17

Sion lies in bed. The translucent blue slate appears in front of him, hovering in the air above him. He hadn’t looked at it closely since he was in the village. He didn’t want anyone to catch him staring off into space, eyes transfixed on nothing, so he hadn’t looked it over. Although not by any extreme amount, he has grown notably stronger in the short time he’s been away from the village. By his estimation, it has been quite a bit faster than his time spent training, due to, he assumes, the dangers he now faces.

What truly captures his attention, however, is not his growing strength. The golden script at the top of his list of skills has changed. A new value has appeared after the locked, max-power Sensory Magic. Although Sion cannot be certain, he assumes that this new value is how much of this locked magic he now has access to. However, Sion does not feel any different, and due to their quick schedule still has not learned anything about Sensory Magic. Even if he does indeed now have access to the power, he does not have the skills to actually form the spells. Sion tries to pour magic into his eyes, but, as he expected, nothing comes of it.

More frustrating to him than the failure to use this new power is his lack of awareness of why it awakened. Without checking, he never would have even known it happened. His only guess as to what could have caused it is the strange phenomenon that had occurred when he began to have headaches in Ecg. However, that doesn’t help him much at all, because he still has no idea what caused that, only having a sense of foreboding, leaving the root of this awakening vague. The likelihood that the two are connected does finally give Sion evidence for a thought he’d been nursing since he first saw the slate, that being that the Sensory Magic, out of place with the grandeur of the lost Space and Time Magics, was tied to his eyes.

At this strong evidence, Sion’s thoughts turn towards Sensory Magic itself. His eyes, so Father Cynde has told him, are divine magic giving much of the same powers passively as Sensory Magic can. He can already see through all illusions and watch the flow of magic, and his eyes are already plenty strong, so he doesn’t see the worth in learning Sensory Magic. He doesn’t see any value in investing his time to learn magic already ingrained in his soul.

Sion catches himself and tries to get his mind off all these things. He wants to sleep soon so he’ll be rested for tomorrow. He would wake up either way, but he would prefer to be in the best shape he can. He wants to be able to perform at his best. This morning, Duke Notus had sent a messenger to inform the four of them that their time at Sagax would begin tomorrow morning. Sion is happy he doesn’t need to spend time waiting anymore, and now all he needs to do is sleep.

The morning comes. Sion awakens at dawn. He does light exercise to wake himself up for the day, then leaves his room. He walks down the stairs, then out the door, and into the yard where Regn sits. Sion rubs Regn’s head, then pulls away and turns his attention to the small garden he created. He takes the watering can and pours water over the small sprouts poking out of the ground. He smiles at them, then pats Regn once more, and returns inside.

Scima comes down and joins him, then Eva, then Anima. Once they’ve gathered, they set off for Sagax. The school building itself is on the other side of the city relative to the manor. It’s not a long walk by any means, but it is a walk. The city is peaceful, even more so early in the day. Their walk is pleasant. When the streets around them begin to change, Scima grows far more alert, but although the others all notice, they have no idea what caused it.

They pass over the city walls buried in the ground, and a few minutes later they stand at a gate. Behind the gate, the tops of several buildings can be seen. Together they make up Sagax Academy, a complex larger and more grand than even the castle in Clea. There’s one man inside the small guard station attached to the gate, staring down at a shining crystal. The four of them approach the station, prompting the man to look up at them.

“You’re the Dracabanan party of Her Highnesss Evangelina, Scima Yslende, and Sion, as well as Anima Tredan, correct?” They all confirm it and the man continues. “Follow the sign and wait in the courtyard until the matriculation address begins. Good luck.”

They thank the man and continue on their way. Several signs driven into the dirt loudly proclaim the proper direction for new students to follow. The four of them do so until they find the indicated location. In the courtyard near the center of the complex, a makeshift stage has been constructed with several simple chairs put out before it. There are around one hundred fifty chairs set up in neat rows. There are several people who have already arrived and taken seats. Scima looks around, then begins to approach one sitting in an aisle seat. The others follow after him.

“Tenka.” Tenka looks around, surprised to see Scima, and further surprised by the three others behind him.

“How fortunate that we can meet again. You had not given me your name, so I was worried we would not be able to continue our fight.” Scima gestures for him to stand up.

“Let’s get to it then.”

“Why so hasty? We will have plenty of opportunities in the future, I am sure, and there will certainly be a more fitting place and moment for our duel. And I still do not even know your name.” Scima clicks his tongue.

“Fine, alright. I’m Scima, knight of Dracabana.” Tenka leans towards them on the back of his chair. He looks right at Eva.

“Is that right? Then would I be correct to presume that this is Her Highness Evangelina of Dracabana?” Eva shows a polite smile and curtsies.

“Yes, that is correct. I am the crown princess of Dracabana, Evangelina. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“It truly is.” Tenka then looks at Anima. “And you are the daughter of Weald Tredan, from Ecg?” Everyone but Sion is startled by this. Anima answers him with a somewhat shaky voice.

