The purples and oranges brilliantly mixed together on the canvas known as the sky, as it illuminated the world below, particularly a large campus. Its walls were made of light brown stone bricks, compact and rigid, not leaving a single exploitable gap. This tight phalanx of brick seemed able to weather even the most tumultuous of storm and stand proud for centuries without so much a crack. These held three gargantuan green, dome tile roofs, in place atop the building's geometrical layout. The sprawling campus was decorated with the gray bark of kauri pine trees and luscious, green grass as far as the eye can see. Students as old as seventeen and as young of seven could be seen, in various cliques enjoying the evening.
The Royal Alchemic Academy was a boarding school designed to house and educate children with alchemic abilities until they are able to become licensed alchemists. The curriculum lasts until they are the age of fourteen, or for two years if they are enrolled from the age of fourteen or older. The campus housed a main building used for certain lectures and various administrative jobs, multiple dorms divided by age and gender, a large field overlooking a lake and multiple smaller multi-purpose buildings. On the field were twenty adolescents in simple gray full body suits in a line with Akeelah standing in front of them.
"All right class today I will be assessing whether or not you were paying attention to anything I have been teaching you over the past year." Akeelah spoke in a serious tone causing a large amount of murmuring and shuffling. "Your assignment is simple; you will engage me in a duel to-"
"But miss Akeelah you're a Brigand how are we possible supposed to beat you. I mean this is obviously a near impossible task!" The short blond haired boy's voice was high pitched and full of resignation,
Akeelah 's left eye twitched in frustration before she spoke in a stern tone, "Emanuel if you interrupt me again, you'll be doing ten laps around the lake. Besides alchemists follow orders no matter what." This was enough to make Emanuel stop speaking and focus the students' attention on their teacher. "Before we begin, I'll give all of you an opportunity to improve your grades. Tell me the three truths that were discussed throughout this semester."
Before anyone even had a chance to come up with the idea of a response, a white-haired girl raised her hand and smiled innocently.
"Yes Daria, go ahead."
Daria smiled before clearing her throat, "Truth number one, alchemy is a biological function. According to the Association alchemy is mutation of the regular human gene. Truth number two, alchemy can neither create nor destroy matter only manipulate certain elements and in extremely rare cases elements. What an alchemist can manipulate is determined at birth. It has also been theorized that transmutation of one element to another is possible, but no tangible proof has been discovered. Truth number three, alchemy is divided into two distinct groups, internal and external. Internal alchemy allows for the manipulation of elements within the body, whereas external alchemy allows for the manipulation of elements outside the body. These two types are exclusive to each other, meaning an external alchemist can never manipulate their element inside of a living creature's body and an internal alchemist can only manipulate their element within a living creature's body."
"Very good Daria! Excellent work!"
Daria smiled before putting down her hand.
"Alright now that the formalities are over, let's get Hana first. Jeremy, can you make an arena please."
A tall, dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks simply nodded before placing his hands on the ground. Suddenly a large hole appeared in the ground behind them; various dirt seats surrounded the top of the hole directly underneath dirt statues of medieval knights.
"Were the knights really necessary?" Daria asked, Jermey simply nodded with toothy smile causing the girl to shake her head in disappointment. Akeelah and Hana were already in the arena looking directly at each other, Hana visibly nervous, her jet-black hair arranged in a ponytail. "The exam will now begin" Akeelah shouted before rushing forward.
Hana, surprised by Akeelah 's speed, jumped backwards before taking a deep breath. Upon landing she exhaled, spewing out a reddish-black vapor. Akeelah smiled before quickly taking a deep breath and continuing forward through the vapor. Hana, her vision obscured by the gas, intently watched to her left and right trying to anticipate where her teacher would appear. She, however, was left in shock when her teacher appeared through the gas only a few feet in front of her.
