Larsha laughed, wrapping her arm around Rayna's shoulder. Rayna stiffened at the unwelcome touch, but Larsha didn't seem to notice.

"It's magnificent, isn't it?" the woman asked. "Every day, I look down at Eeren and still it never gets old."

Kunder scoffed. "It got old a long time ago. You're just an empty-headed romantic who thinks it's a privilege to live underground."

Larsha raised an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it? The Demons can't reach us down here—although I still find myself skeptical on this point—and the Keeper's magic keeps us comfortable through every season. It seems like a paradise to me."

"A fool's paradise for the young and untested."

Larsha frowned, removing her arm from Rayna's shoulder. "Weren't you the one arguing that all of this was 'according to the Great Keeper's plan'?"

Kunder shook his head. "I said we were safe. I didn't say we were comfortable." He walked past her, making his way down the stone staircase that led to the ground below.

"Don't pay him any mind. He's just old and grumpy. Never lose your wonder or you'll end up that way too." Larsha didn't even look at Rayna. She aimed the comment at Kunder's back as a verbal barb rather than a true word of advice.

"I can hear you, you know," Kunder called back. "Be mindful of your hope, child, or you'll end up an optimistic fool like her."

Rayna didn't respond to either of them.

There were probably many on Ember who would agree with Larsha more than Kunder on this matter. A haven from monsters—even if it was underground—would be overrun in seconds if others knew it was here.

Rayna was more inclined to stay above ground, even if it wasn't as safe, but she wasn't fool enough to stick her nose out of the cave where a Level 150 monster might bite it off. Both Larsha and Kunder had excellent points, it was a matter of their own personal opinions that led them to believe that their points couldn't coexist.

"What—" Rayna barely cut herself off before she asked, 'what is this place'. She swallowed, covering her blunder with a different question. "What should I say when we get to Youna's office?"

Larsha laughed again. "The truth is always the best option," she said, moving down the stairs after Kunder. "Youna hates lies almost as much as she hates tardiness. If you're honest, she'll probably let you off with a warning, assuming this is your first offense."

Rayna didn't intend to get as far as Youna's office, but she hadn't yet found a way to wriggle out of the situation. Larsha walked ahead of her, so Rayna could probably grab her staff and make a break for the tunnels, but she didn't know how to get through the Keeper's gate. She would just end up getting caught the first time she hit a dead end.

If that happened, they would probably lock her up wherever they were holding Corban. That possibility had some advantages—like finding Corban in the first place—but she didn't even want to know what kind of magical protections these people placed on their jail cells.

They caught up to Kunder, who was still grumbling about excessive optimism, and headed toward the city gates.

"Morning Larsha." A perky woman with short-cropped golden hair and a set of owl-rimmed glasses stood in an empty archway that was large enough to admit one person at a time. "See any excitement on patrols?"

"Morning Oya, Same old tunnels, same old monsters," Larsha replied, the slight tension in her voice giving away her lie.

Rayna's anxiety spiked as they passed through a magical barrier that stretched over the empty archway. It tingled against her skin but admitted her with no issue. She hoped that meant it would let her and Corban back through when they made their escape.

If Oya heard the lie in Larsha's tone she ignored it. "And who's this little one?"

It took Rayna a moment to realize that Oya was looking at her. She had grown used to people talking to her like a child, but 'little one' was a whole new level of condescending. She pressed her lips together to keep herself from shooting back an angry retort.

"Just a troublemaker out past her bedtime." Larsha patted Rayna on the back.

Oya tsked. "It's practically a rite of passage, isn't it?"

Larsha nodded. "We're taking her to Youna, that should straighten her out."

The more they talked, the less Rayna wanted to actually meet this Youna. She figured they were probably playing it up for her benefit, but the look of pity that Oya gave her did not make Rayna feel better.

They walked a short distance to a building that was situated just inside the wall and a ways away from the main city.

It wasn't quite as large as a school, but it had the same feeling. Windows lined the outer walls, and a large clock face was placed in the top center of the facade. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to follow any system of time that Rayna could recognize. There were seven hands on the clock, all pointing toward different numbers on the clock face. Rayna could understand the numbers thanks to her telepathic translation, but it didn't magically give her the ability to tell time.

Lerians in brown cloaks traveled in groups of three to five, some of them sitting in circles on the lawn with their books open on their laps. Rayna wasn't surprised anymore that Larsha and Kunder had mistaken her for one of the students. Their cloaks were a similar color to her own, and lined with runes as well, albeit in more swirly patterns. Their hoods were smaller, but that distinction was harder to see when the hoods were pulled up around their faces.

