Ori arrived at Dikai, one of two imperial universities for magic, after a thirty minute boat ride across the crystalline Great Lake. She made the commute every day from the men’s school for gladiators, Kalos, to attend her futile courses in magic. By the time she entered the classroom, the instructor had finished writing their lesson on the board. All of the other students were already seated, and she couldn’t hide that she was the last to arrive. 

“Thank you for showing up on time,” the smartly dressed instructor noted flatly from the front of the room. The class of first year girls giggled in the background, but Ori, older by several years, just rolled her eyes and waved off the playful scolding as she crossed the room. 

“I would’ve skipped it if I had my way,” the tardy student grumbled as she made her way to an empty desk. The instructor gave her a glare for show, but Ori recognized humor in the woman’s sea green eyes. They first met in this very class. Back then, they had been seat partners and peers. Now, Minerva stood proudly at the front and easily carried the class back on track. Even if Ori had fallen behind, she couldn’t help but take pride in her friends’ accomplishments. It wasn’t their fault that she couldn’t keep up.

The younger girls absorbed Minerva’s lesson with rapt attention while Ori’s focus drifted to and from the materials and demonstrations taking place in front of her. She had seen it all so many times at this point that she could recite the classes from memory. Her gaze gradually shifted away from the boards until her blank stare took in the courtyard view from the window. Sparkling lights flitted through the room as the girls tried their hand at channeling Cosmic Divinity into magic. Ori tapped her fingertips on the desk, forgetting the activity around her and wondering why the hour felt so much longer than reality. 

“You know,” Minerva mused, arriving at Ori’s side, “the whole point of retaking these classes is to complete your practical assessments, right?” 

Ori pulled her gaze away from the window and regarded the instructor with a humorless smile. “Come on, Min, we both know it’s not going to work for me.” 

“You won’t know if you don’t try.”

“I’ve been trying my whole life.” The pathetic shadow of a smile faded altogether. “I’m sick of trying.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Minnie assured her with a softened expression.

They had been saying that for years, and every year it was always the same result. Minnie placed her complete faith in Ori’s ability to learn and made every effort to tutor her friend. Ori managed to pass every written exam with flying colors, but her practical skills never exceeded a rudimentary level. There was nothing Minnie or any of the others could do for her in that respect. All Ori’s effort ever got her was a seat in a room with girls several years younger than her, hearing the same old lectures over again, except, this time, her best friends were teaching them.

“Miss Minerva!” one of the girls called. “There’s something outside!” 

Minnie and Ori exchanged a brief, puzzled look at the girl’s urgency before joining the crowd of students gathering at the window. Questions bounced back and forth from the students who hadn’t yet become accustomed to the unusual events at Dikai, but Ori and her friends had seen everything from minor possessions to amateur demonic summonings. They had even descended to the Temple of Death during their time as students. Something extraordinary and horrific occurred every year, but she still couldn’t manage to graduate after every time they saved the empire.

 A figure stumbled out of the forest, tripping on the hem of a long, camel-colored coat as he scrambled towards the campus gate. Ori’s stomach dropped as her mind pieced together the scene unfolding before her. 

Shadows from the forest lurched in pursuit, swiping at his back and legs with spindly claws and tendril-like limbs. The monstrous insectoids were mere impressions of demonic Shades from the Underworld. They lacked true physical forms, and light passed through them like paper. Yet, their pincers left indelible treads in the soil, and their blows splintered the trees at the forest’s edge.

“Shit,” Ori hissed, realizing this would be another horror-filled and extraordinary year. 

She threw the window open and leapt down to the courtyard, wrenching the Cosmic ruby from her pocket and activating its core of power. The weight of her fully realized bow settled in her hand, and she sprinted to the gates.

“Get the other teachers!” she heard Minerva command in the background. Ori drew her arm back, and an arrow sprouted from the ruby core. She fired at one of the shadows, and the monstrous Locust screeched as Cosmic power seared through its semi-tangible form. 

