena started yesterday.”

“I feel like I’ve had too much going on to be involved in whatever side jobs you give out to noble children.”

“Not a first year license, I would grant you the ability to work with 2nd and 3rd year students.”

“Alright, what do I get from it?”

“You would see the world, help people who need their problems fixed, monsters that need dealing with, disaster response. Things like that, not noble house visits and hunting goblins. I believe you could power through the rest of the first year quite easily and the classes might not be as worthwhile as real experience.”

“Maybe. When is Ximena expected back? Do you know?”

“She should be back in the next few hours, their mission went fine and they are just in a post battle meeting to understand how they could’ve done better.”

Hirum had stopped talking, but he hadn’t stopped tapping his fingers on his desk.

“Your sister, Ava, what do you know about what she has been doing?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I know you have positive relations with the Nightwatchers. But what about her? I think that you should talk with her about them.”

“What have they done?”

“Nothing yet, but… I think it would be better if I didn’t speak about it more. I have my own connections with them and don’t want to burn bridges. You are free to leave now.”

Harlan bid him goodbye and went directly to his room to call Ava.

She didn’t expect Harlan to call, he would talk as long as anyone would like, but people had to call him, he didn’t often call others.

“Hey, do you need something?”

“Do you want me to pretend I don’t? Or should we skip right to the point?”

“Is it about Lugh? He has been a little strange but won’t tell me what you did.”

“Have you been with the Nightwatchers?”

“Who told you?”

“I just want to make sure you are safe, I had a bad meeting with them a while back and they haven’t gotten back with me. I don’t want you wrapped up in something else without realizing it.”

“Harlan, what if I wanted to become a vampire? I have been talking with Zachery about it.”

He felt guilty over it, having a good guess on the why.

“You can’t expect to know how being strong makes the weak feel.”

“Who was that? And who the fuck does she thing she is?”

The ghost could speak through the communicator, that was… interesting.

“I promise I will explain that at some point. Just know that she is a friend, a rude friend. Please don’t mention her to anyone else. About you becoming a vampire though… I know I have a pretty good relationship with them, and I know that I’ve convinced everyone else that they are fine. But I don’t want you to rush into that.”

The ghost thought Harlan was being a bit too meek.

“Let me tell you. You don’t want that. Sure they will be glad to bring you in and you can get power, but then you are tied to them for the rest of your very long life. Harlan, even… that woman, decided against being one. And you know how much she wanted to not be weak.”

“Seriously, who the fuck is that?”

“I know Harlan VERY well, his secrets are mine and mine his. That is all you need to know for now. Wait for him to have a talk with people who know them better than you.”

“What happened between them and Harlan?”

“That isn’t important.”

“Harlan, are you really going to turn to a sop right now? You can hurt the little girl’s feelings or you save her from a mistake.”

“Fine, Ava, they tried to use one of them that I know to convince me to make them amulets because they were worried about what the kingdom might put in the ones they sell normal people.

I am worried that you will end up as a pawn.”

The line was open, but she wasn’t talking.

“I’ll wait, he was subtle, but looking back it does feel like Zachery was trying to sell me the idea.”

“Thank you, but, do you want to talk about why you are still trying to take a shortcut?”

“It isn’t a shortcut, I just want to catch up to you.”

“I’m working on it, if I get what I want to function then you could get the power you want without any strings attached.”

“How many lives is that going to take?”

“What did Lugh tell you?”

“He doesn’t need to tell me anything, I heard your friend Ximena broke your nose before. If I find out that you are doing something I wouldn’t approve of to get me what I want, Breken is going to kick your ass.”

“I am working on rabbits, it is fine.”

“Good, as your big sister, it is my job to set you right. Don’t become a monster, I order you.”

“You’re a good kid, goodbye.”

“Good night Ava, see you again later.”

He still had some time before he had to leave for his appointment with Aria so he checked his equipment.

Harlan swung his rod around a couple of times, trying to get the timing for turning hover off.

There was a very slight delay since the thought needed to travel from him to the item, but it was easy to understand.

He tried shifting it into the form that he designed for Lugh before, but it felt awkward for him to use it.

That was Lugh’s form, nobody else's.

So he modeled it after Safira’s weapon, but not exactly the same.

The smooth rod turned to 9 slightly curved blade, not unlike the spokes on a wagon wheel, and the top smoothed out was turned to a spike so it had some penetration instead of being stuck on the blades like the crossguard on a winged spear.

Harlan’s personal golem armor was stone steel and based on Ava’s armor.

The laminar (not lamellar) design let each overlapping strip more easily shift itself without needing to possibly leave thin spots in plate armor.

On his head he wore a squared helmet shaped as a chevron, but with a flattened strip where his nose was, giving him a deadly headbutt.

It had a subtle embossing of a skull with a fire design on the forehead while the actual face of it did not conform to his head, giving him a golem like appearance when in full dress.

He wanted his crest to be represented, but making the entire thing look like a skull might’ve been too far as he understood how it might make him look to other people.

It had slits for sight as Harlan could perceive people through their minds instead of his sight.

He hadn’t gotten the chance to really test it, he had just been changing up its design to find something he found more comfortable without actually sacrificing much in the way of defenses.

He wanted something that was unique to him and if anyone saw it they would know exactly who he was, such a thing might stop some fights from needing to happen in the first place.

“Alright, enough playing around, time to meet her.”

“We need to have a talk about your boundaries.”

“I didn’t even think that she would be able to hear me.”

“I know, but now we do know.”

“I can’t really control it on my end, you should find a spell that keeps us a bit more separate.”

“I’ll add it to the list, but first, I need to find out if I have the power to heal Adina now.”

“I know, and then once she can see, then you can ask her to move to the next step.”

“This is the second time, don’t try to push me.”

“I just want you to find a way to drown out some of your sorrows, a little bit of-”

“I am stopping this conversation right here.”

“What? I figured it would be better than saying to take up drinking or narcotic potions.”

“I don't want either of those things.”

“Everyone has a vice, might as well find yours early.”

“How did that work out for that woman?”

She could see that Harlan really wasn’t wrong, but she thought that if the real Eliza had kept at her ways of keeping her mind off of things it might’ve helped her.

She found emotional connections with a physical element did more than any hard drinks or potions.

“I think it was working until she hit a point where she didn’t want to try anymore. The happiest she ever was was in her bedroom.”

Harlan shivered.

“Never say anything like that ever again.”

“Everyone does it, besides, you don’t really consider her your mother anyway. And she did have a nice body.”

Harlan whipped up a spell on pure instinct and revulsion to quiet her.

Mind magic was none elemental, and had no connection with the gods directly, to make a spell truly from the mind, one only needed a strong enough desire to inflict change on themselves or others.

There was a muffle feeling in his head that told him she was still talking, but he couldn't understand the words.

He decided to keep that up until he got back from Aria’s place.