2025-04-30 21:08:08Mylerna of Renalja didn’t waste any time dispatching Ligas. With a wave of her hand, the earth underneath the tall boy who was her opponent liquified into quicksand, swallowing him in an instant. A mere moment after the duel had started, it was as if Ligas had never been standing there at all.
The Entrance Exam Proctor’s voice boomed through his amplification spell. “May I remind the candidates that lethality and permanent harm are forbidden in today’s duels?”
In response, Mylerna held up one hand with a flourish. She pulled in her fingers on that hand, one by one, counting down from five. When all her fingers were closed and the hand was a fist because she had reached zero, she made a magical power gesture with her closed fist and the earth where Ligas had been standing suddenly released him, prone and gasping for air. Ligas was covered in dust and looked horrified by what he had just gone through. As soon as he could speak, he screamed “I yield!”
Mylerna’s face looked cold and passionless, as if Ligas were nothing more than an insect studied in a magnifying glass. The Proctor declared her the winner. “Mylerna will advance through the duels. Ligas will consult with a guidance counselor in Building A.”
Being defeated in the Entrance Exam Duels didn’t necessarily mean rejection as a Hopeful Candidate. The judges were to evaluate a candidate’s overall performance, but it didn’t look good for Ligas, since he hadn’t had a chance to demonstrate that he could do anything, worthy of entrance to the college or not. George watched Ligas make his way through the crowd of his peers toward Building A, still shaking and trembling from the trauma of being buried alive and not being able to breathe for a good fraction of a minute. He had probably thought the he was going to die, rules against it notwithstanding.
According to the rules of the Entrance Exam, Mylerna, as the winner of a duel, had the option of continuing to duel as long as she felt up to it, or to sit back down and wait to be called on again. Mylerna opted to continue to duel. George watched as she continued to take out five more candidates, one after another. Having seen how quickly she had created Sucking Quicksand underneath Ligas, her new opponents attacked her as quickly as they could and kept their feet moving, never staying in one spot long. Her first opponent after Ligas dodged to the side as soon as the Proctor had started the duel and flung a bolt of lightning at the Renaljan girl. A column of earth and stone rose up instantly in the lightning bolt’s path, blocking and grounding out what would have been a shocking jolt.
George knew that the Renaljans were famous earth elementalists. Apparently, Mylerna was skilled in her people’s specialty. It was as if the element of earth was her friend and her partner in battle. After defeating her fifth opponent after Ligas, for a total of six, she opted to sit down until called again. She didn’t seem the least bit winded or fatigued after six duels in a row. If anything, she seemed bored.
“George Fothergill? Come with me please.” George looked up to see an instructor picking his way through the crowd of students seated on the quad, coming in his direction, beckoning.
George complied, picking his way back through the crowd toward the instructor. He seemed like one of the younger instructors. Although powerful mages could use magic to keep their bodies unnaturally young as they aged, the mages of the Mage College of Praxis tended to not do that. In the occasional conversation in which people ever wondered why, it was generally concluded that the instructors, teachers, and professors wanted to maintain the appearance of their age as a constant reminder of how much more time they had been studying, practicing, and mastering magic. So, George was pretty sure this guy not only looked like one of the younger instructors, but was one.
Once George had emerged from the bulk of the students watching the Entrance Exam duels, the young instructor repeated, “Come with me, please,” offering no more information or explanation.
George obediently followed the man into Building C, taking his cue from the man’s silence to not ask any questions nor to try to make any conversation. Building C was a three-story building with administrative offices on the first floor and a set of large lab rooms on floors two and three. The two of them climbed the nearest staircase to reach one of the lab rooms on the second floor. The teacher leading George opened the door to the lab room and gestured for George to go inside.
Stepping inside, George was shocked to see his father, George Fothergill, Sr. (George was a junior) sitting at a teacher desk at the end of the lab room. Seated around the desk were three of the school’s professors who seemed to be doing their best to keep up faces for playing card games involving wagering. The instructor who had brought George closed the door and left.
“Hello, George,” said his father. His father smiled at him, cordially, formally, with neither warmth nor malice. George recognized that his father was in business mode, his manner of presenting himself at formal events and official meetings. “How has your day been so far?”
