Terius hopes Luscin makes progress, he didn’t feel like he was reaching her, maybe Paras will succeed where he was failing.
The kitchen is on the study’s ground floor, located on the opposite side of the building and down two floors. Terius could have simply hopped over the rail and dropped down the two flights and crossed the atrium and arrived in the kitchen in under 10 seconds. If he did that the students would all start doing the same and he’d have kids dropping on each other all day in a hurry to eat. Instead, he chose to fast travel; leaning on his spirit to propel himself towards the stairwell at the end of the hall, twice as fast as if he were falling. He directs some kinetic energy at the opposite side of the door to have it slam open before he reaches it. Next, he needs to fall in a spiral down the stairs. Not detecting anyone on the stairs he increases his fall by another factor. Now moving three times as fast as freefall he barely has time to open the ground floor doorway before bursting through it. His feet barely touch the ground as he lithely bounds across the empty atrium. Reaching the breezeway connecting the atrium to the kitchen he stops as abruptly as he started, with nothing but a torrent of swirling air to mark his arrival.
Four seconds after closing his office door, Master Terius is in the kitchen, looking at the other special-case student, Teum Fox, with one hand on a cold oven with a fully stoked firebox.
Teum was seven-year-old when Luscin dragged him betrothed and beat to the study entrance. She didn’t best him outright, but he’d never fought to a draw before either. Now a year older but not wiser he stands at 49 inches. He’s tall for an eight-year-old, only slightly above average for that age. Black hair and grey eyes, and a strong chin give him a striking appearance, only his crooked nose detracts from his otherwise handsome appearance.
The kitchen was cramped enough when only occupied by the four student kitchen staff. Today there were more than a dozen extra people, all of them students gathered around Teum. His left hand on the side of an oven, the firebox stood open, where a robust flame fueled by a fresh shovel-full of coal was burning fiercely. No heat was radiating into the steel because Teum was taking it all and holding it. The students were chanting his name, urging him to continue.
The shear recklessness of the scene before him nearly makes Terius abandon his calm. Teum, practically still a child, has absorbed more thermal than his undisciplined spirit can control. Everyone in the room should be terrified of his condition. You can see the outline of his spirit is out of sync with his body movements, there’s a literal aura of shimmering air surrounding him. He’s leaking dangerous amounts of infrared spectrum. It would be obvious to untrained eyes that there’s something wrong, which points to both a lack of self-preservation and education on the part of the chanting students.
Standing unnoticed in the breezeway between the kitchen and dining hall, Master Terius put an end to the chanting with a bellow, “Enough!” The room fell silent in an instant, everyone knew that voice meant the fun was over and disciplinary action was to follow.
“Students, disperse at once, return to your studies. Don’t so much as stop to eat a crumb. I’ll deal with each of you later.” The students none older than twelve silently shuffled out of the kitchen under the glare of Master Terius the Dean of Testing and Evaluation. The mood now somber, each contemplating their impending punishment.
The fleeing students forgotten for now, “Teum, you agreed not to do this anymore.”
“But Master, they dared me,” Teum explained!
“You’re eight years old now, you are no longer a child. You are responsible for your own actions. How much are you holding?”
“I’ve only been gathering for maybe an hour.” Realizing he’s still at it, Teum removes his hand and stops gathering heat. Making contact was not necessary, another bad habit needing to be broken. The kitchen immediately begins to warm as there are once again two working ovens. The cold iron cracks and groans at the sudden reintroduction of heat causes its joints to expand.
“I’ve warned you about this. You have an amazing capacity for storing energy. But you know better than I, how woefully unskilled you are at discharging it. I’m sure you’ve been to this level before, what will happen when you release it?”
“I don’t know, a big fire I guess.”
“Yes, a big fire; and what would happen to this nice building we all live in?”
Teum, not normally one to think his actions through regretfully answers, “It would burn down.”
