Chapter 45

Whispers of War

  The day whispers of war swept through the Sidherthan capital was a cold spring day. The type of day where nature itself was all too aware of how ominous the winds of change were. The Azani kingdom had long been emboldened by their lack of any true threats to the far southeast. Now entire generations of would-be shaman kings vied for land that were clasped with by the indomitable masters. Masters who managed to strike down the remaining high wood elf warriors and their spirit blades.

  Worse there were now claims that Sidhertha had such a warrior in their midst, one who wielded such a blade. The same man was also noted as having taken down a dragon and an Azani Death Squad. Such rumors only fueled the seeds of passion in the younger shaman. Shaman who were fourth and fifth sons of powerful Monarchs who ruled the different regions of the Azani empire, second largest in terms of usable land to Sidhertha. Of course, the frozen wastes of Piran were the true second largest empire, but most of those lands were uninhabitable mountains.

Everyone knew the true power was held in lands that could truly be worked by human hands.

  To help prove the time for destiny was now, Ajimal the Great had a vision while traversing the sacred deserts of scars and torment. During his journey he came to a black pillar where he prayed for three days and nights. Then on the third night he was rewarded with power beyond mortal comprehension.

  From that moment on Ajimal the Great went about banding together the different disparate war tribes into one unified banner. Ajimal started by conquering the strongest first, making it so the weaker forces quickly fell into line. Then once all the bands that would soon break off on their own from the empire were united. That is when Ajimal struck.

  The border town of Dunthir was the first to fall. Survivors who managed to get out on trains and blimps described the devastation as a black desert storm that destroyed everything in its wake.

***

  News of the invasion spread almost as quickly as the event itself. Within moments of the invasion warning crystals had been sent and shared with details of the battles. Then within two hours, the communications cut off. Only a few hours after that did the first trains with refugees arrive to the capital, followed shortly by the first lines of blimps that managed to escape as well.

  Then a cold silence filled the halls of the Academy as no one else came. All communications from the front had ended and all signs of refugees had ended four hours after that.

  The only part of the school that wasn’t affected by this revelation was the Research, Development, and Testing portion. There the one student who had the bad luck of choosing the assignment was hard at work. Over the next eighteen months he was to do one task to graduate. Come up with a design that would improve working conditions for the Sidherthan military, find a way to produce this design, then finally test the design in the field.

  Lykan for his part had been working on his project day and night for the better part of two months. After hearing about the workshop, and the resources that were provided to this task he devoted himself fully into working with the different aspects of industry.

  His first month he spent reading and memorizing the different runic formations that were currently being employed throughout the empire. Then hit by a flash of inspiration he spent every waking moment working on this final project. Every waking moment that was not devoted towards improving his martial prowess with unarmed aerial combat and aerial archery.

  While most of his skills had gone from Novice to Beginner, his magical abilities that all focused-on Qi had remained stagnant. Yet the more he looked at the runic structures before him, the more he saw the deep shade of Platinum that he saw throughout most of his time here at the Academy. That was why he chose this career path, not for any sort of acclaim. Instead, he followed the sources of potential that each career path seemed to offer. A few career opportunities were highlighted in Gold, with the majority being a dull silver. While only this class glowed with a deep Platinum color that he had grown so used to seeing during his time here.

  That reason alone was why he had chosen this career path.

  During his time here he had also called off training with the Sword Master and Shai’jan. While he had a replica sword on his hip, it felt hollow each time he held it in his hands. He had progressed so far so quickly that training with the two masters was more a waste of time.

Instead Lykan had started to use his time of fighting with Shai’jan to work on his unarmed combat skills. While he lost most often this way, he still found ways to improve his aerial combat.

  This was a dark time for Lykan as he still felt the void within his own body, within his soul that this spirit sword had taken residence in. From the stories he remembered how many of the high wood elven warriors would die shortly after their grand blades were broken and he now understood why.

  In truth he had been fortunate to only lose the sword and a few of his attributes. Had he not gained so many bonuses from his battle with the corrupted dragon, then he too would have been a fully broken warrior himself.

  Realizing how close he came to his own life story coming to a quick end, Lykan began prioritizing his time. Right now, he had one goal in mind, graduation.

  The sooner he could graduate, the sooner he could pay back his time to the Sidherthan military and be gone. That was likely why he had been drawn to this career path. It was eighteen months, or until completion of the task. Lykan had decided to go with the task completion portion. Each day that passed in his pursuit of his project counted twice in Lykan’s mind. That was why he began cutting himself off from everyone else.

