Reverse Chronicles

Days of Training

“You are disappointing!” Luke whispers in my ear. “How did General Wisterion find you? I’m sure he took you in because you are pitiful.”

“Now, now everyone,” Sir Galant calls everybody’s attention. “Resume your training as what I wrote in your training regimen. Alan, come with me, I will give you your regimen.”

“Remember your place, weakling.” Luke whispers parting words as I went to Sir Galant.

When I approached our busy professor, he throws a metal ball at me. Fortunately, I am able to dodge on time as the metal ball travels.

“Just as I thought!” the man with zero remorse for throwing a metal ball at me exclaims. “You are agile and athletic. I expected you to be defeated instantly in that spar against Luke, but you were able to hold on and prolong the battle. You also have a high magical power and that is really impressive. Your training will be focused on weapon skills, for that I will personally train you.” He hands me a piece of paper with a list.

Sword/Dagger: Feint Attack, Quick Strike, Fluid Parry, Gravity s***h, Critical Thrust

Spear/Lance: Feint Thrust, Horizon’s Smile, Defensive Swirl, Critical Thrust, Disabling Thrust

Bow: Intense Accuracy, Sure Shot, Volley, Disabling Arrow, Immobilizing Arrow

Puppetry: Dagger, Sword, Shield, Spear, Puppet’s Demise, Puppet’s Curse

“We’ll start with these four weapons and their basic skills,” Galant adds. “For today, familiarize yourself with those weapons. We’ll start with the sword tomorrow.”

“Understood,” I take the list and read its contents again and again.

I grab a sword and a dagger and tried to determine the most comfortable way of holding them. I was busy figuring things out, when somebody tapped my shoulder.

“You are learning the way of the sword,” Haruka speaks to me.

“Um, yes. I’m familiarizing how to easily hold the sword,” I reply.

“How you grip the sword depends on the sword and your stance,” she takes the short sword from my hands. “For a short sword, you can hold it with two hands or with one hand if you have a shield. It is very useful in close quarter combat.” She does a sword stance in perfect form. Her figure with the sword is mesmerizing. She looked like a lotus, balanced and still.

“Oh, I see.” I get the short sword from her. “How about this dagger?” I grab the dagger and hands it to her. I must learn as much from her as I could.

“Using a dagger requires great agility,” she answers. “The dagger is best at close quarters combat, but you must be agile because its blade is short. You grip it like this,” she holds it diagonally and forms a two with the other hand. “Your other hand will serve as balance for the dagger. You must bend so that there is efficient movement.”

“This longsword…” I am about to grab the longsword when she clears her throat.

“I’m done for today,” Haruka says. “Patience is required when learning the sword, you cannot learn anymore today.”

In a strike of impeccable timing, Sir Galant declares that classes are over. Everyone immediately leaves the room and heads to the second subject. It was Strategy class with Magistrate Elaine H. Dmirva. When I enter the room, other students are also at the vicinity. The classroom has a map of Sarcen and some kingdoms and nations around it. A large board is in the front side. Numerous circular tables are inside the room arranged in columns of four across the room.

“Alan, here!” Roland from earlier this morning waves at me. He is at the second table from the front in the second column. The other Chosen are in the tables in front of his table, except for Syrena who was at the table to the left.

“Hey, Roland. Am I supposed to sit here?” I ask.

“Yes, we have been assigned to be your subordinates,” Roland answers.

“My subordinates?”

“Yes, this is strategy class and you are our commander,” Roland replies “Alan, meet Julius, a Knight. This is Julia, our Archer. Matthieu the party’s Mage, and me the Mage Knight.”

“How does Mage and Mage Knight differ?” I begin to wonder.

“Mages are generally at the back, casting complex spells and healing the wounded. Mage Knights are at the front lines casting simpler offensive spells on horseback,” Roland answers.

