by Justin Parks
Chapter 9
First Day of Class
“Okay, show me what you’ve learned,” Khronus said as Jin began to build a ball of energy in his hands. He built a medium size ball of red energy and was able to stabilize it easily. Jin then moved it back and forth between each hand.
Jin had been training diligently with Khronus each day for the last few weeks. He had made great progress in a short time, but he was still far off from where he should be at his age.
“Very good,” Khronus complemented. “Remember, this is just the first step. There is still much to learn,” he said as Jin nodded in agreement. “But I have gotten you up to speed so you should be able to join regular classes now.”
“So what kind of academy is this? This doesn’t seem like a typical academy to me,” Jin commented.
“It isn’t like what you’d be used to. Basically, this academy has various masters. Each day they have classes where they teach the apprentices to use their magick in different ways. There is no set schedule you have to follow. You may choose to attend whatever classes you wish. However, the apprentices are encouraged to attend classes daily. We do not penalize you for not attending as long as you are actively developing your powers,” Khronus explained as he reached into the desk and pulled out a card and handed it to Jin.
“What’s this?” Jin asked, studying the card. It was a small black card with the academy’s symbol on the back and his apprentice information on the front.
“You’ll want to hold onto that. You’ll need that to get in and out of the academy. It also gives you access to the library and various places within the academy,” Khronus explained. “The cards are specially made to recognize the magick of the apprentice the card is made for.”
Jin studied the card. It listed various facts about him. One thing that was odd was a blank area with “Rank” written next to it. He pointed it out to Khronus. “What does this mean?”
“We work on a ranking system here. Apprentices are given ranks from none to five stars. The higher your rank, the more options you have here, and the more perks you get. You’ll learn more about it as you go along of course. “When you meet certain requirements, the rank portion of your card will turn blue. After that, you will be eligible for advancement,” he explained.
Jin studied the card and smirked, placing it into his pocket. “Well, what classes should I take? Or which can I take?”
“I think you should take an interdictory course. There’s one starting tomorrow actually. Thoth teaches it. You basically learn about our main jobs as ayos, the purpose of the academy, how everything works here, and some basic magick techniques. You should be able to start tomorrow,” Khronus explained.
The following day, Jin was ready to attend his first class. It was a larger auditorium-style room. There was a board with a desk at the front and long desks that were stacked in rows to the back of the room. There were lots of new faces in the room. Jin was feeling surprisingly shy. It was like the first day of school all over again. This all feels oddly familiar, Jin thought, laughing to himself.
Jin walked up the side of the room, looking for an open seat. That’s when something caught his eye. It was a bright pink core imbedded in a young woman’s wrist. The girl had long black hair with light skin and pink eyes. When she noticed Jin staring at her core, she pulled her hand back and glared at him. It shocked him for a moment, but then he continued to take an open seat.
“Ohh, bad move, man,” a voice behind Jin said. He turned to see a young man with short brown hair.
“What do you mean?” Jin asked.
“That’s Liz Faraoh and apparently, she really hates when someone stares at her core. And trust me, man, you do not want to get on her bad side,” The young man said.
“That doesn’t really make any sense,” Jin said.
“I don’t get it either,” the guy said with a laugh. The two sat back as the master entered the room. Jin recognized him. It was Thoth.
Thoth walked to the front of the room, sat back in his chair, and kicked his feet up on the desk. He scanned the room. “So you’re the new blood,” Thoth said with a somewhat unsatisfied look. He stood up and began to pace in front of the class. “I am Professor Thoth and you will refer to me as such. You have all been gathered here because you are not ordinary. You are not regular people. You each have a purpose—a destiny. That is why you are here. This is what I’m here to prepare you for, so can anyone tell me what ayos do?”
One of the apprentices slowly raised his hand. Thoth pointed to him. “Umm . . . they fight kami,” he said.
“Yes!” Thoth responded. “We fight kami, but what are kami exactly?” he asked, but no hands were raised. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Kami are creatures created by magical distortions. These distortions create monsters. They attack people and cause havoc. But why do they do this? Kami are magick eaters. Magick exists in all living things. The more complex the life form, the more magick it has. That’s why kami attack people,” he explained.
“But there’s more to it. Ayos are the only ones that can fight them. Not only because we can destroy them . . .” Thoth said as he pulled up his sleeve revealing a dark green core in his forearm, “but our cores allow us to absorb their magical essence and stabilize it within our own bodies. If a kami is killed by someone other than an ayos the distorted magick remains and will eventually reform. By absorbing the distortion we get rid of the kami for good and it makes us stronger,” Thoth explained as he raised a finger. “However, don’t get the wrong idea,” Thoth said as he went to the board. He drew the outline of a person and a core; then he drew arrows going from one to the other. “There is a balance. The core absorbs the magick and then it filters it through the body. The body stabilizes the magick and becomes stronger to house the new power. Any excess magick goes back to the core to give the body a chance to rest before starting the process all over again.”
Two people in the back of the class began whispering to each other. They were giggling. Thoth took notice of this. He raised his hand and flicked a small green needle at one of the two, hitting him in the forehead, causing his head to slam down on the desk. Everyone stopped and turned to them as a chill ran over the room. “Oh, don’t worry!” Thoth said, breaking the tension. “He’s just paralyzed. It’ll wear off in a bit. But in the mean time,” he said, pointing to the other talker, “you sit him up so he can see, and I expect you to keep your attention focused on the material,” he said as he paused for a moment, taking a breath and pointing to the board.
“This process is very important because it is how we gain power. However, our cores can only hold so much excess magick in relation to our bodies. If you absorb too much, the excess magick will cause you to overload and if that happens, it will kill you,” Thoth said seriously, but after his tone went back to normal. “But there’s no reason to be worried. A kami that could overload you would be hard to kill. Also, we wouldn’t send you out on a mission like that,” he explained.
“Now onto other things. The reason that the four academies were established is to train young ayos like you to use your power and to control it. You are all very lucky to be here. You have a place to use your powers and grow safely,” Thoth explained as he continued pacing from side to side of the class. “Of course there are lots of different things this academy has to offer, but we’ll go into that another day. I think it’s time to teach you some of the basics.”
“The first technique you need to learn is how to make an aura shield. The principle of this technique is actually very simple. You basically make a shield that surrounds your body like a second skin. It sounds easy in theory, but it may prove to be more challenging then you think. First, you must be able to emit magick from all parts of your body. Second, you must be able to regulate the power you emit evenly all over your body. Third, you must condense that energy. This basically creates a dense layer of magick over your body that will protect you from all types of damage. Now, everybody, let’s give
it a try,” Thoth explained as he pulled out a small remote. The room reformed into a wide open plane open room. “Now spread out!” Thoth commanded. The students spread out following his instruction.
ToC
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