The atmosphere in the school continued to be heavy and tense. Xerxes found moments to spend with Gandash, as well as with his newfound friends Jad, Enusat, and Kashtiliash. But given that everyone had different schedules of testing, normal conversation was impossible.

On a few occasions, he prowled the school hoping he might ‘accidentally’ run into Katayoun, but fate worked against him. Whenever he saw her, she was either busy —studying in the library at a packed table for instance— or surrounded by friends. He still wasn’t ready to simply walk up and talk to her in front of a bunch of other people.

The day after the combat test, he spent the first half of the day meditating. He decided to save the Concentrated Melam Pill for later use, as his chamber of energy wasn’t so empty that he needed it. For the rest of the day, he focused on the Asgagu Sebum rune.

When it came to spellcasting, the rune was in some ways the most important aspect of all. Without mastery of it, the spell simply wouldn’t work.

There was more to a rune than just the lines that made it up. One needed to understand the deeper meaning behind the symbol, its etymological history, how the various elements of the rune related to melam, and of course, the proper way to draw it.

The study of runes generally fell into three stages. The first was purely academic, and involved reading and study. Xerxes was only just making a foray into the second stage.

In front of him on the table was a wax writing pad and a stylus. Staring down at it, he muttered some of the mnemoics designed to aid in the writing.

“The curve of the cloud, strength spoken aloud,

“Narrow then thicken, thy foes shall be stricken….”

With utmost care, he held his breath and carved the first stroke of the rune into the wax. Lifting the stylus, he exhaled, then looked down at the stroke. He tilted his head.

“No,” he murmured. “Too heavy on the downstroke.”

The upside to practicing with wax tablets was that mistakes didn’t cost anything. Sooner or later, he would move on to pen and ink, which was much more costly in general, especially if you ended up making a lot of mistakes.

The third stage was the most difficult, and involved combining the understanding of the rune with one’s meditation routine. Eventually, when a mage completely mastered all aspects of a rune, they could then transcribe it using any tool. A twig, a pebble, a finger. At that high level, the medium didn’t matter either. Whether it was paper, sand, or a gel, the mage could capture the essence of the rune at will.

That was when the mage could use the rune to cast spells reliably.

Over the countless years in which mages had studied the orders of magic, there were time frames that were generally accepted as ideal for studying individual runes. For example, the Asgagu Isten rune that Seers used to cast Singular Lethality generally took only a few months of study to master. Sometimes five. Sometimes seven. Regardless, it didn’t take years.

But the more advanced the magic, the more difficult the rune.

When Xerxes reached the High Seer level, he would have two new spells available to him, and thus, two new runes he could master.

The first rune was Asgagu Sanum, and it could be used to cast Double Lethality. Double Lethality was not much different than Singular Lethality; the difference being that the mage could empower two of their extremities instead of just one. The most common variations were two hands, or a hand and a foot. Two feet was possible, but the applications were extremely limited, and thus, rarely seen. Whichever combination was used, it was a significant improvement over the lesser version of the spell.

The second rune was Asgagu Sebum, which was used to cast the spell Minor Augmentation, the first spell in a line of magic designed to imbue weapons with power. By successfully casting Minor Augmentation, he could transform sections of his longsword in the same way he transformed his fist with Singular Lethality. Given the years of study he’d put into the weapon, and the progress he’d made lately under Rabya’s tutelage, he could hardly wait until that moment arrived.

Unfortunately, the difference between the Asgagu Sanum rune and the Asgagu Sebum rune was vast. Simply put, the body-augmentation runes were easier to learn, while the weapon-augmenting runes were more difficult.

The rune connected to Double Lethality, though more difficult than the inferior Singluar Lethality rune, would take about a year of study for Xerxes to master, if he chose to pursue it. In contrast, the rune for Minor Augmentation required years. Some of it related to the quality of the study material, as well as the quality of the time spent on study. But there was no getting around the fact that it required time. Xerxes didn’t care. He didn’t want to waste time studying the Asgagu Sanum rune, and instead wanted to devote every minute and second of study to preparing for Minor Augmentation. And knowing that, he’d begun his study of Asgagu Sebum almost immediately after mastering Asgagu Isten.

