“Ah, initiate Bakus, good, now that you are here we can get started. Sorry for pulling you away from your meditation,” Master Mgumba said, waving me to a seat in the library.

The other initiates were also in attendance and I took the last free seat.

“Today we will be discussing latent abilities.”

“Master…”

“Yes, Rebeka?”

“Didn’t we already go over this subject last year?”

“We did, you are correct. But since we have a new member with us, we will be going over it again. It is also a good opportunity to review what you retained. So, since you seem invested in the subject, give me one example of a latent ability.”

I heard Rebeka give a quiet sigh as the other three shook with quiet mirth. I’m guessing this was normal.

“Long life,” she responded.

“Good, Matteos, how about you?” he asked, pointing to a shorter man with unruly brown hair.

“Uh…” The man seemed startled by being put on the spot and I saw Master frown. “…oh faster healing.”

“Good, but work on your studies a bit more. Our life isn’t just about exercising our gift, we need to exercise our minds as well. Laris, how about you?”

The boy seemed to be bouncing in anticipation and raising his hand. “The ability to sense other Chosen.”

“Good, good. Quimby?”

I heard the man mumble that the others took the easy ones. “Enhanced reaction speed.”

“Excellent. All true, all of these are latent abilities that every Chosen gets besides the outward appearance of their gifts. But do you know why that is?” He pointed to me as he asked this.

“So we can bear the weight of the Mother’s blessing?” I wasn’t sure my answer was correct so I phrased it as a question.

“That is one of the prevailing theories,” Master Mgumba said as he walked around, his cane thudding against the wooden floor. “But it isn’t quite right. It’s true they do help but I think it is more of a side effect of the process than an intended one. Otherwise, it would be more exaggerated for those that needed it. For example, Terrani chosen would be much better off with the physical enhancement. What does a Chosen of Pyron need stronger muscles for? I liken it to the flu. Where you have many symptoms but they are all part of one underlying whole. Not that you five will get sick anymore. Another latent ability. But don’t think that makes you immune to everything. You can still be poisoned. A normally lethal dose won’t kill you, but trust me, you will not enjoy the experience,” he grumbled.

It sounded like he had personal experience on that matter and I wanted to ask who would be dumb enough to try and poison a Chosen but decided to keep that question to myself. Maybe once we knew each other better.

“So the Mother has blessed us with longer life, healthier lives, and enhanced physique after braving the perils of the fallen cities and it helps us carry out her will. But that’s just what is hidden behind the curtain. What about the part that regular people see? Can any of you name all of the children of the Mother?”

I saw the others tilt their heads down in shame.

Master Mgumba chuckled. “If you said you could name them all, I would have called you a liar. I can give you a list of the few we know of… Let me reiterate that, that we know of. As we are always finding new variants. The Mother’s gift isn’t static, it changes over time. But I will name the most common for now, you can study the archives if you wish to learn about some of the more esoteric ones. Let's start with Pyron.”

I swear I heard the man roll his eyes as he said the first name.

“Pyron is the calling of fire and heat. But it can be broken down into fire or heat. It can also be combined with Terrani to form Marcis the child of boiling rock. Next up is Aquon, the child of water and moisture, arguably the most flexible of the gifts. It has come in many forms and is one of the few that allows the healing of others. Then there is Terrani, earth, and nature, and I am biased when I say it is one of the best for attack and defense.”

I raised my hand at this.

“Yes, Bakus?”

“Isn’t Terrani earth and stone?”

Master smirked, “what is stone but another form of earth? But then again many may not realize it. A stone is just compressed material that may have once been dirt or sand.”

I lowered my hand as this did make a sort of sense, I had seen the inside of cracked rocks before.

“How does nature fit in,” Rebeka asked.

“A good question. Nature is a mix of earth and water. It’s a rare combination and there haven’t been more than two or three Chosen in the history of the Order that has had that gift.”

Seeing as there were no follow-up questions, Master continued. “That brings us to the lesser children. Not lesser because they are weaker, but because they are rarer. Liminos, the child of light; Aurili, the child of sound; Allvar, the child of gravity and wight; and the last for our discussion, Oi and Io who lord over magnetism. There are many, many more but these are the most predominant in the last century.”

The class went on for another hour as Master discussed why the Chosen do what they do, and why we don’t just run around doing what we want since we have the ability to do so.

“We do what we do because the Mother granted us a great boon for the suffering we had to face.” Everyone looked uncomfortable remembering their harrowing journey to get their gift, I was no exception.

