August 2, 2152
Seven a.m. came far too soon for Emory, but she felt good about the time she had spent getting closer to these girls. While she lay in bed looking at the ceiling, she glanced over at her new watch. The woman said the watch would update in the morning, and it appeared she wasn't lying. However, it was not the result she expected: "5!". She immediately tapped the screen to the detailed version to see it read "4/1!/-". When she tapped the screen a second time, a holographic message popped up. Jask said, "A new unknown sphere has been detected. Do you want to register this as level one?" Below it a box for "yes" and one for "no"
appeared. Emory hesitated at first as this would mean that she was accepting the reality of the
situation. Honestly, it seemed overwhelming to learn that she had a sphere and a dangerously
strong one by the sounds of it. "Will I be scouted for this? Will people treat me differently?" she thought, "Maybe I'll take it slow. Not show off right away."
In the end after a couple minutes, she pressed yes on the hologram. Little pixelated fireworks went off, congratulating her on the advancement. The watch returned to just "5" and Emory smiled as she laid back down. Soon, Jask was speaking over the intercom system waking up everyone in the room. Luckily, the dorm room had the facilities to allow all of them to get ready simultaneously, and when they were ready, they went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Unsurprisingly, less than five percent of the new students showed up, and those that had were generally groggy and quiet. Emory took a deep whiff of the coffee smell that permeated the area and smiled. As they got in line, she learned Sam was a vegan. Apparently, it happened after she learned her sphere and due to it as well. Sam explained that it felt sort of like cannibalism since she retained her intelligence in her shifted form. The party sat in a part of the cafeteria away from other people, an easy task for a facility built to feed five thousand people at once.
"What kind of class are you all going to take?" Emory asked the group.
"I already said last night that I was a Kendo master," Tana commented with food flying out of her mouth, "So I figured, why mess with a good thing? I'm going to sign up for Blades."
Tethys sipped her tea, "I think I'm going to take Support since I plan on taking Healing as my second sphere."
"I'm torn between a few different classes since Shifting doesn't fall into one of the typical classes," Sam said as she chowed down, "What are you going to do, Emory?"
Emory rubbed her chin, "Now that I have a sphere to focus on, I'm torn between my original plan which was Hand-to-Hand and the Blaster class for elemental spheres. Tana, can you channel your Frost through your sword? Was it difficult to learn the transformation from a bolt to empowering your gear?"
"Honestly, it wasn't that hard. You just have to imagine the ball technique but think of filling an already made ball instead of starting from scratch," Tana tried to say while shoving a piece of pancake down her gullet. Emory thought some more about what class she wanted while they continued to eat.
Sam noticed Emory was having a hard time deciding and reminded her, "Don't worry if you're still unsure. You have until the weekend to lock in your class. Go to one class today and, if you don't like it, switch to a different one tomorrow." Emory smiled and finished her breakfast with the others.
Despite being called a school, the establishment worked more like a year-long boot camp. After breakfast, they would go to the one of the twenty homeroom classes they had been assigned to understand the flow of the typical day. Then they would head off to their battle class until lunch, followed by a lecture hall in the homeroom class about Proxima Centauri B, current technology, and the Mantoan among other topics. Even though a truce had been negotiated three years ago, those in charge of humanity believed this to be a false truth, especially given that the Mantoan had landed and maintained a presence in the Alpha Centauri system. The whole point of this tertiary educational system was to develop a population that could defend itself again if the need arose.
The homeroom classes seemed to be divided up with student origin in mind since Innes and Gatrie found the girls and told them the good news about being in the same class. The group sat in the back of the massive lecture hall. Five hundred students were in this room, but it could have easily fit twice that many. The room was set up like a typical auditorium with several boards at the front and desks that popped up over the seats.
Gatrie leaned over from his seat toward the girls and suavely asked, "Did you ladies have a good time? Get all settled in?"
"Actually, something special happened," Tana answered gleefully, "Emory, do you want to tell them?"
"I learned a sphere last night!" Emory exclaimed with a bright red face. She hadn't planned to disclose this new information to everyone yet, but the other girls clearly trusted Innes and Gatrie.
"You learned a sphere?" Innes looked puzzled, "In part of a day? How did you manage that? What did you pick?"
Emory smiled bashfully, "Actually, I sort of already knew it, I guess. It's a little complicated to explain but I definitely learned one called Arcane." She flashed her watch to show the large "5" on the top.
