The Orphan Wars (Book One) (2 page)

"So why are we here in the first place?
" asked Nemeth angrily.  "Can you possibly be any more insensitive Crimlore?  I'm guessing you won't be attending the graduation ceremony either."

Nemeth
looked up at Crimlore and saw a look of despair on his face.

"
No, I'm stuck guarding the dorm," replied Crimlore.  "While there may be no students inside to protect, that doesn't mean that there won't be thieves trying to sneak in and steal things from your rooms.  Now go on and hurry to the graduation ceremony!"

"Right, that's exactly what I'm going to do!" exclaimed Nemeth.  "Just remember why you're here at the academy too!  You need to be a hero and stand guard at the
one place that needs absolutely no protection at all!  Have fun!"

A look of surprise came across Crimlore's face.  Before Crim
lore could respond, Nemeth made his way past him and walked outside of the dormitory gates.  Suddenly, it dawned on Nemeth that since he was ranked number one, he had to give a speech in front of hundreds of other graduates.  He was supposed to speak about how he achieved what he did and how the rest of the students can accomplish the same.  Nemeth was known to procrastinate often, but he had prepared nothing at all for his speech.  But with Nemeth's level of intelligence, he was certain that he would have no problem doing an improvisation of the entire speech.  Regardless, Nemeth was feeling nervous due to the recent confrontation with Rorok and the upcoming speech.  He needed to calm down before heading over to the graduation ceremony.

Nemeth
started to walk east to Dynia's Pond, which was a short distance from his dormitory.  He looked back in the distance at his residence and thought more about the past experiences he had there.  A lot of the students disliked Nemeth.  He often felt tormented by them.  However, he always felt great pleasure in getting revenge on them.  He had lived in Justile Dormitory ever since he left the safety of Kokinos Nursery but had changed rooms each year.  It seemed that even though he had seen Justile Dormitory in the distance so many times before, he got more impressed with each look at the dorm's spiraling tower shape that seemed high enough to pierce into the clouds above.  Nemeth only lived on the second floor, but frequently made his way to the top floor so he could gaze out at all of the surrounding lands in the distance.  He desperately wanted to travel to these other lands.  He felt that his parents were still alive somewhere out there.  He believed that he would be able to find them one day and gain the love and affection that he was currently missing in his life.

At the very top of the dormitory there stood a giant turquoise crystal
.  This was one of the Spiro Crystals.  The Spiro Crystals possessed magical energy that protected Justile Dormitory from dangerous attacks.  In fact, all of the dormitories at the academy had one of these crystals.  It was quite a spectacle to see one of the Spiro Crystals attack any threats that it deemed to be dangerous.  The end result was almost certain decimation for the threat.

After a short trip through a s
mall wooded area, Nemeth finally arrived at Dynia's Pond.  Being at Dynia's Pond always gave Nemeth a calming feeling inside whenever he visited it.  This was appropriate considering Dynia was the Goddess of Tranquility.  Usually there were lots of people at the pond, but since it was graduation day it was empty.  Nemeth kneeled down by the pond, closed his eyes, folded his hands together and began to pray to Dynia.  A vision of a beautiful, calm night slowly entered Nemeth's mind.  He began to hear a soothing voice.  It was the voice of Dynia.

"Welcome back child," said Dynia.  "I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get any visitors today.  How can I help you?"

"Hello Dynia," replied Nemeth.  "I'm still trying to deal with the pressure of being a student here.  I also have to give a graduation speech soon and because of these things my anxiety is unbearable.  Oh great goddess, please use your powers of tranquility to allow me to get through these difficult times.  I apologize if these things sound insignificant to you."

"I shall grant you what you desire," repli
ed Dynia.  "I know that you have been continuing to train to become a warrior.  Let me remind you that I detest violence.  I am only granting you this favor because of your continued kindness towards me.  I hope that you will soon shift focus on becoming a healer instead before you are forever corrupted by the ways of the warrior.  If that happens, I am not sure if I can help you anymore.  For now, continue to close your eyes and relax.  I will do the rest."

The vision of the beautiful, calm night became more intense.  A soft blue light appeared in the vision.  Nemeth began to feel weightless
and his anxiety left his body and mind.

"Open your eyes child," said Dynia.  "I have relieved you of your worries for now.  Please come back and visit me soon."

Nemeth unfolded his hands, opened his eyes and stood up.  He was definitely relieved of his stress and was ready to take on the rest of the day.

"Thank you for your help great goddess Dynia," said Nemeth.  "I ho
pe that one day I get to see what you look like."

"You amuse me child," replied Dynia.  "You know that the gods and goddesses cannot reveal themselves to mortals.  Just remember that when you are here, I am all around you.  Farewell for now child…"

Nemeth was pleased that Dynia had responded to his prayer.  Not surprisingly, this made Dynia his favorite goddess.  Most of the other gods and goddesses never responded to his prayers.  Nemeth expected that since he was so talented that each and every god and goddess should grant him their time anytime he wished.  For a 10 year old child, he certainly had an inflated sense of entitlement.

