Glory to the All Knowing

  May my blood be the ink

  May my flesh be the wall

  May my being be the art

  For the future from the past

  The mantle welcoming young scholars to the academy had shown no wear even after it stood tall for decades. It was commissioned when the first Merich was chosen and the expansion of the academy was completed. Even if it was a modest building with simple architecture, what it housed was far more important than anything in Feyroch - the All Knowing - crystallized bodies of Merichs which housed the knowledge of the entire world.

  Hellen stood in front of the mantle and took a deep breath, feeling the words flowing into her. This was a new beginning. A chance to do right by her people, her Continent, and the world. A chance to be a Scholar. In the 20 years of her being, every day she walked past the gates of the academy and wished for it to be open for her, and today was the day.

  She felt the warmth of the All Knowing the moment she stepped foot in the academy. She felt a mother’s embrace for the first time ever since she can remember, and in that moment, the world stood still for her. Her father saw that through proud tears and called out from beyond the gate. “HELLEN, I LOVE YOU”, which snapped her back to the real world. She waved a tearful good bye and walked ahead. It was her first step towards achieving her dream.

  The day began with an address from the Scholar Prime, Adwin Escher. The chief of the academy was essentially the king of Feyroch, and the Academy served as both the training ground for young scholars and the administrative center for the continent.

  “As the winter breaks and the sun comes through, we are entering a new academic term” Adwin paused as he searched for the next card. Everyone knew of Adwin’s incredibly unflattering skills in Public Speaking, including himself.

  “Ah, hmm, hmmmm, yes.” He silently took all the cards and put them back in his pocket, defeated. “So I wish we have a good year going forward, and glory to the All Knowing”

  His secretary tried hard to not look disappointed or laugh, as the hall burst out. For Feyrochas, their memory was the biggest attribute they had, and it was incredibly ironic that their leader needed cue cards to complete a speech. It was essentially a running joke in the continent, and people have mocked him to his face on that. Yet no one dared to question his authority regardless of his friendly demeanor, as everyone was aware of his skills as a leader, his knowledge as a scholar, and his strength as an Alchemist.

  “FOR THE FUTURE, FROM THE PAST”, screamed someone from the other end of the hall, as others started chanting the same. Adwin and the rest of the faculty knew who screamed that, it was Edda. Edda Alyr was Scholar Chief, Adwin’s second in command, and his childhood friend who always did this whenever Adwin bombed a speech, from their days in the Academy to his own marriage. As the laughs gave away for the prideful motto of Feyroch, Adwin was off the hook.

  Hellen shouted the chant along with others with her heart out. She felt the pride of Feyrochas coursing through her body as the assembly dispersed and everyone started going to their classes. Right as she stepped out of the hall, she felt a set of eyes on her. It was not nearby. She turned to look and found a short woman with hair covering her left eye and her hazel brown right eye piercing into her from the other exit. Both of them lingered in their confrontation for a moment. Hellen felt an unease creeping up, and she did what she always did when that feeling came crawling. Without breaking eye contact, she walked up to the woman with the brightest smile she could conjure up. She too started walking towards Hellen. They met in the middle of the hall and Hellen opened her mouth to say hello, which she immediately cut off. “Hellen Selicia, 20 years old, felt my presence, felt something creepy the way I looked, wanted to shut out those feelings because you don’t want to judge people and put your courage into walking up to me and saying hello, which would give you more information to judge me rather than my superficial appearance, and if your gut feeling of creepiness was validated, you'd say some excuse to go on with your day and if it was not, you would want to walk to your first class together.”

  Hellen thought to herself, Oh, it's one of those. A trebec, who can look into the soul of living beings. Why is she even bothering with me? Trebecs get all the good stuff because of their ability and its use in gathering information, and they are second only to Merich’s in the hierarchy of Feyroch.

  “I am not a Trebec like you, so why don’t you introduce yourself to me?” Hellen asked with a tinge of condescension.

  “Oh I’m also not a Trebec. You are just way too easy to read”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, the moment you stepped into the hall, you had so much written in just your face that I was just fascinated at how someone can have no filters at all. All I had to get was your name and it was in your tag”

  “Oh” Hellen felt the embarrassment wash over her. Am I that obvious?

