by NAK Baldron
"You said y'all work alone."
"We do," he said. "But there is a council made up of the older families, and they set the rules. It's why we haven't told them about you, or you about them."
"Why not?"
"They would demand to meet you so they could test you," he said. "After the tests you have the choice of service, or complete exile."
"So, fuck'em."
"It's not that simple," he said. "Without The Council, we'd never be able to move around. We'd quickly be arrested by police or thrown into a psych ward. We need their power, and in return, we have to carry out missions from time to time."
"So, you're a slave?"
"It's more complicated than that," he said. "I can explain more after we're done with the mayor."
"No, I'm sick of that answer. For once, explain it now, not later."
"After we kill the mayor," he said. "Slava and I will have to report you. We have to give a detailed report on how we pulled off the mission. They'll protect you, even if it goes sideways. But if you refuse to meet them, you'll be exiled, and we'll never see each other again."
Lance let a brief silence settle before continuing.
"When we're done, you have to make the choice to meet The Council or not. There's no point in explaining anything now. The less you know, the better it will go anyways."
For the first time, Kandice regretted meeting Lance. She couldn't have expected there to be a secret council or a conspiracy to cover up Aether Walkers on a global scale. That was for spy movies—not that anything about her life was normal.
"Can we go?" she asked. "I need to go home."
It was impossible to deal with him at that moment. Too much had changed, and her mind needed to process everything.
Lance stood and offered his hand to Kandice. She grabbed it, and he pulled her up.
They took a minute to clean up the area they'd sparred in, so it wouldn't look like a huge pack of wolves had been fighting. There was fur all around the ground and broken branches everywhere.
On the drive back to Lance's house they listened to bad radio songs and the worst commercials, but never said a word to each other. Kandice noticed Lance stealing a glance at her from time to time. It didn't bother her—she welcomed the silence. The prospect of having to be a slave to some secret government, or risk going to jail was bullshit.
Before today, there had been no notable consequence of killing the mayor. He was a killer, and an Aether Walker. Killing him was the right and moral thing to do, and it didn't bother her. But now, it seemed like being involved in his death would be more of a burden than a blessing.
Her life would be over. She'd never be able to avoid the police without Lance's help, and that came at the cost of serving The Council, or worse, having to cut ties with the only other person she'd met who can fight Aether Walkers.
By the time they pulled into Lance's driveway, her mind was mush.
Kandice followed Lance inside, intending on getting her helmet and leaving.
Slava greeted them as they walked through the front door. "How did the training go? Is she progressing?"
"She's doing great," Lance said. "She was able to get my seal off twice. Better than I did against you."
Slava laughed a deep laugh that reverberated in Kandice's gut. The threat of small talk brought on a headache. It was past time for her to be at home.
What if killing the mayor isn't the right move?
Her mind raced—she wanted to get her helmet and leave without being rude.
"Come, it is time to add the charcoal." Slava pointed the way to the garage.
Lance looked at Kandice after he moved, and she stood still.
"I'm just going to go home," she said.
"This will only take a minute."
"Okay, fine." She sighed, following Lance into the garage.
Slava wore the thickest gloves Kandice had ever seen. Next to him was a massive bag of charcoal. He poured charcoal into a large pot and handed Lance a hammer.
Lance banged away at the charcoal until it was dust.
Slava poured the dust into the chemical mixture and stirred it slow. Twice clockwise and once counterclockwise, over and over. Lance poured more charcoal into the pot and hammered it down to dust.
They worked together in silence until all the charcoal was dust and stirred into the chemical mixture. Kandice noticed that the color had changed to solid black, but when Slava stirred, the ripples had a golden shine.
"Now, we heat it," Slava said.
In the kitchen, Slava turned the oven to broil and placed the container on the bottom rack. He had to remove the top rack to make it fit, and without a spare inch.
"How long do you bake it?" Kandice asked.
"It depends," Slava said. "Each batch takes as long as it takes. Once the color is golden, we freeze it for days, and the chemicals do the work."
Part of her hadn't believed it would work, but it was an impressive process. She had only read of alchemy in the dark ages in fairy tales.
"So, you can just make gold whenever you need money? Just like that." She snapped her fingers.
"Not exactly," Slava said.
"We're under The Council's rule," Lance said. "We're allowed to make gold twice a year. The rest of the time we have to find other ways to make money. Slava is one of a handful of people who knows how to make gold. The Council keeps a close eye on it because a massive influx of gold onto the market will cause suspicion."
"Oh."
"Yeah, It's not as simple as snapping your fingers to get money, but it helps. At least we don't have to get jobs." He laughed, and they chatted about the impossibility of real jobs given their lives.
After a while, Kandice said goodbye and refused several offers from Slava to stay for dinner. It was impressive to see the process completed, but she still needed to get home.
Lance walked her to her moped. "Call me when you're ready."
"I will." She backed her moped into the street and drove off without looking back.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sapphire Nation, Fencura
Ren staggered and took a small step to catch his balance. How do you know my name?
