School of Swords and Serpents Boxset: Books 1 - 3 (Hollow Core, Eclipse Core, Chaos Core)

by Gage Lee

  Except me. I cycled as I spoke, and my unique core allowed me to strip aspects from my aura when I exhaled the words. To the inquisitors, my aura was as clear and pristine as a newborn babe.

  “I’m sure you’re aware of the attacks on the Church and its territories,” Brother Harlan said, visibly relaxed now that he believed I was telling him the truth. “We’re very interested in any information you hear regarding such radical activities on campus. We’d also like to know if any of your fellow students or staff at the School of Swords and Serpents show any radical tendencies or sympathies.”

  “I’m sure I won’t see or hear anything like that at the School, but I will inform the headmistress if I do,” I said smoothly. “What else?”

  “Just one more thing,” Harlan said. “And you will speak of this to no one. If you do, the punishment for you, and whomever you impart this knowledge to, will be final and unavoidable. Do you understand?”

  I didn’t want to hear whatever Harlan had to tell me. It sounded radioactive, certain to hurt anyone who got anywhere near it. If I slipped up, it would endanger my friends, my clan.

  But if I didn’t hear him out, he could pull the plug on my exit. The Flame wanted me freed, but the Inquisition might have ideas of their own.

  “Go ahead.” And then, to make it perfectly clear, “I won’t tell a soul.”

  “The Grand Design is very near a convergence.” inquisitor Harlan’s eyes burned with a zeal I’d rarely seen in the other brothers. He was a true believer, there was no doubt about that. “The current interpretation is that you will decide the inflection point for this event.”

  “I’m not sure what any of that means.” That was no lie. I’d been raised outside the Church and only understood that the Grand Design was an unseen plan that guided the lives of Empyreals, whether they wanted it to or not.

  “A convergence is like an intersection of roads.” Harlan could barely contain his excitement. He loved explaining this stuff. “The inflection point is the exact instant when the driver chooses which way to go at that intersection.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. “But my choice of roads only affects my car.”

  “Oh, no.” A righteous fire burned in Harlan’s gaze. “Your decision will change the course of the Grand Design for all of us.”

  The weight of Harlan’s words crashed through my thoughts like a dropped anchor. If what he said was true, I could choose the future of Empyreal society. With one choice, I could liberate the labor camps and give everyone the chance to master the jinsei arts. I could unite the heretics and the Church. I could fix everything that was wrong with our society.

  With a single choice.

  “And you want me to choose something specific.” Of course. That’s why the inquisitors couldn’t keep me chained up in a dungeon somewhere. They needed me to do something for them.

  “No.” Harlan slid the papers aside and leaned his elbows on the table between us. He reached across and took my hands with surprising speed and strength. Before I could escape, the inquisitor pulled me closer. “You will know when the time has come, Jace. And when it does, we want you to do the simplest thing of all.

  “Nothing.”

  The Wink

  BROTHER HARLAN WATCHED as I gathered my three sets of robes and my quantic computer, the only belongings the priests had taken from my room at the School, and stuffed them into the backpack he’d provided. Then he whisked me off to a tiny portal station deep in the bowels of the Temple.

  Finally, I was going home and I could get back to searching for my mother and chasing advancement.

  “I know you do not understand what has happened here, Jace.” Harlan looked at me differently now. There was a reverence in his gaze that I’d never seen before. I didn’t like it. “I hope this year goes more smoothly for you than the past two have.”

  “We’ll see,” I said after a few awkward moments of silence. “I won’t break the rules you’ve set for me. But if anyone tries to kidnap me again—”

  “You and I will hopefully never see one another again.” Harlan fished a small vial out of a pouch at his belt. “This is the serum I promised. Drink it when you’re ready to sleep, and you’ll wake feeling rested and refreshed eight hours later. That should reset your body’s internal clock.”

  We bowed to one another, a strangely formal way of parting after all the time we’d spent together. And then, as quickly as I’d arrived at the Temple, I stepped through the portal and left it far behind.