  “Yeah, you are. Tricia Earhart, second year” she extended her hand. Hellen still felt the pang of embarrassment as she shook her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m a bit at fault too, I should’ve been more secretive and just kept it to myself so that you don’t feel embarrassed, which would probably make you ignore me as a creepy senior”

  “What?”

  “What?”

  “What was that about?”

  “What was what about?”

  “About me ignoring you?”

  “Oh shit” Tricia suddenly withdrew her hand. “Sorry, I am being creepy and weird” she said, as the initial confidence started withering away. She started slouching, which felt like a turtle receding into a shell. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave for my class now. I won’t bother you”. She started walking away with her head dropped so down that it felt like she was trying to fit it inside her neck.

  What the hell is all this? Should I pity her? Is that what I’m supposed to feel now, after all that?

  As the unease started bubbling up again, she went back to her defensive response, the big bright smile. “Are we going in the same direction? I don’t really know where my classes are”

  “I know what you’re doing, lying out of pity so that I’m not hurt” Tricia said without looking back. Did she just switch to a completely different person? “But I don’t really care anymore because I did not make any friends in my first year and this is my second chance, so let’s go” she said, the defeated tone still making it sound like she put all her eggs in that first shot.

  “Wait, I’m not the one without any filters, you are. You say just whatever that comes to your mind”

  “Congrats, do you need a cookie now?” Tricia said, still defeated. As she looked up to meet that big bright smile that Hellen still kept up, she saw a sense of companionship. The smile had no embarrassment left, it was a mixture of a lot of wonder and some judgement. Which was a far cry from all the other times she felt the judging eyes of anyone who was subjected to what Hellen was subjected before her. She came out of the turtle posture and met her eyes.

  “Hellen Selicia, first year” said Hellen as she extended her hand once more. “From one no filter to another”.

  Tricia picked herself back up and with all the energy she had before, shook her hands.

  “Tricia Earhart, second year”.

  “Care to show me around?”

  “Follow me”

  As Hellen and Tricia started walking, one thing was unclear to Hellen. Why did I feel her presence?

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  “All our classes would be on the East End. Second years get the second floor, First years get the first floor. West End is Administration, and Central houses the Library”

  “And the All Knowing?”

  “Beneath us. The above ground buildings are for academy and admin, and everything else is pretty far down below. And no, First years and Second years do not have access to the All Knowing”

  “So third years and above can go there?”

  “Pretty much, yeah”

  “So I need to wait two more years?”

  “I can see you picturing it two years from now, so let me burst that bubble. We don’t go past each year because a year has passed. You are assessed based in your skills every year and you go ahead if you pass.”

  “That’s just how studies wor-”

  “No, it is different here. The years don’t just show seniority, it shows our grade as Scholars. You can graduate as a First Year scholar, which almost everyone here does. Going from First Year to Second Year itself is a gargantuan task. And don’t even get me started on going from Second to Third. Only one in like 10,000 get to do that”

  “But we only have like a 1000-”

  “Yeah we only have 1053 students here and only one gets to third year in a decade or so”

  “Wait so First year is not a-”

  “Yeah it is not a-”

  “Can you stop cutting me off? I need to think for a second here”

  “Yeah I can see your thinking, and I can see the color draining from your face. You got the letter and read First Year and thought “Okay, I am a first year when I join” but that is not how it works here”

  “But you’re a second yea-”

  “Yeah I am a -”

  “Stop fucking doing that”

  “...” Tricia started transitioning to a turtle.

  “Ugh”

  “That is not helping” Tricia said as she completed her transformation.

  “...”

  “...”

  “So how did you become a second year?”

  “I joined as one” Tricia said, hunched over.

  “Wait how does that-”

  “....”

  “Okay, so how does that work?”

  “I don’t know, my letter said I was a second year”

  “Wait so you’re not a senior?”

  “No I’ve been here for the last 3 years”

  “What?”

  “I want to become a third year”

  “But you should’ve graduated last year?”

  “I didn’t”

  “You can do that? Like not graduate?”

  “Yeah, you can choose to extend”

  “So why would anyone-”

  “Choose to graduate?” Tricia cut Hellen off as she slowly started coming out.

  “... yeah”

  “You can’t get out of the Academy till you graduate”

  “I know that”

  “No you don’t” Tricia said with a weirdly prideful look.

  “What?”

  “People know that they can’t leave the Academy without Graduating, but people don’t really know what that actually means. Once you’re in here, this is your world. And there is only so long you can stay in one place.”

