“And you’re sure there’s nowhere we can run? Escape, even a few days longer?”
“Nowhere.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Me neither.”
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It took an embarrassingly long time, but Jair finally made it through the entirety of the initiation ceremony without doing anything to disrupt the affair.
He still felt like a coiled spring packed down too tight, still felt like his body wasn't his own, his manabody barely held together, but at least on the outside he looked calm and entirely mundane.
Jair stood on the initiation stage within the crystal dome of the Astralla Mageblade Institute, surrounded by rare blooms and exotic greenery, holding the hilt of a sword like none other.
Across from him stood Headmaster Larenok, who greedily looked up and down the blade, uncertainty on his face, but desire in his eyes, his hand reflexively tilting the silver-glowing sword back toward himself as its form shifted.
Jair instinctively corrected his balance and moved with him, hand tightening on his newly ascended sword. He didn’t trust Larenok for a moment.
Ordinarily, Jair would take the sword, say some words of ritual acceptance, and go stand with the others who’d already received their class. But ordinarily, he didn’t set off a lightshow that surpassed even the headmaster’s power.
“You? How? What is this?” Larenok hissed, his scowl more pronounced than ever.
For a long awkward moment, they simply stared at each other, neither relinquishing their hold on Jair’s soulblade. People in the audience began to mutter and shift, trying to figure out what was happening.
Jair refrained from lunging forward to run the man through. That would be impolitic.
Larenok refrained from running an Inspect on the weapon in the middle of the ceremony. That would be a breach of the Eldyhi Pact. Jair had no doubt the headmaster would freely break the accords if he ever thought he had the opportunity, but for now Maelstrom was safe.
A third-tier soulsword would be the envy of any mageblade, even one forged using far less uncommon ingredients. Jair had ensured his weapon's ascension had the best chance at surviving the trip back through time, putting absolutely everything he and Eythron could come up with into ensuring its strength and integrity.
Professor Derall, one of the row of teachers standing behind the headmaster, pointedly cleared her throat as the interruption to the ceremony showed no signs of resolving. Headmaster Larenok gave a little start, drew himself up, and grudgingly proffered the sword's hilt toward Jair once more.
“Having received the class of Mageblade, now take your weapon and stand as one of us.” Larenok spoke in the same practiced tone he'd used for all the others, despite his poorly-concealed greed.
Jair tapped his forehead to deposit Maelstrom directly into his soul, to the mild amusement of those watching.
Larenok grumbled, "Sheath your sword and go stand with the others," breaking strict protocol, technically, though Jair had broken it first.
He retrieved Maelstrom and slid it into the ceremonial sheath he wore for the occasion, hiding most of its fluctuating silver glow from view. Little flashes of mana still flickered around the top of the protective sheath.
People still stared, pointed, whispered. He'd begun to get used to it, to ignore the prickle of tension at being observed.
Jair bowed with the minimum required courtesy. “I gladly accept your greeting, honored master.” He spoke the ritual response without inflection, then turned and walked to join the other successful third-class initiates, standing off to the left of the stage in the grass by the outer hedge of the dome.
“Boris Domir, by mind and strength you have proven yourself worthy. Come forward.”
A wave of polite applause accompanied the young man as he mounted the stage and Larenok began his recitations.
Once securely in his place, Jair turned and met Raina's eyes. She regularly caught him off guard, somehow, even after so long. So innocent. Curiosity, eagerness, only the vaguest hints of concern.
Jair had no family in the audience, transit from the southern sandbogs was far too expensive for that. Only Raina had come to cheer for him, and he’d never managed to save her.
This time would be different.
“Having received the class of Mageblade, now take your weapon and stand as one of us.”
Boris Domir joined Jair, standing proud. His mother, Lady of a minor sub-holding of Sectri Oasis, waved proudly.
Jair rubbed at his chin, encountering only sparse fuzz instead of his usual neat beard. The longer he stood among his fellow students, the more out of place he felt. He didn’t belong here, not in this academy, not in this form. He’d lost the rhythms of this kind of life, drowned out in the constant war to progress. He could lead an army, infiltrate an empire, duel a magekiller to an even draw, but not as he was now.
Everything about this younger self felt off. He doubted he could even run half a day without collapsing. His manabody was soft and fluffy, a cloud rather than directed rivers, permeating his form but directionless and unfocused. Any attempt to activate it only stirred the energy uselessly around inside him, no way to build up enough pressure to force it out into the world.
