27: Physical Education
As promised, Ms Anderson had spent the night before analysing the tome Phantasia had recovered, and cornered her at the end of the lesson once the other students had left.
“That book was amazing. I was up most of the night trying to get through it. There was way too much to translate in an evening, but I think I got the gist of it. It’s a journal regarding excursions into another world parallel to our own. A Hell Realm, they call it.”
“The Underworld,”
“Aye, that was my guess. The part you couldn’t read is about an evil castle that acts as a passageway between ‘our’ world and ‘their’ world. There’s something about fighting going on, demon-worshippers trying to use the castle to call upon a powerful entity, all that sort of boys’ stuff.”
It was nothing out of the ordinary, really. Leyline crossings were rife with this sort of thing, from what Phantasia could remember, and during the Great Cataclysm many human holy places had fallen to demonic invasion as human faith faltered and their defences lowered.
“That castle must abandoned by now, but you never know what might pop out of a gateway if someone reactivates it, so I’d stay away from the ruins if I were you,”
“You’re not me, though!”
“Seriously. Leave it to us. I’ll have Mr Payne send someone to take a look at it. I don’t want you getting hurt,”
“I won’t!”
Ms Anderson tried to look disapproving, but could hide the upward curl of her lips. “There’s no stopping you, is there?”
***
Phantasia sat through her History lesson thinking more about the underground ruins than she did about Mr Haan’s talk of vagrant tribes and he must have noticed because he called her over as the other students hurried home.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, “You’ve not been the most attentive of students this afternoon!”
He wasn’t angry, but Phantasia still felt unable to meet his eyes. “I’m just…preoccupied? Sorry,”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s those ruins beneath the church, right? Tes was talking about them in the staff room earlier. I had a feeling you’d be gallivanting off down there ASAP,”
Phantasia grinned. “I’ll be fine!”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. Not that I ought to be encouraging second-years to embark on such capers, but you’re not like the rest of ‘em. You handled that Patriarch pretty damn well; you can hold your own against whatever’s down there,”
“You know, with the Godhand thing, I didn’t really do much…”
“Silence! I won’t have my students belittling their own achievements! Just don’t push yourself too far, okay? Don’t end up like that brother of mine, all obsessed with honour and courage. Escape is often the key to victory! Speaking of which, I myself have to escape before that aforementioned brother appears,”
Mr Haan hurried off, a blur of earthen tones and flowing coat. With nothing else to distract her, Phantasia pulled her rucksack over her shoulder and made her way out of school, saying quick goodbyes to any friends still lurking around. She was almost free when a familiar voice echoed down the empty corridor.
