Shepherds of Wraith: Book One

by Nyssa Renay

  Shepherd Phlogis raised his hand to command absolute silence. The group was immediately still, anxious to get our first real glimpse of a fellow potential using Wraith.

  Abellie slowly lowered her head and stretched her arms out toward the stone pit. Her hands hovered over the dried wood as she spoke. “Flui’veriano e’ serupta.”

  The wood inside the pit sparked and smoked at first before bursting into flames. Applause thundered from the audience; notably from Biklish, who seemed extremely more excited for Abellie than anyone else.

  “Way to go, Abellie!” Biklish cheered.

  Eeliyah quickly shot me a surprised look. “I think you might have been right.”

  “About what?”

  “About Biklish…liking my sister.”

  “Maybe,” I shrugged, laughing. “After all, she is kind of cute.”

  Eeliyah’s eyes widened as she stared back at me, giving me a playfully angry look.

  “Enough!” Shepherd Phlogis commanded. The group went silent once more.

  Abellie took a long deep breath and stared at the fire, smiling brightly as she watched it grow. Lowering her arms to her side, Abellie opened her hands and spread her fingers as wide as she could. As she spoke her next incantation, the tops of the flames darted around the pit in all directions, as if trying to escape her control. She slowly raised her arms, and the fire began to bend to her will.

  The essence of the flame roared and howled as it left the wood, forming a burning, swirling ball that hovered directly in front of her. Abellie stared into the red-hot sphere for several moments before raising her head and pulling her elbows back, slowly closing her hands. The flaming orb steadily condensed to half its original size and grew increasingly brighter

  Abellie’s gaze shifted to the pylons, which stood about thirty feet away. She pointed her index finger and a fiery dart shot out from the ball of flames, striking the top of the first post and igniting it. Then, as she released each finger from her fists, more flaming bullets exploded from the burning orb and shot across the range, igniting each of the posts in her line of fire. Once finished and smiling with satisfaction, Abellie lowered her hands. The ball of fire rapidly dissipated. The demonstration was unlike anything I had ever seen, and I could only hope I’d be able to achieve even a shred of the same skill and poise she’d displayed during her presentation.

  “Well done, Abellie!” Shepherd Phlogis shouted as he clapped his hands rigorously.

  Everyone cheered. Abellie turned toward the group to receive yet another round of well-deserved applause.

  “Thank you, thank you. Now, it’s your turn, guys!” Abellie said in a somewhat cocky tone. I thought that some of Shepherd Phlogis’s overconfidence had worn off on her, but after giving a great performance like that, I felt Abellie had the right to be proud.

  Over the next few hours, we tried to spark fire in the pits. A few potentials managed to get theirs going right away, but it took the rest of us almost the full morning session just to be able to create even the smallest bit of combustion.

  By lunchtime, I was mentally exhausted. Learning Wraith was a lot harder than I assumed it would be, yet I was in awe over how easy Abellie made it look. Unlike most of the subjects I’d previously studied at the academy, the language of spellcasting wasn’t written down in any textbook, ready to read and memorize. It was like trying to recall an old memory you never knew you had.

  When I arrived in Chow Hall One, Shepherd Scullery walked toward me with a confused look on his face.

  “Vigil, what are you doing here?” he asked, pulling me out of earshot of the other potentials quickly filling up the queue in front of the hot wells. “Necra sect is in Chow Hall Three this month.”

  “Sorry, sir,” I said, slightly embarrassed. “Force of habit, I guess.”

  Scullery let out a small chuckle. “If you want to work through lunch, though, you could always—”

  “No, no thank you, sir. I’ll be back at dinner service,” I blurted, practically running back out the door.

  On my way to Chow Hall Three, I noticed Shepherd Diabelle walking toward me. I quickly stopped and snapped at attention, waiting for her to pass by, but she didn’t.

  “Vigil,” she began. “I take it your first session of Wraith training went well?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied, not knowing if my progress had been good or not. It was too early to tell.

