The Principal laughed, the air around his body warping and twisting, showing flickers of a second head or perhaps a third.

The mental pressure radiating from the man intensified, clawing at the branches of my soul, trying to do… something to my mind.

"You're free to return to class, Mr. Foster," the Principal added. "But you will have to meet with another Agent sooner or later."

"No," I fired back, my hatred for Charmchain magic keeping me rooted to the spot. "I refuse."

The Principal frowned slightly.

There were two ways forward from this point—to submit and lower my eyes, to forget what I had learned today, to walk away, to be pressured later, possibly by an even stronger Charismancer.

Or…

I glanced at Ignis Fern. She was an incredibly high level Pyromancer, a delver brought here by Archmage Amadeus to do a very particular job. She was a woman clearly devoted to the uplifting of her students, one who cared for the Strand girls and gave a zero fucks about following administrative protocols or class schedules.

As a professional delver, the raptor woman had a weakness: she knew and hated dungeons, she knew when to listen to a human who had different senses, respected the human mindset that was entirely different from her prad instincts.

"Fern, defensive dragonfire!" I barked an order, leaping out of my chair. "He's a Dungeon Sentinel! Identify him! Get those Elementals here, stat!"

Professor Fern reacted instantly, her delver instincts kicking in. Her left hand shot forward, eyes igniting with silver light as she cast Identify.

Simultaneously, her right hand erupted with blinding orange-violet flames that twisted and coiled like living things, casting dancing shadows across the office.

She moved fluidly, blurring in the air and instantly positioned herself between me and the Principal in a protective stance. Her burned and mangled feathers splayed upright, tail protectively wrapping around my waist, ready to take off in a flash with me in tow.

With a thunderclap snap of her claws, the sky and land outside of the windows warped as a thousand Elementals moved as one from wherever they were hiding.

The building shook, dust raining from the ceiling.

Ignis wasn't a prad to fuck with and she was utterly and irrefutably on my side. I had made the right choice, gambled on the right prad.

"What is he?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs as her Identify spell struck the man.

"An Omnid," Fern answered, her voice tight as we both continued backing toward the door.

"Which is what?"

"I… don't know," she admitted, the flames in her right hand intensifying. "But not pradavarian. Not human either."

Principal Kerberos smiled jovially. It wasn't the warm, grandfatherly smile I'd seen before. This expression stretched too wide, revealing too many teeth arranged in neat rows that extended impossibly far back into his throat, his canine snout stretching out.

"How perceptive of you, Mr. Foster," he said, his voice now carrying an odd echo, as if several voices were speaking in perfect synchronization. "Most students never notice. They're too wrapped up in their own petty concerns to question the nature of authority."

"That's enough!" Professor Fern warned, the dragonfire in her hand flaring. "Make a move against us and I will unleash dragonfire, tear this office apart, shred, fry and chew you up! Whatever the Abyss you are, I doubt that you'll be able to stand up to a legion of my Elementals!"

The Principal frowned as the sky outside darkened and flashed with the light of a hundred unnatural radiant stars pointed at his position.

"What the fuck are you and what do you want from the locals?" I demanded, feeling brave now that Fern held me tightly and pointed her armada at the cryptid principal.

"I am a local, Mr. Foster. I was born in Ferguson. And I desire nothing more than I've already stated," the Principal replied calmly, not moving from where he sat. "To educate and prepare the youth of Ferguson for the world that awaits them." His form flickered slightly, like a glitching hologram.

"Who are you working for?" Fern asked, her burning eye narrowed with suspicion.

"I work with the Pradavarian Senate and many Omnicorps, Professor," he replied. "Frontenachii Omnicorp is but one of many… organizations that value my... placement services."

"Placement?! You're trafficking male students!" I accused.

The Omnid smiled at us. "Such crude terminology! I am simply facilitating optimal career paths. Some students are better suited for corporate service than mundane schooling."

"How many students have you abducted?" Fern demanded, the dragonfire in her hand pulsing with her anger.

"That is not your prerogative, Professor," the principal shook his head. "Your job is to locate talented individuals and to bring them to me."

