Meridian
Prologue
New Arrivals
Bordered by oceans to the south, dense forest to the east and steppes to the west with a mountain range like row of daggers dividing the two sat Meridian, the heartbeat of the modern world.
A city unlike any other; the foods were tastier, the women were prettier, skilled artists performed on every street corner. Museums and theatres, stadiums and sprawling libraries.
The world-renowned Meridian Academy, known even in the most distant corners of the world.
The city sat on the cutting edge of technology and culture, a place of infinite prospects and endless pleasures, a place where anything could happen. Anyone could build the life they wanted there as long as they had the foundations of talent, luck, and cleverness on which to build it.
At least, that was what Claudius’ grandfather had told him growing up. For his fifteen years of life, until today, Claudius had only ever lived in a town of a few hundred people on the edge of the Republics.
It had been a stroke of pivotal, life-changing luck for Claudius to encounter a professor from Meridian Academy in his hometown, and impress him enough with his abilities to gain a full scholarship to the school. That day he’d received a stone medallion as proof of his acceptance.
The train car, destined for Meridian and empty except for himself and an old woman knitting something – maybe a scarf – rumbled as it carried him towards a new life, one as a Meridian Academy student.
Though, it carried him at a snail’s pace.
He tapped his foot, drummed his fingers on his thigh, hummed, His clay hummingbird hovered in circles around his head. Nothing made the time go any faster, though there might be one way.
The old woman opposite him had not yet looked up from her knitting.
He reached into the satchel at his side and pulled out five identical clay hummingbirds. Each one with channels carved into it; pathways necessary for an Animator; just Claudius really, to direct their vitality through to manipulate it. It had taken dozens of attempts, rigorous trial and error to make them.
He placed the hummingbirds on the seat beside him and focused.
The channels filled with a blue-white light one by one and the constructs went from laying on their side to upright. Further concertation and the wings he’d carved extended, the rotors he’d carved in them spun until all six were in the air. No adult in his town could pilot six constructs at once, much less ones this complicated. Even his parents couldn’t.
Occasionally one bird would dip towards the ground, or another rise towards the ceiling until he reigned them in. The collective hovered level with one another.
Claudius whistled. The old woman looked up.
The Hummingbird Circus began.
He piloted the birds creating fantastic formations. He piloted them to form stars and mimic the phases of the moon, and ripples like a wave, made them dive towards each other and swerve only when avoiding collision seemed impossible, dive towards his own face and veer off only at the last minute. The hummingbirds spun and rotated, chased each other and flew in perfect coordination.
Claudius finished the performance by landed the birds on his outstretched arms and waited for the old woman’s awe with his best ‘bashful’ grin.
That was no easy feat, no one in his town could do better, no one could do even half as much, and so far, no one had responded to it with anything less than awe. This feat had convinced the professor that Claudius was worth admitting into Meridian Academy.
It had been pure luck that he was in town at the
The old woman gave a quaint smile, “That’s fantastic, dear, but can you please keep it down?”
Claudius’ smile faded and the train car felt silent for a moment. “Sure.” The hummingbirds collapsed onto the ground, lifeless once more. What’s going on? Old women always love the Hummingbird Circus.
“Old ladies always love the Hummingbird Circus,” He muttered to himself.
“Excuse me, dear?”
“Huh? Nothing.” Claudius said.
She must not have been an Animator; it wasn’t her fault she didn’t understand how impressive it was.
That was another aspect of Meridian to look forward to: the humanity. People from all over the world; Naturalists who could bend nature to their will, Transmuters who could shape metal with their minds.
Friends, lots, and lots of new friends. People his own age to spend time with, just people with whom to talk about his day, his family, the future. Anything really.
Outside the rolling plains sped by with Meridian far in the distance, still too far to even see.
…
Thorn savored the sensations of the forest as it thinned out around him: soft earth underfoot, the still fresh scent of rain, faint bird calls in the distance. He leaned against a nearby tree and took comfort in its solidity. Once this life was over and his body was returned to nature, he hoped his spirit would return in the form of a tree.
They were reliable and sturdy. They grew when nurtured and took care of those who take care of them.
The same could not be said of cities.
His weeks long journey from the heart of the Baiji Forest to Meridian had ended, but he was not glad to see it end.
