The Endless Solvent

The talisman dangled in front of her. Aris had ‘seen’ it before, back when she was on the verge of dying and Verne was constantly watching over her. Bringers had appeared to assassinate them and Aris helped in defeating them by turning into shade form and pulling the talismans off so Verne could fight them off. The effort had almost killed her. The memory of the intense pain that followed was nearly enough to turn her stomach.

Both Camaz and Verne managed to stash away the talisman she pulled off the Bringers. When they brought it back to the Academy, it was immediately stowed away as a ‘forbidden’ enchantment.

“Where else would I have gotten something like this?” Camaz demanded to Gardlo who was the one holding the talisman.

“The prevailing theory is that you made this in order to protect yourself from your ward,” Gardlo said.

“Gardlo, if I had the ability to make something like this, I would be head of runeology, not you,” Camaz snapped. “Have you even looked at it?”

Indeed, Aris noticed that the talisman was very intricate. She didn’t notice back then as concentrating that hard and long at one spot would have sent a stroke-inducing migraine through her skull, and so she was only able to see in intricate detail now with her special vision under control.

Aris knew what people like Gardlo thought. Doubt was heavy on the minds of those in the Academy. It was difficult to believe that a secret cult of people were the ones responsible for creating Gates, much less the monsters wreaking havoc on the empire were people to begin with. Camaz himself was hesitant to believe it when Ral and Rask regaled him with tales of their travels, but it was only when she told him of her experience he accepted it. It was difficult for academic types to accept something like that without seeing it first, so it was understandable that Laell also showed skepticism at the whole thing. But Laell knew of her… condition, in many ways that was probably enough to convince her.

It was only Verne that continued to hold doubt over who was responsible for the Gates. Aris felt her mouth thin at the thought of the Sekrelli. She had thought years at the Academy would make someone more open minded. The uncomfortable - and inexplicably strong - feeling of disappointment was barely squashed inside her so she could focus on the talisman.

“I get it,” she said. The room fell quiet. “You don’t believe anything we say, especially that about Bringers opening Gates.”

“Well, can you blame me,” Gardlo spluttered. “Cultists? In this day and age? And to exist right under the Academy’s spymaster’s nose the whole time? Please.”

Aris tried not to laugh at Camaz’s clear indignant bristle at his words. “Well thankfully we don’t care what you believe in regarding the cultists. We just want to study the talisman and use it in order to study and close Gates.”

“I understand but there is a large group of people who are in the belief you are the ones responsible for the Gates appearing in the first place,” Gardlo said. “People who believe you and your brother should be kept under lock and key. If this talisman will help you in any sort of malicious activity - “

“It won’t,” Laell interjected. “I-I looked at it during my travels, when I had t-time. It’s a warding spell of sorts. W-we can study it t-together and you’ll come to the same results.”

“I trust Laell over all of you, but the truth is she could also be compromised,” Gardlo muttered.

“To what end?” Camaz asked, exasperated. “Believe you me, if we had any evil plans or malicious motives, coming to this island would be the last of our priorities.

“Camaz, you threw out your precious star student without a second thought not too long ago. Then you went on this long and dangerous trip to get her back. Upon your return you’re spewing stories about cultists and people turning into monsters, and that the world is ending,” Gardlo’s voice was slightly muffled like he held a hand over his face. “I have no idea what your motives are. I have no idea what to think. You must understand you are asking a lot of us to trust you on things beyond our comprehension. This is a lot to ask for from someone who kept everyone at arm’s length throughout their career.”

Aris was taken back. When the runeology professor put it that way, it wasn’t that she was the obstacle to the Academy trusting them but rather Camaz was. Has he always been so isolated from everyone else at the Academy? She always believed he was well regarded everywhere.

She suddenly felt a pang of camaraderie to the man who raised her - a feeling she never thought she would have for him.

It will be alright, little moon. Everything will be alright.

There was no conclusion to that pointless conversation except for the heavy understanding that they were surrounded by people who didn’t trust them as far as they could spit. Laell continued her work on the research on finding an enchanting circle that would close gates - a fact that is hypocritical to Gardlo’s reluctance in letting them study the warding talismans. If Laell was in fact compromised, she should not be on the team on researching how to close Gates. However she was the only one in Runeology smart enough and with enough experience to do it.

Camaz knew this well but Aris noticed he didn’t say anything about it. If pushed, the Academy might force Laell to be removed from the research team and that won’t do. Besides, there wasn’t any real need to raise a fuss over it.

A few days after the exchange, Camaz gave Laell a set of schematics drawn on parchment. Aris was there too, but she couldn’t ‘see’ anything on the parchment and Laell had to describe it to her.

“I tried my best copying it down,” Camaz admitted. “Thought something like this would happen. The accuracy is questionable and of course it isn’t around a blocky object. But it’s better than nothing.”

“T-thank you!” Laell said rather breathlessly. “I… how did you…?”

“I wouldn’t be much of a spy if I can’t even do this,” Camaz said rather tersely. “Now please tell me this will actually be useful for us.”

Aris scrunched her face, trying to recall the odd array of lighted runes from the talisman. “If I can remember the placements correctly, with some trial and error, we can have some Bringer jewelry on us soon.”