It was a cold spring morning in the mountain city of Avenry. The leaves were just beginning to bud on the trees that lined the wide streets of the large city. Large granite buildings that towered three stories into the air surrounded the trees. The mountain city had the appearance of a city that had been planned before the construction began, with small gardens scattered throughout the streets that intersected regularly to form a large grid.
The city itself was alive and bustling with activity as gardeners made their way to the Altered Gardens outside of the large granite walls that enclosed the city. Throughout the centuries, the gardeners had learned that the garden was much more submissive in the early morning hours.
In a small meadow outside of the city walls, a young man of medium height was idly leaning against a lone, dead pine tree as he read from a large leather-bound book. He had the lean build of an energetic person. He wore black trousers with a grey shirt laced up to his chin and soft leather boots that ended halfway up his calves, both of which were adorned with a dagger. His blue eyes had an intelligent light burning in them, giving his well-defined features an aura of intensity. His short, brown hair was slightly curly with just a hint of blond scattered throughout the top.
The sound of approaching voices drifted down one of the many paths that led to the small clearing. Michael sighed, placing a bookmark on the page he had been reading and regretfully closed the book. Given half the chance, Michael would spend the rest of his life studying every book that he could lay his hands on.
Michael watched the well-traveled dirt path that descended from the mountainside to the east as the voices grew louder. He recognized his sister's tone and guessed that Shalay was arguing with Thorian. From the time that he had learned to walk, he and Thorian had done everything together, half of the time accompanied by their sisters. When all four of them were together, the neighboring farms usually kept a sharp eye out for the mischief that was sure to come. Shalay was perhaps the most compulsive mischief-maker that the mountain people had ever seen, known for finding the most creative and unexpected opportunities for trouble. Thorian's sister, Leanne, was the only one that had any control over her when she was at her worst.
As the three figures rounded a corner in the path, Michael saw Shalay and Leanne walking next to each other, with Thorian following closely behind.
Shalay had the face of an angel, both beautiful and completely without guile, a feature she used to her utmost advantage. She was slightly taller than Michael, a fact she loved to point out. Her slender build gave her an almost fragile look, though no one who knew her would describe her as delicate. Her long honey-blond hair flowed down the front of each shoulder. She wore the same style of clothes as Michael, though more feminine.
She had spent the night at Leanne's house, claiming she needed extra practice quieting her Aeri, something Leanne had developed to a science. Michael was pretty sure it was only an excuse to spend more time with Thorian. The two of them had grown very close throughout the past year, though Shalay always claimed she had no romantic interest in their friend. Michael wasn't sure that he believed her, considering she was a shameless liar.
Thorian was almost Michael's opposite, standing a head taller, with broad shoulders that were at least an axe-handle across. He had light-colored hair that reached mid-back and blue eyes that were already wrinkled with laugh lines. He had a strong chin framed by high cheekbones. His cheekbones accentuated a broad smile that was almost always on his face. Though he affected not to notice, most of the girls their age were completely besotted with him. He was without peer on the combat field, with the exception of Michael. The two of them had spent their youth dreaming of becoming Guardians and they had learned everything they thought would help them be selected when the time came.
"I'll tell you what," Thorian was still facing Shalay, with a cunning look on his handsome features, "If I can beat Michael on the combat field today, you can cut my hair. If I can't, then you have to tell Michael what happened last night."
"No!" Leanne cried out in mortification. "Shalay, don't you dare!"
Leanne was as different from Shalay as Thorian was from Michael. She was shaped perfectly, as if someone came up with the ultimate idea of what women should look like and Leanne was the outcome. Where Shalay looked innocent, Leanne was ripe and inviting. Where Shalay was slender and seemingly delicate, Leanne was full-figured like a rose in bloom. Shalay's voice was soft and mellow, while Leanne's voice was rich and vibrant. Her long chestnut brown hair had a way of falling across her face and highlighting just how beautiful she was. Her entire form seemed to embody the term "appealing."
