Brandon Marlowe
and the Spirit Snatcher
By Eric Livingston
Copyright Eric Livingston 2011
Published by EDL Epic Designs at Smashwords
Brandon Marlowe and the Spirit Snatcher
Copyright © 2011 by Eric Livingston.
Cover art ©2011 by Eric Livingston.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the express written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
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ISBN: 978-0-4502-9222-1 (ebk)
Chapter 1
The heat from the sun began to permeate the air. I could feel the dawn pulling me out of my sleep.
I began to put on the school uniform, the white button down shirt followed by the dark blue jacket with matching pants. The piece of cloth called a sash around the waist in lieu of a belt was a uniform requirement. There was some leniency in the uniform concerning shoes, as different abilities require different footwear for combat. Personally, I just use athletic shoes. Overall, the uniforms are designed to be worn in combat. They are designed for free motion, and can be easily torn to form tourniquets. Two parts of the uniform are optional: the hat has always been left to the individual’s personal preference, and the tie used to be mandatory, until a student petition started stating that ties made it easier to be strangled, so they were made optional. I passed on both.
Hard to believe this would be the second to last morning I would walk down these stairs. After this, it would be dorm life for me. That wasn’t a complaint. The dorms were nice. Of course, I barely spent any time in either. I preferred open spaces. They went with my nature.
Closing the door behind me, I left my house and took a few steps. A sense of nostalgia came to me. I turned around and took a second look at the house.
Must be because of the assignment, I told myself in an attempt to justify the unusual emotion.
Snapping out of it, I disappeared into the air.
I reappeared on the outskirts of the campus. It would be unfortunate to give some student a heart attack by reappearing in the middle of a crowd. It was just as well. I was still trying to put off today for as long as possible. Once I reached the Center Square, in the middle of campus, there was no turning back.
The school in Tartarus had a purpose. It trained Humans who had inherited powers to fight against the Gods and their Demon armies. The first question for every first year student: Who started the war? The answer depended on whom you asked. I felt sure the blame belonged to both sides. The Gods used Humans to fight their wars against other Gods. It wasn’t until the unthinkable happened – a Human killed a God – that the Humans decided to rule themselves. So, the Humans rebelled against the Gods, but they only had the chance because the Gods were warring against each other using Humans.
In any case, the rebellion was successful, in so far as it removed direct influence of the Gods over the Human realm. The job of the inhabitants of Tartarus was to keep it that way. Our motto was freedom – Freedom from the Gods.
The war had started some two thousand years ago. Large engagements had not occurred for some time - the war had manifested itself in each side making strategic maneuvers to gain advantage over the other. Gods targeted their main threat – Humans born with powers. Humans like me.
Although you wouldn’t think it to look at me, I was a threat to the Gods. I had an average build for a 16 year old boy, my unkempt short brown hair didn’t stand out, and my posture was terrible. Slouching with my hands in my pockets, I didn’t look like a strong fighter at all. Despite my physical appearance, I was what every squad in the school wanted – an Elemental Titan.
My ability, inherited from Aura, gave me control of the winds. I was an Elemental Titan, which meant that I even had the ability to turn myself into air. There was only one other Elemental Titan in my year, and he was even more dangerous to be around than I.
Of course there were downsides to growing up with power over the winds. I still retained my childhood habit of keeping my hands in my pockets. When I was younger and still not in full control of my abilities, I had a few incidents of swinging my arms as I walked. The resulting gusts sent people flying into the air. To prevent this, I just started walking around with my hands in my pockets. Although I eventually gained more control, it felt natural for me to keep the habit.
I entered the Center Square, the large building in the middle of campus. It was big enough to hold every student in the school so there wouldn’t normally be a reason to push your way through. That did not hold true for today, as evidenced by the massive crowd of newly-advanced second year students filling the lower floor. All of them wondering, waiting, and staring at the stone pillar in the center, now with the assignments posted on it. Every student was pushing forward, trying to find their name.
There were three classes to which a student could be assigned: Soldier, Assassin, or Philosopher. Each student here had probably spent all summer wondering what assignment they would get. I had come to my own conclusions about what my assignment would be. Really it wasn’t that difficult, because my brother and my father before him had been assigned to the same class.
“Hey, you!” The unknown voice yelled from behind me.
Not a very good entrance, I thought to myself.
I tried to not judge people too much on first impressions, but I was a fan of a good entrance.
There was no reason to turn around. I already knew what the loud student wanted. Now that the new assignments were out, we would all be eligible to join a squad.
Squads were groups of three students, one from each class, and the first line of defense for the school. While squad life was dangerous, the incentives were enticing enough for most students to want to form their own squad, even if they weren’t ready. Today, the walls were lined with older students here with that goal in mind.
I remained facing the same direction.
“Hey, you! I’m talking to you!” The yelling continued. There was no ignoring it anymore, so I turned around. The source of the voice was an older student, somewhat larger than average, both in height and width. His size must have given him the confidence to approach me.
“I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” I asked, playing dumb.
“Of course I was!” I didn’t know why he was still yelling. “Why didn’t you turn around?”
The answer was obvious. I knew what he wanted and wasn’t interested. This student was exactly why I dreaded this day.
“How was I supposed to know you were talking to me?” I asked politely. “My name would’ve worked better, you know.”