"Five?" Gatrie gasped, "As if you weren't already a smoke show, now you're a powerhouse too!"
Emory turned brighter red, "Thank you. What about you guys? Did you decide on a class for today?"
"I'm going to the Hand-to-Hand class," Innes explained, "I charge my fire into my fists anyway, so it was a no-brainer. Gatrie's a coward, so he's going to the Blaster class."
"I am not a coward! My sphere emphasizes long-range battle!" Gatrie quickly spat while the girls laughed at Innes' comment.
Emory asked, "Innes, is it easy to learn how to channel your fire into your fists?" She was leaning toward Hand-to-Hand after hearing Gatrie would be in the Blaster class. She didn't dislike him; she just already had a talkative friend/ classmate/ roommate and didn't want to have a second one.
"You said you just learned your sphere, right?" Innes commented, "This is the perfect time to learn Hand-to-Hand then. Because you have a strong general magik foundation, it may just be raw magik at first. You'll progress quick though, I bet." Emory understood what he was thinking; however, with Arcane magik, it would always be raw magik that she was putting into her attacks. And it would be easier to conceal her sphere if it was used to empower her physical attacks instead of firing it like a cannon anyway.
Once most of the teens were in the lecture hall, a tall, thin red-headed man stood up from the front row and walked to the front of the room. He was over six feet tall, but he leaned forward at the shoulders, making him appear right at the six-foot mark, and his hair was thinning which was made worse by the leaning. He wrote on the board as two virtual screens appeared near the ceiling so all the students could see what he was writing. He stopped writing and turned back to the classroom. His deep voice boomed, "Let's get started so you have plenty of time to get to your next class. As you can see, my name is Ser Morris. I am a knight at this school and will be your homeroom teacher this year."
The class quickly sat down and went silent as Morris continued, "Every morning, after breakfast, you will report to this room by 0800 hours. We will discuss any announcements and then you will have until 0900 hours to get to your battle class. Then after lunch, you will report to this room by 1300 hours for assorted classwork. You can use this classroom in this morning time slot to ask me any questions you may have and to work on any projects you may have from our afternoon class as the afternoons you spend in here will be spent learning about the new worlds we have bases on, the technology we use to sustain the world we live in, and the enemies we have uncovered throughout the galaxy."
"To that end, we will begin today with the only announcement I have for you all at this time," Morris went on, "All battle class decisions will be finalized by Monday, so please pick your class this week. Now, familiarize yourself with the battle classes offered and where they are located so that you are on time. If you have questions, please line up in an orderly manner down this row and make your way to the front."
Emory spoke up as soon as Ser Morris was finished, "I've decided that I will take the Hand-to-Hand class. Can I tag along with you, Innes?"
"Of course," Innes agreed, "Since we have a little bit before we have to get to the next class, do you want to practice on the student holodeck? I can walk you through the action of empowering your strikes better than I can explain it." Emory nodded as she stood up. The pair waved goodbye and headed off to the smaller holodeck Emory had come across yesterday.
The only gear a person needed to simulate situations on the holodeck was a small tiara. One could bring up any weapon through the virtual store and the tiara would read intended magik output. Once Innes put in the variables, the two stepped onto the platform and were surrounded by two-way glass. A bright light came from above and projected an empty white room with just the two of them.
"I set the environment to blank since we're just getting some initial practice in," Innes explained, "Watch me explain what to do first then you try." He closed his eyes and focused on building up his power. Moments later, his arms were covered in a pale energy and showed Emory, "See? First, you build up raw magik in your hands or arms. Don't expect to get it all the way up to the elbow like me at first." Emory was very familiar with this action as she had used a similar technique to cut through the drone yesterday, so she quickly repeated his example.
"Wow, you're really good at building up your magik," Innes commented, "The next step is to change your raw magik to your sphere. It's different depending on what your sphere is. For me, it's like imagining a small fire starting from my skin that consumes the raw magik." Emory thought for a moment about how her sphere worked. When she made the bolt last night, it felt like a pulsating wave. Thinking of that, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine her magik pushing out of her body like a solid wave. Emory opened her eyes to see the magik she had
amassed was contained in her hands, but those hands glowed like a star. Innes's eyes grew big
at the sight of Emory's sudden accomplishments. His arms were flaming as well; however, the difference between the light levels was incomparable. If the two people turned toward each
other, Innes's arms would barely be visible in the light of Emory's hands.
