The sound of a knob turning echoed through the empty room.
"How long has it been, Mrs. Greasley?" Alaric, opening the door, said to the woman who followed him into his office.
Veronica, who walked in with slow steps, surveilled the room as soon as she stepped onto the office's wooden floor.
Whilst her back faced Alaric, her eyes constantly moved, capturing every detail in the room and memorizing what she deemed to be important to remember.
Be it the small cork she spotted beneath the trashed papers in the small metal mesh bin or the picture frame on his desk that wasn't there in her last visit.
But when Alaric passed by her, with the slightest indication he could see her from the corner of his eyes, Veronica ceased her active observing. Her eyes now much calmer and seemingly without the objective focus from a moment ago.
"I guess it's been around 5 months since I enrolled Milton here." She finally responded, when both were face to face.
With a move of his hand, Alaric gestured to Veronica. "Sit down, please."
"And I expected it would remain that way until the day Milton graduated next year." She continued, sitting down as she passed her hands on the back side of her work skirt. Her straight back met the back of the chair. "You must know why I am here."
"I suppose M-, Milton told you of recent events." Alaric forced out a smile, which, unaware of his part, turned into a dry one.
"He did." Veronica lightly nodded in agreement. "Not only that, I saw it. Milton has sent me a video."
"I am aware of the video." Alaric promptly said. And before an opportunity was given, he continued. "And as I stated to other parents, you must not worry about its mass spread and leaking out of our social groups. We are handling it fine." Alaric proceeded to extend his answer, so he could quickly assure one of the worries most of the parents and guardians of the students were having – the possibility of their existence leaking to the outside world.
Although the school had orphans, those who had no one to rely on as their own blood was forced to forget their existence for not accepting their supernaturality and those who were runaways and preferred to keep their family unaware of this world, there were just as many students with parents and guardians who loved them.
These guardians and parents, who accepted these children, were aware of the fact many in the world could possibly not accept them.
And this fact was equally a fear they all shared.
The parents made clear their worry to Alaric, the one responsible for managing the school and who held the responsibility for the well-being of these students during the school year. And Alaric, with professionalism, did his best to assure every single guardian of the fact the school, through their methods, had ensured none of this would impact the students in a negative way.
Listening to the headmaster's words, Veronica observed those serene eyes for a second or two before accepting the answer. "If you say so. I will put my trust in you, Principal Saltzman."
"Thank you, I appreciate your trust." Alaric said. Although he kept his posture, it seemed a little bit of tension flew away from his shoulders. Apparently, the approval of a parent was enough to calm the worries of the man.
"But this is not reason enough to ease my worries, Dr. Saltzman." Veronica said, vehemently. Right now, she was perfectly displaying the worry of a mother. "If you watched the video, then you are aware of what I saw. A dragon attacking the school, with it needing to be defended by a student, who is equally frightening as the dragon in my opinion."
"I assure you, John is -"
"Let me finish, please." Veronica shut him, glancing at him.
After a second without a response from the headmaster, Veronica resumed her words.
"Though this student of yours is frightening, as I was saying, he is in the lower part of my list of worries. Even more now that I arrived and heard from my son words about a sort of forest spirit in school grounds, which apparently tried to kill your student." Adding insult to injury, her words almost held a mocking and stupefied tone. Her words were getting fast, and her breath short. "Instead of being in my house, comfortable knowing my son is safe, I crossed an entire state to question his headmaster, who guaranteed me no such creatures but werewolves, vampires and witches existed. But apparently, not only were his words false, it seems he is lost about the whole situation as well. So tell me, Dr. Saltzman…"
Taking a deep breath, unblinking, Veronica stared at the man behind the desk in front of her "Do you see my worry?"
"I do," Alaric, intoning his voice, didn't wait a second to reply. "-Mrs. Greasley. I do better than anyone else. Or must I remind you that both my daughters study and live here?"
"I am aware…"
"Then do not send words my way based on the idea I do not know of the threats that lurk around my school." Alaric, though with a less intense tone, sharply said.
And although not angry, he let an exhale escape his nostrils to help in alleviating his mood.
"We, the school staff, are accessing the best ways and methods to progress due to recent transgressions." He added after a beat of silence between the two.
