Aldelmo straightened up, taking his head off Monique's shoulder and watched the door as it opened.

 

Ryan walked into his dorm room and focused on his roommate. Aldelmo was sitting next to Monique, having dragged Ryan's chair over to the other side of the room so the two could sit next to one another. Monique was obviously comforting Aldelmo, most likely about the current situation. As soon as Ryan stepped in, Aldelmo and Monique both stood up.

 

"I think I should be leaving, no?" Monique looked from Aldelmo to Ryan and back. Ryan just nodded and jogged his head backwards to indicate the exit behind him. Monique took Aldelmo's hand and squeezed it once in a reassuring fashion, before heading out. Ryan didn't look at either of them, avoiding eye contact with Monique as he stepped aside. She meekly stepped past him to get out of the room. She turned back as she closed the door behind her, pausing only to give Aldelmo a quick thumbs up before she shut it entirely.

 

The click of the closing door was the only sound for a while. Eventually Ryan stepped closer to grab his chair and drag it back to his desk. He eyed the chair, then his bunk bed, then back and forth a few times before he settled on sitting in the chair, facing Aldelmo. Still, he said nothing. It became increasingly uncomfortable as the silence dragged on. Finally, Aldelmo seemed to have his fill of awkwardness and spoke.

 

"What do we do now?"

 

Ryan scratched the back of his neck, "Well... You let yourself get talked into poisoning me for... 'a prank'. I don't get how giving me the runs is supposed to be funny, but I guess it wasn't about the joke, but about..." Aldelmo eventually finished the sentence, "Proving to the first prince that I would be loyal to him." Ryan nodded slowly, "That was it, huh? Seems like there should be more to it." He kept nodding, "So how'd things work out?" Aldelmo looked up, "It should have taken effect in class but... you... oh god you..." He covered his face, "You went nuts! I never should have trusted him. I thought it wouldn't-"

 

Ryan held up a hand, "I was talking about- Wait wait wait... you poisoned me with a substance without knowing what it was? Who gave it to you again?" Aldelmo swallowed nervously, "Kyle." Ryan thought about it, "Kyle... the chancellor's son... Of course." He sighed, "That explains why he was hanging around outside our class at that time." Ryan rubbed his eyebrow, "So, with a substance you got from Kyle, you didn't check to see what it actually was, you just gave it to me and assumed that you weren't giving me something that would kill me... or something that would cause me to have an allergic reaction... you just... gave it to me... how?" Aldelmo pointed up at Ryan's bunk bed, "Sprinkled in your shoes."

 

Ryan didn’t look surprised, "Absorbed through the feet?" Aldelmo nodded, "It... looked fine! I've worked with my father on brewing potions and this particular substance we use for constipation all the time... the time delay wasn't something I was that familiar with, but it looked okay. I-"

 

"It didn't work."

 

Aldelmo blinked, "Huh?"

 

"I said, It didn’t work.. You put it in my shoes after I went to bed. I got up in the middle of the night to wash them out." Ryan wobbled his head a bit, "I assume."

 

"Assume?"

 

"Yeah. At least that's what I wrote." Aldelmo tilted his head and squinted, "I... don't understand."

 

"I keep telling everyone, I spent decades in another world. Those few days I was in a coma. I keep telling you guys I don't remember anything before I hung myself, except a few flashes here and there, but nobody seems to take me seriously or understand the full implications." He hooked a thumb at his bed, "I found my diary. I wrote in it I overhead you plotting with someone and that you were betraying me."

 

Aldelmo looked a bit relieved but became concerned, "Wait... so... it wasn't the prank that-"

 

"I tried to commit suicide."

 

Aldelmo's eyes grew wide.

 

Ryan turned around and pulled open a drawer, then reached under it to grab a notebook. He opened it to a bookmark and looked over an entry, "Apparently... yeah... here. Ahem..." He coughed into his fist before reading out loud, "I can't take it anymore. I thought I had finally found someone that I could trust and he sells me out. I suppose I can't fault him. I might have done the same thing. I'm sick and tired of being scared all the time. I am always afraid of someone hurting me and now I can't even trust my roommate."

 

Ryan started to pace as he continued, "I know what my mom took to end her life. Wouldn't it be poetic if I left the same way?" Ryan looked up, "Apparently I tried to kill myself with an overdose."

 

Aldelmo just started at Ryan.

 

Ryan quietly closed the book and stared back. Eventually Ryan offered the book, "Did you want to read it yourself?" Aldelmo held up both hands and shook his head, "No! I..." He covered his mouth with his hand as he closed his eyes. Ryan lowered his head as he tilted it to the side so he could look up at Aldelmo, "You gonna be sick?"

 

Aldelmo shook his head, but then nodded and got up to run out into the hall. The sound of Aldelmo running down the hall and into the bathroom echoed back. Ryan closed the book and put it back in its hiding spot. He sat patiently until Aldelmo eventually returned, closing the door behind him. He leaned heavily against the door.

 

"I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

 

Ryan replied in a flat motionless tone, "It sure sounds like you are."

 

Aldelmo just slid to the floor and buried his face in his knees. Ryan let out an exasperated sigh, "I sure as hell hope you aren't going to cry."

