The Blightspawn Noble

Chapter 33

                                                                Chapter 33

It didn't sink in for Jess until he stood around the make shift grave. A kama stabbed into the dirt with the named of the deceased engraved on it.

He hadn't known Tanner much. He was a smiling face. He was a positive presence. That's why it was hard for him not to wave back to Tanner when they crossed paths, despite knowing so little of each other.

It's unreal. That someone he came to know, however little, is gone. Not off to another school or an internship or of to a new home. None of that is in the future.

It's too much to think about. Students have been injured, horribly. Maybe before Jess came students had died. Most likely.

It was always a possibility. A strong one, but it never felt like it would happen.

It can't be happening.

Through the days, people came and went to visit it. Schopengaard is becoming stringent on letting too many come out at once, but Jess has the feeling, or hopes, a lot came to pay respect to him.

The only other one out currently is a mountain of a man that Jess thinks might be one of Leon's friends, Elmer. He's not fighting back tears quite so well. His hands grasped into fists,  his teeth gnashing. 

If he is the Elmer he's heard about, he too must be dealing with the further pain that Leon is bedridden and comatose. He hasn't woken up since coming back down from the tojin mountains.

Jess wants to push himself into saying words of comfort, to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder, but there is nothing to be said. Nothing will ease this.

"You were the best leader we could've had. You were the kind of man I want to be..."

Elmer sniffles.

"I hope you're watching, Tanner. We'll make him pay for this."

Jess is left alone over the grave.

Tanner, the only one dead, far as can be told, but not the only one who is out.

Sapphire's missing. Eliza is also missing.

No one in a position of power would give any adequate answers to what was going on.

All CMTC and magic students remain drafted into the defending force. The Launa hall, where the annual Vancantas dance is held, is being prepared as an emergency shelter for non combative residents. 

Jess bows his head to the grave one last time and returns to his dorm, a lonely room once again.

Jess shakes his head. He's not the only one suffering. He can't fight Apopis, but he can help. Too numb to be anxious and his cry unable to properly form, it's the best time for him to focus. Find some answer to ridding the world of Apopis, before the weight of the losses crashes his soul.

A pile of demology books is adjacent to a stack of papers full of notes on Jess's desk. Burying himself in this research takes the brunt of his time, more so than actual class studies. His grades were high enough they could take the little hit. 

His blood chills at the sense of familiarity in his research, like he was freshening up on knowledge he already had. He entered an almost dream state, a tight wire where his mind balanced between the anxiety ridden but familiar self, and the cold, calculating piece of Apopis that has nested in his soul.

The variety of demons is high, but there are certain common threads that bind them all, namely, kuoi. Jess narrowed his research down to this. These memories from Apopis have not given him sufficient clues, anything someone could use against him.