A kid with brown hair and brown eyes, approximately our age approached us as we reached the church.
"Hey, I'm Kovac," he smiled.
"I'm Dante and this is Destiny," I introduced Delta.
We shook hands.
"Are you guys excited for math?" He asked.
"Sure," I nodded. Delta kept quiet, sharp eyes examining the gothic building as we went in. About thirty other students joined us inside of the classroom with gray stone walls and blue stained glass windows.
An old, portly man with a lush black beard, black cloak and cylinder-shaped hat emerged from the front and stood in front of a wooden lectern. He reminded me slightly of an Orthodox Priest.
"Greetings, novitiates of Skyisle," the man declared. "I am instructor Wiklogg! You lot are in luck!"
The class fell somewhat silent at his declaration.
“Today’s lesson about Soul-Songs will be taught by our new lovely Overseer! So, you all best be on your best behavior today!” Instructor Wiklogg said. "If you pay utmost attention, some of you might even get to unlock your Soul-Song in less than a month, although I highly doubt it.”
The Instructor’s dark eyes went around the room as he jotted down everyone's names. He gave Delta and I a snide look. An Equality pin was glittering on his chest in the morning sunlight coming through the blue stained glass windows.
The Instructor walked towards one of the kids with a slightly messy shirt. A heavy, iron cane slammed into the student's hand just as the student introduced himself as Lirosh Jumm.
“Everyone and everything has their place in the world, pupil Jumm. Next time you show up looking like this, the consequences will be most dire. However, as this is your first serious offense and the Overseer wishes to see all of Skyisle’s Song-less children of age gathered before her today… I will only assign you cleaning duties!”
“Well, this educational institution already leaves much to be desired,” Delta muttered in Russian.
I frowned as I realized that these twelve year old kids in Skyisle knew absolutely nothing, since this was their first class.
In Moscow, I was in the seventh grade at twelve. In comparison - at that time I was already studying rational numbers, integers, graph solutions, polygon classification, percentages, fraction, probability. And that was just mathematics! There was so much more that I learned at twelve from my USSR professors. Biology, geography, physics, chemistry, geology, languages, arts, history. The inadequacy of Skyisle education was maddeningly bad and also… clearly perfectly normal here.
My eyes tracked the motion of the black-robed Instructor.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
My mind clicked again.
He looked like a local turncoat, a big supporter of Equality who got this position to elevate himself above others. He probably got better pay, better housing, maybe some perks from the Overseer. We’ve had plenty of people like him in the USSR, kissers of authority, willing to do anything and everything to elevate themselves in the social ladder. People like that reported brilliant scientists like rocket inventor Sergei Korolev to the commissars for entirely made up thought crimes, setting Soviet science years backwards!
Wiklogg pulled a book from the shelf. “Today, we’ll be reading from the Imperial book 'The Tower of Agatha' to learn about the Gregarius Empire, which Ishikaria joined as a Region two decades ago.” He opened the book from a shelf and started to read. His droll, stuttering voice made me feel immediately sleepy. He made constant pauses at random, stumbling on words he didn’t recognize.
“In the year 7015 Empress Agatha had run into a problem. The tower’s foundations bore an ever-widening crack. Architect Lazarius had failed to account for the weight of the stones used…”
It went on like this for about thirty minutes. By the end of it I felt like strangling him. The book was an incredibly boring account of building a very big tower.
“The tower fell across the city, killing… uhm… two hundred and ninety four citizens. Agatha Arcadia had… prosecuted? uhm… executed the architect involved in the project by drowning him in a vat filled with grease-worms.” Wiklogg rambled on. “She search an… khrm… sought another architect across Arcadia, one that would ensure that her legacy was… glued?… krhmm… enshrined for generations onwards, casting a shadow… into the furniture? F-future!”
The Instructor looked back up at us. “The moral of this book is that towers built too high can fall down and the best intentions sometimes end with tragedy. Don’t reach for glory and keep your head low, obey the Laws of Goddess Equality and you will avoid disasters.”
My eye twitched.
Wiklogg then started to discuss more of the book's content, explaining Imperial concepts to us with the best of his understanding. It was clear to me that he had no idea what he was even talking about. He’s likely never been to the Empire of Equality himself.
His struggle with tenses and complex words showed me that he was just an old man from Skyisle or perhaps Agamemnon who had grade three skills in reading of Gregarius language at best. Coinciding with an abysmal understanding of science and reason, his lessons clearly did more damage than good to these kids.
“This idiot can barely read,” Delta commented, confirming my opinion of Wiklogg.
Wiklogg walked to the blackboard and began to slowly draw numbers. He then began to poorly explain addition of numbers. The Empire didn’t use the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. The numbers on the board were dots, zig-zag lines and circles. When they were put together they vaguely resembled oversimplified hexagram patterns I had studied inside the house wardstones.
I already knew how to do math with Skyisle numbering system, thanks to my study of the runework beneath my parents' home!
Suddenly, the door swung open, interrupting the mind-numbing lecture.
With the sound of metal boots clinking on stone floors a redhead woman who was about seventeen, maybe eighteen years old stepped into the room. She was wearing a full armor set with a red cape. A shiny silver bracelet glittered on her wrist.
“Ah! Here she is! Our beautiful, wise and brave Overseer, Kliss Eliza Cessna!” Instructor Wiklogg clapped. “Come on then, clap with me!”
He turned to the class, encouraging us with a glare. A few people started to clap. More slowly joined in.
"Wiklogg, which of these pupils are Dante and Destiny of the Alan family?" Kliss asked sharply, silencing the clapping.
The bearded man pointed his greasy finger at me. My stomach dropped.
Delta made a face of disbelief that said "I didn't even steal your skyship yet, why am I in trouble?"
The Overseer's green eyes settled on me and Delta and then her entire face twitched.
Her silver wrist bracelet suddenly unfirled, turning into a gun pointed directly at my head.