Empyreal

by Helsel, Spencer

“Fine.” She said. “Why not?”

  Ethan tried to stop her. “Dani—!”

  “She’s made her choice.” Nazir smiled. “Why not have an impartial judge? Kleos, you’re a master of hand-tohand. You should judge the roll.”

  “Roll?” Dani asked.

  “The bout. The fight.” Kleos told her. He glared at Nazir. There was more than casual hostility between them. “And I will.”

  “First one to submission.” Nazir announced. His eyes shifted to Ethan. “Unless you have a problem with it, Stormthrower?”

  Stormthrower?

  “I guess not.” Ethan told him, but looked worriedly at Dani. “To submission.”

  “Good. Then let us begin.”

  They created an informal circle. Those Novices not already engaged in some kind of training meandered over to watch. Even a few gifted passing by along the hills took notice. Dani and Michael stood in the center. She already regretted this decision. What was with people wanting to fight her, mock her or punish her all the time? Since she arrived, she hadn’t caught a break. Now she was fighting someone?

  Nazir spoke encouragingly to Michael on his side of the circle. At least, she hoped it was just encouragement. The way he looked sideways at her looked more hostile that a pep talk.

  “Any advice?” she asked Ethan.

  “You’re stupid for doing this.”

  “Uh-huh. Tell me something I don’t know. Advice?”

  “Remember to strike through your opponent when you punch and keep your wrist straight, or you’re going to snap it.”

  “Anything else?”

  “You’re an idiot for doing this.”

  “You said that already.”

  “It bears repeating. Remember how he said Kleos was a master?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Nazir is a close second. His Novices are always good.” “It’s only the first day.”

  “His Novices are always good on the first day.”

  Great. Michael stepped into the middle of the ring of Numen. Dani did too. They stood apart with Kleos at the center. He was equally unenthusiastic about this fight.

  “Fighters ready?” he announced.

  “Ready.” Michael said, gritting his teeth.

  “Ready.” She answered, though truthfully she wasn’t.

  Kleos lowered his arm, glancing back and forth between the two. Michael itched to start. Kleos then raised his arm and jumped back.

  Michael exploded at her. His fist came up and she barely avoided it. It was enough to make her jump back and enough to give him the confidence to attack again. He kept swinging, one fist and then the other. Michael was big. His reach was long. He wasn’t the most agile boy, but he was big enough that it didn’t matter.

  She scooted back until she hit the ring of people. Kleos ordered him to step away and he followed. The people at her back shoved Dani forward. She caught Ethan’s glare from the sidelines; hand in front of his mouth, watching.

  “Come on girlie!” Michael jeered. “You know you want some!”

  Who was this guy? A jock from a bad 80’s teen movie? Well, if he’s going to set me up, she thought.

  “You ain’t got nothing any girl wants, Tiny.” She taunted.

  Spectators laughed.

  Michael’s eyes flared. Before Kleos could part them, he jumped at her. This time there wasn’t any skill. It didn’t matter. He was fast and he was big. Despite Kleos trying to stop him, he swung hard. Dani brought her arm up to block. Success. She’d learned that much. He swung with his other fist. Not a success.

  Stars burst through her vision and she hit the stones. She tasted blood. His fist connected squarely and she went down.

  Michael went to kick, but Kleos tossed him back. The force of the throw sent him into his Guardian. “Stand down Novice Michael! You wait for me to declare the beginning of the bout!”

  Michael heaved in anger. She could see that despite nearly getting knocked out. Dani slowly got to her feet. Ethan and Nathaniel were there.

  “You alright?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Do I look alright?”

  He glanced at Michael. “Maybe don’t piss him off again. He might take your head off.”

  “He’ll have to get his hands on me first.”

  “He’s going to.” Ethan warned softly in her ear. He flicked his eyes over and Dani followed them. Nazir spoke to Michael; instructing. “I know how Nazir trains. He is telling him to take you to the ground and submit you. He’ll even tell him to humiliate you for what you said, that little codpiece.”

  She shook her head, trying to clear the stars in her vision. “Your swearing up here is weird.”