He even refused an award ceremony for his actions with the dragons. Seeing his state and the way he had become so somber after having his sword destroyed everyone decided it would be best to give him space.

  Lykan used that space to work. During his time in the field, he saw the problem with the runes. How one overpowered dragon was able to easily blow past the defensive runes of the formation and potentially wreak havoc over the countryside. Had it not been for the Deadalist, the capitol class ship that was solely there to protect the royalty who was on-hand, then the entire northern fleet would have had to be called in to take down the one corrupted dragon.

  Well, there wasn’t just one, as apparently the entire flock that was seen was also corrupted. That flock and the unhatched young were all dispatched by Princess Ezma’s fleet of dragons who were on hand to witness his return.

  Ezma had been trying to reach him over the past few days, but he always managed to avoid her. In fact, Lykan now managed to avoid most people. His ability to sense the different powers of people going about the grounds had increased dramatically. Now there was barely anyone he couldn’t avoid if he chose.

  The only people he couldn’t avoid were the ones allowed in the same vocational hallway as him.

  “Hello Officer Candidate Vita.” The voice of Lawrence, the less annoying of the royal twins came by to speak with Lykan almost every day. Every day he kept his greetings cordial and never pried into what Lykan was doing of thinking, two things that Lykan greatly appreciated.

“Hello Third Prince of Sidhertha.” Lykan replied, never moving away from his intense focus on combining runes in a specific pattern.

  This was the one thing that Lawrence always admired most about Lykan, his ability to multi-task. There was no doubt that the man was fully committed to solving whatever problem was before him. Yet he still had enough presence of mind to keep up a fully engaging conversation.

“So have you heard?” Lawrence pressed. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t have heard back here. But the Azani have invaded. They say people can opt to graduate early, only suffering one loss of rank.”

  “Hmm.”

  “I figured you would be most interested in something like this.” Lawrence said.

  Lykan for his part just smiled, a coy smile that didn’t reach his eyes and replied, “why go in with a loss of rank, when I can graduate as normal.”

  Lawrence looked at him for a long moment. “We still have fifteen months left. I figured this was your chance to make it out, as you seem like you always have plans beyond here.”

  “I do. But my project is nearly complete.” Lykan said, rolling out from under the hull of a deflated blimp.

  “What?”

  “I’ve made two improvements. The first is on the defensive runes of our ships.” Lykan said, pointing to the intricately woven pattern of runes that seemed to flow out and around the ship in different interlacing schemas.

  “What does it do?”

  Lykan just smiled. “It should help repel major attacks like the one the Corrupted dragon wielded, while also diverting the energy into fuel storage containers that will be used to help power the ship.

  “What, so those were your two inventions?” He asked.

  Lykan just rubbed the back of his head. “No, that was just one.”

  “So, what was the second one.”

  “I invented this.” Lykan said holding up a cloth backpack with straps.

  “What is that?”

  “I call it a parachute.”

  “What does it do?”

  “When you pull this cord a giant canopy of cloth will come out, slowing your fall from great heights.”

  “Can’t you fly?”

  “Well, yes, I can, but not everyone can. While most crew know to tie themselves to the rigging of the ships, not everyone knows how to fly.” Lykan countered.

  Shaking his head Lawrence just blinked in amazement.

  Well, both should prove useful, Lawrence thought to himself as he looked at the inventions.

  “Now you do know the only problem with having created such great items?” Lawrence asked.

  Lykan nodded.

  “Yes, in order for them to be accepted, I need to be the one to personally test them in the field.” Lykan answered a note of finality to his words.

  “So, you mean it. Just like that you will be done with all of this?” Lawrence gestured towards the workshop around him. A workshop that had been specially funded this semester especially in an effort to keep Lykan satisfied with his choice.

  “Yes.”

  A pause came over Lawrence as he felt the need to know. “Can I ask why?”

  Lykan paused, then after a second’s hesitation answered. “Have you ever felt that you were incomplete? That you needed things that were beyond your current grasp? That right now you have reached the limit of what you can do. Or what you are meant to do at a particular time and place? That you need to move on, before your feet become submerged in endlessly shifting sand?”

  Lawrence paused, having never heard the normally reclusive Lykan speak so many thoughts all at one time. Then an idea came to him. “Is this because of your sword?”

  “No.” Lykan shot back too quickly. Then amended his statement, “well not entirely. I have gained a lot while here. Knowledge being the most important thing one can gain from an institution. But as for right now, I feel that I am being held back. That I will need to move about freely here shortly, something that would otherwise be denied to me.”

