René Dago rushed to the headmaster’s office the moment he became aware that the man had come back to the academy. The man had been gone for a long time, and he had a handful of things to tell him. Yet as René had reached the highest floor of the taller tower of the Skyscraper Academy, he saw someone before the headmaster’s office.
“I was wondering if you would show up,” Sandra said as she rested her back against an agate vein, and with a simple push, she stood upright. “You have had me waiting here for a while.”
“No one asked you to wait, Sandra,” René pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Oh, you are now addressing me correctly?” She said melodiously and mockingly.
“Do you want me not to?” The male soldier grinned.
“Let us not devolve into infantile banter, thank you very much,” the other soldier waltzed in front of him with a slow cadence. “But if you are here, I suppose I will not need to be the one informing the Shining Knight.”
“I do not understand why you fear him, Sandra.”
“I do not understand why you do not fear him, René.” If one thing could be said about the woman, it was that she had a way with words and a myriad of inflexions at her disposal. “You should not be this nonchalant when facing the Shining Knight.”
“He is only an old man.”
“Stones are older than nations, and they conserve their might no matter how many more rise and fall. And that man…” she pressed a finger against his chest, “that man is made out of bedrock.”
“I prefer the expression: an agate does not lose its luster,” René jested. “Sandra, the only reason why you are intimidated by him is because you allow yourself to be so. That is not a good trait for a soldier.”
“Says the only man in the world that has a chance of making it out alive in a fight against the Shining Knight.”
“Only making it out alive?” The grey-eyed soldier arched a brow.
“Only making it out alive,” the brownish-red-eyed soldier replied sternly. “Please, René, do not be yourself.”
“Ah, that is a mighty quest that you are placing onto me, Your…”
“Do not end that sentence, René Dago.” Sandra looked at her with the intent to kill.
“I will not,” he raised his open palms in a defensive manner. “But fret not, I know how to navigate in a conversation with the headmaster. And yes, I will inform him too of the you know what.”
“You had better,” the female soldier scoffed before she made her way down the stairs.
Ah, as dry as ever. But that’s why she is so lovely. When an explorer made their way into the depths, they didn’t expect their adventure to be one devoid of danger, after all.
The black-uniformed soldier fixed the collar of his coat before he knocked on the door leading to the office.
“Who goes there?” The voice that questioned beyond the door was a heavy one that thundered undeterred by the passage of time.
“René Dago, headmaster,” he responded softly.
A brief silence followed before the voice replied with a “Come inside.”
The headmaster’s office was a small affair, certainly not something that people would expect out of the head of the Skyscraper Academy or the Shining Knight. But considering the owner didn’t spend much time here, it didn’t matter much. What could be reproached, however, was the darkness of the room. The office had a conical ceiling as it was found on the top of the tower, and when the castle the academy it was in was built, those conical roofs were the rage. That not only made the room feel even smaller, but also it only endowed the place with only two windows. Two windows that failed to illuminate the place where the Shining Knight’s desk was.
Stupid, stubborn old man, René Dago cursed in his mind, but that lack of illumination wasn’t much of a problem when that old man could just summon his agates and switch to the Light command.
“It has been a while, Captain Dago,” the old man was shrouded in darkness, yet he didn’t seem to mind.
“It truly has been, headmaster,” René bowed slightly. More of a military salute than anything.
Finally, after the salutations, the man had some decency to show his face, and he pushed his chair forward and let his old expression bask in the sunlight. A visage covered in more wrinkles than Crocheta had years, yet eyes that shone with untarnished brass.
Cristos, Headmaster of the Skyscraper Academy.
The hero and living legend of Crocheta, the best lithorist in the world and one of the best lapiloquists out there. A myriad of titles that, if anything, fell short of his grandeur and accomplishments. For what did the title of the world’s best lithorist mean if the second one was so far behind?
“Please, take a seat,” the old man’s mouth moved slowly, but more than lethargically, it was the cadence of stone. Slowly but undaunted.
René Dago complied and picked up a chair the man had around in the mess of an office as he didn’t have any seats reserved in front of his desk. A blunder, but one the soldier didn’t bother to raise concerns over.
“So,” Cristos rested his arms on the desk, “to what do I owe you the pleasure, Reaper of Aneolopolis? Do we have another critical affair of state in our hands?”
