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“I must explain that this will only be a brief history, Jaxon. Most of what I am going to tell you is taught in much more detail in many of the classes we offer here. But as we do not have the luxury of time, I will give you the crash course.”
From behind his desk, Master Adkins pulled out a large roll of paper and a ball with shapes painted on it. He put the ball at the corner of the desk and proceeded to unroll the paper, which he then hung on the wall. The paper had many of the same shapes as the ball and was covered in writing I didn’t understand.
“The world,” Master Adkins said, pointing to both the ball and paper. “It can be a dangerous place. I know that this will not make much sense to you now, but in time, you will understand it as you would anything from your world.”
I stared at the ball and then up at the paper. I wondered how they could be a world. They were much too small for that. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered something Father had taught me. He used to talk about an item used to find places or things. Then it clicked.
“It’s a map,” I blurted out.
“Yes, it is,” Master Adkins confirmed, then turned to the ball. “And this is a globe. Both represent the same thing, only the map shows the country we are in right now in greater detail. This country is known by two names. Officially, we are known as the Kingdom of Odrana. One thousand years ago, a man by the name of Rayiiz Odrana conquered everything you see on the map. That is why we bear his name. Today, we have no king so we also call ourselves the Six Cities.
Before the time of Odrana, six tribes inhabited this area. They were a lawless, slothful, and violent people, always at war with one another. Odrana finally put an end to all the bloodshed. The Six Cities is what you might call a re-establishment of those tribes. We are Arden, or Arden the South. As you can see on the map, four of our cities lie at the directions of the compass. They are referred to as the Cardinal Cities. We’ll go over that in more detail later. Any questions so far?”
I shook my head, waiting for the master to continue.
“Each of the Six Cities serves a particular purpose. Arden has the responsibility to teach the inhabitants of Odrana our history and customs, among other things. This Institute is what we are known for. Most of the students who attend classes here come from one of the other cities. Future scholars and professors are taught here, and they, in turn, share what they have learned with others. Likewise, if anything of importance is learned elsewhere, it is brought here to be passed on. We are the educational district of Odrana.
Campos the North, Odrana’s northernmost city, is where our armies are trained. All the city guards you will see here were trained there, along with the rest of Odrana’s armies. Drakon, the home of our navy, is to the west. However, we do not call it Drakon the West. Drakon lies on the coast and is often flooded, so we call Drakon the Flooded City. They have learned to adapt to the unpredictable tides. They protect the sea border as well as provide Odrana with fish and all manner of seafood. To the east is Versaii. Versaii is extremely fertile and is the agricultural center of Odrana. Hence, its name is the Fertile Plains. They provide us with much of our fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts.
Near the center of the map, you will see Gregorii. Gregorii is our vault, if you will. Located at the center of Odrana, it is well protected. It is our stronghold. That is where we store our history and riches. It is also where the Council resides, with the exception of two of us. Gregorii houses a majority of all the physical knowledge we have gained and gathered over the last millennia, minus a few eras, which we will discuss shortly. Some of our students and all of the professors and teachers make yearly trips there to study. Unfortunately, the Institute is not large enough to hold it all. Are you following me so far?”
I looked up from the globe on the desk. I tried to follow everything, but it was hard to keep up. “What kind of information can be found there?
“If it has to do with our history or important things we’ve learned, it will be there. So, to answer your question, all information we have can be found there.”
I nodded but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the answer.
“You might still be confused right now, but that is to be expected. This is a lot of information but we must move on. Perhaps it will be clearer as we continue. As I mentioned before, the four cities at the compass points are called the Cardinal Cities. Arden, Campos, Drakon, and Versaii. They are our lifeblood. Education, protection, and food. The three things needed most to survive. Now, I would like to touch on our history. More importantly, the part of our past I believe has to do with you. I would rather the girls not hear us discussing this, so I must be quick.”
Master Adkins walked around his desk and sat on top of it in front of me.
“Let’s start again with King Odrana. He was said to be a great wizard. That is how he was able to conquer all six tribes.”
I raised my hand. “What is a wizard?’
“Ah, yes. I forget that you might not know much about that. A wizard is a man or woman who is a master at controlling and using magic. Magic is the word we use to define the ability to control and manipulate the world around us. There are many kinds of magic but the study of them has been forbidden. We will not speak of that as it will only slow us down.”
I got the feeling that no one wanted to tell me anything about magic. First Russ and now Master Adkins.
“Odrana, after conquering and uniting the country, was said to have taken Mathos as his capital. Mathos is the sixth city, more commonly referred to as the city of the dead. Odrana used his magic to restore and keep peace from this centralized location. This is where our history starts to get fuzzy. We’re getting into what we call the forgotten era. As the story goes, King Odrana was on his deathbed, but a successor hadn’t been chosen yet. The king had two sons. Both wanted the kingdom but the king didn’t know which one would be the better ruler. One of his sons was a wizard, like him, and the other was not. They fought furiously for the right to the throne and were even willing to let the kingdom fall into civil war to win it. The wizard son, Davorii, was extremely powerful. Gregorii, the king’s non-wizard son, was a genius. He created various weapons of war, the like of the world had never seen before. Each son had an army supporting them. The only thing keeping the country from falling apart was the will of the king. While alive, he had the power to maintain the peace he had created. When he died, a great and bloody war ensued, wreaking havoc on the land. During the war, no one kept a written record. Either they were forbidden from it or the records that were made were destroyed.”
