by Gage Lee
The words stopped me as I emerged from the shadows of Tycho’s hidden door and into the School’s main entryway. The voice was familiar, but so low and quiet I couldn’t recognize the speaker. My hand slipped to my belt and pinched a jinsei pill from where I’d hidden them. If someone attacked me, at least I’d have a chance to defeat them.
“Easy,” Clem said as she crossed the room toward me. Her serpent of light unwound itself from around her eyes and vanished in a pale blue puff of static electricity. “It’s just me.”
“What are you doing out so late?” I asked. “The wardens will skin you alive if they catch you out here.”
“Don’t you mean they’ll skin me alive if they catch me talking to you?” Clem teased. “There’s only one warden per tower, and they’re so mad they had to stay behind instead of going on holiday they don’t care what we do. What are you doing out here at this time of night?”
“Work.” My eyes darted around the entryway to search for eavesdroppers or other students who might be spying on Clem. She really would get in a lot of trouble if she was out of her room after curfew, and I doubted that Tycho would stand up for her like he would for me. “How did you find me?”
“I followed you around,” she said. “It wasn’t easy, especially with that trick door you just came out of. Can you show it to me? I couldn’t find it on my own.”
“No. I can’t show it to you,” I whispered. We were both hidden by the shadow of the staircase, but even with our voices low the echoes of our conversation made an unnerving racket. “We need to get out of here. If someone sees us, there’ll be no end of trouble and your reputation will be ruined.”
“You worry too much.” Clem raised her voice as if to emphasize how little she cared about being caught. “There’s no one here. The wardens are safely tucked away in their towers, the only students left behind are initiates, and if they see us, then they’re out after curfew, too. The cats are away, Jace. It’s time to play.”
“You’re impossible,” I sighed. “So, you followed me and found where I go to work. Satisfied?”
“Hardly.” She laughed. “I wanted to find out what you’ve been up to. I have a sneaking suspicion whatever it is lies at the bottom of the troubles you’re having.”
“No.” I crossed my arms and shook my head. “No, that’s not possible. My problems are tied to my parents and their crimes. Grayson doesn’t care that I’m working off my tuition in Tycho’s service.”
“But why would one of the five sages pay your tuition?” Clem asked. “No offense, Jace, but what could Tycho Reyes possibly gain from helping you?”
“He saw what happened with Grayson Bishop,” I explained. “The headmaster wanted to disqualify me from the Five Dragons Challenge because of something my father did before I was even born. Tycho stepped up for me and gave me a place here.”
Clem’s eyes lit up and she tapped her fingertips together.
“Now, that’s a juicy bit of news that I can work with.” She paced back and forth through the shadows in front of me, one finger tapping against her lips. “The Disciples don’t get along with the Resplendent Suns, at all. They’ve had more honor duels amongst their members than even the historians can count, so it makes sense that Tycho would do something just to flick Bishop’s nose. He scored some easy points off Grayson and looked like an honorable man in the process. He also got you to work for him as a literal slave while you were here. That makes more sense than a clan elder doing something out of the goodness of his heart.”
Hearing Clem talk about the clan leaders like this made my jaw clench and my stomach tighten. The sages were powerful men and women who were the final line of defense between the mortal realm and the void of the hungry spirits. Without their protection, unholy creatures would have long ago rampaged across the earth and dragged all of humanity into the void. The elders were noble warriors, and the clans who followed them were brave and honorable. That’s what I’d been taught all my life. It’s what I believed. What all of us believed.
But the way Clem talked, the elders were just politicians jockeying for position and taking cheap shots at one another. It felt like they were playing some sort of game and we were all pieces to be moved around the board.
“That can’t be right,” I choked out. “Tycho Reyes stepped up to right an injustice. He was stopping a horrible wrong that would’ve ruined my life. He’s a good man, and what he did was the right thing.”
Clem stopped pacing and stared at me. Her eyes were soft and worried, and a faint frown tugged at her lips.
