Aether's Blessing (Aether's Revival Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Greg? You need to eat if we’re going to the archive,” Yukiko said, breaking him out of his stupor.

  “Oh, yes, sorry,” Gregory said, starting to eat as fast as he could, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

  Do I ask about it in the archive? Or would that be bad? The visions might not even be real... could just be wishes given form… I should wait, at least until my magic is known. With those thoughts running around and around in his head, he finished his breakfast.

  They dropped off their dishes when fourth bell started to chime. More novices were arriving and there was a short line. On an impulse, Gregory got into the line again. Yukiko was watching him and standing off to the side.

  “You’ve already eaten, Novice,” the weasel eurtik said.

  “I was hoping to get my snack now,” Gregory explained.

  “Ah. Yes, that is doable,” the eurtik grinned. “See Velma.” He motioned toward the mink at the end of the counter.

  Gregory waved Yukiko over as he waited to speak to Velma. “Velma, we would like to have our snacks now. Is that okay?”

  Her eyes were twinkling and she smiled as she handed two small bags over. Gregory and Yukiko each took one, thanking her and quickly left the mess.

  “Jerky, cheese, and a piece of fruit. It will all keep easily,” Yukiko said, checking the snack as they walked. “Why did you ask now?”

  “So we won’t have to go back there before conditioning,” he replied. “I think having the extra time to rest might be better.”

  “We’ll see today,” Yukiko said.

  They greeted Rafiq when they entered the archive. “Morning, Archivist,” Gregory smiled.

  “Morning to you both,” Rafiq replied. “Your books are on the table you’ve been using. Do you wish for any other books or scrolls?”

  Gregory almost asked for information on visions, but shook his head instead. “Not right now, thank you.”

  “Good studying to you both,” Rafiq said, bowing his head to them.

  “Good day to you,” Yukiko smiled as she followed Gregory into the archive.

  They got to their table and gave their attention to their studies. Gregory felt his focus narrow down to the book before him and nothing more. The text was slow and tedious, but it made sense as he read. The current chapter described how vela had been disputed as the currency for the empire; it had a dozen names before anyone settled on “vela” five hundred years ago.

  Time ticked away as they learned, but the fifth bell chiming brought both of them out of their studies. Gregory realized he was a page from the end of the book so continued reading. When he was finished, he put the book aside.

  “You finished yours, too?” Yukiko asked.

  “Yes. I’m not sure any of it will ever be of use, but it was interesting,” Gregory said as he got to his feet and stretched.

  “I feel the same about history. Father always said history was written by the winner. I think I understand that better now that I’ve read this tome. There is nothing about any wrongdoing by the empire in the entirety of it.”

  “Because history is written by the winner,” the panther eurtik said from a row of shelves nearby. “Winners do no wrong— they are the ones who were wronged and were only seeking to make the world better.”

  “Archivist,” Gregory bowed his head, “we’ve finished with these books.”

  “Did you have a preference for your next study session?”

  “I will leave that in your hands, as I feel you’ll guide me better than I could,” Gregory said, bowing formally to her.

  A slight smile creased her muzzle, “I will do my best, but a direction would still be appreciated.”

  “I want to know more about the wars the empire has fought,” Yukiko said slowly. “Surely there are other books that have a different view.”

  The eurtik eyed her, “I would advise you to rephrase that carefully if you were to say that to anyone else. Some might view it as disrespectful or even traitorous to the empire. But, I do have a book for you.”

  Gregory frowned as he thought about what he wanted, “A book on visions of the future, or maybe one about how someone who trained on more than one path managed it?”

  The archivist nodded slowly, “Very well, Novice, I will find you something. I wish you both a good day.”

  Gregory and Yukiko returned the bow and left the archive, wishing Rafiq a good day as they went past him. The pair was silent as they walked the path to their first class, each thinking about what the archivist had said to them.

  Yukiko broke the silence as they drew close to the classroom, “Greg, how do we know if your idea of training all three paths is working?”

  “I don’t know, but I think the hour of study every morning might count for the mind path. It’s not what we read as the preferred training, but maybe it’ll still work since we are expanding our horizons. I wanted the snacks early so we can meditate before conditioning to train the spirit path, and I’m fairly certain that conditioning will count for body. I hope that will at least work for the first steps of each, but we’ll have to see what happens in the coming days to know if anything is working.”

  “Very well,” Yukiko said. “Early mornings and early nights for the future.”

  “It does seem that way,” Gregory nodded.

  ~*~*~

  They took notes during their classes, doing their best to learn. When the break before conditioning came, they made their way to the training hall, then went to the green arena.

