Chapter Six #2
Cassara nodded and fell into step beside her, tension loosening, if only slightly. She didn’t say anything else, but the weight of the moment, Verena’s insults and insinuations, Gideon’s silence, all of it lingered behind her like a shadow.
Stepping into the Beast Theory & Classification classroom was like stepping into another world.
Massive glass cases lined the walls, each one housing preserved skeletons Cassara couldn't begin to name.
Some were sleek and serpentine, others jagged and birdlike, all of them seemed to have too many limbs or horn structures that defied symmetry.
Overhead lanterns flickered with soft magelight, casting rippling shadows that made the whole room feel more like a museum than a place of learning.
Wooden desks were paired off and set in neat rows, many already filled with anxious looking students.
The only thing missing?
The professor.
Liri slid into a seat near the center without hesitation and patted the one beside her.
Cassara hesitated, scanning the room. There was no sign of Verena or Gideon, which was odd considering they’d left ahead of them.
Julian was also nowhere to be seen, and for that Cassara felt relieved.
Her gaze returned to Liri, who was watching her with wide-eyed anticipation, and she sighed before sitting in the seat beside her.
She was pulling out her text book when she heard the thud of boots followed by the scrape of a chair.
She resisted the urge to look, tilting her head just enough that she caught sight of Julian from the corner of her eye.
He dropped into the seat behind her with the kind of ease only someone supremely confident in their place could manage.
Cassara didn’t turn to acknowledge him, but she felt him settle in, leaning back, arms resting loosely across the back of the chair like he owned the row.
More students filtered in, Talia, alone as always, flipping through her Codex without looking up. She sat down opposite of Liri and directly behind the wiry boy Cassara recognized from that morning.
Then came Verena.
She entered with a sway to her step while Gideon followed at her side, expression neutral. They took seats toward the back, his arms folding across his chest, hers draping along the edge of the seat like she was lounging in court.
Cassara glanced their way, just for a second.
Verena’s gaze snapped to hers as though sensing Cassara’s shift in attention—or perhaps simply hoping for it. She smiled, then leaned into Gideon, hand coming to rest against his leg just above the knee. She said something Cassara couldn’t hear and he laughed.
She turned sharply forward, pulse flickering higher, and caught sight of Julian watching her. His head tilted, brows lifted, clearly curious about what had captured her attention. He started to turn and she felt an odd sense of panic rise in her chest.
“Julian—!”
He turned back and her mind went blank. She tried to come up with something to say that didn’t sound forced or stupid, but she didn’t get the chance before all chaos broke loose.
A blur of motion exploded through the open classroom door, followed by a shriek from one of the students in the front row.
A creature the size of a large hunting hound tore into the room, its skin black and scaled like polished volcanic glass, but riddled with jagged fissures that oozed soft, bioluminescent green light.
It had too many eyes, none of them blinking, and its tail was long and barbed like a whip made for bone-breaking.
It snarled, not a sound of pain or fear, Cassara realized, but of delight.
Several students screamed. A chair toppled. Someone threw a book which bounced uselessly off the creature’s plated hide, and still, no professor in sight.
The creature began prowling the aisles, tail lashing, jaw parting to reveal rows of needle-thin teeth.
Students scattered in every direction, a boy tripped over his own feet and went down with a yelp.
Liri clutched her Codex like it could protect her.
Cassara didn’t move. She was watching its pattern, the way it stalked, circled, enjoyed the fear. This wasn’t a beast lashing out.
It was playing.
The classroom door slammed shut with a decisive clang.
Professor Idrin strolled in from a side entrance like she’d been watching the whole time, which, knowing her reputation, she had.
She wore a long, patchwork duster made from mismatched beast hides, stitched together with visible threading in a dozen different metallic colors.
One of her boots was thigh-high, the other stopped at her knee, both caked in mud and something that shimmered unnaturally when it caught the light.
A pair of iridescent goggles had replaced the spectacles from dinner, and her graying honey blond hair was a wild halo of curls barely contained beneath a jeweled claw pin.
“Really, Elska,” she said to the creature now stalking her way. “I said observe, not terrorize. You’re not on the field anymore. You’re a guest in my classroom. Act like one.”
