"Repeat that," Umiya said, trying to understand if what she had heard was correct.
Aya then repeated the words, "When Dorian explored the region, less than two minutes later, the soul shard had vanished; there wasn't even a trace of his magic."
Dorian agreed, "There was something weird in the air. I can't tell if it was from the beasts, the explosion, or whatever, but there was a foreign feeling, different from mana, that flooded the air and my senses and after... I found his arm."
Then, Umiya looked under her desk, picking up a book that seemed too heavy for her to carry, and slammed it down on the table. Dust from the edges of the table flew into the air.
"What you're telling me is intriguing. Come here, read this!" She then opened the book, flicking her fingers across the pages. "Not two hundred... must be three hundred... YES! That's right, pages three hundred and thirty-two and three."
The book displayed the anatomy of a humanoid figure, which emphasised the soul core that rested within the sternum. "Among thousands of cases of irregularities, the list of anomalies is as follows: shattered soul fragments; soul fragments that release a different nature to what the individual had, for example, let's say someone fought with a shield, a soul fragment could drop an offensive-based one instead of a defensive-based one."
She shook her head, drawing her face closer to the book. "But look, based on my own data and by a book that is most respectable, do you see? ARE YOU SEEING THIS! For Tier 6 mages, the duration their soul fragment should stay, no matter the potency of an attack, should at least last for 6 minutes; Tier 5, 60 minutes; Tier 4, 600 minutes; Tier 3, 6,000 minutes; Tier 2, 60,000 minutes; Tier 1, 600,000 minutes. But if you notice, certain damage can reduce this time."
She then pointed to the Tier 6 section. "An attack of Tier 6 should not affect it in any case. An attack of Tier 5 can reduce this by a third of its time to 4 minutes; a Tier 4 attack can reduce it to a third of the original, to 2 minutes. And if we take a mana beast, which is roughly Tier 5 to Tier 4, let's estimate that it was, hmmmm, precisely 4 minutes and 47 seconds, which means that Xerxes' soul fragment should have stayed intact!"
Umiya leaned back in her chair, thinking about scenarios.
Vanessa looked bewildered; there was so much information in a short amount of time. "So what does this mean, Umiya?"
Umiya immediately raised her hand. "SHUT UP!"
Her voice then lowered. "I'm thinking... It was already unusual that a soul fragment was gravitating towards Xerxes at the battle within the Eshvir Forest. Could it mean that his was different? But how? He's human. Elven, dwarven—any soul core does not react that way. Though, could it be a reaction stemming from an ancient race? There isn't enough research. Gosh darn the Great War of Succession—CURSE YOU FOR ELIMINATING A MILLENNIA'S WORTH OF KNOWLEDGE!"
Dorian tried to think of a possible reason from Umiya's babbling. He was no scientist by any measure, but if he could help give her direction for her thoughts, then it could be beneficial. "Could something be disrupted when absorbing a soul fragment in close succession?"
Umiya stopped voicing her thoughts aloud and looked towards Dorian. "You... you MIGHT BE A GENIUS! WERE YOU MADE IN A LAB WITH A MIND LIKE YOURS?"
Umiya then flicked a couple of pages. "How could I have overlooked something so OBVIOUS? I really need to start teaching again; my mind goes to bust without it. Okay, okay, what do we have here?"
Umiya then began reading, "When absorbing a soul fragment which is of rank 'Ascendant' or higher, soul cores can act irregularly. One of these irregularities is one of three."
"The first irregularity. One may experience a backlash on their soul, which can cause a loss of identity, with the personality of the previous being, which the soul fragment had dropped from, taking over."
Umiya shook her head. "Unlikely in our case."
"The second is a burst in power that can temporarily put them up to a tier above their own. Once again, unlikely."
"Lastly..."
"By a professor dubbed Aster, the Transgressor, a member of the Golden Order..."
Aya piped up, "A member of the Golden Order? That ancient group that had emerged from the elven nations over the past thousands of years?"
Umiya nodded. "Right on the money. This one is Aster. He was known to be one of the brightest, but worldly desires change people, dims their light if you want to put it that way. And despite how crazy he became, his experiments and contributions to the knowledge of mana excelled humanity as a whole."
The group shuddered. For Umiya to dub someone as 'crazy' was a feat of it's own, but they all knew why. Aster was known amongst most people who had any knowledge of the Amento or Eros Kingdom. He was an elven man, a part of the Golden Order, but something had corrupted him, making him a highly controversial figure, who had committed acts of terror, setting him astray from the group and one of those 'acts' was probably what Umiya was going to explain.
"Aster had wanted to discover how a soul core reacts when absorbing a soul fragment and dying in quick succession. He experimented on many different mages—some innocent, some criminals, some weak, some powerful—and amongst the discoveries, most of the people had died normal deaths."
