The Rifts of Psyche by Kyle West (popular e readers txt) 📗

are a Psionic, you must be even more powerful with Psionics than with Binding,” Fergus said. “Rest assured, you will be tested on this.”

What Lucian knew for sure was that he always felt Psionics had been his strong suit, while Binding and Gravitonic Magic had come somewhat easier for him. Even if he had failed his Gravitonics Trial, he was able to wing it after watching Rhea perform. According to this theory, his actual tertiaries would be Radiance and Thermalism. He could perform Radiance readily enough, though he hadn’t tried anything more complicated than light spheres, not counting the Radiance Trial where he’d isolated radio waves. Nor with Thermalism had he tried anything harder than heating or freezing water, though he had streamed an impromptu Thermal shield last night to defend himself from Ramore. But then again, it had used his ether quickly, and he would have been burned to a crisp without Serah’s help.

Neither had asked him to test his Thermalism on the pail of water sitting beside them, so Lucian ignored it.

That left Dynamism and Atomicism. Dynamism was no doubt his weakest Aspect. It had been the most difficult to learn, and it exhausted him much more quickly than the others. That he had done so well on the Trial was something of a miracle, and probably had more to do with the fact he had worked to conserve his ether as much as possible. The final Aspect, Atomicism, was impossible for Lucian to learn at the Academy. He had never streamed it before, but perhaps such magic wasn’t forbidden on Psyche.

“Tch,” Fergus said. “Fine. I’ll test your mettle tomorrow, newcomer. Of that you can be sure.”

Fergus turned around to leave, while Ytrib and Lucian watched him go.

“Why does he have it out for me?”

“He doesn’t,” Elder Ytrib said. “At least, not in the way you think. Fergus is loyal to a fault. That’s why he’s Captain of the Kiro Watch. He’s just trying to protect me. In his own way.”

Fergus paused by the exit, not leaving as Lucian supposed he would. The man was still keeping an eye on him.

“I hope I can prove myself.”

“I hope so, too. It would be a shame for another mage to not work out.”

Lucian frowned. “What do you mean?”

Ytrib shrugged. “It seems we can’t keep our mages. The last one frayed. I think the strain was too much for him. Another led a party into the Darkrift, chasing some rumor of treasure. She never returned. And of course . . .” Ytrib trailed off, electing not to continue. “The point is, don’t expect this to be easy, Lucian. You have made extraordinary claims, backed up with that fang you brought us. Soon enough, we will know how it was earned.”

So, the Elder didn’t totally believe him, either. At least he wasn’t being an ass about it, like Fergus. “That’s fair, Elder.”

Lucian stifled a yawn. It was long past time he went to bed.

“Go get some sleep. I’ll send someone to wake you since you are not used to the darkness yet. Be at the cave entrance tomorrow morning. And for breakfast, meet here.”

Lucian took his leave, trying to ignore the hard stare Fergus gave as he left. There would be no winning that one over, and Lucian had to get used to the fact.

The town was mostly empty as he wove his way back. He was swaying, either from the residual effect of the mystika or sheer exhaustion. He almost stumbled down the stairs leading to the lake. The sounds of the waterfall became distant as he walked down the shoreline. Some of the houses had lights on within, though Lucian couldn’t imagine staying up another minute.

He was about to reach his door when he noticed someone standing out front. “Who’s there?”

Lucian streamed a light sphere to find Morgana standing at his door.

8

“Lucian. I’m sorry, but there’s something you should know.”’

Her dark eyes were sincere with no sign of her former mischief. Something had happened.

“What’s that?”

“It’s Captain Fergus,” she said. “I overheard him talking to some of the guards. They are going to humiliate you in front of everyone tomorrow.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I heard him talking to Gabriel. They are going to do their best to make you look incompetent. Like you don’t belong here.”

Again, Lucian didn’t know what that meant. “Are they going to set me up somehow, or . . .?”

“I don’t know,” Morgana said. “I only came here to tell you to watch your back. Elder Ytrib told my family to take you under our wing, so to speak. I’m just doing my part.”

“I see. Well, I appreciate the warning.” Why did he get the feeling that this was just an excuse for her to come out and see him? He already knew Fergus was up to no good.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to handle him. You killed two wyverns, after all. But Fergus is a proud man and doesn’t like being shown up.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“Take care.”

When she left, she brushed by him closely enough to make him wonder whether she had done it on purpose. There was something strange about her, but again, he just couldn’t place his finger on it.

He entered the hut, took off his boots, and went straight to sleep.

He saw a golden city at the foot of an impossibly tall mountain range. Those mountains reached into the clouds like daggers, the bottoms of their steep slopes holding towers and palaces. Between two peaks was a wide tunnel at least a hundred meters across and just as tall, situated high above the city but nowhere near the mountains’ peaks. That city was a sprawling mass, buildings crowding around stone roads zigzagging up slopes and terraces. Green farms were carved into the mountains, until that greenery was lost to the stone above.

Even with the grandiosity of the city, what he longed to know was what lay beyond that tunnel, that pass through the mountains the city was