I slowly rose, faced my distraught eldest brother and held his eyes; swiftly extended my left hand, palm upward and sharply brought my open right hand down on my left palm at a right angle then slapped his cheek to calm his hysteria."Enough of the sorry. This is what it is. I don"t blame you for anything." I warmly signed and hugged him when he had calmed down.
I pulled away and turned to Leinard and Dr. Samuel. Both men had readjusted their uniforms, so they looked respectable men of their ranks.
"So, will my mind shield break down again?" I signed.
"No." Leinard skilfully signed. "I think. We"ll need to monitor you regularly to be sure. Especially if someone or thing attempts to penetrate deeper into your thoughts and memories."
It made me realised if knowing sign language was a mandatory form of communication amongst the knights.
"It is. So, there won"t be any problems with the knights being able to talk with you." Leinard rea.s.sured me in my mind. "A lot of knights have suffered hearing damage in the field. Colin being mute, it was a reason we made this skill mandatory knowledge."
I sighed and eased back into the lounge, coming to terms with my silence.
The positive was I was able to still hear Leinard, War, Small Cap, Wilfred and Jensen"s voices in my mind through telepathy. I glanced to Death who sighed despondently.
Our attention was directed towards Keiran"s entrance into the room with Deacon.
They reminded us of our training and time being crucial. The fact that we were attacked at Academy Lane by the Baleful Rider and Aidoneus meant our time for the next stage was reduced to six weeks maximum.
"What"re we waiting for?" I looked to Ryuu for the way to my cla.s.s.
I caught Leinard"s smile as he pa.s.sed me, and also a sight of his clenching fists that he shoved into his pant pockets when he saw I had noticed. A strange feeling lingered around him. I frowned.
"Are you alright?" I asked him in his mind.
"Pay attention to your lessons, but if you feel unwell, stop and let Ryuu know." He spoke in thought and left the room.
"Gat Shiem Brothers. Before you leave, you must know why you need to learn." Deacon skilfully signed.
His eyes lingered on mine for sometime before he asked Ryuu and Dr. Mercer to step outside and for my brothers to take a seat again.
The gentlemen complied.
We a.s.sumed spots on the three seater, facing Deacon and Keiran who stood with purpose before us.
"Time is running out. I suspect the Illuminate Group are advancing their tactics. Otherwise, they wouldn"t have bothered to attack our academy." Deacon soberly signed his concerns.
It was the first time I detected genuine concern from him. Almost to say, he was doing his best not to appear shaken.
"Sir, has the group or anything attacked a student or knight in that lane before?" I coolly asked.
Deacon shook his head and added that it should have been impossible since Academy Lane was protected by wards and charms imbued in the maple trees with ancient magic.
The maple trees were blessed with strong and rare form of protection magic called Ma.s.siah, which was a combination of Sacral Cakra and Force magic.
The Ma.s.siah was a rare practice only a few clans from the East Hold of Gonade had mastered and pa.s.sed down to family generations (literally) through bloodlines.
"The one who knows this skill in our order is Jensen, since his family was one of the last two Ma.s.siah clans. Those clans are now extinct."
"What happen to them?"
"Ma.s.sacred with non ma.s.s members (those without the Ma.s.siah skill) sold into slavery," Deacon factually answered.
"The ones that performed the Ma.s.siah ma.s.sacres were the Triuta Mafia, who had been after that power for centuries. They failed to recognise the skill in Jensen and his younger brother, so sold them as slaves to Apocalypse where they ended up in Eros Lane."
I felt my heart ache with understanding to Jensen"s anger and sadness when we had pa.s.sed through Eros and Doll"s Lane.
"Where is his brother?" Death asked.
Deacon sighed before answering, "We don"t know. We saved and enlisted Jensen only learning of his younger brother after the fact. Wilfred and a few of my men have tried to track him down, but the Triuta are skilful in eliminating records and doc.u.mentation trails."
I couldn"t shake the feeling something wasn"t quite right with the old man"s story.
His black beard seemed to twitch oddly and his jaw slightly tightened. It was usually relaxed when he spoke even when relaying grave news to his knights. I was surprised that I could remember such detail.
"Like your mind is, like, adjusting. I feel, like, it"s reworking to be strong." I heard Marilyn carefully answer to my newer abilities in my head.
Her voice sung a sweet tune that eased my concerns before she faded back to silence. I smiled and stroked my Albert chain, grateful for her presence.
"So, Academy Lane was compromised?" Death brought conversations back to the matter at hand.
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"Yes and no. I would say they took an advantage due to our neglect because of recent skirmishes at h.e.l.l"s Labyrinth." Deacon answered.
"The Ma.s.siah Barriers need to be fortified at dusk, daily and is only one hundred percent effective by Jensen"s application." Keiran added.
"But, we do have magis who are able to ensure a weaker version. A form of work around until he"s able to attend to."
I was beginning to see how that freak could get in. Jensen had been working a lot of shifts to mind us as well as ensuring the remaining restoration duties at h.e.l.l"s Labyrinth. This would mean the barriers around the lane would have weakened. Yet...
"How did they know we"d be at the lane at that time?"
Both men held their silence and shared pensive glances before Keiran answered.
"A lucky coincidence. Their true intention was for the academy and another student."
"Who?" War pressed.
"Alina." Keiran answered.
He explained that the group had found out about her abilities and cursed their bad luck, so planned to invade the school and claim her as well as a few other students that could be worthy to their cause.
"Can you imagine the potential of all magic in our school? Our school is no stranger to being attacked by groups who intend to steal our children away yet again. But Academy Lane has never been attacked. Regardless, this place is strong to prevail such attacks in the end." Keiran firmly rea.s.sured us.
"Wait! They intended to steal Alina"s soul?!" I abruptly rose with horror at the image of the Baleful Rider claiming the innocent girl"s ego.
"No. I think it would"ve been used it to keep us from stopping Aidoneus"s attempts for her. Somehow, they"re able to control it."
My head was spinning and aching again.
"I think you need to go to cla.s.s now. Famine, you must focus your mind on one thing at a time and not strain it too much." Keiran suggested.
"Before you go." Deacon jumped in.
He told us about the Exemplar Program we"d become part of once we gained enough skill and knowledge to withstand the a.s.similation process.