V5 Incline 18: Nin

Gods help me... Gods save me... There's no way I can learn everything I need before this exam. How much time do I even have? How much time do I have!? How much...?

It's impossible... Either I run away, escape the country just to stay alive... Or I might as well just kill myself right now. Save the guards the trouble of wasting bullets on me.

"Will we have to do it upon arriving at your rooted-flower?" Rose-sweerui asks, breaking the icy silence. Her hand comes close to my heart, gently squeezing the area as she otherwise keeps herself up against me to the best the backseats allow her.

"No, no. No, you are given a three-to-five-month period to prepare using onsite equipment. We are aware many coming in won't have the most refined magic, so we give them a period to refine it. Gives us a good gauge to one's ability to learn," he explains, putting me at some ease as that should be enough time... Right?

That has to be enough time, shouldn't it? I was able to learn a few things these past few weeks with Rose-sweerui alone. She's not even a professional teacher, and they should be able to do so much more. I can learn enough in the time frame I've been given if I put my mind to it. Really dedicate myself to it with all the lessons my age has wised me to.

Yeah. Yeah, I just need to briefly go through a learning time- Some time where I'm just learning. Yeah, yeah, I can do that...

"Are there any limits to what we will be able to use?" I dare to ask, the outside traffic certainly indicative of a discriminating future.

"Nope, the entrance exam build-up period is also treated as a taster term for potential newcomers. So we let them have at it. And it also lets them see if the Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding is right for them. A system that has worked out quite well for us so far. Many a *prodigy* has had no trouble adapting to our way of life," he explains, an odd emphasis coming from him towards the end.

I'm no prodigy... I can only wish and pray that I actually am if three months is all I might have at worst.

"But... I won't have the option of just deciding it ain't for me and leaving." I let out, my thoughts too vocal for the moment.

"No. No, I am afraid not. But with the stakes clear to you, you should have the drive to finish it well. Our halls have produced many studies to support this, if you want a more professionally clinical outlook," he says, his words not all that helpful.

Data has its flaws, its outliers and its unforeseen uncertainties... All points that can only drive my claws to do one thing. Tighten.

"Yeah, sure. I will go above and beyond because otherwise I will be shot dead for having the body of a bug..." I sarcastically snap and bite.

"I am no psychology expert, I admit, but, Nin was it? You have an aelenvar lover there. If it helps, try readjusting your goals so that you are doing it for her rather than yourself." he says in a much softer tone as the vehicle comes to a steady halt. He hops on out with no problem, and I linger where I am, my eyes turning off to Rose-sweerui. She looks up at me, offering a shaky smile and an intimate touch. I take her up on the offer, holding her hand in my claw as I find myself second-guessing so many prior thoughts.

"My love, I will be there for you... I promise," she whispers close to my covered ear, the wet ring of a kiss sealing her word. As permanent as carvings on stone, painted with gold and forever looked after. I nod in acknowledgement, taking her feelings for what they are even as I awkwardly squeeze my way out of the car.

Rose-sweerui steps out beside me, keeping close, a tail snaking up my arm. Our eyes meet again, and I stare deeply into her eyes as the face around them is nothing but worried. She tries to smile, it going so far as to form on her face. But with another aircraft passing over us, the heavy metal thunk of its guns at the ready... Her smile goes, and she latches onto me, hugging me with almost shell-cracking force.

"Don't worry, my love, I won't let them kill you. I will help you however I can." she goes, her hug ending right after she finishes speaking. I give her a slow nod as my response, otherwise watching her as she pats herself down and straightens herself out. Her old habits as an ivy-mother coming to the front of her thoughts as we look towards Frihdeicalkbr.

"O-Oh! Oh! Oh!" he goes, his curiosity shattering, "And I nearly forgot, but I'll have to look into the time period you have considering your situation. But, but. We also allow score sharing if you sign up for the entrance exam together."

"Our scores get added on top of each other?" Rose-sweerui asks, a half-step bringing her ahead as a hand goes near her upper chest. She turns back to me, not quite a smile or anything on her face. Perhaps all it is, is just pity... Pity and despair, I don't know.

"Yes, and no. If one of you does well enough to cover the passing grade for both individuals, then you both pass. However, if one fails too much, only the one with enough gets in." Frihdeicalkbr clarifies, his words assuring as much as they are damning. If I'm not good enough, I will be asking too much of Rose-sweerui, and if the opposite somehow rings true...

The problems of Tobaballe...

"Why only if you sign up together?" I ask, hoping to move my mind elsewhere, even with all of the impossible to ignore stops to that line of thinking.

