MEMORY FRAGMENT
Imperial Academy, 35 years ago.
No one knew exactly when the Imperial Academy was created. Depending on who was asked it ranged from the fourth Tamin emperor to fifty years before the empire itself. The only thing on which everyone agreed on was that it was the only place within the capital that valued skill, loyalty, and lineage in equal measure.
“Are you sure about this, your grace?” an overseer asked. He was middle-aged in appearance, wearing a single bronze ring on top of his black gloves. That ring was the only thing that differentiated him from the other overseers—an indication that he belonged to a specific family.
Here we go again, Countess Abella Usec thought.
The prodigy of her family, she was one of the main reasons for its rise in political power. A chance of birth, however, prevented her from becoming the next head. Technically, there was no reason for it. The empire had ended the practice three generations ago, but some of the older families desperately clung to it like a shield.
“Your brother was most insistent that you consider it further,” the overseer added.
“I’ve decided,” Abella said firmly.
“You can still become a noble, your grace.”
The woman turned around and looked at him. For the first time in days, a smile appeared on her face.
“I already am a noble,” she replied. “I’ve been one for a while.”
Left with no other option, the overseer bowed, then disappeared into the ground. Whatever ties Abella had with her family, they were now gone. No, rather they were put on hold. Imperial officers were still held in high regard; those who had become such voluntarily different from most. The countess was familiar with the game of nobles well enough to know this was a way for the imperial family to keep control of the nobles. Those who lost favor would send members of their family to join the imperial legions to make up for it; those who had earned too much favor would negotiate for their members to become instructors. Abella was different. Her decision was a combination of several things, not the least of which to anger her family.
Two metalins the size of buildings stood at the entrance of the academy. They were bigger than anything Abella had seen on the streets of the imperial palace. Surprisingly, the number of people in front of the gates was a lot less than she imagined. The imperial legion was composed of tens of thousands awakened all over the empire. The Academy, in contrast, was almost exclusively reserved for nobles from the capital itself. Then again, they were nobles in name only.
“Blessings and glory,” a woman in her late thirties said as Abella passed through the gate. According to her insignia, she was a sergeant in the imperial legion. Judging by the flawless state of her uniform, she had to be level fifty at least, possibly with some actual combat experience.
A large path made of crystal tiles continued to the main entrance of the main building. All candidates passed through there. It was said that at one time there had been three entrances, each only accepting candidates of particular levels. The low-level awakened would pass through the first, becoming common legionaries, the mid-levels would pass through the middle one becoming sergeants, and everyone above would pass through the third, becoming officers.
No such thing happened this time. The vast hall had only one entrance, and one corridor leading further on. Everything else was composed of space, statues and large marble desks, with people behind them. Each desk had a line of candidates in front of it—a novel concept. In the capital, waiting was a political statement—those with more power used it on those with less. Here, it appeared to be part of life.
After some hesitation, Abella went to the one with the least amount of people. The two candidates in front were quiet, not at all happy to be here. The family crests and emblems had been removed from their uniform in an attempt to reduce their shame, but that only made things worse.
“Next,” a bored woman in a cyan mage uniform said. By the looks of it, she didn’t enjoy being here either.
Curious about the procedure, Abella focused on everything that took place in front of her.
“Legionary,” the mage said, sliding an aether crystal along the marble desk. “Continue along the corridor.”
Terrified of the experience, the candidate didn’t ask any questions, just took the crystal and continued along.
That was it? Abella wondered. She imagined there being more to it. At the very least, she expected it to be like an awakening trial. There were no indications that the test had taken place in a realm—none of them had come in contact with a common item until well after the crystal had been given, and no spells seemed to have been used, at least as far as Abella could see.
“Next,” the mage said again, looking at Abella.
Right. The girl stepped forward.
“Remove your blocker items,” the mage said.
“I don’t have blocking items,” Abella said defiantly. Unlike most people in her family, she didn’t believe in such things. Like most high-level awakened, she liked to flaunt her level as much as possible for the sole reason that there wasn’t anything others could do. Information was power, but only up to a point.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I don’t have time for this.” The mage yawned.
“I don’t.” Abella crossed her arms in defiance.
The mage kept on looking at her expectantly for a few more seconds, then cast a spell. Her fingers moved through the air, then abruptly stopped.
Abella prepared herself mentally, ready for whatever the effects of the spell might be. Yet, the expression of shock that appeared moments later was on the mage’s face.
“Wait here.” The mage stood up.
“Why? What happened?”
The mage vanished without an answer. Seconds later, a pair of guards walked up to Abella, stopping a few feet away. Neither of them said a word, but she could tell by their body poses that they were ready to react. Unlike most of the people she’d seen, these were of a high level, possibly sixty or more. There was a good chance that she could take them nonetheless, but the victory would be short-lived. In a room full of mages, an awakened was just another commoner.
Several minutes passed. The other queues kept on going, evaluating candidates one after the other as if nothing had happened.
