"...if it isn't ceasing to live that you're afraid of but never beginning to live properly...then you'll be worthy of the world that made you."
- Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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In the distance, elevated trains rumbled by. A blimp plodded along directly above the Suffolk Apartments, a two-story complex that primarily housed students. The blimp itself made very little noise, but the sudden roar of two patrol planes passing by certainly woke most of the neighborhood below their paths. But not for the student inside Suffolk Apartment Room 214. For Isaac, it was the shrill blare of the alarm clock that woke him. He groaned as he tried to rub his eyes and shut the beeping off at the same time.
The alarm took him out of a dream. Isaac couldn't remember what it was - something about a garden? Seemed a little bittersweet. But he supposed all dreams were like that.
Isaac stumbled out of bed, stretching as he awoke. He had a small studio to himself, the usual for students at West Narragansett Technical Academy, the premier – okay, not premier, more like the third best out of three - psychic ability training academy in the capital city of Narragansett for the New England Confederation. The Rddhi, they called it. The living energy psychics could draw power from, bend reality to their will.
Isaac couldn't do that, of course. He was a Class 0, lower than low. Like many other powerless hopefuls, Isaac attended the Academy dreaming that the lessons there would unlock his dormant potential; instead, the first year went by without a single bent spoon or flame flickered in his palm. The higher-ups then assigned him to the support side of things, data collection and trend analysis, but too many numbers hurt Isaac's brain. With no powers or no prospects, they now assigned him assigned to tertiary roles – cleaning the third-floor bathrooms after school.
But still, Isaac felt pride in his work. The nation needed every man, woman, and child to give their ultimate service to the state to bring about ultimate victory, as the radio on his nightstand proclaimed before Isaac turned it off. Even the powerless were needed. And even though 99% of the nation was powerless, the title of Class 0 still weighed heavily on Isaac, making him slouch rather than walk tall. He thought of his brother, also powerless, drafted to serve in the New England Border Guard, hunting down bandits in the Connecticut Wastes. His brother walked tall and confident; Isaac wanted to do the same, but wasn't sure how.
As he finished a bagel, Isaac put on the school uniform – the black khakis, the dark green trench coat with no markings on the shoulders, signifying his status as Class 0. Isaac always shook his head as he saw the bare shoulders, then clenched his fist; if he didn't succeed in unlocking his abilities yesterday, then he'd do it today; if not today, then tomorrow. He could not try and never succeed, or try and, even with the odds against him, potentially succeed. The dream was enough to get him through the day.
He slipped his black backpack over his shoulders and tied his shoes. He double-checked; sink was off, stove was off. Satisfied, he flipped the lights off and exited his small apartment into the wider world.
The first step outside always carried with it the promise of a good day. They weren't always good days, but no day ever started off bad automatically. Feeling the September sun of his face, the distant sounds of cars and trains in his ears, Isaac smiled and sauntered away from his apartment door on the second floor, contentedly heading down the corridor toward the stairs-
"Isaac!"
Isaac felt the familiar pressure on his back as Audrey jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his chest.
"It's a great morning, isn't it?" Audrey asked with a wide smile, blonde hair spilling out around her shoulders, nearly hiding the singular marking on her shoulder designating her as Class 1.
"Look in my hand," Audrey offered, opening her palm in front of Isaac's face. It wasn't like he could look elsewhere, and the sooner he looked, the sooner she'd get off his back, so he peered at the empty palm. Almost empty. Audrey held a small seed in her hand, but Isaac saw the brief, red spark of Rddhi and the seed suddenly burst open and a fully grown flower materialized.
Audrey grinned. "Like it? Been working all week on it at the training sessions."
"A full rose, that's a lot better than rotting lilacs," Isaac supposed. "I never liked lilacs. Got a weird smell. Too sweet almost. I'm glad you switched away from that."
Audrey slid the rose into the space above Isaac's ear and slipped off his back. She was almost as tall him, with a gray skirt below the dark green coat that stopped around the waist and a cheery smile that rarely ever frowned. She took a moment to lean against the railing of the walkway, looking into the distance. From the spot on the walkway, you could see all the way down, over green parks and red brick buildings, old tenement houses and new rail lines, all the way down to where the city met the blues of Narragansett Bay and the September sky, all along a horizon dotted by tall skyscrapers.
Audrey pointed out into the distance. "It's a great city, isn't it?"
Isaac nodded, subtly slipping the rose into a nearby trashcan.
"It's the best."
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THE EIGHTFOLD FIST
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The two headed down the staircase, exiting at street level. The walk to Kenji Station took ten minutes, the ride to Tsukishima Station aboard the elevated rail took twenty, and then a ten minute walk to the school. Their district of Elizabeth Pond stood in stark contrast with the general poverty that could be found in the western side of Narragansett; anything relating to the Rddhi received extra funding and attention from the government and private backers. It hadn't been enough to save the once-beautiful Elizabeth Pond that now gave the district its name, but the avenues Isaac and Audrey walked down looked clean and well-taken care of. Couldn't say the same for the rest of the city, but Isaac hoped the government was doing its best.