“Jace,” she started, then stopped and came closer to me. She put a hand on each of my shoulders before she continued, and her eyes burned with green fire as she spoke. “Those are fairy tales, Jace. There are monsters out there, and the Empyreal warriors do fight them. That is our duty, and we take the protection of the Empyrean Flame very seriously. But the elders are people, like you and me. Sure, they can punch whales out of the ocean or kick jetliners out of the sky, but they aren’t infallible and they aren’t perfect. They live for a very, very long time, and as the years pass, they get bored. They pick fights with one another when they feel their honor has been slighted. They let their personal beliefs cloud their judgment, just like we all do.”
My mind reeled. I felt like an idiot. Why didn’t I know that the haughty beings who ruled the earth from the safety of their overcities weren’t gods, but mortals with powers even they might not truly understand? I’d gone my whole life believing every story I’d been taught, gulping down tales that made the sages out to be paragons of virtue and honor we should all emulate.
“You’re saying that I’m only here because two old men hate each other.” I wanted to tear off my robes and run screaming at the thought. “That I’m a pawn in whatever game they’ve been playing?”
“No,” Clem insisted. She held tight to my shoulders and leaned forward until our foreheads touched. “No, Jace. You’re here because you won the Five Dragons Challenge. Grayson’s beef with your parents would have kept you out of the School, but Tycho’s vengeance against the headmaster let you in. Those two cancelled each other out. You earned your spot. The rest of it is just nonsense.”
“Even if that’s true, what can I do about it?” I stared into Clem’s green eyes and felt her strength bleed into me. Our auras mingled, and I breathed in the jinsei she exhaled. I felt closer to her than I’d felt to any person other than my mother.
“You said that Grayson had a problem with your family?” she asked. “What kind of problem?”
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “My father committed a crime that got my parents exiled before I was born. I was as surprised as anyone that Grayson knew my parents.”
“I’ll help you,” she promised. “There aren’t many exiles anymore. That punishment went out of fashion ages ago. There must’ve been some sort of trial. It will be recorded somewhere. I’ll have my mother look it up. She’s an adjudicator in the Kyoto overcity. She’ll have access to find out what happened to your father.”
“You would do that for me?” I asked. “I couldn’t afford to pay you, and I don’t think I can honorably take on any more debt. I doubt I’ll ever be able to pay Tycho back, much less anyone else.”
“You’re my friend.” Clem’s words were so soft I barely heard them. “You don’t have to pay me for my help. I want things to be right for you. Then we can be together. I mean—”
A blast of lightning sizzled through the entryway, and Clem and I both yelped in surprise. Rainbow spots danced across my vision, and for a moment I couldn’t see what had happened. The air reeked of ozone and sulfur, and footsteps tapped down the stairway toward us.
“It is very late for two students to be out of their towers, is it not?” Tycho Reyes peered over the staircase’s railing, his eyes burning into mine. “Clementine, you should get back to your quarters Mr. Warin, a moment of your time, please.”
Clementine gave my hand a squeeze before she bolted across the entryway and
vanished through one of the many doors that lined the wide hall. I didn’t blame her for abandoning me, because Tycho was terrifying when he wanted to be. I’d never been afraid of him because I’d been under his protection to one degree or another from the moment we’d been introduced. He’d even helped me win Clem’s guessing game back before the challenge.
The way his eyes burned at that moment, though, didn’t seem very protective.
“Jace, you’ve been a good worker,” he said. He came down the stairs and motioned for me to stand before him at its foot. “You’ve done exactly what I hoped, and you’ve been instrumental in helping me achieve some of my goals. For that, I am very grateful.”
I bowed before the elder, sharp and low, hands clasped behind my back. When I spoke, my words tumbled out of my mouth in a hurried rush and echoed off the floor between us.
“I am honored by your gratitude, elder. And I am twice as grateful that you believed in me enough to allow me a place in your work.” I dipped my head even lower and hoped he understood the sincerity of my thanks. “It has been my honor to work for you, and I will continue to do so until you have no more use for me.”
