Time Jell-O
I'm not going to lie to you, not yet, but not all monsters are bad. Even monsters think they are the heroes in their own story. Honestly, I half expected to be arrested and disposed of, once I found out that the portal led to a university controlled by the council, never to be seen or heard from again. Labeled as an anomaly the guardians were supposed to eliminate me, but a prophesy from the Oracle changed things a bit. Not nearly enough to be considered safe by any means, but enough that no one knew who I was outside of the fact that I was supposed to lead them to the Oracle’s successor.
Mysterious girl arriving by an old portal to the council’s university that hadn’t been used since the time the Oracle first came here. Which now that I’ve been through the portal myself I knew was her choice to come, not stolen away like my dad claimed. My mother chose to be here, and according to the dick head that ushered me through the barrier around this place she wasn’t about to give someone like me an audience until I proved myself.
Problem… if I didn’t prove myself here seeing her would be the least of my worries. I’d be disposed of, because there was no one the council trusted willing to claim responsibility for me if my magic wrecked havoc on the mortal realm. What magic did I have that could cause problems for anyone other than myself, I didn’t know.
All of this led me to where I was now, needing to prove myself to meet my mother before the council realized the person they’d been hunting was right next to them, shaking their hand and saying, ‘Hello, teach me all of your magical ways.’
"State of what?" I looked at the blue slime Professor Divine was pushing into my skin with her glowing hands. It felt like my insides were on fire, icy fire. The goop was being excreted from her fingertips and massaged in bubbles, my skin concave as she pressed in until suddenly the blue jelly popped and burned. Her hair was long platinum blond, tied back in a few braids acting like a headband. High cheekbones, and light pink eyes just like Aislin exuded an air of royalty. She was powerful and gorgeous, a cosmic combination that was intimidating.
"Chrystal, stop fidgeting." Divine continued, "The gel will preserve the parts of you still functioning as homin." That’s what they called humans. From the way the word slithered off her tongue, I could tell she didn’t mean it in a good way. Her and the professor that came to get me from the portal had that in common. She didn’t seem to be particularly fond of my serpent DNA that let the venom run rampant. But odder still, she appeared even less fond of my mortal DNA.
I wondered how much of me remained from who I used to be. How much was still human? Or homin, as the locals would say.
Coming to Ealdred was my only choice, though the moon ring did most of the work. I needed to find a diviner powerful enough to help my body transition from human to serpent without having to bond with a man I hardly knew. If you consider him a man, that is. Damien wasn’t exactly an angel, though he liked to swoop in and act like one… dark, brooding, and hypnotizing me with those handsome violet eyes. But since I’d been separated from him, I was feeling a lot more like myself, and less like his love-sick follower.
Damien was one of the guardians of the council, but I was fortunate his motives were driven by self-preservation before any loyalty to his job. That loyalty did, however, make things more complicated when he decided to make it his mission to eliminate the other anomaly on his list… Lathar. Otherwise known as my best friend… Victor.
So, here I was getting my body purified, possibly the weirdest experience I'd had all year, and a lot of weird happened to me these past few months. The head of the Divining Department at Ealdred University, Professor Divine, yes Divine as in, "The Divine Council", divine, was putting my body into a 'state of timelessness' as she called it. She was my best chance at beating the venom coursing through my veins, slowly turning me into a serpent. A powerful diviner that could help me, but she was also completely alright with me being disposed of if I didn’t live up to expectations in my classes here at Ealdred.
"It burns!" I felt my whole-body twitch. Based on the prickling sensations, I'd say all of me was still me. It felt all-too-human.
"It won't for long. It'll coat the organs that need it and absorb within a week or so."
I merely growled in response, hyper-focused on the sensation searing through my organs. My eyes darted all over the place, trying desperately to find a distraction from the pain.
The office was filled with geometric modern amenities, a drastic contrast to the medieval grandeur of the velvet drapes and the stone castle walls. Too many times to count, I contemplated how to turn the ring back on and find a beam of moonlight to bring me back home. Everything was like they expected my arrival, and yet no one knew anything, and yet everything, about me.
Which one was it? Did they know me, or not know me? It was hard to say, but I wasn’t about to leave without finding out. As long as they needed to keep me alive for the transition, I was safe.
