The University of Belzac Heart (Merely agile and adaptable)

West of Forness was Belzac. While the former was the heavyweight nation of the continent, with more manpower and landpower, the latter was enough of a neighbour that the two chose to be good ones, with good fences.

Belzac Heart, the core city of the country, was a metropolis on par with Forness Heart, if not as large – polished stone and brick homes lined cobblestone streets, windows lined with glass, and wealth to spare. Life here had an air of apparent ease that made it hard to imagine this world had been operating on a full wartime capacity only a little while ago.

There were, of course, hidden costs of the war that weighed on everyone’s minds.

The heart of Belzac’s Heart, in a sense, and the pride and joy of its people, was its University, shamelessly and rather blandly known as the “University of”. Nonetheless, UBH was a small, elite institute that pushed the envelope in one of the world’s most vital fields – Spiritual Energy.

The Breath of the World was owed its deepest respect, which only made it more necessary to understand it and the Spirits that had been part of this reality since time immemorial. With this understanding, UBH was known to cater to experts and researchers of all kinds, who would go on to be the most esteemed spiritualists in the land.

This was the pitch Zelfie had been given years ago, but these days, she wasn’t sure which was further at the end of its rope – the university or her.

The University Cafe was one of the facilities on the campus that was still active, though food quality was at its most economical. Zelvie, a ragged and unkempt brunette, killed the last of her aesthetic dignity by lying slumped over one of the outdoor tables while bemoaning her fate.

The Spirits had chosen to be testy again, meaning the one remaining active workshop was closed, and likely would be for the whole day. Another wasted day, where she couldn’t get anything done, because there was nothing left in UBH to do.

“Professor threw you out for being an embarrassment, Zel?” A shadow asked as it cast itself over her face.

Zelfie flicked her gaze upward at the cat-syhee who still bothered to overdress for classes, half a smirk on her face.

“Ah, shut up, Seven,” the student huffed, and did nothing to stop her enemy from sitting opposite to her, or ordering two coffees.

“They’re both for me, but you can embarrass yourself by stealing one of mine,” syhee excused, pushing the cup over to her. “But really, what’s happened? Is the workshop closed again?”

“Again…” Zel whined. “At the rate this is going, I won’t be able to examine the local flows for Spirit Energy or finish my thesis in time. If it gets delayed, I’m going to wind up being delayed another year…”

Seven expression at the sight deflated as well, before she admitted her own gossip.

“I heard from my father that the board of professors is going to meet about UBH’s future.”

That put a cold spike of anxiety in the researcher’s heart, making her jump up in her seat to stare at Constance. There was not even a twitch of dishonesty in her face. “It’s that bad? I mean, there must have been effort, or scholarships-”

“Zel, you might think you can get by with hard work, but it doesn’t change the fact that this place has been a ghost town. Money can’t whip up people from nothing.”

The Menace’s assault on the world had been physical and metaphysical, and with everyone’s lives on the line, near every fighting fit man and woman, blessed with natural aptitude - or at least having enough know-how to manipulate physical matter - enlisted or were conscripted to raise arms against the monstrous horde.

One full hall slowly emptied out across half a decade, taking the earnest volunteers, then the dutiful, and then whoever fit a minimum standard.

There was once a time Zel had Peltam and Dele, and they would trade angry barbs and intense rivalries with Constance, Niemont and her other upper-crust pals, and they would have the energy to spare to be angry at each other.

Constance had more fire back then, before it came down to the two of them.

The University of Belzac Heart was for a fortunate few, those who were capable of the highest level of Spiritual mastery. Now, it was a yoke – who still remained to meet those lofty standards?

“So, what?” Zelfie slowly asked. “UBH is going to shut down?”

“Think of it this way,” Constance offered, gently. “It’s not like we’re expelled. It’s just a gap year… or two. Long enough for the University to put its affairs in order. We’ll find some work in the meantime, until it reopens. There must be something Spiritualists like us can manage. Sweet talking a local water Spirit tampering with the pipes or something.”

“All my work for five years, trying to get a thesis going, and it’s all going up in smoke,” Zel moaned, hands in her face.

“What were you even working on?” Constance asked, if only to distract her nemesis for a few seconds. “Reveberations in the city?”

“It was going to take off now that the Menace was gone!” Zelfie nearly snarled, hands gripping and shaking at the air in order to pry her needs right out of the air. “I could have been at the forefront of showing how things have changed, so we would know what the baseline is like now with Malevolence! But if I’m going to keep being delayed, I’m screwed! Especially if UBH shutters! Then who knows how long until I can find a workshop! It’s not like either of us are certified to work elsewhere!

The student glared down at the cup of coffee that had been slid over to her.

“I just need a source of data. Hell, I don’t care where it comes from. Even Malevolence – at least I could see how it’d be affecting local Spiritual Energy. Of course, only actual psychos use that stuff.”

“Just don’t say that seriously in front of the professor,” Constance warned. “Or you’re going to get worse than expulsion.”

“A few years ago you’d probably be dragging me in front of a professor to stab me in the back,” Zel said, with a knowing smirk.

“Shut up and drink your coffee. It’ll be more productive than begging for something that doesn’t exist. Malevolence, pah.”

(By the way, Trudy, apparently someone in your area is packaging Malevolence as jewellery, or something? If you have time, could you look into that? Just a little thing.)

“Oh, like I’d know exactly where to start! Idiot.”