The city had just come into view beyond the boundary of the forest. An ocean of grey and brown buildings, stretching high into the sky with the sea beyond it, buildings indistinguishable from one another. Thorn had never seen so little green in his life. Why would anyone choose to live here?
How could Elder Leaf ask him to come here of all places to learn the Faces of Nature?
Leaf had known each of the Faces better than anyone, why had he not taught Thorn more than the three he had before it was too late? What could be learned from a sprawling, formless, blight on nature itself?
Only Leaf had known, and he’d taken that answer with him when he died.
Thorn reached into his bag of supplies and pulled out a medallion. A simple wooden disc but one that allowed him entrance into Meridian Academy. Leaf had left it for him, along with the hope that he complete his education at that school, but Thorn understood his deeper meaning, Leaf was asking him to study, return, and succeed him as the pillar of their community.
He respected Leaf too much not to fulfill that final wish, even if the sea of grey did little to comfort him.
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He and Elder Root had returned Leaf’s body to nature and the next day he’d departed for Meridian to begin his education as soon as possible, now that goal was only a few hours away by foot.
He inhaled deeply and let the makeshift shoes he’d constructed out of Earth fall apart and reluctantly pulled a pair of shoes suitable for the city out of his bag and slipped them on. The discomfort of no longer being so closet connected the earth below was instant, but he set off all the same.
He would be in the city by noon.
…
Ciella sipped a cup of chilled tea from Don Ari’s Tea Shop under the shade of a table umbrella while scanning the crowd of passers-by for marks. In the past, any gold or silver jewelry, or expensive watch would have done, but now she targeted a specific sort of person.
Her gaze slid past anyone too young or old: fifteen at the youngest and rarely older than eighteen, anyone accompanied by more than a single person, and any person who registered to her instincts as too dangerous.
The afternoon had been a drought. Ciella was on the verge of trying her luck in at a different establishment on a different street when two girls took a seat at the table furthest from her and ordered.
One was confident with blonde curls, bright green eyes, and freckles while the other was withdrawn with mousey brown hair, wearing an orange scarf. The blonde wore a royal blue and gold jacket with a three-headed lily embroidered over her heart.
The Meridian Academy uniform.
Ciella decided to stay and eavesdrop.
“Don’t worry about a thing.” The blonde assured the shy girl. “It’s one of the best schools in the world for a reason. Even if you start falling behind the professors are always there to help. And once you graduate you can do almost anything you want!”
The shy girl still looked skeptical.
The blonde took her hands in her own, “And the students there are nice, you’ll make so many friends you won’t even know what to do with them.”
The shy girl frowned, “Me? I don’t think…”
“I’m serious, Melody” The blonde insisted. “The friends I made in my first year are like family now, I can’t imagine life without them. They’ve helped me through so much. Going there changed my life and I know it’ll change yours too.”
“Friends come so easy to you though…”
“And they will to you too! Although you might need to start telling more jokes. People like humour.”
“I don’t know,” Melody said, “It’s not just that. I can’t help but feel like someone else deserves that spot more than me.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a silver medallion and fiddled with it, the three headed lily visible on one side.
Ciella maintained her outwards indifference even as her heart raced. The shy girl, Melody, was the perfect mark. All she needed was to get close enough.
“No,” The blonde objected, “You earned it, you passed that test, you deserve it. If anyone tells you otherwise, tell them to take it up with me.” She opened her palm and a flame burst to life within it.
Melody groaned but a small smile came to her face. “You’re too much, Lily.”
Lily smiled back, “Just promise me that you’ll try to have a good time. Stop worrying so much about everything and just let yourself relax a bit, okay? And don’t fight making friends, it’ll make your time there a lot more fun. And I’ll show you around the campus after we get your uniform.” Her grin grew almost impossibly wide, “I just can’t wait for us to be schoolmates.”
Melody tentatively nodded, looking optimistic.
Ciella scowled.
A Naturalist. They were trouble to contend with, the burns across her stomach reminded her every day. She would have to wait and hope for a chance to catch Melody alone.
The pair of girls began talking about Meridian Academy, which classes Melody had to take and which ones she should avoid, which professors were boring, which third years were handsome, until the topic shifted from school matters to talking about their home lives and how they spent their day…
Each word grated on Ciella’s nerves more than the last. Would this conversation ever end? How long could they spend talking about inane matters like this? Mercifully after the better part of an hour, the pair of girls stood up, hugged, and said their goodbyes and split off in opposite directions.
