“Your Grace, I have news regarding the incident last year.” A voice speaks from the shadow of the tree in a corner of the imperial garden.
“Have I not instructed you to stop reminding me of that failure of an acquisition?” The middle-aged man, calmly answers while flipping through a book underneath the shade of a majestic tree. “A mishap for a price so small yet with such bothersome consequences.”
He is dressed lavishly in blue, white, and gold to match his blonde hair and gray eyes, staring into the pages without actually reading them.
“Your Grace the girl who died, the one with the invaluable knowledge…” The shadow continues undeterred, knowing his master well. “She’s returned.”
Hearing the unexpected report the book snaps closed. “Continue!”
“She enrolled in the Academy just yesterday. Her circumstances over the past year are a mystery for now however her strength has surged. And she isn’t alone. She brought another one with-.”
The silent echo of footsteps interrupts the briefing.
Silence descends and the book opens up once more as another presence enters the garden. The heavily armored boots made next to no sound on the marble floor of the palace until a second ago and even now they approach with the grace of a cat.
“You Grace,” Bows the towering knight covered in armor from head to toe. “Inquisitors have arrived.” Speaks the Flamekeeper with a harsh, blaring deep voice.
“Noted, I’ll be right with them in a minute.” Comes the nonchalant answer despite the presence of the unnatural monstrosity.
The knight simply nods in acknowledgment and returns to where he came from. A man with the prowess of a thousand, merely a servant in the face of true authority.
“Do not lose sight of the girl again and learn as much as you can about the new arrival in the meantime! Also, I forbid any action we cannot allow for more failures.” The man, the voice of authority instructs. “She is but a tool slightly out of the ordinary and we’ve wasted enough resources as it is. We have our hands tied and the plan is far from ready… but time is on our side. Humanity will reclaim what is rightfully ours.” Orders the man before standing up to leave.
“As you wish. For the Cleansing!” Whispers the shadows as silence returns to the garden of the imperial palace.
----------------------------------------
The new bed was hella soft, yet foreign at the same time so my sleep was mediocre at best. The fact that my room lacks any personality didn’t help either so I’ll have to be extra nice today… Because I’m a little cranky right now and something needs to counterbalance that.
A few stretches, lots of groaning and I’m finally out of bed, dragging myself over to the set of clothes I found by the time I returned last night. It’s obviously a training uniform, meant to endure the wear and tear Melana has in store for us.
Man, I had fun yesterday… towards the end mostly, I can’t give a rat’s ass about all the other departments besides the artisan one. I guess I know where I’ll spend my days whenever I get bored.
The clothes themselves are not that much different from the ones the Fist provided us for combat practice with the main difference being the black and blue color theme. Black pants, a tight blue shirt, and some leather armor bits. Simple pauldrons, knee protection, a small chest plate, and hardened boots.
“You slept well?” I ask Valka as she emerges from her room, dressed like me just without the protection.
To be fair I also find extra protection most of the time but unlike me, she doesn’t need it.
We had a serious discussion with Bennett and Martha about how viable armor would be for her and the conclusion was… She would last longer than any set or armor we could justify commissioning.
To top it off Val straight up refused heavy armor while anything lighter would be torn to shreds in any serious engagement considering her style. Her wounds would heal, but the material would not.
“Better than back in the forest.” I belatedly answer after some more stretches.
“That’s not a high praise. Why do we even have to do this before breakfast?” She ties her hair in a ponytail and tears open the room's door.
“Beats me.” I give myself a quick face wash of water and air magic. “We should go, the others are waiting and I don’t want to arrive last on our day of debut.”
Our other two roommates are either still asleep or just not that excited to see us so we just leave without a word. We’re not quite friends yet because I’m not the social type but otherwise I think we’ll be okay living under the same roof.
We head to the park between the dorms where we’re meant to meet up with the others. The corridors are largely deserted just minutes after the first light of Solaire touches the face of Aelion so we can avoid any curious eyes regarding our unique outfits.
The grass outside is a little damp and the weather is almost chilly compared to a few weeks earlier when summer was still in full swing. I’ll take it, plenty of water to work with and all the magic I need to dry and warm myself. Sucks to be anything but me.
“I heard you acted like a maniac after we left.” Victor skips the greeting and jumps straight to the point. Gossip sure spreads fast.
“Shush, can’t a girl have fun?” I grunt, accompanied by a mighty yawn.