  A siren sounded and red lights flashed an alarm before I’d fully crossed the portal’s threshold. Students dressed in apprentice Portal Defense Force uniforms grabbed their communicators from their belts and raced toward me.

  “It’s okay,” I called out. None of the PDF apprentices were armed, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t harm me. My fellow students were all skilled fighters, and getting my head beat in after I’d just returned from three months of inquisitorial review didn’t sound like fun. “I’m supposed to be here.”

  “Jace!” Abi called. “Somebody kill that alarm. I can’t hear myself think.”

  Two of the apprentices snapped to attention and darted off to follow my friend’s orders. A few seconds later, the red lights died, and the sirens trailed off with a pathetic whine.

  “Sorry,” Abi said. “Your clearance came through a few minutes ago. We didn’t have time to reconfigure the alarm. Next time tell the Temple to give us a half-hour, at least, unless you want to spend a few hours locked up with security.”

  “It’s good to see you again.” I threw my arms around Abi’s neck and pulled him into a tight hug. “I haven’t seen anything but old man faces for months. And congrats on your nice new stripes.”

  The black badge on the shoulder of Abi’s gray uniform bore a pair of diagonal silver stripes to reflect his recent promotion.

  “Oh, that,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It just means I’m not a complete newbie like these guys.”

  He gestured to the other PDF apprentices around us. None of them had badges on their uniforms, and they all looked at me as if they were still uncertain whether I was supposed to be there.

  “We all have to start somewhere,” I said. “Have you seen Clem or Eric?”

  “Not yet,” he said. “I’ve been stuck here running security drills for the past few days. I’m off tomorrow for the first day of classes, though. We need to get together and catch up.”

  “We’ll definitely do that. What time is it?” The moonlight that poured in through the windows of the portal room told me it had to be much later than three in the afternoon, which was when I’d left the Temple.

  “Almost eight,” Abi said. “Where did you come in from?”

  “Atlantis,” I said. “Though I’m not really sure I was there. I only saw the inside of some stupid old church.”

  “You were with the inquisitors?” Abi’s jaw dropped at the thought. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I laughed. “I’ll explain it all tomorrow. I don’t want to have to tell the story twice.”

  “Sounds like you had an interesting summer, my friend.” Abi grinned and shook his head. “I hope this year is less eventful for you. Try to get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is a busy day for third years. We get to start the aptitudes. There should be a notice in your room about it.”

  “I’ll take a look,” I said. “Don’t let me hold you up. Somebody needs to keep all these apprentices in line.”

  “Somebody named Abi.” My friend laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jace.”

  I left Abi to his work and wandered the School’s quiet halls. Most of the students hadn’t arrived yet, and the campus seemed to be holding its breath in anticipation. By this time tomorrow, we’d have a new crop of initiates, all my friends would have arrived, and it would be time to get down to work finding my mother. For the moment, though, I wanted to soak up the quiet and relax for the first time in months.

  I walked without any destination in mind.
The School was my only real home, and it was a comfort to see so many familiar sights after the stark emptiness of the Temple. My feet took me past the upperclassman dormitory and the strange passage to the frosty mountains I’d hiked with Rachel Lu last year. I ambled through the long hall of library cells where I’d researched the Eclipse Warriors. A curving flight of stairs carried me to the main floor, where my footsteps echoed through the silence. I checked the grand hall for the secret passage to Tycho’s alchemical laboratory. It hadn’t reappeared, and I wasn’t sure if I felt grateful or disappointed. Finally, I found myself at the dueling grounds where I’d gone toe-to-toe with Rafael.

  That duel had changed many things and set in motion a series of events that had ended with me as a guest of the inquisitors. I wasn’t surprised that my aimless wanderings had led me to a place so charged with my past emotions.

