by Jakob Tanner
He looked down to the candle. Was this some kind of manatech powered candle? Did it function as a tracking device? Security camera?
The instructor smirked and took a drag of his cigarette before throwing it out and crushing it with the heel of his shoe into the sand of the beach.
“Congratulations to all of you who have passed,” he said. “And apologies to those who lost. I’m sure you tried your best.”
A few of the student climbers who had failed the exam started to talk back and question the results.
“This is unfair! This test was dumb!” they shouted. “How can you judge us as climbers on the sheer basis of a candle flame. A wind can easily snuff it out.”
“Silence,” shouted the instructor and marched up to one of the complaining students.
The student visibly paled and quieted down as the teacher approached.
The man snatched the candle out of the student’s hands.
“A climber who gives up because the wind blew the wrong way will not survive the cruelties of the tower,” said the instructor.
Then the instructor imbued mana into the candlestick and the flame suddenly reappeared at the top of the candle.
“Do you see now?” said the instructor. “This goes for everyone—even those who passed the exam. There were many ways to win here. If any of you had studied the candle and its properties itself, you would’ve figured out it was a mana controlled candle and would’ve relit with the slightest imbuing of mana. You could’ve run around with an unlit candle and then imbued your candle before showing up here this morning and you still would’ve passed.”
The mood of the student climbers who had failed grew even more downcast. Their failures could no longer be blamed on circumstances. They had screwed up. They had let themselves take on a defeatist attitude before the test even finished and for that, they failed. They only had themselves to blame.
“As you can see,” said the instructor. “There were many peaceful ways to pass this exam. Mr. Max Rainhart will get a special three points added to his score due to being the only student to propose an entire-class alliance at the start of the exam. For those who decided to attack their fellow classmates, that was probably more foolish than those who didn’t figure out the trick with the candle. For that, Ms. Sybil Westley and Mr. Cyrus Archer lose three points.”
“That’s ludicrous,” hissed Cyrus. “You have a bias against me. I’ll tell my father.”
The instructor raised his hands in mock fear. “Why do you think we have examiners here with us? To overlook my bias. We all discussed it together on the boat. I wanted to expel you for the means by which you have a lit candle, though the examiners argued that you had made significant preparations in the weeks building up to the exam and that should be commended no matter how devious the method.”
“But—”
“Furthermore,” the instructor continued. “You and Sybil decided to create enemies with a reason to hunt you—for no real reason or purpose in mind. Such malicious intent only creates an enemy that will then work at all costs to hunt you down. You jeopardized your success for what? Cruelty for cruelty’s sake.”
Cyrus had gone silent, though his face was red with angry frustration.
“In my book,” said the instructor. “That’s no way for a climber to ever behave, even as a student.”
The examiners walked up the plank of the boat, followed by the instructor.
Before telling the students to follow on themselves, he turned around and said, “And for those of you who did pass, before you go and celebrate, just remember: you’re not official climbers just yet and trust me, you still have a long way to go.”
64
The following evening was the climber academy’s winter ball.
There was a flurry of events leading up to it.
After the instructor and the examiners escorted the students back to the tower-zone, Max returned to Sakura’s apartment and collapsed onto his bed.
The B-rank climber quickly rushed to the foot of his doorway.
“How did the mid-term exam go?”
With his eyes closed, Max said, “I passed.”
Sakura smiled at the foot of the doorway and congratulated the young man, but by that point Max was already fast asleep.
He felt like he’d only slept for a few seconds when he heard the clambering of pots and pans in the kitchen of the apartment.
Sunlight shone through his bedroom window and Max rubbed his eyes.
Was it morning already?
He stumbled out into the living room and Sakura cheered happily.
“Good morning!” she said.
“Why are you so happy,” asked Max, “and so loud? I just passed my midterms, I would’ve thought you’d let me sleep in.”
Sakura smiled happily again. “I was going to, but then I remembered that tonight’s the winter ball. Then I asked myself: does Max even have a suit or anything remotely nice to wear? That’s when I realized: he doesn’t!”
“Uhh...”
“And, I need a new dress, so I figured, we could make a day of it,” she said.
“I guess that makes sense,” said Max. “Where—”
“First thing’s first though. Breakfast! The most important meal of the day—”
GROANNN!
Sakura’s cheerful face disappeared with a blush of embarrassment after her stomach growled loudly across the apartment.
“Max,” she smiled once more. “Will you cook breakfast!?”
“I see,” said Max. “Now I know the real reason you forced me awake!”
Sakura shook her head. “No, I promise it was because you need to go buy a new suit and I need a new dress and it wasn’t because I was about to die of starvation—erm, I mean—was a little peckish.”
She brought him over a mug of hot coffee.
“I did make coffee though,” she said in a conciliatory tone.
Max took the coffee mug out of her hands and walked into the kitchen. He took a sip and decided what to make for breakfast.
“How do you feel about pancakes!”
“Hurray!” shouted Sakura. “That’s exactly what I wanted!”
Max cooked them up some banana pancakes with maple syrup and butter with some fruit and crème fraîche on the side.
They sat together at the kitchen table and munched along happily.
After breakfast, they gathered their things and headed down to the tower-zone main shopping center.
Max and Sakura walked along the air-conditioned aisles of shops, looking out for a store that sold formal wear.
“Ooh! Let’s go to that perfume shop over there next, no to the shoe shop over there!” squealed Sakura in delight.
Max was still exhausted from the mid-term exams that he had no willpower to fight Sakura and so let himself be dragged wherever she wanted to go.
Eventually, they got to a shop that sold men’s suits.
Sakura rushed in ahead of him and picked out five suits.
“Try these on,” she said, pushing them onto him. “I bet they’ll look great.”
Max stumbled into the changing room with his pile of suits while Sakura waited outside.
“C’mon out when you’re ready so I can see,” she hollered across the change rooms.
Thankfully, apart from the shop owner, it was just Sakura and Max in there. So the embarassingness was kept to a minimum.
When Max came out in the third suit Sakura had chosen for him, she clapped with delight.
“That’s the one!” she said.
Max looked at the suit he was wearing and then at himself in a mirror.
Without being too immodest, he thought to himself, he did look pretty good in the suit. He was slender but toned with muscles on par with a professional athlete in the outer-rim. For years, he never saw himself ever wearing a suit and going to a dance like just another normal kid.
I guess my life is still far from normal, Max thought to himself. Yet so different from where I was only a few
months ago. For the most part, his life was far better than it had ever been before.
He looked at himself and the suit in the mirror.
It was a classic black and white suit with a white shirt and black tie.
“Perfect,” said Sakura. “That suit screams smart and handsome.”
“If you say so,” said Max, shrugging.
Sakura looked to the shop owner and materialized some coins from her pouch. “We’ll take it!”
They went dress shopping next. Max had to sit near the changing room and help Sakura pick the perfect dress for the winter ball.
She eventually settled on a skinny red dress with thin straps on the shoulders. The dress accentuated her slender body well.
“You like?” said Sakura, twirling.
Max blushed. She looked really good, but he wasn’t sure what to say as she was twice his age and his climber mentor. Telling her she looked hot was probably not the right thing to say, he figured.
“You look...appropriately dressed for your age.”
POW!
Sakura kicked Max off of his stool so he collapsed onto the ground.
“That was the absolute worst thing you could say,” she barked at him. “Has no one ever told you to never comment on a lady’s age?”
“I thought—”
“For that matter,” said Sakura, fuming. “Never comment on her weight either. For the most part, just keep your mouth shut!”
She then caught herself in the mirror and twirled around a few times admiring herself in the dress.
“I look hot,” she said. Then turned back to Max: “Why didn’t you just say so?”
Sakura paid for her things and then they made one last stop by the shopping mall’s bookstore where she picked up a pile of books with shirtless men and sunsets on the cover.
With that, they were prepared for the night’s winter ball.
65
The winter ball was held in a banquet hall on the top floor of one of the tower-zone’s most illustrious skyscrapers.
The room was filled with a variety of different-ranked climbers and people Max had never seen before. A group of climbers hung out around the climber president as he made an effort to greet everyone. All the student climbers who had passed the midterms were in attendance. There was a band playing cheesy music at the front. Glowing lights and paper streamers adorned the room.
Max had been drinking the fruit punch by himself, trying not to look too awkward when a voice came up behind him.
“Hello!”
He turned around and it was Casey. Max almost did a double take. She looked stunning.
She was wearing a dark emerald dress that brought out her beautiful green eyes and she had her hair done up to show off her neck and back.
A small black purse hung at her side where Toto poked his head out. The gerbil even looked dressed up. His fur had clearly been brushed and Casey had given him a tiny gerbil-sized bow-tie to wear.
“Hello to you too,” said Casey, blushing awkwardly at Max’s lack of response.
“Oh...uhh...sorry...yeah...hello!”
Before Max could say anything else and embarrass himself further, an outside embarrassing force came to do the job.
“Who’s your girlfriend, Max?” said Sakura, her face flush from too much champagne.
“She’s not my—”
Casey stood up straight and gave a small bow to Sakura.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Golden Blade Sakura,” said Casey.
Sakura scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Aw, there’s no reason to be all formal. Any friend—or girlfriend!?—of Max’s is family to me too.”
The music suddenly came to an end and the lead singer of the band on stage said, “Alright you beautiful climbers, let’s slow it down a little...”
Sakura blushed and put her hands together, cooing, “Ooh, slow dance! You two should dance!”
Both Max and Casey looked awkwardly at each other, then smiled, and walked out to the dance floor together.
They stopped walking to find a spot and Casey said, “I guess we should dance here?”
