Ascelmo drowsily got himself out of bed to see Bradford standing in the doorway. He cleared his throat. “Alright cadets, training for today has been canceled, it is with great sorrow that I inform all of you about the death of Emperor Altin. He died peacefully last night of natural causes.”
Ascelmo looked back at the rest of the squad, and then back at Bradford. “So what are we supposed to do today then?”
Bradford shrugged. “Well, you can always practice on your own time. Or you could take this time to get to know each other better.” Bradford turned around and left their barracks. Everyone looked at each other.
Aranail put a pair of earbuds in and slid off his bunk. “I’m going on a walk.” Ascelmo didn’t even have to look to know that Elenaire just rolled her eyes.
Cydum looked up from reading some sort of manual. “Really man? You’re just gonna leave?” Aranail didn’t even look back at him. “I just need to blow off steam, alright? Just leave me alone.”
Ascelmo watched him leave and looked back at the group. “I’m gonna follow him, see where he goes.”
Elenaire scoffed. “Better make sure he doesn’t see, knowing him he’ll probably punch you.”
Ascelmo sighed. “Tell me about it.”
Ascelmo discreetly followed Aranail through the winding hallways and corridors of the base. He was watching him from behind a corner when four cadets from another squad came up and circled around Aranail. Ascelmo couldn’t make out what they were saying but he could hear them laughing and shoving him around. Aranail looked furious, but before he could do anything, two of the cadets grabbed his arms. A tall Teelian cadet smirked at Aranail. He swung his fist right at Aranail’s face, but to his surprise, the only thing his fist came in contact with was Ascelmo’s shield. The Teelian looked over to see Ascelmo with his arm outstretched in their direction. They all walked over to Ascelmo, releasing Aranail.
The Teelian smirked as he stood over Ascelmo. “And who exactly are you supposed to be? You’re defending this loser?”
Ascelmo got as close to his face as he could. “That ‘loser’ is from my squad so piss off.” The Teelian smirked as he punched Ascelmo right in the gut, sending him to his hands and knees, gasping for breath. They all laughed as they walked away. Aranail walked over and helped him to his feet.
He looked away, avoiding Ascelmo’s gaze. “You didn’t have to do that you know.”
Ascelmo smiled. “Hey we’re squadmates, we gotta look out for each other.” He looked Aranail in the eyes. “No matter what.” He started walking. “C’mon, let’s head back to the barracks.” Aranail nodded and followed behind him.
It had been about a week since Emperor Altin died. Everyone was silent in the barracks, they were all doing something to keep themselves occupied. “So what do you guys think about the Emperor dying?” Elenaire broke the silence.
Cydum shrugged. “I mean, it’s sad obviously, but I’ve never really cared that much for politics. ”
Talen-Ra sighed. “Well with the war going on, I think the last thing we need is a kid barely older than us taking control of the Empire.”
Ascelmo looked over at him. “I don’t know, I mean maybe Lady Eliza will end the war.”
Talen-Ra scoffed. “Yeah right.”
Bradford’s voice came over the PA system. “Attention cadets. If you want, you can come down to the mess hall to watch the coronation of Empress Eliza in 30 minutes.”
Elenaire sat up. “Anyone else wanna go?”
Talen-Ra shrugged and got up. “Sure why not.” As they left, Ascelmo joined and together, the three of them headed down to the mess hall.
By the time they got there, the mess hall was already pretty crowded. The three of them sat down at one of the free tables. Ascelmo glanced over at the line for food. “Hey, you guys hungry?”
Elenaire shrugged. “I can eat.” Talen-Ra nodded in agreement. It took longer than he thought, but Ascelmo eventually returned to their table with their food. As the three of them ate, they directed their attention to one of the several video screens at the front of the room. They showed the royal throne room of the Aethereal Empire. There was a round of applause and then Lady Eliza appeared on the screen. She looked only a little older than they were, about 20. She had long black hair past her shoulders and bright blue eyes. And she was wearing a beautiful white dress. A few of the boys in the mess hall cheered and whistled. Lady Eliza stepped in front of the throne to meet an elderly man with the attire of a nobleman on. He extended his hand, clutched in his grasp was the hilt of a void blade, one of the Void Regiment’s most signature weapons, despite being one of the least used in actual combat. Lady Eliza reached out and grabbed the other end of the hilt and the two of them held onto it together, eyes locked.
