Kindles of War

by Nicol Terra

  “You seem tired,” Erudite said.

  Tina shrugged, her body lethargic and lazily lumbered over the soil. “I think the training is getting to me.”

  Rose shrugged, yawning herself. “She is right if we don‘t have drill and class till 4, we have drill till 8.” She shook her head.

  Tina nodded.

  “Just hold out a little longer.” Erudite whispered.

  Rose fell to the side, Tina catching her mid-fall as she let a big gulp, slapping her face away with her arm.

  “Wake up.” Tina said.

  “I am already awake.” Rose added.

  “You are about as awake as dead sloth, wake up.” She groaned.

  Rose flew to the right, fluttering her wings slowly and yawning again. Tina shook her head. “How can you be so tired.”

  Erudite pulled her back for a second. “She has been studying till midnight.”

  Tina looked at the suns, barely awake as they greeted them. It was eight in the morning, and Faeries needed ten or eleven hours to function.

  “Where did he go?”

  “We are just running today, and he doesn‘t need to be here for that.” Erudite added.

  Tina started to sink her feet to the floor as she sprinted around the mile-long track. The track was recently made, the earth and soil still fresh and the smell of grass filled the air. She looked to the right of herself, seeing a faint yellow sheet that covered the entire track in a bubble. Looks like, after this, they were rewinding the whole track and crafting a new field for training. She sighed.

  “Got to love magic and the ability to make things.” She said dryly.

  “I know right. Magical achievement is our greatest contribution to this planet.” Erudite said. Tina shook her head, holding back her sarcasm.

  All six squadrons were lined up on the mile-long track. Each one of them having one foot forward and the other foot back. Tina looked to see a few red numbers on the bubble, counting down from five. She looked at the track and smirked.

  At the count of zero, a loud sound popped through the bubble as Tina and everyone sprinted forward. In less than a few seconds, she already crossed the track, with tens of people behind her still on the first lap.

  She saw on the bubble in front of her, a picture of herself and everyone in the base. She was on her first lap of a hundred.

  How in hells name is someone gonna run a hundred miles? Her face turned ghost white as she took a big gulp, a knot forming inside her stomach and heart.

  “Weeding out the weak.” She thought to herself.

  She bit her lip. Anyone who could not use magic couldn’t finish this track with a hundred laps with raw physical abilities. She created a small sphere of light that bubbled around her entire body, light dripping off her body like liquid as she burst forward, time slowing down from her perspective. She turned to see Erudite and Rose following close behind her, Rose to create a stream of fire that burst her forward and Erudite creating a burst of wind doing the same.

  The only ones to finish the race were her squad and Bunny. She felt her body ache, releasing magic for two hours was not pleasant. She felt her heart race and her muscles tear apart. Everyone else was scattered throughout the track, panting or knocked out from exhaustion.

  She gave a small look at Rose. Rose was panting, but the only one of the four still flying in the air; alongside herself, Erudite, Bunny and Eve. Robin finished but was on the ground. Evelyn was lumbering throughout the tracking, falling forward on the start line as she held her finger up.

  Jay then appeared, as the bubble around them started to warp the light from the outside. Tina felt her body stitch itself back together as she felt her wounds disappear. Everyone previously on the floor got up in a few seconds, perfectly healthy.

  Tina flew over to Erudite. “What did they do for this?”

  Erudite blinked. “They used a Crystal to Rewind Time on our wounds only.” She sighed. “Looks like there is more to the test then I figured.”

  Tina raised a brow. “Figured?”

  “Everyone line up!” Jay spat out. Everyone danced and dangled over each other, lining up in a single straight line in a few seconds. Jay pulled out a small clipboard from his coat pocket, as he started to pencil something on the page. Each pencil mark only made his face grow redder and redder. Tina and Rose gulped at once, if Jay were to turn any redder, his vein on his forehead would have to pop.

  “Well, to put it bluntly, most of you failed.” He sighed. “Can any of you explain why?”

