Übel woke up in a room. The ceiling was white, plain, unremarkable, the kind of ceiling that existed in a thousand rooms across a thousand cities. The bed was soft beneath her, the blankets warm, the pillow comfortable. Her baggage and staff were beside the bed, placed neatly, as if someone had taken the time to arrange them. The last thing she remembered was Lernen trapping her. The strange old man, the golems, the way the doors had closed and the mana had been blocked.
She sat up slowly, her head throbbing slightly, her body aching in places she did not remember hurting. She looked around the room. It was ordinary, like an inn, with a wooden wardrobe and a small table and a chair by the window. The window showed a view of the city, the towers and roofs and streets that stretched out beneath a pale blue sky.
Übel did not see Subaru. She assumed the demon girl was dead. It was a waste, really. Subaru had been the most interesting subject Übel had ever encountered. Her Erfassen was the most destructive and versatile spell Übel had ever seen or heard of. The ability to create any weapon, any tool, anything she could imagine. It was a power that should have belonged to a legend, not a confused girl who spent too much time making jokes and worrying about her turban.
Übel swung her legs off the bed and stood up. Her body was stiff, but she moved well enough. She walked to the window and looked out, her eyes scanning the city below. The Mage Association Tower rose above the other buildings, its spire reaching toward the sky. So she was still in the tower. Interesting.
She opened the door and stepped into the hallway. The walls were white, the floors polished, and the lighting was soft and even. People walked past her, mages in uniforms, their faces busy, their steps hurried. None of them paid her any attention. She was just another face in a crowd.
Then she saw someone she knew. Sense.
The gray-blond haired mage walked down the hallway, her numerous hair shifting with each step, a grimoire open in her hands. Her eyes were tired, as they always were, the eyes of someone who had seen too much and cared too little.
Übel smiled. "Sense, remember me?"
Sense paused. Her gaze rose from the grimoire, slow and reluctant, as if the effort of looking up was almost too much to bear. She studied Übel for a moment, her expression unchanged.
"Oh," she said. "It is you."
Übel's smile widened. "You do not look surprised."
Sense's voice was flat, monotone. "Should I be?"
"Maybe. Anyways, why am I here?"
Sense blinked. "If you lost your memories, then I am afraid I cannot help."
Übel laughed. It was a short laugh, the kind of laugh that was more about showing teeth than expressing amusement. "Lernen knocked me out, killed my friend, and I woke up here."
Sense's expression did not change. "Interesting story. Good luck reaching the bottom of it."
She turned to walk away.
Übel sighed. She had not expected information from Sense. Interest was not something Sense was known for. She was about to say something else, something that might have been sharper, when someone walked along the hallway.
It was Lernen. He was walking with a silver haired elf and a priest. The elf was small, with green eyes that seemed to see everything and care about nothing. The priest was taller, with a tired face and a cigarette between his fingers.
Übel stepped forward. "Did you kill her?" she asked Lernen.
Lernen stopped. He looked at her, his expression calm, unreadable. "I was about to," he said. "But things changed."
Übel's eyes narrowed. "Changed how?"
Lernen did not answer. He gestured down the hall. "You should go downstairs. We will be holding the opening ceremony for the exam."
Übel shrugged. She did not argue. There was no point. Lernen was not the kind of person who explained himself. She began walking down the hall, her steps light, her staff over her shoulder.
She kept her eyes on the green eyes of the elf. The silver haired mage with the cold stare. She was familiar, somehow, though Übel could not remember where she had seen her before. The elf met her gaze without flinching, her expression blank, her hands clasped behind her back.
Übel walked past her. The elf did not move. She just stood there, watching, her green eyes following Übel until she disappeared around a corner.
Übel's smile faded. She did not like the look of that elf. She did not like the way she had stared, the way her eyes had seemed to see through everything, the way her presence had filled the hallway with something cold and heavy.
She kept walking. The stairs were ahead, leading down to the lobby, to the crowd of mages, to the opening ceremony that she did not care about.
But she could not shake the feeling that something was coming. Something big. Something that would change everything.