June – Chapter Two

“What I can do?” I parroted, “Like you want to spar with me?”

“Not quite.” he responded. “That wouldn’t be a fair test. I just want to see if you can hit me. If you can, we’ll move on to the next test. If not, we’ll talk about that.”

He assumed a stance that I couldn’t fully understand, as it left him open in all the vital areas I grew up feeling that one would want to guard. His right arm tucked in to line up with his torso, perfectly upright, with his hand opened, its back to me. His left hand was folded completely behind his back, and it was only now that I realized he looked a lot taller than I remember. Before this, he’d ducked to enter my home despite being a head shorter than the door frame, but now it looked like he was almost a door and a half tall. I assumed this meant he was hunched over almost always, but then, wouldn’t his back have been protruding if he was? It was messing with my perception, and his outfit being entirely the same shade of red betrayed his size even more. He was a league or seven above me already, but it became clearer the more his form became inconceivable just how outclassed I was. Landing a hit on this man would be my biggest test by far, I thought, as nothing else he had in store for me after would come close.

I raised an uncertain blade to a position of challenge pointed directly at where I saw his mask, only for my blade to land higher than his head. When adjusted downward, I noticed that it looked higher than before. What I thought would be a cool looking pose to start the test with turned into me drawing circles in the air with my sword for a moment, to which he laughed behind his pristine mask. At that, my eyes drifted to his feet, mostly obscured by the robed bottom of his attire. They, too, seemed to shift position and size the more I looked at them. He seemed to notice my hesitation, however, and spoke out to me.
“In a real fight, I’d have felled you four times over by now. I’m waiting to see your strikes, kid.”

Trying to size him up wasn’t working, so I made my grip on the little practice blade true and planted my dominant foot back, leaning my upper body forward ready to charge. What happened next was decided in moments, as I felt the weapon in my hand grow lighter to compliment the loud cracking and splinters flying outward from the point of impact. As it ended, I saw his hand outstretched, his palm to me now instead of the back of his hand, and a scuff mark where my practice sword once was, with splintering spreading out from his palm like a flower in bloom. He had not only blocked my attack, but did so with one hand, causing the wood of my weapon to spread out against a stronger force.

“Not bad, kid. Not at all for someone your age.” he brushed his palms together to clap the sawdust away, which caused the former practice blade to collapse into a pile of splinters. “I could feel that one, which means you’ve got the power I wanted to see in a trainee, but your hesitation before striking me told me a lot more about where you are in training than a simple strike ever could. You were trying to get a grip on my movements, which is good, but you took three full minutes to do so. Battles with other warriors are over in a fraction of that time, and so the first thing you will need to improve is your reflexes. Your body has to remember what your mind takes minutes to process, all on its own. Your arms and legs must have their own minds in combat, which all comes with time.”

Resting his hands on his hips, he stretched his back out, letting out what sounded like total satisfaction as I heard several cracks. Maybe he was hunched over all that time?

“Yes sir, thank you.” I responded, feeling very out of my element being so formal. 

“It takes someone truly seeking improvement to be told their shortcomings and say thank you afterwards. Good response.” he approached me, then passed me, and headed for another side of the clearing we were in. There, I noticed a pile of thin plates of rock that weren’t there before. It seemed like he brought quite a large number of supplies for this test.

“Now, since strength is clearly your, well, strength,” he fumbled with that a bit, which i giggled at quickly before remembering my place, “We’re going to see exactly how built you’ve become over time.”

“With those plates?” I asked, my question as obvious as my continued nervousness.

“Yeah.” he picked one of them up, and I noted it looked to be about as long as Allie was tall, and half as wide. It was probably going to be one of the heavier things I’d lifted, but I knew I could handle it.

