Death, Devotion, Dissonance

The next morning, Leanne was sitting in front of her mirror, applying her makeup. There was still some time left before she needed to be at the Ceremony, but she guessed she could spend that time helping Evin get used to things around the Academy. He needed every small bit of help he could get, and Leanne didn't plan to slack off like last time.

Although the boy looked fine from the outside and acted quite normally (at least, as normal as a victim of abuse could act), Leanne knew that the boy was far, far from okay. She didn't know what it was she stumbled upon inside the boy's head, but she did know that it was probably not something that was supposed to be found inside a 10-year-old's head.

She also understood that it was a problem way above her level.

'It must something ancient… An entity or a magic from before the Empire…' Leanne thought, remembering the violent outburst of primal fear and crippling despair she felt when she made contact with the thing, whatever it was.

During her time as a student in Arcvallen, when she was first learning the therapeutic methods of Lochra, the World of Thoughts, she'd sometimes made mistakes when she was working inside the minds of the patients. The most common of these mistakes were to shy away from the 'Lumps of Negativity' found inside people's heads after contact.

She was taught to deal with these things with firm hands and a steady core.

If she failed to do so, then it would lead to her become way too emotionally attached to her patients, which in turn led to Leanne going through a hellish experience afterwards, especially so if the patient's psyche wasn't very stable.

But none of that was apparent in Evin's case. Sure, she felt despairingly bad for the kid immediately after, but there were none of the lasting effects she felt like the patients she bonded with before. Sure, she would feel her heart aching when she thought about Evin's circumstances, but those emotions were mostly under her control. If she could distract herself with something else, she could easily rid herself of her heartache. It wasn't like the relentless wave of empty sorrow that hounded her head all day and haunted her dreams all night when she was still but a student.

The lack of these symptoms led her to believe that she'd stumbled upon something she probably shouldn't have. The world of mages was filled to the brim with things that could only be described as unexplainable and incomprehensible. This was especially true for the stuff that came from before the point when 'history began'.

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Leanne wouldn't find it surprising if this was one such case. Unexplainable and incomprehensible.

And ironically, the inexplicableness in turn explained the two other crucial details about Evin's case. His unnatural talent in Imagination Casting, and his relatively normal state of mind. Leanne remembered how confused she was to find that the boy's mind was much more serene than what she first imagined it to be.

Though she was a bit fearful at first, she conducted a few other healing sessions on the boy while he was unconscious, and found that the healing process happened smoothly and effortlessly. It was simply too easy, feeling like something inside Evin's mind was actively helping with the treatment.

'Was that the ancient entity?'

Leanne concluded it was an entity of some sorts, and not a magic of an unknown nature, as Edmund mentioned a voice in Evin's head.

Leanne half expected to accidentally make contact with it again during the treatment process, but she was never able to. She even started to boldly search for it after the third session inside the boy's Mindspace, but was still unable to find it again. At that point, she became convinced about her speculations. The entity was helping her cure Evin's mind, but it was unwilling to reveal itself to Leanne. Yet.

It was a terror-inducing, yet exhilarating thought. To think that she was interacting with something that might've even preceded the Empress… How miraculous was that? It almost seemed criminal to her. At that point, Leanne understood what she needed to do.

'Even if I can't help Evin rid of the thing, the least I can do is help him learn to live with it,' Leanne had decided.

Even if all else failed, she would've made a friendly relation with whatever it was inside the boy's head. Who knows? Maybe it would be helpful to her sometime in the future? As long as it wasn't something hopelessly cursed or mad beyond understanding, then at least she wouldn't find herself in the entity's bad books. And even if the thing was cursed, then it would probably find a way to kill her and everyone else involved in its case, anyway.

Leanne did her best, and that was it. At least, that's what she told herself to stay calm and functional.

"If I learned one thing from the countless history classes I took, then it was to respect and fear the inexplicable things one encountered…" she muttered to herself.

Shaking her head, Leanne finished applying her make-up and rushed over to Evin's room.

And a few minutes later, she was knocking on the boy's dorm room door. She then heard someone's footsteps coming in from inside the room, as well as some other voices. The door opened, and Leanne saw a rugged-looking man with burgundy-colored hair peeking his head from behind the doorway.

"Aran?" she murmured, recognizing her old classmate.

"Oh, Lea. Long time no see, eh? What are you doing here?" the man seemed pleasantly surprised to see her as well. He then opened the door fully and invited her inside.

But this act revealed Aran's full figure, and Leanne couldn't help but notice the metal prosthetic dangling on Aran's left side, looking weirdly familiar.

The design of the arm seemed to emphasize sleekness and ease-of-use, judging by how its dimensions were almost identical to Aran's surviving right hand. It also seemed to be quite light, considering how easily Aran seemed to be moving it around…

She vaguely remembered that the steam hissing from the joints of the arm acted as a conductor for Aran's nerves to control the prosthetic, as if it was his own. The masterfully crafted makeshift metal bones and joints were made to resemble a human's arm down to the tiniest of details, and miraculously, they would all be hollow inside to let the steam pass through them.

She didn't remember how such a thing was possible, but since the real thing was right in front of her, functioning as it was advertised, she could only accept it as a proper marvel of Magical Engineering.

'Ah, that's one of the designs by the Master Prosthetist, Armut Mungiar,' Leanne finally remembered. 'So that's why it felt so familiar.'

She felt that it was weird for her to recognize the thing, since Aran definitely didn't possess a prosthetic the last time she met him. And as for how the man could've lost his arms, there was only one answer to this question.

'So… they managed to snatch something away from you after all…' Leanne thought with a sigh, 'And just before you finished paying your debts, too.'

"Damn… you want my arm, too? I thought mages would be different, but I guess it can't be helped," Aran joked, and extended his arms to invite Leanne for a hug.

Leanne shoved the useless thoughts out of her head and gave Aran a heartfelt hug.

"It really can't be helped," she said with a smile. "Just look at how exquisite that thing is?"

Aran seemed to eye her for a bit before commenting with a whistle.

"You turned into a real stunner. Terrence is a lucky man… How is he, by the way?"

Reminded of her husband, Leanne resisted the urge to sigh and replied perfunctorily.

"He's doing fine… Still following the Duchess around."

"Mm. Anyhow, how did you find yourself here?" Aran asked.

"I'm here for Evin," Leanne said and peeked behind Aran's figure to find the boy sitting on his bed, curiously listening to the two's conversation.

Next to his bed was a red-haired boy, looking over with a poised smile.

"Hello, Lady Lea!" the boy greeted.

"Hey there, Arza. So, you're finally old enough to enter the Academy, huh?" Leanne said, remembering the last time she met the boy.

"Yup!"

"Good morning, Lady Leanne," Evin added himself in the conversation.

"Good morning to you too," Leanne smiled. "Well, I was thinking I can show you around the Academy, before we went to the Ceremony afterwards. Do you mind if Arza and Aran joined us?"

"No, of course not," Evin replied.

The group went on a tour of some sorts, with Leanne in the lead. She helped Evin and Arza become familiar with the Academy grounds before leading the two to the open arena where the new students needed to gather. After that, she walked towards the spectators' areas with Aran in tow.

"So? How did you end up losing your hand?" Leanne casually asked Aran.

Now that they were alone, they could talk more freely.