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I left Syrias and made my way towards the Academy. Everybody called it an academy, but it was more like a school for people interested in all magic-related subject.

The bad news was that it attracted a lot of attention from the kingdoms. Each nation tried to replicate the model here and created their own Academy, but none could compare to this one. The prism-shaped tower was special and ancient. It was said to have served as a fortress in a distant past. I could understand why, because the blocks composing it dispelled any magic that touched it. It was totally fine to bombard it with spells, although it was obviously prohibited to attack the Academy, even for scientific purposes.

As the tower itself was both an indestructible castle and an excellent place for studying, it sort of became a junction between all of the kingdoms who wished to throw their people here in the hope that they would come back with a strong affinity in magic, or maybe some intel from the other kingdoms.

Well unfortunately for the nobles and royals… Making everyone work and study under the same roof made them all friendly. There was a few who kept their national pride and threw it at your face when you tried to approach them, but you could count them in one hand and they usually didn’t stay long in the Academy.

And thus, it became sort of an unspoken rule that nobody talks about his kingdom of origin. And everyone was happy with that. It did create some dramas where children of rival nations accidentally fell in love, however it was more hilarious than dangerous in the end, so it was still fine.

When I said magic-related subject… I actually meant absolutely everything. Because magic was that widespread.

Every student here had something they wished to study, and so they specialized in their favourite domain for the rest of their life. The teacher’s role was mainly to guide them and provide the basic knowledge they needed, but the rest of the time they actually taught us about the world and everything.

That was what was good with this place, because any kind of subject would be accepted as long as you were diligent and provided results every few years. Sounds like an easy task, but making a breakthrough every so often was simply beyond us. So we cantoned ourselves to what we could accomplish, and everybody was happy with that. Even a small step was sufficient to call it progress.

As for me, I studied the Limbo. I had my reasons to be interested on this matter. Some people freaked out when they found out about my specialisation, some didn’t. It was fine, I wasn’t here to make friends at first. Well, Syrias was a special case.

I met him in the library. I was overjoyed because this idiot was reading a book about the Black God, the founder of the Limbo. But then I felt cheated when he told me he believed there was a connection between Eendis and the spirits. Like… What the hell? What does a god had to do with spirits? They’re not even on the same level!

The Black God was way cooler than some random spirits. He created a whole world by himself! Well, a world full of man-eating demons and incurable diseases… But still!

After a short minute, I was finally standing in front of the Academy. Two guards were controlling people entering or exiting the tower. Even though they knew my face and my position as a member of the Small Council, I was still subjected to the same examination. I didn’t mind, protocols were protocols; I showed them my identification tag and I was easily admitted inside.

The influx here was usually way crowded, maybe most of the personals were already outside helping for the incoming festival as much as they could. Even the main hall felt empty. Anyway, I had my own job to catch up with.

I passed through the multitude of corridors, looking for the room where the meetings were usually held with the other members. With some luck they finally decided to hire a secretary or something to write down the content. Knowing how the head of the council was so dedicated to keep everything a secret, I guessed that would never happen.

Actually, I kind of understood why he didn’t want to divulge the subjects of our meetings. Some were common and concerned the Academy or the students themselves, so it was alright to publish it at the end of the day. However, being collaborators on other specific matters… Less tolerable, we couldn’t really go and tell the world what we were preparing.

“They are not ready yet.” Those were the words of the director, the one man who presided over the Small Council.

I sighed because I could really relate to those words. Everybody was scared of the Limbo, but for unrealistic reasons. Demons were scary… But only if you summoned them without thinking what to do with them later. People believed those creatures were mindlessly murdering everything they saw. How wrong they were! They were nothing more but aggressive and hungry animals. Give them a piece of meat and they’ll be more docile. You just needed to remember how the two Magus Wars developed, how the Cult of the Black God used demons as cannon fodder to win many battles.

I sighed again, leaving those thoughts on the side for now. I had no intention to change their view, nor was that my objective. The reason I studied the Limbo was completely different. I opened the door and announced my arrival.

“There you are.” A feminine voice welcomed me. I didn’t knew if I should be glad I met her first or not.

I gallantly faced her, trying to meet her with a good smile. “Hey, Julie! How did the meeting go?”

“Don’t hey me, you slacker…” As sharp-tongued as ever. “Even though I know you are not interested, you should still participate as a member of the Small Council. What were you doing this morning?

-Helping a friend.

-Then stop doing that when you have an important duty to fulfil…” She sighed in annoyance at my retort. What was more important, I wanted to ask back. Lending a hand to a friend, or attending a boring meeting and talking about something I had no competence to share with?

“What are we going to do with you, Torne…?” A second voice resounded from the girl next to her. She was Julie’s best friend, Brine. They were inseparable. Literally. A metallic chain bound both of them together, attached to a belt at stomach-level.

“You know it’s not my speciality, your thing…” I tried to appeal to them, but the girls listened to none of my excuses.

“It’s not a thing. It has a name.” Julie was always easily angered when someone badmouthed her project. I didn’t know why the director was so interested with their studies, it sounded stupid when you learnt what is was about.

Well… No object of study was stupid when you mentioned it to the Academy, except if you were doing it intentionally.

“It’s a good thing to show your devotion to your studies… But can’t you do it in front of someone else?” I was tired, all I wanted was to know how the meeting went.

Julie snorted, she was too prideful to argue back with me. It was Brine’s turn to speak to me. “You were helping Syrias again?”

