Chapter 7: Turn the Page

"You flinch like an animal." A deep voice said, coming from a tall, muscular figure standing over him.

"What good do you hope to do if you cower from the slightest raise of a hand?"

His fingers twitched, pressing them flat against the table—eyes unfocused—breath shallow.

Then, somebody called out.

"Hey, Slyvern!" Ikora's voice broke through the haze; she seemed to be tapping his shoulder, shaking him, doing everything. "You there?"

"Hello?" She snapped her fingers in front of Slyvern, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked around. "Sly...?"

"What is it—yes?" He asked as he blinked, straightening himself.

"Are you okay? You were staring down at the table for five whole minutes."

"Mn," Slyvern grunted as he nodded his head, sitting up straight. "Where were we? The topic was?"

"Great!" She turned back to the person ahead of her as she scooted in closer. "So as I was saying, you'd be willing to teach us, right?"

Brightmoor's eyes moved left to right, from Ikora to Slyvern, but lingered on him. He finished his drink before wiping his mouth clean with a napkin and spoke.

"Hmmmm, denied."

Ikora moved back, raising her eyebrow. "Denied?! What, why??"

Riven neatly folded the napkin and tucked it into the pocket of his robe. "You aren't ready."

"Certainly heard that one before..." Slyvern muttered to himself.

"Why not?!"

"Remind me who was the one who tried to attack me a few days back, putting themselves on maintenance duty?"

"That was–I wasn't–but..."

"Wasn't thinking straight? I could tell, who could do so around me anyway?"

Ikora squinted her eyes, glaring at Riven. "Yes... But that's not the reason..." She said between gritted teeth.

"Ugh, Slyvern, can you try talking to him?"

"My job is to convince him now?" He asked.

"Certainly seems like so!" Riven remarked as he crossed his legs, leaning in closer to listen. "What do you have to say, Cinny?"

"Cinny...? W-Who are you talking to?"

"You, of course, it's a nickname I just thought of! Fitting, wouldn't you agree?"

"Fitting nickname, eugh! Keep it to yourself!"

"Oops, your aggressive side is showing, Cinny~"

"Hey!" Ikora snapped. "Knock it off, Riven!"

"Sorry, sorry~," He said in a singing tone.

Just then, the bell—Gertrudel—began to ring from outside the building. Hundreds of students got up from their seats, letting go of their trays as they floated over to a bin where they'd stack themselves neatly.

A few trays had scraps which were given to a pair of ravens that perched on the ceiling, overlooking the cafeteria from the ceiling beams.

Riven cleared his throat once the ringing ended. "No, but seriously, apologies on my part–I must've overstepped."

"It's fine, just, are you sure you don't want to teach either of us?"

Riven stopped in his tracks, turning to take one last look at the pair. "Hmm, I'm positive."

"But if you'd like a word of advice, perhaps some introspection is needed." He continued as he walked out of the room. "I've no doubt you'll find the meaning, I'm certain your combined intellect shall... suffice."

And with that, he was gone in a flash of yellow light, leaving the pair alone in the cafeteria.

The ravens finished their snack from the trays, taking one glance at the two before flying off.

"Did you understand a thing he said?" She asked.

Slyvern shook his head as he slung his bag over his shoulder and left the cafeteria, while Ikora grabbed her staff and followed behind.

They walked through the bustling hallways, surrounded by crowds of students and unusual artifacts, sharing a brief moment of silence as they made their way through the chaos.

"Soo..."

"Yes?" Ikora glanced over to Slyvern.

"Maintenance duty," he asked, "how many days left?"

"Dude! Just two or three more days of absolute torture!" She ran her fingers through her hair.

"Harsh, man."

Ikora let out a sigh. "Turns out unauthorized AND unsupervised dueling is a 'serious offense'—" She said as she made air quotes out of sparkling Mana. "Who knew?!"

"Shocker..." Slyvern replied.

"It's whatever. Why did you ask?"

"Simple. I had an idea: you work in the library—use it, find something useful."

"You are allowed to borrow books, correct?"

"That's true..." She paused, repeating Slyvern's words softly. "Oh my gosh... you're right!"

"Slyvern, in the meantime, maybe you can find us a personal teacher or something?"

"Huh? I didn't agree to all that, did I?"

"Maybe not," Ikora leaned in close. "But think about it, we'd finally gain some sort of recognition here!"

Turning his head, Slyvern responded. "And why can't you do it?"

"Slyvern, ever since we've gotten here, you've always been better at convincing other students and teachers for extra time, lunch, longer lessons—everything!"

"I'd say you'd know more about convincing." He mumbled.

"Fine, I'll see what I can do."

"Perfect!" Ikora began running ahead, turning on her heels to face him. "Good idea! I'll see what I can find!" She shouted out while pointing over at Slyvern, running backward.

The two parted ways, and the day shifted into the usual rhythm of lectures and note-taking—but Ikora heard none of it; mind was filled with plans, overshadowing anything of importance that the professors could be saying.

