First Year (18 page)

“—And the moment you do, Cedric and I will administer the antidote,” Ascillia interrupted. “Anything you say in the casting is spoken aloud. It’s how we will be able hear your submission.” She smiled toothily. “The first four of you to forfeit will be cured and sent to pack their bags immediately. The rest of you…”

As Ascillia continued to talk I leaned in closer to listen, my head unusually heavy as I strained to catch her words. Her speech was choppy and quiet, a slow murmur punctuated by sharp consonants that hurt my ears.

Moments went by, and my eyes started to itch. Sharp, glistening blades of summer grass became a dull, almost hazy green.
The beginning of Ascillia’s casting?
 

I glanced around the circle and saw similar effects occurring for others. Ella’s pupils were dilated, so much so that they almost encompassed her entire retina. She looked more bug-like than human, and I wondered if it were really her or a vision.

To her left, Alex sat staring intently at nothing, eyes just as wide, and a cold shiver crept down my spine. Everyone else seemed equally disturbed, vacant stares quickly filling the remainder of our circle.

Dark tendrils of smoke enveloped my vision. I was blind.

My hand began to twitch, uncontrollably, and I felt unnaturally slaked for thirst.

Where is everyone?
 

I was alone. No longer on the field, I now stood in a room I had never seen before. The room was cold as ice. On each side of me, no matter where I turned, were giant, windowless openings.
 

Just outside, a blood-orange sky was painted with magenta clouds, sitting bright against the harsh emptiness of my room.
 

A cruel gust of icy wind greeted my bare face.
 

Shivering, I raised my head to look about the room again. This time there was a long black bench at its center, with three strangers and Master Barclae seated upon it. The strangers wore heavy mage’s robes in the stark colors of Jerar’s three factions of magic.
 

I hastened to kneel, but my audience was too busy arguing to notice. I couldn’t make out a word.
 

I leaned in closer, but it was still impossible to hear.
 

“They are trying to decide if you are good enough.”
 

I spun around but couldn’t find the speaker.
 

“I am standing right next to you.”
 

I blinked, and Prince Darren appeared. He was no longer wearing the training attire of the Academy. Instead, he was dressed like that first day I had passed him in the mountains.
 

“You are not good enough,” the non-heir continued. “You know that, don’t you?”
 

I opened my mouth to tell him he was wrong, but no sound came out. I gasped, clawing at my throat and looking to Darren with wild eyes. Help me, I mouthed.
 

He threw back his head and laughed.
 

I lunged at the prince, but all I grasped was air, and then cold, hard marble. Knees bruised, palms bloodied, I looked up to see the prince was now on the bench with the others. He winked at me as he whispered something in the Black Mage’s ear, and the man laughed hoarsely.
 

“Don’t trust him, and you can’t get hurt.”
 

Ella stood in front of me, dark ringlets billowing as she gazed down at me earnestly.
 

I tried to assure her I never would, but I could only offer silence.
 

Suddenly, the entire room spun, and I found myself outside my parents’ house in Dem’shaa. Eagerly, I ran to the door and threw it open.
 

An outpouring of smoke filled my lungs, and I coughed repeatedly, a hand over my nose as I felt along the wall, trying to see through the haze.
 

“Mother, father…?” I choked. “Alex
…
Derrick? “
 

My voice was back, but it did no good. There was only silence to answer my call. Stumbling, I made my way forward, coughing and shouting as I pounded on the walls.
 

I threw open my parents’ bedroom door. The smoke suddenly cleared. In front of me were their bodies—mangled and bruised, spread out across the floor. A pool of blood lay at my parents’ feet, and their eyes were glassy, without depth.
 

I sank to the ground.
 

“Ryiah! Help me
—
please! Ryiah!“My heart dropped. Alex.
 

I raced out of the room in search of my twin. I could hear both his and Derrick’s screams coming from across the hall. Pounding on locked doors, ignoring the suffocating smoke, I pleaded for them to answer.
 