“Whatever.” He brushed off my advice, but at least he had stopped yelling. “I am recruiting you to join my squad.”
“No thank you.” I responded quickly.
“I challenge you then.” His voice and body shook a little as he spoke. “I’ll make you join.” The nerves had nothing to do with me personally. I had never met this student before, but Titans in general were known to trash unworthy opponents, and Elementals were the worst. I would’ve preferred to go unnoticed today, but one example might be enough to keep the others at bay.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Let’s fight it out.” The school was a nonviolent place, most of the time, but we were fighters after all. Students had the right to challenge other students to matches. This match would determine whether or not I had to join his squad. If he won, I joined him. If I won, he would not be allowed to recruit me again. The system didn’t bother me, I liked to fight. “Okay. Go ahead, I’ll stand right here.”
The crowd of students around us backed away. They knew they didn’t want to get tangled up in this.
The boy rushed at me at what was probably his full speed. As he bounded toward me, I considered his approach. Charging at me head-on was a brave move, but not very bright. I just stood there. There was no reason to move. He brought back his fist and hurled it at my head.
His fist came closer and closer to my face. The effort was pointless. I turned into air instantly, disappearing before the oncoming student. His fist, then arm, followed by the rest of his body caught only air as he stumbled through the place I had been only a second earlier. He lost his balance, falling to his knees. I reappeared in the same location. He looked up as I turned towards him.
“You should give up.” I suggested. The crowd around us began to laugh. This only served to enrage him. He pulled himself up, and charged at me again.
I suppose I didn’t have a choice anymore. Removing my right hand from my pocket, I brought it across my body. Then I swung my arm to the right.
A gust of wind lifted the large student from his feet and carried him across the floor until he was slammed into the Square’s inner wall. His limp body fell to the ground. He didn’t look like he would get up soon. Medics hurried over to him.
Medics were always present around the school to treat incidents like this one. The school did not frown on fighting, but did prefer that its students not kill each other.
I felt like the fight was reason enough to leave before anyone else approached me. My goal had been to dissuade offers, but my display might have actually encouraged some who would be even more enthusiastic about recruiting an Elemental to their squad now that I had trashed the older boy so easily in front of everyone. It wasn’t really fun for me to beat up on people like him. I preferred more of a challenge in my fights.
I headed out through the main entrance of the Square. Mom would be waiting at home for me so I had a reason to return home early. This was the last day I would be staying at home for a while. A breeze passed me. I stopped to listen to it.
“What did it tell you?” A mysterious voice came from behind me.
Impossible, I thought to myself. I hadn’t felt any movement behind me. Who could have snuck up on me like that?
My question was answered as soon as I turned around. The words belonged to Stark Abramson, the fourth ranked student in the school.
He towered over me by at least half a foot. He was more muscular as well. Of course, that wasn’t saying much, since I looked too scrawny to fight, but that never bothered me. My strength didn’t come from my body, but then again, neither did his. In any case, he looked more like a fighter than I did.
But his attire told me that he wasn’t here to intimidate me. He wore a casual t-shirt and pants. The only way you could tell he was a student was by the standard dark blue military hat he wore that all the students were issued. The Roman numeral ‘I’ on his hat told me that he was in the Soldier class. The hat also had lightning bolt decals on either side of the number, a reminder of his power.
“Nice entrance.” I had to compliment an entrance like that. Normally, I could detect movements around me by changes in air currents. Even though I had this ability, I was unable to detect his approach. This guy had found a way through my defenses.
“Thanks.” He replied. “Congratulations on the Philosopher assignment by the way.” I didn’t know how to feel about the random compliment. “You know who I am, don’t you?” I nodded. The first year students had learned quickly to identify the top students at the school. No one wanted to accidentally get in a fight with one of them. “Then you know why I’m here?” He asked.
“Sorry.” I responded. “Should I know why you’re here?” I didn’t know. I knew of him, but to my knowledge we had not met before now.
“I thought you said that you knew who I was.” He seemed surprised by my answer. “If you know that then you should know why I’m here.”
“You’re Stark Abramson, fourth-ranked student in the school. If I’m not mistaken you’re an Elemental Titan, like myself.”
“Just call me Zap,” He replied. “Everyone else does.” He gave his statement some thought. “Well, almost everybody.”
“Okay Zap. Why are you here?”
“I’m here to recruit you to join my squad of course.” He again spoke as if I should have expected this, but to me the statement was odd. Zap was a known loner, and had been one for some time. He made sport out of humiliating students who asked him to join their squad. He was the only top student without a squad.
“Why would you do that?” I asked.
“You really don’t know.” He appeared to finally believe me. “Well, it was Kevin who first recruited me. I thought it was only natural that I recruit you.”
“Kevin…” My voice trailed off. There was a name I didn’t expect to hear today. Kevin was my older brother who died four years ago. Not many people at the school still remembered him, but apparently Zap did. Not only that, but he was in my brother’s squad. His offer was even more interesting.
“Think about my offer, then.” Zap broke the silence. “I’ll check back in with you tomorrow for an answer.” With that he walked back into the Square. In the shadows, I could see the silhouette of a woman waiting inside the Square. I couldn’t make out her face and she didn’t seem familiar to me. As Zap walked past her, she joined him. She must be the third member of the squad he was trying to form. So if I accepted the offer, the squad would form with no waiting period.
