The walk over was a relatively brief one and in just a few minutes Roun and Tyler were arriving in the small courtyard that would play host to their first training session of the semester. Unlike their usual hangout spot, this particular courtyard was not simply an architectural marvel. It served a far more functional purpose; providing a central hub for students traveling between the historical sector and the more modern parts of the academy.

Here the old coral-stone buildings met newer facilities with solid steel frames and polymer coatings. These newer buildings, like most architecture of the time, took their inspiration from the zeta-powered gadgets that had been popularised over the past fifty years. Rather than striking and grandiose, modern architecture was modest and subdued – seeming bland and featureless to the untrained eye. Smooth outer-walls played host to matte polymer panels, broken only occasionally by luminous channels of zeta that coursed through the structures to define their form and provide them with additional stability. Even the windows blended seamlessly into buildings, only being perceptible from specific angles where their translucency was visible.

As a result, this particular courtyard combined the textured and highly decorative coral-stone tiles with the flat, matte polymer pathways that coursed with visible zeta energy to create an interesting blend of old and new. The pathways coalesced at a single gazebo surrounded by a botanical garden and overhung by large trees.

Upon arrival, the two young channelers found the other six members of their class from the previous semester waiting patiently for their new instructor. Nikolai sat furthest from the point at which they entered with his back rested against one of the six columns that held up the roof, his black jacket being bathed in the blue glow of zeta running through the channels within the thin column. As was the norm, two glowing plugs could be seen from his ears, serving as evidence of the fact that he was listening to music and drowning out the world around him.

Roun’s gaze narrowed as he focused on Nikolai, paying close attention to his zeta-signature to see if he could detect any residual effects of the event from three months prior; but there were none.

His eyebrow tipped upwards at the revelation.

His attention then moved across to Brian, who sat just a few feet away. Brian was the only member of the class that could claim to be a friend of Nikolai – though they both admittedly used the term loosely. Brian shared Nikolai’s tastes in and love for music, allowing him to relate to the normally reserved man on his only known interest. This resulted in the two sharing more time on campus with each other than with anyone else, and subsequently being paired in team exercises in their courses.

To the left of Brian and Nikolai sat another unlikely pair: Ayanna and Kikoto. Ayanna was much less of a mystery than Nikolai; despite being equally unsociable she exhibited a distinct phenotype that was indicative of her origins. The young woman possessed chocolate-brown skin and ash-blonde hair with bright-blue eyes; and unlike most of her peers these particular traits were ones with which she was born. This odd combination of phenotypes was not just natural for her, but quite popular in one particular place. The natural assumption then was that she was a denizen of Gaemon, a region of the central continent of Afrika with an unusually homogenous population. Gaemon was most well-known for a long history of eugenics and genetic modification, one which had led it to become a leader in gene therapy over the past two centuries. Citizens of that region were known for not just this unique combination of visual traits but for an unusually high occurrence of para-human abilities. Even those among them without the gift of channeling exhibited levels of strength, agility and resilience that surpassed ordinary human peaks; so with her channeling capabilities in tow, Ms. Myria took those already enhanced abilities to super-human levels.

Kikoto’s origins on the other hand were much less complicated and easily recognised by the combination of her name and features. This raven-haired young woman was a psychic prodigy from the Yazhou and the only person that the highly zenophobic Ayanna had bothered to befriend over the past three years. While Ayanna’s abilities tended towards the physical, Kikoto excelled in manipulating energies external to herself. A powerful telepath and prodigious illusionist; like Tyler, this young woman aspired to placement outside of combat and found herself paired with one of the best combat oriented channelers to compliment her abilities.

The last two members of their original class were a young man by the name of Kanrei Angelus and his step sister Lilith. Like many pairs, this one consisted of an analyst and a combat specialist. Kanrei, the son of a premier meta-physicist, had a natural voracity for breaking down interactions between different types of energy; a skill that allowed him to map interactions between channelers, on a technical level, like no others. Lilith was the daughter of his father’s second wife and was more of a ragamuffin, who possessed a natural penchant for brawling. Much like Xavier Stryke, she processed zeta at a highly accelerated rate, granting her the mind-boggling outputs that she used ruthlessly in battle.

