The Greatest Sin

Fer leaned down at smiled at the four cubs staring up at her. The lioness raised her head and closed her eyes to indicate she recognized Fer’s authority. Fer scratched one cub behind the ear, and then looked back at the line of people. It was all children with their parents. She waved a girl over and whispered to the lioness that it was safe. The animal lazily put its head down.

The child trotted over, patted the little lion cub and burst out in laughter. Then Fer and the little smiled at the camera, the mother took a picture and they went off. Then the next child came, and the next, and the next.

Edmonton got off the train at Arcadia Central Station with Fleur holding his hand. They brought two light backpacks and easy clothes. The Sun here was always hot, always dry, he much preferred Karaina. Now they both wore shorts and t-shirts, things that wouldn’t stand out, although they knew Arcadia as well as anyone, it wasn’t especially hard to disappear in this pseudo-country of mages.

“Lyca and Eliza.” Fleur said. “And avoid seeing people.”

“Do you think our dorm rooms are still ours?” Edmonton jingled his keys.

“I hope not.” Fleur said. “But probably they are, we’ve been away for what? Four months? School year hasn’t ended yet.” Edmonton laughed as he thought about that and walked through the train station. Little here had changed, and by little, he meant nothing. It was almost odd to see. In Arascus’ headquarters, there was always new faces, new designs for weaponry and battleplans, there were plenty of training fields in the forests. They had shooting lessons and sorcery practice. Maids cared for them.

And now… Edmonton had returned to mundane normalcy. It was almost odd. He had gotten used to being waited on. “Exams are coming up.”

“They are.” Fleur said and sniffed the air haughtily. “Even with the attendance lost, we should still be able to pass.”

“Do you want to take them?”

“No.”

“Same.” They both laughed out loud as they walked past a news board: Arascus in Arika! Great War on the Horizon! The Jungle is being burned down! Doschian Stocks hit an all time low! Peace has returned to Rilia thanks to Goddess Maisara! Economic Downfall spreads to Rancais and Lubska! Invest in Allia Now! The First International Epan Archery Competition Announced! Lubska, Allia, Rilia & Rancais to join Doschia! Arcadia Not Invited! “Same old, same old.” Fleur said as she scanned it.

“Same old, same old.” Edmonton agreed. Nothing interesting here, although they both had Iliyal to get their news from. Their phones had Gods in their contacts. What did they need papers for? The guardsman was the same as he was back then. An aged fellow with a tiny propensity for magic. He scanned their tickets with his hand and beckoned them through.

And so they walked into Arcadia.

Into the land of mages. Epa’s gleaming institution, headed by Goddess Elassa herself, with over a thousand years of history here. Tall buildings, each dedicated to their own magical niche built hundreds of years ago and then expanded littered the rolling hills with their pale green grass. They had originally been single towers to easier catch the magical energies of the converging leylines here, then they were expanded with halls, more towers, parapets, dorms. Each one was an amalgamation of architectural styles, as if a child had taken a series of building parts and then smashed them together.

The parks were the same. Brimming with life and students. “Look at that.” Fleur said as she pointed left. Hydromancy novices were practicing raising water out of a lake. They each held a head-sized ball in their hands and were slowly lowering it into and out of the water. Some cracked, others quickly lost their form and collapsed. Edmonton rolled his eyes, to think six months ago he was doing these exercises.

“Brilliant.” Edmonton said flatly. Fleur looked up at him with gorgeous blue eyes.

“Can’t you show them how it’s done?”

“I’d rather let them suffer.” Edmonton said as he walked on past the training mage-aspirants. Now that he had sorcery… It was like a rifle compared to a knife. They were simply in different leagues. It wasn’t comparable.

“Oh please, even back then you could do that with one finger.”

“Do you want a detour past the aeromancy quarter then?” Edmonton asked and Fleur laughed.

“Let’s have at it.”

And so they turned and walked to the building were Fleur once trained. Students here had their dark robes tinged with ribbons of white to signify their element. Fleur knew the area better than Edmonton did, she led him off the path, through a bush, and to a short wooden fence that marked a field. “Here we are.” She said.

