Kohn grumbled as another set of complicated, blue magic formations appeared on both his Teachers while he was trying to eat. “Full Stop. Internal communications.” One disappeared while another flashed red and the weight increased again.

He had gotten the wrong answer on his right Teacher nearly 13 times in a row now and it got to the point where it took too much effort to lift a spoon with it. While it was awkward he switched hands to give his muscles a rest.

Looking around the table he saw others poking at their teachers and every once in a while he could see a red flash. It looked like everyone was having an easier time with their Teachers than him.

“Hey Kohn!”

A young girl who looked barely out of her teens had watched him get dragged out earlier.

“What’s up Sasha?”

“What happened? Last time we saw you, you got dragged out of here by the Armorer.”

She was that type of natural worrying mother figure that cared for everyone.

“Apparently, because we’re such great friends, he thought he should be the one to teach me.”

“Well, what did he teach you?” She asked, completely missing his sarcasm.

“Well first he taught me how to put those Arms on and then take them off. Turns out they’re really complicated pieces of equipment and not just heavy. Then he had me spar with his assistants and I lost to every one of them. So he told me that I was a terrible fighter and taught me the basics of magic formations before giving me a test. Which I failed and had to suffer punishment.”

He didn’t want to worry her any more than she already was so he tried to down play how bad it really was.

“It doesn’t sound too bad though. Right?”

Maybe he down played it too far?

“Ye-yeah. After that he put the Teachers on me.” Everyone at the table had one on their left wrist. “Speaking of, why don’t you all have two Teachers?”

Sasha tilted her head in that cute, confused puppy dog way.

“Well, you only need one right?”

“I guess.” Kohn wasn’t entirely convinced that only one was needed, especially with the added weight effect but it wasn’t important enough to spend his precious energy on it. Eating with his off-hand and trying to remember all the magic symbols he had seen was difficult enough while he was exhausted.

***

Several weeks went by as the ships got closer and closer to the Kingdom’s space. Every day was torture for Kohn as the Armorer brought out new ways to ‘train’ him.

Hanging him upside on the ceiling as he was pushed back and forth while trying to read the magic formations on the floor.

Being blindfolded while surrounded by assistants. They would all make a noise and he’d have to punch the one that made a step towards him.

Lot of different weight lifting setups including having the heavy armorer sit on him while he sang some kind of childhood song about a legendary armorer.

He was even surprised to find a treadmill type device.

It didn’t matter how many miles he could run or how much weight he lifted. The Armorer would always increase the duration of the workout and replace weights with heavier ones. So every time, when Kohn thought he was running the same distance or lifting the same weight he had already long surpassed the previous ‘high score’.

A few days after he got the Teachers he awoke to find another pair on his legs, but he didn’t have to read his legs since they just doubled the rate of appearance on his wrist Teachers. When he complained the Armorer just taunted him. “What? Can’t you do it?” Which naturally irked Kohn into putting up with four Teachers.

Every day he worked out in a new method while figuring out magic formations. The muscles on his body were easily seen now a days. On Earth he spent a few hours every day at the gym to stay fit but now he started to look like the old pictures of Greek Gods. And in his dreams he started to see images of magic formations and they started to become second nature to him. Now he only took a few seconds to answer the Teachers correctly.

The only thing that he didn’t understand was why he had to repeat the same cadence every day. “I AM NOT A FIST! I AM NOT A WING! I AM NOT A WHISPER!”

Finally he had to ask why he was supposed to call out the same cadence every time.

“Why do I have to repeat those lines? What is the point of them?”

The Armorer looked as if this was the thing he had been waiting forever for. He had Kohn and his assistants follow him deeper into the storage area before gathering around him and sit in chairs.

“What does it mean to be a member of one of the Orders?”

“I don’t know, they never got that far before you grabbed me.” Kohn replied honestly.

“I did what?” His voice rose in anger.

“Before you took me under your precious tutelage.” Kohn quickly corrected himself. He half payed attention to the Armorer as another formation appeared on the Teachers.

“Humph!” Oh he was going to pay for that later. “To be a member of an Order means that you limit yourself to a standard. It means that no matter what, you won’t be as powerful as the group.”

“You mean that in the Order they don’t train you to be stronger, but to work as a team to accomplish a single goal?”

“Precisely.” He grunted back, pleased with this Earthling.

“To be a member of the Order means that if you continue to advance in power and capability you damage the cohesion of the group and create weakness in its ability to function. With the Order of the Fist they are meant to physically interrupt the movements of the enemy. The Winged Order is meant to bring in as much damage over an area as they can. And the Order of Whispers is meant to attack from behind where the enemy least expects it and gather critical information. When the Orders function as one they become the Three Armies, an unstoppable force that has never seen defeat.”

‘Whoa. That sounds like the perfect plan. But if they’ve never seen defeat then why did the Prince come to Earth?’

The Armorer grinned when he saw the question appear in Kohn’s eyes.

“You look like you’re on the right track. If this combination of three forces is so unstoppable then why has the Kingdom been gathering planets to their cause and why did I train you differently than everyone else from your home planet?”

Well, he hadn’t actually thought about that last part until he mentioned it.

“But you trained me the same as your assistants right?”

The figures around them all shuttered and nodded in response.

“Forget about them!” They all looked depressed when the Armorer said that so harshly. “I-I mean, for the moment focus on you. Why did I train you differently from the Three Armies?”

Remembering the Jzanna and how it was able to kill so many he only had one response. “Because the Three Armies cannot handle the enemy.”

“Precisely. Or, it is more correct to say that the Three Armies cannot be brought against the enemy at the same time and in the manner that would allow them to operate as they were trained to do.”

Jzanna fly through space and their World Eaters cannot be fought by people on a planet that is being consumed.