I stopped Master Adkins before he could continue.
“You said there was magic in Mathos. How do you know that if everyone there is dead?”
“Why do you think everyone would be dead?” Master Adkins asked.
“Because you called it the city of the dead.”
Master Adkins chuckled as he shifted his weight on his desk. “Yes, Mathos is called the city of the dead, but not because everyone there is dead. Mathos is a city full of people. We call it that because of the ghosts.”
Father had told me about ghosts before but said they didn’t exist. They were invented to scare people. “Ghosts?” I asked. “As in dead people?”
“No, no, Dead people are not ghosts. Let me explain. Can I use your father as an example?”
“Okay,” I said, not sure I would like what he was going to say.
“Your father is dead. He is a dead person. If you were to go look at his body right now, he would still be there, just as you left him. A ghost is different. A ghost is not a body. Oftentimes, ghosts stay near the body or the place they died. In Mathos, there are two different variations of ghosts. Shadows and spirits. Shadows are just as they sound. Harmless. You can’t interact with them, nor would they respond to you if you tried. They cannot see nor hear you. They are memories of the past, nothing more. Spirits, on the other hand, are a different story. They retain much of their knowledge and the ability to communicate with the living around them.”
Master Adkins opened his mouth to continue, but then shook his head, raising his hand. “No, I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s get back to Davorii and Gregorii. As I was saying, any information that may have been recorded during the civil war was lost, destroyed, or never written. We don’t know why. When the records started again, they lead us to believe that Davorii won the war. This is where you come in. If our genealogy is correct, Davorii was the great great grandfather of an evil wizard, Akalis. Akalis was a wicked man who wanted the kingdom for himself but was not in line for the throne. Again, we get into another time where history is a little hazy. The time of Akalis was also called the great purge. Unlike the forgotten era, we still have documented records, but only what Akalis deemed worthy. Without an accurate history, we have no idea what Akalis really did, or what caused his rise to power. We do know that because of the great evil Akalis committed with magic, precautions were taken to prevent something similar from happening in the future. This is why magic was banned. Three hundred years have passed since then, which brings us to you.”
Master Adkins returned to his chair. He bent down and picked up a small parcel wrapped in clean linen. He carefully set it on his desk and unwrapped it, exposing a plain-looking scroll.
“When I learned of your arrival here, I went searching for this information. This is what I found. The Scroll of Akalis. The words written on this parchment do not bode well for you, Jaxon. If this is true, then your fate is somehow intertwined with that of Akalis the evil.”
I scrunched up my face under Master Adkins’ scrutiny but I didn’t say anything. My head dropped and I stared at my feet. The last thing I wanted to do was look Master Adkins in the eye and was grateful that at that moment, someone knocked on the door. Covering up the scroll, he skirted around me and opened it, revealing Thena and Kya each holding a heavy plate of food.
“Right on time,” Master Adkins said. He moved back to the desk and gave me a knowing glance, silently asking me to remain silent.
The girls set the food on a small folding table that had been hidden away behind the door.
“We’ll finish our discussion later, Jaxon,” the master said. “Meanwhile, I will arrange a room for you here as well as registration for some classes while you wait.”
“Wait for what?” I asked.
“I must summon the Council to discuss this matter. I will send falcons to each of the council members. If we are lucky, we should have replies in a day or so and a meeting arranged within a week or two. Now, how about we eat this magnificent-looking lunch?”
––––––––
THE NEXT FEW DAYS PASSED in a blur. I was given a small room in one of the Institute dormitories close to where Master Adkins lived. The room was cramped but was more than enough for my needs. Other students had brought things from home, but I had nothing. The only personal belongings I had didn’t even belong to me.
The room was furnished with a tiny bed that took up half the space and a small dresser with two shallow drawers. There were a couple of changes of clothes inside that Master Adkins had provided. A circular window high up the wall allowed sunlight to brighten up my new home.
I had learned a lot about the customs of Arden in the short time I had been there. Master Adkins also began teaching me how to read and write, and to everyone’s delight, even my own, I was a quick study. In return, I told them everything I knew about my home, the man who had brought me here, and my life in the wasteland.
When a full week had passed, Master Adkins called me to his office.
“I have received the responses back from the council members,” he said. “There has been some deliberation on what steps need to be taken next. This is not something we have dealt with before. The council will assemble in Arden in two weeks. Given the thrasher’s interest in you, the council thought it would be better if they came to you. I suggest you take this time to continue your studies and learn as much as you can. To help with that, I have requested that Kya be released from her classes to tutor you. Until the meeting with the council, it is vital that you prepare. I have created a syllabus to aid with that.”
I was excited to be studying with Kya, but something was nagging at the back of my mind. Maybe it was my survival instincts trying to kick in, but I was nervous about the meeting with the council.
