“Life is a long preparation for something that never happens.”

W.B. Yeats

Our baseline assessment went much the same as last time. It was kind of like going up a grade in school. The new teacher wanted to make their own assessment. We worked our way through the skills of running, swimming, diving, climbing, riding, and every weapon skill. He had an aversion to water so watched the swimming and diving but everything else he accompanied me in doing.

“You have a lot of common skills. But they are called common for a reason. The easiest and simplest skills you will be looked down on if this is the extent of your physical skills.”

“I have a few more common physical skills Breath Control, Dodge, Listening, Sneak, Balance, Throw, Poise, Grace, Ambidextrous, Sight, Scent, Detect, Taste, Silent Step, Deft touch, Posture, Dance, Sprint.” He tested each and every one before he quizzed me over their levels.

“It is surprising that you have developed some sensory skills, but they seem to have been neglected compared to the rest of the skill levels.” He had obviously been forewarned as to the number of skills I held if not the actual ones as he showed no surprise and there was little praise only acknowledgement before moving on to the next test. “Let’s move onto the next level. If you list them we will work through them from there.”

Quick reflexes had me attempting to snatch items out of his hand or prevent him from doing the same. Eavesdrop meant I was listening to their conversation from a gradually increasing distance until I could no longer do so. The added complication was that he was talking in beastkin half the time. Pain Tolerance was left at just a level after a quiet conversation with my grandfather. Stealth was practically impossible to win against two sensory specialists, but I tried nonetheless. Knife Arts and Martial Arts had me fending off either knives or his fists. He was careful to keep his wicked claws out of play. Poison Tolerance also avoided assessment, but again the conversation I eavesdropped in on was along the lines of ‘something, something you need to run by his mother first’.

Namir finally showed some level of being impressed when I showed him my Seismic Sense and how it was able to defeat at least at close range his stealth as I was able to sense the impression of his footfalls. Except for flight, the rest of my skills were either mental or magical, and after a short demonstration of flight, we were finally able to test whether I could run on water or not.

“Ready? Namir asked.

“Yes?” I answered unsurely. I knew I was a lot quicker than the average person, at least back in my world, and hopefully, as light as I was it would take less speed to stay on top of the water. I had heard of a lizard that could dash across the top of the water, but I did not have webbed feet to do that. The difference was I knew this was possible, I had watched both Namir and my grandfather race across the top of the water. I needed to put aside my disbelief and believe it was possible. I just needed to go fast enough. Putting aside my fears, I braced myself to race, to sprint out onto the water.

“Then go!” Namir shouted the command.

I tore off the ground, racing across the levelled stone that slowly dipped into the water. It was a launching place we had smoothed out for boats to be brought out of the water and it gave me solid footing to build up my speed before I reached the water . . .

. . . and kept going.

Ding! Dart (Lv1)

I was going fast enough. I whooped in glee. I could run on water. Why had I never thought to test this before? Arawn and Namir flashed into existence alongside me, guiding me back toward the island before I ran out of stamina. Once I was once more pointed in the right direction they left me behind clearly more comfortable going a little quicker over the water. I pushed myself harder to keep up.

Ding! Flash Step (Lv1)

And promptly faceplanted into the water at speed as my mana dipped, and I missed a step ploughing through the water on my front. I kept myself flat and slid onto the landing area on my front. Looking up to see my grandfather doubled over laughing at my unexpected soaking. Even Namir looked a little perturbed by my acquisition of two skills in a single run.

“That was unexpected.” He summarised his surprise with which I had gained the skills.

“Expect the unexpected with Kai,” Arawn replied as he gained control of his laughter. “He is very good at copying something once he has seen it done. Time to go back for lunch, I believe.”

We walked on home, some of us squelching a little from our waterlogged clothes. I missed my amulet in moments like this but understood the importance of its absence in developing my core.

. . .

That afternoon, Aleera made her move. Despite recent threats, the cousins still came to the isle for their lessons. In fact, the isle might be a safer space than the town surrounded as we were by another barrier of water. Ever since the threat had been revealed, we had started to work on the walls of the mountain carving away rock to create a step wall to protect our garden. We had not made our way the entire way around and the amphitheatre and Parthenon-style entrance would be two weaknesses we would have to address in the future. However, it was slowly coming along.

The cousins were keen to be awakened, and in true Silversea Court style, we had neglected to mention the plan to our parents. Lady Acacia was there to supervise, and Namir accompanied her to the caldera garden.

Aleera started by addressing the elephant in the room. “I cannot awaken the magic in you all. But between us, we should be able to in time.”

“Why not?” asked the eldest cousin, already concerned about who would not receive it today.

“We are limited in the number of oaths we can receive as Lord and Lady Silversea.” She explained. “By having you swear to us separately, we can double the number of you we will be able to unlock magic for. The problem with this, though, is that Kai’s magic stat is not high enough to unlock magic for anyone, and until he is able to assign his free points in 5 years, that will remain the case.”

The cousins realised what this meant and that some of them would wait five years for the ability. They looked at one another, wondering how she had decided to assign the oaths.

