Chapter 19: Bloody Jubilee

  “Have you lost your mind?! Have you forgotten what he went through?”

  “Mo Wang, let's hear what Felix has to say, alright?” Dr. Farid slid a cup of tea in her direction as he attempted to defuse the tension between his two students. It had been a long time since Lady Meng raised her voice. They were losing their minds at Felix’s proposal. “If you two have to fight, please lower your voices. This is the Athenaeum, people study here.”

  “Pardon me for my rudeness, but making Dante come back to the Sanctum is just,” Lady Meng chewed on her lower lip for a moment, “inappropriate.”

  Felix raised his tattooed forearm. “No, I didn’t forget,” he stated plainly. “And that’ll be the plan I have for Ace, but it’ll only work if I manage to find him.”

  “And what if you don’t find him after exhausting all the resources you have on hand?” Dr. Farid asked pensively.

  “I have other plans.”

  “That’s something a person without a Plan B would say,” Lady Meng said, jabbing her finger at Felix. “It would take a miracle to bring him back!”

  Felix opened his mouth, but his words evaded him. His face crumpled into a grimace of resignation. He was at his wits’ end.

  “It’s the optimal solution,” he said. “I can’t think of any other sorcerer who can guide him. If I can’t find Dante by the end of my leave, I’ll just entrust him to,” Felix shuddered, “Shun.”

  Lady Meng choked and nearly spat out her tea. “Shun Wei Teng?!” she exclaimed even louder this time. “Why?!”

  “Shun’s teaching is direct and efficient, and this helps Ace to uncover his ability’s potential,” Felix explained. “I can take him for combat training.”

  Dr. Farid was just as perplexed. His brows were raised and remained raised as he sipped on his tea.

  “This is why I’m here,” Felix continued without pause, “to uh… gauge receptiveness?”

  “Frankly speaking, Dante wouldn’t even entertain your requests,” Dr. Farid said.

  “He will listen,” Felix said. “I've thought this through.”

  Dr. Farid exhaled. “Go ahead.”

  “Dante’s the whole package, you see,” Felix rationalised. “Only an Aberrant can guide another Aberrant. A-and I'm now in a much better position to protect their interests!”

  Silence fell in the room. Lady Meng sighed and finished her tea, placing her cup on the table with a soft clack. “Don’t see a better way out,” she conceded. “If I were to pick my poison, I would beg Dante rather than entrust Ace to Shun.”

  “However, you have to promise me that you’ll do everything in your power to shield them from any danger. We know that they are good people, but if the other Elders say otherwise, the rest will echo the same opinions. That is the power they have,” Dr. Farid warned.

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  “I will. Cross my heart.”

  “I also heard that you are allowing Dr. Lee to carry out soul research,” Dr. Farid said. “He has sought my assistance.”

  Felix nodded.

  “Cursed Essence isn’t inherently evil, but its destructive potential remains feared. I wouldn’t be surprised if the knowledge got destroyed.” Dr. Farid took a deep breath. It pained him that such precious knowledge, which could give insight into Ace’s condition, was lost. “However, asking the other Elders to authorise this and be agreeable to keeping Ace alive is more than just swallowing two bitter pills.”

  “I’ve always been the nice guy, but if that doesn’t work,” Felix leaned back and stretched, “I have my ways.”

  “Please don’t torture my family too much. It's hard enough scribing the many bickers in the Ortus,” Lady Meng said. “While you’re there, say hello to my grand-aunt.”

  “Ah, First Lady Meng Haoran… I haven’t heard from her in years.” Dr. Farid felt a slight shudder down his spine. Despite having worked with her on numerous occasions, he would break out in sweat whenever they were in the same room.

  And Dr. Farid could not remember a single occasion where she spoke to him with her voice.

  ***

  As Felix closed the doors behind them, he whipped out his phone and dialled Dr. Lee. “Send the reports to the Elders directly.”

  “Are you sure?!” Dr. Lee asked.

  “At least I wouldn’t have to arrange a date. With this, every day is a possible day to meet up,” Felix said and hung up before he could reply. Work smart, not hard.

  “God, they are repulsive,” muttered Felix. “The whole lot of them.”

  Anyone would commit suicide if they were subject to the dreadful dialogues that occur in the Ortus. Felix thought he would have to suffer like this for the rest of his term, or life, until he found something to set himself free.

  But he had already found it long ago, when he was much younger.

  Disdain, aggression and hatred were part of it. Only God and those in the Ortus knew the rest.

  ***

  “Mo Wang, care to share what’s on your mind?” Dr. Farid probed.

  Lady Meng gave him a small smile. “Dr. Farid, I know out of all of us, it pained you the most to see Dante leave,” she said softly.

  Dr. Farid swallowed the small lump that had gathered in his throat. “I was the one who picked him up from Cardiff and brought him to the Sanctum. To see him grow and finally learn to cope with something he had been struggling with was comforting,” he reminisced. “But to see it vanish so quickly pains me greatly, even to this day. It doesn’t help that I was equally powerless.”

  “But to say that it pained me the most is not correct,” he turned to Lady Meng. “That position would be Felix’s to take.”

  Lady Meng exhaled. “He’s now sitting with the very people who inflicted such pain on Dante.”

  Lady Meng placed a hand on a copy of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Dr. Farid had made it a point to take it out of his drawer after Felix left. “You’re just like him,” Lady Meng shook her head. “You just want to see the three of us reunited.”

  “Of course,” Dr. Farid said. “No sorcerer can ever match up to the likes of the three of you. The mere utterance of this name would send the strongest of phantoms and rogue sorcerers scuttling.”

  “You speak too highly of us.”

  “Really? This reminds me of the time someone told me that when they saw the red capes, they knew they were safe,” Dr. Farid said. “Because the ones who donned that colour were the best of the best. We have long retired capes in favour of practicality, but their legacy has not died.”

  “But is red truly a colour of good fortune and happiness?” Lady Meng asked quietly.

  Despite being armed with the vast knowledge he had acquainted himself with over the decades, Dr. Farid found no answer to her question.