“Put your arms above your head.” he suggested. I did so, and effortlessly sat the plate atop my hands. After I gained a sense of control over the stone and could sustain it above my head with a proper balance, he went back for another one. At this point, I looked up at the stone I already had. I could just barely make out a letter, painted on in a small font. It was an ‘F’. I sighed a relieved sigh as I knew that I at the very least hadn’t failed this test. As I regained my breath, he seated the next stone atop the one I already had, and I felt my legs buckling slightly. I was able to regain my stance, which I had to widen a bit to retain balance, and shifted my hands. Holding this position, he made a nodding gesture and went back to the pile.

“Not bad, not bad. But you’ve lifted more, haven’t you?” he called back to me as if expecting a response. “Well, you can put those ones down. We’re going a step up.”

It took all of my effort to shift my weight in a way that I could drop the stones behind me and not get hurt in the process. As I felt my body rejecting what I’d just done with throbbing pains in my hands and legs, he approached with another plate that looked thicker than the other ones. This one had a C on it. I think he noticed me noticing the letters, because he looked down at it as well.

“Yes, these are your grades. Everything we test gets a letter grade and then I factor that into a larger pool. The more passes you have, the higher tier classes you start with. And if you’re curious, you already have a ‘D’ in your speed.” I pouted, but understood. 

“Alright. Well, I’m ready for the next weight then.” I commented, raising my hands and taking the same stance as before. He nodded and with one hand placed the stone plate above my head, but this time not only did he not wait for me to stabilize before walking back to the pile, he basically dropped it right on me. I almost caved then, right underneath the testing plate, but my knees held their locked position, and I was able to use my head to stabilize the weight before it slipped. Holding this position until he returned was probably what gave me that higher grade, and he seemed to confirm this with another nod.

“Hold that for a second. I seem to have left the next weight over there with the pile.”

He definitely did that on purpose. That said, I was able to do as instructed as I watched him come back with another plate that looked to be the same size as the one I already had.

“You know, you’re already a whole letter grade above my usual recruits in terms of raw strength. You could call it here.”

I struggled to shake my head, and he shrugged.

“Suit yourself.” he said, an out of place tone of boredom to his voice as he placed the next plate atop the one already on my head. Instantly, I felt my body screaming at me to give up. My hands were sweating onto the plate, making a firm grip even more difficult, and my legs were about ready to explode, but I managed to grit my teeth and force the stone into a position I could sustain by using my head – literally- as a third arm while I allowed the sweat of my palms to help me widen my stance once more without scraping my hands up too badly. I took in a deep breath, and he crossed his arms.

“A bit unorthodox, but effective.” he grabbed the stones from my grip, one in each hand, and threw them behind him back to the pile. He began to speak to me, but the crashing and shattering of the plates created such an explosive sound that I couldn’t hear a word. My mother and Nectar came over, concerned expressions on their faces until Sir Mirroheart waved them off. My hearing was starting to come back to me at the tail end of what he said.

“…Say I’ve seen a recruit do that. That will definitely be of use to you, kid, but don’t go smashing your head into boulders for the cause, alright?”

“What?” I nearly shouted.

“You did great.” he repeated in a more concise way. “Strength and speed both passed, one much higher than the other. Now I’ll need to test your intelligence. We can go back inside for this one, it’ll just be basic questions. I know you’ve been isolated in this village your whole life, so for the sake of fairness, I won’t be asking questions about world history.”

“I can try those. I’ve learned a bit.” I said between deep breaths, still winded from the last exercise.”I know about Zephyrus and the Magnum Neutrality act and stuff.”

“Basic world history, yeah.” he confirmed. “Alright, if you’re really insisting, I’ll include all my questions. Don’t say I didn’t try to cut you a break if you fail though.” Ow, my pride.

“I wouldn’t want a shortcut anyway. Didn’t you say I wouldn’t get any before we came outside?”

I could almost feel him smirking behind that mask, and I could see a clear smile on my mother’s face.

“Alright, you’ve passed the honor test.” he said, patting me on the shoulder with the hand I didn’t stab before. “Thank you for keeping yourself honest. I’ve failed so many recruits just because they didn’t correct me when I went back on something if it meant giving them an advantage. You saying that just now tells me you’ll never take the easy way out of training or missions, and I respect that. That’s three passes of four, so you’re definitely accepted to Magnum University, but we still need to do the intelligence test to see how much classroom time you’ll need on top of combat drills and electives.”