  “I know your presentation won’t be for a few months, but I want to make sure you’re ready when the time comes. I’ll talk to Shepherd Scullery to find the best times to relieve you from kitchen duty so we can start as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” I replied hurriedly, hoping the conversation would end so I could get to Chow Hall Three before all the food was gone. As usual, Shepherd Diabelle knew me better than I gave her credit for.

  A shrewd smile spread across her face. “In a rush?” she hinted, purposefully lingering in front of me.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Because I’d hate to think I was boring you,” Diabelle said with a heavy sarcastic tone. “Do you find me boring, Potential?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “I’m not convinced,” she snapped, staring at me for what seemed like an eternity before speaking again. “Perhaps…we should head to my office to talk about where I went wrong as a shepherd. Perhaps…we should head back to Chow Hall One to ask Shepherd Scullery why he didn’t inform you of your new schedule before now! Perhaps…you’d like to tell me why you not already in Chow Hall Three like you’re supposed to be?”

  “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” I offered, knowing full well there was nothing I could say or do to make up for my momentary lack of concentration.

  “As the sole representative of Necra sect for this year’s Tier II group exercises, I expect you set a good example of how we do things around here. In my opinion, you’re off to a shitty start! Am I making myself clear?” Diabelle howled.

  I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” I felt the heat radiating off my reddened face. A few older potentials walked by, trying their best to hide their laughter at my public humiliation. Diabelle was right; I’d brought this upon myself.

  “Dismissed!”

  I swiftly walked away, grateful that whatever scraps would be left over from lunch service were still better than getting nothing to eat at all. Shepherd Diabelle took it easy on me. It could have been much worse.

  -48-

  The weeks came and went, and other sect demonstrations proved to be just as challenging as the fire exercise. During the air sect lessons, I could barely keep from vomiting while trying to control my equilibrium as a gyroscope of hot and humid air mercilessly tossed me around. In the animal sect exercise, I was nearly mauled by my own conjured Springwell tiger. Even when I did my best during the water sect classes, it always took me a little too long to melt the ice that kept me submerged in a pool of freezing water. I almost drowned each day during practice.

  Thankfully, we got a break from the physical sect demonstrations and had our first foundational sect one. It was Eeliyah’s turn to present. Her lesson was more of a tutorial than a strenuous exercise, and we were grateful for the break. The class gathered in the amphitheater and took seats, anxiously waiting for Eeliyah to begin.

  “In a few moments,” Shepherd Levengio began, “you will see the importance of a Brio sect shepherd. As most of you already know from your visits to the medical ward, our main service to Ein is our medical expertise and healing ability. Having a skilled healer is a must for any medical ward, but sometimes a shepherd can get severely hurt in the field and become unable to get to a ward in time to save his or her life. Today, Eeliyah will be demonstrating how a Brio shepherd can bring the medical services to you, no matter where you are,” he concluded, motioning for Eeliyah to meet him at the front of the room.

  “Thank you, Shepherd Levengio,” she offered as he backed away to give her the spotlight. “First, I’ll
need a volunteer to be our injured guinea pig.” She scanned the room, waiting for someone to raise their hand. There was an awkward silence as none were raised, and I could see her expression change to one of extreme nervousness as she stared at me, her eyes hinting for me to volunteer. Just as I was about to give in and help her, Biklish stepped up.

  “I’ll do it,” he offered, standing.

  I watched him march down to stand before Eeliyah with a confidence I’d never seen him exude before. Then I realized why he’d volunteered. He kept looking over at Abellie to see if his act of bravery was enough to impress her, and oddly, it was. Abellie was the first to applaud, praising him for stepping up when no one else would. The rest of the class quickly followed suit.

  “Thank you, Biklish,” Eeliyah said sincerely. “Please hold out your right arm and roll up your sleeve.”

  He nervously rolled back the arm of his robes, revealing the bare skin of his forearm, and held it up in front of Eeliyah.

