Powerless Revision 1 (34 page)

“Mira Ipswich,” he bellowed, causing all others to fall silent. “You have been victorious. Leader of this graduating class of Dustfalls Academy is a position that henceforth rightfully belongs to you. May you execute it with wisdom, honor, and valor.”

Corey finished speaking, and Mira looked at the eyes cast upon her. They held wonder and praise, which pleased her, but she also saw signs of doubt and worry now that the reality had taken hold.

“But how will she ever survive The Shadowing?” one voice said.

She tried to stand tall and let her strength show through her, but in truth she did not know what would happen. The crowd around her began to break up. Parents began to look for their children. The young students walked back to town in small groups. Corey and his assistant, Natalie, retired. Mira tried to listen to the chatter springing up to get an idea of what people were thinking, but her classmates quickly began vying for her attention.

“Wow, I can’t believe you did it,” Mary said.

“Congratulations,” Will said. “You outsmarted the lot of us.”

A handful of them still crowded around, hugging her and patting her on the back. Mira wore a big, healthy smile. The payoff for her hard work delighted her. She turned her head to see Chucky standing there with the silver helmet in his hand. He looked as happy as if he had won.

“You were amazing,” she said. “I didn’t see you for so long. I didn’t know what happened.”

“I kept an eye on your egg for you. Couldn’t let anybody mess up your plans.”

She put her arm around him and gave him a hug. Over his shoulder, she saw Fortst waiting, bashfully, for a chance to speak to her. Chucky seemed to notice her attention was elsewhere, and he stepped aside.

“Can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like that,” he said, impressed and even moved. “You put on quite a show. I don’t think there’s anybody who could say you didn’t earn it.”

 
“Thank you. Thank you, everybody. A lot of things could have happened today, but this is how it turned out. And anything could happen from here, but I think we’ll be ok as long as we stick together.”

Mira looked at the group before her, and she noticed that some of her classmates were not listening to her. A few were talking to their parents or sitting on the grass. She wondered if they were bitter about their loss or if they were unhappy she had won. But even Vern and Aoi gave her their attention.

After she finished speaking, she heard somebody mention how hungry they were, and it reminded Mira of how tired and hungry she felt. Somehow the morning had passed and the afternoon was well underway. Though most of the people had left, Jeana and Kevin remained. They waited patiently for Mira to finish speaking with her classmates, stopping themselves from digging into the sandwiches they’d brought.

When it came time for Mira to meet them, she felt the flush of joy and excitement all over again. Her parents greeted her with a warm embrace, and Kevin brushed her hair back and cupped his hand around his daughter’s cheek.

“We’re very proud of you,” they said.

They sat down to a picnic lunch along with the other students and their parents. Mira told them about everything they didn’t see, but she was careful not to insult or demean anyone with her story. Those around her listened and chimed in at various parts. Aoi mentioned that she couldn’t believe she had jumped from a tree and soared in the air. Most were able to laugh about what happened, even if they wished they had done better.

“I actually slipped on a root and almost put myself out within the first minute,” Vern laughed before sneezing again.

After she had finished her sandwich and spent some time relaxing on the blanket, Mira turned to her parents with a satisfied look.

“Ok, I’m ready to go home now,” she said.

“Oh, no. You won’t be going home at all tonight,” Jeana countered.

“What? Why not?” Mira asked.

“Because you’ve got your graduation ceremony tonight. You can’t miss it. It’s very important, especially for you since you won. We’ll see you tomorrow though.”

“You can just fly home whenever the sun comes up,” Kevin said. Even though she knew he was joking, Mira’s disappointment prevented her from responding in kind.

“No, I can’t. The batteries are dead.”

Kevin and Jeana started to pack up the blanket and the containers as they prepared to leave. Mira didn’t want them to go unless she went with them. The other parents followed suit, and soon they waved goodbye and started back to town. Mira saw that this didn’t bother her classmates at all, but Mira wanted her parents to be a part of her celebration. So her eyes welled up with tears when they finally announced their departure.

“Thank you for being here today. I love you,” she said when they hugged her.

She watched them take to the path back home and disappear among its curves. In another moment, all of the parents had gone, and only the fifteen students and their teacher remained on the grassy glade.

“So what is this ceremony,” Mira asked Fortst and the other students.

“I’m not exactly sure,” Rowland said. “No one who goes through it is supposed to talk about it. Only thing I know for sure is its name, The Synthesis.”

“What are we supposed to do now?” she asked.

“Sit tight and wait for Corey to return,” Fortst said, cloaked in his long trench coat and sitting against a tree.

“All my life I’ve only ever seen Corey on Final Trial day, so it must be a big deal,” Aoi said.

“One more question. What do we do tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow The Shadowing will begin. We each go our separate ways in search of a mentor to guide us, and we become their shadow,” Will said.

“Wait, “synthesis” means coming together, so we come together only to separate right after? That doesn’t make sense,” Mira said.

“If it doesn’t make sense then at least it fits in with everything else we do,” Will said, shrugging.

“How does it work, finding a mentor? Who will be my mentor?” Mira asked.

“You find someone who has a similar power as yours. Like Roselyn is going to be Corey’s shadow, because he controls sound and her power comes through her voice. Do you see how that works?”

“It’s going to be awesome!” Roselyn interjected.

“Some of us have had these arrangements for years. You are a special case, so I have no idea what you’re going to do,” Will said.

Mira didn’t know either, and this seemed like just one more thing she would have trouble figuring out because she was different. She didn’t want to let her friends down, so she would have to be good at it, whatever it was.

