Still no internet today. Guess I'm off to McDonalds when it's time to post this again.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 112

While the White burned above, Ruby clung close to Nicholas and held her dagger in a white-knuckled grip. Being robbed of her power had her heart racing even though she'd spent years of her life powerless. The cold, dark, stone corridors led ever downward, into a basement almost as deep as the Azure Archives themselves.

A lot of the Arcana buildings have more under the surface. I wonder if it was the same for the Emerald, Amber and Black. Had the Sanctum been an Arcana once upon a time as well? Arcana came and went at the whim of the White, so it wasn't impossible this once belonged to an Arcana that earned their ire. Now, it was a prison.

The staircase descending down eased out into a long, flat corridor flanked by dimly smouldering torches hanging from braziers. The air smelt thick and heavy with mould and Ruby swore she heard rats scurrying in the dark. It reminded her of the stories told in the slums of the deepest and darkest pits the town guard could throw you into, where they'd forget about you for the rest of your short life.

"They don't bring prisoners down here." Ruby asked quietly. "Do they?"

"No." Nicholas kept marching ahead, his long stride forcing her to jog to keep up. "The inner sanctum is only for huntsmen."

He kept saying that and yet they hadn't come across any. For all that this place was supposed to be secret and forbidden, there were no guards at the entranceways, no guards in the corridor and the doors that Nicholas pushed through were all unlocked.

Were they that confident in their skills that they didn't need security? Or had they simply forgotten? The huntsmen were cursed by the same memory-altering tincture she'd force fed to Glynda, and their deterioration was slower but worse. Nicholas often couldn't remember his own family, so remembering to lock a door might have been beyond him.

It was just like the White to not consider that. They thought themselves smarter than they were, and it probably hadn't occurred to them that someone might test the inner sanctum as she was. For most Arcanists, the guards up top were enough to ward them away, if not the Sanctum itself with its anti-magical field.

The next thick wooden door led to a rare crossroad, something that broke up the monotony of the narrow corridors thus far. Only for a moment, however. To the left, fallen rubble and masonry had closed off the corridor, while the right very quickly opened up into what appeared to be a small barracks quarter with numerous uncomfortable-looking wooden beds with straw mattresses. No one was using them.

Ahead again, another door awaited but this one was different. The door itself was solid metal, with no grills or bars to see through it. The ring-based handle was bronze with leather strips. What stood out more was the single woman stood as still as a statue before it, a spear gripped in one hand, butt to the floor, and a round shield in the other hanging loosely at her side.

"The inner sanctum is in use," she intoned dully to Nicholas. "The next exchange is not for another twenty hours."

"We have brought a replacement." Nicholas said.

"There is no need for a replacement." The woman responded in kind, her dull brown eyes drifting down to Ruby. They didn't narrow, but she did lower her spear and point it toward her. "Arcanists are forbidden from entry unto these halls. You are to be expunged."

Ruby leapt back.

"She is no Arcanist." Nicholas said.

It made the woman, the huntress, pause. "She wears the robes of an Arcanist."

"A gift from an Arcanist above. This girl is a Novitiate. This will be her first time in the inner sanctum."

The spear dipped slightly. "This one is a huntress?"

"Why else would she be here?" Nicholas asked in an equally toneless voice. It was like listening to two people on the verge of falling asleep hold a conversation. Not just the voices, but what they were saying. Nicholas' lie wasn't even a good one but the woman didn't consider he might be lying at all. "Arcanists are forbidden from entry."

"Arcanists are forbidden from entry unto these halls," the woman repeated with a slow nod. "Any Arcanist who seeks entry must be expunged."

"Yet she stands here. Alive. You know what this means."

The huntress nodded again and finally brought her spear back, resting the butt on the ground and the sharp tip toward the ceiling. "Thus, she cannot be an Arcanist, or you would have dealt with her."

Ruby let out a long and shuddering breath. She wasn't sure her own brand of deceit would have cut it here. The huntress didn't seem particularly smart, and she might not have been smart enough to even listen to Ruby's excuses. I wouldn't have thought of this one either. Nicholas is basically saying I can't be an Arcanist because he would have killed me already.

"Even so, a replacement is not required for twenty hours. You may remain in the resting room until a time as she is needed. Once the current source has expired, she may take his place."

Source? Expired? Did she mean Jaune? Ruby wished she could see past the door. She strained her ears, but there was nothing there. No screams, no crazy chanting, nothing but the low crackle of the torches behind them and the scritch and scratch of vermin in the walls.

"The Novitiate is frightened. I have been ordered to show her the inner sanctum to alleviate her fears."

"Ordered by whom?"

"Lady Goodwitch of the White Arcana."

"I see." The woman blinked slowly, turned toward the door and reached for a ring of keys on her waist. "Very well. She shall be granted entry for a time. No longer. And in twenty hours, she will due her duty."