Barreling into the final room and finding it empty after the smoke had shifted, I felt hysteria rise within. Where were they? Who was doing this? I slammed my fist against a doorframe.
 

“You are too late, Ryiah. They will be dead too, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
 

Halting, I turned slowly to find myself face-to-face with a stranger. The dim figure was shrouded in a heavy haze of smoke. It was impossible to make out any of her features.
 

” What did you do?” I gasped.
 

“You can end it all,” the stranger insisted, ignoring my question. Her voice was unsympathetic and yet strangely familiar. “You can end this right now and never lose them.”
 

“I don’t know what you are—”
 

“Call out for Piers. This is a dream.”
 

She was lying. This wasn’t a dream…It couldn’t be. Could it?
 

The stranger snapped her fingers, and an image shimmered in the air. I could see myself seated in a giant circle, sobbing quietly, eyes shut, as Sir Piers paced the edge. He held three fingers up, laughing.
 

The vision ended, and I was back with the stranger.
 

“Call Piers and surrender, now!” she commanded. A blast of magic hit me, slamming me against the wall.
 

“No.” I struggled to right myself—even if she was telling the truth, I didn’t trust her.
 

“You fool!” the stranger raged. “You would rather lose your family than give up your chance at an apprenticeship!”
 

“If this is only a dream then I won’t lose them.” I folded my arms stubbornly.
 

All at once I found myself hanging across the ledge of an endless pit, suspended mid-air as the shadowy stranger looked down. Her magic was all that kept me from plummeting to its depths.
 

“Do you think you won’t feel death? Do you think you’ll be able to tell the difference when every inch of your corpse is screaming out for the pain to stop?” the girl challenged. Still obscure in the shadows, her voice rang with familiarity. “These visions induce madness. You heard your instructor. How many times do you think you can die before you become mad as well? Are you so stubborn that you would rather lose yourself than give up a mage’s robes?”
 

I remained silent.
 

“This is not a choice, Ryiah. Surrender now, or I will kill you. You have five seconds.”
 

“Please—”
 

“One.”
 

Why was it so important for me to fail?
 

“Two.”
 

“Who are you?”
 

“Three.”
 

“Why—”
 

“Four.”
 

I couldn’t do it. Even though I was going to die, I couldn’t call out for Piers. I believed the stranger. I believed when she said I would feel every moment of it, but I couldn’t do it.
 

“Five. ” Her cold eyes met mine, and a coursing shock tore through my body.
 

The stranger was me.
 

“Five!” the second Ryiah shrieked.
 

A piercing clap filled the air, and I was falling into a long tunnel of darkness. I clapped my hands over my mouth, knowing I could never surrender.
 

Wind whipped across my face. My limbs twisted and flailed as I continued to plummet into the shadowy abyss. My flesh was being ripped apart by an angry storm, my stomach was lost in my throat, and I was falling, falling, falling.
 

I shut my eyes.
 

So this is what it feels like to die.
 

“Make it stop! Make it stop!”

Startled by the clamor, I opened my eyes. I wasn’t falling, dying, trapped in some bottomless pit. I was sitting on the grass beside my brother, Ella, and nineteen other first-years.

Across from me a red-haired boy was shaking violently. Like everyone else, his eyes were clouded.

Moments later he cried out again, “Please, just make it end! I yield!”

I watched as Master Cedric came forward and had Sir Piers hold the first-year in place, emptying the contents of a clear vial into the struggling boy’s mouth. A second later the boy was alert and hunched over the ground, heaving.

Sir Piers turned to Master Cedric who stood a couple paces away. “Well, that makes number four—five counting that boy at the start. I guess we can administer the antidote to the rest of them now.” He paused. “Ascillia, see to the rest.”

The mages and Sir Piers began to make their rounds, slowly bringing each student back to consciousness. Ascillia was the first to reach me.