As long as they didn’t know I was the descendant of the Abernithy line, the anomaly they were hunting for, then I’d be safe. For now, all I thought of was the pain of the ‘timeless’ treatment and that the ring was doing more than helping my magic. It had to be protecting my identity. Why else would they help me instead of locking me up or eliminating me?
"Treatment will continue until you're fully cleansed."
"Again?" My eyes bulged at the idea.
"Until you’re cured of your homin remnants." Professor Divine seemed to just shrug off the whole thing. Like humanity was something you could live without, an appendix of the supernatural realms, not necessary but still a ticking time bomb nonetheless.
"Wonderful." I rolled my eyes, thinking with my luck it wouldn't happen that easy. I could already see this as my weekly doctor visit, complete with burning torture chamber and complementary minty toothpaste smell. On the bright side, there were worse things one could smell like, and I would be one of the few people whose nose would be assaulted by it. I wrinkled my nose.
"Toothpaste," she finished my thought before I even had it, “Well, you'll always smell like lilacs to me." She read my mind, a much deeper mind invasion than what I’d ever experienced with Aislin, the only other diviner I knew, and one of my closest friends. I regretted not having trusted her enough when my life got turned upside down. If I could do it all over again, I’d have told her everything. Now, I felt too scared to say anything.
"I could always change the smell. Isn’t mint ice cream your favorite? I thought the smell would be comforting." How’d she do that? Know my favorite ice-cream flavor when I never told her? It seemed like a mundane thing to worry about, but if she knew about my ice cream preferences, what else did she know?
Aislin had given me her energy to survive once, pushing it into me to prevent my aura from collapsing in on itself. When that happened, she’d inadvertently sense my feelings and picked up on some thoughts, but with Professor Divine, it felt different. More invasive. It had to be a side-effect of her magic inside of me.
I felt bad that she was doing all this work to keep me alive and functioning properly, while I secretly mistrusted everything about her. But not too bad, considering she didn’t really care if I lived or died. It was really more about finding the Oracle’s replacement. Though it had me wondering, if they needed a replacement what was happening to my mom?
I shivered, and Professor Divine furrowed her brow like she was trying to figure me out. That made two of us. Something was off around here, and I couldn't place my finger on it. Everything felt so uncomfortable, and I’m not even including the tingling sensations I felt from her magic.
I’d trusted Aislin, at least as much as I could. She’d done nothing but try to help me, yet I couldn’t shake what Cerise said about her. That it was her fault I was in this situation all because she cared about finding my mother’s ring, not about helping me. Was it too late to trust anyone now?
My heart ached… it had to be a lie, but the damage was already done. The seed of mistrust too big. I’d have to let her go until I figured my shit out. The only person I could trust now was a serpent that didn’t even remember who he was, let alone who I was. The last few years of his life completely wiped clean, except the first day we met. We were basically strangers. I’d dragged Victor with me through the portal created by the moon ring. I never wanted to go through this by myself, and yet here I was, navigating this new world of supernatural chaos, mostly alone.
The moon ring transported us both straight into the lion’s den, where the council was known by everyone. Where my mom had probably gone after using that same magic. Victor never woke up after passing through the portal. It was only meant for people with divine magic, and even if he was awake, he was a completely different person, wasn’t he? He’d had a lot of lives over the years, and sadly, he hardly remembered the one he shared with me.
I still had trouble calling him Lathar. That was his name before he met me a few years ago, that was a different life. I’d nicknamed him Shakespeare when he wore a different face. Yeah, shifters could do that, change their faces to the last person they fed from. For the last few years I knew him as Victor, coffee-shop boy, best friend, supernatural believer, handsome protector, and not until recently, the serpent that bit me. You’d think I’d be upset about that, but I’ve come to believe he was only trying to prevent another serpent siphoning off my energy. Despite all of that, he still had his memories taken from him, and I couldn’t do anything to prevent that. He wasn’t my Victor anymore.
Shaking my head, I brought my attention back to Professor Divine. “So, that’s it? No come to goddess chants?” I asked. Was transitioning as easy as sugary gelatin snacks, just add water? How was she so in tune with my thoughts without exchanging energy with me like Aislin?
