“I want your help with something,” Lucian told Aurelia. He set a few books on her desk.

  Aurelia looked at him with some suspicion, and then took the books and opened them up. Her eyes quickly scanned the page, and then she looked at him with some faint excitement on her face.

  “You want me to learn magic?”

  Lucian crossed his arms. “It’s foundational magic theory and healing magic, only. I don’t trust you with dangerous things. I need you to study it for a specific purpose.” He picked up another one of the books. “I need you to help relate it to the energy that you feel when you transform into a divine beast.”

  Aurelia looked between him and the books. “Okay.”

  Lucian was expecting to be asked why. She’d been suspiciously cooperative ever since their talk in the Hells.

  “What should I be trying to describe, exactly?” Aurelia asked to follow up.

  Lucian walked around. “Just… try and describe all of the qualities of the energy.”

  “Considering the conversation that you had with that bearded man… this is so that you can try and mimic it,” Aurelia said.

  Lucian stared, not confirming her suspicions. He was wondering what she’d do with that information. Ostensibly, it undermined her—if he was able to manifest as a divine beast, since it relied solely on holy affinity, he would probably be stronger than she was. Maybe she had some cursed child shenanigans to give her more powerups, but either way, it’d be a crazy power boost. He’d need her less.

  “Can I ask a favor, then?” Aurelia said.

  “Depends,” Lucian said.

  “It’s so boring here!” Aurelia said, tossing the book recklessly back onto the table. She slumped in the chair. “At least in the monastery, I could have some fun.”

  Lucian raised a brow. “What’s your idea of fun? Hitting yourself in the head with a broomstick?”

  Aurelia glared at him. “You saw that?”

  Lucian looked away, trying and failing to hide a smile.

  “I had many hobbies. I liked reading, sparring with my brothers and sisters, managing the monastery—I was the prioress, before you ended that,” Aurelia said with a pout.

  “Read these books,” he said, tapping them with his fingers. “Your brain definitely…” he trailed off, refraining from saying something rude. “Never mind.”

  Aurelia gave him a knowing look of contempt, and then rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. “Please? Pretty please?”

  Lucian sighed. “…fine, I’ll bring you some books.”

  “Newspapers?” she asked brightly.

  Lucian hesitated. He didn’t exactly want to let her know the intimate details of his trial. He couldn’t doctor them out—his story was everywhere, on nearly every paper. Did it matter that she learned? The monastics already had, and they bought his story about this being something forced upon him by Duke Cyril. As expected of people with such pure holy affinity, they thought his pure holy affinity was evidence enough.

  Lucian pulled a newspaper from his pocket, then slapped it down. “Here. Revel in my misery. I have to go,” he said, making to leave. “I’ll be gone for a few days. One of the monastics will bring you some books.”

  “Wait, wait.” Aurelia stood. “What? You’re leaving?”

  “Going to find some dragons,” Lucian said plainly.

  Aurelia blinked a few times, then shook her head and said, “Whatever. Cool. You’re so great and mysterious, and you have to let everyone know.” Lucian felt a sting as she hit the nail on the head. She held out her hands. “Before you go, let me transform into my divine beast form for half an hour.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s liberating,” Aurelia said. “And it’ll help me with your project. How am I going to describe it without recent experience?”

  Lucian considered that, then nodded. “Fine. But don’t stray into the forest.”

  Aurelia muttered something about him acting like her parent, and then they went outside. He undid the Mentor’s Seal, and she assumed her striking form of the black divine beast with nine tails. Without delay, she began running circles around the cottage, occasionally jumping and generally being a menace. While she did, he walked up to Brother Crane.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Got a shopping list for you,” Lucian said. “Some items for Aurelia. I’ll get it to you in a little bit.”

  “Alright. We’ll get it done,” Crane said, keeping an attentive eye on Aurelia. “Do you need us for anything in the future?”

  “Keep a close eye on Aurelia. The phases of the moon… demons become stronger, soon,” he said vaguely, making up nonsense. “Something could happen, and I have to attend to something.”

  “I’ll increase our watch,” Crane promised.

  Aurelia was playing nice and so he’d return the favor, but giving trust to her? It was too much to ask. She was more than capable of staying still for a lifetime to fool him. Maybe the risk had declined since the demons fell back, but in his eyes, she’d done nothing to warrant trust other than keeping her head down.

  Can’t someone change?

  Her words sounded in his head. Could she? Lucian had some sympathy for felons or sex offenders that couldn’t get a job anymore, but at the same time… was it wise to risk giving them a job? Was the gain worth the potential downside? If he could peer inside her head, it’d solve a great many problems. But his knowledge from War of Four had no bearing here.

