Left

The Council closed the Akademe without saying why, but like all his fellow students, Neyik heard the rumors: the ancillary students left, and injured most of the senior professors in the process.

Turned out "left" was code for "fled" which was itself code for "escaped" — from Akademe mages trying to create perfect soldiers.  Wolves who walked as men; men who walked as wolves, wielding swords and claws and able to fend off even the cruelest of armies.

Or creators.

Afterword

When it comes to violence, there are generally two modes of thought. The most popular stance — the philosophy endorsed by most schools where I've worked — is best summed up by Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems.

This claim has bothered me since childhood.

Let's take this out of the realm of interpersonal conflict for a moment. While this story and afterword were prompted by the incident where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, this is not about that; my opinion is that I lack the context and cultural background to have an opinion on the incident.

Instead, let's think about veganism.