“Well, this is shit. I want all of the magical lessons. The only non-magic class I’m interested in is Dueling weapons, but there’s no way I’m going to choose that over Battlefield magic.”

  “Then don’t,” Yoru said. “But if that’s your favorite Martial class, I hope you understand that something has to give. I think it best if you choose the magical skills you can’t do without first.”

  “I agree,” Ressa said. “And you just gave the best reason for going with Dueling rather than Battlefield magic.”

  That was news to me. “I did?”

  “You strike me as a frontline soldier. By your own admission, you are a hand-to-hand fighter, so you should pick the skills that will help you survive up-close engagements. Battle Mages are never close to the action. They remain at the back of the army or units and work together to drop big skills. Honestly, it’s kind of a defunct skill as far as a Warrior Mage is concerned.”

  “You do it, Ress,” Torma pointed out.

  “And that’s how I know it’s a waste of time. Especially for Adam. For me… less so. Because I don’t intend to be on the front lines of any battle, I am here for a fluke of birth that gifted me a naturally high base Toughness stat. Once I leave here, the closest I intend to get to a battle will be in conversations, nestled in the wine cellars of Veloria.”

  “Is that where you’re from?” I asked more eagerly than I would have liked to have sounded.

  “No, I was born and raised on Qunanth.”

  “Ah, okay. So what’s special about Veloria?”

  She frowned as if I was trying to wind her up. “I cannot tell if you are serious?”

  “Deadly. I have no idea about any of the planets in the Union.”

  “But surely you can work out that Veloria is the home world of the Velorians. Our original world.”

  The light of understanding struck. “Ah! You’re a Velorian.”

  She seemed offended. “Of course I am. What did you think I was?”

  It was my turn to laugh. Even though it was at my own ignorance. “I had no idea what you were. I don’t know any of your races apart from Grunir.” I pointed at Torma as a practical demonstration of my knowledge. “I also know what an Archon is, and an Unalaran.”

  “Then allow me to introduce my race to you,” Yoru said formally. “I am of the Thuris. And we come from Thursar. And no, we do not own other planets. We were a young race when the Archons found and enslaved us.”

  “It was the Velorians who enslaved my people,” Ellaazi said bitterly and scowled at Ressa.

  “Holy shit, this sounds like a quagmire of epic proportions. What race are you Ellaazi?”

  “Nyvren.”

  “As fascinating as this is,” Ressa said, “and I’m glad you are getting a little history lesson, and we should totally pick this up again sometime, if we’re going to get Adam’s timetable to reception before it closes, shouldn’t we focus?”

  “We should,” I agreed. You were saying what magical skills I wanted most.” I looked back at the time table.

  “Top four. That’s all we need.”

  “So, say I was going to create portals in the future. What would be the best ones to take?”

  Ressa huffed as if to say, This again?

  Torma didn’t flinch and pointed at Enchantment. “Unless you buy an enchantment which will be crazy money, you’ll want to learn how to make them. They don’t last forever, so being able to refresh them or re-engrave when they get worn is priceless. So I say you absolutely have to choose Enchantment.”

  “Cool. Done.”

  “You would need Evocation too,” Yoru offered, and Ressa slapped her head.

  “You’re all insane. Adam. You are never creating a portal. Not in a hundred years at least.”

  “Fair enough. I’m still doing Evocation.”

  “If you insist on being a stone deaf bat, then Aetheric magic would be just as useful, if not more so than Evocation.”

  “But infinitely harder to use. Especially if you’re not attuned to it,” Yoru warned.

  “Sounds like double the power to me. Aetheric magic it is.”

  “It’s a good choice for toe-to-toe fighting,” Ressa said, finally relaxing. “You should add defensive magic too. It might not help with a portal, but it will help with your survivability.”

  “Agreed,” Torma said. “And with those four, you wouldn’t need Battle Magic anyway.”

  “I’m happy with that. And I might as well add Divination. Seems like it’ll be more useful than Heavy weapons.”

  “No Divination,” Ressa said. “Firstly, it’s a waste of time. I can attest to that because I took it.”

  “Me too,” Ellaazi said. “And it’s terrible. You also already picked four magics, dumb-dumb.”

  “Thanks, Ellaazi. Good to see you opening up a bit.”

  Ellaazi didn’t get the sarcasm, and just grunted at me. The other three all smirked at the interaction.

  I looked at the table again. “So that leaves me with Siege Craft, Heavy Weapons, and Dueling Weapons. Let’s see how it goes.”

  Yoru offered me a piece of paper to write everything down, and though I doubted I’d forget, I did it anyway.

  Ressa was standing over me as I did it, then put another piece of paper down. “Write it down again neatly, and I’ll take you along to reception. There should still be someone there.”

