The Solstice Tournant was over far too quickly. Yaric kept hoping there would be a surprise exhibition match, or so kind of announcent, but everything went exactly as expected. Nothing ever went right, unless you wanted it to go wrong.
It certainly didn’t help that a certain Arch Wizard enjoyed playing the role of Master of Ceremonies. An Arch Wizard who was likely eager to get the Tournant over with.
“You’re still worried about getting tested?” Lauren asked with concern, placing her hand gently on his shoulder.
Yaric just shrugged in return, unsure how to answer.
“I would have thought you’d be excited to get this behind you. Instead of having it looming in the background all the ti.”
“It is, it’s just…” Yaric trailed off for a mont and stared down at the last few fights of the Tournant with unfocused eyes. “No one knows what it could be. It could be anything.”
“You’re worried it’s sothing bad?”
“Could be.”
“Everyone says it isn’t, and…”
“Yes, but they can’t really know that if they have no idea what it is.”
A loud crack interrupted them as the earth erupted in the arena below. A large cloud of dust billowed up, revealing a small crater with a student hovering above, shielded and protected by the referee.
“I don’t know what spell that was,” Lauren pointed out. “But I know it was explosive, used or created pressure, and it was used offensively. Just because we don’t know what sothing is doesn’t an we don’t know anything about it.”
“I guess.”
“Besides, let’s pretend it is sothing you’re worried about. It would be that whether you go for tests or not. Only now you can do sothing about it. And you will have two Arch Wizards to help you do sothing about it. Ignoring it won’t make the problem go away. You know what will?” Lauren asked with a soft, teasing tone to her voice.
“Arch Wizards,” Yaric acknowledged.
“Two Arch Wizards,” Li Na added from her seat while rubbing her shoulders.
“Even I can tell you your fears are unfounded,” Sven suddenly added from Li Na’s other side. “Your worries sounded more like you were thinking up the worst things possible, instead of things that are most likely.”
“What things?” Lauren asked in concern.
“That Virgo stored things in his head, or put sothing there that would sabotage him. He even asked if there are parasites or the like that could inadvertently shield his mind.”
Lauren looked torn between being amused and being upset. “But we already know that spells couldn’t just sit there for so long. And none of that makes any sense. Why?”
“That’s what I said,” Sven pointed out with a nod of his head.
“How are you almost as smart as Lauren?” Li Na asked incredulously.
“I’m not.”
This ti Lauren hit his shoulder with a lot more force. “Stop doing that! You just won the Solstice Tournant! You used spells in combat! No one else in our entire year could manage even one. Look at all the privileges you’ve earned!”
“Because you guys always help wi…”
“No Yaric,” Sven interjected. “It’s the other way around.”
Sven, Lauren, and Li Na were both leaning forward in the seats now, and all three had very stern expressions.
“You showed us all the exercises for our magic class long before we started using actual magic. All of our advantages there co from you. I led the team during the Competition, yes, but I mostly just set out the strategy, with your help. You then worked out all the tactics that allowed us to achieve the strategic goals, and no one else could have done that. We’re not supporting you; you’re supporting us.”
“Yeah, and it was just and Lauren before you showed up, scared and shaking and lost.”
“I used to think you were just modest,” Lauren added, “but you still see yourself as the kid who got rescued. You’re not! Not anymore. And this is the best opportunity you will ever have to put the final part of that kid behind you.”
“But it could change everything,” Yaric protested weakly.
“What’s wrong with that?” Sven asked. “Things change all the ti. You changed how you fought today and look what happened.”
“What happened to the guy who held off over one hundred attackers?” Lauren asked, sounding frustrated. “Where’s the guy who faced down a criminal gang and pushed them back? This is the only thing still holding you back, face it like you face everything else!”
“But I am going to go do the test,” Yaric mumbled, taken aback by how forcefully everyone was arguing. “I don’t think Lloyd would stop pushing until I do.”
Lauren looked surprised for a mont, but her expression soon changed to one of determination. “You’re right you are. But it isn’t Lloyd you have to worry about!” Lauren searched his eyes for a second and her expression soon softened. “So things will never change, no matter what happens.”
Their conversation was a little too public for Yaric’s liking, even if most people were focused intently on the fights below them. He changed the subject from what he suspected was ant as an intervention.
“You know the exercises I made to try and cast spells when fighting? I think they would work better if we did them in pairs. We can make them more realistic than doing them by ourselves.”
Lauren squinted at his obvious deflection, but she didn’t call him out on it. They instead made plans to go through his routine and work together to find ways to improve it. No one said another word about the tests and Yaric’s deadline until the Tournant was over and everyone was making their way out.
“Where do you have to go for these tests?” Lauren asked. “We’ll co with.”