  “So people graduate because they’re tired of the place?”

  “Kind of, yeah”

  “I don’t believe that”

  “I know, you’ll see for yourself soon. This is your class for today”. Hellen looked around as they reached the East End. “I’ll be around Central after classes, come find me”.

  “Okay”, Hellen said as Tricia walked away.

  Okay, here we go.

  She stepped into the class and found her seat.

  “Here we go”

  The hustle and bustle of the class died down as Hellen looked to the front. An old man of short stature, with circular glasses that were on the cusp of falling off his nose walked into the class. “Hello everyone, I am Serg Sigrid, and I will be taking Introduction to History this semester, and I will also be your Term Advisor for the semester”

  Hellen felt a hustle on her left side. There was a kid who seemed to be beaming at the mention of the Professor’s name. Is that an actual child? Why is he so happy about an old professor?

  “We would first go ahead with the Introductions for the class. I’ll go last after everyone else, please start from the left”. The professor said that and walked outside the class. And soon enough, you could see a small stream of smoking coming from where he was.

  The students introduced themselves as the smoke continued to emanate from the same position. After Hellen’s turn, the Kid walked to the front. As he got to the front, the murmurs grew strong. So I’m not the only one, Hellen thought to herself. AS he got to the front, he was still beaming. It almost felt like the room got brighter when he got to the front.

  “Ken Darshed, from North Herris. I joined the academy to become a historian and learn under Professor Sigrid, I’m 32 years old-”

  The murmurs stopped and an audible “WHAT?” came from the back. Ken closed his eyes for a second and took a sigh. Quickly recovering back to his bright self, he continued. “I’m 37 years old, I had an accident when I was 12 and had to get stone grafts to keep my heart from stopping, which stunted my physical growth completely. Most of you can’t date me because you’ll get weird looks from others, and I can’t date anyone who looks like me because I would be arrested or worse, killed by my wife”. The joke landed for some people who let out a chuckle, as another “WHAT?” echoed through the class from the back. “I am married with a child, and took up History as a passtime to get closer to my wife who was my girlfriend back then, and soon enough, I was enamoured by our great continent’s journey. And I was even more fascinated by the man who wrote “Alchemical Revolution”, Professor Sigrid.". He looked outside as the smoke streams died down and Professor Sigrid walked back in. “I think we learned enough for an introduction Mr. Darshad, why don’t you go back to your seat”. “Sorry Professor, I am grateful to be given a chance like this, so thank you”, Ken said as he walked back and sat beside Hellen. The introductions continued, but Hellen or others could not focus after that info dump that Ken did, until another voice that became all too familiar thanks to Ken came to the front.

  “Elton Polin, Perial, I joined to become a Merich. Thank you”

  The class fell silent. Merich? Isn’t he aiming a bit too high?. Hellen and the rest of the class were having the same thoughts go through their minds. Merichs were Scholars who were chosen to live an immortal life as a living Philosopher’s Stone, whose sole purpose is to absorb and store knowledge. Their bodies would be grafted with stones extensively through a secret procedure, after which every moment they experience would be stored in their bodies. After years, their bodies would start producing stone grafts on their own to store information, which would slowly crystallize their bodies. Once fully crystallized, the bodies of the Merich’s would be connected to the All Knowing and stored in the Academy. Merichs were allowed to experience everything there was to experience in the world given that they will not have any personal attachment to it, so as to not give any bias to the information stored. The All Knowing had 5 Merichs stored as of now, and the 6th Merich was being prepared for the Xeaq expedition. Being a Merich was not something anyone even thought of as a dream, yet alone achievable as it was such a rare occurrence for a new Merich to be selected. So hearing someone say it out loud was a shock to many, who dismissed it immediately as a pipe dream. Professor Sigrid spoke up. “I think we will be seeing each other for a very long time if that is your goal, so keep working hard”. Everyone including Elton felt the condescension in his voice, except Ken who understood that tone. Concern?