“Not quite, but I also would not dare to state otherwise.”
“Do not beat around the bush with me; I might die before you finish any given sentence.”
Whilst the headmaster was jesting, his words weren’t without a shred of truth. Cristos was already pushing a century, so the fact that he was as coherent as he was, let alone able to stand up, was a surprise to many. The expression aging like fine wine seemed to have been made after seeing the man himself. Though he wasn’t a paragon of health, for he spent most of the time on a personal retreat near Intaksolfani waters.
“Could I first ask a question?” René petitioned.
“You may.”
“Why are you here today? Was it not true that your body did not fancy the winter? Has something occurred in the kingdom?”
“First,” he raised a finger and chuckled. “Those were three questions, not one. Secondly, nothing that egregious. My body just craved lower temperatures after spending these last years in my villa.”
“So you made the whole journey just for that?”
“Journey? Come on, Dago, you know better.”
He did.
The Shining Knight is the lithorist with the most agates in the world. Well, was. Christina Valasela had broken the record and by a lot. If it wasn’t because René was aware that outliers could exist thanks to the headmaster before meeting Christina, he might have fainted upon seeing her ceaseless agates. The only reason why his students hadn’t reacted as viscerally was because they just didn’t comprehend how many agates that girl carried inside her.
Whilst Cristos didn’t boast as many agates as the young student, he had enough to make a relay of Amplify Range agates and connect his villa and the academy, even if they were hundreds of kilometers away. The military and telecommunication applications were infinite, yet the old man just used that agate chain to travel with the Gate command whenever he pleased. Emphasis on whenever he pleased.
“So, tell me, what is the situation you wanted to meet with me for?”
“Headmaster, are you aware of the might of the newest promotion of students?”
“Not really, I try to avoid work as of late. Working is the anathema of health.” On that, we agree, René kept those words to himself. “So what of them? Are they horrific? Younglings are getting worse and feebler as time goes on. I cannot believe there has not been anyone to match me in a fight yet. I cannot rest easy until I see that.”
And for what reason may that be? Yet again, the soldier didn’t voice his thoughts.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Quite the opposite, headmaster. I would say they are terrific. This promotion is the best the Skyscraper Academy has seen in a long time.”
“What would you know, boy?” The old lithorist snorted. “You have started teaching only this year.”
“So? That might show you the overwhelming confidence of my claim.”
“Oh?” He got a smile out of Cristos. “Enlighten me.”
“There are three students who have caught my attention.”
“Three?” The old man’s closed eyes opened to almost a normal amount and revealed his brass irises. “That is a high number, especially if the one behind the claim is the Reaper of Aneolopolis.”
“Were you not talking about not beating around the bush?”
“Ah, but the privilege of old people is being immune to hypocrisy.”
More like you are immune to it. To most things. Even at his advanced age, the name of the Shining Knight was enough to infuse fear into other nations. The only reason why the man’s villa wasn’t in Intak Solfan was because the emirate wouldn’t allow such a weapon of mass destruction to set foot in their frontier. Cristos was very sour about it and made sure to remind it to people whenever he could, always babbling about the lovely nudist baths of Intak Solfan. Even if that was a massive tautology.
“As I was saying, three students have caught my interest. The first does not highlight as much as compared to the others, but he still wields fifteen agates of considerable quality for the First Stratum.”
“Hmm, captain material like yourself, but nothing unseen.”
“My exact thoughts,” René nodded. “If Master Echevarria were not a noble, I would like to take him as a disciple.”
“The country could use more reapers, yes.”
“Do not call miner candidates reapers, please,” the soldier professed a bit of displeasure. It felt odd having other people address him by his title. Though at the same time, it was a satisfactory notion that of hearing a noble with the epithet of ‘reaper’. After all, whilst it was meant to inspire fear, René’s title was also a mockery of his commoner status. Just a farmer, the noble high-ranking officers would say.
“I will do as I please,” Cristos said unapologetically, and he meant it. “So, what about the other two. A miner candidate as the antepenultimate choice bodes well.”
“The second candidate boasts a single agate.”
“I retract my words. Leave this office at once, Captain Dago.” The Shining Knight commanded with the whole weight of his title.