“No one told where to go,” Yaric admitted. “Lloyd will probably send a ssage this evening, or tomorrow.
Lloyd didn’t send a ssage. He was waiting in person outside the arena, just at the top of the hill, along with Arch Wizard Phelps.
Several students slowed down and stared when Yaric and his friends left the path to approach the two wizards. Lauren and the others ca to a stop at a respectful distance to wait, while Yaric continued for the last few ters by himself.
“Yaric,” Lloyd greeted with a nod.
“Good evening, Arch Wizard Phelps,” Yaric replied, greeting the frail-looking wizard first, before turning back to a smirking Lloyd. “Good evening. I’ve thought about the offer, and I’ve decided that…”
Lloyd’s smirk disappeared very quickly as he raised his palm to interrupt Yaric. “Hold on. Before you give us a decision, I need to make sure you understand that you have no risk of losing anything. Nothing will change no matter what happens.”
“I can guarantee that you will always have a place in our Academy,” Jaxxon added kindly.
“We don’t want you to worry unnecessarily or give up this opportunity out of fear. There is no gamble here. We’re even willing to put it in writing if it will…”
“I was going to say yes,” Yaric interjected.
“…Oh. Well then… none of that matters. I must say though, I am surprised. And confused.”
“What do I need to do now?” Yaric asked, ignoring Lloyd’s last comnt.
“Nothing today,” Jaxxon replied, taking over from Lloyd. “Get so rest, enjoy yourself. Celebrate your win, my boy. No one would begrudge you for taking so ti to enjoy yourself after your performance today. Tomorrow, you can et us before midday in the classroom where you have your magic lessons. We will have everything ready, and we will finish before lunch.”
Yaric nodded respectfully.
“Now go on. Go back to your friends, and go enjoy yourselves.”
Lauren was just about to ask him a question as he rejoined them when Lloyd called out again. “And Yaric? Well done on your win! It was very impressive.”
Yaric smiled and waved goodbye, before leaving with his friends to go and get washed up. Their passes were waiting for them, and everyone wanted to get off campus as quickly as possible. That’s why it was surprising that so many students were still hanging around in the common room.
Even more surprising, many were waiting specifically to congratulate Yaric on his win, though most were less interested in Sven being dethroned for the first ti and instead focused on his spells.
“That fire was amazing! It just washed over the shield without stopping!”
“Is it true you learned to do that while fighting criminals on one of those missions you go on?”
“How do you form spells while fighting?”
“What did you do to break Sven’s sword?”
“Can I co with you next ti you go do jobs for the Academy?”
Questions ca thick and fast, interspersed with congratulations, handshakes, and claps on the shoulder. Lauren sohow managed to say ‘told you so’ with a smile.
Luckily Yaric wasn’t the only one who wanted to get off campus, so everyone soon split off to wash up and get changed, though it quickly beca apparent that most of the class would be going out together. Li Na insisted that they finally go sowhere that would allow them to sing and led over one hundred students to one of her favorite taverns. The manager seed to swing between shock and excitent, especially when everyone settled in a dozen tables near the back.
He had no idea how fortunate he was that Li Na sat down with everyone else. No cats were going to get flogged. Not yet anyway.
Once they had their drinks and settled down, Yaric tapped his tankard against Lauren, Sven, and Li Na’s to get their attention.
“That exercise I’ve been trying,” he said loudly, then turned to face Lauren directly. “It’s easy. When I play your ga, I try to create the spell forms at the sa ti. You need to focus on the ball and keep moving it properly, but also work on creating the spell.”
“That’s why you suddenly got so bad at it!” Li Na pointed out excitedly.
“Yes, I can’t survive nearly as long when I’m making the spell form at the sa ti. But now it’s much easier to form spells when I’m doing sothing else.”
“Those gas are all for one player though,” Lauren observed. “How can we work in pairs?”
“Actually, I was thinking of doing the sa exercises without the gas. If we spar.”
“That might be too big of a jump,” Sven mused quietly.
“We can always try with the gas first and work our way to sparring,” Lauren said.
“I vote gas! We can do that from a chair.”
“We aren’t likely to be sitting down when we need to cast a spell,” Yaric remarked.
“Yeah, well, I’m going to be casting spells from the back of my horse. Sitting down. Why add extra work just so we can do double the extra work? We’ll all die young.”
“We’re immortal, Lina.”
“Doesn’t an we can’t die from overwork. You have to pace yourself. Overexertion is a killer.”
Sven left while they started to argue over what constituted ‘overwork’ and ca back with a fan of tankards in each hand.
“Yeah!”
Yaric and Lauren went to fetch another round fifteen minutes later. Li Na also left, but when she reappeared it was on the stage. The background music faded away when she walked up to the musicians and had a quick discussion. She had barely turned back to the crowd when an upbeat tune with flutes started up, quickly followed by the rest of the instrunts.
