Chapter 42: Ascension ceremony

“Hi, Seth. I wondered if you would help me with some questions I had about the sixth shell.”

Seth looked at Henrietta and said: “Tell the other girl I’ve left when they are done.”

Seeing her nod, he walked up to Hollie and extended his arm to her. “I was closing, but I can answer as I accompany you to your room.”

Hollie took his arm, and they started walking toward the dormitory.

“Won’t the others speak about you walking like this with me? What would Maya think?”

“What do I care about others? And about Maya, I don’t think she would care that much. Even if she did, it wouldn’t be in the way you’re thinking. So, what did you want to ask me?”

Hollie nodded, not minding it too much herself before she started asking some questions about sound propagation through the air. That was the control domain of the sixth shell. You could pick on every sound in a large area as well as propagate your voice to whisper to someone in the same domain. It didn’t seem that much, but it was extremely useful. If anything, it made the air ascended almost impossible to get ambushed, as well as making directing troops quite easy.

Seth answered her questions with ease and they were soon in front of room ten, her room.

“Thanks, Seth.” Said Hollie with a bow when they arrived at her room.

“Hey, don’t be a stranger. You’re welcome to come anytime you have a question.”

Hollie nodded, and they separated with nothing of notice happening. When he reached back inside his room, he found Maya already there, waiting for him. After a steamy night, the next day, Seth and Maya both got dressed in formal wear and headed for the entrance of the academy.

There were a few teachers and students already there when they arrived. Eventually, even Iris, his students, his parents, and an envoy of the king arrived as well.

Iris walked to stand on a small platform made for the ceremony and addressed the crowd.

“Welcome everyone to the ascension ceremony. There were, until now, 725 ascended whose names were engraved on the academy’s ascension pillar, all of them walking forward to….” Iris made a long speech about the history of the academy and its merits as an opening.

“I would like to invite Teacher Seth, a quite new teacher of the academy, who has taught these new students and showed them the path to ascension, to do the honors.”, said Iris at the end of her speech, taking a step back.

Seth walked to the stage and bowed toward Iris before facing the crowd. He could feel air energy swirling around him and he knew it was Iris propagating his voice to all the people there.

“Many of you probably don’t know me or have only heard about me in passing, so I want to introduce myself first. My name is Seth, and I come from a small village in the south. I am also the first destruction energy teacher of the academy.”

Seth waited for a small round of applause to pass before smiling and saying: “I will skip any speech about the greatness of the academy since the headmistress already got it covered, and go straight to presenting the honored ascended that had risen from the ranks of my students. Can student Rebecca Howell step to the pillar?”

Rebecca was wearing a set of noble clothes and walked away from her parents before heading towards the pillar with red cheeks and a bright smile on her lips. When she arrived in front of the pillar, she performed a small bow towards it before Seth’s words sounded again.

“Please mark your name on the pillar, Rebecca.”

Rebecca nodded and a small amount of energy floated to the 726th spot before slowly carving a name on the pillar. Most people didn’t know what this meant, but the teachers at the academy and a few others knew. This meant she was a second shell ascended, and it left all those in the know speechless.

Once she was done, she turned towards Seth and bowed once, before turning towards Maya in the crowd and bowing once again.

“Thank you, Teacher Seth and Teacher Maya, for showing me the way.”

“Congratulations water ascended Rebecca Howell and good luck on your path.” Replied Seth with a nod before sending her back into the crowd.

“Can student Lisa Oconnor step to the pillar?” said Seth next, already causing the ones who were not in the know about multiple ascended to murmur. One ascended per year was already quite a big deal, and now there were two.

Lisa performed the same ceremony before returning to the crowd with a smile on her face.

“Can student Alexandra Ashley please come to the pillar?”

The crowd was now completely stunned, not expecting there to be more. Alexa repeated the ceremony until it was her time to write her name on the pillar. As soon as Seth asked her to, a wide smile appeared on her lips as she placed her hands on the pillar. Both of her hands got covered in energy. One of them turned blue while the other turned dark red.

She used water energy to write her first name and destruction to write her second one.

After bowing toward Seth and Maya, she said: “Thank you, Teacher Seth and Teacher Maya for showing me the way.”

“Congratulations water and destruction ascended Alexandra Ashley on being the second dual energy ascended of the academy and good look on your path.” Replied Seth with a wide smile before sending her back as well.

The entire crowd was completely silent, even forgetting to applaud. There was no dual energy ascended ever since Iris, hundreds of years ago.

“That would be all, thank you for coming and I will leave the ending of the ceremony to headmistress Iris Golden.” Said Seth before walking down from the stage and joining Maya.

“You should have seen Iris’s face when Alexa used two types of energy.” Whispered Maya with a giggle.

“I initially planned to keep it a secret, but after everything that happened, I told Alexa she can reveal it if she wants. I didn’t know if she would do it either.”

Iris said a few more words, as did the envoy of the royal family before they declared the ceremony over. There were now 728 names on the pillar, and the last three were all Seth’s students.

