The next day, I had heard nothing more about the disappeared students. It seemed that, despite the rather loud altercation, no rumors had yet spread about the matter, and I also hadn't heard anything from the academy. That meant that I still had no idea if they had been found, but I had more or less convinced myself that the prefects had done what I'd advised, and the matter was being resolved quietly, by the time that I again made my way to the edge of the Faewood.
Though my effort to find the missing students had been predictably in vain, I had made an interesting discovery in the process. Or rather, the spirit had taken the initiative to advise me when it noticed what I was trying to do. It was, the spirit taught me, through the mana in me that I could sense the flow around me. I had never quite realized it, but by focusing on that sense I was more or less taking control of the flow within me, in way similar to when one was casting a spell.
The spirit taught me that it was possible to extend the range of my ability to perceive mana further in a specific direction, by extending the reach of the mana under my control. Particularly in a mana rich environment, such as the Faewood, by focusing on a stream of mana that led to a particular direction, I could reach out much further with it, and also perceive some of the surrounding flow.
It seemed similar to the way in which I had been communicating with the spirit through mana, as in both cases it appeared that some inkling of my consciousness could be transferred by using mana as a conduit. I was regretting not having attempted to figure out if that method of communication could be used with other humans as well, when I last was with Celine, but I had been too distracted with other matters back then.
Or was it that both of these odd new abilities were somehow related to whatever my supposed connection to the fae was? Though they seemed rather easy and intuitive in use, so much so that it seemed odd that it had never occurred to me to attempt something similar, I had learned these ideas only thanks to the spirit. Without seeing what appeared to be literally a living bundle of mana, it would probably never have occurred to me to perceive mana in such in a purposeful way, as something other than the avenue for casting spells.
Perhaps it was the odd properties of the mana of the Faerie that made such things feasible, since it was in the forest and with the spirit that I discovered these things. To get a better grasp on the matter and consult the spirit, the Faewood was certainly the right place, so that's where I had headed, but as soon as I started to focus on the flow of mana around me, I was distracted when I noticed something unexpected.
I could sense the mana of other humans nearby, inside the forest. Looking around, I could soon see a group of people through the trees, passing by as they moved deeper into the forest. I couldn't make out most of the group, though it seemed like there were at least half a dozen people, but I did recognize a prefect among them. It was the girl from the group that had interrupted my lunch the previous day. It seemed like I had stumbled onto a search party, so meaning that the missing students still hadn't been found.
Not having the benefit of being able to sense the presences of others by mana, the group didn't seem to notice me through the thick foliage, even as they passed by rather close. It made me wonder how they were thinking of finding any missing people in the forest, but perhaps they had some magic prepared to help with it.
Again uncertain if there was anything for me to do, I decided on a whim to attempt to track them by the method that I'd just learned. It seemed perhaps a little rude, but I figured it wouldn't hurt them to have some insurance, if the place was indeed as dangerous as it seemed. I still hadn't seen any concrete sign of danger in the forest, but some people had already disappeared, so I focused myself and allowed my consciousness to flow, through mana, alongside the path that they followed.
I could certainly sense that there were things there, entities that were watching as the group passed by without noticing them. It seemed like the creatures of the Faerie would gather in such a manner whenever humans entered the forest. There were several around me in that moment as well. But it seemed like humans were a curiosity for the creatures in the forest, that perhaps had never wandered out as far as the nearby town, rather than some sort of invader to keep watch on. After watching the the humans for a while, and never more than that, the creatures would usually just wander way eventually, as if bored.
Compared to the way that I would normally sense mana around me, it felt different when I allowed my consciousness to traverse along the constantly intersecting streams of mana that filled the forest. In order to keep track of the group, I had to jump onto whatever path that this erratic flow opened up to me, and that seemed to head the same way, and I had to pay close attention to pick them out from among all the other living entities around in the verdant forest. The whole of my perception seemed to reduce to whatever I was able to sense that way, the senses of my physical body fading into the background and out of focus.
The group traveled far further into the forest than I would have ever felt comfortable going, if only because I wasn't confident in my ability to navigate the forest, but they didn't seem to have any intention of stopping. It was hard to keep track of direction whilst bouncing along multiple streams of mana, but it seemed like they were getting closer to where the Fae rift was, judging by how there was ever more mana from the Faerie surrounding them, which also made them more difficult to pick out.