Weak and unfinished, without even a single spell at his disposal.
“Zyn Cabas, by body and blood you have proven yourself worthy. Come forward.”
Jair grimaced, clapping obligatorily along with the crowd as the young man in question mounted the stage. Now there was a name with plenty of negative memories associated with it. Not a primary antagonist like Larenok or Lian, but plenty of trouble.
At least Larenok and Lian pretended to follow the rules. Once Zyn attuned his soulspell, he’d fully exploit the measure of anonymity his erratic shapeshifting provided without the common sense to moderate his aggression. The slightest hint of a target Lian wanted dealt with and Zyn would do his best to ‘take care of it’.
Urgh. Having to worry about things like social status again felt alien, unreal. One drawback of time travel. It didn’t matter that he’d outgrown this academy with its pettiness long ago. Until Jair regained his full strength, he’d have to play by their rules, at least enough to get what he needed.
He’d all but forgotten how it felt to be this young, weak, and powerless. In every way, Jair had lived at the mercy of everyone around him, from the teachers and headmaster to his fellow students. Physically, magically, socially, economically.
He didn’t appreciate the reminder.
His eyes drifted back to Raina. Only one thing mattered here right now.
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But first, he had to stand through two more hours of initiations, class unlocks, sword distribution, ritual greetings, and interminable speeches he could recite from memory.
He could put those hours to good use. Today’s ceremony contained countless opportunities for advancing his future goals. He need only decide which ones to act on. His choices today would determine the trajectory of the remainder of his time at the Astralla Institute, and quite possibly years afterwards.
Assess. Plan.
Unless he wanted to be stuck standing through this tedious ceremony again and again, he needed to get things right this time through.
“Having received the class of Mageblade, now take your weapon and stand as one of us.”
Zyn came to join them, glancing at Jair only in passing, and Larenok started his next speech. This one would go on for a while.
Nothing for it but to patiently endure. Jair absently began tracing the spell path for Reflect across the back of his hand with one finger, more to distract himself than anything.
Even the simplest of spells took weeks to set in to usable condition, requiring sustained and repeated exercise of the manabody to imprint, and his foundational spells were among the most complicated designs he knew. Much like building up physical muscle, some things could only be rushed to a point. Until then, he’d be magically no stronger than any other academy student who’d just received their class.
“Lian Teretho, by mind and strength you have proven yourself worthy. Come forward.”
Heir of House Teretho, and one of the primary obstacles to Jair’s immediate future.
“Having received the class of Mageblade, now take your weapon and stand as one of us.”
Jair watched Lian Teretho walk toward them. The young noble held his new soulsword firmly as he sought out his father’s presence in the audience. Lord Kyson Teretho, however, was leaning across the woman beside him—Lady Yaja Morik-Teretho, his current wife and Lian’s stepmother—to talk enthusiastically with the father of another of the advancing initiates.
Lian’s grim expression of resignation showed he had expected this outcome, and he promptly turned to scowl in Jair’s direction. Kyson had paid more attention to Jair’s initiation than his own son’s.
Jair met Lian’s eyes and gave him a bland smile.
Lian’s scowl darkened and he looked back toward the audience. Yep. He would make trouble, sooner rather than later.
The longer Jair’s gaze wandered across the assembled crowd, the more clearly details of his route through these months came back to him.
Most children of the upper nobility would have advanced months ago in the first and second initiation groups, those like Raina who received augmented training since their youth. The lower nobility in attendance today couldn’t rely on overwhelming wealth and had to network and scheme to maintain their social status—the sort who could be convinced to take a risk on an outsider if it seemed likely to benefit them.
As much as Jair despised the nobility as a whole, he couldn’t do everything alone. It took a particular strategy to become someone they’d respect, despite not being wealthy himself.
He surreptitiously ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it out a bit. The air of self-assurance required no pretense; if anything, it would be harder to hide his confidence. He’d lived longer than many of these people’s entire family line could boast, even if most of it was repeats of a month or two at a time.
Jair prepared himself to play through familiar patterns, project just the right combination of ambitious and gullible, hard-working and desperate. Exactly the sort of potential pawn that would entice his targets to include him in their plans.
He had no desire to waste his evening schmoozing with nobility, but this ceremony was unbearable enough to live through once. The sooner he could optimize today and lock it in, the better for his sanity.
