The Angelic Academy of Arcadia existed to educate the upcoming generations of Angels many things – governance, compassion, science, theology, everything needed to be a voice of wisdom and reason in both Christendom and the world of charlatans and unbelievers beyond, but above all else, the prerequisite of all, was one thing, the thing the Angelic Order of Saint Michael existed to teach – How too use the powers of magic to hold back the darkness, to keep the candle-light of civilization burning strong.
Magic was an immensely dangerous thing. Loosely defined, it was the ability of the soul to alter the physical world. In the most simple sense, this was the mechanism through which the soul and human brain interfaced – And this was the extent of how magic functioned, for thousands of years, barring the occasional miracle, until God determined that mankind was to be tested through responsibility. Three hundred or so years ago, the mind of man awoken to the power that had always been present within, and found that this power that facilitated the very fabric of life could now be applied to all things. Like any expression of will upon one's environment, there were rules, and restrictions, and one might think that this would simply lead to a more colorful, more interesting world.
This was not the case, for one, core reason. As the True Church would eventually put it, “Sin begets sin.” The soul interfaces with the brain through magic to influence the physical world, but the brain is part of the physical world, and thus, can be altered by the soul, which in turn influences the way in which the soul perceives the world, as the most clear of the senses are provided by the physicality of the body. If the use of magic, and the substance of the mind, is not tightly controlled, then these feedback loops can warp any being with a soul into something that should not be.
Generally, it is safe to use magic that only accomplishes what one could conceivably do with one's body. Lifting a cup, or even hurling it across the room, is something that one could do with magic or without, and thus, is not dangerous. This is known as Low Magic. However, were the average person to attempt to fly, that would require them to exist in a fashion that could conceive of it – a practice known as High Magic. This may manifest in any number of ways – a man could develop wings, or their bone and muscle density could be reduced drastically in order to decrease their total mass, or their arms and legs could become completely extraneous as their body became primarily moved by magic. These creatures became known as demons – intelligent beings of flesh and magic that could no longer be considered human. Of course, they could just apply the necessary force in the required ways, but trusting an untrained mind to take the safer route was folly. The danger was obvious, and yet, that was not the only issue.
Long had the debate been held as to whether or not animals had souls, and as to their nature, if so. The second remains unanswered, but the first has become undeniable. Many animals, just like humans, manifested magic, and like humans, many animals twisted and warped beyond recognition in situations of stress in order to survive. These creatures, known as monsters, posed another existential threat to mankind. Many centuries had passed since the natural world had posed a legitimate danger to human civilization, and now, it had returned.
The True Church, through its theology, philosophy, and understanding of the true nature of the world, was able to safely practice High Magic, and combat the monsters and demons of the world without itself falling to corruption. The latest incarnation of this, the furthest development, is that of the Angelic Order of Saint Michael – human beings raised from birth with the optimal body of knowledge required to use magic at the highest levels without becoming corrupted.
The general education of Arcadia is, of course, of great importance, but the first and final priority is teaching a mastery of magic. Of all subjects, magic itself receives the most time and funding at Arcadia. The rankings of students' magical aptitude is the yardstick by which their worth is measured, the synthesis of all other things that they've learned. Each of the three groups of students – the Baptized, the Confirmed, and the Paired – have their own magical training facility, appointed with every possible magical amenity, and able to be reshaped at will by their instructors.
The academic year always began with a magic course, and usually, Alex relished the chance to demonstrate his superior abilities. But today? It wasn't looking good.
Alex and his classmates stood next to a square-ish field, demarcated by lines of dirt and white paint running through short-cropped grass. It was but a small, distant corner of the training grounds, but the horizon was obscured by trees at the edge of the field, though Alex could see, floating in the air far away, the grid of magical implements the formed a protective dome over them, and the other classes operating in other regions of the training grounds. Off to the side, sitting on some conjured aluminum bleachers, clad in their official uniforms with gleaming white and piercing crimson accents, were their Guardians. They were conversing among themselves, just out of earshot.
Maxwell, meanwhile, was fretting. “I'll be awful today; I couldn't sleep last night, my mind's all over the place, please tell me we won't have a test. There won't be a test, right?”
Gabriel thought this over. “Probably not. I'd guess we'll be doing something with our Pairs, since they'll be part of everything we do from here.”
A bit more color drained from Max's face. “That might be worse. Alex, can I have a second opinion?”
“Gabriel's reasoning is sound,” Alex said. He didn't have a judgment as to whether that was better or worse, though - He and Elza clearly had formed some kind of important connection during their healing of the maleficus. But he was also very, very far from being able to rely on her, judging by their interaction with Julian earlier.
Max let out a little defeated-sounding groan. “Great, I get to disappoint my teacher and my Pair at the same time.”