“Why are you keeping me here?” Abella asked over her shoulder. “Do you think I cheated?”
That was the usual accusation she got. Being a prodigy at sixteen wasn’t too unusual for the capital. Being a prodigy able to outshine everyone else—that caused suspicion. Her parents had been convinced that she had made use of a spell or artifact. On two occasions, they had brought mages from the Academy to examine her, trying to find the way in which she had boosted her power. Both times there was nothing to find, making everyone even more convinced that there was something fishy about it.
A green-robed mage appeared from the corridor, walking with a wide step. He was followed by the woman who had started all this.
“Is that the one?” the man asked, looking at Abella as if she were common-born.
“Yes, battle mage,” the woman said behind him.
With a flick of his hand, the battle mage caused the desk to split in two, each part moving to the side, so he could get to Abella. The action was impressive enough to cause her to tense up.
“Alright,” the man said. “Let’s see what we have here.”
Without warning, he placed his thumb on her forehead. There was no instance of pain, no warmth, no chill, just a very dry finger pressing into her skin.
“Why are you here?” the battle mage asked.
“To join the imperial legion,” Abella said without hesitation.
“Did anyone make you do it? Is your family in trouble?”
“My family has its troubles, but status isn’t one of them. I just came here because the Imperial Academy defines people based on their skill.”
The mage removed his thumb.
“Where are your echoes?” he asked, his tone softer than before.
“I removed them. I didn’t want to have any ties with anyone who wants to plan my whole life without having the skills for it.”
“Good speech. How long did you practice?”
The question made Abella feel insulted, but she held her tongue.
“Now tell me the real reason.”
“I wanted a challenge,” she said. “And to find a place where I could progress forward.”
“You’re a countess,” the battle mage noted. “Many would consider that the peak of development, especially here.”
“Titles are like clothes. I want to sharpen my skills. The imperial legion is the only place I can do that.”
“You know what? I think you’re full of crap.”
Two large bracelets of ice formed round Abella’s hands, binding them like massive shackles.
“All you want is to show off.”
Another pair appeared round her ankles.
“That’s why you accomplished a hundred achievements.”
One more appeared around her waist.
“That’s why you became a noble without telling anyone.”
One more formed around Abella’s neck. The girl instantly reacted, slamming the ice shackles of her hands together. The force with which she’d done it shattered the items into fragments, but moments later those fragments flew back into place, doubling in size as they did.
“And now you come here, knowing full well that legionaries must forsake their last gate. You wanted to show everyone how superior you are to them, right?”
“No! That’s not what I came here for!”
“No? What, then?”
The ice spread from her chains, enveloping the rest of her body. She could feel the icy chill and the pain that came with it. Her body trait was high enough to counter the effects for now, but her perception made the pain even more pronounced.
“Why are you really here?”
“To prove I’m better than anyone in my family!” Abella shouted. “To see how far I could get in a place that recognized skill and talent! To find others like me!”
Suddenly, the ice vanished. Abella looked around. After such a scene, she was expecting everyone in the hall to be staring at her. They weren’t. As far as their reactions, body movements, even expressions were concerned, nothing had changed at all.
“You see, my Academy also likes to show off,” the battle mage said. “You’ve been surrounded by a disfocus sphere. As far as everyone is concerned, I’m giving you a hard time regarding your arrogance.”
Aren’t you doing just that? Abella wondered.
“Did you come here to hide from your family, or just to show off?” he asked again.
“Just to show off.” There was no point in pretending at this point. Everything else was just a bonus. Deep inside, Abella wanted to become a legion general just so she could return to her family and shove it in their faces.
“Good. You’ll go through the standard training, then officer training, and then, if you don’t mess up, you might go further.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course, that’s assuming you still want to join the legions.”
Abella blinked. She was getting seriously mixed signals. Ever since she’d come here, she’d been ignored, accused of using artifacts, threatened, praised, and now… now she wasn’t even sure what this was.
“Everyone who joins severs all bonds with their family, and that includes titles.”
“I know.”
“It’s only at the emperor’s leisure that you might restore them, if at all.”
“Yes, I understand.” Abella was starting to get impatient.
“And I wasn’t joking about the level limit. Awakened up to level eighty can join, but only if they haven’t passed through the gate. You’re reached eighty-seven.”
“Clearly I’ll vow not to level up anymore.”
“Sweet child,” the battle mage sighed. “That’s not how it works. If you really want to join, you’ll have to have your awakening powers sealed.”
Abella felt a chill colder than any of the spells she had recently experienced. Every awakened dreaded having their powers sealed. Without awakening, they were nothing. They would retain their skills, their traits, even some of their abilities, but they would never be able to improve, to grow, or enter an awakened realm.
“The greater the ambition, the greater the sacrifice.” The mage placed her hand on her shoulder. “Do you still want to see this through?”
This was the moment of truth, the decision that would determine her life. However, in order to achieve what she wanted, Abella was asked to give up everything she had so far.