Chapter 5 Lex
Lex
After descending for what felt like hours, down countless obsidian staircases and through no less than a dozen hallways, we came to a halt outside a nondescript wooden door.
Twice, the General had to press his hand to a glowing orb, allowing it to measure and acknowledge his magical signature before we continued our journey.
There had been other doors that lined the hallways we traversed, but those became increasingly sparse the farther we traveled.
As much of the Academy existed in catacombs below ground as existed in the sprawling structure above the surface, but this was farther than I had ever ventured before.
I could feel it in the cold and damp air that permeated the space—heavy and oppressive, each breath was like trying to suck mud through a straw.
There was also the distinct feeling of something . . . else.
Without being Awakened, I couldn’t tell if what I felt was magic in the air, the General’s apparent uneasiness, or simply my own anxiety over the urgency of Lord d’Refan’s request.
General d’Alvey paused at the door, glancing once at me out of the corner of his piercing green eyes, before rapping his knuckles firmly against the wood.
He stepped back, his posture relaxed but body coiled and ready, and I tripped over my own feet in my haste to follow his lead. The General’s right hand shot out to steady my body, his fingers grasping my bicep firmly, as I fumbled to regain my footing.
“Careful,” he grunted, his grip still unyielding.
“Thank you, General,” I said. “I’m steady now.”
The General said nothing, simply peered at me from under dark brows, his eyes canvassing my face and body. I stared back as equally unabashedly, my quizzical brown eyes meeting his hard green ones.
We stared at each other for a moment, and I felt my heartbeat quicken under his intense gaze.
The General opened his mouth and took a breath, his eyes softening for a moment.
“Lex—” But he was cut short by the abrupt opening of the door he just knocked on.
“General d’Alvey,” a gravely voice punctured through the silence of the hallway, bouncing off the walls down, echoing in the empty space. “You’re late.”
I watched as the curtain fell over the General’s eyes again, fully composed as all previous traces of warmth and sentiment bled away.
General d’Alvey slowly pulled his eyes from my own, turning his dark head to face the new voice. He said nothing, simply stared at the doorway, and I felt rather than saw the man grow uncomfortable under the General’s silent anger.
I refused to look at the man in the door, my eyes and mind still hopelessly cued into the enigmatic man gripping my arm like a lifeline.
There was a slight creak of leather as the man shifted in his boots, as he quietly cleared his throat.
“Y-yes. Well. Uhm. Please bring the soldier inside,” he finally stuttered when he realized the General wasn’t going to offer any sort of response for our apparent tardiness.
I scoffed slightly under my breath after I heard his boots shuffle back behind the door, and the General whipped his head back to me with a slight raise in his eyebrow.
“What?” I deadpanned. “If he thinks your blank stare is terrifying, then the man doesn’t really know fear, does he?” I smiled.
The General’s face slackened, his normal tan complexion paling slightly as his grip on me loosened. There was a deep sadness in his eyes, and I couldn’t help but retract my previous statement.
“Not that you’re terrifying, General. Just that you know how to command people. That’s all. I meant no disrespect,” I rambled, and the General’s mouth ticked up slightly at the corners. But his elusive smile was gone as soon as it appeared, making me think I had imagined it completely.
“Call me Rohak, Lex,” was his only response as he tightened his grip on my arm once more, leading me through the open doorway.
The room behind was completely bare; no furniture, no signs of life.
Just the glittering obsidian stone that comprised the entirety of the Academy.
On each of the walls was another door; unnervingly, there was no sound emanating from any.
What we were left with was almost pure silence, apart from the soft scrape of our boots against the stone floor.
General d’Alvey—Rohak—seemed to know exactly which door we were supposed to enter, though, as he led me quickly across the space and through the door directly across from our entry point.
The sight that greeted me behind this second door was . . . not what I expected.
Though, to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected when I was summoned by Lord d’Refan.
Another training room, perhaps?
A library?
His study or office?
None of those would have surprised me.
Instead, I was standing in the middle of a medium-sized room with four more doors. But the labyrinth of doors and rooms was not what occupied my mind. The fact that I even noticed the exit points with the room’s contents in front of me was shocking.
Rohak gripped my arm impossibly tighter as he shut the door behind us. We paused in the entryway, and I let my eyes wander over everything in the open space.
There were three bare beds lined up in the middle of the room with enough space between each for two people to walk side-by-side.
Next to each bed was a metal table containing a variety of instruments I’d never seen before.
The first two beds were occupied, but I could only see feet as men in black robes bent over each, muttering quietly to each other.
I couldn’t even tell if the people lying in the beds were alive.
