by David Oliver
The reality was something I could never have envisioned.
✽✽✽
Seven weeks. For seven weeks Cassius and I put the rest of the dorm through rigorous survival practice, gaining leave from Kane for several multiple day trips. Sophia and Scythe already had a fair knowledge of survival training, having grown up in a tribal environment, however they had always had tools with them and the suggestion was that tools would not be an option. As a consequence we practiced making basic shelters, fires and - by drawing on the Tracker’s training whilst on the mountain - weapons. Ella and Rikol struggled with some of these elements. Whilst we had all received some level of survival training during our time at the Academy, neither Ella or Rikol seemed to have an affinity for the subject, struggling to light fires or make traps. This was purely a matter of experience and so on several occasions we forced the two to be responsible for lighting the fire and catching the morning breakfast. The displeasure of having their comrades go hungry soon made fire starting second nature, although often accompanied by a hefty dose of grumbling.
One area in which everyone excelled was hunting. Training with Seya had massively increased our understanding of the natural world. Even Rikol and Ella, city slickers through and through, moved as one with their environment, relatively easily being able to sneak up on unsuspecting prey. This led to Rikol questioning my decision to force him to practice trap making, complaining that if he was hunting then why did he need traps? It took some considerable time before he was convinced that having back up snares for small game was a useful endeavour. It was hard to simulate just how difficult it could be to catch food, especially in an area with a dearth of prey, as the forest surrounding the Academy was teeming with abundant life. Granted, there were probably a few less deer now that Seya was in residence, but I had no doubt that if survival was to be involved in the test then it would be in an area very dissimilar to the Academy surrounds.
When we weren’t outside the Academy practicing our survival skills we were inside fighting each other and the now fifth years at every available opportunity. As usual they often put us to shame, all except Cassius, but we were all skilled enough to more than hold our own in a real fight - if that is what the test held in store - and by this point had more than proved it. To my mind it was doubtful that fighting would be a core component of the test as we had theoretically already shown our skills in this area…but who knew?
The answer to that is no one. I spent every moment of spare time racking my brain trying to predict what might happen so that we could better prepare for it, and in the process drove everyone to distraction.
“Relax Calidan!” said Cassius for the fiftieth time as we played chess late into the evening. “You’re too wound up, it’s easy to see.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied, sighing. “I can’t help thinking about it. Is it that obvious?”
Cassius reached across the board and deftly knocked away my queen with a bishop. “Usually you wouldn’t let me take anywhere near this many pieces. So yes, I would say that it is obvious. Breathe Calidan - the test will happen and you can’t change it. Each of us will face what we have to, and what's more each of us will overcome it. Worrying is only going to cloud your judgement. Make you easier to predict.” He grinned as I moved my knight to counter his bishop, falling into his trap and allowing his own knight to move to check my king. “See?”
I sighed and tried to relax. “You’re right. I need to stress less. Thanks Cassius.”
He winked at me as he watched my hands move across the board. Inwardly I smiled in amusement as his face opened in surprise when my trap was sprung. I always did like chess.
Smiling I got up, clapped Cassius on the shoulder and grabbed my coat.
“Going out?” asked Cassius absentmindedly, still trying to decipher how I had so completely rebutted his attack.
“Yeah,” I replied, “not tired, so I think I will go and see if Seya is awake, if not her then Korthan. Don’t wait up.”
“Fair enough, see you later,” he grunted and I sidled out the door.
I made my way to Seya’s abode but it was empty, the entrance into the woods open. I tried contacting her but got no response, which wasn’t unusual, especially if she was out hunting. With a shrug I set off to see if Korthan was around.
I had been making trips to see Korthan pretty regularly on my return from the expedition. We had had many long chats into the early hours of the morning as he avidly digested everything I had to say about the journey. I had no doubt that soon enough there would be a fresh treatise written on the subjects of skyren, seraphim and ASH. Furthermore I felt protective towards the old man, he was a friend and an enjoyably foul-mouthed rascal towards practically everyone in the Academy - no one, aside from the Emperor, was beyond the scathing wit of his tongue.
Feeling cheerful I wandered into the torch lit corridor, somewhat excited at the prospect of drinking whiskey whilst learning what fresh piece of history Korthan had managed to dig up since I saw him last. I reached his door and knocked.
“Korthan?” I called. “Korthan, you awake?” No response.
“Korthan?” Still nothing. Sleeping, I surmised. But just to be sure I quested out with my senses, my ears twitching at a dripping sound. What was that? Korthan would skin someone alive if they spilt a drink in his library. The droplets seemed to be falling a long way however before hitting the floor.
Perturbed, I tried the door and finding it unlocked I stepped through into a dark room.
“Korthan?”
I stepped around a bookcase and stopped dead. Knees buckling and gorge rising I shut my eyes - willing my enhanced vision to be wrong. But when I opened them again the scene was the same.
Hanging from the ceiling, bleeding from multiple wounds and face frozen in a grimace of agony was my old friend and mentor. I didn’t need my senses to know immediately; Korthan was dead.
