“We’ll be pairing up to work on fundamentals today,” Professor Cypren said in a deep, grumbly voice. Aeric and Elsie were staring at him with wide eyes.
What is this thing?
I think it’s a Treewarden.
Finally. I’ve been wondering when we’d meet one.
Professor Cypren stood a foot or so shorter than the students he was teaching. He had a stout body with rough brown skin. His beard and hair were made up of strands that were far thicker than human hairs ever grew. It gave his heavy mane an appearance of a lion made out of flexible twigs.
His face had large features, with owl-like eyes with yellow sclera. Below his round torso the lower half of his body split into limbs looking like so many roots. As he paced back and forth in front of the students his many roots scrambled in a harmonious gait, giving him an overall smooth flow of motion. He wore a large kilt around his waist.
The class was being held in an outdoor combat arena. All of the students had changed into their school issued gym outfits. Their fitted garnet-red shirts had the words Royal Academy of Astraeus over the chest in gold lettering. All of the students had on the same sort of fitted-yet-flexible gray gym shorts.
The final piece of their outfit for this class in particular were padded sparring gloves. They weren’t nearly as large as the big red boxing gloves commonly seen on Earth. All of the students’ fingers were still independent rather than in one big mitten. The padding was enough to provide at least a little extra safety during the class though. Aeric wished he could use his astral shimmer shield, but it was not allowed during this particular lesson.
“Now as we have two new students, I’d like two volunteers to be their sparring partners. I expect you to go easy on them and show them the basics. Consider this an opportunity to be a teacher rather than a student.”
Almost every hand in the class shot into the air. The twins looked around at the two dozen students who all had hopeful looks on their faces. Several of them smiled when they noticed their gaze.
“Yeah, I should have seen that coming,” the Treewarden grumbled to himself. “Alright change of plans: I’m going to start out with the new students while you all pair up. I will come pick whoever is showing proper forms and footwork today to continue sparring with our newest once I’m done with them. Remember: today is about control, so if you draw your opponent's blood then that counts as your own loss in this spar.”
The students’ hands went back down and they began breaking off into pairs.
“Don’t let me down,” Amos said to Aeric. He left to greet a tall boy with light brown hair.
“Don’t be nervous,” Lyric said to Elsie, though it seemed like it might have been directed at her own self as well.
Professor Cypren ambled over to the twins on his many root-like legs. He saw exactly where their gaze lay. “What are you staring at? You’ve never seen a Treewarden before?”
“Er, no sir,” Aeric said.
“Well get used to it. I know there’s not as many of us here at the academy as there are humans, but that doesn’t make us any less than you, do you understand?”
“Of course sir,” Elsie said.
The Treewarden professor squinted his eyes at them for a moment. “I’m going to assume you’re like most of the other summons from Earth and have more experience reading about fighting than actually fighting.”
“That’s right,” Aeric said.
“Well that’s fine, but don’t expect anyone to go easy on you just because you’re new,” the professor said. “Now what’s the first rule of fighting in close quarters?”
“I don’t think we’ve been taught that yet, sir,” Aeirc said.
“Wrong. You’d already know that if you were paying attention to your surroundings. Why do you think they have a Treewarden teaching combat fundamentals, eh? It should be obvious: it’s all about your footwork.”
Lyric hesitantly approached the professor. “Excuse me, professor?”
“What? I’m busy. Go back to sparring with your partner,” Professor Cypren said.
“I, er, don’t have one.”
The professor looked around. “Oh, Lyric. What are you doing here? I thought you were in the afternoon rotation.”
“I am. Or I was. Assistant Headmistress Ashdowne moved my classes so I could be with Elsie,” the green haired girl said.
“Eh? Why’d she do that?” He turned to Elsie. “You need a babysitter or something?”
“No sir,” Elsie said. “I think Professor Ashdowne wanted to give her a chance to show some leadership skills.”
“Typical humans giving more problems than solutions,” the professor muttered. He turned back to Lyric. “Just go run laps until I rotate you out with someone else in the class. Might as well make the most of your time.”
“Yes, professor,” Lyric said, staring at her shoes. She took off at a light jog around the perimeter of the combat arena.
