Military School of Peacius, Nation of Peacius, 5th Seudi 1325
I opened my eyes to a starry sky. There were no clouds blocking my view. The moon shone serenely on the land. As if it was a mother looking at her child sleeping soundly. I looked down and saw a familiar silhouette of a city. Then I remembered that it was the burning city that I saw in my nap back in middle school.
Right after remembering the last time I saw the familiarly unknown city, I was abruptly woken up by consistent needle stabs to my right arm.
“Rise and shine, Mr Fainter. You sure love to faint here and there huh? I’ll cut right to the chase. I can’t afford for you to sleep any longer. You need to choose and start training on your specialization now.” hurried Henri as he continued to stab and inject me with syringes that are filled with a translucent pale blue liquid.
When I was clear enough to realise what he was doing I violently retracted my right arm from his hands.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I shouted.
“Just injecting you with mana to speed up your recovery. Don’t worry, I did not inject your master hand,” he replied nonchalantly while keeping the unused syringes in a small wooden box and got up to leave the room. “Now, get up and change into your physical training kit before meeting me in the parade square.”
My mind was still in a blurry state. I fumbled around trying to find the shirt and pants. As I fumbled around, I began to remember what happened before I fainted.
“OH RIGHT! I WAS DECLARED TO HAVE A LOOOOT OF MANA!” I thought out loud as my face drew a bright smile. I became fully awake with an abundance of energy. It felt as though I could do anything!
“SHUT THE FUCK UP DUDE. IT’S A SATURDAY MORNING, LET ME US SLEEP! HOLY SHIT.”
I felt as if this happened before, someone telling me to shut up. Finally, I found the kit and quickly changed out before heading down to the parade square.
Standing at the front of the parade square was Henri and a table by his side. On the table sat a few different palm-sized coloured crystals. I looked at him for an explanation about what were the crystals for.
“In case you’re wondering. Your class has already chosen their specialisations and started their specialisation training while you were still unconscious. Now, you are to choose which magic element catalyst to use to awaken your specialisation. Red is for fire, blue is for water, transparent is for air and brown is for earth. There are other elements but their catalysts and users are too rare to find. Make your choice now.”
“Ermm…” I stroked my chin while glancing at each of the catalysts. “ I’ll-”
“By the way, everyone is to dedicate one of their specialisations to body enhancement magics which does not use a catalyst. However, even if you have a lot of mana. I can only allow you to choose one other specialisation to make it easier to teach. Additionally, because of the lack of time.”
The limitation stated by Henri introduced a dilemma in my mind. My main goal, for now, was to uncover the truth of the desert. Which catalyst is going to be beneficial for me in the journey? The question bugged me in that few seconds of thinking. I was stuck between fire and water since they seem to be the most helpful to me in my journey to the answer. Fire keeps me warm in a cold desert night but water keeps me hydrated in a dry environment.
I couldn’t think further as Henri stared daggers at me, silently forcing me to quickly choose. I started to panic slightly as my choice will affect me greatly in the future. That’s what I know.
“Er… Ermm..”
“Will you please hurry up. I don’t have all day to help you catch up.”
“ARGH. Fine! I’ll take fire!” I was annoyed at the fact that I wasn’t given enough time to make a life-changing decision.
“Good choice. Now catch the catalyst,” said Henri as he threw the red crystal at me as he would to a ball.
Being surprised as to how someone could throw something precious, I flailed my arms around trying to catch the crystal. The crystal plopped itself onto my hands as if my hands were magnets and the crystal was a magnetic material. As my fingers wrapped themselves around the crystals, it started to glow and become warmer. Before long, it burst into flames and suddenly it engulfed my whole body.
I staggered around and threw myself onto the floor thinking that I was burning to death.
“AHHHH HELP ME!”
“AHAHAHAH! Control yourself and pay more attention to your other senses other than your sight.”
Hearing Henri’s suggestion, I desperately gathered my attention and focus on my other senses. I don’t even feel the slightest heat on my skin yet the flames were still raging on before they suddenly disappeared into thin air.
*poof*
“Alright, now your specialisation has been awakened. Let us waste no time in training. Somewhat expecting your choice, I have brought along a more suitable person to train you in the fiery art of fire.”
