Annabelle’s Bastion

Bastion Island was a quiet place.

As a massive, artificial land filled with thousands of students—mages—one would think it was loud, constantly filled with the excitement of training students.

After Cole Anderson won the tournament, the only other noteworthy events were the announcement of more competitions and excursions.

The next tournament was slated for six months later—a time fast approaching. After that, there would be an end-of-year tournament with lucrative rewards. In between, they’d try to filter in more expeditions and other outside activities.

More expeditions did occur - but with mixed results. Supposedly, the only way for them to continue doing them was to not have a teacher interfere unless it was for unnatural circumstances. In other words, to let them die.

Aria preferred it that way, but it doused most of the earthlings in cold water. Yet, seeing those who returned with boosted power and new abilities reignited many spirits.

Including Gregory Martin.

He participated in the most recent expedition, another with sixty members. It was a successful run, but they lost sixteen people to the corrupted beasts and core. But he was fortunate. He walked away without any harm and with a Sigil; Flamelash.

She didn’t know who received the Apex Sigil or if it was destroyed with the core.

More importantly, rumors spread that he had killed his partner for it. Aria eavesdropped, and a few of his expedition members claimed there was no way his partner died to the beast he got the Sigil from.

Regardless of the veracity of those claims, he now had Flamelash and Firebolt—that was what mattered.

With those two Sigils, if there were to be a fight, it could get a bit annoying.

But that was why Aria waited until the dead of night. A fight wasn’t in her plans, nor was it acceptable. If she were to wake him and he made any loud noise, the plan would fail, and she would get caught without even starting her plans.

And if Aria got caught… that was it.

She recalled her punishment—or lack thereof.

A week after she decided to go after those who harmed Annabelle, Alisha called her for what would be a lengthy discussion about her punishment. But it went the opposite of what Aria expected. Rather than corporal punishment, Alisha agreed to a deal.

If Aria broke an official Bastion law, Alisha would no longer protect her.

It was a saving grace, one that Aria was happy for, but… it made her mission far more difficult. If she gave them any evidence against her, it would be over. They’d expel her from the academy, remove her from Bastion, and then erase her secretly.

But she wouldn’t fail.

This wasn’t for her sake.

Annabelle had been stranded on Sorana for six months. Stranded in a world with no life and unknown dangers. She didn’t even have combat abilities.

And so she returned her gaze to the distant dorm, her resolve firm and heart calm.

Gregory would tell her everything today, whether willingly or through grueling pain.

Choosing him as the first target made the most sense—he was bribed somehow to attack her. Someone would have had to provide a price high enough that he’d take the risk to ambush her outside of her dorm with the other students.

The word of another student wouldn’t do it; Ashton promising a Sigil would have been treated as air. So, there had to be a teacher or another mage backing that deal Ashton made. 

She couldn’t go that high so quickly, but Greg disappearing wouldn’t mean much in the short term.

Any minute now…

There were still a few lights on in the dorm, but curfew had already passed.

But that was both the problem and the correct path—the dorm manager wasn’t there.

Without him, there would almost certainly be people ignoring the curfew. But Aria couldn’t wait; it had to be when he was gone. The dorm regulations were strict, and even if she had a reason to be there, she would not be allowed in. Plus, tomorrow was combat training. Students would have to be negligent to still be awake, given how much fighting they would be doing.

She looked to the top floor, the floor with the least number of lights still on.

Those rooms were built for silence and privacy.

If her investigations were correct—which they were—then Greg had a similar spot in his dorm that Aria and Annabelle had; the corner room on the top floor. He didn’t have a roommate, either. A fortunate scenario caused by his death during the tournament qualifiers.

Aria theorized it was a death Greg had a part in. It was some kind of drama related to the dorm and their practice sessions, but she couldn’t dig further without alerting her targets.

Regardless, his ego made her task far easier.

Her golden ring hummed as it wrapped around her forehead like a headband. She willed it silent and activated a trace of her enhancements.

Whenever she used her abilities, she couldn’t help but think of Annabelle. It was she who taught Aria how to do it—or tried to. Without a Sigil, it was impossible for her to grasp. But once she got her Apex Sigil, all that her friend tried to teach her fell into place easily.

Now, she was once again confidently at the peak of the academy in mana control and magical ability.

Well, without the new abilities flooding from the expeditions.

She emerged from behind her tree, her eyes tracing the route she had planned for weeks.

The dorms were all on the edges of the islands, so maneuvering around them undetected was incredibly simple.

No teachers ventured this far, and the academy had few patrolling guards. That would change, but bringing staff members was challenging when there were far more important things to do.

With her enhancements running to boost her speed, she swerved through the trees and rock, moving around to the front of the dorm.

If students were skipping curfew, they wouldn’t risk being on the bottom floor.

Aria turned the front door knob, breathing in relief at its unlocked state.

The dorms usually weren’t, other than Gromak’s. But he was obsessive about security, locking it down whenever he slept.

She didn’t hear anything inside, so she quietly and slowly pushed the door open. Once through, she gently shut it behind her and turned.

