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  Present time

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  The doors opened with a silent movement as my sight gazed into the incredible front reception room of the headmaster’s building.

  White marble accented the same yellowish beige carpet that spread from the front door and stopped at a panelled wooden desk.

  A receptionist sat at the semi circle desk of solid, dark stained wood. Her penetrating look bore into mine until she stood with a graceful flourish and saluted.

  I walked in, stopping just beyond the desk, Cerys just behind me.

  “For the imperial will, what can I do for you on this beautiful morning, Your Eminence?” She asked with a practiced, neutral tone.

  “For the eternal service, an audience with the Headmaster of this academy and a meal for us both.” I ordered, an impassive expression on my face.

  “Understood, right this way, Your Eminence.” She then led us to a branching path of the carpet, then up the right side of a darkly stained wooden, quarter circle staircase that felt solid and possibly magically enchanted.

  As we reached the top, she turned left and made for another wooden double door, this one had a banner that held the colors of the imperial academy front and center above the doors.

  She opened the doors, stepped in and said with a formal tone, “Headmaster, the noble of house Dohiedron, Sir Erec Dohiedron is here.”

  She then moved to the side, allowing Cerys and I to move into the room.

  The room was even better decorated than the suite Cerys and I used last night. There was a grand chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, a tasteful desk much like the receptionists’ desk back towards the entrance. Many framed licenses lined the walls, all signed by the house Dohiedron crest. Not one of them stated the Headmaster's name though, just that he was the headmaster.

  To the left, sat the Headmaster in a leather chair that faced a wooden table, facing that table opposite to the Headmaster were two identical chairs.

  The Headmaster had an expectant expression on his weathered face as he gestured towards the chairs. “Please, Your Eminence, make yourself comfortable and we will get down to brass tacks.”

  His greying but healthy hair slicked back in a neat cut that radiated professionalism.

  His pale blue eyes spoke of knowledge and intelligence, sizing me up in a practiced manner, one that told me of his professional acumen of creating weapons for the empire en masse.

  The clothes on his shoulders were made up of the same yellow-beige color, but they were more styled and rich in decoration and had an air of importance around them.

  This man was one of an importance to the empire that couldn’t be properly stated.

  Since there was no chair to pull out for Cerys, I followed the instructions of the man due to finding myself respecting him. I walked across the spacious room, turning and sitting down in the rightmost leather chair.

  Cerys followed my lead and took her seat in the left leather chair.

  The receptionist closed the wooden doors, leaving us three to hash out the details of our extended stay at this academy.

  “What can I do for you, Sir Erec?” He asked with a neutral tone.

  “I need the environment to build up power and knowledge fitting that of the greatest weapon this empire will ever see use of.” I answered with resolve.

  The headmaster’s eyes gained a level of interest in me and he stated “Heavy words for someone already on their way to being as such.” He leaned forward, “I see, you are truly worthy of the imperial academy and its vast wealth of knowledge and history in making such beings.” His hands rested on his knees, “Yes, you will be of great import even without the tutelage and support of the imperial academy.”

  I almost felt uncomfortable, with his eyes boring into my soul unflinchingly. His eyes then lost all of the earlier interest and he sat back into the leather arm chair, relaxing as though he had seen all he needed to.

  “You will start instructional classes tomorrow in the morning, have lunch, then start free, supervised studies after lunch, which then after that, you can move about the academy at your own leisure, doing what you may to further your goal.” He crafted my schedule going forward on the spot, never seeming unsure once.

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  A pang of recognition coursed through my mind, of a man who has so far deceived me.

  His mannerisms were too similar and his approach to the future was evenly the same.

  Even his face looked like a younger version, with similar facial structure, to the remembered face of Gerald, my fake caretaker.

  I held in my curiosity, knowing it would be best to hold as many secrets as long as I could.

  “Very well, Headmaster, where will we be taking these classes, where might we rest our heads?" I asked, furthering the process.

  He shook his head, a grin crossing his face. “You no longer need a focus to keep your potent but unstable powers in check, look at how you haven’t slipped into them once this entire conversation.”

  I almost struck the man, but his pale-blue eyes gained a quality of warning, being clear that doing so would be a mistake.

  “Do not dehumanize her, Headmaster, one of your ilk has already done so on multiple occasions, he knows better now.” I stated.

  “Right you are, young weapon, right you are.” A silence enveloped the room for a second, a weight moved into the air as we stared at each other.

  “Trust in the process and I, or we will have no other items of import to discuss with each other, I am not your quarry, your quarry is much more sinister than a seer or two.” He stated, the weight in the air fizzling out as he looked to the door.

  The door opened as the secretary and two servants moved in, carting a spread of food in.

  “Ah, our food is here, we can continue to talk of the finer details as we eat.” The Headmaster said in a casual tone.

  The servants, hearing their dismissal, left after a salute, the door closing once again.

  Knowing that the servants would have usually set the table, I sent out my magical will. I felt the silver plates, cutlery, goblets and platters on the cart.

  I manipulated them, setting the table for Cerys, the Headmaster and I.

  “What will Cerys do when I am so hard at studying, gaining my power and knowledge?” I asked.

  “What she wants to do.” He chuckled, a grin moving across his face. “You thought I would be similar to your wraith-like companions that are flittering about these esteemed grounds, breaking projects I’ve put so much time into.” He accused, his eyes turning humorous.