  “Just focus. Remember: foot in the sternum and roll back.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Michael is overconfident. He’ll come at you hard.” He patted her shoulder. “Try not to die.”

  “Thanks.”

  Dani returned to the center of the ring. This time, as Kleos lowered his arm, he warned Michael, “Wait for my signal.”

  He flexed his hands at his sides. Dani brought hers up to her temples again.

  “Fighters ready?”

  “Ready.” Michael snarled.

  “Ready.”

  Kleos brought his hand up. Sure enough, Michael barreled into her. Dani took a step back, brought up her foot just like Kleos showed her and grabbed onto him as she dropped back.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t roll. Instead, landed on her back with the big guy over her. His weight sunk her knee into her stomach. She groaned, him on top of her. His hands went for her throat. She blocked them, but could do little else.

  “I’m gonna beat the tar out of you!” He seethed. “You’re dead!”

  She tried to push him off, but he was too heavy. She pushed him out with her leg, but only for a short time before he landed back on top of her. People egged him on. Nathaniel and Ethan yelled encouragement, but she could barely hear them over the drone.

  She struggled with Michael, twisting left and right. She couldn’t get him off. And the more energy she used, the less he had to. His bodyweight did all the work. She wouldn’t fight him long.

  She grabbed at his face. He seized her wrist, trying to pull it off. Dani struggled to hold on. She was exhausted.

  “Take her down Michael!” Nazir crowed from the ring’s edge. “Submit her!”

  Her hand felt hot. She could see it redden, but it wasn’t his grip on her wrist. It burned. It felt like her palm was molten lava. Michael hissed in pain as she grabbed for his face. She kept her palm flat against it, pushing. His grip loosened and he couldn’t stay on her.

  “UUUUUUURRRRRRRUUUUUUUUHHHHH!” he groaned. “Stop! Let go!”

  The skin of her palm boiled. Michael lifted off. Her palm shifted up over his eye. Dani put all her strength into the shove.

  Something like light burst from her fingertips. It wasn’t bright, it wasn’t a lot, but that close to Michael’s open eye and he howled in pain. He tumbled back and grabbed the side of his face. Dani slithered back. Once far enough away, she raised her foot and kicked.

  The first strike caught Michael in the mouth and snapped his head back. The next with her other foot came a millisecond after and popped him in the jaw. Two strikes and blood blossomed from his mouth. His eyes glazed; head lolling. Dani shifted sideways and leveraged her weight for a third kick across the bridge of his nose. Blood flew from his nostrils.

  He dropped like a half-empty sack of flour.

  The whole circle went silent. Dani caught her breath, slowly rising to her feet. Everyone stared at her. It was the same look she got from the guests at Ricky’s party when she put her mom’s boyfriend in the dirt. Shock. Fear. Disbelief

  She had to stop herself from going full Russell Crowe and asking if the audience was entertained.

  Michael groaned, sputtering blood, lying on his side as red spittled out the side of his mouth. Nazir ran forward. “How dare she—?”

  “Fight honestly?” Kleos finished, putting hi
mself between her and him. “I don’t know how she managed to keep her honor intact with such flagrant disrespect from an opponent! The question should be how dare Michael attack her unprovoked!”

  “In battle, there are no rules.” Nazir spat back.

  “Exactly. She followed them and still won. Or do you not see that coward lying on the ground?” he pointed to the Novice barely conscious next to him. “I think we can agree the fight was more than honest in terms of the victor. Does anyone contest?”

  No one spoke up. Several Guardians attended to Michael.

  That was how Elder Azariah found them when he came marching uphill, parting the gaggle of Guardians, Novices and random passerbys.

  “What is the meaning of this?” The Elder demanded, and then spotted Michael on the ground. “What happened?”

  “A roll.” Kleos told him. “One Novice verses another.”

  Azariah stared at the bloodied Michael. “One Novice did that? In one round? Who?”

  Everyone looked at Dani. Suddenly, she wished she could make herself invisible. When Azariah caught on, he could only look at her with disbelief. “Nazir, take your Novice to the healers. Ensure they give him enough panacea to heal his wounds properly. I’m assuming he will be in the Ward for some time.”