After pacing around the pond for a bit, Nemeth headed
south to The Great Hall of Athos where the ceremony was to take place.  The Great Hall of Athos was a large oval building where most of the school's social events took place.  Nemeth approached the main entrance which was manned by two guards.  The two guards appeared to be in their late teens and both of them were carrying swords.

"Whoa, stop right there kid!" commanded one of the guards.  "The graduation ceremony is about to begin.  Nobody is allowed in right now.
  You're going to have to turn around and leave."

"Yeah, that's right!" exclaimed the other guard.  "There's no way you can go inside now.  You should have gotten here on time like everyone else did."

Nemeth began to clear his throat loudly.  He then started to point repeatedly to the insignia of D'hal Natar on his uniform.

"
The guest of honor can never be considered late," replied Nemeth.  "Let me in there right now."

The two guards looked at Nemeth's unif
orm.  A look of concern came over both of them.  Nemeth gave a look of contempt at them.

"
I apologize to you," replied the first guard.  "I really am sorry!"

"I'm sorry too," replied the second guard.  "I'
m much sorrier than him!  You must be Kenneth, the head of the third year class!"

Nemeth roll
ed his eyes and folded his arms.  He shook his head in disappointment at both of the guards.

"That's sort of close," replied Nemeth.  "You got the part right about me being head of the third year class.  But my name isn't Kenneth.  My name is Nemeth.  What are your names?
  I'd like to inform Professor Phantas that you're both doing an excellent job guarding the main entrance.  We're very close and he values my opinions greatly.  You might even get promoted when I tell him about the fine job you're doing."

"I'm Stelios," replied the first guard.
  "Once again I'm very sorry."

"
My name is Jaumet," replied the second guard.  "We would appreciate it if you put in a good word for us."

"These guards are complete idiots,"
whispered Nemeth to himself.  "I'll inform Professor Phantas for sure.  I'll inform him of how awful of a job they are doing.  They'll be lucky to get a job cleaning the shower rooms in the dorms after this."

"So I may proceed inside then?" asked Nemeth.

The guards nodded their heads in agreement and opened the main entrance to the Great Hall of Athos for Nemeth.  Nemeth winked at them and then scurried in through the main entrance.

Nemeth began to look around
the room.  The interior was beautifully decorated with an assortment of valuable paintings and statues.  He noticed that there were large tables in the corner that appeared to have a variety of delicious food on them.  The pleasant smell of the feast filled the air.

Nemeth made his way over to one of the tables
.  He grabbed the first piece of food that he saw.  It was a large roasted turkey leg.  He began to devour the turkey leg when all of a sudden he felt someone tap him on his back.  Nemeth turned around and saw Professor Nomiki.  She was the Defensive Magic professor for third year students.  Nemeth stared at her gaunt face and continued to chomp on the turkey leg.

"The feast ended about ten minutes ago,"
said Professor Nomiki.  "The tables are going to be cleaned off momentarily, so no more food for you.  That should teach you a lesson about being tardy.  You're going to have to take your seat now."

Nemeth walked over to the rows of seats where the other students were
already sitting.  Most of them were chatting amongst one another.  Nemeth decided that he should find his friend Bastilone and have a quick chat with him before taking his seat.  Nemeth spotted Bastilone almost instantly.  Bastilone was the tallest and strongest student out of the third year class which made him stand out in the crowd easily.  Nemeth noticed that Bastilone was looking in his direction.  Nemeth signaled with his hands for Bastilone to come over.  Bastilone stood up from his seat and maneuvered his way towards Nemeth.  He accidentally bumped into most of the students sitting down in his row.

"
Hey Nemeth!" exclaimed Bastilone.  "A bit late aren't you?  I thought you weren't going to make it here."

"Ah, whatever," replied Nemeth.  "All that matters is I'm here though.
  How have you been?"

"
I've got some great news!" exclaimed Bastilone.  "I'm ranked number 49 in the class this year!  It feels good to be in the top 50.  But even with that good news in mind, I can't wait until this thing is over with so we can go celebrate at the parties tonight!  Then tomorrow we finally get to go outside the gates go on our class trip!  We get to go to Gunnhild Beach this year for an entire week!  Ah, it's just our luck that us third year students were chosen to have their graduation ceremony on the last day!  The students from every other grade are already outside the gates on their vacations."