Umiya then held up a finger. "Do not fear! There is something Emo boy had mentioned which is key. When significantly 'weak' people or significantly 'strong' people had absorbed a soul fragment of rank 'Ascendant' or higher, they were known to have critical moments—not at death, but RIGHT BEFORE IT."
Umiya then looked to Aya. "You informed me you ran before you fully witnessed his death. In that moment of running, Xerxes was still alive."
Aya looked confused and hurt by the memories, but it was true; he was still alive.
"So what I mean is, the only plausible thing is as written within the book: 'Of the subjects whose soul fragments did not drop, I suspect that either their soul and body had been erased from existence. However, the second option is that they have miraculously beaten death.'"
Aya's mouth fell open. Could he really be alive...?
The thought was too promising. However tormented her mind might become with the hope that Xerxes still had a chance, what if the news Umiya gave would end up being fruitless?
If he were really alive in some wicked way, then what would be left of him? Suppose he was alive by 'beating death', what did it mean, and where did he go? Xerxes wasn't with her; he would have surely come back home, so what happened?
Too many questions began streaming into her mind. She thought tirelessly, as the conversations around her began to dial out like an illegible pitch that became a ringing in the ears.
"Aya."
But she gave no response.
"Aya!" Dorian and Vanessa called simultaneously, a look of hope shimmering on their once-darkened faces.
Aya snapped back to reality, escaping her mind. "Ye-yes?"
Dorian put a hand on her shoulder. "It's good news, Aya. Xerxes could really be alive, and knowing his stubborn arse, he wouldn't want to die easily, would he?"
Aya nodded her head, but it was hard to do so confidently after he had so adamantly told her to run, letting his body be a shield of death.
"Yes, it is good news by any means. But even with that, where do we begin? Where has Xerxes gone? How will we move forward?" she asked, the question being a valid one that everyone needed to consider.
Umiya replied hastily, "Good news for you, chick, I've got an idea. Aster never deliberately said all too much about the research—well, he did, but those are lost archives, only held by the Court of Kings because of all the messed-up jargon. You get my drift. What I recommend to you is two options: a great adventure to Amento to seek out the People of knowledge, as they are called, or a more straightforward and definite route. Join the Court of Kings."
The Court of Kings wasn't exactly as simple as Umiya put it.
Simply put, they were the organisation that governed the entire continent, with a mix of individuals coming from each kingdom: the daemon, human, elven, and dwarven kingdoms. They held access to information that had been lost to regular people, and they held a hand of power over the continent that reached over every kingdom. Though one must be at least a Tier 3 mage with ample enough education, if not Tier 3, then they could do something quite impressive, but that was broad.
Dorian spoke clearly, "What could be deemed as acceptable? As you know, Umiya, we are in dire straits. We need to seek answers, and we need them fast."
Umiya nodded; she also understood why they would be urgent, but the fact was, they didn't have a choice. "Honestly, the only plausible way is getting a hand on those files. The principal is able to request them, but it's a lengthy process, and it is very specific, with many stages of interview that are hard to pin down, so I wouldn't bother with that. And you speak of time as if it would make any difference."
Aya responded with anger tinged in her voice, "Of course it does make a difference! If he is alive, then imagine what is of his body and mind!"
Umiya then waved her hands, "No need to get mad at me, get mad at the facts!"
She then spoke harshly but with truth. "Truth is, kiddos, if Xerxes managed to survive whatever happened to him, which sounds almost impossible, then it would only be a matter of time till he succumbed to injury. However, let us be optimistic; after all, a scientist must be!"
She grinned whilst flexing her arm, "If he had made it past that, then he is probably trying as hard as he can to return, meaning you all have time, more time than you could know. So if you're able to get qualified enough to join the Court of Kings, you're able to effortlessly get information on most people in a kingdom, and with that, you'll have a lead."
Resting back in her chair, she looked up at the ceiling, "It may not be what you kids wanted, but it's the best thing you could do in your situation."
Dorian, Vanessa and Aya all looked to each other, with Vanessa speaking clearly, "I am a tier 4 mage, Dorian is a swordsman, meaning he does not have a clear rank, that is to be decided by him duelling with a sword master and Ay,a you are at Tier 6, if we all begin rigorous training, myself included, then we can get to that point, I should have a better chance but the fact is..."
Vanessa put a hand on the two kids, "Dorian, you wield a fedradian blade with a great dragon resting in the metal that forged it. Aya, you know why you are special, and I do not need to say it aloud for you to understand, do I?"
Dorian's brows furrowed, a smile slowly appearing on his face with newfound hope. Aya did not smile, but she agreed with Vanessa.
Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, it will all be good, now let us start, we can't keep him waiting too long, can we?"
Umiya then chuckled, "Of course you can't! You all need to find Xerxes, and when he is back, I can run all my experiments on him!"
With that, the group left Indonyia magic academy, thanking Umiya for her work. She had promised to stay in contact to the best of her ability, with a scheduled letter every Sunday to determine their progress, as well as her own.
They were all ready to start their new journey, to uncover what happened to Xerxes.