Rising from the Abyss Rising from the Abyss - Chapter 11

Filled with anticipation, as well as a large dose of trepidation, Yaric made his way down to the training field. His crisp grey training uniform was rippling slightly in the brisk early morning breeze. Yaric had woken early, and was already on his way to the food hall when the rising sun lit up the wispy clouds lazily gliding high above. He had eaten lightly and so found himself walking down to the training field when the suns rays finally started lighting up the grounds below.

Yaric was far from the first out, as students were already scattered across the training ground. Closest to him, students stood in a formation as they walked across the field doing lunges, while further away a scattered group jogged across the field, only to turn and sprint back once they had reached the far end, repeating their run over and over. There were also lone individuals running around the periter or sitting off by themselves as they stretched.

Despite the number of students on the field, Yaric was actually early, but his nerves hadn’t allowed him to wait in his room, so he had decided to head straight out and wait for his instructor to arrive. He didn’t need to wait in the end, as his instructor was already on the field, shouting corrections to the students doing the lunges.

Yaric moved off to the side, not sure if he should interrupt to indicate his presence, or quietly wait his turn. There was no reason to worry though, as the instructor started walking sideways in Yaric’s direction after just a minute, still facing the formation of students and adding instructions to individual students by na, before turning to face Yaric and walking over briskly with a smile on his face.

“Good! You’re early. Let’s see if you’re as diligent after your first day training.”

“Yes, Battle Mage Trokhym!”

Hiawatha chuckled loudly, before carefully studying Yaric with an even wider smile, amusent twinkling in his eyes. The stern discipline and abrupt manner from the weapons tests stood in start contrast to the man before Yaric now, energetic and practically radiating happiness. Not even his massive 7ft fra, impressive black beard, or long hair tied off behind his head could hide the fact that this was a man who enjoyed what he did - and enjoyed it imnsely.

“It would seem you have been diligent in many things since your arrival. Good! I hope to see this continue.”

“Yes, Battle Mage Trokhym!”

Another laugh bood out as Hiawatha raised his palm to Yaric. “No need for that here on the training grounds. You aren’t in the Legions. No, those pushovers wouldn’t survive a single day here! We will see if you survive yours!” Hiawatha laughed yet again. “When we’re down here, simply address as ‘Instructor’. Since you are early, you have made more ti to improve yourself! Let us not waste it, we will start right now!”

Hiawatha gestured around the periter of the field. “You can start with a warmup jog. Keep going until I co get you.” Hiawatha imdiately turned around and started walking away, his expectation for Yaric to begin imdiately made very clear.

Yaric quickly turned to his right and began to run around the periter of the field. The season by now had firmly shifted into sumr, and the air was already warming up significantly despite the early hour of the day. Running was easy for Yaric, as he was used to running everywhere when just going about his day. The first corner seed to co quickly, then the second, and the third. 15 minutes after he started, Yaric had run around the entire field and was going past his starting point. Hiawatha didn’t turn around.

Yaric carried on, completing a second lap, panting as he passed his starting point again. Still Hiawatha kept his focus on the squad now doing jump squats. Yaric slowed down slightly to see if Hiawatha would look his way, but there was no response, so he quickly sped back up and carried on.

The ‘warmup’ had continued for five laps, and Yaric was just coming around to finish his sixth when he noticed Hiawatha waiting for him beside the field. After over an hour and a half of running Yaric was very out of breath, and his legs were starting to feel heavy, but still he made sure to keep his speed all the way up to Hiawatha.

“Good! Very good! Now that you are ward up, we can begin!” Hiawatha exclaid; his exuberance completely unjustified in Yaric’s opinion. “Start with pushups. Drop where you are, I want you to go to 100. All the way down!”

Yaric barely managed 40, and on his 43rd he wasn’t able to get himself back up again.

“Hmmm… Disappointing. Disappointing but not unexpected… Roll over. Now, crunches! 100 as well.”

Yaric hadn’t even started to catch his breath, but he rolled onto his back and started with his sit-ups.

“No! Not like that! Here, move your feet there! Keep your lower back down!” Hiawatha began making adjustnts to Yaric’s form as he continued, standing back only when he was satisfied.

