Interlude I

The Dean’s Office

The next few days went by in a blur for the homestead seven, or so the six girls and one boy who were identified by Jorden on that fateful morning. Yet, rumors of him having dropped the ball were passed around behind closed doors.

“How could he miss the most important one? And then sign him to a basic one for one deal?” Dean Mathers began, looking at the crystal replays showing a dark-haired boy clearly working old-world magic like it was nothing.

“He got a boy, then his testing sphere broke. According to Jorden, he assumed the boy would be tested once he got here. But the testers didn’t receive a single note from him, so they assumed he had failed. There was clearly a miscommunication somewhere. Also, he was noted as being a translator for Telka, who was our first Elf to be admitted with a power rating above ten in quite some time,” Samuel Flores, lead for the re-testing center, explained.

“What is the big deal? The girl is already showing signs of being a true healer. That is a three-year curriculum as it forces her to cover the basics. That means that the boy will have to spend at least six years if he is to act as an interpreter the entire time,” Sword Saint Altier Montague said.

“You, what have you noted about the boy?” Dean Mathers asked, turning his full attention to Shai’jan.

“He is better than me in pure form. Also, he is able to render my flight useless, meaning that I have to fight him on equal footing. He came across as brash, but that was because I started off by being brash with him. We have sparred many times since then, and he has come across far more humble when I am humble,” Shai’jan admitted.

“Someone got you to fight fair? Now I have to meet this brat with a sword,” Sword Saint Altier Montague said with a smile.

“You two have sparred more than once, have you not?” Samuel asked, trying to get the attention away from how his organization dropped the ball on the potential best recruit. The worst part was they couldn’t even blame this on Jorden, as his notes indicated that the testing sphere broke before he was able to test the last male but that the male was at least willing to sign on as a translator for Telka. It was all right there, and we blew it, Samuel thought as he directed the conversation away from him and his team.

Hearing the words, Shai’jan’s face dropped as he remembered the times that he sparred with the boy. “I got him to finally draw his blade when we are sparring,” Shai’jan admitted.

“The boy didn’t even draw his sword against you, and you still lost?” Altier asked as he began laughing boisterously.

Shai’jan and Altier had sparred many times during their time at the academy. No one could deny that Altier was the better swordsman, but Shai’jan won more matches than he lost due to his Ability to fly around the battlefield. If he had been allowed to use his magic while flying, then he would never lose. Unfortunately for Shai’jan, part of his deal for being granted asylum was that he would always need to wear a magical suppression collar. This collar made it impossible for Shai’jan to cast more than basic spells. The collar meant that he now had the time to perfect his flying attack forms, which he spent every waking moment advancing.

So while his Skill with the sword was remarkable by Azani standards, his Ability to wield a blade while fighting in the air was unmatched. These Skills, of course, could and would be rendered pointless if someone was simply able to negate the Ability to fly with the simple wave of his hand. I still don’t know how he does that, Shai’jan admitted to himself as he tried to understand the technique used to drain energy from a distance.

Realizing that Shai’jan was not going to answer the question as he began sulking in the corner, Athena Greylock, head of student processing and the only female in the room, gave her a report.

“We have managed to confirm that the language the girl speaks is High Wood Elven, or a variation thereof. This was confirmed both by Kolana, the other Wood Elf in their group, and our own linguistic expert. Finding someone to replace the boy as an interpreter at this point would be nearly impossible as we are not even certain how the boy learned the language in the first place. Though there are signs that he has, in fact, been to the High Wood Elves. The shoes he wears are described in our archives as the ones worn by famous High Elven adventurers. The clothes he originally wore are a seemingly modernized version of the styles worn by the High Wood Elves of legend. Even his Spirit Blade seems to be the real deal, as hard as that is to imagine,” Athena said.

“I can agree. That blade is a true Spirit Blade,” Shai’jan added. While no one had seen a true Spirit Blade in over a thousand years, the Azani all told tales of such sacred weapons. So when Shai’jan spoke, his opinion was taken as fact on the subject.

“But he is human, right?” the Dean asked.