  He trembled, but when he glanced over at Abellie to see her smiling at him, he seemed to calm down almost instantly.

  Eeliyah placed her hands on Biklish’s forearm and chanted. “Diesara e’ Corifanti.” A soft green glow surrounded his arm and absorbed into his skin. “I have numbed his arm, so he won’t be able to feel a thing as we proceed.” She gave his arm a quick slap. “Did you feel that, Biklish?”

  He smiled. “Not at all.”

  “Good,” Eeliyah replied. She smiled as she picked up a metal cylinder from a nearby table and opened the lid. “This acid will burn away his skin—”

  “Wait! What?” Biklish gasped, pulling his arm away from her.

  “Trust me, it’ll be okay. I promise,” she coaxed.

  Biklish slowly extended his arm and I could see beads of sweat roll down the sides of his face. Eeliyah tipped the metal container, letting the acid run down his forearm. The liquid hissed viciously as it ate away his skin and muscle tissue like a hot knife through butter. A small puddle of acid and blood pooled on the floor beneath his arm. One of the boys in the front row ran to a trash barrel by the door and vomited.

  “Let’s keep it together, people!” Shepherd Levengio barked, staring the potential down as he returned to his seat, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

  “Sorry, sir,” the boy said, looking like he was trying to fight back another wave of nausea.

  “I will now repair Biklish’s arm using only Wraith,” Eeliyah said before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, steading herself. “Diesanto Corisas…Diesanti Corinaso…Diesaris Carinaldi.”

  Everyone watched with amazement as the muscle tissue in his forearm begin to regenerate little by little, until finally, an outer layer of skin formed around the renewed area, making his arm whole once more.

  “How do you feel?” she asked Biklish.

  “Good,” he replied, flexing his fingers and rotating his wrist.

  “Any pain or discomfort?”

  Biklish shook his head, smiling broadly. “No. Not at all.”

  “Thank you, Biklish. You did great,” Eeliyah offered, motioning for him to head back to his seat as the class erupted in applause.

  I smiled sheepishly at her, but she deliberately avoided looking in my direction. When she finally locked eyes with me, her expression was one of disappointment. I quickly realized she was upset with me for not volunteering, and I knew I was in for an argument the next time we talked. I was wrong not to trust her, and she had every right to be mad.

  “Well done, Eeliyah!” Shepherd Levengio praised, wheeling in a cart covered with a white sheet and joining her in the center of the room.

  She pulled off the sheet to reveal two dozen plants, all brown and wilted.

  “Each of you will take a plant back to your desk and revive it back to full health by the end of the afternoon,” Levengio announced, motioning for us to get up from our desks and retrieve our test subjects. “And do not forget that in four days there will be an exam, based on all the demonstrations you’ve witness so far. You’d better find a way to pass it, because if even one person fails the test, you will all spend the next two weeks on punishment detail. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir!” we replied and moved to get our plants.

  I could see everyone casting worried glances at Biklish, knowing that even though he had been the strongest potential among us that day, in four days’ time, he would surely be our weakest link. And judging by the nervous look on his face, he felt the same way.

  -49-

  On the day of the test, I purposefully caught up to Biklish as we walked to the amphitheater.

  “What do you want, Vigil?” he growled at me.

  “I know you’re nervous about the test, but don’t worry. We’re going to help you pass it.”

  “Who’s we?” he asked, absentmindedly looking toward Abellie with a hopeful expression on his face.

  “You really do like her, don’t you?”

  “Why do you care?” he snapped defensively.

  “Honestly, I don’t. It’s just a little obvious.”

  “You think she knows?” A look of nervous panic spread across face.

  “Girls always seem to know everything, even what you don’t want them to,” I said. “So, yeah. I’m sure she does.”

  “Shit,” he grumbled as his face turned dark red. “What should I do?”

  “For now, stop thinking about it and just worry about passing this test today,” I argued.