“I understand your confusion, but please, headmaster, hear me please.”
“You have defiled everything Agatecraft stands for and brought someone with a single, miserable agate to my academy!”
René had no idea what the fuck the old fart was rambling about. Perhaps he has gone senile at this exact moment. I’ve seen worse on the battlefield. The soldier sighed, but he maintained his composure.
“A single agate, yes, but definitely not a miserable one.”
“Do not push your luck, Captain Dago, you have heard me. I have better things to do than deal with your jokes.”
Ah, perhaps that’s the issue. He is thinking that I’m making stuff up. “Second Stratum.”
“What?” The headmaster frowned at his words.
“Agatha of Malachite, the student with the single agate, has already reached the Second Stratum.”
Cristos snorted, looking more like the old man he was rather than the Shining Knight. “Commendable pace, but nothing unseen.”
“She did weeks ago, headmaster,” René corrected with a straight face.
“Oh…” The man’s rage disappeared, and sanity seemed to creep back into his irises. Ah, the strongest lithorist in the world has gone senile. This truly bodes well for the world as a whole. “How long ago?”
“Miss Malachite reached the Second Stratum at the third week of instruction, only the second one since she had been told about Stratums.” René hid the fact that the blonde student had been unknowingly practicing mindfulness and materialization for a whole month, as apparently, the headmaster’s sanity depended on Miss Malachite being someone worthy of being a Skyscraper Academy student.
“Prodigious…” The senile man uttered as he rubbed his chin. He had traces of white hair, but nothing close to a beard. “But she will not become the next Shining Knight with a single agate.”
Why are you so obsessed with having a successor? It’s just a title, not an accolade or a position, old man.
“But a respectable addition, nonetheless, especially considering the quality of her lone agate.”
“How good is it?”
René Dago summoned his best agate on the palm of his hand. People who weren’t his students were always jumpy when the Reaper of Aneolopolis summoned his agates, yet Cristos wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Is that confidence justified? Could he truly overpower me even though he’s one step on the tomb and a mind off the rocker? Even if that wasn’t case, the grey-eyed soldier knew better than to tempt his luck.
The agate he ended up summoning was his best one. It had a verdigris color and the respectable size of an orb. He had only shown it to his students whilst under the effect of the Compact command, after all.
“Almost as high quality as this, size notwithstanding.”
“Dago, that is a Seventh Stratum agate.” If he can tell the Stratum of an agate just by looking at it, he still isn’t far gone.
“It indeed is,” he nodded. “This is just to show how superior the quality of that lone agate is. She was able to do supersonic shots with only the First Stratum.”
“Yes, that is definitely the first time I have heard about someone breaking the sound barrier with the First Stratum… But it is still one agate.”
“It is still one agate,” René didn’t deny it. “But as I was saying, these are just the students that caught my attention, not the candidates for a new Shining Knight. And if I am right about Miss Malachite, she might be able to achieve the Third Stratum before the first year comes to a close.”
“Third Stratum in a year? That is ludicrous!”
“That is how high my hopes are,” the soldier grinned. “Miss Malachite has the advantage of only having a single agate, in that sense. She will be able to dedicate her undivided attention to just one agate. Who knows? Maybe she will beat me in Strata before she graduates.”
That final statement seemed to calm down the Shining Knight at last. The soldier was bullshitting him a bit, but not completely. It was true that having a single agate was bound to bring a boost to Stratum acquisitions. Perhaps that lone agate would be able to evolve into unprecedented heights, but that was too far in the future for anyone to tell.
“The last student,” Cristos suddenly muttered.
“What?” René frowned in confusion.
“You mentioned three, Dago.”
“Right,” So you remember that… You are giving me a hard time determining the state of your senility, old man. “The next one is… troublesome.”
“A troublemaker?” The headmaster said with crossed arms.
“Not quite…” The teacher sighed. “The student in question is Christina Valasela.”
“Valasela? Is she…”
“Yes, Hasel’s daughter.”
“So what about her is problematic if it is not the attitude? Do not tell me she also has a single agate, Dago.”
“Not at all, in any case, it is the opposite.”
“The opposite?” Cristos arched a brow.
“I have not been able to determine how many agates she has.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means exactly what I have said,” the soldier sighed. “I made her summon all her agates, yet before she could do that, so many sprung out of her body that they started recalling automatically as they left her range.”