“He’s not a bad guy. Any complaint?” I didn’t dislike this man. I was still angry at him for luring my with the book at the library, but it was what made us friend in the first place so I couldn’t let other people spread bad news about him. Especially when I knew about his circumstances.

“How can a married man be a bad guy? I am simply worried you would corrupt him with your bad personality…”

A vein popped on my head. She wasn’t talking about my studies, but rather about myself. I knew I wasn’t the perfect buddy, and this girl kept teasing me for this. I shouldn’t let myself be angry for only this much, however she never ceased to lightly harass me. I wanted to mess with her hair to let her know who she shouldn’t mess with.

“You wanna go at it, Brine? That’s what you want?”

“Don’t a brute, Torne. You too Brine, don’t brush him the wrong way.” Julie interrupted our little quarrel. Did she just compare me to an animal?

“The meeting this morning was about this subject.” I instantly switched into work mode, knowing the discussion went back to being serious. “I know you specialize in the Limbo, but you also know quite a lot about human and yume’s physical and spiritual anatomy. It is why you are helpful for this experiment.”

“I can’t call it an experiment… But who cares what I think of it?” I kept my thoughts to myself. Interrupting her now would me impolite.

“We will begin preparations for the next step. We will need your insights for the time being.”

I couldn’t turn them down because it was basically my duty to offer my help here. I nodded, asking for further details about what they wanted to know.

“I’m sorry, there are just too many things to ask and check at the same time. We will talk more about it the laboratory.”

“And the director?” I quickly asked. He was the one who permitted such experiment after all.

“He’s already in the levels below. He’s probably impatient to see the results.”

“Very well.” I said to myself, before asking them the usual question. “If we have some free time, want me to check your conditions before we go?”

Brine looked unsure at her friends, but Julie quickly nodded at my proposal. “Sure. Please do.”

I made the girls sit on the table: it was easier for me while I checked their body and it was also more comfortable for them as it took quite some time.

The physical body consists of the organs who have impacts on the material world. The stomach digested what we ate, the skin protected us from external harm and the bones helped us keep a consistent shape, as primary examples.

As for the spiritual body, it more or less functioned in the same way, except it mostly held an influence on the immaterial world. What I meant by immaterial is every energy that couldn’t be fathomed by our physical hands. It was the mana circulating all around us, and the hands we used to harness it was the soul.

Every living being had a soul. It could grow bigger, tougher, you could train it in order to cast more potent spells. But it could also become sick at some point in your life. And when you were unlucky… That time was closer than what you would expect.

Julie was afflicted with a spiritual sickness. She were born with a defective spiritual body, as someone would be born with a defective physical body. Healing both body was possible with our current technology and grasp over magic, however that was obviously limited to minor wounds. A missing limb couldn’t be replaced, and it went the same for a soul.

Her soul missed a specific organ that helped her regulate the influx of mana she unconsciously inhaled. In short, her spiritual lungs were defective, and her soul couldn’t breathe enough mana to sustain itself. It must have been hard in her early days…

Fortunately, she had a brave friend at her side: Brine. Back in the days, her case intrigued me because I thought I could use her as good material for my studies, but looking at the two girls a better idea flashed in my mind.

With delicate precision, I linked both of their soul.

Brine’s soul was nurturing Julie’s soul. It put a huge burden on her shoulder, however she always told others she was fine. Actually, I didn’t know why I wasn’t acclaimed as a hero thanks to that?

I checked the link between their respective spiritual bodies, making sure the punctures I made were still in position and the afflux of mana was still going smoothly from one body to another.

It must have been painful for both of them. In my opinion, in was like having your skin opened and your organ constantly exposed to the air. But maybe I was wrong to compare a physical body with a spiritual one.

As everything seemed alright to me, I lightly pulled on the chains on each girl. “Everything’s fine. No problem with the chain, both of you?”

They told me it was fine. The chain acted as a security. Whatever happened, they mustn’t put too much distance between both of them, otherwise the link would be severed.

“Thank you, Torne.”

I patted Julie on the shoulder, showing her my best smile. “Don’t mind it. You’re precious material for my studies after all.”

I heard Brine sigh. What? Couldn’t I tell a light joke now and then?

“If you weren’t so dumb, I would have offered you to join my house.

-Isn’t it usually the woman who join the man’s house?”

They both stood from the table after I finished checking on them. Julie looked at me with an aggravated look, while Brine simply seemed reluctant to react anymore with me.

“Besides, you know what you risk if you accept a Black God’s follower in your noble’s lineage.”

I had to warn her again. Placing burdens on other people’s shoulder wasn’t my cup of tea.

But all she did was answer me back. “Who cares about that? I also believe it’s time to look at what we need and not what we feared.” She shrugged her shoulder as if it was a minor concern to her.

I simply smiled while listening to her words, seeing them leave the room. “Don’t forget to join us in the laboratory in an hour.”

“Right… Right…”

I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to watch this experiment again. I liked teasing people, but not actually hurting them. And what they did in the Academy’s basement was… Not currently tolerable according to the world’s standards.

I didn’t want to, but I also wanted to see it to the end. After all, I was already deeply involved in this project of her. I breathed my last bowl of fresh air, before setting for the laboratory.

The name’s Torne Bredictlia. My ancestors were member of the Cult of the Black god, and I intend to use this inheritance to find a cure against the Limbo’s diseases.