“Now back to the basics: footwork. Let me show you why a Treewarden is your teacher here. I heard your classes at the assembly today, so I know neither of you have any close range combat skills. So go ahead and try to strike me, if you can.”
The twins exchanged a glance. “Ladies first?” Aeric said.
Elsie sighed, then stepped towards the professor. She pulled back her arm and tried to slam it as fast as she could towards the tree-man in front of her.
Professor Cypren fluidly glided just out of her reach as her hand approached. He put a hand over his mouth and yawned. “Well come on then. Your turn, Aeric.”
He stepped up and launched himself towards the professor like he was going for a wrestling grapple. The professor’s tree root legs moved faster than anticipated, taking him out of Aeric’s path. The boy landed face first in the lightly packed sandy dirt of the arena floor. A few students looked over and smirked.
“Alright, get up. Let’s have you both attack at once. Don’t worry about hurting me. You won’t even land a hit. But even if you do it won’t matter at your strength levels: my skin has natural armor around it anyway.” The professor crossed his arms behind his back. “Begin.”
Elsie reached down a gloved hand and picked Aeric back up.
Should be easy. We’ll just each go around a different direction and attack from two sides at once.
That’s what I’m thinking too. You take left, I take right?
Aeric moved around to the left of the professor while Elsie moved around to the right until they were on either side of them. The Treewarden simply smiled. In perfect synchrony, the twins launched forward. In the blink of an eye the professor had moved out of their path. As predicted by all of the students who had been sneaking glances at the spar: the twins crashed into each other instead of their target.
“Again!” Barked the professor. “Don’t stop until you’ve hit me or I say we’re done.” The twins stood back up and rushed him. Aeric found himself throwing punch after punch, but only hitting thin air.
Elsie went for a different tactic, trying to kick her leg in a wide arc, in an attempt to sweep the professor's tree root legs out from under him. His many legs moved out of the way of her attack a few roots at a time, then fell back into the area where her leg had just passed. When her leg was in the middle of its arc he contracted his roots, catching her foot. Laughing, he stepped back, causing Elsie to flop unceremoniously onto the ground, gaining a few chuckles from students who were pretending not to watch.
Aeric threw himself towards the treewarden once again, but this time the professor stepped toward him, intercepting the student before he was ready. He moved his arms up, catching Aeric’s outstretched arm and redirected his momentum past his body. He threw him onto the sandy ground next to his sister.
He laughed again: a big jovial laugh straight from his large belly. “Well I’ve seen worse. Get back up. Let’s talk footwork.”
As the twins got back up once again from the ground, the professor moved his legs in a new way. He intertwined many of his roots, growing taller as his roots combined into taller, human-like legs. Soon he was standing as tall as Aeric on two ropey trunks.
Maybe that’s why we haven’t noticed any Treewardens before.
Yeah. He mostly just looks like a person with an odd skin condition now. Seen from a distance I wouldn’t have realized he wasn’t human.
“Now watch my feet and follow my lead.”
---
Half an hour later the professor called for a water break. Lyric was doubled over with her hands on her knees, breathing hard after running for so long. The professor had never assigned anyone to switch with her, and no one had volunteered to run laps in her place. Most of the other students had broken a sweat, but were not as winded as she was.
“Marissa,” The professor called out. A petite girl looked up from the bench she was sitting on, drinking from her water bottle. She had blonde hair with pink highlights in it. “You’ll be Elsie’s partner.”
“I was actually hoping to partner with Lyric,” Elsie said, looking with pity at her exhausted roommate.
“Who?” The professor asked. “Oh, right Lyric, I forgot you’re here. That’s fine, she can show you the basics. Lyric with Elsie and Marissa with Aeric then,” Professor Cypren said.
A few people in class groaned in disappointment, but no one was brave enough to outright challenge the hefty Treewarden’s decision. Aeric walked up to his new sparring partner.
“Hi, I’m Aeric,” he said while holding out his hand. She looked at it and frowned.
“I don’t hold hands with strange guys,” she said, then took another swig of water.
“Oh. Right, sorry. I forgot that people don’t shake hands here,” Aeric said, putting his arm down, embarrassed.
