Amos Eagleye, stood with his toes on the line in the afternoon archery class at the Royal Academy of Astraeus. He evened out his feet, making a straight line from toe to toe to target. He squared his shoulders, then readied his bow and arrow. He had already established his astral connection at the start of class. It was too tiring to maintain it at all times, but he could at least go one class period with the connection in place before he needed to rest.
He channeled astra into his equipment and used his Master of Projectiles skill: True Aim. He instinctively knew how the wind would adjust his arrow’s flight through the air, and he knew how to adjust where he was aiming to accommodate for that. Other factors that would affect his shot came to mind, and he made slight changes to his aim for those as well. His body became still, then he finally let the arrow fly.
It hit the exact center of the bullseye, skewering the arrow he had previously shot into the center. The girl next to him gave a quiet golf clap.
“On Earth, we called that sort of shot a Robin Hood,” Amos said.
“It’s impressive, Amos,” the girl next to him said. She let the end of her word fall off as if there was more to say.
“Impressive, but what?” he asked.
“Your consistent perfection in archery honestly makes me want to just quit this course.”
Amos looked as if the world itself was ending. “Quit archery?! Nadia, why would you even say something like that? And besides you can’t quit archery class, it’s required for graduation.”
“Not exactly,” Nadia said. She was holding her bow loosely in both hands, watching the other students in class aim their shots at the targets. “The Academy Board announced this year that archery is now an optional elective. New students will have other choices they could take instead of this class.”
“Well that’s just absurd,” Amos said. “If I were on the board that sort of change would never have been approved.”
“Isn’t archery considered an outdated combat style on Earth anyway? Why are you so obsessed with it?”
Amos huffed and pulled another arrow out of the quiver at his waist. “It’s true that archery is mostly just used as a sport back home. But there are still some people, like me, who enjoyed bow hunting whenever they got the chance. I was already good at it before being summoned here. Now I’m absolutely godlike.”
“If nothing else you make a good case that humility is not a required criteria for being summoned,” Nadia said. She watched Amos skewer his first two arrows with a third. Splinters of wood scattered around the target. Amos immediately drew another arrow.
“Hey, shoot an arrow into my target so the teacher thinks I’m participating.”
“Shoot your own target. What if you found yourself facing down an Enthralled and all you had with you was a bow and arrow?”
“I’d have my Catalyzer spells. I could blind them or use Acid Stream,” Nadia said.
“And if you had exhausted your astral connection?”
Nadia sighed and nocked an arrow. She readied the bow, took aim, then released and watched as her arrow flew into the grass below the target’s wooden frame.
“Then I’d just have to hope someone like you was next to me,” she said.
“Archery is its own reward,” Amos said, firing his next arrow into his own target. “Just try a little harder and you’ll get it.”
“What do you think the two new summons chose as their classes?” She asked. Amos fired another arrow, then reached for the next one in his quiver. It was his last arrow.
“If they’re smart they picked something that attacks from a distance,” he said. Nadia watched his form as he readied up. Maybe she could figure out what she was doing wrong with her bow.
“And if they didn’t pick a class that can attack at range?” Nadia asked.
“Then, if they don’t have the right team to support them, they’ll either have to be lucky,” he drew the bowstring back, “or they’ll be dead.”
Amos released his arrow straight into the center of Nadia’s target.
She frowned, not sure how to interpret it.
---
Lady Marcelle arrived at the secondary medical ward shortly after lunch.
“The headmaster informed me that he’ll be here within the hour,” she said. “I’d like you to come back to your room for a final physical before he arrives. I won’t have it said that I released you from my medical care before you were actually ready.”
Aeric and Elsie both started walking towards the back hallway.
“Oh, maybe you should just go one at a time,” Sapphire recommended. The twins stopped. “For privacy reasons, I mean.”
“That’s your choice,” Lady Marcelle said. “I sometimes forget about humans’ preferences so you’ll have to please forgive me.”
Aeric shrugged and came back to the front room. “Ladies first.”
Marcelle took Elsie back to the room to give her a checkup while Aeric waited with Sapphire. He sat in one of the hard waiting room chairs they had pushed to the side.
“So does Marcelle work an afternoon shift?” Aeric asked.
“Actually Sylvans are biphasic sleepers,” Sapphire said. “She alternates between being awake for nine hours and sleeping for three. Of course she doesn’t spend all her waking hours at work either though.”