"My job is to protect all students under my care!" Ignis growled. "Voicecast Archmage Amadeus!"

The Omnid leaned back in his seat. "By all means, Professor. Call your Master. Bring the Dungeon Research Bureau. Call up the Pradavarian Senate itself! Who do you think appointed me to this position in the first place?"

The air beside Professor Fern ignited with silver stars. Then, with a flash of silver light, a translucent figure materialized beside her woven from silver sparks. A tall, old, distinguished raptor, wearing elaborate ceremonial robes and an eight pointed star on his chest flashed into existence next to us. His eyes were sharp and intelligent, his bearing regal.

"Ignis," the projection said. "What do you require of me this morning?"

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"Archmage Amadeus," Fern growled. "The Principal of Ferguson High is an Omnid, possibly a dungeon Sentinel who has been abducting students! I require authorization for maximum retaliation and dragonfire use in a civilian location!"

The spark-woven raptor's expression remained neutral as his gaze swept over the principal, then me, and moved back to Fern. He sighed, a heavy, tired sound that seemed to carry the weight of vast responsibility. "Stand down, Ignis. I'm aware of the principal's… true nature."

"What?!" Ignis growled.

"Kerberos isn't a dungeon Sentinel, Ignis," Amadeus explained. "He was born in Ferguson General hospital. His father lives in Ferguson."

The flames in Professor Fern's hand wavered, her burning eye widening. "W-what?! You... knew?"

"The Pradavarian Senate has been working with the Omnithornian Superstate since the 1940s," Archmage Amadeus explained. "It's a complex political arrangement that ensures our… territories remain peaceful and prosperous."

"Peaceful?!" Fern's voice cracked. "They're taking our male students!"

"A number of particularly talented male individuals are offered opportunities within Omnid corporations," the Archmage corrected. "You weren't made aware of this arrangement because you were a dedicated delver, Ignis, not a High Administrator. Your focus was meant to be on training my rambunctious grandkids, not concerning yourself with the greater political landscape."

I watched as Professor Fern's fierce demeanor crumbled slightly, her flames dimming as the betrayal of her boss sank in.

"Wind back, you old coot," she growled. "What in Slayer's name is the Omnithornian Superstate? Why are they taking local male students?"

"The Omnithornian Superstate is an interdimensional power that controls significant portions of our world since 1944," Amadeus explained. "When the German Prad Reich Führerin ordered her scientists to open gates to parallel worlds via the Black Forest dimensional dungeon beneath Riese Complex in Lower Silesia, they believed it would provide a simple national solution to deal with the growing reduction in male prads."

I watched as Fern's feathers bristled as she processed the High Administrator's words.

"While they've had some success setting up prad colonies in pure-human... magic-deprived worlds, unfortunately for them," Amadeus continued, "one of these worlds turned out to be Earth under the control of Omnithornia. The Omnids did not appreciate the uninvited pradavarian intrusion into their realm and retaliated swiftly. They conquered our Earth in less than a day using crystal machines that our weapons and delvers couldn't even scratch."

"And now they're here," I said, pieces clicking into place. "Collecting prad and human males instead."

The Archmage nodded. "Since then, Omnithornian Omnicorps have been the real owners of large portions of our Earth, operating without openly showing themselves. They've been solving their own… demographic situation with our males who are compatible with Omnid females."

"Compatible?" Fern asked, her voice tight with disgust.

"Genetically and magically," Kerberos interjected, his too-wide smile returning. "My prad father was one such fine individual who was contractually bound by an Omnid girl. He led a very comfortable life in one of the Omnithornian colonies before returning home to Ferguson Citadel to raise me as one of the future local Administrators."

"And the Senate just... allows this shit?" Fern demanded, glaring at the Archmage.

"It's not a matter of allowing, Ignis," Amadeus sighed. "It's a matter of survival. The alternative would be open war with immortal beings whose technology and magical capabilities far exceed our own. The current arrangement benefits both sides. The Omnids get greater genetic diversity, and we get technological advancements, leased magitek weapons and protection from greater interdimensional threats such as the Denver dungeon. Without their aid in 1989, none of us would be alive today."

