Dalileh’s ether exercise was both easier and more difficult than I thought it would be. Even though I kept my domain small, it still made it harder to concentrate on taking notes in class. I was sure my grades would be in shambles by the end of the semester. However, with Acacius’ reflexive memory for ether manipulation, I felt like it wouldn’t take too long to adapt.

Somehow, rumors spread quickly. By the time lunchtime came around and I went to the cafeteria for my free meal, I was already getting weird looks.

I’d visited the library briefly after the Fellowship meeting last night. Miss Bakhta had pointed me to a book that helpfully outlined the history and etiquette of dueling across the continent. It was enough for me to learn that duels, while not unheard of, were still pretty rare.

The broken vessel of spilled water represented the Great Dragon’s descent upon Iyiria, liberating the people from the sorrows of that era. By throwing that down, Linden was declaring that he had grievances against me that couldn’t be settled except through martial force.

Apparently, the proper etiquette for accepting the duel would have been to break a vessel of liquid as well, which was the challenged party’s way of saying that the challenger wasn’t the only person who had been wronged. Since I’d only finished my drink without throwing the cup, it was like I was saying to Linden, “Yeah, I wronged you. So what?”

It probably was Acacius’ fault anyways.

Anyways, the good news was that asking for a witness hadn’t been anything unusual. The official term was “mediator.” They were responsible for preventing outside interference, and also for preventing people from killing opponents who had surrendered.

Not that it was a big concern for me.

What I cared more about was my privacy. A duel to the death was fine and all, but unless I could win so overwhelmingly that no one dared to fuck with me anymore, I’d rather conceal my methods as much as possible. It would be less shocking to my peers as well if they didn’t have to see it happen. Could I try putting up a barrier of darkness like what Dalileh did with her magic?

When I stopped by my room after class, Cynara was there waiting for me.

She straightened up when she saw me. “Acacius. Can we talk?”

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the envelope she was creasing in her hands. “What happened to not interacting at school?”

“Things are different now.”

“Are they?” I said, but I opened the door and let Cynara in anyways.

Cynara glanced around the room while I put on a kettle for tea.

“You seem… comfortable.”

I sat down at the table by the window and gestured for her to take a seat across from me.

“What did you want to talk about?”

Cynara pressed her lips together and handed me the envelope.

“Linden sent a list of mediators he’ll accept.”

“How reliable,” I said, ignoring Cynara’s strained expression.

The list was short, and there was only one name I recognized, so that made my choice pretty easy. I handed the letter back. “Tell him that Dalileh Khan will do,”

How lucky for me. I could ask her to put up her water barrier for our fight. Would she accept, though? Chances were that she’d taught Linden and I both, and she probably didn’t mean for us to use her teachings to kill each other.

Cynara took the letter, but she didn’t get up to leave.

“Do you really think you can kill Linden?”

“Why not?”

Cynara’s mouth tilted down slightly at the corner. “Are you going to?”

I raised my eyebrow. “You seem upset, Cynara. Why shouldn’t I?”

Cynara slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

“It didn’t have to be a death match, you fool,” she bit out. “Couldn’t you see he just made the proposal to intimidate you? If you’d just backed down and sacrificed some dignity, he would have backed down too. The others even tried to intervene for you. So why the hell did you force it?”

Wow. She was even more upset than when we’d been trapped in the moon paths together.

“So Linden doesn’t actually want to kill me?” I drawled. “How do you know? Did he say that?”

“No, but—”

“But what? He challenged me in public to a fight to the death. I even double-checked with him to confirm that was what he wanted. Are you saying I should ignore what he said, what he did, and what he claimed to intend?”

“It was just for appearances, Acacius! Everyone understood that.”

“If everyone understood, there wouldn’t be a need for words.”

Cynara’s jaw clenched. “Will you stop being difficult?”

“How am I being difficult? If Linden changes his mind, I will also respond accordingly. I am willing to back down if he backs down first.”

