"Urgh!" Lirale clutched her head, soothing her temples as a strange shock of pain coursed through her head. It began yesterday and it still persisted today after the tournament conclusion in the auditorium.
'Why does it feel like something's missing?' Making her way to Boylres, she saw the students boarding the buses. A look of envy flashed on her face, only to be disrupted with Vhorren who came out of nowhere. "Are you okay?" He asked, his tone low as the two made their way down the cobblestone path.
"I'm fine but as of late my head had been bothering me." Her words light and distant as they came to a bakery. "Same here. I'm sure that it's nothing really. It could be that we're simply stressing over Saevin's death." Making a purchase, he sunk into his cupcake. He moaned with escatcy, pleased with his treat.
"Yeah, and thank you for being there for me Vhorren." She smiled as she made a purchase of her own. "You don't have to thank me. We're friends after all." The two walked out to witness the two buses zoom out of the academy, their windows tinted before slowly dissapearing into the distance.
"... Vhorren, do you feel something wrong with the academy?" She looked at the academy, her head tilted in suspicion as her eyes narrowed. "It feels as if something isn't there but I can't tell what." She added on making Vhorren pause and look at the academy.
"...I- It does feel that way but I don't know exactly what that is. Maybe the shift from the past to the present is affecting our perception." Even he had a gnawing feeling in his heart that something felt out of place. The two put their minds together to recall what it would be but failed.
"Can you remember what happened yesterday?" His face slowly contorted into that of shock as his mind fell blank. "Ye- No... I- It's all just a blur. We went to the auditorium for the briefing then... today happened." There bodies shivered as they came to the grim realization of their altered memories.
"A phrenomancer? Could it be Timothy or Jarren or someone else entirely?" Lirale posed, the pair making their way back to the school grounds. "If it was a phrenomancer then I'm sure that a professor would have caught on." Vhorren sighed, however the dark cloud clung to his heart.
The two made their way to the professor's lounge. "Professor Esdora, have you felt any shift or change with today?" Lirale quizzed Esdora who was enjoying her cup of coffee, gently cradling it in her hands. "...No, why do you think so?" Her tone quizzical of the two as she read their states.
Lirale was on a state of edge while Vhorren was in a much more disturbed state. For fifth year students, it was hard to see such a reaction. "We think that Jarren has something to do with all of this. I'm sure that you have felt that something is off within the academy grounds." Lirale posed, her tone frail and shaky.
"Well other than a mild headache, nothing has seem off to me. Maybe the events of the fight are still getting to you." Esdora brushed it off as a mild trauma Lirale had gotten after her confrontation with Jarren. "Yesterday then, can you tell me what happened?" Vhorren posed, his voice much calmer in contrast to Lirale's.
"..." Esdora furrowed her brows, her mind falling blank as the more she thought about it, the blurrier it got. "I can't." A light wave of pain made her body wince. "Are you supposing that there is a phrenomancer amongst us, possibly Jarren?" She mused, taking a light sip of her coffee.
"We're not too sure with it being Jarren but he is our most likely candidate. Didn't you and Harven have some form of intrigue launched at Jarren? Orissa took part in it right?" Esdora added, hoping for Esdora to confide. "...Well Harven wasn't a fan of Jarren to begin with and now that you mention it he might have been onto something."
Rising to her feet, she gulped the rest of her coffee and made her way to a section of books piled into a makeshift library in the lounge. Skimming through the books, Esdora exclaimed with joy as she pulled out a specific book. She browsed through the pages before coming to a specific page.
"Here it is. Everything that you need to know about phrenomancers. However the contents are from an earlier age thus there could be parts still yet to be recorded but it should help." Placing the book onto the table, Lirale quickly picked it up and ran her eyes through the contents.
Vhorren merely watched her browse. "It's bizzare to consider Jarren as a phrenomancer though. They're usually weak when it comes to physical combat as they prioritize their psyche attacks and malcore reserves." Esdora hummed before another professor walked in.
"Hello Esdora, Lirale and Vhorren. I didn't think that you two would be here." Harven further added as his eyes shifted between the pair. "Hi Harven, Lirale thinks that Jarren may be a phrenomancer. It could after all explain his glyphs. Maybe they are nothing more than illusions he plays." A theory Vhorren ran in his mind.
"If it was the case then there a lot of flaws with such a conclusion. He has a Gravechant rank and Crimson Sigil physique. It would be difficult to affect experts of higher rankers such as ourselves." His words lacked hubris but there was some truth to it.
"Harven is correct, apparently here phrenomancers have a harder time with experts of the same rank or higher." Lirale pointed out as she read from the tome. "... Well what if he's actually stronger than us and is merely playing a game. He might not be a student to begin with." Vhorren insisted making the rest ponder.
'If this is so then just how powerful is he?' All of them wondered before Lirale shot up. "Here... it says that the phrenomancer class has a close relation with the demonic race. Maybe he may have ties with the demons."
