~~(Jared)~~

For three weeks now, the instructors have drilled us relentlessly in unarmed and knife combat, using our abilities, and just plain physical training, our only breaks being the ten minutes for breakfast and lunch, twenty for dinner, and the hour for our languages or history lesson.

It's exhausting, but I'm getting stronger. I can feel myself nearing A-Rank. All I need is one breakthrough, and I'll be there.

More training follows dinner, and at seven, chores begin. Squad 1, as the most powerful squad, receives no chore assignments, and we use that time to rest or talk. We mostly rest, as the instructors often don't let us sleep through the night. Most of Squad 1 is probably already passed out in our room.

Caleb adamantly refuses to fight or reveal his power. I'm sure the instructors are frustrated by this – the sheer exhaustion from no consistent sleep schedule and grueling training should have broken him of his fear and forced him to fight.

The sign of a true coward is one who refuses to fight regardless of the circumstances, and I've made sure he knows my dislike of him. No matter what I do, however, it just slides right off of him.

He's even begun to passively fight back. Unless he's somehow talked that intimidating night guard into working with him, he's been messing with my stuff. My toothbrush was covered in literal shit when I woke up a few days ago, one of my shorts had a massive rip in it when I put them on last week, my shirt was the only one that retained the fake blood from training in the last batch of laundry, and other little things.

I'm not even sure how he managed that last one – I was there when he threw my squad's clothes into the wash, and they all came out clean except mine. I didn't see that, but I do know the clothes were washed, and that he didn't repaint it. It was set in, as if washed like that. I know what set-in stains look like because of incompetent staff back home.

How he manages stuff like that, I can't be sure. He must be using magic for it. I should have known there was something different about him from when we met – I've never heard of a magician who could manipulate light.

That's one of the magics lost during the Calamity. He's figured out Old Magics. At least, some of them. Who knows what he knows?

Today, three weeks in, we begin the class I've been looking forward to: aura.

At last, I'll learn the method to accessing my aura, bringing it forth from within to use around my body as an extra layer or protection.

The moment breakfast ends, the forty of us recruits gather in the main training yard, where Irina awaits us. She stands at the front, arms crossed, the other instructors absent, save for the one giving everyone an uneasy feeling without being visible.

“How many of you,” Irina asks once we are lined up, standing at attention. “Have awakened your auras so far?” She looks around. “Marks, who received an injury last time and couldn't continue, and Rivers, who has yet to fight once. Anyone else, or just those two?”

She gazes at all of us, then to the side, where Kieran is likely standing.

“Understood,” she looks back to us. “Marks! Rivers! Front and center!”

David and Caleb walk to the front, standing before her, and she assess them.

“Exude!” She orders. “Wrap your auras around yourselves, and make them as intense as you can!”

David clenches his fists, and I sense the atmosphere shift a little around him.

“Do you know how to do that?” Irina looks at Caleb. He must not have done anything. “Because if so, do it now!”

“As intense as I can?” Caleb asks. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”

“It will give us a raw estimate of your overall aura strength!”

“The brute force method probably isn't a good idea, ma'am,” Caleb states. “Not with me. I can give you the exact overall power level of my aura, if you'd like. At least, what it was the last time Teacher measured it. I'd estimate Marks's aura to sit at two hundred, eighteen points, on the Kaennik Scale.”

“Exude!” She orders again. Why must he choose this to be stubborn about? He's going to get us all into trouble, and if we have to do one more extra run witih packs on, so help me... “Enhance your aura around you to as strong as you can, and now, Rivers!”

Caleb doesn't move, doesn't blink, doesn't steady himself in any way.

Yet the moment he does as she orders, everyone can sense it. It's hard not to, when the air thickens and we're all sent to our knees – even Irina. Kieran's aura vanishes, and he forces himself to stay standing, his body tense from the effort, veins bulging out of his neck as he resists the overwhelming force that is Caleb's aura.

Something shatters, and I realize that the force of Caleb's aura broke the windows on the facility, as well as damaged the nearby trees. The range itself probably extends a hundred feet.