This ti Yaric made it to 56.

“Good! You are trying. The crunches were not so good! Now, stationery lunges! 100! Begin!”

Yaric started the lunges, stepping forward and then back to the start, his legs quickly starting to burn. He was surprised when he didn’t even reach 40, and that was with alternating sides. By the ti he had made it to 20 his legs were already shaking.

“We have much to work on! Go for another run to catch your breath. Then we will continue!”

Yaric hesitated for a second, expecting to see so sign of Hiawatha joking, but Hiawatha returned his stare with one of his own, his expression perfectly serious. Yaric turned and started running again, this ti completely bemused. His legs felt like lead, and each lap took almost 20 minutes now. He made his way around for 3 laps before Hiawatha stepped back to the side of the field to intercept him.

The entire morning continued like this, laps followed by a series of basic exercises where he stood, followed by more laps. Yaric was running his fourth set of laps when Hiawatha stopped him. “Go get yourself so lunch, and be back here in an hour. Don’t change!”

Yaric had to jog to the food hall, as there wouldn’t be ti otherwise. His legs felt like limp noodles, and his whole body ached, but he knew he would need to eat before he continued so he ran anyway. The food hall was busy, even with only ribbon holders getting lunch there was still plenty of people around. Yaric truly appreciated the chilled water for the first ti, and finished 3 glasses with a small al before heading back quickly.

The afternoon was very different. Hiawatha took Yaric to an open area in the field itself, and started taking him through various standing exercises. Every stance he put Yaric in was examined in excruciating detail, with Hiawatha correcting minute issues he identified in his stance. Yaric couldn’t hold any stance for even 2 minutes before his muscles started screaming, but he grit his teeth and pushed himself through it. After 2 hours of moving through new stances, then going back to previous ones, Hiawatha started teaching Yaric how to move from one stance to the other.

“No, no! You cannot hold your arm limp like that! Firm. Firm! That’s it! Good!” Hiawatha’s continued excitent at Yaric’s torture started to wear thin, but Yaric continued to bear it, forcing himself to hold his stance.

“Good! We will go through all of these again tomorrow, so do not forget! I want to see you repeat all of this without showing you again! One more lap around the fields, then you can go. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Yes Instructor!”

Hiawatha just shook his head and turned back to a squad that had been sparring behind Yaric the entire afternoon. Now that he looked again, he was sure it was the sa group that had been doing lunges across the field when he had arrived at the training field earlier.

As he watched, a stocky boy, 14 at most, was launching a flurry of punches and low kicks towards a girl around the sa age. Her long obsidian black hair was tied up behind her, but still flew around violently as she frantically twisted and shifted, retreating as her arms blurred, blocking every strike. Suddenly, she stopped, actually moving slightly forward towards the advancing boy, her strike going right through his punches and stopping him dead. The boy fell backwards, winded but still glaring up at her as his face turned crimson.

Yaric chuckled a little at the look on the boy’s face as he turned to run his last lap before his only other class for the day. That last lap seed to take an entire day, his body barely listening to him as he kept forcing one foot in front of the other. Finally, he had finished, and very slowly made his way back to his room.

After a shower and change of clothes, Yaric was making his way to the building with his last class, where he would be taught exercises to try and rejuvenate his atrophied affinities. The building wasn’t what he expected, having another reception desk like the student counselling building had. It only took a mont to explain why he was there to the student running the reception, and he quickly found out that he was here for an appointnt, not a normal class.

Yaric didn’t have to wait long before he was taken down a passage to the side of the reception desk, and into a small room with a long table, 6 chairs placed on either side. No one else was there, so when the receptionist left him Yaric just stood awkwardly beside the table, not knowing what he should be doing while he waited. He was still standing 10 minutes later when the door finally opened.

“Prospect Yaric?” the man asked as he walked in, extending his hand.

“Yes sir,” Yaric replied, as he shook the man’s hand.

“I am Apprentice Jas and I will be assisting you with your rehabilitation. Sit.” He said, gesturing towards the table. Yaric took a seat, as Jas moved to the other side of the table and sat as well, before placing 2 grey cubes on the table.

