Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ An Angel's Remains ❯ Chapter 5

Myara walked into Mr. Karith's class after school on Monday and was surprised to see that he wasn't there. She paused inside the door and then kept going, thinking she should wait a minute to see if he showed up. She'd barely gone a couple of steps before she heard his voice behind her.

 

“You're a little bit early Miss Selwyn,” he told her.

 

She turned, somewhat startled. He smiled faintly as she said, “You surprised me.”

 

He told her with a tinge of amusement in his voice, “Well, I apologize, and I'll tell you how to say that when we get started. I thought that we might have our lesson today in a different room. There's a teacher's lounge on the second floor with a Leisho set. I thought you might want to try playing it while we have our lesson. I'm sure you would find it familiar, even though you probably haven't technically played it before, and I doubt that we`ll be disturbed.”

 

Myara thought the word did sound familiar. “Sure. If you think it sounds like a good idea.”

 

He motioned for her to join him and told her, “It's played by a lot of celestials. They even use it as a training tool in some of the academies.”

 

Myara walked up to the second floor with him, looking all around. She really had seen only a little bit of Ivory Hall so far. The lounge was a fairly big room with a t.v., table, fridge, coffee maker, and various other items that would be useful for a teacher. The Leisho set was set up on a table by one of the windows. Myara took the seat opposite Mr. Karith and placed her notebook on the table beside the board. The wooden board was covered in holes shaped like inverted pyramids. They were arranged in lines and columns across the whole board.

 

Mr. Karith took one of two boxes that rested on the table and handed it to her. “These are the pieces. The basic point of the game is to surround the other player's pieces. One set of crystals is dark colored, the other is clear.” He opened his box and said, “It looks like I've got the dark ones.” He picked one up. “The thing is, before you put a piece on the board, you have to add a touch of your power to it. When you surround one or several of the enemy's pieces, it will change color to match yours and make your position stronger. The point is to own the board. Do you want to try it?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yeah, it sounds very interesting. Who goes first?”

 

He told her, “Clear crystals go first. See if you can add a little bit of power into the piece to charge it up. It doesn't take much.”

 

Myara picked up one of the pieces. She thought maybe this game did seem quite familiar. She felt that power flowing through her and let it trickle out onto the piece in her hand. The power surrounded it and then was absorbed. She looked up at Mr. Karith. “Was that right?”

 

He nodded his assent and motioned to the board.

 

Myara looked at the board, following her instincts as she placed it several rows and columns toward the center, on Mr. Karith's side.

 

He charged up his piece and said, “I was going to go over colors and numbers today, something that should be fairly easy.” He placed his first piece.

Myara nodded. “All right.”

 

He told her the colors and she repeated them as they continued the game. She did find it a little difficult to focus on the game and talking, especially since she had to remember to charge up her piece every time. Mr. Karith said the colors in sentences for her to repeat, like `The sky is blue.' Like the word for sky, a lot of the words he tried to use were things she'd already learned before. He taught her some of the terminology used for the game as they went along too. Myara found it really fascinating. When she surrounded the first of his pieces, she watched as they changed color in delight. It was so magical. Even if she'd seen it before in her dreams, seeing it now and seeing it in a distant memory were different. She hoped that as a celestial, she'd appreciated it when she saw it for the first time. She smiled at Mr. Karith.

 

He said with a faint smile of his own, “Don't think you've won yet.” He fitted his next piece into it's place on the board easily. “Let's start on the numbers. Once you learn the first ten you'll find the rest fall into place fairly easily.”

 

Myara repeated the numbers after him as he went through them, going on to the way that the numbers changed as they moved up through the tens, hundreds, and such. He was right. The numbers weren't really so hard after the first ten.

 

After they'd finished the numbers Mr. Karith said, still staring at the board thoughtfully, “Well, that was fast. How about some review of the topics we've covered already. I just want for you to answer my questions in celestial while we play.”

 

Myara nodded and he started with pleasantries, like asking her how she was, and moved on to talking about the weather. He asked her what color the floor was, and how many tables were in the room, that sort of thing. There game wasn't finished yet when he came to the end of the list of topics they'd already covered. Myara looked at the time and realized it had been an hour.

 

Mr. Karith asked her, “Do you have anyplace that you need to go?”