"You call whatever I saw in your backyard a method?" Veronica questioned.
Alaric denied by shaking his head. "No, that is more of an extraordinary attempt in learning more about our recent situation." He explained. "Though its results could change how we navigate through this storm." He quickly added.
"So you admit what you are undergoing is a huge crisis? Due to how little you apparently know to depend on a student to know more and how you would lead the school's actions based on what he learns."
Covertly, Alaric tried to bite his inner cheek to mediate his growing irritation and annoyance. "Unfortunately so."
"I expect you and the school staff to have any idea on how to navigate through it."
"We will discuss our possibilities and come out with how we should proceed in tonight's reunion. All the school staff will attend it tonight." Alaric replied.
"Then I hope God gives you all the enlightenment needed to decide what's best for this school." Veronica said, pushing her up off the chair. "Meanwhile, until this crisis seems to have a solid response, and be solved, I will be retreating Milton from the school." She added whilst spinning on her heels, walking to the door.
Alaric, listening to it, didn't object to her decision. "I hope your decision shall be the best for your son."
"As do I." Veronica replied, her back facing Alaric as she left the office.
In the next second, as the door closed, Alaric was left alone in the now silent room. Not even the sound of Veronica's steps reached this room.
"Ah… So many complications." Alaric slid down on his chair, covering his face with his right hand, then proceeding to rub his forehead. "I only talked with this woman twice, but why is it always a headache?"
Knock! Knock!
The sound startled Alaric, whose first reaction was to fix his posture on the chair.
But he immediately lost the will to do so when he thought that it shouldn't be her on the other side of the door if someone was knocking on it.
"Who?" Alaric asked.
"Dorian."
"Please, come in." Alaric said, slowly getting to sit better on the chair, but in a very much more comfortable way than earlier.
"You don't look so good." Dorian said, closing the door. "What happened?"
"MG's mother happened. Veronica." Alaric massaged his forehead. "Such a hard woman to deal with. We didn't spend more than a few minutes talking, and I am having headaches."
"Please, do not drink more today." Dorian quickly pleaded.
Alaric's response was a soft chuckle. "Can't guarantee that." He replied, his voice a little dry.
Stretching out his arm, Alaric opened a small fridge he had put in one of the table's thick wooden legs. And from there, he retrieved a small bottle of water. "She is taking MG off the school."
"How did you respond?" Dorian swiftly found himself comfortable in the room.
"Gulp. Just said I wished her decision to be the best for him." Alaric said, the cold water doing its job in refreshing him anew.
Dorian inclined on the chair and crossed his arms. "So, you accepted it."
"Would you have made a different decision based on what we have?"
"Probably not." Dorian shook his head. "We are navigating through uncharted waters, the best course we could take as adults is to send away the children so they can be safe."
"I am asking myself what we do to the children without a place to go." Alaric commented. Something he has been pondering for a while.
"One more thing to take into the debate in tonight's meeting." Dorian said.
"Apparently…" Alaric agreed, his eyes going vague for a moment before a thought came to his mind. "So, how have things been going out there? Any change?"
"Yes. Yes, there was. I actually came here to call you. John is asking for everyone of importance to appear in his room." Dorian said, conveying the message he was sent to deliver. "Everyone is meeting there."
Alaric frowned. "Why?"
"I think we will know when we get there." Dorian said, pushing himself up from the chair. "Are you coming?"
"I have to." Alaric said, his voice sounding rough while getting up from the chair. "I just hope any possible data he gets turn out to be something good."
"Everyone does." Dorian added.
[———]
Never had so many people in my room before. John muttered mentally, trying to sound covertly even through telepathy.
Are you bothered by it? Hope asked back.
A little.
Then why ask for this reunion to be in your room? Hope questioned, her tone in smugly amusement on her part.
It sounded cool in my head to have this reunion here. Now I am feeling my privacy invaded. John responded, looking to the side. And partly is your aunt's fault.
"No hidden porns?" Rebekah said out loud, dropping down the paper notes she retrieved from a drawer. "What teenage boy are you?" She turned to the only boy under 18 in the room.