It withered, and Ori turned her attention to the next shadowy insectoid and sent another arrow flying. She targeted the ones closest to the intruder. Then, familiar runes, alight with power from the Cosmos, flew over her head as Minnie wrote magic into the air. The runes flowed from the tips of her long, dark fingers and circled the remaining monsters. Minnie’s runic leash tightened around them until they couldn’t take any more. The defeated creatures hissed and dissipated into smoke. Then, the runes faded into nothingness, and only the ruby arrows littered at the man’s feet remained. 

With that problem resolved, the women turned their attention to the figure panting heavily just outside the mother of pearl gates.

The tattered white shirt and dirt stained trousers were a far cry from the man’s typical arrogant composure. Ori had never seen him with a single hair out of place, but here he was, tossing russet-blond strands away from his sweat-drenched face and righting the coat on his shoulders. 

“Thank you for your service,” he acknowledged them with the same touch of mockery in his drawl as Ori remembered.

An arrow pierced the ground at his feet. 

Irritated, she drew another one, “Stay where you are.” 

“How are you still alive?” Minnie demanded from Ori’s side.

Unfazed, he held his hands up in surrender and looked past them to the group approaching from behind, “That question is better posed to your priestess.” 

Ori glanced over her shoulder and noted that the rest of her friend group joined them at the gates. Four other women moved to form a line with Ori and Minerva, barring the man’s entry.

“Um, Juno,” Ori’s roommate, Bea, stood beside the archer and thrust a perfectly manicured finger at the intruder, “I thought you got rid of this guy?” 

“Yeah, so did I,”Juno stated and stepped forward from the space between Ori and Minerva. The priestess’s voice shook with outrage. “You’re not welcome here! I exiled you from this plane!”

“Not quite," he replied in a slow and patronizing tone. “It seems your wish for my erasure took an entirely different meaning than you originally intended. Listen, ladies, as delightful as this reunion has been, there are more pressing matters at hand.” 

“Above and Below,” the smallest of the women swore from the end of the line. Madrigal’s sleepy voice sounded full of irritation, and Ori surmised that her friend didn’t appreciate being woken up for this condescension. 

“What does that mean?” The tallest woman, Cecelia, demanded from the other end of their barricade. 

“The death you witnessed,” he shot a particularly dry look at the priestess, “was Juno sending me into the Underworld for the Deathbringer to dispose of, and he’s planning an invasion.” 

His pointed response sent a shudder down Ori’s back, but she held steady. The memory of gleaming hell-fire eyes made her skin crawl. Two years had passed since they braved the depths of the Underworld, and she still couldn’t forget the way Deathbringer had looked her in the eyes with malice.

“You’re lying!” Cece insisted. “Juno’s a high priestess and Vessel for the Cosmos. There’s no way she failed.”

“I wish I was, but I barely managed to escape with my life intact.” The man paused and passed his gaze over the group disparagingly. “If you would stop wasting time, then I can tell you everything about the imminent invasion. All I ask is that you allow me sanctuary to rest and heal my wounds.”

Ori waited for Juno to turn him down, but silence followed the ridiculous proposal. 

“You can’t be serious,” Ori hissed under her breath as Juno’s consideration became clear. “Heal them somewhere else!”

“I wouldn’t have come here, of all the accursed places, if there was any other way,” he pointed out, but his eyes weren’t on Ori. He steadfastly held Juno’s gaze and refused to break eye contact with the priestess.

“June,” Cece drew her name out slowly in warning, “you can’t trust him.”

“They almost killed me,” he continued with softly spoken poignance. “I was barely able to escape with my life.” 

“What a shame,” Bea’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “It took us a year to get rid of him, remember?”

Still, Juno said nothing. 

“He’s an Umbral! He’s no better than those Locusts! You can’t be serious!” Mads snapped with unusual forcefulness as Juno’s silence drew on. 

They made their best attempts to reason with their leader, but Ori knew it would be in vain. Juno couldn’t turn down a cry for help, even if it came from the depths of the Underworld. 

“Fine,” the powerful priestess spoke with a steely voice, “we’ll listen to what you have to say.”