They passed under tall oak trees still carrying summer with them, their leaves still full of green. The weather was warm and there was a slight breeze in the air; all things considered, it was a good morning.
"So, did you try the new dental floss I recommended?" Isaac asked.
Audrey shook her head. "I went to Bay Mart and looked at it through the packaging. Too thick. I like the floss more gentle, more thin. Gets between the teeth easier that way."
"The thickness means you can clean more area. Saves time."
"Yeah, but I can make up for the lack of thickness with speed."
A new voice joined them. "Just brush better, no need to floss. Flossing is just how dentists get you to pay more, you know. I've never seen a dentist floss. Never seen a dentist brush their own teeth either."
Both Isaac and Audrey recognized the sudden, low voice. The familiar presence of Reed had somehow slipped in between them along the way as she always did. She never announced her presence; just one moment she would arrive there, walking with them. Neither of them knew where she lived. She once came to Audrey's for help on a geometry assignment last year, and the next morning she joined them on the walk to school. And that was that, just like that.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
She was the shortest of the three. Her dark green trench coat went down to her knees, with a gray skirt and black tights beneath it. Her hair was shaggy, down to her shoulders, unkempt and messy, like she just rolled out of bed, probably because she just did. You could call her hair brown, but the color looked faded, as if the life in it had somehow been drained away. She wore three silver markings on her shoulders to designate her as Class 3, the sword with which she manipulated the Rddhi sheathed in its scabbard across her back, below her backpack. Just like Isaac, she walked slightly hunched over, but not from the weight of the world; it was more like she just couldn't be bothered to stand up straight. She had dark eyes that seemed tired of being able to see everything.
…well, that's what she would tell you, anyway. Isaac knew the truth was that she always stayed up too late watching television and never got a good night's sleep.
They walked up to the elevated station and caught the train just as the doors were closing. Isaac let the girls sit while he stood, holding onto a pole. While Audrey talked about the latest celebrity news – the third cousin of the King of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had been shot by a vengeful English ex-lover - Reed rambled on about the latest conspiracy theories she heard over late night radio – that agents from New York had infiltrated New England research academies. Isaac could've sworn he heard both of those stories last week.
Isaac wasn't one for story-telling. He lived through actions, through the world. Standing there on the subway, looking out the window, seeing the sprawling capital city of Narragansett stretching out before him – the view and idea of it made him want to get stronger to protect it. Maybe that meant scrubbing third floor bathrooms now, but just you wait...
A rail ride, a walk, and around a half hour later, the three approached the school gates of West Narragansett Technical Academy. The Academy consisted of three buildings arranged like an upside down U with a spacious courtyard in the middle. The building on the left housed normal academics while the students and faculty used the one on the right for club meetings and storing miscellaneous items, such as the janitor supply room where Isaac got extra soap when his mop bucket ran out.
In the center, at the other end of the courtyard, stood the Support building, used for Rddhi research and training. Students worked on their Rddhi skills in combat zones in the basement; Isaac also heard rumors that there were jail cells down there, too...the government did build the school sixteen years ago in the chaotic, paranoid aftermath of the First American War, he supposed. From the ground floor up, every room contained experiments on the Rddhi, since every spoon bent by a psychic could be analyzed in terms of mathematical equations. Force, pressure, acceleration, all jotted down, and just for one spoon!
The Chairman of West Narragansett Technical Academy himself, Mr. Stockham, could be found in his office on the top of the building, giving him a view of Elizabeth Pond and the city beyond it. Isaac only saw him a few times, such as during the beginning-of-year assembly, but rumor had it that Stockham served as a commander during New England's glorious yet ultimately-failed effort in the First American War. No student could confirm whether or not Stockham possessed Rddhi powers.
The sight of a large figure standing upright at the edge of the open gate brought Isaac out of his thoughts.
"Ah, hell," Reed muttered, pulling her backpack closer over her shoulders. "It's Hanai."
"This is your own fault, you know," Isaac pointed out. "If you just went to the training sessions, you'd be all set."
"Yeah, but then I'd have to go to the training sessions." Reed sighed. "I just want to live a simple life, you know? Watch cartoons...pick up a hobby...walk around nature."
"Walk around nature?" Isaac questioned.
"Yeah, you know." Reed made motions with her hands. "Hiking, trails, mountains."
"You'd hike?" Audrey asked with an easy smile. "We live in the middle of the capital. I've never seen you anywhere near nature."
"It's because I don't have time for nature," Reed grumbled. She then realized that Hanai's stocky figure already loomed over them.
Reed sighed. The engaging conversation on the commute to school about the royal family of the former United Kingdom that ultimately devolved into an argument over whether English people eat their steaks with a spoon or not (Reed argued they definitely did) distracted her from thinking of a proper excuse to skip the mandatory training sessions.