Due to her late reaction, she was barely able to block the right fist that was sent at her face, the weight of the punch however caused her to stumble backwards. Her vision suddenly went sideways, and she was falling after Akeelah 's leg sweep. She landed with a 'Thud' on her left hand but before she could react, Akeelah 's right leg was placed on her neck forcing her unto her back. Hana tried to grab Akeelah 's leg only for her to press down harder. After a few seconds Hana began vigorously tapping Akeelah 's leg causing her to remove her leg from her neck. Akeelah helped the girl who was coughing and breathing heavily before giving her a pat on the head. A choir of claps rang from the students alongside various cheers, causing Hana to blush before covering her face with her hands.
"Th-th-thank you." She said in a muffled, yet melodic.
Akeelah smiled before saying, "Alright people, stop gawking and let's get some analysis." This caused various audible laughs before Daria once again spoke up.
"That fight was a textbook example of how an alchemist should and shouldn't deal with a threat intent on a close-range battle. Hana correctly moved backwards and created even more space with that Bromine smokescreen. However, she remained way to close to the Bromine herself and incorrectly assumed that you were limited to only going around the Bromine unnecessarily dragging herself into hand-to-hand combat where she had a major disadvantage. Akeelah's smile grew even larger after hearing the analysis and she held her head high.
"Excellent analysis Daria, I might give you an A just for that!"
"Really?"
"No, of course not."
"Oh"
"Now then Hana, remember, your alchemy is internal, you can change oxygen into Bromine, so don't be afraid of taking a hit if it means getting rid of the oxygen in your opponent's lungs. Also, you need to start making Bromine faster and using it to control the tempo of the fight, imagine how differently that would've turned out if you had more bromine ready?"
She then turned to the rest of her students and said, "This goes for everyone with internal alchemy, your abilities only take place inside of living creatures you lack the speed advantage that external alchemists have. So, you either need to have an ability to helps you keep distance or stop being afraid of taking a hit. Good job Hana and I want Emmanuel next."
But Emmanuel, instead of entering the arena, tried running away. 'Yes, I escaped!' he thought to himself before he suddenly ran into a dirt wall and before he could process what just transpired Jermey and another dark-skinned boy held his arms and began dragging him into the arena. "NOOOOOO, I DON'T WANNA FIGHT HER! PLEASE" he pleaded to no avail, as he was even dragged down the arena's steps before he was released in the center of the arena. Once Jermey and the other boy reached the top, Jeremy placed his hand on the ground and with a low rumble the stairs that jutted out the side of the mud wall, merged back into it.
"Dammit!" Emmanuel cried before standing to his feet and entering a Southpaw boxing stance, then taking a deep breath.
"I hope you're ready." Akeelah shouted as she once again began running forward, rapidly closing the distance between the two. Emmanuel, unfazed by this, sent a left jab towards her face. She firmly planted her left leg in an L shape away from her right leg, before suddenly pushing off, barely moving her head out of the way of a loud 'BOOM' sound. Despite this Akeelah's left ear began bleeding, 'He's gotten better.' Akeelah thought to herself before blocking her face with her hands before suddenly getting blown backwards by another soundwave. With her right ear now bleeding, all the sound around her was replaced by intense ringing as Emmanuel now had a large smirk. She simply smiled before running forward once again, Emmanuel saying something that she didn't hear. As he was about to send a jab, Akeelah suddenly ran to the right causing the sound wave to miss her. When he sent a left, she repeated this movement precisely avoiding the sonic attack. As she got closer Emmanuel became more frantic, rapidly throwing his fists in Akeelah's direction, however this did little to stop her advance. Eventually she was within Jeremy's reach. Quickly she grabbed his extended left hand, placed her left leg a few inches away from his legs, turned anticlockwise and then pulled the boy's arm while she leaned forward. Due to her momentum Emmanuel was thrown in front of her and landed on his back. "Ow!" Emmanuel exclaimed as Akeelah grabbed his biceps and raised him up, before sliding her hands down to his forearms. She then pulled them toward herself before placing her right leg on his back and pushing him down to his knees.
