Caelan looked at the rotating rings inside the well, the rings moving in a consistent, circular motion, forming patterns with each other.

  "Are we ready to start?" Ilyen's voice echoed again. In her hands were pieces of paper and chalk.

  Caelan stepped back. He warmly smiled at her and walked towards her, ready for his final task of the punishment.

  The pattern looked exactly like how it was described and drawn in the book. However, seeing something on paper and in real life was very different, even if they were practically the same thing. Caelan could not take his eyes off this place, off the walls, the symbols, the dark environment. It felt almost… peaceful.

  "Here," Ilyen said, handing Caelan pieces of paper.

  The papers depicted a drawing of the pattern well. It showed its exact position, the exact carvings and symbols, and the exact measurements. Different papers showed different views, the front view, the side view, and the top view.

  Caelan eyed the papers carefully.

  "Our first task for today is to walk around the well and see if the symbols match the drawing," she said as she walked around him.

  "If they do not, you record it. Is that clear?"

  "Yes, ma'am," Caelan replied as he nodded.

  "Do not ask unnecessary questions. I will take the left side, you take the right." She slowly walked towards the left, her boots stamping on the stone ground.

  "Be precise. If you see anything out of the ordinary, do not touch it. You tell me immediately."

  Caelan moved towards the right. With one final look at each other, they began their tasks. Caelan walked around the rings from the right.

  He looked over at the walls and his drawing to see if the patterns matched. The walls were etched with layered geometric grooves drawn with thick chalk. The patterns reacted vertically and horizontally and appeared to grow. Long, interlocking spirals ran across the walls like veins, tightening and loosening as they intersected each other at precise points.

  When the well pulsed white light, the light travelled through these grooves as if the wall was breathing.

  Caelan took note of these patterns. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. He moved on and looked at another wall.

  This wall appeared to be broken, the patterns incomplete, as if an artist had moved on mid painting. Caelan noted this on his map.

  Throughout the task, Caelan found very minimal breaks in the pattern. They mostly appeared to align with the drawings.

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  "How many inconsistencies did you find?" asked Ilyen as she walked towards Caelan.

  "Just two," he replied calmly.

  She snatched the paper from his hands and eyed it carefully. She looked at Caelan with a smug look on her face.

  "Alright, the next step is to fix these patterns." She gave Caelan a piece of chalk.

  These were not regular classroom chalks. They were powdered binding compounds made from ground stone, mineral salt, and residues from the pattern well itself.

  These chalks were specifically used so that the drawings settled into the walls, preventing them from being eroded over time. However, the energy of the pattern wells caused the material to decay nonetheless.

  "So, Miss, this pattern well seems like it is in almost optimal condition. It seems to be functioning with very little damage. Am I right?" Caelan asked as he smiled.

  It was true. This pattern did seem almost perfect. But something did not seem right. If this was truly perfect, then why did the principal agree with him when Caelan theorised that the pattern was decaying? Was there something he was missing?

  "Do not ask idiotic questions," she replied coldly, walking in front of Caelan.

  Caelan's smile faded. He returned to a blank state.

  He walked around and began his second task, slowly completing the incomplete patterns by tracing the symbols with his chalk. He did so precisely, not making any errors.

  It was getting late at night. Caelan and Ilyen had already been there for a couple of hours.

  They completed almost all the tasks, ranging from recording symbol inconsistencies, completing patterns, walking around the well in rhythmic steps, performing rituals for stabilisation, and recording their findings twice, one for the academy and one for the empire itself.

  There was only one other task left, to record the intervals of white light pulsing from the well and the speed of the rotation of the rings to make sure it was consistent.

  Ilyen sighed. She had that look of just wanting to get this over with.

  She stepped back, standing a fixed distance from the well, aligning with the well's vertical axis.

  From her pocket, she took out a metallic device. It was a flat, hexagonal shaped disc made of dull silver metal. At its centre was a thin needle floating in a glass chamber. Concentric rings were engraved around the edges.

  It was a harmonic chronometer.

  She stood still and waited for the light to pulse.

  The light pulsed out of the well.

  The needle twitched.

  The light pulsed again.

  The needle twitched again.

  Ilyen recorded two more pulses. The time between them was fixed.

  She laid her attention on the rings outside the chronometer. They rotated in opposite directions with a fixed speed.

  Ilyen exhaled deeply.

  It was finally over.

  She walked over to Caelan.

  At that moment, the light pulsed more rapidly than before.

  Ilyen stopped.

  Caelan looked back at the well in alarm.

  The light pulsed again.

  Quicker.

  The needle twitched.

  It got quicker.

  And quicker.

  And quicker.

  Caelan's itch returned. He grunted in pain, his back aching.

  Ilyen’s heart pounded. Sweat dripped onto the floor.

  The rings on her device began to rotate faster.

  Caelan knelt to the ground. The pain worsened, stabbing through him.

  The space between them folded.

  The floor slipped away.

  The distance collapsed.

  Ilyen screamed.

  A gust of wind tore through the chamber.

  Caelan’s back ripped.

  He clawed at his uniform.

  The mark screamed.

  He tore the fabric open.

  His branch mark fractured.

  What emerged was an incomplete circular imprint carved into his flesh.

  Intricate geometry.

  Petal like symbols.

  Shifting.

  Alive.

  He screamed.

  Ilyen stared.

  Her face went pale.

  She had seen it before.

  "Why does he have that?"