Part 4
A blonde haired woman rushed into the meeting room, her arms full of books and scrolls. She looked at the sigil, now clearly marked warning people against touching it, and nearly dropped them. Carefully setting down the pile of books on a table, she rushed over to the sigil.
"This is exquisite! What is this?" She said, marvelling at it from behind her round glasses.
"Don't touch it Sarah. It already killed one student." Taenya said flatly, arms crossed. "See what I have to deal with?"
Neptis nodded sagely. "Mortals never learn, do they?" She said.
"Oh, who are you?" Sarah asked. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Professor Shotbolt, Head of Divine Magic."
"Neptis, don't." Taenya said, motioning for Neptis to keep quiet. Neptis grinned in response, and simply bowed. "This woman is Lady Neptis, Goddess of War."
Sarah's eyes turned as wide as dinner plates upon realizing she was face to face with a God. "Of course! I was too focused, yes I see it now, the aura. It's definitely divine. Well, welcome to The University!" Sarah said, bowing.
"My successor is very scatterbrained, Taenya. I don't approve." Neptis said, arms crossed.
"She makes up for it in skill, my Lady." Lutz answered.
Neptis snorted in response, a puff of black smoke coming out of her nostrils. "I know I wasn't Professor material either, but we shall see. Now, Miss Shotbolt, take a seat."
Sarah looked up and saw a circle of chairs around a large table had already been prepared, and the remaining students in the room were already moving her books to it.
"Oh? What's this about?" Sarah asked as she made her way over to the table.
"It's about the school of magic I used to cast that sigil, mortal." Neptis said, her air of superiority back, and her voices echoing heavily. "It did not exist until my second birth, it is the school of Blood Magic."
"A new school of magic? Fantastic! Tell me more! Wait, I need my pen first!" Sarah said excitedly, reaching into her shirt and pulling out a pen from seemingly nowhere.
Neptis spoke at length for nearly an hour on the concepts of how the school of magic works, how to cast spells with it, recommended reagents, possible pitfalls to avoid, and more. Using the sigil she had carved on the floor as an example, she filled it up the rest of the way with more blood, the source of which she declined to share. Once it was full, the sigil shone brighter than the noontime sun, before disappearing, leaving the floor unmarked.
"What was the purpose of the sigil, Neptis?" Taenya asked.
"I harvested that blood. It's a part of me now, it fuels my divine fire." Neptis said, her eyes faintly glowing. It was at this point Taenya realized Neptis's eyes were no longer piercingbright blue,amber, but were bloodshot with red irises.
"Did that student really have to die?" Headmaster Lutz asked, a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"He's not dead." Neptis answered, much to the shock of everyone present in the room.
"He's what?" Taenya asked.
"His soul is detained. Behold, the power of a God!" Neptis shouted, the windows shaking. She grabbed her quarterstaff, slammed it on the ground and the student appeared where she hit the floor, standing up and quite alive, and quite confused. "It's not that I couldn't have claimed his soul, were I inclined. Far from it. It's that Eigengrau would have been quite mad." Neptis smiled, and revealed her blood filled mouth, blood oozing from between her teeth.
"Whatever the reason, I thank you, Lady Neptis." Lutz replied, bowing. "The death of one student is one too many."
"Hmph. If only Demeter had been more like you." Neptis said, remembering an old memory. "He was far too obsessed with progress at any cost."
"He was like you in many ways, Neptis." Taenya said, smirking. "It's why you got along with him."
Neptis laughed sharply. "Perhaps! There's one other person I wish to see before I leave. Where's the lizard?"
"The reports from my Rangers say he hasn't left his tower since he spotted you this morning." Taenya offered, gesturing towards Xilro's tower. "I think he might be afraid."
Neptis snorted, then started laughing. She was doubled over in laughter, holding her stomach, for several minutes. As she recovered, she didn't stop laughing, but simply got up, and walked out of the room, still laughing, all the way to Xilro's tower. Taenya watched from the window as she punched the front door so hard it ceased to exist, and stepped inside, the sound of her laughter eventually fading.
"Was that really?" Sarah asked. Taenya turned back and locked eyes with her before nodding.
"Aye. The Goddess of War herself, Lady Neptis. She never was much of a people person, even when she was mortal." Taenya answered, walking back to the table. "This new school of magic is intriguing, of course." Taenya sat, and frowned. "But I feel like it was more than a sense of duty behind those words. She wants the magic to be used."
"The Blood God." Lutz said, his chin resting on his hands. Taenya and Sarah looked over, and he continued. "She said she was visiting as the Blood God. It's her magic. Of course she wants it to be used."
"Tell me more about the woman Lady Neptis used to be." Sarah said to Taenya, pen still in hand. "I could feel the Professor in her peeking through as she explained the magic to us, but she still treated both me and Lutz very distantly compared to you."
"I'm a bit of a biased source, I'll warn you straight off." Taenya said, leaning back in the chair. "After all, I loved her."
Lutz chuckled lightly, but otherwise made no response. Sarah meanwhile was furiously writing, while also looking up at Taenya to gauge her facial expressions.
"Unrequited of course. She only ever kissed me once, and that was when she said goodbye. Not like we could have married, but she was wonderful. Well, to me at least. The 7 allegations of sexual assault and rape, and that was just from the other teachers, made her less popular with others. Then there was the regular assaults, dismissive of anyone's work that wasn't her own, even mine, well, to put it simply, she wasn't a very good person. I still loved her though."
"She wasn't kicked out?" Lutz asked, amazed.
"The rape claims could never be proven, sleeping potions and mind wipes were her specialty, despite being a divine magic caster. It's not like anyone could have arrested her anyway, she was the High Priest."
"Wait." Sarah said, stopping. "She was that High Priest?"
"Old Handsy herself, yes." Taenya said with a sigh. "I've never met a person before or since with a libido as high as hers. Sarah, I hope none of that furniture in your room is hers. I had the bed burned when she left, but..."
"Hmm. Noted. Sounds like she was an all around awful person, and yet still you loved her." Sarah said, writing more.
"Love is strange like that, Sarah. You can't really control who you fall in love with. Neptis didn't love me back, no, but she did like me as a friend. I was probably the only friend she ever had in her life."
"Ummm..." The resurrected mage finally saw a chance to butt in. "What happened to me? Last I recall I grazed the sigil with my hand, felt a searing pain, then, well, I was here."
"That's currently a matter of debate." Lutz replied, raising an eyebrow. "I'd advise against touching any further sigils that may appear on university grounds, however."
The impromptu meeting continued for several more minutes before wrapping up. Lutz announced to the students still lingering that an assembly would be called to discuss the events, and requested that someone go check on Lord Xilro in awhile to make sure he's still alive.