by Chris Vines
After showering and grabbing food, I sat down with Jon, Brett, Jamila, Vaya, and Bridget for dinner. “What do you think we’re going to be doing for tactics?” I asked the group.
“I heard about the Training Pavilion from my older brother,” Vaya started saying, “He told me that it is a testing formation. I don’t know how it works since he wasn’t allowed to say, but he said that we will have to use it many times. He shuddered when he talked about it, like it was not a pleasant experience.”
“Huh, I wonder why?” Jon asked rhetorically. I wonder, I thought, maybe it’s a formation that attacks you and you have to dodge? Or maybe they have golems that will attack and you have to fight them?
“Maybe they will have Beasts that we have to fight as a group. Or maybe they will have enchanted dummies like on the PT field that we have to beat? That’d be awesome, not disturbing, though.” I commented out loud. We lapsed into silence, each debating in our heads what it could be. Dinner finished quickly after that. On the way out, I asked Jon, “Hey, how’re you doing? You’ve seemed a bit down today.”
“Yeah, I’ve been having issues figuring out the Eight by Eight thing. Can’t seem to get the hang of the first set. Counselor Sila said I needed to work harder and being unable to complete it will hold me back since I won’t be able to gather fast enough.”
“Well, I’ve gotten past that point. How about you show me where you gather and I’ll help you work through it?” I suggested. He agreed, and we spent the next two hours working through the first stage of the Eight by Eight Gathering Form. He was stuck on the fifth move, so I demonstrated it a couple of times and helped guide his hands through a tricky motion at the end. After a hundred repetitions he finally got it. I told him to keep working, and move to the sixth move. I then told him I’d help him out more tomorrow. I then left and gathered for an hour before retiring to bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
The next morning I woke excited and nervous. At breakfast, almost everyone was tense, nervous about tactics class that afternoon. We ate quickly, eager to get the day on with. When we got to the classroom building, the Counselors were not outside. Everyone hurried into their classrooms and found their seats. “Today we will be working on a self-healing channeling technique, known as the Minor Wound Closure technique. Watch carefully,” Counselor Sila said.
Everyone took this to mean channeling Aether into their eyes to see his Aether flows better. He held up his left hand and slashed it with a dagger. Small drops of blood splattered down. We saw as he formed a film of Aether around the wound, forcing it to run across the blood and in a circle around the edges. The Aether then made a crosshatch pattern across the wound, and we saw it start closing. In less than a minute, the wound was gone. It didn’t even leave a scar.
“This technique is somewhat painful to learn because it requires an open wound to work. This means you will have to cut yourself or have a friend do it in order to practice. If you take more than five minutes, wave at myself or the Mentors, and we will heal you so you do not scar. Small cuts only, this technique becomes extremely expensive in Aether cost if the cuts get bigger. Hence why it is named Minor Wound Closure, not Major Wound Closure. To work the technique, you have to surround the wound with an Aether film and build a series of intersecting points. You generally want to make twenty intersections. More intersections will give a faster healing time, but uses up more Aether. You may begin.”
All of us looked around, almost waiting to see who would be the first. Of course, Jon shrugs and pulls out his sword. “Anyone? No? Okay, I’ll go first,” he said, fearless as ever. He made a small cut on his forearm and started trying to heal it. As the ice was broken, most everyone pulled out their weapons and began to lightly cut themselves. I started out by trying to use the point of my trisula to make a tiny incision in my palm. When I lightly pushed, nothing happened. I could feel the trisula point on my palm, but it didn’t hurt. I pushed a bit harder, and then harder still, before my skin finally parted and I made a much bigger puncture wound than I wanted.
“Whoa there,” came a response from Mentor Lo, who immediately healed my hand. “Not so big of a wound. What happened?” He asked afterward.
“I tried a small cut, but I just couldn’t get it to work, until my skin gave and suddenly my trisula stabbed straight through my hand. Wait,” I said, thinking, “I think it might be because I opened a skin meridian. I know what to do now. Thank you Mentor Lo. That would have been unpleasant if you hadn’t healed it.”
He nodded and said “Yes, a skin meridian would increase the toughness of your skin and make it harder to cut”, then gestured at me to continue. I rubbed my hand a bit, then picked my trisula up again. I channeled a very small amount of Aether into the blade, and sliced lightly along my skin.
This time, I managed to make a small incision, only slightly bigger than if I was going to check my blood sugar. As the blood welled up, I channeled Aether into a circle around it. This was really easy due to that same skin meridian. However, as soon as I did that, the wound healed. “You’ll have to make a bigger cut than that. This technique works on wounds, not pricks.” Mentor Lo said, observing me. I looked around and nodded to him.
Taking into account what everyone else is doing, let’s try making a one inch cut. I don't want to make it too big to start with, I thought while I sliced the meat of my palm again. This sucks! This time, I was able to surround the cut and start crisscrossing it with Aether. I could feel the Aether drain as the wound started closing. It looked like just circling the wound with Aether would let it heal fairly quickly, but by cross hatching it, the Aether was able to stimulate healing and keep blood and other fluids inside. The Aether acted like stitches, a bandage, and sci-fi healing stimulant at the same time.
