Chapter 351 (1/2)

Chapter 351: Miniet it?” I asked as Caera let down the hood of her cloak and closed the door Her blue hair was clinging wetly to her head, and water dripped from her to pool on the tiles

“Of course,” she said confidently, a lint in her eye

With a flourish, she activated her di and withdrew a pewter-colored orb the size of both ether The es and crevices, e

Caera held it out and I carefully plucked it fro it up and down intoit by the door “I certainly hope not I didn’t see any runes that indicated pressure sensitivity engraved on the display pedestal, did you?”

“No, that’s true,” I replied “And it seems unlikely the dead relics are removed from their cases often By the time anyone discovers the switch—”

“Professor Grey and assistant Professor Denoir will have long since moved on from Central Acadely receptive to my idea I knew from our adventures in the Relictombs that she had a rebellious and somewhat reckless streak, but I had still expected her to take so Always perceptive, she understood ree We’d then spent the rest of that afternoon and evening forether, we had discussed the strengths of each relic—or at least e could learn about the of the curator Personally, I had wanted to take two or three, but Caera had rightly suggested that would add an unnecessary layer of risk After discussing what the theft would require, we eventually decided on a single dead relic to “liberate” from the Reliquary Of all the relics available, I didn’t see how any single one would givethe one that the Alacryans knew the least about, which also happened to be Central Acadeh the curator had been quiet on why Scythe Dragoth had brought the orb to Central Academy, he had been more than happy to discuss its pohat little was known about the to the old man, the dead relic was unique in that its form provided no hints about its function The pock-n, but rather wear; when the relic was first discovered, it was unblemished, a perfect silver sphere, but when removed from the Relictombs it decayed quickly The Instillers had sur used in the construction of the Relictoradation was a kind of defensediscovered The curator couldn’t provide Caera any h

The idea of having a tool of the djinn, so that would let ood to pass up

“And you’re sure the artisan—”

“It’s not unheard of for highbloods to have fake dead relics made in order to impress their friends—and rivals” Caera indicated the orb with a smirk “She’ll be quiet about it, as loose lips, in this case, would likely result in her death”

“Still, if she were to—”

Caera waved uised, as you know, and pretended to be representing a different blood So even if she did talk, I wouldn’t be ie rune with aether, I stashed the fake relic “What blood did you ilint in Caera’s eyes returned “Oh, I think you know”

Regis barked with laughter, nearly toppling back in his diht Almost makes you hope this shady craft-lady does turn over on them—or us, or whatever”

I threwCaera an ao poorly, at least there will be a silver lining”

Caera pulled out the teardrop pendant she alore and whispered an incantation Her features blurred in a way that made my eyes twitch with discoreen-haired ascender, Haedrig

“That is really strange to watch,” I said, scanning the face and body for any hint of Caera beneath

Haedrig cocked out a hip and batted his eyelashes at , Grey?” he said in his croaky voice “Don’t you find is walked a slow circle around Haedrig, sniffing at his boots “I don’t kno to feel about it, to be honest For one, what happens to your boo—”

“Can we maybe be just a little more serious?” I cut in as I pulled up my hood “We’re about to co, who had just conjured a filthy green cloak fro, frowned and scratched the stubble on his chin “Don’t knohat you’re going on about I’ for a stroll over to the Reliquary…”

“Don’t is said “Just pre-larceny jitters”

“Let’s get going,” I said, gesturing for Regis to return to my body “The Reliquary should have just closed”

Caera—or Haedrig—led the way out into the hallway that connected theathe roundabout path

The weather was grihtning revealed a bedraggled campus The weather was a lucky coincidence; itaround in the open

Pulling the brilliant white cloak more closely around , but, whether due to its ical nature or the quality of the craftsmanshi+p, the cloak kept me both war, but I could hear a lilting, drunken tune from somewhere ahead, muffled by the noise of the downpour

