Chapter 50

**Merianna**

Noch, Thyrion, Hezerial and I were all looking incredulously at the new arrivals. We must have looked quite a sight to them as well. Noch held a frankenstein taboo book, Thyrion still had his hands on my shoulders, Hezerial stood to the side looking like a regal butler, and I had a sour worm still dangling from my lips. Which I quickly slurped up with a pop.

“Who on earth authorized you outsiders to be in this space?!” The blonde man yelled outraged.

We all blinked at him for a moment.

“Is he yelling at us?” Noch deadpanned.

“I think he is.” Thyrion agreed.

“Do you think he even checked in with Jernok?” I asked next.

“Probably not My Lady.” Hezerial answered.

We all turned back to each other.

“Is he probably one of the higher ups?” I asked.

“Maybe seeing as how he’s probably going behind Ferina and Jernok’s backs to come here.” Thyrion offered up.

“We’ve been here for about 6 hours. News travels dreadfully slowly in this building if someone like him is only arriving now.” Noch said as he reached for a chip and chomped down on it.

The rest of us all gave agreeing grunts with Noch’s point.

“I asked you all a question!” The newcomer yelled. He was clearly ticked off that we didn’t even care to pay attention to him.

“We received authorization from Miss Ferina and Council Head Jernok to be here, so as far as we are concerned, you who are clearly lower in rank have no standing to be asking such questions.” Hezerial answered dutifully with a dark smile.

Noch gave a low whistle. “Oi, Demon Spawn. Do you think we can trade Guardians?”

“Not a chance in hell.” I shot back.

The man looked indignant as we kept ignoring him. “I am Kayle, Vice Council Head, and as far as I’m concerned I should also give approval for anyone requesting entrance to the restricted areas.” He spat as he started stomping his way over to us with his entourage.

“Hey Demon Spawn.” Noch said, poking my leg with his foot. I gave a questioning tilt of my head.

“Mer heragh kerla mo lenach?” He asked with a grin. I snorted with a smile. He was asking if we should try and scare him with ancient talk, making it sound like taboo spells.

“Mo lach! Lelah orchne netach nu keneh Aledaria.” I replied with, oh gods, it had been so long since I’ve spoken Alendarian. “Menac hua genech sha?” Maybe we should?

Noch gave a devilishly evil smile, lifted the book he was holding, and stretched his hand out to the newcomers. The younger ones immediately stopped dead in their tracks, while the blonde guy merely stumbled a step but kept going.

“Mora legoh kinek eara nolah moch lech cler…” Noch slowly enunciated while amplifying his words with a bit of energy. I nearly chuckled but quickly clamped my fingers down on my arms to try and keep still. Noch had said: May you always step on a sharp pebble when you least expect it.

“Mora cara derachn negha herec nua shegh…” My lips started wobbling. (May you forever be directionally challenged.)

“Mora pisha lahna sherma cu fure…” My whole body was shaking with the effort to keep the laughter in now. (May you always hit your feet when you piss.)

“Mora sua fracht nelac tua denas!” I couldn’t hold it anymore. I laughed so hard I snorted as I plonked my head onto the table. (May every silent fart always come with a surprise.)

“What’s so funny?” Thyrion whispered in my ear. Through my wheezing I told him the last one.

Thyrion let out a splutter then exploded in laughter as well. Hezerial didn’t bat an eye but seemed to be pleasantly amused. Noch on the other hand chuckled as the book was deftly plucked from his hands by the guy calling himself Kayle.

“What did you pull?!” He asked sternly.

“As if I would ever tell you.” Noch replied through his chuckles. “All I care about is that she gets it.” He pointed to me.

I sounded half maniacal through my calming giggles, just when I felt that I was starting to get a hold of myself. Noch leaned in towards me. “I think I smell something, don’t you?”

Which just set me off all over again. This time I started laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my cheeks.

Kayle clearly didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed that somehow he could feel that he was being made fun of. “Who do you all think you are to be so disrespectful?!”

“Nochtandriel of The Order.” Noch said with a self-satisfied grin.

“Thyrion, associated with The Order.” Thyrion said with a happy smile as he still stared at me.

“You are not worthy of knowing me.” Hezerial uttered and then disappeared with a glorified puff.

My head was buried in my arms as I tried to get a hold of myself again. I just weakly waved my hand to signal not to expect any answer coming from me anytime soon.