“Typical summon.” She set her water bottle down and stood up from the bench she had been sitting on. She was more than a foot shorter than Aeric, which meant she must have been less than five feet tall. “Ready for me to teach you how the dirt tastes, pretty boy?”
“Ready when you are, Magnolia,” Aeric said.
“It’s Marissa,” she corrected.
“I know. Your hair reminds me of a flower we had back home though. They were called magnolias. I mean it’s not exactly the same. Your blonde hair with its pink streaks is probably closer to certain kinds of lilies, but those don’t start with the letter M like your name, so I figured magnolias were the closest thing I could think of.”
“You talk too much,” Marissa said. They walked out into the arena to get some space. Other students began pairing up and finding open spots as well. Marissa performed a few stretches and then cracked her neck.
“You may resume when ready,” the professor called to the class in general. “Remember: control your attacks! I want to see you proving that you have the basics right. No blood!”
Aeric raised his fists in his best approximation of a boxer’s stance. Marissa rolled her eyes at his terrible form. He looked down to make sure he had positioned his feet the way Professor Cypren had shown him over the last half an hour. His sparring partner was already a blur of motion when he looked back up.
-
“Ow! Elsie said to Lyric as they stood opposite from one another. She rubbed her cheek, then looked over her shoulder at where her twinborn brother was lying on the ground. She could see Marissa’s small frame standing over him, eagerly looking for the next opportunity to strike.
“Are you okay?” Lyric asked. “What hurt you?”
“Umm, not me. I was just saying it looked like Aeric just got absolutely floored by that girl.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize you could see him from your angle. How did you know…”
“I know you chose this spot so you could watch him,” Elsie said, trying to distract her. “You still haven’t told me your side of what happened when we were in those swim bubbles, you know. I’m always willing to listen to you if you feel like you’re ready to talk about it.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. Why don’t you just show me what Professor Cypren taught you. I think I’d rather take my mind off things with Aeric for the moment. Especially seeing him with Marissa. She’s the worst.”
Elsie shrugged and did her best to adopt the stance she had learned this morning.
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Lyric looked her up and down, then sighed. “Okay, I’m like the bottom of the class in this course and even I can tell what you’re doing wrong.”
“Amos enjoyed telling Aeric everything he did wrong when they practiced archery the other day too,” Elsie mentioned. “My brother said it was really annoying.”
Lyric’s eyes narrowed. She brought one foot forward and took a partial step back for balance, raising her hands to her waist. “Well then let me show you with my form instead of my words. I wouldn’t want to annoy you!’ She threw a punch.
-
“Will you knock it off?” Aeric said as he barely managed to block another strike from Marissa. She had at least been gracious enough to let him stand back up without attacking him this time. “I didn’t realize we were actually supposed to try hurting each other in this class.”
“What did you think this class was then? Synchronized aerobics? Or are you just too afraid to hit a girl? Is that all it is, pretty boy?” She threw another punch.
-
“You’re quick!” Elsie said as she stepped back from Lyric’s assault. The emerald fighter continued with a memorized kata pattern of punches, footwork, and kicks. Elsie was on the back foot the entire time. Lyric leapt into a high kick. Her bare foot reached less than an inch away from Elsie’s face. Her unexpected follow-up punch landed with full force.
-
Aeric flinched and held his hand over the right side of his chest. Marissa gave him an odd look, as she hadn’t hit him there.
“What’s wrong with you?” She asked.
“Nothing. I just didn’t realize how badly getting punched somewhere could hurt,” he said. Then he added with a mumble, “they really don’t provide extra padding in a fight after all.”
“Whatever. You only get padded armor for more serious sparring. Besides, you’re letting yourself get distracted. I see you looking over at Lyric more often than you’re looking at your opponent. Is it true that you’re her boyfriend?”
“What?” Aeric was taken by surprise.
Marissa took the opportunity to sweep her leg out. She looped her toes behind his ankle, then pulled him to the ground. He landed with a thud and saw the short, angry girl glaring down at him.
“I asked you a question. Are you, or are you not dating that green haired witch over there?”
-
“Why would you have even hit me there if you knew it would hurt this bad?!” Elsie said, wrapping her arms around her chest, a few tears at the edges of her eyes.