“I am not following…”
“I do not blame you at all.” If he hadn’t seen it with his own two eyes, he would neither have comprehended it nor believed it. “She filled a whole hemisphere with agates, headmaster. Hundreds upon hundreds of tons of agates.”
The Shining Knight stayed ruminating for a moment, his eyes closed in thought. Crown in the heavens, if you are going to say what I think you are going to say, I’m going to stomp your head against the desk.
“That sounds like Shining Knight material,” Cristos whispered, a smile forming in his wrinkled visage.
Fractures! René cursed to himself, and his hands trembled in rage as he clutched the armrests of the chair. What is with that obsession?
“Is that your only comment?” He added.
“No,” the headmaster smacked his wrinkly lips and covered them in a thin coat of saliva. “Tell me, Captain Dago, how is it that a fifteen-year-old girl can wield and store hundreds of tons of stone in her body?”
That was the question that René had feared all this time. His rage swiftly evaporated and was substituted by a healthy dose of dread. He was still clutching onto the armrests.
“I do not know,” the young lithorist revealed.
“But you have an idea,” the Shining Knight stated as a matter of fact, his eyes making honor to his namesake with that glint of sanity and wisdom.
“…yes,” he nodded.
“Good to know that we are on the same page then,” the old man gave him a toothy smile.
That expression was the most horrific thing René Dago had seen in his life, and he had seen the greatest of cruelties on the battlefield. Ones that weren’t limited by military status or age…
“Hasel Valasela has committed treason then,” Cristos said with a cold and coarse voice.
“You do not know that!” René jumped out of his chair. Depths, he felt like a witless child against this living legend.
“What other alternatives are there?”
“You are the first who knows that agates do not always produce the expected result, headmaster!” He tried his best to defend his savior. Better him to confront the Shining Knight than Sandra. “You have no way to know that Hasel did not feed his baby daughter a common agate, and it just produced better results than expected.”
“Oh, but I can know, Captain Dago.” The cadence of the voice chilled his bones. He preferred the sterile old man and not… this. “No common agate can produce such a drastic result. This man has confabulated against the crown and hid agates that should have pertained to the royal family.”
René didn’t know what to say. Hasel had trusted him with his daughter, yet he wasn’t able to fight for him. He bit his underlip. Perhaps that’s what he wanted.
“It is not Christina’s fault,” he ended up saying.
“Oh no, I have never implied that,” Cristos said with a smile, then he tapped on his desk a single time. “And she is a student of this academy, is she not? If she becomes a soldier, then there is no problem; the only criminal here is Hasel Valasela.”
“So are you going to arrest him?” René said with much remorse, he had only been able to protect the daughter of his savior, but not the man himself.
“Ah, I am not so sure. Hasel is a valuable asset of this country, and if he has sent his daughter here, it is because he is not without plans. Knowing how much he doted on Cordellia, I fear what the man might do if we put a single finger on his daughter.”
Ah, René slightly whimpered. Cristos wasn’t using a manner of speech when he said ‘fear’, he was being serious. The Shining Knight wasn’t worried about the Reaper of Aneolopolis, but he was cautious around René’s mentor.
“I will inform the king, but thankfully for all of us, I doubt this will escalate any further. For better or worse, Hasel has entrusted us with his daughter. Whether that is a curse or a blessing remains to be seen, but this king knows better than to dispose of valuable assets, and it appears both Valaselas could change the geopolitical tide of the world.”
Those words held weight when the man who uttered them had outlasted three kings already. And it wouldn’t be wrong to say that all these last ones had only become monarchs because the Shining Knight had allowed it. Unfortunately for everyone, Cristos' loyalty ran deep. Unfortunately for me and the country.
“I would love to mentor this Christina myself, but if she is to become my successor, I would rather only see her prowess once she is ready to inherit the title. So get her ready, Captain Dago. I want to see that girl as a hardened soldier on the battlefield before I die.”
“Will do,” René performed a military salute. “If you excuse me.” And took his leave before he could be pestered with more questions or horrified with more statements.
Everyone in this awful country had awful agendas, and René Dago could only hope that the Shining Knight’s was as simple as he let on. For René’s was way worse.
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