Overseer Kliss wasn’t the only one to notice that I wasn’t clapping.

“Clap, you idiot,” Kovac hissed and kicked my right shin.

Instructor Wiklogg caught onto my non-compliance. He stepped forward, his ironclad cane at the ready.

“Impertinent mutt!” He growled, swinging the cane.

Kliss moved faster than my eyes could track her. She caught his cane in her steel-covered wrist before it slammed into my body. “Don’t,” she uttered, glaring daggers at him. Her entire face twitched again.

Instructor Wiklogg instantly folded away, stepping back.

“Sorry about that, my friend.” She grinned at me, not meeting my eyes.

Absolute, tense silence filled the room, all eyes of the class staring at us.

“Everyone here is a friend of the Overseer!” Kliss declared with a small stutter. “For I am your protector and ever-watchful caretaker of Skyisle! It is I who safeguards your families from Abominations and Aberrations wherever they arise!"

“Oh all-mighty, brave Overseer, how many aberrations have you slain?” I asked sarcastically, staring at her.

My adolescent, twelve-year old voice resonated across the room. No-one else dared to speak. If I didn't have everyone’s absolute attention before, I did now. I stood out like a sore thumb. This little fish had reached the limits of his bowl.

Her entire body twitched as she glanced back at me. “M-many.”

“How wonderful,” I said and started to clap. Not a single other person clapped. People of Skyisle clapped as respect at the greeting, not after a performance as a sign of enjoyment and approval.

My claps echoed in the silent auditorium beneath the gothic, arched ceilings of gray, time-worn, mildew-stained stone.

“What are you doing?! Do you want to get killed again? She can resist the Vow! She got around it last time somehow, stabbed you in the head and then we lost twelve years!” Delta yelled at me.

She was right. What the hell was I doing? Why was I challenging, confronting her like this? It was an absolutely idiotic idea to stand out. This woman had attacked me twice and killed me. I didn’t even have the System!

I was acting recklessly, letting my emotions rule me. I knew that teen hormones had a massive effect on teenagers' moods, emotions, and impulses as well as their body. The kind of a mood swing, uncontrollable, all-consuming rage that I was experiencing was likely caused by hormonal fluctuations in my testosterone.

Damn it!

I had completely forgotten what it was like to be a fearless, carefree teenager. Forgotten, how I used to throw old, rust-covered German bullets into campfires with other pioneers in an abandoned factory when I was young, watching them detonate with brilliant flares.

I had to control my emotions, had to still my boiling feelings. I wanted to stand up, wanted to yell out: “Dear Kliss Eliza Cessna, be a friend and kill yourself!" I wanted to tell her to walk to the edge and jump into the Valley of Death, for the greater good of the Alans.

I knew that it wouldn't work out. If she could really resist the Vow, then there was no point in vexing her by asking her to kill herself. She hasn’t touched me for twelve years, hasn't tried to attack me again, avoided me like the plague.

I guessed that she had Identified me as someone without the System after my soul was gone and it convinced her that I wasn’t an aberration. Perhaps she assumed that her attack in the night had killed, chased away, banished whatever sinister, dangerous intelligence was infecting me.

I saw that the arms of the Overseer were trembling ever so slightly. There were sparks of tears at the corner of her eyes as she looked directly at me, staring at the pale scar on my head.

“I’m sorry for hurting you,” her lips moved without saying the words out loud. “...my friend.”

I wondered if she actually meant it. If she was actually sorry for murdering me, or if it was simply the Vow in her head making her utter the words, driving her decisions.

I had sacrificed Destruction and the Infoscope. Was it just a basic sacrifice of two spells or would the Vow eventually mess with my mind in inconceivable, horrific ways? Could someone mentally manipulate me by simply talking about Destruction or Identification?

How had Kliss managed to resist the Vow? Was there a way to destroy Vows, disable them, turn them off? I had used the power of the Vow in desperation to save Delta's life, but were there unforeseen consequences to my actions, simply waiting to bite me in the neck at the most inopportune time?

Who was I? Who was Dr. Kerenski? A pacifist who got lucky, or a shark like commissar Sasha pointed out? Was I willing to murder people who threatened my life? Was I willing to destroy those that wished my family harm?

Yes.

Was it possible to go around the Vow?

Yes.

All magic in Novazem, including the System was attached to the soul. A soulless body clearly worked just fine. The Vow had no effect on someone without a soul, someone without magic. I could kill anyone, could destroy those wishing me harm… all I had to do was pull my soul out of my body at the right moment to deliver the killing blow.

Was this how Kliss did it? Did she exhume her soul to strike me down with the knife?

If she could do that, why was she trembling like a birch tree in the wind now? Why was she apologizing at all? Why was she embarrassing herself in front of all of these children by calling me a friend? The Vow definitely controlled her. She could barely resist it.