“He’s the one who challenged you! He can’t just take it back. You have to be the one to send the request.”

“Really. And what should I say in that request?”

“That I asked you not to go as far as a duel to the death. That it’s hard to ignore me. That you apologize, and that you still respect his honor. You just need to give him an excuse to back down without losing face.”

What was with her optimism? I forced myself not to laugh at her.

“There are a few problems with your solution.”

“And what is that?” Cynara demanded impatiently.

“First of all, I’m not sorry.”

It was in my rights to decide how to respond to what seemed like a threat to my life. If I was going to be sorry for taking that seriously, I’d have to be sorry for pretty much my whole life.

She stared at me, fists clenched so tight they were trembling. But so what? I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.

“Second, I don’t respect his honor.”

“Are you serious?” Cynara burst out. “Who cares about that? Just lie!”

Which brought us to the next problem.

“Third,” I said, “I don’t believe in going back on your principles just because they’ve become a little inconvenient for you.”

And I wasn’t going to lie.

She grit her teeth and hit the table again. “Don’t make me laugh. What principles do you have?”

“Me? What about Linden? He can retract his challenge just fine; he just doesn’t want to. Because he’s decided that his honor is worth more than his life, or mine.”

“And your pride is worth that much, too?” she snapped.

Yeah, my principles were more important than my life.

But I guess it didn’t have to be more important than his.

“Cynara,” I said, “why do you care so much about Linden?”

A light flared in her eyes, and she stood up straight, arm falling to her side where her rapier would have been if she had brought it.

Wow, she really looked like she wanted to kill me.

I relented. “You can write a letter on my behalf, if it’s that important to you. Is that enough?”

Cynara closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“He recognizes your handwriting.”

Well then.

“Did you bring pen and paper?” I asked, since I didn’t have any fancy stationary of my own.

Cynara wordlessly handed me a blank envelope and letter paper from her pocket. She really had come prepared to try and solve this, huh? Was she was more scared for Linden’s life or for mine?

I wrote down a simple note. Iyirian script flowed out from under the pen smoothly in Acacius’ neat hand.

To Linden of the Morgan family,

Cynara seems to care about you a lot. If you are willing to change the terms of the duel to surrender rather than death, I am willing as well.

I didn’t sign Acacius’ name, because it wasn’t mine.

“Let’s hope he listens to you better than I do,” I said, folding the letter into the envelope and handing it over. The kettle was whistling, so I got up to turn off the electric stove. “Tea before you go?”

I glanced back to see Cynara hastily stuffing the letter back into the envelope. Had she taken a peek?

Oh well, it didn’t really matter. If Cynara asked about it, I had my ways to convince her that I’d been insincere.

“I don’t need any tea,” Cynara said. She wasn’t meeting my eyes. “I’ll tell Linden what you said.”

“Your loss.”

I went with her to the door and opened it for her. Cynara stepped through the threshold.

“…He won’t accept it.”

“Hm?”

Cynara raised her head to glare at me, lips pressed together.

“I said, Linden won’t accept your letter. I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you shouldn’t have bothered.”

What was she talking about?

Before I could ask, Cynara turned and all but fled down the dormitory hallway, rounding the corner out of sight.

…So, that meant the death match was still on, right?

Honestly. What a troublesome little sister Acacius had. I guess I shouldn’t have bothered with the letter after all.

After cooking myself a nice meal, I disguised myself as Chen Xiarui and walked around campus, looking for a prime target to ask for information. I wasn’t sure what year Linden was in or where his friends might hang out, so my target this time was Acacius’ classmates.

And lucky for me, I spotted Luka at the training fields by the gymnasium, chatting with a tall, dark-skinned young woman dressed in a striking ankle-length red coat and a wide-brimmed hat to match.

I walked towards them and waved my hand. “Hey!” I said cheerfully. “Are you from Year 1?”

