Author's Note:
Was a little burnt out from web design and churned out two chapters, lol. Running on 4 hours of sleep too, lol. Will give it a proofreading afterwards I guess.
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Students swarmed the Academy grounds, every one of them marching to class with the practiced efficiency of a worker ant. Johan emerged from Long Hall with Arvin and Yudai, and began walking down the snaking cobblestone path. The sudden golden rays of light momentarily blinded Johan, causing him to stagger a bit.
"What class are you guys headed to?" Arvin asked.
"Naming," Johan said.
"Spark Theory," Yudai said at the same time.
"Ah, I have History right now. Miyu will be there," Arvin said, fluttering his eyes. "She's really great, I'm telling you guys!"
"You've been bragging about your girl for days now, man. Show us some proof already," Johan said.
"I agree with the big idiot for once," Yudai said.
"If even the virgin agrees with me, you know I'm onto something, Arvin," Johan said.
Yudai shot Johan a fierce glare, only to be met by Johan's indifference. They started arguing amongst themselves, ignoring Arvin's presence.
"I'm serious guys, she's beautiful and has a great personality," Arvin said.
"Yikes, 'Great Personality'. We all know what that means..." Yudai said.
"At least you won't have to worry about her disappearing..." Johan said.
"Speaking of disappearances, what do you think's going on? One of the girls from my class suddenly went missing. She definitely didn't seem like the type to run away," Yudai asked.
"Who knows," Johan said with a shrug. "The Brotherhood says they all ran away, but that does seem a little suspicious."
"Can we get back on topic, guys?" Arvin said.
"I guess... tell us more about your heavenly blessed beauty," Johan said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"So yeah, she's pure and innocent. Kind of reminds me of my mom, actually..."
Johan and Yudai immediately snapped their head to look at Arvin. Arvin had a completely innocent face; his bright expression shining like the light at the end of a dark tunnel. They glanced back at each other then looked back at Arvin.
"That sounds... a little nasty," Yudai said.
Arvin shook his head, "You guys don't understand. My mother is literally the nicest person I've ever met in my life. She somehow managed to get through life unblemished by the evils and temptations of the world."
"Everyone thinks their mother is the nicest person in the world," Johan said unimpressed.
Yudai laughed and asked, "Is that why you try to be so nice all the time?"
"I was actually a bit of a... bully as a kid. My parents had money and I was cocky because of it. My father was an accomplished bounty hunter, you see. Every night, he would leave to hunt down a big, bad rogue arcanist, and come back the next day with a pile of money. He'd target the strongest and most ruthless criminals in the kingdom," Arvin said with pride.
Arvin suddenly went quiet and stared into the distance, as if carefully considering his next words. With his mouth threatening to tug into a frown, he said, "Then one day, he didn't come back. You live by the sword, you die by the sword, as they say. Apparently, the criminal used my father's remains as a sacrifice and tried to place a curse on me. Imagine it: I'm eating lunch with my mother one day and a wraith appears behind me and tries to enter my body," Arvin said, shuddering.
"My mother, in an instant, leapt across the table and redirected the curse to herself. To this day, I have no idea how she managed it. But the curse ravaged her with full force. At first, nothing happened. We were shaken up by the sudden attack, but we were okay. Then, as if the strength drained from her body, she fell down. She broke both of her legs and an arm from that fall. The fall was so light that it couldn't even hurt a child, let alone an adult. The curse apparently took the strength from her bones and muscles," Arvin said, his face contorting in a rare display of rage.
Johan and Yudai walked alongside Arvin in respectful silence. They kept glancing at each other; Johan was trying to figure out how they stumbled into this touchy topic.
"Did they ever find the person that did it?" Johan asked.
"No," Arvin said curtly.
