4 Days Later

— Sundia, Colyath 1, 8054 —

“Aw, man… back in class, again…”

“Ugh… I’m with you, man…” Conrad groaned, his head on his desk as he looked over at Austin. “It’s been a whole month since we last had an actual class. I just wanna sleep…”

Twy passed the two an amused glance before shaking her head. “Honestly. Y’all are such slackers…”

“We had a few classes the week before the break, anyways,” Phoenix pointed out. “It hasn’t been an entire month.”

“We had a few, sure, but it was still a light load,” Pierce countered. “Most of the other students were studying or taking their finals that week, so the Deans were busy.”

“And the week before that, we were on Sikalia!” Sky exclaimed; notably, the cast she had sported the previous week was now gone, and she moved her body as though she had never been injured in the first place. “That really was a month ago, though, huh? Wow, time sure flies!”

“Given everythin’ that’s happened in that month, it feels like it’s been a lot longer…” Spike muttered groggily.

“Yeah, if you think about it, we’ve been on Nimalia for barely two months,” Austin remarked. “What the hell, why did things get so busy…?”

“Here’s hoping everything calms down,” Conrad deadpanned.

Pierce passed Conrad an uneasy glance, but before he could say anything, Kaoné finally entered the WCU classroom. She looked over each of the Earthians present — Austin, Spike, Sky, Twy, Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel — before stepping up to the teaching desk at the front of the room. “I see that everyone’s here. Good!” she said, beaming a welcoming smile all the while. “How was everyone’s break? Uh— aside from the, you know… the attack, ha ha…”

“I’d be more worried about you,” Phoenix replied. “Didn’t you come back early to clean up the mess? If I were you, I’d be complaining that my vacation was cut short.”

“Well… I won’t deny that it was, shall we say… disappointing,” Kaoné responded with an uneasy laugh. “I do miss my husband, and my children… but I travel for business a lot, anyways. The situation with you, the ‘Keys’, is exceptional, besides. As are the circumstances with the Bleeders here in Treséd…”

“Hold on, you’re leaving your family behind to teach us?!” Sky questioned incredulously.

“Like I said, the circumstances here are exceptional,” Kaoné reiterated. “And I don’t mean to spend all of today talking about myself, either. What about the rest of you — how did you spend your time, last week? I understand you were encouraged to travel?”

“Encouraged to, sure, but not all of us did,” Spike said with a smirk as he shot Austin a glance.

“Hey, I got permission from Uncle Luke to stay behind,” Austin shot back. “I thought it was great, personally. Haven’t had a full week all to myself in ages!”

“Well, at least Spike and I went to see the sights of Nimaliaka,” Sky declared. “The peaks there are beautiful!”

“Oh, you went to see the Nimal Mountains? I’m glad to hear it,” Kaoné replied. “Did you go see Mount Liask, or just the mountains near to Nimaliaka Central?”

“‘Liask’…?” Pierce interjected in confusion.

“Yes. Mount Liask is the tallest mountain on the planet. The sights you can see from the top of it are breathtaking… Why do you ask?”

“It’s nothing…”

“We didn’t see that peak, though,” Spike said. “Given that Sky here was injured, I thought it’d be best to stick near to the city.”

“Still a pretty good view, though!” Sky remarked.

“You went hiking in that cast?” Twy questioned, and then sighed in resignation. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I just visited Lédia, though, with Phoenix and Kestrel.”

“Yes, I heard from Rebehka that the three of you talked to her…” Kaoné responded.

“Then you know what she told us, I assume? Is it all really true?”

The Dean nodded solemnly. “I know it’s difficult to believe, but yes, it’s all true.”

“Huh?” Austin passed Twy a clueless look. “What’d she tell you?”

“I’ll explain later…” Twy replied. “But aside from that… I just spent my time in Lédia at the parks, painting. It’s actually pretty peaceful, out there.”

Kestrel nodded in affirmation. “Good views… and paintings.”

“Y-you’re not supposed to look at them until I’m finished,” Twy quickly responded, her face flushing red in embarrassment.