  “Changing it each day to keep us off balance?” Gregory asked Yukiko while they sat on the arena floor to eat their snack.

  “To trick some into being late so he can make an example of them, I think,” Yukiko replied as she nibbled on a piece of cheese. “Your idea for snacks and meditation is even better now.”

  Gregory chuckled, “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally.”

  “What?” Yukiko asked.

  “A saying Gunnar is fond of,” Gregory laughed, and explained what it meant.

  “I see,” Yukiko giggled.

  They finished their snack and no one else was there yet, so they each crossed their legs, closed their eyes, and concentrated on steadying their breathing. Gregory was not sure how long he sat there, but a memory came to him.

  ~*~*~

  “Do you understand, son?” Marian asked.

  “Yes, Mama,” Gregory said, looking up at her with bright eyes. “I’m gonna be a magi. I can make things better.”

  Marian tousled the five-year-old’s hair. “If that is what you really want, then you should. You don’t have to be a magi, you can be like your father. Helping those close to you is just as important.”

  “Papa is strong,” Gregory smiled. “I can be like Papa and a magi!”

  Marian laughed, “Yes, that is certainly possible. I think you’ll take after me more than him, though.” Her eyes were sad as she gently brushed at Gregory’s hair. “I hope I am wrong, but only time will tell…”

  “Mama? Don’t cry... I’ll be a magi, don’t worry,” Gregory said, reaching up to touch the tears on Marian’s cheeks. “I’ll be the best magi.”

  Marian’s eyes went distant and after a moment, she shook her head, “Yes… yes, you will.” Hugging him to her, she kissed the top of his head. “With such joy and pain awaiting you, if I could only…”

  ~*~*~

  “Greg, wake up,” Yukiko’s voice shattered the memory.

  Blinking, Gregory shook his head, “Huh? What?”

  “It’s almost time,” Yukiko said, looking at him with worry. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You’re crying,” she whispered, reaching out to brush the tears off his cheeks.

  He wiped at his eyes, trying not to be too obvious. “A memory... it’s nothing.” Getting to his feet, he looked away from her as the memory started to fade. “My mother was speaking to me as a child. I haven’t been able to recall her face that perfectly in years.”

  “Ah
, I apologize for interrupting you,” Yukiko said.

  “No, it’s fine,” Gregory said, turning back to her. “Thanks, Yuki.”

  She gave him a tentative smile, “You’re welcome.”

  “He’s here,” Nick’s voice carried across the arena.

  Seeing Paul walking across the sands, the novices hurried to line up before the magus could call for them to do so. Gregory and Yukiko got into line just as his thunderous voice echoed off the walls, “Fall in!”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  The week became a blur to Gregory; waking, food, archive, classes, break and meditation, conditioning, then sleep. Twice he felt the mind path opening more to him. Body was being trained every day, but spirit had not shown him a second memory yet. Their teachers started to take notice of him and Yukiko, recognizing them from their early starts each day.

  When he woke up, he got out of bed and dressed by habit, only stopping when he reached the door. “Wait. Today is our day off… I think?”

  He opened his door almost on reflex when a soft knock sounded. Yukiko was standing there, wearing a dark blue kimono embroidered with white owls. “Greg… it’s our day off today… why?”

  “Reflex,” Gregory sighed. “I’ll change and meet you downstairs as quickly as I can.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” Yukiko giggled.

  Shutting the door when she turned away, Gregory went back to the closet and got dressed in his best clothing. Looking at it, he frowned. Plain, drab. This makes me look poor… well, I am, but it reflects on Yukiko now, too. Tying his money pouch onto his belt, he felt the jingle of coins— not many but some.

  When he made it downstairs, he found Yukiko and Dia speaking on the porch. “Here he is,” Dia said. “I do hope you enjoy your day.”

  “Thank you, Keeper,” Yukiko smiled. “We will do our best.”

  Dia just took a long drag on her pipe, watching as they went toward the mess hall. “The clans should be taking an interest soon. I wonder who will approach them first?” The light breeze did not answer her question, wafting the smoke away from her instead.

  The mess hall was empty; the four teachers who were usually there were not present today. The eurtik working behind the counter waved them over. “I told you they would be here, Zenim,” the weasel chuckled.

  “So you did, Ravol,” the scaled eurtik, Zenim, replied, handing over some vela.

  “Betting if we would show up?” Yukiko asked as she took her offered breakfast.

  “Yes. Today, many novices will sleep in,” Velma replied. “You two are driven, though. We had doubts when he only thought you’d sleep.”

  Zenim shrugged, “Didn’t lose much, at least.”

  Gregory shook his head, “Next time, tell me and we can work out a deal.”

