Chapter 56: An Offer You Could Refuse

-Over ten years ago-

In the town of Hoxly which was just outside of the city of Vrox, a group of children were in a small wooded area playing. The four young boys were Alan, Kein, Cris and his brother Lance. They were all good friends with each other.

They had picked up sticks off the ground and were pretending they were weapons, while also pretending to be famous and powerful archmages. They were play-fighting.

Lance: “Take that! Lightning bolt!!” he shouted out while pretending to shoot out lightning from his hand.

Cris: “Agggh!” he pretended to yell out in pain, acting as if he got hit by lightning and fell to the ground while doing so.

Kein: “NO! Cris! I will avenge you!” he yelled while bringing up a stick to slowly swing down onto Lance.

Lance raised his stick to block Richard's wooden stick. As both sticks gently made contact with the other, both children made sound effects with their mouths. Acting like there was a massive amount of forces coming in contact with each other.

Lance: “YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME—ugh.” he said, as he looked at another stick poking up from his side.

A stick poked up under Lance’s arm. Alan had snuck up behind him with the wooden tree branch and placed it there, making a motion pretending to stab Lance. Cris' brother fell to the ground, acting as if he had been stabbed through the chest with a large sword.

Lance: “Noooo. My plans, ruined. Blaggagh,” he said while sticking his tongue out, acting as if he died.

Kein: “Thank you, Alan. With your help, we’ve stopped the evil nobles and their plans.”

Alan: “We stopped them, but there are more evil nobles waiting for us archmages to let our guards down. We must defeat them for our friends. We must—” he was interrupted by Lance.

Lance: “OK, it’s my turn to be an Archmage,” he said while getting off the ground.

Cris: “Actually, it’s getting pretty late.”

Lance: “C’mon. You guys always make me play the evil noble or cultist.”

Kein: “Tell ya what, next time I’ll be the evil one and you can be an archmage.

Lance: “Yay!”

Alan: “But let's head home before it gets too late.”

Lance let out a deep sigh.

Lance: “OK…”

All the boys there dropped their sticks and started to walk home. They didn’t know exactly what time it was, but could see the sun in the sky was somewhere between halfway to sundown. They had gotten in trouble with their parents before for coming home when it was late. They didn’t want a repeat of that and left a little earlier than they might have.

They walked along a path of dirt that was packed tightly by countless other people walking along it. Eventually, they made it to an entryway that opened up to a residential area. As they walked along, Kein started up a conversation with his friends.

Kein: “Wouldn’t it be cool if we were actually Archmages?

Lance: “Obviously. I would be such an awesome Archmage.”

Kein: “We should all try to become one.”

Lance: “My dad says it’s not that simple to become one.”

Cris: “You gotta be crazy powerful, I hear.”

Alan: “Yeah, It wouldn't be possible for us.”

Kein: “Hey, we gotta dream big!”

Cris: “OK. Then let’s make a promise,” he stopped walking. “ Let all try to become archmages when we get older. If all four of us try, I’m sure one of us can do it.”

Lance: “Yeah! That sounds awesome!”

Kein: “Cool beans!”

Alan: “That’s from Adventures of Martyn. You're just copying what Martyn said to the magi-force.” he said, recognizing the line Cris said from a cartoon he watched.

Cris: “Don’t ruin the mood. What Martyn said was cool in the show, and it is cool now.”

Kein: “Um, now that Alan pointed that out, it kinda feels a little lame now.”

Cris: “C’mon! Just fist bump me and make the promise. It’s cool and will make our dreams come true.” he said while sticking his fist out.

Lance was the first to stick his fist out and touch Cris’s fist. Kein hesitated for a few seconds, feeling that this was a little lame now that he knew it was from a cartoon, but relented and bumped his fist with the two brothers.

Alan just shook his head and absentmindedly bumped his fist along with his friends, knowing that Cris would annoy him if he didn’t.

Cris: “Cool! We here promise that someday one of us will become an archmage no matter what!” he yelled out in excitement.