As my soul cried out in despair I rose unsteadily and made to move to cut down my friend, to remove him from this depraved scene. As I tottered forward, teetering like a blind drunk, I slowly became aware of a presence behind me. Before I could move the room seemed to flash.
And everything went black.
Chapter 3
Horrors
Drip
Drip, sway
Drip, sway, drip
I awoke groggily with my head spinning and eyes feeling like they were weighted down, aware only of a constant dripping noise and the fact that I was swaying in a cool breeze.
Bit by agonising bit my mental faculties came back online. Korthan dead. Light then darkness. Attacked? I realised that I couldn’t move my arms or legs, so that was likely. As my eyes finally opened I understood two things: firstly, why I was so groggy and secondly, that I was in deep shit.
I was hanging upside down, swaying gently, hands bound behind my back by what felt to be thick metal chains. I ventured a quick look up at my feet, yep still there, bound in thick steel chain and hanging through a loop in the chain on a big metal hook. A single torch fluttered near my head, casting a circle of light around me and leaving the rest of the room in darkness. The effort of raising my head elicited a groan and something out of the corner of my eye moved in response. The blurry, black shape soon emerged as a dark, shadowy figure that strode towards me, hooded and cloaked and wielding a disconcertingly bloody knife in hand.
“Greetings Calidan. I see that you are awake. Good.”
My tongue felt thick and unmalleable in my dry mouth as I tried to talk. “Whe...where am I? What’s going on?”
“Sssshh, don’t worry yourself over it. I’ll get to you in good time. Just stay here and relax. I’ll be back shortly.” With that the figure slowly retreated, gliding back into the surrounding darkness.
“Wait, who are you? Why did you kill Korthan?” I yelled, rage filling me anew.
The figure didn’t respond and simply walked away.
A blinding pain erupted in my side, shocking me from unconsciousness. Gasping
, I flinched away from the source of the pain - the figure was back, standing with the now bloodier knife in hand. He, for I assumed it was a man from the sound of voice, had slashed a shallow cut along the ribs on my left side. Far from a mortal wound but certainly enough to send agonised pain responses to my brain.
“Awake again Calidan? I thought I might have lost you there, leaving people upside down tends to be bad for their health.”
“Fuck you!” I spat, wanting nothing more than to choke the life out of Korthan’s killer.
“Dear, dear Calidan. Where are your manners? Something you will have to learn is-” I gasped as the blade bit again into my flesh, slowly scoring down my leg, “to respect the man with the knife.” Fresh blood dripped down my chest, pooling slightly at my neck before sliding further so that my vision soon turned red.
“Why?” I asked again, after spitting out my own blood.
“Why what?”
“Why kill Korthan?” I yelled, “he was no threat, he was just an old man!”
“Calidan, you seem to think that I need to have a reason to do this. Perhaps I just like killing and the thought of torturing a sweet old Imperator to death is like ambrosia to me. Did you think of that? Indeed, Calidan. Have you stopped to think at all?”
My brain froze.
“Ah, I see that you’re finally cottoning on. Yes, I killed Korthan because he meant nothing to me, you were the one I was after Calidan. The boy with the big, smart brain, the Great Heart bonded. The boy who will tell me everything about the Empire and the Academy that he knows because he is a child, and I know how to make a child talk. Just ask your friends.”
A chill went through my spine. “My friends?”
A hand reached down to my face, “See for yourself,” and spun.
As I slowly rotated around my screams grew ever louder. Hanging, one by one, were the other members of my dorm. Sophia, Scythe and Rikol were upside down, hundreds of lacerated cuts along their naked bodies, pools of dried blood under their feet. One look at them and I knew that they were dead. Ella and Cassius were hanging upright, tightly bound. Both their faces were heavily bruised and their torsos, arms and feet bore similar wounds to the others. My heart felt split in two, my comrades, my brothers and sisters in arms were dead or dying. I felt so impotent. Who was this man? How had he known about the Academy and moreover how could he get in and remove us without anyone knowing? I had to know. I had to know everything about him so that when I got free, and I would, I would be able to track him to the ends of the earth for what he has done.
And make him pay.
The masked figure laughed as I screamed. “Yes, scream Calidan, scream as loud as you like. No one will hear you here. Scream for what you have lost, your innocence, your friends, scream for your dreams of vengeance, of taking from me what I have taken from you. Let despair fill your heart! I’m going to peel apart your friends in front you, and you’re going to watch. You’re going to watch them die Calidan and there is nothing you can do about it.” The masked man paused. “I could be persuaded to grant them a quick death though, they’ll certainly be asking for one by the end. Would you grant them that Calidan? Would you grant them that small mercy? A quick death in return for a small amount of information - sounds easy doesn’t it!”
My hate must have shone in my eyes because the man laughed out loud again. “Now, now, don’t be hasty in your decision Calidan, you can’t take it back once you’ve decided. Why not watch me whilst I play first?” With that he drew a wickedly curved blade and walked towards Ella, heedless of my screams, my fury, my tears.
