In the suit of the Spire of Sages, the dining hall Ray sat alone. On his plate, a perfectly seared cut of steak sat untouched.
Ray sat there holding a knife and fork but it was idle, he was in deep thought.
It has been more than a week now since the audit concluded. The majority of the people in the academy had no idea that it had survived an audit from a high inquisitor and that Ray had something to do about it. Life continued its organized chaotic rhythm for everyone else, but for Ray, the silence was deafening.
He had not heard from Kaelen yet.
This third understudy of his has not visited him even if he had already sent word that she can visit him in his suit after she sent him a letter with the intent to visit him to talk about something. But Kaelen was still a no show.
Veteran: “Radio silence is never an accident. In the field, silence isn't golden. It’s a target designator.”
The Grizzled Veteran growled, the voice sounding like boots crunching on gravel in Ray’s mind
Courtier: “It is unlike her, for someone as capable as her that managed to break in the Spire’s wards before and visit you, but now she says she will visit formally but fail to show up? Something is not right here.”
The Scheming Courtier added, his tone silky but edged with paranoia.
Ray put down his knife and fork. The metal clattered against the plate.
"Captain Svane."
In the corner of the room shifted. Sergeant Svane stepped forward.
"Yes, Lord Croft."
"We’re going for a walk,"
Ray said, standing up and grabbing his coat.
"I want to visit a friend of ours."
The hallways of the Senior Wing were quieter than the rest of the school, filled with students who were too busy stressing over their classes to gossip.
Ray and Svane stopped in front of a room on the fourth floor of the senior dorms.
Ray knocked. The sound echoed flatly.
No answer.
"Captain?"
Ray asked quietly.
Svane closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly. His cheek twitched as he extended his senses.
"No movement inside, I do not detect any presence."
Ray placed his hand on the door. He wanted to confirm Svane’s findings. He used the Serene Cultivator’s ‘Aetheric Perception’ skill.
The world turned into a greyscale wireframe. Ray looked through the wood of the door. The room beyond was a void. He could not detect any life force in the room.
"There is no one inside indeed,"
Ray said, taking his hand off the door.
"Could she maybe still be in class?"
Svane suggested, though his hand rested near the hilt of his sword.
"No, I know her schedule for this year, her class is scheduled for this afternoon.”
Ray muttered.
"Let's ask the neighbors."
They spent the next twenty minutes canvassing the hallway. It was a study in contrasts: Svane, with his huge figure in his attendant attire, would terrify the students into opening their doors, and Ray, wearing the gentle mask of the concerned junior looking for her sister, would ask the questions.
"I haven't seen her since Tuesday,"
a terrified Alchemy student squeaked, eyeing Svane’s sword.
"She... she was carrying a bag,"
another said.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"It looked like she was in a hurry."
Finally, three doors down, they found a third-year boy who looked shifty even before Ray spoke. When Svane glared at him, the boy nearly swallowed his own tongue.
"I…I didn't steal anything!"
the boy yelped.
"We aren't here for theft,"
Ray said smoothly.
"We're here looking for a friend of mine, Senior Kaelen Thorne."
The boy froze. His eyes narrowed then a realization showed on his face.
"Ahh, so she meant you, she said that if a boy with golden hair comes looking for her, I should give the package to that person.”
The boy scrambled back into his room and returned a moment later with a parcel wrapped in plain brown paper. He shoved it into Ray’s hands as if it were burning.
"She gave me fifty academy marks to hold on to it! I didn't open it, I swear!"