From the little I know of aura, the actual aura itself stays within a foot of the user, the rest is simply an after-effect, very difficult to feel past a few feet. Only a dozen in the world have auras that can be felt fifty feet away. David stood just ten feet from me, and I could only barely sense the shift immediately around him through the metal on his body.

Caleb holds the aura for less than a second before he releases it, and it returns back to within him, and Irina looks visibly shaken.

“That was only one-one hundredth of my aura, ma'am,” Caleb states calmly. “Would you like me to obey your order and perform exude with the full force of it?”

That has to be the closest he has come to openly challenging someone or defying orders or causing a problem intentionally the entire time we have been here. He avoids confrontation like the plague.

“No,” Irina finally speaks. “That was enough for me to get a reading on you. For those of you whose auras awoke from that! Before your aura leaks out of your body – focus on it, imagine it as a form of energy flowing throughout your body, visualize it leaking out of you, and then visualize it returning to you, will it back into you! If you don't contain it, and fast, you'll burn through it all, and that will severely cripple you, if not, kill you!”

“You can stop that, you know,” Kieran tells Caleb. “It takes about a minute and a half of it leaking out of every auric pore in their body for someone to burn it all up. You've got about a minute left – just flex your Gift, and you'll be able to stop it.”

“You know I can't,” Caleb takes a step back, holding his hands up. “I can't use my Ability, Kieran! You know that!”

It isn't until Kieran opens his mouth to respond that I realize my own aura must have awakened from that. I feel something thick and vicious on my skin, and when I look around, most of the cadets have a steam-like thing surrounding them, dissipating as it escapes their bodies. Quickly, I do as commanded, visualizing it as a sort of energy and willing it back into my body. It only takes me a few moments, and I notice most of them gaining control over their auras.

Kieran and Caleb continue to argue, and Caleb suddenly freaks out, putting his hands to his head and screaming that he can't as he bends forward, as if terrified and wanting to escape, like a little kid.

The air shifts around us, but I'm not sure what happened. When I look around, everyone else is doing the same, and no one's auras are releasing. Almost half the cadets still had to pull it in – what happened?

“What in the world?” Irina asks.

“I'd suggest,” Kieran looks at us. “That you all figure out how to control your aura, and fast, before this wears off. It's been over six years since he last used his Gift, and he's not doing it consciously. There's no telling how much time I bought all of you.”

Caleb continues to scream, hands over his ears, and I realize that he's doing something few can ever manage: using his Ability subconsciously. It's almost unheard of to do, yet Kieran seemed to be expecting it. Everyone instinctively knows their Ability and has a minor amount of control over it. It can't be used subconsciously without a powerful enough reason through a powerful enough Superhuman, as far as anyone knows.

Just what is his Ability? I've not heard of one that can prevent people's auras from leaking out. What would it even be categorized as?

As I think on this, everyone does what they can to tune him out and control their auras, and Irina just stares at Caleb in confusion. I turn my gaze back to him, wondering how he's managing to scream for so long without a single breath.

Suddenly, Caleb collapses, and the other instructors run out of the facility.

“What happened?” Fowl asks, leading the group. “Irina! What happened?”

“I'm not sure,” she says. “I had the students who had already awakened their auras to enhance it around them as full as they could. Rivers used only a hundredth of his, and did that damage. It awoke most of the cadets, and I hadn't gotten to explaining how to control it yet or any of the ordinary pre-awakening stuff. Then, he and Kieran got into an argument, something about how Rivers's Ability-”

“Gift,” Kieran interrupts her.

“Could stop them,” Irina continues. “And then Rivers freaked out, and it was as if time stood still.”

“He's a Time?” Fowl asks as all of them halt suddenly.

A Time? What's that?

“No,” Kieran states. “That wasn't time he manipulated – he interfered directly with their auras to keep them from leaking out until they could contain it. His Gift is complicated.”

“You know it?” Fowl asks.

“He lived down the street from me,” Kieran says. “Before the monsters attacked and killed everyone. Turns out – I wasn't the only survivor.”

“And you're only telling us this now?” Fowl asks.

“I'm a Colonel, too,” Kieran states. “And while we can go into the topic of seniority, and how I should have told you guys that Caleb survived and might have information, I chose not to. And before you ask – no, I'm not telling you what his Gift is.”