  The introductions from the students ended and Professor Sigrid stood up from his chair. “I am Serg Sigrid, I have been teaching in the Academy for the last 45 years.” Ken was beaming at the chance to learn more about Professor Sigrid. “I’m not going to detail my life to all of you like Mr. Darshad, so I’ll keep it short. When Mr. Polin told us why he came here, I reminisced all the times a student has said that. I also reminisced about all the times students of mine actually became Merichs. I could sense the doubt in everyone else at someone having such high ambitions, but let me tell you this: put faith in yourself. I want every one of you to have such high ambitions because I’ve seen what it takes to get to those heights and it is not insurmountable. You are right now, at the one place in Feyroch where dreams come true. You would be remiss to not utilize it to its utmost and scale heights you didn't know were possible. See you at the next class”

  The atmosphere was electrified as everyone felt the overflow of inspiration coming from the Professor. Hellen felt it too, as Ken stood up to start clapping, followed by everyone else.

  Dreams, huh. My dream was to get in here, and I had not thought past it. Maybe I should change tha-

  An explosion rocked the floor. Everyone understood those tremors. Someone training Alchemy has messed up. The Professor’s calm demeanor changed. “For goodness sake, can we go a week without someone blowing up?” he screamed as the culprit was seen taken to the Infirmary outside, as a tall woman with flowing red hair walked behind. “What the hell is it now?” Professor Sigrid asked as he walked out to confront the woman. “First year tried Terramancy and you know what happened”, she said with a guilty expression. “If you can’t control your class, you need to resign and let someone else do your job Raya”. “I’m sorry Professor”, she said without looking up.

  “This is like the th time this month. Last time it was Pyromancy and a Second year, before that it was Biomancy and an overgrown tree, and before that Cryomancy -”

  “I did control it this time, I was just a bit late”

  “Always with the excuses. Soon enough you might kill someone”

  “IF it was not for me, he would have killed someone” she said as her tone changed.

  “Raya, for the love of god, you are a Major Scholar, when are you going to start acting like one?”

  The students sat inside the classroom, waiting for the heated conversation outside to end.

  “I’m sorry dad” she said in a low voice. “But can you not do this in front of the class?”

  “It is exactly because I am your father, people keep thinking I’m protecting you”

  “I don’t want that”

  “Which is why we are doing this here”

  “...”

  “You are suspended for a week. I’ll be talking to Adwin to discuss further punishments”

  “...”

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  “Now go home”

  She walked away angrily. As she walked past Hellen’s window, she could see her angry tears slowly trickling down. Professor Sigrid walked inside and sat down. The students did not know whether to go outside or to stay in. After a few minutes of contemplation, the Professor looked up and saw everyone looking at him.

  “Class is dismissed for the day. Go back to your dorms”

  He stayed in his seat as everyone hustled out of the room in silence. Hellen looked over to Ken and saw a tinge of disappointment in his face. As they walked out of East End, Hellen walked up to Ken who already had a small group forming around him. She was just as curious as everyone else about this man, and they needed something to take their mind off of what they witnessed earlier.

  “... she was always in the library and because of that, the library was full of kids like me who wanted to start a conversation with her. She turned down every single one of the kids who came up to her and as time went by, the crowd got thinner and thinner. It was my dad’s idea to find a book big enough that I can stay in there without making it seem like I was like those other kids.” Hellen sat down to listen to Ken’s story. “And that book was Alchemical Revolution. I literally built my muscles carrying that book around, it was that big. I did not really read the first few chapters as I was more focused on other things. But as I got to the discovery of Stones, things changed. I was reading day in and day out, and soon enough, I was just completely engrossed. She even came to talk to me one day and I waved it off, I was that deep into the book. And then my accident happened, and I was bedridden for a long while. I was beating myself up over not taking that chance when she came up to me and then one day, she came to the hospital with that book….”

  The story continued as Hellen started drifting away to her thoughts from before. What are my dreams now? Do I need to become a Chief Scholar? A Merich? A Custos? A Forvalte? The options are endless I guess.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  “Dreams?”

  “Yeah”. Tricia sat down as Hellen went back to her thoughts.

  “I don’t have any either. All I can think of now, is to become a Third Year and get access to the All Knowing.”

  “And then what?”

  “I don’t know. It is the All Knowing, I won’t be done with it in a lifetime”

  “Do you not want a job or anything?”

  “Nope.”

  Fucking rich kids

  “I am not a rich kid, I just have enough to survive without a job for a while”

  “And how long is that?”

  “I don’t know, years?”

  Fucking rich kids who don’t even know they are rich

  “I am not a rich kid! Would I be wearing this raggedy worn down shirt and torn up pants if I am rich? I mean yeah it costs a bunch and it is designer, but it is supposed to make me look not rich”

  “...”