"You'll still be tired. This won't help that." Her eyebrows knitted together concerned.
"But I thought—"
"This isn't a panacea Crystal. Your body is a mess. The process of transitioning expends considerable energy. And I wouldn’t mingle my energy with yours in the state you’re in.” There was something more to it than the state I was in, something deeper she wasn’t willing to reveal to me. “That’s a dangerous practice taught only when both parties have control over their own energy first. It’d be wasteful to force-feed someone who has no idea how to chew, or swallow without the proper tools." Only partially answering my questions. She paused, possibly imaging me as a invalid with slop spilling down my chin, then shook her head and laughed. With one last smirk, she flicked the extra blue jelly from her fingers, and it disappeared, evaporating into the air.
I’d have knocked the smirk right off her smug face if she weren’t the one preventing my death march from spiraling into oblivion. That sounded ungrateful, but I didn’t appreciate the way she snubbed her nose at me like I was an insect she was graciously cupping in her palm, fit only to be scooped up and deposited outside, or smashed, lest I infest her home.
How much did she really know about me? The way she finished my sentences before I even started them made me suspicious.
“How are you doing that?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to gauge the extent of her mind trick. Did it only work when she was in the room? Or was she always listening? Or only when I thought about her?
"You’ll need to prepare for the upcoming Moon Ceremony where the Goddess will evaluate you for placement." She didn't answer. This was a running theme with this school. Divine just smiled and wiped her hands on her black robes. She had a way of exuding mystery. She'd always respond, but leave you with a sense of omission, or outright redirect the conversation.
I could chalk it up to a teacher thing. Give you knowledge, but wanting you to seek out the extra ten percent on your own. But with her it was closer to ninety percent, and I didn’t trust her beyond needing something from me. What that was, I still had to figure that out. I had no idea how I was supposed to find an heir to an Oracle, but no one seemed opposed to murdering me if I didn’t succeed.
I pressed my lips together, unable to shake the feeling it wasn't a teacher thing at all, but a deliberate act to keep me in the dark.
"You’ll be staying at the Genesis dorms for now. The Oracle seems to think favoring you will help fulfill a prophesy. All favor is earned here, and should you be unable to secure yourself a spot in any of the specialties you will be sacrificed to the Goddess. Whatever divine energy you have is negligible, but the venom, and serpent blood in you could be interfering with a clear reading." The Oracle wasn’t a golden ticket to staying safe here, I had to rely on myself. I didn’t know what it meant to be sacrificed to the Goddess, but it didn’t sound pleasant.
“So, the Moon Ceremony will evaluate me for a specialty?”
A smile spread across her face, but instead of calming my nerves, the air cooled making me back up a step, reaching for the still form of Shakespeare lying on the couch within her office. Wake up, I demanded of him internally.
“You’ll be paired with a partner within our school. Every potential guardian is paired with a specialist of some kind. Either you are the specialist, or perhaps a potential guardian. Should one of you fail to be accepted into your specialties you both fail.”
Tension built up in my chest when I tried to breathe, realizing I was betting on my mom wanting me here and being on my side. Was I setting myself up for disappointment? Was she even still… alive? Would I even make it out of this school alive myself?
I gulped.
“Do be careful.” Professor Divine grinned at me and handed me another piece of paper, it was definitely a warning.
And a map. I guess she wasn’t all teeth and terror.
"What about…"
"Your friend" Professor Divine finished my sentence and then continued, "He’ll be evaluated as well, and the moon will wake him if he is worthy. His kind are rather resilient. Train hard, and you'll get to meet the Oracle one day. She has mentioned you in the prophecy leading us to her successor. We consider this very high praise and expect exceptional things from you."
The one place that might know what happened to my actual mother had no idea who I was.
Were they all so trusting? Did they really think just because I came through the portal that I was the one to lead them to their next “Oracle”?
The magic of the moon ring must’ve prevented them from seeing my true identity. Terror filled me, at any moment they could find out the truth, and I’d be sent to the dungeons. They probably had those here. Dungeons, this place was like an ancient fortress, but with modern upgrades. Maybe the dungeons were retrofitted too?
I didn't know who to trust. Finding information about my mother might be as simple as looking up my family name in the library, or merely going to class…
Little did I know.
