by Dixon, TJ
“So basically we just need to create a fireball and melt that lump of metal?” I ask the teacher but she just goes into even more technical detail.
“No you have to intemperate the intransient differentiator to increase the nonlinear singularity of inter…” and after a few minutes I am more confused than I have ever been in my life.
“Do you get what she just said?” I ask Rin.
“Sort of, but no idea how you do it. It’s different to a simple fireball in how you do it, but not in effect. It’s meant to be slightly more efficient.”
“Do you think she’ll notice if we just use a normal fireball?”
“Probably.”
“Please explain in detail what she said in words I understand.” I say and Rin takes a deep breath before attempting to do so. After about an hour I get what she is saying. It is a simple technique I know, but I would never have guess from the original instructions.
“I get it. You just do this.” I say and I am the first student to succeed.
“Show off.” The tall girl snorts, which prompts sniggering from most of the class.
“Now let’s see yours.” The teacher says to her but she just shrugs.
“I don’t get it. You must have explained better to him.” After which follows loud laughter. I ignore it and help Rin master it, which she does in just a few minutes.
“The rest of the day is yours.” The teacher says with a smile.
Each day is like this and as each day passes the class resents us more and more. We have less free time than in our last class, but we still have enough time that by the end of the week Rin has mastered the water magic I know, although she still needs to practise because she is a little slow still. On our day off we harvest mushrooms from the Forest of the Lost. It proves quite boring. Rin knows what she is doing but there are no threats so nothing for me to do. We talk but we do that at school too so there isn’t a great deal to talk about. I avoid the subject of her father because I don’t want to bring up bad memories.
The next week I cover fire magic. By now I am confident with my writing and reading as long as it isn’t something our teacher wrote. I don’t get the impression anyone other than Rin understands most of what she says and writes. Our day off is spent gathering special leaves from the Forest of the Lost. I can’t see the difference between them and the rest of the leaves but apparently there is. They grow in a different area to the mushrooms, which is why we didn’t gather them at the same time.
Finally we cover Earth magic. I saved it for last, because it is my weakest element. I can only teach the very basics and we have covered what I know in two days.
“I asked you this before, but now you have covered them all, what is your element?” I ask Rin.
“Definitely water. I know you’re best at wind but I find it hard. Fire is simple in some ways but I am scared by it. Earth I think I find as hard you do if not harder. Even if it was your element I don’t think I’d be able to learn it properly.”
“That’s what I thought, but I’m glad you think so too. I can only teach you so much without learning more myself first, and we won’t learn anything in our class. I say we ask the teacher to promote us. What do you think?”
“Makes sense.” Rin agrees and so we do the next morning.
“Ok.” Is all the teacher says.
“So when can we move?”
“Tomorrow morning go to 3F.” She says and looks back to the book she is reading. “Sorry this is just getting to the good part. I just can’t get enough of advanced inter dimensional theory. Trans dimensional lift theory for example is so interesting. Why we don’t teach it here I don’t know.” I don’t ask what trans dimensional lift theory is. If she can’t teach us simple magic in a way we can understand there is no way something that advanced would make sense.
The next morning we head to 3F. The teacher is there already. She wears a blue robe the same colour as the students and has matching blue hair and eyes.
“So who are you?”
“I’m Rin and this is Peter. Professor Lily promoted us to 3F.”
“That Lily never tells me when she’s promoted a student. Two this time too! I’m Lady Gracewell. Take a seat over there Rin, and over there Peter.”
“Could we not sit together? We work better as a pair.” I ask.
“There are no free desks left, just those two seats. It’s that or the floor.”
“How about we take the floor?” I suggest to Rin, which the teacher laughs at.
“I wasn’t serious about the floor. If you’re that set on working together ask to swap with someone. Perhaps whoever sits next to Peter may be quite happy to swap with Rin. Not that I care whether you’re a boy or a girl, but most girls at this academy would be happier sat next to another girl.”
Rin laughs. “There can’t be many students or teachers who don’t care whether he’s a boy or a girl.”
“Yet you actually want to sit next to him.”
“He helps me and I help him. I even consider him a sort of friend since we’ve been through a lot together.”
“Not least the tournament.” The teacher says with a smile. “Anyway sit in the seats I told you to until you have agreement to swap.” So we do.
“Hi, I’m Hermes.” The girl sitting next to me says when she arrives. She has blond hair and matching yellow eyes. Her skin is white as bone and she is shorter than me. “You must be Peter the new transfer student. I look forward to working with you.” This must be the first time I was unhappy that someone was being friendly to me but I shouldn’t be rude.
“Yes I’m Peter. I look forward to working with you too.” I say and can’t bring myself to ask about swapping. I’ll have to cover the training with Rin after lessons. Perhaps they’ll be as short as in the other classes. I just hope the teacher speaks words I understand.
“I saw you in the arena. You were so cool to beat the higher classes one against two, and so brave to even compete.”
“It was two on two.”
“But the girl hardly did anything.”
“Without Rin I would have lost.”