“Ha! That’s sis, for ya!” Sky remarked with a grin.

“So you spent the time hangin’ out with Twy, then?” Conrad questioned, turning to look at Kestrel; she responded only with a curt nod. With that, Conrad glanced toward Phoenix. “What were you doing, then—? Wait… let me guess. Something to do with you and Pierce’s stupid contest, right?”

“Oh, that…” Pierce muttered with a scowl.

“I didn’t go to Lédia for the contest, I went because I wanted to speak to Rebehka — enjoying the sights and the people was secondary,” Phoenix declared, only to pass Pierce a smug look. “But I did enjoy myself, I can tell you that much. What about you, Pierce? I heard you didn’t even leave Treséd. Have any luck?”

“We had shit luck,” Conrad deadpanned.

“You were with him, too?” Austin asked, and then looked between Pierce and Conrad in confusion. “Wait… y’all didn’t leave Treséd? But I never saw either of you at the dorms… where’d you go?”

“…Where we went doesn’t matter,” Pierce responded.

“Except for the part where it really kinda does,” Conrad added.

“Is this something we should be concerned about…?” Kaoné questioned uneasily.

“…Relia should’ve talked to Davídrius about it already,” Pierce replied. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all…” Austin said.

“Well, if you’ve already talked to Davídrius, then I suppose there isn’t much more to it…” Kaoné commented. “I just hope you’re being careful.”

Pierce and Conrad exchanged a blank look before both looked away, neither making eye-contact with Kaoné.

“…Alright, then,” the Dean continued, carefully eying the both of them before clapping her hands and smiling at the rest of the class. “With that out of the way, I’d like to conclude today’s introduction by wishing you all a happy new year! After all, I understand it’s New Year’s Day, on the Earth calendar.”

“What? Today’s New Year’s?!” Sky exclaimed incredulously, “what— what?! Where’d the time go?!”

“Aw, we missed Christmas…?” Austin groaned. “Just how long have we been gone…?”

“Since October 24th,” Kestrel replied.

Austin passed her a brief glance. “Uh… thanks.”

“I wondered if you all might’ve been losing track of the Earth calendar,” Kaoné remarked with an amused smile. “I thought I’d take today to remind you. It seemed especially appropriate given that today is the start of the fall— well, spring term, for Treséd. Today, you begin your classes here at WCU in earnest!”

“Our classes before weren’t ‘in earnest’?” Conrad questioned flatly.

“Well, no. You came to WCU over a month into the previous term, and you were new Chaotics, at that. We spent most of the time getting you up to speed with the basics. But now… ah, do any of you have AR implants?”

“We have the RTV translation implants,” Twy answered, “but no AR, I don’t think…”

“I suspected as much. Still, it’s good that you have the RTV implants — because I don’t know your Earthian language, ha ha!” Kaoné smiled and then gestured with her left hand. “Anyways, for this term’s materials…”

“—Whoa! What the…?!” Austin exclaimed in surprise as several thick books appeared, as if out of thin air, atop his desk — as well as the desks of everyone else.

“What’re these…” Pierce muttered as he grabbed one of the books and began flipping through it. “Wait… this is a physics textbook!”

“Chem, bio, math, history… creative arts… aw, man…” Conrad groaned.

“What’s this?!” Sky remarked incredulously, “why’re we learning normal stuff? I thought we were here for a Chaotic education?!”

“What, did you think that all Schools of Chaos students spend every hour of every day training their abilities?” Kaoné shook her head. “Training is certainly a big part of our curriculum, but the Schools of Chaos are colleges. A general education is important! Much of what you learn in ‘normal’ classes can be applied to Chaotic abilities, anyways. And now that a new term is starting — and also given the fact that you all were college students on Earth, if I heard correctly — I figured that now would be a good time to transition you all to the normal curriculum!”

“I thought I’d never have to deal with this shit, again…” Spike muttered.

“Kaoné’s right, though,” Twy pointed out. “Most Chaotic abilities can influence physical forces, or could benefit from knowing some chem or bio — or materials science, at the very least.”

