“So, how goes the friend hunt?” says the Captain from behind his desk. He’s sitting in a small office chair with his feet up on the table, and his green jacket is hanging on the back of the seat, revealing his white button-up shirt.

“What are you doing here, Susurrans?” I ask.

“First off, come in and shut the door already. Secondly, while in uniform, it’s ‘Captain Bellum’. And lastly, I’m here to sign you up for classes.”

I gawk at him for a second before finally shutting the door and taking a seat. The room we're in is fairly small. There’s a large metal desk in the center, with a computer and several picture frames on it. There are two metallic seats in front of the desk and one in the corner to my right. In the back two corners are filling cabinets, each with little knick knacks on top of them. The walls are the same white as out front, and the one on the left has a thumb board with various papers on it.

“Okay, but what are you doing here?” I ask as I stare at him some more.

“What? I can’t come and visit after all this time?”

“It’s only been a few hours,” I reply flatly.

“And what a few hours they have been,” he says with a large smile on his face. He drops his feet to the floor and leans his elbows onto the desk. “I was planning on doing this anyway, so once I dropped you off, I made my way here. But I have other business to attend to later, and I couldn’t wait for you to be called normally. So I bumped you to the top of the list.”

“Is that why I was getting weird looks from everyone?”

“It wasn’t very alphabetical, now was it?”

“I guess not.” If I knew what the alphabet was I would get it, but I don't. Captain Bellum gives a small laugh before he turns to the computer and begins typing away.

“So… classes. Do you know what you want yet?”

“Umm…”

“You went to sleep during orientation, didn’t you?” he asks as he glances at me from the screen.

“Y-yeah, but I couldn't help it! It was so boring and-”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says with a small grin. “Most people fall asleep during it anyway. Plus, you just made me some money, so don’t worry about it too much.”

“How did I make you some money?”

“So! You’re going to need an English class,” he says while ignoring my question. “Let’s see. Ah, bingo! Reading and Writing Fundamentals; check. How good are you at math?”

“I know some numbers…”

“Pre-algebra Fundamentals then; check. What do you think about history?”

“Uh…”

“History 101; got it. Do you like science?”

“…”

“Well?”

“I don’t know…”

“Great! You’re doing Science Fundamentals. Have you ever used a computer before?”

“Once…”

“Awesome! Typing 101 it is then. Now, before we sign up for an elective, I have to check something,” he says as he pulls out a metal contraption and sets it on the table. The main part of the device is a flat metallic box, about five centimeters thick, forty centimeters wide, and thirty centimeters long. Half of its top is taken up by a black screen, and the other half has a few knobs and buttons on it. A long, thick black wire comes out from the side, and ends in a metallic cylinder with a red button on the end and grooves along the side, making it easier to hold on to.

“Okay, what I need you to do is to hold onto this handle and squeeze real hard. Don’t let go of the handle until I say so, and don’t press the red button. Got it?” I nod and take the cold handle into my hand, then squeeze as hard as possible. He pushes a green button, and the screen flips up, facing the Captain. Once up, the screen begins to glow green and the Captain begins to twist the knobs. After a few seconds, I feel a jolt of energy hit my hand and I jump up with a small yell. At the same time, the back of the box explodes and sends a billow of black smoke into the air. Soon after, an alarm goes off and sprinklers begin drenching the room.

“What’s going on?!” I yell over the water. The Captain’s about to answer, but is cut off when the door’s kicked in. I turn to see a two meter tall metallic man standing in the doorway. He has two large yellow lights for eyes, and lacks any other major facial features. The body is made entirely of metal that is painted all black, with a white stripe going down the left side of the chest and ending with a gold badge in the middle.

“You are in danger,” it says in a monotone voice as it picks me up and carries me out of the room on its shoulder. I try to squirm out of its grasp, but no matter how hard I try, it won’t budge. I’m brought back to the waiting room from earlier, and am set down in the front of the now-wet group. Everyone is standing and talking very loudly to one another, while the man in grey tries to calm them down. There are four more of the metallic men standing in the corners of the room, with four closet-size holes in the wall behind them. Once the man in grey sees me, he comes straight over, rage covering his face.

“What on Terra happened in there?!” he yells at me.

Before I can answer, Captain Bellum walks up beside me and says, “Just a little mishap with the potestatem reader, nothing big.”

