by Justin Parks
Chapter 13
Missions
On his way out of the lab, Jin realized that his arm was still cut, so he went to the medical room. He walked in and looked around for Isis. Instead, Jin was greeted by a young girl.
“Hi, do you need some treatment for that cut?” she asked. The girl had short light blue hair in a bowl cut, and she was wearing an apprentice nurse uniform. Jin also noticed that she had a core at the base of her throat.
“Yes,” Jin responded.
Another girl appeared, shoving the first aside. “Oh, you don’t want her help. I’m much more experienced and can get you fixed up in half the time,” this girl said. She was the mirror image of the first except her hair was light pink.
“Kara, cut it out. I saw him first,” the blue-haired girl said pushing the other one back.
“Oh, shut up, Sara. You know you suck at treating wounds,” Kara responded.
“I do not!” Sara responded.
Jin stood in the entry with a bleeding arm and now a headache as Isis appeared, prying the fighting twins apart. “Okay, what’s going on here?” she asked. The girls responded with a flurry of high-pitched squeals and incoherent speech. “One at a time, I can’t understand when you both talk at once,” she said.
“If you could just point me to the bandages, I could . . .” Jin tried to say over the twins, but to no avail.
“I was trying to treat this guy, and Kara’s trying to steal him from me,” Sara explained before they broke into more squabble.
“Okay! Who was the last person to help someone?” Isis asked.
Sara looked to Kara as her head sank down. “Me,” Kara said.
“Okay, then Sara, it’s your turn,” Isis said as Sara smiled and Kara frowned.
Sara turned and grabbed Jin’s good arm, pulling him over to one of the tables. She poured a salve on the wound, causing the wound to burn. Jin gritted his teeth in pain. Wow, maybe she really does suck at treating wounds, he thought, as she scrubbed the wound. Jin tensed up, but let out a sigh of relief when she finally put the bandages on.
When she finished, Sara looked up at Jin. “Do you feel better?” she asked, staring at him with puppy-dog eyes.
Jin backed up a bit. “Yep, good as new,” he said in a reassuring tone. “Well, thanks,” he said as he walked out of the room. Jin decided to go and talk to a master scribe about these assignments. He continued down the hall until he saw a large board with various placards on it. Each placard had details of various assignments—including rank. Some of the placards were labeled “In Progress” and listed the name or names of the apprentices currently covering the assignments. In between the boards was a room.
Jin entered the room to see an old man sitting at a desk. The man had short white hair, a goatee, glasses, and he was wearing a scribe’s robe. He was shuffling through papers when Jin walked in. The man looked up. “Ah, yes, can I help you young man?”
“Yes, I wanted to see about signing up for an assignment,” Jin replied. The man motioned for him to take a seat. Jin sat down. He saw a desk plate that read “Master Scribe Vinard.”
Vinard looked in his desk and pulled out a form. “And what is you name and rank please?” he asked.
“My name is Jin Kaizer and I’m a one-star rank apprentice,” Jin said.
Vinard looked up. “Is this your first time here?” he asked, as Jin nodded. “Then you’re probably wondering how this whole system works. Our academy is a training center for ayos, and ayos destroy kami. Kami are often a plague on people, so villages will commission us to take care of the problem,” he explained.
“So we charge for our services?” Jin asked.
“Now we don’t charge for our services. The people that commission our services often feel compelled to make donations to our institution. We do not require payment. However, their donations help us to run as smoothly as we do,” Vinard explained.
“So how do the assignments work?” Jin asked.
“Basically, you let me know if you want to be signed up for a job. You can pick one of the one-star assignments on the board out there, or I could just sign you up for the assignment I think you’re best suited for. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll receive one of these envelopes,” Vinard said, showing Jin a black envelop with the academy’s symbol on it. “It contains all the details of the assignment and a map. Also, you’ll rarely go on assignment alone. We like to send groups of at least three people. The people you work with will be selected by us, and we make our selections based on your abilities and compatibility. Does this sound like something you’re interested in?” he asked
“Yeah, I guess; go ahead and sign me up for whichever assignment you think would be right for me,” Jin responded.
“Okay, I’ll get you signed up. You should hear back from us in a few days. Oh, and you will receive a small payment upon completion of your assignment,” Vinard responded, as Jin went on his way. Jin went back to his room to get some rest. Over the next few days, he continued his training.
“Today, we’re going to learn something new,” Ares said as he paced in front of the class. “I need a volunteer . . . you,” he continued, pointing to Zack. “Okay, stand right there,” Ares instructed, pointing to the area in front of him. Zack did as he said. “Watch closely,” he said as he placed a finger on Zack’s chest. A spark of yellow energy surged from Ares’ finger as Zack was blown across the room.
“Now you’re probably wondering how I did that. It’s a minor technique, but very effective. You run your magick through your palm into the other person. Their magick will attempt to push back, causing the two to repel each other and what you just saw will happen,” Ares explained as Zack slowly made his way back to his feet. He dusted himself off and got back in line. “Okay, now partner up and try it out,” Ares instructed.
Everyone began to line up and pick a sparring opponent. To his surprise, Saga walked up to Jin. Though they had been in the same class for a while now, Jin and Saga had never sparred before. Actually, they never paid any attention to each other.
“So what do you want?” Jin asked.
“I want to spar with you, of course,” Saga responded.
“So what brought this on?” Jin asked. Saga just shrugged in response. “Are you actually going to fight or just have me hit someone else like before?” Jin asked.
Saga began to laugh. “So you finally figured it out? Took you long enough,” Saga responded.
“Yeah, Sky told me,” Jin responded.
“So you must have known for a while. Why bring it up now?” Saga asked.
“Because now I can do something about it!” Jin responded.
Saga laughed again. “You think so? Well, let’s see, shall we,” Saga said as he took up a stance.
ToC
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