“As you can see, I weathered the storm,” he said with a big grin. “All magi can wrap themselves with power from their primary line. This ‘power wrapping’ acts just like a counter spell which happens directly on you instead of somewhere comfortably away from you. With time you will learn always to have at least some power wrapped around you, but remember what was said about the counter spell. If you underestimate the power of the attack, you can actually make your opponent’s spell stronger. With a counter spell you still have a second or two to try something else, whereas in this case, had I made a mistake with my shield I would have been destroyed.”
Flame was looking exhausted at this point. I knew they had one more defense to demonstrate, but she must have put too much effort into that last spell. Shadow began to speak again.
“The final defense that we will show you today is much simpler, and all of you can do it already. The part that makes it very hard to master, and the reason why it should only be used by those who have practiced it well, is the timing. If you use it too soon it becomes worthless; too late and you fail completely to have any defense at all. Most of you, I am told, are able to cast at least a minor bolt spell from your primary line. For this demonstration, on the count of three I want everyone to cast one bolt at me at the same time: one … two … three!”
As Shadow said “three” everyone began to cast. He smiled at us and stood there doing nothing. Almost simultaneously a volley of bolts came from the audience, flying towards him at all kinds of angles and elevations. Just as they were about to hit him, he vanished!
From the back of the classroom I heard him say, “At times the best defense is to simply get out of the way of the attack. I have just dodged every one of your simultaneous attacks with a simple teleport spell that we all learned in Basic Powers.”
That day I saw why they had been promoted: they were way ahead of the rest of us. It was the most humbling experience I’d had in school since that time I foolishly stood up to the teacher and he chewed me out, in my first year.
Chapter Forty-One
Flame and I were not allowed to take our vacation as we had hoped. We did continue to meet in the practice chambers one day a week and take another day a week for rest. Since that was on a different day to the rest of the school, we had most of the recreational areas to ourselves. I tried to keep up some level of physical activity in each week, but often I was too tired to even consider it. When I did go out hiking I tended to set too rapid a pace for Flame, so often it became my time alone.
Often I would see that same stranger. Although I knew that something about him was not as it should be, he was always there when I was at my lowest. He never stayed long, but merely gave me a few words of encouragement and left. Even though I knew I probably should not, I found myself looking forward to seeing him. That shadow remained over the school, and I began to wonder if it was somehow connected to him.
When Flame could join me on a hike, we would have a great time but that stranger would never appear. I had told no one about him, but I could not say why. It was obvious he did not belong here, but still I felt that it would be best if I kept his presence quiet.
Flame’s new teacher worked her hard, much harder than she had been worked in a long time. She made Flame go back and revise everything she should already know, and then started down paths which she was indignant to find that Flame had not been led. Flame was really enjoying her new lessons, and it was obvious that she was making much better progress. I was a little saddened by her progress, as I had wanted to be the one to help her reach these levels but had not lived up to the task.
My own lessons altered quite a bit. Master Mathorn hardly ever gave me rigorous puzzles anymore; instead I was either buried in books or put to work in his lab. When I asked him about the change, he said it was time I broadened my understanding of the universe and the power that makes it up. I used my powers far less during these new lessons, but somehow I knew I was growing.
There was one lesson in particular that year which really stood out. I arrived as I normally did for my lesson, expecting to be sent back to the books on the shelves to read about yet another topic. We had just finished a section on basic elemental theory, and I was hoping that we would be moving on to more advanced knowledge in that area.
When I entered the practice chambers which formed his entrance I was expecting to fly up to the top of the stairs and join him in the library as I had done every day for some time, but today he was standing at the top of the stairs again, just as in my early days when there would be a puzzle of some kind for me to solve.
“Greetings, Shadow. Today I have something to show you; something, I think, that has been neglected in your studies so far,” he said, as he floated off the balcony into the center of the room. “Come up here. It will be easier to see.”
I had long ago mastered flying, and it was a fairly enjoyable experience so I was happy to obey. When I was up beside him he began to weave power in a masterful way. It was seldom I got to watch him actually cast anything, but when he did I was always impressed by the fluidity of his motions. He was at least three if not four times my age, yet he moved with the grace of a youth. Threads of power moved around us and created a stunning visual.
“Master, I had no idea you could create illusions!” I said.
“Shadow, we are spellweavers. We weave power to whatever end we please,” he replied.
Soon the massive chambers were filled with a map of our galaxy. Laid out around us were all the systems I had grown up with during my travels with the Navy, both as a child and as an enlisted soldier. Many of them had memories attached to them, some pleasant and some not so pleasant.
