Page 55

The trek across campus to the dining hall was slow going.

If we hurried, we could catch brunch because I wanted some pancakes, but lots of people were milling around outside.

It was Sunday, apparently, and members of the Imperial Guard were all over the campus, Sentinel presence was tripled, and repairs were still underway to fix what the earthquake had damaged.

As we approached the Healing Center on our way, I slowed before coming to a stop.

There was a protective barrier around the building that extended to everything under it as well. The dome of protection was to keep out nosey students, keep in whatever might have still been lingering inside; diablerie that went undetected somehow, those of thaumaturgy that are acting as a puppet like the Sentinel at the hospital in Seattle, and any other threats that the Center might pose. The sigils adorning the protective dome were illuminated in red and gold light with black incantations of binding.

Nine of those surrounding it wore charcoal full-length gambeson coats with black toggles marked with the seal of Earth Elementals, and dark brown canvas pants. They positioned themselves around the protective barrier and each took their positions making a nonagon with the Healing Center in the middle.

With them, were four males and four females wearing royal purple velvet tailcoats with matching vests, the males in trousers and a kilt, and the females wearing full-length skirts. Embroidered sigils adorned the backs of their tailcoats, and on their many buttons and high collars were the crest of the rare Synergist.

The Synergists were evenly spaced between the Earth Elementals.

"Have you ever seen it before?" someone whispered.

"Never like this," their companion replied.

Zane and I looked at each other before smirking; we had seen it and then some.

A crowd was starting to gather to watch.

It wasn't every day you got to see the Architects work.

The Sentinels motioned for everyone to back up, and once it was safe, the Synergist started their incantations, sweeping their arms through the air, their movements perfectly synced as they moved as one.

Each of the Earth Elementals pulled their pair of stakes out and then butted the ends together, the ends fusing. As the pieces became one, it lengthened, forming a heavy pointed bar.

Zane and I plugged our ears with our fingers and we crotched down to lower our center of gravity in order to keep our balance.

We knew what was coming.

The Earth Elementals, with surprising dexterity, spun the heavy pointed bars in the air above their heads, all nine moving in unison before they slammed them into the ground with such force that it dropped them to their knees, forcing their power into the Earth.

The ground violently shook under us, knocking students to the ground and causing others to shriek.

From the top of each pointed bar, a beam of coppery-colored electrically charged energy shot out and curved along the protective containment barrier. When all nine beams met at the top of the dome, they penetrated the protective barrier and shot downward into the ground, through the middle of the Healing Center to the underground area, causing the Center to explode.

Those watching screamed in fear as they ran away; it was loud, scary, and the thing of nightmares.

Zane and I continued to squat down, watching; we knew the protective barrier would contain the flames, smoke, and carnage within.

We had seen it before, and it was always impressive to behold.

Grandpa was a Synergist, and he was the best there was and rather enjoyed taking his grandkids to work with him and Uncle Keithen, to our parents' dismay.

The flames ate through the building, reducing everything within and everything manmade to ash before the ground violently shook, and the Healing Center collapsed to a pile of rubble that the earth sucked into its depths, swallowing it whole.

The Synergists continued to sweep their arms and hands through the air, their eyes glowing royal purple as they continued to wield their very impressive and rare form of thaumaturgy as the Earth Elementals prepared the site for the Synergists.

Once the Healing Center was completely gone, only an empty lot remaining under the protective dome, the earth opened up care of the Earth Elementals, and the Synergists formed the foundation of the new building with their Thaumaturgy, new mud pools were formed, a reinforced foundation, and extensive stonework and arches that would support the upper levels of the building in case of another earthquake.

A takeout box appeared under my nose, pulling my attention, and I looked over.

Harper offered a smile and the takeout box. "Since you and Zane are drooling over the Architects, I grabbed you both brunch," he said.

I smiled, taking it then sat on the grass under one of the trees in the courtyard and settled in to watch the rebuild while eating pancakes.

Zane joined us, taking the box Harper offered him. "No pork, right?" he asked.

Harper shook his head. "Your sister doesn't eat pork so I figured you didn't either."

Zane smiled wide. "Smart Puppy," he cooed, getting a dirty look from Harper in return. "Grandpa was a Synergist so we saw stuff like this all the time," he said, flopping down on the grass next to me. "Our uncle is over there, the one in the kilt, and I have some awesome ideas for a few renovations to our suite. What do you think about a fire pole?" he asked with a smile before shoving a pancake in his mouth.

I shook my head. "No. We did have the coolest toys growing up though," I agreed before shoving a pancake in my mouth.

Zane nodded. "Oh yeah, they were awesome," he said, talking with his mouth full of pancakes and eggs. "The exploding tanks and warships! I thought Grandma was going to kick all of our asses for that one."

That was putting it mildly.

Harper handed Slevin a takeout box and made himself comfortable on the grass with us. "I've never met a Synergist. They're bloody terrifying," he said, watching the stones that the Synergists created from the mound of granite the Earth Elementals provided from the flooring for the main level of the Healing Center as the walls started to grow out of the ground. "This is bloody insane. It's like watching LEGOs with a consciousness build themselves."

That was a good way of describing it.

Synergists were very rare, hereditary from what I understood, which wasn't much I was discovering, and like Necromancers, weren't something you learned about at the Academy. If you were born a Synergist, you only went to the Academy until you were fourteen, then you went into an immediate mentorship program with a Synergist of reputation that takes over their education.

Synergists were needed if our world was going to continue to exist, and it only would because of the arsenal and means of security Synergists provide.

They created things out of other things, components you couldn't begin to imagine being used in the ways they can repurpose them. Most of the weapons and stakes in our world were created by a Synergist...

And that is why the Devilry targets them as they do.

The Architects, as this particular group was called, is a specialized unit of Synergists and very powerful, full-blooded Earth Elementals that literally create the buildings and homes in our protected world. The Academies, the Palace, all of the buildings, anything within a protective wall, which coincidently they created, the Architects designed, built, infused, and warded.

In less than an hour, they would have the Healing Center completed, and all that would be required is additional wards being added by the Imperial Guard due to the current situation and threat on campus, and the healing mud.

It truly was amazing to watch, and it was a reminder that our world is constantly rebuilding. In times of peace or times of war, when a threat is at our door, we're constantly rebuilding to be stronger so we can survive.

That was a lesson Grandpa taught us, and he followed it up with battle bot-style golems for me and Zane to play with that were made out of leftover stake material.

The golems waged a war with the Imperial Guard, cleaned out an armory, and took the Imperial Court hostage before Grandpa stopped laughing long enough to get the golems under his control again.

It truly was an exciting childhood at times.