“Please stand.” He let out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s very difficult for me to speak to the top of someone’s head. There, that’s better. As I said, I am grateful for your hard work. But I am not so grateful for the trouble you’ve stirred up in my absence.”
“A thousand pardons, honored elder, but I don’t understand,” I said. It was impossible to look directly at Tycho because his aura flashed with a thousand different colors, and the weight of his regard was like an anvil pressing down on my chest. It made it hard to breathe, hard to even think. “I’ve done my best to follow the rules of the School of Swords and Serpents, and I mean no offense by my actions. Please explain what I can do differently so that I do not dishonor your gift to me.”
“Mr. Warin, do you know why I stood up for you and risked Grayson Bishop’s wrath?” Tycho peered down at me with eyes that flashed like silver coins in the moonlight. “Do you think it was because I saw something great in you? That I somehow predicted you would become an important member of Empyreal society?”
“I do not presume to know why you stepped up for me, Mr. Reyes,” I said. “I thought it was because I had won the challenge, fair and square, and Mr. Bishop was determined to deny me my rightful place. I believed it was a matter of honor for you.”
“Honor?” Tycho chuckled and rested one hand on my shoulder. “You should have listened to your little friend. You’re very special to me, Jace. For the very reason that has made your life so very hard, I’m afraid.”
I tried to back away, but Tycho held me firmly in place. His eyes burned against my aura, and the pressure of his concentration penetrated my flesh and burrowed into my chest as he surveyed the pale silver wreckage of my broken core.
“That’s right, boy. I’m not interested in your talents or your dreams. I don’t care about your honor or your family. I didn’t rescue you from Grayson’s petty revenge, I bought you for that broken thing you call a core.”
He knew. Tycho Reyes knew that I had a hollow core, and he didn’t care. It didn’t make any sense. He admitted I was damaged, and yet that was what had earned my admission to the academy.
“I don’t understand, honored master,” I said. I tried to bow, but Tycho wouldn’t release me. He held onto my shoulder like a dog leash.
“It doesn’t matter what you understand, Jace,” Tyco said with a sigh. “It’s enough that you know that there is something within you that I need. I’m willing to let you attend the School so that I can use that thing. I’ve given your mother a pleasant home outside the labor camp, and she’ll stay there in perfect safety while you cooperate. But part of that cooperation is that you stop making waves, boy.”
“I’m not trying to cause trouble, sir,” I protested. “I just do my work. I study hard and do my best despite my handicap. I’ve won challenges—”
“There.” Tycho’s voice cracked like a whip. “That is exactly what I mean. You’ve offended the other clans with your victories. You’ve earned Grayson’s wrath again and again by outwitting the traps he’s laid for you. You aren’t here to be the head of your class. You aren’t here to win the Core Contest. You’re here to serve me and my needs. And that is what you will do from this day forward.”
With every word that left Tycho’s thin lips, my heart sank lower. I’d misunderstood everything about Empyreal society and my position here. I’d stepped outside the bounds placed on me without even knowing what I was doing. Everything I’d done to try to make my life better had dug me into a deeper and deeper hole.
“You tell your little friend, Clem, that our conversation cleared up any confusion you might’ve had. I don’t need her mother poking about my business, you see. Keep your head down, work hard, and you will graduate as a middling member of Empyreal society. It’s more than you could have ever hoped for, Jace, and it’s far more than you deserve.”
“But if I fall too low in the rankings, I’ll be expelled,” I countered.
“Let me be clear. You will never win another challenge in the Core Contest. You do not have to fear expulsion if your rankings are too low, I will take care of that. But you will face a far worse fate if you continue to aggravate my enemies and allies here at the School of Swords and Serpents. Whatever dreams you had about claiming first prize in this pathetic test end now.” Tycho squeezed my shoulder tighter with every syllable. Jinsei poured out of his fingertips and into my body, sizzling and snapping through my channels as it wormed its way deeper toward my core. The pain was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. It felt like talons of Tycho’s spiritual energy were tearing me apart from the inside.