  “Shit, I am rich”

  “You are the worst person I could ask about this, you know”

  “Yeah because you don’t know anyone else”

  “...”

  “I know what you are thinking, Just wait till I make friends. Yeah you will make friends and soon won’t need me and then you will start avoiding me and soon ignoring me-”

  “Stop turtling”

  Tricia stopped mid transformation. “What do you mean Turtling?”

  “That thing you do when you talk some stuff and realise you said something about yourself and slowly go back into your shell”

  “I don’t have a shell”

  “Yeah, so you look like a turtle without a shell”

  “Really?”

  Hellen looked at her and started imitating her posture.

  “Is that how I look?”

  “Half the time, yeah”

  “I am a turtle”

  “Yeah, don’t be one”

  “Huh”

  “We went off topic. What if I became a Forvalte?

  “And do what? Get into a useless office which technically is administration but still answers to the academy?

  “Chief Scholar?”

  “And do what? Get into a teaching position and get worked over by Sigrid?”

  “Do you have anything positive to say about anything?”

  “Chief Scholar could be fun after like 20 years”

  “Could be”

  “Merich?”

  “You are joking”

  “No, one of the students actually said he wanted to be a Merich”

  “Yeah because people don’t really know what it takes to be one”

  “And you do?”

  “Yeah”

  “... that is it?”

  “What? You want an explanation?”

  “Yeah that is what people usually do”

  “Being a Merich is a prestigious thing, but personally, becoming an immortal living library is not what I want to do with my life”

  “That is an insanely reductive idea of what a Merich is”

  “Reductive, but true”

  “...”

  “Why have you not said Custos”

  “Custos is not what I see myself as. I can fight but I am not a fighter”

  “That makes enough sense but I can see in your face what you are trying not to say. Custos is really cool”

  “I know right? Alchemy is way too cool to be wielded academically”

  “Come out with the but”

  “But Alchemy is also way too powerful to be wielded as a weapon. I am not sure where I stand as far as Custos goes”

  “At least you’ve started thinking ahead”

  “I guess”

  “We’ll get there. I mean, this is the place where you can find answers for anything”

  “I guess”

  “Did you hear the explosion?”

  “Was it Raya’s class? Ever since she came in as a Scholar, it is one explosion after the other”

  “She got suspended”

  “Really? By who?”

  “Sigrid”

  “From daddy himself? That has got to hurt”

  “Yeah, she was almost crying”

  “I do pity her though. She is very hands on as a teacher and wants people to just use Alchemy to learn it. Her classes are the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

  “That is very dangerous though”

  “Obviously. Doesn’t make it not fun.”

  “People who get hurt might not find it fun though”

  Tricia lifted her shirt to show a healing graft. “It is”

  “Holy shit, what the hell happened?”

  “Biomancy. I turned a seed into a 20 foot tree in like half a second, which just exploded into splinters immediately.”

  “That was you?”

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “Sigrid mentioned it while chewing her head off”

  “Oh” Tricia let out a sigh and started turtling.

  “It’s not your fault”

  “It’s not her fault too, its dumb kids like me who does this”

  “Yeah and her job is to teach the dumb kids to not kill themselves doing these dumb things”

  “Yeah, and if it was not for her, me and everyone else in that room would be dead”

  “She still put all of you in that position”

  “...”

  “I get that it is fun to do that, but there is a reason why we need to learn this”

  “I know”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Did you learn anything though?”

  Tricia’s eyes went bright as she came out of her shell and took something out of her bag.

  “Come with me”

  Hellen and Tricia walked out of the Central and went straight to the Range, an endless grassy knoll where people get free reign to do anything Alchemy as long as they leave the Range just how it was when they came in. “This is where I exploded the tree”, said Tricia as she took her position. “See this?” Hellen looked at what Tricia held in her hand, a seed.

  “Oh please don’t tell me-”

  “Trust me, this is awesome”

  She drew the Biomancy sigil on the air and held the seed at its center for a second. “Check this out”, she said as she threw the seed into the sky, where for a second, a large tree sprouted. And in that same second, the Tree exploded into splinters as it reached its highest point. What was a simple seed, became a million splinters that flew into the Range like a hail of arrows from an untrained army of archers. Hellen sat there with her jaws on the floor as the splinters peppered the Range and carved the beautiful landscape into a battlefield.