“Only the Winged Order can fight in space.”

“Yes. The Jzanna are often only fought in the Deep Dark where Dark Vessels, not men are needed to fight. In the Dark Deep the Falling Fist only work to repel boarders, but often the boarders do too much damage and are difficult to kill. And how can the Whispers attack the enemy from behind with all their skills when they cannot leave the Vessels? Or when the Vessels provide more information than they could?”

“So you want to create a new order? One that would replace the others?”

“BAAAA!” The Armorer kicked his chair. It flew behind him, crashing into a crate and destroying both. “You don’t get it! The Three Armies have been the strongest force that has defeated every army. That is until now! Rather than replace a tool that works ninety-nine times out of a hundred isn’t it better to adjust the tool so that it works one hundred times out of a hundred?”

Kohn thought of himself as a smart guy, but the old Armorer was tip-toeing around the subject as if he was afraid to say what he wanted to out loud.

“You want to modify the Orders?” When he got a nod in response he continued thinking out loud. “You can’t modify the people because they’re trained in the ways of the order. And you can’t modify the training of the order because it works for everything else other than the Jzanna.”

The assistants were all nodding repeatedly to everything that he had said so far. The Armorer’s eyes held less insanity and more hope in them.

“Since you’re the Armorer it’s your responsibility to maintain their weapons and equipment.”

“And create the weapons and equipment!” The Armorer interjected excitedly for a moment.

“You create the weapons? So you want to create new weapons?”

“YESSSSSSSSSS!”

Surprised at such a simple answer Kohn unconsciously spoke. “How?”

“Every weapon, every Vessel, every member of the Three Armies are trained and designed to fight the enemy as if they were in front of you or below you. But the Jzanna are huge, long and fast! You won’t be able to outmaneuver them so they can get behind you or above you. We need to adapt the equipment to be able to fight in all directions, not just what is in front.”

“So that’s why you had me upside down, looking up and blindfolded! You were trying to get me use to fighting in situations in which I might be attacked by a Jzanna?”

“Precisely!”

“But why not train everyone that way?”

“Because I am not a member of the Kings Council. To change anything of the order without a member’s approval is treasonous.”

“So why can you train me differently?”

“Because new methods require development and practice.” Kohn just gave him a deadpan stare. “And! Because the Prince owes me and gave me some room to develop something new.”

It sort of made sense, but it was like walking on a very fine line. If this new method didn’t work out then the Armorer and the Prince would be in trouble for doing something without approval from the Kings Council.

“So I get why you trained me, to react differently and get use to fighting a monster that would constantly put me in a bad situation. But that can’t be why you chose to train me. What else do you need from me?”

The Armorer didn’t look the least bit upset that he had been seen through.

“When our ships were in your planet’s atmosphere we saw weapons that the Kingdom had never thought of before. Your projectiles followed our Vessels from the planet out into the Deep Dark. Your people had numerous smaller vessels for specialized purposes. And you had smaller tools to launch projectiles at close range.”

“You mean nukes, helicopters and guns?”

“Yes those! You have knowledge of how these work?” The Armorer was like a kid learning that the man in front of him was a professional candy maker. He wanted to learn all his secrets.

“Not intimate knowledge, but I pretty much understand the theory behind them.”

“Good! Then you will help us come up with equipment and weapons that would allow the Three Armies to be used in space as they are on the surface of a planet.”

The Armorer’s excitement infected Kohn. Both of them were starting to bounce a little.

‘I can create my own weapons! This might even get me my very own ship faster and end the war with the Jzanna. Just what would be the easiest thing to work on first?”

“Hey #4, what do you think we should work on first?”

The Assistant that Kohn had named number four in his head looked at him confused. Instead of answering, number four just looked at the Armorer.

“#4? You’re funny boy.” He answered as if that look had held a deep conversation. “He thinks that we should focus on some kind of weapon that could be used in close range. In an area of about fifty feet.”

“So a gun? Hmmm. A magical gun?”

Kohn started to think of a few ideas when his brain finally processed what had just happened.

“Wait, why did you answer? Why didn’t #4 answer?”

“Well, unlike you and the Earthlings, you haven’t been raised in the Kingdom. They understand my beliefs and goals, but it conflicts with their loyalties to the Kingdom, to the King, and to their Households. So they choose to not speak for fear of getting their master and themselves into trouble.”

“But we’re alone.”

“After so long it has become a habit for them.”

“Then why did you answer as if you could understand his silence?”

The Armorer snorted. “I didn’t. His opinion is irrelevant. I’m the one that wants this ‘gun’”.

“His opinion is irrelevant? Then what about mine?”

“Well you’re different.”

“We’re all different. That’s one thing you would have learned if you had grown up on Earth. Ideas can be thought up by anyone but are perfected by bouncing them between multiple people.” They didn’t understand what he was trying to say so he just the Armorer’s face out of the way.

“Any of you. What do you think we should work on first?”

They all looked at each other. ‘This won’t go well.’ It was an almost audible thought that they all had.

At first it seemed like none of them would speak up, but then #1 raised his hand.

“Yes,” Kohn pointed at him “#1?”

Number One felt a little proud that he was in first place for the number names. “Already have weapons,” he clearly wasn’t use to speaking “we need way for the Falling Fist Order to get to the Jzanna that are in the air.”

Everyone in the room was shocked. Not because Number One had an absolutely genius thought, but because of how deep and sultry his voice was.

‘Damn he has a sexy voice. He could be the ugliest man alive and women would follow him into bed if the lights were out.’

Number Two, thinking that he’d have a similar voice after all this time decided to speak up as well. “What about surviving in the Deep Dark?”

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” Everyone started laughing. The pretty boy of the bunch, Number Two’s face went bright red when he realized he sounded like a chipmunk.