“The Order?” Kayle asked curiously. “That run-down, ancient, no-good organisation that got flattened by the Hunters 2000 years ago? I didn’t think that place even still existed.” He sneered.

My happy chuckles stopped immediately as I joined Noch and Thyrion in glaring at this guy that was clearly on a power trip. Giving him a quick once-over I noticed that I hadn’t seen him before. I had seen all the members of the Council before, and heard all their names, but this guy was new. Many things happened in 2000 years, it wouldn’t be strange to think that members in the Council would be changed or replaced over that time.

“You should honestly not speak so flippantly about things you know little about.” Noch said darkly, all traces of teasing gone.

Kayle seemed to give us all a once-over himself. “Should I assume that The Order has started operating as a training school again?” He asked curiously as he looked at me.

Noch raised an eyebrow, and seemed to get an idea. “Maybe. I bet all our teachings are still leagues above anyone else’s, even in this day-in-age.”

Kayle snorted. “Hardly, magic has evolved along with the times becoming something that would make the old way of using it moot.”

I dubiously glanced at the sticks Kayle and his two hang-ons seemed to have tucked in their waistbands. Please don’t tell me they aren’t able to use magic without those decorative pieces of wood? The only people that were allowed to use wands in my mind were the Healers. Especially Nelia.

“Oh my, isn’t that one big statement to make without having the proof to back it up?” Noch grinned in challenge.

Kayle glared at Noch. “How about we have a test then? There are a number of training rooms in the Council. One of my own students will be a participant, they’ve been learning from me for the past decade.”

Noch grinned like he was a cat that had just caught a canary. And I didn’t like the direction that this conversation was going in. “My own student will participate as well then.” He said as he slowly turned his grin to me. I raised my eyebrow in disbelief.

“Seriously?” I deadpanned. Sure, it wasn’t wrong to say that I was his student, but I stopped being a student millenniums ago. Not to mention I was far more experienced than these newbies that were fidgeting nervously behind Kayle.

Noch shrugged. “Think of it as a refresher after a long vacation.”

I didn’t have an argument for that and he knew it. I haven’t been in any kind of fight for the past 2000 years besides the friendly scuffle we had in the reception area a few hours ago. With a sigh I decided to check something first before I accepted this crazy challenge.

Reaching for my magic deep inside, I managed to bring it up to the surface quickly enough without any issue. With a flick of my finger, a small spark zapped and crackled over my palm. “Alright, if you really want to go ahead with this, I’ll play along.”

“Great!” Noch clapped his hands together in delight.

“Do you guys actually have time for this?” Thyrion asked worriedly as he pointedly shifted his eyes back to the pile of books on the table.

“Probably.” I answered with a shrug.

“I think we got all we could get from here. It’s time to start digging deeper into the theories that we are able to get more solid evidence on.” Noch confirmed as he stood up to stretch his back with an audible pop.

“Ouch, you’re getting old.” I muttered. That pop really did sound like it’d hurt.

Noch scoffed. “You’re one to talk! Both of us are in the same boat here.”

“Ah, right. That’s true.” Right now between the three of us, Thyrion was technically the youngest soul wise. “Body wise though you look the oldest right now.”

“You’re only as young as you feel!” He said defensively.

“Are we going to do this or not?!” Kyle interrupted, eye twitching in irritation.

“Oh, we’re ready to do this. Are you sure you’re ready to lose all that confidence you seem to have?” Noch asked darkly.

Kayle scoffed. “I think you’ll regret thinking so highly of yourself soon enough.”

“Lead the way then Mr Kayle, we’ll follow your lead.” 

We all got up to follow Kayle out the basement until Thyrion stopped short. “Oh wait.” He quickly took out a piece of parchment and pen, scribbled a few words then sent the parchment off in a puff of flame.

“Who was that for?” I asked when he caught back up with us.

“I thought that Ferina might find this turn of events quite entertaining.” He said with a grin.

“Good call.” Noch said with a chuckle as we started ascending the stairs.

“This isn’t all going to be more trouble than it’s worth, is it?” I asked tiredly.

“It probably is. But at least try not to finish it all in one strike. We need some entertainment after sitting between those books for so long.” Noch whined.

“Hey, that all depends on these guys. I won’t be able to help it if they can’t manage to land one hit on me.” I deadpanned.

Noch hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe having you fight with them is a bit overkill…”

“At least it seems like your conscience is still intact.” I muttered dryly.