"That's your exam, Emmanuel." She shouted, unable to hear Emmanuel 's response but noticed him attempting to stand. She put a little more force into her legs causing Emmanuel to lean forward and fall on his face. She then applied more force on Emmanuel's back and once again pulled his hands behind his back. After a few seconds of struggling and flailing Emmanuel eventually stopped moving, causing her to release his arms and take her leg off his back. Without being prompted Daria began quickly walking down the reintroduced stairs with a small, dead bird. She walked up to Akeelah and then touched the bird's body; two thin pieces of tissue were pulled out of its body and then sent into Akeelah 's ears.
"Can you hear now miss Akeelah?" Daria asked concerned, Akeelah simply smiled and patted her head. "
Yup, it's all better now." "It's a shame about the bird though."
Daria looked down at the bird with a wild, almost lustful smile, "Nothing in this world is freee, it was either your ears or the birdss." She exclaimed,her voice filled with yearning.
"Alright you little freak, calm down and go to your seat." Akeelah said a small bead of sweat rolling down her face. Daria quickly ran up the stairs, her eyes fixated on the bird writhing in pain in her hand, her face a heavy blush and clear arousal.
"Since Daria won't be useful for a while, can someone give some analysis on the duel please."
A short boy with glasses stood to his feet before beginning to speak in a husky voice characterized by a very proper accent, "The duel between the idiot and miss Akeelah was quite informative on what not to do as someone with external alchemy." Emmanuel's eye twitched before he looked up at the boy.
"You wanna go coward!"
The boy titled his glasses upwards before replying, "Anytime you dummkopf."
"Why thank you, Chad" Emmanuel replied fire in his eyes, followed by various snickers from his classmates.
Akeelah then tapped his shoulder before whispering in his ear, "That means idiot" Emmanuel's face flushed with anger as he raised his fists in front his face. Chad pulled out a lighter from his pocket and readied it.
"Alright you two that's enough. Chad, apologize to Emmanuel and please refrain from comments like that again, and Jeremy apologize to Chad for calling him a coward"
"I'm sorry for calling you a coward, Chad."
"And I'm sorry for calling you an idiot Jeremy" he spoke smirking.
"Anyway, initially Emmanuel made multiple correct decisions, leveraging the fact that he had a range advantage and even using the soundwaves he manipulates to effectively remove miss Akeelah 's sense of hearing. The issues arose when she understood the timing of his attacks and began dodging them. This caused him to panic and begin weakly punching, thus weakening his sonic attacks and enabling miss Akeelah to get within her desired range." Chad finished before adjusting his glasses and taking a seat, Akeelah smiled before speaking to the class.
"Very good Chad, excellent analysis. For the external alchemists, remember that your abilities don't work inside a living creature's body and as such you need to be aware of your surrounds. Remember you only manipulate it as such your surroundings play a pivotal role in your combat ability. Try as best as you can to change your surroundings to your advantage but most importantly, always remain calm." She stressed that last part said while looking at Emmanuel, "You have a lot of potential and a powerful ability, I'm sure you'll do great things in the future. But try to remember this saying, 'an anxious alchemist is a dead alchemist'." With this Emmanuel let out a toothy smile and the examinations continued.
_________________________
"What a day!" Akeelah exclaimed to no one as she groggily walked through Tivora's station. She yawned as she handed her ticket, to the tall ticket officer, in a black and white button-up suit. As she walked through the steam train, she saw cloth seats some filled with passengers of various ethnicities and social statuses; many however remained bare illuminated by the moonlight. She walked through the seventh cabin, then the sixth, the fifth until eventually she arrived at the second cabin, the cabin where she had her meeting with Malcolm. Taking a seat on the leather chair, she almost began to sink in, her worries melting away in the comfort. Akeelah sighed deeply before thinking to herself, 'So much happened today, first Malcolm and then Johnathan. At least my students made me proud.' Akeelah closed her eyes with this thought, the overhead lamps cascading on her skin give her an air of elegance. The horn of the train signalled its departure from Tivora Station although it didn't fully register to Akeelah. She kept her eyes closed blissfully enjoying her rest, until she heard the cabin door open. 'Guests? Didn't I buy all the seats in this cabin?' She thought before looking over her chair to see the visitors. It was three people, two men and a woman; the man on the left was tall almost as tall as Johan, with jet-black, visible black bags under his eyes, pale skin and a fully white suit. The man on the left wore the same white suit however he was only a little taller than the woman, but he was far bulkier than the man on the right, so much in fact that his abdominal and pectoral muscles were printing through his suit. His buzzcut and prominent face scar that when from his left eye all the way to his neck and possibly even further, gave Akeelah a clear idea of the type of man he was.