“Interesting,” Aeric said. “That must make a complicated schedule.”
“To her our monophasic sleep patterns are weird. She can’t even imagine sleeping for close to eight hours in a row. It works out great for our medical ward though. We have better coverage throughout a 24 hour period because of it. Not to mention that Sylvans are natural born healers. I’m a Sylvan mage, so the kinds of magic I practice are what Lady Marcelle can do naturally.”
Aeric’s leg kicked forward as he reacted to a stimulus on Elsie’s knee.
I should probably be paying less attention to your physical exam.
Duh, don’t you have any respect for patient privacy?!
He attempted to block out the sensations coming from his other Twinborn body. He continued the conversation to take his mind off things. “So how often do new students get summoned anyway?”
“Oh about four or five times a year,” Sapphire said.
“But there’s far more students at this school than that, right?”
“That’s because most of us are native, like me. Summoned students only make up about 10% of the student population.”
“So on average in a class size of forty to fifty students you’d find only four or five summons.”
“Usually classes are split up so there’s fewer students than that, but yes you’re looking at things the right way.”
“What sorts of things do you learn here?”
“It depends what you choose to study. There are some courses that are required of course, like history, math, science, and composition.”
“We had those on Earth, too.”
Sapphire nodded. “Then there are your core combat courses. They used to require a wider variety to give everyone a broader experience with what they might be up against. Just this year though they’ve changed that to a few sets of elective courses instead.”
“What are we up against? Why teach so much about combat?”
The door opened and a refined, older man entered the room. He had short white hair and a well trimmed white beard. He was wearing a fitted charcoal gray suit with a flowing cloak behind him. Aeric suddenly felt like his own black cloak wasn’t so out of place after all.
“Those are exactly the questions I came here to answer,” the man said. “Headmaster Frederick at your service.” Aeric extended his hand, and the headmaster shook it with an amused grin.
“Aeric Stormrider,” Aeric said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The headmaster is here.
I know. Just getting dressed again now.
Lady Marcelle zipped down the hallway. “Frederick! I thought you said you’d be here in an hour!”
“My sincerest apologies, Marcy. I had some changes to my schedule so I decided to come down as soon as I could.”
“Quite alright of course, I was just giving the students a final clean bill of health before they can be released.”
“Would you mind if we went to their room? I’d rather have this conversation in private if possible.”
“Well it’s fine with me, we’ll just have to wait for the young lady to be presentable before going back there.”
“She’s ready now,” Aeric said. Lady Marcelle looked down the hallway, but saw no one. The headmaster studied Aeric for a moment. Elsie came to the rescue though and burst out of their room. She hadn’t tied the ribbon properly around her waist, but was at least wearing the shimmering robe she had received after selecting her class.
“I’m ready!” Elsie said. She ran up to the front room. “I mean, hi! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Elsie Stormrider.” She shook hands with the headmaster.
“Headmaster Frederick,” he said. “Shall we go to their room then?” The question was directed at Lady Marcelle, who promptly led the party to their destination. Sapphire mouthed “Good luck” as Aeric and Elsie passed the front desk.
There were only two chairs in their room. The headmaster waited for Elsie to sit in one, then took the other for himself. Aeric sat on his bed, wishing he had made up the covers before the headmaster had arrived. Marcelle floated lower in the air to be at eye level with the headmaster.
“First and foremost, I wish to welcome you to the Royal Academy of Astraeus,” Headmaster Frederick said. “Hero summonings have been a tradition at our academy since its founding nearly nine hundred years ago. Throughout that time we have been graced with the presence of many wonderful individuals from your planet. Each and every one has been welcomed with open arms, and I extend this same welcome to the two of you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Elsie and Aeric said at the same time.
Careful! We’re going back to having me speak first.
Got it.
“You will find that our world may have considerable differences compared to yours. The paths you choose to walk here may involve quite a bit more danger than what you’re used to. I will be perfectly honest: not every summoned hero lives as long as they would have if they had remained on Earth. I cannot promise you safety, but I can promise you that we value each of our summoned heroes in very high regards.”
“If I may, sir,” Elsie said.
“Go on,” the headmaster replied.
“Why exactly were we summoned here?”