“But it is a Special, yes?” Fowl asks.

“Correct,” Kieran answers. “He's a Special, but he's not a common type.”

“No Special Ability is a common type,” Fowl states. “Just finding someone who has one in the first place is incredibly rare.”

“And now you've got two in the same facility,” Kieran tells him. “You should probably run for the hills.”

Kieran vanishes from sight, that uneasy sensation filling me, and several moments later, it fades, signaling his departure.

“That's more than I've heard him speak,” Fowl looks at Irina. “Ever since he arrived here. Get the recruits back to awakening their auras, put the ones who did to the side and focus on the ones who haven't. Those who've already awakened their auras need to do physical training until everyone is ready for control. Standard run, we'll end it at the set time.”

Fowl walks over to Caleb and picks him up, carrying him inside.

~~(Caleb)~~

“...and tell the kitchen,” Fowl's voice is the first I hear when I wake. “To prepare additional food for Rivers. Every Special I've ever met who used their power on that level was famished after, so they'll need a decent amount prepared for Rivers, not our usual fare. He'll need to be filled up, or he'll be too weak. Kieran eats out the entire kitchen anytime he uses a large amount of power, and from the way Kieran spoke, Rivers definitely used far more than I've ever known Kieran to use.”

“It felt it, too,” Irina states. “I omitted some information from my report – his aura is a mix of the three colors, not just one of them or one with a gentle touch of the two. It's a perfect harmony of the three, and all three of them are powerful beyond belief. I knew his aura would be able to do that, but didn't think he'd flex it so strongly. He's also far stronger than I estimated – it appears that after a certain point, increases in power are harder to read properly. I originally thought he wasn't much more powerful than Kieran when it came to his Ability, but it appears I was far wrong. He used more power in that one trigger than I read Kieran as ever having. If Kieran ate out a kitchen...”

“Rivers would eat out a city,” Fowl sighs. “Damn. Just what kind of Ability does that kid have?”

“A powerful one.”

The voices stop, and a moment later, the door opens and the two instructors enter the room.

“It's also a curse,” I add when the look at me, waiting for me expand on my Ability. “What happened?”

“You tell us,” Fowl responds.

“I disobeyed Irina,” I begin. “By not exerting my full aura, as that would kill everyone around, except for Kieran, and accidentally used more than I intended, which forcefully awakened the auras of most of the cadets., also not intended After that, Kieran and I argued about my Ability. He's been attempting to get me to use it ever since we reunited. He believes that it is for the best that I get over my fears and begin to fight and use my Ability. He keeps insisting that when I used my Ability back then, I saved his life, not caused the deaths of everyone around. I have a hard time believing that.”

“And what, exactly, is your Ability, Rivers?” Fowl asks.

“A curse, sir.”

“What Type?”

“Special.”

“That,” he says. “Is a wide range of powerful Abilities, Rivers. Which, specifically?”

“My Superhuman Rank,” I stand, going to attention. “Has four letters, sir.”

“Four?” Irina asks. “They only go up to three.”

“There's a fourth,” Fowl sighs. “And I'd hoped to never meet one who had an Ability that goes that high, though.”

“Why?” Irina asks.

“Because we're unbelievably powerful,” I tell her. “Chaos tends to follow us. I only know of three, but that's because Teacher wouldn't tell me if there were others.”

“Teacher?” Irina asks.

“The man who taught me how to fight and how to use my aura.”

“Did he teach you how to awaken it?” She asks.

“I awoke it before the attack.”

“You knew how to awaken your aura when you were six?” Fowl asks. “That's not very common.”

“Did Kieran have access to his aura when you found him?”

Neither of them respond.

“Wasn't he only seven?”

“Two boys who knew each other,” Fowl says. “Who both had access to their aura as children. Now that's unusual.”

“It was a city of over ten million,” I say. “It wasn't that unlikely. I don't remember anything past the argument.”

“The argument?” Irina asks. “With Kieran? That was a switch in topics.”

“Events are related,” I say. “Follow the thought process, and you'll arrive at the proper answers to your questions.”

