Michael stood before a hearth crackling with fire. It was night outside, and it was not so cold as to require fire, but they liked the ambience. The air was thick with the aroma of wildflowers, not smoke. Castra had added something to the flames to make the room smell pleasant and fresh.
Aside from Nairobi who was being reprimanded by Castra, there were five more people in the room.
Hilda and Alice were passing a ball of conjured light to one another. The orb of radiant energy bobbed and weaved, casting prismatic reflections across the walls and ceiling.
Marcus sat in a corner, deep in meditation. His body beading with sweat as he practiced a Mana control exercise Castra had recommended. His brow furrowed in concentration—his Mana control was a known weakness.
Chad stood near the door, an axe hanging on his belt. The man looked like a guard, ready to handle any intruder. Chad had trained Michael on the axe for the past two months—he was excellent with those. It was a wonder that he was a [Mage] and not a [Warrior]. He could have gone far as a [Warrior], not so much as a [Mage].
Tsugani sat gracefully on the edge of the table with a hint of a fading smile on her face. And she had tails. Three fucking golden-brown tails that swished with a fluid elegance. Not to mention those golden fox-like ears and equally amber eyes that sparkled with an almost mischievous glint.
Michael was in love.
Tsugani was a vision out of his wildest fantasies—a living, breathing Kitsuné who seemed to have stepped right out of an anime. Only mad men wouldn't see the beauty of her. She was the most beautiful, the most rapturous and sexiest goddess that ever existed—who had deigned to be in his presence. A blessing beyond something he could ever hope to fathom. If she asked, Michael would cut out his heart and present it to her. He would even kill his own mother…
Like a snapping rubber band that had been stretched too far, Michael forced himself out of his reverie. The effort of it left him gasping for breath. He had let himself get caught in the snare of her charm that they made men googly eyed for her. Again!
Tsugani laughed. "Your mind is so weak, Michael."
Michael growled but said nothing. He had long since learned he could never win an argument with her. So he didn't give her the satisfaction of any argument. Horrible woman!
All of them were Castra's apprentices and had arrived two months ago in a merchant's caravan. If Michael had to be honest, they were not very bright in magical arts. They could barely cast any spell that was worth anything, with the exception of Tsugani, of course. She was frustrating, but capable.
"What you have done is an abomination," Castra said. "This village just recovered from its last disaster. They don't need another."
Nairobi stood at the centre of the room, right next to him, her soldier hunched and eyes lowered. A diamond-like carapace glowed purple as always.
She was flanked by Castra, who loomed over her, hands on hips. Castra's robes seemed to ripple with an aura of displeasure.
Michael winced.
The five apprentices watched Castra chiding Nairobi from the corner of their eyes, trying to look as if they were doing anything but that.
Nairobi's hands trembled slightly as she stared at the ground. Michael understood the reaction and almost felt sorry for the woman. Almost! Castra wasn't a forgiving mistress. Her punishments were…
Don't think about them, Michael, you will only bring yourself pain.
Castra's voice became sharper. "You run about the village hurling spells like a madwoman. You are lucky nobody got hurt."
"It was not just my fault," Nairobi protested. "Michael covered me in—"
"Is that so?" Castra said with a disgusting twist to her mouth. "Are you incapable of handling things without the use of Fireballs that could have burned the entire village down? Do all your problems now require magic? I thought you didn't even know magic a few months ago. You should know better."
"I was just so angry. Castra, it was in my mouth. My mouth! Gods, I can still taste it!"
"You were angry, were you?" Castra said with a disappointed shake of her head. "Does anger excuse your actions now? Should I not punish you for almost committing an arson? Without punishment, you will never learn the consequences of your actions. Besides child, a Mage who cannot control their emotions will never amount to much. Magic requires a firm mental image and someone who cannot handle that emotion can never do that properly. The spells they cast will always be flimsy at best. Why do you think your Fireball wasn't as powerful as it should have been?"
"I… I…"
"In the Black Coral Academy," Castra cut in. "The first thing they will teach you is how to control your emotions. They will push you and prod you, they will make you angry and frustrated, they will try everything in their power to make you hate them. Then they will order you to produce spells that are impossible to cast unless your mind is calm. If you fail… let's just say that the punishments I give you will look like a slap on the wrist."
Michael silvered. What kind of punishment did the Black Coral Academy give its students? The more Michael heard of the institution, the more he thought it was less like an Academy and more like a torture palace. The Academy was not a place for [Mages], but masochists.
After a long pause, Castra continued. "We will discuss your punishment later. For now, I have something else to discuss with all of you."
"What about Michael?" Nairobi hissed.
"What he did was harmless, so I will let him off the hook."
"Harmless?" Nairobi laughed hysterically. "Cow dung landed on my mouth. He must be punished for that."
Castra rounded on Nairobi, her eyes wide with anger. He had never seen Castra like that before. "I will not punish the boy because I know you have done much worse to him. Did you think I did not listen to the stories you told Isha? Stories about the 'pranks' you pulled on Michael the runt? Now that you are the victim of the same prank, you demand punishment? You have no right. None!"
Michael's face split into a pleased grin. For once, Nairobi had got what it deserved. Michael would treasure the memory of this day forever.
"We are grinning, are we? Castra said, shooting a glare in his direction. I think you have mistaken me. What you have done was wrong and childish. Pull a prank like that ever again, to anyone, and I will make you forget how to laugh for the rest of your life. Am I understood?"
Michael nodded, his grin vanishing like a mist on a sunny day.
"This is not fair," Nairobi muttered under her breath. "Why am I the only one to be punished? It's not fair."
The colour of Nairobi's diamond-like carapace transitioned from purple to fiery red and orange.