“Educational, sir.” George wasn’t sure how to respond, but he thought that would be a good answer.
“Excellent, George.” His father looked to the teachers on either side of him before meeting George’s eyes again. “The masters here at the College of Praxis believe that I should be the one to administer your Entrance Exam myself.”
George was confused. “Do you mean I’m supposed to duel you, Father?”
His father’s smile softened and became more real for a moment, reaching his eyes. For a second George could see his father’s great love for him, but also something else…was it sadness?
“No, my son. There are other acceptable forms of Entrance Exam than dueling, though dueling is by far the most common and popular. Today, you and I are going to be using some of the equipment in this room to assess your Gifting of Magic. Are you ready to begin?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then let us proceed.”
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Ch. 75 Where the Sea Sings to the Fire
The morning of George’s sixteenth birthday arrived. He was bathing in a pool soon after sunrise when a familiar voice called to him from the bushes on shore. “Hey, kid!” “Yörg!” The Staff of Xee carefully looked around, right and left, before levitating itself, slowly drifting out of the concealing jungle undergrowth and hovering over the water near George. Suddenly, the staff disappeared. “Yörg! You just got here! What’s the deal?” “I’d tell ya to keep your britches on, but you’re not wearing any.” Yörg’s voice came from the same space he’d disappeared from. “I turned invisible because you don’t need to be seen with me. In case you hadn’t figured it out, this place is hostile to magic-users.” “Yeah. It kind of is. A lot of bitterness toward the Society here.” “Well with me being invisible, if you keep your voice down, it’ll just seem like you talk to yourself when you bathe. A lot of folks do that. You’re going to stay around here awhile, aren’t ya? These folks are your peopl
Ch. 74 Lunch with Cynthia
Maverick did indeed have the power left to make it to Beacon City, just barely. The scientist technicians there were able to improvise something that would act as an adapter between their power systems and Maverick’s, so that he could begin to charge up again. Charging all the way up from zero percent would take about eight hours, giving George just that long to figure out how he and Stingray were going to function on Science Island while maintaining the cover stories they’d concocted for themselves. If they wanted to leave, George could probably call Yörg who would brag about being able to take them ‘anywhere in the multiverse’. But George didn’t want that to be necessary. Nereia had had the AI sub bring them here for a reason. It couldn’t be a coincidence that this was an anti-Society science colony. He remembered what the Oracle had said in her farewell letter about “finding a family”. Were these people that family? “They will not look like a family. They will not sound like on
Ch. 73 What Do You Do With a Powered-Down Warbot Early in the Morning?
Milton stepped forward. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, Chemistry Chair, but there is a warbot on Shark Man Beach in what appears to be a powered down state. I have two men guarding it and I have just confirmed with them over comlink that it has not reactivated or moved.” George realized he would have to learn the origins of the science colonists’ animosity for elves some other time. Maverick would be a momentous topic. “A warbot!” The Biology Chair exclaimed. “Are you mad? You have us here fraternizing with elves and elf-lovers while a warbot occupies our shores?” George decided to step in again to exert some influence on the direction things were going. He didn’t like the way the Biology Chair saw things. It reminded George too much of the pomposity of many of the mages in the Society. “The golem that this man Milton refers to as a robot, was cargo aboard my ship before it went down. Our captain wanted to take it to Siren Island, believing it would be immune to siren charms.” Geo
Ch. 72 Beacon City
Even though the Sun was rising, clearly not everyone in Beacon City on Science Island was used to getting up with it. George and Stingray were forced to wait while some of the Science Committee were summoned, and, when the members that took the longest arrived, they looked sleepy.As far as looks went, however, the most unpleasant ones were reserved for Stingray. George thought the humans here on Science Island were looking at his orca calling friend far worse than he and his friends had looked at him when he’d been rescued from a kraken in the ocean. That day, the sea elves had looked at George with a passive contempt for terakva and ambergris. The Science Islanders weren’t looking at Stingray with passive contempt, however. Their looks at him were easily described as active hatred, as if Stingray himself had done something to each of them personally.The assembled humans of Science Island looked like their lands of origin were diverse and widespread. This made sense, since they had
Ch. 71 Science Island