As if he was announcing a winner of a competition. Henri stood aside, bowed down ninety degrees and raised his arms to direct some from behind him towards me. After the introduction, Henri glided back into the dorms silently trying not to interrupt anything.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
*sha…sha…sha..*
I turned my head from Henri to a tall familiar figure walking towards me as the rising sun shone behind him.
“Teiga, it has been quite a while, hasn’t it?” said the man.
As white clouds began to move in front of the orange sun like curtains, the man’s facial features became clearer. The man standing before me is Levi Ura, my father.
“My father. I am deeply apologetic for disgracing the clan in not being able to enrol in a prestigious school,” by instinct I knelt down on one knee and lowered my head in guilt.
“Rise, my son. Now is not the time to be guilty or what not. The clan values result over anything else. No matter the situation. And now I am your instructor, address me as one would to an instructor.” Commanded Levi as he stretched himself as if preparing to duel with someone.
I quickly stood up and replied, “Yes, si-”
Before I could finish my sentence, a ball of flames struck me and somehow only burned off my shirt.
“Oh right, I should work on your body enhancement first…”
I was dumbfounded by the sudden hostility from a parental figure.
“Look here, cadet. At my hands. I am going to show you how to strengthen your body. I’ll make my mana channelling visible.”
Pale blue “gas” started flowing from Levi’s torso into both of his arms. As the “gas” continued to gather in his arms, he took in a deep breath and raised his right arm into the air and slammed it into the ground in front of him.
*kah.. keh…*
I coughed as the impact raised a huge light brown dust cloud. My eyes were also stinging from the dust and face was sprinkled with dust.
Straightaway, Levi swiped his left around him and the dust cloud was blown away with a strong gust of wind instantaneously.
“Saw how powerful mana can make your body?” asked Levi as he shook his arms to shake off the dust while mana was still being channelled. “The only difficulty is to maintain the channelling. Believe it or not, most people can’t maintain the channelling for even 2 minutes.”
I silently nodded my head in awe. Without realising that almost 2 minutes have passed when my father started the channelling.
“Now, I want you to try to do the same thing as I did. Slam the ground and swipe away the dust cloud.” Commanded Levi as he stopped enhancing his arms and folded them.
I hesitated for a bit as I remembered my past failures in mana manipulation.
“What are you waiting for? For your death to arrive?” questioned Levi with audible agitation in his voice. “I will give you one simple hint. Imagine that you are moving something from your body to your other body parts. Be it water or blood.”
Hearing the advice, I closed my eyes and imagined blood being pumped to my arms. Suddenly, I felt faint tickling the insides of my arms.
*swish…*
As sudden as the tickling appeared, it disappeared. I opened my eyes to see that nothing changed.
“Oh right, the ring…” mumbled Levi as he face-palmed himself as he jogged towards me.
Cold sweat started to break out on my arms and face as my father approached me. It was as though I was prey and a predator sneaked around me. I shut my eyes in preparation from some sort of punishment. Instead, I sensed something break on my right index finger. And the only thing on my index finger was the ring Henri gave me.
I slowly opened my eyes and only saw a red mark on where the ring was supposed to be. My body became lighter as if a weight was lifted from my body.
“There, now try it again.”
I hesitated for a bit again before trying to imagine blood being pumped to my hands. The tickling sensation returned. My muscles started pulsating. I gently opened my eyes hoping that it was a success. Then I remembered that mana can’t be seen by the naked eyes. So, I took a leap of faith and slammed the ground with all my strength.
Expecting my hands to be hurting after the slam, I flinched. Surprisingly, my hands felt nothing. However, the dust cloud that I raised was nothing compared to what my father raised. Thinking that the dust cloud was too small for me to even bother swiping it away, I did not use my left hand to swipe it.
“Where did your swiping go? Shall I use your face to swipe instead?” questioned Levi sternly.
I didn’t dare to even look at my father’s feet.
“Where. Is. Your. Swipe.” this time there wasn’t even a hint of questioning but command.
“YES, SIR!” I screamed in instinct.
I proceeded to use my left hand and threw it in front of me with all my strength. I felt stupid and embarrassed as there wasn’t even anything to swipe away.
“What a nice gentle breeze that you created. Continue on. Don’t stop the channelling.”
I blindly followed my father’s orders and continued to channel mana into arms and continue with the routine.
Punch. Swipe. Punch. Swipe. Punch. Swipe. Punch. Swipe. Pun…
The tickling sensation was long gone but the soreness in my arm just began. My movements slowed to a stop. Mana was gradually being restricted.
