Azyl Academy (Elemental Gatherers Book 1)

by Chris Vines

  “Train faster? You’re already speeding past everyone other than the nobles. You should relax sometimes. I haven’t seen you at the first tier pagoda yet.”

  “First tier pagoda? What’s that? Why would I take a break? Everything is so amazing here. I want to learn as much as I can as fast as I can. Why would you not want to work as fast as you can?” I asked Jon back.

  “Yup, same old Aiden. Always working. Come on, after dinner come with me to the First Tier Pagoda. It’s for us to relax and not explode.”

  “Fine, if it’ll get you off my back, sure. I’ll go to the pagoda tonight. But now it’s time to train, and if I’m going to take a couple hours off I’ll have to work even harder now.” I jogged ahead, getting to the PT field and started my warm up runs. I pushed as hard as I could, finishing a 10k in just over twenty minutes. Well, I’m literally superhuman now, though only slightly. I wonder what it’ll be like to run a 10k in ten minutes. Literally a kilometer a minute, or something like fifty miles an hour. After rushing through the calisthenics and working up a good sweat, I jogged over to the training dummies and pulled out the memory stone for the Four Twin Lightning Stabs technique.

  I watched as a student learned the technique, which involved using the Arm meridians to create an almost circular technique. This won’t work in front grip. The trisula are too long, and won’t create the right sequence. So I won’t be stabbing but bashing since it will work in reverse grip, I thought, watching the student use twin daggers. The result of the technique created what seemed like a very quickly changing magnetic field. It made the weapon flash back and forth in quick stabs that all had a similar power.

  The technique was named after the first stage, where you would be able to stab four times in the time it would normally take you to stab once. Watching the technique demonstrated was like the scene in the Matrix when Mr. Smith beat Neo down with superfast strikes. At the highest levels, the instructors’ arms were barely able to be perceived.

  I pulled out of the memory, and walked up to a dummy. As I called to mind the sequence of Aether flows and Runes, I realized yet again that my memory had become just about perfect. Opening the Brain meridian has been amazing for my progress on these techniques. I flipped my trisula to the reverse grip and began cycling the Aether. I pounded on the dummy for the next hour, slowly getting the hang of the technique. By the end of the first hour of PT, I could feel the technique start to work, and my hits became faster in the instant before contact, with extra rebound that was cancelled and propelled forward. I was maybe at one and a half stab technique, not yet enough to say I had mastered the first level. Good progress so far.

  I went over to the agility course and started working on startup speed again, making good progress. I heard a snicker as I did so, and saw Floozy and Flunky laughing at me. I enhanced my senses meridian and was able to hear Floozy, a.k.a. Builder Thomas, joke that I was slower than a ‘Frozen Fire Ooze.’ What is a Fire Ooze? I guess the flunkies of Nicky are still holding a grudge. I haven’t seen Nicky around recently either. I wonder why?

  Ignoring the onlookers, I continued to focus, getting my reaction time down as far as I could. I continued this until just before the end of class, when I went back to the beginning and did a speed run down the course. As I formed the runes and moved as quickly as I could, I realized that there were places where I could put some of the Lightning Runes from the Four Twin Lightning Stabs technique. I’ll have to try that sometime, though I think I’ll run it by Counselor Might or Sila first. Don’t want to blow a leg off or something, I thought as I jogged over to the Counselor to finish up class.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  After the final run, I went to shower and eat. I joined Jon, Brett, Ming, and Xiao at a table after waving to Jamila, Bet, Vaya, and Keai. As I sat, Brett commented, “So, you’re finally going to come by the Pagoda after dinner and relax some? I think you’re the only one who hasn’t come once yet. Though many people have only come once or twice. Finally giving up on working every second you are here?”

