“Very impressive, Ellaazi,” Aeloria said as she came to a stop in front of us. “I had heard you were one of the better fighters in our year, and now I’ve seen it for myself. I can see why such high praise has been given.”

  “Is that what you heard?” Ellaazi snapped. “Because I heard people were saying if it wasn’t for my stats and my father’s name, I should be put down like the wild animal I am.”

  Aeloria recoiled slightly from the accusation, but still nodded. “Yes. Something to that effect. But I’m wise enough to decipher the true meaning when my fellow Archons speak so often and in such a derogatory manner on a subject. It means they are afraid or jealous. Sometimes both. But I am more open-minded than most. House Besas sees all races as equal.”

  Ressa snorted. “Who are you and what have you done with Aeloria Besas?”

  The tall Archon woman frowned deeply and looked like she wanted to throttle Ressa.

  I nodded at Ressa’s words. “I’ve got to say, I’m inclined to side with Ressa on this one. I’d consider you one of the worst offenders of Archon pride since I got here.”

  “Even though I stood up for you at the gate house?”

  “No,” Ressa said. “That was the first indicator that your body had been taken over by something else.”

  Before Aeloria could speak, Ellaazi jumped in, her tone harsh, her words clipped. “What do you want?”

  Her expression went through a number of different emotions, before she settled on a neutral resolve.

  “I would have liked to have trained with Adam. He had promised me he would show me some aspects of his fighting style, though we never arranged a specific time. Now I see how poorly my personality has been received. I would like an opportunity to put that right. I hold no ill will to any of the races of the Union.”

  “You’ve looked down your nose at us since we started the year,” Ressa snapped.

  “Oh, and you’ve been so open and approachable,” Aeloria snapped back.

  Ressa squared up to her, a foot shorter, and far slighter in build, but she didn’t look scared in the least. “We are in a minority in a school made up entirely of Archons who make no effort to hide their dislike of us. You might notice that none of us are the same race, but we still managed to make friends.”

  A smirk slipped through Aeloria’s mask for the briefest of moments. “Through common adversity. I am sure if you were in a school full of Velorians, you would still go out of your way to be friends with a Grunir, a Nyvren, a Thuris and a Human!”

  As Ressa clutched at straws for a believable response to a point well made, I held up a hand. “Hold on a minute. Aeloria, you’re not wrong. We’d probably all be guilty of doing the same, no matter how good our intentions are. But this is different. You were actively rude to both me and Ressa on different occasions based purely off our race. Something’s either changed your mind, or you’re pretending to be okay with us now for some ulterior motive.”

  Aeloria fish-mouthed as badly as Ressa just had, trying to deny it. Meanwhile, I felt a tingle in my mind. A quick check showed me that I had just gone up a level in Mental Acuity. With that point, I realized something else and refocused on Aeloria.

  “Our problem is that even if it is the former reason and you’ve had a genuine change of heart toward us, you’d have the same defense as if you were up to something.”

  “So there is nothing I can say? You will brand me as an enemy without speaking with me?”

  Ressa shook her head. “We have spoken with you. This is not a knee-jerk reaction.”

  With her frustration bubbling over, she turned to leave, then thought better of it and stopped. “The Union is on the verge of war, and I want it to be as strong as it can be when the time comes. Like others, I believed Archon strength would be the deciding factor. I can see all of your racial strengths, but I viewed Archons as the complete race. When I spoke to my father about the issues of having you all in this school, I expected him to feel the same. He laughed at me and called me a shortsighted fool. He also said he expected better from me.”

  “Your own father said that?” Ellaazi asked, suddenly engaged in Aeloria’s story.

  Ressa still looked furious. “How can your father be so open-minded and raise such a closed-minded daughter?”

  Aeloria didn’t seem to be affected by the insult at all. “He didn’t raise me. He’s one of the most powerful Primes in the cosmos. I was raised by nannies and tutors. A cold and unpleasant childhood that I have only just escaped.”