Again Jair found his eyes drawn to Raina, the anchor point around which he’d built his future. The one hope he’d never allowed himself to give up on, even when the challenges before him seemed insurmountable.
It would all be worth it, if he could finally change things. Not just rearrange the pieces and prevent a couple wars, but alter what had always been set in stone. For that, he could put up with another few months of belittlement from idiots who thought putting him down made them anything but more pathetic.
By the time the ceremony finally reached its end, Jair had scanned and sorted every student, teacher, and relevant visitor by their present and future abilities, attitude, and value.
Larenok dismissed everyone to the tables of exotic snacks and drinks tastefully scattered around the area, filled and ready within moments of the final student’s initiation, increasing the incentive to stay a bit longer and appreciate the academy’s generosity.
Only a few headed straight for their children. Most lingered in small clusters to continue gossiping.
Larenok headed straight for Jair. "Welburne, I want a word with you."
Jair hurried toward Raina, pretending he hadn't heard the headmaster's voice. There was enough of a babble to make it almost reasonable: parents congratulating children, bragging about their children to one another, or offering flattering compliments to each other.
Jair himself was stopped almost before he'd begun, Lady Ielga clearly trying to introduce him to her daughter, but he brushed her off and pushed his way through the crowd.
If he had his way, this would be the last time he ran day one. He wanted to do it right. Getting tangled up by Larenok's attempts to get Maelstrom or the Ielga's desire to grab him as a trophy husband were not part of that plan.
Raina was also making her way toward him. She'd been advanced months previously in the second initiation, so she was only here to support him.
“Congratulations! I told you you had nothing to worry about. And your sword…” She couldn't stop staring at Maelstrom. "What happened up there? I've never seen anything like it."
"I'd love nothing more than to discuss it with you all afternoon, but right now I have a window of opportunity which is irreplaceable."
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. Well, I'm alive and you're alive and I'm going to make it work. So. Fine. Yes."
"Jair?" Definitely a worried note now.
Jair waved it away. "There's a few of the people here I'd like to introduce myself to while they're available."
Raina brightened. "I can introduce you, I know just about everyone here from one thing or another."
"Thank you, but it's best I do this myself. I'd like to present a certain image."
"And you don't want to be seen as my tagalong. Fair." She glanced at him sideways. "I wouldn't have pictured you as the type to play political games. Where's this coming from?"
"My priorities have shifted. I'm not a child any more. It's time to step up. I can't live my entire life relying on others."
"We've been adults for years, Jair."
"Legally, perhaps. Until today, I'd consider myself to have been barely better than an infant."
"And you know I don't mind helping you out."
"Thank you. I'll be sure to impose on you afterwards. But right now, I have to go. I'll meet you at the apartment after."
Raina nodded, helping herself to a plateful of the provided snacks, and headed out of the dome.
Jair called after her, "Don't forget to practice your soulspell meditation!"
"Shush, you. After the week we've had, we both deserve a break."
Jair let it go. Not worth an argument, certainly not in public. Instead he turned with a perfect polite smile, ready to charm his way into the good graces of the lower elite of Veor's nobility.
The gathered nobility were in a uniquely accessible position at the moment.
Jair moved away from the students as quickly as dignity allowed and strode toward the parents.
But something about the atmosphere felt different. People turned to look at him before he reached them. Conversations trailed off as eyes followed him, whispers shifting in tone. Faces that had only ever shown disdain broke into smiles.
“Hello, young man, I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet.” Matricia Eldren took the first move, stepping forward to offer her hand.
Jair kept his smile restrained to politeness as he went through the pleasantries, holding back deeper glee. Having an ascended soulblade from day one was always going to be a major game changer, but even his expectations paled against reality.
Madame Eldren, though not technically the highest among the current group, held a social standing that in the past precluded her paying any attention to someone of no name like Jair, whatever he’d tried. It normally required months of working his way through lower layers before meriting a glance from House Eldren.
And here he was having a full conversation.
She actually waved off others to continue their discussion. Or, interrogation, perhaps, since she seemed determined to find out everything she could about his background.
He gave out his usual cover story, one which placed his family home outside of Veor and remote enough that no one would be able to disprove it without significant investigation.
The conversation lasted only minutes before Kyson Teretho—who was the highest prestige among the current group—interrupted to claim Jair’s attention for himself.
All his familiar patterns may be obsolete now, but that only made him happier.
So what if it might be more dangerous being known as a prodigy? Safety was boring. Who needed plans? This was a chance to experience something new.
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