Arvin walked on in silence for a few more steps before saying, "My mother never blamed me. She never expressed regret. The only thing she told me was to fix my attitude and try to see the good in life. She had that look in her eye that people have when they give up. I wasn't about to let my mother die, so I gathered some of our reserve money and hired an arcanist to whip up a potion to put her into a coma. Since then, I've looked for ritualists that can reverse the curse, but not one was able to do it. All they succeeded in was taking my damn money. So I took the rest of my savings and joined the Academy. I'll enter The Holy, and learn how to remove her curse myself."
"So that whole thing about joining to save a bunch of strangers was bull—" Johan said.
Yudai cut him off and said, "That really wasn't your fault, Arvin. Your father was in a dangerous field; it could have happened to anyone."
"But why did my mother have to end up in that state? Why couldn't it be me?"
"That—"
Arvin raised his hand and said, "I'm not looking for sympathy. Was just answering your question. Anyway, we're here."
Johan watched the two of them leave, feeling a bit awkward. He trudged through the mass of rushing students, suddenly reminded of his time with Darin. He had to fight his habit of filching all of the nearby pockets while pushing through the crowd. He couldn't help but wonder if Darin made it to Abramiln safely. With a heavy sigh, he walked into his classroom.
The classroom closely resembled the Spark Theory classroom; there was no furniture or dirt to be found. Without even entering a meditative state, Johan could still feel that the air was thick with mana particles. He looked at the front of the room and saw Ansley Barnett watching him closely. Ansley leaned back against the creamy walls with his hands resting in his pockets and his long, dark hair tumbling over his face. Piercing sapphire eyes penetrated the dark locks of hair, watching Johan with what seemed like faint interest. Johan nodded in respect and sat at the back of the classroom.
Within 5 minutes, all of the late students entered the classroom. Several students actually tried to make conversation with Johan, but he disregarded all of them. It only took five minutes for Johan to make enemies of half of the class.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Ansley Barnett," he said with a bow. "Some of you may remember me from the opening ceremony. It's nice to see you all again."
The class rumbled with incoherent greetings by various students, while Johan only watched silently. Ansley then called each student to the front of the room to introduce themselves. Some students made jokes causing their peers to rock back and forth in laughter, some students brought up their lineage causing their peers to gasp in shock. Johan watched it all unfold with indifference, until it was his turn. He went to the front of the room, blandly told his name, then went back to his seat. People were talking over him as he introduced himself, clearly uninterested in who he was. Ansley patiently waited for all of the introductions to finish before continuing.
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"Most of you probably know that Naming falls way behind Scribing in popularity. But do you know why that is?" he quirked an eyebrow and asked. None of the students took the bait, they just waited for him to respond.
The teacher sighed before saying, "Naming has everything to do with one's sensitivity. When you learn the name of something, you have to know the target intimately: it's feel, it's taste, the sound it makes, it's composition, etc. This isn't something that most people can be taught. We can tell you the process to learning a name, but actually learning the name all depends on how sensitive you are to the effects and composition of what it is that you're trying to name," he said as he picked up a large silver spear from the ground beside him.
"For example, this spear," he held it up for the whole class to see. "Has been enchanted with Wind Manipulation. I don't have to know a thing about wind to use it."
The teacher tightened his grip on the spear and a gust of wind howled throughout the classroom. The wind ran into Johan's face with enough force to cause ripples on his skin. Some of the smaller students were bowled over by the force of the gust. The sudden demonstration of power left Johan feeling more than a little agitated. He glared at Ansley at the front of the room. Ansley stood at the front of the room, completely unaffected by the wind and looking at the students with indifference. Then he put the spear down.
"Though we call it "Naming" it's easier to think of it as... "Phrasing". Every thing has at least 4 'Names'. 4 'Names' make up a 'Phrase'. After learning the first name of something, you have to familiarize yourself with it, which is called 'Connecting'. Connecting with a named object allows you to learn the other 3 names, which obviously grants you more power. For example," he said.