  Lucian felt struck as a thought bubbled to the surface. He realized, now, what every single Student Ambassador was feeling. Lucian Villamar, serial offender… and they were giving him another chance. Granted, he hadn’t tried to enslave a small town’s worth of people, but…

  Am I a hypocrite? Crying about people refusing to see any changes I’ve made, and then doing the same to her?

  The idea made him uncomfortable. It also helped him consider things from the perspective of those he’d wronged. Nothing would persuade them but action on his part.

  Lucian didn’t know about Aurelia, but he knew one thing. He couldn’t stop running away from what the real Lucian had done. He’d somewhat given up on the idea of reconciling with the Student Ambassadors, but if he was ever to achieve any manner of respect beyond what Rowan could earn for him… it was time to give Lucian’s past greater focus.

  It might be time to see if he could invoke those visions he occasionally had to learn about Sancar Alkoyen, the man he might’ve murdered.

  ***

  “It isn’t going to work,” Vlad said, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

  Rowan, Lucian, and all of the Student Ambassadors waited before the monument to the dragonslayers. It was a grand construction of marble, depicting a dragon in incredibly intricate detail. Its body coiled around a man bearing a sword in defiance. It was a grand monument in War of Four, and much grander in person. It rested in the remnants of a ruined village—the settlement had withered away after an earthquake ages ago, but the monument stayed. It was built to last.

  “I’m telling you, I’ve looked into hidden passages plenty,” Vlad said. “Nobles of Riverra love hidden passages. Turn a candlestick, a magic lamp, and some wall slides aside. I know how to look for them—and I’m positive there’s nothing here.”

  Olivia looked at him. “If it were easy to find, it would’ve been found ages ago. Besides, Lucian has experiences with hidden passages.”

  I do? Lucian thought back. Oh, right. Those hidden stairs.

  The method to unlock the path to the eight dragons involved waiting for a certain time of day, and so they waited. Light would shine upon a specific crystal that they’d left in a slot on a spire. In-game, it was pretty easy to pass time. In reality… it involved a lot of sitting around, waiting. They hadn’t been waiting long because they’d scheduled to arrive shortly before the time needed, but it certainly felt like quite a long time for Lucian, who endured awkward stares.

  “Let’s think about this logically,” Vlad said. “I can’t detect any gaps in the statue. The foundation is incredibly heavy—enchanted orichalcum. That means there’d need to be a mechanism that could shift… I don’t know, tens of thousands of pounds of one of the heaviest metals in the world?”

  “These are the same people that hunted dragons,” Denzel said. “I’m sure they could figure out how to slide metal.”

  “But why?” Vlad asked. “Why would dragon slayers suddenly become… dragon zoo-keepers? It doesn’t make any sense. Listen… I’ve got a great lead. I’ve got an excellent lead into some crime rings that the demons—”

  The crystal that they’d placed began to shine, and the ground shook slightly. Lucian turned his head, looking into the sky. Both the moon and the sun were visible in the sky at the same time. Two beams came from each, coalescing on the crystal. Then, a swirl of dual-colored light shot down into the ground, and the rumbling intensified.

  The two statues, previously inert, came alive. The maw of the dragon statue roared with flames, and the man brandished his sword formidably.

  “Get back!” Rowan shouted, pulling his shield off his back and moving forward.

  Then, the man stabbed his sword into the monument, crossing his arms. The flames on the dragon faded, and it lowered to the ground. The two had a cautious standoff, with the man eventually offering his hand to the dragon, and the dragon cautiously craning forward. When the two met… the ground rumbled once more, and the entire monument began to shift backward. Great blocks of orichalcum sunk into the earth, forming a stairway that led down below.

  Lucian’s first instinct was to walk forth with his satchel in hand without a word while everyone stood, speechless. Then, he remembered Aurelia’s words.

  You’re so great and mysterious, and you have to let everyone know.

  Embittered by those words, he froze in his tracks. He looked around to see Vlad, who’d fallen to his back in his attempt to run.

  “Need a hand?” he asked, offering one.

  Vlad eyed his hand warily, then seized it, standing up. Everyone gathered behind to stare down below.

  “I don’t want to go in there,” Bethany Windview, resident hypochondriac, said with fear in her voice.

  “What’s to fear? Dragons?” Miriam said dryly.

  Lucian stepped ahead of the crowd, joining Rowan. “Ready, leader?”

  Rowan looked at him, then muttered, “Could’ve told me…” He turned around, then shouted, “Are we going?”

  The look of excitement and anticipation on everyone’s faces was answer enough. Lucian, though… he felt nervous. Not for what rested within this place.

  Today, he intended to confront what Lucian Villamar had done to all of these people. Today, he wanted to try and make it right.