The creature let out a guttural noise somewhere between a purr and a growl.
“Oh, don’t give me that look. I’ve seen your feeding report, three extra haunches and a marrow bone. You’ve had a very cushy week.”
Julian straightened, still wary. A few others climbed back into their seats. The creature, named Elska, apparently, turned in a slow, irritated circle, then padded obediently to the front of the room and curled beneath Marlowe’s desk like a cat sulking after being told off.
Marlowe clapped her hands once. “Excellent. Now that we’ve established who the real threat is, me, of course, let’s begin.”
She turned toward the chalkboard with a flourish that sent a dozen small charms jangling from her coat sleeve.
“Welcome to Beast Theory & Classification, children. No,” she paused, raising a chalk dusted finger to her chin, “I suppose you aren’t children anymore are you?
As you all know, I’m Professor Marlowe Idrin.
If you think you’re here to memorize lists of fanged horrors and their dietary habits, you’re half right.
But if you think knowing a beast’s weight and wing span will save you in the field?
” She tapped the board once with a chalk-tipped pointer.
“Then you’d best start praying your partner is smarter than you are. ”
She spun to face them again, hands clasped behind her back, eyes gleaming.
“This year, we’ll cover classification, threat assessments, origin patterns, territorial hierarchies, and the difference between a beast that kills you and a beast that judges you first.”
Cassara blinked. Liri leaned closer and whispered, “I think I’m scared and excited at the same time.”
“Good,” Marlowe called without looking. “That means your survival instincts are intact.”
The professor strode between the rows, chalk dust clinging to her fingertips. “Unlike your previous institutions, we don’t have the luxury of years for theoretical discussion. You have precisely six weeks before your first excursion to the Wildes.”
A ripple of murmurs spread through the classroom.
“Yes, you heard correctly.” Professor Marlowe confirmed. “Six weeks from now, you’ll be tracking and attempting to capture your beast for bonding. Some of you will succeed. Some will return empty-handed.” Her gaze swept the room. “Some may not return at all.”
Cassara felt a chill trace her spine. Six weeks seemed impossibly short.
“I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this, but it’s important you understand just what you’re facing.
The attack on your airship was no accident,” Marlowe continued, turning back to the board.
“Corrupted beasts are drawn to power signatures, and every one of you carries potential energy like a beacon.”
She began sketching a serpentine creature with too many limbs uncomfortably similar to what had attacked their ship.
“This is why you’re here. To learn what calls them.
To know what corrupts them. And most importantly,” she tapped the chalk against a particularly vicious-looking fang, “to survive them.”
"So," she turned to the class. "Does anyone know what causes a beast to become corrupted?"
Silence stretched for three heartbeats.
Then a hand shot up near the front. A girl with neat braids and an eager expression. "They're evil?"
Marlowe's expression didn't change. "No. Next."
Another student, this time from the back. "They eat corrupted meat?"
"Closer, but still wrong." Marlowe gestured broadly. "Come now, surely someone paid attention during orientation materials."
Verena's hand rose with practiced elegance. "Corruption occurs when beasts are exposed to unstable mana concentrations in certain geographic regions. The raw, unfiltered magic saturates their systems and causes physiological and psychological degradation."
Marlowe's eyes gleamed. "Textbook perfect, Miss Montero. Now tell me what that actually means."
Verena blinked, clearly thrown by the follow up question.
"Anyone else want to translate?" Marlowe prompted, scanning the room.
Julian leaned forward slightly. "The magic poisons them. Too much, too fast, and they go mad."
"Better," Marlowe said, snapping her fingers.
"Think of it this way: magic, raw magic, is everywhere.
It's in the air, the earth, the water. Most places, it's diffuse enough that beasts live perfectly normal lives.
But in certain regions, pockets of highly concentrated mana have formed over the centuries. "
She sketched a quick map on the board, marking several areas with X's. "The Black Wastes. The Westernesse Peaks. The Fettenveil. These zones and others like them are saturated with unstable magic. Beasts that wander in, or worse, are born there, absorb far more than their bodies can handle."
Cassara watched as Marlowe drew a simple beast outline, then added jagged lines radiating from it.