The man finally spoke up in a soft voice. “Lady Eliza, do you swear to defend the freedom and liberty of the citizens of the Aethereal Empire?”
She nodded. “I do.”
The man slid his hand slightly off the hilt of the blade. “And that you will do everything in your power to ensure that they will live a safe and prosperous life?”
She nodded once more. “I do.”
Again, his hand moved slightly off the hilt. “And that you will serve as the example of order, peace, and stability throughout the galaxy until death, no matter the cost?”
She nodded one last time. “I do.”
The man fully released his grip from the hilt. “Then by the powers vested in me, I dub you, Empress Eliza. Ruler of the Aetherial Empire.” Cheers erupted from the crowd.
Eliza turned to face the camera and the crowd in the throne room. She took a few steps forward and held the hilt of the void blade up high. As she ignited it, the blade shot out. It made a sound Ascelmo couldn’t quite describe. And the blade was pure vantablack, with a faint white glow around the edge. The crowd cheered once more. She deactivated the blade and raised her hand for silence. “I know I may not seem like the perfect replacement for my father, you may think that my lack of experience will be the downfall of the Empire. But lay your fears to rest, for we are going to a place where we fear nothing, where nothing is impossible. A place where there’s no conflict in the galaxy and everyone lives in peace.” The ceiling started to retract, revealing a glass skylight. “We are going to the future.” She gestured up at the stars in the night sky. “A future where no-one needs to fight wars. And our only barriers are what the universe has in store for us as we expand outward, pushing the very limits of our own imaginations. My father’s passing is a tragedy. But we are entering a golden age. An age that will be remembered by everyone for generations to come. And after seeing everything we’ve accomplished.” She gestured once more to the night sky. “Your children will look up at this same sky, and wonder what difference they can make in the universe.” Cheers erupted from the crowd once more, followed by a triumphant symphony of instruments.
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By the time Eliza had finished with her speech, most of the people in the mess hall had already begun to disperse. Ascelmo, Elenaire, and Talen-Ra started to make their way back to their barracks. Ascelmo turned around. “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up, I need to take care of something.”
Elenaire nodded. “All right, see you later.” Ascelmo started making his way through the winding corridors until he finally stopped at Warren’s office. He rang the buzzer and Warren let him in.
He greeted Ascelmo with a friendly smile. “What can I do for you.”
Ascelmo looked around. “I have a question I was wondering if you could answer.”
Warren nodded. “Go ahead, ask away.”
Ascelmo looked around once more. “About me being a Sage. Is that supposed to be… classified?”
Warren sighed. “Well, there’s not many people in this facility who don’t know. And the enemy will catch on pretty quickly once they see you in combat. So I guess not.”
Ascelmo smiled. “Thank you, sir.” He started to run off but Warren stopped him at the door to his office.
“Hey Ascelmo, don’t forget to keep practicing.”
He nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” He then ran off into the base.
Ascelmo turned on the lights of an empty room. It had two desks on either side, both were lined with three computers. Ascelmo sat down at one of them and powered it on. He sat back and waited as it rang. After a few seconds, another window opened up, revealing his parents. They both looked extremely happy to see him.
“Hey bud, how’s boot camp?”
Ascelmo smiled. “It’s going great, I’m learning a lot of new things.”
His mother looked at him, her eyes filled with anticipation. “So? Are you a Magi?”
Ascelmo laughed a bit. “That’s actually the main reason I called. I’m actually not a Magi or standard infantry.” They both looked at him, confused.
“I’m a Sage.”
They both had smiles on their faces bigger than Ascelmo had ever seen. “Ascelmo that’s wonderful. I’m so proud of you!”
Ascelmo shook his head. “It’s not something you earn, it’s something you’re born with, so really, it’s all thanks to you guys.”
His father nodded. “Voralin would be so proud of you.”
Ascelmo nodded, looking off at nothing.” Yeah…” He decided to change the subject. “So how has everyone been over there?”
His mother smiled. “Everyone’s fine over here, they all miss you already.”
Ascelmo nodded. “That’s good to hear.”
His mother looked at him. “What about you, are you getting along with the people you’re with?”
Ascelmo was quiet for a second. “Well… we definitely have some issues. But I think we just need to get to know each other.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “Well it’s getting late, I’d better go get some sleep.”
His father nodded. “Right, well it was nice talking to you Ascelmo, good luck with training.”
