FUNCTION DISORDER :: VOLUME ONE

1

Soft red paws grasped the dimly glowing rectangle.

RUST [??] began messaging SHAEYDHRRT [UK] at 00:21.

RUST: Hi there Usko. I'm still alive! Yay.

RUST: I don't know if you still use this account, but it's worth a try I suppose.

RUST: I just have a lot that I wish I could tell you and I probably won't get a chance to in person.

SHAEYDHRRT: Who's this?

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Another disappearance.

They'd been disappearing every couple of months for Kaleva's entire time at magic school. Students kept vanishing.

"Usko Kuhmala will no longer be joining us.", announced Dr. Keijo. "And by the way, do not forget about the sixth and final test next week."

Kaleva didn't care about the lesson after that. He stared blank-eyed at the instructor, crestfallen. He wasn't given permission to speak, but even if he were, he'd struggle to find anything worth saying. His eyes remained fixed straight ahead. To let his feelings be known would likely mean trouble. To appear distracted or inattentive would also likely mean trouble. Not that there was anything else to pay attention to. The lecture hall was windowless. If it weren't, he could likely catch a rare glimpse over Euanthe's Wall and into the Lower City beyond.

It sure sounds rather cool to have a class on the twenty-second floor of the Sixth Order's tallest spire, but the room's appearance did not exhibit its loftiness. The hall's walls – constructed of a pale, synthetic material, most likely lovingly designed by the most masterful magical architect the Eight Orders had to offer and built with great care and attention by the finest craftsmen out there – were bare and starkly bland, save for the screen that Dr. Keijo stood to the right of, showing something or other from today's Magical Arts lesson. "You see, magic always comes from the body! It uses the body's energy in new creative ways it can't do by itself. The beauty of merging human flesh with the glory of technological progress!".

The clock stood at 16:10, just barely before home time, for longer than any clock has the right to. If he could see outside, Kaleva would probably see the tired afternoon sun beating yellow against the university spire's harsh angular white walls.

By the time Keijo finally dismissed the class, Kaleva let his gaze fall to the blank ground a few metres in front of his seat in the lecture hall. He got to his feet and retracted his seat's desk, feeling the blood rushing away from his head.

Really? Usko?

Sure, his buddy Usko had always talked about running away from the Pale Bastion, reaching the world outside, and running forever until he couldn't run anymore. He went on and on about how the authorities would come after him, but they wouldn't find him because he could run faster. He just kinda thought that Usko cared enough about him to at least tell him before disappearing. Maybe they could've even disappeared together. Run to the Lower City, at least. Run out of Arillien entirely. Then run to the Green Line after that. Maybe run all the way to the ocean. And if everything broke their way, eventually run as far as the Old Country.

Kaleva resisted the urge to hyperventilate. While Usko wanted to run as far as possible – and now he had – Kaleva would've been perfectly satisfied to just be out of school. As soon as he and the forty-eight other students were free from the confines of the dungeon-like lecture theatre, he dragged his black hoodie over his gleaming straight blonde hair, letting it cover one of his cold silver eyes.

"Heyy, Kaleva, have you decided what you want to do once your get your Magic License?", a voice next to him asked.

Kaleva's head spun faster than a human's should to look at Vertti's annoyingly precocious and frustratingly cheerful face. "I think I wanna be a green-robe. I'm going to hunt demons in the Lower City, see the world, that kinda thing."