“Who said that you could stop!” shouted Levi as he tapped his right feet in annoyance.
More terrified at what my father would do to me if I stopped than what could happen to my body if I didn’t. I forced myself to endure through the routine.
The afternoon sun rested on an invisible pedestal while glaring down on me. Even though I was half-naked, my body was on the verge of overheating. Droplets of sweat squeezed themselves out of my pores and formed tiny streams along my body. I was clueless about how many sets of the routine was finished and I couldn’t care to count when my body was reaching its limits.
My mouth was dry and shrivelled up like a piece of dead leaf on the ground. My arms were going to fall off, that was what my brain was telling me even though they were visibly still securely attached to the main body.
“One more set, Teiga! Then we shall rest.”
Hearing that relieving phrase, I felt motivated again to put in my all in the last set.
I imagined my heart forcefully pumping all the blood in my body to my arms. I swiftly punched the ground as hard as possible. Immediately, a dust cloud as large if not bigger than my father’s raised up in response to the call of my fist. Annoyed at the dust cloud, I slapped the dust cloud as if I was slapping Fredrik with the intention to knock his head off.
*SWISHHHH*
The dust cloud swirled before disappearing. Seeing how I completed the last set, I back onto the ground while instinctively directing a bit of mana to my back to brace for the impact. I looked at the light blue afternoon sky with a few white fluffy clouds gliding past my line of vision. I never felt so relaxed before. Even with the soreness, I felt good in my mind.
*Clap. Clap. Clap*
“Well done, Teiga. I’m impressed you managed to maintain your mana channelling for so long. Now let us go have some lunch.” suggested Levi with a gentle smile on his rough looking face. He placed his hands behind his back before setting off for the dorms.
I tardily stood up and looked at the back of my father. His broad shoulders and scarred arms. Features I’ve never noticed before at home. I wondered, why did I not notice those features until now? As if not letting me come to a conclusion, my father turned around and screamed at me to catch up.
“YES, MY FATHER!”
***
Xenis Battalion’s Headquarters, Empire of Noct, 5th Seudi 1325
“General Kogher, soldier recruitment has been completed and training has begun in full force.”
“Very well, what about the planning of the invasion of the city of Hemia of Alantieus. How goes the progress of the strategists, Vice-General Ito.”
“They are still bickering over the routes, formations and-”
“Enough! I am going to their meeting room personally.” interrupted Kogher Bajer with visible anger on his face as he swung around his black cape that draped to his calves. His sheathed longsword, the Deathreaper knocked his jet-black armour occasionally as if excited to taste blood.
“Yes, sir!” replied Ito as he trailed behind the towering General.
*BOOM*
The wooden doors fell apart as Kogher kicked it open and splinters flew in all directions.
In the room, stood 3 middle-aged men in white robes standing around a large table with a detailed map of the Empire of Alantieus. Not realising that their meeting was going to be interrupted by the General, they continued to shout at each other. Arguing whose suggestion is the best.
“My suggestion is the best…” murmured Kogher. “That suggestion is to get rid of all of you…”
Without warning, the General unsheathed his sword and deftly decapitated all 3 strategists in one strike. Their mouths were still in the midst of moving to voice their opinions as they died. Blood splattered from the arteries in their neck onto their white robes and the map. Truly an ominous sight. A bloodied map of the Empire of Alantieus.
“Get rid of their bodies without leaving any evidence behind,” commanded General Kogher.
The General’s command, Ito commanded a few of his personal guards to assist him in bringing away the headless bodies of the 3 strategists. None of the guards dared to even breath in the presence of the General.
When all the guards left the room with the bodies. Ito gathered all his courage and politely asked the feared General who is going to plan the invasion now.
“This is why I hate the ministers and their mindless brain. Giving me such useless strategists and expect me to present victory to the King,” complained Kogher as he swung his sword to remove the fresh blood from his blade before sheathing it. “I shall tend to the invasion myself.”
“As expected of the one and only General Kogher. The other Vice-Generals and I will assist you in anyway possible!” pledged Ito as he placed his right fist on his chestplate. “I shall increase the training intensity and quality to hasten the invasion now.”
General Kogher simply gave a nod as he stared at the bloody map, as if he was going to paint the whole Empire with the blood of its own people himself…