No one knew if Li Na had planned it this way, and there was no point in asking, but this ti around everyone imdiately recognized the tune and started cheering. Far from needing to get the crowd going, many people were already starting to stand when a beaming Li Na arrived at the edge of the stage.
There once was a ti, before kings were crowned,
When people lived in holes, they dug in the ground,
We were all insane,
We lived in the rain,
When our holes filled around, we sat there and drowned.
People drank from the river, but we know they were dumb,
They’d beat on the ice, until their hands were all numb,
They’d wait for the thaw,
then drink through a straw,
But they’d have been done, with a bottle of rum.
People chased all the rats, hoping to snack on their tails,
And when they grew tired, they feasted on snails,
We ate just like dogs, we wallowed like hogs,
But there’d have been no fails, with a collection of ales.
People ran from the bears, people ran from the deer,
They all ran away, and lived their whole lives in fear,
They hid on their knees, they hid up in trees,
But the brave would appear, if they would only brew beer.
Yaric saw people crowds already making their way inside, highlighted in the doorway by the last rays of sunlight. Li Na, anwhile, was skipping back and forth, pushing the quietest tables to sing along and cheering on those who were loudly swinging their drinks.
“I think Lina might have been in a tanning accident as a kid,” Yaric told Lauren.
“That’s an!” Lauren replied, shoving him gently with a mock frown and a poorly hidden smile.
A line had already ford to take a turn once Li Na was done, with almost everyone else singing.
Li Na was panting and red in the face when she got back to their table, but she looked like she was having the ti of her life.
“Phew, thirsty - Not you!” Li Na hastily added, pointing to Yaric. Yaric hadn’t moved or said a thing. “Sven can carry far more mugs than you, and I need more than one.”
Yaric narrowed his eyes while Sven and Lauren rolled theirs. Taking the challenge, Yaric followed Sven to the large counter opposite the door. It was taking far too long to be served at the tables with the crowds that were starting to arrive.
Balancing six tankards in each hand wasn’t easy when you couldn’t close your fingers, but Yaric followed Sven back, matching him drink for drink. Li Na smirked and pulled a drink from each of them.
Despite the singing and talking all around him, Yaric couldn’t keep his mind off the tests he had the next day. He would finally have so idea of what made him so unusual, and he couldn’t help but be nervous that whatever it was, people would look at him differently once they knew. Lauren was right, in so ways, he was still the student who skipped a few years and joined their class while struggling to catch up. But if he wasn’t that person anymore, then who was he?
Sven moved them all to a standing table right behind Lauren, where they were more visible, and could more easily signal for another drink. Unfortunately, they were also more visible.
No one noticed when the large group of guys walked in. There were more than two dozen, all in their mid-twenties. Yaric was roughly a year older than most of his classmates, but they were still either eighteen or very close to it. They looked young compared to the group that had just arrived.
Most went straight to the counter or started looking for empty tables, but a few turned in place and looked at the crowd around them. One of them, a dark-haired man with a finely trimd beard, quickly went to order so drinks with four of his friends.
“Hey, I’m Toby,” he said, interrupting Lauren as he sidled up beside her and slid a glass in front of her. It looked like so kind of wine. “I walked in the door a minute ago and couldn’t help but notice you standing over here.”
Lauren pivoted to stare at him in annoyance before replying with a brief but polite, “Hi.” Then she turned dismissively and carried on her conversation.
“So, are you celebrating?” Toby continued.
Lauren swiveled her head partway to look him in the eye. “No. I’m having a conversation with my friends.”
She had only just turned back when Toby placed his hand on her elbow. “I’d like to have a conversation if you don’t mind.”
Lauren let out a very exaggerated sigh. Unfortunately, Toby took that as a sign of acceptance. “What is your na, beaut…”
“Actually, I do mind. I’m talking to my friends.”
“I bought you a drink, the least you could do is have a conversation.”
Yaric felt torn. Toby hadn’t technically done anything wrong, not legally anyway. And he knew Lauren could take care of herself. But he couldn’t just stand and watch either. He’d just started walking around the table when Li Na beat him to it.
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“Hey, asshole! You can’t buy a conversation.”
Toby glared at Li Na while Lauren used the distraction to pull her elbow from his grip and turn completely around, putting Toby behind her. Ignoring her blatant dismissal, Toby grabbed her elbow again and pulled her back around, much to Lauren’s shock.
Still holding her elbow, he leaned forward with his chin tucked down, so his eyes were looking up at her. “You’re being very rude.” Despite the sickly-sweet tone, Toby said it in such a way as to be extrely condescending, as if he were telling off a small child.
“You’re being rude, asshole!”
