The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum Exterior | 3:17 PM | Second Day

"Six paces?" Bardiya asked.

"Hmmm, I usually like more range," Seth said, thoughtful. "But I guess it doesn't really matter, if we're just screwing around."

They took their positions - about eight or nine meters apart, when all was said and done - with Seth closer to the pond and Bardiya near the tree, and drew their scepters. Seth's was gilded palladium crowned with a sun, one of the traditional Mekhian symbols of healing, while Bardiya's was old-looking uniform bronze crowned with a hook, a design associated more with the revolution rather than any discipline or region. Before the rioters at Ikkaryon overran the headquarters of the local military, the city council had ordered all of their scepters destroyed... But they'd left a warehouse full of decommissioned ones intact - ones manufactured during the city's own rebellion against Rhunbard hundreds of years earlier. Appreciating the irony, the revolutionary army had appropriated them for their own arcanists.

However, it'd never really made sense to me why Bardiya would have one. After all, as he'd explained during dinner, he hadn't been an arcanist during the rebellion itself. I'd never asked, though, presuming the answer would be something depressing: 'I took it from a dead friend' seemed the most probable candidate.

Kamrusepa sighed, rising to her feet. "Well, if you're going to insist on this peculiar notion, I suppose I ought to referee for you. I can't have you two going too far and cracking each other's heads open right before we're supposed to introduce ourselves to the academic community."

"Thanks, Kam," Seth said dryly.

"You're quite welcome," she said, ignoring the sarcasm with a sly, cheerful look. "Perhaps I could even go up against the winner myself? Give you a little more of an incentive to do your level best!"

Seth let out a sardonic 'heh' and gave her a flat look. It was a given that none of us could probably go up against Kam in a duel. Chronomancy was infamous for having almost no counter when it came to one-on-one fights - if someone knew the Time-Stopping Arcana (which did not actually stop time, despite the name, but did speed the caster up enough that the distinction wasn't particularly important) then your goose was pretty much cooked. Forget the beguilements, if you didn't have a barrier up, they could just walk over and smack your scepter out of your hand.

"Now, what rules, specifically, are you going with?" She went on. "Do keep in mind our circumstances."

"I was thinking first to loss of resistances or disarmament," Seth replied, after thinking for a moment. "Submission or disabling might make us take it a bit too far. What do you think, Bard?"

"It's not unreasonable," Bardiya replied, looking over his shoulders at the tree. "What about the combat arena?"

"Let's say no further than the far end of the pond," Seth offered. "Or to that graveyard, over on the other side. Uh, with the building and the walls of this whole place being the borders for the other two directions, obviously."

"That suffices," Bardiya said, with a nod. "As a cautionary measure, I would also suggest we erect barriers before we begin, if we're attempting to avoid impacts to our appearance. That might allow us to be a little bolder in our tactics."

"Good point. This kinda thing has a way of going off the rails," Seth said. "We oughta use the same incantation, though, so that it's fair. How about the Matter-Repulsing Arcana?"

Bardiya looked subtly displeased by the choice, but didn't voice that opinion. "As you wish."

The Matter-Repulsing Arcana was an inefficient and largely ineffective incantation that created a bubble of telekinetic force around the target, repulsing anything that got close. It was popular mostly because it was just about simple enough to be memorized and used without needing part of it engraved, which made it popular for mock engagements or low-stakes duels like this.

In a real fight, the casting time alone would make it borderline useless. Compared to it, my makeshift Entropy-Denying shield was practically grandmaster-level.

Nevertheless, they both spoke the words, and a shimmering transparent aura appeared around them in a rough orb.

"All good?" Seth asked, stretching his arms up and around his shoulders.

"Yes," Bardiya said.

"No seriously damaging the environment, either!" Kamrusepa spoke up, in a chiding tone. "We're guests here. Even if there's hardly a garden out here, I can't have you draining the pond or scattering soil all over the shop, got it?"

"Yes, Kam," Seth said, his tone flatter still.

Didn't seem to bother Neferuaten much yesterday, I thought. I wonder who'd had to clean up that mess? Unless that was automated, too.

"Very well," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "With that said, shall I begin the count?"

The two men nodded.

She cleared her throat. "Raise your scepters! In the name of the Dying Gods and in accordance with the traditions passed down to us by the magi of old, I hereby declare--"

"They're not having a wedding, you pretentious bitch," Ezekiel said, watching the events play out from his corner. "Get on with it."

Kam grimaced at him through clenched teeth, but nevertheless moved on, exhaling sharply. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One--"

And they were off. Seth tried to rush a quick beguilement right out of the gate, only for Bardiya to quickly throw out a faster telekinetic incantation and drive straight up into and around the tree, blocking his line of sight. This single moment essentially summed up both of their styles of combat, except that Bardiya probably would have blasted some dirt right through the flimsy barrier into his face if they hadn't been trying to keep their clothes clean.