He had been having an increasingly difficult time when Leanne was around. When he felt her dark chocolate eyes on him, his words would tumble out of his mouth in disjointed stutters as his ears burned in embarrassment. He still did not understand how a few years could change so much. It seemed only a few months ago that he and Thorian had purposefully left their sisters behind as they made camp at the Altar of Gaurdia to get away from them. Now, he found himself looking forward to the classes that he shared with Leanne with a sense of painful anticipation. Shalay found his sudden interest in her friend extremely entertaining, often asking him if he thought it would be a good idea to have Leanne stay the night at their house, or help him with some of his exercises.
Shalay was watching Thorian with a small smile on her plump lips.
"I'll think about it," she finally replied, looking at Michael with a gleam of mischief in her large blue eyes.
Michael cleared his throat loudly. "I think that we had better get going or we'll be late," he declared, glaring at Shalay. "Domai Selindria is really good at helping us remember why it is in our best interest to be on time."
Shalay made an indelicate sound in her throat, turning to follow him as he began walking down the trail to the city.
"A sound beating isn't a scratch on what Domai Plato did last time I was late," Shalay declared with a shudder.
"Oh?" Thorian prompted curiously, "What did he do?"
"Do you know that cabinet in the storage room behind his class?" At Thorian's nod, Shalay continued. "He told me I could make up for lost time by testing the third-year students' defense elixirs. The first one made me see things that weren't there, like giant spiders and creatures that I don't even have a name for. I passed out when a scorpion larger than you bit my head off."
"They're teaching third years how to make elixirs that do that?" Thorian demanded incredulously.
"No," Shalay shook her head, "he was giving me the ones he thought were made wrong. He shook me awake and poured another vial down my throat before I was even coherent, and I spent the next five minutes puking up my shoes." Shalay shuddered again, looking sick at the memory. "Suffice it to say, I am never late to his class anymore."
"I can imagine," Thorian breathed fervently. "Domai Heckel is too out of phase with reality to notice when we are late to Defensive Compounds." Thorian barked a laugh. "I heard that he was hit by a Transient Wave in one of the Gardens and he never really found his way back to the Physical Realm."
"That's not funny!" Leanne snapped at Thorian angrily, her large eyes flashing. "He could have died!"
"Yeah, but he didn't," Thorian said pointedly, "So we can laugh about it all we want."
Leanne rolled her eyes disparagingly. "You can be such a jack ass."
They wound their way through the thick evergreen forest that surrounded the city of Avenry, squinting as the sun began peeking above the western horizon. The trees had been cleared away from the city walls for five hundred yards in every direction, giving the city watch that patrolled the towering walls a clear view. Thorian caught up to Michael as they broke free of the trees. He glanced back to where Shalay had fallen behind to hold a whispered conference with Leanne.
"Have you had any more dreams?" Thorian asked quietly, glancing sideways at Michael.
Shaking his head, Michael stared straight ahead. "I haven't had any dreams for a month now." Michael reached down and plucked the head off the waist-high wheat that surrounded the walls. He heard Thorian grunt with satisfaction.
"I had a vision." Michael muttered reluctantly.
Thorian stopped in his tracks, staring at Michael oddly. "A vision?"
Michael heard the doubt in his voice and wondered if he should go on. Motioning Thorian to keep following, Michael glanced back to make sure his sister and Leanne were still behind them.
"I was washing my face in the wash basin last night, before I went to bed," Michael explained quietly. "I was looking at my reflection in the basin by the candlelight, when my reflection suddenly disappeared and I saw a man dressed all in black walking toward me. It was as if I was one of the Guardians, and I went to apprehend him. When I came closer, I could see raw power radiating in his eyes. I moved toward the man to disable him and then everything went black," Michael finished hoarsely. He had described the details of what happened, but he could not convey the feeling of helplessness as he watched the figure walk toward him, radiating power like a sun blazing in the night.
Michael glanced at Thorian expressionlessly as he felt a tingling sensation pass through his body. The tingling sensation stopped when Thorian saw Michael staring at him stonily.
"I just wanted to check your system for anything unusual," Thorian explained defensively. "It's altogether possible that Shalay just slipped something in your food yesterday."
Michael looked away sourly. "It wasn't a hallucination."
Shalay never took advantage of his inability to use Aeri. He could feel what other people did with their Aeri, but he could not use his own for anything. Shalay thought of exploiting his handicap no more than she would a person born without a leg, which only made him feel worse.
