Xandrian Stone Book 1: Beginning of a Legend Read online

  Mkay, I took the challenge.

  I focused inwards, analyzing myself. The outside world faded a little, as if a semi-transparent hood had been plucked over my mind. Deciding that that was the wrong way, but also probably a way of defense against hostile telepaths I focused outwards and everything became crispy clear. I could hear the thoughts and sense the feelings of everyone in a large circle - no, everything in a large circle. I listened to a bird flying overhead looking for a good place to nest, two lovers in a house across the street from the barracks making love (each thinking about someone else) or a worm directly underneath us among hundreds of others. Then I heard a murmuring deep underneath and all around us. Focusing on that I suddenly heard millions of thoughts. I had made contact to everything larger than a couple of cells and was surprised how much life there was all around (and inside) us.

  I could identify each voice clearly and made contact with the Commodore who was beginning to look and feel concerned. 'Sending. Test, test, one, two, one two.' The Commodore looked astonished and both he and the Lieutenant, curious, entered my mind. Immediately I felt the Lieutenant jerking back in shock, loosing control of her mind. I focused on her, walling her mind in to reduce the noise that was overwhelming her. Then I helped her to focus inwards, to pluck the mental hood over her mind, shutting everything else out. When I felt her mind pulling itself together I eased out and pulled my own mind in as well.

  "I take it that I'll need to throw up a block against accidental peeks like hers when I focus outwards like this?" "Yes, that will be wise. We omnis seem to have much more durable minds, probably to handle all the different magic at once. As you have not received any formal training I did not think you'd be able to do what you just did - my mistake. You present me with an unexpected situation: Your sensor strength is already beyond 'potential', most likely well into 'able'. I need you to open your mind again and feel everything around you. Don't feel what you expect, but what is." I would have done that anyway, because what was was much more interesting than what I expected. So, I opened and felt. Again, I heard the thoughts of everything in a radius of easily 20 meters - maybe 25. As I was watching the universe all around me, the smallest, blurry bits suddenly got clearer and my range expanded to 30 meters. Then everything flickered out and I came back into myself - tired, but happy. "Impressive. I have never seen an untrained sensor with this kind of resolution. Also, you may just have had a little spurt of growth. Very good! The final lesson is very unpleasant though and I ask you to not take it personal."

  I had no idea wha-He attacked my mind. Automatically, I focused both inward and outward, throwing up a shield around my mind and entering his. In an instant I knew that the attack was the final lesson and that he felt truly sorry to have to hurt me. In the next instant I felt his realization that he had failed to enter my mind and that instead I was in his, pulling back gently. He relaxed, so did I.

  "I truly hope that I'll never have to use this particular skill in real combat. Just now, I'd have lost badly. You just passed the final test. I have not heard of anything like this in years. Lieutenant, give Cadet Stone his sensors ribbon if you please."

  "Are you okay?" I asked her. "Yeah, thanks for the help." "You said that you are an instructor. How come that I needed to help you?" "There are two ways to measure magic: Range and resolution. Your range is just about as far as mine, but your resolution is many times finer than mine. I was overwhelmed by all the thoughts you were listening to. Scary stuff."

  She opened a drawer in her desk, got 2 yellow bands, a couple of metallic, silver squares and a couple of golden rectangles out. My own first ribbon! "Here you go, Sensor Wizard." "Thank you, lieutenant." The commodore spoke: "Cadet, as you now have a specialization, you'll need to put on your uniform and properly. An emergency might arise and then you need to be readily identifiable as sensors wizard who is off duty and thus available." The commodore pointed to a door in the far wall. "Use the bathroom for that." "How do I attach the ribbon to my shoulder?" "Just assemble it and press it to the shoulder of your uniform, it'll attach itself magically of course." Duh, I could have come up with that answer as well. Grinning, I went to the bathroom to suit up.

  When I walked out of the bathroom, now in my dark gray everyday uniform with the pure white sleeves and the flat black rank insignia of Cadet and very conscious of the ribbon on each of my shoulders, I felt about twice as tall as before. "Feels good, eh?" I smiled at the Commodore. "Yes, sir, it does." The Lieutenant was holding something in her hand and looked a little excited. She had her strongest shield up, which I could have penetrated easily if I had wanted. She knew that too, so it was a sign to me that something was up, something good. Liking good surprises, I kept out of her mind. "Sirs?" The Commodore answered. "Well, when you helped the Lieutenant to keep herself together your eyes changed from yellow to white, occasionally with green flashes. Why was that?" "I don't know. I was unaware that my eyes glowed at the time." I really had no Idea. "You used sensor magic as well as healing and some combination. Pure sensors would never have been able to help the Lieutenant as you did. Pure healing neither."