It was a tough duel to call. On paper, Seth had a clear advantage - he possessed 3 uncompromised resistances, and his training as a Biomancer meant that his scepter had several incantations engraved which were actually pretty useful for combat. He could heal wounds or fortify his own constitution faster than anyone, and as the fight went on, change the environment to become increasingly hostile through the plant life, if he was willing to take the risk of pissing off the order. Meanwhile, Bardiya was an Anima Scribe, which meant that his engraved incantations would be useless unless he was hoping to incapacitate Seth over the course of a 6 month long illness.

But Bardiya had combat experience. Not just from duels, but actual battles on the revolutionary frontline. This gave him an intuitive edge that Seth, who when you got past his height was about as nerdy as they came, lacked.

Seth hesitated for a moment, then cast the Form-Levitating Arcana and went into the air after him, attempting to maneuver around the tree to achieve a better angle. Bardiya, however, simply circled around the trunk in tandem, making it impossible for him to get a clear look.

"O-hoh, that's a cheap tactic, but effective," Kamrusepa said, now standing close to where the three of us were sitting. "He's having to move less while airborne, so he's forcing Seth to drain eris until he figures out a better approach."

"Well, if it hadn't been for your rule, he probably would have cut through the branches already," I pointed out.

"Ah, but Su!" Kamrusepa said, holding up a finger. "Being able to quickly adapt to and take advantage of the constraints in a given situation, both direct and social, is the essence of talent!"

"I'll take your word for it, I think," I said, reaching over to take a drink of water.

"Are the conclave members going to pissed about this, do you think?" Ran asked Yantho casually, as she also watched it play out.

He considered it for a moment. As long as there isn't any serious damage, then I don't think so. When your visit was explained to us, it was mentioned to expect some amount of rambunctious behavior.

"Because of our age, you mean?" I asked.

He nodded. I think that was the implication, yes.

I frowned to myself. I wasn't sure what was more irritating: The fact that they'd assumed that a group of some of the quantifiably most responsible, diligent students in the entire world couldn't be trusted not to start fights at random, or the fact they'd apparently been correct.

Not that they had the moral high ground on the subject, given how Neferuaten had greeted me already.

Seth went along with this for a few more moments, diving at hard angles around the tree to try and catch Bardiya off guard, before trying a new tactic. He followed Bardiya in a clean loop close to the tree a few times, then suddenly jerked in the opposite direction, shouting out a basic discharge incantation.

I've mentioned before that, should an incantation be spoken improperly, it can result in a backlash in the form of a sharp discharge of uncontrollable energy. However, this can also be done deliberately as a basic offensive attack, so long as a few words are spoken to roughly define the eris output and the nature of the discharge. It wasn't exactly graceful, and depended a lot on on the caster's ability to conceptualize their target, but in a pinch? It got the job done.

Seth shot a blast of lightning at Bardiya as he into view, producing a loud snapping sound almost like a traditional gunshot. The shield stopped any direct damage, but the kinetic force nevertheless propelled Bardiya backwards towards the ground. As this happened, Seth went straight into another incantation.

A n o m a l y - D e n y i n g

The Anomaly-Denying Arcana, one of Seth's engraved repertoire, was used for dispelling incantations. Apparently he'd picked it up during his time at one of Mekhi's military academies, before he transitioned to civilian training. Though Chronomancy was more effective on account of its ability to outright reverse recent wounds completely, its lack of accessibility meant Biomancy was the form of healing most commonly used in warfare. As a result, practitioners often had to deal with hostile incantations even in the process of trying to perform their duties. A common way to get around people's resistances in a battlefield context was employing pathogenic gas controlled by another Biomancer, which meant a lot of people whose bodies were compromised by the Power and tearing themselves apart already. So techniques like this were a necessity.

With his flight disrupted (though not the shield; the Anomaly-Denying Arcana was targeted, not general) Baridya fell to the earth. Seth shouted out the Object-Manipulating Arcana, trying to pry his scepter from his hands, but he gripped it tightly, calling out one of the beguilements - I didn't make out which - in response. Judging by Seth's expression, he must have succeeded, and the former rose up, hiding himself behind the branches.

I had to admit - with the extent of the restrictions in place, it did feel like the duel was turning into a bit of a farce. If we hadn't been all dressed up, Seth could probably have used the Biomatter-Warping Arcana to trap Bardiya on the ground with the plant life, or hell, do some more interesting move like making the tree grab him. On the other hand, they were close enough now that Bardiya could have easily lept up and turned it into a physical brawl.