“You screamed,” Fowl informs me. “Had a complete breakdown from the fear, and you unleashed your Ability. It's not what I expected it to sense like, and we couldn't leave the building, some sort of field prevented it.”

“I'll ask Teacher about that,” I tell him. “The next time I see him. I've never heard of this Ability doing that, and Teacher never really touched on it. I can't believe no one died when I used it.”

“Your Ability prevented that,” Fowl states.

“How did you know no one died?” Irina asks. “If you didn't remember anything and passed out?”

“There are sixty-eight people on the facility right now,” I look at her. “Forty cadets, including myself, Kieran, the instructors, and the various staff members, such as the chefs and the doctor.”

“Sixty-eight?” Irina frowns. “There should only be sixty-seven.”

“Grant's here.”

“Who?” She asks.

“Grant,” I repeat. “Um...Reynolds, my other mentor.”

“You in there, Fowl?” Grant asks through the door.

“See?”

“Yes!” Fowl calls back, straightening.

Grant enters the room dressed in a suit, and he looks at me.

“Caleb,” he says. “What are you doing in here?”

“Incident in the training yard,” I answer. “Passed out after subconsciously using an immense amount of power through my Ability.”

“You used your Ability?” Grant asks. “Even subconsciously, I find that weird, considering your conscious and subconscious refusal to use it.”

“A ghost freaked me out.”

“Pretty sure ghosts have been disproved.”

“Don't go in the ruins,” I say. “At the cemetery with the three big, creepy trees in the middle of the night. Ghosts like to sing, and those particular ones have not learned to do it properly in the last two centuries.”

“You're claiming ghosts exist?” Grant asks.

“I'm stating I know they do,” I tell him. “They're quite annoying, too. They can not harmonize. Those particular ones, anyway. Abigail is actually quite nice, but she haunts elsewhere. If you ever go to the floral shop on Ninth and Jackson in the ruins, then bring berry pies. Blueberry or strawberry are her preferred types, and yes, she can eat them. She's a poltergeist, which means that she can interact with the mortal realm. Um...don't bring blackberry pies, she hates those and will get really mad, and that's not fun. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.”

“Since he's already separate,” Grant looks at the two instructors. “Do you think you two could give us some space? I came here to speak with him.”

“Yes, sir,” Fowl dips his head to Grant, and then beckons Irina to follow. He pauses at the door. “Rivers – you've been asleep for most of the day after doing that. Are you hungry?”

“Extremely, sir,” I answer. “I forgot how hungry I get after I use it, and that was more than I'd ever tried using before, except...for back then. When that happened.”

“We'll have food brought in,” Fowl states, then they leave.

Once they are gone, I cast a quick spell.

“There's no guarantee,” Grant sits on the bed opposite of me. “That whoever comes won't try to eavesdrop, so I'll try to be fast.”

“I cast a spell on the room to prevent eavesdropping.”

“I've not heard of anyone who's managed a spell like that, Caleb.”

“Teacher predates the Calamity,” I tell him. “He knows quite a bit of the lost magics, and taught me a little of it. The spell prevents anyone from hearing or scrying or looking in. The magic cost for me is insignificant, though I doubt most regular magicians could fuel it. Most advanced magicians would probably manage a few minutes of privacy.”

“And you?”

“I've never tested how long I can sustain it for.”

“Just how powerful are you with magic?” He asks. “I've tried doing a read on you before, but it didn't work.”

“Probably because I interfered with the device,” I tell him, then let my head hang down. “Sir, I can't do this anymore. It's too stressful. I can't take it anymore.”

“The training?”

“Yeah,” I take a deep breath. “I can't do it anymore. I can't keep trying to fight. Every time I do, I freak out. Then earlier, Kieran sent me into a blackout where I used my Ability, apparently, and stopped everyone's auras from leaking out.”

“You can interact with people's auras?” He asks.

“I can interact with a lot of things,” I nod, then feel a sob rising in my throat. “Sir, I want to quit, I want to stop. I just, I can't do this anymore!”