  Zenim laughed, and the others joined in. “Have a good meal.”

  “Can we get our snac—?” Gregory started, but Velma was holding out the snack bags before he could finish asking. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you,” the four replied, bowing their heads in almost perfect unison.

  Taking their seats, Gregory was in thought. “Why did they thank us?”

  “I forget you’re a fringer, sometimes,” Yukiko replied. “We treat them well, we are polite, and don’t yell at or scold them. All of them have strong ties to eurtik blood, which means they are used to people looking down on them.”

  With a puzzled shake of his head, Gregory started to eat. He wondered about the eurtik and how they could accept that treatment after hundreds of years of servitude to the empire.

  By the time he finished his breakfast, he had stopped thinking about it, instead turning his thoughts to his current reading. “Ready for the archive?”

  “Yes,” Yukiko smiled, getting to her feet.

  “Let’s go,” Gregory smiled back as they headed out together.

  It was not a long walk, and Rafiq grinned at them as they entered the archive. “I thought you two would be here, even with it being your day off.”

  “Good morning, Rafiq,” Yukiko greeted him.

  “No reason to break our routine. We’ll just be going into town instead of class today.”

  “Interesting. That will still make you some of the first to leave the walls today. Your books are awaiting you. Did you need new ones?”

  “I’m almost finished with the history I’m reading,” Yukiko replied. “I have enjoyed seeing things in a different light. Maybe you can have another ready tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” Rafiq bowed his head.

  “The scroll written by Lionel Lighthand has taken me a long time to work through,” Gregory admitted. “If you have anything on future visions, though, I’d like to see it tomorrow.”

  Rafiq looked into the distance for a minute. “I’ll see what can be done. Books like that are normally for more advanced magi.”

  “I see,” Gregory sighed. “If it’s not possible, then something on economics, please? The teacher is about to race off ahead of me. Yukiko and I haven’t had much of a chance to study together, since we’ve been collapsing every evening after conditioning.”

  “I can do that,” Rafiq replied. “Good learning to you both.”

  As they walked toward the table in the back, Yukiko glanced at Gregory, “We could study together tonight.”

  “After an hour of physical training,” Gregory said. “We need to keep the training going.”

  “Yes,” Yukiko nodded. “I’ve felt connections with mind and spirit over the last week. Body is being drilled into us... I wonder if the other novices are seeing that?”

  “It’s slight,” Gregory said, “but it proves that training more than one path at a time is probably very possible. Some of it might be how much you can train in any given day, too. We’re pushing as hard as we can and barely scratching all three of them.”

  Yukiko nodded, taking her seat at the table. “True, but maybe the next step on each path will make it easier to train?”

  Gregory smiled, “Hope is good. It sustained me for years. I have a feeling it will only get harder and more intense, though.”

  Yukiko looked serious, “Then we will do more.”

  “Helping push each other and support each other.”

  Yukiko smiled brightly, then opened the book in front of her. Seeing her focus, Gregory unrolled the long scroll he was reading and settled in, trying to decipher the text written by one of the greatest magi of the empire.

  ~*~*~

  Rolling the scroll up, Gregory set it aside, deep in thought. Lionel states it’s possible, but takes dedication... he trained both body and spirit. He was trying to merge the two by training them together, but hadn’t yet been successful when he wrote the scroll. Can we do that...? How would we manage two, much less all three, together? They’re all so different.

  Yukiko closed her book when she finished reading, only to look up and see Gregory lost in thought. She sat there quietly, watching him with a smile.

  The chiming of fifth bell brought Gregory back, and Yukiko looked away before he could catch her watching him. “Guess it’s time to go to the city,” he said.

  “Yes,” Yukiko said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

  “You okay, Yuki?” Gregory asked, concerned for her.

  “Yes,” Yukiko repeated. “If you want to purchase anything while we’re in the city, I can get you a good deal.”

  Thinking of his limited purse, Gregory nodded. “Thank you, I’d appreciate the help.”

  “Have a good day, Novices,” Rafiq grinned as they approached. “Enjoy your day together.”

  “We always do,” Gregory replied, missing the context.

  Yukiko blushed again, “Friends always enjoy each other’s company.”

  Rafiq’s smile tilted into a suppressed smirk, and he said softly, “Yes. Some more than others.”

  Yukiko looked away from him, her cheeks burning hotter as she followed Gregory down the path.

  ~*~*~

  At the gates of the academy,
Gregory was surprised to be directed to one side of the giant gates. There was a small metal door guarded by six guards and an apprentice, and they examined the pair with curiosity.

  “Going out on a date?” the apprentice asked with a smirk.

  “We are going into the city,” Gregory replied blandly.