  Nazir helped Michael to his feet and draped one arm over his shoulder. He half-dragged, half-carried Michael off towards the Vale Bridge. Dani wasn’t one to gloat, but there was something satisfying watching them leave.

  “To the rest of you: our training is concluded for the day. Begin to your next session. Go!” The Novices departed. Before Dani could—and she kicked herself for not expecting it—Azariah called out. “Novice Daniella! To me!”

  Cursing her luck, she marched herself over and stood in front of him. Bowing her head—more out of anger for the punishment or lecture she was undoubtedly about to receive than anything else—she asked through clenched teeth, “Yes Elder Azariah?”

  His jaw clenched. She prepared for the worst.

  Instead, “Very well done.”

  She blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “To do such a thing to a much larger opponent takes a moderate amount of skill. Novice Michael is an aggressive foe. You came away practically unscathed.”

  As if on a broken record, she asked the second person in two days, “Do I say thank you?”

  Azariah managed the smallest chuckle. “I would.”

  She didn’t mind saying it this time. “Thank you, Elder.”

  “Do not become smug, Novice. Very few will underestimate you in the future. They will remember this bout. Take care you do not become careless. Dismissed.” He bowed slightly, placing two fingers to his forehead.

  She did the same, though unsure of what it meant. Then, she trotted off to meet up with Ethan.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked.

  “I guess. What does that mean? That bow you guys do?”

  “It’s called the reverence bow.” He said. “It’s our mark of respect.”

  The day was looking up.

  Chapter Twenty “Aer.” Elder Caspar announced. “What is it?”

  “What you breathe.” Someone muttered. A few people giggled. She managed to get to her next lesson in the Keep, in one of the

  strangest places she’d ever s een. Pedestals jutted from the walls in ascending spirals around a circular courtyard. Elder Caspar, a squat oliveskinned man with flowing robes, assembled them around himself.

  “Yes.” He frowned. “But it is also a weapon.” He turned and walked to a pile of small, smooth stones stacked in a pile at the center of the chamber. The Guardians circled around it.

  “Aer is an unlimited element.” Caspar told them. “It is all around you, unlike Fyre, Erthe or Water. The first angels used nature in their war. It is said they hurled mountains, caused floods and made volcanoes erupt. They struck with lightning and fire and turned the Heavens on one another. We may not able to do the same, but we can teach you to use the five arche against demonkind.”

  Caspar waved his hand. A breeze whipped down over the walls of the Keep and through the courtyard, ruffling their clothes.

  “All Numen can control the elements to a degree.” He told them. “Aer can bring a fallen sword to your hand when you have need of it, or even,” he trailed off, the wind picking up around him and levitating him into the air, “mean the difference between escape or death.”

  He floated back down to his feet.

  “As with all the elements, Aer will not listen to a weak will. You bend it to you. You may not be able to stop a mountain from falling on you, but a rock?”

  The stone shot from his hand and hit the nearest Novice. He grunted, taking it to the stomach.

  “That is what we are here to learn. Line the walls!”

  The Guardians stayed in the center and the Novices fanned out. Dani and Nathaniel took spots next to one another. Ethan stood across from them.

  “Why do I get the feeling this is a firing squad?” he mumbled none- too-enthusiastically.

  “Think they’ll let us have one last smoke?”

  “I don’t smoke.”

  “Me either.”

  “Novices!” Caspar announced. “Your task is to stop the stone from striking you! Do not move from your spots. Do not dodge. Instead, use your hands. Feel the wind in your fingertips. In your minds see a shield of air. Force it to your hand. Push the rocks away from you!”

  Dani glanced at her hands. Shields? She extended one and tried to imagine it.

  Then a rock the size of a grape smacked into her forehead.

  “Ow!”

  “Sorry.” Ethan said, and then shot one at Nathaniel. He hit him in the neck.

  “Mother sarding hellfires!” Nathaniel groaned, grabbing his throat. “What is this? Dodgeball?”