“I’m glad you agree!” Kaoné remarked, and then fabricated another textbook into her own hands that mirrored one of the books on the Keys’ desks. “Now, we don’t have all day, so let’s begin today’s class. Don’t worry, I’ll start with something light.”

“’Light’ for you is still some real complicated shit.”

“…Oh, Davídrius,” Kaoné remarked as the Tresédian Dean stepped into the classroom. She then passed him an amused smirk. “Surely you aren’t just mad that some of your students are better than you at the sciences?”

“Shut up. I get other folks to teach that shit for a reason,” Davídrius grumbled, his gaze sweeping across the room before coming to rest on Pierce and Conrad.

“Uh oh…” Conrad muttered under his breath.

“You… need something?” Pierce questioned.

“I need more than ‘somethin’,” Davídrius retorted as he gestured for the two to follow him. “C’mon, you two. We needa talk.”

“Is this urgent?” Kaoné questioned, “I’d rather not interrupt the first day of class…”

“Trust me, I’d rather not, either,” Davídrius replied, only to release a frustrated sigh. “…But yeah. This is urgent.”

“Pierce, just what the hell did you do last week?” Phoenix admonished as Pierce and Conrad both stood up to move toward the classroom’s exit.

“It’s none of your business,” Pierce snapped.

“If only things actually turn out that way,” Davídrius snorted and then turned to leave the classroom, with Pierce and Conrad in tow. “Hopefully, this won’t take long,” he shouted over his shoulder to Kaoné, “go ahead with the class! And as for the two of you…” Once outside of the classroom, and the door shut, Davídrius eyed the two Earthians. “…We just got a Rokres ‘delegation’ at the Compound gates. Y’all happen to know anythin’ about that?”

Pierce and Conrad exchanged an uneasy look.

“…That’s what I figured.” Davídrius shook his head and continued walking once more. “I’d heard somethin’ from Relia, but I get the impression she left a few things out. Once we get your two friends… we’re gettin’ to the bottom of this.”

---

15 Minutes Later

“…You fuckin’ idiots.”

“Oh c’mon, Davídrius!” Selind remarked as she elbowed the Dean in his side, “this sounds like exactly the kinda shit you would’ve gotten into when you were their age!”

“Tch…” Davídrius passed her an annoyed scowl before turning back to face Pierce, Conrad, Liask, and Obra. The six were currently standing in Davídrius’s office at WCU, with the Dean and Selind standing behind his desk while the four students stood across from him. They had just finished relaying the events of their stint in Fort Rokres, including the reaction of Chief Kores just before they left… and upon hearing the story, Davídrius appeared less than pleased.

“I can’t believe this…” he grumbled in disbelief. “Relia told me the key details, but I didn’t think shit was that bad… just what the hell were y’all thinkin’?”

“We saved their lives, you know,” Pierce countered irately. “Just because they aren’t grateful for that doesn’t change anything!”

“We just wanted to find a lead on where the Bleeders took Minilas, anyways,” Obra insisted. “She’s our friend, you know! Do you expect us to sit around and do nothin’?!”

Davídrius released a frustrated sigh as he massaged his brow. “Look… I get it. You’re frustrated the Bleeders got one on you. Trust me, I know how that feels.” He then moved his hand to look at the students again. “But that don’t change the fact that what you did in Rokres is beyond foolish.”

“Cut them some slack,” Selind said. “You know you would’ve done the same, in their shoes. Hell, you practically did!”

“Just ‘cause I was an idiot when I was younger doesn’t mean I should let the idiots of today go unchallenged,” Davídrius retorted.

“C’mon, it’s like no one’s paying attention to the part where we saved people’s lives!” Pierce exclaimed. “Does that really not count for anything?!”

“You weren’t even in the room,” Obra countered.

“Neither were you,” Pierce shot back, “but we were still there, ready to help!”