"Hey listen up," whispered
Nemeth.  "We need to lower our voices.  I've got some things that are pretty urgent that I need to tell you.  I don't need anyone else hearing what I'm about to tell you.  First of all, congratulations on ranking number 49.  Second of all, I really don't feel like giving this speech.  I guess the sooner I get done with it, the sooner we get to relax.  It's been such a rough year.  I really just want to go back to my dorm room and sleep.  When I'm refreshed enough, I want to finalize my plan to escape from this place.  I want you to leave this place with me and never look back."

"You know that escaping from here is impossibl
e," whispered Bastilone.  "You'd have an easier chance getting away with murder here than being able to pull off a successful escape.  You know that it's punishable by death.  Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

"
Oh come on," whispered Nemeth.  "You know that's not true.  There have been students that tried to escape from here and succeeded.  It is a risk I'm willing to take.  I'm tired of all of the rules here.  I want to find out if I have a real family out there.  Don't you want to find out if your real family is alive as well?"

"
How many times do I have to tell you?" whispered Bastilone.  "My family is dead.  No student in this entire school has a family.  We're all orphans.  We were all brought here to get a second chance at life."

"How can you still believe the lies they have told us?" whispered Nemeth.  "All of our families cannot possibly be dead.  I don't believe that they abandoned us here as babies either.  There are thousands of students here.  Surely at least one of us has a living famil
y member outside of Lord Dragomir's Academy."

"You're probably right," whispered Bastilone.  "
We probably both have family members alive.  It could be an aunt, a brother, who knows really.  I'm up for trying to escape but we probably need to wait a few years to gain enough power to succeed.  The youngest student I recall who succeeded in escaping was Mahon.  He was 12 years old and a fifth year student."

"Don't underestimate our capabilities," whispered Nemeth.  "If we manage to
escape, that means we'll break the record for the youngest people to escape from Lord Dragomir's Academy."

Professor Nomiki approached Nemeth and Bastilone.  She placed her cold, clammy hands on their shoulders.

"Boys, take your seats right now!" exclaimed Professor Nomiki.  "I'm sure whatever it is you are talking about you can finish talking about later."

"Sure thing Professor Nomiki," said Bastilone.  "I was just wishing Nemeth good luck with his speech."

Bastilone turned around and made his way back to his seat.  Nemeth didn't feel like staring at Professor Nomiki's grotesque face again, so he looked down at his feet.

"
I'll just be headed to my seat now," said Nemeth.  "Thanks for all of your help Professor Nomiki.  What would I do without you?"

Nemeth
promptly made his way to the front row where the most prestigious students were sat.  Nemeth sat down in his chair which he found to be surprisingly comfortable and looked out in front towards the stage.  In his peripheral vision, he could see that Rorok was sitting in the chair to his right.  He hoped that Rorok wouldn't bother him anymore.

"Don't trip when you go up on stage," whispered Rorok.  "You wouldn't want that to happen two years in a row now would you?"

"I should have kicked your teeth in earlier," whispered Nemeth.  "Now shut up otherwise we're both going to get in trouble."

A purple
light began to appear on stage.  Its color grew in intensity and suddenly Professor Phantas, magically appeared on the stage.  The purple light then vanished.  Professor Phantas was wearing a crimson colored uniform similar to Nemeth's but with multiple golden insignias of D'hal Natar on it.  His presence on stage was the indication that the ceremony was to begin immediately.

"Attention everyone
!" exclaimed Professor Phantas.  "Everyone please be quiet and settle down!  Eyes up here everyone!"

The chat
ter amongst the students came to a sudden halt.  Each student sat facing forward in their seats and looked at Professor Phantas.  The remaining guests also became silent and focused on Professor Phantas.

"
Greetings to everyone here today," said Professor Phantas.  "It is a great pleasure for me to be here at the graduation ceremony for the third year students.  This will be the final graduation ceremony for the year as the previous grades have already had their ceremonies over the past week.  I do not want any members of the third year class to think that because their ceremony is last, that they are in any way less important than the other classes.  I must remind you all that your graduation date was randomly picked.  As chance would have it, you were chosen to graduate on the last date."

Professor Phantas pointed towards
the section of seats reserved for professors, staff and guests.

"
As you can see, we are not alone here today," continued Professor Phantas.  "I would like to see the highest level of respect from each and every one of you towards our guests.  Now, I would like to announce the final scores for the dormitories to determine which dormitory wins the Victory Chalice.  In sixth place, with a total of 4,500 points, represented by the colors indigo and purple, we have the girls of Harmonia Dormitory.  In fifth place, with a total of 5,000 points, represented by the colors yellow and pink, we have the girls of Baskara Dormitory.  In fourth place, with a total of 6,000 points, represented by the colors orange and green, we have the boys of Govannon Dormitory.  In third place, with a total of 6,750 points, represented by the colors brown and black, we have the boys of Terminus Dormitory.  In second place, with a total of 8,250 points, represented by the colors silver and white, we have the girls of Zenith Dormitory.  In first place, with a total of 9,000 points, represented by the colors blue and grey, we have the boys of Justile Dormitory."