Before replying, John had gone through a dozen different answers in his head. And he wasn't smart enough this way to think of an answer where Rebekah wouldn't pick on him or Hope. So…
"Freya, can you come here? I want you to take a look at this." He said, telekinetically opening the drawer Rebekah just closed before the pile of papers flew to him.
By the time he grabbed the papers, the woman was in front of him.
Standing up, he lowered the papers, enough for her to have a view of it. "Do you think something like this is achievable through how I plan to do it?"
Giving the notes a look, Freya narrowed her eyes. The notes had intrigued her. "Let me take a better look at it." Her response was followed by the papers leaving the young man's hands and getting into hers.
She studied the writings and drawnings on the papers in silence. Whilst doing so, she slowly moved to sit down on the bed, putting the papers on her tights to free her hands and have better management of the notes.
Watching her aunt going back and forth through the notes, Hope, as the curious girl she was, leaned on Freya to take a glimpse of what captured the witch's attention.
And in doing so, her eyes widened slightly in amazement and intrigue. Her curiosity seemed to have been wholly captured by the texts as well, her vision now hovering over the notes.
Freya noticed her niece's head over her shoulder, then the interest in her eyes. Swiftly, she adjusted her posture to give Hope a better and clear view.
Seeing both witches occupying his bed, John walked away, in Rebekah's direction. Or more exactly, his table.
Pulling his chair, he sat down and reached out his arm to push on the computer's power button. Quickly, the sound of the components working reached his ears.
Standing by the boy's side, observing him, Rebekah finally gave more than a quick glance at everything over the surface of the desk.
"Where did you find money to buy all this?" She asked, more to break the silence than real curiosity.
John, calmly, pointed his thumb backwards over his shoulder, directly at Hope.
Giving her niece a quick look, she understood. "What else did you buy?"
"Clothes. Lots of clothes, actually." He looked up at her. "Your niece's idea. She said I needed more than only a few sets of clothes to live."
"Thankfully. I don't need my niece's boyfriend to dress up as a peasant." Rebekah said, jerking her head to the side. "No offense, Gilbert boy."
"None taken." Jeremy dryly said back, standing on the balcony. Viewing the backyard of the school from there.
Clothes were made to be comfortable. What is the use of a shirt that I have to regulate my breath in fear of it ripping apart. John thought, retreating his left hand from the surface of his table, only remaining his right hand. His index finger casually resting over the mouse's left button.
The world seemed still for a moment, and his eyes lingered a fraction of a second more than it should on the screen ahead.
All for the purpose of contemplating what his next action would lead to.
With this, I will finally "know" where the Triad is, and go there to end things before they escalate too much. John thought, his finger pressing down on the button. This world has already proven enough that it can surprise me. Now, time to follow a few steps I know where it will lead-
Through the short monologuing within his mind, a whisper slowly descended onto John's ear.
"This symbol… I've seen it before." Rebekah's voice cascaded by his side, her words echoing like drums in his mind.
"…"
For the briefest of the moments, John's mind seemed to cease all thoughts before he could recompose himself.
Turning his neck to the side and lifting his chin, John faced Rebekah, who had her head almost on the same level as the boy's.
Opening his lips, John asked the first thing coming to his mind when he returned to normal. "You did? When?" He tried to not sound too enthusiasmed, nor too surprised, nor too nonchalantly.
Just exactly as someone like him should act. Someone who should only know what he supposedly knew.
"I think… 700 years ago." Rebekah's response wasn't long, for her attention wavered between the symbol and the boy. "No, I am certain of that. These memories are vague. And this is the only moment in my life my memories are vague." She added, her eyes seemingly piercing through the symbol, in an attempt to better review those memories of her.
Having his eyes resting over her face for a moment longer, the boy slowly returned his sight to the monitor placed in front of him. Nothing had changed.
John's right index finger still rested over the left button of the mouse. Prepared to press it.
Fuck it. Suddenly I am getting scared of changes. John muttered inwardly, cursing the slight hesitation he had of pressing the button due to what he heard. So what if Rebekah heard of it? Nothing changes to me even if everything changes. Time to hunt the Triad and Malivore and end this as soon as possible. I will deal with whatever I face on the path.
With this thought, the button was pressed, and the screen blinked, taking Rebekah off from her trance and changing what was displayed by the monitor. Now, the results of his search have appeared.