The conversation around them died down, and Alex looked back to the group of Guardians. They, too, had stopped talking, and one Angel had split away from the group. He walked with long, aggressive strides, and he had a grin on his face, framed by what could best be described as the scraggly remnants of a beard, or maybe an ill-conceived attempt at creating one. He stopped maybe a dozen feet away from Alex, and in accordance with their training, the students fanned out around him, giving everyone a clear line of sight to him. The Angel looked all of them over, still grinning.
“Peace be with you,” he said, and the class echoed, in near-perfect unison, “And also with you.”
He scanned the crowd, and looking displeased, he focused in on Alex.
“Alexander, where is your Pair?”
Alex should have known. He knew his responsibilities. He just... Well, something about Elza made him feel like he shouldn't be responsible for her. She was her own can of worms. He couldn't maintain that thought, but he certainly had it, and it led to him, in this particular moment, having lost total track of her for the last several hours, in fact, since she'd left the apartment.
"I don't know, sir."
Leor looked at him like (or, he supposed, as) he was derelict of his duties as a Pair. "You do know that you're supposed to care for them, protect them, and keep them to their responsibilities, right?"
Alex flushed. "Yes, sir."
Leor looked around him, at the other students. "Now, don't think that it's on your Pair to make sure you do the right thing. You're supposed to watch out for each other, but you still have your own individual responsibilities. Your Pair is meant to fill in the gaps, not make a foundation for you, you understand."
The assembled Pairs nodded nervously.
"Now, Alexander here isn't the only one messing up, it's also Elza, for not being here, but-" Leor trailed off, his eyes drifting to the horizon. "Huh." A figure, in the female uniform of the Paired, kicking up dust, dirt, and clumps of grass, with energy only possible through intense magical enhancement, streaked across the campus. Elza barely touched the ground, her feet kicking off at such velocity that she'd move a dozen meters before touching down again. When she reached them, only a few incredulous moments later, she dug her heels in, kicking up an unconscionable amount of dirt and detritus.
She smiled.
"Present, Professor, uh..." She trailed off.
"Leor. And "Instructor", if you please," the teacher said.
"Present, Instructor Leor," she said, and bowed, just fast enough to feel cheeky. Once she got the greeting out of her system, she started desperately trying to catch her breath. Wherever she'd come from, it'd taxed her quite a bit. Alex couldn't help but wonder - she seemed fairly tough, and that just stretched the mystery further.
“Okay! Now that that's out of the way, I'm Leor. Born here in Arcadia, in the year Pahiliah V. I hold the rank of Seraphim, so I do very much know what I'm doing, but I'd prefer if you didn't call me that. Here and now, I'm your instructor, and I want you to refer to me that way.” He looked directly at one of the girls, who shrunk behind her scarf and averted her eyes. “Got it?” he said.
She nodded, still not looking at him. “Yes-”, but that was all she got out before he cut her off.
Leor shook his head. “Wait, wait, I'm doing this all wrong. What's your name?”
“Yura, sir.”
“Okay, that gets us most of the way there. Let's wind back the clock and do it again.”
She looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“So! I'm Leor Pahaliah V, Seraphim, instructor, et cetera et cetera, you remember the words,” he said, rolling his hand in the air, as if it was on the edge of a spinning wheel. “And” – he gestured to the girl – “Got it, Yura?”
She nodded. “Yes, Instructor Leor.”
Leor beamed. “Got it in one! Now that we know how to refer to each other, let's move on to more interesting things. I know you want to know what we'll be focusing on first in this class, but I need you to understand that I don't know that yet.”
A murmur went up among the students. Instructor Leor took a few theatrical steps backwards, looking quite pleased with the reaction. “Oh, I have plenty of plans, and I know what you need to know by the time this semester is over, but to properly teach you, I have to know you.” He let the sentence hang, strategically.
One of the girls, towards the back, raised her hand. Instantly, Leor whipped around, pointing at her. “Yes! Aleste, go ahead!”
She responded with clear, sharp enunciation and speed. “What exactly does that mean, Instructor?”
Instructor Leor snapped his fingers. “I'm glad you asked! I could test you – and I will – but I've seen your grades and scores, I've read your records, and I've talked to your Guardians, but that doesn't give me the full picture. What I need from you is to see how you respond to a rapidly changing, dynamic situation, facing a problem with no pre-defined answer, and importantly, see how you approach it without much time to prepare.”
“So,” he continued, backing a few more paces away, “I have a test for you.” As he saw the winces on his student's faces, he felt the need to correct himself. “A trial. A tournament.”
The students erupted in whispered comments among themselves. Alex, for his part, wondered just what that meant, and Elza, for hers, gritted her teeth.
“You've all learned quite a bit of magic, and I know where you should be in your education, but I also know that you should be overachievers, the lot of you. Angels are not born to be adequate, you are born to be exceptional. All of you are, and so, the only appropriate measuring stick,” he said, “is your peers.”
Leor waved to the Guardians. “Are any of you willing to volunteer?”