The thought sent a fresh chill down my spine and caused sweat to break out across my temples and neck.
Rohak tugged gently on my arm, and I whipped my head to see the direction he was pulling us.
There was a desk shoved into the corner of the space, behind it sat an elderly man, his hooked nose nearly brushing the paper he scribbled on as he bent over the desk.
He continued as we approached, either unaware or uncaring of our presence.
Minutes passed as the man’s pen scratched against the parchment within the thick leather journal, and I did my best to stop my hands and feet from fidgeting.
Despite the soft murmuring of the men to my right, and the draw to look at the beds once again, I kept my eyes trained on the elderly man in front of me.
“Lex d’Talionis. Male. Eighteen years old.
Six feet three inches tall. Approximately two hundred pounds.
Mother was a Pleasure Mage. Father’s affinity and affiliation unknown.
Serving in Lord d’Refan’s army in the unAwakened division.
Hand-picked by General d’Alvey.” His voice was as rough as the constant scratching of his pen against the paper in his book.
Rohak said nothing, so I stayed quiet as well, taking some comfort in the way his fingers pressed into my arm.
“Well?” The man finally stopped writing with a flourish, setting his pen back in its inkwell before lifting his balding head to meet my gaze. His eyes were a watery blue, but clear, belaying a keen intelligence there even as something else darker lurked beneath. I shivered under his scrutiny.
“Y-yes.” I cleared my throat to eke out the word. “That’s me.”
A terrifying smile spread across the man’s face, only serving to further highlight the hollowness of his cheeks and darkness beneath his eyes.
“Wonderful. We’ve been waiting for you.” The man rose gracefully from his chair before crossing the small space to the only unoccupied bed furthest from his desk.
Rohak and I stood frozen to the spot; me unwilling to follow the man into this uncertainty, and Rohak seemingly unable to release me.
The man fiddled with a few items on the tray and leather straps I hadn’t seen in my first perusal of the space before lifting his head once more. He cocked his head to the side, almost like a bird of prey, before raising one bushy eyebrow.
“General?” he rasped expectantly.
The man’s call shook Rohak from his stupor, and he gently pulled me toward the man and the bed.
My legs and feet felt like lead. The closer we got to the bed, the heavier my body became, and the louder my instincts begged me to stop.
My breaths quickened until I was practically panting through my nose. Rohak, ever perceptual, stopped. I willingly followed.
For the first time, he released my arm. A patch of warmth was left from where his palm grasped me, only made more noticeable from the air that quickly rushed into its place.
Rohak placed both of his hands on my shoulders and forced my eyes to meet his with a finger beneath my chin.
“Breathe, Lex. Breathe. No harm will come to you in this room. It is simply a . . . test. Each of our unAwakened soldiers undergoes the same procedure.” His voice was low and smooth, almost as if he were cajoling a toddler or a scared animal.
“A test?” I whispered, my eyes frantically searching his for a lie.
“Yes,” he emphasized. “A test. To see what your affinity is.”
I jerked a nod. I’d never heard of such a thing, but that wasn’t difficult considering my upbringing and stint on the streets of Vespera.
“Okay,” I blew out a heavy breath.
I trusted the General.
If he said it was a test, I’d take it.
Rohak searched my eyes once more before nodding and stepping away.
Moving without Rohak’s touch was odd, but I took confident strides to the open bed before swinging my body up and onto the platform.
“Excellent,” the man said absentmindedly as he secured the various leather straps. One around my chest and upper arms, another on top of my thighs, a third across my forehead. They were wide and worn, and he tightened them almost to the point of pain.
I hissed inadvertently as the strap pinched the skin on my thighs, but tried to bite my lip quickly. The man heard, however.
“Need to make sure you won’t move. Some of you don’t like needles, it seems. And we don’t have the same . . . control as some of the other rooms,” he muttered as he gathered a few instruments from the tray that was now far above my head.
The last statement was odd, but I had little time to think about it as a needle was plunged unceremoniously into my exposed neck.
“Fuck!” I yelped, reflexively trying to turn my head away from the sharp pain.
“Relax,” the man said drolly as I felt something exit the needle into my neck.
My blood was suddenly ice cold, like all the warmth had been sucked from my soul. I started to violently shiver as the cold spread from my neck, down my torso, and into my extremities.
The straps make sense now, I thought as I felt my mind drift away while my body convulsed.
The last thing I remember before the blackness rushed to meet me was Rohak’s voice. The pain and cold muddied my mind, and I couldn’t discern what he was saying. But I knew he was there, watching over me as he always did.