“Master Adkins,” I said. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, of course, my boy.”
“What’s so different about me? I am the same now as I was before I went through the cave.”
Master Adkins pulled a stool next to me and sat down. “Look, Jaxon. I don’t have much time to get into this right now, but I can tell you a thing or two. No doubt this will leave you with more questions, but I promise to make some more time later. Do you remember the scroll I showed you?”
Reaching around the side of his desk, he produced it. I nodded.
“It is a warning,” he said with a sigh. “It tells of the banishment of Akalis, the evil wizard. As is recorded in history, the cave you came from was supposedly where he practiced dark magic. It is also where he was condemned to die. To trap him there, a powerful spell was cast, preventing his escape. Since that time, the cave has been forbidden. Most don’t remember what happened there, but the law prevents anyone from entering. Because you claim to have come from it, some people believe, or could believe, that you are associated with Akalis somehow. Some may even believe that you are Akalis himself. Do you see why people might be concerned?”
I glanced down at my feet swinging above the floor. “Yes.”
Master Adkins grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. “But those are just thoughts, Jaxon. I don’t want you to dwell on it. You know who you are, and that is good enough for me. Now, we can discuss this at greater length another time. I am late for a meeting and Kya is waiting for you in the library. Your new classes start today.”
Leaving the master’s office, I made my way to the library, both excited and nervous. I wanted to see Kya, but I didn’t like the idea of people thinking I was Akalis. I mean, I didn’t even know who that was, but I wasn’t an evil wizard. I was a boy who lost his father. Dark shadows began to fill my mind, spiraling down into a void I couldn’t reach. Shaking my head, I turned a corner. Master Adkins had been right. That one question had turned into hundreds. Pushing them aside the best I could, I slipped through the closing door of the library and saw Kya waiting at a round table.
“It’s about time,” she said when she looked up and saw me.
“Sorry. Master Adkins was explaining a few things to me.”
“It must have been bad news. You look terrible.”
“I’ll be okay,” I said as I took a seat next to her. “What are we doing?”
Kya pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and laid it on the table in front of us. Words had been scrawled across it but I still couldn’t make sense of it yet.
“These are the subjects Thane wants us to focus on. They’re all pretty basic so it should be easy.”
“What are they?” I asked.
Kya read through the list. “Let’s see. Local and country government. Speaking etiquette. The currency of Odrana. Regional vocabulary. This should be fun. I hope you brought your pillow. Snore.”
“Which one should we start with?” I asked.
“Let’s go from the top to bottom and start with local and country government.”
I spent the rest of the day running back and forth from the table to the bookshelves. Kya described the books we’d need, and I had to find them. As we began, I realized how much learning would actually be involved. All the cities in Odrana followed the same base laws set by the council, but because each city was so different, they had a different set of rules and regulations specific to their needs. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, Kya slammed the book she was reading on the table.
“I’m awake,” I said as drool pooled on the table around my head.
“I think we should call it a day,” Kya said. “Do you remember any of this drivel?”
“I think so,” I said as a list of dos and don’ts rolled through my mind.
“Good. Tomorrow we’ll learn about the chancellors and councilmen of each city. Thane said this will be important because you have to meet them. I would die if I had to go to that kind of meeting.”
Depending on what happened, I just might. “Sounds like fun.”
We stood up and returned the books to the shelves. When we finished, I stumbled out into the hallway.
“Can I ask you something?” Kya said.
“Sure.”
“Why are you here?”
“So I can learn what Master Adkins thinks I need to,” I said.
Kya frowned at me. “No, not in the library. Why did you come to Arden? Are you really from a different world?”
“Don’t you believe me?”
She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “I want to, but it’s so hard for me to believe that there could be another world at the back of the cave. Are you sure you’re not from somewhere else? Another country?”
“I think I would know if I was from here,” I said. “The wasteland is so different than anything I have seen here. I know it can’t be the same.”
Kya stared at me, her eyes squinting in the torchlight. “Okay then. Let’s say it’s all true and there really is another world out there. Why you?”
My head wasn’t prepared for these kinds of questions. Anyway, I was still asking myself the same ones. “What do you mean?”
“Out of everyone in your world, why did the man send you?”
“I have no idea. All I know is what Father and the man told me. The price was paid for me to come.”
Stomping her foot on the ground, Kya stood straight up. “There has to be a reason though, right? If not, why hasn’t someone else come through? Wouldn’t a lot of people want to come here?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe people have come here before? The man said he was the only one who could let people come here, but I don’t know if I’m the first.”
“We would have heard about that. I mean, soon, everyone is going to know who you are. The boy from the cave. Is there something special about you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you asking all this?”
“No reason,” Kya said, returning to her normal self. “Just curious.”
I wasn’t sure if I should believe her, but I let it go as we started walking back to my room. I was too tired to figure it all out. “Can we talk about it more tomorrow?”
Kya nodded but spun on her heel and walked away without saying goodbye. She glanced back once but was soon out of sight.
Shaking my head as I reached my door, I unbuttoned my shirt. My bed was on the other side of the wall and I didn’t want to waste any time getting inside.