Maybe I’d been a little too enthusiastic yesterday, that’s all.
“Enough fun to skip the Mana Department?” Victor raises an eyebrow and all my confidence shatters.
“Crap.” I completely forgot. “Maybe today?” I offer.
“Oh, you’re on your own this time. I’m not your nanny.” Victor says without a hint of jest.
“It’s gonna be fine Eli. And look at you… You two look so pretty.” Kayla quickly circles around us in our new outfits.
A rare moment for her to be firmly on point. I only need maybe a year or three to catch up to Val in the curves department, and then all the fine specimens will be asking me out instead of her. Hehehe, yes, my time will come.
August, Kayla, and Victor are all wearing the same training clothes to no one’s surprise, although Kayla seems to have ditched the armored bits just like the brute by my side. Not the wisest of decisions.
I know we wiped the floor with the fillers the Fist sent along with us this year but that just makes me curious… Could the two of us defeat these three, all of them versus us? If all stops are pulled… maybe.
“Good morning to you too.” Valka adds the part we all missed.
She’s still not close enough with the others to waive pleasantries like that. Although that’s hardly surprising considering August is a human with a face begging to be hit and Kayla is an elf. Victor is just… he’s too smooth, too easy to get along, it’s suspicious. And he’s a human to make it worse.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I’ve known those three for years now so the only greeting between us in the morning is ‘You look like shit’ and when the others sneeze we just tell them to stop it. It might seem like we’re rude and don’t get along all that well and… yeah, it’s a weird love-hate relationship.
“Please tell me we’re not heading to the tiny forest, that’s the other side of the island.” I whine as we start walking in that direction.
I probably won’t be allowed to use fire there.
“The Combat Department has its own building you know, the fanciest of them all.” Victor cheekily throws us a morsel of information.
That can’t be… We visited everything special around the main building and none of those belo-
“Oh, it’s the arena isn’t it?” I ask.
“Nice of you to prove your intelligence is not all just talk.” August finally opens his mouth and I wish he didn’t.
***
Well, the arena looks… as impressive up close as it did when we crossed the bridge to the Academy Island. Big, circular, and majestic, clearly built on an unlimited budget in case any tournaments are held here for outside audiences. While the exterior was jawdropping the inside is just a less haphazard version of the courtyard in Fort Karon. Okay, it’s also larger, and houses way more inscriptions, constantly drawing my attention away from the people in the middle.
But the main purpose of the two is the same.
Ten or so students along with with Melana and another older man who’s obviously a professor lock their gazes on us as we enter the arena, led by the second-year trio.
“Ah, last year's stars grace us with their presence,” The woman announces boisterously. “The young aces of the Academy.” Then her grin widens. “But then what does that make the two behind them? Veterans, devils, cheats?” She giggles and shakes her head. “No, let me introduce to you the real deal.”
Why the hell do you have to make things complicated, woman? So what if we’re better, it’s plain to see so stop pitting all of them against us!
It’s far from my first time being in the role of the common enemy everyone else has to work hard to reach. A goal not too distant to work towards yet just bright enough.
“Jokes aside, go and meet the others while we wait for the third years. Just because you’re a darling of the Fist doesn’t mean your spot in any tournament is guaranteed. As you might’ve realized by now levels and Skills only amount to so much. Fight like a fool and you’ll find yourself on the bench.” Melana turns serious and nods towards the rest of the students watching us.
This is the part I was not looking forward to. Meeting new people is a hassle.
***
I learned a bunch of names I probably won’t remember by the end of the day except for a few interesting faces.
The average level at my age is a respectable 90 but I feel like both the Academy and the sponsors of these students will try to bump up their levels by the end of this year. That’s when the tournaments usually start and it’s our time to shine.
Kids my year are even less outstanding. I’m aware judging the book by its level is not a wise course of action but too much caution can also be damaging. Although, even with the restrictions placed on me I think I’d be the favorite in any fight against these greenhorns.
All except two.
[Rogue lvl 95]
[Warrior 98]
The first one seems to be an elf girl with chocolate skin and silvery hair a bit more metallic than Valka’s snow-white mane. Her eyes are yellow and like those of a predator, constantly scanning everyone around like a predator.
When our eyes meet she holds my gaze as if challenging me and trying to assert dominance but it’s no more effective than staring at Fluff. That cute little bugger.
You’re far from the strangest being I ever faced, girl. The killing intent and threat behind your gaze mean nothing.