Yaric had had enough. He moved quickly to get beside Lauren, but this ti it was Toby who beat him to it.
“Just two minutes. Get to know .” Toby placed his other hand on Lauren’s hip and started pulling her toward him. Yaric stepped forward with his hands balled into fists.
SMACK!
Toby sat on the ground, looking up at Lauren in shock. He was cradling the side of his face where Lauren had slapped him. Several tables had gone quiet when everyone stopped to see what was happening.
“I said no!” Lauren fud, trembling at his audacity.
Yaric moved to stand directly beside her while Toby got back on his feet. Both Toby and Lauren glanced at Yaric at the sa ti, Lauren with a slight smile and Toby with a scowl.
“You could have just told you were already taken.”
Lauren quickly looked back at Toby. “What? No, we…”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Yaric growled, stepping between them, “no one takes Lauren.”
Everyone around the table was watching Toby and whispering.
“Well, I always take what I’m owed,” Toby said, his face flushed in sha, pointing to the drink Lauren had knocked over when she’d slapped him. “I was just being friendly. That uptight bit…”
“Watch it!” Yaric growled.
“I am watching. The way I see it, I bought your friend a drink, and she carelessly knocked it over, then struck to boot. No, I’m owed more than a drink.” Toby turned back to his friends who had fanned out behind him. “What do you think?” he asked, jabbing his thumb back toward Yaric. “Should I get my due from this guy?”
Toby didn’t wait for an answer and instead turned back with his fist already swinging. Yaric casually blocked and stuck back.
SMACK!
Back on the floor, Toby looked up at Yaric while cradling the other side of his face, now sporting a matching, though larger, handprint. Lauren’s was already rising into a welt, and Yaric did not doubt that his handprint would as well. Toby’s friends stepped forward nacingly.
“How stupid are these guys?” Li Na asked loudly. “Attacking an arcanist in front of a hundred more.”
One of Toby’s friends was still sneering at Li Na’s comnt when another tapped his shoulder and pointed to his side.
Chelsea was holding one of the long benches in the middle and casually lifting it up and down. Eight of her friends were still seated on it.
Sighing, Yaric held out his hand, palm up. Emil’s words had stuck in his head all those months ago, but the number of tis Yaric had been put in a position to use that advice was getting ridiculous.
Flas burst into life over his hand, making Toby and his friends turn pale.
“Harassing a student from Lekton Academy, then assaulting another,” Chris called from the side. “Those are serious charges.”
“We didn’t…”
“It doesn’t matter if you knew or not, or if you ant to,” Sven said, moving from where he’d been talking to Delmar and stepping beside Li Na. “No one is going to look kindly at your behavior. What happens when the woman who gets your attention isn’t an arcanist?”
Yaric was glad that they couldn’t set things on fire with their eyes. The looks Tracy and Kaylin were giving Toby after Sven’s comnt still almost managed it. Several others were close behind.
“Don’t,” Sven warned, seeing Toby about to speak. “You were called an asshole, and you looked like an asshole, because you acted like an asshole. There’s nothing you can say that can change that. Defending what you did will only make it worse. Just leave.”
“Yeah! Or I can kick you out?” Li Na asked hopefully.
Toby and the others left quickly, clearly trying to avoid attracting attention. None of the others who had arrived with them seed to have noticed, and none of them seed to be acting similarly.
“That escalated quickly,” Lauren sighed. She looked to be in a bit of shock.
“It’s a common tactic,” Sven said sadly. “My father started teaching about tactics like that when I was nine, so I could watch out for my sister when we were older.”
“What tactic?” Yaric asked.
“When soone won’t take no for an answer, and just keeps on pushing and pushing, but they make sure to never do anything that is clearly wrong. That way you’re pressured into giving in, and the only way to stop them is to resort to violence first, making you the aggressor and the one in the wrong.”
“It doesn’t make Lauren wrong, she said no,” Yaric said angrily.
“Not respecting her choice is disrespecting her,” Li Na added sagely, drawing a few surprised glances.
“Tell that to a city guard,” Sven replied. “He spoke to Lauren? Complinted her? Maybe he refused to go away or stop talking to her, but he will just lay charges for assaulting him. If you just write down what happened on paper, he doesn’t sound so bad, and it would look like we overreacted.”
“Wait,” Lauren said, leaning toward Sven. “How were you ant to protect your sister? This tactic sounds like a trap.”
“Sorry, I didn’t see it start,” Sven apologized. “The only thod that really has any chance of working is calling attention to it. Very loudly call out that she doesn’t want his attention, and get as many people watching as possible. It’s effectively impossible for soone like that to keep pushing when the woman he’s talking to is asking him to leave her alone in front of a dozen other people. My father said many of those other people usually get involved as well. That flips everything around on the creep and puts them on the defensive.”