Joining these original eight channelers however, was an additional six that had been transferred to Titan Academy from advanced programs at various faction-run academies – including the now infamous Xavier Stryke. Despite being from Merricent like many of the students of Titan Academy, for the past two years Xavier had been training at an academy in the northern continent of Usiles. This academy, Fort David, had long been known for its association with the Lehomik military faction.

Jayce, unlike Xavier, had been affiliated with his particular benefactors for most of his life. This young man was born in the Aviv province of the Kingdom of Demai, near the centre of the north-eastern continent of Trajege. He attended Shiva Academy, run by the Order of Demai – the governing branch of the communist kingdom in which he grew up. Unlike Fort David, which was more of a finishing school for scouted elites, Shiva Academy was designed to nurture children from the first sign of channeling potential right up to the point of their official placement. So unlike every other channeler who had recently entered the special placements program, this level of training and testing was all that the young man knew.

The other four channelers were absolute mysteries to Roun and Tyler. From what they could tell, the six of them represented three of the four most powerful military factions in all of Terra, with each faction sending a single pair to the final placement. A young woman accompanied Xavier from Lehomik and a young man accompanied Jayce from Demai. This left the last two channelers, who were either members of the Rogue Special Forces – Roun’s and Tyler’s preferred choice of factions or knights of the Council of Xelots, who made their home to the north.

Unfortunately, the two would not have time for further investigation because just seconds later, the instructor of their course arrived.

Naturally, as he approached, the attention of each student shifted from their peers and towards the approaching energy signature. Even Nikolai and Brian, who seemed entranced by their music just moments before his arrival, removed their glowing ear-buds and turned their gaze towards the wide framed man that was making his way towards the gazebo.

Much like their previous instructor Xess, the processed energy leaking from the body of this man dwarfed the zeta-signatures of any of the students present – even those known for their unusually high outputs. While the gap between their abilities was expected however, the eight returning students from Titan Academy found a number of this new instructor’s features particularly odd. Though none of these features stood out as strange on their own, they each found it rather odd that these were traits shared with their previous instructor, Xess McLeod. Both men had tanned skin and shoulder length white hair, which was twisted into tightly curled dreads, and even their faces shared an uncanny resemblance.

“Good morning.” The man sounded, soliciting salutations from the fourteen students that he had before him, before watching as a few hands went into the air. He just smirked at the common reaction and chose to ignore the building questions in favour of introducing himself to his new students. “My name is Xell McLeod.”

A collective ‘ahh’ could be heard amidst them.

“Should we assume then that they’re brothers?” Roun inquired quietly to Tyler, who just shrugged casually.

“They look about the same age but they’re channelers – your mom barely looks thirty and she’s already in her fifties.” Tyler pointed out. “For all we know he could be Professor McLeod’s father, or even his son.”

“True…” Roun thought. “We never did figure out how old Xess was – I kind of just figured he was in his late thirties based on his energy signature.”

“Me too, but he looks about as old as we do – he could be any age.” She retorted, causing Roun to nod.

Xell smirked as he took note of the conversations, watching now as his new students tried to gauge his age based on the potency of his energy signature in an attempt to ascertain his specific relations to their previous lecturer. His smirk grew as the murmurs grew louder, making him half tempted to leave them curious for a bit longer – but he knew better and he didn’t need them distracted by trivial mysteries.

“For those of you still wondering, I’m Professor McLeod’s brother.” He continued. “We’re actually fraternal twins – hence the resemblance – but while Xess was pursuing his PhD in advanced zeta-coding principles, I was working my way up to being the first Field Commander of the Rogue Special Forces.” He continued to explain, watching as the eyes of his students widened.

“Wait a minute—” Brian’s voice interrupted Xell’s self-introduction. “You were a member of the RSF?”

“That I was.” Xell nodded. “I worked with the Rogues for about eight years before I took up a position at the academy.”

“You left a spot on the Rogues – to teach?” Ayanna chimed, just as incredulous as Brian.

“Yes. Yes I did.” Xell replied with a smile. “Anyone want to ask the obvious question?”

“Why?” Tyler couldn’t contain herself anymore. “Faction members are among the most respected and highly paid members of society – I can’t imagine why anyone would want to give that up.” She explained.

Xell just laughed. “Let’s just say that I found something more fulfilling that putting my life on the line at the behest of others.”

“Teaching the next generation, I’d hope.” Brian interjected.

