Qayid was roughly a head taller than Ivyda - clearly the oldest in the room. The hammer he wore on his back was familiar to Midas, most likely having been part of the guild Ivyda was the leader of. The uniform he wore barely fit around his arms, stretched out tightly to wrap around his bicep, his muscle almost unnatural as he towered over the table. The helmet and long blue robe he wore hid him almost completely when they were on the way to the Cascrender ruins - the steel now revealing long, dark brown, curly hair that reached to his shoulders.
"I'm sure you already know him, Midas - he helped us defeat that ancient sentry underground..."
"I remember - we found Graf and Haya there. I'm sorry for the burn marks you got from that; I wasn't strong enough to prevent that from happening..."
"No need to apologize... who knows what would've happened if you didn't drag me out of there?"
While they chatted, Inaya turned to walk to a tiny shrine set up in the forgotten underground canal; candles lit up a makeshift pedestal that was made of wooden scraps nailed together - on top of it was a tiny statue of someone reaching upwards. Gently guiding Fudula to come with her, she knelt in front of it, her head resting on the same carpet she sat on - her masked head eventually rising again, laying a piece of bread into the wooden bowl laid out in front of the pedestal. The makeshift Sarbahr'Kifar was most likely the only safe place for her to pray to the sun and bring offerings.
"Midas. I've heard a lot about you from your friends - I even saw you fight against the golem down in the ruins... Jakal right here is right with what he said; I have spent three Trestempos studying here now, traveling to Cascrender when Ivyda needed me for guild work. Even the students that enrolled long before I did noticed that they were segregated from the higher class - things like varying work opportunities and separate lunch areas have now evolved into separate classrooms, dorms, and even restricted floors only for the upper class..."
"Is the Troi'Facon responsible for this phenomenon too...?"
"You know them already...? That makes things easier. A lot of things accumulated for this to happen: the new head general and the fact that his son is now attending this school, the attack in the plant kingdom, and the conservative thinking of the Troi'Facon priests all came together to create the lower and upper class system, in their words, to ensure the safety of water kingdom children against foreign powers..."
"To be honest... the only thing I can currently think about is how I'm supposed to free Skye... I have to finally put that behind me."
Midas looked down onto his hands, his fingers crossed into each other tightly, Jakal's hand eventually holding onto his shoulder reassuringly as he stared emptily down onto the cobbled ground. Qayid grinned slightly as he nodded understandingly, finally sitting down on his chair as well.
"I'm sure there are a lot of things that currently bother you - take your time. If you want to, Jakal can show you to your dorm. Ivyda made sure your stuff would land there securely."
Not wasting much time, Jakal got up to show Midas the dorms - walking with him, he listened to their steps echo on the granite floor of the almost perfectly white walls of the academy; the long slim windows builtlong, into the wall were riddled with mosaics, and a marble statue or the occasional set of knight armor decorated the walkway. The main entrance was built into the side of the first section of the building from the left - the broad doors still opened up as Jakal led him out onto the grass fields, another brick path leading towards a row of tinier houses that were set up along the great wall of the city beside the building where the practical exams are held.
"The main building also has some dorms... but most of us have our rooms in these."
Jakal opened the dark wooden door; a tiny common area eventually led them to a walkway that was spanned with doors on both sides - all of them dorms for students like him. The only person that stood in before them was Uteli - leaning against one of the doors, she toyed with her messy hair, slowly turning her head as she balanced herself against the handle of her axe. Without thinking twice, her eyes locked onto Midas, wasting no time to run him over, barely letting him breathe as she hugged him.
Cought off guard completely - Midas looked down at her as she hid her face against his chest, his hand ontop of her head as he saw her grin through her messy strands of hair that fell over her face as she looked up at him. The fact she reacted like this must've meant that she's eager to finally return to the north - possibly relying on him to finally bring her there when the gate opens during the third of cold. Letting him go just as fast as she pulled him to her embrace, Uteli glanced at Jakal as he walked towards the door to open it, his dimly confused grin seemingly instantly devolving into a shocked glare.
"Did you do this, Uteli...?"
Confused at what he breathed out, Uteli glanced inside - most likely having guarded the same door all the time Midas took to arrive here, her eyes lighting up with a slight hint of fear. Having to see what was inside for himself, he found himself surprised at what he saw - just because he made it to this academy didn't mean the rest of this Trestempo would become any easier for him, as all the papers Ivyda had brought over from his university lay around the room, scattered and completely soaked in water.
Trying to pick up one of the laid-out papers, Midas briefly glanced over the smeared ink before the sheet eventually ripped off from where he had picked it up - having soaked in too much water. Every corner and wall of his dorm seemed to have been soaked, his bed was messed up completely, and any book that survived the way over was folded open on the ground, soaking in just as much water. As he took a few steps around his dorm, Midas felt a water droplet drop onto his head - the ceiling seemingly hit too as water began to drip from the edges of the wooden beams.
"Why would anyone do this...?"
"No one - however, if a nobility is willing to pay you to do so... I'm sure there would be plenty more people ready to do so. Invyda most likely wasn't it though... she would've had to enter this room with how she bends water."
"I didn't let anyone inside - promise...!"
