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Another silence, this one strained. So the Fourths can switch teams. Or they can steal their Third’s medallion to win on their own.
But you have to remember to account for other people’s stupidity.”
lol
Students have died in the Iudicium.
Maybe all the kids that died were put there by his adopted father and they all failed and Veridius is trying to stop it ?
When I look back through the shrinking opening, the alupi has vanished.
They’re guard dogs
Then I turn the corner, and see Belli’s torn body.
WAHT
FINALLY, I STOP SHAKING.
WHAT IS GOING ON
“Herein lies the way to Luceum and Obiteum, offered to all those who would contest our… extinction?” I mutter to myself, translating. “Know that none who accept this task may… remain? The burden of…” My brow furrows and I pause at a word. “Togetherness? Harmony?” I choose the latter. “Is reserved for the one who seals the… authors? The authors of the war from this world. Only he may… exceed? Exceed the hobbled capabilities of this… duplication? He and he alone may risk… harmony… to make the great… sacrifice? Vek.”
I’m frozen only for a second; then I’m running headlong into the gap Diago has created,
Fuck yeah Diago
I fade to the rasping sound of the wolf’s laboured breathing.
Bro what 😭
He’s thinking about the deaths from the past few Iudicia—deaths I’m almost certain were caused because Veridius, for some reason, has been sending students into that accursed dome.
Callidus pauses again, as if he wants to say more, then returns the grin.
If he betrays Vis I may cry
“I’m leaving.” There’s shame on Marcellus’s face, but also resolve. “I’m not dying for this.”
lol mood
“But I shall indulge you, just this once. We are doing this at Military’s behest, though they think we don’t know. They expect that like the naumachia, we will be eager to claim responsibility. They expect that this will solidify us as a threat to all the Republic, allowing them to push through new laws and shore up their crumbling power in the Senate. And they expect the Senate to demand that they take over the Academy, to ensure such a massacre of promising young leaders never happens again. Because they do not know why this island is special—but they do know that it is.”
Okay so that makes sense but still feel like I’m missing something
Because Veridius will bury it before he ever allows someone else near it.”
Has he really been good this whole time
“You should prepare yourself to lose that arm. None of us get out without scars.” He touches his disfigurement lightly.
Okay so clearly Vis has the ability to use Will now even without taking it from people bc of whatever he did right?
Stupidly, I think he’s going to imbue it. He doesn’t.
He can’t imbue
I turn to see Emissa standing there, a short, dripping obsidian blade in her trembling hand. Her eyes are black.
She’s using Will ?!?!
“You used Will,” I observe weakly.
I take a step forward, concerned as well as confused now. “Emissa—” The dagger flies toward me. I flinch, but not enough. It buries itself in my stomach.
Um excuse me ?
Both lie motionless. One of them is Callidus.
I swear to fucking god if he’s dead
I start as he suddenly gives a rasping, sputtering cough.
Oh thank god
“Stay still. You’re injured.” “Really?” Callidus gives another cough, then a strange, uneasy wheeze. “But I feel so good.”
Today is my eighteenth birthday.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TIME Callidus dies.
Cool I’m gonna go kill myself thanks
He slips first into a rasping unconsciousness, perhaps an hour after we start out. I try to wake him, but it’s to no avail. I know that if I stop, I won’t be able to go on again. So I keep moving. Keep carrying him. Still talk, now and then, even though I know he can’t hear me. Encourage him. Exhort him. Demand he stay alive.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
“I’m going to make sure you burn for this.”
“I’m so alone,” I whisper to him. I feel the words with all my hopeless heart.
But what’s the point? Suus is still gone, and the Hierarchy still takes everything from me, one way or another.” I think of Callidus, lifeless and cold in my arms.
I’m actually bawling
“Please. We need your help avoiding the next Cataclysm.”
Okay so yeah imma say he’s been good this whole time
“I tried to save him.” My voice cracks. “I tried, Eidhin.”
“No.” His eyes are sad. “Death is only meaningless if it does not change us, Vis.”
“You were supposed to be protecting us.” I interrupt, voice low and hard. Let him hear my anger. “But you’ve been using us. You’ve been sending students to their deaths. So I’ll listen to what you have to say at some point, Principalis—you have my word. But we are a long, long way from working together.”
and what looks like a toy ship.
what the fuck man WHAT THE FUCK
SEALED AGAINST THE TOOLS OF THE ENEMY AFTER THE RENDING. THE PASSAGE TO LUCEUM REQUIRES A TOLL TO ENSURE VALIDITY.
“Traveller. Traveller, stay with us.” The man with the red beard is cradling my head. He’s talking in rough Vetusian. “The other from your world will be coming.”
He’s five, maybe ten years older than me.
Is this the brother
“Welcome to Obiteum, Vis. Did Veridius send you?”
“My name is Caeror. I don’t know how much you know,
I KNEW IT
“You’ve been… copied, I suppose. The same way the world was thousands of years ago in the war against the Concurrence. It’s how you got here.”
So the original version of him is still back there (armless?)
You’re still strongly connected back to Res and Luceum, but that’s going to fade fast. I can explain more later, but only if you’re not dead.”
Okay so maybe his original body is dead that’s why he can’t talk to Veridius anymore
I close my eyes. I’m in over my head. Don’t understand what’s going on.
me neither man the fuck
“Good. The first thing we need to do is get a message to you in Res, so you don’t move out of the gate just yet.” He draws a short blade from his belt. Apologetic as he presses the hilt firmly into my hand. “Pull back your sleeve, Vis.”
oh what the actual living FUCK
