Chapter 14
Iopen the door to my cubby-like room. The walls are layers of wavy slabs of Mysticwood, mahogany brown with vibrant lavender veining. Slats jut out of the wall on one side to make a bed and on the other to make a desk. There’s a golden velvet chair beneath the workstation.
The empty space under my bed is already filled with my belongings, thanks to the Elarian who collected them at check-in. Several planks jut out of the wall, creating shelves for my books. There’s an oval reflective glass on the back wall, but no window.
As soon as I shut my door, Pip is swirling around my room. I’d almost forgotten I was wearing him. He’s mastered the skill of staying breathtakingly still. His colors appear to shift with his excitement exploring our new space.
“This wood will heighten magical powers while also shielding it from magic. So no breathing fire inside, mister.” He tilts his head to the side and then scampers off to continue his exploration.
Most of the magical creatures of our world can speak through either words, telepathic connection, or body language.
Typically, dragons use telepathic connection.
Yet Pip only speaks to me in body language, mannerisms, and chirps.
I appreciate his quiet nature. The notion of voices booming in my head leaves me uneasy, but it’s an inevitable fate for me once bonded.
It doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the peace that is still currently mine.
“When I’m in battle, you’re going to have to find another shape to shift into. I can’t be wearing a scarf in the arena or on the field,” I say, placing my weapons on the shelves, finding a place for my sketchbook among them. My cloak hangs on a small wooden spool poking out of the wall.
I slide my armor off, kick off my boots, and tumble back on the bed with a thud.
I lie there in my white and gold leather pants, with several layers of fabric bound around my petite breasts, flattening them, creating a more masculine shape that matches my broad shoulders and carved muscles.
Gold silk sheets caress my skin in the softest embrace of a bed I’ve ever felt. Geesh, they really spared no expense.
Before I know it, there’s a scratching at my door.
I throw Pip a look, and he knows to hide.
I wrap my cloak over my body, hiding my markings, then open the door to see a Scroll Owl.
An odd creature that appears to be an owl made of a robe.
When standing, they have the silhouette of a slender human draped in a cloak that goes over their head, hiding their face, with just two yellow eyes staring at you from within the darkness.
As they lift their arms, the robe splits into wings; the back of the robe becomes their tail, revealing two owl legs.
Typically reserved for conversation between the queen and the Golden Legion, it’s said they can carry hundreds of scrolls beneath their wings.
This Scroll Owl drops a piece of rolled parchment at my feet before flying off.
I slink back in my room, my cloak pooling at my feet as I unroll the parchment and read:
SAVAE ENTROPAE Species: Elarian.
Division: ENSIGN RECRUIT
Wing: I. ZENITH
Ground Unit
Healer: Kivi Shaw Species: Mycelium Nymph, Helios
Ground-combatant: Flint Rockwell Species: Elarian-Pixie, Lilliac Cerfios
Savant: Atlas Ailanthus Species: Müra
Persuasive: Orion Nightshade Species: Pesche
Spycraft: Seraphina Denova Species: Elarian-Pixie, Lilliac Visci
Runic Engineer: Gearin Griswald Species: Automaton
Scouting Rogue: Eko Lightfoot Species: Yassur
Marksman: Highin Heathrow Species: Aetherhawk
Kinetic: Fenwick Brightspar Species: Elarian
Potential CHIVALRY:
Cinder Ignis Blazeheart Species: Elarian-Pixie, Lilliac Pyro
Juniper Stormfel Species: Elarian-Naturalist
Kissa Mrow Species: Mao
Vex Boomer Species: Infernai
S?las Zyon Species: Elarian
Son of bitch, they spelt my name wrong but… I’ve made it to Ensign Recruit! Not that I doubted I would… Okay, maybe when I was tumbling to my near-death down in Frostma, a smidgen of doubt crossed my mind.
I am almost an Ellian Knight.
For the first time in what feels like forever, a genuine smile twists at the corners of my mouth. I’m so close! And yet, a delicate sadness laces my happiness, knowing Sully isn’t here with me to see this moment.
I scroll through the rest of my assigned Wing. Our Wings are named based on our aerial formations in the skies; their names come from being an observer looking to the stars. The number ‘I’ represents primary. We will be the first group deployed to the roughest battles.
