74 Risks

Lydis wasn't sure how much time had passed when she awoke but she was certain of one thing. The academy was in chaos. Somewhere beyond the room that held her people were shouting, some were cheers while others angry. Valfafer had disappeared as did Ui. She looked at the door and noticed it was wide open. Strange.

Swinging her legs over the side she waited for the pain and nausea to set in but instead she felt nothing. Sighing, Lydis jumped off from the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor gently.

As she walked to the door the shouts only grew louder. Following the turns of the hallway, Lydis soon found herself in front of a door. Big and dark brown in color, it resembled the doors to the dorms. Checking all around her Lydis reached for the handle and pulled.

With a rush of air she was suddenly in front of a mob. As they stood behind her Lydis didn't have time to react until her eyes locked with Haven's.

"!?"

Lydis had opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, not even a noise. Confused, Lydis tried to say more but a member of the mob pushed past her. It was a mother, no older than thirty. In her arms she held a picture of a small boy. His crooked smile and dimples resembled the face of the woman. Through tears and anger, the woman thrust her picture closer for Haven to see.

"Look! Look at my boy! I sent him there hoping for him to live a better life, who knew I'd be sending him to his death!? If, if-" The woman broke down in tears, her wails lost in the crowd.

Lydis wasn't sure when the woman disappeared but another soon took her place. Wives and husbands, single parents and family all threw their feelings at Haven. Some with insults while others demanded an explanation. But, the one thing that they all shared was the consensus that Haven was to blame for their children's death.

Lydis looked behind her and found that there was no door, just the mob. The nearest building was too far away so how had she gotten there?

"Citizens, friends, family. The time has come!"

With those few words the entire mob shouted. If Lydis didn't know what was happening, she might've thought them to be members of a wild tribe. Hooting and shouting in a crazed manner.

On the platform in front of Lydis, Haven was kneeled over, her face battered and bruised. Her school uniform had been stripped and replaced with filthy rags. The smell of rotten food and feces slid off Haven. Fresh wounds littered her arms and legs, the same plump purple patches on her face covered her body.

Lydis reached for Haven but the platform suddenly began to rise.

The mob cheered again. This time objects began to be tossed at Haven. Trash, pieces of scrap metal, old food, torn shoes, really anything that anyone could find laying around they threw.

Haven looked up with dull eyes. Yes, this much was natural. If she couldn't handle this then what was the purpose in teaching for thirty years? To soak up all their hatred and anger, Haven would leave them with their sadness and grief so that they could move on. Emotions like anger stayed for a long time while sadness could be healed, mended through life and love.

Even when someone's spit landed on her face, Haven didn't flinch. Instead she looked at the mob and smiled warmly. Yes, she would take it all. She would bundle everything and take it with her when she died. This much would only be the beginning to atone.

Haven opened her mouth to speak, her soft voice seemed to overpower the mob's crazed chants of death for a moment.

"People of Caratas, I beg you, do not harm the other teachers of the academy. I am the only one guilty. T-"

"Cut the crap murderer!"

"We won't listen to you traitor!"

"Death!"

"Death!"

The mob began chanting once again. Haven smiled and hung her head.

A few members of the mob saw Haven's sad smile that had seemed to say, 'This is the way it should be'. Lydis's eyes widened at the stupidity of the people. Even if they lost a child, to blame the savior of hundreds more was too much. Without Haven the whole dorm could've been slaughtered before the other teachers arrived yet no one cares to defend Haven.

Lydis always knew that the world of adults was cruel and twisted but not to the extent that everyone was a blind sheep, dancing to the whims of the government, or Central in this case.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, death!"

The man next to Haven took a long sword handle from a pillow next to him. Holding it up to the sky, the handle slowly began to grow about a meter and a half.

Two more men appeared on the platform, one on each side of Haven. Grabbing her arms, Haven was forced to straighten her back.

"Now, this won't hurt too much."

The man raised his weapon directly over Haven's head, aiming it so that it aligned directly in the middle. The crowd stopped chanting for a moment as the man violently jabbed the pointed pick downward, but he suddenly stopped.

Haven and the man twisted their heads to look at Lydis, their faces warped with long smiles.

"You're just going to watch Lydis?"

"Don't you feel any guilt?"

"Lydis…"

Now the entire mob had their heads turned towards Lydis. Their neck bent in impossible ways to allow only the head to face Lydis, even if the body was facing the completely opposite direction.

"Now Lydis, you're not going to say anything?" Haven's eyes widened, her pupils becoming smaller as she stared at Lydis. Haven opened her mouth again but this time black blood oozed from it. Just as it happened to Haven, the people around her soon began to ooze black blood, laughing with their mouths closed, white teeth bared in forced grins.