  "Add to that how you helped that classification officer out there and the only conclusion can be that you are also a very strong healing wizard already. Sensor and healing out of the door is somewhat rare though. Can you tell me why?" Feeling the Lieutenant's amusement about the term "somewhat rare" I answered: "Well, sensor magic requires me to open my mind, to get into a tranquil state. I need to look passively, without interfering. Healing magic, however, requires me to attack the pain of the patient, taking it unto myself and dealing with it. In a nutshell, sensor magic is mostly passive whereas healing magic is very active. That makes them very, very different kinds of magic. Maybe something like this, sir?"

  The Commodore nodded. "Exactly like this. It is a very strong sign that your magic is indeed pure white, with no preference at all. Even I do not have such balance." He frowned. "In fact, there may not have been this kind of balance since the time of The Prophecy." I could hear the capital letters in there. "The Prophecy?" He looked a bit startled. "Ignore my ranting, son. I am an old man with too much interest in history." He smiled. "Anyway, your healing magic is very strong as well. Before you can be given your ribbon, you need to be formally tested though. This is where commander Eve Schuhmacher comes in." He turned to the door. "Commander?"

  The door opened and a healing wizard entered, carrying a unhealthy looking bonsai tree in a pot.

  "Cadet, healing plants is almost exactly the same as healing humans. In essence, we mend cells together or help the patient to mend their own cells. The former, us mending the cells, is 'able' wizardry – effective on small wounds but crude and not very taxing for the healer. Helping the patient to mend themselves is much more refined, much more taxing for the healer, as it means taking their pain and working with it, and allows for the healing of much more severe wounds. Master healers do that." She put the bonsai on the ground and snapped a twig, leaving it at an awkward angle. Then she stepped back, crossed her arms and looked at me, quite annoyed that she had been summoned like this for such an unusual procedure. In fact she thought that this was outside of the regulations and intended to report it to someone above the Commodore. 'Sometimes surface thoughts and feelings are so loud that we cannot help but pick them up' came the Commodore's explanation why I heard and felt the Commander's thoughts and feelings even though I was outside of her mind. I filed that away as interesting and to be investigated further in the future - right now I felt the slight annoyance of the bonsai about the broken twig and that took precedence.

  I bent down, soothing the bonsai and tried to straighten the twig. First, I encouraged the bonsai to heal the twig. The bonsai was reluctant, but after my promise to look into why that twig was bothersome it accepted my offer to help. When the twig was firmly healed I acted on my promise and immediately found a knot in the twig, almost blocking the free flow of the bonsais juices that looked like it would bother any tree. I was at
a loss how to help when I felt the bonsai's suggestion just to soften the knot up to allow its juices to flow more freely, so I helped the bonsai to do just that. Then I checked it over more completely and felt lots of knots all over the bonsai's body. One by one we softened the knots up, until I felt the bonsai's and mine energy go low. The bonsai was vigorously happy, but very tired and very hungry.

  I realized that something was amiss. I just helped the bonsai heal major problems and there had been no pain at all. Most of my body was tingling, like if I had slept in an awkward position and it was just kind of waking up now.

  "Marvelous! I have not seen skills like that in a long time." The Commander's reservations were gone now and she was happy to have been summoned like that. "Commodore, this cadet is clearly a master healer. How did you know what to do, and why did your eyes switch between dark green, bright yellow and white?" "I spoke to the bonsai and enlisted its help in helping itself. It will need some good fertilizer, lots of sunlight and in general to be left alone for a couple of days. This was taxing." "What do you mean? The plant is dying." "Feel again, Ma'am, please." She focused on the bonsai, which already looked much more healthy. Her eyes flashed dark green and with a surprised "Oh!" she picked the pot up and rushed out. Her shouted "Passed as master!" floated back to us, just as she left earshot range.

