Chapter 56: Chapter 57: Your carelessness brought death to Ivy
Nyx
Before I even stepped down from the bus, Irene’s voice sliced through the waiting crowd like a sharpened knife.
"Is Nyx dead?"
For a single, stunned second, I genuinely wondered how her brain was wired.
Not Is everyone okay? Not Who got hurt? Not even a basic What happened out there?
Just...
Is Nyx dead?
The question echoed in my exhausted mind as I slowly climbed down from the bus, every limb heavy with bone-deep fatigue that made even the simple act of moving feel like wading through thick mud. My muscles screamed in protest, my clothes still carried the faint metallic scent of smoke and blood, and my mind kept replaying the night’s horrors on an endless loop.
The moment my feet touched the solid ground outside the academy, I felt it immediately.
The stares.
Too many.
Too intense.
Too bitterly disappointed.
They washed over me in ugly, invisible waves the second the crowd realized I was alive, walking, breathing, and very much not a corpse. Not relief. Not concern. Not even polite shock. Just raw, unmistakable disappointment etched across dozens of faces. Students. Arbiters. They had expected to see my body carried out instead of Ivy’s. They would have preferred it.
The realization settled like ice in my chest, cold and heavy, pressing against my ribs until it hurt to breathe.
How could people look at another living person.... someone who had fought, bled, and survived the same nightmare they sent us into, and silently wish they were the one who hadn’t made it back? It was horrifying in its casual cruelty.
And somehow... not entirely surprising anymore.
After everything I had experienced since arriving at Altheris, I was starting to understand a very dark truth about this place and its people. They didn’t always need a real reason to hate someone.
Sometimes simply existing, taking up space, breathing the same air, refusing to fade quietly into the background, was more than enough.
The Sentinels moved quickly, taking Ivy’s covered body from Kaden’s arms with practiced efficiency. Even wrapped in makeshift cloth, the sight felt deeply wrong. Too still. Too quiet. Too final. The shape beneath the fabric was unnaturally rigid, a cruel reminder that the strong, sharp-tongued girl who had tried to kill me only hours earlier was now nothing more than dead weight.
I watched them carry her away, and for a brief, painful second, my stomach twisted violently. Just hours ago she had been alive, angry, calculating, full of venom and movement. She had pushed me toward death without hesitation. And now?
Gone.
Just like that.
Morvalis didn’t care how powerful you were. It didn’t care if you were human, pure vampire, werewolf or witches... gifted, feared, loved, or hated. It took whoever it wanted, whenever it wanted, in the most humiliating and quiet ways possible.
"It’s actually impressive," Ysara said after a long moment, her sharp, predatory eyes scanning our battered group. "The casualty count is remarkably low for a first expedition."
Low?
I almost laughed bitterly.
A person had literally died.
"It has never been recorded in Altheris history that a completely inexperienced group entered Morvalis and returned with only one death," she continued in that calm, clinical tone. "Usually entire teams are wiped out. Or at best, one or two broken survivors crawl back."
Her lips curved into a faint, almost approving smile.
"So... congratulations."
The word felt grotesque attached to death. Like we should be celebrating while carrying the weight of Ivy’s corpse.
Irene stepped forward slightly, staring at us with open disbelief coloring her features.
"So you’re telling me Ivy... a pure vampire... was the one who died?" she asked slowly, her voice laced with something ugly. "Out of all of you?"
There was clear venom hidden beneath the question. Something personal that made my skin crawl. Both Ivy and Irene were pure vampires, and from the way Irene spoke, Ivy’s death seemed to offend her entire understanding of the world. Like the natural order had been violated. Like someone else... preferably me... should have been the one who didn’t make it back.
"It’s good enough that most of you made it back alive," Mr. Asher said warmly as he approached, his tone a rare note of genuine kindness amid the cold judgment.
Unlike the others, his concern actually sounded real. His eyes flickered briefly toward Ashriel. Just for a second. A strange, loaded look passed between the brothers before Mr. Asher shifted his gaze to me instead and offered a small, subtle nod of acknowledgment.
Weird family.... Very weird family.
"But," Ysara continued smoothly, shattering the tiny moment of fragile peace, "you all still need to be punished for clear disobedience."
Kaden blinked in exhausted disbelief. "What disobedience?"
"You were specifically instructed not to venture deeper into Morvalis," she replied sharply. "You were ordered to remain strictly within the designated safe zone."
Safe zone.
Right.
Because nothing says "safe" like swarms of life-draining Blood Ants in the middle of a death forest.
"If you had stayed where you were instructed," Irene added coldly, "Ivy would still be alive."
