CHAPTER SEVEN

Master and Apprentice

I drifted in and out of consciousness for what felt like a really long time. It was mostly darkness, the caress of sweet oblivion interrupted by patches of waking memory where the blurred scenes of unfamiliar faces loomed over me with expressions unreadable to my addled mind.

I saw familiar faces too, though. The captain, Number Three, my nursemaid, even tiny Number Two — they all looked at me with concern plastered on their brows. Although my brain never stayed awake long enough for banter or explanations to begin. I would drift back into the darkness where the sight of Lieutenant Weber’s bloody face couldn’t haunt me like it did while I was awake.

Once, I’d stirred to consciousness and discovered a beautiful woman watching over me — pale blue eyes, long locks of golden hair, and skin as white as softly falling snow.

“Where do you find your strength, child?”

Why the madam, who I hadn’t seen in months, asked me this question, I didn't know. But I didn’t like that familiar hungry stare she gave me while her hand cupped my cheek. It was almost like she knew that there was something different about me.

Thankfully, darkness reclaimed me long before she could goad me into admitting my origin story. I got the feeling that spilling my beans to her was something I shouldn’t do.

Might be an instant game over…

Much, much later, I woke up to the sounds of screams, and it would be quite a while before I realized that those screams were coming from me.

No, it wasn’t the pain I felt all over that caused my freak out. But the memory of a man strung up like a marionette, his body contorted and jerking, his face matted with dried blood — that was the nightmare that woke me.

“Aa~~agh!”

I felt arms wrap around me, and the warmth of a hug soon followed.

“It’s alright, Number One… You’re okay. You’re okay.”

The knotted tension in my chest eased a little as I realized that Captain Wolf was there by my side and was trying to calm me down.

I didn’t know how long I bawled into his shirt, but my eyes felt strained and raw by the time I pulled away.

“Th-thanks, Wolf…”

I wiped away the last of my tears while my cheeks burned. A grown man crying on another man’s shoulder — so embarrassing.

My eyes drifted past Wolf’s concerned face and up to a familiar white-paneled ceiling.

“Where—”

I could feel the fluffy cushion underneath me. It was like melting slowly into a marshmallow, which was a rare occurrence in my new life. This meant that I’d been taken into the infirmary, the only place in the entire institute where the beds were comfortable enough to rest in.

“How bad is it?”

“Not too bad.”

I knew he was lying because a visit to the infirmary only happened when things were really bad. Shit, even frowning at Wolf caused pain to spike across my cheeks.

“Okay, it’s bad,” Wolf ruffled my hair lightly, “but nothing more R&R can’t heal.”

And only then did I really experience the sting of injuries pulsing across the length and breadth of me. It was almost as if my cuts, bruises, and breaks had been nice enough to wait for me to realize just how fucked I was before dialing up the pain.

“Ouch…” I fell back into the bed. “Morphine… please.”

“You’re already maxed out, kid.” Captain Wolf squeezed my hand. “You’ve got to tough it out now…”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “How long was I out?”

“Three days…”

“What…” I sighed. “…What happened after I… after I…”

“Training was canceled… Your friends owe you for the three-day break,” Captain Wolf chuckled.

“And what about… did I hurt h-him?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say Lieutenant Weber’s name out loud. It didn’t feel right. Not after what I’d done to him.

There was a pause, like Captain Wolf was deciding on just how much he would tell me, before he explained, “He’s been taken to a hospital in Water City… for a more thorough examination of his injuries.”

“I didn’t…” I placed my bandaged arm over my eyes so that Wolf couldn’t see the tears pooling underneath them. “…I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“No one thinks you did, kid. This one’s not on you.”

I could hear the anger in Captain Wolf’s voice, and I was relieved it wasn’t aimed at me.

“They shouldn’t have pushed you like that… Fucking bastards.”

Yeah, Captain Wolf had come to my defense once again. He was just awesome like that.

“What if I lose control like that again?”

“You won’t.”

I peeked at him from behind my arm.

“You don’t know that…”

“I do.” The captain pulled my bandaged arm away from my face so that I could see the stern look he was giving me. “General Hauser has ordered me to see to your training personally from now on.”

“You mean…”

A warm, welcoming grin appeared on Captain Wolf’s face.

“That means I’m now officially your arcane master, kiddo.” He poked my chest gently with his finger. “And that makes you… my apprentice.”

I didn’t know what it meant to be an arcanist’s apprentice, but I imagined it was something like being a Jedi’s padawan. It was a thought that made me a little less worried about my immediate future.

“So… you’re going to teach me to not do it again?”

Captain Wolf shook his head.

“Unfortunately, both General Hauser and Major Heinrich saw what you did… and they’re off a mind that the power to control another human being is something the military needs.”

Fuck… This was karma for always showing off, wasn’t it?

