“There’s no point in talking about this right now. We’ll see when the time comes.”
“Fine, but there is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What is it?” James sighed through his restrained emotions.
“I know you’re not happy about this whole Academy thing, but I really do think it’s in your best interests to give it a shot. Don’t run away from this. This is an opportunity to make something of yourself.”
“Who says I want to be a soldier?”
“No one. But you may find the discipline and resolve necessary to carry you into what you actually want in life. You can be whatever you want to be, James. But you need to grow up.”
“That’s a lie all parents say, but it doesn’t line up with the conditions around us. It’s not reality.”
“It’s true.”
“What if I wanted to fly? That’s impossible.”
“Not necessarily. You might have to study the physics. Maybe understand how birds fly in the first place. After all, a lot of our inventions and infrastructures are based off of ideas that were taken from examining nature.”
“What if I wanted to be king?”
“Might have to become devoted to that goal completely. Pursue and devote your very life to a princess or queen. Show you’re the best man for the job and that you’re not in it for the wrong reasons.”
“What about the Maker?”
“…James.”
“What? I can be anything, right?”
“You might be able to convince some that you’re him,” his father sighed. “People tend to be gullible. But don’t be surprised if the consequences of such an act aren’t what you intended.”
“One more question then. If I can be anything…why are you nothing?”
His father laughed heartily. Not at all what James was expecting. But before he could recover from the surprise, his father leapt out of his chair and lunged at him. In a second, James was backed up against the wall. The force of the slam caused several spices and pots from the counter to fall to their feet as his father made him suddenly realize that under his grip, he was still just a child.
“A sniveling, pompous little brat to the end,” he breathed heavily in his son’s face. James didn’t dare move. “You drone on and on about what you believe in but at the first sign of trouble I know you’ll run. Just like your mother. You stand there and say I’m nothing, but then what does that make you? So what if your father’s not what you want him to be? So what if your momma ran out on you? So what? You’re the problem. Just you. At the end of the day, we choose what we are, and what you are is a coward.”
James gulped down his fear and balled up a fist. His father looked down at it and then back up and into his son’s eyes, chuckling from within and giving him a smirk of superiority.
“Am I making you mad? Am I finally getting a rise out of you? Or are you too lazy to take action?”
He chuckled and let his son loose from his grip. Brushing himself off, James continued to stare at his father in disdain as the man marched away, still confident, and silently reveling in the fact that he was still the alpha male. James sneered and spat out the words he had been holding back for years. It was the only attack that could hit its mark with deadly, painful accuracy.
“She left because of you!”
His father stopped in his tracks, sighed heavily and turned his head, his lips barely visible as he spoke.
“Get out of my house…tonight. You have ten minutes to gather your things.”
“Where am I supposed to go?” James asked in shock.
“The Academy. You wanted to get there early, didn’t you?”
“I need more than ten minutes.”
“Any longer and your stuff goes in the burn barrel.”
And without another word, he stormed out of the house, giving his son the space to gather his belongings. James huffed as soon as the door closed, feeling like flipping the kitchen table over.So that’s going to be the good-bye of my old man, he thought.One last kick to the groin.
“Fine,” he muttered to himself and headed upstairs to his bedroom for the last time. He was barely aware of what he was doing, just throwing a bunch of clothes into a satchel, too angry to think straight.
He finally stomped downstairs with his satchel over his shoulder, deciding to raid the ice box one last time, grabbing everything he could carry and making sure to break his dad’s precious eggs on the way out. He barely looked back when he headed out the door.
Thankfully it was still warm outside so he wouldn’t have to fight the climate, but where was he going to go on such short notice? Jennings’s parents were clinically insane and would probably end up giving him a beat down just for interrupting their beauty rest. Korey’s parents were no better and Leidy would hurt him personally, especially since she had to wake up early in the morning to open the store. She might forgive him this once and let him stay the night since he was on his way out, but he really didn’t want to bother her. Once more, his father’s words had gotten through to him…as they always did. Suddenly, he felt utterly alone.
There were no benches or conveniently flat boulders to lie on so James knew that he would have to settle for the ground, ladled with hay, mud, and hungry critters on the hunt…which also meant he wasn’t going to get any sleep that night. Best to just stay up.
But what was he going to do so late at night? What was his plan anyway? He had never actually thought about where he was going to go instead of the Academy. He had heard there were other Kingdoms but he had no clue of which direction they were in, and the people in the village were so scared of going outside the borders that he figured there had to be something dangerous.
Wouldn’t that be ironic?he thought.Abandon the Academy because I would get killed there, only to be killed because I didn’t go.
James sighed and started walking toward the carriage hut. Wherever he was eventually headed, it was best to start there. It was only a five minute walk, and it was well past dark so no one was up in the village to catch his movements.
No one to watch my leaving, he said to himself.No one to weep over my departure.