Teum Fox came to the study last year along with Luscin. He had been stomping around the plateau for several weeks, bringing mischief and leaving broken property wherever he went. His holding level was so high that nobody was able to forcibly stop him. He demolished a building in his first week in the city of Mammatus, after that nobody said no to him. After all, his demands were small, all he wanted was food and drink. During the day he would wander the streets until something interested him or he became hungry. Nobody dared follow to see where he went at night. He is great at remembering personal details and learned the names of everyone he interacted with. People started referring to him as the unofficial mayor of Mammatus. Then one day he crossed paths with Luscin; they hated each other on sight. Witnesses say she was able to match him blow for blow, neither gaining advantage. That’s when Luscin asked him to be her husband, right there in the middle of a brawl. Teum stopped swinging and agreed. Without hesitation she grabbed his shirt sleeve and dragged him to the study and demanded the two of them to be enrolled.
Master Terius as the Dean of Testing and Evaluation took them both up to the top of the examination tower and rigorously tested both of them. They had raw yet different talents but were lacking any formal training. How they survived this long must have taken several miracles. They were a danger to themselves and anyone close to them. Unprotected children like them are strong enough to attract the attention of beings that would consume them or ruin them through experimentation. Good fortune brought both to the Study of Mammatus, of which the main goal is to train kids like them to become Defenders.
“You know, when I’m done with you, you’ll have to face Luscin. I was tutoring her when your reckless stunt interrupted us. Come with me.”
“Oh, that’s just great. Can you turn your back and let me run away?”
Not certain if Teum is serious or joking, Terius responds while looking over his shoulder, “This is a study not a prison, you can leave anytime. But not before returning the energy you just stole from our kitchen.”
Terius is having an internal struggle, should he take Teum up to the testing tower for safety or trust in his own abilities to contain whatever disaster Teum unleashes. Another look at Teum reveals his spirit is in worse shape now that he’s walking. It’s dragging behind him lethargically by several inches and is starting to emit light in the visible spectrum, giving Teum an eerie yellow glow. Soon holes could appear, and all that thermal could start escaping; Teum could even explode. Uncontained, the explosion could take out the study and surrounding buildings. It would be up to Terius to contain the ensuing firestorm and protect the study from damage.
“Come with me to the atrium, I don’t want you damaging my tower.”
“I can hold it; we can go up to the tower.”
“I’m sure you can, I don’t feel like traveling today. The atrium is where we give lessons. This will be a lesson for you and all your friends-from-the-kitchen that are ignoring my order to return to their studies and are watching from the upper levels.”
The two make their way to the center of the atrium where they square off with one another.
“Gathering and holding incredible amounts of thermal and kinetic is your natural talent. You need to learn how to control those energies once you have them. These months you’ve been here you’ve progressed, but you have much to learn before you’ll be proficient, until then you are a danger to yourself, your friends, and anyone near you.”
Teum reflects on those words, of danger he’s known plenty, and friendship while plentiful are fleeting.
Terius continues, “Teum, are you ready for today’s lesson?”
Snapping upright with hands at his sides, followed with a low bow in imitation of the upper classmen, Teum shouts, “Yes Master!”
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His lagging spirit parodying his movements drunkenly with spears of visible light randomly escaping from openings that should not exist.
Terius returns the bow, though bowing isn’t a custom of this study, “You’re going to unload everything you have in one concentrated strike. You’re going to compress everything you’re holding into your right hand. Your spirit is stronger than you’ll ever know, it can do this, you have to believe this truth.” Terius pauses as he watches Teum squeeze his eyes shut and raises his right hand as if he’s holding up a heavy object. His ragged spirit begins to stabilize, no longer are there flashes of light escaping through random pores. But it is still sluggishly out of sync with his body. Power begins to concentrate in his right hand.
“You’re doing well Teum. I want you to show me your combat stance.”
Teum shuffles his left foot forward a little while turning his body a little to the right. He brings his left arm up with his elbow tight to his body. His right arm is now relaxed and slightly raised. His target is almost at eye level, so he keeps his head level, while observing Terius’ attack readiness with his other senses.
“Excellent, now stop holding your breath and show me you combat breathing.”
Teum is a little embarrassed to get caught making a beginner’s mistake. He draws in a deep breath and holds it a moment longer than natural before quickly exhaling. He repeats the exercise two more times before resuming a natural breathing rhythm.