Alan: “By the power of the fairy queen!” he followed up.

Cris: “You didn’t have to add that part!”

Alan: “That’s what Martyn said in the show.”

Kein: “This became so lame…”

Alan and Lance both giggled as all the boys went to their respective homes for the night.

Some time went by, and the young boys surprisingly never forgot their childish promise that day. Eventually, Hoxly would be attacked by the Endless War cult. And, two of the four boys would go missing after that attack, their fate unknown.

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-Back in the current day-

Alan along with Jafar and Sere were sitting in a waiting room outside Lazarus’ office. They were called here today to meet with the head of the Arcane Eye College, Lazarus Vaal himself.

A little over a week had gone by since what happened in the library with Sorin. Alan had his broken ribs mostly healed with magic and already attended Cris' funeral with friends and family. He spent most of the week grieving the death of his childhood friend and was still a little bit of an emotional wreck. On the surface, nothing looked wrong, but both Jafar and Sere could feel a deep sense of sadness coming from Alan. There were also big bags under his eyes, a sign that the Lionheart student was likely crying earlier before coming here.

Both his friends did the best they could to be supportive. But, they felt so helpless. There was nothing they could say or do. Alan was the person always willing to help both Sere and Jafar with their own troubles and burdens. And, now that it was their turn to be that person for Alan, both felt like they were failing him. There were no magic words they could say or any action they could do, that would help with the pain of loss. Alan had to process that pain by himself, and it was not going well.

Truthfully, Sere and Jafar didn’t want their friend to be here. He was still hurting emotionally when Lazarus called for a meeting. They both wanted to give Alan as much time and space to work through the grief and were willing to go by themselves, but it was specified that all three of them were to come to this meeting. It was hard to deny a request like this from the most powerful Archmage on the continent, so Alan had forced himself to come.

The door to Lazarus' office suddenly swung open. Standing in the doorway was a woman in a mostly white uniform with an odd stripe of gold in its design. It was the clothing of an enforcer, the university's private security and judiciary body. The woman herself stood six feet tall and had emerald eyes, which oddly matched her hair color. Her hair hung down to her waist and was tied together at the end with a metal band.

The three students present knew who this person was, Alan a little bit more so. They were all first introduced to her when they first enrolled in the school. This was Mitra Mayumi, a combat trainer and one of the head enforcers here at the university.

Mitra looked up and down each of the students here before his sights landed on Alan.

Mitra: “Hmm, you look like shit Alan.”

Alan: “Yes, Ms Mayumi…” he said very formally, almost doing so as an automatic response.

Mitra: “We're not in the training hall. You don’t need to call me ‘Ms’.

Alan: “Yes, Ms Mayumi…” he said anyway.

Mitra raised her one eyebrow a little. She looked like she was about to say something to Alan, but stopped, and went back to addressing the whole group with a deep sigh.

Mitra: "Lazarus is ready to see you all.” she said while gesturing to follow.

Everyone sitting got up and followed behind the head enforcer inside.

The inside of the archmage’s office was quite big, but it didn’t feel like that. There was so much clutter all over the place. Bookshelves were packed full of tomes and various vases and containers. Plants were sitting about on tables and the floor, with some of them looking half dead. The main desk that Lazarus worked at was stacked high with paper and a few other miscellaneous objects.

The three students looked around at the messy office. They couldn’t see anyone else in the room besides themselves and Ms Mayumi.

Sere: “Um, I thought you said Sir Lazarus was ready to see us. Where is he?”

???: “I’m here.” a voice called out from somewhere, to answer Sere's question.

The students looked toward the desk near the center of the room with piles of paper. An arm suddenly stuck out between the pillars of paper and tried to push some of them to the side. As that happened, the papers fell off the edge of the table and onto the floor. The papers spilled onto the ground, adding to the mess of the space.

