Instructor Sarrius was waiting outside the ritual room for Gavrus when he exited. The awful man had a large grin plastered on his face the moment he spotted Gavrus stepping from the gloom of the chamber.

 “Hah! I knew you’d make it, you dogged bastard.” Sarrius said, still holding the smile. 

 “Thank you,” Gavrus said, reservedly, still not understanding what exactly his tormenter wanted from him. Or why he seemed to like him for that matter. Was like the right word? 

 “Well? Where is your summon?” Sarrius said, searching around for something he thought might be hidden behind Gavrus.

 “My summon?” Gavrus asked.

 “Is your sigil stupidity? Willpower was your highest attribute. That means you should have unlocked the first tier of the Summoner discipline during the transformation. An ether creature should now be bonded to you. Unless it left because it was afraid you’d shit all over it!” Sarrius cackled loudly at his own joke, causing lighting to dance in his eyes.

Gavrus felt the Neverwas begin to anger at the insult. Before he could respond, it revealed itself. The symbiote unfurled across his skin, donning him in a protective layer of shiny scale armor. Unlike before, it didn’t stop at his body and instead formed a protective mask around his neck and head. A smooth angular face plate formed, not unlike a full-face masquerade mask, giving him two holes for his eyes and slits for breathing. When the transformation was complete Gavrus looked like a black crested reptilian humanoid. The only visible part of Gavrus himself, was his corpse white eyes.

 His voice now had an echoey cold quality, “Behold, my summon.” Gavrus said.

 Sarrius’s smile died at the sight. “Wait, did the bonded creature somehow join with you? I have never heard such of a thing! Hold still for a second,” Sarrius said.

 Before he realized what was happening, Sarrius pointed his left arm at Gavrus and unleashed a bolt of crackling electricity. Lightning slammed into his torso, then spread out across his body in a crackling wave. It hurt, but not too much worse than being punched.

 Gavrus laughed at Sarrius then said, “Is that all you got?” He felt the Neverwas swell with pride.

 Sarrius laughed with him, “I love it!” Somehow not perturbed at Gavrus’s bravado in the slightest. That worried Gavrus more than the lightning bolt had.

 “Now, pull up your stats. I want to see what has changed.” Sarrius ordered.

 Gavrus did as he was bid.

Sir Gavrus the 32nd

Class:

(3) Archon

Level: 1

Locus:

Void

Rank:

Knight Errant Squire

Attributes:

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Endurance: 7

Intelligence: 4

Perception: 6

Willpower: 9

Disciplines:

Aspect: 1

Imbue: 0

Ward: 0

Invoke: 0

Sense: 0

Summon: 1

Inscriptions:

Basic Language

Imperial Codex Standard

Imperial Account

Deaden Pain

Currency:

Az: 150

 “It says, I am level one now under Archon. Also, my strength, agility, endurance, and willpower increased. Strength went up three, agility and endurance two, and willpower once.” Gavrus said.

 “What!?” Sarrius exclaimed. “It must be that summon you have. That’s incredible. Normally, each discipline is associated with one of the six chakras. When you increase the corresponding discipline, you get a bonus to that attribute. So, you should have aspect 1 and summon 1. Is that correct?”

 Gavrus confirmed it was.

 “So, you got a bonus to strength and willpower by 1 for the Aspect and Summon. However, it also appears that you got a bonus two extra to your strength, agility, and endurance. I’m guessing it is from the Symbiote. What a damn fine summon. You are no longer a complete pansy ass. You are actually in line with your peers now!” Sarrius said pleased. 

 “Enough, we are going to do some experimenting in class later! But for now, I have to take you to the admission ceremony.” Sarrius finished, motioning for him to follow.

 Gavrus retracted the Neverwas back into himself, then followed Sarrius. He knew it wouldn’t be a secret for long, but he wanted to keep it that way if possible. The fact was, he just didn’t trust anyone he’d met yet.

⍏

After a couple of hours, everyone that had survived the ritual was back in the auditorium. Looking quite changed from before. Instead of a bunch of talkative teens, a group of minor demigods stood around or sat quietly observing one another. Although a few spoke to each other in quiet conversation. Others seemed withdrawn, looking a lot more traumatized from the ordeal of the ritual than Gavrus himself felt. He suspected that between the Deaden Pain rune and the Neverwas, he got off easy, psychologically speaking.

When it looked like no one else was going to come, Gavrus did a quick room count. He was alarmed to discover that of the approximately 30 that had started in the morning, only 19 were left. Oh, that explains the somber mood, Gavrus thought suddenly. They aren’t just traumatized from the ritual, they were hoping that some of the people they grew up with were still coming.