With just that brief warning, he spoke three names and a howling sphere of wind descended in the center of the room. Suddenly, Johan felt like he was hit by a brick wall, and was dragged across the floor by the powerful bursts of wind. Every other student was tossed around like a rag doll, some even being lifted into the air. As the sphere began to rotate faster, the room began to shake and the howling became deeper and louder. Johan's heart began thumping loudly. He managed to grab the door hinges and glanced at the front of the room. Ansley stood in the midst of that torrent of wind unaffected, watching everyone with slight amusement. Then the winds began to lessen until it died out.
"I'm terribly sorry, but experiencing the power of naming is the best way to understand it. I just spoke three names of wind, and I was holding back considerably. When I learn the fourth, I'd probably level the building even if I tried holding back. I wouldn't do that, though," he said with a straight face, seemingly unaffected by the groans of students around him.
Johan struggled back to his seat and asked, "How many names do you know?"
Ansley said, "I know the names of around 20 different things, wind included. I don't know the fourth name of any of those things, though."
"Well what are they?" another student immediately asked.
"Tsk tsk. Knowledge is power, my friend. I don't go around telling people exactly what I'm capable of, and neither should you."
The rest of the class flew by, with Johan paying close attention. Johan was shaking with excitement. He decided to skip lunch and immediately went to the meditation room. He spent the entire trip there thinking of several things he would try to name.
Great, it's empty.
He sat at the center of the meditation room, closed his eyes, and called the name of the wind. A faint sphere of wind settled just above his lap, rotating slowly. His mind was completely focused on the the wind in front of him: on it's essence, on it's temperature, it's speed, the feel of it beating on his skin, it's movement. There was nothing else in the world but him and the wind right now.
The second name of the wind came to him like the whisper of a seductive lover. He couldn't fight the grin that appeared on his face. He was about to speak the second name when the horns blared, shocking him out of his relaxed state. His eyes shot open and he realized that the sun set long ago.
Shit! I missed Spark Theory...
He left the meditation room and walked through the chilly dark night to his dorm. He walked while watching the vibrant night sky with all of it's luminous white stars and distant galaxies. His breathing quickened as he considered all of the possibilities that existed for a Namer. He fantasized about one day becoming strong enough to even leave the planet and soar through the solar system.
He entered his dorm and it was silent. Arvin wasn't there and Yudai was gathering books. Yudai turned around upon hearing the door open and regarded Johan with a smug face.
"Don't mind me. One of my classmates invited me for a late night study session," Yudai said with a wink. "I'm going to learn a lot about female anatomy tonight, you know?"
"Virgin," Johan said.
"I understand, you're mad that you have to sleep alone tonight. Even Arvin's out, probably getting some tail," Yudai said, shaking his head.
Yudai walked to the door without saying another word. At the door, he glanced back at Johan, then shook his head and sighed before leaving.
I have to catch up on the cultivation I missed today...
Johan laid flat on his back on his bed and calmed his mind. He visualized all of the mana particles surrounding him and was surprised; the special particles in the air were abundant. He began drawing in all of the special particles, absorbing them into his spark. His spark reacted enthusiastically, vibrating intensely as it drank the particles. It made a feeling of ecstasy course through Johan's body like a bolt of lightening. He felt like he was about to make a breakthrough.
Suddenly, his spark dispersed, breaking up into special mana particles. At the center of where his spark once resided was a vibrant violet core the size of a large fist that glowed warmly. The dispersed mana particles orbited the violet core, slowly being drawn in. Johan felt power surging through his body as the violet core drank in more particles.
This... this is rebirth?
After the violet core finished absorbing the particles, it slowly started to lose it's luster and dimmed. Johan panicked, and began drawing in all of the special mana particles around him, pulling them into the orbit around his violet core. The violet core greedily drank in the particles, regaining it's luster.
Johan's forehead began to drip with sweat as he strained himself; he drew in all of the special particles around him, reaching further for them than he ever has before. Though the violet core began to shine even brighter, it also began to shrink, which made Johan panic. He managed to keep drawing in the particles for a full two hours before he passed out.