Chapter 174: What May Come
Arthur and Aziel exchanged bewildered glances across the sterile room space, their eyes meeting in shared confusion before slowly turning back toward Cara, who remained hunched over her paperwork. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting harsh shadows across their faces as bewilderment continued to plaster their expressions like a mask they couldn’t remove.
Arthur was the first to break the suffocating silence that had settled over the room like a heavy blanket. His voice carried a genuine note of perplexity as he spoke, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Famous? Why would we be famous?" He gestured vaguely between himself and Aziel, his hands moving with uncertain motions. "We like to keep a low profile, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that people don’t know who we are."
Aziel nodded vigorously in agreement with Arthur’s statement, his hair catching the artificial light as he bobbed his head. The motion was almost mechanical, as if he were trying to convince himself as much as anyone else in the room. His usual demeanor showed cracks of uncertainty, the confident face he typically wore beginning to crumble at the edges.
Cara released a long, weary sigh that seemed to come from the depths of her soul. The sound filled the room as she finally looked up from the documents that had been consuming her attention. Her eyes, tired and somewhat resigned, met theirs with a mixture of sympathy and something that looked disturbingly like pity.
"Sadly, that’s not usually how it works," she said, her voice carrying a certain type of weight to it. The words hung in the air like a death sentence, heavy with implications that neither Arthur nor Aziel could fully grasp yet.
Both young men raised their eyebrows in perfect synchronization, their confusion deepening at her somber tone and cryptic words. The atmosphere in the room seemed to shift, becoming more oppressive as they waited for her to continue. Arthur could feel his heart beginning to beat faster, a premonition of bad news settling in his chest like a cold stone.
Cara took a moment to collect her thoughts, her fingers drumming against the table surface in a nervous rhythm before she began to speak again. Her voice took on the cadence of someone delivering unwelcome news, each word carefully measured and deliberate.
"You had to give an account of all the events that took place during your first time in the realms to the academy, correct?" The question was more of a statement, delivered with the certainty of someone who already knew the answer but needed confirmation nonetheless.
Arthur felt his throat constrict as he swallowed hard, the simple action suddenly requiring tremendous effort. "Uh... yeah," he managed to croak out, his voice barely above a whisper. The memory of that debriefing session came flooding back – hours of detailed questioning, forms to fill out, every moment of their journey scrutinized and documented.