Her skin tone wasn't enough to distinguish her either. The Lerians in Eeren seemed to cover the entire range between white, black and brown. Some of the tan-skinned Lerians had an almost bronze look to their faces. Their hair practically shimmered with the light coming down from several floating orbs that hung above the city.

The only thing Rayna could see that would distinguish her from the students of Eeren was the fact that none of them—child or adult—had a set of horns on their heads.

Rayna needed to get out of here before they took a closer look at her.

She eyed her staff on Larsha's back again, wondering if she should just snatch it and run. It would give away that she wasn't supposed to be there, but so would her getting to Youna's office. She tried to pump herself up for the idea, subtly bouncing on the balls of her feet. She couldn't risk running back to the wall, especially not without getting Corban first, but she could probably run into the city and find someplace to hide.

Okay, here's the plan, Rayna thought. Grab the staff, make a break for it. Hide until they stop searching then go find Corban and get the heck out of dodge. Then we just have to—

Before Rayna could complete the plan, they passed through the front entrance. She groaned inwardly, kicking herself for her indecision. She resigned herself to following through with whatever the meeting with Youna would entail. If she played the contrite student and kept her head down, she might get through this with a warning, then she could split as soon as Larsha gave her back her staff.

With that overly optimistic thought, Rayna turned her attention to the interior of the building. It was larger than it appeared on the outside and the style was more ornate than the facade would suggest. Each door they passed sported a brass doorknob fashioned to look like the head of various beasts. Rayna recognized the Vulpinox from her brief encounters with the species and figured that they were probably all depicting a monster of some kind. The wooden doors themselves were rimmed with runes, the extravagant swoops and swirls serving as decoration in their own right. They glowed with magic, though Rayna wasn't sure what exactly they were supposed to do.

The main hallway was wide enough that four people could walk side by side without the outer pair touching the walls and the high ceilings were arched in a fashion that made it feel even larger than it was. Several smaller hallways branched off to the right or left, showing even more doors.

They passed a room that was open, and Rayna peeked inside. She stopped short. Instead of the classroom she was expecting, a full open field stretched into the distance, with a blue sky overhead. Several groups of students darted about in the tall grass, shooting the same magical runes at each other that Larsha and Kunder had used in the tunnels. Rayna frowned at the outside world. Was the door a portal? Or was there other magic at play here?

"It's magnificent, isn't it?" Kunder said, making Rayna jump. She hadn't heard him come up behind her.

Rayna looked back at Kunder, her brows furrowed. "The magic?"

"The sky," he said, his voice wistful. "I've been outside three times in my lifetime. This pales in comparison, you know."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Rayna wasn't sure what to say. The sky was beautiful, but she didn't see much difference between what must be a simulated sky and the sky she was used to seeing.

"Why do th—we practice outside, if we never get to leave the tunnels?" Rayna asked, barely covering her mistake with a cough.

Kunder smiled, the genuine expression warming his face considerably. "Someday, we may be able to leave this place, Keeper willing. If we've only learned to fight amidst stone walls, how will we protect ourselves when the demons can swarm around us unhindered?"

Rayna nodded slowly. It was a valid point.

She decided not to ask any of the other burning questions that ran through her mind. She didn't want to betray her ignorance, but she was already starting to feel sympathy for the Lerians trapped underground. Maybe she could use the hub to get them back to the mainland, assuming she ever managed to find it. Would they even be open to the possibility?

She filed that idea away for later, following Kunder as he continued down the hallway. The brief exchange seemed to have improved his attitude toward Rayna, and he spent the whole way to Youna's office describing the three times he had been outside.

"I was just a child the first time, a little younger than you are now," he said, his expression wistful. "It was three clicks past the seventh hour, and I had snuck out, much as you did today. I wasn't as fortunate with my wayfinding and wandered the tunnels for three days before accidentally finding my way to the surface."

He smiled down at Rayna. "I learned that day that the sky isn't always blue. It shone with fiery reds and purples. They blazed across the sky as the Keeper's light dipped below the horizon. I could barely draw breath as I stared at the magnificence. Then I was found by the search party and rightfully punished for my folly.