Nicholas stood still, but as the woman turned her back to him and stood facing the door, he took a sudden step forward. Ruby's eyes widened as he drew a wickedly sharp knife from his belt and plunged it into her back. The woman stiffened and recoiled, but he wrapped one hand around her mouth and dug the dagger higher, working it into her spine.

The struggle was brief. Silent. The huntress spasmed and tried to slam her shield back into him, but Nicholas was immovable. He stood still, eyes staring past the huntress as she died. The spear and shield clattered to the floor. Only then did he remove his hand from her mouth and gently sit her by the side of the corridor.

"W-Was that necessary?" Ruby asked with a shiver. "Isn't she as much a victim as you or Jaune?"

"All will be our enemies soon."

So much for the hope this would be easy. Ruby nodded and gripped her dagger tighter still. She could have stabbed someone in the back as well as the next person, but she wasn't confident she could take on a member of the town watch in a one on one without magic, and the huntsmen were trained to a much higher degree.

Taking the key that was still resting in the lock, Nicholas gave it a stiff turn, unlocking the door with a heavy click. With his dagger still drawn, he pressed his shoulder to the metal and pushed. The door groaned and dragged on the stone floor, scraping its way open with a horrific sound sure to alert everyone inside. The room within was brighter, numerous freshly lit torches burning merrily away on sconces raised on metal poles.

It was a circular room with statues along the outer wall and concentric raised rings rising up in the centre like a small staircase. It led to a central, raised circle that stood like a dais, upon which rested a high-backed stone throne with thick armrests. Sat upon it, slumped heavily to the left, was the topless figure of Jaune Arc, his hands on the armrests, his legs straight down in front and his head not halfway up the tall and imposing backrest.

He was bleeding. Badly.

"Jaune!"

Ruby rushed in, evading Nicholas' attempt to grab her by instinct alone. She reached the first step and darted higher, quickly coming to a stop before him. Only then did the extend of his bleeding become obvious. His hands weren't resting on the armrests – they were punctured through by sharp, upward-facing spikes that the palms of his hands had been driven down onto. His feet had been similarly driven back into cured spikes curling up from the base of the throne, which didn't punch through his ankles, but were deep enough to draw blood.

That blood ran down the throne into a channel at its base, which circled around and down the circular steps. Looking back, Ruby could see the grim red blood standing out in the torchlight, flowing down channels and rivulets cut into the tone to form shapes and symbols.

It was a ritual. Jaune's blood was being used to form a ritual based around the throne – the inner sanctum.

"Arcanists are forbidden entry unto the inner sanctum." Leather creaked as a man moved swiftly from his position at one of the walls. There were two others as well – three huntsmen in total. "You are to be expunged."

"Wait!" Nicholas hurried in. "This one is a Novitiate. No Arcanist."

"But the robes-" the first repeated the same question of the Huntress outside.

"Where is she who guards the door?" the second huntsman asked, missing the entrance of said woman.

He and the third turned to the door to find the answer to that question themselves, which was when Nicholas struck. His sword cleared his sheathe and plunged through the shoulder and neck of the first, who had not even brought his sword up into a guard position. The man fell with a startled gurgle, instantly drawing the other two back. Their swords were drawn and they rushed him.

Crap, crap, crap. She'd blown their disguise. Not that it would have held. Ruby panicked and checked for more, but the Huntsmen had obviously decided Nicholas was the real threat. They weren't wrong since she couldn't use any magic here.

"Hngh." Jaune's dark blue eyes flitted open. "R-Ruby…?"

"I-It's okay," Ruby stammered as Nicholas and the two huntsmen exchanged punishing blows. The ring of steel sounded all around them, but unlike what she'd grown used to in the slums there were no words, no insults, no cries of pain or shouts of effort. They fought silently, silver blades flashing through the air as quick as the eye could see.

Ruby turned back to Jaune and hesitated, then gripped his left wrist. "I'm going to get you out. This… This might hurt a little."

A quick wrench upward. Jaune's hand slid off the spike with a horrible squelching sound. Blood ran from his hand and down onto his lap as she moved the limb there. He didn't make a sound. Unsure if that was a good or bad thing, she took his other arm and repeated the process. The amount of blood made her feel woozy, but she forced herself to kneel and pull his legs off as well. The hooks tore into his skin as she did, splashing more blood on the stone. It ran into the ritual like all the rest of it he'd lost.

"You're free," she whispered. "It's okay. I'm going to get you up. We… We're going to leave."

"Where?" he asked weakly. "Why? Ruby, this is… you're going to be killed…"

"It doesn't matter! I'm going to be killed anyway!" Ruby dragged one of Jaune's arms over her shoulder and hefted him up. He was way too heavy for her, but she struggled on. "It's all gone wrong. They've taken Sun's memories away. He doesn't remember anything about you anymore."

