Soulguard

by Christopher Woods

  We stopped at a door, “Here are your quarters, there’s a room, a closet, and a bathroom in each one. It’s been nice meeting you, Colin, maybe I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

  As she walked away, I realized that I hadn’t even got her name. She talked nonstop all the way here and never said it. Being around her all the time would be exhausting, I thought and chuckled as I opened my door and stepped inside.

  Chapter 14

  I woke up early Tuesday morning and took a shower. I put on sweats and left the dorm to find a place to run. As I left I passed another Mage student who would barely even look at me. I opened my Inner eye and saw a Soulstream of about ten inches flowing into him.

  “Good morning,” I said in passing.

  He just looked at me, arrogance and dislike flowing across his aura. His soul wasn’t exactly ugly, but it wasn’t very pretty, either. There were splotches of darkness throughout it.

  I snorted and continued on. The more things change, the more they stayed the same. I’d seen people like him for years at Morndel Academy. The type who think that because they’re rich or powerful, they’re better than you.

  I met another Mage, his stream somewhat smaller than the first, about seven or eight inches, and he smiled.

  “You’re the new guy aren’t you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m Colin Jaegher,” I answered with my hand outstretched.

  He shook my hand, “I’m Darrel Barnes. I see you’ve met Gavin already.”

  He nodded toward the first Mage I’d passed, “He’s the Top around here. Top of the heap, you might say.”

  “Not very friendly, is he?”

  He snorted, “Not with the rumors going round about you. He’ll see you as a challenge to his position, no matter how friendly you are. But, don’t sweat it, he’ll be out of here after this year. You’ll only have to put up with it for ten more months.”

  I nodded, “Where can I go to get a good run in?”

  “The Guards have a trail outside that covers about five miles. It’s good for a run, or hike, those guys like to run straight up mountains and stuff. A couple of Mages use it but it’s mostly Guards.”

  “Or you can run laps around the inside of the dome. There’s a track laid out there but you gotta watch out for fireballs on the end with the targets. There usually isn’t anyone there in the mornings though. Of course, there’ll be people there today, cause of Grimes.”

  “I keep hearing about this Grimes guy, what did he do?”

  “Abuse of power. He went to Vegas and used his power to cheat at a lot of casinos. Won over a million bucks. But he got caught and now he gets to pay for it. Permanent block from the Source.”

  “I see.”

  “Heh, at least he gets to keep the money. He’s getting off easy, he wasn’t a very good Mage anyway. Now he won’t have to fight Demons and he gets a million bucks. He might actually be the smart one.”

  It was nearly seven thirty already so I gave up on my run for the day and decided to go get some breakfast. I’d seen a cafeteria the day before, so I headed there. It was on the second floor from the bottom.

  When I got there I found about twenty Guards already there, “New Mage...”

  “..sparred with Yueh ...”

  “..fighting mage...Jaegher’s boy...”

  I heard several mutters as I made my way across the room. I smiled and waved to several who were looking in my direction. Some of them nodded or waved back. I opened my Inner eye to find quite a few of the Guards were angry.

  “Mages have a Mess hall on the fourth floor, Youngster,” An older guy standing behind the food with a plate in hand, whispered. “Not saying you can’t eat here. Mages don’t come here much.”

  At least I knew what the hostility was about, “This looks good,” I said while eying the spread, “Bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy.”

  He nodded and began filling a plate, I saw a little approval in his aura. Maybe I’d passed a test or something. I don’t know, I was really hungry and hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning.

  As I sat down Kyra walked into the Mess hall. When she saw me I could see the question in her aura but I could also see that she was glad I was there. She got her tray of food from the same guy I did and sat down across from me.

  “How’s the Mage training, son?”

  “It’s ok I guess,” I answered, “I haven’t really learned much yet. It’s only been a day. I did see Gregor shoot a fireball yesterday. I think I could probably shoot one except I’m not sure how I’m supposed to gauge how much I Pull from the Source.”

  “I’d think they’ll cover that soon enough,” she returned, “Don’t get too impatient with the Mages, they don’t have the same advantage you do. Lord knows, you learn skills faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. You manipulated your Soulstream about as fast as we could tell you it was possible.”

  “You even did something to it later that made it feel different. Stronger than before, but different. Just keep in mind, all that the Mages know have been passed down from the original Mages. I’m not sure innovation is what they appreciate. Not that you’d ever do things the way you want instead of how you’re told to,” She laughed.

  My face turned a little red, “I don't know what you’re talking about,” I returned innocently.

  She just gave me the look that both she and Kharl had cultivated over the years.

  “Oh, and Kharl should be here by the end of the week. We expect some sparring time, so make sure you allow some time for it in your busy schedule,” she winked, “we won’t be too hard on you. I think Tien will take care of that.”

  “Oh, joy.”

  She laughed again. I’m not sure why my mom takes so much pleasure in beating me up. According to Kharl, it’s because she is a woman and all women are crazy. In my very limited experience, I’m beginning to see his point.

  Chapter 15

  There were about thirty Mages at the Academy, including the trainers and every one of them was in the Dome. There weren’t many Soulguards present, but this was a Mage thing.