But that pain was nothing to the ache in my heart. I’d never restore my family’s honor or repair my core. Like Hahen, I was Tycho’s slave. The sage would keep me here until he was through with me, and anything left over would be discarded. The world crashed down around my ears, and it took all my willpower to keep my voice steady.
“I understand, honored elder,” I said.
Tycho vanished before the last word had left my lips. The jinsei he’d injected into my system chewed through my veins with the frenetic energy of a legion of army ants. The energy left me weak and weary even after I’d cycled the last of it out of my core and cleansed my aura. I limped back to the tower of the Shadow Phoenixes, ignored the angry warden when the alarm went off, and collapsed into my bed.
The Fall
THE MORNING AFTER MY meeting with Tycho Reyes, I woke an hour before breakfast and hurried down to the dining hall to catch Clem. I had to warn her off digging deeper into the mystery of my family’s shame before she could do anything. It was bad enough that I was caught in the Disciples of Jade Flame’s plans, I didn’t need her getting tangled up in their web, too.
But Clem didn’t come down for breakfast. I spotted Eric and Abi in the buffet line and headed toward them, but Eric warned me away with a sharp shake of his head.
Worry about Clem killed my appetite, but I forced myself to eat, anyway. I’d grown up choking down ramen noodles that tasted like the inside of a dirty fish tank and wasn’t about to starve myself when there were loads of good and healthy food in front of me. The calories were fuel to keep me going, and I needed that now more than ever.
The morning core development exercises were even more torturous than usual that day. I’d taken to ignoring the breathing prompts from the warden who ran the class, instead using that time to strengthen my Pauper’s Dagger technique. I couldn’t connect to more than ten creatures at once, no matter how hard I tried. But that morning I was distracted by concern for Clem and stalled after I’d joined my core with just three field mice.
If Tycho had done something to Clem, I’d never be able to forgive myself. She’d only been trying to help me when she’d crossed his path, and if he had her expelled, or worse, it was all my fault.
I was so worried about Clem th
at I spent two hours after core training searching for her. I concentrated on an image of the pale blue gi she wore, of her startlingly green eyes, of the way the slightly crooked tops of her teeth peeked above her lower lip when she grinned. No matter where I wandered, I couldn’t find any sign of her.
“What’s your problem, kid?” Niddhogg asked when he found me roaming the halls of the Shadow Phoenix dormitory tower. “You look like you just found out you were being sent off for portal duty.”
“What?” The little dragon had surprised me with his sudden appearance, and what he’d said made no sense.
“Portal duty? Where they send all the new soldiers to fight the hungry spirits?” Niddhogg shook his head and thrashed the ground with his tail. “Never mind. I keep forgetting you’re new to the whole Empyreal thing. You do look like you just took a big swig from a glass of bad milk, though.”
“I just got some bad news,” I said. “I was looking for one of my friends to warn her, but I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Tough break, kid,” the dragon said as he fluttered his wings to fly in my direction. “Anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. The offer was nice enough, but I didn’t have any idea what Niddhogg could do for me. “It just feels like everyone’s got it in for me.”
“That’s a good sign.” The dragon chuckled. “When a bunch of people want you to fail, it’s usually because they’re afraid of what will happen if you succeed.”
“Tell that to the other Shadow Phoenixes,” I said glumly. “No one wants me to win the Core Contest, not even my own clan.”
“Does it really matter what other people want?” Niddhogg uncoiled his tail from around my leg and flew up so we were eye to eye. “Our clan’s been kicked around since before it was even founded. Our first elder was a traitor and thief who broke a lot of rules for what he thought were good reasons. The other clans couldn’t forgive him for what he’d done, even though his actions ended up saving a lot of lives from a surprise invasion of hungry spirits. He did a lot of bad things for the greater good, and it cost him everything. No one wanted him to do what he did, but once it was done, they didn’t want anything to be different, either.”