“Calm down,” he says softly. “You'll be okay. I finally met Teacher, though he was just speaking through a fox. A very odd one – it had three tails and dark blue streaks in its reddish fur.”

“Nokra, one of his familiars,” I rub my eyes on my sleeve and look at Grant. “He spoke to you? He has a message for me? Why didn't he come tell me?”

“He said he couldn't extend his influence this far,” Grant shakes his head. “And to get close enough to contact you would be problematic. He says he's on the tail of whatever was after you back in the city.”

“That's his message?” I feel my shoulders sag as I look down. “I kind of expected him to be able to track it down, so that's not surprising to me.”

“That was more a message to me,” Grant shakes his head. “Actually, his message for you is that, should you manage to pass the training, then in the two-week rest period, he'll teach you the spell you've been wanting to know. He also told me that, should you manage to get over your fear of fighting and begin striking blows starting tomorrow, he will answer one question you have, no matter what it is, so long as he knows the answer to it. Honestly, I think it should be the other way around, but I'm sure he has his reasons.”

“Because,” I take a deep breath, then let it out. “He knows I have a ton of questions for him. He doesn't answer them. Ever. Giving me a single answer for that? That's immense. I don't think I can do that, though, sir. I don't think I can get over my fear of fighting. I've been trying, Kieran's been pushing me for it, but it just, I just-”

“How about,” Grant says. “When you spar with your classmates, don't think of them as people? Think of them as an enemy there to harm those you care about, and put yourself in the mentality where, if they manage to get past you, everyone you care about will be hurt. This Kieran sounds important to you – try thinking of him needing to be protected.”

“I'm sorry,” I try not to laugh. “Kieran? Needing protection? I'm referring to the night guard, Grant.”

“The night guard?” He frowns. “He talks to you?”

“We both survived the Alkran City Massacre,” I tell him. “We were close friends before that, and both thought the other was dead. We're both heavily relieved to know the other isn't, and Kieran keeps trying to talk me into fighting and using my Ability.”

“You were in the city?” His eyes widen. “How did you survive?”

“Neither Kieran nor I are fully sure how we survived,” I tell him. “Though I have more of an idea than he does. Food's here, I've now let them hear us.”

“Enter!” Grant calls out as Nick knocks on the door.

Nick enters the room, pausing when he sees Grant, a little confusion on his face.

“Think about what I said, Caleb,” Grant stands up. “And remember it.”

Grant leaves, and Nick looks at me.

“Who was that?” He asks.

“Colonel Grant Reynolds,” I answer. “One of my mentors back home. He came to bring me a message.”

Nick looks at me critically, then at the tray he's bringing in, which is packed with turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, salad, pudding, and fruit salad.

“Why are they giving you so much food?” He asks, not moving to give it to me.

“Probably because,” I keep my eyes on him as he looks down at the tray. “I used more power than Kieran has ever shown them, and Kieran's always famished after. If I don't eat, I'll probably just pass out again. They want to exhaust us, but they don't wish to cripple us. Know how, after you use your Ability for awhile and push it to its limit, how you're a little bit hungrier than you normally would be after a workout? The more power you use, the more fuel you need after to restore that power, or you're weakened until you manage to eat enough to restore it. They feed us enough here to keep us strong, but not enough to let us recover fully. If they don't feed me a bunch, they know that I won't be strong enough to continue.”

Nick frowns, then sets the tray down on the table beside my bed, and I know he's thinking about trying to get some of it for himself, since he'll still be hungry.

He reaches to touch it, and his hand bounces off of a barrier.

“What the?”

“You were instructed to bring it to me,” I tell him. “Not touch it. The food is intended for me, and I don't appreciate people trying to take my food.”

“I'm also your squad leader,” he says. “And-”

“That means nothing,” I tell him, willing myself to not give in, like I normally would have. It's taking a lot of effort, though, and I hope I can win this before I crack. “Considering that tomorrow, I'll start fighting, not just trying to avoid being struck. I'll hold back, but I can't guarantee your safety.”

“You really think you're stronger than me, just because you can use your aura?”

“What?” I ask.