“But not everyone that goes through the process was always as upstanding. In the early days when the first three Chosen were around, others started popping up. Sometimes these were fools that had somehow survived the city and took to barbarism or banditry using their newly acquired power. Others were worse.”

What the hell could be worse than barbarism or banditry?

“Not many know this and you should never utter it outside our walls but our kingdom was founded by one of these people. This man was no benevolent king. He was a barbaric tyrant that slaughtered thousands until he unified the broken lands into the kingdom that it is today. Thankfully he was killed off by his own offspring but since that day, their family has controlled the lands that we reside on. I will not refer to them as Chosen as they do not follow the Mother’s calling but they have been gifted.”

“What! How?” Quimby shouted as he rose angrily from his chair.

“We do not know how they sneak their children into an area to earn this gift but we suspect they have some hidden place that is safe from threat as not a single child of the dynasty has fallen. We have an uneasy alliance with the King and nobility so do not anger them if you come across them while performing your duties. While we may be stronger in our gifts than they are, they outnumber us ten to one and that doesn’t include their normal soldiers. While we would likely win a war, it would be at great cost to the Order and the surrounding populous as well as set us back a thousand years.” Master Mgumba gave us all piercing stares to hammer his point home.

“Wait, is this why Holton made me sign that Imperial Writ!” I exclaimed, forgetting I hadn’t mentioned that part in my story.

I saw Master’s gaze turn toward me. “That will be all for today, you four may go, Bakus, please remain behind for a bit.”

The others left, a few looking over their shoulders at me to try and see what was happening. Master waited until the door was firmly shut before he spoke.

“This writ, was there a seal on it?” he asked, sitting in one of the now-empty chairs.

I nodded, and he sighed.

“This complicates matters, but I’m glad I found out about it now, instead of when Gabrielle shoved it in my face.”

“But why would it matter, both Orders serve the kingdom don’t they?”

“Yes, and no. Most of this goes back to the days when Lou Shin was still around. Both of our orders clashed with the then king but Lou Shin killed his oldest son at the time. The anger festered but the nobility quietly waited and bided their time until both Lou Shin and Amy Pond had passed into the Mother’s embrace. They worked slowly and methodically to ingratiate themselves with the order of the Purifying Flame until the Order was reliant on them to survive. Then they slowly started removing that support until the Order was left with only the one remaining headquarters and only enough Chosen to barely handle their duties. This way they could never become a threat to the crown again.”

“But what does that mean for this Order?” I asked in concern.

“My namesake was a smart man. He also lived to see the downfall of the Order of the Purifying Flame so he took steps to ensure that would never happen to us. The tower, this town, and a sizable stockpile of money and land. The King knows when to choose his battles and as we are not a threat, he doesn’t feel the need to poke at us. But if we become a thorn in another noble’s side, they aren’t above using the Order forces under their thumb to attack us.”

“Their order forces?” I asked, not liking the sound of that.

Master Mgumba nodded sadly. “There are many different chapters of the Order. Most follow the general principles of the Purifying Flame chapter but almost all of them are reliant on the King and crown to survive. So they can’t just say no if he or one of his children orders them to suppress us. You remember the failed initiate? The one that wrote the First Chosen?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, he managed to anger a local Lord, mostly through his illegal and disgusting ways. Although the Lord was in the right for what he did, the end result was far more damaging. A distant chapter was ordered to capture and eliminate the man. But they didn’t get to him before the story of the First Chosen was published and widely distributed. The King at the time wanted all knowledge of the Chosen suppressed to hide their strength. For what reason, I can’t say. In his anger at the chapter’s failure to stop the spread of this knowledge, the King ordered the Purifying Flame to suppress that chapter. And by suppress, I mean they killed every last member of that chapter and eliminated their entire chapter house.”

I sucked in a breath at that revelation.

“So when I say, don’t anger the nobility, you understand the seriousness of such a request. The reason why I bring all of this up is that you have signed an Imperial writ. If a letter from a noble comes with orders and you do not follow them, you will be in violation and the King may have you suppressed as well. I can’t ask you to ignore these orders as it would be as good as signing your death but if you ever receive instructions that could cause any harm to our chapter, I ask that you either leave or give me a heads up. It may be something that I can hold off.”

It also meant that he could eliminate me as a threat, but I didn’t express that thought. I was really beginning to regret becoming Chosen. So far nothing had gone according to my plans.

“Enough of this gloomy conversation. Chances are you will never run across a noble and all of this talk will be for nothing. I am glad that you chose to stay though,” Master Mgumba said with a smile. “The Order is not the shining example it once was but with new talent, we may get there again. That brings me to another thing I wished to discuss with you. I would like you to teach sword fighting to our initiates.”