Chapter 30 

We are in the 6th Age, The Age of Divine Knowledge. The previous Ages were The First Age, The Reign of Dragons, The Age of Hungry Iron, The Age of Steel's Grasp, and The Age of Tempered Glass. The whole of recorded time is currently at around 13,143 years in total.

1st, Liovid, 3013 A.o.D.K

Alright, so Mystagogue Thrasher says that I need an outlet and coping method. So I turn to you, Mark, my trusty journal that stopped me from going mad when Father died. I promise I won’t fill your pages with bitching over every little thing. I’ll only come to you when I’m on the brink and look back at it the next day.

I hope I can mend things with Rose.

17th Liovid, 3013 A.o.D.K

Didn’t think I would be coming to you so soon after choosing to start using you again. Today, we started what Thallos calls my Adaptive Role Absorption. In short, I’m supposed to take up a role as a janitor, salesman, noble, businessman, or whatever, and spend three days studying everything the role entails and what they should know and be able to become that person flawlessly. Three days ago, I was given the role of Jeremiah Thornton, master gunsmith with a drinking problem and a family of a loving but timid wife and two sons who were being homeschooled. I studied everything I was given for the role and wound up with a blade in my chest and a collapsed lung.

I‘m thankful Tessa has stuck with me this long.

8th Deassen, 3013 A.o.D.K

Tonight was Pale Hollows Night. After classes, the student body was to attend this masquerade party with custom outfits we made ourselves over the course of the last week and a half. The Mystagogues really overcomplicated the process of making the outfits. We had to think of an outfit based around the party theme of the Age of Steels Grasp and our desired role in the Sects. Students would plan out their outfits, fill out an order form for supplies to make said outfits, and commission a Burning Hand trainee or Slate volunteer for anything they can’t make themselves. The Burning Hands students and Slate volunteers got extra credit for every outfit they helped finish beyond the assigned first five. I was a volunteer, and I cobbled together sixteen outfits completely on my own. I thought I was being creative with my costume being a steampunk clockmaker. But ten out of the sixteen I put together were steampunk. I really should have seen that coming since the industrial revolution was the start of that age.

Anyhow, my outfit wasn’t terrible. The metalwork was good; the glasswork was alright. The functioning clockwork was stellar, but my stitchwork… let’s just say that I was never meant to be a needleworker or tailor. And it’s for that reason I invented the repirend, but the tool mends tears, not stitches seams.

Nel and Ferris were fascinated with my clockwork gauntlet and pauldron. But they kindly did not mention how my pants were hanging on by a thread, pun intended.

But Thallos decided to turn the masquerade into a training experience. He had me try to take up the role of another student to steal the Sightless Eye’s Master Mystagogue’s ring. Needless to say, as I’m the only Darkling in the academy that I’ve seen, I failed. As punishment, Thallos laced my food for the evening with nonlethal poison. I have no clue how he knew what I was going to get down to the exact plate. This was unbelievably cruel, especially since that was the first time I’d had steak since before I joined the academy. I hurled up every last bite of that plate just outside Aegis Hall. I’m about to go to bed on an empty stomach, but I guess that’s better than a dagger to the kidney like two days ago. Oh yeah! I have successfully gone twenty-four hours without Thallos maiming me. I need to get far lot better if I don’t want to be one big scar by the end of my academy career… if I don’t wind up dead, that is.

7th, Sorittal, 3013 A.o.D.K

Today was particularly bad. Thallos started the day off by quizzing me on psychology and manipulation, a topic I am abysmal with. He had me balance a jar of acid on my hand and stand on one foot, posting on a beam. Every time I got an answer wrong, he would throw a dagger at the jar. My options were either let the jar break and get drenched in acid or try to catch the daggers. I wound up with, I don’t know, how many blades stuck through my hands and in my forearms. But in my opinion, being able to see the light through my palm is a far better sight than being melted to the bone. I never got burned. Thank the gods above and below for that, but my day didn’t end there.

