"I see." The voice came from a man made of cooled magma, his skin dark like obsidian.
With each breath, orange, jagged, glowing lines pulsed from where they trailed down his body like visible veins.
A head of bright molten hair sat atop his head, where an impossibly combed side-part stood, made from strands of glowing heat as if fresh from a forge.
A burgundy jumper and black waistcoat partly obscured the glowing lines, a black collar peeking out from the neckline of the jumper, where it failed to hide the lines at Mr Ignis's neck.
He sat on a rock chair, inside his office, his elbows pressing onto a thick black desk that was more slab than table.
His neck was slightly craned at the moment, his two smooth rock fingers pinching his nose bridge as he finished the words with mild exasperation.
His two burning irises were obscured, closed behind rock eyelids as he took a moment to digest such disappointing news.
"Where are the two now, then?" Mr Ignis sighed again, his voice carrying eloquence and formality like a British scholar.
Across from him stood a small figure, standing on top of a multicoloured fur, of some legendary beast, spread over the floor.
He wore a black suit, with a black tie and a white shirt.
He had the features of a monkey, with a swishing tail behind him that poked free through a small hole in his pants.
His face had the shape of a square, an image held up by his grey hair squaring off in a wild bunch from around his salmon pink face.
"In the infirmary, Miss Hestia should be here any minute. They didn't look too hurt." Jakub answered in a casual voice, not on par with the formality of his recipient, though holding politeness forged by years of experience from being the school's groundskeeper.
Mr Ignis froze at the news, going still with realisation, the magma-head's odd way of showing relief.
Then Mr Ignis relaxed at once, like tectonic plates shifting into place, breathing a sigh as hard as a dragon's fiery exhale.
"That damn Sol..." Mr Ignis cursed quietly under his breath, feeling as though this would've never happened had he agreed to take Julius Sparrow into the academy.
"I should've known better than to trust a God..." He sighed again, the sound like charcoal searing with heat.
Though what choice did he have? Was he to risk catching disfavour from someone who could melt the planet? Who could melt even himself?
Jakub stood silently opposite Mr Ignis; he seemed to patiently let Mr Ignis stir.
For most, it would've been an unusual sight to see the headmaster in such disarray, let alone Mr Ignis letting anyone witness him in such a mood.
Though Jakub had witnessed Mr Ignis like this more than anyone, with even more vulnerable sights tracking all the way back to when Mr Ignis was a student himself at this very academy 24 years ago.
It was because of this that Mr Ignis didn't feel a need to restrain himself in front of Jakub, in the face of Jakub, he had no reason to maintain the false pretence of professional perfectness.
Jakub had seen all sorts of things over the course of 83 years of life, though the most eventful period of his life would definitely have been during Nathaniel Ignis's time at the academy, where certain names would curse the history of the academy forever.
Thus, Jakub could understand Mr Ignis more than most.
"Nathaniel...If I may..." Jakub began gently, holding a tone of politeness as he tested the waters.
He looked at the rock man across from him.
He saw not the distinguished headmaster who managed to take the position of the great Mr Elowen, but the 18-year-old boy he used to see in a cream blazer every day 24 years ago.
Not the man with impossible lineage, or the impressive rank six magic, but a boy who didn't know what to do.
Mr Ignis relaxed slightly in his chair, his hand dropping to hover over his mouth, his fiery eyes settling over the talking monkey across from him.
"Adrian is quite the student, the talk of any gossip, the son of Zeus himself... "He paused, letting his words dip into the atmosphere of the room.
"Rank six magic, an impossible lineage, popular, overwhelming expectations..." Jakub listed carefully, with the delicacy of defusing a bomb.
"Miss Hestia told me about this boy, Julius Sparrow..."
Another pause.
"Is this really about Sol? Or is it painful to revisit certain memories-"
Before Jakub could finish, let alone gather an answer, the door finally sounded with two polite thuds.