  The doubt was etched on Ressa’s face. “And one word from your father can make you change all your world views?”

  With unbelievable sincerity, Aeloria nodded. “Absolutely.”

  I wasn’t buying it. No one changed that fast. Ressa looked set to tear into her again, yet Ellaazi nodded.

  “I know how it feels to have a powerful but distant father. I’d do anything to have some time with mine. I’d love to know what he thinks about things and why. I have no doubt he could change my mind on a few things too.”

  Aeloria smiled. “Thank you. I understand it sounds weak to most.” She eyed Ressa and then me.

  I shook my head. “Not really. I can see it.”

  “Did you have something similar?” she asked.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not at all. My father raised me in his own way. I wouldn’t call him a strong man though. Just tired and… sad, I suppose.”

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  “Then where did you learn?” Ressa asked, seeming to forget Aeloria altogether, eager to learn more of my past. “You seem to have a very defined sense of self and… you appear to be a genuinely good person.”

  “I literally hurt people for a living,” I said with a weak chuckle.

  “If it’s hurting the right people, then it’s still a positive thing,” Aeloria said, drawing a scowl from Ressa.

  Unaffected by the look, Aeloria continued. “I’m more curious as to how you arrived here so much weaker than everyone else, yet you fight like a person double your level. When I watch you fight, despite being at a disadvantage in strength and speed, you’re not remotely fearful. You’re always watching how to take your opponent out. If what you’re doing isn’t working, you adapt until you find a solution. I’ve asked about you from various sources now, and apparently, you were able to take out a fully armored Level 28 Unalaran Hunter whilst you yourself were unascended. By all accounts, the only reason the Hunter survived was because his commander intervened and saved him.”

  I smirked. “That story’s been embellished a little bit. I managed to wrong-foot him, mount his back, and get at his helmet, but he would have had me if the fight went on for much longer. The only reason I survived is because the commander dragged me off him! Oh, and he definitely wasn’t a Level 28.”

  “It hardly matters, Adam. There’s no way you should have been able to do that. You have excellent decision-making when it matters most. That is a skill all of its own.”

  Ellaazi nodded. “This is true. I never thought it out like that yet.” She turned to me. “How do you think so quickly in battle? I need to know your secret.”

  “I would like to learn as well,” Aeloria added.

  Ressa just scowled silently and folded her arms.

  I thought about it for a little while, and there was only one answer. “I know the answer, but it’s not really something I can teach.”

  “What is the answer? Then we can try.”

  “Pure desperation and fear throughout all of my formative years.”

  All three stood there, looking puzzled and intrigued at my words. I couldn’t believe I’d said them. It was the last thing I wanted to be talking about.

  Ressa was first to ask the question. “What do you mean? Desperation?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We should finish up. I’m getting hungry.”

  Ellaazi growled. “No way! I need to know!”

  I sighed. “Long story short. Imagine if you were in a situation where you had to fight somebody far bigger, stronger, more skilled than you. That they made you fight them, and every time you made a mistake or tried to give up, they’d beat you to within an inch of your life. If you turned away or ran, they’d hunt you down and leave you unable to breathe properly for three cycles. All this in a world with no healing magic.

  “Imagine that they’d happily break an arm or a leg, and the only way you could avoid that fate is by giving it your all. By trying anything and everything you could think of just to survive the fight and not be left broken. Now imagine you’ve been doing that since you were about four years old.”

  “That happened to you?” Ressa asked, her face a mask of sadness. Aeloria listened intently, while Ellaazi looked furious and ready to go hunting.

  “Don’t worry about it, guys. It’s over now, and while I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, it definitely made me the person I am today.”

  “Was it your tired and sad father?” Ellaazi asked, fists balled, ready to fight my memories if she needed too.

  “No,” I sighed, not entirely sure why the hell I’d let myself be led down this path. But I had, and there was no point stopping now. “It was my brother. He was six years older than me. My father tried, but Earl was determined to make sure I wasn’t soft.

