Chapter 43: Timeskip, Part Seven - Civil Unrest

The children stood there in awe.

"You son of a bitch Ray, you actually did it! Congrats bro, you are one step closer to surpassing that old geezer." Ciaran hugged his brother.

"You just insulted your own mother you know. Anyway, your brother being a dumbass doesn't change the fact we need to celebrate. Thoughts? "Clara chimed in.

"We could set a bonfire in the library again, haven't had as much fun ever since then" Sunny laughed.

The other three looked at her funny. The girl used to never talk, and as such, no one knew she had a unique sense of humor.

While the four of them chatted in one corner of the room, the rest were too shocked to even breathe. The average age for reaching Rank Zero, at least for Academy students, was around eight years old. Rank One on the other hand was usually reached around thirteen.

That Rayon had reached it when he was only seven was practically unheard of. What frightened them, even more, was that the other three could casually stand next to him even when he had fully relisted his aura.

'All of them are at Rank Zero!' was the collective thought circling their heads.

The four of them, while not complete social outcasts, were separated from the rest of the class. Usually, that would lead to bullying, but that could hardly happen when each of the four was more dangerous than the rest of the class combined.

As the atmosphere in the class grew tenser, Mrs. Elizabeth Parker entered the classroom.

The old woman was surprised at the young boy's achievement but, unlike the rest, wasn't shocked.

"Rained it in Mr. Clades, you're bothering the rest of the class." She said, not sounding too stern.

The boy was startled and immediately retracted his aura. Then he turned to his other classmates and apologized.

Mrs. Elizabeth Parker smiled while looking at him. He was, without a doubt a good boy. Unlike the rest of his company, he was thought to follow and respect the rules.

Once upon a time, she thought Clara shared this quality. Now she knew better, the girl respected the rules only when she didn't have anything to gain by breaking them.

She was at least, better than the other two. Ciaran hadn't really broken any rules since the accident, but that was only because he didn't bother showing up for half of the lessons. Sunny was the worse, ever since she was let off the leash, she did as she pleased.

She beat up children, pulled the nastiest of pranks on them, and taunted them to do anything about it. The Academy protected her from their families, and all she did was either too small to warrant punishment or could not be proven.

Day by day, the class grew to hate her more, and as far as the teacher saw, the girl took pride in that accomplishment. If they went after her publicly, they would get punished instead. If they tried to be sneaky, she would make them regret it. Even if they all broke into Rank Zero somehow it would be useless now. She could just ask Ray for help.

The old woman tried to ask her to get along with them, but all she got was a clear refusal.

"They bullied me before, now they will pay. If you want me to stop asking my Boss. I will only listen to his orders." That is what Sunny told her every time.

Elizabeth Would have loved to do that, but asking her to stop wouldn't be enough, and the boy would bleed her dry. The little brat might not be a Clades anymore, but he still had the heart of an evil businessman.

Like that, another six months passed. Tensions in her classroom were high. Every day got worse, and one day things got out of hand. Mille had finally broken through in the Zero Rank and she picked a fight with Sunny. The girl thought that even if she had no chance against Clara and Ciaran, let alone Rayon, she could beat the little orphan girl.

Ten minutes and seven lost teeth later she learned exactly how wrong she was. Sunny was brutal, if before she was mean to her former cohort now she had become ruthless. She beat Mille within an inch of her life. Six broken fingers, one twisted ankle, and two black eyes were some of the more noticeable injuries.

The only reason she even stopped was that Elizabeth intervened. And worst of all, not a speck of regret could be seen on her face. She even looked relieved, as if she had been waiting for this. As she hadn't thrown the first punch, she was, technically, the victim. No sane institution would punish someone for self-defense, and she took complete advantage of this.

'Enough is enough, whatever the kid asks of me, it could not be any worse than getting this mess sorted.' Elizabeth had found her determination.

The night after the incident she went into the Maze. Once she could go in and out of it as she pleased. Now she had learned the hard way that was no longer an option. The Archmage wasn't always there, but that brute always stayed there, and to her absolute shock, he had been hiding his strength the last they fought.

When she first heard Ciaran was only going to put four hours into his studies she came to protest. One battle later she was almost killed ten times over. The man just beat her up and healed her, over and over again.

"My little brother does as he pleases he says. And they say we Mages are unreasonable." She said with a sigh. Despite her protests, she had learned that the dryad, as boorish as he was, was the only one of the three siblings who still cared for the scholarly side of the boy's education.

He had asked her to help them organize his lesson plans. He even suggested she come and oversee his studies in the Library.

'He has an Archmage and whatever the hell rank the Maze is as teachers. Now they want a Grand Mage to teach him on his scholarly path. What a scam.' She had refused but was glad to know that the man really cared for her student.

When she got there she expected to see the boy surrounded by his siblings on either side, but he was alone.

" I have been told I could be of service to you teacher. My time is really limited here, so I will skip the dramatics and the bargaining, shockingly disappointing I know, but I am pressed for time. Ray is too ahead of me and I need to squeeze my schedule dry, if I want to have a chance to catch up. Now, what is it that you want exactly?"

Despite how incredibly ludicrous it sounded for a little brat to tell her he barely had time to hear her out, she sighed and told him.

"I want nothing much Ciaran, just peace. I know you can bring to an end the cold war that is taking place in my classroom. Name your prize."

The boy looked at her and walked to the edge of the Maze, then smiled at her.

"First, I need an oath that everything you experience tonight stays here. " Elizabeth frowned but gave in." Second Mrs. Elizabeth Parker can't give me what I want, The Scarlet Vow, however, would be perfect for the task."

At those words, fury could be seen in her eyes, and the boy pressed his back to the Maze. She saw that and tried to calm down. It was in vain, she was too far gone, so she decided to be honest.

"I am not angry at you Ciaran, but at the fools who told the most curious child in this world about the number one thing that puts curious children to an early grave. Idiots! Both of you are idiots."

"Ciaran listened to me, magic is dangerous, if they told you about that then you know who I am and I can reliably tell you that you are not ready to learn." She stopped as he raised his hand.

"I know. I will not ask you to teach me now, I want your lessons when the time comes when an aspiring young Novice of the Fire element needs a teacher. And just to be clear, they didn't tell me because they wanted to, it was because they had to. Please don't insult my family in the future." He said with a mirthless smile. The boy did not take kindly to her insults at their expense.

"As long as you don't use the knowledge to burn any more children." She said after considering her options.

An oath was made, an ancient one, to the name of one of the Gods of fire. The old woman was a little hurt the boy trusted her so little and was surprised his siblings would tell him about something like that. Knowledge of a God's name was hard information to come by.

"Don't worry, sis will delete the name from my brain later. Now would you like to meet your future student? She is a very good girl I promise." He said, and the way he smiled told Elizabeth she just got scammed, hard.

She was about to protest when she froze in utter horror. A giant spider appeared on the wall of the maze looking at her with curiosity.

"Meet Ariadne, Sis said she has a Fire Soul, she will be your Apprentice one day. And yes, she is in fact my familiar." He said finding the nuance of horror and fury on his teacher's face to be most amusing.