“Simply put, I will receive the girls' oaths and awaken their magic. While the boys will have to wait for Kai to unlock his system fully.” She ripped the band-aid off. The young women and younger girls were obviously ecstatic by her decision running to hug her in thanks, but the older ones were wise enough to temper their joy. Still, they approached her to thank her directly, and the cousins found themselves divided by gender. The brothers banded together as their sisters left them to form a group.

The boys were more stoic in their disappointment over the delay, but the most understanding statement came from one of the older ones. “A year ago, we would have never even had the option. It’s only a couple of years. We can wait patiently.” He reassured the younger male cousins, who were visibly disappointed that they would not be throwing fireballs anytime soon.

I stepped forward to reveal our other plans for them and hopefully alleviate some of the disappointment. “While the girls will awaken their magic sooner and take extra lessons alongside Aleera with Lady Acacia, that does not mean we do not have other lessons to learn while we wait for me to grow up a little. Allow me to introduce you to Namir.”

The beastkin stepped forward from Lady Acacia’s side, where he had been watching the morning’s announcements. He addressed us all. “Magic can be a powerful weapon, but mana runs out far sooner than the strength of your arms. I will train Kai to hold his head high when he visits the capital. To do so, I will also need to train you to challenge him and help him improve. This training should empower your stats and broaden your skills just as much as magic will empower your sisters.”

Our male cousins looked a little dubious after losing the immediate gratification of having their magic stat unlocked. Namir, though had been informed of our plan ahead of time and had come prepared.

“I thought we could start with a little demonstration of the importance of your physical stats.” He suggested. “A competition, if you will, to see which will win, mana or might.” He placed a series of buckets around the group. “In each bucket is some paint. Red paint for you and white paint here for me he opened a pouch on his belt. The aim of the game is to get some of your red paint on me while I will paint you white. If you are tagged in white, you are dead and out of the game. If I am tagged red, I will be dead and out of the game.”

Everyone looked around at the buckets before looking inside. Bags, clothes and sticks dyed in red filled them, and everyone after a moment thought, grabbed what they thought would be the most effective.

“Who is going first?” asked one of the eldest cousins.

“It’s all of you versus me.” He replied calmly, although a grin was growing on his face.

“All of us?” asked one of the girls.

“The balls can represent spells being thrown; the clothes can be wrapped around any weapons you already have, while the sticks can be daggers. There are no rules other than once you have been tagged, you have to fall down dead. Are you ready?”

“Even Lady Acacia?” the girl questioned.

“Even Lady Acacia, how else would I make evident the importance of physical skills over magical.” He replied before quickly adding, “Ready, go!” Before Lady Acacia could object to joining the game.

“I ob . . .” was as far as she got before pandemonium broke out. We all rushed to reposition, but he was not focused on us. He flashed toward Lady Acacia at a speed I doubted few of us good follow. A wooden wall flashed up to bar his path, but it mattered little as he simply scaled it coming down practically on top of Lady Acacia and covering her in white. We all froze as we watched a demure and dignified tutor struggle to control her temper with her erstwhile former friend.

“You have to pretend to be dead.” He explained slowly as if to a child.

After staring at him initially in anger at the state of her dress, she finally calmly collapsed to the floor with reluctance and a fair amount of exasperation. Once there, she entered the spirit of the game rolling her eyes and crying out, “You got me.” Her hand clasped to her breast as if mortally wounded.

We had frozen in bewilderment at our strict teacher playing up her demise. Fortunately, Namir woke us from our trance with another shout, “Ready, go!”

Our cousins reacted instinctually with either fight or flight. His position was bombarded with thrown balls of paint from the girls while some of the boys rushed to try and tag him with their sticks. But wherever they threw their paint, he was not there. Their siblings tagged a few of those rushing in in a devolving mess of paint and chaos. The rules stated that it was only if they were hit with white that they had to feign death, and they continued to chase after him slashing, even throwing their weapons after him in an attempt to tag him. However, he remained untouched, casually slipping through the gaps and tagging anyone who dared to attack.

The other half of our cousins, though, were fleeing. Retreat being the better part of valour and the wiser course of action, I fled with them. We scrambled up the walls and steps of the cauldron garden as he took out the braver members of our extended family. I was no longer the slowest in the group, and my earlier exhibit of running of water inspired me to make full use of my skills, running, sprint, dart and even flash step, quickly outpacing my cousins. I reached the top of the ridge line and turned to find my cousins being mercilessly mowed down with white paint by the monster flashing up the incline.

His initial victims were sitting up now, watching the unfolding carnage. I took one last look before throwing myself off the ridgeline to make my flight no longer figurative but literal. Out of sight of my cousins, I had a moment's thought of pride, thinking I had made it before he came swooping down out of the sky, having launched himself off the ridgeline.

“Look out.” Shouted Cal as I dived down along the contour of the mountain. Throwing mana into my skills to blow me out of the way. I had started multiple minds as soon as he had outlined the competition. The extra mind helped me plot my course and prepare my route. It was not enough to stop him from descending past my flying form and flinging three white balls into my curving path.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

I was out.

But at least I was the last.