But of course, neither could happen. It felt like the whole affair wasn't really worth the bother.

Seth, though, was a creative thinker, and quickly surprised me. While Bardiya started his flight incantation again, Seth called out another of his engraved techniques.

L i f e - S e n s i n g

This was the Biomancer parallel to my own Death-Sensing Arcana, and doesn't really require much elaboration - it fed the caster information on any living cells nearby, allowing them the precision for very specific biological manipulation. It was pretty intense in eris expense for a Divination technique, which meant it couldn't be used long, but it didn't have to be in this instance. He followed it up with the Object-Manipulating Arcana, and, using that expanded awareness, pulled a large number of leaves from the tree around him, surrounding and obfuscating his body from all sides.

"Hey!" Kamrusepa said, her tone pointed. "I told you not to damage the environment!" She rubbed her eyes. "Ugh, stupid boys..."

"Maybe this was a bad idea," I said. "They're probably getting frustrated."

"I must agree," Mehit said, speaking up from her own bench nearby. "I understand that everyone must be feeling tense at the moment, and I did not wish to speak unduly as an outsider, but their styles seem to lean far too much towards mobile combat. It would be better to put a stop to it before things get out of hand."

Kamrusepa hesitated. Despite her attitude, she probably still felt reluctant to push her authority too far after what had happened last night. "I'll let them finish this round," she said, hesitant. "Then suggest it might be better to find a different preoccupation."

Seth stayed up among the leaves, maximizing the obfuscating effect, while Bardiya ascended again, trying to close the gap and offset it. They shot around up there for a few moments, more leaves falling to the earth. Bardiya discharged eris as pure light, probably trying to level the playing field and make himself harder to target as well (and making me recoil in the process) while Seth shot back with the Air-Thrusting Arcana as he made a difficult turn, trying to disarm him again.

Then, Bardiya drew his trump card, the only self defense incantation he had engraved.

I r o n - T o n i n g

The Iron-Toning Arcana was a direct disabling technique which bypassed the resistances outright by attempting to replicate the physical conditions which preceded a contact paradox, and was often felt by third parties during prosognostic events - the unease, sickness, and disorientation - but much more pointedly, if only for a moment. The reason the effect happened was due to minor instability beginning to occur in the iron particles in the body, and it could be replicated by creating artificial impressions of iron paradoxical to the target, even if it wasn't truly there.

The downside was that, while this affected the target the most, it also impacted the caster, and even anyone else nearby if it wasn't cast optimally. I felt an uneasy twinge. Ran frowned in disapproval.

Still, it had the desired result. Seth wavered for a moment, wincing and floating awkwardly in the air as if he'd been punched in the gut, and Bardiya took advantage of this, going for a direct tackle. The shield stopped him short at the speed he was going, but still, it pushed Seth out of the canopy and into the open air, close to the edge of what'd be defined as the arena.

Bardiya started casting something else, but Seth recovered fast, and shifted his wall of leaves so it was encircling Bardiya directly instead of himself. Bardiya responded by dropping straight down faster than they could surround him, then pointing his scepter straight up and casting a simple combat incantation:

F l a m e - S u m m o n i n g

The subsequent blast of fire shot straight upwards, but was nowhere near Seth. The flames consumed almost all of them instantly.

Bardiya was even better at this than I'd imagined. He'd engineered a way to safely destroy Seth's advantage without putting him in any danger, and all in the span of only a few seconds.

Seth started to incant the Neurology-Beguiling Arcana, but stuttered and botched it, while Bardiya flew back up and struck him with the Air-Thrusting Arcana right back. He was pushed back a few more feet, and...

"Out of bounds!" Kamrusepa declared. "Victory goes to Bardiya. Congratulations!"

"Woo!" Ptolema said, applauding. "Good fight!"

Presumably because it would have been awkward not to, everyone else offered a few claps, too. With the obvious exceptions of Ezekiel and Lilith.

"What the hell, Kam," Seth said, descending back to the earth and dismissing his shield. "We were going until disarmament or breaking resistances!"

"You set a defined arena when you begun," she said, matter-of-factly. "I remember it clearly. 'And that graveyard, over on the other side', you said - and plainly, you were levitating over gravestones."

"Yeah, as like, a rough sorta informal area for us to try and stay in so we didn't get too far away from the group," he protested. Bardiya landed behind him, his expression neither pleased nor irritated. "Not as a victory condition. If anything, it should've just defaulted the match, or something."

Kam pursed her lips. "Hmmm. Sounds rather like the words of a sore loser, if you ask me." She looked behind him. "What do you think, Bardiya?"