  “When he was fifteen, he was put in a prison for young offenders after he nearly killed me. I was on life-support for a three weeks, er, four cycles that time. When he got out, he went into care, but that just made him worse. He’d be waiting for me after school. If I went out with friends, he’d find me on my way home.”

  “All just so he could beat you up?” Ressa asked in a murmur.

  “He genuinely believed he was helping me.”

  “What kind of brother would do that? What kind of person would do that?” she asked.

  “The crazy thing is, I think he loved me in his own way,” I said, snorting to hold back the tears of horror as a vision of his smiling face appeared in my mind as he rained down blows.

  “He sounds like the worst kind of bully,” Aeloria said. “Doing that to a child so many years younger.”

  Again I shook my head, taking a deep breath so that my voice didn’t crack. “Not a bully. He’d fight anyone, and I mean anyone. He doesn’t care about how strong you are. Not about death or pain. The only joy he gets out of life is causing pain.”

  “He sounds like an absolute monster,” Ressa said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “If we ever meet him,” Ellaazi said, patting my shoulder. “I will kill him for you.”

  “Thanks, Ellaazi, but even if we were back on Earth, I would keep you all as far away from him as possible. He leaves me alone now, and my only wish is that it stays that way.”

  Ressa sagged. “I can’t imagine living like that. If somebody had done that to me all my young life, I wouldn’t trust anyone. I’d probably hate everyone. How can you be okay after that?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. My parents were good people. They tried everything to help him, but some people just can’t be helped. Earl is as close to soulless as I imagine you can get. He has no fear. He has no morals. He became a world champion boxer until he went to prison again.

  “I must have had Stockholm syndrome or something because I even followed in his footsteps and became a boxer for a while, too. It took me a few too many years to realize that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. It’s a sport. It’s selfish, and it doesn’t help anyone. That’s why I joined the army, so I could at least use what I’ve become to help people out.” I sagged as I considered how that turned out. “Can we talk about something else now? Anything else but me and my baggage.”

  “We were supposed to be training,” Ressa said, scowling at Aeloria.

  The Archon held up her hands in apology. “I’ll leave you all in peace. Though I would like to ask one more question, Adam. Nothing to do with your past, but your future.”

  I really didn’t feel like answering anymore questions, particularly from her, nor did I want to continue training after my little trip down memory lane, but she continued to watch me with hope in her eyes. “Ask away. But I’m not promising you an answer.”

  “You’re still on the path of a fighter and a soldier. In time, you will fight for the Union, and at present, it will be under the banner of House Garazal.”

  “That wasn’t really a question.”

  She frowned. “No. I suppose it wasn’t… How have you found Prime Garazal so far?”

  “No idea. I was abducted from my planet while defending a military base, stripped naked, burned free of all my hair and sold to Warden Anso. He put me in a torture box for over twelve days, then sent me to work in a mine. From there, they dumped me here. You know the rest as you were the first student I met here.”

  She looked more than a little uncomfortable at my mention of that meeting. “Again, I apologize. I didn’t know your story.”

  “You didn’t fucking ask either, did you?” I waved a hand. “That’s neither here nor there. You’re a changed Archon by all accounts.”

  She nodded. “I am. And I must admit, House Garazal are very lucky to have uncovered a Warrior Mage with as much potential as you appear to have.”

  “Sure,” I said, watching her carefully. “Was that all?”

  “Yes. And thank you for confiding in me today. May I make some arrangements for extra sparring with you some day?”

  “Well, you’ve ruined this cycle,” Ressa snapped. “Which means you’ve got no chance next free day.”

  “Perfect,” she said, clapping her hands together, cutting Ressa off in the process. “Then the free day after next, we will spar. I look forward to training with you again, Adam.” She looked back to Ellaazi and then to Ressa. “I am more than happy to accommodate either or both of you in that training period, if you wish to join us.”

  My mouth worked to protest, or to at least say something, but like a tempest, she whisked out of the room.