Now I had definitely had enough excitement for one day. I took a few more steps and went Elemental, disappearing into the wind.
I reappeared outside my house. We lived on the outskirts of the Tartarus realm, but still well within the protection of the school. I walked through the door into the house. Mom was baking cookies.
“Who are the cookies for?” I asked, hoping the answer was “for you.”
“They’re for my students,” She answered with a smile, “but you can have some if you want.” Mom taught a class of children too young to enter the school. Although she had no abilities of her own, mom had been able to raise both Kevin and me just fine. This made her perfect for dealing with younger children, including several who were not yet in full control of their powers.
“Cookies do sound good.” I walked over to them and grabbed a couple from the freshest batch. They were delicious.
“So how was your first day back?” Mom asked. “Any news?”
“Well they put me into the Philosopher class.” I responded.
“I’m happy for you, dear, but that’s not really news, is it? We were pretty sure that’s where you would be placed.” She had been just as sure about my assignment as I was. “I want ‘news’ news. Like, did you get any recruitment offers?”
Sometimes it seemed like she knew these things before I even told her. Since it was only the two of us living together, she could read me too easily.
“I did have one interesting offer actually.” She stopped her baking for a moment to listen. “Do you know a student named Stark Abramson?” I asked. She struck her thinking pose, one arm on her chin and the other arm holding the first one up.
“The name – it sounds familiar.” She was remembering. “Could you be talking about Zap?”
“Yep, that’s who I’m talking about.” I responded. “He gave me an offer today to join his squad.”
“Well that does make some sense.” Mom did not sound as surprised as I expected. Maybe she had some insight into the situation that I was missing. “You know, he was recruited by your brother. That had to be – well that had to be almost six years ago, now.” Mom looked surprised. “He must be all grown up now,” She counted on her fingers. “Twenty-two by my count.”
“I don’t know about the age part, but he mentioned being recruited by Kevin,” I replied. “I don’t remember anything about him though. Anything you can tell me?” The lack of memory wasn’t really surprising. Kevin was nine years my senior. I was only around ten when he formed his squad. Who remembers what happened when they were ten?
“I guess you wouldn’t remember much,” Mom responded. “You were really young then, and your brother tried to keep that part of his life away from you.” She resumed her cooking. “He came around a few times. How is he doing now?”
“Well he’s the fourth ranked student in the school,” I told her. “So I would say he’s doing pretty well.”
“Only fourth, huh?” Mom sounded surprised. “I always imagined him being a Prime one day. I know your brother spoke about him as if that would be the case.”
“No,” I responded. “The Prime is still Tyler Franklin.” Prime was the name given to the top student at the school. Tyler had been the Prime ever since Kevin’s death.
“Well I don’t really know him.” Mom told me.
“But you did know Zap.” That was the more helpful part for me right now. “What can you tell me about him? I’d like to have something to go on if I am going to consider joining his squad after all.”
“Well as I recall, he was an odd little kid.” She began, “but your brother believed he had a good heart. I know he looked up to your brother as some type of role model, but I only really talked to him once.”
“When was that?”
“It was a couple days after your brother’s funeral I believe.” Mom answered. “He stopped by here to talk to me.”
“After his funeral? That’s kind of odd, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I thought so at first, but after he talked to me, I felt a lot better.” Mom responded. “I’m glad he came by that day.”
I didn’t want to make Mom sad by talking too much about Kevin’s death, but curiosity got the better of me. “What did he say?”
“Well I wasn’t doing very well then, you see. I had just lost your brother and on top of that, the costs of the funeral and the house were starting to pile up. I was afraid I would lose everything. Then Zap stopped by. At first we just talked about your brother. Then, right before he left, he said something unexpected. He said, ‘I promise you will never have to feel this pain again. I will do what I can to make sure neither you nor Brandon will suffer ever again.’ I was surprised he even remembered your name, but he seemed so sincere when he said it that I felt relief instantly.”
“What an odd speech for him to make,” I stated, “Considering he didn’t even know me.”
“He probably felt he knew you through your brother – But that speech is not all he did.” Mom informed me. “A few days later I got a letter saying that the house and other bills were paid for and I wouldn’t have to worry about payments ever again. At the time I thought that was how he was protecting you. I didn’t expect him to still be thinking of that promise today.”
I had to admit that, so far, Zap was checking out well. If my mom trusted him, I believed I could do so as well. Over time I would get to know him, but if I knew now I could trust him, I would be better off.
“Oh, I have a present for you.” Mom announced.
“A present – What?” I said excitedly. I had no idea what she could be talking about, but who doesn’t like presents?
“ It’s a surprise, of course.” She responded. “Now follow me.” She put down her oven mitts and walked over to our basement door.
If Mom wanted to hide something from me, the basement would be the perfect place. I favored open spaces with flowing air because of my abilities. The dark and damp basement didn’t meet these criteria. I stayed at the bottom of the steps as Mom made her way over to the far wall. She moved a few boxes from on top of what looked like a chest or trunk of some kind.
My imagination was already busy, trying to figure out what the surprise could be. Maybe the chest was filled with treasure. I considered this idea for a moment, then decided that no, that probably wasn’t it. My mom was not very piratey. A skeleton would be just as unlikely. My curiosity continued to grow as she pulled out a bag and brought it over to me. She untied the top of the bag and pulled the opening down to reveal two handles.