“I’m so sorry! It’s just where you’re supposed to punch on the next step of the kata! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, I promise.”
“It’s fine,” Elsie said, standing back up. “I guess I’ll have to get used to pain if I’m going to be fighting monsters on this world anyway.”
“You don’t have to fight. Your class can has non-combat uses as well. You could use Astral Manipulator to be an outstanding crafter instead, you know.”
Elsie nodded. “I could, but something tells me my future holds more combat than crafting.”
“You could join me for a divination session in the meadow. Once they open up access to it again anyway. We could try to see what your future holds as far as crafting or combat.”
“Maybe you should try focusing more on what your immediate future holds right now!” Elsie threw a punch.
-
“Hey you almost got me that time,” Marissa said with a grin.
“What makes you think there’s something going on between me and Lyric?” Aeric asked.
“Like I said: if you can hit me I’ll tell you.” She dodged back at Aeric’s next wild swing. He stepped out of place and she punished him for it, tripping him again. “You make this way too easy.”
“What do you expect?!” Aeric practically shouted from the ground. “I’ve never been taught how to fight before! My first lesson was half an hour ago.”
“Oh don’t worry, I can tell how very inexperienced you are. Get up, pretty boy.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” He pushed himself back up and jumped to his feet. His frustration was clearly evident in his expression.
Marissa just smirked. She slammed a gloved fist at Aeric’s cheek, though he was able to partially deflect the blow as he managed to throw both of his arms wildly up to wrap around her arm.
He pulled her in an attempt to throw her on the ground, but she looped her other arm around his neck and used the momentum to spin around his entire body and jumped up onto his back, wrapping her legs around his front as if he was giving her a piggy-back ride.
She tightened her arm around his neck in a chokehold, squeezing the air out of him, while using her now-free hand to push away his arms as he tried to reach back at her.
Aeric finally decided to just throw himself back onto the ground, but as he did so she moved with supernatural grace, scrambling off his body before they hit the ground. He found himself lying on the packed sand again, looking up as Marissa blew a strand of pink-and-blonde hair out of her face.
“I call you pretty boy because that’s all you summons ever are. Perfect looking bodies and stupidly powerful classes. You did nothing to deserve what you’ve been given. You have no idea what it means to work for what you have.”
-
“Truce?” Elsie asked. She felt like she was probably developing bruises from the punches she and Lyric had been wildly throwing at each other, not even trying to maintain a proper form anymore. Then feeling her brother hitting the floor yet again made her feel like she needed a break.
“Yes, please,” Lyric said. She had a few tears of pain sliding down her face now too. “You didn’t have to aim for sensitive spots either, you know.”
“Oh I am well aware. I just thought you needed a little reminder of how it felt.”
“You’re the worst roommate I’ve ever had,” Lyric said.
Elsie stepped forward and put an arm around her shoulders in a side hug. “Is that actually true?” She asked with genuine curiosity.
Lyric sighed and glanced towards Aeric and Marissa again. “Honestly, no. Not even close. I’ve had some pretty bad ones.”
“That’s good. Because it’s my personal goal to be the best roommate you’ve ever had,” Elsie said. She saw the professor looking in their direction from across the arena, so she stepped back and got into her fighting stance again.
“I know you will be,” Lyric said with a smile. “I might have been a little hyper focused on trying to see visions of Aeric and I dating over the last few months, but I also saw how great our friendship turns out.”
“That’s the kind of prediction I’m okay believing,” Elsie said, returning the smile.
-
“Do you think other students hate me for no reason? Or just you?” Aeric asked, as he managed to dodge back from Marissa’s next strike. His chest was feeling sore, despite Marissa rarely hitting it: a phantom pain from his twinborn body.
“Who says I hate you?” She followed the strike with a sweep to Aeric’s ankle, but he was ready for it this time, shifting his weight to his other leg and letting the foot she hit flow with her kick. He responded with a forward punch, but she easily redirected it with the back of one of her gloved hands.
“If this isn’t hate then I’d be scared to see you in a fight with someone you truly despise.”
“Just wait until you see me use my class skills,” she said with an inviting look.
