by Kaden Reed
“While a lot of training and practice will be necessary for you to master your skills and become a real Khanri, your new body comes with universal benefits that are immediately noticeable,” Eli was leaning against a wall in front of me, in the same black suit that I had seen him in before the Trials. Turning my head, I looked down and saw that I was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and blue cotton shorts, “you will be stronger, faster and live a lot longer than you would as a civilian. Certain senses will be heightened while others will be diminished, like pain for instance. Now stubbing your toe will only be a mild annoyance, instead of the life ending tragedy it was before.”
I smiled at the image of me hopping around my bedroom, cursing the day I was born after having stubbed my toe on my bed frame. I truly believe whoever designs those things has no soul, “how come we need to experience pain at all?”
“Fair question,” he nodded at me, “a lot of us, myself included, would be a lot more willing to fight if we didn’t experience any pain. However, some say that pain can be the greatest teacher we have. Don’t worry little Kit, by the end of the week, you and pain will know each other intimately.”
Frowning at his mildly sadistic tone, “so what is the deal with the energy that I just felt? Has it always been inside me?”
“No, the energy within you is different than the energy you are familiar with in your old life,” Eli smirked at the eager expression that must be on my face, “the stuff that civilians get from us is refined to the point that it is only a fraction as powerful as what is coursing through you right now.”
“Why is it different?” I was so intrigued I couldn’t help from blurting my question.
He paused as if he was considering whether to answer me, “the energy that Khanri use is in its natural state. We call it mana. The energy that you are familiar with as a civilian is tame, it never fluctuates in power and is entirely predictable. Which is good for an unintelligent circuit. It will work the same time, every time. In contrast, mana is potent and unpredictable. It is so chaotic that only something that is capable of adapting to the random fluctuations in frequency can harness it,” he paused to let me digest what he was saying before continuing, “before you ask, yes many attempts have been made to adapt mana for everyday civilian use. Most simply fail and everyone walks away frustrated, but alive. On a rare occurrence, the device will overload and explode in a spectacular fashion, killing everyone for yards, or even miles. The unpredictable change in frequency can be extremely dangerous.”
I tried to swallow with a suddenly dry throat, “mana is in us, right? Can we explode?”
Eli gave a quick bark of a laugh, “no, you aren’t going to explode from mana. Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that you won’t randomly explode from mana. I mean, you will still probably be killed by mana, and who knows, a dozen of those deaths might be from exploding. Good idea though, that is something Akashi should consider adding to the Kit experience. The look of terror on a Kits’ face when they suddenly explode…,” his voice trailed off as he sighed happily before continuing, “alright, as pleasant as thinking of your meaty bits raining from the ceiling is, enough of this chatting.”
Eli pushed himself off the wall and I turned around to watch him as he crossed the room to the wall behind me. Stopping in front of a portion of the wall that didn’t look any different than the rest, a doorway seemed to slide into a cavity in the wall next to it. He called over his shoulder, “come on, it’s time that I take you to meet the rest of your group.”
My heart started thudding in my chest as anxiety gripped me. I can’t believe I didn’t ask about my friend sooner, “how many made it through the Trials? Did Marty pass?”
“Including you, six,” Eli was walking out of the door, forcing me to hurry and catch up with him.
I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for him to answer my second question. When I realized he wasn’t going to continue I added, “only six? There was at least a dozen or so that stayed in the room to face the Trials, why so few?”
“There has only ever been six that make it through the Trials. Akashi only knows why,” Eli sighed bitterly, “it isn’t like we couldn’t use the extra hands.”
I was so dazed at the revelation that at least half of the people didn’t make it, I walked in silence for a long time before I asked again, “did Marty make it?”
“The little gnome with the mouth?” He asked while continuing to walk, “yeah he made it. He was the first out actually.”
Overcome with gratitude at hearing that my friend made it out of the Trials, it felt like a huge weight just lifted off my shoulders. I couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of seeing him again.
“So, what’s next?” I asked Eli as I continued following him down the unremarkable gray stone corridor.
Eli stopped so suddenly in front of a blank wall, I had to catch myself before I bounced off his shoulder, “you meet your team leaders and I go take some time off,” he waved at the wall and it opened to reveal a large rectangular room with three couches with small tables in front of them.
Peering around Eli, I could make out five heads turning to gaze at the new interruption, “about time you show up! I have been waiting here for ages!”
The familiar voice of my lifelong friend filled the hole in my heart that I hadn’t recognized was there until he called out. Walking passed Eli, I moved into the room and saw him on his knees on the couch waving his hands in the air to get my attention, “I couldn’t let you have all the fun,” I put my arm on his shoulder when I reached him, “it’s really good to see you again.”
“Come on Afton, you know a little thing like dying isn’t going to keep me from becoming the greatest Khanri Akashi has ever seen. Besides, the Trials were super easy, barely an inconvenience,” Marty was grinning up at me shamelessly.
Laughing, I glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was dressed in the same white shirt and blue shorts as I was. The dwarf that briefly talked to me before the Trials began was seated on the couch next to Marty. Nodding his head at me when I looked over at him, he said, “it is good to see you lad. Terrible business that was,” he shuddered before going quiet.