“Swords?” I questioned as I saw the contents of the bag.
“I know weapons aren’t really your thing but give them a try.” Mom responded. “I’m sure you three will get along great.”
I grabbed one of the handles and pulled the sword out of the bag. The design was different from any other sword I had seen before. The handle was circular instead of rectangular for starters, but more noticeable was the absence of a guard for the hand. Instead there was an offset as the handle turned into a blade. The sword had two bends in it, the first bent the sword forward and the second bent the sword back. The offset made it so that the blade no longer lined up with the handle. The blades of both swords were curved. They weren’t very long, maybe a little over two feet. I looked at the curved blade.
“So what do you think?” Mom asked as I examined the swords.
“Well, they are oddly shaped,” Referring to the offset in the design. “Is there a reason for that?”
Who are you calling oddly shaped, you pipsqueak?! An unknown female voice shot back at me.
I jumped a little, startled, and looked around. Where did that voice come from? Mom and I were the only people in the basement.
Didn’t anyone tell you how to properly introduce yourself? The voice spoke again.
I turned towards my mother. She seemed to be holding in a smile.
“Did you hear something?” I asked her.
“No, dear, I didn’t hear anything,” She responded.
Something suspicious was happening. She seemed to know something was going on but obviously didn’t want to tell me what it was.
Down here, The voice said. I followed the voice’s instructions and looked at the ground, but saw nothing but the floor. In your hand, dummy, I looked in my hand. The only thing there was the sword I had just removed from the bag. Could it be?
“Mom,” I looked up. “Would you think I was crazy if I told you this sword was talking to me?” Mom burst out laughing with no response.
Don’t call me ‘this sword’ I have a name. you know. The voice sounded annoyed.
“I’m sorry.” I apologized to the sword in my hand. “Wait –You do? What is it?”
That’s not how you introduce yourself. The voice shot back. You say ‘Hello, my name is so-and-so. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
I decided to oblige. “Hello, my name is Brandon Marlowe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I even bowed. I was glad the only one watching was my mother, even though she was still bent over laughing. I’m sure I looked like a fool as I gave the sword in my hand a little bow.
Good. My name is Lily. The sword introduced herself. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brandon. In the bag is my sister Rose.
“Your sister?” I looked into the bag, reached in and pulled out the other sword. It was similar in size and shape to the first.
Hello, my name is Rose. This sword spoke in a female voice as well. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brandon. Her voice was more relaxed and calmer than Lily’s.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Rose.” I responded.
Mom had finally regained control of herself. She brushed the tears out of her eyes as she straightened back up. I should have realized she was giving me a clue when she said she we would ‘get along great’.
“I’m sorry dear,” She said. “It’s just too funny to watch someone meet a soul weapon for the first time. Your brother had the same reaction as you.”
“What are soul weapons?” I asked.
“Soul weapons are different from ordinary weapons. They have a consciousness all their own.” Mom explained. “Also, they will share your ability with you, so a soul weapon works in different ways for its users.”
“Wait you said Kevin met them too?” I referred to the second half of her statement.
“Well,” Mom began to answer. “At first, our plan was to split them between you two, but your brother didn’t really need them. So I made him give them a formal apology for not requiring their services.”
“Why did he have to apologize?” I wondered why it was necessary to take weapons’ feelings into consideration.
“These two sisters have been in the family for generations.” Mom explained. “I still remember your father wielding them when we first met. I felt it was only right that they be informed.”
“Wow. Dad used these too?” I looked at the swords in my hands. “Would they be able to tell me anything about him?” My dad died when I was very young and I didn’t have much of a memory of him.
“You would have to ask them.” Mom said referring to the sisters, “They will be able to explain their capabilities to you better than I could. You should spend some time and get to know them.”
We headed up the stairs, and out of the basement.
Mom went back to baking cookies. I went outside with my new swords, the sisters Rose and Lily. I looked down at them as I held both of them in my hands.
“So what can you tell me about yourselves that I don’t already know?” I asked them both.
We can tell you that you don’t have to constantly talk out loud to us. Lily responded.
What she means is that you only have to think and we will hear you just fine. Rose explained.
Is this better? I gave it a try.
That is fine. Rose let me know.
I had to admit, talking to them out loud did make me feel silly. I was happy to learn there were other means of communication.
So you two knew my father? I began with the obvious question.
Not really, all we know is what you were just told. Lily did not give me the response I was expecting.
I don’t understand, my mom just said that you two were with him. I asked, wanting a more detailed explanation.
What she doesn’t know is that our memories of your father are sealed so that we can only access them if he were to hold us. We know about ourselves all the time of course, but we must have contact with a person in order to recall our memories about them. Rose’s explanation was a little clearer.
It’s like a security thing. Lily was making more sense now as well.
I could tell from our little bit of conversation that the two sisters had different personalities. I wondered how weapon personalities developed. That question would have to wait. I needed to know how to use these two in combat.
My mom mentioned that you will complement my own abilities. I wondered. How does that work?
Give us a try and find out. Lily’s suggestion was simple enough.
Lily was in my left hand and I swung her across my body. I felt the sword catch the air and pull it along with her movements. After I finished swinging there was movement in the bushes in front of me. Suddenly the top of the bush fell off. There was a clean cut across the top of the hedge.