“Why? What is your class?”
“Skirmisher,” she said, smiling as if he should be impressed.
“Okay?”
She frowned, then lowered her hands. “You haven’t even heard of it, have you?”
“This is literally my first day at your school. Am I expected to know every class there is before even starting here?”
“If you weren’t a sparking summon, then yes. You would have been expected to know what I can do with my class. There’s no way you could have been admitted to the Astraeus officer’s academy like this if you hadn’t understood something even as simple as what the different magic classes can do.”
“So what does a Skirmisher do?”
“I’ll take that as consent to show you.” She took a step back and brought her hands together in front of her, one of her hands clenched in a fist and the other with an open palm. “I don’t have a connection going right now, so I’ll have to rely on my internal reserves. Lucky you, getting a direct taste of my astra the first time we meet.”
Her chin-length hair moved in a breeze no one else could feel. Aeric activated his trace sense and saw the power building up within her body. A bright light visible only to his senses flowed from the core in her chest out to her hands.
He didn’t even see the next hit coming.
-
Elsie fell to her hands and knees, a bit of spittle coughing out of her mouth onto the ground. Lyric stopped her assault.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t think I hit you that hard this time! I was trying to hit softer,” Lyric said.
“No it’s not that. I need to go help my brother.”
“Why? Oh he’s on the floor again. You think Marissa tripped him again?”
“He’s hurt worse than before,” Elsie said, then got up and started jogging towards her brother, wiping her mouth with the back of her glove. Lyric immediately ran to catch up.
“How can you tell?” Lyric asked.
“I think she used some kind of spell. Can you tell me about her class?”
“She’s a Skirmisher. It’s a singleton of Treewarden magic. They can only use the invigoration discipline, but it gives her some serious combat buff spells. She wouldn’t have done that though, it’s cheating to use magic. At least unless both opponents agree to allow it.”
They arrived at where Marissa was standing with her arms folded, glaring down at Aeric. The pixie-like girl looked up as they arrived. Her eyes narrowed.
“What do you want?” She demanded.
“What did you do to my brother?” Elsie asked. She knelt down by his side and turned him over onto his back. His nose was bleeding profusely, and his eyes were rolled up into his head. Lyric shrieked and knelt down, taking one of Aeric’s hands in hers. A few more students came over, drawn by the commotion.
“Oh please, he’ll be fine,” Marissa said, though she sounded a bit unsure of herself.
“He doesn’t look fine,” Lyric said. “I didn’t think we were supposed to reach blood today.”
“Oh thaaat?” Marissa said innocently as if she saw the bloody nose for the first time. “Of course I didn’t do that to him. He just tripped and fell on his own. You should have seen how bad he was at combat. Honestly it should be no surprise to anyone that he did that to himself.”
Professor Cypren arrived a moment later. He looked down at the unconscious student and dragged a hand over his face in frustration. “Alright everyone go take a water break,” he called out loudly. He raised a hand into the air and snapped his rough fingers. A red flare shot into the sky above the combat arena, leaving a smoky trail that lingered like a glowing red cloud.
“Not you, Marissa,” he said. Marissa turned around from where she had been walking. She looked as if she was surprised that she wasn’t supposed to be joining the water break. “Come back here and tell me what happened.”
“It was her!” Lyric said, pointing at Marissa with tears in her eyes. “She cheated and used some Skirmisher spell to beat him up.”
“As if,” Marissa said. “I didn’t even need to use magic to beat this pathetic excuse of a summon.” Elsie noticed that she refused to make eye contact with the professor, however.
Amos finally made it to his roommate’s side now that the crowd was breaking up. He crossed his arms in front of him and sighed. “Great Astral Spark,” he swore.
“Amos?!” Marissa said, surprised.
“You’re making me look bad, Marissa. I should have insisted on sparring with him first. His failure is my failure.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you,” she said. Elsie was surprised to see sincerity on Marissa’s face. She had heard everything the girl had told Aeric about summons.
“Speaking of failures,” Professor Cypren interjected. “Blood was shed, so that means you failed today’s lesson, Marissa,” the professor announced.