All of the fatigue I’d felt faded for a brief moment as I hugged first my mother, then Nectar, and finally Sir Mirroheart in what I can only say was the biggest second wind of my young life. I felt like I could take on another six or seven of those plates, at least mentally. Physically however, the extra exertion on my body being that excited made me stumble and nearly plant my face into the bark mulch of the clearing floor. Nectar caught me, and laughed.

“Good job June, we’re proud of you.” he ruffled my hair, and my mother was immediately hugging me as soon as I was able to stand up again.

“You did it! How’s it feel to make your dreams come true with your own two hands, sweetie?”

My cheeks flushed, and I hid this by marching forward toward the house a few paces, allowing my blush to fade before turning back.

“Feels like I wouldn’t call it my own two hands. It was you guys too. Mom, even if you never approved, you always encouraged me, and Nectar, working the shop with you gave me the understanding I needed to keep my footing with heavy things. I owe you both so much.”

Sir Mirroheart was already at the door to the house, his red making a nice contrast to the faded wood of the walls.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all excited, I get that. But we’re unfortunately on the clock as of now. She’s been accepted, and the school year starts in a week. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover between now and then. The sooner we leave, the more time June has to learn the campus before class.”

We all nodded in understanding, and followed him into the living room. Mother grabbed a towel for me to wipe off my sweat with and a bottle of her perfume for obvious reasons, which she mockingly exaggerated by plugging her nose and waving her hand. Sir Mirroheart and I sat across from each other again, me taking my seat back this time on purpose, and he assumed his same seating position as before.

“Let’s start easy. Tell me what you know about the outside world, and I’ll fill in some blanks as we go.”

I nodded.

“Well, let’s see… This forest is called Koto Forest, named after the Red Elven protectors that guided the first refugees from the Old Kingdom here. It’s the only settlement on this island, which is off the… West? West. The only settlement on this island which is off the west coast of the mainland. The mainland is called Magna Varia, and is currently in the middle of its third war. Magnum University is the only neutral territory, and is kept so by the Mirroheart Peacemakers who act as guards there and stay out of political affairs, but also serve as a privately hired military to protect people all over the world. Back to Magnum, it was founded by… Sylvia Magnum, I believe, about two hundred years ago. The school has some of the most powerful and influential people in the world running it, and some lessons are even taught by members of the Higher Pantheon like the Goddess of Destruction. The term University has also lost a lot of meaning for Magnum, because it’s expanded in size to be the second largest city in the world, right behind the Capital city. There isn’t much else I know for sure, unfortunately.”

Sir Mirroheart seemed surprised that I knew as much as I did, but he sat upright and began to do as he said he would and fill in blanks for me.

“You’ve been given a lot of foundation learning, but there’s a lot to everything you just said. I’ll cover the things I feel you won’t be told in class then.” he cleared his throat.

“Koto was founded by Lopriel, not Red Elves. All the Red Elves died out before the first war. The Koto sisters were also part of that refugee group, but they were the leaders of it. The Old Kingdom was the first government to unite the entire world, and it fell apart quickly when rebellion after rebellion tore it apart. For good reason, too; The refugees from the Kingdom were almost entirely made of separate rebel factions, running away from their deeds. The only rebel faction that stayed to rebuild after was called the Red Wings of Liberation, which still exists today as the mostly solitary Redwing Kingdom, living on the mountains near Skade Peak. The others left the mainland to form island colonies, like this one.”

I nodded with every new bit of information I learned, but before he went any further, I raised my hand. He did a double take at my gesture as if equally surprised and confused.

“Question?” he asked.

“Yeah. What’s a Lopriel?”

I could feel my mothers’ embarrassment as Sir Mirroheart’s mask turned from directly facing me to looking as if it was pointed at her.

