The Headmaster's office was a vast, circular chamber, usually a sanctuary of quiet authority, but now it was thick with tension and the low rumble of frustrated voices. Hamdal sat behind a massive desk carved from dark, petrified wood.
His posture was deceptively relaxed, his iconic gauntlets resting on the surface, but his sharp eyes missed nothing as he listened to the argument unfolding before him.
Standing opposite him were three of the Academy's most senior professors: Zarnak, Thorgar, still looking slightly shell-shocked from the battlefield and the close call and Rowena, the vice headmaster.
"It is utterly unforgivable!" Zarnak hissed, slapping a thick, bound ledger of Academy records onto the desk.
"Flint was under our noses for decades! His research into aura manipulation and dimensional ruptures was monitored, peer-reviewed, and signed off by all of us! How could we have missed his alliance with the Eclipse Beasts?"