Ascelmo smiled. “Thanks, I’ll try and talk to you again soon, bye.” He hung up the video call and turned off the lights to the room before heading back to his barracks.
As he walked in, he looked around and saw everyone else lying down in their bunks. He sat down in his and rummaged through his stuff before pulling out a picture of Voralin. He looked at it longingly until he heard some stirring in one of the other bunks. He looked over to see Aranail looking at him.
“Watcha got there?”
Ascelmo sighed. “It’s a picture of my brother. He was serving in the Void Regiment until he was reported MIA two years ago, they looked for him for a year until they finally closed his case as killed in action.”
Aranail sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. Did you enlist because of him?” Ascelmo shook his head. “No I was drafted, but I want to make him proud.”
Aranail nodded as he yawned. “Well, I’m gonna get some shut eye. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Ascelmo laid down. “You too.”
Ascelmo sat in his desk at the classroom the next day. Warren entered and stood at the front of the room. “Hello everyone, since it looks like, after this past week, your basic attack and defense have gotten significantly better, we’re going to try something a little more advanced today.” He stepped out from behind his desk. “But in order to properly demonstrate this, we’re going to have to go to the firing range, so follow me.” The class all stood up and followed Mage Warren into the firing range. He pressed a few buttons on the control pad and four bots all rose from the floor in a staggered formation, they all stood there blankly.
“You’re going to learn two new spells today, both are more advanced versions of the ones you learned last week. But keep this in mind, just because they’re more advanced doesn’t mean you should only use these. The kind of spell you use all depends on the situation you’re in. Now with that being said, let’s get started. Your first new spell is an attack with your vitality element that hits multiple combatants in a chain. Like so.”
He extended his arm out and yellow lightning flew out of his hand, sending all four bots to the floor at the same time. “Your other new spell is a shield that acts like a bubble, which you can use to protect multiple people at once.” He extended his hand again and a yellow, electrified bubble formed around some of the cadets, he then lowered the shield. The cadets spent the rest of their time practicing, taking down bots and putting shields over each other. Eventually, their class was over and they all started filing out of the firing range, except for Ascelmo who stayed put as his next class was going to be here anyway.
Bradford stood at the front of the firing range as he began the class. “Alright cadets, this past week you’ve gotten very efficient with using your sidearms. So now we’re gonna move on and you’re gonna get a primary weapon.” He walked over to one of the walls and a panel dropped to reveal several different weapons on a rack, they all had the same black and light-blue color scheme as the A-5. “We’re going to test you to find out which of these weapons you’re most efficient with already and we’ll move from there. But first, let’s show what they all are shall we?” He started on the left of the rack. “Now most of you will probably end up with this.” He pulled the first weapon off the wall. “This is the A-2 Multipurpose Rifle. For the most part, it’s a standard assault rifle, single fire, three shot burst fire, and full auto firing modes, iron sights, and a deployable bipod. However, if you flick this switch right here.” He pointed to a switch towards the end of the barrel as he flicked it. The barrel extended out and the iron sights rose from the gun revealing a high powered scope. “It turns into a sniper rifle, in the event you ever have to perform recon.” There were a few impressed murmurs from some of the cadets. Bradford switched the gun back into an assault rifle and put it back onto the rack. “Next up is this.” He picked up the next weapon off the wall. “This is the A-1 Plasma Bow. The scope makes it good for combat at practically any range, and it’s virtually silent, watch.” He turned toward the firing range and pulled back the string, as he did, a bolt of light blue plasma followed the string. He let go and sent it flying forward, making practically no sound as it hit the other wall of the firing range. He set it back on the rack and picked up the final weapon on the rack. “This will probably be the least common weapon you’ll be using. This is the A-10 Minigun.” He aimed it down the range and spun up the barrel, it hummed for a few seconds before Bradford spun it down again. “Now let’s get started shall we?”
They spent the next couple hours firing all three of the weapons down the range, testing their accuracy. As they finished, Bradford handed everyone their statistics and what weapon they’d be using. Ascelmo, Talen-Ra, and Aranail got the A-2, Cydum got the A-1, and Orokas got the A-10. They all filed out the door and started heading back to their barracks. It was a quiet walk back, it was already late and everyone was tired. When they got back Elenaire was already asleep in her bunk. It wasn’t long before everyone else did the same. As Ascelmo laid in his bunk, he looked at his picture of Voralin before shutting his eyes and going to sleep.