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With the papers partially out of the way, everyone could see a middle-aged-looking man sitting at the large desk. The man wore expensive-looking purple robes with gold trimmings and a pair of thick glasses. He looked like he was balding on the top of his head with what was left of his salt-and-pepper hair. This was Lazarus Vaal, headmaster of the most prestigious college the Arcane Eye, Archmage of fusion magic, the only known mage capable of atomic magic, and possibly the most powerful man on the continent.

Lazarus: “Ah, crud. I’ll clean that up later.” he said while looking at all the papers he spilled over. ”Anyways, please. Everyone takes a seat.”

The three students looked to see that there was only one chair to sit on, before turning their head back to the Archmage. Lazarus had a slightly awkward look as he realized there was only one chair.

Lazarus: “Ah, hold a sec,” he said while waving his hands.

Alan and his friends could feel a sudden fluctuation of aether coming from Lazarus. Suddenly, two more chairs dropped onto the ground from nowhere, landing beside the other one. The headmaster of the Arcane Eye collage gestured again for them to sit.

The students did what they were told and each took a seat. Mitra walked up to Lazarus grabbed another stack of paper that was still partly obscuring the Archmage and put it on another nearby spot, before standing right beside him.

The archmage looked at each student, gauging them before he spoke.

Lazarus: “I must thank you for all three of you coming here,” he said warmly and with a smile. “I know you three have been through a lot, and nothing I could say would make up for what happened to you. But, I want to humbly apologize to you three for what happened with Sorin,” he said apologetically.

Alan and friends had already heard this from several other teachers before. They have been inundated with apologies from countless people of the university faculty. But, it still felt surreal for someone as famous as Lazarus to be apologizing to them.

Lazarus: “As part of that apology, we will be waiving all fees for your education here for life. That includes room and board, as well as books. And, we’ll extend this offer to any of your friends and family members you designate.”

Jafar: “Really?! Thank you!” he said, particularly excited.

Tuition and books for Graheel University were not cheap. This would free up a lot of finances for all three students here, especially for Jafar. Sere and Alan got into the university with a grant, but Jafar had to pay completely out of pocket. So the Ember Gear student would be the one to benefit the most from this.

Lazarus: “It is the least we could do. We’re supposed to provide you all with a safe place to learn, but failed to notice that a necromancer was in our midst. I should also be thanking you. It was you three who discovered what Sorin was doing and stopped him. Without you, who knows how many more victims there might have been,” he said, praising them.

Sere: “Um…you're welcome.”

Jafar: “Yeah…”

All three of them felt a little awkward because the truth was that they were not the ones to discover or stop Sorin. That was all Cid’s doing, but they couldn’t tell anyone that. Cid would kill them if they did, so none of the three students had told teachers about the mysterious Shroom Pact student.

Lazarus noticed the awkwardness.

Lazarus: ”I’m sorry if anything I said was insensitive to any of you. As I understand, your friend was a victim of Sorin as well. It was not my intention to make any of you uncomfortable.”

Alan: “It’s OK..”

The archmage sighed.

Lazarus: “If you say so. Anyway, I have another offer for all three of you. I would like to enroll you all into the Arcane Eye collage.”

All three students gasp. Even Alan snapped out of his depressed state to be surprised. This was something none of them ever thought was why they were called here for. Arcane Eye was not something you could get into with favor. There were stories of that college rejecting the enrollment of a king's son from another nation, despite the immense amount of pressure put on the university to admit him. Only people of skill and talent were ever admitted, and fewer still graduate fully from that college.

Alan: “Is it really OK for us to be enrolled in that college…” he said, feeling unsure if he really was worthy of getting into that college.

Lazarus: “If you’re worried about any inadequacies you may be feeling, don’t be. All three of you have acquired plenty of merits to be recognized. Discovering and stopping Sorin is an unbelievable feat in itself for first years, and a more than worthy accomplishment to allow all of you to attend Arcane Eye.

Alan: “Right…” he softly said, still feeling awkward about the fact it wasn't them to stop Sorin.

Lazarus: “Hmm, only the devil gives everything, I guess.”

Sere: “Huh?”