“Yes, we even managed to find out that he was originally listed as an outcast over five years ago,” Athena said.

“An outcast?” the Dean asked, suddenly wondering if they had invited a viper into their nest.

“Yes, we found records that one Lykan Vita of Tython was dismissed from the Kingdom shortly after his awakening day when he was discovered to have Magic Immunity,” Athena said.

Gasp!

The room went silent as everyone began taking in deep breaths of air.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. He can cast magic,” the Dean said, pointing to the crystal ball that showed him clearly using old-world magic.

“Exactly, it is clear that he somehow managed to acquire enough accolades with the Gods to change his fate. Everything we have learned about the boy seems to line up with him being the same outcast. First, his two Skills were Literacy and Linguist. Given that there isn’t a book he can’t read or language he seemingly can’t speak, we think he might have performed such a task that would have taken these Skills from being normal grade Skills to peak grade Skills. Such a rapid shift in accolades could explain the evolution of Magic Immunity to whatever Skill he has now that allows him to draw in power from individuals around him,” Athena said, pointing to Shai’jan.

Hearing this, Shai’jan just nodded, not being able to refute her claims.

“So then, what do you propose he did to change his fate?”

Hearing this, Athena pulled out two different parchments. The first showed the details of one Lykan Vita being permanently exiled from the Kingdom of Tython for having Magical Immunity.

The next parchment that she pulled out detailed the eruption of the Fiery Plateau to the North.

“What do these have to do with each other?” the Dean asked.

“If you look at the dates on both, you will see that they nearly line up with one another. The boy was kicked out on the seventeenth, where guards let him out near the Southern border. Then that night, there is the famous eruption that killed the Fire Dragon Smet and her brood.”

“Yes, quite the coincidence, the boy was lucky to have made it through the pass alive. Lava blocked that passage up for a month,” the Dean said, recalling the time. He had planned to go North to find a few new recruits for the academy, but that had to be put off.

“Wait, you are saying that the boy somehow killed the dragon. Then he managed to escape the volcanic eruption long enough to make it to safety?” Altier asked, reading something in Athena’s expression.

“Yes, or at least there is the possibility of such an event happening,” Athena said.

“Well, this is all well and good, but do you have any proof to back up such wild claims?” Samuel asked.

Athena glowered at Samuel for a second before continuing, “As a matter of fact, I do. First, there is the wildly fantastic story of how the boy single-handedly took down a fully grown Psychic Dragon. The very one that was first noted by Captain Regan Cloud, the same one who captured the boy’s display of using old world magic you now hold in your hand. This same creature was confirmed when it was later salvaged the next day by Captain Fabian Du Pris’ freighter. One of the largest intact Psychic Dragons ever salvaged in one transport. Aside from a few minor wounds caused by multiple people doing little more than stabbing sharp instruments into tiny crevices, the dragon should have lived. Yet everyone in Lykan’s group spoke of the bonuses to both Power and Intelligence they got from the kill. A kill that Lykan seemed to not care about at all. Why would one not care about performing the killing blow on a dragon, knowing that such an act would be more than enough to cause accolades from the Gods? Simple, he had already done so five years prior.”

“Outrageous!” Samuel yelled.

“Ridiculous!” Shai’jan added, not able to understand why someone would give away the kill of a dragon.

Athena held her head high and waited until the yelling subsided. Then with a faint smirk, she opted to play her last card.

“You seem to have something more to add?” Dean Mathers asked.

“I do,” Athena answered, then she turned back to the door and yelled. “Come in.”

With that, a guard opened one of the two large double doors to reveal a girl dressed in the officer's uniform. She had golden tinsel on her shoulder along with a number of badges noting her as a person of accomplishments and power.

“Scholar Kline?” the Dean asked, having recognized the student almost immediately?

“Yes, if you remember, she was your first recruit from Tython immediately after the roads were cleared of volcanic rock,” Athena said.

“Yes and?”

“And, she was there that day the boy Lykan Vita was cast out for being an abomination.”

“Wait, you Northerns really do exile someone for being Magically Immune?” Shai’jan asked, a note of confusion in his voice.