"What? Why?" Jaune was stirring slightly. He groaned and managed to find his footing, helping her half-carry him down the steps. "Why would they? I followed their rules. I've done everything they asked…"

"Your mother hasn't been." He groaned. Ruby wasn't sure if it was a question or not, but she answered all the same. "Your mother has been working with people against the Collegium. They're not happy with the Arcanists stealing their authority and children away. I think… I think the White Arcana figured it out. That's why they weren't letting you out to visit her."

Jaune laughed weakly. "I've been a hostage? When I… When I thought I was the one they wanted. Hah. I'm not-" Jaune looked ahead. His eyes widened. "Father…?"

Nicholas Arc stood clutching a jagged wound in his side. The cut had split from under his left elbow to his ribcage and blood was pouring out in waves. He staggered back from a body he'd brought low. He'd killed the second of the three huntsmen but doing so must have cost him. He limped away, off the stones powering the ritual.

"Treachery has but one punishment," the remaining huntsman intoned. He strode forward, sword gripped in two hands. "Huntsmen obey. It is our duty. It is our life."

Nicholas Arc glanced past the man and to them. He saw Jaune, free from the throne, and he smiled. It was perhaps the first time he'd ever looked so cognizant to Ruby. He looked… there. Sound.

And then his head toppled free from his body and thudded to the ground.

"DAD!" Jaune yelled.

No, no, no, this was a disaster. Ruby pulled Jaune away from the lone huntsman, but he was already coming. His eyes were cold, his lips downturned. There was no grief for his fallen comrades or even anger towards them.

"No Arcanists are allowed entry to the inner sanctum. Novitiate, return to the inner sanctum now. Arcanist, you shall submit to justi-"

The ceiling shook. Dust rained down.

It made them all pause.

They were a good distance underground, enough for almost everything to be muffled, and yet Ruby was sure she heard the whistling, rushing sound of something big and powerful. A loud boom echoed, and the ceiling trembled again.

The huntsman's eyes widened briefly. "Novitiate – to the throne! Quickly!"

The sounds above, in the Sanctum, should have been impossible. Should have been. Ruby hadn't noticed anything, but she was touching jaune. Supporting him. She slowly and gently set him down on the floor, then took a step back. Almost instantly, the rush of heat and power slammed into her. Above, she could sense it. Fire. An inferno. A firestorm of epic proportions centred on the Sanctum.

Cinder was free.

Ruby's eyes began to glow as well. Her hair rose as lightning crackled down her shoulders to her fingertips. The Huntsman reacted without fear – why should he? Even if she could now access her magic, he himself was immune to it. The battle was by no means in her favour, which was why it surprised her when he turned and fled.

No. He ran for the throne.

He's going to seat himself on it!

Ruby reacted without thinking, lashing out not at the huntsman who would have been impervious to her wild magic, but at the ornate and ritualistic seat itself. The stone once suffused with fresh blood of a huntsman might have been enough to withstand her, but the blood had flowed out of the ritual now. It was little more than rock and cleverly constructed channels for vitae. A bolt of lightning arched from her hand to it, crackled over the stone and then exploded. Chunks of rock fired in every direction, and she had to throw up a shield to defend her and Jaune.

The Huntsman was not so fortunate. He covered his face with his arms, but one chunk struck his wrist and then another caught his jaw as they were knocked aside. He tumbled back, unconscious or dead. Ruby didn't care to stop and find out which.

"Ruby…" Jaune panted. "What… What was that…?"

"This really isn't the best time to explain but I'm a Wildmage."

"You're a-?"

"Not the best time!" she hissed and stooped again, dragged Jaune up and felt his power rip her magic away a second time. It hurt, but she wasn't leaving him to die down here. "Your dad wanted me to get you out of here. That's what I'm doing."

"Dad…" Jaune's eyes clenched shut. "The White will never let us leave."

"They don't have much of a choice right now."

/-/

If the White Cathedral burned, the Sanctum was an inferno. A cyclone of fire had punched through the roof and was spiralling high into the sky, taller than even the highest spires and towers of the city. It had completely taken over the second floor of the Sanctum, which burned with an intensity that made Ruby's eyes sting just to look at it.

It was impossible to say that people hadn't died. The fires were too hot, too violent, and while former prisoners were running free, no doubt taking their chance to escape, more would have been trapped inside. The interesting part was that huntsmen and huntresses had died as well, despite their immunity to magic. Had they suffocated in the heat? Had they burned up from temperature alone? It was something she didn't really have the chance to figure out, as the second they were above ground, a huntsman charged them with a spear.

"Arcanists are forbidden from-"

A sword cut the spear haft in two. A dark shape with red hair flashed between them, turned and swept the sword sideways across the man's throat. He fell with a gurgle and was stabbed a second time through his chest to put him out his misery. Adam wrenched the stolen sword free and turned to face her. He looked tired, pained, but also pleased.