"Peace bought with our children!" Fern spat.

"Peace created through children, like myself," Kerberos corrected smoothly. "No one is taken against their will. The Omnid Omnicorps simply... present the opportunity. The choice is always up to the individual prad or human."

"Bullshit," I said. "That Omnid woman was using Charmchain on me! That's not a choice—that's coercion."

"She might have gotten a bit… over the top," Kerberos shrugged. "It happens when incredibly rare, valuable… students refuse to cooperate, push back as you have with absolute rejection. There is something about a human who doesn't back down against an Omnid that naturally triggers… the Omnid phase-shift and Charmchain response."

"This is fucking insane," I said. "You're basically selling people to interdimensional beings for experiments!"

"Experiments? For a better future," Kerberos corrected. "For progress. For the greater good of Prad-controlled territories under the umbrella of the Omnithornian Superstate. For peace and prosperity of both Prads and Omnids."

"Stand down, Ignis," Amadeus commanded. "That's an order from the Archmage of the Western Reaches. We cannot afford you causing an international incident with a Senate-appointed Omnid Administrator."

Professor Fern's burning eye locked with mine, and I saw something there I hadn't expected—not just anger, but guilt. Shame. She had been brought here to identify and train talented delvers, only to discover she was essentially a talent scout for interdimensional abductions.

"Come on, Professor," I said quietly, grabbing Ignis by her hand. "We have a dungeon simulation to do. I trust you and don't want you getting kicked out of school. We've been clearly outplayed, not knowing about the game that started long before we were even born."

For a moment, I thought she might refuse and unleash her raptor fury on Kerberos, Amadeus, and the entire administrative wing.

But then, slowly, she lowered her arm. The dragonfire winked away.

"This isn't over," she snarled at Kerberos.

"It never is," the Principal replied. "Now, run along and play in your little manufactured dungeon, Professor. Mr. Foster has a delving simulation to complete, after all."

"End Voicecast," Ignis growled and the figure of Archmage Amadeus dissolved into dancing sparks.

We backed out of the office, Fern keeping herself between me and Kerberos until we were through the door. The moment it closed behind us, she pulled me quickly down the corridor, away from the administrative wing.

"Listen to me very carefully," she hissed, snapping her fingers to produce a shimmering, blurry sphere around us. "What we've just learned likely puts both of us in significant danger. Say nothing of this to anyone! Not even your packmates! Not yet."

"But—"

"Not. Yet." Her grip tightened. "The walls in this school have ears, Mr. Foster. Literally. We need to be strategic about this."

"Okay," I nodded. "What's the plan?"

"For now? We proceed as normal. You complete today's simulation with your team. I continue teaching. We act as if nothing has changed." Her fiery eye met mine. "But I want you to know that I was not aware of this... dubious arrangement. I do not condone it. And I will not facilitate it."

"I believe you," I said. And I absolutely did. Her actions plus the fury and betrayal in her expression had been too raw, too genuine to fake.

"I brought you to that meeting because I was ordered to," she admitted. "But I didn't know what it was really about. I thought it was simply a scholarship offer or academic recognition for doing so well during the evaluation day."

"Not your fault," I assured her. "I'm still telling my packmates about this later."

"You're certain that they won't…?"

"Ignis," I addressed her by her first name. "You have a human Alpha, yes?" It was a guess based on her behavior and words in class.

She nodded.

"Do you trust him with your entire heart?"

"I… did," she let out. "I loved him and I pray to the Slayer that my soul will find his in another cycle after my death. He and the rest of our packmates died in a dungeon." She reached out to touch her mask. "Only I survived the dragon's attack because I am mostly immune to dragonfire. Archmage Amadeus offered me this job to keep me from taking my own life by delving into the Superstore alone." Her formerly sharp voice trembled when she spoke of her lost love.

"Would your Alpha keep this sort of a thing from you?" I asked.

"No, he wouldn't," she sighed. "But your pack is only a day old, is it not? What happens if it falls apart?"

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