"Now, just Push your magik out. As you practice more, your timing will get better so that you release the magik at the same moment you strike," Innes said breathlessly, still amazed at the vast amount of magik Emory had built up. She shot out her open palm like an unskilled Tai Chi jab, and a pulse of magik came out that temporarily cracked the holodeck screen. It repaired itself almost instantly but not without notice. Innes smiled and nodded his head. He did the same motion but at full speed which created a hissing sound in the room as the magik left his hands. The two slowly went through the motions with the time they had left before the class started.
When they entered the classroom, it looked more like a dojo with mats on the floor and blank walls than a traditional class. This was to be expected given the subject area of the class. About five hundred students were in the space, but there was also another class of Hand-to-Hand. At nine o'clock exactly, the door slammed shut and a shorter figure in a robe walked through the crowd to the stage platform in the back of the room. Small hands took down the hood to reveal a younger woman with chestnut brown hair. She stood there for a moment and looked over the crowd before speaking in a firm, authoritative voice, "Welcome everyone! Gather in close, so you can see and hear me." The crowd clumped tighter toward the riser the woman was standing on.
"My name is Serah Boyle, and I will be your hand-to-hand battle instructor," Boyle announced, "I have spent a good portion of my life learning different unarmed fighting techniques that I hope to pass onto you all. Now some of you may be wondering why we have an entire discipline focused on close combat with the advent of firearms and magik." Large swaths of the group affirmed her assumption with nods and murmured agreement.
Boyle continued, "For those people, the answer is two-fold. As many of you may be aware, our firearms have proved to be ineffective against the Mantoan and their hard exoskeletons. A handgun will be next to pointless, and a rifle will upset them more than kill them. Even if they are the only other race in the entire galaxy and we never fight with them again, we will still need an effective offense in case the day comes that we need to defend ourselves again. Secondly, it is much easier to channel magik into your own body than into a weapon and arguably faster too. With that in mind, I will be teaching you all some basic unarmed attacks, please spread out among the mats and give yourselves plenty of space."
As the students spread out, three large holograms of Serah Boyle appeared near the ceiling so everyone could see her better. Emory was a little nervous, so she stayed within the eyeline of Innes. "I know it's your first day, so we're going to start with something small, a single palm strike," Boyle explained as she changed her stance to a martial art pose, "Watch me first, then practice." She moved her arms forward with a small bend in her elbows and her palms facing away from her body. For learning purposes, she slowly pulled back her dominant arm and then shoved it forward in one fluid, smooth motion. Even though she hadn't tried to show off, the skill and strength of Boyle caused the air to visibly move away from her palm. She continued to slowly repeat the palm strike motion as the class practiced as well.
Boyle hopped off the platform and went around to the students one at a time. The holograms continued to repeat Boyle's motion, so the class could continue to watch her motions. Emory had taken a basic self-defense course while still in secondary school, making the motion a little elementary for her. She tried incorporating what Innes had taught her about charging her magik and releasing small amounts of power, but she wasn't the only one as several teens in the class were attempting to do the same thing.
Midway through the class after she had briefly seen everyone, Boyle went onto the platform again and raised her hand as a signal to stop everyone. She started, "I saw that many of you are already trying to add your magik to your palm strikes which is impressive for the first day. As a reward, I'd like to show you all both how to add magik to your strikes and how effective just this technique can be." A drone came out of the floor and rolled over to Boyle's side. "First, imagine your magik running over your hands like a stream. Once you've built up
enough magik, your hand should start to change based on your sphere and it will be self-sustaining. This is key because if you release it before it is self-sustaining, it will come out like a pulse. Then connect with your blow and release it. Let me demonstrate."
Boyle entered her fighting stance and extended her hand to better illustrate her point. As she had stated, a translucent glow slowly built up over her hand. Once she thought most people had seen it, she transformed the magik into her sphere, turning the color of the energy to a deep burgundy. Finally, she struck the drone with her palm in a swift, singular motion. Except instead of knocking it over, her palm melted a hole through the solid exterior and out the other side. Gasps and screams quickly dominated the air waves since none of the students were expecting such a display. She turned back to the class with the biggest grin on her face and explained, "Now I don't expect any of you to do that today or maybe even this year. However, I hope you
now understand why there is still usefulness in learning these techniques. Everyone can practice the palm strike and try empowering it if you want; just make sure you give yourselves plenty of space."