Her eyes widened. “How did you—”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you even experience a state of delirium?”

I nodded and watched as Master Cedric joined her.

“She woke on her own, fully conscious,” Ascillia told the master, still staring. “Her eyes aren’t dilated, and she doesn’t have any sign of residual effects…”

“That is unusual,” the master said softly. “But not impossible.”

“How can this happen?”

Master Cedric finished his assessment and glanced at his assistant. “Occasionally, we underestimate the potential of those around us…” He paused. “I believe today is one of those days.”

Her jaw dropped. “You mean to say her magic did this?”

The master was silent for a moment, then: “Perhaps.”

CHAPTER NINE

The week before we began our chosen factions was the first time off any of us had received since we entered the Academy.

Of course, it wasn’t really free. Now that orientation was over, we were five students down and too anxious to do anything except nervously calculate our odds. In seven days’ time we would be selecting a faction. A decision that would dictate the remainder of our year, and nothing had driven that home more than that final day of Combat.

“Do they really think we need a week to choose?” Ella made a face as Alex and I joined her at the table for lunch. It was our second day into the week, and it was obvious everyone had already made up their mind.

“They are probably hoping the nerves will get to us.” Alex smiled weakly. “Can’t say they’d be wrong.”

I squinted at my twin over my second mug of tea. Even though we weren’t expected to attend lessons, most of the class, my friends and I included, had continued the normal routine. Which meant I was just as tired as any other day at the Academy. “Do they really think we will resign after that day in the mountains?” I groaned. “If we didn’t then, we aren’t going to now.”

But my brother was right.

By the end of the week seven more students had left. I would have thought that after two months of hard work and resilience, self-resolve would be contagious. But a week of reflection had taken its toll. Several young men and women weighed the price of a robe against their family, friends, and a comfortable career back home. For some, magic lost.

Following my brother and friend, I hurried to the atrium where the rest of our class was waiting. Today was not only the day we would be electing our factions, but also the return of the second through fifth-year apprentices and their faction’s leaders. We had seen several new faces in passing the past few days. The possibility of meeting Jerar’s future mages was too tempting to ignore. I had so many questions, and an apprentice would know first-hand how arduous year one could be, and maybe, just maybe, they could offer some advice.

Or so I thought.

“Today I have exciting news,” Master Barclae announced. “In two months’ time we have gotten rid of some of the dead weight that has been holding the rest of you back. As of this evening, two more first-years have decided to pursue opportunities outside of our school, bringing the total to fourteen.”

I looked around the room and saw several people doing the same, but I was unable to identify the missing faces from the crowd. There were too many of us as it was.

“I am happy to say Sir Piers and Master Cedric have not disappointed me in their latest endeavor—”

Piers let out a boisterous hoot and toasted the Master of the Academy.

“—And I hope they continue to pull even larger numbers in the months that follow.”

I swallowed nervously and glanced at Alex and Ella. They had the same uneasy expressions.

“I understand the majority of you were under the impression that I would be introducing you to the apprentice mages and their instructors… I will be doing no such thing. The only way you will be receiving an introduction is if you are one of the few to pass our end-of-year trials and become one yourself.

“The training masters and their apprentices will be occupying the eastern wing of the second and third-floor. You are not to disturb them. They will only be here until the solstice, and then they will be setting back out to continue their training in the field. While they are here, they are not to be engaged.
Any of you found fraternizing will be expelled immediately. 
The apprenticing mages are the futures of our great institution, and I will not have it squandered by overzealous first-years.”

Master Barclae paused and then chuckled: “On a more positive note, I do have the pleasure of introducing the three masters who will be your faction leaders for the remainder of the year... Masters Cedric, Ascillia, and Narhari, please come join me in the center.” Our current training master, the eccentric Alchemy mage, and a tall, foreboding man of Eastern descent stepped forward to stand beside the Master of the Academy.