“You ask me why exactly you were summoned, but I think perhaps it would be easier to explain why summonings take place in general. As to your specific circumstances I cannot say. I know that the castle’s summoning spell will only select individuals who are fit to be summoned. Usually these are individuals who are well suited to leave their old lives behind and restart with a grander purpose in mind.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
That describes us fairly well.
I don’t know about the grander purpose, but we certainly wanted to escape our old lives.
Life, you mean.
Life.
“Does our age not matter for attending the academy?” Elsie asked.
“Our academy is different from your typical schools on Earth. It’s less about what age you are and more about being ready to learn. Humans receive a class from the spark between the ages of seventeen to twenty-one. For those who are lucky enough to receive one at all, I mean.”
“We fit right in that range,” Aeric said.
“Indeed. You will fit right in with the rest of the class. Do not worry much about that. Now, as for why you were summoned: the original intention of the summoning spell was to bring new students to our school. Students who possessed the exact qualities needed to be successful in their life here.”
Elsie and Aeric nodded.
“As for having some specific purpose beyond joining our school, I can’t say for certain. In general we are always in need of well trained heroes fighting on the front lines of our battle against the Enthralled. Not all summoned heroes choose to go that direction however. If you have chosen a non-combat class, you might be better suited for a life somewhere else in our kingdom.”
“Sapphire wasn’t a summoned hero,” Lady Marcelle said, “but if you can learn Sylvan magic like she did then you could find employment at any number of medical wards throughout Astraeus.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” the headmaster said, “What are your classes?”
“I’m an Astral Manipulator,” Elsie said. Headmaster Frederick’s eyes widened and he sat straighter in his seat.
“Truly? I’m so happy to hear that. Every Astral Manipulator on record has gone on to live a life filled with success. They are quite rare though. I believe the last one that attended this school was over one hundred years ago. And you, Aeric?”
“Nullifier.”
Why do you always sound so disappointed when you say it?
You know why. I wanted to be a lightning mage! Plus your class seems more useful anyway.
“Ah. Even more rare than an Astral Manipulator. The Astral Knights will be glad to hear of your class. Most people do not realize how effective your class can become, so I wouldn’t expect too many people to react much to hearing about it. There aren’t many popular examples throughout history. Once you level up your skills enough I expect that you’ll be particularly effective against the Enthralled, given the magical nature of their bodies.”
See, it’s a great class. You should be proud of it, even if you can’t shoot lightning from your fingertips.
“I would ask, however, that you refrain from practicing your skills on any of the castle’s astral connections. The Leymaster already has so much work to do without having to fix anything you break. The same actually goes for you as well, young Astral Manipulator. Please refrain from tampering with any connections related to the castle itself.”
“We promise, sir,” Elsie said.
Do we tell him?
Of course not. The showers broke on their own in a crazy random happenstance.
“Another question for you, sir,” Elsie said.
“Ask.”
“Earlier you described the summoning as the castle’s spell. What did you mean by that exactly?”
“Exactly what I said. No astra user cast a spell to bring you here. At least not any that are alive that is. You see this castle was built over the confluence of two very powerful leylines. These leylines are channels of astra beneath the ground that provide energy needed to make astral connections. Their crossing point marks what we call a confluence of astral power.”
That must be what we felt earlier!
“At the founding of this academy, a spell was cast which established a permanent connection with this confluence. It combines several areas of magic to select candidates who could be considered as perfect as possible to be brought here. This incredible selectiveness is what allows us to have so much confidence in the heroes we summon. Simply put: you would not be here if there was even a single reason that the castle’s spell believed you do not belong here.”
“Our old lives on Earth, though,” Aeric said. “What about being able to go back and live those instead?”
The headmaster studied Aeric for a moment before responding. “Would you like to return to the life you were living before?”
“No,” Elsie said.
“I wouldn’t either,” Aeric agreed.
“I have, at one point or another during my tenure as headmaster, asked every summoned hero that same question. I have never had a single person indicate that they’d rather go back home. Your past life on Earth can be considered over at this point. Permanently.”
“I understand,” Elsie said. They paused for a moment while considering the implications of what had been said. Eventually Aeric spoke up again.
“Is it always Earth?” Aeric asked.
“Yes. For whatever reason the castle’s summoning spell has only ever sent us people from Earth. There’s no record indicating that the founders who cast this spell intended it to be that way, but every hero who has been willing to share about their past has indicated that they came from your same planet.”