"Ruby." He nodded to her. "I was right to have faith in you. Cinder as well. You've done what you promised."

Thank the heavens they'd found an ally. The best they could, too. Adam wasn't just a Wildmage – he was a capable swordsman. That would make all the difference against the huntsmen. "Where is Cinder?" she asked. "We have to go. The Collegium won't be distracted long."

"Cinder is… buying us time…"

Ruby's face fell. "No…"

"When the field lifted, the surges hit. It was painful enough to make me double over, but I'd only been here a few months. Cinder has been here since she was a child." Adam looked back to the inferno. Ruby could see his pain and knew it was reflected on her face. "Almost twenty years of repressed surges. It took over before she could have a hope of controlling herself. That fire isn't hers, Ruby. The fire is her. There's no saving her now."

"B-But I promised!" Ruby babbled. "I promised to save her! To free her!"

"You did save her. You did free her." Adam reached out and gripped her shoulder. He gasped as Jaune's anti-magic field took him and let go. The gesture remained. "Her last words, what she could manage, were that we had to escape and live. That I was to find you and get you out." Adam looked away, pained. "And to thank you. To thank you for this brief moment of freedom."

It hurt. Ruby felt the pain deep in her chest and looked back to the fiery cyclone. If Cinder was at the centre of that then she was hurting – hurting bad. The fire would kill her eventually. She couldn't begin to imagine how hard it would be to try and control twenty years of built-up surges. Probably impossible. The magic would just be too strong at that point. Too much for any human to control.

The worst part? That she would still choose this over living in the Sanctum. This was the first time since she was a child that Cinder tasted the kiss of the sun on her skin, the fresh air, the clear sky. All of it had been stolen from her because of the White's paranoia, and if the way the cyclone angled itself toward the White Cathedral was any indication, Cinder intended to have her vengeance.

"She will buy us time to escape." Adam said. "We mustn't throw that away – she would never forgive us if we did."

Ruby spared one final look to the tornado and shed a bitter tear. With a final goodbye to someone who had been both a friend and a mentor, she turned away, hefted Jaune higher on her shoulder and made for the walls with Adam by their side.

Goodbye Cinder. I'm glad you had a chance to be free again.

/-/

Fire.

It burned. It burned and fed on her, devouring her body but fuelled by her emotions, by rage and anger and bitterness and the sweet promise of revenge. Cinder Fall rode in the middle of the inferno with her eyes alight, her feet burning the grass with every step she took. Grass – real grass beneath her feet. It was softer than carpet and wooden floorboards.

The air was cooler than the fire-warmed interior of the Sanctum. The sun shone brightly, the birds sang, and people screamed in fear as they fled before her. Some, the brave or the foolhardy, tried to wear down the fires of her vengeance with water, wind and other spells.

As if twenty years of pain could be washed away so easily…

Her screams of fury were lost in the storm, but the way the fire lashed out when she swung her arm was not. Arcanists were swept up and aside, thrown from her path with burning robes and charred skin.

This wasn't what she'd wanted, to become a walking embodiment of destruction. A long time ago all she wanted was to ride her horse and spend time with her brother. The Collegium ruined that. Took her away, wiped her family's memories and then left her to wonder if they hadn't abandoned and given her up. How many others had gone through that same cruelty? How many others never found out the truth or never got this chance to right the wrongs?

Too many probably. Too many by far.

As the Arcanists in white robes stood their ground and launched their magics at her to try and drive her back, Cinder bared her teeth and weathered the pain – both from their attacks and her own fire eating away at her mind, body and soul. The White Cathedral loomed, the seat of their power, and she would make them remember her.

"Back!" a White Arcanist roared. "Drive the monster back!"

"Monster!?" Cinder's laughter was drowned out by the roaring flames. "You want a monster – you shall have one! Burn! Burn as I do! Let the flames consume you, your Arcana and this pathetic Collegium!"

Cinder threw herself into the building, screaming in joy and anger and pain and freedom. As the fires raged and took over the building, as the White Arcana cried out in despair, Cinder paused to look back to the Sanctum. It was impossible to make out any details from such a distance, but she trusted Adam would save Ruby, get her to her sister and help them escape this wretched city.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go with you like I promised," Cinder said as the flames closed in. "But you granted me the freedom I asked for. Thank you, Ruby." A tear sizzled away on her blackened cheek. "Thank you…"

The Collegium burned.

Rip Cinder. Just to say, obviously the whole Collegium isn't on fire – mostly just the Sanctum (destroyed) and the White Arcana building. That means Ren, Nora and a lot of other people are perfectly safe, but considering how much of the Collegium was ruled and administrated by the White, this will still have a major impact.

Next Chapter: 12th December

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur