School continued on. We got a new batch of students, and I was really starting to get a good feel for guessing who was a noble and who wasn't. There was just no denying that during the worst of the previous war food had just been poor for those not in the nobility, and they were therefore short. I thought that the fresh first years displayed this worse than our year, but that might have just been prejudice.

We had had a couple of days off while they were prepping the dorms and moving everyone in, which was pleasant. It wasn't a real break like we'd have gotten on Earth, but it was just enough for us to breathe a bit. I spent the time mostly with Kala, taking in the fresh autumn air in whatever empty part of the grounds we could find. We had invited Pinea to join us for one of our outings, but she'd had to go spend the break with her family.

Soon enough though the break ended and we were pushed back to the grindstone. Classes were much as they had been. There was no need to do much of a review as nobody had actually been out of practice for long. We did get a small surprise as we entered Professor Hern's class though.

"Good afternoon everyone. Now that you're in your second year you'll all need to begin advancing your cores towards the journeyman level. This is a lengthy process, and we don't think most of you will finish before your final year here." His eyes flitted towards me on that last remark. I'd probably have a year at most to get it done before I started getting whined at by him and Rooke.

"Professor, does that mean we'll have to go meditate in that room again?" One of those closer to the front asked timidly.

"Thankfully no. You will have to meditate, but the location is not as important."

He began to explain the process in detail. First we'd have to meditate to enter our own cores, then focus on one of the options therein, which would bring us back to the same location we were in before, allowing us to build more structures. We were told that we would emit a faint blue glow while doing so, some kind of side effect of the magic.

The guide of course spoke of this as well, though I hadn't tried it. In the guide's description it was clear that this was a quantitative increase, not a qualitative one. Basically, we'd be building a lot of the same structures we already had in order to increase the ability of the core to function. These increases came in two forms. The ability to hold longer rune sequences (codes) that would work, and the ability to hold more mana in an item.

Our current version was called the apprentice level by the teachers here, but the guide maker thought of it more as a beta, or a proof of concept. It wasn't ever meant to do much, because it was just the maker proving that it could be done. It was one hell of a proof of concept though. Even with the severe limits on how much it could do at once, it was still a game changer for most people.

There was similarly a note on the blue glow. Whoever had written the guide had noted that he didn't actually know where it came from, but it reminded him of Cherenkov radiation he'd once seen while touring a nuclear reactor. I'd had to read that sentence multiple times to process it completely, because apparently that was something people could do.

I had not been working on increasing my core, mostly because I was generally exhausted and a bit lazy sometimes. I did have to acknowledge that it would be good to do though.

That night I decided to go about actually starting the process of building it up. As soon as I started I realized why he only really expected us to finish years in the future. I dove in, navigating through to the proper places and selecting what I needed so that I could see the next stage and begin construction.

It was massive, absurdly, enormously massive. I'd thought that the original was something to worry about, but this was on a whole other level. It looked like a lot of the structures from the first one were repeated, and somehow connected in, but I really didn't know enough to understand exactly how, or what all that meant.

I briefly considered trying my trick to speed things up with some of the larger structures that I could see, but I simply lacked the understanding of circuitry for anything like that. It was too big to internalize anything more than the basic functions. Still, those would help speed me along markedly.

I walked into Atali Language and knew immediately something had happened. Rather than pulling out their materials or looking forward everyone was huddled up, whispering. I slipped next to Dras, looking about as we still had a few minutes before class began.

"Something up?" I asked.

"You're not in on all of the rumor mills are you?"

"Sorry no."

"Well, word is that an army has been spotted to the north, and another south. They're making moves against the Central Duchies there."

"That's bad Dras." I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked at him. If they were this close, they'd be here soon, or they'd lose soon, there were only those two options.

I had a small panic attack there. While I didn't see them nearly as often in my dreams I doubted I'd ever forget the faces of the villagers as they slowly starved. How the children would come and sing with me hour after hour for a mere bit of bread. Would I have to see that again? Would the capital that had been so safe turn slowly into a horrorscape with hollow eyes and skeletal bodies? Dras must have noticed that I seemed off, because he placed a hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

"Hey, don't worry. Even if everything goes wrong you're not alone. I'm here, and you remember that Lucien and Kala won't abandon you either right?"

"You still haven't seen what'll happen Dras. What the city will become and quickly if things go bad."

"I know. That aside, we'll make it through. I'd bet money that the academy has plans for just this kind of thing."

"Yeah, but everyone else..."

"We can't do anything right now, and we don't know that we need to. Just do your best, and when you're needed, if you are, help how you can."

Around that time Professor Etia entered the room. She sighed as she looked out at everyone. "Well, it seems news has spread. I see no reason to lie to you, the central duchies have indeed been attacked. We must assume that the kingdom's enemies are on their way to the capital, and respond accordingly."

"So what do we do?" One brave boy in the middle of the room asked.

"You? Nothing as such. The lot of you are all too young for this fight, so stay out of it. It is likely the school will be closed off though, so just be ready for that."

She tried to bring her class back to order, but it was useless. There was too much on everyone's minds, and too many people who wanted to make wild speculations. Then there were a few like me. We just sat there, staring out the windows. That was oddly peaceful, and while it didn't help to pull me out of my memories, it did quiet things in my mind.

The first few flakes of this years many winters floating down from the sky to try to stick to anything they could.

When I got back to my dorm that night I found two letters. The first was from Endel, with these new developments he was being assigned extra duties, and would no longer be available to teach me about lightning magic. The other were from Lucien, The Shield, and Professor Rooke, all imploring me to not get involved in anything stupid, and offering support should I need it.

I tossed those to the side and walked down the hall. It was only a few doors down that I found Kala's room. Her maid looked a bit bothered as she opened the door, and it was soon clear why. Kala sat on her bed, her face ashen.

Moving to her side I did the only thing I could. I sat down with her and hugged her tight. Together we sat there in silence, letting the time whittle away until sleep overcame us both. As I felt it creeping up on me I heard her breath shift into an easy and even rhythm.

I was alone back in Orsken. Half the houses were destroyed, the other half open to the elements. Bodies were strewn across the street. I saw friends, neighbors, even Rod was there. I walked alone through the graveyard, seeing all the people I knew as a child dead and laid out.

It was then that a soldier approached me, wearing the armor of the kingdom. I couldn't rightly see his face, but I knew that it was twisted in hate. With a scoff he pulled up his sword, preparing to lay me down with all the rest.

I couldn't move. I deserved this, for all the people I'd failed, everyone I'd let die. They were all gone now and soon more would join them, and there was nothing I could do. As the blade went to fall a ball of flame struck him dead center in the chest, sending him sprawling. As I watched it consumed him, and he melted away to nothing but smoke.

"Oi!" Dras yelled as me moved over to me. "Didn't I tell you you weren't alone?"

More soldiers were coming, moving out from the edges of town, slinking towards us. Even as they were though I started to see those I knew. Kala stood beside me, holding my hand. From a patch of darkness filled with stars Lucien stepped forth. Charles and his overlarge eyes patted my shoulder, giving a kind smile. From the edges of my vision I could see others I knew as well, people who weren't really close, but were there flitting in and out.

As our enemies closed in my friends and I struck out, tearing into them.

As I woke up I blinked, committing the dream to memory. That one was happy, something I'd had precious few times in the last bit, and I didn't intend to let it go. Kala opened her eyes soon after I'd opened mind. She looked much better than the previous night. I wondered if she'd had a good dream too.