Edan looked up at his mother's smiling face. Her blue eyes danced with mirth as she tickled him again and he squealed with laughter. Small infant hands grasped at her nimble fingers.

His father’s laugh, a rich warm bass that rumbled through Edan’s chest, sounded out from the corner of the room and his mother laughed with him.

Scribe lights, each a pebble no larger than a grown man's thumbnail were inserted in mirrored lamps around the kitchen. The soft orange glow from the marked stone bounced off the mirror, throwing its light wide and illuminating the room.

Done tickling him, his mother's arms grasped him gently by the armpits as she pulled Edan from his cot and settled him against her chest. Her hair smelt of Appleberries and tickled Eden's nose.

Edan cooed happily as his father mopped up the last of his dinner with a slice of bread and popped it in his mouth. Standing up, his impressive height dwarfed his wife and son, but his touch had nothing but love and care in it as he kissed Lillian on the top of her head and rubbed Edan’s soft dark hair.

“Thanks for the meal, my love. It was edible as always.”

Lillian laughed as she swatted her husband.”

“That’s what I get for trying to co-”

The rest of her words were drowned out by the sound of splintering wood. Pieces of the ceiling rained down around the family, crushing the table Tyrian had just been sitting at and destroying the sink across the room. Tyrian used his bulk to shield his wife and child. A wooden beam, wider than he was, fell against his back and head, but he barely blinked. Edan screamed as the sound hurt his ears.

Wind whipped into the room, bringing with it the smell of burnt ozone. Moonlight now streamed into the room, the silver beams defused by the still present scribe lights.

Standing tall, pushing rubble away from him, Tyrian’s eyes burned with fury as he looked up at the hole where his ceiling had been. Lillian clutched the crying Edan to her chest, her eyes searching the dark sky.

“Who dares!” Tyrian roared. The ring on his finger flashed and a monstrous axe appeared in his hand, the black blade drinking in the light around him.

Lillian pushed at the wreckage around her, almost tripping on a piece of wood as it rolled out from under her foot. Edan continued to cry, his father's roar having scared him more than the roof disappearing.

“It is you who dares.” a voice whispered, each word carried by the whipping wind directly to them.

It was a voice Lillian recognized and she felt a cold hand grasp her heart. She looked to her husband standing over her, face defiant and posture welcoming violence.

“Please…” she whispered, knowing the man who floated above them would hear. “Please don’t…, just sp-”

Once more her words were drowned out by a terrible noise. This time it was the crack of air as it was superheated, hotter than the sun, and immediately cooled. Lightning flashed over their heads, burning the image of a man standing in the air into Edan’s eyes.

The lightning fell, like a twisting violet serpent, and struck his father.

Tyrian was blasted from his feet. His muscular frame was thrown across the room and through the wall with a crunch. Smoke trailed after him.

Edan screamed, his small hands reaching out in the direction his father had vanished. His mother pulled him close as if her body would provide protection. Overhead thunder clapped, the sound shaking the house. A few more pieces of the roof fell around them like wooden rain, displaced by the noise. Violet light filled Edan’s eyes as another bolt of lightning streaked toward him and his mother.

A loud clap startled him.

-

Edan jerked upright, blinking in confusion. His heart still beat wildly from his dream and he looked about in shock, half expecting to be back there, in the wreckage of his family's kitchen.

When he noticed the angry squint of Mrs. Cinnaburn’s eyes he almost wished he was.

She must have slammed her ruler onto his desk, right next to his face. It was still there, right next to the puddle of drool. Edan ignored the muffled laughter of his classmates.

“Uhhh…I was praying?” Edan said hopefully, whipping at his cheek and chin and cringing a little as he felt the wetness.

Mrs. Cinnaburn squinted harder, if that was even possible, her eyes all but disappearing.

“Late night, Mr. Mawe?” She asked. Her voice was sharp on the best of days, today, colored with her anger, it was downright lethal.