  “Well, I know Jon would only keep bothering me until I agreed, so I preempted him by saying yes to start with.” We ate quickly, starving as only teenagers working out daily could be. I bet we are eating five thousand calories or more. Maybe Elemental Beast meat has more calories? I don’t really know how to build a calorimeter, though I bet I could figure it out. I don’t think it matters enough to do so. Hmm, I wonder if I could make one to test how many motes of Fire Aether would equal a calorie.

  “Hello! You awake in there!” Jon’s sarcastic call took me out of my thoughts. “You’ve been staring at the wall for a minute. What were you thinking about?”

  “I was just wondering if there is a way to tell how much Aether is required to do things, like heat water or push a rock.” I said.

  Ming then asked, “How much Aether? That would be hard to measure because everyone has a different amount.”

  “Well, I think that an Aether mote is the same for everyone, so we could measure something that way. Though that could get unwieldy as they are tiny.” I answered.

  “Aether Motes?” Xiao asked, “what are those?’

  “You know, if you look really closely at the Aether in your center, it looks like thousands to millions of tiny colored dots. I call those motes. Since Aether comes in those motes, I think they are all the same.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Ming said. “Hold on.” He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was obvious he was focusing intently, trying to see the Aether motes. “Whoa!” he gasped, opening his eyes. “That’s amazing, how did you know that?”

  “Uh, I’ve always seen Aether that way, ever since I started gathering. I just thought Aether would be like ... that.” I finished lamely, realizing that I hadn’t really made a good reason. I had started to say air, but I didn’t think they knew air was made of gas molecules. Nor water of water molecules. Crap, what did I use before? Divert, divert! “Well, shall we head to the Pagoda?” I said, standing up with my plate. Xiao and Jon stood up too, while Ming had a questioning look on his face.

  I walked to the door, with the group following behind. Just after I stepped out, I stopped. I realized I didn’t know where to go. “Uh, where is the Pagoda?” I asked. Jon burst out laughing, and to our surprise so did Ming. That was the first time I’d seen him lose his composure the entire time I’d known him.

  “Follow me,” Jon gasped, still laughing as he walked past me away from the dorms and the Grotto alike. We walked out past the third and fourth tier dorms, and I saw a series of pagodas that butted up against the wall of the school compound. There were a number of people on three of them, and one completely empty. I saw Lucas and Louis talking animatedly on the Pagoda to the far right, near the corner of the wall. Guess that one is ours. The empty pagoda was next. Huh, I just realized I haven’t seen any of the second tiers around campus at all. I wonder where they are. Oh, wait. Counselor Might said they were at the large group training at some Fort.

  My eyes were drawn to the far left pagoda, near the gate as a burst of color and sound came from it. What looked like a serpent made of fire bloomed into life, raising its head almost twenty feet off the ground. At its base, I could see someone gesturing, and the serpent moved along with the gestures. With a whooshing noise, the serpent vanished into the figure. I could see then that the person was a fourth tier. “That was amazing!” I said, wonder evident in my voice.

  “Yeah, there is almost always someone from the third or fourth tier showing off over here. Makes for good entertainment. Especially when they screw up.” Jon said, still chuckling. As we got closer to the First Tier Pagoda, I could hear light music playing. It sounded like a harp or zither, light plucking of a string. Small groups of students were chatting or sitting and playing a card game. Another couple of people were playing some board game that looked a lot like Go. Near the center of the pagoda, I saw the source of the music.

  Anberlin was playing a zither like instrument
, with a group of people around her. After a minute she finished with murmurs of appreciation from the group. Two guys, neither of which I recognized, took over afterwards on a set of drums and a lute. They started playing a fast song, and several of the students began dancing. I got pulled into a dance with Bridget, and then with Bet.

  The dance style reminded me of swing dancing, though it had a four count beat to movement. I looked around after dancing with Bet to see Jamila, and walked up to her. I bowed lightly, saying, “would you like to dance?” She agreed and we danced a song together, and then Vaya grabbed my hand and I danced with her. I think over the next hour I danced with every young woman I had talked to at any one point here, and several I didn’t know.

