Chapter 4: Sapphire Second
Mr Haan – or Sabeen as he insisted his students call him – was a weathered man with long brown hair and almond skin. His stuffy classroom was filled with all manner of strange treasures, from tribal masks to stone tablets and jewelled sceptres. As he had explained to Phantasia when she arrived, he had once been a vagrant who travelled the world over, visiting the various tribes that roamed the wastelands and searching for clues to the planet’s history. One tablet, which he kept in a cabinet behind his desk, was inscribed with the terrifying image of a spiderous shadow.
“The Devil,” he called it, “Though it has a hundred names. It appears everywhere, and dates back to the time of the Great Cataclysm. It’s generally accepted to have a direct connection to those events, as much as those holed up scientists in the Seven Cities might rubbish it,”
She listened as her teacher recounted the things he had heard, ignoring the gossiping at the back of the room, and the notes Lysander and Angelo was passing around next to her. Then Sabeen’s dark eyes settled on her, and with a smile he asked:
“Do your people have legends about it?”
“Erebus,” she said, without a pause for consideration, “The force of darkness that enveloped the world. They said it was the negative power of humans given form. A demon god who sought oblivion.”
The rest of the class began muttering amongst themselves. For this lesson, the students of Sapphire were joined by those from Emerald House. Most were girls, and a particular trio at the back of the class had been giving Phantasia snide looks all morning. Her talk of demon gods distracted their auras more than anything, and Phantasia was feeling an uncomfortable prickling in her back as their emotions began to bleed into the mana around them.
Sabeen smiled. “Some people do talk about demons. Some say they’re just mutants, created by science. There are many myths and legends, but no one knows the exact truth.” He turned his attention to the whole class, “That is our job here, remember. To teach you about the outside world you may all have to step into one day, and to help you understand what you may face, be they demons or delusions,”
At the end of the lesson, Phantasia found herself mobbed by her classmates. She felt them baring down on her, and didn’t like the pressure, but did her best to endure it.
“Woah, you’re really into some cool stuff, huh?” said Joel as he bounded up alongside her, “That whole thing, you know, about demons or whatever it was…”
“Best keep that to yourself,” said John, “And you too, Ms Celeste. It’s better if you didn’t talk about that sort of thing in public. You never know who might be listening,”
Joel nodded, trying his best not to look embarrassed, and glanced back as if looking for someone. “Yeah, you’re right. Really pisses me off, this whole heresy thing. Damned Wotan.” John silenced him once again and he skulked off, mumbling under his breath.
“Bishop Wotan is the de facto ruler of Torsten,” whispered John, “You’ll… understand soon enough.”
Loading ...