  “This is what I learned”

  “Holy shit, that is fucking awesome!”

  “I know right?”

  “I don’t even know if it is lethal, but this is the coolest thing I saw all day”

  Hellen could not take her eyes of the field of splinters as she came back to her senses. “Now we need to clean this up right?”

  Tricia’s smile gave way to distaste as she immediately turtled.

  “What the fuck Tricia, I have to set my dorm up. We can't get all this out in one night”

  “You can’t. So don’t take all night” Hellen looked back to see who the voice belonged to. The pink shade of the setting sun made that familiar flowing red hair look like it was burning. “Raya?” Tricia looked up. Raya extinguished the cigarette and walked towards Hellen and Tricia. “I’m already suspended for indulging stupid kids like you, I don’t want to lose my job because one of the stupid kids I indulged caused more trouble”

  “I’m sorry Raya” Tricia said from within her shell. Raya’s anger dissipated as she got closer to Tricia.

  “When did you learn to do this?”

  “After I got out of the hospital”

  Raya winced at the mention of their incident. “How does it feel now?”

  “The graft is working, it doesn’t hurt anymore”

  “I’m sorry Tricia. I should’ve been more careful”

  “It was not your fault”

  “It is my fault for not teaching you how to control Alchemy before letting you do stuff like that. It is also my fault for not protecting you enough while enabling you to do stuff like that”

  “But you did protect all of us”

  “And I put all of you in a position where you need protection”

  Hellen felt validated as Raya shared her sentiment. But she also felt a bit sad for someone who is just trying to help her students reach their potential becoming jaded like this.

  “So I need to get better at protecting you kids before I let you do stuff like that”

  Huh?

  Tricia’s face got a bit brighter as she saw the pride forming in Raya’s face. “Exploding Trees as an area projectile attack huh?” Raya went silent for a second as she started thinking. As the silence went on, a smile formed in her face.

  Raya took a seed from Tricia’s hand. She drew the sigil and threw the seed. It went much higher than Tricia’s seed and blew up into a tree that cast a shadow that reached the ends of the endless Range. As it exploded, Raya drew a second sigil.

  “Aeromancy?” Asked Tricia.

  “Don’t take your eyes off”

  The splinters covered the sky, looking like a cloud. But they were not coming down. “I increased the density of the air above to the point where the splinters can float on it” Raya said as she started drawing a third sigil.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll see”

  The splinters started moving in plane, like they were attracted to each other. As each splinter came together, what seemed like a cloud started forming shapes. And soon, it was clear as to what they were becoming. The innumerable splinters turned into thousands of spears, lined up in the sky like a parade.

  “Dunamancy. I’m changing the polarization of the splinters so that they are attracted to one another. And using that, I’m forming the splinters into a more hefty projectile”

  Tricia was in awe. Hellen could not even process what she was seeing. She knows how Alchemy works, She knows how Alchemists manipulate materials. But this was not just alchemy.

  Imagination. Creativity. Dreams.

  As the setting sky’s dark hues came through the arsenal Raya built in the sky, in one motion she let them all fly. Hellen, who was already floored by Tricia’s display, could only watch in horror as the spears from heaven pierced through the sky and came crashing down like the apocalypse.

  “Now here is how I clean it all up” Raya drew a fourth sigil. Even Hellen knew what it was.The most basic manipulation in Alchemy. The one which children needed to cast to start learning Alchemy.

  “Pyromancy”

  As the spears cut through the evening sky, they started burning up. “This is where this attack becomes a war crime”, exclaimed Raya as the burning spears painted the sky in the shades of hellfire. The sounds they made as they came down made Hellen and Tricia tremble. In a display of Alchemical brilliance she could not even comprehend, the spears burned to ash the moment they hit the ground. The green grassy knoll turned grey. If what Tricia showed looked like a battlefield, what Raya showed looked like the end of the world.

  Tricia looked over at Raya who was at the verge of cackling like a mad woman. “Did you freestyle all that?” Tricia asked. Raya lost it and started laughing. “That was the best thing I did ever since I joined this godforsaken place. I knew I could count on your imagination when I told you to blow up that tree”

  Huh? She told her to blow up the Tree?

  “You told me to make the tree grow as fast as I can”

  “Yeah, and the tree blew up. And look at what that gave us”

  “I could’ve died”

  “You didn’t, I protected you”

  “You deserve to be fired”

  “I do, don’t I”

  They started laughing. These people are nutjobs.