“Good, your stance is stable, you are well oxygenated, and are holding enough power to turn this study into a glass crater. Visualize and tell me what you plan on doing next.”
“I’m going to punch and burn a hole through your chest.”
Teum having never left his combat posture or state since arriving in the kitchen is as ready as he can be, “You may proceed whenever you’re ready.”
Teum needs no more prompting, he begins.
Terius senses the shifts of energy in his student before the overpowered child moves a muscle.
Teum rotates his body as he steps forward with his right foot. A low growl escapes his tightly pursed lips. Simultaneously his right-hand balls into a fist and his arm begins its strike towards Terius’ stomach, the growl growing in pitch as his fist advances.
Terius slows the world around himself. At least that’s how it feels to him. He’s actually speeding up his perceptions so he can better observe his surroundings. He detachedly watches as Teum’s half closed fist begins its forward journey. His heart seems to be beating once every 4 seconds. Alarmingly he sees Teum’s spirit isn’t moving at all. The now clutched fist coming at him is just the fist of an eight-year-old kid. The small sun contained by his spirit is still in the space next to his head. Teum ignores the balled fist moving ponderously slow towards him and jabs his open left hand between the ball of energy that is about to explode and his student’s head.
Time resumes and Teum’s solidly thrown punch lands squarely on Terius’s chest. On contact Teum does exactly what he’s been practicing; he releases. If he had had command of his spirit, he would have blasted a satisfying lance of sizzling energy into his target. Instead, the frenetic ball of loose energy next to his head explodes. The feeling of releasing that much energy is amazingly euphoric and terrifying at the same time. The energy once held by his spirit crosses the boundary of spirit to body, Teum experiences the entirety of the absorbed oven fire briefly in the palm of his hand. A flood of endorphins blunts the sensation to near tolerable levels. A grunt through clenched teeth, is his only outward sign of discomfort.
Terius reaches for the expanding firestorm and draws it into himself. Using his hand this way shielded Teum’s head from taking the brunt of escaped thermal. Teruis was successful in capturing all but a small fraction of the thermal released by Teum. The energy again crosses the boundary from body to spirit, but Terius uses the entirety of his being, diluting the pain instead of concentrating it in a single point. The remaining uncaptured energy ignites the oxygen within a 5-yard radius, indiscriminately incinerating small masses of organic material in the blast area, leaving stone pavers and clay sparing circles marred with random scorch patterns. The resulting super-heated air rushes upwards, pulling the remaining buildings atmosphere roaring down and inward toward the atrium. Dozens of doors slam shut or open depending on relative positions and the orientation of their swing. Excited exclamations and angry curses erupt building-wide from the sudden violent air movement sending papers flying and knocking over small furnishings.
It was over as quickly as it began with nothing but excess dust hanging in the air as evidence of the indoor windstorm. Teum was a little surprised, not by the chaos but by his total failure. Even his untrained mind could tell he didn’t get close to delivering his attack. Energy spent, his spirit recovers and sets about its job of healing. His now red skin will be completely replaced by morning, the same can’t be said of his study uniform. He’ll need a new one, again.
Terius at first disappointed in himself over the amount of thermal that escaped and also by Teum’s complete failure at control didn’t last as he realized exactly how much energy he was now holding. It is an insane amount of heat. Nobody, not even the headmaster is allowed to hold so much on study grounds. A loss of control now would put not only everyone in the study in danger, but the surrounding population would be even more vulnerable. This needs to be vented soon or he’ll be in the same sorry state he found Teum Fox a few minutes ago.
“Teum, that was unacceptable. Resume your combat stance and tell me what you did wrong,” barked Terius.
Still a little stunned but months of conditioning has him dropping into his stance on command. Assessing what went wrong was going to take a little time though. Teum mulls over the outcome, an explosion instead of a release, beside his head not from his hand. In theory class he was taught that his physical body isn’t controlling the energy, the control is executed by the spirit. His mind directs his spirit separate from his body. Expecting an equal outcome from spirit and body should never be relied upon.
“I think my spirit lagged. I expected it to keep up with my physical form,” then added, “I should have known it was overburdened and allowed for the delay.”