Edan fought back a yawn. Once upon a time, Mrs. Cinnaburn may have terrified him. She was tall and skinny, her fingers long and bony and prone to twitching. As if she wanted to write something down but had neither the pen nor paper. Her voice matched her though, Edan would give her that. Sharp features and trim lines. Perfectly straight dress and spotless coat. All in drab colors. The only alteration to the academic dress was the golden pendant she wore around her neck. Three stars formed a large triangle around a single larger one in the middle.

“No ma’am,” Edan replied on instinct before quickly correcting himself. “I mean, yes ma’am. Late night. I was training…my Mind.”

It was bullshit. He hadn’t spent the night training his Mind. Having to stay conscious through her class every day was training enough. No, he had spent the night running around Stratta, but she didn’t need to know that.

Mrs. Cinnaburn gave a disdainful sniff. Her ruler slid from his desk with the rasp of wood on wood.

“Really?” she didn’t believe him. “Well, isn’t that lovely. You must tell me then, how did you train? Puzzles? Problems? Perhaps studying?”

Still shaking off the last of the dream and trying to ignore the leering faces of his classmates as they looked at him, Edan grasped at the last thing she said.

“Studying!”

Her sneer turned into a triumphant smile.

“Ahhh, you truly are an excellent student Mr. Mawe, studying late into the night in preparation for today's class. Tell me,” She paused, her ruler held up as if it were a blade about to strike. “Who was it that ceded Old Earth to the Four Star Heavenly Sect on integration?”

“The World Union,” Edan said confidently.

The answer was common knowledge, even if the event had happened over two hundred years ago. The World Union still existed today, though they had transitioned from the governing power on Old Earth to just a minor Sect on Terra.

“Yes, yes.” Mrs. Cinnaburn rolled her eyes. “But I asked who, not what. The name of the man, Mr. Mawe, not the organization.”

“Oh,” Edan muttered. His early confidence crumbled. He wrecked his brain, trying to remember if he had ever heard the name of a man associated with The World Union.

With a Mind level of 27 and both Wisdom and Intelligence capped, all he could remember was a vague memory of Harvey mentioning something about a man named…

“Bruin.”

A single thin eyebrow raised as Mrs. Cinnaburn regarded him. There was a moment of silence as the classroom held its breath waiting to see if he was right.

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“Bruin is the current head of the sect, you idiot.” A clipped voice spoke up from the front of the class. “The founder of the World Union, and the man to cede power over to the Four Star Heavenly Sect was Elijah Furrows. He was later killed by some E-grade beast somewhere. A rather pathetic end. Though I suppose he was a rather pathetic man.”

The words were a slow, bored drawl, each syllable dripping with disdain that covered the cultured twang.

Mrs. Cinnaburn’s face lit up with a smile as she turned to address the speaker. The expression looked so foreign on her face, that Edan shivered.

“Right, you are, Aser na’Doma.” She said sweetly, already forgetting about Edan.

Edan gritted his teeth against the urge to throw Aser the middle finger behind her back. A few of the class ooohed and aaahed in mock shock that someone knew the answer. The prick in the front of the class preened at the attention.

With his green hair styled in a warrior knot down the middle and shaved on the side, coupled with his expensive clothes of imported fabrics in the garish purple and black of the Four Star Heavenly Sect, Aser reminded Edan a bit of a preening bird of prey.

The class on Earth history was a joke. A mandatory joke. But still a joke. Mrs. Cinnaburn wasn’t even from Earth and the only real merit she had to her name was that her Profession was Scholar. It gave her some credibility, Edan supposed, but the religious symbol around her neck of the Four Stars showed where her allegiance lay.

“As Aser na’Doma so adequately put it, it was a rather pathetic end to the man.” She tittered softly. A few suck-ups in class joined in. “But like most of Old Earth's powerhouses, the power he learned to cultivate himself was rather…limited. To be expected of those who advanced before the Sects arrived. Now, a few other examples of overreaching fools are Garish the Br…”

Edan stopped listening. It wasn't that he disliked the class, per se. Sure, Cinnaburn made it all but unbearable, but the lessons themselves could have been exciting.

