I didn’t hold out much hope for the two that were unconscious, but I didn’t say anything for fear that announcing that they were dead might disturb the survivor.
About ten minutes later, she lost consciousness, too.
I put my silver phoenix sigil on her, kicking myself for waiting so long, and then activated it. I explained what I was doing out loud because a part of me knew that none of this was real, as realistic as it was, and I wanted whoever was judging the whole thing to know that I was using a regeneration item on her.
Fortunately, regeneration spells and items weren’t harmful to people that were uninjured. That would have been a little awkward, otherwise.
It was about ten minutes after that the medics arrived, carrying each of the people away. One of them took my sigil off and handed it back to me, explaining they would take it from there.
I was grateful to have my sigil back and pinned it back on.
“Well,” the student assigned to watching us said, “Good work. I didn’t think you’d make it out of there.”
I nodded somberly. I’d have felt better if we’d managed to help all three victims, but two of them seemed beyond help by the time we’d gotten to the last room.
Would that have been possible if we’d made it through the temple faster?
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer to that, but if I got a chance after the test was over, I planned to ask.
We returned to Teft. Patrick was upbeat in spite of losing his new sword.
I was kicking myself for failing to take any of those weird metal bars with me before we left the forge. I could have stored them in the Jaden Box. In fairness, though, we were clearly being observed and that might have caused me problems later.
We explained what had happened to Teft, and he nodded along. “May I have the key that you forged?”
We handed it to him.
“Good. This may make our next trip into the Temple of Fire considerably easier.” He paused for a moment, then said, “You’re dismissed for the day. Good work.”
We retrieved our things, got directions to where we were supposed to make camp, and got some much needed food and rest.
We spent the next few days working within the settlement itself. I spent most of my time reinforcing the enchantments on the area, just as Teft had originally intended for me to do.
It felt good to get to use my enchanting skills for something practical that could potentially help protect a big group of people. I knew it was all just a test, but if this was the type of thing that an Enchanter did for the military, I didn’t hate it as much as I’d expected.
Desmond, Kyra, and Rupert met up with us each day after they’d finished their own work. I got used to having them in our camp.
Roland, Jin, and Sera, however, did not. Apparently they’d all ended up being assigned to duties “elsewhere”.
I hoped that meant that Sera and Jin might be going to the Vanreach Mountains, but that turned out to be a bit too optimistic.
When they finally met back up with us almost a week later, Sera explained that they’d simply been on long-distance reconnaissance duty, searching for a good location for another settlement site.
I’d gotten so used to working at the settlement that it almost came as a shock when Teft told us it was time to leave. “Congratulations. You haven’t completely failed at all of your responsibilities here. Now it’s time to go home, and you’ll find out if your performance was good enough to make it to the next year.”
That wasn’t exactly encouraging, but it was as good as I could expect out of Teft.
“One question before we go,” I asked.
“Hm?”
“Those people we got out of the temple. Did any of them survive?”
Teft looked stymied for a moment, then he smiled softly and nodded. “Yes. One of them made it. You did well.”
That might have been an on-the-spot decision, but it still felt good to know that maybe we’d done at least a little bit of good.
I hoped that if we encountered a similar scenario that was real, we’d manage to do even better.
The whole team was reassembled for the journey back to the train station. Minus the two people who had already been eliminated, of course.
The trek back was much easier than the way there. We’d gotten used to each other, as well as being outdoors.
I was still anxious to get home, though. I needed a real shower.
We were a little surprised when a group of people met us on the road. They were adults, meaning they weren’t a group of students working for the Tails of Orochi looking to get in a last-minute ambush.
At first, I expected them to be a group of Soaring Wings who were there to escort us back.
But they weren’t wearing armor or the right colors.
They were dressed in Valian military uniforms. Two men and two women, well-equipped.
“Students, attention.” The lead figure stepped forward. He was a broad-shouldered man with brown hair streaked with just a hint of gray.
We didn’t know who they were, but we still knew how to snap to attention.
“We are here on behalf of Valia’s Divinatory Division.” He turned toward me. “Corin Cadence, you’re going to need to come with us.”
Divinatory Division?
…Meaning military intelligence?
That can’t possibly be good.
I inspected them again, activating my attunement.
Their auras were clear, suppressed. That implied that they were all at least Sunstone level, in order to have that level of control. They were carrying some enchanted items, too.
Carnelian-level shield sigils and weapons. That wasn’t terribly surprising — the military would have better standard-issue gear than students — but it was still impressive.
That wasn’t what gave me a pause for concern, though.
I could see the glow of attunement marks on most of the four. The speaker had a heart mark.
Two of the others had marks on their right hands. Unsurprising for combatants.
The last had a mark on her left leg.
None of that was a problem.
The worrying part was that the last soldier, with the leg mark, also had a glowing spot in the back of her right shoulder.
That wasn’t a spot for attunements.
But I did remember something else that could be found in that location on someone’s body.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Sir. May I ask what this is about, sir?”
He shook his head. “You will be informed of everything you need to know in private. Please come this way.”
“Sir, may I have a few moments to hand off some key information and items my team will need to complete their assignment before we leave?”
He tensed his jaw. “You have two minutes.”
“Sera, come here.” I waved for her to follow me and headed to the back of the wagon.
“What’s this about, Corin?” Sera asked. “The Tenjin situation?”
I shook my head, shuffling through the bag at my side. “I don’t know. Probably. But that’s not what concerns me. Those aren’t Valian soldiers.”
“What?”
“Or at least, not just Valian soldiers.” I pulled the Jaden Box out of my bag and flipped open the lid. “Retrieve: Empty Vial.”
An empty alchemical vial appeared. I opened the top.
“Hold this open.”
She held the box. “Corin…?”
I drew my sword just an inch and ran my index finger across the blade.