“Everyone knows about it,” he says. “How you used your aura to increase your strength and-”

“That's total bullshit,” I tell him. “You can't use your aura for that, just to enhance your defense and create certain types of filters. You can also sort of project it, though a weapon designed for aura channeling is best for that, such as an aura gun. Fowl lied when he said how many pushups I did – I could only do one hundred six.

“No,” I grab the tray and set it on my lap. “I meant something entirely different from physical strength. Now shoo, I need to eat this.”

Nick stares at me, and I start eating, willing myself to not break down. At last, he leaves, and I let out a huge breath in relief.

The moment the door is closed, I dig into the food like will never eat again. The hunger is so much worse than I remember it being. When I finally finish, I take the dishes to the kitchen and wash them up, before making my way to bed.

Sleep evades me as I toss and turn, thinking about what Grant told me. Eventually, I can't take it anymore and get up. I need to feel the moon's light on my flesh, even if it's not the same as it used to be.

Moving quietly so as to not wake anyone, I make my way downstairs and out into the training yard. Kieran probably knows I'm awake, but he's not going to bother me. Watch me, maybe, but not bother me.

Once in the yard, I materialize a training knife. Unlike the regular ones, the edge of the rubbery green blade will leave a red streak on anything it touches, and the mark will be set immediately, as if dried paint, and will wash just as easily.

Far better than using actual paint that takes forever to dry.

Taking a stance, I begin moving through the motions of several moves that Teacher taught me, but not visualizing any opponents. As soon as I start to visualize opponents, I start to freak out and have to stop.

I'm not sure how long I do that for before I change tactics. Instead of visualizing opponents, I create one, putting my hand at waist-level, palm down, then scoop my hand, turning my palm to the sky as I lift my hand, a golem rising from the ground.

A creature formed of the element of stone, the typical form of the magical construct simply does as ordered or follows a single command for the entirety of its life. They're strong and durable, usually squat in form. I've made this one more humanoid, matching my height and build.

This one is different from most standard golems in that it can think for itself, but only a little bit. It's still bound to my orders.

Right now, it stares at me, waiting for the command. I gave it all of my physical combat knowledge and access to my passive territory. Without magic or an Ability, it is my equal, though its hits are harder than mine, being a golem.

Taking a deep breath, I create a quintet of child golems behind me, all roughly the size and form of boys around five or six, and give them the order to huddle against the wall, scared.

Not going to visualize trying to protect something.

The next step is to make adjustments to the bigger golem to make it more human in strength and appearance, then equip it with a training knife. The final step is to create a small field around us through magic. We will feel any blow as if it were a real strike. The field ensure that, but also ensures that once a match has finished, we will be 'reset'. That is, any 'injuries' we receive will be undone.

That's to ensure I won't die whenever it attacks.

“Attack me,” I order the bigger golem. “And attempt to take the kids.”

The golem dips its head in acknowledgment, then attacks, landing a strike on my chest before I can stop the freakout.

“Dead,” I mutter as the golem returns to its original position. “Again!”

I take seventeen kills before I can actually fight. Seventeen blows before I manage to move out of the way, but I can't strike it. The moment I try, I flash back to the massacre that happened six and a half years ago and end up dying.

“Dammit,” I mutter to myself as we return to our starting positions. “Again!”

Six more attempts at dying, and I tell myself that I have to strike it at least once on this next one. When we begin again, the golem attempts to get past me and go straight for the children, changing its tactic again.

When I see that, I freeze up, the flashback coming back in full. It fills my mind, paralyzing me as I return to the moment they died.

With a start, I return to my senses and realize that the flashback only lasted a moment, and the golem is almost to the kids.

Throwing the knife, I move forward, using my passive territory to manipulate the air to let me fly a little bit as the knife strikes the golem in the leg. As it drops to one knee, I land in front of it, disarming it and putting its own knife to its throat.

“Do you yield?”

“Yield,” the golem repeats in a gravelly voice.

“Still can't get good voices,” I sigh, waving a hand, and the golems vanish.

~~(Jared)~~

Something about Caleb is different today, and I can't quite place my finger on it. We were woken up at four this morning, and didn't get to eat until almost nine, after running the trail, an obstacle course, and then getting drilled on GSDF history.

