((A short, direct sequel to The Gnarled Roots of Osiris and the second of a three part story arc.))
Garah City, Telgradia
Present day
Captain Telos Soltair was a successful and respected member of the Royal Guard, Telgradia’s elite warriors, and a damned good teacher. Ever since the completion of his academy in Garah’s city centre for young Telgradians wishing to join the King’s army, Telos had earned the plaudits from Garah’s citizens and his fellow peers. Mostly, it was for his work in educating the children of what was expected of them, in both a life of soldiering for the King and a life they would later build for their families in Telgradia once their service had come to an end. However, the academy aside, a certain measure of admiration was saved also for his talents as one of the five recognised Royal Guard captains who ranked as the five strongest of Telgradia’s warriors.
His college had only a single classroom in which to conduct his lessons, and it was always oversubscribed, but Telos didn’t mind. It was a splendid place for a teacher to do his job, actually. After negotiating for several months with the army, he had managed to acquire several pieces of fine furniture, even books and the odd tapestry to make it feel more like a library than a classroom. In the quiet times, after studies had concluded, Telos could recline in his chair and sip whatever fine brandy his companions were drinking back at the barracks in peace. He loved the silence after a hard day’s teaching. Of course, he loved giving the kids of Garah their lessons, but the quiet time was truly the best gift given to him in the knowledge the next day would always start loudly again for him.
He was, after all, a man of peace.
At exactly 9am on Monday morning, Telos was standing at the front of his cozy, book-laden classroom, flanked by the kneeling forms of all the children who’d come in for their lessons. The captain was dressed in his favoured Royal Guard robes, consisting of the traditional black uniform with silver buttons and a flowing white Haori with great, wide sleeves. They were old to be sure, and a little frayed at the edges, but they had moulded to his form perfectly. A pair of soft, hazel eyes peered out from underneath a curtain of matted black hair and fell upon the students curiously. As he spoke, Telos’s thin designer stubble around his jaw and chin drew back and fell forward repeatedly.
“So, kids, does anyone know what this is?”
Telos reached down to the table in front of him and picked up an ivory sheathed weapon. With a steady, hairy hand, the Captain unsheathed it and held it aloft for all to see. The sword was the shape of a Katana and about a metre in length. The guard and hilt were crafted from beautiful, smooth crystal strips that interlaced perfectly to the flange and glistened in the morning light.
“It’s a sword!” Exclaimed a young boy sitting in the front row as the sun bounced off his golden hair and illuminated his excited face.
“Very good,” Telos said, nodding at the young boy. “But, I wonder, does anyone know what type of sword it is?”
Another boy, sat a row back, bowed his head and ran his fingers of his right hand through his brown mop haircut. Then, as the answer came to him, he leapt up and waggled his arm around vigorously as if his life depended on it.
“It’s a Kurai sword! My dad has one of those!”
Telos raised his head and turned to look at the lad, who stared back with intense blue eyes. The captain smiled warmly, clapping his hands together in appeasement.
“Very good! Now, the Kurai sword is the single most important tool in a Telgradian’s life. You see, the sword contains a piece of each of its owner’s soul, making it very special!”
A young girl with curly brown hair and freckles, perhaps no older than eight years old, put a finger to the corner of her mouth and chewed on the fingernail. She took a moment and allowed her developing mind to establish a chain of logic before asking her question.
“So, is it alive?”
Telos grinned to himself. They were cottoning on quick, and although they wouldn’t grasp the whole picture until a lot later in life, he felt that his kids were going to be just fine.
“Yes, and no. Each Telgradian’s soul is split in half when they get a sword like this. One half stays in the body, and the other half is sealed inside the sword! Then, each half of the soul begins to heal and becomes whole again!”
The brown haired boy a row back piped up again. “So, in the end, my dad has one soul and his sword has a soul too?”
“You’re a smart one!” Telas jabbed a finger at the young lad emphatically and winked. “Your dad and his Kurai sword are linked to each other, like brothers! This means that your dad can talk to the sword, and the sword to him. Sometimes, he will even be able to release the seal on the sword and use that soul’s power! The stronger the soul and the connection are, the more powerful the sword becomes!”