  No one raised there hand. Tina put her hand on her chin. She looked at the ground below and then the track once more, it was in the shape of an oval, and the bubble above them was designed to rewind wounds and to create an image on who was first or last.

  Tina softly raised her hand, only to put it down as soon as Erudite rose it.

  “It is because this test was designed to check our maximum energy capacity for battle?” Erudite said.

  Jay nodded. “Correct. This is an endurance test. Those who get stronger with their magic, crystal or aura will have more energy to work with “ He said, spitting on the ground. Everyone turned away except Tina, her mind filled with cluttered thoughts as she shook her head, raising her hand too.

  “If that were the case, why display our scores for the world to see?” Tina asked.

  Everyone mumbled to themselves, shuffling their feet and softly shaking her wings.

  “That is a good question,” Jay said. His hand pointed back to the scoreboard, with over twenty of over eighty names or so boxed in. There was a red box around Tina, Rose, Erudite and Bunny, a Green Box around everyone else. She smiled- She got it.

  “Can I answer my own question? It is because you were testing us on our Kiri output?” Tina asked.

  Jay raised a brow and nodded. “Sharp as ever.” He said. He took a drag and exhaled.

  “This is the first part.” Jay said. He then snapped his fingers. A small cloud appeared out of nowhere. The cloud was the size of a computer desk, willow white in color and raised a few feet off the ground as it bubbled.

  Erudite sighed. “So your goal was to exhaust us first.”

  Rose raised a brow. “Hold up, first off what is that cloud? Second, if you wanted to test our power output, why do it when we are exhausted?”

  Jay took another drag; a devilish grin swiped on his face.

  “Your body has a maximum, latent output. You can’t see it and sometimes you can’t even get a full grasp of it. It only appears when you are under physical or emotional stress. This cloud measures energy output for any soldiers. Now that you are at near zero, we can see how ‘big’ your Kiri reserves are. Now line up!" Jay tone shifted from a quiet, somber tone to a loud bark.

  Sixty or so of the line groaned, muttering and complaining amongst themselves. Tina wanted to complain with them, but she was in a red box, so It seemed fine to her.

  Jay raised his finger in the air and shot a sound shattering gust as everyone covered his ears.

  “Wait till I finish, you butterflies!” Jay shouted

  Erudite pulled Tina aside for a moment.

  “Wait, so that means three quarters failed?” Erudite asked.

  Tina felt her body sink to the floor. “Seems like it.” She grumbled.

  Jay shook his head, everyone in single file and their bodies straight as he moved his gaze from left to right.

  “Most of you know your power yet... Control is key, those who failed will be sent to another course to control that power.” He said, smacking his hand on the cloud as she pointed at Erudite.

  “Erudite! Come forward and punch this cloud.” He said. Tina never once expected to hear ‘punch this cloud’ in a serious context, yet here she was. She wanted to snicker, but she yawned instead. Erudite's face was blanket white as she flew forward to the cloud and punched it forward, the vapor bouncing back and reforming in an instant. Three yellow stars popped from the mist as the cloud turned Red.

  He nodded. “Does anyone know what
these stars stand for?”

  Everyone turned to each other, shaking their head. He sighed.

  “These stars stand for how much tons of energy you can output. The color means what type of ton. The scale goes from Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet,and Black. Red was for Kilotons, and Black was for Zettatons, although only Generals scored this high. The number of stars indicates the number. Three stars mean its a triple digit number.”

  Everyone grumbled to themselves, Tina being next to fly up without a word. She flew up to the cloud, looking at Erudite. Erudite shot a glare back at her, a small smile forming on their faces. Tina then looked at the cloud and punched it, dispersing it, turning it red as three yellow stars popped up from the mist.

  Everyone around her wooed in awe as she flew back. Rose was next to go, punching the cloud and turning it red, and one star popping out for her.

  Everyone else in her dorm scored one star and turning the cloud red. Those who did punch the cloud and were in the top 20 that is. The other sixty that did hit the cloud, nothing happened.

