MAGNUS

I stumbled my way into the classroom along with Richard, Vara, and Jessica. None of us had slept well last night as we were up a little too late going over the booklets titled ‘Course Catalog’ as well as the schedules we found in our dorm rooms. It seemed the first year of the academy was dedicated to general education subjects as well as specific courses on the types of aether binding commonly found within the Alliance. One of the other students, the mousey young woman with the turtle on her head who turned out to be named Selena, had informed us that we could test out of some of the general education courses like math. Her family was from the Calburn Empire and was a well known merchant family that handled many of the international trade contracts, as such she had been tutored extensively in trade regulation and math before the concept of the academy had entered the picture.

The four of us actually had the same schedule for most of the days of the week, with Introduction to Aether Binding as our first class followed by Physical Education. We would apparently have a break to have lunch after that, then I had Math, Geography, Introduction to Aetherical Creatures, and Introduction to Spellcraft. After those we were free to study, work on homework, and eat up until the eighth bell when the mess hall closed down. In two months it appeared I would switch from the courses on creatures and spellbinding to image and equipment binding courses, which I was honestly more interested in.

I knew only part of the stumbling was from the late night. I had been tossing and turning most of the night unable to sleep as I woke to every new sound I heard. The first few days hadn’t helped with making me accustomed to the environment, not after almost a decade on the mountain with the furry bulk of Fenris standing guard. When I had woken up this morning after a fitful rest I had belted on the pistol as some nagging instinct told me to make sure I was ready for a confrontation. Richard had taken that as a sign and had worn the harness that held his two iron bars to his back. A quick meal and the fortifying tea had allowed me to think clearly enough to find the classroom.

The classroom had tiered seating similar to how the hall had been changed, but with wider steps and a curved set of desks around it. There were thirty chairs in the three rows, with ten across and split along the path up the steps in a three, four, three split that made less jostling for students sitting in the middle. Jessica made a beeline for the back center row of four desks and we joined her, with Vara and I in the center and Richard next to me while Jessica sat next to Vara.

Richard asked, “What do you think they will cover in this class? I have Intro to Gear Binding and Intro to Spellcraft this afternoon.”

I replied, “Lucky, those are more your areas of interest than what I have. I would guess the professor will cover the types of bindings, and some of the specifics of each. There is only so much time in each class.”

I knew Dean Brenner would also cover the concept of Talent as she had indicated as much during our meeting. Jessica spoke up, “I’m more curious about Physical Education. If the Major makes me play volleyball I’m going to put itching powder in her jockstrap.”

Vara asked, “Okay, what are volleyball and a jockstrap?”

“Don’t worry about it,” was the answer as Jessica quickly looked anywhere but at us.

Odd, but I wasn’t all that familiar with Eisenricht, which with the surname of von Eisen was clearly her point of origin. Other students were filing into the classroom and taking seats. The siblings from Azure that I had noticed at the assembly sat in front of us, along with Selena who was chatting amicably with her. There was also a young man of small stature fidgeting with a pair of glasses next to the male sibling. I could only assume that they were the dorm mates and had sat together for simplicity.

It didn’t take long for the class to fill up, with only a few empty seats mostly along the edges in the front. By my count it looked like some twenty-six students in the classroom as Dean Brenner slipped into the room and scanned the class before saying, “Excellent, everyone is here on time.”

The morning bell rang almost in sync with her statement and she said, “Please make sure you are here on time every day. I have less tolerance for a lack of punctuality than Major Schmidt.”

“Now let me begin by saying that many of the concepts we will cover in this course should be familiar to you, but we will still touch on subjects few of you will have guessed at. For example, can anyone tell me how many types of aether binding there are?”

Selena raised a hand and, when the dean nodded to her, said, “There are four documented types of aether binding. Gear or equipment binding, creature or best binding, spellbinding, and the most recently discovered image binding. There are some theories that each of these have subtypes or specialties within the overall form of binding such as the tattoos that are more prevalent in the Azure Islands.”

A sandy haired youth sitting in the front to my left rose and hand and spoke, “The answer is one. Aether binding is aether binding, with the types she mentioned being subtypes of the greater whole.”

“Good answer Mr. Simmons, but please wait to be called next time. Now let me clarify as the subtypes of aether binding is what I was looking for. Anyone that can bind aether has the ability to craft bindings of the types young miss Anyas mentioned to one extent or another. Does anyone else have an answer before I move on?” the dean interjected.

I raised my hand, this was a topic my grandfather and I had discussed at length. As the dean pointed at me I spoke, “Like Mr. Simmons said there is aether binding, and many of the techniques used in a type can be transferred to another type if you know how. My understanding is that there are seven known subtypes of aether binding, but there is a theory that an eighth exists.”

“Thank you Mr. Ward, now the question is do you know them?” the dean said with a smile.

The old biddy was calling me out, she knew damn well that I knew of those seven as it was grandfather that had spent the time on his mountain researching them. I sighed and answered, “There are the four Selena mentioned, and these are the most commonly used types by humans. The other types are most commonly used by aetherical creatures. Force Binding, the use of raw forces such as the wind or lightning; and Matter Binding, the use of measurable matter such as dirt, stone, or various liquids. These seem to bear similarity to spellbinding and equipment binding, but aren’t quite the same.”

The dark haired girl, now sans ravens, said, “That is six. What is the seventh?”

As the dean didn’t seem to mind that interruption I once more sighed and answered, “Soulbinding.”

Many of the students looked at me worriedly before the dean spoke up, “Now, now class, that isn’t as bad as it sounds like. Soulbinding is something that is done between two willing creatures, and in fact requires consent. The binding joins two creatures' souls together, sharing strengths across the binding and allowing the two to do more than they normally would be able to. In fact, Mr. Kono, I believe you could give us a better example.”

The youth from the Azure Islands in front of me nodded and stood saying “As you wish Dean Brenner.”

He touched the crystal at his waist and the little blue dragon that accompanied him to the assembly coalesced on top of his desk and began to look around curiously. Kono said into the silence, “This is Amakakiri, he is a Storm Drakeling. The soul bond between us permits me to use his natural abilities of lightning and wind without having to bind a spell glyph. It takes more effort for me than it does for him. He gained the ability to speak mind to mind with me using actual words, as well as the ability to regenerate his own aether rather than requiring a storm.”

He raised a hand palm up and let lightning dance between his fingers. I could see the muscles in his arm tense a bit, and I guessed that it was taking quite a bit of focus for him to generate the lightning safely.

“Thank you Mr. Kono, now Amakakiri, if you like you can remain out in the classroom, but don’t distract my students too much. This was actually a good demonstration of both the concepts of Soulbinding and Force Binding, which is the technique Mr. Kono demonstrated with the lightning” the dean said.

The little Drakeling turned to Brenner and bobbed it’s head, before curling up on the desk between the siblings. I heard Vara giggle beside me and mutter, “That only works for the small cute creatures.”

I murmured back to her, “So no small cute creatures for you?”

“Cute yes, small no,” was her reply.

“If you’re hiding a giant rabbit in one of those crystals I’m going back to the mountain,” I said.

“Mr. Ward, please pay attention or I will have Major Schmidt kick you in your rear all the way back to that mountain you are so fond of, and make you carry her back,” Dean Brenner said sharply.