  The commodore looked a little shellshocked at me, just as the Lieutenant behind me. "You spoke to a tree?" "Well, 'speaking' goes too far but we communicated. It started with me feeling its slight annoyance about loosing that twig. Slight, because the twig had been bothering the bonsai anyway. You see, there was a knot in the twig that all but blocked its fluids to flow freely - much like when you lie on your arm in your sleep and wake up with the arm numb. I had no idea how to help, so I kinda just asked. Together, we softened that knot and others I sensed in its body. Did you not see how much healthier it looked when the commander picked it up?"

  "I did, actually, but I was not sure. I've never spoken to a plant, however." He shrugged. "Whatever you did, it helped and you passed the healing test. Lieutenant?" I turned around and the Lieutenant stuck her hand out, in a fist, palm pointing down. I got the clue, held my hand below hers and when she opened it a pair of dark green ribbons and a couple of pips and wizardry squares fell into my hand. "A second...?"

  She grinned and nodded. "That was impressive, Cadet. assemble the ribbon please." I did, putting the wizardry square in the middle and a pip on each end like with my sensor ribbon. When I looked up at her, she shook her head. "Nope. You are a master healer, not an able healer." I knew what she meant, but I was unsure if I was dreaming. "Go on, don't be shy." So I attached another pip to the ends of the ribbons. "Good, onto your shoulders with these!" The lieutenant smiled. So I picked the first ribbon up and wanted to put it onto my shoulder. As the new ribbon got close to my shoulder the sensors ribbon shifted position, farther to the inside of my shoulders.

  "Huh?" "These are magical, son. There is a specific order in which the ribbons are to be borne and they will free up the right space for the new ribbons you are about to put on your shoulders automatically. The order is alphabetic, by the way." Yeah, 'healing' came before 'sensors' in the alphabet, so it was farther outside. So I put the healing ribbon onto the correct spot and the sensors ribbon shifted back, connecting with the healing one. On the other side I did the same. I turned to the commodore. He stuck his hand out to me and we shook. "Good luck, Cadet. You'll do great." With that, he smiled and left.

  Then my rank insignia vibrated very slightly and I almost jumped out of my skin. "What...?" "You now have three pips in total, that earned you your first star. Cadets can have up to seven stars, indicating how well they are doing." Most cool.

  Saluting the lieutenant goodbye I left as well.

  At home my parents reacted pretty much as I had expected. Dad acknowledged my uniform and ribbons, asking me immediately if I could help with a cow that had stumbled and fallen the other day and been limping ever since. I did get the biggest piece of cornbread for dinner though, even the first cut of a new loaf that he usually reserved for himself. Mom was just happy and got my favorite dessert prepared.

  During the weeks until the academy started I served as healer on the farm, mending countless cuts, bruises and a couple of broken bones.

  Chapter 2: FIRST TIME IN SPACE

  Being Farmers, my parents were practical people - so the goodbyes took not long, though mom did sneak a box with an assortment of my favorite cakes into my luggage. Dad patted my shoulder and gave me a bear hug. "We are proud of you, son. We always have been and always will be. No matter what." His smile did look a bit enforced, he was never a man to show his feelings. I hugged him back. "Likewise, dad." I grinned then and he snorted. "Good to know. Now go, don't wanna be late for work!" He meant both of us, there was much to be done in the farm and I had a ship to catch. Mom gave me a quick hug as well and made sure that I was gonna write - preferably every hour. Weekly would do too, if must be. "Will do, ma'am." Dad hid a smile by scratching his nose, I grinned and mom just sighed. "Now go! That ship is not gonna wait, you know." Nodding and waving, I turned and marched out of my protected childhood.

  We were 4 cadets waiting for the ship to the academy. There were barracks on almost all the planets and moons, even the ones that held no colonies like Eden 4-1 (a rocky, small moon) or Eden 6-4 (a small snowball moon) or, for that matter, the two Gas Giants: Eden 3 and 6. Those barracks were space stations, the first ones Mankind had ever established. The academy was on Eden 6-1, a moon about half as comfortable as Eden 3-1 to live on. There were a total of 7 planets in the System, we were going to go to the first moon of the second-most outer planet. So I was about to get my first time in space!