As Seth and Maya were returning to the academy, Iris caught up to them and said: “Why didn’t you tell me?”

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“About Alexa? I didn’t know if she would choose to reveal it or not. I let her choose before the ceremony.”

“I don’t care about that. You should have still told me she had two energies. This is quite the achievement and we should have held a special ceremony for her alone.”

“No need. A normal ceremony is enough. She’s my student headmistress and I get to decide what she should do.” Replied Seth as he lead Maya away.

Iris’s face turned red as she muttered: “Why am I still the headmistress if this brat would never listen to me…”

“You have a talent for pissing her off.” Said Maya with a giggle as they headed toward Seth’s building. Today all the students were free, so they didn’t have classes.

“What am I supposed to say to her? If we make a special ceremony for a two-energy ascended, what should we do for three or even four-energy ones? Give them the keys to the kingdom?”

Maya chuckled, not realizing Seth would soon have one of each in his class. When they reached Seth’s building, they found a stout and tall man dressed in armor waiting for them.

Seth smile wryly and approached the man before bowing slightly and saying: “General Ashley, how may I help you?”. He didn’t need to bow, considering his status, but he felt an army man was worthy of a simple bow.

“Ascended Seth.” Responded the general with an even lower bow before standing tall again and saying: “I wanted to thank you personally.”

“For what, general?” asked Seth with a raised eyebrow.

“For teaching my dumb daughter and convincing her to not join the war, as well as getting the king to allow her to remain here.” Replied general Ashley before bowing once more.

Seth smiled, understanding his feelings. Which father would want his daughter to join the war?

“No need for thanks, general. She is my student, and it’s only normal I would do everything I can to keep her safe. Please, let’s continue inside.”

The general nodded, and Seth took both Maya and him inside his class. After having them both take a chair, he pretended to get a few drinks from the storage room and served the general before saying: “General, this can’t be the only reason you came here, is it?”

The general sighed before asking: “Do you know about the war situation?”

“A few things.” Replied Seth, “What of it?”

“Our kingdom has the advantage of ascended fighters, and has kept the enemies in check, but there are already talks of some of the other kingdoms hiring ascended mercenaries from the far north. The king still thinks we can hold them off, and that is true for now, but what are we supposed to do once more ascended join the fray on the enemy side?”

Seth nodded, already aware of the situation, and waited for him to continue.

The general hung his head before taking a small letter out of his armor and placing it on the table. “We received this before I retreated from the front. For your eyes only.” He added the last part while looking at Maya.

Seth took the letter and opened it right there while saying: “Maya is trustworthy. Don’t worry.”

Seth quickly skimmed through the letter and what he read made a small smirk appear on his lips. It was a letter from the Noth Kingdom, another one of Oath’s neighbors, promising they would stop their advance if the kingdom would surrender their ascended knowledge to them.

“I’ve spoken with the other generals and they have all received similar letters. I know Iris is completely loyal and the other teachers are under strict surveillance, but I’ve heard ascended Seth has taken care of all the shadows sent to investigate you. My daughter also called your knowledge boundless, even if she didn’t want to tell me more about it.”

Lifting his head, Seth ignored Maya’s squeeze on his arm and asked: “You know that what you’re suggesting is treason, don’t you, general?”

The general closed his eyes and sighed deeply before nodding. “I know, but I also have to think of the number of lives that could be saved once this pointless war is over. For over 20 years, I’ve fought in this war. I’ve seen millions perish on that battlefield… They were my friends, my children, children of my friends, or simply teens that had no other choice but to fight… I’m tired, ascended Seth…”

Seth shook his head before destroying the letter and said: “Human greed is endless general. Even if you give them what you want, they will only recruit ascended of their own and resume the war. For territory, riches, or even for more knowledge. It might bring a small period of peace, but the war will start again, eventually.”

“While I don’t agree with the king’s hogging of the knowledge at the start, surrendering it now is no longer an option. Also, the grudge between our kingdom and all the surrounding ones has already stabilized over the last hundreds of years. This also forged friendships between the other kingdoms against a common foe.”

“I’m afraid that in the end, there can only be us or them, general.”

Taking a sip of his drink, Seth sighed and said: “Go home, general. We’ll forget this conversation ever happened.”

General Ashley sighed and stood up with a nod before leaving the building. He had little hope from the beginning, but he still wanted to try it.

“I can’t believe a general of the kingdom would suggest treason like this…” muttered Maya once he was gone.

“It’s only natural. The surrounding kingdoms offered countless riches and treaties to our kingdom before the war, but the members of the royal family always declined them. The knight families had it the worst out of all of us, having to send their children into war their entire lives for a king that sits on his ass all day… of course, a deep hatred would slowly take root.”

“What do you think would be the best course of action?” asked Maya.

“Sharing the knowledge and progressing together would have been best, but the kingdom is already way past that. Now, beating them to step in line is the only option.”

“Is that what you’re planning?” asked Maya, knowing a bit about Seth’s ambitions.

“Eventually.” Replied Seth with a mysterious smile before pulling her into his arms, “But for now, I have other plans.”

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