  Yoru looked at the clock on the wall, then back to us. “You’ll have to be quick, It’s almost 9.”

  “We have almost an hour!” Ressa said confidently.

  I raised an eyebrow, and she answered the unspoken question. “There is curfew, and they’re pretty hot on it. At least for those of us who aren’t Archons. Come on, we better get moving.”

  The two of us walked silently and swiftly to the reception. I felt a little awkward in her company. I didn’t normally have any issues chatting with women, even beautiful ones. But the whole scenario had me at a loss for words.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I side-eyed her, taking in her otherworldly beauty. At first, I’d hardly noticed, but as the day wore on, and I’d been on the end of both her kindness and her sharp wit, I found myself watching her more and more. And now as we walked through the corridor, that beauty and her predatory grace were amplified by the moonlight shining through the windows.

  I chuckled internally. It wasn’t as if I was going to make a move on Duchess Ressa Nessoran. I didn’t even know why my mind went there! I was a kidnapped slave, determined to get home. Yet I was also a young man with eyes and urges who hadn’t enjoyed the touch of a woman for over a year. I ended up scolding myself. Focus, you idiot!

  At the reception, I wasn’t saved from my wandering thoughts by a self-righteous Archon on a power trip. There was no one there. We waited for a bit, and Ressa rang the bell, but no one came.

  After complaining about the professionalism for a few minutes, she shrugged. “Just leave it on the desk. We’ve done our part. Hopefully, they’ll get it sorted out early in the morning if there’s no night staff on.”

  “Sure,” I said, laying it on the desk.

  Ressa was already moving, and I assumed she was eager to make it back before the curfew came into place. So when she took me down a different corridor, I was confused.

  I was about to ask, when she turned back and flashed a white-toothed smile. “We still have a little time, and there’s a spot I love to sit while it’s quiet. You don’t mind, do you?”

  There was every chance I was about to get mugged or screwed over in some way, so for some reason, I couldn’t quite figure, I smiled back and said, “Lead the way.”

  We walked in silence for a few minutes and took another turn before we came to doors that led us outside of the building. She eased them open, taking care to be quiet, then beckoned me out into the cool night air.

  Beyond was a beautiful garden. The sound of splashing water reached my ears as she led me off again, along a winding path through the foliage. Still, I was aware of the potential danger, and still I didn’t care. So far, this had been the best day I’d had in a long time, and I included back on Earth. The moment I thought about that, I clamped up.

  Dare I even give life to the thought that this was quite possibly the best day in my life? It was a sad and sobering thought.

  “I’d love to know what you’re thinking about, Adam.”

  I looked across to her and realized she was watching me closely. “Ah, nothing much. Just about this place and home.”

  “You miss home a lot?”

  I had to think about that for a moment. Did I miss home, or did I just want to get back because I’d been kidnapped from there and it was where I lived. It seemed I had a lot to unpack.

  “I do,” I finally lied. “My parents are there. They’re good people, and they’re getting old. They’ll be devastated when they hear I’m dead. What about you?”

  “I hate my parents. And I hate my home. The only problem is, I hate this place as well.”

  I was surprised to hear all of that. She seemed so together. “You have good friends here. You’re smart and capable. I see you hate the Archons, but it doesn’t really seem to really affect you.”

  “Well it does,” she snapped in an uncharacteristic show of anger. “And friends? Really? You mean other outcasts who have had to band together for some semblance of a life worth living.”

  “I dunno, I liked Torma and Yoru from what I’ve seen.”

  She giggled at that. “You might not believe this, but Ellaazi is okay too. She just takes a little time to warm up to people, and then you stole her bread, so it might take a little longer for you.”

  “Yeah… We’ll see.”

  We turned a corner and moved from narrow tree-lined path to open garden. I finally saw the fountain.

  “My god, it is beautiful,” I said, marveling at the gentle lights that illuminated the bushes and shrubs, and fireflies buzzed around, creating patterns in the air.

  “It is. I like to come here when it’s dark and have a little peace. I might not like the Archons, but they sure know how to create a beautiful garden.”

  She moved off the path to a bench and jumped onto the seat part before sitting on the backrest. I joined her so that I could look at her while we talked. And if we didn’t talk? Then I could admire her along with the rest of the surroundings. Dark, mysterious, and beautiful.

  A long but comfortable silence stretched out. For my part, I suspected she sat here alone a lot, and I didn’t want to spoil her peace.

  “You don’t talk much,” she said after at least ten minutes.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “I can talk plenty when the time’s right, but I was happy to sit in silence and take it all in. I guessed that’s what you would want as well.”

  She smiled. “I can see why your Harmony’s so high. You have strong empathy.”