The lobby appeared almost the exact same as her own, with two sets of stairs on the left and right side leading to the second floor. In the center was the front desk, behind which was a door to the dorm master’s room.

Without pause, she crept up the stairs.

“Hey, are you sure about this?”

A sudden voice came as one of the second-floor dorm rooms opened.

Aria’s heart fell, but she reacted instantly. She dashed toward the only turn in the dorm, one leading to a few extra rooms on the second floor.

“Mr. Ellis is gone, remember? And I’m hungry!” That voice was from a woman, an excited tone of someone enjoying breaking a rule.

“But… won’t he see his food missing?”

“Pfft~ have you seen how much food Greg steals? Just don’t say anything!”

“Yeah, but—” She suddenly lowered her voice. “Nobody tells on him.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? Just a meathead with a fire Sigil.” Yet, even as she said it, her tone naturally lowered.

Aria learned how Greg was seen by his dorm mates—most were afraid of him. He was violent, egotistical, and frequently talked down to or disrespected his peers. That was the least of it; he treated everyone around him like dirt.

Of course, other than his so-called subordinates.

“Shh! If any of his people hear you…”

“Girl… let’s just go get some snacks; you’re really killin’ my mood right now.”

Even after Aria’s ambush, Greg kept some of those people around as his. That attack seemed to give him the idea of trying to create some sort of gang on the island, an idea that had spread to a lot of people.

There were now multiple so-called gangs forming on the island.

The two girls carefully shut their door and descended to the first floor. Once Aria heard the kitchen door click open, she moved.

At the end of the hall was the stairs to the third floor.

It was going smoothly.

She could hear a few people chattering through their barely opened doors as well as some lights, but nobody was in the halls.

There it was—her target room, the one in the furthest corner.

Aria paused before it, placing her ear against the door. One thing the academy made sure of was the privacy of these rooms… unfortunately.

The only way she could tell was the lights turned off, but that wasn’t absolute.

As she learned.

She felt a vibration just as she heard a lock click.

Her chest tightened, and she nearly activated her Apex Sigil, but her better judgment won in that instant, and she instead jumped as hard as she could.

Hopefully, the chandeliers were sturdy.

Aria grabbed onto it and increased her enhancements, pulling herself using both sides for better stabilization.

Why did he have to be awake? He at least took combat training seriously, so Aria was confident he’d be asleep.

The door moved a few seconds later.

“Are you sure?” Greg said as the door slowly pushed open.

There was something in his hands held up to his ear.

Was that a cell phone?

Annabelle told her about them—small devices like their tablets, capable of making phone calls across the world and all kinds of other things.

But that was as much an indicator of something amiss than anything she had found in her investigations.

The academy didn’t have phones, nor did they allow them; not even the teachers had one. At least not within the range of student’s eyes.

She needed to get it from him. If it had what Annabelle called texts, then she’d have written communications that could lead her directly to her enemies.

Greg seemed upset, his brows furrowed as he looked at the carpet. He turned around, facing the direction of the stairs leading downward.

Aria felt slightly bad for those two girls.             

“Why the fuck are you getting lippy with me? I’m not your fucking dog, Wells!”

Ashton.

This day could not have gone better.

The dorm master being gone, combat training leading to most possible interference being asleep, and now a direct, active connection to Ashton.

If only she could enhance her hearing. From where she stood, she could barely hear indistinct mumbling on the other end of that phone.

“Jesus fuck—I’m going out now,” Greg said. “We can talk in the usual spot, right? You better have something better to offer me than some stupid fucking Sigils. … Keep quiet? Dumbfuck, curfew already passed.”

After that, he hung up and stormed off toward the second floor.

Another mission? Could it be related to her? Aria couldn’t think of any other reason for Ashton to be calling Greg for a secret meeting. She’d follow, but there might be a real mage there.

Did he really still have such intentions?

Reprehensible.

Aria hadn’t done a thing to any of that faction in six months. She had been keeping to herself for the sake of training and investigation, yet they were still plotting her death.

If she needed more reassurance in her mission, she got it.

She twisted Greg’s door and pushed, easily stepping inside.

That reminded her of a conversation with Annabelle, one that made her heart sting.

“Hey, make sure you lock that door!”

“Why? We’ll return quickly.”

“You never know! What if someone rummages through my bags?! I have a lot of stuff, you know.”

“Our peers have little interest in… clothes.”

“I detect sarcasm! Just trust me; always lock the door… no matter what!”

Aria quietly chuckled, shaking her head as she gently shut the door behind her.

That conversation had her locking her dorm door every time, even if she was only gone for a few minutes. Now that she thought about it, Annabelle likely had a history. The way she ended that conversation made it seem more… personal.

She really didn’t know anything about her friend, did she?

What was her life like on Earth? Her Earth friends? What about her family history? All she knew was from the bits and pieces she gathered through normal discussions.

When she got to Sorana, they could have plenty of conversations.

Her fist clenched around her katana’s hilt.

But first, some people needed to shed some blood for daring to take those conversations away from her.

“I’ll be there soon, Annabelle,” Aria whispered, hiding in the open, empty closet.