After getting put back together by Tessa, it was evasion training. He gave me free rein over the academy grounds, in-use classrooms included. All I had to do was avoid him finding me. So I hid out in the Foundry and blended in by pretending to work on a myst power battery. Thallos found me in under an hour and dragged me from the classroom to put a hole in me. Then he told me I had to find Tessa if I wanted to get healed. He called it “damaged goods repair on the run”. Said that I need to learn to avoid capture while injured, find a healer, and flee the location before the enemy comes looking. I only just found Tessa hiding in the forest before I blacked out.

When I came too, I was locked in a jail cell somewhere under Aegis Hall. Thallos told me it was escape training. I found that I had been stripped of all my gear and left just short of naked. Needless to say, I didn’t escape, and my punishment was to sit in the cell unfed. So, I planned while I was there. I decided to include a lock pick set in my underwear. And I do mean both the old-fashioned lock pick set and a cyber lock pick. I mounted the pieces to the inside of the elastic band. The first thing I did when Thallos let me out was… well, first, I found food and got sick on it, but I studied jail cell locks, mechanisms, structure, and weak points. It’s clear that I need to be ready for anything from Thallos.

13th, Sorittal, 3013 A.o.D.K

I hate burns. I HATE burns. Thallos broke into my room and tried to wake me up with a flamethrower. I woke up with the opening of the door and rolled out of the way fast enough to only get my shoulder caught by the geyser of flame. Ever felt your flesh melt and char down to the bone? Of course not, Mark, you’re just a book. I’d be lucky if you were made of authentic leather and not synth leather. Because then you might have some distant cell memory of pain in those mummified dermal cells of yours. But yeah, I’m not ashamed to say that I totally lost my mind. I had never felt that kind of all-enveloping agony before. There was nothing but the pain and me. The panic got worse when I lost feeling in my shoulder, but I could still feel the heat. Thallos was kind enough to not totally soak me in the Phercyma. He also thought ahead and brought Tessa, who was waiting right outside the door.

She seemed scared when she healed me. Not for herself; she seemed scared for me. I get the fear. The pain from the Phercyma was so bad I shit myself, literally. Real manly thing to do, I know. But I can’t turn back. My entire future is riding on me passing these tests. Plus, I know Thallos is only putting me through this because he wants me to be the best at this job. Regardless, I'm still pissed that the sinvious nog bastard ruined my bed. Even if he said he was going to replace everything, he still turned half of Sasha into ash. I made it very clear what he did, and he said it was just some stupid blanket. Sasha is NOT some stupid blanket. She has been my home since before I came to this hellhole. Regardless, I owe Tessa big time since her healing on my shoulder took over five hours. Five freaking hours with a numb shoulder starting to tingle like I cut off blood flow to the joint for a good several minutes. It was ants crawling under my skin and biting every step of the way, kind of tingling by the end. But I’d still rather that than the disturbing numbness. I’d take the burning agony over the numbness and take a sword to a gut over that horrible burning. Maybe I should try to buy Tessa something nice from over the net. But with what money? And how am I supposed to get it to a secret academy in the core of a mountain?

And so the problems persist.

18th, Chandom, 3013 A.o.D.K

GODS DAMNED IT!! I made it for a week and a half without getting maimed by that sharp-toothed, cut ear. A record that I tried to keep going until he drugged my food. Yeah, Mark, you heard me. He drugged my food AGAIN! And I woke up in the same cell in the same near-naked state. BUT!!! This time, I was prepped. I had the lock picks laced in my boxer briefs. I managed to crack the digital lock. Crept out silent as a ghost. Got to the elevator to find the damned cut ear waiting for me at the exit to the mirrored elevators. Damn-near hacked off my left arm as punishment.

Note to self: check for cameras and intrusion detection devices.