  Nora Kestril had positioned us all in a circle around a single mage. He was a slightly overweight man with a Soulstream not much bigger than a Guard’s. His aura didn’t show any evil in it but I could tell he actually wanted this. Some people don’t have the right mindset to be Guard.

  Mages don’t have a choice. If you have the power you almost have to be trained or you’ll flame yourself. People who don’t know about us call it spontaneous combustion, but we know it’s a Mage who Pulls. There aren’t many of these, but Mages are rare anyway.

  This was also the first time I actually saw the Archmage. He was a tall black-haired man with an arrogance that looked like it flowed off him in waves. His aura rolled with power and it had large ugly patches flowing through it. He wasn’t totally evil, but he’d definitely done some bad things.

  His Soul stream was huge, it dwarfed mine. It even dwarfed Gregor and Nora’s streams. When I looked at him I saw why everyone deferred to Gavin.

  “Warren Grimes,” The Archmage’s voice was deep and it resonated across the Dome, “You stand accused of abuse of power. Do you understand and accept these charges?”

  Grimes nodded, “Yes sir, I do.”

  “Then judgment will be carried out this day. You will be blocked from Pulling the Source now and forever more,” He said with finality.

  Five mages stepped forward, one in the lead and four standing in a line behind him. The lead Mage stopped in front of Grimes and the four flanked him. The center Mage Pulled. A tendril of power reached from the lead Mage to begin wrapping around the Soulstream of Grimes.

  The tendril knotted around the stream and cinched down tight leaving a very small stream of life-force flowing into the man. Grimes gasped and slumped over a little.

  Then the Mage Pulled a large amount of power and pushed the center of his tendril down into the Earth, right into the Source.

  His aura dimmed as he countered the force of the Source trying to
flow back into the tendril. The other four Pulled power and lay their hands on the lead Mage. The power they pulled was pushed into the lead Mage’s aura which brightened again.

  The lead Mage then tied the tendril off inside the Source and severed his Source Pull. The knot remained around Grimes’ stream permanently fed by the Source.

  “Sentence is passed,” boomed the voice of the Archmage.

  Chapter 16

  I stood looking into the mirror at my Soul. The flows of power don’t flow around in mine like most Souls do. The way I had designed my streams interface with my body actually makes my whole Soul glow brightly. All except the empty spot.

  Right in the center of my Soul is an empty spot. I don’t know what it is, maybe that’s the reason I can see the streams. In all my poking around I’d never found any way for the empty space to be filled. It doesn’t feel like it’s a bad spot or anything, just empty.

  I shut my Inner eye and shook my head. There’s no use worrying about it. It’s always been there and never hurt me yet.

  I’d come back from a run outside on the Soulguard’s trail. It was awesome. It ran straight up the mountainside and circled around up near the top, then right back down. It was a great run with lots of places to jump around like Kharl always fusses at me for.

  Kharl had arrived the week before and the Guard was enthusiastic about his return, to say the least. He is a well-liked man in the Guard and I could see why. I’ve known him my whole life and he is the Soulguard personified.

  The values he holds dear are the ones that make the Guard what it is, loyalty, honor, and duty. If I can be half the man he is, I’ll consider my time in the Guard a success.

  ***

  “Shield crafting is probably the most important skill a Mage can learn,” Nora Kestril stated, “I’m a little more partial to shields, since that is my specialty.”

  “We will start with each of you, in turn, crafting a shield that covers a marked area in the floor. I will judge how strong the shield is and we can go from there. Focus is most important while crafting shields. Shields are crafted without Pulling from the Source and you always have to focus on the shield to keep it going. The larger the shield, the more focus it takes to hold.”

  She turned to Gavin Price, A tall, dark-haired man with arrogance flowing across his aura in waves. I glanced at the others in this class to see a wide variety of emotions about Gavin.

  Darrel had distaste rolling across his aura. Paige Turner, the talkative red-head I had met when I first got here, was feeling about the same. Several of the others that I hadn’t met yet showed fear and a few were loyal to him.

  He walked to the center of a circle drawn in the floor of the Dome.

  “Start,” Nora stated.

  A barrier of energy swelled from Gavin to surround the Mage. Then he pushed it out to the lines in the floor.

  When he was done, Nora concentrated on the shield for a moment and nodded, “Very good, it’s strong enough, But I wouldn’t try to do much bigger. You’ll sacrifice strength for area and it could hurt you in the end.”

  “Paige, your turn.”

  Paige stepped into the circle as Gavin stepped out. Her shield took much longer and I could see it was a lot weaker as well.

  “You’ll have to practice on speed, Paige,” Nora said as she concentrated on the shield, “And you’ll have to keep the shield smaller to be strong enough to hold. But don’t let it bother you, we need supports as much as we need Battle Mages.”

  I’d learned that what the other four Mages at Grimes’ sentencing had been doing was to support the Mage doing the actual block. That is the function of support Mages, to help the one doing the action by pushing life-force into them.

  I could see a bit of disappointment in Paige’s aura. I guess support Mages are not very high in the hierarchy.