“I understand that your atrophied affinities are believed to be related to fire and lightning?” Jas asked.

Yaric nodded as he replied, “Yes, Apprentice Jas. Although I don’t know how certain that is.”

Jas smiled. “There’s no need for concern, I just like to make sure the information I received is correct. It’s not hard for the wrong paperwork or note to be passed along. Also, you should know that these exercises can’t hurt you no matter what affinities you should have, they just won’t be of any help.”

Jas picked up one of the cubes, turning it over in his hands. “This is a training cube. The most common use for these would be to practice your dexterity with manipulating arcana of various affinities. In your case, you will simply be practicing pushing arcana into the cube with one hand, while trying to draw arcana back through your other. The purpose is simple. The arcana you channel into the cube will be converted into a basic affinity, lightning in this instance, which you will draw back through your body, around, and into the cube again, completing a cycle.”

There was a very solid sounding thump as Jas placed the cube back on the table. “Converting arcana that you yourself have pulled, and channeling that converted arcana back through your body will help your soul regain its sensitivity. There is no guarantee mind you. But if you channel each affinity through your body for at least 30 minutes each day, you will most likely start rejuvenating your affinities within a few months to a few years, depending on how badly they have atrophied.”

Yaric was very disappointed at the ntion of how long it would take, but resigned himself to getting started as soon as possible. Jas pushed the cubes across the table, and Yaric reached out and picked the closest one up. It weighed far more than he had expected, and he shifted his arm so his elbow was below the cube to more easily hold it up.

“You can hold the cube while it rests on a table or any other surface, so long as you are holding it with both hands. You need to work on 2 affinities, so I would suggest you pick one to do in the morning, and one in the evening. Keeping them spread out could help you regain your sensitivity faster.” Yaric nodded.

“I need to make sure you can channel arcana efficiently enough before you go, so give the first one a try.”

Yaric hadn’t had very much experience channeling arcana, having only ever done it twice before. It took several tries before he managed to push his arcana into the cube, and 2 dozen more before he was able to draw the arcana back in through his other hand and cycle it back around. His success was obvious, as this was the lightning cube and his whole body started tingling uncomfortably as soon as he had managed to draw the aspected arcana back through his body.

“That is good enough. You will need to practice more than half an hour a day just to get it right for the required 30 minutes, but you should be well on your way within a week or two. This will also help you when you start learning to channel properly - you’ll have months of experience over your classmates.”

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Yaric nodded again. “Thank you, Apprentice Jas. Do I co here for the exercises?”

Jas smiled. “No, those are yours for as long as it takes to get your affinities rehabilitated. Just don’t lose them! The fine is excessive,” he added.

“Thank you, I won’t.”

“Well that is all you need for. You should start your practicing tonight, just on the first cube, and continue with the other when you wake up tomorrow morning. We will still have next week’s appointnt just so I can check that you are progressing properly with your channeling. Once I am happy with how well you can do your exercises, I will change your weekly appointnts to monthly. There is no need to et so often.”

Both of them stood up, and Jas shook Yaric’s hand as he said goodbye. Yaric found his way back to the reception area and went straight to his dorm room, the cubes held awkwardly against his chest with his hands under them. They really were very heavy.

Once they were dropped off and safely in his room, Yaric made his way back to the food hall for dinner, and afterward sat at his small desk as he tried to channel arcana through the lightning aspected cube. His progress was very intermittent as the flow of arcana dropped repeatedly, but he persevered until he felt he had completed at least 30 minutes of total ti channeling.

Once he was done, Yaric lay back on his bed, staring up at his ceiling. His whole body ached as he worried about how he would be able to sleep and be ready for the next day when he could barely move without sothing hurting. Yaric fell asleep almost before he completed that thought.

Each day progressed in much the sa way. Imdiately upon waking, Yaric would channel arcana through the fire cube, gritting his teeth through the burning sensation that spread through his body. One of the weirdest aspects of this was the burning without burning, as nothing actually happened despite the sensations he felt.

The mornings were dedicated to pushing himself to his breaking point, followed by a small lunch, and then his combat training. Yaric had been surprised to find that he spent most of his ti standing in specific stances and holding them, or practicing moving from stance to stance. His evenings were dedicated to channeling arcana through the lightning aspected cube before falling into a deep sleep every night. So days were spent with the sun beating down, others in pouring rain. Nothing interrupted students and their training however.