“This, Shadow, as you no doubt recognize, is your realm. Since coming here to train you, I have spent quite a bit of time traveling around and learning about it. It really is an amazing place. The mundanes here have learned to master levels of power that many magi never reach. As a spellweaver, in a sense you are much more powerful here than anywhere in my realm; for you can tap all the mundanes’ power to add to your own and replicate anything they have done with energy by studying the pattern of it,” he said.
“Master, forgive me, but I thought you were not allowed to leave the Academy?” After asking that I realized it was not for me to ask, but having spent so long working in naval intelligence I could not help but question things like this.
He merely chuckled and said, “Perhaps you might grant that Grandmaster Vydor and I may have some private agreements. Now, pay attention. The secret to our power, the root of it, so to speak, is a weave of energy that runs everywhere.”
As he said that the image before me changed, and I saw power moving through it in great waves. Planets, stars, and even space stations were enveloped in it. The power was everywhere.
“What the mundanes call jump space is what we as magi call the weave,” he said.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. This meant that, for many years before we discovered magic, we were using it as a means of travel and communications.
“Yes, you begin to see: the weave is everywhere; without it there is no life. Even the mundanes draw energy from the weave in them. Without it, they die just like … ” he began.
“So that is how Master Kellyn can heal; she is wielding pure life force!” I said with excitement. “Sorry, Master, I did not mean to interrupt.”
“No, Shadow, don’t apologize; it is that kind of revelation I am hoping to awaken in you,” he said with a grin. “You see, as a spellweaver you will learn to live and breathe energy. You will eventually learn to walk in and out of the weave, or what you call jump space, at will and even spend time exploring it. At your core, you are a piece of the weave. All magi are; that is what makes us different from mundanes. You, I and the other magi are of a special kind, separate from the rest of society. We still do not understand how magi are created. They come, seemingly at random, from mundane parents of any species but they are intrinsically different.”
“Master, are you saying I am not really human?”
“Yes, I am. You are a magus. Your parents are human, just as mine were, but you are not.”
“Master, what about Grandmaster Vydor’s children then? Will they be magi?” As far as I knew, they were the first generation of magi children in our realm but had not yet shown any power.
“Yes, I believe so. Children with at least one magus parent usually are, but it will be years before they are old enough to be sure. We are not really knowledgeable yet about how it all works. Headmaster Rannor has been studying it intensely. He can give you more details, I am sure, but what I want you to see here is that you and the weave are one. As a spellweaver, you do not cast spells. Of course, you still have the basic powers, but over time you will cease to have need of them; you weave power directly, tapping into any power source of which you know the pattern.
“This is why you had trouble teaching Flame. Flame has to convert the energy into the form of fire or light before she can use it. Then she can shape the converted energy into whatever she wills. She cannot see nor directly work with the weave; only spellweavers can.”
We talked for quite some time there in the air overlooking the massive weave of power that runs throughout the multiverse. Over time we had grown closer, and a real friendship was building between us.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Commander Bill, our fleet is in position,” said one of my crew as I arrived on the bridge.
“Excellent,” I said. I looked over all the tactical displays and saw the other fleets already in their positions. The fight to secure our space had been going well. Ever since we’d taken that mining system back from the pirates, morale had risen among the Navy and the citizens of Aleeryon.
Under our newly-organized naval command structure, we were able to secure and hold all our space to the point that pirates did not even approach those sectors which we declared ours. Mining operations in our space were on the increase, and citizens were joining the Navy again. It would need years of growth before we could directly challenge the pirate squatters in the systems we’d retreated from, but the pendulum was swinging in our favor.
The biggest enemy we faced now was impatience. Everyone wanted to take back our space now, but we were not ready yet. The pirates still had superior numbers and superior technology. We needed more time to make that change.
Our president had sent a request for help to Alpha Academy, which was the only neighbor close enough to assist, but they stated that their numbers were still too low to reach out to us. They wanted to help, but they were even further behind in military numbers than we were.
Still, they helped us in other ways. First and foremost, they started purchasing large quantities of supplies from us. They had no natural resources of their own; indeed, it was a mystery why they had ever chosen that system. It was completely devoid of anything of use. Whatever their reason was, personally I was glad of it because it was primarily the taxes on their purchases that were financing our naval increase.
I suspected, or rather hoped, that someday in the future we’d be working with them to clear the scum out of this area. This operation was the first move towards that goal. They were launching a new space station that would sit within a jump of our last major trade hub.
The station would be vulnerable to attack while it deployed, so our fleets were on hand to defend it. Once the station was in place they would raise the Alpha Academy signal flag over it, and I was sure no one would then dare to attack it.
“Sir, enemy fleet spotted!” called my tactical officer.
“Deploy the fleet and intercept!” I ordered. Soon the various craft that made up my fleet were moving to intercept the pirate attack.
“Interceptors and bombers, sir,” came the report from tactical.