Xerxes had to admit there was a huge upside to focusing on study and meditation; time went by quickly. In fact, he got so wrapped up that he nearly missed his interview time slot. It was only Gandash entering the dorm after his own combat test and saying, “Aren’t you supposed to be at the interview now?” that ensured he made it on time.

Even then, he had to run through the halls like a madman, and slid to a stop in front of the door panting for breath with only seconds to spare.

The interviewees were the same mages who had officiated over his combat test.

He was expecting some sort of psychological interrogation. Instead, it was mostly mundane.

“It says here you were born in a neighborhood called Harborview,” said Archon Shabadras. “What kind of a place is that?”

“Poor,” Xerxes said, still struggling to control his breathing after running across campus. “Rundown. Kind of a dead-end place that people want to get out of. I basically grew up there.”

“But your father was Sighted, correct? The local government didn’t offer him a job?”

“Not at first. I’m not sure about everywhere else, but on Mannemid they don’t really care about you until you form a chamber of energy. And it took Dad a long time. In fact, he only succeeded a few years before I became Sighted. Even then, he studied Asgagu, because that was all he could afford at the time in terms of materials and books. Except, Dad doesn’t have a martial arts background, so trying to become a combat mage was… rough for him. It wasn’t helped by the fact that things have been peaceful on Mannemid for a while.”

“And what was your training like at the Mage Academy?”

Of course, they inquired about the invasion.

When Xerxes thought about how badly he’d performed on the written test, he tried to paint himself in the best possible light. He worked hard to sell the positive aspects of the fight that ended with Bel’s loss. It was hard, as Bel’s face kept popping into his mind. Her look of terror when the Abhorrent grabbed her. Her final scream. Toward the end, Xerxes wasn’t sure how he got through the story without choking up, while simultaneously making himself look good. But he did it.

When it came to the events in the capital, he made sure to go into detail about every combat situation. The clash in Harborview. The time he and his father helped wipe out the spawn.

“According to the report from High Mystic Purattu,” Archon Shabadras said, “you were instrumental in the climactic battle with the stage five juvenile Abhorrent. Do you mind explaining the situation from your perspective?”

In reality, it had been Gandash who had taken the lead when Aban Saddi seemed to falter in his command. But Xerxes felt that the best option was to amp up his own role as much as possible.

“Well, everything was going fine until High Seer Ninsunu turned out to be a traitor. You know about that part, right?”

“Of course. After your combat test, we took a close look at your information. I’m particularly interested in your dealings with the Eternal Father cultists.”

“Okay. Well, she was in bestial form when she took down Aban Saddi. Completely out of nowhere. That was when I knew somebody had to step up and take charge. I gave orders for Seer Ataneedusu to take care of the Abhorrent spawn.”

“By Seer Ataneedusu, you mean… your father?”

“Er, right. Anyway, Ninsunu was going crazy. Just screaming and yelling in the Abhorrent language. At the time, I was pretty sure she was working with that giant monster to try to destroy the whole city. I knew I had to stop her. Now remember, she was a High Seer. Combine that with her bestial form, and she was way, way stronger than me. I knew it was probably a death sentence to take her on, but there was literally nobody else who could do it.”

“What about your father?”

“Like I mentioned before, he’s not exactly an elite warrior. Besides, how could I let my own dad go into danger? If something happened to him, who would take care of my mom and sister? So I said, ‘Dad, this might be the last thing I say to you, but, I love you. Tell Mom and Ahassy I love them too.’ Ahassy is my sister. Her full name is Ahassunu. She’s just a kid, and she loves dolphins. Anyway, after I told my father what I thought might be my last words, I turned and started running through the smoke and fire.”

“Fire?”

“Just about the whole area was burning. I could barely breathe.”

Shabadrass looked at the papers in front of him. “High Mystic Purattu didn’t mention that in his report.”

Xerxes gulped. “By the time he showed up we were in a different area. Anyway, I was pretty sure I was going to die, but that didn’t stop me. I ignored the fire and managed to get up on a rooftop. Thankfully I had enough running room to build up some momentum there. That’s when….”

The interviewers had almost completely unreadable expressions the entire time, making it difficult to determine how they were reacting to his story.

He finished the session with mixed feelings. Had he gone too far in trying to talk himself up? Wasn’t that the point of the interview, to make yourself look good?