I gauged how much Aether that cost me, then did a slightly bigger incision. After healing that, Ow! Ow! Ow! I did another. The Aether cost is exponential with size of the wound. That is why this will only work on smaller ones. I bet I would run dry before being able to close a five inch slash. I wonder what the advanced techniques in healing are. This one isn’t very sophisticated, just throw Aether at it until healed. After the first five tries, Mentor Lo said I had it down well enough. I looked around, and saw about half of the class was done, and was rubbing their hands or arms where they had been cutting. Yeah, no one wants to do this again. But this might save our lives, or at least reduce scarring from an injury. This also taught me that just surrounding a wound with Aether will slowly close it, at a much smaller cost. Slowing down bleeding could be just as important as stopping it entirely, especially in a battle condition. Combat first aid lessons at USAFA emphasized that.
Class ended and Counselor Sila ran a quick Aether examination on everyone. He looked at me and said, “Good job. So far it looks like you will advance to high Mist in about a week. You might even be able to push that sooner with hard work and powders.” Everyone spent the time walking into the Grotto complaining, though I was happy to learn a little bit more about how Aether affects my body. The Aether made everything happen faster and smoother. Normally I’d have a small scar, but the Aether prevented scar tissue from forming, instead making new normal skin. This also explains why we can run multiple 10ks a day and do workouts without collapsing, it heals our muscles perfectly.
I spent the next couple hours refilling and expanding my Aether pool. Getting stronger will depend on my gathering level, so I need to work on leveling, I thought. The class had stimulated my desire to get stronger, to prevent the catastrophe or whatever was coming in the future. As before, the Zarorzel was watching me as I gathered, and pounced on the food I left it as I got up. The phoenix is getting more comfortable with me, I thought, it’s landing on the food closer to me every time. Maybe soon it’ll let me touch it?
At lunch, Jon was regaling a table with his bravery for being the first to cut himself. “That’s because you’re always doing crazy things anyway, so why not another?” I called as I went to grab food. Everyone there lau
ghed, Jon included, as he agreed with me. Jon then started telling everyone about my accident while I sat down. “Yeah, that sucked.” I said with a laugh.
Lunch continued with everyone telling stories from their class. After the first few, it became obvious that we were telling stories to avoid thinking about the upcoming class. Finally, everyone finished up and began leaving. I took my time cleaning up and followed the crowd. The laughter of the dining hall was replaced with silent worry. This is ridiculous, why are we all so worried about the class coming up? I thought.
We turned the corner around the housing and saw the Pavilion. It was a large gazebo, with an ornate roof. Statues of Elemental Beasts stood above each of the ten pillars holding the roof up. As we got closer, we could see runic Inscriptions covering the floor. Ten large circles were lined with silver in between the pillars, with lines of silver running throughout the center. A single circle was also in the center. Counselor Might sat in the center circle. As everyone was filing around the Pavilion, he stood up.
“Welcome to your first experience at the training pavilion. This is where most of the tournaments and training in actual fighting will occur because here we can do so without risk of permanent damage. Today we will be conducting a ranking challenge. Ten of you at a time will come forward and sit in the circles there.” He gestured around him before continuing, “The formation here will examine you and your equipment and create a copy in an illusory space. There you will fight increasingly difficult opponents until you are beaten. From the center circle, I will be able to watch all of you simultaneously. I will be giving feedback to each of you individually once everyone has completed their ranking attempt. The level you reach will be displayed on the pillars. These levels will be used to determine the initial pairings for the end of month tournament. Additionally, rewards for the top ten, top five, and top three will be given out. You may discuss all that you see within, and how you dealt with the challenges. Learn from your friends to make your attempts better. However, do not discuss what you see today until everyone has completed their turn. Do not discuss what the training entails with anyone not of the Academy and who has not already entered it. The Pavilion is one of the few unique things that an Academy can provide, and we don’t want to give this capability or knowledge to others.” He then called out ten people’s names to start the competition.
Those of us not called out took a seat and watched, wondering what would happen. Ming and Jamila were among the first group, so I alternated between watching them. Jamila walked up to one of the nearest circles and sat cross legged while Ming jogged around to the rearmost circle. Once everyone was seated, a flash of light flew along the silver lines, and a light humming could be heard. Everyone seated in the Pavilion closed their eyes simultaneously. Nothing then happened for a minute or so, until one of the other students let out a gasp, with their face visibly paling. Huh, what happened? I wondered.
About a minute later, that same student let out a cry and fell over backwards. The light in the Formation around them faded. A small flash occurred on the central pillar, and ‘Wagner Jonas – 1’ was written near the middle in slightly glowing letters. Jonas shakily stood up and stumbled off the Pavilion. Counselor Might called Jon up to take his place. I was worriedly watching Jon and Jamila now since Jonas was pale and shaking.
This continued for about ten minutes, with a couple more people being eliminated at levels one and two. Finally, Jamila was eliminated at level three, and I was called to take her place. As I walked up, I stopped in front of her. “Are you alright?” I asked, offering my arm to help her down. She took it, shaking her head, and I helped her sit.