Though it was dark, the islanders had plenty of torches and there was a well-established path through the trees. Two men had come up to Stingray with rope, as if to tie him up. The man who’d already questioned them, shook his head and waved them away. “Are you kidding?” One of them asked. “He apparently saved the human from drowning. Let’s not take him prisoner…yet.” Both of the men with rope looked at their superior as if he was crazy, but they left Stingray alone, if begrudgingly. As they walked, George noticed that at any given time, at least two guns were pointed at Stingray, but no one was covering George anymore. The man who was apparently their liaison strode next to George. He introduced himself as Milton. He didn’t clarify whether Milton was a first name or a surname. “Do you know where your ship acquired that golem cargo or where they were delivering it to?” George spun as much truth as possible into his story, to make it all the more believable and have the least num
Ch. 70 Guns and Shark People
Once again, George thought of calling Yörg, but he still waited, thinking the irrepressible staff might draw fire at them, either intentionally or unintentionally. Of the four of them that were there without Yörg, George and Stingray were prone and not the targets of bullets that were flying well above them. Starstorm had opted to sleep in his pocket dimension, saying something about air conditioning on humid nights. Maverick, however, when he had powered down, had been sitting. In the dark, in the moonlight, his hulking form looked like a statue of some kind. It drew some fire. George could see sparks on Maverick’s exterior when bullets struck him. He didn’t think those rounds had any penetrative power against Mav’s armoring, but he’d want to do a visual inspection with adequate light to be sure. He was glad that Maverick’s powered down rest hadn’t included a pre-set condition upon which to auto-wake, such as being attacked. Maverick would need to be manually reactivated. Even if h
Ch. 69 A Night on the Beach
With Maverick and Stingray in the water, and George and Starstorm in an orange rubber life raft (a color that Starstorm felt compelled to voice as far less pretty and appealing than his own bright yellow life raft), they got themselves to the beach as quickly as possible. The Untamed Seas were in the tropics, so the night was warm. They didn’t think they’d need a fire for warmth. They had taken the liberty of assuming that it was ok to “borrow” some of the sub’s dried military rations as “complimentary”.(“After all, how’s it gonna stop us?” Starstorm had asked. George had replied, “Just hurry up. Let’s not find out.”)The beach extended about one hundred fifty yards inland. Beyond that was a treeline that would be better explored in daylight. George thought, too late, of course, that he should have thought to ask the sub’s AI how many hours it would be until daylight.Maverick powered down to conserve what little energy he had left. He had not recharged since before his scheduled fig
Ch. 68 Nereia's Letter
“Where are we going, Pilot?” George asked the AI. It was morning, an honest-to-goodness morning. The sub was cruising at a shallow depth that was sunlit. For George to wake up from a long sleep and see sunlight through the sub’s front viewport was a subtle, yet powerful reminder for George that Wonderdome was gone. Wonderdome had had the Three Periods: Work, Family, and Sleep. The surface world had day and night. “We are headed to an island in what surface world maps refer to as the Untamed Seas.” “Why? What’s there?” “My files do not contain that information. I apologize for any inconvenience that may cause.” Well, that’s a dead end, George thought. “Maybe this will help,” said Stingray as he rose from his own bunk area and stepped over to the front viewport with George. He brought with him a scroll made from Wonderdomian sea grass paper. “Nereia made me promise to give it to you. She had already written it out before I arrived. She called me to her deathbed.” “Deathbed?” “W
Ch. 67 Beyond Wonderdome
George had always known the dome was not glass. It was a magical see-through metal. So, when a piece of it broke off the main body of the dome, it did so with a metallic groan, as metal bending and snapping rather than glass shattering and breaking. The piece that broke off and fell first was the size of several city blocks combined. It fell with enough force to crush buildings beneath it and to vibrate the very earth under the city. Screams filled the air as the ocean, held back for so long, sought to reclaim the volume of the dome. At first, water rushed in through the original hole opened by the twin krakens’ relentless battering for several long moments, but then, with its original structural strength so greatly compromised, the edges of the hole started to bend inward under the unimaginable pressure. As the edges of the hole lost their resilience against the impossible pressure, the hole widened, letting in even more water, accelerating the dome’s impending, eventual total colla
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