  Jay sighed and shook his head. “Unbelievable, kids these days don’t know how to fight and use energy.”

  Tina shot her glare down to the floor- he was right. No war has fought in over two thousand years. The poor kept their abilities sharp by brawling, the middle class were either schooled and sent to a profession or were sent to military school. Those that were rich, however, they use their power to keep the other two classes in check. She grumbled to herself, as she rubbed her locket around her neck as she looked away.

  “Those who failed, stay with me. Those who passed may go finish assignments ahead of schedule or take the day off.” Jay shouted.

  Everyone around her that scored in the top twenty dispersed, except for Rose who was shuffling her feet together, her eyes vacant and her body white.

  Tina flew over and poked her cheek once, Rose shooting up in the air in response.

  “Eek!” She said

  “Oh wow, she is awake.” Tina smiled.

  Rose shot a small glare at Tina as she darted it away in an instance. “Sorry. I am just worried.”

  “About?” Tine asked.

  She grumbled to herself. “I can't study and do this; I am breaking.” Her voice broke, Tina looked at her face, her expression dead and exhausted. She felt a smile slip on her face.

  “Then let's get you ahead of schedule.” She said.

  Rose darted her look up, her eyes blinking. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, let's go do homework together and get you a free day. You need your sleep to do your tests effectively.” Tina said.

  Tina and Rose flew inside the classroom, utterly vacant as they pulled out the textbook. She pulled out the test page and flipped through to Chapter Five.

  She smiled, this will be a piece of cake.

  Tina turned to Rose, her eyes beaming with joy. “Alright, what do you know about Light Magick?”

  Rose shot her head up, her eyes dead.

  “Nothing.” She said. Tina blinked a few times as she felt her own mood drop. Rose was looking more and more depressed with each passing second.

  Tina wanted to facepalm herself, but she held it back, swallowing once and sighing.

  “Well, that is okay. I can help you.” She said.

  Rose raised a brow. “How?”

  Tina created a wave of light with her right hand as she froze time for a brief few seconds. She swiped through the chapter of Rose’s book and stopped in the middle, a large headline covering the top part of the pages

  Light Magick and Time.

  Time started again as she slid her book back to Rose. Rose darted her eyes back to the book and then back at Tina.

  “How did you do that?” She inquired.

  “I can control time, remember?” Tina said.

  “No, I was high.” Rose said sarcastically.

  Tina giggled. “Well, that is one application of Light Magick. It is my specialty.”

  Rose raised a brow. “Can you teach me?”

  Tina blinked three times and shrugged.

  “Never tried to teach someone magick, but don’t see why not.” She said

  Tina lifted her two hands in front of Rose, creating a small diamond of light. The diamond of light formed around her. The light was warm, comforting to her. Light and Darkness were a rare pair, and the only person Tina knew that had the same elemental pair was Erudite. Deep down her soul, she felt a small glimmer of light connect to her hands, the faint outline of herself visible only to her. Her eyes felt like diamonds as she looked at Rose, her expression speechless with her jaw dropped.

  “First, like all magic, you want your mind to produce a ‘light.’ Then, you send that energy to your hands and create a shape out of light. It can be anything.” She said, the diamond forming into a cube, then a sphere and then a cylinder all in a few seconds. “Then, if you wanna time to stop, you need to expand that shape outward.” She said. Rose followed, her eyes intent on the cylinder as she closed her eyes, holding her hands together like a triangle. She created a small cube of light as she expanded outward. The next thing she knew, she saw Rose across the room, her eyes star struck.

  Tina smiled, it took her a few weeks to stop time for a few seconds and that was after she cracked.. For Rose, it took a few minutes.

  “Like that?” She asked. Rose shot up, her eyes on the ground as she sighed.

  “I tried to hold it, but when I broke concentration-” Rose started. Tina nodded.

  “It started again, don’t worry, Time is hard to stop. You just stepped outside the space you created, was all.” Tina said, scratching her head. “Warpers usually don’t have good range. I can stop time at most across a kilometer. Erudite can slice space at around the same range.”