“Be careful,” she whispered to me as I turned back to the Pavilion. Counselor Might gave me a nod and gestured to the circle. I took a deep breath and moved up to the circle. Sitting down, I felt a wave of Aether wash over me. The world faded to black, and then slowly faded in again. I felt like I was standing on a prairie, short grasses waving in the hot summer wind. Heh, magical virtual reality! So cool! I thought and looked around curiously. Off to one side, an Earthen Boar snorted and charged at me.
I shouted in surprise and dove to the side, dodging its charge. I stood up and drew my weapons, focusing on centering myself. “Have to use Aether techniques to win this. An Earthen Boar’s skin is usually too strong to directly stab.” I talked to myself, trying to circulate Aether into my trisula while also setting up the Dancing Northern Wind technique. The Boar charged again, faster this time as the dirt under it buckled with the force.
I slipped sideways using my technique and stabbed forward, lightly slicing its hind leg. As it slowed to turn back to me, I quickly sent out an Aether blast which knocked it off its feet. I rushed forward before it could stand back up and stabbed it through the chest with a burst of Aether. The Beast disappeared. “That wasn’t that bad, though that would have hurt if it hit me.” I said to myself. “That must have been what happened to Jonas.”
I kept a lookout, trying to figure out what was next. Is it going to be more than one Boar, or something else? After a minute, I was getting more nervous. I pulled Aether into my eyes, trying to see around me. A flash off to my left had me jumping backwards, and I saw a silver colored Lion land where I had just been. Well, this is more worrisome.
The Lion looked up at me and roared, a wave of sound rolling out from it. Aether was infused throughout the roar, and it smashed me backwards. I rolled with it, sort of, ending up on my back but continuing to roll. The Lion pounced as I fell, faster than the Boar had been. I managed to dodge the first pounce, but the second one put it on top of me. I managed to get my legs up, preventing its back legs from savaging me, while my weapons intercepted one claw. I flared Aether into a shield, holding back its fangs from my shoulder.
I kicked it as hard as I could, and slashed at its throat with one hand. We traded slashes, with its claws ripping into my left shoulder and my trisula opening its throat. I managed to push it off and roll to my feet, left arm dangling. I guess this is why we learned healing this morning, I thought as I surrounded the cuts with Aether. The wound closed, but I didn’t have full mobility, as it was really too deep for that technique. The Lion was unable to get up and quickly disappeared. I looked around, trying to spot what was next.
A howling started up a minute later, and two Wind Wolves stalked out of the grass. Don’t sit back, attack! As I saw the Wolves, I shot an Aether blast at the far one, while starting to strafe sideways. Being the first to attack startled them, and the rear Wolf dodged too late, taking the hit on its right side. With a yelp, it collapsed, seemingly unable to stand up. Seeing it fall, I charged forward, hoping the other one would interfere and I could get it too.
The second wolf charged towards me and flung its head sideways. A blade of Air Aether formed in front of it and shot at me too quick to dodge. I formed an Aether Shield again and took the hit. The force made me stumble and drained a significant chunk of Aether from me. Another blade formed, and I circulated the Dancing Northern Wind, dodging to the side as the Wolf leaped at where I would have stumbled if I took the hit again. I slashed at it, trying to take it out in a single hit, but the Wolf managed to slightly change its direction in midair.
It landed, injured but not defeated, and came at me again. I managed to dodge the next Air Blade and sent an Aether blast back at it, which it dodged. It started to form yet another blade, when a tingling intuition caused me to jump sideways. The first Wolf had managed to get up and attack. By causing it to miss, I had a great opportunity to take it out. As I stepped forward, the other Wolf jumped to intervene, and I managed to get both of them with the next two slashes. As they disappeared, I sat with a huff.
I’ve got just about a minute until the next level. I’m already halfway out of Aether. But hey, at least I made it past the first three levels. I think. Attacking worked better, though I don’t know what will be next. So far it was a level two Beast, a level three Beast, and two level three Beasts. This is why almost everyone fell at le
vel two and three. I got really lucky with the Wolves.
I stood back up, looking around when a voice called out, “Well, look what we have here. A lone wanderer, all banged up from the Beast.” I saw two men in ragged clothes walking towards me. They both held swords, and the pressure I felt from them was equal to Xiao’s. “Put all your stuff on the ground and we’ll give you a quick death!” The one on the right called again.
“Not a chance scum!” I called, settling into a ready position. Both of them shouted and slashed at me, sending blades of Aether through the air. I intercepted them both with my trisula, blocking their blasts before sending one back at the talker. I charged behind the blast while they both dove out of the way. The talker rolled back to his feet in time to meet my charge, knocking aside the stab move I made. He tried to counter, but I managed to get my other trisula in the way, and caught his sword in the outer hook.
With a snap of my wrist, I trapped his blade and yanked it out of his hands before stabbing him through the heart. His expression changed from enraged to surprised, and so did mine. I stared at my hand, covered in blood, aghast. I just killed someone! I thought, shocked. I was utterly not ready for this, even while I was trying to convince myself it’s just like a game, it’s not real!