“Alright, cut it out,” Davídrius demanded. “Look. I appreciate the way y’all felt, or are feelin’. I get that you want to find your friend, rescue her from the Bleeders. I really do. But that don’t change the fact that you left the Compound without permission mere days after a Bleeder assault, and then tried to sneak into Fort Rokres! The place that’s most hostile to outsiders out of all of Treséd! Why the hell did you think that Rokres would know anythin’ about the Bleeders, anyways?!”

“…What?” Pierce questioned as Conrad, Liask, and Obra all turned to stare at him. “C’mon, you guys were the ones who said that Rokres was ‘more advanced’ than the rest of Treséd! And Minilas is supposed to be from there, too, right? In the absence of any other leads, Rokres seemed like a pretty good place to start.”

“You dumbasses…” Davídrius muttered while shaking his head in disbelief. “If you wanted to help, you should’ve just come to the fuckin’ Defense Force!”

The four students responded with uneasy silence.

“…You know, that makes a lot of sense,” Conrad eventually said.

“Sorry we didn’t think of that…” Liask apologized sheepishly.

“Ugh… fuckin’…” Davídrius sighed again, this time of exasperation. “…I can overlook some level of stupidity, but when you’re bringing fuckin’ Ah Konés of Rokres to my desk, I just can’t ignore it. Liask, Obra… we’ll be talkin’ about what you did more this afternoon. And you Earthians, I’ll be mentionin’ this to Luke. I’m sure he’ll take whatever punishments he deems necessary.”

“This isn’t fair,” Obra complained.

“Life ain’t fair,” Davídrius countered. “By most accounts, I’m goin’ fuckin’ light on y’all. I have an Ah Koné in this Compound right now, claiming that ‘agents of Compound Tresnon’ plotted a fuckin’ assassination!”

“You know we didn’t do that!” Pierce remarked.

“Yeah, I know. Y’all are dumb, but you sure ain’t that dumb. The fact still is, though, that Rokres thinks you are. And that’s a damn pain-in-the-ass to deal with.”

“To be perfectly honest, I doubt whether the kids were there or not would change that,” Selind declared. “You know Rokres as well as I do, Davídrius, and they’ve always been distrustful of us. If that Bleeder, Shade, already had plans in Fort Rokres… then I’d be willin’ to bet that if the kids or Relia hadn’t been there, then Rokres’s Chief and Ah Konés would actually be dead, and they’d still be blamin’ us for it.”

“What is an ‘Ah Koné’?” Conrad questioned. “Sounds kinda like ‘Archoné’…”

“Probably connected,” Selind replied. “It’s the same kind of bloodline leadership role. I bet Ah Koné is just a corrupted-over-time version of Archoné… the lesser Konés over there are Ro Konés instead, though, and I dunno where the ‘Ro’ comes from.”

“Titles aside,” Davídrius interjected, “…you do got a point, Selind, about Shade’s plans in Rokres. That fuckin’ invisible bitch… if I ever lay eyes on her, she’s done for.”

“If she’s invisible, then you can’t lay your eyes on her, now can you?”

“Shut the hell up. More importantly, this whole thing is a result of Bleeder meddlin’, again… how the hell did they know when Rokres would be havin’ a Koné Summit? Even we barely know when those things happen.”

“So you acknowledge that the Bleeders are the real culprits, here?” Pierce challenged, “and still, you want to punish us?”

“Have you been listenin’?” Davídrius retorted, “your punishment is for leavin’ the Compound without permission and then tryin’ to sneak into Fort Rokres. None of that has anythin’ to do with the Bleeders. What comes after that, though… damn. I trust Relia, and as dumb as you four are, I can at least tell your intentions were in the right place… but I doubt Rokres will believe any of that. Especially if they refuse to believe that Shade is a Bleeder, or that the Bleeders have any advanced tech at all… Fucking Bleeders…”

The room fell into silence again, with Davídrius massaging his brow once more as Pierce, Conrad, Liask, and Obra exchanged uneasy glances. Selind stood off to the side, an exasperated look on her face as she looked between Davídrius and the students; she then opened her mouth to speak, only for the door to Davídrius’s office to slam open, revealing two individuals: a bald, short man with a stout frame and light complexion, accompanied by a slightly taller light-skinned woman with dark hair.