Once a week, Yaric would shower after his training session, grab a very large al, then run off to et with Healer Faruk Bell. In the beginning, their sessions together had continued much the sa way as the first had, with Yaric spending a lot of ti talking about his life before moving to the Academy, but soon Faruk shifted their conversations to Yaric's life inside the Academy. The healer seed much more concerned about how Yaric was coping at the mont than he was about Yaric's past. He kept waiting for Faruk to start giving him feedback, but Yaric still found himself doing most of the talking during each session, though they were far more comfortable now. Yaric found that he liked the dwarven healer, and he was often the only person that Yaric spoke to during the day, outside of Hiawatha of course. It also gave him the opportunity to swing by the food hall on the way back, where he could still grab himself another helping. All the training he was doing turned him into a bottomless pit.

It was just over a month before Battle Mage Trokhym changed the training up, running Yaric through so basic strikes and blocks. Even better, Hiawatha had had his class subjects like math and science temporarily dropped. He would only be starting those once he joined in with a proper class.

Even this new training surprised Yaric, as they spent a lot of ti making small adjustnts to the position and movent of his body as he went through each strike. He had to practice each movent slowly, always concentrating on the position of his entire body, from his shoulders and elbows to his hips, knees and feet. All thought of maximizing combat training over physical training had disappeared, forgotten in a far off corner of his mind.

Learning to strike and block ca with another major change. He finally had a fellow student join him, as a 6th year nad Chris was brought over by Hiawatha to help Yaric practice the ‘feel’ of combat.

Most of it felt like a waste of ti. The two of them placed the back of their hand against the other’s hand, and with feet firmly planted, spent hours trying to push or pull the other over. Chris was clearly holding himself back significantly, but Yaric still won less than 1 in 5 practices.

Halfway through the third month Yaric was taught multiple forms, chaining the strikes and blocks into sequences, all of them perford while in the various stances he had been taught in the beginning. His focus was now split, trying to rember the next technique in the form he was practicing, while simultaneously focusing on the technique itself, as Hiawatha relentlessly corrected Yaric over the most minute imperfection.

Only once Yaric could move through each of his forms without pause was he introduced to Emily, and his morning training was drastically reduced to accommodate this. The change hit Yaric like a bucket of cold water. 'I forgot, I need to spend more ti on combat training!'

Fortunately, the realization ca due to a change that did exactly that. Physical training in the morning was shortened by half, with the rest of the morning now dedicated to practicing his forms and techniques.

It had been less than four months by now, and the heat of the long sumr days that had plagued Yaric through his most of his training was just beginning to relent. Yaric was capable of far more intense training already, pushing past the 100 mark with pushups, crunches and multiple other exercises weeks earlier. One of Yaric's biggest difficulties recently was the heat, not his fitness.

The ti that had been created was now dedicated to training with a partner. Hiawatha himself spent so ti with Yaric each day, making Yaric attempt to strike him while he shifted and twisted. “Focus on the distance, you are too far away for that punch to land! Advance faster! Good!” The Battle Mage placed a lot of focus on controlling the range between Yaric and his opponent and moving in and out as needed.

Sotis this was flipped, with Yaric desperately trying to dodge and block as Hiawatha relentlessly hounded him, attacking from seemingly everywhere at once and never letting up. It was when Hiawatha had to shift his attention back to other students that he brought Emily over, with Emily taking over Hiawatha’s role.

This made Yaric feel much better, at least when he was on the attack. Where Hiawatha was like smoke, looming over Yaric like a mountain, but moving like a mirage on the wind, Emily was just exceptionally good, and Yaric was even able to force her to block on rare occasions. Defending was exactly the sa however, as Emily was easily able to keep Yaric at his limit constantly. In so ways it was even worse. Emily was happy to push Yaric slightly harder, allowing so of her strikes to penetrate Yaric’s defenses on occasion, leaving him sore and bruised each day.