When he arrived at the hut, the driver was sleeping, snoring and nearly toppling over onto his horses. It must have been a light doze, however, for when James came near, he turned to him as if they had already exchanged pleasantries.
“Where to, young one?” he asked, steadying the reins in his hand. One horse neighed as if to wake the other.
“I’m not sure,” James said. “But I want to go somewhere far. Are there any Kingdoms you can take me to?”
“Now why would you want to go do a thing like that? Those other Kingdoms will kill you on sight, just for being part of Allay.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. The boss says I have to tell anyone that asks. Never been too far outside the walls myself.”
“Okay…so where can I go? What’s the farthest you’ll take me?”
“Edge of the forest. You’d be on your own from there though. It’s pretty dangerous. I hear there’s poisonous snakes by the thousands.”
“Okay,” James shrugged. Supposedly, no place was safe. “I’ll go there.”
“That will be hundred shell.”
“A HUNDRED SHELL?” he yelled. The driver twisted a finger in his right ear.
“That’s right. Times are tough. Nobody travels outside the village anymore.”
“That’s most people’s annual salary!”
“Well, I can drop it to eighty shell if that helps.”
“I barely have five.”
“Wow. Geez. Sorry, son. You’re out of luck then.”
“Where can I go for that price?”
“The Academy. It’s not that far from where we sit.”
“The Academy? Seriously?”
“It’s actually a free ride if that interests you. All those who sign up for the place aren’t charged. Got to be some perks to throwing your life away, ri
ght?…but, if you want to hand me the five shell anyways, you know, I do have a wife and child to feed.”
James sighed and closed his eyes, weighing his options. He could always walk to wherever this forest was…but, he honestly had no idea what lay in store. The driver did say it was dangerous…so maybe, just maybe, the Academy was best…for now. It would have a bed and some food waiting for him if he went, and that didn’t sound so bad. Perhaps he could stay for a month or so and then try his hand at the forest. No one said he had to stay at the Academy against his will. And in the meantime, he could find out more about which direction the other Kingdoms were in.
But was this really the right answer?
“To the Academy it is,” he found himself saying. The driver nodded and motioned for him to get into the stagecoach.
“I hear there’s a storm coming in, so I hope you don’t mind if I take it slow. Should be there in no more than a few hours.”
“Thank you,” he sighed and then he climbed into the back of the wooden structure.
For the first time in his adolescence, there was no flood of thoughts rushing into James’ mind once he laid his head down.
But it might have been because he had no pillow.
Chapter 2 – Orientation
James moped over the previous day’s events as he stepped lazily off the carriage. The horses whinnied towards him, as if they were annoyed with his hesitation, and he suddenly understood why. The climate itself had transformed completely over the course of their journey. Warmth had completely succumbed to violently strong and cold winds, howling like banshees all around them—cutting through his clothes like they were made of string and shrieking in his ears like raging ghosts.
The horses whinnied again. The longer he stayed in the wagon, the longer they would have to endure the skin-piercing winds, mysteriously cutting through their thick hides. At least when they were moving, they found some solace. James rolled his eyes at them and half-stepped, half-jumped onto the wet slush below.
Wait. Snow? When did that happen?
“How long was I asleep?” he asked the driver. It was still dark so it couldn’t have been too long of a ride.
“Just a couple of hours. I know things look strange, but the weather’s different over here.”
“I see,” he said. James handed him the five shell. It was the least he could do.
James clutched the collar of his coat and tried blowing a ring of vapor from his mouth as the driver nodded in his direction. With barely a wave, the driver snapped the reins and wasted no time in heading back to the village. James didn’t blame him. Being in the presence of the Academy itself had to make anyone uncomfortable, and he was doing his absolute best to not think about its intimidating presence.
He blew another ring of vapor, still in awe over how cold it had gotten. Then he decided to blow another, and for a moment, he mused over what the record for blowing vapor rings was when he suddenly shook his head to get rid of the thought. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, not at a place like this. He had to learn how to focus and stop playing so much.
He looked around, realizing for the first time how still the atmosphere was. There was no welcoming party. No one to greet his arrival. Not even a doorman. Just the eerie feeling that he was being watched. The wind died down as he glanced up at the colossal steel door towering over him.
He grabbed his satchel and adjusted it over his shoulder until he was comfortable, his thoughts already trailing off. He tried to decide whether to enter the Academy doors looking scared or like he was a force to be reckoned with. After all, first impressions were everything.
He could probably get some sympathy by looking like the scared new kid, but then again, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be made fun of, so that option was out.
Bad boy it is, he decided.
He lowered his eyes to appear bored and tensed his jaw as if he were constantly angry. Swinging his satchel over his other shoulder, he tilted his head slightly to the left. Pushing the rusted steel door entrance door to the side, he stepped through, trying not to snicker at the thought of what he must look like.
I’ll just need a chump to be my lackey and I’m good to go, he thought as he surveyed the empty courtyard beyond the doors, flat and barren with only the slush providing contours in the landscape.