However, Akeelah's intrigue turned to shock as soon as she saw the woman in the middle. She was by far the most beautiful woman Akeelah had ever seen in her life, even surpassing the beauty of Mrs. Tarmingè. The woman's blond hair blew like ocean currents on a cloudless day, the moonlight providing a small flush of bluish-purple to her pure white dress. She was the shortest of the three, yet still the two men only walked after she did. A subtle click occurred with every step she took, and Akeelah 's eyes followed her until she sat opposite her.
"What a beautiful night this is." Each word that exited her lips could easily be mistaken for singing, due to the sultry melody in her voice.
"It-it is!" Akeelah exclaimed quickly, causing the woman to softly giggle. Akeelah 's face flush red with embarrassment but before she could respond, she was drawn in by her almost reflective grey eyes, the same eyes as Johan. However, unlike Johan whose eyes were generally unfocused, this woman's eyes were hyper fixated her.
"I've been earnestly searching for you, Brigand Akeelah ."
Akeelah lifted herself slightly, "How do you know my name?" the lady's smile grew before she responded, "Why wouldn't I know the names of my son's friends. The second in command and medic of the Milita, Brigand Akeelah Obafemi, Dela and Mela and of course the strongest alchemist, sword of Aleria and Leader of the Milita, Sigmund Augustus, although I doubt my Johan would consider him a friend." upon saying Sigmund's name the black hair man began scowling." Akeelah began sweating and took the knife from her purse and gripped it vigorously.
"I'm not sure if I heard right but, did you say your-"
"Yes, I am Johan's mother, and I have been waiting to meet you for oh, so long, have you been taking care of my son?" Akeelah began sweating even more profusely although she did not know why, all she knew was that this woman was dangerous, extremely dangerous. In the corner of her eye, she saw Primeria lake, but no matter how hard she told her head to turn it remained affixed on the eyes of Johan's mother.
"Akeelah very soon I will be needing your ability. You'll give it to me, right?" Johan's mother asked
"And what if I say no?" Akeelah questioned breathing heavily, Johan's mother smiled and said softly, "I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer."
There was only one thought in Akeelah 's head upon hearing this, 'I have to kill her right here!' So, she launched her left hand forward, intending to stab Johan's mother in the throat only for her to be completely frozen in place.
"You shall not touch our lady with your filthy hands, you cur." The black-haired man spoke in anger as he was now behind her, his shadow covering Akeelah 's completely. Johan's mother suddenly turned to the window and looked upon Vorst.
"It seems the new converts I sent were purged by my son." "Worry not young ones, there is still use for you even in death." After saying this Johan's mother snapped her fingers.
"Let her see our lady's miracle" The brown-haired man spoke to the black-haired man, causing him to turn his head towards the window, Akeelah's head doing the same. 'I need to get out of here these people are,' before she could finish her thought, she heard a deafening 'Boom!' This was immediately followed by the cabin rattling and a plume of fire ascending from Vorst, seemingly turning the night to day, and bathing the pitch-black Vorst in bright yellows, oranges and reds.
"Praise be the lady in white; praise be the lady in white!" The brown-haired man chanted as the sight of the explosion was burned into Akeelah 's memory.
"The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. I believe you will make the correct choice, Akeelah." she then arose and began walking away followed by the two men, the clicking of her heels the only thing Akeelah could hear as she watching the flames ascending into the air, until she heard nothing at all.