The results were viewed by not only the pair of immortal beings, but by the hunter who silently approached as well.
"What are you looking at?" Jeremy asked, stopping by the young man's left side.
"Result from something I saw in the dragon's memories." John replied, reading through the page with commitment.
The white background highlighted the words that were consumed by the young man.
TRIAD Inc… Holder of TRIAD Labs, which seems to be the actual center of the corporation, as they are the ones responsible for manufacturing the products commercialized by TRIAD Inc. Their field of work seems large. From pharmaceutics to bio-engineering. John moved his eyes through the page, landing on the knowledge panel of the corporation.
Headquarters at North Carolina, at least this hasn't changed. Business hours, worthless. Phone numbers, don't care. Reviews, fuck it… The knowledge panel didn't give off much of the corporation besides things entirely mundane, which were of no greater importance for the boy.
"And what did you see there?" Jeremy asked, his question coming a second after the response from the young man.
Slowing down his thought process and turning around on his chair, with his back now facing the monitor, John looked up at Jeremy facing him down. "Let's wait for Dr. Saltzman and Professor Williams to be here so I don't explain twice. They are already on their way."
Jeremy, turning his ear to face the door, nodded at the proposal.
He wasn't the only one to hear the young man's words. Hope, who listened to the talk, tried to listen to the sounds from beyond the room and listened the heavy steps approaching the room.
She touched her aunt Freya, urging her to fold the papers, for now their attention would be needed elsewhere.
Click. The knob of the door turned.
"Sorry for the wait." Alaric said by the door, opening it to reveal him and Dorian's figures. "Worried guardians are always troublesome to deal with."
"I can imagine." John replied, rising up from his chair. "How many guardians have arrived at the school by now?"
"Putting them aside," Alaric looked at Freya and Rebekah. "only MG's mother came by. But Jeremy has already…"
As Alaric kept talking, John's focus changed from listening to him to replaying in his head one of the things he said.
MG's Mother… So TRIAD is here. John thought, calmly. Not unexpected for TRIAD appearing so soon. This world is much more active than what was shown, after all. Hardly the events of the school would go unnoticed by so long. What is surprising is their apparent leader showing up so soon.
"...We talked, and she has come to the decision of taking MG out from the school whilst we deal with the situation." Alaric said, his stare subtly changing for a more serious one. "So, I hope you have something for me."
"I do." John nodded, confirming that everyone had a clear view of him before raising his hand. "I am gonna show you what I learned from the dragon's memories."
A flash of light surged from John's right palm. When everyone least expected, a magical hologram had occupied the area amidst the group.
A figure of pure darkness, standing two meters tall appeared before them, void of any and all similarity to humanity besides the four limbs and head.
The appearance raised questions through the room, though everyone silently waited for more before saying anything.
"When I entered the dragon's mind, it was aware of my presence and created… a certain path for me into one of its memories."
That raised a brow from Rebekah. "That is impressive… manipulating their own mind to achieve something like that is something I only recently learned in the last few years. Though just as well I only thought of trying something like this recently."
"Let's talk more about you vampires' undeveloped abilities later." John said, taking his eyes off Rebekah. "As I was saying, I 'walked' into the dragon's memories. And my first experience was visiting one of them, a memory that had taken the form of the terrain. Where I could walk and take a closer look at what she, the dragon, guided me to see."
"So you were aware she purposefully took you there." Jeremy blurted out.
"Yes." John nodded.
"Any chance she possibly… created that memory?" Alaric chimed in, but his voice was slow, not rushed in the slightest.
"No. Well, I don't think so." John said, letting out his opinion. "Though I am still learning more about mind tricks, I can confirm the authenticity of the emotions sipped into that place. I had to shut it down for most of my time there to not be affected by it."
"Then you believe in what you saw?"
"Wholeheartedly." And also because what I saw matches with my meta knowledge, but that part doesn't need to be mentioned. John thought. "Resuming what I was saying, in that memory I observed what I call a dragon nest, or a land owned by them, at least."
"Any chance it was some kind of Realm? Like a Prison World." Alaric said.
"Or New Orleans' former Ancestral Plane." Freya added.