“Y-yes, that’s right. My name is Anima.” Tenka’s eyes then shift over to Sion.

“I have no idea who you might be, but it is nonetheless a pleasure to meet the four of you, truly.” Sion puts out his hand.

“I’m Sion. It’s nice to meet you, Tenka.” Tenka ignores the offered hand and turns back to sit in his chair. Sion sits in the chair next to him, and, although still reeling from their bewilderment, Scima, Eva, and Anima join them in the row.

The rest of the seats quickly fill as the rest of the incoming students arrive. Shortly after the last group of students are seated, an old man hunched over a cane begins to walk across the stage. His bony hand clutches at the gems set inside the handle of his cane. His large white beard hangs low on his body, nearly touching the ground, seemingly larger than his body, presumably thin underneath his fine blue robes. He wears a pair of round glasses. He walks across the stage very slowly, taking nearly a minute just to reach the lectern. As he takes his place, a much younger assistant swelling with magic follows after him and places a paper on the lectern for him, then leaves the stage. The old man grips the lectern to support himself as several adults move to stand behind him in a neat line.

The first to walk onto the stage, taking the far end of the line relative to where they enter from, is Valere. He looks largely the same as he had in Ecg, though he no longer wears his armor and he has been given a prosthetic arm pulsing softly with magic. Scima reacts to him first.

“So this is what he had lined up. How much good fortune can I find in one place!”

More adults file onto the stage behind the old man until they’re lined up across its length. After they all take their place, another man walks onto the stage, taking his place beside the old man at the lectern rather than in the line. Only Sion recognizes him.

“Ah, that’s him. The man who sat around and watched kids hurt themselves.” Scima nods slowly, only having a vague memory of the mention, while the others are left completely out of the loop. Before they can question Sion, however, the old man begins to talk with a slow, gentle, wisened voice.

“Young ones, I thank you for gathering here today. I am the headmaster of Sagax Academy, Aevum Limen Mirus.” Although his voice is unchanged and he appears so frail, his voice seems to carry incredible force as he speaks his name. “Today, we welcome you to Sagax Academy, where you will unlock more of your potential. You all are still young. You have so much time ahead of you. So much more life to experience; things to learn. Day by day you all grow stronger, little by little. It is the great honor of Sagax Academy and myself to be allowed to assist you in that growth. It is my hope that each day you spend here will be fruitful, and will enrich you for the life to come. I am sure that many of you have come here bearing the grand expectations of those around you, whether your families or your nations. I would like to impress on you all now the importance of being able to see yourself first and foremost, before any of those expectations. You are the one standing here today, not anybody else. Before any expectations from others, meet the expectations you have for yourself. The teachers and I are here for that purpose, after all. I am sure you all have grown bored now of listening to an old man like me ramble on, and so I will stop myself here, and welcome Sir Rebello Faegen to speak.”

The assistant reappears on the stage from their spot just out of sight. She helps the headmaster step down from the lectern and supports him as he stands there beside it. Rebello Faegen steps up to the lectern. He takes a folded paper out of his pocket and makes a show of unfolding it. He places it down on the lectern without much thought, then never looks at the paper again.

“As Headmaster Mirus said, I am Rebello Faegen, the deputy headmaster of Sagax Academy. In short, I am the second most powerful man in the school. Headmaster Mirus spoke quite beautifully on the duty of students and teachers. However, before you are students of Sagax Academy, you are children, foolish and unsure. Do not fear imperfections. Do not fear mistakes. Do not fear getting hurt. Be bold. That is the true gift of youth. Once you’re old, even your failures will seem beautiful. Everything in life is a celebration, so celebrate.” He coughs as he shifts gears. “I’ll now hand the lectern over to the student representative, who will inform you of the day’s agenda.” Rebello steps off the lectern and looks at the headmaster’s assistant, and begins to speak now that he is no longer under the influence of the volume enhancing magic of the lectern. “Linea, can I drink now?” She answers him sternly.

“No sir. Not until tomorrow at the earliest. They were Master’s orders.” The two of them exchange places and roles. As she approaches the lectern, Rebello whispers to the headmaster.

“So, were those really your orders?” The headmaster laughs softly as Linea stands at the lectern. She begins her somewhat stoic address.

“On behalf of all the students of Sagax Academy, I thank Headmaster Mirus and Sir Faegen for their wise words. However, the day is not over with just that. The curriculum of Sagax is rigorous. As part of that rigor, you will routinely receive diagnostic exams to measure your growth. The first of these exams will begin shortly after my address concludes. First will be the academic exams, which, after a small break, will be followed by the physical exams. You will be divided up into groups by the teachers, and they will proctor the exams. That is all.” She leaves the lectern and the teachers behind her begin to leave the stage.