“Yes, they are often seen as a pariah. They are hard to trust due to not being able to read their minds or trust their true intentions,” the Dean explained.

“If you need to do all that, then I fail to see how anyone can trust anyone?” Shai’jan offered.

There was a second of introspection before the Dean cut in.

“Do you know who the boy Lykan Vita is?”

Hearing the words coming from the Dean, Marcy Kline immediately felt fear grip her. Then her laser-like mind engaged, and she responded, “I am familiar with the boy Lykan Vita who was marked as an Outcast from my home village of Abberty, located at the Southern border of Tython.”

Seeing her tone and the way she reacted to the name, it was clear she seemed to remember the boy quite well.

“Have you had a chance to see this new boy claiming to be Lykan Vita?”

“I have.”

“What is your impression of this new boy? Could he be one and the same?”

Hearing this, Marcy felt flustered for a minute as so many old memories came flooding back at the boy she would spend hours staring at in the Library of her old village. Taking a second to compose herself, she asked, “The boy I knew was adept at both fighting and literature. His father was a famous Scholar who later had his Class evolve to Sage after he gained mastery of no less than ten Skills. The boy seemed to have much the same proclivity until he was found to have one of the heretical Magical Abilities,” Marcy said.

“Do you remember anything else about that time?” Athena asked.

Thinking back, Marcy first shook her head but then remembered a key detail. “Well, there was one thing that was odd. The day after he was exiled was the day the great Fiery Plateau to the South erupted, killing Smet and her brood. At the time, people of the village took it to be a good omen that they had cast out the pariah in time.”

“You don’t feel the same?” Altier asked, reading a bit more into her retelling than she was okay with.

“Um. I have complicated feelings on the matter. On the one hand, he was a friend. On the other, having a volcano erupt, killing a dragon of Smet’s caliber and her young before they could wreak havoc on the countryside, was a boon. Especially as our village was right in the path of her usual hunting grounds,” Marcy continued.

“Well, you have given us a lot to think about. Will you keep an eye out for this boy? He is not part of the officer corps, but you will likely see him in the hallways.”

Marcy had a confused look cross to her face.

“The boy, now claiming to be Lykan Vita, has been assigned as the personal translator for our newest base ten recruit, Telka, who, as you may or may not be aware, is a direct descendant of the High Wood Elves and even speaks their language. This boy speaks that language and is acting as her interpreter; at least until we can either find someone who speaks the same language or find a way to get Telka to be fluent in Sidherthan Common,” the Dean said in a matter of fact tone.

“Oh,” was all Marcy managed to reply with. She was about to leave when a second thought struck her, “What will happen to the boy once he is no longer needed?”

“That will depend entirely on the boy now, won’t it?” the Dean answered in turn.

“I will keep an eye out for him, as you have requested,” Marcy said, then meekly made her way out of the room. Only once she was out of the room, down the hallway, and away from the eyesight of the guards manning the door did she collapse against the wall. Lykan, so it was you? With that, Marcy’s heart began to pound as her friend. No, they had never been friends. She had always been too shy to talk to him. Now seeing the man that he had grown into, Marcy was sure they were one and the same. His muscular back and broad shoulders have only increased. Even wearing the unflattering school uniforms, his muscles rippled from under the fabric. He had grown into the man she had always dreamed he would be. Now I just have to talk to him.

It was sad, or at least Marcy wanted to feel pity for herself. All this time, she swore she would never let a moment like that pass by again, one where she assumed she had all the time in the world to make her move. She remembered how she just stood there, watching the boy take on insult after insult. She could have done something, but instead, all she did was stare on and watch him get taken away. There was nothing she could have done. She was just a kid. She swore to herself that if he survived, she would tell him how she felt. Now, she was almost certain this boy before her was the same.

He even recognized me, she thought as she remembered how their eyes met. Then she remembered staring at the tight uniform that clung to him thanks to a few beads of sweat that poured from his body.

After a few seconds, she heard rustling from the door. It appeared that the meeting she had been called to was now ending. Not wanting to get caught, she quickly got off the wall and began running in a hushed quiet tone that all students of the academy seemed to master.