Chapter 19 - Part 1

The tepid night was still and quiet, not even the wind dared blow through the leafy trees of the Academy's grounds. Everything was bathed in blue eerie light from the mighty moon, Lotri'ea, that sat snugly perched in the dark sky watching over in silence.

Unlike her sisters, Lotri'ea's light was soft, gently, ghostly. Bringing to life long passed memories and souls. The spectral atmosphere permeated the very air itself with diffused pale light that unnaturally brought alight particles in the air. It was as if these fragments of souls were the very source of the blue sister's light.

The party of four, Haiden, Tasgal, Maree, and Camila, snuck closely along the shrubbery that flanked the stone tiled ways. They crept on all fours, dirtying and muddying their clothes carelessly as they tried their best not to peek over the waist tall shrubs and bushes.

Master Uligarth, as always, patrolled the Academy grounds, now even more vigilant than before. Master Rwoy accompanied him, chatting about all sorts of idle subjects. The old man was visibly annoyed by the chatter. He cursed whoever broke into the Headmistress' office for ruining his lonely nightly routine of introspection. The two men hovered lightstones around themselves, sending over one whenever they thought they saw something before returning it back to their circle. Although Master Rwoy was lost in a monologue about the upcoming celebration of the Trials, he was in no mean slacking on his patrol, ever so watchful and keen-eyed on everything that moved in the dark shadows.

Haiden and the rest held their breaths as the two MAster Wielders approached.

"... promised it's going to be quite the show. Now, I don't know what he means by that, but I hope it's nothing too dangerous, like the last time." Master Rwoy said and Uligarth just grunted groggily. "Headmistress said she doesn't know what he'll bring, and doesn't care much. I believe she called it a stupid tradition, but I, for one, rather enjoy a good competition now and again. Gives the students something to strive for, to get better, don't you think?" Another grunt left Master Uligarth's lips. "I know I shouldn't make too much fuss about it, he's a Councilman afterall, but something doesn't sit right with me." Master Rwoy and Uligarth went right past the group without either one of them batting an eye. "Creator knows that Councilman ...." The monologue faded into the night.

Haiden waited for a few more minutes before deciding to move and motion to the others to follow. Tasgal was behind Haiden and hurried his pace intentionally, poking him in his behind from now and again in good fun, but Haiden was of a different opinion. He gave a few angry stares past his shoulder to Tasgal and mouthed "Stop it, now!" but Tasgal was having too much fun to do so. Maree and Camila followed quietly, not saying one word. Their hearts were pounding out of their chests. It was their first time sneaking off. Usually their status, even Maree, whose family gave up their title, still had a great deal of influence due to their sheer wealth, secured everything they wanted, when they wanted it. Camila was rather furious when Haiden told them what they're going to do and she argued that they should just ask for permission, but gave when Haiden did not want to hear any of it. It was too risky, they would ask too many unnecessary questions.

It took them the better part of an hour to reach their destination. Haiden knew that the gardens were not part Master Uligarth's partroll route, so once they were well inside, he finally got up and shook all the dirt and dust from his cloak. The rest followed suit.

"Are you certain you want to do this?" Camila asked again.

"Yes." Haiden placed a finger to his lips and whispered. "Keep quiet. The old man has too good of a hearing."

"Sorry." Camila whispered back. She was uncertain and glanced at Tasgal and Maree hoping they too would voice their concerns but no one backed her up.

"The backwoods are the only place where awakened ones roam freely, Cams. where else would we find any?" Maree said determined. He remained for the following days after purchasing the bonding stone among the few who had not found a niece of wielding to adhere to.

Even Camila, his dearest friend, had long found how to best use her strong and steady Fios output to her advantage. She became a utility centered Wielder. Haiden hated to admit it, but her way of shielding was even better than his and she combined both force blasts and shielding to create something extremely powerful. Instead of the normal barrier, she used revolving pockets of force blasts to deflect everything that came her way. A rather dangerous application that could be used both offensively and defensively. Haiden had taken note of the way she applied those two simple spells to create something so powerful. He noticed that not even penetrative projectiles, which were a Shield's weakness, would simply be deflected or get crumbled to bits by the sheer power of the centrifugal force blasts. Master Rwoy was just as amazed as Haiden, he said that a similar spell had already been created a long time ago, but was part of the advanced tier, as it implied controlling hundreds of pockets at the same time with incredible precision. The spell was called Vortex Blast, and Camila's ingenuity and frightening intellect allowed her to apply it in a defensive way as well. Her main problem was accurately directing the spells that came her way, but that was not the only way Vortex Blast could be used offensively. She could simply send these blasts at high speeds and shred through anything it touched.

Haiden, of course, had tested this himself, quickly understanding how it worked when he saw it in action. Being an empath of this degree had its perks, but also a few downsides. It was difficult to concentrate on a single person when he was constantly surrounded by spells flung every which way.