All of them fell silent, their bodies shuddering simultaneously as their minds crumpled.
"Argh!" They all looked at each other, baffled with what had happened. "Ties with demons... why does it feel like I've heard that set of words elsewhere?" Esdora clutched her chin, falling into thought. Maybe it has something to do with the deaths of Saevin and the three girls. After all with all the victims being females it would make sense for it to be a male."
Harven felt as if it was a bit of a stretch but fit the scene perfectly. "However there's a problem with that. Phrenomancers usually harvest the brain matter of their victims and feast on their memories, all of the victims had self mutilation except for Saevin who was killed." Lirale chimed in, her voice flat as her eyes kept on sifting through the book.
Another wall they ran into. "How about we go and ask Orissa then, she fell in seventh place for the tournament so she should still be around." Vhorren interjected making Harven pause. "There's no need with her, she hadn't found anything noteworthy. As if anything her investigation might have startled Jarren as he quickly realized that he was under suspicion."
The pair smacked their lips in annoyance, displeased but not deterred from their idea. "We'll ask her a few questions and that's it." And with that Lirale and Vhorren left the lounge. "A phrenomancer? I'm sure that someone in the royal court will realize this sooner or later." Harven sighed as he took a seat next to Esdora.
She had already refilled her cup of coffee. "But if he was then wouldn't he gave realized this and intentionally failed the tournament. Why would he take himself to a place that could reveal who he truly is?" Esdora was still perplexed with this question.
'If he is a phrenomancer and capable of manipulating experts higher than his own rank then why bother with the tournament to begin with? Wouldn't he have made us believe that he won?' As much as she wanted answers, little did she know that the subject was eyeing them.
***
*Knock-Knock-Knock*
Orissa made her way to the door only to be greeted with Lirale and Vhorren who welcomed themselves in. "Uh, it's a surprise to have you grace me." She mused awkwardly making the two realize their error. "We're sorry but we have some questions for you. It's about Jarren."
Orissa chuckled faintly, a defeated sigh washing on her face. "Jarren, don't even bother with him." The two looked at each other, suspicious if she knew more. "What do you know about him?" Vhorren asked, his tone calm and composed.
"That he's much more than just a student. Not a phrenomancer as I had once thought." Orissa looked at the pair who bit their lower lips as if in regret. "Yeah I made the same mistake as well but when I mean that he's far greater, I mean that we can't fight him. A being on a godly scale."
The pair shot Orissa weird glances, bewildered with her words. "Are you okay?" Lirale posed, her voice filled with worry. "Why are you two here? If it's about Jarren then you have your answers." She brushed them off, making her way back to her tomes. "...Well not exactly, I wanted to ask you if you noticed something's wrong about today. If something feels missing."
Orissa looked at her tomes, her gaze lingering for far too long to be enlightenment as she put the book down. "As a matter of fact yes, I'm sure his doing. I can't help but ask, wasn't there a professor above the rest? As if there's a position above the rest that feels absent."
The two neared the truth, however it would be much more elusive than they had anticipated. "There's a position like that?" Vhorren was the first to ask such a question staggered with the thought of a position above the professors. "I...don't think so. Besides what use would be of one in such an academy like this?"
Orissa sighed in disappointment, as if expectant of such answers. "I'm sure that there was something like that and I'm not misremembering. I- It's been a long day so can I have my moment of peace?" Ushering the door, the two could only comply and leave.
...
"A position above the professors, sure they would keep the rest in check but I don't think that we have ever had such a position." Lirale toyed with the idea in her mind, as much as it felt foreign, a part of her felt familiar with it. A bizzare sense of unnerving that claimed her mind.
"How about we check the Archives? I'm sure that something should turn up." Vhorren proposed to which she went along with. With their status of fifth year students, it was easy for them to gain access to the restricted areas of the Archives.
Hours flew and nothing of any sense of familiarity came to mind. Checking the academy's history, something of great interest had changed that came off as normal to them. "In all of these tomes there never has been such a position like a professor above the rest." Lirale sighed, her mind baffled with Orissa's ramblings from before.
Jarren, the one behind the scenes watched the chaos unravel. His smile stretched far too wide for comfort, making horrors devolve into madness and gods beg for their own ruin. He saw their efforts, futile and feeble as his eyes nestled in every corner of the world.
Hearing secrets that shouldn't see the light of day and watching feats that spoke of treachery and sin. The nature of man presented on his platter like a dish he fancied. "I just think that she might have lost it, after all she speaks of Jarren like a god. Maybe he had affected her and given her such a notion."
The more Vhorren thought about it, the more sure he felt with his remark of Jarren being a phrenomancer. Everything felt as if pointing to the conclusion and yet something else refused this idea. As if there was something more to it that he had yet to see. Puzzled, his mind went with what came as reasonable. "Maybe he is and he's playing tricks with us." Lirale sighed, her words heavy as she put a book down.