I don’t like those eyes and will show my dislike if she keeps trying me.
The other boy is as human as they get. Not too tall, not too bulky, brown-haired, and blue-eyed like Victor. Unlike the girl he doesn’t stare at our eyes but at our mouths, and the movements of our bodies. Also, unlike the girl who seems wild and aggressive, the boy is weird in an unsettling way.
Their names are the only ones I’ll try to remember, Thalia and Gordon.
“What’s wrong with them?” I ask Kayla, throwing any subtlety to the wind. She will have to do since Victor is not available at the moment.
“Oh, I knew you would like them.” She comes closer and starts gossiping. “They are like us.” No surprise there, considering the number of students, the lack of any other Blessed would’ve been weird actually. “Thalia is a dark elf, a branch species living in caves and mostly in the Endless Gorge somewhere in the Elder Forest.”
“Stop right there!” I interrupt. “How can anybody live there? I don’t think anyone would last more than a day, let alone call the Forest their home.”
“They play tag and hide and seek in the caves deep below the woods. It’s dangerous but liveable.” Kayla shrugs, likely because she only heard the tales and hasn't seen the real deal yet. “Gordon is deaf.”
Okay, that second explanation was a bit too simple in comparison.
“The voice in deaf people’s heads, how do you think it sounds?” Valka drops the most random question I’ve heard in a while.
“You have voices in your head?” Kayla grabs her hand worriedly.
“When you have a thought process or a plan… Don’t you?”
“No, I just imagine things happening, images and stuff.” Kayla shakes her head. “Eli you-”
“Both.” I massage my temples, hoping this is just a bad dream and I’m about to wake up any second now.
Before the conversation could continue someone taps my shoulder and I see Gordon waiting behind me patiently. He simply nods and points a finger upward.
I think in images too. The words form out of pure light, snaking out of his fingertip.
“Ah, so it was all a lie, he can hear us after all!” Valka points at the boy accusingly.
“He’s reading our lips, you dumbass.” August speaks up again after a long while, only to insult someone as usual.
“Shut your trap or I’ll shut it for you again.” Comes Val’s response. A promise, not a threat. “So what about him?” She points towards a human boy so small I’m not even sure he meets the Academy’s age requirement of twelve years.
“I don’t know.” Kayla shrugs.
“What do you mean?” I try to get a proper answer out of her.
“He’s new, I’ve never seen him before. From what I’ve heard… he might be like us.”
[Ranger lvl 92]
Is that so? If we account for the restriction they’ll place on us – whatever that might be – then this shorty is real competition. Another interesting face.
After a little chitchat, the big boys arrive like a real unit, marching onto the field of the arena as if they own the place. Both bracelets and their looks make their seniority obvious and…
[Warrior lvl 139]
[Rogue lvl 142]
[Mage lvl 147]
[Warrior lvl 151]
…
That’s… a bit disappointing I’m not gonna lie. The highest level among them is 152 which is only thirty or so levels above me despite being at least a year older.
Although judging by the beard that one’s growing he might as well be much older.
Unlike the previous lukewarm introductions, the older batch does not even bother learning our names. They have an air of superiority surrounding them, confidence and poise their juniors showed no sign of.
However, that’s merely an act. There’s attentiveness and curiosity in their eyes, the gazes of a warrior measuring their opponent. Either their generation is something special or Melana raised them well.
Honestly, I would not bet on myself against any of them.
“Prick up your ears tiny terrors.” Melana addresses us, even though some of the students here are bigger than her, like Val. “I’m aware most of you know the drill and the workings of most tournaments but we’ve got new faces so I’ll go over them again.”
Her speech doesn’t drag on too long and basically boils down to this; different schools compete in many different areas, however, combat is one of the most important of them all. The quality of the students they raise hints at the military potential of the nations so many judging eyes will watch all our matches. There will be three different age groups and three different events. A person can only participate in two events per tournament.
Why is that? So people like Val and me don’t just bag all the wins.
The three main combat events are duels, free-for-all, and team combat. Long-distance archery, horseback dueling, and other such delicacies receive less attention but they’re also prime opportunities to show off one’s prowess.
It’s extremely simple really and I hope someone else, anyone, has to go and deal with the duels because… I just don’t like the idea of showing off in front of a large crowd. Even the idea of it feels uncomfortable.
“Okay, now that we all know what’s ahead of us, start running!” Melana smiles.
You gotta be shitting me… even here?