Melody was walking towards her with her eyes trained on the ground and her purse hung lazily around her shoulder. Ciella waited a few moments before getting up to follow her, looking unbothered and bored of her surroundings all the while judging where to cut the straps on her purse and which direction to escape into.
A little bit further. She channeled vitality into her bangle and…
Her shoe caught on something and sent her to the sidewalk with all the grace of a building collapse.
Ciella cursed. Loudly.
The fall had scrapped both her hands bloody. Opening and closing them stung.
Damn it.
“Are you okay?” someone asked from in front of her.
It was Melody, offering her a hand while Ciella gawked at her like an idiot.
“I-” I’m fine.
Something in Melody’s eyes made the words catch in her throat, so Ciella just nodded, and against her better judgement, Ciella took her hand.
Melody helped her up, and once she noticed the bleeding, and wrapped her orange scarf around the worse of the two with a sympathetic grin. She looked intently at Ciella for a moment before her eyes lit up.
Melody stared intently at Ciella for a moment, before her eyes lit up. With an eager look she said, “The tea here is pretty good but I don’t think it’s worth that.” And pointed at Ciella’s hand.
Was that a…joke? Or rather an attempt at one?
Was this girl trying to befriend her?
No. It didn’t matter. Ciella was not here to make friends.
She willed her vitality into her bangle the psudanite responded to her. With a metallic crunch the bangle split open and straightened into a short rod. Then it reshaped itself at its master’s will, one side paring down to a fine but sharp edge.
Ciella slashed through the straps on Melody’s purse in an instant, clutched it against her stomach, and began running in the opposite direction.
Girls tended to freeze rather than chase right away, as though the shock of it cemented their feet in place. There was significant distance between them before footsteps pounded after her.
“Please! Come back!” Melody shouted, “Keep the purse! JUST PLEASE GIVE ME BACK MY MEDALLION! I’LL GIVE YO-” Her shouting broke into a cry of pain.
Ciella made her biggest mistake yet; turning around.
Melody was sprawled on the pavement, blood beginning to drop from her badly skinned forearms. Even this far away, tears clearly flowed from her eyes, which asked one question.
Why?
Ciella fished around the purse and her fingers closed around a familiar shape. Clutching the medallion, she let the purse fall the sidewalk, its contents scattering in her wake as she made her escape.
Experience had taught her not to celebrate too early.
The sidewalk rumbled underfoot and with the sound stone grinding on stone, a wall of jagged earth burst from the ground, at least as tall as Ciella herself, to block her path. Her brain had no time to process it, but her body moulded by years of experienced acted.
The pseudanite dagger elongated and curved into a hook. Ciella jumped as high as she could, latched her hook on top of the wall. Her shoulders muscles burned from the effort and her hands seared with pain, but she pulled herself up and over unharmed.
Almost.
The landing sent a sharp wave of pain through her ankle but if a little pain was enough to stop her, she would have never made it as a thief.
The wall of Earth crumbled a moment later. She turned to see who had raised it even though she knew in her heart.
The blonde, with one hand on the sidewalk and the other wrapped around a sobbing Melody and a small crowd gathered behind her. Her eyes were dry, piercing Ciella with an infinitely deeply loathing.
Loathing.
Disgust.
Hatred.
The wall must have been her final attempt, because though Ciella was wary of bolts of fire, or gusts of wind, nothing else assailed her, save for the feeling of the blonde girl’s baleful gaze on her.
Ciella cut hard left through streets and side streets to the point even she doubted she would have been able to follow her trail. In the alleyway between a tailor’s and an antique store, she slumped against a wall and caught her breath as the rush of adrenaline finally ended.
Her hand had bled all over the medallion; she had to wipe it onto her pant leg to see what was underneath.
The three headed lily accompanied by the five-digit serial number.
She let out a long sigh of relief that it was genuine.
Another medallion. One step closer to freedom.
Freedom from Ioro, freedom from Meridian, the worst city in the world.
Ciella slipped the medallion into one of her pockets and rejoined the flow of foot traffic onto Turlon Avenue, another unassuming citizen of Meridian, off to find a new location to search for a new mark.
Tomorrow, a different restaurant, a different part of town, the same goal as always.
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