Before the man in grey can yell a response, a flash draws all of our attention. Standing on the Mico platform is Altum Stans, looking really pissed off. He takes one look around, then makes his way to the nearest closet and enters it. After a few seconds, the water stops spraying and all the metallic men walk back into their closets, with the doors sliding shut behind them. Altum walks back out and storms over to me, staring daggers.

He stops in front of me and asks, “Care to explain why an entire floor of the school is now soaking wet?”

“Well…”

“He blew up a potestatem reader.” I swing my head to Captain Bellum in astonishment. Great! He’s going to blame this on all me! I really don’t like this guy.

Altum looks from Bellum, to me, and then back to him. “That’s impossible; no one can blow those up. They’re made to withstand power levels even I can’t reach.”

“If you don’t believe me, go and check for yourself,” Bellum says with a smug look as he crosses his arms.

Altum points at me and says, “Don’t move,” as he quickly walks down the hall to the room. Captain Bellum looks to me and gives me a small smile before he follows after him. As they leave, Inficiunt and Eximius approach me from out of the group, looking very concerned.

“What - in all of Terra - happened in there?” asks Eximius.

“Yeah! And how do we turn the sprinklers back on?!” asks Inficiunt, only to get a quick glare from Eximius.

“I don’t know! I was signing up for classes, and he told me to squeeze this metal thing. Then it exploded, everything started getting wet, and I get dragged out by a metal man!” I yell back, but glare at Inficiunt as he begins to giggle. “What is so funny?” At this, Inficiunt breaks into another fit of laughter, while Eximius is trying his best to hold his own back, but is failing. Before either of them are able to recover, Altum and Captain Bellum return from the room and approach the three of us.

“You’re coming with us,” Altum says coldly. He then turns and approaches the man in grey, who is in the back of the room, talking with students. Both Inficiunt and Eximius stop laughing and turn to Captain Bellum.

“Miles isn’t in trouble, is he?” asks Inficiunt.

“No, he’s not in trouble, but we do need to have a word with him in private,” replies Captain Bellum as he begins to walk to the back of the room, rubbing his chin while thinking deeply.

“Well, I guess I should follow them,” I say to Eximius and Inficiunt. “I’ll see you guys around.”

“Definitely!” says Inficiunt. “You can find me in the performing arts floor anytime.”

“And you can find me on the arcane science floor almost any time as well, so be sure to stop by sometime,” says Eximius as he gives me a broad smile.

“Miles, let’s get going!” yells Altum from the platform. I shrug and give a small smile to Eximius and Inficiunt as I make my way onto the platform, and disappear in another flash.

From the theater, we make our way to another platform and teleport to a room similar to the one we just left, except this one is much smaller, with different pictures hanging on the walls… and it’s dry. We make our way down to the end of the hall and make a left. This hall only has one door, which is at the end.

“Susurrans,” says Altum as we make our way down the hall, “why are you still here?”

“Because I know how much you love having me around,” he replies with a smug smile. Altum shakes his head and grumbles to himself as we approach the door.

The door slides opens to reveal another one of the offices, except that this one is much better furbished. The back wall is covered by a bookshelf, while the side walls have numerous plaques and framed pieces of paper. In the center of the room is a metal desk with a single computer. Altum sits in the seat behind the desk and begins typing away, while Captain Bellum and I sit in the seats in front.

A few moments go by before I ask, “Am I in trouble?”

Altum lets out a long sigh before replying. “Maybe. We have to check something first.” As he finishes with whatever he was typing, he pulls out another one of the potestatem readers. “First, we have to make sure that you didn't cheat,” he says while glancing at Bellum.

I grab the metal handle bar and nod to Altum, who is about to turn the machine on when Captain Bellum yells, “Wait, wait, wait!” and quickly runs out of the room. A minute later, he comes back and says to Altum, “OK, go ahead.”

“What did you do?” Altum asks.

“I turned the fire alarm off for the floor.”

“Why would you… never mind. Let’s just get this over with,” Altum says as he makes the screen flip up and begins twisting knobs.

“We’re waiting on you,” says Captain Bellum as he takes his seat.

“Shut up. Okay, just hold onto the handle and don’t press the red button,” he says to me while pushing buttons and twisting knobs. Once done, he looks to me while hovering his finger over the green button. I tighten my grasp on the handle and give him a nod, getting him to press the button. Once again, a jolt of energy makes me jump out of my seat as the back of the box explodes, sending smoke into the room. Having no escape, smoke quickly fills the room, and we are forced to leave. Once we’re a safe distance away from the smoke - and our coughing has subsided - Altum looks at me with disbelief.