"Slyvern's right. The library's the answer. They must have something..." She repeated.

Throughout the day, Ikora felt as if she were being followed by something, catching very few glimpses of a small black outline of something whenever she looked out of the corner of her eye.

But she paid it no mind.

By sunset, she stood before the garden's iron gates, her assignment in her hand.

The Snapdragons hissed as she approached, their thorned leaves twitching.

"Hmph, Introspection, huh?" She kicked a pebble. "Well, maybe Riven's the one who needs it!"

She knelt before one of the Snapdragons, attempting to tend to its teeth cleaning.

She hastily gripped the snout and tried to lift the lip of the plant, only to get bitten in the blink of an eye.

"Ow–damn it!" Ikora held her hand as she shook it in pain, then stuck her finger into her mouth, only to pull it out immediately after.

"EUGH!!" Sticking her tongue out, she looked at her finger to find a small puncture wound with a small streak of red trickling down.

"Yikes... I'll deal with that later."

The Snapdragon revealed its wings and stretched itself out towards her, letting out a hiss of intimidation.

"Alright, alright! Sorry, I forgot..." Ikora carefully grabbed the snout of the plant and opened its mouth before putting a special toothbrush in between its teeth.

For the next hour, she moved from plant to plant, grooming them as her heart raced, checking her watch, and watching the minutes fly by.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, Ikora's watch went off, and she hastily packed up her belongings, put up the tools, then locked the garden behind her as she ran to the library.

After setting down her belongings, Ikora breezed past Atilus with barely a glance..

"Hey Danen!"

"Welcome back, Ikora!" He replied, "Oh–and you're, uh..."

"Can't talk right now!" She said from down the hall. "Too busy!'

Immediately darting for the back section, Ikora grabbed a ladder and put it up against a bookshelf before holding out her hand and causing a small blue orb with a smile to appear in front of her.

Putting the orb against one of her eyes, it began to function as a magnifier, following the direction of where her eyes went as she read the spine of the books.

"Gardening101, The Life Guide, Beginner's guide to Fire, no... no... uh, no..." She slid the ladder side to side, up and down as she searched and searched until finally, she found it.

"Ah-ha! A Novice's Guide to WAMA... includes magic basics and academy details, perfect!"

Ikora slid down from the ladder and landed next to her bag, where she'd then tuck the large book away and continue her sorting duties.

This time, she had an easier job with the books, remembering how to guide them into their proper sections.

Once done, her watch alarm went off and she cleaned up her space before taking her bag and rushing out of the library, not even noticing Atilus' wave.

The rest of the day passed by as a breeze; the Maintenance tasks had nothing to do. Thankfully, everything was running smoothly.

So with the extra time gifted to her, Ikora rushed back to her room across campus, darted through the doors up the stairs, then dashed down the halls, unlocked her door, and pulled the book out of her bag before tossing her bag onto her bed.

Getting into her rolling chair, she slid over to the desk with the book in hand, turned on the lamp, then opened the book and began flipping through the pages.

"Woah... there's so much stuff in here!"

She flipped past chapter headings—Mana Refinement, Vessel Construction, Spell-weaving, Academy History.

As she skimmed lines, Slyvern quietly appeared at her shoulder.

"Any help in there?" he murmured, leaning in as she paused at a section.

"Look at that." His finger tapped a highlighted note: "The truths we accept as part of ourselves strengthen us whole."

Ikora nodded, then carried on, taking down the information on spells and their forging, cloaking, and more.

Gradually, the only sound in the room was the soft rustle of pages and pencil against paper. After absorbing the information and tricks she was reading, Ikora's eyes stopped on a line etched in faded ink. She leaned forward, Slyvern right beside her, as they looked at the page.

It read:

"May only an honest heart turn its pages—the bravest—its might. But the lies of the soul shut the tome—shunned of guiding light."

"Huh?"

"That sound familiar?" Slyvern asked.

Ikora's eyes darted across the page. "N-No, no idea..."

Slyvern stared at it for a moment longer, then leaned back in his chair with a scoff. "Probably just some poetic nonsense. These old books have a habit of trying to act mysterious."

He looked over to Ikora, expecting a response.

Silence followed, broken only by the scratching of Ikora's pencil as she continued jotting down notes.

Slyvern stood and stretched with a groan. "Alright, I'm out before my brain melts."

"You sure?" she asked, still not looking up.

"Yeah. Unlike you, I ain't got the stamina of some crazy scholar."

"Try not to fuse with that chair or something."

"Uh-huh." She replied, flipping a page.

He shrugged as he made his way to his bed and got inside, shutting off the light on his side. "Don't overdo it."

Ikora gave a short nod, already flipping to the next page.

Left alone in the glow of the desk light, Ikora leaned in closer, her eyes scanning the next diagram of spells.

"Desire, Intent, Catalyst—all words related to the spell section, all intertwined."

She turned another page, then another, then another.

"Just a little longer..." She murmured.

"I'm not done yet..."