Oops. Guess I shouldn’t practice with you two here. I would have to find a better spot to train. I didn’t want to leave the backyard cut up the day before I left. That’s definitely cool though. You girls are pretty awesome.
Damn right we are! Lily was all for being awesome.
Since I didn’t want to train anymore out here I decided to go back inside and spend the rest of the day with Mom. Starting tomorrow, I would have to stay in my dorm room, and couldn’t return home until the school year was over.
I went back inside and continued talking with my mom. Once it was late, I headed up to my room and went to bed. I would have a big decision to make tomorrow.
Chapter 2
I woke up the next day at dawn. The shift in the temperature of the air that occurs at daybreak would wake me out of bed every morning like clockwork. I had tried before to go back to sleep after sunrise, but never with any luck.
I grabbed my uniform from the closet and tucked the sisters into the sash and under my jacket. Although uncomfortable, it was the only place on the uniform I could put them. After a quick apology to the sisters, I promised to buy a proper sword sash as soon as I could.
Once dressed, I headed down stairs. The lights were still off which meant mom was still asleep. We had taken care of our goodbyes last night anyway. I grabbed a couple of cookies and headed out the door. Once out, I went Elemental and disappeared into the wind, only to reappear on campus, close to the Center Square. I finished the cookies and then tucked my hands into my jacket pockets.
I started making my way to the Center Square. I enjoyed the mild weather on my walk. Nice and calm, designed to ease any tensions students might have about starting the new school year. I remembered my own tensions my first year, mostly caused by wondering how I would do at the school with the pressure of success on me. Eventually, I calmed down when I realized that the other students were just as nervous as I was.
As I walked into the Square I saw three booths lined up inside, each of which was numbered from one to three in Roman numerals to indicate which class a student should check-in with. I walked over to the booth with the ‘III’ above it. There was a woman at the booth.
“Can I get your name please?” The woman asked.
“Brandon Marlowe.” I responded.
“Okay, let me see, let me see” she scanned the list in front of her. “Ah, here we go. You’re assigned a new uniform. What size would you like?”
“Medium will be fine.”
The woman reached into one of the large boxes behind them. She pulled out a smaller box and set it down in front of me. I opened it and saw the new uniform I would have to wear. It looked identical to the one I was currently wearing. The only difference was an additional three white bands at the cuffs of the pants and jacket. The bands must be an indication of my Philosopher class status.
“You will need to wear this uniform starting tomorrow.” The woman informed me. “For now you will only need to wear the hat. The uniform is self-cleaning like the last one. The tailor will be able to fix any tears you may put in it, you know the drill.” I did. In a combat school, tears were common. All students knew where to find the tailor to have their clothes fixed.
“Is that everything?” I asked just to make sure.
“Yep, that’s it.” The woman responded. “Enjoy your first day of class.”
No offense, but I wouldn’t want to wear your uniform. Lily felt the need to chime in.
I didn’t really disagree with her. I always believed that the uniforms were designed to be boring so that students would have another reason to join a squad. Students in squads could wear whatever they wanted to school. This resulted in students wearing less-than-ordinary designs to escape the sea of blue jackets.
I put on the hat and carried the box. Before I could take ten steps I heard someone calling my name.
“Brandon, over here,” The voice called to me.
I knew the student attached to that voice. It was my friend Shon Danek, the other Elemental Titan in my year. He was standing with the other two students of our group, Jake Lee and Kelly Sage.
I walked over to them.
Physically Shon was slightly taller than me. With his dark skin he constantly claimed that he was the best looking between Jake, himself, and me. He was probably right. Jake was paler and even scrawnier than me. Of course we never admitted this to Shon, since it was more fun to try and crush his monstrous ego than to agree. Kelly, with her light brown hair and average build, was the least threatening or odd looking of all.
We had become friends last year. Each of us had initially isolated ourselves from the other students after displaying our abilities to the class. The exercise was a requirement for all first year students so that the instructors could better gauge our abilities.
Shon’s problem was similar to my own, Elemental Titans were potentially dangerous to be around, and since his power was inherited from Helios, he was especially dangerous. Shon, of course, made the situation worse by being a show off during the demonstration. For my display, I made a small dust storm. Shon, however, set the entire arena floor on fire. This startled most of the students, mainly due to the fact that the floor was stone. Generally, when stone begins to melt, people panic. First year students are no exception, and they began to overreact as the fire approached. In reality, Shon was in full control and there was no real danger, but Shon didn’t feel like sharing this fact with the group. It wasn’t until Kelly used her linking ability that the students felt his control and finally calmed down.
Kelly’s power gave her the ability to link any number of consciousnesses together. While I found the experience interesting, feeling yourself in multiple places at the same time can be unsettling, and most students found the involuntary invasion of their heads to be disconcerting. Kelly’s quick-thinking to prevent a panic caused other students to isolate themselves from her at first. In time, though, she was able to ease the students’ apprehension. Kelly proved herself to be very adept at networking. She was good at understanding others and getting them to open up to her. In fact, the main reason people weren’t still terrified of Shon was because of the good words she would put in for him.