Unfortunately, most of the subjects they were learning this year at school required practical application. Michael was forced to sit in class and observe the other students practice their technique without ever being able to practice himself. His only real joy this year was Combat Training with Domai Selindria, where she alone could defeat him.
Michael waved absently as several other students from the outlying farms began filtering toward the city gate. Michael had not really made any new friends at school, just acquaintances and a few enemies. Thorian, Leanne, Shalay and Michael were friends with each other and no one else. The other students did not seem to be very interested in their friendship either, at least until the last few years. Shalay and Leanne, as well as Thorian had acquired a flock of admirers. Michael was somewhat of an odd duck—he was always reading books or practicing combat and was unable to use his Aeri.
During his first three years, many of the instructors and Elders had spent a lot of time trying to discover why he was unable to use his Aeri. Their efforts came to an abrupt halt after he spent three months with Domai Tydell trying to reach out with his Aeri. Domai Tydell had been an ancient man who had more wrinkles than one of Michael's shirts on a bad day. The old man had given him a tincture from a Jo plant, which he said would open the gateway in his mind, allowing him to use his Aeri. No one discovered exactly what went wrong. Within moments of drinking a small spoonful of the Jo tincture, Domai Tydell instantly died. Everyone within a mile had passed out and the entire city complained of headaches for a week.
The Elders decided that it was too dangerous to continue experimenting and told the instructors to allow Michael to merely observe the exercises without participating.
They waved at the gate guards as they walked under the enormous granite wall. Michael recognized one of the guards as a girl who finished her training at school the previous year. The guards wore lightweight clothes made from Jen Shrubs, a fabric the sharpest knife couldn't cut. They wore short swords belted at their waists and two long bows leaned against the wall behind them.
Michael smelled the familiar scent of crushed Kally Flower as Leanne joined them. "I was wondering if you could help me with the bow staves after class," Leanne asked in a rich voice that seemed to stroke the skin behind his neck.
"Of course," Michael replied, staring at the ground. He knew that if he looked into her eyes, he would begin blushing.
"Thank you, Michael." Leanne brushed his arm lightly, causing his ears to burn as he stared at the ground.
They continued walking along the inner perimeter of the wall, toward the large green lawns where the school gleamed in the morning sunlight. The school consisted of eight smaller buildings, and three larger buildings that were each close to fifty thousand square feet. A large field of grass surrounded the entire mass of structures, filled with racks of weapons and other training equipment. Michael had spent more time on this field than any other place since he had come to the school at the age of eight.
A gravel path led them away from the road and toward the school. Students from the city as well as the outlying farms clogged the path. As they reached the first building, Shalay and Leanne waived and split off toward one of the larger buildings. Leanne looked back over her shoulder at Michael, and he hurriedly looked up from where he had been looking to meet her dark-brown eyes that sparkled knowingly.
"Were you just checking out my sister?" Thorian asked in mock astonishment.
"Shut up, Thorian," Michael muttered as his ears began turning red again. Thorian chuckled, looking at him sideways, and Michael felt his cheeks heat up as well. "So, what did they do last night that you mentioned earlier?"
"I'm not at liberty to say," Thorian said airily. "You will have to fight me for the answer later."
Michael sighed in exasperation, shaking his head. They both knew Michael would win. Michael could tell Thorian was up to something, though he probably wouldn't find out what until Thorian wanted him to.
They walked through the large wooden doors to the building and entered the classroom on their left. Odd symbols that no one understood covered the walls, and a large glass display case held a sword unlike any other Michael had ever seen. Its blade was dark blue, and it shined even when there was no light hitting it. More of the strange symbols that surrounded the room also adorned the hilt, and the pommel stone was the same deep blue as the blade. Domai Selindria had told them that the person who bested her on the combat field would be the new owner of that magnificent blade. She had taught the oldest Elder in Avenry when the Elder was just a boy, but all of the older folk claimed that she looked the same as she had when they were students. Most of them passed her longevity off as a byproduct of her proximity to the Rajan Gardens, as well as the fact that the elongated pupils of her eyes resembled those of a cat.
As Michael sat down, the door at the front of the class opened, and Domai Selindria glided into the room with a grace unequaled throughout the entire Mountain City.