Apotheosis (Song of Sophangence Book 3)

by E. I. McAllistair

  “Why are you doing so much?! That far exceeds the requirements!”

  Staring absently at the sky with a shrug, “I don’t know, it seemed fun? Plus I thought it would make sense to be more well-rounded. There is also the fact my powers can be pretty messy, so I would rather just use martial arts most of the time.”

  “Being a Demolitionist is not what made you number two in both your class and the school?”

  “Maybe. It definitely has its uses, but most time I am just trying to make sure I don’t seriously injure or kill someone.”

  Sighing with a sarcastic tone, “What an unfortunate thing you must deal with.”

  “Well I’m going to be off now, I am meeting someone in a bit, but think about what I said. The cool thing about this school is you can literally register for classes up until an hour before the first one, so there is no need to rush into it.”

  Watching as the large man left him behind, Peter contemplated what he said, finding it could not hurt to take classes with his friends. Sending them a message, he found a few of them had gotten similar advice about the combat class, so they decided they would all take it together. They then set a time to meet so they could see what other classes they might be able to enroll in.

  Snapping back into reality from the reverie of recollection he was in, Peter found he had seemingly missed a large part of the lecture. Not terribly concerned, he wondered why everyone was rumbling with apprehension. It was not until Genevieve got his attention that he became aware of the situation.

  “Did you hear what they said? We are going to be fighting already! I am scared! I don’t know how to fight!”

  “Fight? What do you mean fight?”

  “Hello! Earth to Pete! We just got assigned groups and we are going to have to fight against each other! Professor Offerdero said there ‘hopefully’ shouldn’t be any casualties!”

  Checking his Vizer at Genevieve’s behest, he sees he is teamed up with another four people. In the chaos that had consumed the room, everyone was scrambling to find their teammates. Everyone was disjointed, no one was making any real progress, and because he had been daydreaming, he had missed out on the instructions. Not sure what he should do, he simply stayed in his desk for the time being.

  Thus far, everything Anaar had told him about the class had been true. Professor Osadi seemed to be in a permanent bad mood, while Professor Offerdero clearly missed the empathy and compassion part of medical school. Their class was enormous, there were 70 of them all crammed into the classroom which was apparently the cap. The setting of the class made him think he was attending a large university rather than a small elite college.

  If he were going to be facing off against others, he would have at least liked to do it with his friends. Due to the groups of five being standard, it would have been perfect for them without the need to include anyone else. It dawned on him he had not taken the opportunity to learn what his friends could do, as that would be important information in such a setting. Checking his ability, it seemed he could not garner any additional information about them, meaning the school records were something his powers could not reach.

  Still confused about what he should do next, instead of trying to figure it out, he instead began to wonder if Anaar knew this would happen. He made sure to set a reminder for himself later that day to ask the large man if this was common, and if he knew about it beforehand. It was then he realized people had started moving from the room, which made the bedlam abate somewhat. All his friends had left already which made him uneasy. He finally hopped down from his seat so he could begin asking questions.

  Approaching the first group of people, he did his best to get their attention, yet no one listened. Either he was being purposely ignored or they genuinely could not hear him. Finally screaming at the top of his lungs, he grabs the attention of not only the group he intended, but everyone in the classroom. When everyone stopped to look at him in surprise, he was suddenly self-conscious due to all the attention.

  “I’m sorry, I was trying to get your attention, but it seemed no one could hear me. My name is Peter, would I perhaps be part of your group?”

  “What the hell is even that!? Are you one of them midget people? I sure hope you aren’t on our team. Are you Peter M.?”

  Forgetting he did hear there was another Peter in his class when mentors were called, he was glad to not be part of the abrasive woman’s group. “No, I’m Peter G. Thank you.”

  Since he had the attention of the entire room at this point a portly woman with far too much makeup on waved to get his attention.

  “Yohoo! Peter G.? You are with us!”

  Striding quickly away, he scurries to the woman who had called him. “Hello, I’m Peter, but I suppose you already know that. It seems I am the last to arrive, I apologize. What should we do now?”

  A tall thin man eyes him suspiciously, the first to respond to his question. “Why do we have to get the handicapped person? This is bullshit. We are definitely going to lose.”

  “I beg your pardon? Handicapped-”

  The woman with the makeup quickly cuts him off, “I think he is adorable! You are right, he can’t be good in a fight, but he can be our team mascot!”

  “All of you are quite rude! I am not a child, nor a toy! This is not the way-”

  Another woman interrupts him yet again, clearly not listening to what he had to say as she addresses a large man next to her. “Hey Milo, why don’t you strap him to your back like one of those baby carriers. You should be familiar with that right? Don’t you have a kid already?”

  The large man keeps quiet, obviously not happy the woman brought up something he found to be quite sensitive in front of a group of strangers. Exasperated, Peter stomps his foot, not aware of how much more childlike it made him appear.

  “Uh oh, the wittle baby is mad! Maybe he is hungry, or needs his diaper changed!”