  After the last dance, when I finally managed to escape, I went and found Jon. “Is there dancing like this every night?” I asked.

  “Not always. Depends on if Stephen and Andrey play or not. Anberlin is usually here playing the zither for a couple of songs, then she leaves. I always feel more relaxed after she plays. There are usually more people playing games, or just talking. So, what do you think?”

  “Well, it was fun. I might come back, but probably only once or twice a week. Thanks for bringing me, but I need to go Gather.” I said, starting to leave. I stopped when I had a thought, “Hey Jon, have you seen Nicolai around? I don’t recall seeing him for several days.”

  “Uh, now that you mention it, I don’t think so. That’s strange. Not that I want to see him anyway,” He replied. I shrugged and jogged off. My speed jogging was now equivalent to my fastest sprint from two weeks ago, which made traveling to the Grotto take only a minute. After arriving, I pulled out another pill and took it, leaving me with one left. I started working through the Eight by Eight Gathering Form, focusing to make my movements perfect and pulling Aether in as fast as I could. After almost an hour, I started feeling tight inside. I’m getting close to breaking through to high Mist! These pills are amazing. I thought it would take another seven days to get here! I pushed harder, filling my meridians to their maximum capacity.

  As I got close, I focused on pushing Aether into the sides of my meridians, slowly stretching them wider, until they suddenly jumped outward, increasing in diameter by twenty percent. I exhaled as the pressure inside decreased. I had broken through and gained a larger Aether pool. I slowly gathered enough to fill my Aether pool up to its new limit. So I need to Gather enough Aether to condition my meridians, and then use Aether to stretch them to a new width to break through. At least at this level. Neat. The pill ran out just after this, so I sat down and examined myself. I again was covered in gunk, my skin meridian being used as a garbage disposal by the rest of my system.

  I got up to leave and remembered I had put a piece of fruit in my pocket for the Crimson Zarorzel. I jogged around a bit, looking around for it. When I couldn’t find it, I went back to my pavilion and left it on a tree branch nearby. “This is for the Crimson Zarorzel.” I called out, hoping to see it again, but the bird wasn’t around. I then left and went to get a shower.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  The next day passed quickly. Gathering class covered the Eight by Eight again. I got the first of the moves from the fourth set down, then helped Jon and Brett finish up the last two moves in the first set. Finishing the set let them double their Gathering speed, which is always helpful. After class, I decided to gather without taking my last pill, saving it for when I knew I could get more points. The Zarorzel showed up again, this time landing right next to me as I gathered. “You are a beautiful bird,” I told it. It poked my arm, expectant, so I pulled out the fruit I’d brought and it ate from my hand. I quickly stroked its head, which caused it to glare at me and hop away. I laughed and said goodbye as I left for lunch.

  Lunch passed quickly, and Beasts class was filled with students describing one Beast or Elemental Beast they had studied over the last week. I went to speak to Counselor Taiga after, who encouraged me to bring some meat to the Zarorzel as well. “Encouraging trust is a good way to start working towards a bond. Zarorzel are usually very picky about soul bonds, though, so it may not lead anywhere.”

  “I understand. It is just a beautiful bird, and you said they are intelligent, so I’m just trying to be friendly.”

  “Okay, come and see me if you have any more questions, otherwise I’ll see you next week,” she dismissed me, and I headed to Physical Training.

  Finally, during PT I practiced on my Four Twin Lightning Stabs technique up almost to mastery of the first level and the Dancing Northern Wind technique to nearly mastering the second.

  I was ready to go back to the Training Pavilion. After dinner, I ran to the Pavilion, both eager and nervous about the upcoming challenge. When I arrived, there was a Counselor sitting cross-legged in the center who I had not seen before. There were also two positions taken, one by a third tier, and one by a fourth tier. As I approached, the Counselor opened her eyes and beckoned me forward. “Good evening student. What is your name?” she asked.