Castra must have seen the expression on his face, for the woman turned in Nairobi's direction and sighed. "This is going to take too much of my time."
Michael's jaw dropped, his eyes widening in disbelief. Nairobi's carapace seemed to be on fire from within, glowing with an incandescent flame that danced with vivid red—flames that burned nothing."What?" Nairobi said. "You look as if you were the ones with cow dung in your mouth."
Michael pointed frantically at her armour. "Your carapace."
Nairobi glanced down at her armour, and Michael braced for some dramatic reaction. But to his surprise, she simply cocked her head, studying the new patterns of her carapace with an air of mild curiosity.
"What is happening to me?" Nairobi said, not in an agitated tone, but a curious one.
"It seems," Castra said. "Your innate abilities from the blood of Cniad have begun to manifest itself."
Nairobi's gaze remained fixed on her glowing carapace. "Innate abilities, you say? That sounds promising. What kind of abilities?"
Michael goggled at the woman. What kind of reaction was that? If he were in her position, he would be beside himself.
Castra raised an eyebrow. It seemed that even she had not expected such a bland reaction from Nairobi. "Your kind are very sensitive to emotions. One more reason for you to learn to control your emotions. The best of Cniad can slip from one emotion to another in a snap of a finger. And they control these emotions, not the other way round."
"Emotion changed the colour of my armour?"
Michael frowned. How was that an ability? To him, it sounded less like a benefit and more like a significant vulnerability.
"Yes," Castra said without batting an eye. "Anger, to be more precise."
Nairobi's eyes widened with growing frustration. "How is that an ability?" She roared. The brightness of her armour flared in response to her anger, casting an even more intense glow. "If my carapace reacts to my emotions, it will expose my feelings to anyone who looks at me. I'll always be at a disadvantage. This isn't an ability—it's a curse!"
Castra said nothing. She walked over to a small table that lay abandoned in one corner of the room and carried it with her, setting it before Nairobi.
"I want you to punch the table as hard as you can."
Nairobi Blinked. "What?"
"How many times do I have to tell you I do not like to repeat myself, girl? Do as I say."
Nairobi pulled her fist back and swung. The chair crumpled with a deafening crack, shattering it into pieces.Stunned silence hung in the room. All the apprentices in the room stopped their activities and watched Nairobi as if they were seeing her for the first time. They looked as stunned as Michael felt.
Nairobi stared at her first as if it were an alien thing. No [Mage] of her level should have been able to do that, not without a spell or a magical artefact.
"How... did I... do that?" Nairobi said.
"As I said, you are manifesting your abilities as a Half-Cniad," Castra said, giving her a knowing smile.
Michael rolled his eyes. He was growing sick of that smile. Anyone would be.
"Your carapace reacts to your emotions, and its colours change according to the emotion you feel," Castra went on. "Seven different emotions, to be precise. The reaction of your armour to these seven emotions gives you certain abilities. Anger, for instance, as you saw, gives you an explosive strength."
"When fighting the Titan Spawns I was channelling my emotions, wasn't I? That's how I ripped them apart with my bare hands."
"Indeed," Castra said.
Nairobi's eyes sparkled with excitement and the colour of her armour reverted from fiery red to purple once more. "What about the other six emotions? What abilities will they give me?"
"One will enhance your spells, the other your skills. But I am not here to talk about your innate abilities. You will learn about them soon enough. I have something else to discuss with you."
Michael folded his arms, waiting. Nairobi said nothing, nor did any of the other apprentices. It seemed all of them agreed about one thing—none wanted to give Castra the satisfaction of asking the question.
Castra sighed before speaking. "I will be leaving this village for a week or two. I have some business to attend to and I have been putting it off for far too long."
"Leave?" Michael said. No, the woman could not leave the village. She had promised… "You cannot leave. You are the only one powerful enough to keep the village safe from the people who attacked our village last time. You promised to stay if Liam and I agreed to become your—"
"Did you not hear what I said, boy? I said for two weeks, not forever. So I will be back. I'm sure you can keep the village safe for at least that long. This village has seven Mages, you will manage."
There was nothing Michael or anyone else could say to that logic.
"What is this business you speak of?" Nairobi asked.
"Did you forget, Kora… the Firstmage gave me a mission?"
Nairobi pulled a chair for herself and sat. "And you will not tell us if we ask what the mission is, will you?"
"There is no reason for me to tell you what my mission is. However, I think I will tell you about it. There is no reason not to tell you as well, after all.""I knew it," Nairobi said. "I know you wouldn't tell us anything, You secretive witch… Wait, what did you say?"
Castra shook her head but didn't reprimand Nairobi for calling her a witch, as Michael had expected. "The mission I was given was to investigate the disappearance of a Firstsword during the passage of the Titan seven years ago. Almost eight years, now that I think about it."
"What's a Firstsword?" Michael asked.
It was Tsugani who gave him the answer. "How do you not know this? Firstswords, are the elite warriors under the direct command of the Emperor himself? If two warriors with the same advancement stage of their class are in the same room and one of them is a Firstsword, then he will have the greater authority no matter the difference in their Level in the said stage of their class."
She also explained to him about the Firstmages who were under the direct control of the Empress herself. They had similar authority as the Firstsword.
"How do you even tell if someone is a Firstsword or not?" Michael asked
Tsugani's tails swished side to side as she answered. "You see, Firstswords are given an amulet. The colour can differ from person to person, but the crest is always the same. A figure of a warrior surrounded by seven floating swords…"
Michael blinked as Tsugani continued on. He did not listen to the words she said anymore. This could not be a coincidence. Ever so slowly, Michael pulled out an amulet he had found so long ago in the woods.