The sun hung low in the sky and already had an orange tint. Some of the students slept on the grass, others played silly games and talked to pass the time. Like Fortst, Mira surveyed them from a nearby tree. She tried to think of what it meant to be a leader. She tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. It seemed difficult and tricky. None of the answers she thought of seemed exactly right.

The sound of crickets and chirping birds echoed through the dusky sky. The temperature cooled, and the students started a small fire. A few of Corey’s men appeared with heavy logs in their arms. They dumped them in an open space on the ground, and then asked Mira for help before going back for more.

“Me? Sure,” she said, catching up with them. They walked to a small lumberyard, where an imposing stack waited to be carried. Thinking it would take forever, Mira hefted a log and wrestled with it all the way back. She dropped it on the ground and went back for more, but this time Vern and a few others followed her. They each deposited a log on the pile, and this time the rest of the students got up to help.

They all grabbed logs from the pile, and it only took a few trips for the stack to be completely moved to the pile in the glade. Corey’s men adjusted it a little, standing the logs on end and building them up into a spire. By the time they finished, no light from the sun remained. Instead fifteen torches formed a semi-circle around the center, but only one on the end had been lit.

“I think it’s going to begin. Each of you get to a torch,” Fortst whispered, pointing Mira to the one on the end. She stood by the pole under the light of the flame. Everyone could see her, but she couldn’t see anything. Hushed voices murmured around her, and Mira felt as nervous as she did before the Final Trial.

The voices stopped suddenly, and only a slight breeze swept into their ears. Mira looked into the darkness, thinking she saw something. The pitch black seemed darker, and she guessed that Corey had come. Knowing that the only light shone on her, she maintained her poise and kept silent.

A bass sound, low but deep, charged into their ears. They looked to that spot in the darkness like it would birth the coming sun. The low rumbling grew louder and transformed into a hymn. A meditative sound of hope and faith rose up to the web, and each of the fifteen students felt compelled to join in. The sound echoed among them and amplified until a single note, solemn and true, washed over them all.

They held the note until their lungs expelled the last ounce of breath. Though silence resumed, the space they inhabited felt less lonely and less fearful. They inhaled the clean, refreshing air, and waited for Corey to proceed. When he spoke, they all felt in their hearts that they could see him. Though no light shone on him, they could see the cloak, the bandage, and the prickly, grizzled face in their minds.

“The end of the beginning. You’ve made it this far despite pain, fatigue, stress, and sorrow. And this road has not been easy. At times, your bodies have been injured, your minds have been confused, and your spirits have been dampened. What’s more, you have long inflicted these miseries on each other. Ruthlessly, selfishly, and heartlessly, you have subjected each other to the greatest torments at your disposal. And it’s only natural that grudges and grievances developed as a result.

“This ceremony is “The Synthesis,” when we look upon those experiences and the feelings they spawned with mature eyes. We will come to a new understanding of their purpose, and that will allow forgiveness to take root. Only then can you go out into a world that knows nothing of justice and offers little sympathy for the weak.

“I invite you to think for a moment about your greatest failure. These memories never lie far from the surface, but bring it up and let it stay with you here in the night. Remember that moment when everything collapsed around you and everything you wanted slipped away. Who stood over you triumphantly? Who conquered you, even if just for that instant? No doubt that person is here tonight. Whoever it was, he or she was the best teacher of the world that you could ever imagine. To face a loss, to know defeat, and to feel the stinging anguish of regret, these are what await you beyond. Without knowing it, you have all worked tirelessly for each other’s benefit.”

Under the flame, Mira thought back to her helpless and pitiful loss to Vern. She couldn’t see him, but she wondered if he thought about her too, or how many others experienced their greatest defeat on this day.

“You should thank that person for the service they did you. Though you were not the winner, that lesson will prove to be a much greater prize. Search that person out and thank them now.”

Surprised by the command, Mira started to venture into the darkness. The sound of feet shuffling through the grass and nervous chatter came nearer though, and so she stayed near the flame. Faces became visible, and they began to look for each other.

“Thank you,” one voice said, and then another, and then it came from everywhere.

“Remember that time when we were seven? Thank you.”

Mira saw Aoi thank Chucky, and then Roselyn popped into view.

“Thank you,” she demurred. “You taught me that I can’t just rely on my gift.”

Mira smiled and nodded at her before seeing Vern in the distance. They caught eyes and walked toward each other.

“Thank you,” they said at the same time. The chatter died down, and Mira heard her classmates shuffle away.

“Good,” Corey resumed. “Remember this and realize you have always had each other’s best interest at heart, even if your mind carried something else entirely. The bonds between you must be unshakeable, because someday they may be the only thing you have left. Now, your time as a student of this academy has come to an end, and I release you to find a mentor for personal study before joining with the great forces of our land to defend our freedom. Take up your torches.”

Corey instructed them to circle around the tower and light their torches from Mira’s. As each student approached her, and they locked eyes for a moment, they were to say, “By my burning spirit, I exist in light.”

The glowing embers fanned out and formed a ring. Holding their torches out in front, they felt the heat on their skin. Each face carried depth and promise with the yellow and orange tones.

“Fire is just like water. If you put two drops of water together, they join in a way that makes it impossible to tell they had ever been separate. And fire is no different. On my command, move inward and lose your flame to the indistinguishing blaze, and in so doing cast off your selfishness and your pride!”

Following his instructions, each student took a step forward at the same time. After each step, they chanted, “When my light is gone, all that remains is shadow.” They took several steps in, letting the words echo through their ears and minds, but then Corey released an unexpected, alarmed gasp and stared off into the night.