“Yeah, it was,” I nodded at him, temporarily lost in thought before continuing in a somber tone, “Shino said something while I was dying. He told me that the first lesson a Khanri must learn is that death is nothing to fear. I don’t know how anyone can become comfortable with dying though,” my voice trailed off after I finished speaking, getting caught in the memory of my first death. I shook myself when I realized that I had already started thinking about it as my first death. Maybe I was already getting used to it. Extending my hand out to the dwarf, “my name is Afton. I’m glad you made it out of there.”
“Aye,” he ran a hand through his beard distractedly before looking down and seeing my hand outstretched in front of him, “sorry lad. I got caught up in me own head.” He reached out and clasped wrists with me, “the name is Glazmir of the Leadfury clan. You probably have heard of us, ya?” Seeing the blank look on my face he continued, “ah well, it was worth a shot. We be a small clan of Laidir dwarfs from northern Thieria. The whole clan be master smiths or miners. Nary a single lout in the whole lot, which be more than I can say about any other clan there be!” Chuckling at his own joke, he finally let go of my hand.
“Why would you leave your clan if you are all so successful?” I asked while massaging my wrist to try to get the blood flowing again.
He stopped chuckling abruptly and turned away from me to sit back down before grumbling, “I didn’t have a choice, really.”
Realizing I must have touched on a sore subject, I decided to just leave him be. Scanning the people that passed the Trials, I recognized a couple of figures that sat on the other side of the room. The red skinned orc and the white furred Shokari girl were seated next to each other.
The orc kept his eyes focused on the ground in front of him and didn’t acknowledge my presence. However, the Sho
kari looked at me with half-lidded eyes, “the Shino spoke to you? What an honor it must be, to be considered worthy of hearing his wisdom.”
Sighing at her continued infatuation, even after being personally killed by her wannabe mate, “at the time, I didn’t think of it as an honor, but he is right. We will have to get used to death. I don’t know how I never realized this before now, but death is a Khanri’s occupation.”
Her tail swished languidly as she nodded at my words, “Shino chose well. You can call me Akira.”
I nodded at her in return, then spoke to everyone in the room, “I’m Afton.”
“Aye, we should get introductions outta the way. You can all call me Glazmir,” the dwarf proudly announced to the room.
My friend waved his hand above his head, “Marty the Magnificent, at your service.”
The orc looked up briefly and muttered in a barely audible voice, “Boglinimethor.”
“Now that is a name! There is no way I’ll be able to say that. Everyone cool with calling him Bog?” Marty cheerfully asked the room, which was immediately ratified by popular vote. “the aye’s have it. Your name is now Bog.”
The orc shifted his shoulders uncomfortably but gave no other indication of acknowledging the conversation.
My eyes paused on a familiar mop of red curls, “and I’m Niko.”
I swallowed when she met my gaze briefly. Then my heart thudded to a stop when she turned away, without any sign that she had recognized me. I muttered to myself under my breath, “no ‘hey, glad you made it. Sorry for sticking a sword in your gut,” I shook my head, “what does a guy have to do to be acknowledged by a girl? Get murdered by her twice?”
Walking over to the only other open seat in the room, I met her eyes as she studied me from under her lashes, “do you mind if I sit here?”
“You are free to do whatever you want,” she gestured at the cushions next to her.
“I figured I’d be seeing you again, Niko.” I mentioned as I sat down, “after meeting you in the Trials, I knew there was no way you would fail.”
Niko was looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face, “I have no clue who you are.”
I gaped at her in confusion, “um, are you serious right now? You killed me in the Trials?” She looked at me blankly then shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. Taken aback by her complete lack of acknowledgment, I continued, “you really don’t remember anything?”
“I remember you from the room we all started in, but I never saw you again until right now,” she continued offhandedly, “besides, I killed a few people in the Trials. I can’t be expected to keep track of them all.”
Cursing silently to myself, Akashi must have removed her entire memory of our interaction when I asked him about editing out the terrible nickname she started calling me. I sighed, “I guess it makes sense now. It’s okay.”
She smiled at me, “so how did I kill you in the Trials?”
“We met in an arena and you ran me through with a sword,” I decided to give her a heavily simplified version of events. No reason to tell her about me being naked and covered in blood, or the embarrassing incident when I was betrayed by a portion of my anatomy. We might as well have a fresh start.
“Oh, now I remember,” a look of recognition crossed her face as she looked me up and down, “I didn’t realize that was you Crusty. You look a lot different when you aren’t covered in dried blood - or naked.”
Mouth hanging open, “I told you my name was Afton in the Trials. How could you forget who I was?”
“I don’t remember the name Afton. All I remember is me calling you Crusty and then deciding to play along with your fantasy before killing you,” she said it as matter-of-factly as someone talking about going on a shopping trip.
“Wait, wha-” then it dawned on me. The omnipresent sense of amusement came flooding back into me when I made the connection. That bastard Akashi must have taken the memory of my real name from her, instead of the hated moniker. I shook my head before vehemently muttering to the wall near me, “oh, that was good. Well played, you asshole.”