Luka and his companion turned my way. Her long, thin braids swayed in their high pigtails as she faced me. The round red glasses that sat on her hooked nose blocked her eyes from sight. She smiled confidently, sharp snakebite piercings gleaming, and took one hand off her red-tipped cane to hold out to me.

“Cardinal Jules, Year 2,” she said. “But you may call me Jules. And this here is Luka, no last name. You are?”

I accepted her firm handshake and widened my eyes. “Wait, Year 2? Really?”

“Hmm, not what you were expecting?”

I flashed an awkward smile. “I thought you would be in my age group.”

“Then my stylist is doing her job. Luka, you should learn to talk like him. No more telling me I look my age.”

“I…see,” said Luka. He didn’t sound like he saw.

“Well, there isn’t that much difference between Year 1 and Year 2,” I offered.

“Indeed, a year is nothing. But I am not your typical Year 2! I took a sabbatical after secondary school to explore the world before applying for Nithemoore’s internationally renowned education. You could say I’m operating on an independent timetable.” Jules smiled. “Congratulations on your admittance, by the way. It is certainly no small achievement.”

Really? I’d been under the impression that Acacius got in by tradition or by nepotism. I guess Nithemoore was more impressive than I knew. “Yeah, classes have been pretty challenging so far, but it’s interesting and lively around here. I’m happy to be around. But, uh, if you’re my senior, can I ask you something…?”

“A cute yet nameless junior is so politely seeking my advice. How could I refuse? Go on.”

I ignored the obvious hook to share my name and asked, “Is it true that there’s someone in Year 2 dueling his classmate?”

“Aha, this matter,” said Jules. “To be more accurate, he is dueling a third year student. Are you worried?”

“I heard that it’s a duel to the death. Isn’t the school supposed to protect us? They wouldn’t really let something like that happen between students, right…?”

“Now that is an interesting question,” said Jules. “Since the founding of the school, there have been 34 instances of formal duel challenges issued between students, only 2 of which were deadly. There is plenty of legal precedent! But whether this should remain legally permissible is a different question.”

I observed her body language as she spoke. “You don’t seem like you approve of it.” I looked at Luka. “What about you?”

“I don’t, either.”

“So no one likes it? Then why has something like this been allowed for so long?”

“Although a duel says nothing about the moral character or correctness of the people involved, it is nonetheless significant enough to be considered a ritual now,” said Jules. Her fingernails clicked as she tapped on her cane, and her smile took a sardonic tilt. “And as we all know, rituals must be treated with importance.”

I made a note to add “cultural knowledge of rituals” to my list of research topics. But I took a gamble and said, “Why?”

Her smile grew. “Why, indeed! History may define our present, but that does not mean we are bound to it. That is why the Scribe is represented by both the snake and the knife.”

She tilted her head down, allowing me to see her unfocused eyes over the rim of her glasses. She winked.

“Now, between you and me, I said as much to the Duvals’ youngest when I offered my services to her, but she declined to let me accuse her family in the Court. Apparently, she’d rather have a dead brother than an imprisoned one. A noble’s honor must be quite weighty, don’t you think?”

“Imprisoned?” I repeated.

“Certainly. As long as we could make this the first case in Iyiria to condemn someone for carrying out a duel, that is. Unfortunately, family affairs are complicated things — and the Duvals’ even more so.”

She could say that again.

“Will the teachers actually let someone die just like that, then?” I said, affecting a worried tone.

Jules laughed lightly. “A duel to the death doesn’t necessarily have to be deadly. The victor can choose to withhold their hand… Though once things have escalated this far, it’s rare.”

Cynara certainly harbored no doubts about my intent to kill. I pursed my lips. “What are the chances that, though…? Who do you think will win?”

“That, I can’t answer. What about you, Luka? Isn’t Acacius Duval in your class?”

Luka considered.

“Under normal circumstances, I think Linden would win. He’s an aura user who may have broken through to the Trajectory realm; most mages struggle in one-on-one after that point. However, Acacius… isn’t the type to act without confidence.”

