The sun was already quite high in the sky when Khi’nai finally awoke. The previous night with Flora ended with far too late for her liking and when they finally returned home, she simply passed out in her bed.
She slowly dragged herself out of the bed towards an open window. The air was obnoxiously cold as it blew into the abandoned dormitory. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stretched. She looked down to see she was still dressed in her town attire, most of it at least, 2 of her leg warmers had fallen off in her bed.
Khi’nai slowly walked towards her bed, roughly pulling the covers straight as she heard a voice from the door: “Misstress Khi’nai, are you up?”.
She turned towards the voice: “barely” she muttered before seeing a power blue custodian from the library the other day: “Oh, Shi’na, is there something the matter?”
“Yes deary, the headmaster is calling for you”.
Khi’nai’s blood froze: “T-the headmaster? What for? Have I done something?”
The custodian smiled: “N-no deary, I believe you have a visitor”.
Her face lit up. Mother, she got my letter: “Yes of course, I’ll make myself proper and go see him right away”
She dressed as best she could before making her way up the many levels of stairs towards the headmaster’s office. She didn’t quite understand why it had to be on the very top floor of the Academy, it was mostly likely a matter of status.
As she approached the large wooden doors her heart started to race. She didn’t see her mother anywhere, maybe she was inside? Maybe this wasn’t even about that, she took a few deep breathes. She had done nothing wrong, she would be fine, but the headmaster of the school was a foreboding presence.
An enormous stalwart dragon, whose voice alone was enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart. His battle aged brown scales and piercing eyes made to admit to crimes you’ve never committed.
She approached the small desk of the gryphon secretary, who gestured for her to sit without a word. She sat down on nearby and admired the scenery. The hall was utterly enormous, furnished with expensive antique painting, school flags, trophies, and variety of different plants. It was deathly silent outside the noise of the gryphon’s quill gently scraping against the papers he was working on.
Khi’nai suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump with a yelp. A soft laughter came from behind her: “relax my dear, you’re not a criminal”. Khi’nai’s eyes teared up: “m-mom, you came!” she pulled the dark red dragoness into a warm embrace. “Oh, my beloved Khi’nai, you made some very serious accusations in that letter you sent; I had to make sure you were okay. Come, let’s go inside and discuss this”
They entered the headmaster’s office. Everything inside was posher than she had ever witnessed in her life. Gold inlays on all the expensive imported wooden furniture. Ancient wood bookshelves filled with pristinely maintained antique books and manuscripts and a pleasant smell of fresh flowers and sweet morning brew. Her mother gestured for her to sit down on one of the two posh pillows near the heavy wooden desk.
The headmaster spoke while facing towards one of the bookshelves: “Let me begin by saying that it is, most troubling to me that you would suggest that members of the Sacrament would be operating within the halls of this sacred Academy”, he spoke slowly and with tremendous authority, he turned towards them, looking more stoic than ever before: “While I have no reason to believe that you would lie about something like this, I also find it highly unlikely that it could possibly be true. We have strong monitoring and security protocols, both physical and magical in nature. Our students are screened and validated before entering the grounds and whilst moving between classes and going about their day. How would you suggest that this apparent Sacrament member, come into the ground without triggering any of our safeguards?”
Khi’nai gulped, looking to her mother who smiled and gestured for her to speak: “W-w-well, I think one of them is posing as a student. I think he might even be a legitimate student of the Academy”
The headmaster sighed: “I see, please describe this student”.
“A male kobold, brown scales, he’s quite short, even for a kobold. He has a stutter, nervous mannerism. He always wears the hood of his cloak over his neck”.
The brown dragon rubbed his chin: “we have a great many kobolds on campus, both students and custodians. Brown is also quite a common colour amongst kobold. If such a student were to be suspicious, they would easily blend in”, he pondered for a moment: “Still, members of the Order are tainted by dark Aether they would trigger our magical safeguards”.
Khi’nai sighed, she looked at her mother for words. The dark red dragoness spoke softly: “Headmaster, is it possible that the Order members are making use of non-practicing members to infiltrate the grounds? Magic safeguards only detect dark aether if it is present. If an uninitiated member of the Order were to enter the grounds, under the assumption that they had not yet practiced the Dark Sacrament, is it not possible to bypass the magical safeguards?”
The headmaster frowned: “You make a troubling argument Mistress A’halumia, if the Order does in fact have non-practicing members upon our grounds, you are correct that the taint of dark Aether would not be upon them as a non-practicing member”, he paced towards a bookshelf: “if that is true, and they have found a loophole in our safeguards. It is possible that this member or members would still be upon the grounds. The Academy has thousands of members, a full-scale manhunt on the grounds would cause panic and disorder and would serve little purpose than to alert them to our intentions. Mistress A’halumia, you said their interest was in the Grove beneath the Academy itself?”
Scalah nodded: “Yes Headmaster”
“Then I have no other option for the sake of the Academy, let them find it”
Scalah frowned: “With all due respect Headmaster, that seems like a non-response to the issue at hand”.
“Mistress A’halumia, the Sacred Grove beneath this Academy is guarded by a fearsome creature that is not of our making”.