Enormous pillars made of white stone extended down to the main Academy building in two parallel straight lines, lanterns hanging from each one, barely lit. Though the yard had no roof over it, it was somehow darker than when he had been outside its doors, creating an effect that screamed out it was haunted.
Suddenly he was thankful no one was there to greet him. They might catch the fear creeping onto his face.
At least he thought that no one was there.
He didn’t see the open palm swinging toward his mouth.
As it struck, he cried out in shock, swinging his satchel in retaliation at the attacker, but missing horribly. He heard the culprit snicker from the shadows as he grabbed James’ satchel with little effort. James stood there dumbstruck, and watched as the mysterious attacker used his own possessions against him, swiping his legs from underneath him and forcing him into the wet slush below. The attacker chuckled from underneath his coat as he stepped further into the light.
“You would have gotten more of a welcome acting like the new kid.”
The stranger was tall and skinny, but not lanky. Jet black hair flowed down from the crown of his head like it had life of its own, with a thick layer of hair covering his left eye as if he was trying to hide something in the retina. The eye that did reveal itself was piercing, intense, and full of life, but not of excitement. It was searching for something, with an intensity that advised caution to anyone who stepped in his path. And James had no doubt that this stranger sought to match his wardrobe with the darkness in his stare. A long, black coat draped his body, finely pressed and only accentuating his cold demeanor. With the dark fabrics clothing him, the stranger’s right eye was only further intensified as it was the first thing anyone saw beyond the black void.
“Who are you?” James demanded cautiously. This was not his father. He couldn’t just say anything that popped into his mind.
“If I tell you my name, you’ll be obligated to tell me yours, and then I might get sentimental when you’re killed in the field, so if it’s all right with you, I’d rather skip the introductions.”
The stranger stared him down, waiting for a reply as James stood up uncomfortably and brushed himself off. Was this a teacher here? Or someone playing a cruel joke? His voice was so foreboding and threatening that it bordered on the line of scary and entertaining.
“So, what do I call you in the mean time?”
“Just call him Kyran,” a deep, gruff and intellectual voice stated behind them. James instantly figured that the new figure arriving had to be an actual teacher. His voice begged to be heard.
“You’re no fun, Arimus. I wanted to greet this one.” Kyran said with no excitement whatsoever. Every sentence that came out of his mouth was monotone and just as sinister as his visage.
“You have odd tactics, my friend,” Arimus said. “But I must ask you to spare our company of what you would have dared to call yourself.”
Kyran didn’t say a word and handed James the satchel.
“Make no mistake,” Kyran said to him, leaning into his face. “Arimus is tougher than I am. Under that soothing temperament is the grace of a sledgehammer. Mind your tongue in his presence.”
James nodded nervously as Kyran studied his reaction. When he was satisfied, he walked off into the darkness like he was part of its ambience, his dark hair and black coat melting into the shadows.
“I know what you’re thinking, James,” Arimus said. “He looks like a black cat.”
He snorted at the thought but then he immediately gathered his composure in front of his superior. It was best to go through the motions and wait to see what was acceptable or not before he started playing around. S
uddenly, a thought occurred to him.
“You know my name,” he blurted out. It was probably not the most militaristic response, but Arimus didn’t seem to notice. Instead he motioned for James to walk with him as they traveled across the stretch of courtyard to the entrance of the school itself. James couldn’t help but be in awe over the man. He had to be about seven feet tall, with a build that was desperately trying to match his height in width. Behind the ancient, wool cloak that covered his body, James had no doubts that this man had muscles as big as his head underneath. There was not a shred of evidence indicating he was fat. Add this intimidating fact to the rugged gray beard shrouding most of his face and his steel blue eyes overflowing with wisdom, and James suddenly found himself listening intently before he realized it. He wasn’t sure why, but this man, in seconds, had gained his respect.
“It was not hard to figure out,” Arimus said assuredly. “Considering only one recruit was to arrive today, and his name was James.”
“True, sir,” he stated mindlessly, not sure what to say.
“You may call me by my proper name. Arimus. You will find that there are few formalities here.”
“R-uh-moss?” he mouthed, like there was a bad taste in his mouth.
“Close. It’s pronounced air-a-muhs.”
“Ah.”
“And the soldier you had the pleasure of meeting a moment ago was Kyran. A little off-putting at times, but one you can trust with your life. After all, that is one of the requisites of becoming a full-fledged soldier. You must be reliable on all accounts.”
“You trust me with your life, Arimus?”
“No, James,” he stated flatly. ”Not yet. But that is one of the purposes of the Academy. To see if we can. Come, I will show you to your room. There you will find some food and the rest of the night is yours to do as you please. But tomorrow at dawn, the training begins.”
“Can I ask you something?” James said as they reached the end of the courtyard. The winds died down suddenly to a whisper.
“Of course.”
The Works of Julius St. Clair - 2017 Edition (Includes 3 full novels and more) Page 4