For hours he tortured her. Every scream, every beg for mercy like a knife thrust in my heart. Cassius howled, throwing himself against his bonds but to no avail. His eyes became dull as he found a hole inside himself from which to hide from his inability to protect the one he loved. The screams had become an endless cacophony of hateful sound and it was a few minutes before I realised that they had stopped. Just Ella, unconscious and bleeding, and Cassius watching the tormentor with dull eyes.
“So Calidan, were you watching?”
My mind was numb. Blank. A huff and a slap across the face.
“That’s it Calidan, no going into shock for you. I need you with me now. Here.” A sharp pain flashed across my chest and I arched in agony, screaming. He flicked something at my face, wet from blood. “The more you don’t concentrate the more you and they will hurt, Calidan, so please do perk up.” He stopped my spinning and pointed over at Ella. “Are you going to spare her from this Calidan? Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
“What do you want to know?” I bellowed. “You haven’t even told me?”
“Everything Calidan, I want to know everything. Everything about life in the Academy, your training, what you do, how you live. But first things first, why not tell me about your little expedition to the desert? What did you find?”
How did he know? That expedition was a secret, no one on board the ship or hired from the city knew that we were Imperators, just a well-funded expedition group. So how on earth did he know? The memory of the High Imperator ordering all information related to the expedition to be kept silent, and not to leave the room resounded in my brain. Did that mean that this tortuous individual was also an Imperator, had he been in that very room with us? But if that was the case why would he need to know about the Academy? It made no sense! Either way I knew that I couldn’t speak, couldn’t reveal anything about the Academy. Silence was drilled into us - reinforced again and again over the first few years of training to not mention anything related to being an Imperator or the Academy itself. It was, after all, one of the Empire’s most closely guarded secrets.
And so I chose to hold my silence.
Each noise, each gasp, scream, sob that stemmed from that decision cut through me. And remain with me to this day. Of the many terrible and shitty days that have followed that remains the worst.
And believe me, there have been a lot of bad days.
Cassius looked at me, his eyes heart wrenching. Asking me to end it. The rag in his mouth stopped him from speaking, and he had long ago gone hoarse from guttural, bestial screaming. Aside from the bruising and cuts that he had received before I awoke Cassius had not yet been touched, as though the torturer knew that whilst I loved Ella dearly, Cassius was my brother. I had no doubt that in that deep, twisted mind of whoever it was inflicting this pain on us, Ella was the starter and Cassius was the main course.
But still I held my silence and still the screams continued. I berated, I yelled, bellowed, cried and swore at this remorseless creature, but still I kept the Empire’s secrets.
“You’re doing well Calidan, I have to say that you are lasting much longer than I expected. Do your friends know how little they mean to you deep inside your heart?”
Hateful, ignorant words. Words designed just to hurt. My friends meant everything to me.
“If they knew Calidan, they would abandon you. They would walk away, just like everyone else. And rightly so, because look how easily you abandon them! Leaving them to this world of pain and suffering.”
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
“I would help you if you would let me Calidan. I would end this pain. Just talk to me.”
Liar. Filth. Tyrant. Tormentor.
“Calidan.” Strange, the fiend’s voice sounded softer.
“Calidan please.” More feminine?
“Calidan, please, do what he says. I can’t take it anymore!” My eyes snap open, Ella was watching me through hooded eyes. Tears had created rivulets down her cheeks, washing a gully through the blood and grime that swamped her once beautiful face. Her eyes were piercing, a rare moment of cognition in this hateful world.
“Please Calidan. Tell him something, anything!” Ella screams.
I close my eyes and wall up my heart. None of us are getting out of here alive.
A sigh.
“I can see that this isn’t working for you Calidan. It isn’t enough to get you to
talk. Admirable, but wasted.”
A noise of a blade biting through flesh. A gurgle. I opened my eyes. Cassius was wide eyed watching as Ella’s lifeblood spilled out onto the stone floor. With a swift blow the fiend had ended her life, cutting smoothly through her jugular. Her eyes held mine, filled with betrayal; as well they should be for I had abandoned her in her hour of need.
A final gurgle and silence. Nothing but fresh blood dripping onto the floor to add to the orchestra in this room of death. Cassius didn’t move, his heart was gone, broken. Only when he too went under the knife did he react, screaming through his cloth filled mouth. Each noise, just like before, sent shocks right through me.
“Stop it!” I whispered.
“Sorry, what was that Calidan, you have to speak up!”
“STOP IT!” I roared, fury blazing in my soul. Struggling against my bonds yet again but still to no avail.
“Why should I stop it Calidan? Are you going to talk?”
Should I talk? Is it worth talking about the Empire, the Academy, even if all it grants is a faster death? What if he is lying? What if I talk and all that happens is that the torture continues?
My brain was at a stalemate so I did the only logical thing that I could do as the fiend’s masked face drew near.
I spit in his eye.