"Obviously, I attempted the tactic under the assumption that being forced from the arena was an unspoken precondition for victory," he said, sheathing his scepter. "However, if Seth was under a different impression, then self-evidently that contest was flawed on a foundational level, as it surely influenced his tactics."

"Ugh, now you're making me sound like the idiot for not getting it clarified." He sighed. "Fine, fine. It's your win, Bardiya."

In response, he extended his hand, and Seth shook it.

"But in any case," Kamrusepa said, "that stunt you pulled with the tree was definitely too much. I appreciate that you might've got caught up in the heat of the moment, but it was inappropriate damage to the scenery."

"C'mon, Kam, it was just a few leaves," he said, turning back to her and folding his arms. "You can't even tell." He gestured to the sight, and then his confident expression waned somewhat as his eyes followed and he saw that it did, in actuality, look pretty bad. The branches on one side were half way to being stripped bare.

The smell was pretty noticeable, too.

"Seth," Kamrusepa said, her tone reprimanding.

His mouth flattened, and he exhaled a bit through his nose. "Alright, alright. It's a little bad. But what was I supposed to do, just keep casting kid stuff at him until one of us ran out of eris?"

"As I said a few minutes ago, it was a poor idea for the circumstances from the outset. Look-- You've scuffed up your robes, too," she said, pointing to a spot on his chest smeared with sap from the tree. "Not to mention your hair. I don't know why you thought it a remotely good idea to try and fight in the air."

"Hey, blame that guy," he said, pointing to Bardiya, who had now walked back to the steps and was picking up a folder for use in his presentation. "I'm not the one who escalated things right out of the gate."

Kam clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "I swear, you two. Theodoros is the only man in our class with a sense of temperance."

"Er, what?" Theo said, looking up at her. He'd seemed out of it again, for some reason, still staring at the area the fight had been taking place.

"Kam's saying you're tempered, Theo," Seth said, with an amused smile.

"Oh." He furrowed his brow, looking strangely unhappy. "Uh... Thank you, I suppose."

"You really don't think we should do another?" Seth asked, looking back to Kam. "We'll make it a rule to stay on the ground, I promise."

"I would appreciate if you would not," she said firmly, and lowered her voice. "We're already giving a bad impression of ourselves to the only adult in our company as it is." She made a subtle gesture towards Mehit.

He sighed, making a dismissive gesture. "Alright, alright. I'll behave."

He headed back to his own spot, yawning and smoothing his hair back down.

"Sorry if you're going to have to deal with that later, Yantho," I said, pointing to the damaged tree.

He shook his head. No, it shouldn't be a problem. Director Durvasa is quite good at repairing cosmetic damage to the flora, so he should have no trouble taking care of it. I think he might even enjoy it. A pause. Although, I'd certainly be the last port of call for something like this regardless. I can't think of something I have less of a knack for than gardening.

Something twinged in the back of my head, but I ignored it. "Is he the one who put together the garden outside of the abbey?"

He nodded several times. Yes, that's right! It's a hobby of his. You should compliment him about it if you get the chance. A whole other side to him comes out.

A whole other side, huh. From what I knew of the man so far, it was a little tough to imagine.

"It's annoying either way," Ran said, turning a page of her book over. "You shouldn't have to sit and wait around on us while we collectively act like jackasses, whether it's now or last night. Even if it is your job."

No, it's no trouble at all! He shook his head. In fact, now that we've got to know each other a little, I feel a tad bit jealous of your group. You all have such a fun rapport.

She snorted. "That's one way to put it."

I sardonically giggled a little at those words, too, and my eyes wandered back over to the building...

And then I saw something odd.

It was only for a moment. So brief and offhanded a thing that, after it happened, I questioned if my brain had just invented it outright, or somehow misunderstood the sensory data it'd been fed.

Seth was sitting back down at his seat, and his gaze was joined with Ezekiel nearby. Seth was smiling - though in a somewhat embarrassed way - while Ezekiel had an almost completely blank expression. However, subtly, but fairly plainly... It looked like the latter was giving the former a thumbs up.

Wait, what?

No sooner had I seen it then they Ezekiel set his hand down and they broke eye contact. And yet, it had happened.

But that doesn't make any sense, I thought. Was he complimenting him on the match? But they should be angry with each other. The whole story he'd told me...

"Hey, uh, Ran," I said, nudging her. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Seth--"

But just then, the stone doorway behind the statue began to open, grinding loudly against the floor, everyone's attention turning towards it. From the entrance, that creepily realistic golem I'd seen back in the abbey - Aruru - stepped out. She stepped forward, then came to a stop aside the statue.

"The time has come for the conclave to begin," it said. "Please, follow me inside."