“I don’t get *cough cough* it. How could you have so much power at such a young age? This is - *cough* - this is unbelievable!” Altum says while trying to regain his composure. I look down at my hands in disbelief. Power? I never thought I was strong, but the way he makes it sound, I don’t know what to think…

“Am I going to be okay?” I ask.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” says Captain Bellum. “Unless you’re using magic you don't understand, you shouldn't have any problems. But when you use magic, just…” He trails off as he walks slowly away, rubbing his chin.

“So, I am going to be able to use magic?” I ask.

“At your level, yeah. Magic won’t be a problem for you,” Captain Bellum says, returning his gaze to me. Altum looks at me for a second before walking off into one of the rooms in the main hallway. Captain Bellum and I exchange a glance before following him. We enter a room similar to the room where I first tried the potestam reader, except this one is barren. Altum is typing away on a computer, so Captain Bellum walks up behind him and brings his face down to read the screen better. After a few more moments of typing and clicking, Altum leans back and looks at Bellum. Bellum looks over the screen for a bit before he stands straight and walks away, rubbing his chin again.

“With his kind of power, you know it wouldn't be a problem,” says Altum as he leans his chin on one hand.

“I know, but…”

“But what? I put in some time for him to learn the basics. Once he learns to control his power, this won’t be a problem.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“He wants to put you in the high honors class,” Captain Bellum says.

“Only after you learn some basics from arcane kindergarten,” Altum cuts in.

“He’s going to miss out on too much!" Captain Bellum yells at Altum as he paces back and forth.

“Pfft, please. If we were to keep him in such a remedial class, it would only serve to hold him back.”

“It’s more than the basics, Altum; he’s going to miss out on different spells.”

“He can learn them whenever.”

“What about power control? That’s not something you can learn in a week, even if you were to study it constantly - you have to build it up over time!” Altum thinks about this for a few seconds, before his face lights up with an idea and he runs out towards the smoky room.

“Can you use magic?” I ask. Captain Bellum looks down at me and thinks for a second before he answers.

“Yeah.”

“How long did it take you to get control of it?”

He looks away for a while before turning back to me and saying, “It took me a month.”

“Only one month?” He nods. “Well, why don’t I just try it out for that long and see how I do? Then I can choose whether or not to go to that class.”

“It’s not that simple. I had… an amazing teacher…” He turns away from me as Altum returns to the room and dumps a bunch of stuff onto the desk. There are two dark grey metal rings, four brass braces, two silver rings, and one long metal cylinder that has a black spot - with etchings all along it - wrapped around each end, near the edge.

Captain Bellum takes one look and is instantly angered. “Really, Altum? Potestam annuls?! You can’t be that stupid.”

Altum gives Captain Bellum an annoyed look and says, “Watch it, Susurrans. Also, he’s going to need them anyway after we mark him. Once he learns some control he can take them off.” Captain Bellum seems to accept this, but I’m a little worried. ‘Mark’ me? What the fuck does that mean? My concern must be pretty obvious, because Captain Bellum puts a hand on my shoulder and kneels down to be eye-level with me.

“Don’t worry. The marking hurts, but it only takes a short time.” Man I hate it when he does that. One minute he’s pulling jokes and being all sarcastic, and then at the drop of a hat, he gets all serious and sentimental.

“*sigh* Let’s just get it over with,” I say. Captain Bellum gives me another pat on the back before taking the cylinder and presenting it to me.

“Okay, so this is how it works. You see the blackened parts?” I nod. “You need to put your hands there and squeeze. Once you do, the black parts are going to turn red and sting a little. No matter what, you cannot let go until they turn back to black. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, but, what happens if I let go?”

Captain Bellum tightens his lips for a second before he says, “You could lose your soul.”

“WHAT!” I yell. “I could lose my soul?!” He nods. “Shouldn’t something like this be done, I don’t know, somewhere cleaner, or more… not so casual?”

“It wouldn’t matter,” says Altum as he gets out of the chair and stands behind Bellum. “In here, in a hospital, or in some gutter; it wouldn’t matter. To receive the mark, all you need is a Virgum de Marcas, and a soul.”

I can’t believe this. This feels kind of… out of place. I feel as if this should be done with a little more… I don’t know. I look to Captain Bellum, who only closes his eyes and nods to me. I sigh, taking the cylinder and place my hands at the appropriate places, then begin to squeeze. As I do so, I can feel the etchings in the metal dig into my skin a little. If this is the sting he was talking about, this won’t be so bad. Captain Bellum stands back and watches me closely as I hold onto the bar tightly.