  We all were, actually. So we were naturally speculating, dreaming and trying to outdo the other's fantasies while we were waiting. Typical late Teenagers. The ship arriving shut us up, though. Lindan Linuson spotted the line in the sky first. It was beautiful, almost white before the planet in the background. We watched it approach us in awed silence. The first thing that arrived was the sonic boom of the decelerating ship. In the past, I had been close to this base to watch ships land and start. Also, I had read books and info-texts on the sysnet (short for system wide network, a marvel made possible by highly sophisticated communications magic), so I knew pretty well what was coming.

  Much like nowadays, there was one - and only one - basic ship, the so called "Brick". Its name was mainly descriptive, it really looked like a wooden, massively over-sized square and flat brick. It was about 4 or so meters high and if you ignored the weapons platforms about 61 meters long and wide. The weapons-and docking platforms gave it a squared footprint of about 65 meters long and wide. Even though it was a square, it had definite front, aft, starboard and port sides. The 8 weapons platforms were arranged evenly around the ship, 4 at the edges and 4 at the center of the respective side. The docking platforms were front and aft on the starboard (the right) side between the center and edge weapons platforms. That's how you could tell which side was which, unless of course the ship was upside down. The ship's enchantments created and governed gravity inside the ship, so if it was upside down or not really did not matter if you were inside - unless of course you wanted to leave the ship. But it was very uncommon for a ship to land upside down, so when it set down I rightfully assumed that I was looking at the front of the ship, the docking platform on the left side from my point of view.

  Those docking platforms also doubled as airlocks, so none of us were surprised when all 3 doors opened and small ramps came out to make the roughly 1 meter high step easy to walk. Oh, what I was going to tell you before is that these ships or, as I said, Bricks, could be stacked to form larger, more powerful units called "Stacks". That's also where the higher ranks of the officers came in: A single Brick was usually commanded by a lieutenant, with an ensign as his second or a commander with a lieutenant as his (or her) second. Commanders were eligible to take command of Stacks of 2 Bricks.
Stacks of 3 to 6 were usually commanded by a captain, stacks of 7 to 12 by a commodore and admirals commanded Stacks of 13 to 18. Whenever a stack was formed, the most senior officer took command, the second-most senior became his second. The needed shuffles aboard the effected Bricks were done Brick-internal and were none of the commanding officer's business. As long as the Brick kept functioning of course.

  A Stack of 18 Bricks sounds like an ungainly formation, but let's do the math here: Each Brick was about 4 meters high, 18 times 4 is 72. Let's say 74 meters in total, to be on the safe side. The Bricks were, with the weapons platforms, about 65 meters long and wide - so a Stack of 18 was a slightly elongated cube if you looked at it from a distance.

  With 144 weapons platforms.

  Just saying.

  Back then, there were 3 such Stacks formed if I recall correctly. Admirals Hannah Jensen, Anton Birkmeyer and Zander Haasman. Supreme Admiral John-John Johnson (usually just referred to as Triple J.) was directing the fleet out of the Eden 3 Station, which was a Stack of between 80 and 100 Bricks basically. The size kept fluctuating, with Bricks coming and going all the time.

  Where was I? Oh yes.

  The ramp had just extended out of all 3 entrances in the docking port in front of us and several people started leaving the Brick now. After all the civilians had left (I was SO proud and happy that I could no longer count myself as one) two naval officers came out of the Brick and walked towards us. On instinct, I assumed a more formal pose which the other new cadets copied after a moment. "Hm. Not a bunch of chattering and pointing kids this time, Pator, eh?" asked one of the officers the other. "Uh-huh. Maybe there is hope yet for the navy." answered the other. Then I heard footsteps behind me that sounded oddly familiar. On another instinct, I stiffened myself and saluted the officers in front of me. I had practiced that at home, to the endless amusement of my mum. "Cadet Xandrian Stone, reporting, - um, sir!" That last part was because I realized that I had no real idea what I was reporting for. The academy? My career? The travel aboard the Brick? To my left, Lindan saluted as well: "Cadet Lindan Linuson, reporting as well, sir!" The other two started snorting, just as the footsteps behind me stopped with a very familiar thump. "Cadets, stand at ateeen-TION, there are officers on the deck!" They stiffened themselves in surprise, the snort of one turning into a short cough. "Captain, 4 cadets and lieutenant Radaean McGlennan reporting for transit, SIR!" Ah, transit.