"The second time I saw the sky it was a sanctioned trip. I, along with a group of trackers, was sent above ground to track motion in the outer ring. It turned out to be a kilor infestation, which took us three days to clear out. It was then that I learned that the sky changes hourly, not just daily as I had assumed. From blue to white, white back to blue, and then the fiery colors I saw, just before it turned black."

He shook his head. "I had heard stories, of course, but I dismissed them as fairytales. I was a hard-headed youth who only believed what I could see with my own two eyes, but I saw it that day. A vast black tapestry of twinkling lights that stretched across the sky. I swore I could reach out and snatch them with my hands, but no matter how high I stretched they were still out of reach.

"The third time I left the tunnels I learned that the world can cry. It was as if the Keeper's sorrows poured down on my head. I stood in the field, wondering what had happened to make the Great Keeper so sad."

He glanced at Rayna. "Of course, since then I have done far more reading on the subject. Rain, it's called. A natural phenomenon where water pours down from the sky to feed the plants and fill our underground stream. It's been many years since I've been able to go to the surface, trapped as we are by the worsening threat of demons, but I hold these memories dear, a promise to myself that I might one day return there."

Rayna was speechless. It was probably the most poetic description of the sky she had ever heard.

Larsha didn't contradict Kunder's impassioned tale. Instead, she smiled at him. "I've been out once," she said. "During the day, unfortunately. I wasn't able to see what Kunder describes. I didn't find it half so dazzling as I faced off with an angry corik. I would rather stay below ground where the protections of the Keeper remain strong and the demons remain weak."

She ended her statement just as they came to an ornate door that was carved with twice as many runes as the classrooms they had passed. On the door hung a golden plaque that read 'Headwoman' in shiny swooping letters.

Larsha offered Rayna one last encouraging smile before she lifted her hand to knock on the door.

"Come in," came a voice from inside before Larsha even touched the wood.

Were there spells informing the headwoman of visitors, or was her timing just that good? Rayna was left wondering as Larsha opened the door and gently pushed her inside, coming in behind her while Kunder took up the rear.

The room, like everything else in the strange school, was larger than it should have been. To one side of the room was a long table with several chairs arranged around it. To the other side was Youna's desk, which was covered in neat stacks of paper. Behind her, bookshelves were arranged in rows that stretched so far backward that Rayna couldn't see the far wall. She wasn't sure if it was an illusion for the aesthetic, or if the headwoman's office doubled as the library.

"Ah, Larsha and Kunder!" Youna said, looking up from the stack of paper that she had been reading. "I was just about to send out a search party. You're late to check in."

Youna's tone was pleasant, but the look on her face demanded an explanation for the delay.

Larsha audibly gulped. "Yes, well, we ran into this troublemaker on the way back. It seemed more important to deliver her safely back from the tunnels than to make our scheduled check-in."

She pushed Rayna forward, offering her as sacrifice to the headwoman's displeasure.

Rayna narrowed her eyes at Larsha. "You were late when you found me," she muttered.

"Don't look at me like that," Larsha said sweetly. "It's your own fault you ended up in this mess."

Rayna tamped down on her annoyance and inclined her head to Youna. "I'm sorry to disturb you, headwoman Youna, but there seems to be some sort of mistake. I'm—"

Larsha elbowed Rayna in the side, cutting off her explanation. "What the hell are you doing?" she muttered nervously. "You're going to get all three of us in trouble. Stand up straight and give a proper salute."

I would if I knew what a proper salute looked like, Rayna thought crossly.

"Who is this?" Youna asked Larsha, her voice impatient.

Larsha forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She placed a firm hand on Rayna's shoulder and pushed her forward again. "We found this one trying to sneak her way back in through the Keeper's gate on the southern side of the city. I thought you might want to be the first one to give her a thorough tongue-lashing."

The corners of Youna's mouth turned downward in a disapproving frown. "You aren't old enough to have an assignment yet. Who is your group leader? No one has reported you missing."

Rayna didn't respond, completely certain in her inability to lie her way out of this one. She would have retreated already but Larsha and Kunder were blocking the door.

"Well?" Youna demanded, her voice growing even more impatient.

"Just give her their name," Larsha hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "She'll find out one way or another."

"I'm not a student here," Rayna hissed back. "I don't have a group leader."

"What?!" In her horror, Larsha forgot to whisper. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think you'd believe me," Rayna said. "And you had my staff."

The woman frowned. "That's not—"

"You brought me a civilian?" Youna asked, her brow furrowing.