“And they’re doing what exactly?” A group of students were stood at one end of the field. A teacher in a white robe was watching them and every now and the sound of a whip cracking came from them.

“You see those sticks on the ground?” Fleur pointed to a series of sticks mid-way in the field. Some were on the ground.

“I do.”

“The goal is to get them out of the ground.” Edmonton looked flatly at the students. Their faces where bursting with sweat, a few were resting on the ground. The teacher looked unhappy.

“Wow.” He said flatly.

“Wow indeed.” Fleur said with glee. “This is Class Two, I recognize Joseph and Kim from there. Class Two is supposed to be the second-best class on my course. After mine.” Edmonton and Fleur watched them. Eventually a girl Fleur did not know stepped forwards, postured with both her hands aimed at a stick. It wobbled, then launched out of the ground. The students cheered and the teacher clapped. “Poor control.” Fleur said. “It’s easy to launch it like that, did you see it?”

“Not my element.” Edmonton said.

“She just made a big ball of air around the stick and forced it out.” Fleur turned and smiled to Edmonton. “You want to see a professional?”

“Let’s see.” Fleur turned to Edmonton and snapped her fingers. Five of the sticks slowly raised out of the ground, hovered just above the grass, made a spin, and then dropped as Fleur released her magic. “That’s what they should be doing.” Fleur burst out in laughter, grabbed Edmonton’s hand as the teacher started shouting and the students looked around in shock. They disappeared into the woods and back onto the path before they were found. Two students were practicing hydromancy on their own by a fountain. The water-raising exercise again. Edmonton did not know these, they were young, maybe eleven, maybe ten. Only children.

Fleur pointed at the fountain and spoke. “Well I showed you how good I am.”

“I’m better at sorcery than you.” Edmonton said.

“You wish.” Fleur said with a laugh. “But we’re in Arcadia, let’s see how good you are at magic. Don’t tell me you’ve lost your touch.” Edmonton shook his head as he walked to the two children.

“You’re doing it wrong.” He said. “Too forceful, don’t keep the water still, let it flow around your magic.” The children backed away when they saw Edmonton, but they listened to his advice. Edmonton turned to Fleur and crossed his arms. A small pony made entirely of water and trotted around the edge of the fountain, it didn’t even lose a drop, Edmonton did not even have to look to know it didn’t, he could feel the element. Fleur made that sarcastic whistle of hers as the children burst out in laughter and clapped. One poked the pony and the pony jumped away. More laughter. “Make it flow kids.” Edmonton said. “Don’t keep it still.” He took Fleur’s hand again and walked off before they started asking question.

“What a man.” Fleur said. “Showing off and helping children. Whatever girl marries you will be a lucky lady.”

“Oh I’m sure.” Edmonton said. “Happier than whoever you marry no doubt.” Fleur haughtily laughed again.

“Who wouldn’t want to marry me?” She guided her hands down her sides. “All men need is something pretty to grab and a nice smile.” She gave Edmonton one of the most wonderful smiles he had ever seen.

“All girls want is a nice face and someone to show off.” Edmonton replied sourly and Fleur laughed again. “Alright, Library or Eliza and Lyca first?”

“Eliza and Lyca.” Fleur replied. Good to see they were thinking the same.

“Lyca then?”

“Eli will probably be at his.” Fleur said. And so they set off to the pyromancer’s quarters. It wasn’t too far, and it was a path they had travelled many times before. You didn’t want to walk the path around the park, you wanted to take a shortcut through it. They came across a fence that had been recently installed. A tall wooden one. “I’m not climbing this.”

“You can’t or don’t want to?” Edmonton asked as Fleur snapped her fingers and a section of the fence fell down, cut by invisible blades of air.

“Don’t want to.” She replied flatly and walked through the gap. They went into the pyromancer’s dorms. It was a grand building, a mismatched cathedral of different parts and bridges and towers that sprawled wide and high. Guards were never at these locations, nor was anything required to scan in. Arcadia tried to encourage inter-elemental relations by allowing anyone to enter and leave. No one would be stupid enough to try and steal from mages anyway.