“Some people haven’t told you where they’re from?” Elsie asked.
“We don’t require summons to disclose any information about their previous life,” the headmaster said. “Ultimately it wouldn’t change the fact that you’ve started a new life here. So it’s up to you how much you tell us about your lives before now.”
Elsie and Aeric shared a glance.
What should we say?
Let’s just stick with being fraternal twins for now. I think people will buy that readily enough. No need to go into too much detail.
“I think you already know this, but we did come from Earth,” Elsie said.
“We’re twins,” Aeric added. “Fraternal twins. It means we’re not identical. I mean there’s no way a boy and girl could be identical twins anyway. That would be weird for a twin boy and girl to be the same. I mean for them to look the same. So we’re twins but obviously different from each other. Because we look different. I mean just look at our hair colors. Blue and red. Not the same.”
Smooth, Aeric.
The headmaster frowned. “Thank you for that explanation, Aeric. I am well familiar with what a fraternal twin is.”
“I still haven’t completed his final physical, just so you know,” said Marcelle.
Now look, the doctor thinks you’re brain dead, you dummy.
“Speaking of medical care,” the headmaster said, “I believe there is something of a more serious nature we need to talk about. I understand one of our students attempted to enter your room on the first night you were brought here. Could you please help me understand anything you know about the situation?”
Aeric and Elsie exchanged a glance again.
We’ve already told Lady Marcelle. Nothing for it but the truth at this point.
I’m not telling him we’re Twinborn though.
Obviously.
“That was me,” Elsie said. “I don’t fully understand what I did, but I think I took his internal astra when he was touching me.”
Lady Marcelle’s wings flapped faster and she bobbed into the air a foot higher for a moment. “This is exactly why visits are so restricted! I can’t believe a student would be so barbaric as to feel a young woman while she’s unconscious! And under my supervision of all places. I should have been in your room all that night.”
“I know Lucain fairly well,” said the headmaster. “He is usually a very well mannered individual. This is a difficult allegation to hear about him, though I promise we will take this very seriously.”
Elsie… we already magically assaulted this boy, let’s not drag his reputation through the mud on top of that.
“No! Nothing like that! I only meant that he touched my hand,” Elsie said. “Or maybe… I might have grabbed his hand. I don’t know. I was coming in and out of consciousness at the time. I just remember holding his hand and then… I made a connection to his internal astra. It just felt right, like something I did on instinct. The next thing I knew I had drawn all of his astra out of him.”
Glossed over the part where you stole his astra on purpose, didn’t you there, Sis?
Not like you would want us to get in trouble for it either.
“I see. That does make a bit more sense,” the headmaster said. “Still, how is it that you are capable of such an action when you’re so freshly summoned? Perhaps an Astral Manipulator is more powerful than I first realized. I must admit I haven’t met very many, and none of them have had the added strengths that come by virtue of being summoned.”
“Added strengths?” Aeric asked.
“You’ll find that summoned students are quite a bit more powerful than native-born people here,” the headmaster explained. “I am sorry to say that some of your peers will be watching you with great jealousy.”
“I’m very sorry for hurting Lucian,” Elsie said. “Is there any way he’ll be able to recover? I’d offer to help, but to be honest I doubt there’s anything I know how to do.”
“Lucian’s recovery is my concern, not yours,” Lady Marcelle said politely. “We moved him to the primary medical ward. He has the same patient privacy that we’ve been giving you while you’re in our care. A Sylvan isn’t one to heal and tell you know.”
“I understand,” Elsie said. “Still though, I do feel bad for what happened.”
The headmaster considered her for a few seconds before responding. “I want to make one thing perfectly clear, Elsie. Under normal circumstances you have committed multiple crimes in our society. I don’t fully understand everything about Earth, but on our world it is considered entirely inappropriate to make contact with another person’s internal astra without their permission. There are things you’ll learn about that will help you understand with a bit more detail one day, but for now I think it should be sufficient to say that you should refrain from doing that so casually.”
“I see,” Elsie said.
“Furthermore, the act of taking someone’s astra, especially without cycling some of your own into their body as a replacement is an even more grievous crime. The damage it does to a person’s astral core is very difficult to repair. It is possible that Lucian will never have access to magic again.”