Emory and Innes practiced intensely now that the rest of the class was attempting to infuse their strikes with magik since both could already do this. Innes looked over and mentioned to Emory, "She taught us the palm strike, but you can do this same motion with different hand postures. I noticed on the holodeck that you favor having open hands. You should try the spear hand then." With Emory watching, he did the same arm motion but kept his palm down and jabbed with his fingertips. When he did, the fire at the end of his hands turned blue,
indicating a hotter flame.
"Did your fire change colors when you did the spear hand?" Emory excitedly asked.
Innes nodded, "When you use this style, I've found it focuses your magik into a smaller point. That's why I thought you might like it." Together the two of them switched around between the palm strike, the spear hand, and a basic fist jab. Each style seemed to have a specific intended use: the palm strike for internal damage, the spear hand for pinpoint accuracy, and the fist jab for external damage. Innes explained that it was important to switch postures frequently to do different kinds of damage.
Eventually, the class wrapped up and the intercom went off to let people know that it was lunchtime. Most of the class was covered in sweat because, while it wasn't a high-impact exercise, harnessing magik made for tiring training. Emory and Innes decided to walk together to the cafeteria. She asked Innes, "How long have you been practicing martial arts?"
"I started at a very early age, maybe five or six," Innes said as he scratched his head, "My mother put me in classes for as long as I can remember. I've learned all sorts of different styles, but I have rarely practiced around other people in person. Growing up, we had a single holodeck which is how I took classes. Is this your first martial arts class?"
Emory smiled, hearing the anxiety in his question, "No, I'm not a secret kung fu prodigy or something. The secondary school I attended offered a self-defense course instead of a physical education course, so I signed up for that. It was a mishmash of a lot of different styles, but I did learn the basic hand attacks there."
"You have a very solid foundation," Innes commented, "And a solid magik base as well. You should be a master in no time. I would learn as many different attack postures as you can but only try to master one or two defense postures. Don't forget about footwork or breathing; those two sound simple, yet most fights are won because of one side losing control of one of those two." Emory nodded as she took a mental note of this tip.
When they entered the cafeteria, the rest of the group had already found a table and were saving spots for Emory and Innes. Sam waved them over and immediately started chatting, "How was the Hand-to-Hand class? You two look much less tired than I expected."
Innes chuckled, "Would you be shocked to find out that Emory here is a natural fighter in addition to her other skills?"
"I'm not a natural," Emory chirped as she turned bright red, "I took a self-defense course in secondary school, so I already knew the basics for today."
"That's not entirely true. You learned how to harness and maintain magik around your hands just today," Innes quickly corrected her.
"Enough about me," Emory smiled, "How did class go for you all?" As she asked the others, they all stood up and got in line for food.
Gatrie proudly boasted, "Blasters class is going to be so easy for me. I'm also already a pro!"
"It is the easiest class," Tana remarked, popping his bubble, "Blades class was good; it was the first day, though, so it'll get more challenging."
"Support class was much fuller than I expected. Almost five hundred students were there," Tethys said.
Sam paused before responding, "I ended up going to a Polearm class, but I don't think I'm going to stick with it. There just isn't a good class for my sphere."
"There's always Hand-to-Hand." Innes suggested as he picked up his tray, "You can always fight with your claws in place of your fists. The other option is Support but you don't have a traditional sphere for that class."
"Actually, my class was very freeform. We just practiced our sphere, but he said there's going to be a bit more class work than power work than the other classes," Tethys explained.
Sam sighed, "I've got two more days, so I guess I can try each of them and pick whichever I like the most." They grabbed their food and returned to their table to eat. It was still the first day, after all, so there wasn't too much to talk about. Since it took them less than thirty minutes to go through the line and finish eating, they all decided to take a long walk on the way back to their homeroom class. Once they made it to the class, they found some seats near the back and waited for the rest of the class to arrive. It was empty except for themselves and Morris, who seemed to be sitting quietly in the front row again.
When the students all made it to the classroom, Morris popped up and stood in front of the class. He waited a few minutes for the chatter to die down before dimming the lights and starting the presentation. He started, "I'd like to start today talking about the Mantoan. Do any of you know what the Mantoan look like?"