  Lawrence paused having heard something that seemed to resonate within himself. As the third son of a kingdom, he was little more than insurance, and a treaty procurement between Sidhertha and a neighboring country. He often felt shackled to the constraints of society, perhaps that was why Lawrence found himself talking most candidly to Lykan over the past few months. Then he remembered the person who made him take the first steps to befriend the relative stranger.

  “You know many people will be saddened to see you go.” Lawrence said.

  Lykan for his part looked confused by the statement. “Who?”

  Lawrence just shook his head at the statement. “Well, Telka for one. Kalana, Marcy, then there are any number of princesses. Not to mention me.” Lawrence threw in that last one to take off some of the sting of his words.

  Hearing that Lykan just paused. “Princesses? And who is Marcy?”

  Lykan’s mind had been so closed off due to stress over losing part of himself, that most mental connections were beyond him. He knew that Telka would feel a loss, but she was doing well as one of the prominent members of the Homestead Seven, Kalana was as well. So, to hear that they would miss him was not much, as they had others they could and did speak to regularly. As for princesses? He was at a complete loss. He was aware of Dathney now having the status of Princess, but she was always so calculating. As for Ezma, his first time meeting her was when he slew the dragon of her head bodyguard. He assumed that by missing him, Lawrence was likely referring to a dagger in the back.

  There was also the note of Lawrence’s sister, who tried to disable him completely in front of a crowd of people during an award ceremony that was forced upon him. That was partly why he refused to partake in a second such ceremony.

  “My friend, there is so much you still can learn about the world from within these very walls.” Lawrence said, as if this was a major selling point for staying.

  “You mean personal drama? Socializing and politicking?” Lykan asked.

  “Among other aspects, yes.”

  “Then count me out. I have seen the way people act when they think they have the upper hand.” Lykan said, thinking again of his two run-ins with the princesses.

  “Bold words coming from you.” Lawrence said.

  With that Lykan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Perhaps you are right, but I know I am not meant for politics. I also know that until my time in service is over, I will be nothing more than a pawn to others.”

  “So are we all. Until we manage to create our own game within the game.” Lawrence mused.

  “Well. It is time for me to put in my notice.” Lykan said.

  With that Lykan went over to the center of the room where a giant silver bell stood. Taking in a deep breath he breathed in, then breathed out before grabbing the giant hemp cord to the bell and began ringing the bell vigorously.

  Five bells were tolled, then a pause before five bells were tolled from the silver bell once more. A sign that not one, but two designs had been completed by someone wishing to be released from their binding contract early.

  This of course wasn’t the end of the contract, just the time that their binding contract would accrue days that needed to be paid back. With most students needing three days in the future to pay back every day of training this was an arduous amount of time.

  For Lykan he was looking at repaying fifteen months and four days. That was how long he had spent as a student at the Sidherthan Magi Academy, and since he joined as a simple one for one bronze contract his time spent repaying the debt incurred would be relatively minor. Well minor compared to others who would spend close to a decade in service under normal circumstances.

  Of course, the kingdom gaining the patterns was the original reason why they first came up with the process of letting students graduate early from the RDT section. Patents used to get out of military service, were donated by the student wishing to leave the Academy early. For the kingdom this was a relatively easy price to pay, it meant that all knowledge of the products made were to be kept by the school. Also, all proprietary knowledge of the items were confidential, meaning that should the RDT officer try to recreate a similar product as a civilian they would be levied with harsh punishments. All but ensuring that the government of Sidhertha kept the patents of the devices made and kept away future competition.

  There was also the added benefit that for most, a live testing was also fatal to the one applying. Only after the initial testing was made would minor changes be made to ensure problems done in the lab would not be repeated in reproduction. This meant the patents used by the government were of highest quality and often didn’t cost anything extra.

  While a researcher could develop a patent that they would keep the patents of, that just meant that the person could not use the patent as an excuse to leave the academy early.

  In Lykan’s case, none of these issues mattered. All that mattered to him was testing the validity of one of his patents to an acceptable level. Then leaving the Academy as early as possible.

  While he would never admit it, his battle with the corrupted psychic dragon had bothered him to his very core. While the loss of the sword and part of his soul had also been quite painful, Lykan couldn’t help but feel that more disasters like the corrupted dragons were going to become more prevalent as time went on. That was the true meaning behind his words to Lawrence, the true reason why he had begun to feel like he was being held back from his true calling.

  He didn’t know what the Wanderer class truly entailed, but he was certain that it didn’t mean he should spend his entire time here in academia.