  The group explodes into laughter, even the large man who was previously quiet, which only causes Peter to turn red with anger and embarrassment. He was not at all unfamiliar with such antics as he had dealt with them for much of his life, but he was extremely disappointed to find so many close-minded and hurtful people at an institution like Sophangence. He presumed since his friends had been so quick to accept him, as was Anaar, everyone on campus would be the same.

  “Can we please just get on with this? I would rather we not fail our first assignment.”

  “The wee one has a point. We are almost out of time. They said we needed to be to some staging area in another two minutes.”

  With that, the group all heads out to the staging area to find what next awaits them. When they arrive, the see many other groups all nervously looking around at everyone else. Though the field was massive, it seemed rather small with everyone packed into one small space. Rather than utilize the space to their advantage, everyone seemed keen to stay clustered together.

  Peter noticed this left them rather exposed, especially since others had the opportunity to examine them as they entered, but he feared no one would listen to him so he stayed quiet with the rest of his team. With the final group entering the arena, the professors came out to give some final words to the students before disappearing again. The moment the chime sounded, everyone began to scramble left and right with no coordination whatsoever.

  Because no one understood exactly what the parameters were for their engagement, there were a number of people who simply stood dumbfounded, not sure if it was truly acceptable to simply assault another person. Meanwhile there were others who took full advantage of such an opportunity. Trying to remain calm and stay close to his group while he thought, Peter was finding it difficult to formulate a strategy in such a hectic moment.

  Remembering the conversation between Anaar and Dr. Darst, their class by far boasted the highest number of Quintessences in the school. They were also a class of 100 students, which was the maximum for any Sophangence class. Quickly doing the math in his head he realized 70 people out of t
he 100 were Quintessences. If there were also 70 people in the class, it could be possible all 70 people in the class were those with manifestations, or it was simply 70% of 70 leaving roughly 50 Quintessences. This was also presuming the class was an exact representation of the percentages. Either way, he realized he could be up against at the most 65 other Quintessences at this time.

  Though he was not sure if such a breakdown was helpful, he at least applauded himself for doing something to assess the situation. As it currently stood, many people were falling around him and he did not know exactly what he should do. From the corner of his eye one of the people in group, the tall lanky man hit the ground with a thud. Almost immediately following him was the larger man in their group. It occurred to him he had not even taken the opportunity to learn their names. He felt perhaps things would have been different if he had not been treated so poorly, but he knew it was not the time to rehash such things.

  All his life he cursed his condition, his height and features often making him a target for others as it had done for him just moments before stepping into the now sea of madness. Once he had taken the time to focus, he noticed a trend. The people who were being targeted first were all particularly tall individuals. In such a case, with everyone grouped together, he was effectively invisible in the crowd because no one could see him over all the others. He never thought he would see the day he would be thankful for being a dwarf.

  As more people fell around him, he scrambled about, diving between various people to use them as cover for safety. When he looked around, he found he was no longer near the remaining members of his group, which made everyone around him an adversary. Using his advantage of still being essentially invisible to everyone, he took the opportunity to take into himself a number of martial arts forms, the flow of information so much it caused him to fall to the ground stunned for a moment, still thankfully ignored by the brawling students that were left standing.

  Finally someone noticed him there still in the fight and decided to finish off a weak opponent. Unfortunately for them, he had finally shaken off most of his addled state and was ready for them, charging with a number of swift strikes, dispatching them before they had the opportunity to react. Knowing he had a time limit on his effectiveness, since his mind tended to dump the information he obtained over time, he began utilizing his height, now to his advantage to rush upon people, finishing them before they could realize what he was capable of.

  There were still a number of students running amok, some projectiles flying about, many simply charging blindly, but in this chaos, he found it was the most ideal for him. Under most circumstances people did not notice him, and if they did, other larger opponents seemed to be much more of a threat than he was, which caused them to lower their guard considerably. Things were going quite well for him until somewhere from the side, a large person flew directly atop him, smothering him and knocking him unconscious.

  Once he had come to, being checked by the beautiful ebony skinned doctor Anaar had warned about her mental instability, she deemed him healthy and not requiring medical attention. Looking around it seemed the event was over, students helping one another to their feet from their prone positions in the dirt, or lending a shoulder so they could walk effectively back to the classroom. In the jumble of bodies, Peter could not identify his own group members, not that they were much of a group anyway, so he decided to make his way back into the building by himself, stiff from having a large man land on him and apparently stay that way for some time.

  Back in the classroom everyone was abuzz, conferring with one another about their experiences, some quite happy, while others seemed reluctant to engage in the conversation, no doubt indicating they were eliminated very early on. Making his way back to his desk, Peter sees his friends, most of them looking quite dirty, which prompted him to look down at himself. He too was covered in dust and sand, and now that he had taken the time to pay attention, his painstakingly styled hair was ruined and hanging in his face. Sitting down heavily, he gives his friends a knowing look as the professors entered the classroom, their expressions grim.

