Narvari followed Trixan to the massive screen on the wall.

“Twelve powerful families in Agon came together to form the Ancient Order of Vanquishers.” A world map appeared on the gigantic TV. Green dots blinked on several locations across all the continents on the world map.

“Now these twelve families called the Dominant Families, created the Twelve Schools responsible for protecting the Outer Sphere from demons.” Trixan gestured at the TV. “Each green dot shows the location of each school.”

There were eleven more schools other than Draghein School then? Narvari thought. She scanned the dots, unconsciously counting each of them. They were indeed twelve. Each name on the school was nothing she had seen or heard before. She gazed at the African continent.

What the hell? Narvari’s eyes almost fell out of her head. Draghein School was in Johannesburg? She was in South Africa right now? She was so far from home.

Wait, there were two schools in Africa. The green dot blinked in Cairo, the name Zoleris written above it.

Zoleris? Narvari lowered her eyes thoughtfully. As in Pheera and Zemeron Zoleris? But if there was a Zoleris School, why were the siblings in a different school? Or maybe it was just a coincidence they had the same name as the school. Zoleris was probably a common name in Agon.

“Each school has its jurisdiction,” Trixan continued. “Draghein School has jurisdiction over West and Southern Africa.”

Narvari pointed to the green dot in Cairo. “What about that one?”

“That is Zoleris School. They handle North and East Africa.”

Narvari quietly observed the rest of the schools. Just as Trixan said, they were scattered throughout the earth. Demons must be everywhere. How did they escape from Bezvar to Earth?

“Narvari.” Trixan interrupted her thoughts.

Narvari looked at the Elder.

“I know I’ve already said this, my dear, but I will say it again. I want you to join Draghein School.”

“Why? Just because I’m a vanquisher doesn’t mean I want to be part of your Order.”

“You’re not yet a vanquisher, my dear.”

“No? But I vanquished a demon.”

“True.” Trixan chuckled. “But you still need training, my dear. Draghein School can help you with that.”

“But I’m not interested.” She gazed firmly at Trixan. She had other plans. She needed to find her father. Also, she wanted to study zoology at the university. Learning the art of killing demons was not part of that plan. “Are you going to lock me up for refusing your offer?”

The fond smile didn’t leave Trixan’s face. “Why will I do that?”

“I don’t know.” Narvari shrugged. “Because I killed a Vessel without a license. Zemeron said that was illegal.”

“He did, huh?” Trixan chuckled. “Strange. I have never heard of such a law.”

“What?” That asshole.

A silence ensued between them for a while.

“My dear, I would like to help you reach your full potential.”

“My full potential?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Trixan nodded. “You awakened a fifth-order savaz. That’s unprecedented. You vanquished a powerful demon and Vessel all without training. I can only imagine what you will be capable of once you are well trained.”

“You think I fought those demons without training?” Narvari shook her head in disbelief. Why did they all keep assuming she had no training?

Did Trixan have any idea of the hellish training she went through from her father? Yabaga started training her as soon as she could walk. So what the hell did she mean by ‘without training?’

There was no way she could have passed the Captain’s Test without any training, nor would she have been able to defeat any of Stein’s men without any training.

“I am very well trained, Trixan.” Narvari folded her arms, facing her stubbornly. “Trust me.”

“There is no doubt you can fight,” said the Elder, not looking impressed. “Azmel did speak highly of your skill and I trust his judgment. But I’m not simply talking about your fighting prowess.”

Narvari narrowed her eyes. “Then what are you talking about?”

“Your stamina, my dear. It’s terrible.”

Narvari burst into laughter. Her stamina had never been a problem. On the contrary, she had too much stamina.

“I’m serious, my dear. You could hardly stand after your fight with the Vessel. And the last time you fought the wraith lord you went into a coma.”

“Well, of course, I did. I was hungry and exhausted. I mean that could happen to anyone after being in an intense fight with a demon, right?”

“Not exactly. What you experienced was sacros shock.”

“Sacros shock?”

“It happens when you use your sacros recklessly, especially without proper training. You need to train in sacred combat to effectively use your sacros or one day you just might drop dead from exhausting your sacros.”

Trixan paused as if she was pondering something very important. “I heard your fighting style is similar to sacred combat. Who taught you to fight?”

“My father.”

Narvari bit her lower lip. She thought she had imagined it too when she saw how similar Pheera’s fighting style was to Ntunomi. But the vanquishers called it sacred combat. They may not be the same, but they were too similar to simply discard as a coincidence. This made no sense. His grandfather introduced Ntunomi to the Kirriba. How could Erasmus Shar have known about sacred combat unless…

“Well, you can always train in Draghein School,” said Trixan. “You don’t have to worry about money. You will start earning it as soon as you become a professional vanquisher. Until then, the school will take care of all your expenses. You will only need to focus on your training until you’re a professional.”

Narvari sighed. “I don’t know. This is a lot, you know.”

“I understand, my dear.” Trixan nodded. “Take all the time you need to think about it. You can stay while you think about it. When you are certain you don’t want to join Draghein School, you can leave anytime.” Trixan cocked her head to the side. “Unless you want to go back home now.”

Narvari had already reconciled not going back home. There was nothing back there for her. All she wanted was to travel the world and hopefully find her father. Besides, she had to go to school.

Narvari sighed. “Going back home is not an option.”

Narvari’s thought wandered again, this time to her grandfather and how he knew about sacred combat. Of course, Ntunomi varied from sacred combat such that it adapted to the use of ordinary guns rather than savaz. But it was clear the martial art style was derived from sacred combat. Was it just a coincidence that her grandfather knew about this?

“Is everything all right, my dear?”

Narvari looked up at Trixan. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Have you ever heard of the name Erasmus Shar?”

“Erasmus Shar?” Trixan paused thoughtfully as though trying to remember the name, but her face came up blank. She shook her head in the negative. “I don’t think I know anyone by that name. Why?”

“Nothing,” said Narvari. “I was just wondering. He’s been dead for more than three decades. Maybe that’s why you don’t know his name.”

“Was he a vanquisher?”

Narvari’s heart raced. Previously, she would have thought it a ridiculous question. But the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Most of the stories about Erasmus Shar claimed that he had unreasonable strength.

This was something the vanquishers had. Moreover, there was the issue of Narvari herself awakening savaz. Trixan did say that people only awakened if they had ancestors from the Inner Sphere. If Narvari had awakened, then it meant that her grandfather was probably a vanquisher. Or at least, from Agon.

“Honestly I don’t know what he was.”

“I see. I don’t know that name. But I can find out if you want.”

“You’ll do that?”

“Of course, my dear.”

“Okay.” Narvari nodded. “Thank you.”

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stick around for a while to see how things turned out. She couldn’t just blindly jump into this. She had read books where people got brainwashed into believing they were special only to be roped into an evil organization pretending to be the savior of humankind. She didn’t want to be that person. While she was here in the school, she could learn a lot about what they really had going on.

“So,” Narvari said, rubbing her neck awkwardly, “is Pheera around?”

She would be able to learn a lot from the beautiful girl. Yes, that was absolutely the only reason she wanted to see Pheera.

Trixan smirked. Okay, why was this woman smiling at her like that?