“What?! That’s not fair! Why’d you have to put me with someone so weak?! You know how well I can fight. You can’t fault me for that!”
“Knowing how well you can fight is exactly why I originally asked you to spar with the new students. I was hoping you’d show them how it’s done. Without breaking their nose.”
Marissa crossed her arms. “Well whatever. I’m never sparring with a newbie again.” A moment later she took a deep breath and looked over to Amos. “I’d rather fight with someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“I’ll spar with Aeric,” Lyric volunteered. “I’d like to be his partner. In every class. I’ll never break his nose like this. Please professor, let me be with him from now on.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what you need, actually,” the professor said. Lyric thought he was talking to her at first, but Professor Cypren was still facing Marissa. “From now on let’s have you spar with Aeric in every session, Marissa. Next time I want you to act more as a teacher than a Skirmisher.”
Marissa gritted her teeth and huffed. “I would really… really prefer to fight anyone else in the class. You know Amos can keep up with me, so why not him?”
“You can earn that right by showing me you can control yourself while you teach Aeric how to fight.”
The short blonde girl didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Fine,” she finally muttered. She glared at Lyric kneeling there holding Aeric’s hand in both of hers. “Sorry for knocking out your boyfriend, or whatever.”
“Oh. Um… He actually isn’t my boyfriend. At least… not yet.”
Marissa burst out laughing. “After all you said?! You seriously couldn’t shut up about him when we were roommates.” She laughed harder, a mocking, cynical laugh. “What happened to all your supposed visions of falling in love? How’d you get that one so wrong?”
Lyric’s face turned a shade of beet red. A buzzing sound grew louder in the air, and the group turned to see Lady Marcelle flying as fast as her Sylvan body could go.
“Alright, that’s enough Marissa. You’re dismissed,” Professor Cypren said. The short girl left, still snickering to herself.
“Oh dear,” Lady Marcelle said as she landed next to Aeric. “I saw your flare, Baerl. I have to say I’m not too surprised to see it’s one of the new students. They do tend to get a rougher treatment at first in your class.”
“Well, what can I say? These are hard lessons to learn. If he’d been on the battlefield against such an opponent he would only have learned this lesson once or not at all.”
Lady Marcelle frowned at the professor as she moved forward and felt Aeric’s pulse with her small hands. “Then perhaps you should remember that this is a classroom. Not a battlefield.”
Professor Cypren sighed. “You’re right. I’ll try to keep the sprouts safer. At least at the start.”
“Sit him up for me, will you, Lyric?” Lady Marcelle said to Lyric since she was already holding Aeric’s hand. “I’d like to let the blood flow out of his nose instead of back into his throat.”
Lyric sat the unconscious boy up. She scooted close behind him, letting his head rest back against her. The Sylvan doctor went about healing Aeric’s concussion and broken nose. She did not mind letting Lyric continue to hold her patient while she worked.
---
Eric Smith rested in a chair in the living room of his family’s home after school. He leaned back against the soft headrest on the chair and sighed, closing his eyes. He heard someone enter the room and sit down at the grand piano, but he did not need to open his eyes to know who it was. His sister was here.
No, he had no sister. It was a friend from school, concerned about his injury. She played the old English folk song, Greensleeves, she’d been practicing lately. He listened, letting the melody soothe him.
While he listened with eyes closed, he noticed the light in the room growing brighter. The air grew warmer. He was too exhausted to open his eyes at the moment: a feeling of familiar comfort flowing through him once again.
The piano continued its gentle melody. His pains were replaced with comfort. Sitting here in the soft, warm chair, listening to his friend play a gentle tune, feeling his aching head bask in the light and warmth around him.
He opened his eyes to look at the radiant sun that washed all other sights out of the room. It did not burn his eyes. It was warm and gentle. The light bathed his face in its glow, asking to be invited into his body. He allowed it to enter freely. He felt its comfort, and knew that of all things the future held: the light of this sun would always be there. If he let it.
The pain in his head diminished. He could hear his friend start to hum along with the melody she was playing on the piano. He was glad she had come to visit him after school. He drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
When he opened his eyes, the piano bench was empty: the last notes of the tune echoing through the room, then fading away into silence.