Lazarus: “It’s an old saying. Anyway, don’t worry about it. What I'm trying to say is that I somewhat understand your apprehension. A lot has happened to you three, making you all a little hesitant to accept such an offer. But, I must make this clear. There are conditions for your admission.

Sere: “Some sort of test?”

Lazarus: “Not really. Well, kinda. I want you three to join the enforcers as part of your admission.”

Alan: “You want us to join the university police force?”

Lazarus: “Correct. You three have demonstrated skills that would be helpful to the enforcers.”

Sere: “Are we even allowed to join? We're students.”

Lazarus: “Of course you’re allowed. There are students working as enforcers on campus across all the colleges as part of their education. It would be no different for the three of you, except you would be one of the few Arcane Eye students who are also enforcers.”

Jafar: “Sir, can I be frank with you?”

Lazarus: “Please speak your mind.”

Jafar: “Why are you doing this? Why do you want us as enforcers?”

Ever since what happened with Sorin, Jafar had become more skeptical and weary of all the teachers at the university. It’s not that he thought all the teachers were as evil as Sorin, but he never wanted to be put in another situation like that again.

Mitra: “It was my idea.”

All three students turned to the green-haired woman who had been quiet for a while now.

Mitra: “I thought you three punks wouldn’t want to leave things unfinished.”

Jafar: “What do you mean by that?”

Lazarus: “Mitra!” he yelled at Mitra for her comment.

Mitra: “What? Those three deserve to know the most.”

The older mage let out a long sigh in defeat at Mitra's point and made a gesture for her to continue.

Mitra: “Sorin wasn't doing that whole necromancy thing by himself. We discovered there were others involved.”

It was now the second time that Alan and his friends were shocked. During this whole ordeal, they had never considered there were more people involved in helping Sorin turn people into undead.

Mitra: “Remember Jixi? Sorin’s assistant. We’re pretty sure he was helping Sorin turn people into undead. He’s currently missing and everyone is in the process of looking for him, and any others that were helping Sorin. We’re making a special unit in the enforcer to properly investigate this as well, and I was thinking that you three might want to be part of this investigation.”

Alan: “Why would you assume that?”

Mitra: “Oh, I don’t know. But, if I were you, I would make sure that every person that was involved in my friend's death was properly punished,” she said while looking at Alan.

Sere: “Alan…” she said while placing her hand on his shoulder.

Alan: “And…this will get me into the Arcane Eye college?”

Lazarus: “That's correct.”

Alan: “Then I’ll do it,” he said without any hesitation.

Mitra: “I figured. What about you two?”

Jafar: “Um, I will as well.”

Sere: “Can we get into the Arcane Eye collage without joining the enforcers?”

Mitra: “Nope. That’s part of the condition.”

Sere: “Then I’ll have to reject your offer.”

Everyone, but Mitra, looked at Sere with surprise.

Lazarus: “May I ask why,” curious to know why someone like Sere would reject such a generous offer.

Sere: “I simply don’t want to be an officer.”

Lazarus: “But, you’re a Lockheart.”

Sere: “Exactly. My family is known as a military and police people, but I don’t want to become beholden to my family’s reputation. That's why I’m trying to become a healer instead.”

Sere lived her whole life under the shadow of her family's reputation. In her younger days, that reputation hurt her. It made it hard for her to make friends back then, as everyone was scared of her because of it. No matter what she did, Sere couldn’t shake off the influence her family had on her. She didn’t hate her family for this, but didn’t appreciate the expectations others placed on her because of her family.

It felt like everyone was trying to force her into something she didn’t want to be. Sere had the qualities of an excellent military mage, but wanted to be a healer. She wanted to be someone like those healers she heard stories about in the Church of Light, and just couldn’t accept the idea of being an enforcer. It would feel like she was accepting those unfair expectations of her if she agreed with Lazarus' offer.

Mitra just smiled at Sere's response.

Mitra: “I can’t say I’m not disappointed. Lockhearts are worth ten mages, but I can respect a woman deciding their own path in life. In that case,” she said ominously while looking at Alan and Jafar. “I’m going to whip these two into shape by training them ten times harder to make up for Sere not joining my enforcers.”