Now, we're pairing up for sparring after more aura training, and it's only while it's my turn to rest that I realize what it is. I'm watching the other teams spar, each with one person resting while the other four pair up.

I get to watch Caleb spar, and the thing I'm looking at that's telling me what's different is his stance.

He's not in his usual, I'm-scared stance. He's in a ready-to-fight stance. He also has a bruise covering the entire right side of his face, but he's had that all morning. I have to wonder how he got that, but for now, I'm focusing on why he's appearing to want to fight. I'm on the second rotation for rest, and he was on the first, so this is his first fight. That means that the shift will become obvious for the first time shortly.

He's paired with his Squad Leader, Nick, for this match.

“Start!” Fowl orders, and Nick attacks Caleb.

His blade slices air, Caleb moving immediately. Before Nick has reached where Caleb was, Caleb has moved to where Nick was, slashing with his own knife as he completes his spin, the blade touching the front of Nick's neck, Caleb standing behind him.

“Dead.”

“The hell?” Nick asks as Caleb steps back, dropping his knife to the side. He turns around and faces Caleb. “You don't fight.”

“And you still have a lot to learn,” Caleb states. “Your footwork was sloppy, and your aim was too low. Were I an enemy combatant who wanted to torture you and not kill you, and this not a simulation, then you'd have been disabled instantly and possibly tortured for hours, days, weeks, or maybe even months. Possibly years. If you're in a fight with a daushar, it would have killed you as your blade glanced across its scales.”

“The hell is a daushar?” Nick asks.

“A humanoid monster around our size,” Caleb answers. “With green skin, blue-green scales covering its chest and most of its back, along with a grouping of fins. Despite this, it isn't aquatic, but rather, prefers to live on in ruins. They're very stealthy, very strong, and quite fast. A full-grown adult would look like a human child. They do have hair on their head, and eyebrows, typically black or very dark brown, though special ones have green or blue hair, and the truly special ones have blue-green hair. In the worst disaster to have occurred since the Calamity, four hundred daushar invaded an educational complex and killed over five hundred children and two hundred staff.”

The entire training yard is silent as Caleb speaks, and even the instructors have fallen silent.

“What are you talking about?” David asks.

“The Alkran City Massacre,” Owen answers. “None of the few reports about the attack mention daushar.”

“I can assure you,” Caleb looks at Owen. “There were four hundred, seventeen daushar there. I came face-to-face with them as they slaughtered my family.”

“Daushar are incredibly dangerous,” Owen tells Caleb. “They're S-Rank monsters. You're claiming you survived an encounter with them?”

“I'm not sure how,” Caleb tells him. “I passed out, and woke up elsewhere. Something moved me, shielding me somehow. Since it's not a trigger I know, it means there's a third person with the Ability I have out there.”

“And what Ability do you have?” Owen asks. “You make it sound as if it's not common, saying you only know of three people who have it.”

“It isn't,” Fowl states. “Everyone! Back to sparring! Now!”

We return to sparring, but my mind is spinning. That was confirmation that Caleb's Ability is a Special-Type.

My mind is quickly taken off of that, though, as training resumes just as intensely as ever, and all I can focus on is the training. I'm getting stronger, but the stronger we get, the more they push us.

Only once the rest period before bed begins can I think again. Making my way to my room, I think about what happened earlier. So far, Caleb has shown two distinct Special-Type Abilities, Psychic and Time, yet he mentioned a 'trigger'. Abilities don't have triggers, not even the Special-Type Abilities.

If it uses a trigger, it must be far more powerful than any I've ever heard of. I assumed that yesterday, he simply halted time. Having two different Classes of an Ability Type isn't unheard of, even if it's not common, but the time-stopper I came across didn't use a trigger, and never mentioned needing one. None of the texts I've read have mentioned triggers, either.

Sitting down on my bed, I'm startled out of my thoughts with a cold jolt, jumping up and looking down at the bed. It's completely soaked. I look around at the other beds in my room – they're all soaked.

“RIVERS!” I yell, storming down to the laundry room.

“Did you need something?” Caleb asks innocently when he looks at me.