 

Myara shook her head.

 

He laid another piece on the board. “Well, I guess we could go over another topic while we finish the game. You just won't have it written down for you right away. How about some pronouns and adjectives? So that next time I ask you how you're doing today you can tell me that you're happy or upset, or so that you can say how others are feeling?”

 

Myara would never argue with him teaching her extra. She told him, “Sure. That sounds useful.” As they continued the game he went over some words and how to use them as adjectives. Myara asked him to teach her several words in addition to the ones he'd taught her. “How about if someone's annoying, or jealous, or mean. You only taught me how to say things that are nice.”

 

Mr. Karith looked like he was holding back a laugh. “All right.” He went over the ones she'd suggested and then told her, “I guess here's one you'd like. It's the equivalent of calling someone a pain in the ass.” He told her how to say it and then explained, “It like saying that someone is plucking your feathers. It's very much a celestial saying.”

 

Myara giggled. “It sounds like one. It's too bad I don't have wings. But I guess they aren't completely necessary for fighting demons. I can't see any celestials letting me go to the demon world anyways. So far I haven't seen any demons in the human world. Are there really very many here?”

 

Mr. Karith told her, “There are enough to cause trouble. The numbers tend to vary depending on the season and the cycles of the moon as well here in the human world. Those sorts of things are important. I'm sure that if you left this area you'd find more. The more cautious tend to avoid this area since there`s such a concentration of celestials and celestial recruits.”

 

Myara said, “Oh, I see.” She placed another piece.

 

Mr. Karith frowned as he looked at the board.

 

Myara told him, laughing under her breath, “It doesn't seem like you're paying enough attention to the board Mr. Karith.”

 

He studied the pieces and said, “It would seem not. I think I've already lost.” He looked at the clock. “Would you like to do this again on Wednesday?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yeah, it was fun. How do I say that?”

 

He got to his feet and told her, after leaning over to write it in her notebook. He gathered up all the pieces and they lost their light as they left the board and returned to their original colors. Myara helped him, placing the pieces in one of the boxes. Mr. Karith had his usual folder and when they were done he took out a paper with the colors and numbers and told her, “I'll write down the other sayings for you and give it to you tomorrow after class.”

 

Myara thanked him as she glanced over the paper. She was going to have to practice writing the new symbols a bit. She was starting to feel like the more of them she did, the easier the rest of them came to her. She was getting even faster at filling in her workbooks for class as well. All the invocations so far seemed to follow similar structures, so they were proving to be barely challenging at all. What she really wanted was practice using them.

 

Mr. Karith followed her from the room and closed the door.

 

She turned and asked him, “Mr. Karith. When I practice saying things in class, I don't use the words that make it an invocation, even though the others do. I was just wondering, when do I get to practice actually using them the right way? Even though they're a lot stronger when I do them, I know I should practice at least a little.”

 

He rested a hand on her shoulder and said apologetically. “Yes, that is a problem. I've been considering it.” He removed his hand and told her. “I'm going to request one of the protected rooms where our advanced students practice. The administration is going to be curious about how strong you are but if you're willing I don't mind letting them make their own assumptions. They'll probably assume what I initially thought, that maybe you're a half breed. It's something that's thought to be biologically impossible, but it's less impossible than a student having the memories and the abilities of a celestial that died about a century ago.”

 

Myara asked curiously, wondering how he could know that, “A century ago?”

 

He nodded. “Yes, I looked into it a little. It was about a century past.”

 

Myara thought about that a minute. A hundred years. It was amazing to think of. “That's a long time.” She managed to say finally.

 

“I suppose, though it's less for a celestial than a human,” he told her.

 

Myara asked him, “How did you find out about it?”

 

He shrugged and headed for the stairs. “We have records in the celestial world going back for millenia. As for the protected room. It won't be available right away most likely, so please be patient this week.”

 

Myara followed him, since she had to go the same way to leave the building. “Thank you. You're always so helpful Mr. Karith.”

 

He smiled and told her laughi“I'm not being completely selfless. Someone with the memories of two lives is an interesting puzzle.”

 

Myara thought she understood. She didn't mind if that was what fascinated him. “At least you're honest, but I suppose you wouldn't be anything else, since you are what you are, and I don't think you have black wings, right?”