“Garkam—?” Selind questioned in surprise as she eyed the man.

“There you are, Sentry!” Garkam bellowed, a furious expression on his face as he pointed dramatically at Davídrius. His attention then shifted to Conrad and Liask, at which point irate recollection crossed his face. “That’s them! Detain them!”

In that instant, the woman with Garkam zipped over to Conrad and Liask, grabbing their arms and forcing them to the floor in the blink of an eye. Immediately after that, however, Davídrius leaped over his desk and kicked the woman into the wall, where he pinned her down — while Selind readily grabbed her gun off her back and trained it on Garkam.

“The fuck do you think you’re doin’?!” Davídrius roared.

“I should ask you that, Sentry!” Garkam shouted, glaring at Selind down the barrel of her gun before looking at Davídrius out the corner of his eye. “You’re protectin’ criminals, here! Though I guess I shouldn’t expect any less, of Compound Tresnon!”

“And you think the best way to handle this is to storm into our city and start grabbin’ just whoever you damn well please?!” Davídrius retorted. “You try that in any other Compound, and you’d get fuckin’ shot!”

“Might still happen in this one, dependin’ on your attitude,” Selind remarked, her aim steady. While her laser sniper obviously wasn’t intended to be used in close-quarters, she still carefully watched Garkam — who had stepped too far into the office to have any nearby cover.

“You… wretched outsiders,” Garkam snarled. “I knew this day would come, that you’d turn on Rokres!”

“We ain’t ‘turned’ on anybody!” Davídrius snapped. “The only enemy we’ve got is the Bleeders. I won’t deny that my students did some dumb shit in Rokres, but don’t you for a second think that either us or them are behind this assassination attempt! That was the Bleeders!”

“Ha! And since when do Bleeders have advanced cybernetic prosthetics, hmm? Answer me that!”

“If Rokres paid even the slightest bit of attention to the shit goin’ on outside your borders, then you’d know that the Bleeders are stockpilin’ advanced tech! Hell, even Strén is back! Bet you didn’t know that, did you?”

“Strén…?” Garkam echoed, only to scoff. “Pah. That fool was only ever a threat to the Compounds. He tried a raid on Fort Rokres, sure, but we foiled him, just as we foiled you!”

“Glad to know Rokres hasn’t lost any of its self-confidence,” Selind replied coolly. “Now… do you plan to stand down, Garkam? Or is today the day I get to shoot my first Ah Koné?”

“Ngh…!” The Rokresian Ah Koné growled as he glared at Selind, but remained rooted to his spot. To his side, Davídrius still pinned the Rokresian Velocitechnic to the ground, while Pierce, Conrad, Liask, and Obra had readily retreated to the side of the room, out of Selind’s line of fire. The only audible interruptions to the tense silence were the sounds of rapid footsteps, ending with Ralak dashing up to the open office door and then stopping to look at the scene in front of her.

“Ralak, there you are…” Davídrius remarked.

“Sorry… didn’t mean to let them out of my sight,” Ralak apologized as she tapped the side of the Rokresian Velocitechnic’s head with her bare forearm. Davídrius then pulled away from the woman, but she remained frozen in place by Ralak’s Imperator Psychotechnism. Ralak then eyed Garkam warily. “They didn’t tell us they had a Velocitechnic with ‘em…”

“Why the hell would we trust you with that info?” Garkam countered. “You already basically declared war on Rokres! I was sent here as a generous show of trust on Rokres’s behalf, and if you would just hand over the ones responsible for this mess, then we can put all of this behind us, peacefully!”

“Rokres? Generous?” Selind snorted in disbelief.

“…Hmph. And even after all this, the Wanderer isn’t even here…” Garkam muttered. “You coverin’ for her, too, Sentry? Ghost of Light?”

“Now there’s a title I ain’t heard in a while!” Selind remarked.