I widened my eyes. “You know both parties? That seems tough.”

“We aren’t close,” said Luka, with great finality.

“But do you think they’d actually kill each other?”

Once again, Jules looked at Luka. He seemed to find it difficult to refuse and once again answered. “I think Acacius would go through with it. And Linden would as well, because it is Acacius.”

“What kind of relationship do they even have…?”

Jules chuckled.

“Here’s a piece of advice for you, junior. If you want to wade into the complicated world of legacy families, you must first be savvy enough to become privy to their secrets. Let’s consider this an extracurricular homework assignment for you, hm?”

I smiled. “No chance you’ll give me the answers yourself?”

“And take away this precious learning opportunity? I wouldn’t dare. Now, I do have other business to attend to. Do you have any last questions?”

She chatted with me a little longer about legal procedures before I thanked her and went on my way.

Jules sure was an interesting person. On the other hand, Luka was pretty quiet unless prompted. I guess last time, I was pretty lucky to catch him in circumstances he was willing to talk.

I went to the library, asked Miss Bakhta for a recommendation, and went to read about the aura frame.

Aura was a popular frame among soldiers, martial artists, and warriors, because aura’s most powerful use was enhancing physical abilities. At the Initiate stage, users learned how to circulate aura through the body and enhance it. At the Energy stage, aura users learned to circulate aura externally to enhance physical properties of other objects, usually weapons. At the Aspect stage, they could use aura to impart additional physical attributes, such as hardness, flexibility, and thermal resistance. At the Projection stage, aura could enhance and alter vector relationships; and at the Trajectory stage, they could sense and visualize vector relationships that they hadn’t created themselves.

That wasn’t very helpful to my understanding, though. If I wanted to learn more effectively, I needed practical experience, not just theory.

I thought for a while, then turned and headed off campus.

The Keeper’s Temple was lively under the light of the setting sun. As I looked around at the worshippers burning incense and praying in the main hall, one of the priests came up to me and asked if I needed anything.

“I’m just looking for a guy called Isul,” I said.

“Oh, Isul? I’ll call him for you.”

Hm? Why did they know him all of a sudden?

It wasn’t long before Isul appeared.

“Hello, dear guest,” he said, smiling warmly. “It is good to see you again. What brings you here?”

“Hey,” I greeted. “Hope you don’t mind me dropping in. I just want to check, as a priest of this temple, you hear a lot of the news in the area, right?”

“I do.”

“That’s great. I wanted to ask something.”

“A Keeper’s priest does not break confidentiality lightly.”

“No, no, you don’t have to tell me anything specific. It’s more like… Do you know where I could find a Trajectory realm aura user who’d be willing to spar with me for the next two weeks? Preferably without asking too many questions.”

Isul paused.

“Money is not a problem,” I added.

Isul rubbed his chin.

“Come to think of it,” he said, “you can try going down to Pearl Dive, by the river, downstream from here. You might have some luck if you ask around after sunset.”

Wow, Isul was so talented. It was a good idea to see this suspicious priest again after all. “Thanks,” I said, and tried to press a couple of coins into his hand.

He pushed them back with a smile and a shake of the head. “Payment is unnecessary. I only hope if you have the time, that you will return to talk more often.”

Well… I’d probably have more questions for him in the future, too. “Sure. Let’s have tea next time,” I said. “See you around.”

After I watched Isul leave, I turned around to go myself.

“Hello,” said the priest from earlier. “Welcome to the Keeper’s temple. Are you in need of any of our services today?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks for finding Isul for me earlier.”

The priest looked puzzled. “Finding who?”

Calling Isul a “suspicious priest” may have been an understatement.

