Phantasia

With no students around to see her, and Rembrandt Payne distracted by whimsical daydreams, Faye saw no reason to bother with trivial human behaviours and phased through the locked door leading to the head teacher’s office. His daydreams ceased in an instant and he was not at all surprised to see his Academy’s latest student standing before him with hands clasped behind her back.

“Your kind used to startle me back in my youth,” he said, reaching towards a hot beverage sitting in front of him, “Although of the four, I’ve found Water faeries the easiest to talk to. You only deal with fa—“

“I have not come here for idle conversation,” announced Faye, “I have come to inform you of a discovery Princess Phantasia has made that will be of interest to you,”

He leant forward on his desk, sipped at his beverage and watched her over the rim of the framed devices balanced on the bridge of his nose. From the moment his daydreaming stopped his thoughts had withdrawn from public view, but one slither escaped into the ether. Do continue, Ms Delphinus.

“Princess Phantasia has discovered a series of sealed passageways beneath her sanctuary abode, which lead to underground ruins located on the local leyline node,” She narrowed her eyes, intent on reading those surface thoughts that had been so transparent during their first meeting, but Rembrandt Payne held her probing at bay without the slightest trace of effort.

“We’ve heard of those ruins. There’s evidence that some shaman have a temple there – the same shaman we believe were creating vampiric shadows to feed on emotions,” he said, “I had no idea that place was connected to the church though,”

“The passageway Princess Phantasia unsealed did not lead us to the ruins on this plane,” continued Faye, “But rather a transitional plane between Outerworld and Underworld. Our observations there lead us to believe a demonic manifestation is planned to take place. I understand SEELIE has the capability to deal with this in a conclusive manner,”

Rembrandt Payne’s thoughts showed no sign of revealing themselves, leaving Faye blind to all but his spoken words, which he voiced with slow and careful deliberation. “I’ll have to arrange further investigation. Although SEELIE had the capability, we are just a low-ranked academy in a backwater town. I have twelve members of staff, some of them barely above Cadet level, and a further eight cells spread thin across Torsten and its surrounding land. We had enough trouble pulling together a force to drive out Godhand – and that was before we knew they had demonic ties. After recent events, a manifest demon would be sure to stretch our capability thinner than ever,”

“Then that is why I suggest you put a stop to this summoning as soon as possible,” said Faye. It was the obvious answer and she was curious to know why Rembrandt Payne was reluctant to send his most powerful warriors to deal with the situation immediately.

“I will do what I can,” he replied, “Will that be all?”

“I must also congratulate you,” she said, “Upon our first meeting I was lead to believe that your ability to shield your thoughts was limited. However, I can now see that this was a ruse. I would hope you did not expect this to go unnoticed by Queen Thetis?”

Rembrandt Payne smiled and relaxed back in his chair. “I’ve known Queen Thetis since I was a Cadet. I was never able to hide my thoughts from her then, and I could never hide them from her now. Her Majesty herself asked me to relax my mental barriers when I first met you. She didn’t want your first encounter with humans to fool you into thinking we had stronger mental barriers than we do. It was a test of your perception, you could say,”

Chapter 44
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