“Relia left Tresnon yesterday, we don’t know where the hell she is now,” Davídrius retorted. “I don’t need to ‘cover’ for her, anyways. She ain’t done anythin’ wrong, and even if she did, she’s well able to handle herself.”

“…Fine. I figured you stubborn outsiders wouldn’t change your minds.”

“You’re calling us stubborn?!” Pierce remarked incredulously.

Garkam passed Pierce a doubtful glance before looking at Davídrius again. “And you got dirt-speakers here, too. Can barely believe it.”

“I’ve had enough of your bullshit,” Davídrius snapped, having moved back to behind his desk as he glared at the Ah Koné. “Garkam, believe it or not, it wasn’t Compound Tresnon who attacked you. It was the Bleeders. And these four,” he gestured at Pierce, Conrad, Liask, and Obra, “dumbasses they may be, still saved your ass!”

“That—!”

“But if you refuse to believe that, then, fuckin’, so be it. But I ain’t about to hand ‘em over either, not when you’re gonna try killin’ ‘em for somethin’ they didn’t do. So you got two choices: you walk out of here on your own, with none of Tresnon’s people… or you don’t walk out of here at all.”

Garkam glared at Davídrius and Selind. “…Hmph. You’ve really fallen, Sentry, Ghost of Light. Even Rokres once appreciated the threat you two were to the Bleeders… and now, you let them walk all over you, even usin’ their names to cover your own misdeeds!”

“One more chance, Garkam,” Davídrius snarled; to his side, Selind gently placed her finger on the trigger of her gun.

A deep growl escaped Garkam’s throat, but he said nothing more. Instead, he whipped around on his heel and charged out of the office in a huff. “You’ll regret this, all of you!” he shouted once in the hallway, “Rokres won’t take this challenge lying down! Compound Tresnon may be the biggest Compound, but you’re still nothin’ to Rokres!”

Following his shouts were only the echoing sounds of stomping as the Ah Koné continued down the hallways; as he did, Ralak stepped out of the room to watch him, all while manipulating the Rokresian Velocitechnic to walk behind her. She then glanced toward Davídrius. “…Sorry, again.”

“It’s… agh…” The Dean released an exasperated sigh. “It ain’t your fault, Ralak. None of this is.”

“…If you say so. Should I see them out, then?”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll go with her,” Selind declared as she replaced her gun on her back. “You know, make sure the Defense Force knows that the Rokresians are… ‘hostile visitors’.”

“Good idea,” Davídrius replied. “Make sure Garkam and his escorts know that if they try anythin’, we will take ‘em out… and don’t be afraid to follow up on that threat, either.”

“Of course,” Selind replied as she exited the room after Ralak. “Don’t worry, the ‘Ghost of Light’ will keep ‘em straight. Heh. Can’t believe people still call me that…”

“Good…” Davídrius muttered, watching the women leave. He then glanced to the side, at the students that remained.

“…Well, that sure was something, huh?” Conrad remarked.

“I’m… very sorry,” Liask apologized to Davídrius, “I didn’t… I didn’t realize how badly we fucked up…”

Pierce and Obra both passed Liask uneasy glances, but neither said anything.

“It’s… …well, it ain’t ‘fine’, but I can’t hold y’all completely accountable for Rokres’s bullshit,” Davídrius replied. “And I ain’t about to just roll over to the demands of those stubborn dumbasses, either.”

“And yet, it sounds like the Compounds have another enemy, now…” Pierce muttered.

“An enemy that I’ll ask the four of you to stop involvin’ yourselves in,” Davídrius insisted. “You especially, Pierce. Remember this as an example of what happens if you do shit without thinkin’. Yet another example, in your case.”

Pierce opened his mouth to respond, only to think better of it and resort to scowling.

“With that outta the way… Liask, Obra, I wanna see the two of you in here once your afternoon classes are over. Otherwise…” Davídrius took a seat at his desk and gestured for the door, to which the four students readily began filing out of the room. “Y’all should get back to your classes. I don’t need anythin’ else from y’all, for now.”