Jake’s was a different story. His power gave him the ability to make anything he touched invulnerable. He displayed this talent by asking the instructor to shoot him in the chest, claiming the shirt wouldn’t allow the bullet to pass through and injure him. The instructor refused at first, but eventually agreed to shoot his sleeve. The bullet bounced off, leaving no mark on the shirt or on Jake. Everyone was impressed by the ability, but students found something about Jake to be odd. It was the fact that, during his entire presentation, he did not open his eyes, not even once. As people continued to watch him, they noticed that he never opened his eyes. If an individual saw eye contact as a sign of trust, Jake would seem very distrustful. I was less concerned with eye contact, and more interested in how he was able to avoid walking into walls. Jake eventually felt the constant attention he was attracting, so over the year he grew out his hair to cover his eyes.
“You would be wearing the hat already.” Shon teased me as I walked over. I looked at all three of my friends. None of them were wearing the hat. Apparently it wasn’t as mandatory as I was led to believe.
“Fine.” I took off the hat. “What’s new?”
“Look at this guy acting all cool.” Shon responded.
“I feel out of the loop.” I responded. “Why am I cool again?”
“You’re kidding.” Kelly said. “You have to know that the whole school is buzzing about you.” Her comment didn’t leave me with many answers either.
“I left early yesterday,” I told her. “Tell me what you’re talking about already. If it’s about throwing that kid into the wall, I didn’t think it was that big a deal.” I really had no idea what they were talking about. By leaving, I had deprived myself of any gossip they heard.
“No, nobody cares about that.” Shon waived the incident off and continued. “Everyone wants to know whether or not you’ll accept Zap’s offer.”
“You mean to join his squad?” I had no idea anyone else had overheard that conversation.
“Obviously. Don’t pretend like that isn’t big news.” Kelly responded. “Zap, the ranked student who is a notorious loner, makes you an offer. That’s big.” She gestured with her hands to illustrate how big it was. “You have to tell us first.”
“Tell you what? My decision?” I knew Zap would be tracking me down later, but I didn’t realize I’d have to make the decision now.
“Of course,” Shon replied. “I say you’re too chicken to take the offer. These two say you’ll take it.” He motioned to Jake and Kelly.
“All I said is that I would take the offer.” Jake finally joined the conversation.
“Well I really haven’t decided yet.” I answered them. “I don’t really know that much about him. Maybe you guys could help. What’ve you heard?” I figured it would be a good time for finding out more.
“I just know that he’s ranked high.” Shon answered.
“I heard he did something with the Sirens.” Jake answered as well.
“He ended the war between the Sirens and the Reapers, that’s what he did.” Kelly clarified Jake’s statement. The Sirens and Reapers were both warring clans that existed in the same realm. I knew the Reapers looked like brutes but the Sirens were an elusive race, not much was known about them. All that was known is they had been at war since anyone could remember. I wondered what kind of man could have brought peace to these two. “The guy is mysterious though, I asked around and nobody could tell me how he did it.”
“Who does something like that and doesn’t tell the world how?” Shon wasn’t buying the hype, “Sounds too good to be true, if you ask me.”
So the guy had a mysterious side to him. This was a good and bad thing for me. I hoped that as a teammate he wouldn’t be as secretive around me, but the quiet nature did go with my personality. Bragging really was more Shon’s style.
Around us, students started to leave the Square since it was time for classes to begin. For now, I would be able to avoid making a decision.
To get to class, each student had to travel through one of three Arches. Arches were the main form of travel in Tartarus. Most people traveled on foot, but for long distances this was a problem. I was unique in my ability to travel long distances easily. For everyone else, there were Arches. From the outside they looked like nothing more than two stone pillars and a stone arch connecting them.
There were three located outside of the Center Square. Each one was marked with the Roman numeral corresponding to the class it accessed. If a student from another class tried to walk through the wrong Arch nothing would happen. I made my way over to the Arch labeled ‘III’. I noticed Kelly following me.
“I guess you’re a Philosopher too.” I commented to Kelly. “I didn’t even get a chance to ask. What classes did everyone get assigned to?”
“Yeah, I got assigned to the Philosopher class.” She responded. “Jake got assigned to the Assassin class and Shon, of course, was assigned to the Soldier class.”
We walked through the philosopher Arch, our uniform boxes in hand, and emerged from the counterpart Arch located in front of the Philosopher building. We looked on our new school for the first time.
Each school was secluded from the other two. The Philosopher school was located on a tall peak, so high we almost reached the clouds.
“Shouldn’t it be colder?” Kelly asked me. I hadn’t noticed but it was the same temperature here as it was around the Center Square.
“Is it?” I asked back. “I’ve never noticed that before.”
“Before?” Kelly was confused by my statement for a moment. “You mean you’ve been up this high before.” She understood. “Elementals are crazy.”
I knew we were still in Tartarus, but I had no idea where. In my travels I had not yet located the three schools. They must have some type of protection to prevent detection.
We headed toward the building’s main entrance. The building itself had three sides visible, including the entrance. If the other side matched this side, the building would look like a large hexagon from above. As I walked into the courtyard, I confirmed the shape. The building contained the entrance hall, five separate lecture halls, and a courtyard. We made a lap around the courtyard to see the five rooms. Each was simply numbered one to five. There was a sign at the main entrance that instructed all new students to attend the ‘I’ class.
We made our way into the room. It was a lecture hall with a semicircle design surrounding a stage. For the students, there were rows of stone benches and desks that spanned across the room. Each row was higher than the one before it. If it wasn’t for the desk sitting in the middle of the stage, this could easily be mistaken for a theatre.