  “I’ll do my best, but I’m not good at taking tests. You know that.”

  “I know, and like I said, we’ll help you. Eeliyah, Abellie, and I will sit in the row of seats in front of you. We’ll spread out just enough to make it not look suspicious. Sit behind us and be ready to copy off us whenever we lean to the side.”

  “You want me to cheat?”

  “Yes, but only enough that you just pass the test. If your grade is too high, the shepherds will know we cheated. Randomly copy the answers from the three of us. That way, it won’t give off any sort of pattern.”

  “But, if I keep looking at your papers the entire time, the shepherd will catch me eventually.”

  “That’s why the three of us are going to start on different pages. That way, you can knock off as many questions as you can in a short amount of time, and then spend the rest of the exam working on the ones you didn’t copy. They probably won’t be looking for cheating at the start of the exam. Most people go through tests and answer the ones they know first, so as time goes on they’ll start to watch for anyone who looks like they’re struggling to finish. By then, we’ll have already gotten you the answers from the whole test.”

  “That’s brilliant!” Biklish cheered. “How did you guys come up with that?”

  “We didn’t,” I admitted, pointing to the potential walking directly in front of us. “Rejj did.”

  Rejj was in the Palpit sect, same as Biklish, but while Biklish had been cursed with the traits of bullishness, strength, and dim wits, Rejj was blessed with the gifts of higher intelligence, strategy, and cunning. The balance between the two of them displayed both mindsets the god of war possessed.

  Rejj subtly turned to look at Biklish over his shoulder. “They’ll already be expecting me to help you, so I’ll make sure to sit as far away from you as possible, acting as a distraction. If I keep looking back toward you during the exam, they’ll try to spot me giving you the answers. Meanwhile, you’ll be getting them from those they least expect, who are sitting right in front of you. Just make sure to cough or sneeze loudly when you’re finished. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Biklish beamed and turned toward me. “But I still don’t understand why you guys are helping me at all.”

  “I told you before,” I argued. “This place doesn’t give a shit about you or me, so we all have to watch out for each other. You stepped up during Eeliyah’s presentation, and now we’re returning the favor. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Thank
you, guys.” He smiled. “It means a lot.”

  “Just don’t screw it up,” Rejj barked and turned back around, purposefully ignoring us for the rest of the walk.

  When we filed into the amphitheater, Biklish hurried to sit in the back row while the rest of us took our positions to execute the plan. I felt Shepherd Diabelle’s eyes drilling into my head as I did my best to stay calm and not spend too much time looking at Eeliyah or Abellie and give us away. Diabelle slowly walked around and dropped the exam on our desks without a word. It was so quiet and tense, that even the sound of a pencil falling to the floor made me flinch in my seat.

  During the test, whenever I looked up, Diabelle was staring at me. She barely watched Rejj at all, and I worried I’d end up blowing the whole thing, and failing us all. Luckily, we made it through without getting caught.

  One by one, the potentials brought their finished exams up to Diabelle’s desk at the front of the room and returned to their seats. I waited for both Eeliyah and Abellie to finish before I made my way up to the front, and Biklish turned his in dead last with only a minute or two to spare.

  “Dismissed for lunch!” Shepherd Diabelle called out the moment Biklish dropped his exam on her desk. The class immediately rushed out of the amphitheater as quickly as possible.

  I flashed Rejj a quick smile as he passed me on his way out. He nodded, returning a sly smile of a job well done. But as I was just about to walk out the door, Diabelle called me back.

  “Vigil, will you stay a moment?” she said in a deceivingly calm tone.

  I stood at attention before her.

  She stared silently at me until all the other potentials were gone before speaking again. “Well done,” she commented coolly.

  “Ma’am?”

  “With Biklish.”

  My heart leapt into my throat. I thought we carried out Rejj’s plan perfectly, but somehow, she knew he cheated. There was no avoiding it; we’d been caught. All I could do was take the blame and spare the others any punishment she might hand out.