Max wasn’t sure what to do or say, so he just lifted up his hands and approached Casey with the caution of someone defusing a powerfully explosive bomb.
Casey took a step forward and closed the gap between them, lifting up her hands and resting them behind Max’s neck.
They were so close to each other, their chests were almost squeezed against one another, but not quite. But they were close enough that he felt like he could feel Casey’s heart beating and her body breathing in and out.
They gently moved to the slow rhythm of the song.
Just over Casey’s head, Max could see his academy instructor trying to convince Sakura to dance, but she had her arms crossed and had an unimpressed look on her face.
Was there something there between those two...he wondered.
Casey moved closer to him so that her head was resting on his chest as they swayed to the music.
Focus on your dance with Casey, Max said to himself.
Casey was looking up at him now, her green eyes sparkling, her cute mouth slightly parted.
Did Casey want him to kiss her?
He moved his head forward towards her and suddenly stopped.
Across the dance floor, he saw Samuel Archer and the climber president arguing with each other. Samuel Archer then marched out from the banquet hall in a huff.
“Casey...” Max said, softly.
“Max...” said Casey.
And then he purposefully made the biggest faux pas of their friendship:
“How would you feel about secretly stalking Samuel Archer?”
66
Casey pulled away and gave Max a strange quizzical look.
They may or may not have been about to kiss when Max had seemingly out of nowhere suggested they stalk Samuel Archer, the father of their enemy and rival at school, Cyrus Archer.
In hindsight, Max realized, it probably wasn’t the best thing to say to a girl you may or may not have been about to kiss.
A creepy expression like “stalking” probably didn’t help things either.
“Since I met him, he’s acted weird,” Max explained quickly. “And now he’s just argued with the climber president. I think we should go see what it was about. There’s something about him that I think is suspicious, but he’s so powerful, it’s hard to bring up with anyone else.”
Casey took in the words quickly and nodded. “Alright, let’s check it out.”
As casually as possible, they slipped off the dance floor and headed in the direction where Samuel Archer had exited.
Max wondered how safe it was to chase such a powerful figure in the tower-zone, but maybe as student climbers they were in the best diplomatic position to do so. Hopefully, it wasn’t too dangerous to sneak after him.
Max and Casey turned the corner just fast enough to see Samuel enter an elevator going down.
They rushed down the stairs to see what the man did at the bottom.
They kept the door ajar in the stairwell and watched the ground floor lobby of the building.
The elevator chimed and a door opened and Samuel marched out into the lobby. He held a cell phone up to his ear.
“Make sure those beyond the wall are ready for the call to action soon,” he said, before shutting his phone.
A limousine waited outside and the man stepped in and shut the door behind him.
Max and Casey looked at each other.
Beyond the wall?
What the heck was that all about?
Max and Casey agreed to investigate the Samuel Archer incident further, but after the night of the winter ball, there was simply a flurry of activity.
There were a few final classes at the academy all directed about how to best prepare for the final exams at the beginning of February.
“For the final exam,” their instructor explained, “You’ll all be competing in a fighting tournament against one anot
her. I recommend you all double your training efforts. That is all.”
Cyrus grinned menacingly at Max. The boy was eager to fight him. Max felt the exact same way.
As the students started to disperse and go about their own independent study, Max contemplated how he was more than halfway through the school term. Time flies when you’re having fun, Max mused to himself. Or, really, it was more like, time flies when you’re constantly fighting for your life.
With so much going on, Max and Casey agreed to wait for the holidays to pass before they made any more moves to investigate Samuel Archer further.
And so Max focused on his studies and training as much as he could and tried to relax for the holidays.
It was going to be his first Christmas not spent at the orphanage in the outer-rim.
As he walked home on Christmas Eve in the cold wintry streets of the tower-zone, he made a small wish to the orphans back at the group home that they have the happiest Christmas possible and hopefully a year less miserable than the last.
It was a humble wish, but Max knew that those who lived at that orphanage with Mr. Grimes found a lot of joy in the humblest of circumstances.
What Max was not expecting was the level of Christmas cheer at the apartment with Sakura.
She had done up a Christmas tree, she was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, and seemed to always have a cup of mulled wine in her hand.
On Christmas morning, she woke Max up early.
“Wake up, Max! Come open your present!”
Max grumbled out into the apartment’s main area and saw that a few wrapped boxes of presents had been placed under the tree.
Sakura clapped her hands. “Open! Open! Open!”
Max opened up a present and saw that it was an ugly Christmas sweater with penguins on it wearing other ugly Christmas sweaters themselves. He thanked Sakura and put the sweater on straightaway.
“I actually got you a gift as well,” said Max, handing her a wrapped box.
Sakura shook it. “What could it be? A new dress? Diamond rings? Box set of my favorite romance series!?”
She opened the box and her eyes shined out brightly.