  Ethan drew another stone in hand. “Focus.” He told them. Then he hurled it at her.

  Dani ducked and it struck off the wall.

  “Do not move, Novice!” Caspar barked.

  Groaning, she tried to think of shields around her hands. She held them up.

  Ethan threw again. This time it hit her forearm. Pain stung down to her elbow.

  “Better!”

  ______________________

  “Fyre is the ultimate offensive weapon.” Said Elder Atar, an elderly Elder if there ever was one. His skin was the color of good chocolate but creased with deep lines. He looked old; real old. He knelt before a pit, with a fire smoldering in embers.

  She stood in a windowless, sweltering room with two other aeries — Ethereal and Pinnacle—while Atar instructed. It was ungodly hot, but at least he wasn’t throwing crap at her.

  “ Fire is the most volatile element in existence, thus the arc of Fyre is the hardest to control. From the first fires of humanity to the nuclear bomb, fire is both helpful and destructive. Very few can combat the demonic with such an unstable weapon right away, but it should not be just a weapon. It can cauterize a wound, create a campfire when you are cut off in the wilderness; it could mean the difference between life and death.”

  “What is the one limitation of any arche?” No one knew. So instead of waiting, Atar hovered his hand over the pit and the fire flared to life.

  “It cannot be created. And fire, unlike other elements, is unpredictable and because of that, those who learn to use it are unpredictable. Your fires are almost out. Extend your hand. Stoke them.”

  The Novices all put their hands down towards the embers. Dani’s was made of charred black-and-grey wood. Very little heat came off it.

  “Call to the fire.” Atar instructed. “Make your will supreme. Demand it’s acquiesce.”

  Dani stared into the glow. Her palm was barely warm. She did as he asked, even whispering for it to move. Nothing happened.

  “Look!” hissed someone. She glanced up. Flames sprouted in the pit of one Novice. He laughed in triumph. “It’s working!”

  “Very good, but do not lose focus.” Atar told him.

  �
��It’s working! Look at it!”

  Everyone watched. The flames grew brighter. He laughed out loud. “Yes! It’s working! It’s working!”

  “Novice, be careful.”

  Too late. The boy pushed out his palms and the flames exploded in a mushroom flare. The fire hit him in the face and he howled in surprise. When he dropped back to his butt, his eyebrows were singed.

  Dani nearly died laughing.

  ______________________

  “How was F yre training?” Ethan asked.

  “Funny as hell.”

  On the way to Studies in the Anthenaeum, Ethan took Dani to

  Adare’s market. She saw Shea and Roxelana, waving politely. Ethan paid for a loaf of bread, some kind of raw meat wrapped in cloth and various fruits with a pair of leather gloves in trade. He put what he bought into a bag and then they headed back to the Citadel.

  “Do you need anything?” he asked. “Most Novices don’t have much. Your Guardian is supposed to help you when you first start out in Empyrean, but with Mastema…”

  Dani thought of her house from the centaurs. “I think I’m covered for food and the little girl Korë set me up with fresh water, but if you happen to have a Coke on hand, I’d take that.”

  “Can’t say that I do.” He handed her an apple. “Here. Eat. Trust me, you’ll need it.”

  She accepted the fruit and bit into it. It was delicious. “Thanks. So, you treat all girls this nice?”

  He laughed. “Not normally, but then again there aren’t many girls here, are there?”

  “There’s the gifted.”

  He burned with embarrassment.

  “I thought so. So, you and Airlea, huh?”

  “Dani,” he chided, “keep it down. And why all the interest? Jealous?”

  “No.” She switched subjects. “Well, then, can you tell me what the hell ‘vespertide’ is?”

  Ethan tensed, gritting his teeth. “Nazir shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “It wasn’t just him. Some of the gifted mentioned it.”

  He shook his head. “Someone is going to get us in trouble one day.”

  “And will I know what it is that one day?”

  He smirked. “Maybe.”

  They walked, eating their fruit until Dani was down to the core. When they were both done, they tossed them onto the grass. As she watched, the grass curled up around it and began to consume what was left.