 

Mr. Karith commented, looking a little bit surprised to hear her say that. “No, I don't. You remember that at least then?”

 

Myara nodded. “Of course. Sabriel used to be able to change them back. That's why she was Esperia. I think I could do it too someday, but not yet. I think I need to remember more.”

 

Mr. Karith raised a brow. “That's a pretty big pronouncement.”

 

Myara told him as they began walking down the stairs, starting to feel a little silly, “Sometimes I feel almost like we really are the same person. Maybe it is too much for me to assume that I could do something like that. It must have been the game.”

 

“It sounds like her memories are a bit of a burden.” Mr. Karith sympathized.

 

Myara shrugged. “I guess that's the exchange I make for having inherited her talents.” Myara thought about Sabin. She'd also inherited Sabriel's feelings of affection. She turned to Mr. Karith. “Mr. Karith. Sabriel was in love with someone, and since she was in love with him, I share her feelings. So… I can't decide how to deal with the issue. Should I say something to him?”

 

Mr. Karith paused briefly and closed his eyes. When he opened them he continued walking down the stairs and commented, “That's a difficult question. It sounds like that person is here now. Would that be Sabin?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yes. That's why he stayed here, because I said something rather vague that I'm sure reminded him of her. I think maybe I was being selfish when I did that, hoping he'd stay.”

 

Mr. Karith said, “Well, I guess you've matured since then. I can't really tell you what to do about it. It's not the sort of thing I've ever even thought of.”

 

She sighed. “Yeah.”

 

“Don't think too much on it. At least wait until you can decide if the memories are yours or not.”

 

“I guess you're right. I'll wait a while,” she told him.

 

***

 

Myara walked into the room where Mr. Halley had his art club with one of her sketch books under her arm. The room was filled with easels and tables where students worked cheerfully. She walked around looking at the various works.

 

It took Mr. Halley a moment to notice that she was there but when he did he joined her. “Myara, I'm glad you came. Did you want to try putting one of your works into color?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yeah, if you don't mind helping me. I haven't tried painting.”

 

“Of course I'll help,” he told her.

 

Myara was glad to have his help. She would hate to take a pretty drawing and turn it into a terrible painting. She had chosen a garden for her first painting. Maybe eventually she wouldn't have to worry about needing assistance, and then she could paint some of the pictures that actually had celestials in them, like the ones of Sabin. That was something to look forward to. Myara found painting with Mr. Halley relaxing after all the studying and thinking she'd been doing lately. Maybe it was just that Mr. Halley seemed like such an honest and open person. She didn't feel like she had to be guarded around him. They just talked about art. Myara decided that continuing to come to the art club meetings was definitely a good idea. She noticed that Mitch came to the art club, and Ariel too. When she took a break from painting and Mr. Halley went to help someone else, she got a chance to talk to both of them.

 

***

 

Myara's sparring match with Sabin ended how it usually did, with her on the floor. It did seem like she was getting better though. She was lasting much longer in their heated battles. Throughout the quarter she'd improved all around. She'd moved through the first six workbooks they had for students in the time she'd been in Mr. Karith's class, and she was infinitely better at celestial. Since the last Wednesday she'd seen him was the last of the quarter before the three week break, he'd actually loaned her a book written in celestial. He said it was a student's book on grammar in celestial. He'd also loaned her a celestial dictionary and spent their last Wednesday showing her how to look things up. He had figured that the definitions were worded simply enough that she might understand the definition of a word even if she didn't understand it itself. Myara didn't really have time to look over either book yet, since she still had one more day of the quarter left and it was mainly exams. Their exam for Dalziel's class was just a sparring match with one of the two instructors, and Myara did that all the time. Her special class with Mr. Karith didn't actually have an exam until Saturday afternoon. She'd been told it was done that way so the students wouldn't end up exhausted for their other exams, or neglect their other exams to cram for the special exam. She didn't have a problem with that.

 

Sabin came to her side and gave her a hand, helping her to her feet. “You lasted a whole twenty minutes that time.” He released her hand and wiped sweat from his brow.

 

Myara thought it was the first time she'd ever seen him sweat. She smiled and silently congratulated herself. She readjusted her clothes and looked at the clock, realizing the bell must have rung while they were sparring.