Fourth floor, room fifteen. Lyca’s dorm-room. They travelled up the winding staircase. Past other younger than them. Here, they all wore dark robes with ribbons of red. Through a plain corridor with tiles. The other dorms all had carpets but obviously that would be a fire-hazard when you put carpets in a building of young pyromancers. The only wood was the doors. Edmonton came to a stop at room fifteen and knocked.

Thud-Thud-Thud. He always gave three knocks. No sound came from inside. Edmonton crossed his arms and looked at Fleur. She smiled at him and leaned against the wall. “Classic Lyca.” Edmonton knocked again. There was a crash from the inside. Edmonton gave three more knocks to hurry him up. A young boy opened the door. No older than thirteen or fourteen, with a messy head of ginger hair and dark bags under his eyes. He looked up at Edmonton and Fleur as they looked down on the lad.

“Who are you?” Edmonton asked quizzically. He leaned past the teenager to look into the room. There wasn’t a mark of Lyca anywhere.

“I’m Erin.” The boy said as he stepped back. “Can I help you?” Fleur looked in and bumped Edmonton’s elbow with hers.

“It was Four-fifteen.” She said, they both looked at the number in red on the door to make sure they had the correct door. It indeed was the correct room.

“How long have you been living here?” Edmonton asked idly, not even looking at the boy.

“Two months. Is there a problem?”

“No problem.” Edmonton said. “Just a routine inspection.” He turned and shut the door behind himself. “Well, it’s Eliza then.”

“Do you think he’s moved out?”

“Lyca moved out?” Edmonton asked.

“I mean, got a better room.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’d want to do the paperwork for a new room.” Edmonton said as they walked down the staircase. Ten steps down, turn, ten more steps. “Eliza then, let’s check on her.”

They walked to the Floromancy quarter. The Nature mages, Botanists as they were usually called. It was obvious when you passed into their area, the fields started to brim with flowers, the trees grew into odd shapes, the statues were all wooden sculptures that had flowers on them. The air was fresher, and it smelled of a thousand different sweet fruits and flowers. There were more waterways, more odd streams, it was close to the hydromancy quarter. Edmonton could see his old dorm room from here in a huge building. He had no plans to return there.

They entered, once again, no guards. Fleur was on the sixth floor, room seventeen. Here, the staircases were all rounded, there were slides at the top to get down quickly. “You knock or me?” Edmonton asked.

“You do it.” Fleur replied as she looked around. Pictures of famous botanists from ages hung on the walls, along with diagrams of flowers and dates for the upcoming exams. A trip to Arika had been cancelled and written off, a polite apology was hanging on the wall about how recent events and embargoes have stopped the annual trip and that the teachers were trying to organize a new trip to somewhere else.

Edmonton stopped at Eliza’s room. Thud-Thud-Thud. She had a heavy wooden door, an old flower was on it, it had wilted and died. “Who is it?” Eliza’s tired voice called from inside. “Whatever, I’m coming.” There was a crash, a series of steps, and the door opened.

Eliza blinked. She had always been shorter than Edmonton and Fleur, but her collapsed posture made her shrink even more. Her light brown fell past her shoulders, she had obviously lost weight, her cheeks were pale, her eyes were red. She had been crying. Those big brown eyes looked up at Edmonton and Fleur and blinked, readjusted, a spark flashed within them. They sharpened. Eliza’s head popped into the corridor, then she pulled the two of them into her room and slammed it shut.

It was dirty yet clean. The books were organised, but dust sat on them. Flowers were in vases, and they had no water and were wilting. The bed was made, but it looked grim with traces of dirt. Her shoes were in a row against the wall, and they were all slathered in mud. “We’ve come back.” Edmonton said as he took his usual spot. The floor next to the cabinet. Fleur crossed her arms as she stared Eliza down.

“What happened?” Fleur asked, she tried to make her voice soft, but Fleur had never been good at that. Eliza collapsed onto the bed and sighed. Her voice cracked, and she started to cry.

“Lyca lost control. He’s been transferred to the containment-quarter.”