"None. It was our Realm, on Earth. Or more exactly, some place in the British Isles." John denied their ideas. "Imagine, dozens, hundreds of dragons, living on our lands in the open. With them knowing of humanity and apparently humanity knowing about them as well."
"Looks like a fantasy tale. An unimaginable one." Rebekah said.
"Exactly." John agreed. "And it looks exactly like that because of it." He pointed at the magical hologram of the dark creature.
Everyone looked at it with questioning expressions that aggravated over the seconds. The question lasted in their minds until one of them decided to ask.
"How?"
"From the little knowledge I have learned, this golem has an unique ability with an impressive effect. It consumes beings, imprisoning them into a dimension of pure darkness. This dimension purges them from their senses. Time can't be traced and space seems illusory. I… experienced it first-hand through a memory." A silent shiver raced across the boy's spine, reminiscing him of those few long seconds spent on that memory.
The best word to describe that sensation, of where your thoughts were starting to sound louder than screams, was: delirious.
That was unhinged. Thought the boy, recomposing from the short reminder that went unnoticed by everyone in the room. "However, the ability to consume beings and imprison them is not the most notorious feature of this golem, but its effect." John proceeded in his explanation, waving his hand in the air, disintegrating the magical hologram into small dots of light that scattered across the room.
In different parts of the room, the lights converged, taking forms and shapes different from before.
This process, which lasted less than a second, ended with the action of the young man putting his hand down and walking to the middle of the circle formed by the people in his room.
"What do you guys see?" He asked them, all of them. His eyes indicated to everyone where to look.
Standing with her arms crossed, Hope lifted her chin to observe a figure above her.
An inexistent sun bathed the radiant skin through an equally inexistent water. Rays of light pierced through the hair following the tides of the ocean, with pristine blue eyes reflecting the water.
Such a beauty would be sought for anyone, not less by the men that sailored through waters once unexplored.
But the same men would be terrified to face any equally beautiful creature when identifying its other features.
The long, powerful scaled fish tail, with sharp fins and serpent grace would be enough to make the knees of many bend and ask for mercy from God.
The canines sharpened to rip the flesh apart, enlarged to reach the bone. The slit pupils amidst the pale yellow field was a frightening combination, sending shivers down the spine of men who navigated through uncharted waters.
Unfortunately, none of this was enough to do more than impress the young woman. The image seemed incapable of fazing her, as her reaction to the hologram was the mutter of a word.
"A mermaid…" Her voice was laced in a weak wonder, but wonder still.
"Exactly." John nodded. Turning to see the others.
Dorian observed the figure of a man standing on two goat legs. White fur raced up his arms, with two curly brown horns sprouting out of the top of his forehead.
"What is this?"
"A Satyr." Rebekah answered, taking the being into her sight. Nik used to paint them for sometime after witnessing Bouguereau's work. "And that is a Centaur." She pointed at a man with the lower half of his body replaced by that of a horse.
"An Hypocampos?" Alaric blurted, seeing a horse with aquatic characteristics, jumping out of the water with its fins bathing under the sunlight. "What is all this? Why are you showing us all of this?"
"Just to build perspective." John muttered, facing the people in his room. "I wanted to show you the memories of the dragon, and I am doing that. Through holograms created by my magic. These… are all beings that existed."
Silence slowly occupied the room as most sounds left through the walls. Only the breaths of those present could be heard, with the rhythm of these breaths varying on the impact the person suffered from the knowledge shared by the boy.
There was calmness, from Freya, Rebekah and Jeremy even. The air leaving their nostrils followed a pattern, not broken by the news. They silently digested it.
The others, however, suffered a little more from it. Truly, none of them had frantic breaths, as the sentiment of panic was far from overcoming them.
But Hope, Dorian and Alaric had a deeper sentiment laced into their breath, making it heavy. And in the silence that followed, it seemed to propagate more into the soundless room.
"How?" Was the word Hope blurted out after moments of silence, a strange emotion showing on her.
One thing is you thinking, raising an idea in your head. Another is someone else proving it to you. John thought, looking at his girlfriend looking more attentively at the figures around. Her eyes were slightly similar to his when he first arrived in this world. "Through it." He responded her simple question by pointing at the golem.
