The Tragedy of Renya

2.1 Sabotage Through Marriage

Sixth day of the fifth month, Ostia

Erica frowned as she walked through the halls of the University of Ostia. She held her bag clenched close to her, and looked around whenever she saw someone who didn’t stand out. Which meant nearly everyone. She’d been robbed by the man once, and she had no interest in it happening a second time.

The halls of the University were darker as you got deeper into the building. The artificial lighting tried to brighten the place up but failed more often than not. And although at the entrances of the building there were clay jars with bouquets of flowers inside, these things became more and more infrequent until they just were removed altogether. There had been vases and paintings in the middle of the building as well, Erica knew, but they had been removed because everyone kept bumping into the vases and breaking them, which upset the history professors, and they, together with the art faculty, decided to move all the paintings and art from the darker hallways and instead display them in the brighter rooms at the outside of the building. This choice, however wise on their part, left the inner hallways and rooms of the university a dreary and dark place. Most people would never go into the centre of the university, but Erica and all other mythology students had been forced to.

It was another one of the insults they had to deal with as a faculty that was, as many students said, useless. Especially the mathematics students had an air of superiority around them and would often snub the students of topics they thought less worthy.

Which, naturally, involved nearly all non-technical topics.

Erica headed deeper inside the maze that was the inner hallways of the university. Rumours had it people had gotten lost in these hallways and had never been found. Of course, these rumours all came from the students and teachers who’d never gotten deeper inside the university. Erica and most mythology students knew the inner hallways better than anyone and back in her first year she and some friends had trapped some especially annoying physics students in there. She smiled when she remembered it; the physics students often screamed that they were gonna die, that they were already doomed… and then the mythology students would come out and lead them out. There was no gratitude from the physics students, only a string of curses and rumours that the mythology students had made a pact with the god of the underworld, and that they were about to become living sacrifices for their dark rituals.

Rumours which Erica still heard when she went to the outside hallways on an errand. She’d started to get used to them years ago, and would now smile eerily whenever she overheard people saying it. The inner hallways of the university weren’t scary, she thought. She’d seen worse things.

Erica headed deeper into the building. She was used to the dark hallways and had slowly started to consider them a second home. Her footsteps echoed on the dark wooden floor. As she listened she didn’t hear anybody else’s footprints. But she wouldn’t have to; the Wyndri would make sure he’d be quiet.

She stopped in front of a spruce door and knocked on it, still clutching her bag against her with one arm. She waited a few moments for an answer, but none came. With slightly trembling fingers she opened the door.

Professor Sother’s room hadn’t changed much. Some of the books were on different stacks now, some stacks were taller some were shorter, there were some more pins on the maps, and the road to the desk had changed once again. Erica shut the door behind her and headed towards Professor Sother’s desk. The path had changed in a way that made the room more similar to a maze. After reaching a dead end several times, Erica decided to follow the left wall and pray that got her where she wanted to go.

“Why are you walking like that?” Professor Sother’s voice shook her out of her thoughts. Erica looked up and saw him glaring at her again. His eyesight had probably gotten worse in the three days, she thought. Or had he always glared that much?
“I’m lost,” she said after a few silent moments. The Professor laughed at her.
“Take the third road left, second right, then straight on.”