 

Dalziel was leaning against the wall nearby, watching them. He pushed off the wall and came to join them. “It's a good thing the two of you spar at the end of class. Otherwise you might end up taking most of the class eventually.”

 

Sabin laughed faintly as this comment. “That's still a ways off Dalziel, but maybe I should do some training over the quarterly break anyways. My skills must be slipping if it's taking me this long to win.”

 

Myara thought it sounded like he was half teasing her. She replied. “Train if you want, it won't help. If you're training, I'll be training twice as hard.”

 

Dalziel interrupted their banter. “Actually I was going to invite both of you to join some of the advanced students for a trip over the break. It will be a training trip, and we'll have instructors there to watch over everyone so it shouldn't be too much trouble.”

 

Myara asked. “Are you sure it would be all right for me to go?”

 

Dalziel nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, it's fine. The students that are chosen for this trip require just the permission of two instructors.” He glanced at Sabin. “I hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of using your name.”

 

Sabin raised a brow. “Well, I guess it's all right.” He said.

 

Myara responded to Dalziel. “I'll go I guess, but what are we going to be doing?”

 

He told her. “We'll be fighting demons. I understand if you don't want to, since you`re only in the beginning invocations class.”

 

Myara hardly had to think about it. She'd finally be able to face another aspect of her dream in real life. She told him almost cheerfully. “No way. I wouldn't refuse that. I'm interested to see if they're how I imagined.”

 

Sabin asked curiously. “Where will we be going for this little excursion?”

 

Dalziel glanced at Myara and then told him. “It's exact location is kept from the students, so that they won't attempt to go there on their own.”

 

Myara raised a brow at that. “You could just say you can't tell him until I leave.” She commented.

 

Dalziel told her. “Well, that would sound sort of rude. So are both of you coming?” He glanced at Sabin.

 

“Sure.” Sabin told him.

 

“Good, I have a list for both of you of gear you'll need to bring. If there's anything you don't have or can't get by Monday, let me know tomorrow. We'll meet up Monday morning just inside Ivory Hall, we`ll be gone four days.”

 

Myara was glad she was being invited. She could finally measure her skills in an appropriate manner.

 

***

 

The written exam for Myara's special class hadn't been too bad. Mr. Karith had handed out exams to them based on how many quarters they`d been in the special class. He'd given Myara her test and she'd found nothing on it that she hadn't studied for, which was a relief. The practical exam, however, was different. The students waited in the library with their instructor and they went into the testing rooms off the library one at a time as their names were called. Myara was just slightly nervous as she sat with her fellow students. Most of them had notebooks or papers with notes written on them in front of them. Even Greg seemed nervous and he was usually pretty confident. Myara wondered if it was the atmosphere getting to her. Mr. Karith sat at one of the tables calmly reading a book. Myara was a little bit envious that he could treat it like any other day. She had been practicing with him for half an hour every other Thursday after class in one of the protected rooms. That had been the condition on them being allowed a protected room for her to practice in. The administrator had said that she shouldn't have twice as much time to practice as the other students got on Thursdays. Supposedly it would have given her an unfair advantage. It was a good thing he didn't know that she'd been taking lessons in celestial. She got to her feet when her name was called by one of the testers.

 

Mr. Karith looked up. He didn't say anything but the expectant look on his face was enough.

 

She gave him a smile as she passed and joined the tester.

 

The young woman holding the clip board asked. “You're Myara Selwyn?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yes. That's me.”

 

The tester motioned her to follow and they walked into one of the testing rooms. Myara wondered if it was the same one she'd used with Mr. Karith for that first lesson in celestial. The table at the far end now had two people sitting behind it, and the young woman who'd fetched her joined them at the table. Each of them had a clip board. Myara didn't recognize them from around the school. She didn't really have time to think about it much though.

 

The tester in the center asked her. “Are you ready to begin?”

 

Myara nodded a little shyly. “Yes.” She told him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable having three celestial watching her.