“I prefer Lauren’s thod!”
Yaric soon noticed that Lauren was looking back whenever soone walked behind them. She didn’t seem afraid or even nervous, but there was no doubt that she was feeling a little uncomfortable after what had happened.
“Hey, why don’t we move to that table so we can watch everyone make fools of themselves,” Yaric suggested, pointing to the table at the far side, opposite the stage.
Several people joined them at the new table, where they sat with their backs against the wall and watched student after student go up on stage and embarrass themselves. It didn’t take long for Li Na to announce that she needed to rescue the entertainnt and skip off to the stage.
“Thanks for earlier,” Lauren said, still watching the stage where Li Na was starting to sing. They both grimaced when they realized that this ti she was singing before the crowd joined in.
“No problem. You didn’t need help anyway. You’d beat him up faster than I could.”
“Doesn’t an I don’t appreciate it.”
Yaric put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her in for a quick hug. Letting go, Yaric used the sa arm to reach for his drink, but Lauren didn’t move back. Instead, she just dropped her head on his shoulder and kept on watching Li Na’s performance of ‘Banshee ets Tortured Souls’, where Li Na enthusiastically assaulted the crowd vocally until they all joined in.
Li Na skipped over several minutes later without saying a word. Everyone nearby had moved away to talk with friends, so it was just Lauren and Yaric sitting against the wall, and Li Na opposite them finishing off her drink. Yawning, Li Na stretched her arms high and shifted onto her toes before dropping down heavily.
“So tired… if only…” Li Na started looking around at the empty benches. Her face lit up for a mont when her eyes fell on Yaric, but quickly fell again. “Awww… I was going to rest on his shoulder. But Yaric is already taken.”
Li Na imdiately skipped off without looking back, heading over to where Sven was talking with Anton and Gerrick.
“What was that…”
“Ignore her,” Lauren said softly without taking her eyes off the stage. “She was in a tanning accident as a kid.”
A slow and relaxing morning quickly spiraled downhill as Yaric’s appointnt drew near.
In just an hour or two there would be no more questions about Yaric’s unusual shield. There would be answers. People would know. Dozens of aningless guesses would beco a single certainty, with real repercussions.
“You should be in the city,” Yaric said while walking toward their magic class with his friends. It was almost oppressively hot, with the sun high above them. Even their shadows were trying to hide beneath their feet.
“Do you think there’s any chance we will leave?” Lauren asked impatiently.
“I’m not going to miss the chance to find out if you have a mind!”
“Wow, thanks Lina.”
“Course. What are little sisters for?”
Yaric cracked a smile despite himself. Not even the stress of the tests kept him from feeling relieved when they walked into the cooled classroom. Runes inscribed throughout the building kept the temperature at a far more comfortable level.
“Ah, you’re here,” Jaxxon said as soon as he noticed their entry. Cory was talking to Lloyd, but he looked up as well.
“And you brought your friends,” Lloyd added.
“They will witness history,” Jaxxon announced grandly. “Co, co, we can begin imdiately.”
The equipnt they had set up was simple. A heavily reclined chair, and a small leather bag. Nothing else had been brought into the classroom.
“Co, take a seat, and I will explain what we are going to do.”
Yaric jumped onto the chair and looked up at the Arch Wizards.
“First, we are going to use several spells designed to detect your mind. So nothing more than that, a detection spell. Others are ant to detect your mind so we can initiate communication, cast illusions, or put you to sleep. We want to try a range of detection variants and test what you might resist.
“After that, with your permission, we will attempt to penetrate your defenses. There are several tests we can perform that will give us data on how your shield works.
“Lastly, we will test for thods that you can use to allow others access. Are you happy to go ahead?”
Yaric caught Lauren nodding at him from the corner of his eye and copied her.
“Excellent! If your friends could take a seat sowhere and stay out of the way, they can stay for support. Now, any questions before we start?”
Yaric watched his friends move into seats as he leaned back on the chair. “Ummm… just one. Why are we using this classroom.”
“Oh, this was just convenient. This classroom has certain protections built in to prevent accidents.”
Yaric sat bolt upright. “What?”
“Nothing to be afraid of, they are simply a precaution.”
Lloyd stepped forward with a grin. “I think Yaric’s concern stems from triggering those defenses himself. He almost caused a small explosion and likely thinks he’s in as much danger as his mug.”
“You triggered the defenses?” Cory asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, my student tried to change matter and energy into arcana,” Lloyd smirked, answering on Yaric’s behalf.
Both Arch Wizards stared incredulously at Yaric.
“What could possibly drive you to attempt that?” Jaxxon asked.
“I didn’t know we couldn’t,” Yaric mumbled in embarrassnt.