Eventually, as was feeling mentally strained after continuing the exercise for quite a while, I sensed something strange, something that stood out even from the increasingly alien presences filling the entire forest. A strong and self-contained flow of mana, it was certainly a living being. But it was different from both the creatures of the forest, that to my mana sense appeared like vague and half-completed thoughts, and the humans, with their familiar and orderly flows of mana. Nor was it like the spirit that was simply a near shapeless concentration of mana.
This new entity was like an intricate web of mana, with countless individual and distinct streams of mana, many thin enough to be called threads, folded upon each other in layer after layer. Unlike the other shapes of mana, that I had to consciously identify as signifying some sort of living entities, in order to distinguish them from the general ambiance of the forest, this one entity stood out, clear and distinct.
And it felt ominous. It was like I was looking directly at a living entity, and not some vague representation of one, that had a real presence within that landscape shaped out of mana. And it was like it was looking straight back at me.
I was suddenly jolted by a sensation of alarm and fear, and I immediately retracted my consciousness back to my physical body. My whole body tensed up as my instinct kicked in and I felt ready to bolt, before I even realized that it had been the spirit warning me. I wasn't in any imminent physical danger, but it was telling me to steer clear of whatever it was that I'd noticed, and that had perhaps indeed noticed me back.
I wanted to question the spirit regarding what sort of creature of the Faerie I'd stumbled upon, and whether the people I had been tracking were in danger, when a voice from beside me, from a person that I'd never noticed getting close, almost made me jump in my already unnerved state.
"What are you doing here, miss?"
As I turned around, and saw a rather stern looking instructor, I shortly determined that it wasn't him that the spirit had been concerned about. Rather, he just happened to have got close to me when I was focused, and was asking a question that admittedly seemed to be rather pertinent. Clothed like someone that intended trekking through woods, unlike myself, I thought that perhaps he even was there because the academy was worried about other people getting lost in the forest, and I adjusted my answer based on that.
"Oh! Sir, um, I just noticed some people heading into the forest."
It wasn't exactly the reason why I was there, but it wasn't exactly incorrect to let him understand that I was worried about the people that I had been seen heading into the Faewood. Seeing that he didn't seem surprised at what I said, I figured that he was perhaps part of the search operation as well, and so I followed up with a question in that direction, whilst trying to figure out how to warn them off without having to try to explain about what I had just experienced.
"Is it perhaps a search for the missing students? I'm worried whether it's safe to send more people so close to the realm of the fae."
"Ah, Miss Tannel, is it? Thank you for your concern, but we've got the matter handled. We'll contact your family should the need arise."
As he seemed to only just recognize me, his previous expression of concern turned stony. Based on his terse answer, and the way he didn't look remotely happy about the idea of relying on the Tannels, I doubted that he really was taking my warning seriously. Well, it did seem like the prefects had done like I'd said, if there were instructors involved, so perhaps it was time to follow my own advice and leave the matter for the academy handle.
But as I excused myself and headed away from the forest, I had already decided to send a message to ask Celine to meet with me. The situation was a little too odd for me to ignore, and I wanted to know what exactly was going on with the forest. I needed to know if there was anything she could tell me, from the Tannel family's perspective, about the Faewood, particularly about that odd creature that had so thoroughly scared the spirit.
Little did I know that I would come face to face with the source of that ominous presence on the very next day.
When it was time to start another lecture regarding the Fae rift, it occurred to me that I couldn't see Maeve's brother among the students in the room. He had certainly seemed oddly interested in the Faewood, so was he perhaps one of the students that had gotten lost there, or was he just otherwise absent? He was pretty much the only person that I distinctly remembered from that class, that the disappeared students had apparently been part of.
Nor did I have a clear idea how many students might have been missing, compared to the first two lessons. It was something of a relief when I noticed that the girl, who had been among the group heading into the forest the previous day, was there instead, so at least the forest hadn't swallowed them as well. She in turn was glaring at me, but I was used to that already, and turned to instead listen to the instructor who was starting the lecture.
"Today we'll be having a special guest attending our lecture."
She always appeared serious during these lessons, but it was noticeable how tense our instructor appeared when she made that announcement. I didn't have to wonder about it, as I sensed something familiar that made me instantly tense up as well, at the same time the door to the room opened. I hadn't seen said guest when entering, and neither had any of the others judging by their reactions, though it came in through the same door as we'd just filed in from.