I exited the temple before any more questions could come up and followed the main path down the river, away from the Academy campus and the clean and shining area around it, until the bricks began to crack and weeds began to sprout from the decrepit pavement. I heard conversations drifting from open windows and smelled cigarettes and perfume; I saw evening partygoers rove down the street in loudly laughing groups. I began to see people sleeping between buildings and under cramped balcony gardens, curled around worn bags of their earthly belongings. On the corner, a man with an overgrown beard played merrily on an out-of-tune piano, eliciting cheers and laughter from a band of kids who’d stopped to dance in the street. They dropped pennies and spare change into the patched-up hat he’d placed to the side even as he sternly told them to make sure to stay in school.

My teacher had always said the same thing to me. Stop going out so much, Eunseok. Come learn about our history. If you never understand why the world has become the way it is, how will you change anything about it?

I hadn’t listened to her. The world was too big to change. As long as Teacher, Sister, and I had food to eat and water to drink, wasn’t that very good? Plus, I hated sitting still, and besides, the other kids always thought I was so cool whenever I came back with a new story to tell.

Those had probably been the best days of my life.

Looking at the streets around me, I felt both happy and sad.

It would be nice if this place could remain peaceful for a long time.

I asked the old man for directions and tossed a coin into his hat as thanks. A few narrow streets later, I slipped into a worn stone building perched atop the river bank, squeezed between its haphazardly planned neighbors. People drank, chatted, and danced under the warm, dim light.

I sat at the counter and ordered a random drink before chatting with the bartender, a tall, pale woman with a wild mane of blonde hair and a peculiar ring of silver in her eyes. I learned that she’d grown up in the city, but her parents had immigrated from the southeast coast; that there was finally construction being done to fix some streets in her neighborhood, but she hated the noise; and that she was making early plans for the Dragonsday Festival, which I pretended that I knew about. In order to throw a big celebration for her family and friends, she was saving up months in advance. It was admirable.

Once we hit a good pause in our conversation, I said, “You really know the neighborhood well. Say, can I ask you something?”

She raised her eyebrow, but smiled. “Hit me with it.”

“You know any Trajectory realm aura users looking for an odd job?”

“What kind of job?”

I thought about it. “I guess something on the level of weeding or looking after someone’s dog.”

“But you need a Trajectory realm.”

“Yeah.”

The bartender gave me an amused look before raising her voice over the chatter and waving to someone across the room. “Hey, Etienne! Come here!”

A moment later, a boy my age emerged from the crowd and slid onto the stool next to me. He had light skin, messy black hair that fell down to his shoulders, dark phoenix eyes, and blunt canine teeth that were noticeable when he smiled.

“Hey, Thais. What’s up?”

“This guy’s got an odd job for a Trajectory realm,” she said, jerking her thumb at me. “Wanna hear him out?”

Etienne smiled. “Sure. What’s the gig, pal?”

“I’m looking for someone to practice fighting with daily for the next couple weeks, around this time. Maybe longer if it proves useful.”

“Yeah? How long each day?”

“How long have you got?”

“Not that long, I tell ya. I got homework to do.”

“Homework,” I repeated, and sighed. I had homework too. Life was hard for ignorant slackers like me. “Do you go to the Academy?”

“Yeah, some idiot had the idea of enrolling me in the Governance track,” Etienne said with a grin. “What about you?”

“I’m sort of just here by chance,” I replied vaguely. Should I ask for help for him…? Well, Etienne wasn’t in Acacius’ class, so as long as I kept on being an antisocial bastard at school, I probably wouldn’t run into any problems. “Sorry about all the homework. You got a couple hours a night? Pay is not a problem.”

“Oh, yeah?” Etienne cast a look at Chen Xiarui’s worn out clothes. “How much you got?”

I beckoned him closer. He leaned in and I whispered in his ear.

His eyes widened and he gave me another look.

“What? Seriously? If you got that much money to spend, maybe I should just rob you blind right now.”

“C’mon, you think I’d just carry all that on me at once?”

“Well, shit. I’ll take the job, then. You wanna start now?”

“Please.”