“You should know, my boy, that trying to convert sothing into arcana is sothing like pulling too hard on cloth,” Arch Wizard Phelps explained, tugging lightly on his sleeve to illustrate. “It will snap back, but it will never be the sa again. It’s impossible to predict what chemicals you will end up with. The interplay of different energies is often even more dangerous.”
“I know,” Yaric muttered quietly.
“Well, we won’t be trying that with you. Lie back and we can begin.”
Yaric lay back and closed his eyes. There were long periods of silence, but eventually Yaric thought he felt sothing. Then again. They were so light that he would never have felt anything if he wasn’t lying down with his eyes closed, but they were consistent enough that he knew he wasn’t imagining it. Soon he was lifting his finger every ti he felt sothing, looking for a pattern.
“You keep moving whenever I make contact. Can you detect my probes?” Cory asked.
“Yes,” Yaric croaked. He cleared his throat loudly and continued. “Yes. It’s very faint, but if I concentrate, I can feel sothing. I’m lifting my finger whenever I do.”
Yaric had stopped lifting his finger while he spoke, as he wasn’t able to focus properly while talking, but he soon started again.
“Remarkable,” Jaxxon finally said. “You described it like a greased ball of iron. It’s certainly solid if you manage to get hold of it. Quite impossible to do for more than a mont, however. Your description is apt.”
Yaric opened his eyes and sat up to see Jaxxon talking with Lloyd.
“My probes would slip off anyti they caught hold,” Lloyd admitted.
Jaxxon turned to face Yaric again. “If you’re feeling up to it, I would like to add another spell to the first round of tests. But I must warn you, this is not so much a probe as it is a direct attack. My probe will attempt to spear through your shield.”
“Is that necessary?” Lloyd quickly asked.
“No. It will give us so additional data, but it’s unlikely to be crucial. I am quite confident that his resistance so far is more than adequate.”
“Just do it,” Yaric said, wanting to get everything over with. He completely forgot he was talking with an Arch Wizard.
This ti he noticed it imdiately. Unlike the barely touching caresses of the earlier tests, he now felt a solid touch. As if soone had placed a dead leaf on his forehead.
The touches beca more and more insistent, until Yaric flinched when he felt what seed like a fingertip tap his forehead.
“Are you okay?” Lloyd asked.
Yaric just nodded. “Felt like soone doing this,” he replied, tapping the chair with his fingertip.
“Excellent, let’s move on, shall we?” Jaxxon barely waited for a mont before he continued his probes, which were technically part of the second phase anyway. These were different, however, as they seed designed to strike from multiple angles at the sa ti.
“Anything?” Cory asked.
“No. Just light touches from random directions.”
Jaxxon smirked slightly. “Nothing. It doesn’t appear that the number of probes has any effect.”
Li Na snorted from her chair and Yaric felt his ears burn. It hadn’t occurred to him that Cory was talking to Jaxxon.
“Alright Novice, I want you to try and accept a connection. Just repeat what you did with the Tech Duinn.”
Yaric waited for sothing to connect to.
“Is the connection difficult?” Cory asked.
“Connection? There isn’t anything trying to connect,” Yaric said, looking puzzled.
Both Cory and Jaxxon frowned and closed their eyes in concentration.
Then they moved together and attempted to combine their strength. They only tried for a minute before calling Lloyd to join them.
“Two Arch Wizards aren’t enough,” Lloyd muttered to himself. “This is ridiculous.”
Joining them, Yaric thought he might have felt sothing. He strained to feel out the connection attempt.
‘There!’
It took Yaric a mont to rember how to grab hold of the connection, but the mont he did, all three wizards flinched back with wide eyes, breaking the connection.
“Did you feel that?” Jaxxon asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Just when I thought we were getting close to an answer too.”
Yaric looked very worried at their reaction. “What is it?”
For the first ti, Jaxxon and Lloyd both looked uncertain. Cory was just as unreadable as always.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Jaxxon acknowledged. “The change was much too quick.”
“Your shield seed to suddenly disappear and be replaced with your mind, though it was still clouded,” Lloyd tried to explain.
“So I can stop the shield?”
“No, you don’t understand. Your shield was replaced. It didn’t cover your mind. I could feel your mind appear right where the impenetrable barrier was. Directly where it was.”
“Is that bad?”
“No, my boy, only interesting,” Jaxxon said, having regained his composure. “Co, let us try again.”
The three wizards worked together right from the start this ti. They didn’t flinch away again, but they did repeatedly request that Yaric connect or drop the connection. Apparently, they could only see what was happening at the mont of change.
“Hmmm… very interesting,” Jaxxon mused quietly.
“I do not believe the replacent description is accurate,” Cory said suddenly.
“Oh?”