“Correct, tell me why your spirit was overburdened?”
“I was foolish and was showing off out of pride, Free’er forgive me.”
“The Free’er doesn’t care about your pride Teum, leave his lessons with the Dragon Priests. Are you a foolish child, one who comes here after winning a game of Defender? A foolish child that believes being a Defender is as easy as knocking down babies. Why was your spirit overburdened, Teum?”
“I… I took on more power than I could control. I endangered all our lives and risked burning the study. Please forgive my foolishness.” The enormity of the situation finally realized, Teum throws himself prostrate on the ground in a bow with forehead on the scorched pavers. A minute passes before Master Terius responds.
“Look at me, what do you see.”
Teum raises himself to a kneeling position and looks up at his master. Master Terius is as he always is, calm, powerful, in control. Then he looks deeper, into his master’s eyes. Master’s usually calm dark green eyes are now wild blazing emerald orbs full of power. But his demeanor is the same as always, calm and confident. He’s now holding nearly the same load as Teum and appears to be fully in control.
“You are calm.”
“Yes. I am calm, that should be your baseline when holding. Emotions and willpower are vital when you’re pushing your limits. Only push that hard when the outcome outweighs the risk. You’ll not face a risk here in the study that requires you to push your holding limit. Do you understand?”
Throwing himself back into a low bow, “Yes Master! I understand. It won’t happen again!”
“Now stand up and resume your combat stance.” Terius feels the nearby students retreating. Many of the kids that end up here are uncomfortable with public displays of emotions.
Teum stands and makes ready, he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do, he hasn’t any power stored up.
Terius without warning steps in and stoops low, and jabs Teum in the stomach with a balled fist. Simultaneously releasing a small amount of thermal energy. Teum’s training had him feebly attempt a block which failed. His spirit reacted much better and absorbed the thermal unloaded on his chest. His training of course did not end at attempting blocks. He throws a counter jab at Terius’s exposed hip and returns the thermal at the same time. Terius continues on the attack, unloading more power with each hit, while leaving different openings for Teum’s retaliatory attack. Minutes pass, eventually an hour of the two violently exchanging variable but ever-increasing levels of thermal energy is behind them. One hour turns to two, as the level of thermal increases. Each exchange sees a little of that energy leaking, the clothes of both teacher and student are covered in small burns and tears. Teum becomes apprehensive about continuing the attack. Master Terius’s counterattack will be close to two thirds his original level. He’s fought to a draw once, now he’s going to tap out, his desire to please Terius winning out against the stench of defeat. His guard up, eyes on his opponent, Teum steps back, exiting the ring. Standing silently, he waits to be chastised and humiliated for losing.
“Well done, Teum. You felt yourself approaching your limit and acted appropriately. You’ve passed.”
“Passed? But I lost, I quit the ring. What kind of test is passed by losing.”
“Not every lesson is about winning, and I don’t always tell you when I’m administering an exam. Where are you supposed to be at this time?”
Taken aback by the sudden change of subject he hesitates a moment before responding, “The library with Master Black Hill.”
“That’s perfect, I would usually have you return the thermal you’re holding before sending you to the library. But I owe our Dean of Thermal-Kinetic Energy - Master Hron Black Hill for a prank he pulled on our last outing. Get a change of clothes and be sure to tell him you’re late because you were being examined by myself, you are dismissed.”
Slightly confused, Teum hurries away, not sure if he’s in trouble or not, and wondering what Master Black Hill is going to do when he shows up in this state.
Terius makes his way back to his office at a leisurely pace to check on Luscin’s progress. He was not disappointed.
Master Robles has done his usual excellent job of tutoring his students. Luscin, flawlessly demonstrated meditative, combat, and recovery breathing. The true measure of success will be progress in her other lessons. After sending her on to her next class, Terius caught Robles up on Teum’s progress and the situation he set up for Black Hill. Roble had a good chuckle thinking about Black Hills imagined face when Teum strolls in holding enough thermal to level a small town.
Their moment of levity was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Enter”, calls Terius.
A student page opens the door halfway and says, “Headmaster Gale, requests Master Terius to join him in his office… immediately.”