The youngest-looking one, a muscular blond of medium height, enthusiastically rose, bounced on the tips of his toes at the prospect, and raised his hand. He looked somehow familiar… Alex couldn't place his face, or his body, or for that matter, any detail about him, but his entire being resonated with him. He scrambled to try and assess the feeling, and after running through days of memories, he hit it. The memory was from Elza's mind, from that brief period where they were as one. He was the Angel who'd pursued the maleficus, who'd nearly caught Elza. Who'd she'd been so terrified of. Alex kept his head under control, as best he could, but his focus, his magical focus, swept around to Elza. Her magic was pulsating – she felt like she could bolt at any moment. Alex's blood ran cold. Thinking on his feet, he turned to her, and grabbed her hand. Anger flared in her, pushing away the sudden intrusion, but she was focused on him now, and not the Angel. He could deal with that later.
Instructor Leor, for his part, spread his arms wide, and theatrically welcomed the Angel down from the bleachers onto the grassy field. “Malakim Geoffrey! You'll be perfect for this.”
Geoffrey seemed happy just to be called on. “Seraphim Leor,” he said, giving a deferential bow.
Leor waved off the comment. “Just “instructor”, please. That's what matters here.” Geoffrey relaxed a little, though he was still the image of enthusiasm. “So,” Leor said, putting about twenty yards between him and Geoffrey, “We need to come up with a way to let you all demonstrate your abilities holistically, creatively, and forcefully. How about this?” Leor pulled two strips of cloth out of a back pocket – one red, one blue. The blue, he tied around his left wrist, and the red, he tossed towards Geoffrey. When air resistance threatened to take hold and arrest its movement, Instructor Leor urged it onwards, streaming towards Geoffrey like it had been attached to a stone. He nodded at Geoffrey, who seemed confused. “Your non-dominant hand,” Leor clarified, and Geoffrey tied it to his right wrist.
Instructor Leor addressed the class just as much as Geoffrey himself. “You will all wear these strips of cloth, tied with one knot. You will be paired against each other, and your goal will be to get the cloth of your opponent – without injuring each other.” He nodded to Geoffrey. “You understand?”
“Yes, Instructor,” Geoffrey replied. “When do we-”
“Whenever you wish, Angel,” Leor said.
Geoffrey stared at him for a moment, before the information fully ran through him. He rolled his shoulders, stretched his arms and legs, and then, with a burst of light, summoned his wings.
A cheer rang out from the students – two of them, specifically. Alex recognized them as Gwendoyln, a bookish sort of girl who'd earned Alex's respect in the past, and Jacob, a boy who was slow to act, fast to joke, and Alex didn't quite understand. Geoffrey's charges. He knew he was supposed to feel that way about Julian, but instead he just felt uneasy.
Geoffrey charged. His feet never touched the ground, and in the blink of an eye, he had flashed to, and then past, where Leor had been. The operative term being “had” – Leor had sidestepped him, faster than Alex could make out, but he'd barely moved more than a step. The Angel flared his wings, and dug a heel into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt and grass, to turn and face Leor again. He kicked off the ground, and flew towards Leor. This time, seemingly out of nothing, Geoffrey conjured a sword of light itself, and swung. At the last moment, Leor brought up his wrist – the one with the bandanna on it, and when it and Geoffrey's weapon met, Alex was blinded by a flash of light. The impact made a sound like ringing church bells, but instead of coming from the point of contact, it felt like it was coming from the inside of Alex's head. The sensory assault nearly brought Alex to his knees, and looking around, dazed, he saw that it had had a similar effect on the other students. Maxwell's hands, braced against the ground, were the only thing keeping him from laying flat. As Alex's senses came back to him enough to resolve the scene, he saw that Geoffrey was lying on his back, a few feet away from Instructor Leor, who was holding Geoffrey's red bandanna in his hand.
There were a few seconds of silence, while the dust cleared and the students regained their senses. The other Angels seemed unphased. After allowing himself a moment to be stunned, Geoffrey laughed. Leor reached out with a hand, pulling him upright. He pulled Geoffrey into an embrace, and the two men clapped each other on the back. A few words were exchanged, too quiet for Alex to make out, and Geoffrey returned to the bleachers.
“His mistake,” Leor said, “was to come at me directly. In combat, it is of paramount importance to accurately evaluate your opponent's capabilities.” Leor smiled. “He knew that I was stronger, and still made the attempt. When your back is against the wall, I want you to display that kind of heroism. But until then? Be a bit more realistic. God may be on your side, but He won't circumvent the laws of His reality to save you from your choices.”
Leor began to turn around, but stopped himself. “Ah, I almost forgot to mention. Your first opponents will be your Pairs. If I'm going to make you work together, I need to see how you work against each other.”
Alex tried to let go of Elza's hand, but she didn't let him. Not until her fingernails had dug, painfully, into his palm.