“It felt more like a window to .”
“An impenetrable barrier that we can see through felt like a window?”
“Yes. If you watch carefully, the shield is more like a hole. I don’t know why we can’t enter, it certainly acts like a barrier, but in every other way it seems to simply be an empty hole. Instead of a shield over his mind, it appears to simply be an absence of mind.”
Li Na was trying very hard to suppress her giggles, but she failed miserably.
“What makes you say that? I got nothing of the sort.”
“It’s when he connects to us. There’s a brief instant where it’s like his mind pops into place. Like sticking one's head out of a window. It’s just an empty hole one mont, then soone inside sticks their head out. All of which makes the data I collected useless, of course.”
“Hmmm… are you up for trying again.”
Yaric stopped himself just in ti.
“Yes, if the young Novice is up to it.”
“Yes,” Yaric said, relieved to have caught himself in ti.
They repeated the test over a dozen more tis before Jaxxon was happy.
“I see what you an. I can’t see it any other way now. Though his mind is still not truly open. It’s more like a gate that can control traffic.”
“It truly is remarkable,” Cory admitted. “And Chen, you ntioned that Novice Miller failed to notice a Basilisk attacking him?”
“Yes, I had to explain what was happening.”
“I have more questions now than I did before,” Cory sighed. “If we can continue testing in the future, I would like to do so with a collection of creatures that use different mind techniques. It’s impossible for one defense to keep everything out, there is just too much variety, and so attacks use abstract concepts, but I would like to see where the limits lie.”
“You would have to ask my student about that,” Lloyd said, pointing to Yaric.
“Yes, quite.”
“Well my boy, I can confirm that you have nothing to worry about. Whatever this is, it is quite the gift.”
“But there are still questions,” Yaric observed.
“Yes, many. I’m starting to think we’ve been pointing our research in the wrong direction.”
“But if there are still questions, maybe there is a problem.”
Jaxxon smiled kindly. “Questions, yes. Problems, no. Tell , what do you know about how shields work? Even physical shields.”
“They block attacks by getting in the way or deflecting them.”
“Yes,” Jaxxon laughed. “What I an is, how much can they block?”
“That would depend on what the shield is made out of.”
“Exactly!” Jaxxon exclaid, pointing at Yaric. “Only, magical shields are essentially the sa thing. They can be entirely different from each other, sure, but they are still made with arcana, at their core. Roughly speaking, they can block attacks up to an equivalent power. If the attack has more arcana than the shield, then the shield will fail. In reality, it is far more complicated, but that is close enough.”
“So how much arcana does my shield have?” Yaric asked curiously.
“I have so suspicions, and if I’m right… none.”
“What?”
“That’s correct. Possibly the only reasonable reaction, in fact. You see, your shield seems to be impervious to all attacks, no matter how powerful. Which simply isn’t possible, yet here you are. Now that I think of it, it is more like a physical shield than a magical one. Arcana does not affect it, yet it sohow provides a barrier to arcana.”
Cory started muttering to himself at that revelation.
“And when Yaric connected to us?” Lloyd asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like he appears, but he’s not really there. Not an illusion, but not physical either.”
“More like obscured,” Cory observed.
“Yes.”
Jaxxon raised his voice slightly as if he were making a big announcent. Which in a way, he was. “I have my suspicions. Enough so that there is still a direction we can research.”
“Oh,” Cory asked in interest.
“Yes. There is a condition that seems partially related. It is very different, mind you, if you’ll excuse the pun… but there are also enough similarities that I believe it to be worth exploring.”
“I’ve never heard of a condition like that.”
“I’m sure you have, the reports are just scattered across ti, and the descriptions vary wildly. Enough that many don’t believe that they are the sa thing.”
“But you do?” Cory asked disbelievingly. “And you put this together yourself, did you?”
“Of course!” Arch Wizard Phelps sounded indignant, but his body language gave him away. “I put everything together with my own two hands. Once the healer I was talking to gave everything to .”
“Which healer?” Lloyd asked.
“A friend of yours, actually. But no matter. As I said, they are only tangentially related. It’s pure luck I ca across this to begin with. If we can find the similarities, however, we may have an avenue to investigate.”
“So you can’t tell if there was anything left behind by Virgo?” Yaric asked quietly.
Jaxxon looked up in surprise. He glanced between Cory and Lloyd before turning to face Yaric once again.
“Surely this was explained to you?” he began. “It simply isn’t possible for anything to remain, even if he had tried.”
“Why can’t it be possible?”
“Because the spells left behind are fueled by arcana. A highly skilled Mind Mage may be able to leave sothing that lasts a decade or more, in an unconnected. But soone like you? Tell , how often have you augnted yourself?”
“Like, ever?” Yaric asked, feeling confused.
“Yes.”