‘I never would have expected fair lady Caera to know such a suggestive song…’ Regis said, hu the Chapel entry slowly beca was already stouard who stood beside theuard addressed him, but they were too far away and the storuard was si him that the Reliquary within was closed, but we already knew that Haedrig nodded and proceeded into the building, stu on the threshold

An exterior hallway ran in a rectangle around a large central space where the dead relics and other more valuable contributions were displayed While the entry hall was left open—but not unguarded—the Reliquary itself was closed and locked after hours

The guard atching Haedrig closely After a moment of apparent indecision, he abandoned his post to follow the apparent drunk

Moving quickly, with htly around , I would just look like so shelter

Clearing the stone steps three at a time, I paused to listen just outside

“—told you, it’s fine,” Haedrig was half-shouting froet a look atbelched loudly—“armor”

A clear, authoritative voice answered “And, as I told you, it is not fine, sir You will have to come back to replied with a phlegmy snort “I have friends, you knoerful friends I know damned near everybody I’uard insisted “Sir, if you don’t—”

A long peal of thunder cut off the rest of the guard’s threat I peeked into the hall just in ti the far corner with two ar closely behind

I knew there would be twoaether into my ears, I listened closely for their footsteps: It sounded like they were on the far side of the building, circling back toward the source of the co the off the flow of aether toreturn to nor, I let my eyes refocus in order to see the aetheric pathways connecting every point around me I couldn’t see beyond the far wall and door into the Reliquary, but I took careful note of the paths fro across the hall to the Reliquary door, I examined the black iron handle As was popular at the academy, the door was locked with a runestone Unlikerune placed at the base of this handle It combined syesting that touching it would result in a bad tiis, in his shadowy black wisp forh the door

Although I couldn’t see through his eyes, I could feel hts as he scanned the interior of the room for additional defenses

In the far hallway, Haedrig began to shout about “respect” and “honor” and “the good ol’ days”

‘The floor behind each door is htful silence as he atte will have their mana core drained The rune traps the mana…probably so they can identify who it was’

I smirked at the door Easy What about the lock? Can you open it frois said, his worry trans with his words ‘There’s no handle or way to release the latch from the interior’

In our reconnaissance of the Reliquary, Caera and I had spent nearly two full hours inspecting the building and displays as closely as we could without drawing suspicion Although it had been clear the doors had handles only on the outside, we hadn’t been sure if they could be opened some other way from within the room

I had an idea, but wasn’t entirely sure it would work Regis, I need you to picture your surroundings as clearly as you can and send ht?

‘Yeah yeah, I got it’

I took a step back froht up to where they stopped at the closed door When the an to form in my mind, I connected it with the purple fractal paths I could see, forht they continued to

Three Steps had taught me not to just look for the paths, but to feel the This made the ability much faster and more efficient to utilize, but it also—theoretically—meant that I could use God Step tothe Godrune, I vanished with a flash of aht

And appeared on the other side of the door, crackling with aetheric energy Aside froh a solid door, I realized with delight—thesensation was how little aether the Godrune had consuh atthened core yet, God Step took only a fraction ofthe Godrune for the first ti the second layer ofsensation all over my body

Beneathto draw out all my mana I stepped off it, unharic I had to assume the rune would have drawn some ambient mana from my body—the traces of water or earth er near me—but with no mana core to nature of my identity

I knew I didn’t have uards escalated, so I forced et, I exa for any wards or runes that Caera and I hadn’t noticed before

Unlike the warding runes behind the doors, which hadn’t been there during the day, the stone base on which the dead relic was displayed didn’t reveal any new protections But that didn’t uarded

A series of coraved around the base of the display to ward off anyone froht touch would reward the offender with a shock, and the display would buzz in alarht touch—for exalass and access the dead relic within—would release a paralyzing jolt of electricity before issuing a screeching alarm that half the caht of one way to bypass the runes without triggering the alarle claw I also wrappeddown next to the plinth Lining the claith the runes—starting with those responsible for creating the alared into theleapt tothe aether, I focused on redirecting and channeling the lightning, forcing it to skitter and jump across the surface of the barrier