  “If you want to leave, feel free to go. I’ll help Tricia to clean this up, Raya told Hellen.

  And I sure as hell am not going to deny myself the enjoyment of watching nutjobs do nutty things

  “It’s fine Professor”

  “Call me Raya”

  “Hello Raya, Hellen Selicia”

  “Hello Hellen. I guess Tricia made a friend.”

  “How do we clean all this up Raya”

  “Good question” Raya said, as she went back to thinking.

  “...”

  “...”

  “How are we supposed to get all this ash out Raya?” Tricia asked as Raya kept her silence.

  “...”

  “Goddamnit. Let’s start with the splinters. Hopefully, the wind can knock the ash over to the other side”

  “It is getting windy right?” Hellen said.

  Raya quickly understood what was happening. “Cover your faces” she said, as the wind started blowing the ash in their direction. In an instant, all the ash that covered the Range came crashing down at them. Raya cast an Aeromancy sigil, but it was too late as the ash buried them like a wave. A second passed as the wind changed directions and the ash was blown away. Covered in ash from head to toe, Raya looked behind to the steps leading to the Range and saw the reflection of the light on a familiar circular glass.

  “FUCK YOU DAAAAD” she screamed as they heard someone laugh from the other end.

  Does this shit run in the family?

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The knoll was back to its original glory with neither the splinters nor the ash. As the moon rose up, Raya bid farewell to Tricia and Hellen. Covered in ash, they walked through the Academy Compound.

  “Fun, huh?” snarked Hellen as they left a trail of ash all the way to her room. “I’ll have to burn all this to get the ash out”

  “I guess we can. Oh wait, you’re being snarky”

  “Shut up Tricia”.

  Finding Hellen’s room was easy. It was right by the door to the dorms. As they went inside, Hellen saw her roommate had already slept. It is pretty late huh.

  “Do you need any help unpacking?” Tricia asked, as she shook down the ash outside the room. “Tricia for fucks sake, don’t make a mess. I’m trying not to touch anything to not get any ashes anywhere. Don’t just dump it all out at our door?”

  “Okay, you can unpack yourself, I’ll go to my room and clean up.”

  “Sure” Hellen said, as she looked around. Tricia felt that she was being ignored, so she started turtling up and walking away. Hellen, after feeling some relief knowing all her stuff has safely reached her room, felt a bit guilty for shooing Tricia away. She walked out of the room and yelled “See you tomorrow?”. Tricia stopped in her tracks and raised her hands with a thumb’s up. As she walked back in, her roommate was peeking out of her blanket and let out a feeble “What the Fuck?” as she blurrily saw an ashen figure at her door frame. Hellen looked over and did not know what to do, so she waved at her and turned the lights off with a quick sorry.

  “Are you my roommate?” the girl asked.

  “Yeah. Sorry, I had to stay at the campus-”

  “Okay” she said, as she went back to sleep.

  “... okay” Hellen said to herself as she stumbled across the room to find her things. I can unpack tomorrow, I just need to wash this all off and go to sleep.

  A quick bath later, she found a blanket and went straight to bed. As she snuggled inside the blanket, she contemplated the day. First things first, I need to fix things with “Allie”. It would mess up the whole year if we started on the wrong foot as roommates. For a First Day story, I don’t think anyone would have had anything as wild as what I had today. From Tricia, to the Explosion, to Tricia and Raya’s insanity, and to this. I guess it is a Net Positive, considering what I witnessed earlier. The power of imagination in Alchemy has always been an enigma to me. All I ever did was what I saw in the books. Seeing Raya do all that, I feel embarrassed at not even thinking of stuff like that. Maybe training for Custos could be the way.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Adwin was looking over the Range as Serg came to him.

  “How does this year look?” asked Adwin.

  “Promising” Serg said as he sat down across the table. “This is the report on Raya’s suspension”.

  “We can keep it off the records. She needs to learn how to get things under control, but I don’t want her career to be affected.”

  “Thanks, Adwin”

  “She reminds me of Patro”

  “I know”

  “I know you know”, Adwin said as he rolled up his arms and showed a scar. Serg also rolled up his sleeve, showing a similar scar.