Thais waved at us as Etienne towed me out the door. He led me down the streets to an open, grassy park by the riverbank, where the last echo of daylight over the horizon reflected faintly on the water.

“So why d’you want a Trajectory user?” he asked, stretching casually.

“Someone I don’t know wants to pick a fight with me for some reason,” I said. “I thought I’d take some countermeasures, but I don’t really know anything about using aura.”

“What frame d’you use?”

“I’m a novice 6E fourth-circle mage.”

“How’s a fourth-circle a novice?”

“‘Cause I’m new to being a fourth-circle,” I said.

“Ha. You’re a funny one, pal.” Etienne rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles. “Lemme give you a run down of aura, then.”

A red aura began emanating from his body, and then, in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of me. I reflexively raised my arms to block his attack, but he knocked me away with contemptuous ease, sending me rolling over the grass.

“First, I’m gonna be faster and stronger than you.”

Etienne settled into a brawler’s stance, hands formed into fists. Red aura gathered over the thick fingerless gloves on his hands. This time, when he rushed at me, I summoned [Caller] into hand. When I slashed forward, though, Etienne easily caught the blade in his gloves. The fabric didn’t yield under [Caller]’s sharp edge at all.

“Second, I won’t be hurt by weapons like you expect.”

Etienne threw out a punch. I barely tilted my head aside in time. A red shockwave blasted forward past me, parting the grass to rattle the branches of a tree on the other side of the field. That was some crazy range.

“Third, the force I put out is gonna reach farther and be stronger than what you like.”

I dragged my gaze back to Etienne. He grinned sharply at me.

“And fourth, at the Trajectory stage, when you move, I can feel the path you’re gonna take.”

He swung at me. I pulled out of his grasp and exchanged a series of blows. Etienne wasn’t kidding; no matter what move I made, he seemed to have complete control over the flow of of our fight. It was maddening. At the conclusion of our short exchange, he caught me in the stomach with a vicious jab that had me wheezing and stumbling back. He didn’t pursue.

“In conclusion,” he said, “you’re screwed.”

I caught my breath. With some focus, I put my ether domain back in order; it had scattered too much while I was paying attention to Etienne.

But speaking of my ether domain.

“Hey, Etienne,” I said. “A Trajectory user can sense the movement of others’ energy, right?”

“Yep. Your speed and direction, and deducing from that, your intentions.”

“So, that means you can feel it when I do this, right?” I asked.

With a bit of concentration, I created fire where Etienne was standing.

His jacket burst into flames.

Etienne cursed and hastily started patting the flames out with his aura-covered gloves. I sent some more ether into the flames just to see if it would let them resist for longer, which it did, and then I extinguished the flames all at once.

“It just had to be fire,” he grumbled. “Every other element needs a starting point and a trajectory to deal damage, but fire only needs to exist. So annoying.”

I looked at him curiously. When I typed some ether into small darts of darkness and sent them hurtling at Etienne, he swatted them away just fine.

“You can’t sense untyped ether?” I asked.

“Nah. It’s worse than air. Least with air I can tell when it’s moving. Ether, though? It’s just unrealized potential. Can’t sense it for shit ‘til it’s materialized as an element, at least not ‘til I reach a higher realm.”

“Huh,” I said. The way these frames interacted was quite interesting.

And it gave me some ideas on how to fight Linden when the day came.

“Can we try something out?” I asked.

“Hit me with it.”

So I did.

After our sparring session, I went back to the dorms with a fresh and practical understanding of what it would take to fight a skilled aura user. I was quite satisfied with what I’d achieved today. Two weeks would be enough to refine my strategy, right?

But before I could get into bed and end my day, I heard rapid knocking at my door.

It was Zaire.

“Acacius!” he said, seizing onto my shoulders as soon as I opened the door. “Are you really going to have a duel to the death with your only remaining brother?!”

…

Hang on.

My what?

Chapter 12 Back to Index