If only Edan could see the point of it all.

Edan chose instead to look out the window at the city below.

Reverb Academy was built on one of the Islets that dotted the point where the Kentushi River met the Fostering Sea. It was actually on the Islet furthest out to sea. Artificially enlarged and raised, it was little more than a protrusion of sharp dark rocks and drowned plants.

The Academy’s stone towers ringed the central building at perfect intervals. Five Towers, for the five largest sponsors to the Academy, each sponsor getting a seat on the council that governed the school.

Edan had heard tales of the entire Academy being an array laid down by the Sects as a final bastion should Terra fall. Other tales said there were once 7 towers, each representing a sin, but the Four Star Heavenly Sect had destroyed Gluttony and Sloth so its students could focus on progression.

There were just fancy tales told by those with too much time on their hands.

Mrs. Cinnaburn droned on as Edan watched a flock of Sunspits fly by. They streaked through the blue sky, chasing each other as the sunlight reflected off their golden feathers. Ungraded as they were, they could still spit balls of light that could blind an weak man if he wasn’t careful.

A gentle breeze drifted through the window, tossing Eden's dark curls, and he took a deep breath of salty sea air.

Beneath him, and out to sea, Edan could see a large masted shipping vessel making its way back to port. Even from this distance, he could see the massive corpse of some aquatic creature stretched across the deck, its fins dragging in the water and sending sea spray up in a mist.

The ship had to be The Depth Charger, the deep sea fishing vessel of the Crafters Guild, the corpse on the deck their latest catch. They would be bringing it back for harvesting, Edan imagined.

A good catch for the Season. Edan guessed the larger ships would see little action once the Season of Seeding turned in a few weeks and the Season of Storms arrived. You didn’t want to be out at sea when the beast tide hit.

A few other vessels, smaller than The Depth Charger, dotted the sea around the Islets. Their sails colored brightly in reds and greens that stood out against the deep blue ocean.

Edan let out a wistful sigh. He wished he could be down there. He didn’t need to be on a boat, that wasn’t what he wanted. No, he wanted the freedom. He wanted to feel the sun on his back and a breeze through his hair.

Suddenly the classroom felt stifling. The eighteen other students around Edan made the closed-off stone space feel cramped. Edan had to fight the urge to jump to his feet and run. The class was almost over, he just had to endure.

How could he hope for Sect Sponsorship if he couldn't even prove to them he was willing to sit and learn?

Mrs. Cinnaburn was winding down now. Edan could tell by the way she shifted towards the desk at the front of the room. It had a few tubes of rolled-up paper with diagrams she used.

“...and so, every year we give thanks to the Precursor and his Vanguard with gifts of skill and craft during the proving tournaments. Any questions?”

No one in the class raised a hand. Not a single one of them wanted to be there longer than necessary and by the way Mrs. Cinnaburn was collecting her presentation, nor did she.

“Since there are no further questions, I think this is as good a place as any to stop. Master Sims has asked that you bring your armor tomorrow. You're having a practical.” There was a collective cheer from the class and she slipped closer to the door. “You may leave.”

And just like that she vanished out of the door leaving the class alone. There was the scraping of chairs as some of the students pushed away from their desks. Conversation bubbled over each other as neighbors turned to talk, or leaned over each other to say something to someone a row over.

Edan took his time getting to his feet. He hadn’t even bothered taking a book out of his bag so all he really had to do was sling the strap over his shoulder and he was good to go. He tried dragging that out as well, the reason was standing at the front of the class chatting with a group of boys and girls.

Aser.

Edan would need to pass the boy to reach the door and he knew Aser wouldn’t let him through without saying something hurtful. Emerald eyes flashed in the afternoon sun streaming through the windows as Aser threw his head back and laughed. A single silver earring, a dagger hanging from a silver chain, jumped with the movement.