Hearing Utelis's slightly distressed assurance, Midas continued to look up to the ceiling - if water couldn't be bent inside of his room, it had to come from somewhere arround it, mostaround likely above. Hearing wood creak above him, Midas dashed back towards the common area again, knowing that there was a set of stairs leading up to a second floor. The commander's son most likely used his status or the position of his father to convince someone of his class to do his dirty work, most likely also encouraging them with how he behaved during the final exam - something Midas began to quickly regret.
Just as he opened the door to the common area, Midas's torso was quickly pushed down onto the floor as a film of water that streamed directly behind the frame of the door began to press down onto his neck, making him crawl out of the thin waterfall that sprouted from seemingly nowhere. Just as he was able to raise his head again, he watched as someone huddled in a blue scarf sprinted out of the building, the cascading water halting to flow once he left the vicinity. With drenched leather, Midas made sure to follow him out directly after.
Drawing her axe, Uteli followed after Midas and Jakal - her teeth flashing, she quickly caught up to the scarf-wearing student - the light blue fabric wrapped like a mask around their face, only leaving space for their eyes. Using the sunshard, Midas pushed a wall up right in front of the foreign enemy, cutting him off. They perfectly ducked the swing of Utelis's heavy axe - the impact of her blow against the wall throwing up dust. Trying to follow after the culprit, four shots of water were directly flying to their face as the dust quickly settled.
Anyone standing on the grass fields beside them watched in pure confusion, awing at the fact there was already a fight breaking out without the exams even finished yet. Forced to block off two orbs of water with his sickle - Midas quickly ran through the main entrance, Jakal poured mana into both of his forearms, his fingers tightly packed into fists as the shots directed and him and Uteli, running right beside him, were blocked by a seemingly invisible force.
Pressing mana into his calves once again, Midas dashed through the doorframe before a huge cascading wall of water poured down from inside - not slowed down, he tightly followed after the scarf-wearing culprit as he dashed towards the second floor. Slamming her axe against the thin wall of cascading water, the head of Utelis's axe was pressed down by the mass of water, not having much impact on it as both were cut off.
"Midas seemed to have made it..."
"I have to help..."
Seeing her slightly confused and unsure expression, Jakal rubbed the back of his neck - with a sigh he put his forearms against each other again, letting them rise above his head to use his Null Ability again. The shield of mana deflected the falling water, letting it be broken up by a broad shield of mana that expanded out of the sides of his forearms, slowly allowing the two of them to enter.
Midas followed behind the masked enemy, unable to bend inside without potentially destroying the building entirely - something his foe seemingly noticed as they looked at him over their shoulder before stretching their gloved hands out at him, a blue shimmer lighting up from their left wrist, making him hold to deflect the shots of water that were accumulating from the enemy's palms. Briefly slowing down to spray the bullets of water - Midas's eyes widened as he watched them take a sharp turn to the right, jumping out of the opened window, shattering the window on the floor beneath.
Pressing his lids shut, Midas saw rough mana movements beneath him - the foes' direction still unchanged on the lower floor - without much thought, he pressed himself through the door ahead of him, finding himself standing above him in a circular tower, standing on a tiny wooden platform. Using the slim timeframe he had before the enemy noticed, Midas jumped down onto his head, his feet pressing down onto his neck, making him fall face-flat on the dusty ground of the empty tower.
With the tip of his sickle against his enemy's throat, Midas bowed down to stare down onto them - his hand reached out to grab their scarf; however, just as he tried to identify them, his enemy flicked their wrist, making their palm face up to him as Midas flinched back at the shot of water that barely missed his cheek. With his foot off of the enemy's neck, water began to ripple in circles that expanded from the center of the circular room, the slim film of liquid transporting his body, dragging him away to the corner before making him slide up the wall.
Water began to hull the walls of the circular room - flowing down from the top of the tower, his back pressed against the wall, they glided upwards - already out of Midas's reach before he could catch a grip on their ankle. Groaning with frustration, he watched them slowly get to the wooden platform he used to look down onto the enemy, the water that rippled on the ground beginning to slowly creep up his shoes' soles.
With an alarmed expression, Midas realized his situation - unable to bend stone through the layer of water that covered the walls, having no grip on the bricks that made up the walls, as his fingertips slipped from the crooks due to the cascading water. The water now reached his ankle - the film of water growing thicker as the enemy disappeared out of the room. Without being able to deny it, Midas found himself trapped.
The ringing of water cascading down into the pool he now stood inside of - Midas felt water creep up his hips, unable to open the door on his floor. The water rose faster exponentially; before he knew it, Midas was swimming in it with the floor off of his feet. Too stressed to think straight, his lack of sleep finally caught up to him, as the last time he had seen something equivalent to a bed was at least four days ago. His cheek pressed against the wooden pillar of the ceiling, gasping for any bits of air he could still get - before he found his body eventually sinking as the room was now filled completely with water.
Midas was able to see his limbs hang loosely in the water with blurred vision; his throat began to tingle as his head began to swell with blood - he was running out of breath, fast. His right arm desperately clutched onto the surface of the wall, his sunshard rendering useless as he couldn't manage to focus on controlling the manaflow - or his breathing. Spreading his fingers out in the water, his eyes began to blur even more, his vision going dark.
His pupils began to roll back as his mouth eventually filled with water - Midas had lost consciousness, freeing the spot of who gets to move the same limbs that were now loosely floating around in the water.