Jakub stood without reacting to the sound, instead drawing a deep breath, his two thick lips opening to speak.
Not a single word emerged from the breath; instead, Jakub exhaled softly, turning toward the door.
Mr Ignis sat silently, Jakub's words engraved somewhere in his mind, as he watched the monkey let 3 people into the room in his place.
A woman entered as Jakub left.
"Miss," Jakub greeted in a polite but earthy voice like freshly ground coffee.
He stepped aside, allowing the woman and two boys to walk past and enter.
The woman had long blonde hair, each strand as thick as a rope, her hair imperceptibly swishing.
Her skin was as polished as snow, wearing a matching skirt and coat that was almost a shade too bright for the eyes.
She wore a hesitant gaze as she walked in, her eyes flicking aside to the ground.
Her cheekbones were dressed in thin, shiny black edges, like obsidian rock that curved up and around, stopping an inch horizontally on either side of her forehead.
"Take your seats, please, boys." She instructed softly in a voice like offered cotton soaked in honey.
Her gaze barely brushed the two boys standing shoulder-to-shoulder beside of her.
Instead, her hand vaguely gestured to two armchairs in front of her, where she stood on top of a multicoloured fur rug.
Both armchairs had the same pebble grey leather bound to the furniture, with each arm bulging out slightly like distorted ovals.
The two boys were both standing quietly, now looking past Miss Hestia at the chairs, though the atmosphere differed between them.
One had a jaw clenched like a hydraulic press, a cool silver undercut sweeping over his head.
The tension in his body was like static threatening to break free at any moment, his hair not doing much to hide the way his tiffany blue eyes narrowed with frustration.
His arms were crossed, one of his sleeves featuring a gap, exposing skin where the fabric had been burnt.
His skin was fair, previously bruised, and now unaffected since leaving Miss Hestia's infirmary.
The other boy stood beside him, in this room with the headmaster; he had no reason to worry about the boy beside him.
Thus, his expression was unbearably blank, a jester with a mask could've shown more emotion than the brown mist swirling in the boy's eyes.
His hair was dark, short, like a sea of spilt oil as it sat atop his head.
On his neckline, where a red mark previously festered, was now completely a shade of completely normal skin.
Both stood silently, arguably some of the most misbehaved students, now seemingly as well-behaved as an obedient dog.
Julius Sparrow was the first to step forward, sinking into the left armchair facing Mr Ignis.
He pulled his posture back, sitting upright and directly toward Mr Ignis as he settled comfortably into the chair without a twitching in collected expression, let alone a word.
Choosing this seat meant he was closer to the door, which meant he could leave before Adrian.
This meant Adrian would have to pass him, but in this room, Julius wasn't worried about Adrian trying to attack him.
He was far safer in this room because of Mr Ignis's presence, for this reason, one might feel more inclined to stay in the room.
Though there was no telling what Adrian would do outside, if Adrian left before Julius, there would be no way of knowing what he was doing.
Thus, in comparison, Julius had a better chance of leaving unscathed if he left before Adrian.
Though all of that theory passed in the blink of an eye to Julius, taking him a second to calculate, before he was anywhere near settling into his chair.
Adrian followed, rounding the back of the chairs instead of passing in front of Julius, lowering himself with a silent sigh into the chair on the right facing Mr Ignis.
"Thank you, Miss Hestia." Mr Ignis had been sitting silently; he spoke surprisingly respectfully, even after forcing himself to restrain the heat from spilling out of his orange cracks in his rock skin.
Though Miss Hestia didn't leave, instead standing silently over the two sitting boys like a pale ghost.
Her expression twisted uncomfortably, her lips forcing a meek smile as he eyes swam up to flick her gaze toward Mr Ignis in a gesture of acknowledgement.
Mr Ignis waited a second, the fire in his human-like eyes softening a degree when he recognised Miss Hestia's continued stay, then breathing a breath like volcanic ash.
"Detention."
end of chapter 23