The spirit again sent me just a quick burst of fear and caution, before falling totally silent and unresponsive, as it surely also felt the same presence, that we'd discovered in the depths of the forest on the previous day. It made me wonder if the other residents of the Faerie weren't even more scared of the fae than humans were, or if this one in particular was just exceptionally dangerous. And I was quite certain, even if I'd never seen one before and had no clear idea of what they were supposed to look like, that the being that I laid my eyes on was indeed a fae.
It seemed to adopt a somewhat human form, like in so many of the tales. There were the familiar four limbs, a similar standing posture, and even something that looked like a face. Yet it was immediately impossible for me to in any way identify it with humans, because of how the flow of its mana stuck out to me, without me even having to focus on it. That complex flow was just completely alien, though oddly beautiful in its intricacy.
Certainly it had a solid and manifest physical form, unlike the other creatures that I'd seen about the town by the rift and the Faewood. But at the same time mana, the mana of the Faerie, seemed to flow through that form with total liberty and in huge quantity, shifting tracks with each of the creature's smooth movements, unlike the orderly tracks in which mana would cluster and move through inside the human form.
It looked to be wearing a somewhat loose set clothes, but even aside how the surface seemed to shift by itself, unlike any actual fabric, I judged them to be merely a facsimile due to how mana flowed through them as well, like they were part of its actual body. A mix of dark and earthen colors, the impression given by the fae might have seemed oddly muted to others, but to my sight the flow of mana within it seemed to almost overlap with its outward appearance. I couldn't describe mana as having any sort of color, even if I was able to actually see it, but it seemed to bring a lot of life to the figure nonetheless.
The only bit of skin it appeared to be showing was on its face, but I wasn't sure that that was what I should have called the surface that appeared to more resemble bark. It wasn't rough or uneven in shape like actual treebark, but that seemed like a more accurate comparison for the texture of its ashen exterior. It came to a halt next to the instructor and turned to regard the students, but that so called skin didn't seem to really contort in a natural way, when the sides of its mouth rose into an apparent smile.
Perhaps there was an eerie sort of beauty to it, but it wasn't attractive in the conventional human way, like how the fae were described in so many of the tales. In fact, I wasn't really able to tell if it was even male or female, whether because its clothing hid all signifiers or because it really just had totally androgynous features and and body shape. In the first place, I wasn't sure if it even had a sex. With everything I was seeing, I was willing to believe that they really were able to shift their form freely, so perhaps it just made a vague shape to give the human something to gawk at, because it wasn't particularly looking to seduce anyone?
"Our visitor has come from the Faerie. He was interested when I mentioned the subject of my class, so he'll be sitting in today."
Our instructor's tone was bitter, as if she wasn't even concerned about hiding her displeasure. It seemed like she truly did not like the fae, or at least wasn't fond of the idea of introducing one to her class. Yet presumably she had considered it not wise to refuse a request from a fae, or else she had maybe overcome her distaste because it was a good opportunity, considering the subject of the class.
Thus introduced, the fae made a rather deep bow, making its rather long hair flow down in front of its shoulders, though the white and gray strands seemed more like wispy plant matter as they got tangled together, rather than naturally curling or flowing straight like human hair. But rather than it seemingly acting with consideration for human manners, I found more curious what I could sense in the flow of mana within it, during the motion. It seemed more like its body was shifting into a new shape, contracting and extending as needed, under the cover of its clothes, to give the correct impression, rather than following the natural range of motion of a human body.
"Greetings. I'm Nerna, of the Court of Dusk."
The low pitch with which it spoke, certainly seemed to indicate that it might have been male, as our instructor had referred to it. But more than that, it seemed just rough and raspy, as if its voice came from imitations of the human tools of vocalization, that weren't made from quite the same, soft, lubricated and fleshy materials. That quality of the voice slightly grated on the ear, but its speech was clear and properly enunciated, making it quite understandable
It straightened, letting its eyes wander across the students arrayed before it again. It's eyes were perhaps best compared to unpolished gemstones, with colors on a gradient of purples, and with the lack of an iris they didn't seem to give the impression that they were capable of focusing on anything. But, when its head stopped moving, I felt that same ominous sensation, as in the odd encounter that we had had over a distance, and I was certain that its eyes were nailed on me.