  Professor Osadi was the first to speak, his gruff scowl more disappointment and disgust than simple surliness. “Everyone, I had hope this class would show us something we had never seen before. This is the largest class we have ever taught. So much that I did not even bother attempting to place barriers over the fallen as even that would have been too much for me. Indeed you showed us something, but it is not what we wished for. You showed us absolute failure! No one grasped the meaning of working together in groups and simply ran off on your own, leaving one another to fend for yourselves. If the entire class had not been so terrible, many of you would have failed this exercise!”

  Seemingly disappointed as well, Professor Offerdero also expressed her feelings. “I heard there were a number of Quintessences in this class yet there were not nearly the injuries I was hoping for! I was ready to be pushed to the limit! Instead I only got a few concussions! At least last class we had some loss of limbs, even though they grew back before I had the chance to have a go at them…”

  Clearing his throat, obviously not sharing the woman’s sentiments, Professor Osadi continues. “In such an abysmal showing, even the best of students barely received an 80% during this exercise. Many others of you completely failed altogether. Take this opportunity to reflect on what has happened and what you can do differently. Class is dismissed!”

  Students everywhere grumbled as they checked their Vizers for their scores as they were leaving. Even Peter’s friends did not seem to want to discuss their grades at this time as everyone made their way quickly from the classroom without even saying goodbye to one another. When Peter had finally checked his own grade, he saw he had received a 63.513% score, something that caused his heart to plummet. For the rest of the day, a large majority of the new class had a cloud of gloom cast over them and everything they did. Later that night, Peter contacted Anaar to see if he indeed knew about the heart wrenching event before suggesting the class.

  “Peter, is something wrong?”

  Requesting a video chat, he suddenly sees Anaar in a place that appeared much darker than the current early evening would suggest. “Where are you? Why does it look like it is nighttime?”

  Shrugging into the camera, “France, it is much later here.”

  “France?! Why are you randomly in France?!”

  “I’m on a mission, long story, don’t ask. Is there something I can do for you?”

  “I’m still not understanding why you are on a mission. I heard of these, but I just saw you yesterday! How did you get there so fast? Why did you not tell me you were leaving?”

  “You remember that part where I said don’t ask? Yeah…”

  “I suppose I will honor your request, but only if you answer me honestly about something else! Did you know we would be thrown into a fight to the death on our first day of that horrific class you suggested?!”

  “Oh! How did it go?”

  “How did it go?! So you did know! How could you not inform me! I would have never taken up such a barbarous course had I known!”

  “It happens to everyone, it is like a rite of passage.”

  “I cannot believe I listened to you! Now I am already failing after only my first day!”

  “Oh wow, you failed? How did that happen?”

  “What do you mean how did it happen? What other result was there?!”

  “I got a perfect score.”

  “You what?!”

  “Yeah, it is pretty easy to get a good grade on it, you just have to show you can work as a team and try to have at least one person last toward the end.”

  “Well that was quite difficult for me…”

  “Is it because you approached everyone with your ever superior attitude?”

  “I do not have an attitude problem!”

  “Yes you do, but there is plenty of time for you to grow. Look at me. If I can change, anyone can. I need to go, sorry abou
t the failing grade. When I am back on campus we will talk about how you can prevent things like this in the future. Talk to you later Peter.”

  With that the call disconnects and he is left confused and somewhat annoyed. Not only had Anaar shown he was smarter, but he also seemed much more capable in combat, even in the same experience. Peter had not expected to be treated to such humbling news so soon into his college education, but one thing seemed clear, he would need to get much more information from Anaar if he wanted to be successful in the future.

  3

  Doing his best to become accustomed to the absurd amount of space between everything on campus, Peter takes the first shuttle headed toward the Cafeteria he can find. As he sits on the shuttle, despite it moving rapidly, he suddenly remembered it would have been much faster to simply take the subway and then shuttle from there. If he had not already been yelled at by his friends for being late, he would not care if he just did make it in time for dinner.

  Since he was the last to arrive, he did not have a choice in what floor to eat on, since apparently everyone else wanted to eat on the third floor. Sending a message he had arrived and was grabbing his food, they sent him back their rough location which made it much easier to find them in the expanse. When he finally set his food down on the table and climbed into the seat, everyone seemed to have looks of disdain all pointed in his direction.

  “Why is everyone so glum? I said I was sorry for being late.”

  “Because you didn’t tell nobody they couldn’t be cute on the first day of class! Thanks to you and your damn mentor we all got our asses beat!”

  Shonte Williams was easily the most vocal of their group. Her beautiful brown skin was always made up to perfection, and in the few days Peter had known her, he was positive she had a different hairstyle, and color every day. He often wished he could siphon of even a small amount of her exuberance and confidence, as she was possibly the most comfortable person in their skin he ever had the pleasure of meeting. Her curvy figure was something to behold, and she knew exactly what to wear to flaunt it.