CHAPTER 40: PROFESSOR IRIS

Late that night, long after everyone had left, I was reviewing contingency plans when my door opened without knocking.

I looked up in surprise as an old and strong aura suddenly pushed through my door. But I wasn’t startled when I saw who it was.

Professor Iris Shadowmere entered, moving with the unnatural silence that suggested very old magic.

"Working late, Mr. Ravana?"

"Could say the same about you, Professor."

"I have an excuse. I’m old and don’t need much sleep." She sat across from me uninvited. "You’re seventeen and should be resting those cracked ribs."

"Too much to do."

"Always is." She studied me with those ageless eyes. "Tell me, what else have you heard about the Council?"

My heart stopped.

After the last time she gave me some hints, she’d never again said anything about it. But now....could she really be ready to share more?

"Can’t say I have." I said carefully. And even though I trusted her a little, I’ve already made up my mind not to trust anyone entirely. In books, and in real life, it has never ended well.

"Mmm." Her expression said she didn’t believe me. "Interesting. Because they’ve certainly heard more of you."

"Professor..."

"Not here, even this place is too public." She wrote an address on a piece of paper. "Come to my private study tomorrow evening alone. I have things to show you."

"What kind of things?"

"The kind that explain why heros always win."

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

She paused at the door, her back to me. For a moment, she seemed older than her apparent age, ancient, even.

"Because I was in your position once. A hundred years ago. And no one helped me."

I felt my breath catch. A hundred years ago. That would make her...

"What happened?"

"I barely survived, only through luck and cowardice." She looked back, and her eyes held depths of pain I couldn’t fathom. "I hid and I compromised. I watched others die fighting while I remained safe."

"Professor...."

"You’re trying to do more than survive, Hadeon Ravana. You’re trying to win. To change things." A sad smile. "That’s ambitious and stupidly brave. And potentially suicidal."

"But you’ll help anyway?"

"Let’s just say I have my own reasons for wanting to see the Council’s plans disrupted." The sadness left her face, replaced by something harder. Something that had survived a century. "Tomorrow evening. Don’t be late. And Hadeon?"

"Yes?"

"Come prepared for the truth. It’s heavier than you think."

She left, the door closing silently behind her.

I stared at the paper with the address. My hands were shaking slightly.

The Council of Fates. Professor Iris....what exactly is going on? None of this... I did not read any of this in the book!

A hundred years ago.

```

[QUEST ALERT: THE PROFESSOR’S SECRET]

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OBJECTIVE

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Meet Professor Iris Shadowmere

Learn more truth about Council of Fates

Discover her connection to previous cycles

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TIME LIMIT

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Tomorrow evening

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DIFFICULTY

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S-RANK (Any important information could be dangerous)

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REWARDS

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More critical knowledge about Council

Historical perspective on cycles

Potential powerful ally

Understanding of true enemy

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WARNING

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Some knowledge cannot be unlearned.

Once you know the full truth, there’s no going back.

Your path becomes more dangerous.

But also more meaningful.

Are you ready?

```

"Am I ready?" I whispered to the empty room.

Was I ready when I was brought here?

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

Seraphina couldn’t sleep.

She lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying the duel in her mind. Not the mechanics of it, those she understood perfectly.

But the meaning of it.

Hadeon Ravana gotten blade to her throat.

Not through luck or through some dirty trick. Through genuine tactical skill and preparation.

Just like Adrian had, two years ago.

She sat up, moving to her desk. Pulled out a journal she’d kept since becoming a knight. Flipped to an entry from two years past.

Adrian Celestius earned my loyalty today. He saved my life, then defeated me in honorable combat. Got blade to my throat through superior speed and holy power that’s far stronger than mine. I swore to follow him as a hero worthy of loyalty.

She picked up her pen, wrote a new entry.

Hadeon Ravana earned my respect today. He survived against superior opponent, got blade to my throat through tactics and preparation. He fights like someone with something to protect, not something to prove.

I need to understand which one is the real hero.

Or the villain.

She closed the journal.

Outside her window, the academy lay quiet under moonlight. Somewhere out there, Adrian was planning his next move. Somewhere else, Hadeon was preparing his counter.

And she was caught between them.

"Honor demands I repay my debt to Adrian," she said quietly. "But honor also demands I judge fairly."

Her sword lay on its stand, catching moonlight. She’d cleaned it after the duel, as always. But she’d noticed something she’d never seen before.

A tiny nick in the blade. Where Hadeon’s sword had caught it during that final exchange.

In seven years of dueling, no one had ever marked her sword.

Until today.

Until a villain with A-rank power and S-rank tactics had proven that preparation could match raw strength.

She touched the small imperfection gently.

"What are you really fighting for, Hadeon Ravana?" she whispered. "And what is Adrian becoming?"

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

Adrian stood on his balcony, looking out over the sleeping academy. He should be sleeping too. Should be resting for tomorrow’s classes.

But sleep wouldn’t come.

Seraphina was questioning him. He could see it in her eyes, hear it in her words. The absolute loyalty he’d counted on was... wavering.

Because of Hadeon Ravana.... again!

"He’s just a villain," Adrian said to the night, his eyes dark and flat. "He’s just an ant beside me...."

Ans yet.....

But they weren’t seeing it. Students whispered about how Ezra had saved his life. "First it was Lucille...and I didn’t even know she’s up to now.....now this?"

It was all wrong.