"Because the experiences of the user define their magic, some people have theirs defined more by their close bonds. Either way, you now know, so let's get those friends of yours." Frihdeicalkbr explains, turning our attention towards the final checkpoint before the plateau.

"What is the passing score?" I can't help but ask, my deepest hopes and fears all looking for the same thing. Something that isn't absurdly tight on the pass rate.

"Seventy out of a hundred made up of averages from all your tests, which are also scored out of a hundred. If you score sixty-one or higher, we offer the chance to redo some of your tests to get it up. Though, I doubt you'll be given the latter chance due to circumstances. Let alone the rare times we pass those who score sixty-nine based on an assumption," he explains, his voice growing louder as the obnoxious aircraft above us seem almost determined to interrupt our conversation.

"So that means as long as me, Einervaene and the human-root can get more than seventy... We can fill in for any of your... Deficiencies... My love." Rose-sweerui struggles to say, the only word there really is for the situation not sitting well on her tongue. Of all the people she would say it easily to, I am not one of them.

She lingers close to me, whispering incoherently because of the noise. All we can hope for is that, in fact, she wasn't struggling at all to say anything. She just forgot the word, and that she wasn't considering anything about my magic at all...

I think I can pass this exam on my own. I should be able to, but I don't know, I really do not know. All I have to show so far with my magic is that I can punch things hard and break rocks. Hardly something spectacular to the people of this place, I imagine. They're probably looking for fancy spells and cunning sorcery.

I have this trick with my claws...

"Mm." I let out, eyeing the digits in question as my magic solidifies a little around each one. Nothing special at all.

"Find courage, my love. You have more potential than you realise," Rose-sweerui sweetly whispers, her words enough for the latest lapse in confidence and self-esteem. I stop momentarily, watching the aircraft circle us. No diving hawks to move out of the way of. Only bullets and cannon rounds if I do anything the guards don't like. Simply existing as a monster is already enough for them and they just want that extra excuse.

"Ok..." is all I can really let out right now. My mind is too bothered with all these different details to come up with anything. All we can do for the moment is follow my new caretaker, my lifesaver. Frihdeicalkbr. We just need to follow him into this main building of sorts for the Plateau Gate I think he called it.

I guess the idea is that it's the last gate on the spiralling road up the mountain. The last checkpoint on the path to Thrurstradtur. There's an irony to it all, at the very least. Something I can smile and perhaps chuckle about if this worry gets out of my system anytime soon.

We're at the traditional start of the way to Thrurstradtur directly... Where I'd already be if I weren't what I am. I'm not supposed to be here at all. Osibindah are not welcome, and the people inside the building have no idea what's going on. Except the guards. And it's spreading from them and to everyone with every crackle of the radio.

Scared is one way to put what everyone is feeling. Everyone's suddenly jumpy and the gossip is raging worse than any fire I've ever seen in my life. The wonder of all the surrounding sights is gone. Especially the way to Thrurstradtur, it's now just the world's longest executioner's road.

"Gods above... Dammit..." I hiss under my breath, between the clicking of my mandibles. I'm so angry with myself when I think about it. I went through all of that effort to climb the mountain. I hurled my way through the snow-belt, and I kept Rose-sweerui alive through all of that... Only to be let down by my own ironic incompetence regarding magic...

Even with all I've achieved since getting my power, there's no dismissing it as anything else. Incompetence, it's incompetence. Climbing a mountain is nothing if I can't control it properly. It's like trying to say I'm a good public speaker when all I can do to speak coherently is scream and shout and bang and crash...!

Even my own thoughts are getting out of control, and I can't... I can't...

I've barely any time to learn magic properly to the level the Academy wants. I know full well I barely have any time, especially with how I'm being presented with only two choices. Try and fail, or don't try and die, anyway. I died once without any sense of self, and now I get to experience what it's like to die knowing full well what I am seeing and hearing.

Injustice is one thing to hear about, one thing to read about. But to be on the receiving end of it. To face the possibility of being killed off for no justifiable legal reason at all... It... It just has me bitter and cynical in a way I never thought possible. I thought I found it, the limits of bitterness, but, no, all the things I've been bitter about as of late are nothing compared to this.

"Hopefully, we can get to the others before... This... Gets out of hand." Rose-sweerui comments, her sneer clear and full of warning. A warning, the stalking guards and their unclipped holsters, have no intention of taking heed of. So many people are here, just as uncomfortable with the fact there are raised guns. Yet, the confusion is worse.

Why are the guns raised? Why aren't they moving to arrest me or shoot me? They won't know the answer to that until they see what I am... Who doesn't matter, only what.

I really wish we could just get out of here right now. That this crowd would just disappear. They're making everything worse with their garbled mess of demands and chatter. Luckily enough for me, for once at the moment, who we are looking for has found us.