Headmistress Helena was indeed correct. Encouraging and pushing the young Wielders to try and experiment, although resulting in quite a few injured, but nothing that Master Coner could not fixe, help their Wielding grow to unexpected heights. It was understandable that once they knew the very principles and concepts of using Fios, one could elevate it on their own, but never had Master Rwoy anticipated that mere first years would self teach and come up with advanced techniques. If the Councilmen caught wind of this, they surely would be outraged and try to put a stop to it. Haiden had recently found, from accidentally overhearing Master Rwoy and Master Omnelia discussing the matter, that Advanced spells, by law, can only be thought to Wielders that take the absolute pledge of fealty to the Emperor, which also marks the road to Mastership, which also meant enrolment into the Empire's army.

It seems that there was still a lot more to learn about the world for Haiden. He had no idea that the Mastership was such a serious deal, but after mulling it over in his room, he understood why it was dangerous to teach Wielders to had no loyalty to the Empire such powerful spells. He had also asked Camila and Maree about it, and quickly understood that it was common knowledge. Camila's plans were not to undergo Mastership, but remain as simple Wielder and work as a merchant like her father. Maree, on the other hand, wished for a fully independent life, away from his family and the mastership was the only way to achieve that while also living a comfortable life. The conversation with his friends made him think of Tasgal's plan of enrolling into the army. It seemed foolish at the time, but the more Haiden pondered on it the more it seemed like an attractive deal. With Tasgal as his Ashen they would have a lot of time just the two of them as he climbed his way to Mastership and during the upcoming war with Bahal.

He did not fear battle, quite the opposite, he was certain his abilities would allow him to protect himself and Tasgal. The only thing that held him back from saying yes and throw himself in Tasgal's strong muscular arms were his two friends, and probably Master Rwoy, which had helped him from the very beginning. But the strongest reason of all, was that he was comfortable. He had his own bed, own room, clothes, and as much food as he wished. He didn't know why this was so important to him, it felt incredibly liberating.

"Haiden, I don't think this will open silently." Tasgal whispered, trying to pull on the heavy gates at the end of the gardens. The same entrance to the backwoods they had used during the plumberry harvest.

"It's alright, I got this. Trust me, and don't scream!" Haiden warned, looking up the tall white wall that announced the end of Academy's grounds.

"What are you going to do." Camila asked concerned.

"I'm going to fly all of us over the wall." Haiden said matter of factly.

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" Maree quickly clasped his mouth, all of the crouching behind a bush.

"Quiet you idiot!" Camila whacked Maree over the head.

They waited for a few minutes with racing hearts. After nothing came their way the breathed in relief.

"Whisper!" Haiden warned. "I'm going to fly you over the wall."

"How is that possible." Camila asked.

"Just something I've been experimenting with. I've gotten quite good at it, trust me."

"I don't know what to say about that," Tasgal's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I probably weigh more than all three of you put together."

"You wish!" Maree scoffed.

"How does it work, Haiden? I don't want to drop twenty feet flat on my face." Camila probed her face in worry as if it already happened.

"You're not going to fall. I can control it pretty well."

'Pretty well isn't that reliable." Maree argued.

"Just tell us how it works, at least then we're a bit more assured?"

"Fine, Cams. Fine!." Haiden pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He continued to explain how the form of levitation Screech had taught him works. Both of them aside from tasgal which was rather bored of the subject were mortified.

"Charges? Negative and positive? Are you out of your mind?" Maree almost shouted again.

"While it does make sense, I'm just as skeptic as Maree."

'Let me show you first, and then you'll see yourself. Alright?" Haiden was tried of arguing.

"Deal. But after all of this you got to show me how you do it."

"Deal!" Haiden shook Camila's hand. "Tasgal will be the first one up."

"What?!" Tasgal took a moment to process and violently shoot his head. "Not going to happen."

"Yes, either this or we go through the gate which will wake up all the Creator's damn Academy." Haiden whispered harshly and Tasgal lowered his head in defeat. He went up to the wall and clenched every muscle he had in his body.

Haiden took his bag off and began concentrating. He had been practicing on how to levitate with his eyes open. Seeing your destination made navigating a lot easier than going blind and hoping for the best. He felt his energy swelling up inside him, static flowing around his skin. It gently tickled the fine hairs on his arms as he molded the energy around Tasgal.

Tasgal felt his hair starting to stand up, the static energy surrounding him began to slightly vibrate the air. Haiden concentrated on the charges of energy as soon as he was sure Tasgal was secure. He slowly polarized the energy providing the Ashen with lift. It took everything Tasgal had not to scream as he slowly ascended up and beyond the tall wall. Once Haiden was satisfied that he was past the wall he began descending him slowly until a small thud was heard from the other side. Tasgal quickly appeared behind the iron gate waving frantically.

"That was amazing. I've never felt so light in my life!" Tasgal said excitedly.

Camila and Maree exchanged a frightened look but with a single nod they agreed to it.

"I'm going to take all of us to not waste any more time." Haiden envolemped all three of them with his energy and with intense concentration he provided lift. Camila and MAree's long hair stood right up, going every which way from the charged energy. Slowly but surely they found themselves on the same side of the wall as Tasgal. Haiden let go a little too early landing them a bit more harshly on their asses than he would have wished for.

"Ouch!" Maree grunted. "How come he got the smoother landing?"

"He didn't complain as much." Haiden laughed. He procured a few light stones from his bag and hovered them around the group. "We should be safe to use light now."