We are the examiners. A chorus of voices filled Ren's mind, and despite looking right at the examiners upon the stage, he saw nothing. His vision shifted from the present moment to that of the eternal presence of mind.
Out of the black void came an island of light, overflowing with a lush garden which climbed the stone walls, floating above a vast ocean.
Floating.
Ren was floating above Fencura, or rather his consciousness was. He could see, but he lacked a corporal body. Instead he existed as pure thought.
What's happening? The experience had silenced his mind.
Your trial. The chorus of voices answered.
Ren felt himself being pulled out of the sky toward a stone tower—in the center of a city he didn't recognize—which stood fifty feet above all other structures. The top of the tower was a pristine lawn of rainbow grass. Ren couldn't see his own body but felt himself firmly standing in the center of the grass, which danced in the wind currents.
Yet, Ren felt no wind.
The grass reflected the source-light, splintering it into a constantly shifting spectrum of colors. As the grass swayed in the wind, the colors shifted from violet to indigo, another shift, and blue became green, shift again, and yellow turned orange. One last shift into a blood red.
It's so beautiful.
Would you like to see more?
Ren's vision went black, then returned with him standing inside a perfect sphere. A set of amethyst lanterns floated in the center of the sphere, and around the lanterns floated the five examiners. Each wore a colored robe with their hoods pulled back—white, green, red, blue, and purple.
Where's black?
The young woman from the stage wore the green robe. "The Onyx Nation doesn't submit pupils, and there will be no further discussion of them here."
"
Where am I?" Ren asked.
"You're standing upon the platform in the center of the stone courtyard on Shinzo," the man in red robes said. He looked to be in his early thirties. The right side of his hair was shaved down to the scalp and his ear was pierced with several different metal rings along the cartilage. A golden coin sat in the center of his earlobe which had been stretched to accommodate it. "But I think you meant to ask what you are seeing."
Ren nodded his head eager for the answer, but too shocked to answer. The examiners were floating above in the center of the sphere. No matter how many steps he took, he remained on the outside edge, walking in a circle around them.
"This is your trial room," an ancient man said, wearing the purple robes, clearly the leader. "Every candidate produces their own vision of the perfect room. This is yours. Your idealized room."
Ren swallowed. At the same time he realized the room wasn't real, meaning his body wasn't real. The vision was no different than when he'd been floating above Fencura or standing in the rainbow grass with no body. This was all in his mind.
"It's easier to start with a physical representation before moving beyond." The woman's face showed no lines of age, but her voice reverberated in a manner that only an older person's can. The white of her robes was nearly blinding with how pristinely it reflected the light of the lanterns.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"That's for you to decide," an older man in blue said. "This is your trial."
"I don't know if I can summon orbs of magic like the twins."
"Magic may have caused the orbs," the young woman in green said. "But the orbs themselves weren't magic. They were energy. As you're from the Pearl Nation, I'm sure you understand this."
"I guess."
Ren understood energy and remembered what Brandon had told him about the different elements present inside all magically gifted people and objects. Was he onto the truth? Did he know something the Amethyst Nation was hiding from the rest of Fencura?
"You'll keep the secrets too." The ancient man in purple spoke with a tone of finality. "Brandon was rejected for that precise reason. We saw potential in him, but your nation has lost its way. You care more for progress than proper existence."
"We view knowledge as the highest virtue, and the pursuit of truth as the most honorable occupation."
"Truth, is not found via knowledge, but through wisdom," the woman in white countered.
Ren realized the implications of her wearing white. Overwhelmed by his visions and the experience of existing without physical substance had slowed his mind. The woman wore white for the Pearl Nation, meaning she was one of the twelve, and over three-hundred years old.
"Three-hundred and twenty-three, to be precise, but it's neither here nor there." She gave Ren a warm smile, and his anxiety faded as he realized he was safe.
"How, though?"
"Not for you to know." The older man in blue floated directly overhead. Ren saw his left arm was tattooed as the robe slid up as he shifted his seated position.
"Fine!" Ren took a deep breath. It didn't make sense, but his anger had flared up suddenly. "Sorry. How do I move forward?"
"That's for you to decide," the man in Red said.
Ren's neck hurt from looking up at them, but when he focused on the pain it went away. A phantom pain? Regardless he found it annoying to stare up at the center of the sphere. He laid down on the ground and the curve was just enough to cause his head and feet to be elevated slightly higher than his torso.
The ancient-looking man laughed. "Good. See, he's learning already."
"Wisdom is accepting that which you cannot change," the woman in white chimed in.
"I just didn't want to stare up anymore."
From Ren's perspective the examiners floated in midair in front of him. He didn't feel like he was lying on the ground, more like he was leaning against a wall. The new perspective allowed him to relax and notice the examiners were slowly shifting their fingers into different geometric shapes. Each in unison with the group, but each appeared to have a different shape after each shift—though he couldn't see the back two examiners because of the lanterns.
Square, circle, square, triangle, diamond, circle, triangle, square.
Ren tried to match the symbol of the examiner directly in front of him with his own hands. Nothing. The examiner to the right. The examiner to the left. Nothing.