Scalah blinked: “The story of the student’s death was true?”
The headmaster sighed: “Unfortunately it is. It is also why I have no fear of the Order finding the grove. Anyone foolish enough to enter it will be wholly destroyed by its Guardian”.
Scalah frowned: “What makes you assume this Guardian can stand up to an Order member?”
The headmaster smirked: “I have no reason to believe that it would not, it is after all considered to be an elder deity by some. A creature known as Septiniel”
Khi’nai jumped up: “We have, the elder being Septiniel, custodian of light, in the Academy basement?”
The headmaster shrugged: “Why yes, this is where it has always resided. I wouldn’t call it an elder deity myself, more of an elder serpent”, he walked back to his desk and sat down: “You see child, there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. No single Order member would be able to stand a chance.”
Khi’nai turned to her mother: “You knew? About the elder deity in the basement?”
Her mother frowned: “No, I did not, frankly I find it all a little unbelievable personally; However, I think if the headmaster believes the Grove is safe then, who are we to question his judgement”.
Khi’nai’s jaw dropped: “O-o-okay then? So, we do?”
The headmaster smiled: “Nothing, you go back to enjoying your free weekend with your little green friend. There is nothing to be concerned about. The Grove is perfectly safe”.
Khi-nai looked at the floor: “I-I, o-o-okay?”
Scalah gently embraced her daughter, pulling her close: “You’re safe here sweetheart. You don’t have to concern yourself with this. Now, run along. I have a few more matters to discuss with the headmaster”
—-
Khi’nai sighed as she made her way back to the dormitory. She came all this way to just pick his side on this. Really? No, maybe she was right. This Academy has stood for a hundred years with no problems. Maybe Flora was right, it’s just hormones making me see things that aren’t real. She slashed at one of the pot plants in the hallway: “Son of a BITCH”.
“E-e-easy w-w-with the curses. Y-you might get into some r-real trouble with the headmaster”. She spun around the brown hooded kobold stood behind her, the halls behind him darkened. “You, you little bastard”. He took a step back holding up his paws: “A-at least h-h-hear me out”. She snorted. He sighed: “I k-k-knew you were s-s-spying on us yesterday. S-sneaky little d-d-dragon. You nearly g-g-got me skinned alive.”. She swallowed: “you knew?”
“I m-m-might be a kobold, but I’m not s-s-stupid or blind. Even if the Teacher thinks t-t-this of me” Khi’nai snorted: “what’s your game? What does the Order even want in this place?”
“You know, i-i-if I told you that, I’d be d-d-dead by dawn”, he slowly removed his hood. Khi’nai took a step back, “y-y-you’re unharmed? Don’t Order members usually…”
“Yes, b-b-but I was not initiat-t-ted like the others. The Teacher, spared me the torture”
She blinked: “of course, because otherwise you could’ve never gotten into the Academy”.
He snorted: “the m-m-magic shields? Are you s-s-sure?”, he raised a paw and fired a purple blast from it blowing a nearby pot plant to dust.
She took a step back, looking around. He shrugged: “The Headmaster is a m-m-mistaken. The s-s-safeguards mean nothing, in f-f-f-fact there are none”.
“The Teacher, however, has partaken of even darker arts. He doesn’t enter this place as a matter of principle”
Khi’nai blinked: “Y-Your stutter went away?”
“It was a woefully annoying façade to maintain. Listen, I’m going to be frank with you. You know far too much”, he sighed: “if you want to continue breathing it is probably best that you stop prying in our matters”
Khi’nai snorted but remained silent.
“It’s not in my capacity to kill. The magic safeguards don’t detect dark aether quite as readily as they should, but death is far easier to detect. Besides, I’ve grown quite fond of this little cat and mouse game with have going. The Teacher, however, is not so courteous, he will kill you if he finds out what you’re doing.”
Khi’nai snorted: “Can you at least tell me who you are?”
The kobold sighed: “Only if you promise me something”
Khi’nai blinked: “What?”
He smiled: “give me a proper burial”.
Khi’nai shook her head: “I-I, w-what do you mean?”
He sighed: “You ask too many questions Khi’nai”
She blinked: “S-s-sure I promise.”
The kobold gave her a weak sorrowful smile: “My name was once I’lain. What it is now, is lost to time”
Khi’nai: “I’lain”
The kobold smiled, putting his hood back on and slipping back into the darkness: “Thank you, you will need it remember it soon enough. To write my obituary”.
Khi’nai stood staring into the dark hallway for a while, the aetheric torches slowly restarting one by one.
The dark red dragoness approached from behind: “Khi’nai? What happened here?
Khi’nai spun around seeing her mother investigating the remains of the potted plant: “I, nothing, one of the Shi’na accidentally broke the pot”
Scalah snorted: “I see, I assume you are going back to dorms?”
Khi’nai nodded: “Y-yes mother”
Scalah smiled: “off you go then, your little friend is probably worried about you”. Khi’nai smiled weakly before darting down the hallway. She wasn’t going back to Flora. She had to find out what was happening and when. If nobody believed her, she would have to be the one to stop it. Somehow.