The biggest improvent over the last month had definitely been the simple interaction with other students. Yaric hadn’t realized just how lonely he had been. In the beginning, each day was just one on one training, and most of that had been exercises he did alone. Even when interacting with others, it was only ever with Battle Mage Trokhym. The rest of his ti was spent alone in the food hall, or alone in his room. Training with Chris and now Emily as well was a drastic improvent for Yaric. Yaric hadn’t even known about the Solstice Tournant being held until they had told him, and was shocked to discover it had started and already ended without him noticing a thing.

The next 2 months continued in the sa vein, and the improvent was remarkable. That was not to say that Yaric was even remotely a match for Chris or Emily, but considering he had known absolutely nothing beforehand, Yaric’s developnt was significant.

Again things continued in a routine, until 6 months to the day after arriving at the academy, sothing new happened. Yaric had a visitor.

He had just completed a lap around the fields early that morning, when he saw Battle Mage Trokhym standing off to the side again, but this ti talking with a woman. She was tall, at least as tall as Yaric himself, and the way she stood seed to broadcast her strength and power. Her lithe fra was relaxed even when talking to such a renowned Battle Mage, and her red hair seed like flas down her back as the light from the rising sun caught it.

Both of them turned to Yaric as he approached, and the woman imdiately smiled and started walking toward him.

“Hi! I am Apprentice Rebekka, High Wizard Chen’s apprentice.” She introduced herself as they neared. Yaric started slightly at her title, surprised she was only an Apprentice.

“Uh, hello, I am Prospect Yaric. Pleased to et you.” Yaric responded formally. His training was definitely paying off, as he replied smoothly with barely a hint of being out of breath.

Rebekka’s bright green eyes seed to sparkle as she laughed. Her voice was much lower when she continued. “Lloyd asked to check up on you. He wanted to make sure you were progressing ok.”

Yaric hesitated a mont, subconsciously glancing toward the Battle Mage. Hiawatha imdiately stepped forward, however. “He works hard. I won’t deny that there are so areas where he could be further ahead, but overall, his progress is above expectation.”

“My Sponsor will be pleased to hear that. Or perhaps I should say, his Sponsor will be pleased to hear that.”

“Good! Though that fool is always pleased with himself…”

Rebekka laughed with him, completely at ease while joking at her Sponsor’s expense.

“How long until you will be moving him into a regular class?”

Yaric watched the back and forth intently, very interested to hear the answer himself.

“Not long, not long. Maybe 3 or 4 more months.”

Yaric’s jaw dropped. He had been told 3 to 6 months initially, and had just reached the 6-month mark, the very limit of the ti period initially discussed. He had been dreading moving into a class while so far behind, and working as hard as he could to catch up with his combat training. Now staying for another 3 to 4 months was just thrown out like it was obvious to anyone?

Hiawatha laughed at the look of shock on Yaric’s face. “What did you think boy? You thought you were ready to move on so soon?”

“No Instructor!”

“Then what it is? You look like you just found out that this is an academy of magic!” Hiawatha’s laugh bood across the training grounds. Even Rebekka was smiling teasingly.

“The extra ti, Instructor. I was told I would only get 3 to 6 months before I had to join a class.”

Hiawatha was smiling broadly. “I told you you will move on once I feel you are ready. And you are not yet ready!”

Rebekka was smirking as she added. “No wonder Lloyd likes him, they’re very similar. I see Yaric here also thinks he can handle anyone.” Yaric’s face turned crimson. “Just joking. You need to relax more. With Lloyd as your Sponsor you will probably have a lot of teasing thrown your way, get used to it!” Rebekka laughed.

“Well, I need to get back. Please let know if there are any changes or problems.” Hiawatha nodded at Rebekka. “I’ll be back in a month to check his progress for his Sponsor. Lazy bastard is a 15-minute walk away from here but he chose to rather walk most of the way across campus to tell to do it.”

At that Rebekka waved goodbye and walked away, not looking back.

“Well, get back to it! You are not on a break!”

Yaric took off, racing to finish his last lap and get back to his proper training. 3 to 4 months. Not a lot of ti at all, but a massive weight off his shoulders. He was going to need every day he could get!

Hiawatha seed to agree, as the very next day saw yet another change to his routine.