We sat down at the first open location we saw. I had to put the sisters up on the desk as I couldn’t sit with them in my sash.
“Nice swords, by the way,” Kelly commented. “Did you get them yesterday?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I got them as a present. They’re pretty cool.”
“I’m still trying to decide on a weapon myself.” She said. “I need a better offensive ability if I ever join a squad.”
“Yeah, you all didn’t tell me that either,” I realized. “Did anyone get an offer yesterday? I thought Shon might already be in a different uniform.”
“No.” She responded. “No real offers yesterday. A couple of people came up to talk to Shon, but no one made any real offers.”
“That’s weird.” I said. “I was sure he would be plagued by the same lame offers that always come up around this time.”
“Well you sort of scared those people off, didn’t you?” She continued. “A dramatic performance like the one you put on made people wonder what Shon might do to them.”
“Did it come off as dramatic?” I asked. “I tried to do it as politely as possible.”
“You didn’t even bother to dodge his attack.” Kelly sounded surprised I hadn’t realized the drama of my performance. “Then you effortlessly threw him into a wall.”
I knew you had a little badass in you. Go pipsqueak! Lily was obviously very amused by my actions.
Quiet, you. I responded back.
“Sorry.” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to ruin any of your chances for joining a squad. I know how badly Shon wants to join one.”
“Don’t worry about it. If Shon’s upset, it’s because he didn’t get to throw anyone into a wall.” Kelly was right. Shon loved to fight, even if the fight was unfair. “Besides, he wouldn’t have accepted, even if they had made offers.”
The man sitting at the desk on the stage stood up. The Professor’s gown he wore, black with three gold stripes on either sleeve, indicated his authority over the class. He was an older man, with wrinkled skin and thin grey hair. The Professors were all retired army members, and were usually pretty old. The class fell silent. Kelly and I ended our conversation and turned our attention to him.
“I am Professor Hardin, welcome to the first day of Philosophy 101. For the new students, I will give you a quick overview on how the class level system works. Right now, everyone in this room is a Level One Philosopher. When you graduate this class, you will become a Level Two Philosopher. It’s that simple.
This should make you think of the obvious question. How do I graduate this class? Well we have no written exams. This is how you pass.”
He held out his right hand and pointed with his index finger at a boy in the front row talking to the girl next to him.
“First path of the Philosopher: Hypnos.” He said out loud. After he completed the sentence, a white blast of light shot out from his index finger and hit the boy. All I could see was the boy collapse, face first, on the desk. The girl next to him seemed to panic as she started to shake the boy. “Don’t worry.” The professor tried to calm her. “He’s just asleep. Go ahead, check his pulse.” The girl held her hand to the boy’s neck. She must have found his pulse, because she seemed to relax.
“That is how you pass this class.” The Professor continued. “Any Human with a power can learn all five of the Philosopher spells. You learn this spell, you pass, and that’s it. On every Friday we will have a voluntary practicum. Anyone who volunteers to take the practicum and passes will be allowed to move on to Level Two. Each of the first four levels is taught by a different Professor. Level Five is taught by one of the five Generals.
Now some of you may think that this is easy, but I warn you now, it is not as easy as it looks. Yes, students have been known to learn the spell before the end of the year. Some have even learned it in a week.” I noticed that he was suddenly looking directly at me.
Was that my imagination? I wondered.
“Did he just look at you?” Kelly’s whisper confirmed my suspicions.
“Yeah,” I whispered to her. Kelly looked like she wanted an explanation. “Later.” I didn’t want to catch his attention again.
“However, some students have been in this class for years now.” He looked over at another student. “You should not take this class lightly. We meet every day, one hour for lecture and one hour for training. Class is not mandatory, but if you do not learn the spell you will never move on. I highly suggest attending lectures if possible. Your lives may depend on what we discuss that day.”
After the lecture portion was over, he dismissed us to go train. I suppose the training time was there to make sure we were practicing the spell. Kelly and I left the classroom to find a place to train. I made sure to take the sisters with me. I didn’t want them to feel left out. We were surprised to find the courtyard empty.
The location was spacious. Surrounding the courtyard were rows of pillars. They were not so big that someone could be hiding behind them, so we would know if someone was watching us. The only object in the courtyard besides benches was a statue in the center. This would be as good a place as any to practice.
Kelly cursed and turned to me, “I forgot my bag. I don’t want anyone to walk off with it. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. I’ll wait.” I wanted a moment alone anyway. I had to test out a theory. I pointed with my index finger at the statue in the center. “First path of the Philosopher: Hypnos.” An energy sensation started to build up in my hand. I willed it out through my finger. Sure enough, a white blast left my finger and struck the statue. “Damn.” I muttered out loud to myself. I was afraid of that.
I thought it was good. Lily mentioned.
I didn’t want it to be that easy. I responded.
Kelly returned, bag in hand.
“So are you going to tell me?” She asked me. “Why the Professor looked at you in the middle of class?”
“He probably knew my brother.” I answered. “He may have even taught him.”
A look of surprise came over Kelly’s face. “You have a brother?” I couldn’t blame her for not knowing, I hadn’t mentioned Kevin to anyone.
“Well,” I answered. “Technically I had a brother. He died a few years back, but he was pretty important when he was alive. I think he was the student who passed this class in a week.”