Ren held the form of a circle, and when they rotated, he remade the circle rather than shift.
The examiners were all sent to the outside of the sphere in an instant, and Ren took their place in the center. He held the circle shape with the fingers of his hands, keeping it thumbs up, half a foot in front of his chest.
"Very good!" The young woman in green applauded him.
"Did I pass?"
"Pass what?" the ancient man asked.
"The exam, obviously."
"You've been told," the man in red said. "This is a trial. The exam is happening on the stage as we speak."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sapphire Nation, Fencura
Shaya and Akio watched Ren's examination from the front of the crowd, and thanks to Akio's reputation, everyone kept an arm's length away. Throughout the square, people shoved into one another in an attempt to get closer to the stage. The guards struggled to keep the crowd docile enough to enjoy the spectacle of the exam without turning into a mob.
The sorcerers garbed in black robes behind the square of guards continued to appraise those looking to join the ranks of the Amethyst Sorcerers, but all were rejected. Shaya suspected they knew they stood no chance before stepping forward to be pre-screened.
"Step forward," an old man commanded on stage, and Ren took two steps forward toward the examiners.
Ren held his hands out in front of himself at waist level, palms up.
"Channel your magic," the young woman who'd spoke to the crowd said.
Ren's palms clenched into fists, then opened to reveal two orange orbs the size of her head, spinning in rapid succession, like a whirlpool. The crowd fell silent. Never before had they seen orange magic.
Murmurs spread throughout the crowd as the orbs above Ren's palms grew larger. Soon they were the size of kantoo melons, and still the orbs continued to grow.
The examiners turned to one another to discuss what was happening on stage.
"You miss." A young sorcerer pointed to Shaya. "You'll be examined next."
"Oh, no." Shaya waved him away. "I'm not here to test."
"Yes, you are." The sorcerer stepped past the guard's outstretched hand to grab Shaya's arm.
Akio's dagger touched the bottom of the sorcerer's chin. "She said no."
The guards nearest Akio drew their swords, but upon realizing who they were standing off against took three steps away. None of the guards were paid enough to face off with Akio and his infamous death circle.
"Stop!" cried the young woman on stage. She stood at the edge of the stage, blocking Shaya's view of Ren, though his orange orbs were bright enough to cast an aura around the woman.
Akio stood with his dagger against the man's throat, pressing the steel with just enough pressure to show he meant business. A tiny red droplet of blood beaded on the tip of his dagger.
"I command you to stop this at once!" The woman's voice echoed off the stone walls.
The entire crowd stopped watching Ren and moved to get a better look at Akio and the young woman on stage. Ren's orbs continued to grow larger and reached the size of a small child.
"Tell your man to step back," Akio said.
"This one is ready to be examined." The sorcerer leaned back to avoid his Adam's apple being cut on Akio's dagger and pointed to Shaya.
"What's the meaning of this then?" the young woman asked.
"I don't want to be examined," Shaya said. "I am Kaito-Tanken Shaya, and this is my first-sworn, Akio. You are going to call your men off, and we are going to leave this place."
Akio twirled his second dagger in h
is left hand to show he wasn't worried, but ready to attack with Shaya's command.
"That's not going to happen." The young woman stepped off the platform and approached Akio. "Lower your dagger, fool."
Instead, Akio raised his spare dagger to her throat.
"No!" Shaya called out.
It was death and worse to attack an Amethyst Sorcerer. Shaya had been willing to allow Akio to bluff but, apparently, he wasn't. Either he forgot himself in a fit of rage or, worse, choose to ignore the fact that sorcerers were untouchable.
"I don't want to be examined. I have no desire to join the Amethyst Nation."
"That's not up to you to decide." The woman pushed Akio's dagger away from her throat. Then pushed away his other dagger from the young man's throat. "As decreed by Fencura law, we have the right to examine anyone we choose, and take on any pupil we see fit."
"I'll never swear fealty to you."
"We didn't ask you to, Kaito-Tanken Shaya." The woman held her hand out for Shaya to take.
Akio looked to Shaya, desperate for the command to attack, but she couldn't give it. She was all that was left of Clan Kaito and she couldn't afford to throw it away here. If that meant she would submit to an examination, then that's what she would do.
"Sheath your daggers."
It was the first time Shaya had ever commanded him to stand down in the face of a threat.
Akio hesitated, twirled his daggers twice, then sheathed them in unison. He stood at attention with his shoulders straight, waiting for his Thief Lord's next command.
Shaya took the young woman's hand and allowed herself to be led up on stage for all of Shinzo to see. No doubt, men were already on their way to tell the other Thief Lords what was happening.
Kaito-Tanken Shaya was to become a sorcerer.
INTERLUDE II
Emerald Nation, Fencura
The source-light shone through the window into Abaze's bedroom and woke him from a deep sleep. He grumbled and thought of having his window painted black, but knew that would only cause problems, so instead he rolled out of bed to face the day. Throwing a tunic and trousers on, he glanced out the window.