"Rianta-chira, Nin-kishchu! What's going on?" Einervaene asks, her own confusion stinging me more than anything this crowd is throwing out. She can't stop looking around at them, her eyes going from one gun barrel to the next. From her position, I can't imagine there's much else to see it as other than... The guns being aimed at her. Because of me.

Baltanthan, however, couldn't give any which way about it. He's too enthralled in his discussion with Frihdeicalkbr, the older man snatching up the younger one's attention near instantly, it seems. From what little I'm picking up above the murmurs of the crowd, it seems that he's not required to follow us. He can part ways whenever he wants.

He's not eligible for Oddity House, and that seems to be the entire precedent and...

Baltanthan takes no issue with it, he breathes a great sigh of relief. Almost hopping with joy and disappearing right after. My eyes linger on the closing doors. A strange emptiness to my spirit, even with how we've had a rough relationship since meeting each other. Just like that, huh? I keep him alive to escape Tryhpeltzweig, and we go through all of what we did to get here, and he just... No, no.

There's no point in being angry with him. He's told me so many times he's basically using me. I'm just his means to Suhurlodst, a means to chase a dream he had otherwise given up on. And, now... He's here, free of any and all other burdens.

I... I guess I'm fine with that, when I think about it. It's not treachery when he's been telling me his feelings the entire time. It's expected, if disappointing. I guess there's a good thing to take from it, his typically foul mood wouldn't have made mine any better.

Besides, Einervaene is still here, and I can count on her to listen without interruption, condescension or snark.

"And off we go, assuming I got the correct two?" Frihdeicalkbr asks us, his words pointless as I don't think we need to speak about it. I nod quickly and head on out, getting heckled for my trouble as the carpark does little to ward off our problems. We settle back into the car, taking off once again with new company.

"C-Can I know what is going on now!?" Einervaene struggles to ask with a consistent voice. She dares to roll down the glass just to get a better view of the aircraft following us. To stare at the heating barrels and the munitions down the dark within.

"Your companion here was forced to let slip the fact that he is an osibindah," Frihdeicalkbr tells her, "As such, the various security forces of Thrurstradtur are on alert regarding him. How high up is aware, I have not a clue. But, it shan't be long until the Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding is forced to address the issue in tabletwork."

I barely manage to look at Einervaene as she finds herself only able to have pity in her eyes, "This wasn't because of me or Baltanthan, was it?"

"No, no, it wasn't..." I answer instead, making sure she's aware that she had nothing to do with this. At least, I hope.

A gloved hand comes up, hiding and resting her face, "Will we have to worry about what happened in the town we left?"

"No, they aren't within the legal jurisdiction as far as I know..." I tell her, borderline muttering as I've not a clue how the events of Tryhpeltzweig come into being here. It's a town that otherwise called itself independent. How is this going to affect Thrurstradtur's legal decision?

"This has happened before?" Frihdeicalkbr asks, his curiosity not needing the keenest set of ears to overhear us.

I nod in reply, but Rose-sweerui beats me to opening my mouth, "It has... A root, a Ravineer, as you put it. She stuck her nose where it shouldn't have been and we were force to leave an otherwise pleasant stay on violent terms."

"A ravineer? Ah, a ravineer town," he goes, to which I nodded again, "That's good, assuming they are listening in, they can't hold that against you."

I frown, doing my best to look away towards Thrurstradtur as he gestures that way, a snarl comes to my lips, "You sure are prepared to go through a lot just to satiate some curiosity..."

"Indeed, but you are a very exceptional situation. A very exceptionally special one indeed. But, to change the topic a little, what ravineer town was it?" he asks, paying no mind at all to my rising temper.

"Tryhpeltzweig." I answer, my jaws snapping like any predator might when they've got their jaws on a fresh kill.

"Tryhpeltzweig...? Hm... I swear I've heard that- Ah! I remember now, the residence of one of our former students who made quite the reserve of wealth before he left." he recalls, a surprising amount of intimacy to his words.

"You know him?" Einervaene asks, her voice forced and her intentions clear. Not that I mind, anything to get us away from the issue we're currently faced with.

"Brewbrt? I do. He was a student I sometimes looked into whenever he came back from some jobs he took on as part of his education. Back when he was known more so as the Sky Bomber than just Brewbrt," Frihdeicalkbr explains, a chuckle to his lips.

Rose-sweerui audibly blinks, shuffling about as she leans ahead, "He is older than you, no?"

"He is, by a few centuries, in fact." Frihdeicalkbr chuckles the circumstances of magic and its many ironies causing so much more confusion than they have to. But I'd rather be dealing with all of this than what is out there. Flying on by so obnoxiously. So threateningly...