Chapter 2 #2
Our city’s AI projects herself in front of me.
A gold-shimmering silhouette, a woman with strong features: a long nose, full lips, though she usually wears a hood.
She looks like what I imagine the priestesses of the Antiquity looked like, and it’s no wonder, since the people of The Citadel worship Mars and all things Warrior.
‘Good reflexes. You’re getting better at this,’ Stella says.
Stella and I developed a bit of a special relationship. Since she assigns me to new Quarters about twice a year, I rely heavily on her to catch up with my fellow Apprentices.
I sort of hate Stella for moving me from Quarter to Quarter, but I know it isn’t her fault – it’s because of my washed-up, useless magic.
I get up just in time to notice the sparkly shape of a hologram of a man built like a mountain swinging an axe. He aims for my head. I duck at the last moment. Using my magic, I generate a dome that encases me like a glass bell.
‘This is getting more and more brutal,’ I shout.
Axe Man batters the weapon against my shield, looking for a weak spot. I stand up, my hands thrown to my sides, trying to withstand the force of the attack.
This is my least favourite of all the holograms that Stella puts me up against. Axe Man always comes for me with a stubborn determination that borders on pure hate. ‘What is wrong with you?’ I call at the hologram. ‘Calm down.’
‘Fight back,’ Stella says. ‘You won’t win a fight by taking the battering.’
But that’s the thing: I can’t use the shields I build with my magic to attack. Axe man takes another swing at me and my shield falters, flickering in and out of existence.
‘Fight back,’ Stella says flatly.
‘You know I can’t,’ I say through gritted teeth, trying to hold on.
Axe man finally finds a weak spot in my shield and tears through it like it’s paper, with an upwards, oblique swing.
But I have an instinct for the sort of combinations he uses, and I manage to step back and duck just before he brings his axe back down, narrowly avoiding my head.
If this was real and I hadn’t avoided the blow, it would have decapitated me.
I roll to the side, avoiding the next strike, and then raise the shield again.
‘Your protection domes are getting much better,’ Stella comments.
In the beginning, the holograms only needed to land a few blows with their weapons before my shields went puff. Then came the sting of those nasty electrical impulses.
‘You have to find a way to use your power so you can attack,’ says Stella.
I hope Stella doesn’t get any funny ideas, like sending me to the Warriors’ Quarter for training.
My father had a short stint there, but as soon as his instructors realised that he couldn’t craft weapons with his magic, they booted him out.
It was the worst disappointment in his life, and he can hardly speak about that time, even years later.
That was the moment he gave up on himself. And even after switching Apprenticeships so often, I’m still trying hard not to become like him. But if I fail in the Healing Quarter, too, then I’ll be in Maintenance. Like my parents.
The least respected Quarter in The Citadel.
And yet— ‘Why all this physical training, Stella? What’s the point?’
‘I think this should have been a part of your training protocols.’
‘Oh, yeah? For which of the seven Quarters I’ve already been in?’
‘None of them,’ Stella says, then sighs. ‘I wish that I could remember where you belong.’
A statement which I find strange, to say the least.
I’m so distracted by this nonsensical remark, that I lose focus for a moment. Axe Man puts me with my back against a wall, which isn’t great. ‘What do you mean, you don’t remember?’
‘There are bits of my programming that are missing,’ she says.
‘Isn’t it forbidden to tamper with the programming?’
More than two hundred years ago, our continent was broken by a shattering war.
Literally broken. In the aftermath, the nations were divided into dozens of city-states, each governed by an AI.
The peace treaties that were signed then stipulated that the crafting of long-range weapons was forbidden, just to make sure that a horrific war like that never happened again.
But one of the kingdoms went against that limitation and started crafting laser weapons.
When its AI realised what the people were up to, it self-destructed.
Citizens were left without running water, electricity and any way to dispose of their trash.
Before they had the chance to put other protocols in place, the neighbouring republic caught on and the kingdom was conquered within a single day.
And that served as a lesson for anyone who tried to oppose the basic principles laid out for us.
In a world that forbade the crafting of guns, Warriors are the ultimate weapons.
That’s an immutable fact. Just like the fact that tampering with the programming of our AI could lead to its self-destruction.
‘You’re right, programming can’t be lost,’ Stella says. ‘But it can be … misplaced.’
‘What?’
I’m startled enough to lose my footing. I try to catch my balance with my hand, but this weakens my shield, and when Axe Man strikes next, the dome surrounding me falters. That awful, sharp blade comes down towards me in a blow that would probably sever my arm in two – if this wasn’t a drill.
My magic kicks into overdrive. It bursts through me like a ray of light. I’m breaking into a million bits. My heart drums faster and faster in my chest, and my magic is splitting me in pieces. I try hard to keep myself together, so hard, that I’m pinned in place.
The slice of the axe’s blade is a sharp sting across my wrists. I cry out in pain, and when the shock comes, it makes my entire body tighten. I topple to the floor, convulsing.
I have no idea what kind of power Stella puts in the holograms, but it’s awful. I nearly black out as the spasms subside, and need long minutes to catch my breath. When I manage to sit up, my entire body is aching.
‘I hate this,’ I say. My eyes are stinging.
Not just the pain, but the constant failure. Never managing to do better.
Stella materialises in front of me. ‘Why didn’t you teleport?’
‘Don’t you think I wanted to?’ A tear slides down my cheek. In all the months since we’ve been training, I’ve only managed to teleport three times.
Stella is going to keep pushing me. ‘Shield up,’ she says. ‘Let’s go again.’
‘I can’t get up,’ I tell her. ‘I can’t.’
All this hard work – and for what? I spend my nights reading to catch up. I go through hard physical training, and I only find myself on the floor, constantly trying to piece myself back together. And I’m not even allowed to heal cuts and bruises.
Stella relents. ‘Alright, then. Let’s try something different. Maybe another kind of motivation.’
She begins to run a holographic projection. It’s me and Mace, skating side by side. Nine years ago.
I don’t remember this day, but then, as the video keeps playing, I do.
By the time I’m done watching the footage that Stella insists on showing me, I’m completely in tears.