“Don't act like you don't know!” I yell at him.

“Don't know what?” He asks. “That you swapped the detergent with the bleach? That was actually pretty obvious, considering that they have two different looks and smells. In addition, you were thinking about it after you did it yesterday, and I saw you swap it, anyway.”

“Saw me?” I ask. “You were in the kitchens.”

“Doesn't mean I can't see what's going on around me,” Caleb states. “You really think I'm an idiot, Jared?”

“You are if you think you can soak my bed,” I growl, preparing to fight. Without warning, my connection to the metal around me vanishes. “What the hell?”

“I can disable your magic with a thought,” Caleb states.”

“My magic?” I ask. “You mean my Ability?”

“Same thing,” he says.

“They're two different things,” I tell him.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Caleb returns to doing laundry. “And I'm not the one who soaked your beds.”

“Bullshit.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“I know it was you, Caleb!” I struggle against the disconnect, trying to regain access to my Ability. “What the hell did you do to me?”

“Disconnected you,” he states simply. “If that's all, I need to get back to work.”

Looking around, I notice some dirt on the clothes he's yet to put in the wash. I've never attempted to manipulate the element of stone before, as my innate knowledge only let me know metal, but metal is a more refined form of stone, so it should be possible.

Should be easier to break whatever block he's made. He so casually ignores me. After gaining his senses and deciding to fight, he grew some real balls, and it's infuriating.

There! It's a struggle, but I can gather up some of the dirt off the clothes. As his back is turned, he won't see it coming.

Aiming it at his shoulder, I reform the meager amount of dirt I gained control over into a blade, changing it to steel, then launch it. It stops less than an inch from him. He turns around and examines the blade, waving a hand.

Immediately, the dirt vanishes, and I lose all connection to it, as if it doesn't exist.

“Congratulations,” Caleb turns his gaze to me. “You've nearly reached A-Rank. Your bed is dry – go get some rest. They plan on working us even harder tomorrow than they did today. And the trick to combating Irina's ability to take control of your metal by infusing it with electricity? It's a lot simpler than you think.”

He turns around and returns to doing laundry, leaving me stunned.

He hasn't been retaliating against me this entire time – he's been intentionally making me mad, mad enough so I'd confront him and be willing to break the rules and attack him. He knew he had to make me furious before I'd lose my cool here.

And then, when I had nothing else to use, he knew I'd attempt to manipulate the dirt on the clothes. But how did he predict all of that? What the hell is his Ability?

Turning around and making my way to my room, I have to wonder just what that last statement meant. Simpler than I think? I've tried thinking simply, and it doesn't work.

As he stated, my bed is completely dry. I strip and lie down on it, staring up at the ceiling until exhaustion overtakes me, and my dreams fill with stone and metal.

“That's it!” I wake in realization as it hits me. “That's what he meant!”

“The hell, Fuller?” Owen groans. “You do realize we're already not going to sleep to full tonight, you really need to wake us up.”

“Sorry,” I whisper. “It's just that I realized something in my sleep, and forgot where I was. Go back to sleep.”

“And don't wake me up again,” Owen groans, turning over in his bed.

Lying back down and closing my eyes, I realize what Caleb meant.

It's simpler than I thought, but came off as more complicated. Had he not done that to me earlier, I likely wouldn't have even realized it.

The element of metal derives from the element of stone. It has a wide range of properties, and unlike most Metal Elementals, I'm not restricted to one type, and like most Metal Elementals who've reached or passed B-Rank, I can change the type of metal between the types I can control, to a degree.

Now that I know I can manipulate the element of stone, I can probably manipulate a wide variety of them, just like metal. Many stones aren't conductive.

All I'd have to do is change the metal into a stone of some sort. It really is that simple.

Doesn't mean I won't stop trying to find a way around that. I mean, being able to change it to porcelain might be great, but at the same time I'd rather keep to metal.

This entire time I've been antagonizing him, he's been trying to help me. What kind of masochistic freak is he to let me keep harassing him like that? I really hate masochists.

Just as I'm drifting off to sleep again, I come to another realization.

The knowledge he helped me to? It's brought me to A-Rank.