“You’re so modest!” I glance Rin’s way and she is fuming. Her partner is not here yet but just a few desks away she can hear everything we say.
“Look I’m not being modest. I was about to run out of power when she gave me hers. We’ve been training together since then and have both learnt from each other. When we compete next year we will do so as equals.”
“You’re going to compete next year too, and you’re already training. Can I join in too? It would be more fun with three than two, right?”
“I’m not sure. I’d have to ask Rin.”
“Rin, you don’t mind me joining your little training sessions right?”
“Be my guest.” Rin says looking and sounding rather annoyed. I guess like me she doesn’t want to be outright rude though.
“If I’m better than Rin maybe we could compete together next year instead.”
“Sorry but I’m competing with Rin. We have a pair we want to beat together no matter what.”
“Oh… Too bad… Which pair?”
“The ones that won this year.” I say and she turns pale.
“Oh, yes, they’ll be in it, won’t they? Maybe, maybe, I’d better, not compete. But do you have a death wish?”
“No, just a score to settle.”
“…”
“Perhaps it would be better if Rin and I sat next to each other?”
“Oh, no, I still want to work with you. I’ll train with you too. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from you and we’ll have lots of fun.”
“Just so you know, we’re not doing it for fun. We want to win next year, but we’re also aiming for class A so I can form an independent company. Rin will be in it too.”
“Wow! How ambitious! Perhaps I can join too if you form one?”
“Maybe.” I say not sure whether to be happy someone wants to join or sad it isn’t someone less dangerous to my sanity. I can�
��t afford to turn her down outright though as who knows how many will be willing to join. “You’ll need to train hard though.” I don’t tell her why I want to form the company, because that might put her off. I’m not sure that would be a bad thing, but if I am considering letting her join I’d best not. Also others would probably find out from her.
“I’ll work myself to death if it gets me into an, I mean your, independent company.”
“Well, hopefully not literally to death.” I say.
I notice that the girl sitting next to Rin has arrived. As she sits she looks at Rin and says. “Don’t talk to me and we’ll get on just fine.”
“If you want to swap with Peter you won’t even need to sit next to me.”
“To hell with that! Sitting next to Hermes is the last thing I want to do. She can talk until the sun goes down. Now shut up.”
The classroom really is full with every desk taken. Thankfully I can understand what the teacher is saying, at least when I can hear it. Hermes can talk you to death and rarely about anything remotely useful. Rin looks miserable and keeps glaring at Hermes.
By lunchtime I have actually learnt a few tricks to improve my earth techniques. I teach them to Rin during lunch as she didn’t have much luck on her own. The lesson after lunch covers some interesting water techniques. I have trouble with them but Rin seems to pick them up fine.
“So when does the training start?” Hermes asks as the lessons ends.
“Now.” I say after a pause to reflect on the fact that it means spending more time with her. We head to the arena because it isn’t in use today.
“Do we really need to train with her?” Rin whispers to me and I grimace but nod.
We start by going over the techniques from class that Rin picked up. It makes much more sense when Rin explains it to me and demonstrates a few times. It’s not that the explanation was bad before but I couldn’t concentrate. I make it clear to Hermes that if she wants to be included she is only allowed to talk about the training itself. She even points out a few things that we both missed. I have no idea how she learnt anything given how much time she spent talking to me, but she did.
Hermes is strongest at earth and fire so she will fit in well to our training sessions if she can keep up the point about sticking to what’s relevant. We decide to split the training into two elements a day so we start by covering wind and earth today. Hermes is really weak at wind so she learns a lot but she also manages to help us a lot with earth which we are both weak at.
“That was actually very productive.” I say as we finish.
“You’re not as useless as I thought.” Hermes says to Rin who takes a deep breath to avoid saying something rude. “Do we meet again after tomorrow’s lesson?”
“We train every day except our day off.” I tell her.
“Let’s do something fun on the day off!” Hermes says.
“Sorry but we work on the day off. We need to earn our way.” I reply.
“You work. What do you do?” Hermes asks.
“Escort duty.” I answer.
“Wow! What about you?”
“I gather supplies for my parents. He’s my escort.” Rin answers.
“You work together? No fair! How about I work with you too?”
“Sorry but my mother can only afford one escort.” Rin tells her.
“I suppose it can’t be helped. Well, see you both tomorrow.” Hermes says and leaves ahead of us.
“I know, but she is actually quite useful.” I say to Rin when Hermes has left.
“I know but… Just make sure you don’t forget about me. We’re partners right?” Rin asks sounding surprisingly worried.
“Yes. Even if we don’t sit together we’re partners.” I assure her.
“Goodnight. See you in the morning.” Rin says with a small smile.
“Goodnight. See you then.”
The next morning we practise writing in my tent until just before the lesson starts. We port to class and don’t talk again until lunchtime. Not to each other that is. Hermes talks incessantly until I ask her to let me focus on the lesson. She seems a bit sad when I say this but doesn’t say anything else until lunch. We eat together the three of us before exchanging tips that we picked up and then just chatting. Well mostly listening to Hermes but Rin doesn’t seem so bothered today.