“Sure.” Xell’s reply dripped with sarcasm, causing the small group to laugh lightly. “But speaking of which, let’s get this show on the road. Why don’t we get the easy stuff out of the way first – shall we?” He paused, scanning through the small group of channelers to find to suitable candidates for his first demonstration.

“Mr. DeSaint, you have an older brother who’s a Xelot Knight, yes?” Xell questioned one of the unknown students, to whom Roun and Tyler had been unable to assign a faction.

“Yes sir, I’m the younger brother of Exalted High Knight Deacon DeSaint.” He replied with pride.

“Okay seriously, the Rogues need titles like that when we join.” Roun whispered to Tyler, who just laughed lightly at the statement.

“Excellent, you come on over here then.” Xell replied, drawing the young man to stand to his left. “And Mr. Angelus, why don’t you come and stand over here?” He went on, beckoning Kanrei to stand on his right.

“Alrightey.” The blue-haired young man got up from his seat and made his way over to the side of their instructor.

“Now, I want you to both power-up.” He commanded, causing them both to quickly draw energy inwards from the environment and energise their bodies with their personal energy-types.

Immediately there was a noticeable difference between these two channellers. The young blue-haired man, Kanrei Angelus – much like the others tended to – simply began to glow with a deep blue energy that was no doubt his personal variant of zeta. However, his counterpart – Raen DeSaint – underwent a much more dramatic transformation. His power-up sequence commenced with a burst of visible white energy erupting from his body in a spherical pattern. As it did, his skin dulled in colour and his blonde hair became white, while his blue eyes also bleached grey and glowed with white energy. Even more striking was the fact that his blue and white track-suit adopted the same white glow as the rest of his energy before shifting into an armoured uniform with a unique crest on his chest.

“He’s a Xelot as well.” Roun whispered to Tyler, who simply nodded with affirmation at the sight of the insignia.

Xell just smirked. “Okay, now Ms. Ashumitsu – am I pronouncing that correctly?” Xell inquired, receiving just a nod from Kikoto. “Will you do me a favour and fire a bolt of energy at the both of these young men – aim for the chest and keep it non-lethal but painful.”

Kikoto’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the request, but she obliged with a shrug. They each watched intently as she drew raw zeta energy into her hands before unleashing a bolt of glowing energy towards Kanrei.

A grin broke across the young man’s face as his blue energy raced towards his hands frantically, causing the young man to grimace slightly at the pain that accompanied it. Tyler shook her head at the occurrence, a natural side-effect of one of the young man’s key traits and something that they had all failed to properly explain. Amidst the processed zeta that made up his horus energy-type, there mingled a strange chaotic energy that few other channelers could sense far less identify. This energy gave the otherwise organised wave-patterns of horus, a slew of mysterious properties – the most notable among which was a drastic increase in potency.

The group of gathered channelers watched now as Kikoto’s attack was met by a planar disc of deep blue energy, shattering on impact and dissipating into the inert energy from which it was created. Kanrei just smirked lightly at the result of the clash, before dissipating the barrier and shaking off the residual tingling sensation that his energy left with him before waiting for the next part of the demonstration.

Next she repeated her attack sequence, but this time launched the bolt at Raen. Unlike Kanrei, Raen did not attempt to conjure a defensive barrier; in fact he did not actively shield himself at all. Instead, the class watched with curiosity as the attack impacted his chest unhindered and shattered, just as it had on Rei’s shield.

Kikoto’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the sight, but Tyler just nodded at what she had witnessed.

“I take it you noticed the difference.” Xell stated, once again drawing murmurs from the class.

“Yeah.” Kanrei finally spoke up. “He guarded the attack passively, as if his entire body was a shield.” Kanrei stated with mild puzzlement. Having been watching the interaction between Kikoto’s energy and Raen’s body intently.

“His entire body is a shield? That seems like a tremendous waste of energy to maintain.” Roun added to Kanrei’s revelation. “I mean, I’m sure it’s safer, but in long fights I can’t imagine that it won’t come back to bite you.”

Xell nodded at their assessments, watching as the two Xelot-trained channelers smirked knowingly while the others remained puzzled. All but one, at least.

“Anything to add Ms. Cage?” Xell pressed after watching her reaction to the entire demonstration.

“No sir, I’m just curious as to how he’s doing it.” She replied distractedly, still analysing the energy flowing through the body of this young man.