“What?!”
“Lady Marcelle and our other healers are doing their best for him. Unfortunately, repairing a damaged core that has gone even a few minutes without any internal astra flow is a very long, delicate process.”
“Frederick, it’s really not polite to talk about another patient’s case like this,” Lady Marcelle said.
“I understand,” he said. “Then consider this all an academic explanation, rather than telling you something specific about your fellow student. However, I do not detect any sort of hostility from you, Elsie. Nor you, Aeric. I think it’s safe to say that whatever happened was an accident and leave it at that.”
“Thank you,” Elsie said, relieved.
I like this headmaster guy. He seems reasonable.
I could tell he was nice the moment I saw how nicely he was dressed.
You know bad guys can dress nicely too, right?
“Lady Marcelle, I do have one matter I need to discuss with these two in private. Would you be so kind as to allow us to use this room alone for a moment?”
“Of course, Frederick. I’ve been needing to check on some of our other patients anyway.” She left with a wave, closing the door behind her.
Headmaster Frederick watched her close the door then turned back to the two students.
“Now, would you be willing to sate my curiosity?”
Huh?
“What would you like to know, headmaster?” Elsie said.
“I’d just like to do a little test, if that’s alright with you,” he said. He pulled a long black strip of cloth. “Aeric could you wear this blindfold for a moment please?”
Shrugging, Aeric closed his eyes and tied the blindfold around his head, covering his eyes. It didn’t do much to stop him from knowing what was going on in the room since he had been seeing things through both his eyes and Elsie’s eyes at the same time anyway.
The headmaster stood up and unclasped his cloak from around his shoulders. He handed it to Elsie. “If you would be so kind, could you please place this over your brother’s head to prove that he is not about to cheat at our little game?
Elsie smiled and draped it around her brother’s head.
“You don’t have to be so happy about it, sis,” Aeric said from under the loose cloth.
Headmaster Frederick examined her work. Finding it satisfactory, he held up a hand with three fingers raised for Elsie to see. “How many fingers am I holding up, Aeric?”
Don’t say three! It’s a trap! Say a different number! Not three!
“Not three. I mean I have no idea, sir.”
“I see.” The headmaster said. “Elsie, would you mind going over to the window please? I promise this won’t take long.”
She hesitantly stood up, then walked over and sat on the windowsill, looking back at the headmaster with interest.
This is getting weird.
I agree. He must already suspect something or else he wouldn’t be putting us through a test like this, right?
Then we’ll just have to pass his test. Passing tests is kind of our strength, you know?
This isn’t pre-calculus class anymore, genius.
The headmaster took a step to be closer to Aeric, then reached into his inner suit coat pocket. He made no move for a moment, making eye contact with Elsie.
“Sir?”
His hand whipped out of his coat holding a small dagger. He stabbed it directly towards Aeric’s chest.
Elsie screamed and jumped up from the windowsill, but there was no way she could cross the distance in time.
Aeric’s hands shot up and caught the headmaster’s arm directly on the wrist. Lyric arrived and grabbed onto the headmaster’s wrist alongside her brother, but she discovered that the headmaster was making no attempt to move the knife anymore.
“Thank you, Aeric. You may remove the blindfolds now.” When everyone relaxed, he withdrew a step and placed the dagger back into his suit pocket. Aeric pulled the cloak and blindfold off his head in an instant.
“What was that?!” Aeric demanded. Elsie just glared at the headmaster with a look of betrayal on her face.
Lady Marcelle burst into the room. “I heard shouting! Is everyone alright?”
Headmaster Frederick sat back in his chair with a sigh. “Yes, Marcy, everyone is fine. I apologize for causing such a commotion. It will not happen again.”
“You’d better see that it doesn’t, Frederick! You know there are other people trying to recover in this hallway, don’t you?”
“Of course. My sincerest apologies once again. Could you please give us just a little more time to talk?”
Lady Marcelle looked between the two students and the headmaster. She could see the adrenaline in their expressions. It did seem to be fading though. Shaking her head and muttering about humans she flew out of the room once more.
“I am sorry for my behavior,” Headmaster Frederick said. “My curiosity got the better of me.”
The twins glared at the elderly man, but did not offer any words of forgiveness.
“Now, would you please tell me anything you know about the class known as Twinborn?”