Also, note for the future: The jail cell is on the thirty-second floor. Just how deep does this academy go?! I’ll have to go snooping when I get the chance.

1st, Feadormar, 3013 A.o.D.K

Blackened blade and broken bone! I tried so fragging hard! I was on a roll. A freaking roll! Fifteen days! Three weeks without a single wound from Thallos. I had everything down pat. History, social studies, psychology, politics, and material combat with almost any of thirteen weapons. I knew my facts, honed my reflexes, mastered body reading, and understood the art of escape like no other. But I still can’t figure out role immersion.

I’ve studied my roles down to allergies to food and favorite Holo shows and Holo games. But Thallos still says I fail at the skill because of my Darkling appearance. He told me to find a way around it. He made it sound so easy to just cover up my skin pattern and my eyes and hide my tail, and THESE DAMNED HORN!!

Ya know, I’ve been wanting to damage the man so badly since the start of this training. When Nog implemented that total dacker dreck of Stab Training, I had moments when I wanted to do some very bad things to him. Very, VERY bad things. He keeps throwing these impossible challenges at me like their simple math problems and just expects me to find an answer. I swear to the six shards, if this total madness keeps up, I’m going to need to start replacing pieces of me with completely custom cybernetics. I am very, VERY tempted to literally install subdermal armor in myself without anesthetic. But I’m not there just yet.

So, I’m going to build a new device into my tactical gauntlet. I’ve done some study into illusion and body-warping magic. While physically altering my body is way beyond my skill, I may have some luck with illusion magic. If I use one part Air Myst, three parts Water Myst, and two parts Mind Myst, I can cover myself in an illusion. I’ll need to calibrate the illusion for my tail and horns and plan for flexibility if I try to take on the role of someone taller or shorter than me.

Every single time I’ve tried Role Immersion Training, Thallos would catch me in some flaw. My accent, my posture, my stance, how I spoke with my hands, my scent, the smell of my breath, the way I made eye contact. All of these were things, and more I did wrong. But in the end, the issue was my looks. I can become a totally different person down to the mental trauma, but my horns, tail, and marble pattern skin will ruin my chances of making the impression I need. I have to be able to change how I look to become someone else. No one will trust a Darkling, so I must never be seen as a Darkling.

13 Feadormar, 3013 A.o.D.K

My first exam as a Dark Hunter is drawing near. End of this month, I will need to take a set of tests ordained by Thallos and the Mysteriarch. I’m not going to lie, Mark. I’m scared. I have more scars than I dare to count, and I don’t even dare to think about what will happen to me if I fail any of these tests.

I’m also going to be tested on my magic skill, and I have yet to summon a single Vell of myst into my hands, no matter how many times I cut myself. I try and try and try some more. Even on my downtime days, I still train, even without Rose. I practice my summoning of myst to no avail. I practice my sword work. I even take time to work on my crafting skills. I finally crafted a dial into the back of my tactical gauntlet that should be able to read my intent and shift my appearance so long as no one breaks the image.

But speaking of Roserra, I’ve been hearing rumors. Rumors about her hiding out in the woods and throwing spears of ice into trees. I’ve been hearing this talk for a while now, and the rumors say that the mysterious Primal girl is pretty good with her magic, able to summon a half dozen spears and hurl them in three directions at once. I want Rose back so badly I can taste this bitter range of failure in the back of my throat. I miss her. Even just as a friend. Even if she can’t love me, I want her back as a friend.

I’ve been asking Thallos about bringing her on as a second apprentice. At first, he kept giving a flat ‘No’. But once he caught wind of her magic skill, he changed ‘No’ to ‘maybe’. But if maybe it is the best I’ll get, then I’ll have to take it and work with it. Now I just need to convince her to come show Thallos her skill with myst.

Speaking of women in my life, I think I finally have a way to thank Tessa for all her work. I’m crafting something special for her. I don’t dare tell anyone, not even you, Mark, lest it somehow get out what I’m crafting for her, but it’s something good.