“Don’t worry.” Wolf patted my shoulder with one of his big hands. “I’ll teach you how to control it… I won’t let you become a monster.”

That last word stung, although I guessed that must have been what I looked like to everyone who saw what I’d done — monstrous.

“C-can you do it too?”

Captain Wolf shook his head.

“I don’t have as fine a control over natural energy as you do… I don’t think anyone does.”

“Was that what I did?”

The memory of me raising my hand and shoving all the energy I’d harnessed into another human body flashed across my mind, sending a slight shiver up my spine.

“I… I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Captain Wolf leaned back in his chair, his face contemplative.

“I think your affinity for the iron element was the key factor of this spell.”

He raised a hand and began to pinch the air with his forefinger and thumb. The moisture in the air was drawn toward this motion so that it would coalesce into a marble-sized bead of water between the captain’s two fingers.

“The manipulation of the elements—”

“It’s conjuration!” I sat up quickly. “Did I… was that… was I finally able to cast a conjuration spell?”

I know, I know, I was supposed to feel remorseful about what I’d done, but I couldn’t help be just a little excited over the possibility that I’d just cleared my greatest hurdle in becoming the arcane savant I’d dreamed of being.

Wolf dropped the water bead over my head so that it splashed onto my nose with a pop. “No, what you did wasn’t conjuration…”

“Then—”

“It wasn’t transfiguration either.”

“Are you—”

“I’m sure. You didn’t perform any of the steps required in transfiguration.”

“But then—”

I frowned. It didn’t make sense.

“If I didn’t cast magic from either school of sorcery, then what did I do?”

Captain Wolf stretched out in his chair and just gazed back at me expectantly. “You tell me.”

I caught a glimpse of just what kind of master Captain Wolf was going to be at that moment. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to spoon-feed me any of the answers, and I would have to figure them out for myself using whatever means I had at my disposal.

He just sat in his chair patiently while I wracked my injured brain for a hypothesis that might satisfy him. I came up with one eventually, although my idea was so far-fetched I half-expected him to laugh in my face when I said, “There’s a third school of sorcery, isn’t there?”

His face lit up, and I knew I just hit the mark.

Holy fucking shit… I was freaking, right?

“You look unconvinced.”

I nodded.

“Why?”

Because…” My frown caused another spike of pain to flare up on my cheeks, forcing me to wince before I could continue. “I’ve never heard of a third school… And I’ve read most of the research papers in the archives.”

“So, you’ve found no evidence of a third school of sorcery… then why’d you give me that answer?

“Because… Because… I can’t think of anything else,” I admitted. Then I recited a quote I memorized from one of my favorite stories back in my old life. “Once you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

Captain Wolf gave me a curious look as if to say he was surprised that such a high-concept statement had come from my lips.

He ruffled my hair again. “When did you get to be so wise, kiddo?”

I couldn’t help grinning at him. It’s not like I could admit that I’d taken those lines from the greatest detective ever invented by the literature of my old world. “Um, I guess you’ve rubbed off on me, Wolf.”

He laughed. I laughed. Then I puked my guts out into his lap. It was pretty nasty.

I waited for Captain Wolf to clean himself up before asking him whether or not my theory was right. Respectfully, of course — with just enough remorse added in to make him think I hadn’t forgotten what I’d done. As if I could ever forget that.

He wiped at the last flakes of my insides clinging to his uniform before he finally nodded his head.

Holy fucking shit… there is a third school of sorcery… OMG.

“What is it?”

I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice. And Captain Wolf was equally excited when he revealed its name to me.

“You, Number One, are the first human since the madam to ever cast a spell from the most obscure school of enchantment.”

“The school of enchantment…”

I glanced down at the palm of my hands and noticed that my fingers were shaking. I just wasn’t sure if it was due to excitement or fear.

“Y-you said ‘first human since the madam’ didn’t you?”

A smile crept up the side of Captain Wolf’s face.

“Then… does that mean there are other races in this world?”

Please, please, please let me be right!

“There are.” A shadow passed over Wolf’s face like he was recalling a bad memory. “Do you remember when I first showed you the map of Aarde?”

I nodded.

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “You weren’t even a year old then.”

“Photographic memory,” I lied. “And I’ve brushed up on my world history since.”

Captain Wolf gave me this look one often sees a proud parent give their kids when they’ve achieved something cool, making me think that it would have been nice if he had been my sperm donor in this new life. Not likely, though. Knowing what I know about this country’s breeding program — how the process was akin to a factory floor pushing kids out of newborn mothers as quickly as possible — the chances of that were astronomically low.

“That’s why I’m confused, actually… I’ve read all the books, and I’ve never heard of other races on Aarde.”

The captain let out a hearty laugh.

“Of course there wouldn’t be… Armestys is human-centric in all things, and that includes our interpretation of history.”

“Seriously? So… the people in charge just straight up lie about stuff?”