“You okay Crusty? You are talking to the wall,” she had a look of concern when I turned back to her.
I opened my mouth to respond when the door to the room opened abruptly in front us. Six heads turned in their seats to see two people striding into the room. The first was a tall statuesque woman that held herself with a regal bearing. The short-disheveled man that followed behind her seemed to be looking around enthusiastically at the six of us that were seated.
Walking to stand in front of the group the tall woman announced in a brisk tone, “I am Harper, and this is my associate, Jax,” she gestured at the man that stopped next to her, “we will be your team leaders. Our jobs are to erase the whiny civilian and turn you into functioning Khanri. We have never failed at our job, mainly because we have found that repeatedly dying from your own stupidity is a very useful teaching aid. You Kits will learn to do what we say, when we say it.” She looked around the room imperiously after she finished speaking.
My stomach started tying itself into knots as her tirade continued, “you will be split into two groups of three Kits. Each leader will head one group. Those groups will be referred to as Hands, which is our primary patrol unit in the Dungeon. On particularly dangerous missions our two Hands will operate together. When that happens, they are called a Fist. Got it?” Scanning the room of wide-eyed stares, she nodded in satisfaction, “you three,” she pointed at Niko, Akira and Bog, “will be coming with me. You will be among the best Khanri that Akashi has. Count yourselves lucky. The rest of you are stuck with Jax,” she waved her hand towards the small gray-haired man standing at her side.
“My Hand, with me,” Harper announced and walked over to the side of the room. The three people that she had selected stood up and followed her.
When they had left, Jax spoke up, “don’t mind Harper. She gets overly excited about breaking in new Kits. Alright, so you are the three that will make up my new team, eh?” Looking at each of us in turn, “so we have two classes here that I’ve never seen before and a Bulwark.” He nodded at Glazmir when he said the latter class.
“So that be what I am,” Glazmir sounded satisfied, “I always thought fighting with hammer and shield was me style.”
“Akashi usually structures every Hand to follow a typical archetype. There is always one capable of being a front-line fighter, or a tank as some refer to them as, taking the hits. One will be a healer archetype, whose primary goal will be to keep all of us alive. The remaining will be the killers. Their sole purpose is to kill everything as quickly as possible, without dying themselves of course.”
Confused I spoke up, “but I thought there were only three in a group?” Seeing him turn his steady gaze on me I hesitatingly continued, “that is the size of the groups in the Championships.”
Sighing, he shook his head, “as you will likely come to know soon enough, you will have to disregard almost everything you thought you knew about Khanri. I can guarantee that you have almost all of it wrong.”
Frowning and more than a little annoyed by this small man’s evasive answer, “you didn’t answer the question though. Why is it only three in a group in the Championships?”
His gaze hardening at the challenge in my words, “not that it needs answering, but okay. Most of the Hands in the Championships sit one member out. Occasionally they rotate members, like the Amorak team did with Kayper. Each of the teams in that yearly exhibition,” he spat the word in disgust, “are powerful Khanri from their respective Dungeons. And they can’t afford to lose their entire Hand for the vain entertainment for the masses.” He was silent for a moment before continuing in a somber tone, “and some Hands only have three members.”
Seeing my questioning look he held up his hand to forestall me, “no more questions.” He looked back and forth between Marty and me, his hand holding his chin, “now you two are a mystery.”
He pointed at Marty, “I see the go
ld of a Mender and the violet of a Mesmer in you.” He switched his gaze to me, “and don’t get me started on you. The red of a Guardian and the black of a Berserker. But the white is something new.” He continued to stare and me and Marty while hmming and hahing to himself in thought.
Looking down at my hands, I couldn’t see any of the colors he was referring to, “how can you tell what colors we are?”
Jax made a slight gesture with his free hand and a violet band around his finger caught my eye, “this ring gives us the ability to see the colors of a Khanri’s auras. That is how we can identify your class.”
He continued to stare intently at Marty and I, until I decided I had enough of being stared at like some sort of lab experiment, “can’t you just ask Akashi what class he gave us if they are new?”
Jax frowned at the interruption of his thoughts, “what? Ask Akashi? No, of course I can’t just ask Akashi. The best we can do is go see Thorn. She has been around almost as long as Khanri have existed. If anyone can puzzle this out, she can.” The small man jerked his head in a nod a couple of times, as if he was coming to a decision, then abruptly turned around and walked out of the door.
I sat staring at Marty and Glazmir, shaking my head in disbelief at what we got saddled with as a team leader, “well that was fun.”
“I think that wee man has lost a few nuggets over the years,” Glazmir quietly speculated, “he is about two pounds shy of a gold bar.”
Marty opened his mouth to make his own opinions known, when a head full of unkempt gray hair poked itself back into the room at around waist height, “when I say we are doing something, I don’t mean continue to sit around and complain.” The steady rhythm of a foot tapping on stone could be heard coming from out the door, “well come on! We don’t have all day, you know.”
Frowning, I stood up and joined the other two on their way out the door.