“Really, Freja?” he sighed. “Alright, I guess a little detour of information then. Lopriel are a race of people who differ from humans. They have long ears that resemble those of a rabbit, are generally shorter than humans, and tend to have shorter lifespans. Riel is actually a classification of multiple races. Before the Red Elves died out, some of them had families with humans, and depending on where those humans lived, the climate there, and the cultures they were surrounded by, those Red Elves began to change. Modern day uses the term ‘Riel’ as a suffix to their names, meaning ‘of Red Elf descent.’ There are more Riel variants than there are colors in the spectrum of light, so I’m very surprised you’ve never met one before, even all the way out here.”

“So, they’re just different looking people?” I commented,. “That’s really cool. But if this place was founded by a Lopriel, I’m also not sure why there aren’t any here now.”

“Actually,” my mother spoke up, entering the room. “That’s probably because the Lopriel that settled this island initially never had families of their own. We are one of the only purely human settlements in the world, but we have our roots in Lopriel culture. That’s why everyone here is so hard working. Lopriel aren’t very strong individually, but they find a lot of strength in community. That’s also why we don’t really use money here either. We trade skills for goods, or goods for skills, and so on.”

“I know what money is in concept, but I’ve never used it.” I confirmed, enforcing my mothers’ point. “I wonder how many of the humans that live here are all human though? If there’s really that many Riel variants, I’m sure there’s at least a few people here that are part Riel, and just don’t have obvious traits.”

“Now that’s a possibility.” Sir Mirroheart stood, and stretched again. “Well, we’ve gotten pretty side tracked, so why don’t I administer the rest of this test on the way to Magnum?”

“Just like that?” I asked, standing as well. “I haven’t even packed my things yet.”

“You won’t need them,” he began, “but if you have anything of sentimental value, go grab that now. You won’t be coming back for a whole year after all.”

I nodded and dashed upstairs to my room, only to find Allie laying on my bed.

“Hey sis, you alright?” I asked, to which she shook her head.

“I knew you’d be leaving, but I didn’t think about what that meant.” she said with a sniffle. “You’re coming back, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back before your next birthday. Promise.” I sat down on the bed next to her. She seemed to perk up a bit at that and sat up as well, hugging me with surprising grip strength for a child. I ruffled her hair as had been done to me earlier that day, and urged her to let go.

“I gotta pack stuff that’s important to me. What should I bring, Allie?” I asked, to which she left the room, and I heard her rummaging through her belongings next door. She returned with a  glass bottle the size of her palm, corked with multicolored sand.

“We made this together when I first came here.” she reminded me. I smiled, and nodded.

“Good choice Allie. Now whenever I’m feeling down, I can remember the best little sister ever.” She flushed red and hugged me again, starting to cry more heavily this time.

“Don’t forget to come back!” she shouted while muffled, her face stuffed into my side.

“I’d never forget.” I reassured her, as she released me again. I found a bag that seemed suitable for travel in my closet. Just a brown bag with a drawstring to seal and a single strap to wear around my back – and tucked in a change of clothes for the road that matched what I already had on, just in brighter colors. I also took the necklace I made together with Nectar, and the ruby jewel we cut it from. It reminded me of when Nectar first asked me to help him in his shop, and we made silly leather bands together which he did most of the work for, and also of the time he brought home three large gems and asked me what my favorite was. I chose the red one, and the rest is history. Finally, I grabbed the journal full of my mothers’ songs, and tucked that away as well. This way I’d always remember the nights my mother and I spent together, her curling my hair to just the right shape and singing while I made chimes with my hair. Our little duets would always be some of my favorite memories together.

Before too long, I went back downstairs, finding my mother, Nectar, Allie, and Sir Mirroheart had gone outside. I heard mother tell Allie to head back inside to play with me, and then I heard something about Saoirse. This piqued my interest, as nobody really brought up the Goddess of Creation anymore. Not since Zephyrus usurped her place in the Higher Pantheon. I was so curious that when Allie came in, I put a finger to my lips.

