"We've been expecting you, Mage Nithercott."

Military personnel guarded the doors, but within there were only researchers and assistants running the place. Long white corridors stretched in all directions. The place was at least four storeys tall, and god knows how many more sat underground. Madeleine whistled in Seiren's head, taking in the polished dome-shaped entrance hall through her wide eyes. Pulsing violet runes decorated the place, allowing rapid transfer of sealed boxes and information from laboratory to laboratory. Yellow runes sat above, illuminating the chamber in white light.

Seiren showed her identity as a mage – a tattoo sealed by a violet rune sitting on her left bicep, which would be removed on her retirement or expulsion. The same tattoo she'd used to 'register' her arrival at Bicknor. The assistants scribbled with vigour before taking her down one of the corridors to the right. The entire building on the outside was unlabelled, and on the inside it sat undecorated but well-runed and polished to within an inch of its life. Nothing indicated it was a research facility. Even the researchers didn't don the stereotypical whitecoats like they did in Benover and instead just wore casual clothing.

It's almost like they didn't want passers-by knowing they do research here. How odd.

You're mighty conspiratorial today, Madeleine.

"What other research goes on in this place?" she said to the two assistants leading the way. To her surprise, they exchanged uneasy looks before looking at her.

"Most of it is classified information that we can't share, so, uh..."

"So it can be anything." It wasn't surprising, really. Seiren's healing and life rune research wasn't illegal, but once it progressed to involving actual human lives with magic, it was a grey area. If word got out, many laymen would be unhappy with what she was doing, even if the council granted her permission and financed her work. Something similar going on right now in this place was hardly extraordinary.

They nodded.

"Is it only mages that get access here? Or do other researchers do their own stuff too?"

"The labs are mostly for mages doing academic stuff. Our researchers help out and do most of the paperwork and equipment work, but we do have a select few reserved for just researchers. They don't deal with the magic stuff, obviously. Mostly it's medical."

"Oh?" Seiren's interest was piqued. Perhaps she could speak to those researchers. "Like healing?"

"Like post-mortems."

"Oh."

Why would post-mortems happen here of all places?

Seiren voiced Madeleine's question out loud. This time they seemed more at ease.

"Oh, you don't know? We're right next to Bicknor Infirmary. It's the largest hospital in the east. People die, so sometimes families request post-mortems so the bodies get brought here. Our researchers help find the cause of death. Mage Rummage usually gives a hand."

She stopped, her mouth going dry.

"Mage... Rummage? Loren Rummage?"

Oh look, another person you should have made friendlier acquaintances with – and you didn't.

Shut it, Madeleine.

"Yes, Mage Rummage is a regular here. She works mostly up at the hospital but she comes by when it's one of her ex-patients undergoing post-mortem, so she knows what to say to the family and she helps out the pathologist."

"Loren Rummage knows healing runes?"

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

"I don't know if it's runes. She does a lot of magic and a lot of healing."

"I hear it's chaos magic, actually. I don't know the difference, but..."

Chaos magic?

Seiren recalled reading about this during the final year of King's. It was one of the newest branches of magic, discovered by accident by a doctor who was trying to merge healing with magic without the use of complex and difficult-to-decipher runes so that it could be used in emergencies or used by those less skilled in runing. Very little was written about it as nobody knew much, aside from its unruly nature, hence its namesake. She guessed Loren, who hadn't yet taken up a specialty in the tome of registered mages, chose that branch quite recently.

"Excuse me!"

She leapt out of the way, as did the two assistants. Two porters passed by, pushing a long box-shaped thing on wheels with the label 'Laboratory Eight' slapped on it.

Is that... a corpse?

Maybe. She squinted after it. No way to tell. It was well-sealed. They disappeared round the corner. Sunlight came through the tinted windows. Seiren had a feeling they were runed to be one-way only; nobody passing by – not that anybody passed by this remote place – would be able to see in.

Well it's not that remote. We're next to a hospital. Visitors and patients come and go. Nurses and stuff too.

Seiren wondered what secrets this institute held.

We should read up on chaos magic. If it has potential in healing people, we should know. Maybe we can add green runes to it. I don't think the doctor who discovered it was that proficient in rune magic, so that's a potential untapped.

Yeah. That's what we're doing tonight, then.

They stopped outside one of the laboratories, where two guards stood at alert.

"I need guards?" Seiren said in surprise.

"It's mandatory for state-permitted research, Mage Nithercott. They won't interfere. They're just here to make sure your research space stays out of bounds for everybody but you and selected personnel."

She glanced at the severe-faced men standing on either side in their vomit-green uniforms and shrugged. It wasn't her concern.

"Fine." The door slid open. There was a number eight marked upon the doorframe.

"We shall leave you be, Mage Nithercott."

Pompous lot, aren't they?

You're supposed to address a mage by their full title.

Yes, and I see you do that with both Rowan and Kommora Haigh.

Tall walls on all four sides greeted her, made of white marble. Runes pulsed in gentle colours along the edges of the wall. The door slid shut behind her. Shelves upon shelves lined the far wall on the right. A pile of books sat on the central circular table on one side and various rune-making instruments sat on the other. On closer inspection, the books were the ones she'd requested alongside her research submission to look into life runes. A letter sat upon it.

To Mage Nithercott, it read. You are warmly welcomed to Bicknor Research Institute. The Council of Mages have granted you financial and academic support in reference to your research proposal below:

Deconstruction of the basics of healing runes and application in regenerative human medicine.

Once a week you will be supplied a human cadaver for your personal use. In return, the research department at the Council of Mages will expect a written report on your experiments, results, and progress. Should you have any concerns, please contact...

They're giving you real cadavers? Real people?

They're dead, Madeleine.

But still... Madeleine balked. They used to be alive. Imagine if they pulled in my body. Or Mother's.

They won't. Thousands of mages had attended their funeral, seen the remains, oversaw the burials. Her chest tightened. She didn't want to be at the funeral, but she knew she needed one last look at them to confirm they were truly dead, back then. She got her wish before people started arriving. After being taken from the bloodbath of a crime scene, she'd taken lodging on the grounds of King's in return for small jobs done around the school. Her scholarship had guaranteed her spot to be retained as well as the financial means to fund her schooling, but nothing prepared her for the lonely life for the next six years.

You still had me.

Seiren shook her head, clearing her mind of the past. She tucked the letter in her cloak pocket and fingered the pile of books on her table. The Basics of Runes. Discovery and Application of Healing Runes. Advanced Runing. The Theory of Regenerative Medicine.

She made a mental note to request the book on chaos magic, too. She had a lot of reading to do.

Remember to vote!