Lydis pulled way from the mob but suddenly found herself on the platform next to Haven.

"Ha ha ha! Ly~dis! Coming to see me so soon?" Haven's head slipped from her body and rolled next to Lydis, her eyes no wider than thin crescents. "Ly~dis!"

The surroundings warped into black tendrils, crawling and covering Lydis. The floor below her gave way to an abyss. Unable to breath, Lydis struggled against the vines but it didn't stop. Haven's dismembered head rolled down after Lydis, laughing and spewing black blood.

Lydis jumped up from her bed, cold sweat covering her face. Shaking, she looked at Valfafer and Ui resting beside her. A dream, it had to be a dream, but, the unease and suffocation had felt real.

Shivering, Lydis patted Valfafer's smooth fur, the familiar act calming her.

"Valfafer, Ui, we need to leave."

Ui beeped in response and managed to crawl into Lydis's pocket. Valfafer yawned and rolled over in Lydis's arms.

"Now? Can't we do it later?"

"Mutt, we don't even know how long we've been sleeping for." Lydis pushed Valfafer off her lap and prepared herself to get off the bed. Surprisingly, just like in her dream, the pain she expected to come didn't. Feeling more motivation, Lydis pushed herself across the room, leaning on the desk to giver her muscles time to stretch.

Valfafer stretched with his behind into the air and quickly followed Lydis, not really caring where they were heading nor how they were going to escape the room.

Upon reaching the door, Lydis found her first hurdle a few meters from her bed. Slipping her hand into her pocket, Lydis took out Ui, careful to hold the areas that hadn't been damaged.

"Ui, can you do anything about this door?"

"Unfortunately, during the last scouting the systems and tools required to hack into a door like this had been compromised. If Master Lydis commands it, Ui will try to open it from the other side but that would require too much time."

"Valfafer, how about you?"

Yawning once again, Valfafer scratched behind his ear with his legs.

"Something like this can't hold me back! Just release the restraints a bit and I'll have it done."

"…"

Back in the camp when Lydis had formed a contract with Valfafer, there had been automatic restrictions placed on Valfafer so that he wouldn't get too arrogant when listening to Lydis. They didn't know how but the amount of slyphir Lydis let Valfafer tap into was proportionate to his size. If she wanted him to be smaller, all she had to do was increase the amount of restrictions on Valfafer. To do the opposite she would have to release some restrictions.

But, this came with a few risks. The sudden jump in slyphir could alert people nearby, especially those sensitive to slyphir like Hal. Secondly, it would take some time for Valfafer to return to his current size as the slyphir injected into Valfafer wouldn't just disappear immediately. Thirdly, Lydis still wasn't sure she could direct the restrictions correctly.

They'd experimented a few times at camp but since the squad members loved petting and playing with Valfafer, a sudden change would've been suspicious. Some times Valfafer would grow far larger than when she originally met him as the Wolf Lord, other times Valfafer would have trouble conducting the slyphir correctly resulting in a mis-proportioned body. Lydis sighed slightly at the though of their experimenting days.

Valfafer continued to laze about, sniffing the wall, ignorant to the risks Lydis was calculating in her head. With so many possibilities that it could go wrong, how could she not worry?

Sighing, Lydis beckoned Valfafer over.

"Mutt, listen carefully. Once you have enough slyphir to break the door, do it. Th-"

"Master should stop worrying. With me around, nothings bound to go wrong!" Valfafer licked Lydis's hand before placing one small paw in her hand.

"Heh, you better keep to your words…" Lydis held Valfafer's paw and began to concentrate, funneling the thin slyphir around her into Valfafer. "By my right as the contract holder, I give you permission."

"As the contracted I will obey."

Slowly, the amount of slyphir surrounding Valfafer increased. His body began to grow. After reaching a height of about two meters, Valfafer took his paw from Lydis. Her weak body fell against his back.

Valfafer embedded his claws with dense slyphir and slashed at the door. Like butter, the metal gave way easily. Valfafer carried Lydis on his back out of the building, not caring about the commotion he made as his claws echoed in the halls.

Through half closed eyes, Lydis stared at the walls and doors that flew past. With the little strength she had left Lydis managed to hold onto Valfafer's fur as he dashed through the building.

Breathing heavily, Lydis stared bitterly at Valfafer's elated face. Tongue out, drool slipping into the wind, the ends of Valfafer's mouth pulled up in a smile. To be big was to be powerful! To be powerful was to be free! Oh, how he missed looking down on things instead of stretching his neck to look up!

Lydis felt that Valfafer's overeager excitement was uncalled for, especially considering the fact that transferring large amounts of slyphir to Valfafer had exhausted her mentally and physically. The fourth downside to releasing some of Valfafer's restraints.