The color of the large flags on stage changed from black to blue and grey to represent Justile Dormitory coming out victorious.
  Cheers began to erupt from the Justile Dormitory students.

"Congratulations to Justile Dormitory for coming in first place!" exclaimed Professor Phantas.
  "I will have one of the professors deliver the Victory Chalice to Justile Dormitory so it can be proudly displayed there.  It is now time for each student to come up on stage and receive their diplomas."

Each student was called up to receive their diplomas in a most unusual manner.
  The obsession with ranking people at Lord Dragomir's Academy seemed to be present everywhere.  Instead of going alphabetically by name, students were called up by rank starting from lowest to highest.  This was written into the code of conduct ever since the academy was constructed over 100 years ago.  It was created to teach a harsh lesson to those students who did not work hard enough or did not work smart enough.  That meant that Nemeth would be called up last.  He would then have to proceed with his speech, which he still had not given much thought about.

One by one, each student came up to get their diplomas. 
There was a name for the students who were ranked in the bottom half of the class.  They were known as The Underachievers.  Professor Phantas enjoyed insulting anyone who was one of The Underachievers or any student he just had a personal distaste for.  Professor Phantas had an uncanny ability to remember the painful events that happened in people's lives and would use that against them.  There were special guests in attendance who were unaware of the overall corruption going on at the academy.  Professor Phantas intended on keeping anything bad that happened at the academy as a secret for as long as he could.

He wanted to punish certain students for not achieving the level of
success he needed them to be at.  At the same time, he wanted to hide this from the guests.  To accomplish this, he had to use his telepathic abilities.  When a student that Professor Phantas disliked would approach the stage, he would gaze into their eyes and cast the Telepathic Connection spell on them.  This spell allowed Professor Phantas to trigger the painful memory at any time he wanted to.  He avoided setting the time immediately or anytime today so that the guests would not see the torture being inflicted.

The actions of Professor
Phantas greatly amused Nemeth.  He could hardly contain his laughter knowing that Professor Phantas was secretly torturing his underachieving classmates.  Only Nemeth and a few other students were privy to the information about Professor Phantas' telepathic torture abilities.  Since Nemeth was usually on Professor Phantas' good side, he wouldn't have to worry about the spell.  Finally, it was time for Nemeth to receive his diploma, just after Rorok had stepped down off stage to receive his.  Nemeth had just realized he was still holding the turkey leg he was eating earlier.  He slid part of the turkey leg up his right sleeve to try and conceal it.  Nemeth stood up and walked over to Rorok and he was walking off stage.

"Congratulations buddy," said Nemeth.  "I think we should shake hands and put the
past behind us."

Nemeth extended his hand to Rorok.  Rorok hesitated at first, but then shook Nemeth's hand.  Nemeth slid the turkey leg out of his right sleeve into Rorok's hand and then let go.
Nemeth winked at Rorok and then made his way up on stage.  Nemeth approached Professor Phantas and was ready to accept his diploma from him.  Professor Phantas was more than happy to present him with the diploma.

"
Once again, I need everyone to please focus your full attention up here!" Professor Phantas shouted to the crowd.  "Please focus your attention up here for a speech by the student that is ranked number one.  I doubt this student needs an introduction, but I shall give him one anyway.  Everyone please give a round of applause to Justile Dormitory's very own Nemeth!"

"Well I do
n't have anything prepared for this speech still," whispered Nemeth to himself.  "It's time for some good old improvisation."

"Thank you Professor Phantas," said Nemeth. 
"It is truly an honor for each and every one of us to be in the presence of a man as great as Professor Phantas.  He is truly a great headmaster and a wonderful mentor.  We can only hope that one day we can grow to be as magnificent as him.  When I was asked to deliver this speech, I didn't think of it as a burden.  I considered it to be an opportunity instead.  I was more than happy to once again be given the chance to deliver a speech to the graduating class.  I was told that the topic I needed to speak to you about was how to achieve the level of success that I have attained.  I stand before you ranked number one out of all of the third year students here at Lord Dragomir's Academy.  So how can anybody else achieve what I have done?  The answer is actually much simpler than you would think.  To answer that question, I need you to face the truth.  The truth is that nobody can ever achieve the level of success that I have reached.  I'm far too advanced compared to the rest of you.  Nobody here can ever catch up to my level of skill.  There's no need to panic though.  It is important to remember that each and every student has a special role here at Lord Dragomir's Academy.  With enough effort, maybe twenty years from now you'll be able to fight as well as I can right now.  But realistically, you'll all probably just end up failing.  And because of that failure, you'll wind up cleaning the dining hall or the dormitories while I continue to get all of the praise.  Face the facts!  You can never make an impact in this world as great as mine!  I am truly the…"