 

Aldelmo looked up with tears in his eyes, "I feel terrible! I... don't even know why I did It! I just... I knew I had no future back home and it looked like I would finally have a shot at doing something with my life! Everyone knows that Arthur is going to be the next king but because of my father I have to support Lance and-" He snuffled and tried to regain control of himself, "I am SO... So So SO sorry!"

 

Ryan scrunched his nose and nodded while shrugging, "Yeah, yeah yeah... however... one slight problem. I'm not the one who you need to apologize to."

 

Aldelmo blinked and rubbed his nose, "What?"

 

Ryan sighed, "I'm not Reed Ratliff anymore. He's gone. Reed Demonslayer now. That isn't just a name change. We're.... basically two different people. Ryan Ratliff let the gods turn him into... Me. I can't forgive you, because you didn't wrong me."

 

Aldelmo blinked and wiped his eyes and tried to think about what he was just told. Ryan continued, "That said... I don't know if I can trust you. You betrayed your supposed best friend and drove him to suicide. I assume you have been so friendly and helpful to me out of a sense of guilt. Well, he's dead. Like it or not, he has moved on and I'm the replacement."

 

"I wasn't going to bring it up. I was just going to let sleeping dogs lie, but I was so ticked off after the dance I couldn't bottle it up anymore." Ryan sighed and leaned back in his chair, "That was wrong of me. It's just... I need people I can trust and I can't trust you anymore."

 

Aldelmo scrambled and bowed before Ryan, pressing his forehead against the floor, "What can I do to make amends? PLEASE... give me a chance! I can't live with this guilt!"

 

Ryan took a deep breath and let it out through clenched teeth as a long hiss, "Damn. Look. I can't forgive you, because you didn't wrong ME. You... wronged the other Reed." He rubbed his face with both hands, "But... if you want to regain my trust... that's possible."

 

Aldelmo raised his head to look at Reed, "Really?"

 

"You made a mistake. Reed even admitted that he might have done the same to you, so I can't exactly take the high road here." Ryan scratched the back of his neck, "However... gaining my trust means you need to change. I need proof I can trust you and proof don't come without a price."

 

Aldelmo nodded energetically, "Anything. I. Will do. ANYTHING."

 

Ryan moved forward to the edge of his seat and leaned forward to get as close to Aldelmo's face as possible, "I promise you. You will come to regret saying that. Are you SURE you want to go down this road?" Aldelmo swallowed and slowly sat up, "What... exactly are you talking about?"

 

"I won't kill you, if that's what you are worried about... well... not intentionally. I'll stop before it gets fatal..." He held up a finger, "But, you will be scarred and changed. Physically. I need a Guinea Pig."

 

"A... what... pig?"

 

"A lab rat. Someone to experiment on." Ryan turned around and rummaged through his long drawer on his desk. He pulled out some folded up papers, "I've asked around. Nobody has been willing to try my chakra point acupuncture technique, so I don't know if it can be used to improve other people's mana flow."

 

Aldelmo swallowed and shuddered all over, "That's... where you stab me with needles all over?"

 

Ryan smirked, "EXACTLY. But it'll be more extensive then with me, and be more... prolonged. I have a theory that I can awaken a second mana core in you."

 

Aldelmo looked both intrigued and skeptical, "If... that was possible, wouldn't everyone do it?"

 

Ryan leveled a flat gaze at Aldelmo, "Are you fuckin' kidding me? This place? Nobody here is really that serious about magic. The ones with only physical mana cores are somewhat serious, but only because they are more likely to get into combat. The other so called conjurors are so caught up in politics they don't put forth the effort. They just settle on being able to cast a spell to prove they are better than the so-called commoners."

 

Ryan turned to his desk and began to flip through his pages of notes, "I have some theories I'm trying to test out on the orphans. I think I can cause anyone who has a strong enough will to at least open up one core, but I don't want to just go stabbing a bunch of kids. I need someone with a single core to experiment on first."

 

Aldelmo rubbed his stomach as he knelt before Ryan, "Well... I suppose..."

 

Ryan nodded, "It is going to be tough. I will have to repeatedly lance your mana junctions to improve your ability to absorb mana, while trying to get your mana to flow through your body more evenly. This means you will have to constantly drain your current mana core and work through a grueling training program I have developed that will bring you to the brink of death and hopefully FORCE mana into your physical core."

 

Aldelmo winced and looked increasingly more apprehensive while Ryan only got more and more excited, "With any luck, we can awaken your ability to self heal. Once we awaken THAT, we can REALLY get things swinging! We'll work you to the point of tearing your body apart, because then you can heal yourself, and it will promote additional muscle growth! With the proper intake of high amounts of nutrients and proteins, we should be able to get a year worth of strength training and body sculpting in as little as a month!"

 

Aldelmo's expression grew more concerned as he wondered what he had gotten himself into.

 

Ryan held up the next page and pointing at it, "Now if stage two is successful, by week two we can begin stage three. Stage three will be rather... intense... and is the part that might kill you, but don't worry. I worked out the math and I'm certain that it will work. I've considered doing it to myself, but I don't think I could do it in a mirror, so I want to test it out on you first."

 

Aldelmo instantly knew he'd regret asking, "Test WHAT out?"

 

Ryan then flipped over the page, "THIS!"

 

He did indeed regret asking.