Shattered Sanity

”IT’S DAWNRIVER! I SPOTTED DAWNRIVER!”

The shout reached Riven almost immediately after he charged through House Argent’s gates, as somewhere in the distance, several students wearing House Aureate’s colors had already spotted him amongst the crowd.

One of them stood pointing directly towards him, shouting loudly enough to draw the attention of several others nearby, while the hostility behind his voice made it obvious that they had been waiting for exactly this opportunity.

’The hell? That was fast.’

Riven glanced towards them and, rather than appearing concerned, stopped for barely a second and offered the distant Aureate students an exaggerated bow.

Then he grinned and turned away.

”Come on!” he shouted, as Randy, Batista, Flair, Jeff and Matt followed him north towards the Northern Forest.

Behind them, the Aureate student’s voice immediately grew louder.

”HE’S RUNNING NORTH! ASSAULT TEAM, DAWNRIVER IS MOVING NORTH!”

Riven continued running without looking back, while the man’s shouts gradually faded beneath the growing distance between them.

However, despite the immediate attention, Riven wasn’t particularly concerned.

In fact, this was exactly what they needed.

Circuit’s plan depended upon attracting enemies towards the Northern Forest, and if House Aureate was already screaming his name before he had travelled a hundred meters from his own castle, then apparently finding people willing to chase him wasn’t going to be difficult.

—----

At the same time, Vice-Principal Chadwick calmly sipped tea from the balcony of his office, watching the chaos of Black Week unfold across the Imperial Academy below.

From his elevated position, he could see students rushing between buildings, spells flashing across distant courtyards and several groups already clashing over territories despite the opening bell having rung only minutes earlier.

”Ah, youth,” Chadwick muttered, as another explosion echoed somewhere across the Academy. ”I wonder why these children try so hard for things nobody will care about ten years from now. Perhaps that foolishness is part of the privilege of being young.”

He took another leisurely sip.

However, while Chadwick appeared far less interested in Black Week than the students participating in it, his eyes had been following one particular student from the moment House Argent’s gates opened.

Riven Dawnriver.

Even from this distance, the boy was surprisingly easy to track, especially once several Aureate students spotted him and began drawing the attention of others towards his group.

Chadwick slowly raised the cup towards his lips again.

’Go on, then.’

Black Week presented opportunities that ordinary Academy life rarely did.

Students attacked one another, suffered injuries, destroyed property, disappeared into restricted areas and occasionally crossed the few boundaries that still remained in place.

Any one of those incidents could provide Chadwick with a perfectly legitimate reason to summon Riven for disciplinary questioning.

And once the boy was sitting inside his office, the questions did not necessarily have to remain limited to whatever incident had brought him there.

His gaze followed Riven’s group as they continued north, while the number of students pursuing them steadily increased.

For almost a month, Chadwick had possessed the means to test Riven’s identity.

What he had lacked was an opportunity to use it without revealing his suspicions prematurely.

Perhaps he no longer needed to manufacture one.

”Go cause some trouble, boy.... Break a rule or two” Chadwick murmured, as a faint smile appeared across his face.

For once, he sincerely hoped Riven Dawnriver behaved exactly as everyone expected him to..... like a complete outlaw.

—-------

At the same time, near Silverstone Bridge, House Argent students already found themselves embroiled in a tough fight as they forced several students from House Sable and Viridian away from the bridge, all of whom had arrived with the same intention of claiming it first.

”Goroso, push that Sable boy off and seal the entrance with [Ice Wall]! Gammasu, reduce visibility! Use your specialty and bring in the mist!” Michael, the Second Year senior responsible for securing Silverstone Bridge for House Argent, shouted, as he tried his best to establish control while the territory still remained contested.

The first few minutes were crucial, as there were currently fewer than twenty enemy students around the bridge, most belonging to scattered groups that had rushed there immediately after the opening bell, which meant Argent still possessed the numbers advantage for the moment.

However, Michael knew that advantage could disappear the moment larger groups from the other Houses began arriving.

KABOOM!

A Viridian student was sent tumbling backwards after an Argent senior slammed an Earth spell into the ground beneath him, while nearby, Goroso drove his shoulder into the Sable student blocking his path and forced him away from the bridge.

Immediately afterwards, Frost Aether gathered around Goroso’s hands.

[Ice Wall]

Ice erupted across one side of the approach, forming a thick barrier that narrowed the space available for anyone attempting to enter, while pale mist simultaneously began spreading across the opposite side as Gammasu activated his own spell.

Within seconds, visibility around the approach dropped considerably, forcing the remaining Viridian students to slow down rather than charging blindly into the Argent defenders waiting inside.

”Good! Hold them there!” Michael shouted.

More Argent students were arriving every few seconds, with some immediately joining the fighting while others rushed across the bridge before helping establish positions on the opposite side, gradually transforming what had initially been a chaotic brawl into an organized defensive line.

”ARGENT COMING THROUGH!”

The defenders briefly separated as another group wearing Argent colors sprinted towards them, allowing their House members to pass before immediately closing the opening once again.

A Viridian student noticed the opportunity and attempted to slip through behind them.

He made it only a few steps.

Two Argent seniors immediately intercepted him, with the first catching his arm while the second drove a knee into his stomach, folding the unfortunate First Year forward before dragging him deeper behind the defensive line.

”Take him prisoner!” Michael shouted, as several Argent students immediately surrounded the struggling Viridian student. ”And if anyone else is stupid enough to cross alone, don’t push them back! Grab the bastards and make their House pay to get them back!”

The order spread quickly amongst the students defending the bridge, while the unfortunate Viridian student was restrained and dragged away from the fighting before his companions could do anything to help him.

Meanwhile, Argent’s position continued strengthening with every passing second.

Students spread across both entrances while Earth and Frost users altered the approaches around them, leaving enough space for Argent students to move freely across the bridge while forcing anyone from another House to either fight their way through or risk being overwhelmed and taken prisoner.

Michael glanced towards the opposite end and saw another defensive line already taking shape there, before turning his attention towards the remaining Sable and Viridian students still contesting the approach.

”Push them farther back!” Michael ordered, as he drew his weapon and joined the advancing line himself. ”I want the entire bridge under Argent control before their friends get here!”

The Argent students surged forward together at his order, determined to turn their small initial advantage into complete control before reinforcements from the other Houses arrived, as losing Silverstone Bridge this early could cripple Cedric’s entire territorial strategy before it had even begun.