“I have no idea. A lot?”
“And every ti you did, you channeled arcana through your body. Arcana that would disrupt, erode, and break down any spell forms left behind. It simply isn’t possible for there to be any functioning spell forms remaining. I highly doubt there was more than one to begin with.”
“More than one?!” Yaric asked in alarm.
“I know of Den Virgo’s actions. He repeatedly cast spells on you. Soone like him would certainly put the extra effort to plant a backdoor in your mind. It makes connecting and casting further spells far easier and far more efficient. Virgo would also have been able to cast such spells from out of sight and from seemingly impossible ranges. I have no doubt he would have made such a backdoor. But like I said, there is no chance it could have survived until now.”
“So I’m definitely clean?”
“Arch Wizard certified.”
“Twice,” Cory mumbled.
“See? I told you there was nothing to be worried about.”
“Speaking of,” Arch Wizard Phelps said, interrupting Lloyd. “Would it be okay if we calculate his credits after a follow-up? It will be far easier to do once we’ve confird the direction our research will take.”
Lloyd jerked his head toward Yaric, causing Jaxxon to turn once again. Yaric only just managed to stop himself from shrugging in response. “Yes, Arch Wizard Phelps.”
“Excellent! Then we are done for now. I look forward to seeing just how powerful your shield is. We will be sure to work around your classes and appeals, so don’t worry about sudden surprise summonses.”
“It won’t matter, we’ve been restricted to the city anyway.”
“What? Why?”
“That organized cri ring they helped discover,” Lloyd inford them. “It’s for their safety.”
“Nonsense!” Jaxxon almost looked offended.
“They’ve stirred a hornet’s nest. They themselves don’t know just how bad the situation is. We can’t have them wandering around when they can’t defend themselves yet. It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s always too dangerous,” Jaxxon objected. “When they’re Apprentices, there will be Mages and Wizards to look out for, then High Mages and High Wizards. There’s always sothing more powerful just around the corner. Best they learn now!”
“You would have them leave Lekton with the situation as it is?”
“Of course! They’ve proven themselves. If by so long-lost magic soone can recognize them, they will defend themselves or call for help. But they will never be in less danger than they are now.”
Lloyd looked conflicted, but he acknowledged the Arch Wizard anyway. “I will speak with Sandy.”
“See that you do. Now I won’t keep these young students from their lunch. You are all free to go.”
The Arch Wizards were still discussing things when Yaric exited into the heat of the early afternoon with his friends. The sunlight was blinding, and the stone floor seed to radiate the heat back up, trapping them between a hamr and an anvil. One of the coldest winters Lekton had ever had had sohow been followed by a scorching sumr.
And Yaric didn’t feel a thing.
‘There’s nothing there.’
It seed unbelievable. There was no hidden trap, no nasty surprise. After spending years with a sword hanging over his head, Yaric wasn’t even sure how he felt. It was just so foreign. A weight he’d grown so used to that he never noticed was suddenly gone. Hidden threats had disappeared. Suddenly, the idea that he would be kicked out of the Academy seed so remote it was laughable, where just monts ago he had felt so certain it would happen soday.
Yaric was also aware of his subconscious need to stay out of the spotlight. He’d realized before, but he was always afraid of attracting too much attention. Never so afraid that he hid away. He had the awards to prove it. But the feeling was always there.
And while he’d always worked hard, why couldn’t he double down and be the best? He beat Sven due to his magical abilities, not his swordsmanship, but why couldn’t he catch up there as well? While doubling down on his spellcasting.
He’d certainly keep helping his friends along the way. If they improved faster than him, he’d be more than happy for them.
There was no longer any doubt that Lekton Academy would be a long-term ho for him. Even his previous doubts now felt foolish. If he was going to spend years studying and training, he was going to push to be the best. At everything he tried.
Because Yaric still didn’t know who he was now. He was unquestionably not the orphan who had been tortured. And now he was no longer the student with the unexplained shield over his mind, with all the questions that ca attached.
But whoever he was, it would be who he chose to be. What he made of himself. He already had better friends than he could have asked for. And he knew that his opportunities were far greater than most.
Yaric gently shoved Li Na as he always did, making her smirk and step closer to shove him back. This ti Yaric surprised her by putting his arm over her shoulders and pulling her into a one-ard hug before she could do anything, while doing the sa with Lauren on the other side.
His mind was going all over the place, and Yaric was well aware that he wasn’t thinking rationally. There was just too much happening at once. So many things were popping into his head at the sa ti that Yaric was truthfully overwheld. His mind a whirlwind of thoughts, Yaric wasn't sure if he could trust himself in the mont, or if he could even focus on a single idea long enough for it to matter.
He was sure of two things though.
The past was in the past. There was only the future.
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