  I answered her and she nodded, saying “Elements welcome you, Aiden, I am Counselor Chokhmah. I am the senior Counselor for the Training Pavilion and the Martial Arts instructor to all third and fourth tiers. Now, this is your first extra training time, so you have the choice of running the ladder again, or picking a level and staying there until you choose to leave or perish. Also, you may surrender at any time to leave. It is only the official ratings that you must continue until you perish. Those will happen weekly for the entire time you are a first tier. Which method do you choose?” She asked as she finished explaining.

  “Can I change my decision after I’ve entered? Or exit and reenter?” I asked, trying to figure out my limits.

  “Since you asked, I’ll let you reenter once if you start with a ladder. Then you can enter again by picking a level to start at and work in for a time. Now, hop on up.” She gestured at me, and I found myself bouncing into the Pavilion. I landed awkwardly, slightly stunned by the casual use of magic. After a quick shake, I sat down and took a deep breath. As I let it out, I found myself in a clearing in a forest. Looking around quickly, I saw a large chicken. What? It’s a four foot tall chicken. Seriously. Is this what an Elemental Fowl looks like? I thought.

  It looked at me and clucked, just like a chicken. I laughed, shaking my head until it clucked three times rapidly and spat a ball of fire at me. Diving sharply to the side with a shriek, the fireball missed me. At least it’s not a D&D fireball, those explode, I thought as I rolled. I pulled my trisula out and flipped them to reverse grip. I sent an Aether blast at it from the short end. Blasts from the short end were smaller and did very little damage, but were much faster than the larger blasts from the pointy end.

  Well, they did almost no damage to the training dummies. The Elemental Fowl was knocked over, but it quickly regained its feet and shot another fireball at me. I sent an Aether blast at nearly the same time, and they collided in the middle. The fireball exploded, knocking the chicken and I down. I shot to my feet before taking a potshot at the fowl, which barely dodged. I started closing the distance when it clucked rapidly again. I quickly shot a blast and managed to hit the fireball just as it cleared the bird’s beak, causing another explosion. This one ended the level as it detonated too close to the Elemental Fowl for it to resist.

  Well, that was really useful. Birds are lighter weight, so it reacted more to the hit. Or my leveling made the blast stronger. Most likely both contributed. Now, what’s next? I thought, looking around warily. As I thought that, a bunny hopped out of the trees. Not a normal bunny though. This rabbit was probably twice the size of a normal rabbit and had a unicorn horn on its head. It still looked cute and cuddly, like all rabbits though. I guess it’s time to fight no longer helpless prey animals today, I thought with a laugh.

  As I was laughing, it hopped towards me, only for sparks to crackle down its horn. Halfway into the hop, it suddenly shot towards me like a missile. Only the practice Counselor Might had suggested, of work
ing on getting Dancing Northern Winds going as fast as possible, saved me from being impaled through my chest. I was able to turn a mortal wound into a glancing injury, but its horn still ripped right through my enhanced skin. Of course, I didn’t have a shield running at the time, stupidly.

  I circled the injury with Aether and started an Aether Shield running while I staggered to the side. I turned to see the bunny flip over and cock its head at me. “Come on, fluffy rodent, I will show you why that was a bad idea.” I taunted the non-sapient simulated creature, mostly to make myself feel better. I nearly died to a bunny! I can’t be Elmer Fudd. I refuse! Sparks flew again, and the rabbit lunged at me. This time, I met it with a slash, already dodging as it jumped. Batter’s up! The bunny tumbled as it hit the ground, knocked off course and deeply injured. As it staggered to its feet, I sent a full power Aether blast into it that ended the level.

  The cut down my side healed quickly, draining a small but significant portion of my Aether pool. As did the blasts I had sent out. I continued to look around, waiting for the next level. A chirp from my side caused me to dive forward into a roll. I looked and saw two praying mantis-like bugs that were around three feet tall and shimmering green. Having learned my lesson, again, about not waiting, I sent a full power blast at the rightmost mantis. It blocked with one of its talons, taking some damage but nothing major.