Alan: “What?!?”

Jafar: “Huh?”

Mitra: “Come now. You two were beaten up pretty badly and barely survived that encounter with Sorin. If you’re going to join this special unit I’m making, I’m gonna have to train you two up so that it doesn't happen again. In any case, prepare to suffer— I mean train,” she said while chuckling maniacally.

Lazarus just sigh again and face palmed as he heard what Mitra said with that almost menacing statement.

The color from both Alan and Jafar drained. They both were starting to have immediate regrets.

In the coming weeks, Alan and Jafar realized that Sere's decision to reject joining the enforcers was beyond correct. She was saved from the hellish training that Alan and Jafar were about to receive.

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Inside Lazarus' office, the archmage continued to sit at his desk while Mitra looked out of the office window. She was watching the three students they just talked with walk off into the distance into another building. The head enforcer had a hardened look in her eyes.

Mitra: “Of the three of them, I wanted Sere to join the most. The report I read says she has excellent talent as a combat mage. Heh, might have been even greater talent than her brother, who’s a genius. That family always seems to spit out exceptional combat mages every generation without fail.”

Lazarus: “Nothing you can do about that. We can’t force them. The best I could do was tempt them with admission into Arcane Eye, and she even refused that.” he said while signing some forms at his desk. Searᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Mitra: “Speaking of which, is that OK? Just letting them into your college like this.”

Lazarus: “It should be OK. Whether they are part of my college or not, won’t affect it, or the entire university's reputation. If that’s what you’re worried about. “

There was an awkward silence that followed after what the archmage said. Neither of the mages looked at each other, but could tell that the other was in deep thought. While continuing to stare outside the window, Mitra Mayumi started inquiring about the archmage's intention.

Mitra: “What are you planning? I assume this is some sort of political move I'm unaware of.”

Lazarus: “Three reasons. It’s a continued distraction from the media. Think about it. We’ve already built them up as heroes and recognize their deeds publicly to the press. Those media people are obsessed with hero stories, and will latch on to those kids while taking heat away from us.”

Mitra: “That will only work for so long and to a certain degree.”

Lazarus: “That’s why we're making that special investigating unit you suggested with the ‘heroes’ that stopped Sorin. I imagine they’ll write in the headline something like: “Hero’s students seek out necromancer’s accomplice”. Or, something like that. It should keep them going for quite a bit longer before they try and bring back the focus onto Sorin himself, who was a teacher here.”

Mitra: “That still doesn't fix our long-term problem. The government and nobles are banging at our doors for what happened.”

Lazarus: “But, it does. These new units we’re making with the enforcers show us being proactive and taking this seriously. Once we can get some cooperation with the local government with these special units, the federal government and nobles will take notice. And, hopefully, be somewhat satisfied with what we’re doing.”

Mitra: “So this whole thing is a farce. You were never interested in this unit I’ve been trying to make for years.”

Lazarus: “Please Mitra, It’s not a farce. This whole plan hedges on you finding Jixi, or anyone that was connected with helping Sorin’s sick twisted experiment. If you can’t turn up some results, it will just show as incompetent, and the government and nobles will continue to breathe down our necks. We need someone that we can direct their ire to.”

Mitra: “Fine. Can’t say I’m pleased about how I was finally able to create these new enforcer units, but I’ll take what I can get. So, you wanted something to distract the media and a demonstration of us trying to punish those involved with Sorin. What was the third reason?”

Lazarus: “I want you to keep an eye on those three students,” he said, referring to Alan and his friends.

Mitra: “What? The ones we just talked to? Why?”

Lazarus: “There’s… something they're not saying. And, I want to know what and why.”

Mitra: “What are you suspecting?”

Lazarus: “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I have that came up while talking to them. Like they're hiding something for some reason. Although, I recognize that It could be nothing. Anyways, you’re going to be supervising two of them anyway. So, just keep an eye out.”