“It’s a blasted suicide charge,” I commented. That did not make any sense. Why would pirates make a suicide charge? That implied a level of loyalty and dedication you don’t find in scum like them.
“Send in the destroyers, then. Pull the big ships back to rally point four, and call for Johnson’s light attack fleet,” I ordered. Our ships were too big to fight this kind of fleet. Their bombers could cut right through us, and their interceptors could easily counter our drones.
The tactical display lit up with indications of the battle as Johnson’s fast attack craft cut through their front line. I quickly checked on the station’s progress and saw there were several more hours till the primary power generators were online. After that, they could start the shield generators, and the station would be safe.
“Let Johnson’s fleet handle this. Pull the entire fleet back to rally point two,” I ordered.
It was a calculated gamble having Alpha Academy wait to claim the station till it was fully deployed, but our navy needed the practice and our president really wanted to show them some goodwill. Once this station was deployed and fully operational, trade could start up again since it would now be a single jump from this station to protected space; at least it would be for the massive trade fleets. Unfortunately they constituted only a minor part of the trade revenue, but it was the best we could hope for in our present situation.
Twice more pirates made suicide runs at the station, but we had sufficient forces to defend it, and the station finally raised the flag. It made no sense, none at all, for pirates to make suicide runs. I suspected that something more must be behind it.
Chapter Forty-Three
“Thanks, Phoenix. You’ve been a great help,” said Michael as we finished our session for that week.
“No problem, man. Just work on those mnemonics; they’re what got me through,” I said.
“We’re coming up to another break. What are you planning?” Michael asked.
“With the pirates controlling much of the trade routes that I’d normally use, well, I’m just not sure,” I said.
“Well, I can’t wait till I graduate so I can head back for some great home cooking. I can still smell Mama’s stew on the stove,” he said.
“Oh, man, now you’re making me hungry!” I said. “I’ll see you here next week again. Till then, have fun!”
Michael just laughed and commented that everything made me hungry. He gathered up his belongings and made his way to his next class.
I headed over towards the mess hall to see if I could find something to snack on before going to my own class. As I was moving down the hall, I saw Flame and Shadow walking side by side, lost in conversation.
“Think fast!” I called out as I tossed a very minor fireball at them. To my surprise Flame turned around and caught it! She held it in her hand, grinned and threw it back at me. I was caught totally off guard by this and tried to spin out of the way, but all I managed was to turn my face into it. Thankfully I had taken their lesson about defense seriously and spent the weeks following it learning to wrap myself in power so the minor fireball was countered completely. My balance, however, was not so practiced and I ended up on the floor.
“That I have to learn!” I said.
After a brief conversation with Flame, who told me in what book to find the catch spell, we parted ways. They were headed out for a hike, and I resumed my quest for food.
As I turned a corner I heard some voices in the hallway that I didn’t recognize. I could sense that something was wrong, very wrong. This scared me; it was the first time I’d ever felt anything like that. I grabbed all the power I could and wrapped it around myself as I slowly edged up to the corner and peered around.
I could see a group of prospects huddled in the hallway talking quietly, and was close enough to barely make out their conversation.
“We are running out of time,” said one.
“Yes, yes, but we dare not move until we get the message,” said another.
“What if we are caught first?”
“Then we die, so be careful.”
“Relax. As long as we remain humble prospects, no one will no
tice us; we are just a few among many. Now quickly get back to your posts before someone stumbles on us. Our time will come when it comes.”
Not wanting to be seen by them, I left quietly. Something was very wrong, and I had to tell someone and somehow manage to do it without these prospects finding out. As I walked down the corridor I remembered that I was hungry, so I started to swing a wide path around to the kitchen and walked right into the prospects I had seen in the hall before.
They looked up in surprise when they saw me coming, but immediately backed out of my way and lowered their gaze as all prospects were trained to do. I tried to remain calm as I passed among them, but a cold shiver ran down my spine.
“He knows!” said one.
I broke into a run, but moved nowhere. It was like being on a treadmill: my legs kept going but I stayed in one place. I remembered then the lesson on defense and the trick Shadow had used at the end. Focusing my will down the hall, I teleported myself as far away as I could see.
When I landed, I turned on them and threw the biggest fireball I could muster, screaming for help at the same time. The ball headed down towards them, and they dove out of the way.
“He will blow our cover. Kill him fast!” one of them called out.
That did it! I needed to make as much of a ruckus as I could. Pulling a wand from my practical joke bag, I ran towards them yelling, “Banana!” Soon they were all slipping and sliding around. Then I used an amplification spell to call out, “Shadow! Help!”
As I reached their group the floor was still slippery from my spell, so I planted my feet hard and skated through them with my arms wide, knocking them down like a living bowling ball.
“Enough of this; our chance has gone. Finish him and let’s get out of here,” said one.
The Academy Page 18