“Let’s listen to the grown ups for a minute.” I said, inching closer to the window and sitting down underneath it. Allie joined me, trying to restrain her giggling. I overheard Sir Mirroheart saying things that I didn’t understand at the time.

“It would be best if we don’t tell her until she’s an adult.” he said, to which I heard my mother agree.

“I can’t imagine what knowing would do to her morale. I want her to have as normal a life as possible before she finds out.”

“You two do know if she finds out on her own it’ll destroy her, right?” I heard Nectar say. 

“It’s a risk we have to take. Right now, she’s a normal girl with an abnormally strong body and a lot of fire. If we let it slip now, she might think everything was some kind of grooming. She might never follow through.” Sir Mirroheart concluded, and this must have gotten through to my family, because they didn’t say anything further. I got up in a somewhat clumsy way from my hiding place and Allie ran upstairs, and when my family came back in, they smiled and hugged me again.

“Write to us often, alright?” My mother said.

“I’m putting you back to work when you get back.” Said Nectar, to which I feigned distaste. Together, we all went back outside into the clearing, and Sir Mirroheart nodded.

“Traveling as light as I said. Good, you can follow instructions.” he laughed.

“Only the important stuff, right? I just brought a memento for each family member.” I was about to show him, but he raised a hand and turned to face the thick of the forest.

“Good, good. It’s only about fifteen minutes to the edge of the forest, where I’ve got a ship docked. Considering it’s about midday now, we should hit mainland by sunset.” he confirmed this by starting to walk toward the trees, to which I began to follow before turning to face my family once more. I gave them a wave, my excitement plastered on my face, and then continued along with him. My first step into the forest was met with a stumble, as a root that was poking out from the ground caught my foot. If not for his reflexes, I would have collapsed instantly.

“Already? Come on, rookie, we can’t have that.” he joked, continuing on after righting my position. He drew his curved blade and pointed it directly at the ground surrounding the root.

“See how it’s a little bit mossy around there? That’s an indication. Take wider, taller steps around these areas so you don’t snag yourself. Easy to do now, but when you’re moving full speed ahead to chase or escape, this small detail could be life and death.”

I nodded, and did as instructed. It seemed easy enough to follow, but after another few minutes of us doing this, I stepped over another root and felt my foot begin to slip out from under me. I was able to catch this, and stop myself as I saw dirt and rock start to slide down a semi steep hill. He stopped to acknowledge this.

“Good decision making. You’re stepping more lightly over brush now, and that tipped you off that there wasn’t a solid foothold beneath you, right?”

“Yeah.” I confirmed. “Lighter on my feet isn’t something I’m used to, but it doesn’t seem too hard.”

“Just wait,” he commented, “Wild animals can step so lightly, they don’t even leave tracks. The brittle underbrush doesn’t make a sound. These are the natural traits that a predator in the wild has, and that’s the kind of thing I expect you to be able to do before your first year is over. Moving without thinking, and moving silently, as lightly as a stalking wolf.” it was at this time I noticed, I had only ever heard my own footsteps this entire time walking with him. My eagerness to learn this trait was enhanced by seeing it in action.He kept moving, and kept talking.

“Silent, swft, and sincere. These are the traits I expect all my soldiers to have. You will be silent like an apex predator, swift like a fleeing prey, and sincere like an honorable warrior. Each strike, each step, each breath you take will carry these three principles. Understood?”

I internally felt a sting at his sincerity comment, considering I knew he was hiding things from me. I hesitated for just a second before nodding, and he seemed to either not notice or ignore my hesitation. Instead, he beckoned me to keep moving, and we did just that for another few minutes until we reached another very thick brush, but this one had light coming through the sides of it, with a sound unfamiliar to me at the time, like running water from all directions. I saw him approach some dense looking leaves that I didn’t recognize, and turn to me, one hand on the leaves and the other on his hip.

“So, are you ready to see the outside world?” he asked. Before I could give a proper answer, he pulled back the curtain of leaves, exposing me to the vastness of the world for the first time.