There was no way she could kill me in front of all of these pupils. If she did that, the entire village would turn against her. Overseer or not, she would end up lynched. I had the advantage here and now, had to use it to maximum potential, disarm, weaken her, find out the truth.

“In the name of friendship, take off your armacus and give it to me,” I uttered with the softest whisper I could manage.

Her face paled. She must have had a high-level hearing skill, because she heard me. She nodded ever so slightly. Her fingers clicked across the dial. The artefact weapon unlocked itself, releasing her wrist.

“Leave,” she barked to Wiklogg. He nodded and vanished, the door slamming behind him.

“This is an Imperial Magitek weapon, called the armacus,” she narrated casually as if she was teaching the class. She stepped towards me. “It is bound to me and cannot be used by another. Take a look.”

Ah, so that’s it. I couldn't kill her with her own armacus. No matter. She bent down closer to me, handing me her weapon.

“Do not move, friend.” I whispered.

Her face twitched. She froze, her entire body trembling.

“Killing me is against the rules of friendship. If you attack me again, we are not friends,” I whispered into her ear. “Have you confirmed that I’m not an aberration?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“How?”

“Identify spell. You are Level zero. No Soul-Song,” she quickly whispered back.

I spun the armacus in my hand. “Wow this is a really cool device! Thanks for showing it to us, Overseer! Here, Kovac, check it out! Pass it to others when you’re done.”

I handed the armacus to Kovac. His eyes were as round as kitchen mugs. He handled the artefact with absolute care and great reverence, admiring the shiny metal and glowing runes. The eyes of the class became glued to the armacus being passed around. Everyone wanted to touch, to see a real Magitek tool up close.

“P-please let me move. I c-can’t breathe,” Kliss whimpered, hanging in front of my face.

“You can move now. Take off your armor and cape. Friendship demands it,” I ordered. “Go around, give every student a piece of your armor, then walk back to me.”

Kliss’ face turned red. She probably recalled being disarmed and attacked by the Delta's bees.

She tried to act casual as she undid her armor, putting it down piece by piece.

“This is the Overseer’s armor. It helped me defeat many high-level abominations in the forests around Skyisle,” she narrated as she handed out the armor pieces. “Take a look. It’s made from magisteel, forged by highly skilled Imperial Blacksmiths of Cessna. This armor cannot be bent, scratched or shattered by wizards or strongmen below level forty. Any one of you can travel to Cessna when you grow up and apply to the Imperial Academia of Magic as a novitiate. If you show talent, dedication and promise, you too will someday wear similar armor as Overseer!”

Her lips trembled as she spoke the words, sweat formed on her forehead as she removed the last piece of armor. Then she started to take off the under-armor.

“This under-armor was woven from the hide of Level 20-25 Bolstering-bovines, bred in Cessna by farmers specializing in Bovinaemancy.”

I could barely believe what was happening. Her obedience to me was absolute. How the hell had she managed to kill me twelve years ago?

She was wearing a pink, frilly dress underneath all of the armor. I understood why she was furiously blushing now.

“When you unlock your own Soul-Song, you should invest all of your points equally for the first ten years so that your bodies can become strong in every aspect,” Kliss spoke to the crowd of excited pupils. “Such is the primary tenet of Equality. For example, only an absolute fool would invest all of their points in Intelligence because while it would make their memory better, it would also make their body frail like a glass bowl. Akin to a very lopsided wheel, your Soul-Song cannot take you to a bright future if its... askew.”

Was that a jab at me? It had to be! I squinted at her as she handed the last piece of the leather armor out to a student.

She flexed her arms as she returned to the front of the class. “I strengthened my entire body, soul and mind equally. I am level twenty four and I can defeat any adult in Skyisle with my pinkie into submission. Even some of your fathers who invested a lot in Strength, will not be able to outmatch me in battle, because I am faster and better trained than they are.”

Her face twitched as she stopped momentarily and picked up the teacher’s desk with a single hand. It was an impressive feat of strength indeed. She was showing off. Not to the class. To me. She showed me that she could break my neck even without her armor.

Our dangerous game of cat and mouse continued. I was hoping that I was the cat.

“My duty is to watch over and protect ALL of Skyisle against anything or anyone that breaks the laws of Equality or threatens the people here.” She stopped in front of me, grabbed a chair and sat down, staring directly at me.

“Want to try to arm wrestle me, pupil Alan? I promise to use only my pinkie finger,” she said with a soft voice filled with an undercurrent of malice.

‘I’m going to kill you. I’m going to murder you, you little twerp.’ Her eyes flashed dangerously.

Kovac looked at me with fascination. He had no idea what the Overseer’s obsession was with me.

“No thanks, I’ve already wrestled with you… Overseer.” I flashed a fake smile at her. “You've been to our house twice.”

“She’s my mom’s best friend,” I commented in the direction of Kovac with a conspiratorial look. He nodded rapidly.

“Wow, Dan… I didn’t know that the Overseer is so… cool,” he muttered, staring at her chest.