19th, Feadormar, 3013 A.o.D.K

Tonight is Dark Hollows Night and the Day of our third quarter trials. Given my unique situation of being mentored under Thallos, things got a little confusing. I didn’t take part in any of the other exams, instead having completely unique tests pitted against me, designed by my deranged uncle. Instead of standard written tests for my mundane classes, Thallos got creative.

For mathematics, he took me to a firing range under the Aegis Hall, where he would give me a written equation via therra. Across the range from me were jars of colored water labeled with possible answers. I had to shoot the jar with the correct answer with a ranged weapon that changed with each question. At the end, he shocked me with an electric cattle prod, once for every failed question. I miss two questions out of the fifty given.

For history, he provided me with a row of labeled shot glasses for each question. The wrong answers were laced with a fast-acting, non-lethal poison. The type of poison varied from question to question. And the glass with the correct answer held the fast-acting antidote for the poison of the previous question. The concept threw me off, and I got the first question wrong. So then, feverish and trying not to wretch, I got the second one wrong. On the floor, hurling and dry heaving, my vision swimming, I went to answer the next question. I remember it rather well. “In the Age of Tempered Glass, the year 1034, who were the first of the Orcish Clans to be acknowledged as a nomadic nation unto themselves?” I remembered the answer: the Steel Tusk Clan. I remembered this because of the mental image of Mystagogue Thrasher with a metal tusk protruding from his jaw. But like I said earlier, my vision was swimming, so I dragged myself back into my seat and snatched the first one that started with Steel. I got lucky because only a few questions later did I remember that there were something like eight different clans with the term Steel in the name. But with only one poison in my system, I managed to pass the exam with no more issues.

Biology wasn’t that bad. I had to dissect the carcasses of several creatures Thallos had ordered in for this very purpose. I just had to pull out the organs, identify them, and lay them out on a gridded table based on their potential uses in the field.

What was worse was the Chemistry exam. This one involved my neutralizing toxic substances with other chemicals or powders. That doesn’t sound so bad… Until you realize that Thallos dumped each one on me after my attempt to convert the fluid to a safe substance. I wound up covered in goo more than once, along with a fluid that turned into powder on contact with iridium dust, an acid that ruined my clothes but did nothing to my skin, and another acid that I didn’t neutralize completely that gave me a full-body rash. A rash that Thallos would not let Tessa heal for the rest of the day.

For Social Studies, the exam was simple. Body reading. We traveled throughout the academy, and its grounds and Thallos would randomly select someone, and I needed to tell what they were feeling and what they were going to do. I had to do this without listening in on any conversations or being allowed to use my therra-node. At some point, Thallos picked up that I had an application installed for body reading that I had been using for our sparring sessions.

For the Sect exams, Thallos skipped the ranged combat since I displayed my skill during the mathematics test. But he quizzed me on individual and party tactics, and weapon/armor maintenance and upkeep. And that was all just for Crimson Blade.

For Blackened Crown, he quizzed me on Myst Laws and mechanics, alchemy, and Mystechnology design fundamentals. I don’t need to tell you that I had a solid understanding of the first topic, and I could have answered the third topic’s quiz in my sleep. The only one that I had any level of difficulty with was alchemy, and I still passed that section with a solid B-.

I’m not even going to go into the tests for Burning Hand. I’ll simply say that it was too easy. But my Sightless Eye tests were a different matter. That was more of a mixed bag. I passed lock-picking easily enough, and hacking was only marginally more difficult. But the hard ones were Counter-Intelligence and Sociology. Both of which were passes but came dangerously close to failure. But Thallos also included sabotage and poison identification to the roster because Silent Heart’s tests were just a combination of Sightless Eye and Crimson Blade’s.

I could go into more detail about what happened with each of these, but to be honest, I’m beat, and I have another masquerade dance to get ready for. This one is monster-themed. Woo! <Dripping sarcasm>