  “I do like to surprise.” He chuckled again, he then broke out into a full belly laugh that was contagious.

  I felt guilty, having judged the man by his powers and blood, rather than the trustworthiness and camaraderie that he exhibited.

  “I confess, I assumed you were of the same nature as those men and women that Her Imperial Majesty employs in the shadows.” I stated, using the hard-imprinted ‘sorry, can’t say sorry’ noble etiquette that I’ve had to use many times before.

  “You can drop the pretences, boy, I have no desire to talk to a noble of any house, but a boy in search of power he needs to survive in this deadly world.” His grin moved to a full smile, “It’s much more fun and organic that way, not having to hide your cards and personality behind years of brainwashing.”

  I felt flabbergasted. This man was not even near the bar of ‘first impressions’ that I had set above his head. I had definitely done him a disservice, acting the way I did.

  I shook my head, a genuine smile appearing on my face, one not many people get to see, and held out my hand in a handshake.

  As I did that, his hand reached out and clasped mine, an audible pop sounded out and we shook hands, his burly hand attempting to crush mine.

  I got out of that situation quickly with a flex of my steelbody strength and made his hand turn a tad red as I felt his hand start to give.

  He shook his hand with fervor, as though he had burned it on a hot teacup.

  “Good meeting you Erec, I daresay, you will be one of my most interesting projects as of yet.” He said as he took into his hands his fork and knife, he then started to unceremoniously cut into his eggs first instead of his meet then veggies.

  With a mouthful of food, he looked at me, then Cerys expectantly. “Eat, eat it before your food gets cold.” He said with zero decorum.

  I shrugged my shoulders and took a golden-brown cheese croissant that was on one of the bread plates and bit into it.

  Cerys was looking at us both with a hint of exasperation that quickly turned to interest as she looked down at the food laid out before her. She then smiled and drank the apple juice that was in the goblet first, which would have been a massive blunder in noble society.

  ‘I could get used to eating as I please’ I thought. This wouldn’t be a permanent arrangement, never, but the academy seemed more like a society of its own rather than a place where men and women became weapons of the empire.

  “So tell me, Erec, are the detestable murderers done with their so-called ‘cleaning’ or will they continue?” He asked between bites of his hash brown that he took into his hands, instead of fork and knife.

  “The presumed leader has told me to say that they are indeed done in their ‘cleaning’ and that I am now safe here to pursue power.” I replied between torn off bites of my sausages that were delicious.

  “Good, I never understood that man’s obsession with cutting off possibilities rather than letting them play out organically, simply distasteful.” He shook his head.

  I looked at him with shock and suspicion. “You know him?” My guard went up.

  “As anyone of the same blood would know their relatives.” He said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

  “We had a difference of opinion when discussing how to use our powers and at the wrong time, a powerful woman came along and whisked him away for her use.” He said, growing a tad sad, the memory of a distant past still rotten enough to ruin his meal.

  He stopped eating.

  “Before you ask, no, I cannot tell you my last name, it is too dangerous for a fledgling to know of, what I can tell you, under certain circumstances, is my first name.” He conceded. “Think of it as an assurance and a sign of trust to be given and used by you, how you see fit.” He opened his desk, taking out an amulet of ordinary design, simple looking, but it thrummed with energy of a will far surpassing my own.

  “This, if you so choose to believe me, is the bridge between knowing my first name and not.” He said as he put it down onto the middle of the table.

  “It will block your magical will, futures, past, mind palace, thoughts and present with no draw back to the end of time.” He explained. “It will also stop you from slipping into that horrible place you experienced this morning.” He said, tapping his angular nose in a knowing manner. “As well as any place much alike it in the same manner.”

  His expression changed, one into a more serious look, “you must never take it off until you defeat me in single combat sometime in between now and when you finally defeat me.” He said.

  “If you so desire, this will be a crutch and a learning point until you are powerful and knowledgeable enough to stand on your own legs.” He said, his voice not changing once.

  “This may also be a way to get back at that old man I used to call a cousin, stop him from interfering in your everyday life, especially with lovely Lady Cerys next to you.” He said, looking at me expectantly.

  “Two questions, Headmaster, the first being, what do you get out of this?” I asked, still skeptical.

  “Well worded, my interesting pupil, to keep the explanation simple, it is to sate my boredom and to feel accomplishment through the strongest weapon this world will ever see made.” He said in a matter of fact tone that made me pause for a minute.

  “Your second question is whether or not I can stop that wraith from taking the amulet off, correct?” He asked without waiting for an affirmation, “well, you see, long ago, he and I got into an argument which devolved into a potentially lethal battle.” He said in a story telling tone, taking a swig of the apple juice that was sitting there for so long.

  As he put the goblet down, he looked saddened. “The battle almost did become the end of one of our lives, but a certain fearful woman stopped us in a manner so rude and took him after she made us promise to one another one thing.”

  “That in the future, a lad of metal, electricity and thus time will be put into our charges one time each respectively.” He said, taking a breath, “Once it is each of our turns respectively, we are not to interfere too heavily into each other’s methods of raising said boy.”

  “That man has already gotten to the edge of breaking that promise with his actions already, so there is no way he could take that amulet off you without breaking that promise.” He said with a shudder as he continued his next sentence, “One thing you should not do in this world, is break a promise connected by hearts.”

  He then looked at me expectantly, his hand moving to gesture to the amulet.