“Doing what?” Xell questioned, teasing the answer out of her as the others looked on with confusion.

“I… really don’t know how to explain it.” Tyler paused as she tried to put her thoughts into words. “It’s like he’s activating a bunch of really small, really simple techniques – but constantly. His body isn’t actually a shield because his defensive energies aren’t always active, it’s more like he can react instantly to a threat and activate his defences by reflex when he needs them.”

“Bingo. That’s pretty much it.” Xell nodded, clapping his hands to commend her astute observations. “What you’re witnessing is the fundamental difference between a military trained channeler and a civilian channeler. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Raen’s braver form.”

“You learned that in the advanced program?” Brian now questioned Raen, who simply shook his head.

“No, my brother taught me.” He replied matter-of-factly.

“How does it work?” Nikolai inquired, his eyebrow having already raised with curiosity.

“It works in very much the same way that your body does but on an arguably simpler scale.” Xell explained. “Your braver form is – at its simplest – a reformatting of your physical body to maximize your channeling abilities.” Xell explained. “The human body is an extremely complex machine, designed from the ground up to keep you alive without you having to think about it. It does this through basic chemistry using raw materials from the environment as building blocks and fuel sources. What you’ve all learned so far is to augment your pre-existing body with zeta energy to boost its natural functions – but what the braver form transformation does is cut out the middleman. It reconstitutes your body to run on that pure energy, eliminating the need for chemical reactions. You don’t need food, water, air – as long as you have access to zeta energy, your braver form is self-sustaining.”

“That sounds… absolutely amazing.” Kanrei finally sounded, expressing what his classmates were all thinking.

“That also sounds like it takes an extremely long time to master.” Nikolai, ever sobering, pointed out.

“You’d think so.” Xell affirmed. “But answer me this Mr. Amon, when you exit your ethereal form, how hard is it for you to reconstruct your physical body without giving yourself a heart attack, or a stroke or an aneurism perhaps?”

Nikolai paused to think about it, having never even considered the question. “It comes naturally to me, so it’s not very hard at all.” He replied.

“Have you ever rematerialized missing an organ – or with something in the wrong place perhaps?” Xell continued to question, much to the puzzlement of the other students present.

“No, not once.” Nikolai replied stoically, trying to figure out exactly what Xell was getting at.

“Has there even been even the slightest change in your body – like a change in fingerprints?” He inquired, pausing briefly as Nikolai’s face just changed to a look of profound realisation. “Indeed there has not.”

“Okay, so we know it happens. But how is that even really possible?” Brian now found himself questioning what he had long accepted as reality.

“That’s a question that took scientists, like Mr Angelus’ father, decades to find the answers to. In fact, the answer to that question was the subject of my brother’s PhD thesis.” Xell smirked. “The technical details are way above my head, but long-story-short, as channelers we’re all able to store massive amounts of information within ourselves. Everything from our most basic abilities to the sum of all of our experiences, resides within a core from which our channeling stems. This uniqueness of these cores is the reason that each signature is completely unique and functionally impossible to replicate.”

“At the very base of your unique energetic core, is all of the information that your body needs to reconstitute itself after complete dissolution – essentially an entire library of code that you have access to on a subconscious level.“

“That sounds amazing and – at the same time – horribly inefficient.” Roun chimed in at this point.

“Why do you say that?” Xell questioned.

“Well, a central code repository is only useful for any system if the information is easy to access.” He explained. “How are our brains supposed to index so much raw data and make it useful?”

“Each time you learn a new ability, your body creates a ‘hash’ that allows it to access the specific parts of your code library needed for that technique. As you become more proficient a channeler, your body generates more hashes, allowing you to manipulate zeta without having to consciously access code from your library.” Xell explained. “This all happens at a completely subconscious level.”

“And you’re telling me that we can create a ‘hash’ for an entirely new form?” Brian inquired, growing more sceptical by the moment.

“Creating a ‘hash’ for your braver form is not much different from learning a new variant of an old technique. You’re not ‘learning’ a new body from scratch, you’re merely learning a new version of your old body – one that substitutes much of the useless biological functions with much simpler zeta functions.” Xell explained.

“In basic training with the Rogues, something like this would usually take about a month – but given that you lot are supposed to be the ‘channeling elite’, I’m going to attempt to teach this to you in about a week.”

“So let’s get to work.”