Chapter 33: The Emergency Bell

Gorgon stared at the small silver-haired girl standing in the middle of the ruined clearing.

The forest around them looked like it had been hit by a meteor. Trees lay snapped in half, the ground was gouged with craters, and the massive Ironback Gorilla was still somewhere over the ridge, groaning. In the center of it all stood Lily Nightshade, barely reaching Gorgon’s knee, her black gothic dress completely untouched by dirt.

"Lily? What are you doing here?" His deep voice carried genuine surprise, not caution. Most people who saw Headmistress Lily Nightshade appear without warning would have gone pale. Gorgon just wiped the blood from his knuckles against his short pants and gave her a wide, toothy grin. "Come on, let’s go inside and drink. I don’t get to see you often enough. I have that meat you like."

Lily Nightshade tilted her head. The half-eaten strawberry lollipop stayed in her mouth. Her red eyes, calm and ancient despite her childish face, narrowed slightly.

"You’re the one who called me using the emergency bell," she said, her voice light but flat. "And now you’re asking what I’m doing here?"

Gorgon blinked. His grin faltered into confusion.

"I didn’t use it," he said honestly. "My kingdom is fine. The eastern border had some beasts, but I handled it. I can take care of any danger it has. You know that."

Lily’s expression did not change. She pulled the lollipop from her mouth with a soft pop and pointed the sticky end directly at him like an accusation.

"I received the signal from your emergency bell. A full resonance pulse. It woke me up during tea. Show it to me."

Gorgon scratched the back of his neck, still looking confused. The gesture made his bicep bulge larger than Lily’s entire body. "It’s in my house. I keep it in the chest. I haven’t touched it in two years, I swear."

"Then go. Quickly," Lily said.

He opened his mouth to argue, to offer her a seat first, to ask about the academy, but one look at her eyes made him close it again. When Lily used that tone, even kings listened.

"Okay. Let’s go," he said.

Lily stepped forward and placed one small, pale hand on his thick shoulder. Her hand barely covered a fraction of it.

The world folded.

There was no chant, no circle, no flash of light. One moment they were standing in the shattered forest, the next the air pressure changed and they stood in front of a large stone house built directly into the side of a forested hill. Smoke rose steadily from a thick stone chimney. The air smelled of pine, woodsmoke, and roasted meat.

Spatial teleportation without coordinates. Gorgon didn’t even look dizzy.

"Oh," he said, looking around. "Arrived right in front of my house. Perfect. You always save me the walk."

"Just show me the bell," Lily said, already walking toward the door.

He led her inside without another word. The main room was simple and spacious, built for a man his size. Heavy furniture made from whole trunks, furs on the floor, a fireplace large enough to roast a boar. No gold, no throne, no decoration for the sake of it. Everything was built to be strong and useful.

Gorgon walked to a heavy wooden chest near the far wall, pushed aside a folded cloak, and pulled out a small object wrapped in dark cloth. He unwrapped it carefully.

It was a small bronze bell, no larger than his fist, its surface covered in fine, interlocking runes that glowed faintly even in daylight. It was one of seven. Each given to a ruler to be used in emergency.

He held it out in his massive palm.

Lily took it with both hands. For all her power, she had to use both. She turned it over once, her red eyes scanning the runes. Then she pointed a small finger to a faint mark near the base - a single rune that was pulsing with a soft, amber light.

"See this?" she said, holding it up to him. "This mark indicates it was used recently. Within the last three days. The mana residue is still warm."

Gorgon’s thick eyebrows drew together. His face went from confused to troubled.

"Well... I didn’t use it," he repeated, slower this time. He genuinely didn’t understand.

He turned toward the open doorway and raised his voice, not shouting, but projecting in a way that made the wooden beams hum.

"Gatekeeper! Did anyone enter my room recently?"

A nervous man in simple leather armor appeared in the doorway almost immediately, as if he had been waiting just out of sight. He bowed low, not daring to look at Lily.

"Yes, my lord. Forgive me. Young master went inside a few days ago. He said he was looking for something you promised him. I thought... I thought it was permitted."

The air in the room went cold.

Gorgon’s expression darkened. Not with rage at the guard, but with a slow, dawning realization. His son.

He turned back toward Lily, already opening his mouth to apologize, to explain that his boy was curious, that he would punish him properly.

She was gone.

The bronze bell rested on the table where she had left it, the amber rune still pulsing. Outside the window, a silver streak cut across the sky at terrifying speed, heading northeast - straight toward the floating academy. The window panes rattled from the sonic boom she left behind.

Lily’s small figure blurred against the clouds, faster than any tracking spell could follow. Her red eyes were cold and focused now. The lollipop was gone, discarded somewhere over the forest.

Please don’t be anything serious, she thought as the wind tore past her, ripping at her dress. If someone used Gorgon’s bell as a decoy...

---

Inside the academy treasury, the air was quiet and heavy with residual magic.

Tom stood in front of a low pedestal in the innermost vault, a small ornate key resting in his palm. The metal was dark, almost black, not reflecting the torchlight but swallowing it. Etched symbols shifted across its surface when looked at directly, like they were trying to hide.

Selby waited a few steps behind him, her black cloak with golden lining still perfectly clean despite the earlier fighting. Her face was expressionless.

She glanced at the key.

"Is that it?"

Tom closed his fingers around it carefully, as if it might bite.

"Yes. The first piece of Master’s plan," he said, a thin smile touching his face for the first time that night. "With this, the seal underneath will finally be accessible. All that chaos outside was worth it."

He slipped the key into an inner pocket of his instructor robe and turned toward the exit.

"Let’s get out. Lily has probably figured it out by now. She is never that slow."

Selby nodded once. The two of them moved quickly through the maze-like shelves of the treasury, footsteps soft against the cold stone.

Neither Tom nor Selby looked back.

High above the clouds, a silver-haired girl flew faster than any Level 6 mage could fly, her small hands clenched into fists, her expression colder than any ice Selene Frost had ever produced.