Training no longer ended in the late afternoon, as it now extended into the early evening. The new addition this ti was weapons training. Just like with his unard combat, weapons training started with extrely basic hands on lessons - how to hold a staff, how to move his body, basic strike and block movents, followed by learning new forms once he had the individual techniques down well enough that Hiawatha lost his disappointed expression and started smiling again.

The practice session Yaric had with Chris and Emily continued as before, but the ti spent practicing the exercises he did with them was shortened, as he had started sparring with both for the final half of each lesson.

If the unard combat had seed difficult, the weapons training was completely overwhelming. There was just so much Yaric needed to learn, and no where near the ti required to learn it all. Hiawatha compromised, choosing to focus on just the staff and eventually spear, followed by adding the short sword to Yaric’s practice.

Yaric barely progressed beyond learning individual techniques and basic movents. The staff was not too difficult, but it was a shock just how different the spear techniques were. Yaric had assud that there would be a lot of cross over, but there was far less than he had thought. Each weapon had its own range of unique applications, which Yaric was relentlessly drilled in.

The thought of how much ti he had already spent at the Academy was mind numbing - 9 months had passed in a blur of exhaustion of training. The weather had shifted from blazing hot to slightly chilly, then very cold, and each morning saw a thick crust of frost across the fields and often banks of fog as well. Life at the mill was a distant mory, just like the few tis he got to play gas with his friends seed like a fading dream. Still, the further Yaric got, the more determined he beca to push forward.

Rebekka had co to follow up on his progress twice more, each ti having long conversations with Hiawatha before spending a couple of minutes talking with Yaric, then leaving to report back to Lloyd. Lloyd himself seed to be constantly busy. Yaric hadn’t seen him since that day in the Council Chambers 9 months earlier. Lloyd now seed more like a distant figure, as Yaric had only spent around a week with him after they t, and hadn’t seen him again.

Still, his training continued, almost every waking hour involving learning or practice. The focus seed to have shifted slightly, as more ti was made for practicing his new weapons forms. Yaric found his hands were often raw and blistered as he moved through the forms over and over again.

Finally, as the 10th month at the academy started, Hiawatha called Yaric over. “Good news! Soon you will be joining in with your new class. Never fear! You will still be practicing one on one with for a few hours each day. You can’t skip the other weapons you have to learn! But these next few weeks we will be focusing on perfecting what you already know. There is no ti to learn sothing new.”

“Also, the Winter Solstice Tournant is coming up. That will be your day off before starting with your new class. I want you to pay attention! There is much that can be learned when watching the tournants. They are not life and death, but they are the closest to it that you will get outside of real battle. Everyone fights for keeps. Look. Listen. Learn! Next tournant, you will be competing too! I don’t expect you to do more than simply survive, but you better have so idea of what is expected of you!”

For the rest of that month, Hiawatha replaced Chris and Emily, training one on one with Yaric personally again. Hiawatha still spent most of his ti with other students, leaving Yaric to practice individual techniques and forms, but they spent 2 to 3 hours each day training together.

Yaric now understood better just how much of a difference ti made, and realized just how far behind he would really be. All he could do was continue working on himself. Keep pushing himself to catch up.

The private training had worked wonders, however. The person he was today was drastically different from the boy who had first walked through those large gates just under 10 months ago. Having spent almost all of his ti training since then, Yaric did feel like, in many ways, he had not changed at all, having had so little interaction with the thousands of people throughout the Academy. He could honestly say he had made no friends here. He didn’t even know the nas of anyone in the sa year as himself.

But physically he was so much more than he had been. 10 months wasn’t long considering the changes he had undergone, but he was now so much faster and stronger. And his fighting capabilities, while laughable within the confines of the academy, were significantly better than anyone back in Clery. Less than a year had passed and Yaric would be the match for anyone back ho. Not that any of them had any proper training at all, but Yaric had only recently turned 16.

All that was left for Yaric was to make so friends, get to know others in his class and regain sothing of his social life. Yaric laughed to himself at that thought. 'Not like I had that much of a social life before!' Tomorrow was the Tournant, and the next day he would finally et the people he would be spending the next decade or so living and training with. His real classes were about to begin!