Elion, standing protectively beside me, finally spoke for the first time since we arrived back.
"You sent us into Morvalis without any food," he said flatly, his voice carrying quiet steel. "If the monsters didn’t kill us, starvation would have finished the job."
Honestly?
Fair point.
I was still trying to wrap my head around what kind of academy thought sending starving teenagers into a lethal forest counted as valuable character development.
"Did Ivy die naturally?" Mrs. Selene asked carefully, choosing her words with visible caution. "Or was there another contributing cause?"
"She died because they ignored direct instructions," Mr. Kalen answered before any of us could respond. "That is the direct and foreseeable result of their actions."
"But we were hungry," Lyra said quietly, still looking pale and shaken from the night’s events.
"Several days of hunger would not have killed you," Mr. Patrick responded immediately, as if stating a simple fact of life.
I stared at him.
Several days?
Sir, respectfully....
What kind of psychopath says something like that so casually?
"Your carelessness ultimately brought death to Ivy," Irene declared firmly, her tone final.
Something inside me snapped just a little at that accusation.
"You didn’t even ask if Ivy was the reason we left the safe zone in the first place," I said before I could stop myself.
Several pairs of eyes turned toward me immediately, sharp and assessing.
Because seriously?
Not one of them had asked what actually happened out there.
Not one.
They had already decided we were guilty long before hearing a single detail.
"Are you trying to place the blame on the deceased?" Mr. Asher asked carefully, his voice neutral.
"Nobody’s blaming her," Kaden said quickly, trying to keep things from escalating. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But... Ivy was the one who first suggested we leave the safe zone."
He paused.
"We all agreed to it though."
Then, because apparently he lived to ruin whatever fragile peace I had left, he added....
"Except Nyx. She didn’t want to go because she was scared."
Wonderful.... Amazing.... Thank you so much, Kaden.
Very necessary information.
I folded my arms immediately. "Survival instincts aren’t cowardice."
Kaden snorted faintly. "Sure."
I ignored him.
Mostly because I was far too tired to fight properly right now.
"I went outside the safe zone first," Ashriel suddenly declared, his deep voice cutting through the growing tension like a blade.
The entire crowd fell silent for a heartbeat.
Even the professors looked slightly surprised that he had bothered speaking at all.
"It doesn’t matter who left first," Mr. Evander said eventually. "You all disobeyed direct instructions. Therefore, every single one of you will be punished."
I sighed deeply, the sound heavy with exhaustion.
At this point, arguing felt completely useless.
"Can you just tell us the punishment already?" I asked tiredly. "I need a shower."
Honestly, I needed several long showers. Maybe some emotional therapy. And food. Definitely food.
Kaden stared at me like I had personally betrayed humanity itself.
"I can’t believe you’re folding this easily."
I looked at him blankly.
"I already folded," I said honestly, too drained to pretend otherwise.
Everyone went quiet.
Because how else was I supposed to feel after realizing an entire crowd of people had silently hoped I wouldn’t make it back alive?
The moment all of them looked disappointed that I survived... I folded.
"It’s nothing serious," Ysara finally said. "You’ll simply run laps around the academy field."
Kaden blinked. "That’s it? Just one?"
"Yes," Mr. Asher replied dryly. "Would you prefer something worse?"
"...No."
"Can we at least eat first?" Theo asked weakly, looking like he might collapse at any moment. "I’m starving."
"No," Mr. Evander said immediately. "Now go."
Cruel..... Absolutely, unforgivably cruel.
So we went.
The academy field was already crowded with curious students watching us like we were some kind of live entertainment spectacle. I hated every single second of it, the whispers, the pointing, the judgmental eyes following our every exhausted step.
The moment we started running, reality hit me like a brutal slap.
I was beyond exhausted.
Not regular tired.
Not sleepy tired.
I felt like my entire body had been dragged through every circle of hell and then kicked repeatedly for entertainment.
Every muscle burned and ached.
My legs felt heavy and uncooperative.
My throat burned with every ragged breath.
And somehow we were still expected to run laps like this was normal punishment.
Beside me, Lyra was already breathing unevenly while Theo looked half-dead on his feet.
Meanwhile Ashriel...
Ashriel was operating on an entirely different level.
Before I had even finished half a lap, he had already completed one full circuit with infuriating ease.
I stared at him in exhausted disbelief.
What exactly was this man made of?
Darkness and suffering?
I opened my mouth to complain....
Then suddenly... Theo collapsed.
Hard.
Right onto the middle of the field.
My heart dropped instantly.
"What the hell?!" I shouted, stopping dead in my tracks.
