The walk through Cristae to the Academy and down into the Lunar Sentinels hideout was familiar enough by now that Clyde barely thought about it. His feet knew the route.
Aldric was already seated when Clyde arrived. Marlowe, Eira, and Aurelian were already there too.
"There is another Howling," Aldric said. "It has been causing trouble lately."
I knew it, Clyde thought.
"There have been reports of unusual behaviour from a student at the Academy. His name is Marcus Nox Veylor." Aldric looked at each of them in turn. "According to reports, Marcus makes strange sounds at irregular intervals and disappears when school dismisses, reappearing when it starts again. We believe it may be a Howling using his appearance. We are still confirming. Until we have a full report, I want you all to stay alert within the Academy. If you see Marcus, report to me immediately. Do not engage without confirmation. Understood?"
"Yes sir." All four of them said it at the same time.
"Dismissed."
Aurelian immediately turned to Clyde. "We'll continue the barrier training next time."
"Fine by me."
"Great." He clapped once and left with Eira close behind, the two of them disappearing down the corridor without another word.
Marlowe was already gone. Clyde hadn't even noticed him leave.
On his way back through the Lunar Sentinel's hallways, Clyde passed the alchemy lab.
The door was slightly open and a warm amber glow came through the gap, pulsing faintly. Clyde slowed down. He recognized that room. He pushed the door gently and stepped in.
Soren was hunched over the central table, surrounded by glass containers in various states of activity. Some bubbled quietly. Blub. Blub. Others just sat there looking like they were thinking about it. The whole room smelled sharp and mineral.
"Pardon me for the intrusion, Soren. What are you working on?"
Soren straightened and turned around, and Clyde immediately forgot whatever he was about to say next.
Soren's eyes were glowing.
His irises had shifted to a deep amber color, and inside that amber were interlocking triangles and geometric arrays arranged around a central circular core. Small runic symbols formed a continuous ring along the outer edge of each iris, cycling slowly.
His eyes are amber! What are those markings?!
Soren noticed his expression and glanced away briefly, then back.
"These are the Alchemist's Eyes," he said, calm as always. "The same way you have Hollow Eyes, my Divine Ichor gives me a different kind of vision."
"What do they let you see?"
"I can understand chemicals on a structural level. Identify unknown substances. See how different compounds interact before I combine them." He gestured at the table. "Saves a lot of explosions."
Can my Hollow Eyes do something like that too?
He opened them.
The world layered into its familiar sharpened state, particles visible, air no longer empty. He looked at the nearest container.
Nothing at first.
Then he focused harder, and something shifted. Like an image slowly coming into clarity. A skeletal structure appeared over the liquid, transparent lines mapping out the chemical shape of whatever was inside the glass.
What is that?
Then something happened in his chest.
Clyde closed his eyes on instinct. In the inner world, his Astral Card floated in the dark with its two remaining chains. One of them had developed a crack running almost the full length of a link, and as he watched, the crack spread further.
CRACK.
The chain split apart and almost dissolved.
Wait. Is he being serious right now? My second ability is detecting chemical structures? Out of everything it could have been?
"Is something wrong, Clyde?" Soren's voice came through, curious.
Clyde opened his eyes. "I think I just unlocked my second ability," he said, still looking at the container rather than at Soren. "I can see chemical skeletal structures."
"Is that so?" Soren's voice had a warmth in it. "That's closer to ascension then. Why not come by this lab regularly? You can help me sort reagents and practice identifying compounds at the same time."
"Sure. That works."
Clyde turned to look at Soren properly then, and made a mistake.
He looked directly into Soren's glowing amber eyes while his own Hollow Eyes were still active.
The lab vanished.
HOLY SH— am I about to see a god again?!
He was somewhere else entirely. An enormous planet hung in the dark, bathed in amber light, its surface covered in seals stacked one over another, layer upon layer, all oriented in the same direction. The symbols on those seals matched the ones in Soren's irises exactly.
Then one massive amber eye opened.
It looked directly at him.
That was all Clyde got to see before the vision detonated.
CRACK! SHATTER!
His Hollow Eyes broke. The feedback hit him like a physical force and sent him stumbling backward, feet scrambling for grip, until the back of his legs hit something and he went down hard.
THUD.
He landed on the floor of the lab, cold sweat already soaking through his collar, breathing fast.
"Clyde!" Soren was beside him in seconds, crouching down, hands on his shoulders. "What happened? What did you see?"
"An amber planet," Clyde said, still catching his breath. "Covered in seals. And a single eye."
Soren went pale.
"An amber planet with one eye." His voice dropped very low. "Clyde. Whatever you just did, do not do it again."
"Was that bad?"
"Yes." Soren helped him sit up carefully. "You accessed the divine realm. You saw the Alkahest God and his domain. Most people who do that die instantly. Their minds simply cannot process the contact."
Clyde sat on the floor of the lab and stared at the wall while his breathing slowly evened out.
That explains it, he thought. The library. The blood red moon with all those eyes. That wasn't a nightmare. That was the same thing happening. I looked at a goddess and that's what broke me.
And somehow I'm still here.
He didn't say any of that out loud.
"So what do I do now?" he asked instead.
"Recover," Soren said, pulling a small stool over and sitting down beside him on the floor, which was somehow both undignified and completely natural for Soren. "And next time you activate your Hollow Eyes in this lab, look at the chemicals. Not at me."
"Noted," Clyde said.
Definitely noted.