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With access to the prima materia, the three students created an invention using the bathtub Helia had slept in below the Old Hall. It was their base material, and they turned it into a giant well that fused with the floor, sinking into it and turning the basement into a glowing pond, the bottom of which shone like volcanic glass.
They called their invention ‘The Arcanum Well’.
Then began the sacrifices. What they did was horrible—tricking that first student, William, into joining their friendship club, promising him that the otherworldly magic of the Well would transform him into something Other. Something better and stronger than his old self. After all, it was all he’d ever wanted.
But it was a lie. They planned to take from William his life and his magic, robbing him of everything, and in doing so, they would become something Other, something better and stronger than their old selves. All the things they’d promised to William—the things he’d never see.
William, being part warlock, yielded a venefica result. Sacrificing him to the Well would turn Erasmus, who would enter the fires of the Well after William, into a warlock.
From there, the three students—killers, all of them—performed so many procedures with the Well, so many deaths, that they became something the world had never seen before.
They were gifted with superhuman strength and speed; an unmatched sense of sight, touch, hearing, and smell. But their real gift came in the form of a magical, all-seeing ability they called ‘Sight’. The Sight turned their eyes black and allowed them to see auras and spells that were invisible to the naked eye.
At last satisfied with what they were, and no longer ashamed of the mortality they viewed as a curse, they began to add to the Phoenix Head Society, initiating new members they deemed worthy and granting them life as a hellseher. Once in a while, if a member acted out, they would throw them into the Well, using their monstrous creation to steal their life and powers.
Twelve members of the Phoenix Head Society held positions higher than the others. Erasmus, Helia, and Elix were at the top, of course. As the original members and creators of the Arcanum Well, their decisions went undisputed.
Then came Xinia Rose Croft, Bleddyn Sands, and Taega Tine, followed by the final six of the twelve.
And six of the twelve held the title of Keyholder, or Keeper of the Keys. The keys were created to protect what they had made—to keep anyone outside of the Phoenix Head Society from using or stealing their invention.
Changing themselves into something Other wasn’t easy to hide. Soon, people began to take notice. They were no longer the same as they once were, thus suspicions began to arise.
They made the difficult decision to drop out of school—to create new identities for themselves and hide the Well from the people who began to look for it.
By then, Elix’s conscience was so bothered by everything they’d done that he wanted no part in the society. And his girlfriend, Taega Tine, had already left—the first person to leave without facing repercussions for doing so.
The Phoenix Head Society broke apart. The friendships they’d built crumbled with distance and time, though most of all from regret. Society eventually accepted hellsehers like they did new breeds of monster, and the burning question of where they came from dulled with the passing of decades, allowing hellsehers to live without morbid curiosity nipping at their heels everywhere they went.
One day, many years down the line, Erasmus and Helia, now married and deeply in love, grew lonely. They used the Well—the machine that was being hunted by desperate people who’d dug up the secrets of the society, people who wanted a taste of power and immortality for themselves—to create a child. Helia, being born a goddess, was unable to have children, and the Well was powerless to change this.
After creating a precious mortal baby with the Well, they revisited the ancient serpent that had blessed them with their ultimate gift—
The world began to glitch. The girl and her dog stumbled back from fog and static that swept into that age-old cavern, and two blinks later they were teleported back to the first meal that had been devoured by the Well.
William—the one who later generations would call ‘The Staring Teenager’.
The Arcanum Well went up in flames, and William began to scream.
A death for a life.
The girl and her dog couldn’t stomach seeing it for a second time—couldn’t stomach watching any of this horrifying history any longer.
They fled, out the doors of the Old Hall. Across the dark and deserted school grounds. Through the gates, their spiritual bodies melting around the wrought-iron bars, and into the sprawling city glimmering with lights.
She wanted to cry. Cry and scream her lungs out, but no tears wet her eyes.
It wasn’t fair. They had tricked that poor student—killed him so they could take his life and magic and turn themselves into something Other.
And they did it again. And again. And again. So many lives taken, so many people gone. All for greed.
The girl ran, Singer at her side, her opalescent dress swishing about her legs. Through the dark and dirty streets of Angelthene’s upper districts and into the south, past the Meatpacking District and the hollow eyes that peered at her from thick shadows.
The monsters were out, but they paled in comparison to the ones who called themselves The Phoenix Head Society.
She did not stop running until she made it across town and into the district of Ebonfield. Only then did she slow her pace. With careful steps, golden blades of grass crunching under her bare feet, she approached the two dirt roads that intersected to form an X.
Not far from the roads sat a stone wishing fountain, its shape barely visible in the blur of night.