  What did surprise me, though, were the statues that now occupied that courtyard. They were enormous things, each three stories of solid stone. A statue of an older man leaning on an giant sword, his eyes covered with a blindfold and his clothes in tatters, stood on the left side of the courtyard. A long, serpentine dragon with a cruel-looking muzzle clamped over its snout reared up on the opposite side. Its body was a neat corkscrew resting atop a coiled tail. The statues seemed to glare at one another from their respective sides, as if nursing old grudges.

  “Where did they come from?” I asked myself.

  “Nobody knows,” Hahen responded as he appeared from the shadows. The rat spirit looked much happier than he had the last time I’d seen him. He’d exchanged his old robes for simpler, lighter ones, and his perpetually blistered skin had cleared up. He looked much, much younger than he’d ever seemed before.

  “Hahen!” I called out and rushed over to meet my mentor. I bowed low before the rat spirit and held that posture until he returned the gesture and straightened. “How have you been?”

  “Better, thanks to you,” he said. “Without Tycho ordering me around, I’ve been free to rest and restore myself. How did they treat you in the Temple over the summer?”

  His question surprised me. The inquisitors had scooped me up from the School so quickly I hadn’t had time to tell anyone goodbye or explain where I was going. I’d been afraid that Hahen would be offended by my sudden disappearance, or, worse, that he’d worry himself sick about where I’d gotten off to. It wasn’t as if my last year hadn’t been filled with assassination attempts and dangerous missions. He wouldn’t have been far off base to assume one of my many enemies had finally succeeded in killing me.

  “How did you know?” I asked. “I tried to get word out, but the inquisitors insisted on keeping my whereabouts secret until they finished their investigation. The brothers were worried that there might be another attempt on my life, or that my presence in Atlantis might rile up the heretics.”

  “It’s hard to keep anything from me,” Hahen said with a faint snicker. “We spirits share information with one another when it suits us. For example, I had spirits deliver news to your friends that you were not, in fact, dead. I’m glad to see the inquisitors didn’t harm you during their questioning. They aren’t always so gentle with their guests, and I’d hate for people to think I was a liar.”

  The biting sarcasm the spirit added to his last sentence told me just how he felt about the Church and its minions.

  “They didn’t hurt me,” I confirmed. “Though their interrogation was exhausting. My core still aches.”

  “What did they ask you about?” Hahen’s voice was little more than a conspiratorial whisper.

  “Everything,” I whispered back.

  “And what did you tell them?” He seemed nervous, as if afraid the Inquisition was listening in on our conversation.

  Maybe they were. I considered my next words very carefully.

  “Everything I could.” That seemed like a safe way to phrase things.

  “Good.” Hahen nodded slowly. “I feared they’d use you in worse ways than Tycho did.”

  “Not yet.” I still didn’t know about this convergence business or what I’d do when faced with the choice.

  “The powerful will always seek to use the weak,” Hahen said softly. “That is the easiest way to become even more powerful. But true strength lies in helping others grow stronger. Try to remember that.”

  Before I could respond, Hahen cleared his throat loudly and switched topics.

  “Your core looks fine,” Hahen said. “Though you do have minor stress fractures in the outer shell. I’d advise you to take it easy for a couple of weeks, but I know you won’t listen to me.”

  We both chuckled at that. Hahen had been a ruthless taskmaster during my first year at the School. He’d trained me in the rudiments of alchemy and showed me how to strip the aspects from tainted jinsei. His instruction had been invaluable, but, in the end, I’d chosen a path he didn’t truly understand. I was glad to see my mentor had forgiven me for that decision.

  “No one knows where these came from?” I asked, nodding to each of the statues in turn.

  “No. They just appeared yesterday,” the spirit said. “There were no alarms over the summer, though, and the security sentinels never detected an intrusion. The PDF insists they didn’t come through their portals. It’s a true mystery.”

  I wasn’t a huge fan of mysteries. The ones I’d bumped into so far in my life had nearly gotten me killed. It was hard to see how the statues in the courtyard were a threat, but that didn’t mean they didn’t make me nervous. There was something ominous about the way they glared at one another, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that one of the dragon’s eyes was fixed on me.