“Silence!” Magistrate Elaine shouts as Roland finishes his explanation. “Do not talk unless necessary. In the battle of Cenrat Pass, making unnecessary noises meant the end. The knights on that battle minimized their conversations to their strategy formulation. I know, because I was the strategist in that battle.”

Silence descends in the entire classroom. Magistrate Elaine walks towards our table. When she reaches my seat, she takes a short glance at me then pointed up. From her finger, a red stream of light shoots out marking an area of the map on the ceiling. She continues walking towards the back and opens a thick book on a podium.

“In the early days of Siane,” she begins speaking. When she uttered the words, a map appeared on the table with several chess-like pieces. The map eventually became a three-dimensional model and the pieces became soldiers, mages, and even siege weapons, “a dispute with the then kingdom of Jyria turned into a full scale war. In that battle, Jyria lost signaling the end of the Jyrian kings rule. Using the pieces given to you, formulate a strategy that will make the Jyrian army win the battle.”

Discussions and murmurs begin to fill the air. Shouting fills the back of the room. I look around to see every table in chaos, except for the table in front of us, Johannes’ table. His subordinates look at him with confidence. They know that Johannes, as the Knight General’s Squire, will have the perfect strategy for this battle.

“You will recreate the battle tomorrow!” magistrate Elaine adds before she leaves the room.

“What’s the plan, Alan?” my teammates look at me.

I begin to inspect the map. The goal is to defeat the enemy force before they can reach the city of Jyria. The battle happened in a plain, but a giant forest is also in the map, separating the Jyrian forces from the Sianese forces. However, some of the Sianese forces are already in the forest. Some Jyrian units are isolated in a cave at the junction of the mountain range and the forest and they are undiscovered by the enemy. The Jyrian forces are outnumbered three to one.

If I was a general in this battle, what would I do? I remember from history class how Napoleon defeated armies larger than his by speed, but that would only be possible if there are a lot of knights on horseback. The Jyrian army mostly has mages. Their Knights are very few.

“Any ideas?” I ask my groupmates. They all shook their heads in negation. I spend the entire period thinking of a strategy. Roland suggests that we divide the forces and have them encounter the enemy force separately. Julius recommends falling back to the city and defending it. Julia says that surrendering and negotiating things peacefully should be a victory to Jyria. “Those are all good ideas, but we cannot divide the forces because the enemy has a much larger force and most of our forces are mages, doing that would end up being surrounded. We also cannot fall back to the city because the enemy has a larger force and siege weapons. The city also has a lot of mouths to feed. Negotiations are already out of the table, too.”

“Then, what do you suggest the army should do?” Matthieu asks. “We need a strategy.” The team stares at me again.

“Sadly, I don’t know, yet.” I give them an honest answer.

“Take your time, Alan,” Roland comforts me. “The presentation is on the day after tomorrow, so we still have some time.”

After Strategy class is Physical Education class.

P.E. exists here too? Now that’s cool!

Physical Education class is in a gym, where most of the equipment are for strength. The subject doesn’t have a formal teacher and we are expected to train and increase our strength. I grab a dumbbell and begin my exercise. After the session, a message pops up in my face.

Strength and Vitality increased by 8

Training increases strength and vitality? That’s scientifically just about right.

The last class for the day is Magic, but our professor is away on imperial orders. I go through books in the library. They are all interesting. The history books are like Harry Potter combined with world history. One particular book greatly piqued my mind. It is about someone called the Archsage who sealed a dark entity a long time ago and separated the seal into three pieces.

            The entity who plagued Reversia was defeated by the Archsage. Because the dark entity is made of pure energy it cannot be destroyed, thus the Archsage chose to seal it. After he sealed the entity, he divided the seal into three parts. The first part was given to the strongest, the second part to the most skilled, while he kept the third part. The parts were then forged into weapons and the dark entity was eventually forgotten.

“Hard to believe that this actually happened,” I murmur. After class, I return to my room and called it a day.