Hanai cleared this throat and spoke with a strong tone that combined gruff authority with the warmth of a senior for his juniors. "Audrey, Reed, A-….er…"
"Isaac," Isaac said, looking a little excitedly, because this was the third year Hanai, ranked Class 4. The way he used his Rddhi was said to move a man to tears; it certainly moved Isaac to tears, watching highlights on the Naxtube of last year's city-wide School Rumble tournament, where Hanai scored sixth place as a second year.
And Hanai himself, well, rather than the chiseled stone Isaac imagined him as, his body was a soft kind of big. Six feet tall, broad shoulders, a black bowl cut, his uniform impeccable, his smile pristine.
"Isaac, right, how are you guys?" He appeared harmless, but his words came with firmness behind them, genuine, solid. Isaac decided that he was an alright guy, that Hanai.
"We're doing good!" Audrey happily answered.
"You've been making great improvements these past few weeks, Audrey. Keep it up."
"Thanks!"
"And where do you think you're going?"
Reed stopped in place, feeling Hanai's steely gaze on as she tried to walk past.
"Gotta get to class early. I just love learning about, uh…hell, what do I have first period…"
"You've skipped the past two sessions, Reed!" Hanai barked with authority. Both Isaac and Audrey were taken back by the change in tone. "As you know, Academy guidelines clearly state that all Class 3 students must all attend all training sessions, on pain of detention and loss of meal privileges."
He narrowed his eyes, but his words seemed to come from a place of caring. "I vouched for you the last two times you skipped. I can't do it again. I hope to see you at practice today."
A bead of sweat rolled down Reed's face.
"I can't today, I, er...got a funeral."
Hanai seemed to stop in place. A sad look came over Audrey's face; Isaac just sighed and placed his palm over his own face.
"A funeral? For who?" Hanai asked.
"…my father."
Hanai blinked.
A single, overly-dramatic, genuine tear rolled down Audrey's cheek.
Isaac shook his head.
"…I'm sorry," Hanai said, his face growing shameful. "I wasn't aware. Forgive me for asking. Please, offer your father my condolences at the funeral."
Hanai walked away, looking downward.
As he moved out of earshot, Reed chuckled to herself.
"Did you guys see that?" Reed asked. "I can't believe he fell for it."
"Your father's…dead?" Audrey asked, her face trembling.
"What? No."
Audrey wiped away the tear and gave Reed a forlorn look.
"Why a funeral?" Isaac asked.
"First thing I could think of," Reed answered.
"And your father?" Audrey's fists were clenched.
"Nobody's gonna question you if a parent dies," Reed explained. "They'll give me some space. Maybe I can even get a few weeks off."
Audrey looked at her in disbelief. "You're a horrible person."
Reed shrugged. "I'm rational. What kind of person wants to spend seven hours in school, then another five swinging their sword around? People who can just use the Rddhi with their hands, just like that, they're lucky. Me, I gotta carry around this goddamn sword everywhere. It's not easy, you know. Sure, it's lighter than you'd think a sword would be, but I have to lug it around with me every time I come to this place. And then on the commute home, say I stop by a convenience store? Gotta explain that I'm licensed to carry around a sword. You know much of a drag that is? You have to say you're a Rddhi user, and then the cashier's face all lights up, like you're someone special or something. I'm not special, I'm just Reed, stop asking me what the Rddhi feels like so I can just buy a box of Ring Dings and get the fuck home. And then some people distrust you, just because you got psychic powers. But I guess I prefer distrustful looks to that awestruck sort of conversation with a cashier who thinks you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. And sliced bread isn't even that great, you know. But the conversations and the carrying isn't even the worst part. I have to clean this thing too. Special cleaning with special supplies since it's a Rddhi sword. Why couldn't I be like Hanai and shoot lava out of my hands? Well, I guess he doesn't shoot fire directly out of his hands, but my point still stands. His hands aren't extra weight, his hands don't make him stand out, his hands can be cleaned as part of your normal cleaning time. He can just clean his hands while he showers, but no, I gotta dedicate extra time just to clean the thing..."
It went on like that for sometime, all the way until they reached their lockers on the second floor of the Academic building.
"Reed, I just don't get it," Isaac said as he grabbed a few binders out of his locker. "You're so talented with the Rddhi. The things you can do as a Class 3…I'm not even Class 1. I'm 0. I might as well be nothing."
"You're not nothing," Audrey encouraged. "You're Isaac, Class 0. Wear it with pride!"
Isaac side-eyed the Class 1 girl and sighed.
"Rddhi ain't all its cracked up to be," Reed said bluntly, closing her locker. "They expect me to do so much. It's my life, not theirs."
"But I'd kill to be able to do the things you do," Isaac said.
Reed hoisted her backpack back over her shoulders and looked at Isaac with those cold, dull, explosive eyes that offered so much allure and danger in them (again, what she would say).
"Believe me, I'd trade with you in a heartbeat."
With that, Reed left for whatever her first period class was.