  “Have you seen your room yet?” Hahen asked. “I’ve heard you’ll be taking the aptitudes this year.”

  “No, I haven’t made it to my room yet,” I said. “Abi mentioned the aptitudes, though he didn’t give me any idea what they were.”

  “You will see,” the rat spirit said, grinning. “I shouldn’t say more. It could interfere with your testing.”

  “Fine, keep your secrets,” I muttered.

  “You should go to your room and get some rest.” Hahen chuckled. “You’re a long way from Atlantis and you’ll want to be fresh for tomorrow. Come along.”

  “I’m not tired.” My traitorous body picked that moment to yawn so wide my jaw clicked. “Okay. Maybe I’m a little tired.”

  “Don’t push yourself too hard,” Hahen cautioned.

  I followed the rat spirit to the edge of the courtyard and paused to look back at the statues. The dragon’s eye seemed fixed on me. A flicker of shadow almost convinced me it had winked in my direction.

  That wasn’t possible.

  Was it?

  The Initiates

  THE SHADOW PHOENIX dorms were much smaller and simpler than the champion’s cottage had been. My room held a bed on a low platform, a simple black lacquered desk with an alarm clock on a back corner, a closet that held the robes I hadn’t taken out of the cottage before I’d been snatched by the Inquisition, and patterned gray walls that seemed to undulate in gentle, rhythmic waves. I was really going to miss having my own coffee set.

  I pulled my quantic laptop out of my backpack and placed it down next to a sheet of paper someone had left neatly aligned in the center of my desk.

  “Dear Jace,” I read to myself, “as you begin your third year, it is time to look at how your unique abilities and skills can best be utilized within Empyreal society. With that in mind, you will begin your Aptitudes Assessment Courses on your first day of classes. The administration hopes you take these courses seriously and apply yourself to the utmost. Your success in the AACs will directly influence what classes are offered to you from your fourth year on. This testing will also have a significant impact on your future career options.

  “Good luck, and may the Empyrean Flame guide you during this momentous year.”

  Headmistress Cruzal had signed the note in an ornate tangle of cursive letters that shimmered with traces
of jinsei. The sacred energy carried enough of her presence to prove she’d personally signed the letter, and I thought that was a nice touch.

  The assessments sounded Very Serious and like they would go on my Permanent Record. I imagined most students were nervous about being judged and slotted into Empyreal society so early in their lives. I found that I looked forward to the assessments. After my months of interrogation in the Temple, assessment courses would be a walk in the park.

  I arranged the robes I’d brought back with me from the Temple in my closet, then flopped down on the bed. It was comfortable, though nowhere near as pleasant as the foam mattress the inquisitors had let me sleep on. The patterns on the walls shifted into cloud-like formations that drifted lazily around the room. A few seconds watching that pulled another yawn out of me.

  I fished out the small serum vial Brother Harlan had given to me and considered taking a swig to ease me off to dreamland. Instead, I hid the slender vial between the wall and my bed’s frame, then closed my eyes. You never knew when a sleeping serum might come in handy.

  I fell into a meditative cycle, and though my core ached from all the tests and meditation exercises the inquisitors had put me through, I was so tired I went out like a light within seconds of putting my head on the pillow.

  I woke five minutes before my six o’clock alarm, excited to see my friends again. I couldn’t wait to hear what they’d been up to over the summer and fill them in on my crazy, boring vacation in Atlantis. I bounced out of bed, shrugged into informal robes, and headed into the dormitory hall. Though it was still early, the buzz of activity filled the air. It felt good.

  It felt right.

  “There’s the sleepyhead.” Hahen appeared from thin air and offered me a shallow bow.

  “Some of us actually need sleep, honored Spirit.” I returned his bow.

  “Not as much as you think,” Hahen countered. “At the Disciple level, you shouldn’t need more than a handful of hours snatched from the depths of the night to see you through the day.”