  “Colin.”

  I stepped to the center of the circle and began weaving a shield from my stream. It took a moment to finish and Nora was looking at me with a strange look.

  “That was very slow,” She said, and I could see a sneer on Gavin’s face, “But I’ve never seen a shield this strong in my life. I don’t feel you Pulling.”

  Gavin’s sneer was gone and I saw disappointment and jealousy flowing across his aura.

  “Is this the kind of shield you used at Morndel?”

  I nodded, “I had Mattie to help keep the Demons off while I crafted it though. I’ve been practicing, trying to get faster but its slow work.”

  “Can you describe how you make it?” Gavin’s jealousy was growing. What the hell is it with the guy?

  “I guess the easiest way to describe it is that I weave a shield straight from my Soulstream instead of Pushing it out from inside. It’s slow but once it’s done, I don’t have to focus on it to keep it active. My Soulstream feeds it automatically.”

  Her eyes were widened in understanding, “And how did you learn to do this?”

  “I was only Guard trained, I never even met A Mage until after the thing at Morndel. All I had to go on were descriptions from Kharl and Kyra and that wasn’t much. But since I couldn’t use the Source, I experimented with other things and this is what I came up with.”

  “Interesting,” she said thoughtfully, “I’d like to see you later today if you don’t mind. I want a detailed description of what you do. This could be quite beneficial to the Mages.”

  “Ok, Darrel,” she turned back to the trainees.

  I took down my shield by snipping the tendril that began the weave and the whole thing dissolved.

  Darrel met me with a wide smile and I saw satisfaction in his aura. His shield was good, as fast as Gavin but not quite as strong.

  “Can you show me how you do that?” Paige asked quietly, “I don’t want to be just a support Mage.”

  “Sure I’ll show you, and I’ve got a few more things I learned as well.”

  Chapter 17

  “My focus is a little less than others but I have a photographic memory,” Paige said, “If I see something I can remember it. It’s like a curse here though, I can remember it if I see it but I never actually see it.”

  I could read the frustration in her aura.

  “Hang on a sec,” I concentrated and made my Soulstream glow.

  She gasped, “Wow.”

  I slowly wove the shield around us as she watched avidly. Not a word coming from her mouth as she soaked it up. When I was done, the shield was glowing.

  She laughed happily, “I can do this.”

  I snipped the tendril and the shield dissolved.

  She concentrated and I watched her stream spout a tendril that wove itself around us as she repeated exactly what I had done. When she finished she clapped and bounced happily.

  “I did it! I can feel it staying up by itself!”

  “Now if you want to make it bigger, push out with your mind.”

  She pushed and the shield expanded. Then she pulled inward on it and it shrank in size.

  “Oh thank you! Thank you!” She bounced around and grabbed me and kissed me. Then she laughed and snipped the tendril and ran out of the Dome.

  I saw two female Guards whispering a little ways off but I could hear them with my heightened senses.

  My face turned red as one of them said, “I’d give him a tumble, Mage or not.”

  The other one laughed, “Jaegher’s kid... might be fun.”

  I headed for the exit with my face burning. I’m not the most experienced person with women. Well, actually, not experienced at all.

  ***

  “Before any Mage Pulls from the Source, they must have an idea how much power it will take to do what the Mage is trying to do. When you Pull too much, it is dangerous,” Nora said, “Here is where practice is essential. Today we will learn how much each of you need to shoot a fireball.”

  “The amount of force used in a Pull is different for each Mage due to the difference in size of the Soulstream. A Mage with a large stream doesn’t have to pull as hard as on
e with a smaller stream.”

  “Some of you have already done this and I want you to go first. We’ll start with Gavin. Gavin has practiced a great deal in the Dome and has shown a good deal of skill in crafting fireballs.”

  Gavin walked forward and faced the target dummy about forty yards from him. He shaped a round shield about two feet in diameter in front of him and Pulled.

  Just like Gregor’s had done, the power filled the shield to a certain pressure then ruptured the far side where a weaker section of the shield was placed. A fireball shot forward and hit the dummy.

  It was soaked up by the shield around the target and I watched as the power flowed down into the ground and dissipated into the shield around the Dome.

  “Our first effort will be to make the weakened area the right strength to hold until the right pressure. Darrel, I want you to make your shield and leave the weakness where you feel it should be. Then Pull and we will see.”

  Darrel stepped forward and crafted his shield. The shield was pushed out from inside of him like a regular shield, only it rests between the hands. I could see the excitement rolling through his aura. This was his first try at a fireball. He Pulled and turned the power into the shield. The end ruptured too soon and his fireball didn’t fire in a straight line. It fell to the ground well before the target.

  I heard a snicker from Gavin’s direction, it could have been him or any of the four followers that trailed him everywhere.

  Darrel’s aura was rolling with embarrassment, anger and disappointment.

  “That’s ok, Darrel, now try to reinforce the weakness a little more. Don’t add much at a time, the whole purpose today is to establish where the right level is for each of you.”

  Darrel repeated the process with a bit better success this time. The fireball reached the target but it wasn’t strong enough yet.