A bespectacled kid to Telos’s left joined the fray, pushing the gold rim of his round glasses back up his nose. “My dad says his sword has a name. Is that true?”
“Yes, each Kurai has a name,” Telos replied with a soft smile. He snapped his fingers crisply and pointed at the child with the glasses in a way only a charismatic teacher could do. “In fact, kiddo, they have three names, depending on the stage of release. There’s stage one, which is called Kurai. Stage two is called Senkai, and stage three is the most powerful, called Senkai Shinjitsu. However, only really strong people can use Senkai and Senkai Shinjitsu.”
The kid with the glasses seemed awed by Telos’s feast of information. A wide grin covered his chubby cheeked features and his young eyes glittered playfully. He saw no reason to stop feeding on the teacher’s informative morsels, and pried for more.
“What’s the name of your Kurai, Captain Telos?”
Telos flicked his hair back with a deft wave of the hand, and folded his arms with a smile. “Odayakana Kaze. It means ‘Calm Wind’. Its Senkai release is called Hana Kaze, which means ‘Blossoming Wind’.”
“That’s so cool Captain Telos! What about your Senkai Shinjitsu? I bet it’s really powerful!”
Telos chuckled heartily. His students were quite the inquisitive bunch today. “One day, when you’re all grown up, maybe I’ll show you. Now, kids, I think we need to move on…”
There was a moment’s pause. Then, suddenly, one kid broke ranks and stood up, raising his hand as high as possible to the sky. Telos regarded him with a curious expression, wondering what on earth was so important a question it required such a sudden movement.
“Is it more powerful than Enpera?”
The question from the little boy’s mouth struck the class like a gunshot. The moment’s silence that followed felt like an eternity to everyone in the room, and after what felt like an age, the silence was shattered.
“Shut up Xun! We aren’t supposed to talk about that, its taboo!” A voice hissed to his classmate.
Telos closed his eyes and breathed a soft sigh. He was a patient man, and no kid would ever really burn through the Captain’s almost limitless stock of patience. That's why he had been chosen by the Council of Five to be a teacher. But, even so, the hissing voice was right: all talk of Shinsou Vaan Osiris and his historical crusade against Telgradia was taboo. Enpera was Shinsou’s sword, an instrument of destruction in itself, and to discuss it in a classroom in front of children would surely be inappropriate at best. The Captain wondered, though, what would happen if he didn’t answer the question. After all, it was often said in Telgradia that those who do not learn from the past are sure to repeat it. Perhaps it was time for people to hear the truth.
“…No, it’s alright, I can answer that last question. Xun, the truth is that Enpera was the most powerful Kurai sword on the face of Telgradia. I only ever got to see its Senkai, Enpera Hitsugi, once…and I’m glad about that. It was definitely more powerful than mine.”
Telos trailed off when he looked up and saw the silhouette of a figure stood in the empty doorway. It was one of the Royal Guard’s messenger girls, only usually sent in urgent circumstances where primary communications via magic were not practicable between high-ranking Captains.
He knew what this meant.
“Captain Telos? Emergency Captain’s meeting in thirty minutes.”
He shuffled his feet with a groan, placing both hands on the small of his back and popping it with a crack.
“I’ll be right there.”
He was privately glad that the sudden appearance of the messenger girl had cut his story short. Still, he couldn’t really complain too much about the student’s question. Telgradia needed more people taking an interest in its chequered past rather than distancing themselves from it, and perhaps future generations could glean something from the conflict if they tried to understand it and the reasons behind its brutality. Hell, maybe even his generation could learn a great deal from it.
With a final wave of the hand, Telos dismissed the messenger, and collected his belongings from his desk. He turned to the sea of disappointed young faces in front of him.
"I'll have someone come in and take over. Be nice to them, ok?"
With that said, the gruff Telos Soltair bustled out of the room purposefully and left the academy behind him. Now, he was headed to the palace.
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