Almost as if fate had wanted Gavrus to discover that revelation at that specific moment, a rolling heat descended from behind him. Gavrus turned to see a nearly eight-foot-tall red woman striding toward him, face a mask of fury. Her skin looked like cracked red leather, and her veins were a glowing sun colored yellow underneath. Her eyes glowed with the same unforgiving yellow heat.

Though he felt intimidated by the fiery woman, neither his pride nor the Neverwas would allow him to show it. Gavrus stood forward braced for whatever this angry stranger had for him. The words, “Squire Velia” stood above her in the codex.

 “Kaeso is dead, because of you. You pathetic worm. I will have my vengeance on you one way or another, this I swear.” Velia said.

 Gavrus had already largely forgotten about the scuffle before the ritual. “Oh… You must be the girl that attacked me.” he said with realization. “Wait, how did I kill Kaeso? I just slapped him around a bit.”

 Velia snarled, balling her fists. It looked like it took everything in her willpower not to attack him. Slowly, she took a calming breath then said, “You idiot, you injured him before the ritual. You cost him a fair chance at surviving something he had prepared his entire fucking life for! You are a coward who sucker punched him!” the last part she said with a shout. 

 Gavrus didn’t see the point in provoking her further. He decided to diffuse the situation, even if he did bristle at being called a coward. “I am sorry for your loss. You have my condolences.” he said. 

 “You will be Gavrus. I promise you that much.” Velia said, before stalking off to the other side of the auditorium toward a group that all looked similarly “elemental”.

 Gavrus continued to sit by himself for a quarter of an hour, before the Headmistress Orania walked up to the center of the stage. “Congratulations! Though your rank in the codex is Squire Errant, you are all officially initiates of the academy now. As first years, the training will be largely uniform as we seek to discover where your talents lie and prepare you for combat. House mandated training will still occur, but the only true way to grow in power is to accomplish trials. And that almost always means fighting.

 Now, it has been a trying day for most of you. Classes will not officially begin until tomorrow. Today you will be moved into your House apartments, then introduced to your servants. As part of the Archon training you must also learn to manage the administrative tasks of nobility, and that includes retainers.

 Before you are dismissed, you must all take an oath of service and integrity. Instructor Servius here is a Heaven-Truth Archon.” Headmistress Orania said, pointing to another golden skinned man.

 “The empire has many enemies. One of the greatest threats is the Vulca Covenant. Archons that rule by enslaving mortals with their perverse religious ceremonies have no place within the empire. You must swear to never perform such a ritual on pain of death. Instructor Servius will verify your dedication to the empire as you make the oath. Now please line up.”

 Interesting, Gavrus thought. He hadn’t heard of the Vulca yet, but they sounded like a pack of assholes. Even if he wanted to force someone to worship his very minor divinity, how would you bow to a god of never? Never say never? That would be a silly dogma. Maybe the kingdom of Winder was lucky to have the empire take over.

 Slowly but surely, the line moved forward. Gavrus was at the back of the line when it started, but it was only a short time later that it was time to give his oath. As the others had done, he began repeating words as Servius said them with his hand held up in an open palm. For his part, he meant the words. The empire hadn’t been too bad to him, except for that dick Sarrius. And he had no desire to be worshipped by anyone.

 It wasn’t good enough.

 Servius stopped in the middle of reading the oath. He looked at Gavrus with a confused face, then beckoned over the Headmistress.

 Oh, fuck, come on! Gavrus thought. Expecting some bullshit about to go down.

 When the Headmistress arrived, Servius simply said, “I can’t verify his oath.”

 “What do you mean?” the Headmistress asked with an arched eyebrow.

 “I mean I can’t tell if he’s lying or not. My sense does not work. His thoughts are, too alien… confusing. He doesn’t even seem human, really.” Servius said.

Gavrus felt the amusement of the Neverwas. For his part, he agreed with it. What an advantage! Especially for someone that didn’t mind winging the truth from time to time.

 “Curious,” Headmistress Orania said, watching him with sudden intensity. “It is my understanding that you are a void user with a never-before-seen expression, is that correct?” she asked.

 “I believe that to be the case,” Gavrus said.

 Several of the students nearby gasped at that revelation.

 “Well,” Headmistress Orania said, “do you pinky swear?”

 “What?” Gavrus asked stupidly.

 “Will you cross pinkies with me, so I know that you won’t betray the empire, or enslave mortals, forcing them to worship you as a living god?” she asked again.

 “Uh… okay,” Gavrus said, holding out his pinky.

 Headmistress Orania laughed out loud at his gesture. “No, you don’t have to. I think you are too goofy to be a spy. Anyways, if there is nothing, we can do to confirm his sincerity, then we will just have to keep a close eye on him. Now finish the oath.”

 Gavrus complied.