A few moments go by and not much happens. I continue to squeeze, but my hands are starting to get tired. I look to Altum and ask, “How long am I going to have to keep this up?”

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” he says as he leans against the wall.

I sigh again and continue to squeeze. Hopefully, it will start soon. After a few minutes go by, my hands are begging me to let go. The only thing keeping them on is sheer will, and even that’s starting to fade. I look down to my hands and notice the marks are starting to turn red - finally!

“Hey, I think its star—AAAGGGHH!” I scream as I feel sharp pains on my hands. I look down to that see that the entire bar is now glowing bright red. In my pain I try to let go, but my hands aren’t able to leave the bar. It feels as if the metal has fused with my skin and is sucking all of the energy out of my body.

“Something’s not right here,” says Captain Bellum. “The entire bar isn’t supposed to glow!”

“With his power, it makes sense,” says Altum as he steps closer.

My hands begin to shake as I drop to my knees. This thing is going to suck all of the energy out of me, great. Fucking great. Suddenly, the bar turns bright white and begins to double the amount of energy it’s sucking from me. I look at my hands and see that they’ve turned bright red and have stopped shaking.

“This isn’t right… we have to stop!” says Captain Bellum. He tries reaching for me, only to be pulled back by Altum.

“Now who’s being stupid? We can't stop, you know that!”

Suddenly, the bar stops sucking energy, and is now just glowing white. Finally. As I take a moment to catch my breath, I look up to them and say, “*pant* I think…*pant* I think it’s done. That really su—AAAAAAGGGHH!” All of a sudden, jets of energy are being pushed back into me from the bar. Every push feels like hot needles being forced through my body. I look down at my hands to see black lines are forming along my arms. The lines are a few centimeters thick and don’t really follow any path. Some end in points, while others curve around my arm, but none of the lines ever cross.

With every wave of energy, the lines crawl up my arms some more, and my agony increases. The lines are three-fourths of the way up my arms when I begin to feel the same pain form on my heels. Before I can look down, a massive wave hits me and forces my eyes shut with pain.

“W-wh-what’s g-g-goi-ing on?” I plead, but get no response. Sweat is forming all over my body as I begin to shake a little from all this.

A few more waves hit me, and I look back at my arms and legs. The arm lines are now a little past my upper arms, while the leg lines are up to my knees… wait, I can see my knees! As the next wave hits me, I force myself to watch the lines on my legs. As they grow, they burn my clothes off. Somehow, my burning clothes don’t burn me. I look to Captain Bellum for answers, but see he’s left the room. I turn to Altum, but stop when I see his expression - he’s enjoying this. He has his arms somewhat crossed while he bites his left fingernails. His eyes are wide open and he has the most twisted smile I’ve ever seen.

A few more waves hit me, giving the same amount of pain as before. I’m now pouring sweat from all over and am on the verge of collapsing. Captain Bellum steps back in and takes his place next to Altum.

I look up to him and plead, “Please! M-make it st-stop!” He looks down at me with the saddest eyes before leaving the room again, followed by cries from me as the next wave hits.

Out of nowhere, the energy stops pouring into me; all I feel is the numbness of my body. The lines now completely cover my legs, arms, and chest. As I sit there, naked, I begin to relax, glad that it’s all over. I try to get up, but none of my limbs respond. So I sit in a pool of my sweat, happy to be done with it.

“Don’t get too comfy,” Altum says coldly. “You’ve got one more.” I look at him in disbelief, and scream at the top of my lungs as my back explodes in a burst of painful energy. Instead of being gradual like before, this one is taking up all of my back at once. As I scream out in pain, the lights begin to dim until they’re completely out. A few minutes after the lights go out, the pain stops and I drop the bar.

I look around and notice that light is now coming from me. I look down at my hands and see that each palm now has a set of black rings: one taking up most of my palm, and a smaller one inside of it. In-between are different symbols and glyphs, filling the empty space. From inside the center ring, white energy flows. It looks like a small campfire has formed in my hands, but it doesn’t burn me. I look at my heels to find similar rings have formed, with similar energy pouring out.

“Oh my,” Captain Bellum mutters from the doorway. I look at him and offer a small smile before passing out.

Next Chapter: Chaper 5 What Friends Are For Estimated time remaining: 87 Hours, 31 Minutes