  “And that’s a precursor to Harmony?”

  She shrugged. “It can be. The Velorians have, on average, the highest Harmony of all races. And I can promise you that that doesn’t come from empathy. The Archons and the Xeo are probably next closest, and again… neither race is famous for their empathy. If they have it, they’re all very good at suppressing it for power.”

  “Sounds typical,” I mused. “So where else does it come from?”

  I noticed a soft, sad smile briefly flit across her face. “For the Velorians, a strong interest in the spiritual world. Not gods, but a belief in the intricate tapestry of the universe. For the Archons, they have a very strong religion, and by religion, I mean that they believe themselves to be gods.”

  “So what, they pray to themselves?”

  She shook her head emphatically. “No. They generally pray to the great Archons of the past, or the Prime Sovereign. It’s a very selfish kind of spirituality. Insular to the Velorians’ external.”

  I was tempted to ask about the Xeo, but found that could wait for another day. The conversation had taken a slight serious turn that I wasn’t interested taking any further if I could help it.

  “And the Velorians, Archons, and Xeo are all a part of this Union, yes?”

  She laughed. It was mocking but not harsh. “I wish I could be so ignorant. It is a bliss you do not appreciate.”

  “Probably. But then every life has a story no one else can ever understand. This is just on a slightly larger scale.”

  “True enough. And to answer your question, you need a brief history of the Union. The Velorians and Archons were once two separate empires. Each learning the secrets of portals and using them to expand their reach across countless worlds. Until they came against each other. Many wars followed. The balance ebbed and flowed between them for millennia.

  “Then the Xeo appeared one day, and everything changed. Their religion is war, and they have an unusual balance with the powers in the universe. They can absorb the life force of others and increase their own power. In the end, the Velorians and the Archons had to join forces to prevent the Xeo from destroying the universe as we know it.

  “Even then, the battles were hard fought, and the Xeo gained as much ground as they lost, until our two races really joined together and created the Union. A central government and central military command that finally made use of the skills of both races. The Archons by nature believe in the might of arm. Brave and bold, with shiny armor and rattling sabers. The Velorians are subterfuge and stealth. A knife in the back, or at the throat in the dead of night. Both equally effective, and when used together, the Union pushed back the Xeo.”

  “Okay! Now that was worth a thousand classes!” I finally had an understanding of the overall layout of the place, and it answered a lot of questions.

  “I’m glad to enlighten you from pond scum to a… frog, perhaps?”

  I sighed. “You had to go and ruin it. Just as I was starting to like you.”

  She grinned wide. “Oh, however shall I sleep tonight, knowing that I have scuppered such a fine friendship.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be fine. We can always just ignore each other. Sounds like the Archons and Velorians should do that too. Why do they not split again?”

  She pursed her lips together in thought. “Because we are too entwined. The worlds and races from both our empires now follow Union rule, and they’re happier like that.”

  “Go figure,” I chuckled. “Still. It doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship.”

  “It is definitely not a healthy relationship. The Union itself is not healthy, but the Xeo are building again. I don’t think they’ll start another war. I think it’s just fear-mongering. But the upper echelons appear to be taking it seriously.”

  She fell silent again, and it didn’t look like there was more coming.

  I nodded, respectful of her choice. “Well, thank you very much for the information. It’s nice to have some kind of background.”

  “You’re welcome. It’s not really why I brought you here.”

  “There was a reason? I feel thoroughly duped. I thought it was my winning personality.”

  “No,” she said quietly. Then in a whisper, spoken without looking at me, “I know someone who can get you a portal to Unalar if you want one.”

  My eyes went wide. I pulled back. “What?”

  “Come on. I’m not a fool. Kidnapped from your planet, and you manage to end up here where you keep your mouth shut and watch and learn. The only thing you wanted to know about the classes was how to make a portal. Doesn’t take an Osrian Mind Mage to work it out. You want to try and get back home.”

  “Of course I do. But why would you want to help me? We don’t even know each other.”

  Another shrug. “I just like sticking it to the Archons anyway I can.”

  My mind was reeling. All thoughts of gardens, fountains, and fireflies had fled as I tried not to get too hopeful. Tried not to be drawn into some game I didn’t know the rules to.

  “Okay. But why would someone who can make portals want to help me? What’s in it for them? I’m assuming they’re a powerful mage.”

  “They are. And they wouldn’t be doing it for you, they would be doing it for me. It is my eldest brother.”

  “And the only reason you want to do it is to upset an Archon or two? Forgive me for being suspicious, but I’m doing the math and this doesn’t add up.” I stood from the bench, a sense of dread and mistrust settling in my bones. “What’s the game?”

  “No game,” she said, remaining in her spot and looking very relaxed. “I just intend to come with you.”