Larsha shook her head. "With the cloak, I just assumed…"

Kunder came to her rescue, saluting Youna by placing a fist on his heart. "Our apologies. We should have been more thorough in questioning the girl. We will return her to her family at once."

He turned Rayna toward the door, and she breathed a sigh of relief, but Youna's voice stopped them.

"What is your name, girl?"

Rayna grimaced, smoothing her facial features before turning back to the headwoman. "Rayna."

Youna walked around her desk and came closer to Rayna, looking her over from head to toe. "There is something strange about you, Rayna. What is your affinity?"

Rayna wasn't sure how to answer that. Did they have elemental affinities? Or was this a 'types of magic' sort of thing?

"Light magic," Kunder supplied. "She used an invisibility spell in the tunnels, and her cloak uses light runes, from what I can tell."

This didn't seem to satisfy Youna. She tilted her head as she examined Rayna. "Are you sure she is the one who made the spell?" she asked, examining the runes on Rayna's cloak. "They are more advanced than I would expect from a child. How old are you, Rayna? Thirty? Thirty-two?"

"Twenty-seven," Rayna supplied.

Youna blinked. "Your magic is this strong at twenty-seven? Why were you not recruited?"

Rayna shook her head. "It's a… recent development."

Kunder frowned. "That isn't how it works. Your magic pool is determined at birth. When were you searched?"

The three Lerians' expressions were growing more concerned by the moment.

Rayna gave up trying to lie her way out of this. She was only digging herself further into a hole. She snatched her staff from Larsha's back, ripping her sling in the process, then she bolted out the door before Kunder could stop her.

"Wait!" Larsha tried to grab at Rayna, but she was too slow.

Rayna didn't worry about remembering the path they had taken to get into the building. Instead, she followed the white line on the floor, trusting it to take her to an exit.

The line kept to the main hall for the most part, veering sharply left into a side corridor. Rayna began to worry as the line took her deeper and deeper into the building but then it slipped under the door of a classroom.

Rayna pushed her way through the door, ignoring the group of students that gawked at her from their neat rows of desks. She ran straight for the open window, which thankfully, faced the city.

She went to climb out the window but paused with her head hanging out of it. She frowned at the long drop from the fifth floor. How was she supposed to get down?"

"What, in Keeper's—?" The instructor's sentence was cut off by the door slamming open.

Rayna whipped her head around to see Youna's angry face.

"Stop her!" Youna shouted, pointing at Rayna.

Damn it!

With nowhere else to run, Rayna leapt out of the window, activating her Calming Aura on the way down. She braced herself for pain, hoping her healing spell would offset the damage.

Rayna nearly blacked out when her legs crunched on the cobblestones. Her amulet activated, healing her broken bones.

Rayna got to her feet and continued running, wincing at the residual pain in her newly healed legs.

She pushed past groups of students, trying to tune out the shouts from the people behind her as she headed for the city.

Rayna wove through the buildings, a blur in the streets of people who were moving at a normal pace. It took only a few minutes at top speed to leave her pursuers behind, and a few minutes more to feel like there was no one in the area that even knew she was being chased.

How low were these people's Dexterity?

Despite her apparent safety, Rayna kept moving. She wanted to put as much distance between her and the school as she could. When she was finally sure that they couldn't follow her trail, she slowed her pace to a brisk walk, searching for a place to hide. She ducked into a narrow alley that looked hidden enough for her to catch her breath.

Rayna tried to reactivate the invisibility spell for the added security, but whatever Larsha had done to it seemed to have broken the item completely. It was just as well; the slight glow on the buildings probably wouldn't be enough to hide the glow from a full spell anyway.

Rayna sunk to the ground, leaning her back against the wall and stowing her staff in her Soul Realm.

That was eventful, Phira said telepathically. I thought you were trying to keep a low profile. Or were you serious about that idea of getting these people to the mainland?

I'm trying to find Corban and get to the hub, Rayna said tiredly. These people are not my responsibility.

I'm not judging you either way, Phira said. Just curious how you plan to get yourself out of this mess. I was in the tutorial for three thousand years; I'd rather not get stuck underground for another three millennia.

I wouldn't live that long anyway, Rayna pointed out.

That doesn't make me feel better, Phira said.

Rayna closed her eyes, banging her head against the wall behind her.

Her amulet activated, but instead of healing the slight bruise, it whined and sputtered out.

And now I'm on manual healing, as well. Perfect.

Rayna didn't think this day could get any worse.

Cold steel pricked Rayna's neck and she froze.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Rayna."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.