The afternoon class is very interesting, because it touches on non-elemental magic. In other words direct attack and defence magic, and even the theory behind porting. We practise water and fire magic after class. This turns into a routine and it actually is more fun with three of us training together. I am glad though when the week ends.
Rin’s mother looks Rin in the eye and says. “We have a request that requires Tree Ent wood. There’s a notice on the bounty board for a Tree Ent at the Drake. They’re very dangerous, so I want an honest answer, not the one you think I want to hear. Are you up to taking on a Tree Ent?”
“I think so. We improved a lot recently.” Rin answers comfortably.
“Then please get me some Tree Ent Wood, along with the reward for yourselves. It’s ten gold, so five each.”
“I saw that when I was doing bounties, but I’m sure it was a lot less than that.” I say.
“It killed the son of a merchant so the bounty went up.”
“How do we find it and prove that we killed it?” I ask.
“Proof is easy as the wood is rather unique. Just make sure not to damage the wood by using fire or lightning. I need the wood for an important job. As for finding it Rin knows how to do that.”
“Is it really OK to keep the bounty for ourselves?” Rin asks dubiously.
“Yes. You deserve it if you can complete this job. Whatever happens though, come back alive.”
“We will.” Rin says to which I nod.
“I definitely won’t let anything happen to Rin.” I say.
“Don’t let anything happen to you either. Rin will be sad if you die.” She says and Rin blushes but doesn’t say anything. I expected her to deny it but she doesn’t.
“We’ll come back alive.” I say with a smile. “So Rin, how do we find it?”
“You know those leaves we collected?”
“Yes.”
“Tree Ents like to eat those. If we take them to the forest it was seen in then it should find us. We shouldn’t move around though, because that makes us more vulnerable. Just stay in one spot and wait. Your slicing attack should work if you target the roots. Take out the roots and a Tree Ent dies. That avoids damaging the wood and should be an easy kill, as long as your attack is strong enough.”
“What if it isn’t?”
“I could try to flood the roots. That should at least slow it, while you attack again until it works.”
“Sounds like you know what you’re doing.” Rin’s mother says and leaves us to it. Rin grabs a handful of the leaves and we port to the forest. Rin chose a large clearing to give the Tree Ent less cover. We wait a while and then hear something approaching. The rustling convinces us it is the Tree Ent so we prepare for battle. Then a young man enters the clearing.
“Hello!” He calls to us.
“Hello!” I call back and then worried ask Rin. “Leave those here and port over to him to take him where he needs to go.”
“Why should I?” Rin asks but seeing the Tree Ent behind him I port over to him and put up a wind shield. Rin ports next to me.
“Do it! Now!”
“No, I’m not leaving you!” Rin says and floods its roots.
“Just get him out of here!” I shout and strengthen my shield as a branch pierces it. The man runs screaming and for a moment my shield holds again but then it is broken and the man is skewered. Instantly dead he falls silent but is thrown around like a rag. Another branch shoots towards Rin but I blast her out of the way with a strong gale, and barely dodge one aimed at me. “I can’t protect us both! Get out of here!”
“No!” Rin shouts and throws ice at a branch headed my way. I avoid the branch bu
t not the shards of ice it throws at me. Blood covers my eyes as it leaks from several wounds. I close my eyes and focus on what the wind tells me, and dodge the next attack.
“You’re going to get us killed! Get out of here!” I scream at her and sense she is gone. Now I can focus on avoiding the attacks and striking the roots. I can just about break a root at a time with my air slicing technique. Gradually its attacks slow as it loses more and more roots, but my power drains too and my strength fades as my blood leaks. A branch skewers my left shoulder. I slice the branch before it does any more damage but I am too weak to finish the enemy now. I strike one more root and then port back to Rin’s home before losing consciousness.
Chapter 5 (Peter)
I wake in an unfamiliar bed. My whole body hurts and I have no power left. My vision is blurred but someone is watching over me.
“You’re awake?” Rin asks and I realise it is Rin watching over me.
“Yes.” I say and it hurts to talk. It hurts like hell.
“I’m sorry. I was just a burden to you even though I’ve trained so hard. I even got you hurt.” Rin says and I think back. My memory is fuzzy.
“I don’t really recall everything, but when I told you to get that guy out of there you refused.”
“Yes.” Rin says in a teary voice.
“I don’t want to be hard on you, but if I am to work with you I need to know that I can trust you to follow my instructions. A man died because you didn’t today.”
“It was yesterday, and I know. I thought you were going to die too. Tree Ents have poison coating their bark, so you were poisoned in your wounds. I used the antidote but it took a while to work. I swear I’ll do what you tell me to in battle, but promise me that you won’t get killed.”
“I swear that if you keep that promise, I’ll not get killed.”
“Don’t even think about breaking that oath.” Rin says fiercely.
“Now that you lovers have made up, here’s some food to help heal your body.” Rin’s mother says holding a large dish.
“Mother! We’re not like that! And don’t talk like that or we’ll be in trouble with the academy.”