“The primarch’s historians prefer not to remind our commander-in-chief of the last war, and the great loss Armestys suffered at the hands of the Eldar.”

“The Eldar…” I frowned. “Wait… Are you talking about the War of Continents?”

It was a strange name for what I assumed was Aarde’s version of World War I, which ended eight years ago. Two years before I was even born.

“You’ve read about that, huh?”

“Yes, but I thought that war was between Eura and Asya… There was no mention of another race getting involved in the fight, right?”

“Like I said,” Captain Wolf shrugged, “we tell our version to our children because it paints us adults in a better light.”

“…Armestys led the charge in defeating the Edo Empire’s naval forces, which would then lead to Eura’s victory over Asya as we’d cut off their invasion route,” I recited word for word from the last history book I’d read.

“History’s accurate up to that point,” Captain Wolf agreed. “But have you ever wondered why no territory was gained or lost by either side?”

“That did bother me, but I just assumed we’d gotten something out of the war.”

“The only thing we got out of the end of the War of Continents,” Captain Wolf traced the old lightning-bolt-shaped scar above his left eye with his finger, “are scars that still ache now and then.”

Captain Wolf leaned forward so that our faces were mere inches from each other.

“The truth is, the great naval battle of the Gem Ocean happened just off the northern shore of the White Havens—”

“That’s the tiny content between Eura and Asya, right?” I cut in.

Captain Wolf nodded.

“But why around there? I thought humans didn’t go near the White Havens unless—”

“Unless we wanted to die… good memory,” Captain Wolf interrupted. “And many of us did meet horrible ends on its shores.”

He glanced left and then right — as if he was worried someone might overhear us — before explaining what the war was really about, which Captain Wolf claimed had been the right to pillage the White Havens.

“But why?” I asked.

“Because it’s a land rich in natural resources,” he explained. “One mineral, in particular, that we call arcanite.”

He paused for dramatic effect before continuing.

“Arcanite is a type of ore that absorbs a huge amount of natural energy.”

“Kind of like me and Number Two?”

“Yeah,” Captain Wolf ruffled my hair once again, “but while you and Number Two can keep that natural energy inside of your bodies for only short periods, arcanite can store it indefinitely.”

“Whoa…” I breathed. “It’s literally magic in a bottle…”

“Exactly.” Captain Wolf leaned back in his seat. “And from a technological and economic standpoint, the benefits of arcanite are too big to ignore, which is why the countries within Asya and Eura sought to lay claim to the only land this mineral could grow in.”

“And Eura won?” I pressed.

“No… although Armestys beat Edo in laying claim to the White Havens’ northern beach, we weren’t prepared to face its guardians… We were woefully outmatched by the eldar.”

“The eldar…” Despite the melancholic expression on Captain Wolf’s face, I couldn’t keep the excitement from my voice. “What are they like?”

It took him a while to answer. “Beautiful and dangerous, all in one package… the stuff dreams and nightmares are made from.”

Fuck, man, could you be any less vague?

“Um, I’m going to need a better description than that…”

“They look kind of human, although their ears are long and pointed. And they have this sheen to them, like diamonds are twinkling just underneath the surface of their skins.” His face turned contemplative. “They have wings too, great big gossamer wings that make them a pain to target with guns.”

Based on Captain Wolf’s description, my mind conjured up a vision of fairies from those old paintings hanging in the museums of my old world.

“Beautiful and dangerous,” I repeated.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to do them justice, kiddo… better you meet one for yourself.” He frowned after saying this. “Scratch that, I hope you never have to meet one of the eldar… that would be the end of you.”

Captain Wolf let that ominous statement hang in the air for a long time, long enough that I had to nudge him along. It was like he was having some difficulty recounting this hidden part of history to me, which I guessed was probably a variation of PTSD.

“So, how did they beat Armestys?”

“How did you stop Lieutenant Weber from beating you up some more?” Captain Wolf countered.

My eyes widened as realization dawned on me. “The eldar know about the school of enchantment.”

“Know about it… They invented it, kid,” Captain Wolf corrected. “The truth is, the eldar know more about sorcery than any other country on Aarde… and they keep their secrets locked tightly within their shores.”

“But then… how will you teach me about enchantment?” I asked.

“I may not be able to cast enchantments myself, but I’ve seen how they work first-hand.” Captain Wolf tapped on the lightning bolt scar over his eye. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to manage it with some practice.”

“How can you be certain?” I asked, my brow furrowing. “What if what happened with Lieutenant… with him… what if that was just a fluke?”

“No, what you achieved was no fluke,” Captain Wolf said, his tone certain. “Your gift’s the real deal.”

“Why are you so sure?” I pressed.

“Because this entire institute is devoted to the research of growing Armestian children with powers comparable to the eldar.” Captain Wolf revealed. “The truth is, Kiddo, you were born to be an eldar’s bane.”