Zenith means we will be the forward topflight, leading the way into battle.
Nadir flies underneath and behind us. Declination Wing flies in the left-middle, Ascension Wing parallel to them on our right.
If we are deployed to a close location, Ground Unit members travel by horses.
If our mission brings us far away, we have an entire herd of Pegasuses to carry units with their assigned Chivalry, a group of Ellian Knights.
Pegasuses cannot form Arcane Glyphs, so this is their contribution to the war effort, as their breeding grounds reside in the grassy fields adjacent to Gildorea Universitás.
Our Ground Unit is made up of a war beast of exceptionally strong species; just having a Helios on our team lets us be mended and sent straight back into battle. I smile as I notice Flint’s name, thinking of his quiet nature, yet his body is a pure weapon of strength and unbreakable marble skin.
Müra are a race of moth-like Fae. They are the strongest of Savants, a walking weaponized encyclopedia, known for their quick, decisive battle strategy in combat and on the field.
When not in battle, you can find them deep in the catacombs of the archives, finding peace in cataloging events from current battles and memorizing every confrontation that ever occurred before, as well as reading a wide array of history.
They weren’t playing any games when they added a Visci to our team.
They are the ultimate spies, especially those who can shapeshift.
This allows them to be sent ahead, infiltrating camps and strongholds.
They are almost impossible to kill, given their ability to bend their body like liquid.
They will be sent ahead with our Scouting Rogue: a Yassur, the Fae species with large, ribbed bat ears, a purplish to brownish hue to their skin, covered a thin layer of fur.
They have small, residual flaps of skin connecting from below their elbow to just above their hips, allowing them to glide from high heights.
They move in a fast blur and possess exceptional hearing, making silent clicks at a frequency beyond most species’ hearing range for echolocation.
I remember the next name from my second trial; he had gone before me.
Aetherhawks are on the brink of extinction thanks to the Wuvon hunting them, so it’s a privilege to have their ancient Fae lineage as part of our team.
I remember the unique sienna color to his feathers and skin, almost as though he were colored by flying too close to the dawning sun.
Moving on to the names of our potential Chivalry—assuming we all survive until then—a grin crosses my lips at Kissa’s name. I’m excited to have a familiar, fierce female to ride with into battle.
The last unique species on the list is an Infernai, known to be absolute barbarians in a fight with strong magical abilities, including the ability to see in the dark.
They’re said to be descendants of demons who once walked this world before the Eclipse World War, originally hailing from a continent to the east of us known as Emberhell.
They appear like Elarian Fae, but their skin is leathery.
Their heads are adorned with horns of all different shapes, abutting their pointed ears.
My heart stops when I reach the last name on the list. Not him. S?las Zyon.
There is just something about him, striking a nerve deep within me. Trouble practically drips off him; I remember the swirling shadows in his ice-blue eyes flecked with crimson, like blood splattering across moonlit snow.
An enigmatic shiver foxtrots along my spine as I think of him.
My heart seems to bow to this shiver as heat kisses my skin.
No, sir. All these feelings are going straight out my favorite broken mosaic window.
Heeding Sully’s warning will be even harder with him in my Chivalry for the rest of my life.
Yep, we will train together and be deployed together. Bonds forged here are for life.
Well, I guess that settles it.
I will need to end him before or during the Celestial Bonding event.
The effect he has on me will otherwise be a liability to our Wing, and I refuse to have him distracting me for the rest of my career.
I won’t let anything stand in my way. Maybe that makes me unhinged—evil, even—but maybe that’s all that’s left of me now that I’ve lost Sully.
A broken, crooked thing, holding on to the only tether I have: becoming an Ellian Knight, no matter the cost.
It has to be done before he bonds, making him even stronger. Killing a Shadowmancer is already a near-impossible feat, but I’ll have no chance once he’s bonded. His powerful Celestial Gift will draw an exceedingly powerful magical flying beast.
It’s grounds for expulsion to kill any other ensigns and forbidden within our own Wing.
This ensures trust in the connections we forge with one another during our training here.
Especially since our bloodlines could be paired within our Wing.
And since Chancellor Ashfel and Commander Bragen already pinned a target on my back, they’ll leap at the chance to expel me.