And when everyone's attention was on it, John proceeded to explain.
"Everything that is consumed by it, imprisoned in the dimension within it, has its existence forgotten by those from outside it." His words had an immediate reaction from them. "Our memories are apparently sealed within our minds, with us without having access to it to remember what we forgot. At least this seems to be the process according to the dragon's memories." He added, filling more details into the situation and idea he introduced.
At the end of his explanation, John let a weak current of air leave his nostrils before paying attention to everyone's expressions. And just as he expected, though different from one another, everyone had shook reactions.
Because in their mind, the idea proposed by the boy clashed with their world views. And this clash was much more intense in the mind of a specific person, who already had a very consolidated view of the world, who thought she knew everything by the vast time she spent on Earth.
Seeing Rebekah just blankly stare at the golem of mud, a thought crossed John's mind. I must make it more impactful. "And apparently, this process of memory-wiping "mythical" creatures from the minds, seems to not be going for even a thousand years-old."
The detail added by the boy was sufficient for the woman to get clarity in her eyes and change her stare to him. "You meaning…"
"There is a possibility, Rebekah. Of you, and maybe even Freya, considering her unusual life the last 1000 years, to have seen these creatures. They were just-"
"Forgotten by us." Freya continued the phrase for the boy, sitting down on the bed once again. But this time, with a deep frown on her forehead, one of someone who was in deep thinking. "They were sealed in our minds…"
"Correct." John nodded. "I must believe you are already thinking about what I did when I learned of it."
"I am." Freya replied. "But I am still thinking if it's worth it."
"And what would be the problem?" Rebekah asked, calmly chiming into the conversation.
"Our minds might have been wiped and we didn't know it, for at least…"
"Nine centuries." John added.
"Exactly." Freya nodded his way to thank him for the exact information. "This mind-wiping, most possibly, is a spell or has a magical origin. How many powerful witches have we ever met and none of them mentioned a single magical influence in their minds?"
"None." Rebekah replied.
"I think I understand where you are going." Now it was Alaric's turn to join the conversation. "You are saying that considering the normal circumstances, the possibility of such a spell to be going on is almost null."
"Yeah, but we've seen we are not under normal circumstances." Freya said.
"Then, what is the plan?" Alaric asked.
"Good question." John said. "I am thinking of possibly, with the help of Freya and Hope, searching for this possible Sealing Spell in Rebekah's mind, considering she is probably the one who "forgot" the most among us all. But sincerely, I don't know how much this can help our situation. Maybe it only helps us in knowing what can be sent our way." He explained.
Rebekah turned his way. "You are not even going to ask for permission?"
"Not like you are not curious." He replied with a smirk.
Rebekah, turning to face the creature, looked at the symbol on what should be its forehead and narrowed her eyes. "You are right. I am curious."
"Then, it's decided." John said, looking at everyone. "I think that was all I needed to share."
"Sigh… Okay." Alaric said, seemingly still digesting the information. "I think you gave us enough info to work on, John. Thank you."
The boy just smiled.
"Dorian, Jeremy, let's go. We must prepare for the meeting."
"Dr. Saltzman, can I have permission to take a look at your magical products? I need a few things to proceed with our idea." Freya asked.
"Sure, come with me." Alaric agreed.
"I'm coming with you, sister. Let's see how you plan to wreck my mind." Rebekah said, following the group out of the room.
In a very short time, only John and Hope were left alone in the room, both looking at each other.
After some time, the young man decided to speak up first. "Worried?"
"Apparently, that is my eternal emotional state." Hope said, followed by a low chuckle. Taking a few steps further, she let herself fall on the boy's body, hugging him. "Things always seem to be getting complicated."
"Relax, everything will end up just fine." John tried to comfort her, his tone soft. "I am here, and anything that could possibly go wrong we will take care of."
"I wished I was always as optimistic as you." Hope looked up at him, pushing up her feet a little to give a light kiss on his lips.
Accepting the kiss, John smiled afterwards. "It is just a cheat that I have. I think it came with the powers and everything."
"If you say so." Hope said, smiling as she let herself indulge in his warmth, the sensation slowly calming her.
John, whatsoever, just quietly thought to himself. Yeah, I will take care of everything. Don't need to worry…