  She blinked a few times and sighed, penciling her first answer.

  The two finished their homework in a few hours, taking longer to be expected as Tina explained intricacies of Light Magick.

  The next chapter was much more comfortable, it was on Fire Magick, something Tina had no experience with, but Rose finished in a few minutes. Rose returned the favor, tutoring Tina on a few questions she had problems with and demonstrating fire in various ways.

  They penciled in their name and turned it in.

  “That was easy. I don’t have to worry about turning in stuff late now.” Rose giggled. Tina nodded.

  “Yeah, we are now a few days ahead.”

  She grumbled. “Can you teach me how to the other two advanced magicks??”

  Tina blinked. “For Light? I can't.”

  Rose returned with a giggle. “I guess being a genius in one category doesn’t mean it applies to the other two.”

  Tina sighed. “Unfortunately, I also didn’t grow up with a book to my nose. I learned most of my magic defending myself from gangs or at the university.”

  “What part of Siphor are you from?” Rose asked.

  “Agall, Poormans Crossing.” Tina answered.

  Rose blinked, her smiled widened. “Oh wow, you are a poorling too?”

  Tina smiled, a sigh of relief flushed forward. “Yeah, I am.”

  “I was raised poor as well. I got out of it though when I turned twelve. I grew up with my father, who was a blacksmith.” Rose added.

  Tina raised a brow. “Oh?”

  She nodded. “Well, swords are not exactly common anymore because of crystal weaponry, but he taught me how to control fire.”

  “How well does blacksmithing take you?” Tina asked.

  Rose shook her head. “Not that far, maybe he is making some money because of the incoming war, but it is by far not enough to live on. I then went to school, where I was expelled for. Can’t remember why though.” She darted away, shaking her head. “Anyway, I am here now. I joined with Robin after we both got expelled.”

  Tina moved forward to ask, but she stopped. She couldn’t stomach the question.

  “What do you plan to do considering the war starting soon?” Rose asked.


  Tina sighed, rubbing her pendant a few times. “Well, I plan to fight for it and get something I need.”

  Rose raised a brow. “Something you need.”

  Tina nodded. “Yeah.”

  “For yourself or someone you know?” Rose asked

  She giggled. “Someone I know.”

  “I always knew you were selfless, but that takes the cake,” Rose said. “I would have joined for the cash.”

  “Hey, too each their own.” Tina shrugged. In this world, getting any large sum of money was a blessing. It just so happened, the Military was a lucrative job.

  The two left the room, moonlight greeting them as it splintered into five different paths before them. Each of them tired and exhausted, reaching the dorm with everyone asleep. Rose yawned.

  “I am going to spend the next day catching up on sleep.”

  Tina nodded. “I will be buying a pack of Sparks first.” She said

  Tina left outside, walking outside to the vending machine and swiping her card on the reader, picking out a pack of Sparks. The package fell as she reached down for it. She stopped for a second and felt a small rush of anxiety fill her head, and then she shook her head.

  “No, I have plenty of money. I don’t need to save up, that is my prize after all.” She thought to herself, slinking out a roll as she lit it with a candle on the wall. She took a long drag as she felt time slow down for her, ironic that she can slow time for herself, but not for others.

  She didn’t finish her roll as she snuffed out the flame with her finger as she pocketed the half-finished roll inside her pack and flew back inside the room to sleep and collect her thoughts.

  Yukari woke up to a loud siren. Everyone shuffled past her room, ready to mobilize. She got out of her bed and pulled out a sealed plastic wrapped box. She slipped off the wrap and the top of the box. A small smile escaped her face, a full body, metallic memory armor. She slipped off her pajamas and slid on her armor. The metallic armor melded with her slender, but strong body. She grabbed her sword and rushed outside. Soldiers, carrying crystal guns or aura weaponry rushed past her to grab a Floatboard She sighed, walking out with her black cape fluttering. Yukari was greeted by two women, both saluting her and wearing a cape. They had stars on their chest, signifying a Chief Commander rank.