  “Application of Aeromancy. That is how we learned slashing. I think she could be the next Patro if you helped her”

  “I’ve taught her enough. She needs to find her own path now”

  “I guess she does”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Donna had the same scar”

  That name left both of them in a moment of silence. “I wish she was here now”, Serg said, breaking the silence.

  “She is here now”

  “You know what I meant.” Serg’s face showed a longing.

  “Should we go there?”

  “We should, but I have something else to discuss”

  “What?” Adwin’s face changed as he understood Serg’s tone.

  “One of the new students wants to be a Merich”

  “And?”

  “He’s from Perial”

  Adwin leaned back in his seat. “Perial? How old is he?”

  “20. I came here to tell you because I know what you would be thinking”

  “Serg, this is our only chance at recovering Trask’s fragments”

  “We have to accept the loss-”

  “We lost a year's worth of information, Serg. And not just any year”. Adwin was becoming agitated.

  “I know Adwin, but it's been 30 years. Our relationship with Xeaq is not where it was back then. Whatever happened there in that year, no good can come out of it now”.

  “Serg, are you even hearing yourself? Our people have one goal. And that is being the world’s library. Are you asking me not to pursue that? And for what? Diplomacy?”. Serg’s face showed concern, regret, and above all else, disappointment in his own weakness.

  “We cannot afford to damage our relationship with Xeaq just for that! Not when we're so close to learning about Light?”

  “And we both know we would be getting it from Trask’s fragments, and the only reason we are not getting it is because we would not only be learning about Light, we would also be learning about what Xeaq does not want us to learn!”. Adwin’s frustration gave way to anger. Serg could see where this conversation was going. Adwin understood this from Serg’s face. This was not a new discussion. This was something they were arguing about for the last 3 decades. Everything that can be said, has been said. Serg knew that Adwin was right, yet he also knew that the grander purpose of Feyroch takes precedence.

  The peace between Xeaq and Feyroch was built on shaky accords and unfair agreements. But none of it mattered when confronted with the treasure trove of knowledge within the neighbouring continent. But the missing year of memories from Trask was not like that. That was a disrespect to the one core belief of Feyroch - From the Past, to the Future. Feyrochas started recording History for the sole purpose of proving their existence to the future. In the harsh climates of Feyroch, survival was an everyday struggle. And even in that struggle, the tribes of Feyroch managed to create ways to record their stories. The First Scholars of Feyroch gave their blood, sweat and tears to gather the scattered stories and create a comprehensive history of the continent. Their arduous endeavor became the glue that unified the continent, because no tribe, country, or people wanted to be lost in time. Their stories would be recorded, stored, and preserved - From The Past, To The Future. Losing a year of knowledge was a betrayal of that belief.

  Serg’s head was down. Adwin and Serg were both pragmatic about their people’s goals, yet their adherence to the belief was different. Serg knew that disrupting the peace between Xeaq and Feyroch could not only lead to conflict, it would shut the doors to Xeaq forever. Serg knew that it was a hefty price to pay, but he had to pay that price for the Future. Adwin, on the other hand, knew the risks but he was unwilling to betray the principle.

  “Serg, we talked as friends till now. From here on out, it is not your friend, it is Scholar Prime Adwin Escher’s orders. You will bring the kid to me tomorrow. I will evaluate his capabilities and make a decision that you will follow.”

  Serg’s face showed the pain of hearing his friend pull a rank on him, but so did Adwin’s face. “Understood.” He said, as he stood up to leave. “You’re dismissed”, Adwin said as he went back to gazing over the Range from his window. Serg walked to the door as the conflicting emotions within him painted his face.

  “One last thing” Serg said as he stepped out. “We both know the price we will be paying if Xeaq got word that we are trying to find Trask’s fragments. I hope this is worth it, but if it is not, the blood will be on your hand. Remember that your friend tried to stop you, Adwin.”

  “You have my permission to overthrow me, Serg, if things get out of hand. You can brand us traitors and execute us if that is what it would take”

  “You might be fine with it. But Elton will not be. So, this is my last request as your friend.” Adwin felt the pain in Serg’s voice. “Be honest to the kid. Or else your principles are nothing but a justification to satiate your curiosity”.

  Adwin did not look back, but the words left a wound in his heart. He knew what he was taking up was the right thing to do, but the cost of failure was not just his own life, it was the future of another scholar, and the continent.

  “Glory to the All Knowing”, he told himself.

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