“Screw it,” Edan muttered as he adjusted the strap on his shoulder, making sure his pack was tight against his back, before making his way through the desks.

If Edan timed it right, he could use someone as a shield and hide behind them as he moved past. Edan wasn’t very large, after all. He may even be the smallest in the class.

He didn’t time it right.

“Hey, runt!” Aser called catching sight of Edan out of the corner of his eye. “You still have drool on your chin!”

Edan resisted the reflexive twitch to wipe at his chin.

Keep your head down. Edan thought to himself. Don’t antagonize him. It’s what he wants. Play it smart. Walk away.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t impress me anymore, you forget the name of your own world's champion.” Aser continued. “I suppose it’s true what they say, a child's education starts at home.”

Edan’s footsteps slowed.

Like a shark tasting blood in the water Aser whispered loudly to the group around him.

“I hear the mother makes the dresses…and the father wears them.”

Be smart. Walk away. Edan reminded himself, even as he stopped walking. The laughter of his classmates washed over him. He didn’t care about that. He didn’t even care about Aser. Edan was just overly protective of Reema and Sanik, just as they were of him. Yeah, fuck it. One punch.

Edan turned, taking in the group in an instant. Aser stood in the middle, Tooth, and Nose to his left. Edan couldn’t be bothered to remember their names, but one had a skewed tooth and the other a nose ring. Neither were very bright, or talkative. They just knew when to laugh and when to look threateningly.

They also knew when Aser wanted someone hurt.

To Aser’s right was Lorien, she wasn’t laughing at Aser’s joke. Edan was glad of that. The tall brunette with her button nose and large brown eyes had always been nice to him. It may have been out of respect for his friendship with Cassie, but Cassie didn’t attend the academy and Lorien was still nice to him, even here.

So he’d have to swing with his left. He couldn’t afford to miss Aser and hit her.

Aser eyed Edan as he approached, a hungry glint in his eyes. He wanted the fight. Tooth and Nose smiled as well and moved forward to try to intercept him. Edan slung the bag from his shoulder, using the momentum to throw it right into Nose’s…well, nose. The boy jerked back, grabbing the bag on reflex, but that obscured his vision.

Edan was already moving past him. He wasn’t interested in trading blows with 3 boys. He’d lose. They were all from the Four Star Heavenly Sect and likely trained at the Sect. They may not have been admitted yet, but their parents were. School for them was just a formality.

Tooth was pushing Nose out of the way, his face annoyed. He tried to grab Edan, but Edan was small and quick. Ducking low, he made it even harder for the taller, broader boy to reach him.

Edan still felt Tooth’s hand tug a few strands of hair from his scalp, the sting bitter-sweet.

Lorien was moving away. Thankfully she was moving towards Edan’s left, putting her further away from the projected path of his haymaker. The crowd of those around her slowed her down, but she would be safe.

Edan jumped, he needed the extra couple of inches to reach Aser’s smirking face. His first swung out in perfect form. Then a force like a catapult hit him in the sternum. He folded around the blow, his limbs jerking forward and the breath rushed out of him.

Spittle was mixed with that breath and some of it landed on Aser’s clothes. Edan smiled, even as the force of Aser’s straight kick sent him flying back. Spots danced in his vision but the look of rage on Aser’s face was clear as day.

Edan hit the ground hard, his bony shoulder blades making contact with the cold stone first. His neck snapped and the back of his skull hit next, a dull thump sounded in his ears, and the stars in his vision turned into raging suns. Darkness crept in from the edges of his sight. Edan gasped, trying to get a breath in.

Someone screamed. Someone laughed. Someone cheered.

Edan held on to consciousness as he tried to find the floor beneath him. He struggled to his feet…but the floor was cold against his shoulder…was he still lying down? Everything was spinning.

Okay, maybe I’ll take a quick nap. Edan thought, letting the darkness win.