 

He told her. “Perform the most advanced protective technique you know.” He told her. Myara took a deep breath. She'd done this plenty of times with Mr. Karith. She stood with her feet roughly shoulder length apart and pressed her palms together in front of her, as if she was praying. She said the first word of invocation and released her power. She moved her hands from the prayer position as she released her power, facing both of them out toward her audience. She had a good deal more control over it than she used to. She finished the words of the invocation and her power flowed around her, forming a solid barrier that could shield her from most frontal attacks, and from a weaker rear attack. She was focused on maintaining her barrier, so she didn't see the testers' faces.

 

The tester who'd spoken before told her. “You can release now.”

 

She did so and looked up at her testers as she drew her power back inside where it would no longer be visible. The celestials didn't seem the least surprised or impressed. Mr. Karith had told Myara that the testers didn't know what kind of class most of the students they tested were in, since they were assigned students at random. He'd been sure they would mistake her for an older student.

 

“Next you'll need to perform a binding technique if you can.” The tester in the center looked up as he asked. “Can you?”

 

Myara had learned a few of them so she nodded. It was weird though, using a binding technique without anything to bind. Usually they were used to force a demon to either take it's true form or to force them to remain in one form without shifting. She picked a spot on the floor in front of her and once again started in the prayer position. She said the word that released her power and moved her hands outward, her palms facing downward, her fingers slightly curled as she focused on that spot and said the first part of the words of the technique. She controlled her power as precisely as she could as ribbons of light flowed from her hands, twining about that spot in front of her and constricting as if there was an object to constrict around. She finished the remaining words and the ribbons of light blended together to bind the spot more firmly.

 

The tester told her. “Release now.”

 

She did so and drew the ribbons of light back into her body. She clasped her hands behind her back with a silent sigh of relief.

 

“Next is an offensive technique.” The tester who spoke glanced at the celestial sitting beside him and said questioningly. “Drake?”

 

The other tester got to his feet and said. “Yeah, sure.”

 

The celestial who'd given her instructions up till then told her. “You'll use Mr. Morathe as your target for this one. He'll tell you when he's ready.”

 

Myara nodded and watched as Mr. Morathe went to stand to the side of the room.

 

He told her. “You can act any time.”

 

Myara turned to face him and at first she was concerned, but then she realized that he already had a barrier up around himself. She hadn't learned as many attack spells as the other types so far, since the workbooks seemed more concerned with binding and protecting than actually destroying so far. She had already chosen the one she'd use for this exam. She started in the prayer position but separated her hands right away, leaving a space between them as she started the invocation. This one took a moment to perform, but it was stronger than the others. She drew her hands out to her sides as she said the second part of the invocation and felt the air around her growing light. Her skirt rustled and her hair stirred, as if a small whirlwind was circling her. She closed her eyes for just an instant and then drew her hands together sharply, calling out the third part of the invocation and the closing word. The invocation was referred to as Rain of Light. That was what it looked like when used successfully. Multiple tiny spheres of light flew at the tester, each one slamming against his shield. Myara took a step back. This technique didn't need to be released, since it wasn't meant to last, although she did need to draw her power back in.

 

The tester sitting at the table asked after waiting a moment. “Are you finished?”

 

Myara nodded. “Yes, I'm done.”

 

The tester she'd used the technique on gave her a look that was almost assessing as he went back to his seat but he didn't say anything.

 

The tester who'd done the speaking from the beginning told her. “That's the conclusion of the test. You may leave.”

 

Myara was relieved to be done. “Thank you.” She said politely. She left and rejoined her class.

 

Mr. Karith looked up as she came back. He saw her face and smiled. He told her. “If you're finished, you can go.”

 

“All right.” Myara didn't need to say anything more. She headed to the chair where she'd left her things. Before she could leave Greg joined her.

 

“How'd you do?” He asked.

 

She told him. “Well, I didn't make any mistakes but I'm not sure what they thought.”

 

Greg rubbed his forehead. He looked like he had gotten a lot more nervous since she went in. He told her. “You seem a lot less stressed than a some of the others who came back. I was starting to get worried by all those bleak faces.”

 

Myara told him, giving him a reassuring smile. “Don't worry Greg, I'm sure you'll do fine. I'd better get going. I'm taking a trip this break and I need to do some packing.”

 

Greg said. “Lucky you. I'm just going to be hanging around my parent's place. I'll see you at the start of the next quarter.”

 

“Yeah, I'll see you then.” She left and went off to pack her things.