“In a week?” She sounded stunned. “It usually takes a year to learn this spell. He must’ve been amazing.”
“Well, before he died, he was a Prime.” I continued. “I guess he had to be strong.”
Kelly paused for a minute. She seemed to be thinking the statement over. “Your brother was Kevin.” I was surprised she knew his name.
“Yeah,” I responded. “How’d you know?”
“I‘ve looked over the list of former Primes.” Kelly answered. “I always wondered why the last one shared your name. It was too recent to be your father and I didn’t know you had a brother. How come you never mentioned him before?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I thought you’d think differently of me or something.” I lied. The truth was I had and still have a difficult time dealing with Kevin’s death. His death had hit me hard and because it was a mystery to me, I had never really gotten over it. My main goal, while enrolled at this school, was to find out what had happened to him.
“Oh don’t be silly.” Kelly responded. “You’re still you. Now let’s practice the spell.” She raised her index finger up and repeated the spell. Nothing happened.
I had to decide now, to either reveal that I had learned the spell or keep it a secret. Keeping a secret from Kelly was nearly impossible. She could read people like no other. On top of that I wasn’t sure how to fake not knowing the spell. As far as I was concerned, it was luck that the spell had worked the first time. I didn’t really know what I was doing yet.
I decided.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Kelly looked confused by my question. I raised my finger toward the statue. “First path of the Philosopher: Hypnos.” The energy built up again. It left my hand as a white blast, striking the statue.” Kelly looked stunned.
“That’s amazing.” She stammered. “How – how did you do that?”
“I just spoke the spell.” I answered. “I really don’t know the secret or anything – could you not tell anyone about this? I kind of have a fear of the spot light.”
Kelly thought over my proposal. “I have a counter-offer.”
A counter-offer? I asked myself. I had no idea what she could be talking about.
“You teach me the spell and we’ll pass the class together. That way, I get to learn the spell too and I’ll take half the spot light off of you.” Her proposal was tempting. I didn’t really feel like staying in the Level One class for an entire year.
“Okay.” I agreed, “But like I said, I really don’t know the secret or anything like that. I just feel it build up inside me.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Kelly seemed happy with my response. “This won’t require any lecturing on your part.” I began to think over what she could mean by this. I got it.
An instant later I was staring at Kelly and at the same time I was staring at myself. Kelly had used her power to link us together. “Now do the spell again.” Kelly ordered. I repeated the motions and words. The blast struck the statue for the third time. This time the spell felt even more natural than the previous two times. Kelly broke the link.
She raised her index finger at the statue. “First path of the Philosopher: Hypnos.” This time the white blast left her finger. Success! “It didn’t feel the same as when you did it. It felt, I don’t know, sharper maybe.”
“That’s natural.” I responded. “The feeling will fade after a few times.” She cast the spell again and smiled.
“Yeah,” she responded, “I see what you mean.”
We agreed to take the practicum together on Friday. For the remainder of the hour, we repeatedly shot the statue in the courtyard. When the hour expired, we headed back to our seats in the classroom.
Once all the students had returned to their seats the Professor took the floor again.
“I hope everyone made good use of the time. Before you leave, I will remind you that practicing spells on unwilling students is strictly forbidden. Anyone caught doing so will have to answer to the Phoenix Man himself. I guarantee you that no one wants that.”
Phoenix Man was the nickname given to the Master General. He was the man at the top of Tartarus’ command structure. As his nickname implies, he inherited his power from the legendary creature, the Phoenix. His ability has allowed him to live out multiple life spans. He was the one who founded the school over two thousand years ago, using it as a safe haven for Humans with powers, to protect them from the Gods of Olympus. His strength is rumored to be great enough that even Zeus fears him.
“Okay. Class dismissed.” And like that, class was over. Kelly and I headed out of the building and back through the Arch.
As we came through the other side, I expected Zap to be waiting for me, but he was nowhere to be seen. We took a few steps away from the Arch and that all changed.
A bolt of lightning came from the sky and landed about fifty feet from where Kelly and I were standing. We both covered our eyes from the flash. When we removed our hands Zap was walking towards us. This man knew something about making good entrances. I would have to work on my own in order to keep up with him.
He walked up to me. He was not dressed as casually today. While he was still wearing his hat with the ‘I’ and lightning bolts on it, he had a long dark blue coat on with a more professional look overall. Although I couldn’t see for certain, it appeared he had a gun holster sash on under his jacket.
“Have you made your decision?” Despite wasting no time in asking me, his tone was casual.
I had thought about this decision all day, but I was finally ready to answer.
“Yes.” The answer was simple. “I’ll join.” I didn’t know him yet, but Kevin had trusted him, and he seemed to be a good person from what I had heard. I also hoped he might be able to give me an insight into my brother’s death, but for now I could trust him.
He smiled at my answer. I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Good to hear, kid” I turned to see the woman connected to the hand on my shoulder. I recognized her as the woman who had waited in the shadows for Zap yesterday. She was slightly taller than me. With her short strawberry blonde hair, summer dress, and boots, she did not seem very military.
“This is Sadie Pelorum.” Zap introduced her. “She will be our Assassin.” She held out her hand for me to shake.
“Isn’t this exciting?” She said as I shook her hand. I nodded.
“We’ll need to head out.” Zap motioned for me to follow him. Sadie went to his side.